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 finds herself in a situation where she is forced to keep up the appearance of a Swindler to ensure she does not get killed by a group of Akudama, criminals who are pursued by the government. The series aired from October to December 2020. A total of six DVD and Blu-ray box sets collected the twelve-episode series in Japan.
Taguchi was inspired after seeing Kodaka's work in the Danganronpa 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 greenlit and Pierrot was brought in to create appealing action scenes. A manga adaptation has also been serialized, while a character CD soundtrack was 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.
Premise 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 he is 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.
Characters Akudama /
A young woman working at the Kansai Seal Office who accidentally becomes a criminal when meeting Courier. After saving what she thought was a black cat, the girl pretends to be a criminal named "Swindler" to avoid being killed by the other Akudama.
A terse man who is skilled at delivering any package to any recipient as long as he is paid. Courier can also fight with the use of his customized motorbike, which contains a small railgun built into the front.
An attractive master surgeon, chemist, and all-around medical doctor who can heal herself almost instantly from injuries that would normally prove fatal.
A who was serving a four year sentence in a Kansai prison when he was accidentally freed during the Cutthroat heist. Hoodlum becomes friends with Brawler.
A mentally unstable person who was on Death Row for beheading 999 victims until he was freed by the other Akudama, making the police chief in charge of his execution the 1,000th beheading.
A master hacker who can infiltrate any system that is remotely accessible. He controls a pair of drones that can also act as weapons or turn into a makeshift hoverboard.
A brash and incredibly strong man who enjoys fighting and befriends Hoodlum.
Execution Division
As her namesake implies, the student of the Executioner Master who is incredibly skilled in close-quarters combat, including the use of an electric jutte.
An old woman who oversees the Executioners out of Kansai Police Headquarters.
A ninja-like Executioner for the Kansai Police Department, trained to eliminate highly-dangerous Akudama.
A novice Executioner who is assigned to work with Pupil.
Other characters /
A robot taking the form of its namesake, Black Cat is a robotic animal controlled by a mysterious young boy who recruits the Akudama to break him and his sister out of a bank vault.
A mysterious young girl and the younger sister of Brother whom the Akudama encounter during the Shinkansen heist.
A bunny who serves as one of the mascots of Kansai.
A shark who serves as one of the mascots of Kansai.
Production
Akudama Drive was directed by Tomohisa Taguchi. This series originated with Taguchi's positive impression of Kazutaka Kodaka's work in Danganronpa franchise and both agreed to work together in this new project. Both were fans of the films Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), and The Usual Suspects (1995). This fascination with these films went into their desire to make a story set in a cyberpunk world with a Quentin Tarantino-inspired plot. Due to the cast being composed of seven protagonists, the team originally meant to call it Akudama Seven. The appeal of Reservoir Dogs led to the team to develop a unique cast with different features, all being referred by pseudonyms rather than personal names. Norimitsu Kaihō commented that the cast is meant to be rebellious in contrast to similar series where the cast relies on each other.
Setting and animation The series had been planned ever since 2014. Kodaka recommended the anime to fans of the steampunk and crime genres. In an interview a few days prior to the series premiere, Kodaka stated that once it was decided the main cast would be villains, their roles, appearances, personalities, and names were chosen. He also stated that while he and Kaihō wrote the scripts, Taguchi was allowed to make the final decisions. Art director Yoshio Tanioka received aid from the directors of each episodes in regards to 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 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 were 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 in order 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 H. Yamauchi, who worked in order to make them stand out as individuals. Most of the series' voice acting was done in March 2020. In order to make the narrative more thrilling, during 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.
Influences
Although the series is influenced by multiple works, the team wanted it to be a unique cyberpunk series based on the elements they wrote taken from Japanese culture. Other influences include Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1980) and Mamoru Oshii's film Ghost in the Shell (1995). Taguchi wanted to entertain Western audience besides the Japanese which is why the anime takes place in Kansai, as Taguchi believed the Kansai city of Osaka felt more Japanese to overseas tourists than Tokyo. The artistic direction was hence based on the Osaka streetscape from the 1960s and 1970s. Once Taguchi and Kodaka agreed to work together, the latter showed Too Kyo Games his ideas for the series, which the studio greenlighted. Kodaka specifically chose the studio Pierrot to coanimate the series, believing its previous works were fitting for an action series.
The character of Swindler was revised from Kodaka's original vision as he wanted to show a character who could not fit into the Akudama, but Taguchi revised her for his own take of a protagonist. As a result, Kodaka considered Swindler as a young girl who would surprise the audience. While Kodaka agreed that character designer Komatsuzaki did not care about his works sharing similarities, the team wanted each of them to stand out in the same fashion protagonists of Danganronpa stood out. Yamauchi revised Swindler and Sister's design for the series' second half, giving them a more adult feel based on the video game Detroit: Become Human.
Subaru Kimura's portrayal of Hoodlum was noted to fit the director's original approach. Yūichirō Umehara was found as the fitting voice actor for Courier, with the staff finding that if he talked too much, he would be out of character. Umehara explained he found it a fitting yet challenging job due to Courier's silent personality via his lack of interactions. Umehara in particular enjoyed the work of Tomoyo Kurosawa (Swindler) and Takahiro Sakurai (Cutthroat) based on the appeal they gave to their characters, with the former for portraying a different type of Akudama based on her innocence and the latter for showing areas of dementia when talking as well as due to the fact they were more involved in interactions. He felt it was an entertaining work as a result of interacting with other famous voice actors like Akio Ōtsuka (Master) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Brawler).
Megumi Ogata's voice acting was done to create a sexually appealing woman in contrast to her previous roles which included young males. The staff described Brawler as a yet muscular character. Takeuchi's pitch was carefully done to fit the idea of Brawler. Originally a child, Hacker was transformed into a more mature person in the making of the series to fit the demographic. Shun Horie was told by the staff to give him a cold personality. The team found Cutthroat as the most difficult character to write. Brother was originally older than Sister, but Yamauchi altered them to make them look like twins while retaining their original clothes.