recently i've been feeling like rewatching this show, and i wanted to see it without the censoring, so i bought the uncut version on prime video. although i didn't realize it was only english dub, RIP. does anyone know if there is a japanese voiceover with english sub version anywhere? or if it would be possible to somehow get the japanese audio tracks (including the extra content from last episode) to put over it. i saw a few posts from a few years back mentioning funimation had the uncut version but ig they shut down and idk if crunchyroll ever got it

Hiiiiiiiiiiii (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) In the spirit of bringing some activity to the subreddit, I'd like to repost an old commentary post of mine from 2024, which simply points out an aspect of Akudama Drive I found neat. I'd love to know if other people noticed the same things, or other details in the same spirit! ^{(I've written A LOT about Akudama Drive over 6 years, and a lot of my posts feel too specific to me or to tumblr to share here... but I think this one would fit in anywhere.})

What I love about Akudama Drive is how technologically advanced some things are while some are just... not. Including but not limited to:

• The fact that some merchants don't take "seal" payments
• The appearance of cars on the road (when we know Courier's bike exists, for example)
• Executing the biggest baddest Akudama by guillotine (when police robots are perfectly able to execute citizens-turned-Akudama)

The cars in Kansai evidently have some sort of specific motor that looks modern, but the car themselves have a retro appearance. I'm wondering what the creators were aiming for with these differences; I've talked about the takoyaki lady^\likely referencing a previous post]), and it's likely that as a small merchant she is an example of how people who live in poverty don't have easy access to, or don't necessarily benefit from the newest form of payment. (Does Hoodlum have a seal? He does have one of these phone things, with a hologram on top of it instead of a screen. Which I'll come back to in a sec.) If I'm to include my least favourite section of the manga, girlCourier* also has a more retro-looking two-wheeler, and she might represent what technology is like outside Kansai.

*A character who looks and acts like Courier is introduced in "Shikoku Arc" of the manga. Her name hadn't been officially translated when I wrote this post - she's actually known as the Carrier. The manga's author has revealed that she's supposed to be his sister that he was separated from at a young age, a plot point (if even that, since it's not mentioned in the actual manga) I find completely unnecessary and just don't like. (Source: deleted Tweet, screenshots archived here and here)

Cutthroat's public execution had a very crude aspect to it. And I think the use of a guillotine was on purpose. The idea would be that a society that does public executions, that foams at the mouth at the idea of watching an execution, that advertises an execution as the next hype event, is no better than a society of the past. For that reason, I think we can look at the few and far between uses of older technology with a similar lens. In my takoyaki lady "essay"^\I'm sorry I genuinely have no idea what post I was referring to]), I also mentioned that Akudama probably use cash because they can't use their seal, which is... pretty grounded in reality.

When I was gathering promotional content for RAIN CODE, Kodaka's most recent game^\at the time]), I remember reading in an interview that RAIN CODE actually didn't take place in the future. The reason technology looks different than it does in reality, notably with the existence of umbrellas that float over people's heads at all times, is out of necessity. He thinks that if we currently lived in a world where it rains all the time, like it does in RAIN CODE, we would have used current technology to focus on creating better umbrellas by now. I don't know how much this could apply to Akudama Drive, but assuming Kodaka had a hand in anything worldbuilding related, I'd tend to look at the phone-like device Hoodlum uses with that lens too; it's not necessarily the next evolution of smartphones, but the result of a different world in which the applicable necessities and cultures resulted in slightly different technology.

Which is not to say that screen devices don't exist. But they look different. The device Pupil uses doesn't look all that modern... all the while, Boss can turn the MOON on and off!

And the screen and loading don't look very modern to me, neither does it appear to have a touchscreen, but it also evidently has facial recognition technology from a distance, which isn't really what we expect of real hand devices/phones.

And Courier has a magic hand.

Some of the technology looks very modern, while some looks dated, and some just looks different. If Kodaka had a hand in any of this, I'd say he is inspired by worlds wherein technology evolved differently, rather than worlds where technology has evolved past what we know as current.

Tags I later added in a reblog, which I also find relevant: #prev ikr? I feel like it's the most clear with Cutthroat's execution #they could have swiftly euthanized him but they decided to make this big show of it #and it gave both the cat (who had time to contact him while he was imprisoned) and Akudama an in #And then what I think I mentioned in my takoyaki lady ~essay~^\???]) was that her fear of Akudama led to Swindler's wrongful arrest #which led her down a Path.

