Gachiakuta Manga Quantity 1 Evaluate
Featuring crisp, thick linework depicting cool-looking character designs that contrast with a gritty, lived-in environment, Gachiakuta’s graffiti-inspired imagery is eye-catching right from the start. Specifically, the first chapter uses distorted dimensions and perspective tricks to thrust the reader headfirst into a fast-paced, exciting action scene. While the graphic style is clearly manga, the unique people and settings created by artist Kei Urana make following the narrative of troubled protagonist Rudo a joy.
The setting isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but Yukito Kishiro’s iconic manga GUNNM/Battle Angel Alita featured a floating city above a scrapyard decades ago. Gachiakuta cleverly flips this premise on its head by setting the story in an elevated utopia and then descending to a filthy underworld. There is no paradise on the Sphere save for the wealthy elite who lead immaculate lives in immaculate homes and throw away fixable things in the dark abyss below. They represent the archetype of the ignorant super-rich: blind to their own luxury, obsessed with material possessions, oblivious to the plight of the Tribespeople who live in filthy slums, and overtly hostile against them.
Rudo, on the other hand, has grown up with an appreciation for material goods; he earns a career by preventing trash from being thrown into The Pit by salvaging and reselling items from the city’s rubbish collections. His guardian Regto tells him that objects may take on souls when they are loved and utilized, and philosophy is the driving force behind the narrative.
Rudo is abruptly thrown onto what seems to be another planet – the massive, poisonous landfill that makes up what appears to be the whole planet – after an almost Oliver Twist-style opening segment that narrates the tragedy of his creation. Gigantic garbage monsters, who are really just piles of rubbish that have somehow acquired a primitive kind of awareness, attack him. They also hunt down any unfortunate people that are put there with them. This may indicate that carelessly abandoned objects would acquire corrupted, deformed souls and wreak havoc on unsuspecting surface inhabitants. Once again, the super-rich are ruining the planet for the rest of us without giving it a second thought.
A few of these ground-dwellers encounter Rudo, and (in classic post-apocalyptic bleak world fashion) they aren’t very thrilled to see someone from the floating paradise who keeps piling poisonous stuff on their heads. In the heat of battle with some sketchy new friends, Rudo discovers his latent abilities and, maybe, why his dad left him with scarred, blackened hands that hurt so much he needs special gloves. Being a “Giver” grants him the ability to bestow superhuman strength and heightened characteristics (such spikes that seem nasty) onto certain things. After his new acquaintance Enjin joins him to a group named “The Cleaners,” the story ends with the status quo changed and Rudo assuming a position that is likely to be pretty typical of shonen heroes.
The unique and awesome visual style was a big part of why I like this manga so much. Urana leaves several narrative hooks to be investigated in future installments, and the realm of Gachiakuta is intriguing. It is also possible that Rudo’s father is alive and skulking on the surface someplace… Since it satisfies that deep-seated Mad Max-esque need of mine, I want to keep an eye on this series going forward. Anyone who like post-apocalyptic and eat-the-rich-style turmoil should give this a go.
