I haven't seen it, but I'm sure Kodaka is gonna mind fuck people and have it connected to Danganronpa all along. I can feel it.
Watch SymphogearReally digging the dirty neon look their version of Kansai has. The direction is stylish as heck, and the lore they’ve dropped is interesting.
Poor Swindler caught the eyes of Cutthroat. Whew boy.
So rather than a death game, they formed... some kind of a suicide squad. And they’re planning a legendary heist.
The WW 2 parallels were as overt as they were intriguing. But considering the real life parallels, makes me curious on how they'll colour Kansai by the end of things as well. I'd say this is episode wasn't as well paced as episode 1 for me but it was still enjoyable. Also Cutthroat deciding he liked swindler was abrupt. I'm not sure it was because she had pink eyes since he attempted to take out the executioner chick's own and those were red (then again, she was an enemy), but he also doesn't seem to recognize her from something else so it makes me curious.
I absolutely cannot help but adore handsome 2D boysCutthroat sure has a favorite color.
Though I agree him choosing The Citizen/Swindler is weird considering The Doctor is pinker and The Brawler is straight up red.
Episode 3:
“Only you would think this plan is easy.” Swindler truly is the most fearsome of the lot.
Love Cutthroat’s crestfallen face when boss cat tells them killing is not allowed. Brawler and Hoodlum’s dynamic is stupid in all the right ways.
So that bit where they explain how some Executioners specialize in infiltration and covert ops... foreshadowing, perhaps?
Man, the visual design of the environments in this show is dope.
Boarding successful. But what’s in store next? It involves at least two cranky officers.
I really like the moment where the citizen volunteers to enter the box. It felt like her real transition from citizen to swindler. She's actively contributing to the crime now.
That was helped by the clever scene at the start of the episode with the boss' Akudama list listing her as the citizen, transitioning into the black cat's list listing her as the swindler.
Also, I haven't noticed until this episode that the text on Rabbit and Shark's T-shirts is changing with each line of dialogue to address the topic they're currently expositing about.
<insert Danganronpa joke here>
Edited by Comun on Oct 23rd 2020 at 6:20:06 AM
Episode 4: The black cat mastermind admits that careful planning does not always lead to success. And their little has gone wonderfully off the rails.
Black cat and his sister are obviously someone from Kanto. They’re probably runaways of some sort. Interested to see what Kanto actually is.
The fight scenes are incredible still. The Executioners are no joke. And that sick piledriver at the end!
Doctor is practically Chemist too, how convenient.
Huh I wonder if Hacker made it.
Did anyone catch how fucked it is how Kanto is threatening to kill the Executioner Director for just 2 failed missions? I got a bad feeling those kids were experiments especially considering how they don't even seem to understand eating.
Looks like the Surgeon lady is pissed at Swindler even though she really didn't do much other than call her a bully. Kind of amusing.
Last thing, the Director called all executioners to come after the Akumada. Their is too many to count albeit I don't see one that looks like the mysterious missing Executioner that we see a bit in the opening.
Edited by Wispy on Nov 5th 2020 at 6:41:49 AM
The episode already starts great, with the brawler and the hacker expressing what they live for, right before the opening. The courier and the doctor got their moments later this episode, but it still feels they are the one haven't fully shown what they live for yet.
I'm getting the impression that the siblings are robots.
Halfway through the episode I was expecting the pupil to become an Akudama on her own as "the vigilante", but it looks like her master beat her to the punch.
Fun Freeze-Frame Bonus of the week is the fact the cutthroat sleeps in the filled bathtub.
Doctor is mad at Swindler because she, like everyone else, thinks she's a particularly dangerous Akudama. That rules out any positive interpretation of her actions, and makes her nice, naive behaviour incredibly suspicious. Good people don't become Akudama by definition, so an Akudama acting like a good person is both extremely obnoxious and a gigantic warning sign. Of course, this is by the Danganronpa writer, so there's a non-zero chance that she's right to be suspicious.
Edited by Iaculus on Nov 6th 2020 at 3:42:48 PM
What's precedent ever done for us?I think we’re overthinking it and Swindler really is just an ordinary girl who got caught up in this mess. Her being regular is what makes her an irregularity among irregularities.
The kids were definitely made in a lab. Robots or genetically altered human or nonhuman humanoid, take your pick.
