Gatchiakuda

Well into this current generation of Shonen it’s not surprising that there are more than a few that you could consider modern classics but, Gatchakuda feels less like its contemporaries many. Hirano sensei’s break out hit feels more like it’s an anti-consumerist response to the other shows on offer much the way that Togashi’s Yuyu Hakusho feels when held next to its peers. Interestingly if you look at where the Shonen action genre has gone in terms of tone and character trends Yuyu Hakusho is much more predictive than many other shows of its time. The most popular and impactful Shonen of the past few years have all felt angrier and less okay with the world and its circumstances than the show’s that came before. None of them have felt that way more in my experience then Gatchiakuda a trash-punk revenge story where Ruto’s motives aren’t friendship or world peace but the whole sale destruction of a society that killed this father figure and threw him out like garbage. Gatochkuda isn’t about saving the world it’s about changing it.