Gachiakuta episode 11 wanted to portray a manipulative and unhinged villain, Amo. However, the drama that she creates in the episode feels a bit too much. At the same time, the trouble that the crew got into this time feels too forced.
The characters could have easily escaped much of the trouble if they had kept their thinking hats on. Yet, instead of escaping an obvious danger sign, they walked right into a trap.
Gachiakuta Episode 11 Shows a Malfunction in the Main Characters’ Critical Thinking Skills
Back in episode 10, the introduction of Amo as a girl who roams the No Man’s Land without even a mask was already pretty suspicious. The next thing we know, she leads the entire team to a huge tower that is straight out of a murder mystery/ horror movie. She even urges them to take off their masks inside. No matter how creepy the huge tower looked, no matter how odd it was that Amo behaved, it seems like none of the main characters can pick up on it.
Is it just a side-effect of always living with weird people, or are they actually devoid of a gut feeling? No one will know. No matter how badly they need some information, following an unknown girl, who seems to survive in the middle of a trash beast-filled desert, is surely not a good idea.
In fact, even after Enjin was knocked down by Delmon, no one tried to restrain the big fella. It feels like Gachiakuta is trying to force troubles upon the protagonist and his team. Even if they need to face villains and obstacles to make the story interesting, portraying them as dumb teens who can walk into the gaping jaw of danger despite all the signs might alienate the audience from relating to them.
Half an Episode’s Worth of Psychotic Rant Is Way Too Much
More than half of episode 11 was spent on portraying how unhinged Amo can be. Hana Kanazawa, Amo’s voice actress, brought the character to life and made the repetitive sentences seem truly terrifying. Yet, the episode remained lacklustre. Seeing Amo bounce from encouraging others to talk to punishing them for the slightest misstep became boring too soon.
The bored faces of the Cleaners’ crew were amusing indeed since they truly embodied what some of the audience were feeling at the time while watching Amo’s tirade. The pacing fell apart the moment that the Cleaners decided to indulge Amo’s delusions without actually doing anything.
On the other hand, Rudo’s trauma got triggered by Amo’s boots, and he became influenced by her tactics. It’s easy to feel bad for him, but it has been way too many episodes for the protagonist to still be babbling about the girl who betrayed him.
What did you think about episode 11 of Gachiakuta? Do you think it was one of the more disappointing episodes? Or did you like its pace and events? Let us know in the comments below.
Gachiakuta anime is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.
