Akudama Drive

The bustling metropolis of Kansai, where cybernetic screens litter the neon landscape, may seem like a technological utopia at first glance. But in the dark alleys around the brightly-lit buildings, an unforgiving criminal underbelly still exists in the form of fugitives known as "Akudama."

No stranger to these individuals, Kansai police begin the countdown to the public execution of an infamous Akudama "Cutthroat," guilty of killing 999 people. However, a mysterious message is sent to several elite Akudama, enlisting them to free Cutthroat for a substantial amount of money. An invisible hand seeks to gather these dangerous personas in one place, ensuring that the execution is well underway to becoming a full-blown bloodbath.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Cutthroat Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Swindler Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Courier Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Hacker Main

Horie, Shun Japanese

Brawler Main

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Doctor Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Hoodlum Main

Kimura, Subaru Japanese

Execution Division Master Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Execution Division Apprentice Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Black Cat Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Tominaga, Yoshihiko Producer

Takahashi, Kazuaki Producer

Danno, Yoshito Producer

Reviews

Jul 23, 2025

YamiLoon

Recommended

One of the best original anime I've watched for sure.
Akudama Drive is a chaotic blast of style, action, and attitude, and I loved (almost) every second of it.

Visually, it’s absolutely stunning. The vibrant neon-drenched cityscapes, dynamic animation, and slick character designs make every scene feel alive. The soundtrack hits hard too, amplifying both the adrenaline-pumping action and the more somber moments with precision.

The characters are colorful, larger-than-life, and fun to watch, even if some of them could’ve used a bit more depth. The same goes for the story, the central plot is intriguing, with great momentum and world-building, but certain developments could’ve used more breathing ... room to truly land.

Despite some minor flaws in character development and storytelling depth, Akudama Drive delivers a high-energy ride that’s bold and entertaining from start to finish.
Pure cyberpunk mayhem with heart and flair.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 24, 2025

GoldenGooseProd

Mixed Feelings

Kazutaka Kodaka is known for spamming his themes over and over again to the point where "hope" and "despair" become white noise. Then he creates the character Kyosuke Munakata to deconstruct these platitudes, ironically turning "platitudes" into a platitude itself.

Akudama Drive is all style and little sauce. It looks aesthetically appealing and the character work isn't the worst thing in the world– especially the protagonist. However, once again, I am left with a Kodaka work where I feel that his message is far simpler than what he aims to accomplish.

If the only "visual novel" you've read is Danganronpa (implying that you count Danganronpa as a ... visual novel) then this show is probably for you.

You have 12 episodes to develop your decent-sized cast. I would prefer it if you spent just 10 more minutes characterizing them rather than having another "totally cool" fight scene. Shows like Cowboy Bebop use pop culture references and aesthetics as set design. This does not mean that pop culture references should be the crux to singlehandedly alleviate the work and give it brownie points for being "cool". WHOA WHOA BLADE RUNNER? RESERVOIR DOGS?? COOOOOL!!

hope hope despair hope hope despair hope war=bad hope despair

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 6, 2025

Rai3_3

Not Recommended

The first three episodes are bearable as a typical shonen action anime, complete with all the cliché archetypes. The storyline might remind you of older anime like Psycho-Pass or Cowboy Bebop, but not in a good way. It feels like ChatGPT spat out a script and something had to be made from it, with those mentioned anime used like a filter over a bland photo to somehow compensate for the anime's tastelessness.

After the seventh episode, I couldn't bear the boredom this gave me. A boring action anime—how bad can you make it that I started yawning in between? I had to skip to the finale, ... and it turns out I never really missed anything.

ZERO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
ZERO STORYLINE
CLICHÉ CHARACTERS

(It makes me want to vomit thinking someone recommended this as the best to me.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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