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Akudama Drive is a 2020 Japanese cyberpunk anime television series conceptualized by Kazutaka Kodaka and produced by Pierrot and Too Kyo Games. It was written by Norimitsu Kaihō and directed by Tomohisa Taguchi. Set in a dystopian future in Kansai, the story follows a young woman who accidentally becomes a criminal known as Akudama and is pursued by the government, though she decides to take a fake identity, Swindler, to survive after meeting Courier. The series aired from October to December 2020. A total of six DVDs and Blu-ray collected the twelve-episode series in Japan.

Tagushi was inspired to work in the series after seeing Kodaka’s work on the Danganronpa franchise series and both agreed to work together. Inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, Kodaka wrote the original draft of similar villains who acts as the protagonists. After showing his ideas to Too Kyo Games, the project was greenlighted and Pierrot was requested to work together to create appealing action scenes. A manga adaptation has also been serialized, while a character CD soundtrack was also released in Japan.

Critical response to the series was positive based on the cyberpunk setting as well as the handling of the main cast, most notably the lead Swindler. It is widely considered to be one of the best anime of 2020. Reviewers noted that the series primarily centered around the ideals of justice.

In a dystopian future where Kansai became a vassal state of Kantō, multiple highly skilled criminals, called Akudama, are sent a message from an anonymous client to free a death row prisoner named Cutthroat before they are executed. Four Akudama respond to the challenge and descend into Kansai Police Headquarters to earn a big payday. However, once inside, they discover the job was part of a larger scheme by their client to make them work together on a bigger job: to infiltrate the Shinkansen and steal precious cargo from a vault at the front of the train. Roped into the job are an ordinary girl arrested on a minor charge but forced to keep up the appearance of a Swindler, and a low-level Hoodlum who was accidentally broken out of jail during the initial heist. The team must work together to finish the job and earn their large payday, all while keeping ahead of the Executioners from the Kansai Police on their tail.

The series had been planned ever since 2014. Kodaka recommended the anime to fans of the steampunk and crime genres. In the making of the series, Kodaka had the idea of the main cast being villains. Kaihō and Kodaka had multiple talks during the making of the anime’s script and left it to Taguchi to decide how to handle it once finishing it. Art director Yoshio Tanioka received aid from the directors of each episode regarding storyboards. The lighting was done by Saori Goda to generate a balance between the multiple colors while photography director Kazuhiro Yamada finished combining all their work. Tanioka denied a cyberpunk comparison and instead referenced “Japan, Kansai, and Showa”. The Tsūtenkaku and Osaka Castle were carefully designed to give the setting the feeling the series was set in Osaka. Taguchi personally revised scenes of the series. For him, the biggest asset was having Tanioka as art director based on his idea that helped visualize the setting of Akudama Drive. Goda personally revised the colors presented through the animation. This also helped to create cells and shading.

Asahi Production did the series’ animation. They were primarily in charge of creating monitors or holograms. On the other hand, there were many cases where the signboard was drawn by art and the signboard on the screen of the first episode. In the Kansai city scene, signboards drawn with art and signboards of 2D works are mixed. The placement of the “2D Works sign” was done at the time of the shooting, and the color and density of the monitor material were adjusted so that it blended in with the background. In addition, hologram processing was added to the signboards drawn by art. The setting was described by the art directors as a hybrid of everyday life and delusions. Telephone poles and quaint houses on the way to work were also added to the setting. The city of Kansai includes cutting-edge high-tech to make it nostalgic. The opening and ending video sequences were created to give multiple ideas to the viewers in regards to what the series is about while also showing appealing music. The characters were adapted by Cindy Yamauchi, who worked to make them stand out as individuals. Most of the series’ voice acting was done in March 2020. To make the narrative more thrilling, during the recording of the series, the Executioners were given more ruthless lines and interactions than the Akudama, even though the latter are criminals. Tomoyo Kurosawa was praised by the staff members for her work as Swindler.

Which Akudama Drive character do you like best? And which of them most closely resembles you? Answer twenty questions in our quiz and see for yourself! Come on, click the start button!