The post-apocalyptic sub-genre has seen it's fair share of exceptional works of art, including Blame!, Attack on Titan, Berserk, and many more. Gachiakuta is not too far off of becoming something great. Although we are only around 50 chapters in, this piece by Kei Urana is equipped with all the right aspects and with an incredible story behind it. Gachiakuta is unique to its own, and might just turn into something incredibly special down the line.

SYPNOSIS

The story involves an orphan boy named Rudo, who has a knack for salvaging broken or damaged items from trash, as he believes that they still have some value left of them, and also as a means to make money. Rudo resides in the slums, with his foster parent Regto, and he wants to help out in any way he can. However, this isn't an ordinary town. Picking up trash is seen as unlawful, and Rudo is at risk everytime. although being gifted with impressive physical abilities seems to help him escape trouble.

You see, Rudo was left alone after his father was convicted as a murderer and thrown into the Abyss, a massive, seemingly bottomless pit that seemingly consumes anything thrown into it. The town Rudo resides in dumps all it's trash into the Abyss, including criminals deemed guilty of serious crimes, such as murder or even salvaging trash as it is seen as a forbidden act. The Abyss is left out in the open for everyone to see, reminding them that if they break the rules, they might just get thrown down there too.

One day, Rudo realizes from the help of Regto and a friend of his that it's not worth risking your life for trash, and that maybe it's time to call it quits. However, on that same day, Rudo stumbles across a sight he wish he never saw, and is framed as the culprit for a crime that he swears he didn't commit. Unable to defend himself, Rudo is thrown into the Abyss himself. Realising that this may just be the last few moments of his life, He swears revenge onto the same people who gave him death, and disappears into the dark void...

CHARACTERS

The characters of this story are each to their own, with fresh backstories and interesting traits. Without going too much into detail, the characters are creatively designed and no major character in the story so far seems to be dull, with a plentiful amount of scenes and background stories to make you understand each one of them. It's one of those manga where every character is likeable. Since we are only around fifty chapters in, there's a chance that there are many more appearances of new characters to come, and will also provide more opportunities to flesh out the current personas that many of us already love.

ART

Now, the art is something else. It's truly incredible. The amount to detail ~~on each page~~, no, on each panel, is wonderfully thought out and makes it aesthetically pleasing. To avoid any sort of spoilers, I decided not to include any fight scenes, but wow, the fight scenes are AMAZING, I'll just leave it at that. The settings are wonderfully designed too, which each place suiting the apocalyptic vibe perfectly, giving you that dystopian feel. The characters again are wonderfully designed too, with clean features and each having unique characteristics to tell them apart. You know, there's some manga out there where certain characters look the exact same, just saying. Gachiakuta does not do that at all.

OVERALL (So far)

Overall, the story is unique to it's own and is an interesting read that I would recommend to anyone. There are little flaws, and with only 50 chapters in, there is an incredible amount of potential for this manga. There is only a matter of time before it is adapted into an anime, yet I feel like this manga is incredibly raw and detailed that people who have never read a manga before should consider Gachiakuta being their first read. Give it a try, you won't regret it. Peace out.