Also, damn, where can I get one of those lunchboxes?
Also interesting choice to have Hacker leave at this juncture. It makes sense for his character, and it also means less options for our gang.
Edited by fillerdude on Nov 6th 2020 at 8:31:16 AM
Episode 6: Look who’s got an animation budget. Seriously, that eye candy, especially that spar in the rain! So much emotion in that fight.
Dang, is Brawler really dead? I feel bad for Hoodlum. He’s downright dejected. But I’m curious to see how his character will develop.
And yep, the kids probably grew up in a mad scientist’s laboratory. Underground place here we go.
Doctor is the most ridiculous person in this show. She’s amazing.
God, this episode left me speechless. I wasn't expecting the show to go this hard.
On a slightly related note, Kodaka was tweeting about Akudama Drive yesterday.
- The project started in Fall 2014. Studio Pierrot's producer Tominaga was my college classmate, so he called me to make an original anime with him. We talked and decided to make a 90's crime action cyberpunk. Took us 6 years.
- The Courier, Brawler, Hacker, Cutthroat, and Citizen are all the same way they were in the initial project pitch, but we took out the Mad Scientist and the Cult Leader. We changed them into the Doctor and the Thug for better interactions. The Doctor got a lot that went unused from the Mad Scientist, though...
- This never comes up in the story, but the Cutthroat canonically names each of his knifes. "This one is called Holy Woman's Sigh, and it was a talisman dagger in some region's beliefs. 40 women used to kill themselves while it passed from owner to owner. Can you believe it? I don't why, but look how pretty the blade's curve is!".
- One idea we had was having "shachihoko", horrible mutated lifeforms, in the Absolute Quarantine Zone. They would attack with a horrifying meow.
- Another idea we had was making the Thug puke from nervousness. "E-Executioners?! Bleeeeeergh." It was a good idea to scrap this one. Everywhere'd be covered in vomit.
- When I'm writing plot plans, I always do it with nicknames. Taking examples from Danganronpa, Naegi was "Protagonist", Togami was "Elite heir", etc. Here I wrote "Courier", "Cutthroat", etc. with the same idea in mind, but they ended up being the finalized names lol. The team said they feel more like criminal with just the codenames.
- There're 3 reasons for the stage being Kansai. Because we wanted it be a retro cyberpunk, not a vanilla cyberpunk. Because Kansai just looks a lot more Japanese than Tokyo. And because I love Oosaka! lol
- In this version of Kansai, to access a public toilet, you have to stand on a manhole and wait for it to go down like an elevator. (Never shown on-screen)
- Those telephone booths you see in Kansai are actually public showers in disguise. An energizing shower there can refresh even a crunch worker on a 24 hour shift! A really old-school worldbuilding element, if I do say so myself.
- It's rare to find natural fish and meat in Kansai. Most of what you see in the market is synthesized protein. The sushi bars there make the sushi by pushing the sashimi paste from something that looks like a toothpaste tube.
- You've seen that the Doctor carries all sort of drugs. One she always has on her is a drug that gives people a motivation spike. With just one spray, even the Thug would be cracking his knuckles, dying for a fight. A potion that turns you into a super hero. Hero Potion, for short.
- Instead of using Komatsuzaki's original designs as is, we decided to tune them a little to work better for an anime. That's how we got the best of both Komatsuzaki and Cindy's design styles. All designs are extremely good.
- Very few Akudama get their estimated sentences on the triple digits. Akudama are not just people incompatible with society or the law, they're people incompatible with people in general. They live only for their own philosophies! What will those egos develop into? What will remain of them? Don't miss the next episodes!!
- Watch the post-credits scene! It shows all the significance on the "I hate people like you"...
- But man, director Taguchi and vice-director Sasahara sure are an amazing duo! They portray action so well! Every frame is badass! They're real mages! Magicians! It won't take long before they become artists famed worldwide, symbols of Japan, and delete Akudama Drive from the portfolios like the old shame it'll be!
- Character songs confirmed! Theme cafés confirmed! Video game adaptation... unconfirmed!!! (Oh, I want to make a game about this so bad)
Edited by Comun on Nov 13th 2020 at 8:38:10 AM

Over-the-top, neon-lit action from the creator of Danganronpa
Mostly dumb fun so far, but there's some interesting implication in the latest episode