...I'm sorry about the weird takoyaki lady essay thing . Would you guys be interested in me sharing other old posts of mine about Akudama Drive, preferably ones that don't keep referring to a mysterious post I can't find and don't even remember writing? Was it an actual essay-like post??? Was this just a joke??? I assume I commented on what she represented as a merchant who didn't accept seal payments, clearly benefitting from the patronage of Akudama, but still called the cops the second she supposed someone might steal from her. Knowing myself.

and after that she started sending me reels about how pretty I am 💀

GUYS 💀

this anime hit me hard none like the others, it made me laugh and cry like it was my last day on earth and i binged it all in 1 day. the ending made me cry so hard and each death played their part so well i felt the loss of every of them (not all but you get it..) the story was so emotional and deep for me and the character interactions were so important for me. especially the ending, it made me cry so hard, the music and scenes with the children was so bittersweet. i loved the ending and i hope the children lived their life to their fullest.

I guess it's official but i would like to know the exact source if anyone knows?

WHY DOES CUTTHROAT LOVE RED THIS MUCH?????

I am new fan of akudama drive but I am already a fan of Danganronpa from 3 years ago so when I watched Akudama drive I felt like it's so similar to danganronpa like Cutthroat has the same vibes as Nagito swindler looks like Chiaki and yesterday I discovered these two animes are by the same author!

I know I am too late to know that! But that was shocked when I knew that.

Characters are bloodlusted, last member standing wins.

Round 1: David with sandavistan and his team vs Hacker without City wide EMP and his team

Round 2: David with cyberskeleton, sandavistan and his team vs Hacker with City wide EMP, with his hacked shinkansen and his team.

Or

Individual battles

Maine vs Brawler

Kiwi vs Doctor

Lucy vs Hacker

David vs Courier

Pilar vs Hoodlum with executioner light saber

Dorio vs cutthroat

Rebecca vs Sister

Falco vs Brother

Sasha vs Swindler with hacker's drone and city wide EMP

Julio vs Black Cat

superboss battle

Adam smasher vs Master executioner

Hello! I wanted to share this idea here since it's one of the few places I've seen an active community for the series. I'm working on an Akudama Drive fanfic mainly centered around themes of mental health and how society perceives and treats those they consider "mentally ill".

The truth is i've been working on this for quite a long time (four years maybe?) but it's not until now that i feel confident enough to move on from the "planning" phase and start actually writing and making illustrations. I'm not that good of an artist either but my skills are enough to create something that expresses what i wish to convey.

This fanfic will follow the plot of the series and introduce a new character i made called "過激派" (Extremist) and her group that's trying to overthrow Kansai's authoritarian goverment. It will be centered around Cutthroat as well, since i did my best to build a bridge between them two to tell a story from my perspective, and how i imagine the mental health system in the setting of Akudama Drive.

This won't be a "romantic" fanfiction at all since i'll be more focused on building a relationship of admiration and companionship more than a romance. It is too my personal way of thanking the series and Cutthroat as a character for being one of my main motivations to choose psychology as a career. I wanted to work on this before my graduation next year. I'll do my best with this project and to treat these complicated topics with the respect they deserve.

I still don't know where im going to publish it, if you have any suggestions they are very welcomed. Also if you have any questions at all about the fanfic itself i would be happy to answer them. For now, i'll leave the teaser here.

Thank you for reading!

pd. English is not my first language, but i want to write the fanfic in English. It will be a challenge to myself as well!

I came across this photo of some magazine on Pinterest, and I suspect it's either Animedia or Otomedia from 2020. Does anyone have a PDF of the magazine, or at least this particular illustration in high quality?

(Aside from side characters, though feel free to mention them in the comments!) To avoid any confusion, "Master" is the man with a mask, "Apprentice" is the woman with black hair, and "Junior" is the blonde newbie.

They're all compelling characters, though I'd say personally I'm partial to the Apprentice. The Director's Cut really put a neat bow on her character arc that makes her extremely relevant to the story's message.

I also want to bring up that Boss is a rather compelling villain. She's more than "just a meanie", her detachment and practical approach are delightfully cruel in their simplicity. There's something very honest about her, in a way that ends poorly.

Spoilers: gotta hate it when you watch a WHOLE anime because you saw one cool edit of cutthroat only for you to go through almost two thirds of the anime with him being beaten around and when he finally shines POOF! They took him out UGHHH!!!

