I’ll let y’all in on a little secret: I do not watch every seasonal anime. As someone who was once tasked with writing up long-ass slideshows breaking down each anime, I no longer have time to watch every new show that crops up on the scene. I’m gonna die one day, so unless I come across a show that catches my eye or gets enough word-of-mouth recommendations from folks whose taste I trust, I’m not tuning in. This feeling is doubly true for new-age shonen anime.
Having served my time watching One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto when they were concurrently airing, I’ve no big desire to jump on new-age shonen like Fire Force and Black Clover, much less engage in sweaty online conversations about which shows will be the next shonen big three. While I’m of the mind that there will never be another shonen big three, I’ve tapped on the enclosure of anime fans ramping up their debates over which series to christen as the forerunner of the industry’s best and brightest as heavy hitters like Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, and Demon Slayer near their end.
Like Babe Ruth signaling a home run, Crunchyroll has given full-throated confidence points that Gachiakuta will be that series when it premieres in July. Having peeked at the manga before the release of its official trailer on multiple recommendations from friends, I think it will live up to that lofty claim of the merit of its magic system alone.
Before I recount Gachiakuta’s logline, I wanna give an anecdote that’ll tie into its unique magic system and why I think it’s got the juice to be shonen anime’s next big thing. Most of the cool-looking furniture in my apartment came from spontaneous dumpster dives and pawn shop finds. Key among my finds is a perfectly good kitchen island with a marble top, a column paper lantern floor lamp with built-in outlets and USB ports, and a 42” Logitech TV that I found in the alley behind my current apartment with a sticky note saying it still worked. Whether they were thrown away during a move that couldn’t consolidate space or no longer matched their previous owners' ethos, they’ve come into my possession as pretty nifty mainstays in my apartment.
So imagine my surprise when my partner told me we should get rid of the dingy TV we swapped out of our bedroom for the better back alley Logitech one we’ve got. Sure, she’s got a point that owning three TVs is a bit much. Plus, since swapping it out in the bedroom, it's been politely sitting by our recycling bin as a reminder that it's overstayed its welcome. But I couldn’t get myself to part with it. Despite that shitty RCA TV having a considerable blue pixel blemish in its lower third, it's been with me longer than any other object in my house. That TV has been with me since my first year of college. It also gave me comfort during hard times when I was fighting off homelessness, living in the basement of a friend of a friend as I used FYE paychecks to slowly pay my way from Cheyenne, Wyoming, back home to Chicago. It was the only TV I ever needed in my first studio apartment when I got into games journalism. If anything, the blue blemish in its lower third was a battle scar, noting how far it has come in its country-wide journey from City National Pawn for the low price of $105.
To make a long story short, I didn’t get rid of the TV. It's found a new home atop a bookshelf (which I also dumpster-dived for) in my home office with my “work PS5” (which my partner’s rich coworker just gave away because they didn’t want it anymore). Finding a new purpose for my old TV made my heart grow three sizes on some real sentimental shit.
That feeling is quite literally at the heart of Gachiakuta.
Gachiakuta, created by Kei Urana, is a dystopian action manga. Its hero, Rudo, is a social outcast who spends his days repairing and finding new purposes for trash discarded by rich people. His life is as good as it could be living off the garbage of the rich until he's framed for the murder of his uncle and thrown from a luxurious floating city into the bottomless abyss of a landfill called The Pitt. His ultimate goal is to return to the floating city and exact revenge on the people who threw him away like trash. The only obstacles in his path are Pitt's toxic air, wasteland raiders, and giant kaiju constructed from living piles of junk. While the manga is poised to depict a generational crashout with Rudo, its magic system has me believing Gachiakuta might actually be the next big shonen series.
Gachiakuta‘s power system allows its heroes to transform sentimental objects into all-powerful weapons. These "vital instruments" can range from construction gloves to a walking cane to a dingy umbrella. While its cast of supporting characters only has one vital object, Rudo — being the main character — can turn any discarded object into a vital instrument. From the 20 chapters I've indulged in the manga ahead of its anime premiere, I've seen this ability used with the utmost emotional climax, repurposing childhood trinkets and weapons from his fallen allies. It's a simple concept, sure, but it's more intriguing than watching characters charge up and arbitrarily get stronger. Put that in the mix with the series’ worldbuilding of the rich dumping trash on the poor à la Battle Angel Alita, and you’ve got pretty interesting new-age shonen on your hands.
Gachiakuta tapped into a part of my brain that few new-age shonen manga have since Chainsaw Man hit the scene with its demons powered by the fear of concepts like death and falling. It also doesn’t hurt that the series is being adapted by Bones Film, the spin-off production company behind hit anime like My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Mob Psycho 100. I’ll be watching to see if the series lives up to the hype on my RCA TV.
