At their Anime Expo panel, Studio Bones announced the new upcoming anime adaptation of dark fantasy action manga Gachiakuta, written and illustrated by Kei Urana. Gachiakuta follows the young protagonist Rudo in a dystopian society where the wealthy upper class “dump” anything and anyone they consider trash into “The Pit.” Mistakenly charged for murder, Rudo is also dumped into “The Pit” where he must fight for survival and vows revenge on those who threw him in.

The panel comprised of Avex producer Hirotsugu Ogo, Kodansha editor Megumu Tsuchiya, and Studio Bones producer Naoki Amano. Unfortunately creator Kei Urana and her graffiti art collaborator Hideyoshi Andou were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, opting to pre-record a video message for fans instead.

With a compelling storyline and uniquely distinctive graffiti art style, Gachiakuta promises to be a series to keep an eye out for in the coming months.

Q&A: 

Q: Could you tell us what makes Gachiakuta so great from an editor’s POV?

A: The energy and source of the artwork is fantastic. It looks really cool and you can’t help but be drawn into it. The design is on the cutting edge of the manga industry, and with the unique graffiti art style, they’ve created a manga style that no one’s ever seen before.

A: Not only the artwork, but also the dialogue. The dialogue is very powerful and there are certain lines that will really hit you.

Q: This is the first time I’ve ever seen graffiti art integrated into a manga, could you tell us more about that?

A: Urana is a manga artist who debuted in 2018 after winning Weekly Shonen Magazine’s Grand Prix for Upcoming Manga Artists, which had not been given out in many years. Her skills and creativity have only continued to grow since. In addition, Andou is a friend of Urana’s. When she conceptualized the idea of Gachiakuta and thought of adding Andou’s graffiti art, she proposed a collaboration. Both have a passionate desire to create something new, so we hope to bring that vision to life.

Q: We have a special interview video with the creator and artist. [Video on screen]

Q: Any response to the video?

A: I am happy that they love Studio Bones, but I feel a lot of pressure. Urana and Andou also looks over the storyboards and designs, so that helps us a lot.

Q: What did you think about Gachiakuta as you were producing it?

A: I had actually read Shikido, which was Urana’s first work before Gachiakuta, and I was very drawn in by her drawing style and characters. After hearing that she was going to create a new full series manga, I was looking forward to Gachiakuta a lot. And when I read it, I knew my instincts were right. The power of her artwork, the action elements, and her ability to create characters and Andou’s graffiti all looked incredible. That’s one of the reasons I knew very early on that I wanted to animate this manga.

Q: Speaking of Bones creating this series, what do you think of Gachiakuta?

A: When discussing the titles of what could be their next project, I felt that Studio Bones could really utilize its strengths in Gachiakuta. Urana draws the characters’ wide and rough facial expressions amazingly and along with the description of the word for the trash piece, and the other characters that appear, Gachiakuta has a strong impact. I felt the visuals and setting would look great in an action anime. It made me feel like it could appeal to a wide audience. But at the same time, the level of details in the manga could potentially make it difficult to animate.

Q: Amano, what do you think about creating an anime adaptation of Gachiakuta?

A: First of all, the manga illustrations are very dense, so the question is how can we incorporate this into the anime. This makes it a very difficult and challenging project. We want to use different technologies, including 3D, to create the effects of the original artwork. We are looking for ways to honor the original artwork as much as possible. The graffiti artist Andou has been working closely with us on this task. We actually just started working on this, so we’re still experimenting on this.

Q: They filmed a video of the creation process to show you. [Video on screen]

Q: Ogo, you’ve been working hard as a producer on this project, what are your thoughts on Gachiakuta being made into an adaptation?

A: I was initially inspired to adapt it into anime when I first saw Urana’s manga in Weekly Shonen Magazine. I remember being impressed that the character felt like he was jumping out at me from the magazine I was holding. I also think the action is a must.

Q: As the producer, how do you plan to promote the project?

A: Not just with the graffiti art, but I think it’s rare to find an original work that has as many elements that overseas audience can enjoy as this one. So I hope that we’ll create a series that people can enjoy. Not only in Japan, but also in the US and other countries as well. We’ve established an overseas promotion team.

Q: Before we finish off, could you all say a few words?

Tsuchiya: Even though Urana and Andou are Japanese, we hope that their work will impact people around the world. With a lot of help with the production team and others, we are positive that Gachiakuta will be positively received. We hope you enjoy it.

Amano: We’re still in the early stages of production, and doing trial and error, but things are falling together. We’ll do our best to create a series that our fans will love. We are expecting to release it sometime in 2025, so we hope you look forward to it.

Ogo: We are so happy to announce that we’ve found a truly wonderful manga and team to create an adaptation. The whole team will work together to create a series that you can be excited about. So please keep an eye out for more news in the future. Thank you very much for coming today.

Gachiakuta is an ongoing manga with three volumes released currently. The anime adaptation can be expected in 2025. Look forward to it!