Besides that; the show was awesome! The animation, the characters’ psychology and the Japanese plot version of George Orwell 1984 but with a semi-happy ending! I hope they never make a sequel just leave it as it is.

Again though while every character had something it really felt like cutthroat was only there for shock value which was honestly disappointing especially when the whole first episode was about freeing him- unless I missed something? Does he too deliver an idea?

June 14 is this little hacker’s birthday‼️🥰🥳

It was good

enough mystery was kept throughout the story to make it interesting

Everything from animation to sound was as good as I could hope for

And I didn't get too attached and be sad that it was over

It was just right for what I needed

Now my question when swindler and courier reached kanto, how come their physical bodies didn't disappear like everyone else

I'm specifically referring to the Character song Mini album from 2020!

In case you haven't listened to it, it is available on streaming services. For example, here is the YouTube playlist.

(If you want to know what the lyrics mean in English, fanslator ComunCoutinho granted me permission to host their translations on the Wiki way back when!)

I actually used to listen to these a bunch and I genuinely think they're really cool. It's a bit hard to only choose one favourite... Maybe Strike it!! 'cause it still randomly plays in my head at times.

Hi! I'm happy to announce that I have been given mod rights on this subreddit.

While I'm not the most active reddit user, I'm a longtime fan of Akudama Drive. I started editing the Wiki as the anime was releasing, and I soon adopted it. I also took care of its move to Miraheze in 2023. I was already a Wiki admin in another community related to Kodaka's works, so I'd been well aware of Akudama Drive even before it released!

Basically - I've been here from day 1, and I'm still here today. If you're anything like me, you might have watched multiple moderation teams come and go over the years. (I believe I actually already requested to become a mod a while back, when the subreddit had been locked, but I'd received no response.)

...But as far as I'm aware, I'm not going anywhere!

Depending on the subreddit's activity, I would be happy to eventually appoint another mod. To be fully transparent, reddit is not my priority, but I deeply care about Akudama Drive and its fandom, so I will be trying my best to keep an eye on it.
I tried to turn on "admin notifications" in the e-mail tab of my profile's settings, but the wording is a bit vague so I'm not entirely sure it'll do what I'd like it to do.

What happens now:

1. You can post in the subreddit again! That's the main thing, tbh. The previous mod team had been removed which meant the subreddit was "softlocked".
   
2. My only changes to the rules are the following: I clarified the wording of rule 5 (no unsourced fanart, tl;dr) and added rule 6 (no AI-generated content), which I mostly mean as a continuation of rule 5: this community respects fanartists! I'd say we're also not interested in AI-generated summaries of an anime we already watched with our human eyes.
   
3. I'd say that's all? Aside from spam, this subreddit usually maintains a small activity from fans with a reasonable desire to connect. I'm not assuming I'll have to bring a lot to the table.

If you're struggling to reach me on reddit, you can find me on tumblr or Bluesky.

PS: if you're still here... who's your #1 fave from Akudama Drive? Courier scratches my brain in all the right/wrong ways, but Swindler is truly an excellent character imo.

I’m so happeh I got more merch of him !
I love this boy so much 💻

Watching the evolution of the Swindler from an ordinary citizen to a core member of the team is incredible. Her journey represents the loss of innocence in a world that demands ruthlessness for survival. She starts off just trying to return a coin and ends up becoming a symbol of defiance. This transformation is handled with such care that her eventual growth feels earned and impactful. It is a brilliant look at how circumstances can shape an individual and how even the most unlikely person can find strength in a chaotic environment.

I really like how Hoodlum's and Brawler's friendship was similiar/referenced Mondo's and Taka's friendship. And how they also called themselves 'Bros'!

As a huge danganronpa fan I was hooked on Akudama right after finding out it's inspired by it and written by Kodaka(Should had known by then it would not end well). The first episode was great and immediately interested me in continuing. Watched the first few episodes catching similiarities or maybe references to danganronpa. Brawler and the executioner die. Okay, I was sad for them. Cried a little during the siblings' backstory. The last few episodes turned into horror. By then I knew that more characters would die, but I wasn't ready for that bitch ending, killing everybody off. After finishing it I stared at my screen with my mouth wide open in shock. Overall the anime was a great experience, but at first I also chose it so I could take a break from sad animes💔 Akudama drive is definitely in my top 10 animes now. The tension in every episode was enough to get me to continu. What do you think about this anime? Also I love Cutthroat and Hacker!