Okay here’s my thread on @MicCheckWaifu comments on Akudama Drive:

I think the first problem is comparing Akudama to a shonen like JJK. From the beginning I never expected Akudama to last more than 1 season. Shonen/shonen like stories will almost always have better grasps on world building and development bcuz they’re meant to last for years.

A better comparison would be something like Astra Lost in Space (which I don’t think it’s better than) but we are thrown into a similar situation in which the characters are thrown at us with very little backstory or development.

The Gov. vs ppl arc isn’t really a thing for the most part the show lays down ground work about the war and the two different societies but never fully explores it bcuz that isn’t the main plot.

The uprising happens bcuz Swindler makes an announcement that all the Akudama are going to team up and take over the city. The public takes to the streets bcuz they are frustrated bcuz they believe the Police/Executioners aren’t doing their job. This is explained in the anime.

Also, they only got the kids bcuz they got Anime Suicide Squaded. None of them really wanted to take on the mission but they were forced to and none of them knew the heist goal was the kids until they got there. In fact they were never supposed to meet the kids in general.

Swindler is the MC and not a real Akudama so she has sympathy for the kids after getting close to them and hearing their story. An argument can be made for her MC quality but we follow her trying to save the kids bcuz she decides to protect them.

The train is the Shinkansen that was made into an object of worship after the war between the two cities. This is also explained in the anime. It’s the only way they can get supplies passed through the two cities.

It started with them being forced to do the heist bcuz of them being Suicide Squaded but honestly only Courier and Hoodlum wanted to do it for the money everybody else had their own personal reasons.

The anime drops breadcrumbs from the beginning about the bigger happenings that are going in the world. All the exposition about the war and what happened between the two cities, Hacker leaving bcuz he believes Kansai offers a better life, the secret city below Kanto.

Those are the most obvious breadcrumbs but there are a lot more that show there was something else going on between the cities.

Think about the timeline for what’s happening in the anime. When the police chief and Executioner leader are talking they discuss the prison break, Shinkansen attack, and Cutthroat murders as if they all happened within close time periods.

So, even if the Akudama weren’t a problem before that those three things happening in rapid succession with VERY LITTLE resistance from police or executioners would make the public feel very unsafe and as if they aren’t trying hard enough to stop them.

I think the best argument for Akudama vs Executioner is the final Brawler fight. At the end of it both them just reveled in the act of violence and destroying one another hence saying they are reflections of one another. Still agree wasn’t a great payoff.

Throughout the show all of Brawler’s injuries were healed by Doctor but in his last fight she wasn’t there so no one could heal him which is why he died. He lived on the Shinkansen bcuz she healed him and so on.

Akudama = criminal. They establish early that there are different levels to Akudama especially during character introductions. Just like in our world there are low level Akudama like Hoodlum who is just a petty thief or high level like Cutthroat who’s a serial killer.

Overall, my problem is what you already said with no real connection to the characters. Only Swindler and Courier showed any growth by the end of the show but everyone else stayed bad/evil for the sake of being evil. The thing with duality is there needs to be some common thread

and there is none bcuz if most Akudama are like the Cutthroat, Brawler, or Doctor then they are irredeemable and the Executioners are justice.

I disagree mostly on the plot and world-building although not fantastic with my watch through I found answers to most of my questions and ones I didn’t think to ask. Through the expositional puppet show or the kids explaining Kansai and other locations I understood the world.

Plot wise I think they did a good job expanding on it but it doesn’t hit a good landing. I agree with @KingTelliano critique of it having too little episodes. 3-5 more episodes would’ve allowed them to explore more of the plot and give us a better ending that wraps up nicely.