10 best anime to watch if you like Gachiakuta

The dark fantasy anime Gachiakuta has generated substantial hype among genre fans since its release. With its gritty dystopian setting, dynamic action sequences, and socially conscious narrative, it promises to deliver a viscerally intense viewing experience.

The story follows Rudo, a wrongly accused youth who gets cast into a deathly pit of monstrous creatures. He joins a rebel group named the Cleaners and wields a cherished item turned into a powerful Vital Weapon. Now Rudo battles the corrupt forces that condemned him while trying to survive the pit's horrors.

It touches on provocative themes like social injustice, finding value in outcasts, and overturning systemic exploitation. If this premise has the viewers hooked, here are 10 more phenomenal anime that capture Gachiakuta's essence. These series deliver dark stories, intense action, and immersive, high-stakes worlds.

10 must-watch anime for fans of Gachiakuta

1) Dorohedoro

In the mystical, perilous Hole where magic and mayhem collide, Dorohedoro chronicles an amnesiac's quest to restore his identity and get revenge on his would-be killer. Equal parts gritty and absurd, it packs plenty of societal commentary between all the viciously entertaining action.

The show centers on Kaiman, a man with a reptilian head and no memories, as he rampages through the crime-ridden city alongside his magical partner, Nikaido.

Guttural, unhinged, yet harboring his own moral code, Kaiman makes for an immediately engaging lead akin to Rudo. And Dorohedoro's ever-expanding magical system proves wondrously chaotic, echoing Gachiakuta's emotionally-fueled Vital Weapons.

2) Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man, created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, brings a similarly irreverent flair to its gritty shonen universe. It chronicles a young man's pact with his devil companion, Chainsaw, who grants him uncanny abilities and embroils him in apocalyptic battles.

After his father's death leaves him with crushing debt, kind yet downtrodden Denji merges with his dog-like devil companion Pochita to become the Chainsaw Man, a hybrid working for the morally complex Public Safety Devil Hunters.

Denji echoes protagonist Rudo as another unfortunate youth shouldering immense power for a higher cause, realizing his self-worth and place in the world.

3) Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan (Image via Wit Studio / MAPPA)

The global smash hit Attack on Titan delivers large-scale battles against society-ending giants, together with layered ideological debates that mirror Gachiakuta's narrative ambition. The plot unfolds in concentric mysteries as iconic characters erode assumptions about good and evil.

Eren Yeager's high-speed aerial fight scenes using maneuver gear against grotesque Titans unfurl with operatic grandeur. The show's steampunk universe, military conspiracies, ideological complexity, and themes of cycles of violence should resonate with Gachiakuta fans.

While Gachiakuta's world pits the wealthy against the impoverished, Attack on Titan explores the conflict between humans living under the constant threat of the towering Titans.

4) Deadman Wonderland

For another survival-driven plot with heavy societal commentary, try Deadman Wonderland.

It centers on Ganta Igarashi, a student framed for mass murder who gets thrown into the infamous prison theme park Deadman Wonderland. There, he and other Deadmen battle for their lives while uncovering the park's many inhumane experiments.

Like Gachiakuta's Pit, Deadman Wonderland operates as an allegory for how the powerful abuse the powerless. Ganta and Rudo are also everyman forced to toughen up quickly, wielding their own blood and souls as weapons. Symphonic scores and stylized fights hammer home the show's emotional weight.

5) Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen infuses Japanese occult mythology into a contemporary setting, chronicling exorcist sorcerers battling dangerous Curses unleashed into the human world. Young protagonist Yuji joins the fight after eating a demonic finger, echoing Gachiakuta's emotional resonance-based powers.

Yuji impressively anchors the show with his compassion and courage in the face of apocalyptic stakes. The mentors supporting him also share compelling backstories that reinforce larger themes. Furthermore, spectacularly animated Curse battles incorporate ingenious strategies mirroring the tactical nature of Vital Weapons.

6) Akudama Drive

Akudama Drive (Image via Studio Pierrot)

For more cyberpunk dystopia akin to Gachiakuta's elevated, class-divided cities, look no further than Akudama Drive.

Set in war-torn Kansai, the plot sees seven super-skilled criminals hired to steal a mysterious item from Kanto's impenetrable vault. Like Gachiakuta's tribesfolk, the Akudama outcasts are branded enemies of society, fighting against the totalitarian establishment.

Both shows employ a bold visual style using stark color palettes to reinforce their grim settings. From prison breaks to heists and pursuing justice above the law, Akudama Drive checks all the boxes.

7) Blame!

Blame! unfolds thousands of years in the future within a colossal "City" endlessly expanding by AI systems.

The wanderer protagonist Killy traverses this treacherous mechanical metropolis in search of humans with the "net terminal gene" that could stabilize the City. Gritty cyberpunk combined with a sprawling, lived-in setting immediately evokes Gachiakuta's worldbuilding.

Blame! also emphasizes survival against a hostile, Kafkaesque environment where one wrong step means death. Viewers who crave more sci-fi dystopia full of strange biopunk beasts and rusty future tech, don't miss this classic.

8) Fire Force

Fire Force lights up the screen with dazzling fire effects centering on Special Fire Force Company 8. They exterminate deadly spontaneous human combustions while investigating a conspiracy linked to the Infernal outbreak devastating Tokyo.

Like Gachiakuta's Vital Weapons, powers in Fire Force manifest through conviction, belief, and inner resolve. The shows share stylishly slick action scenes and emotional gut-punches as characters cope with tragedy.

Underlying social issues like corruption and discrimination reinforce each anime's darker edge.

9) Ergo Proxy

For more philosophical, avant-garde sci-fi, Ergo Proxy checks the boxes. The show is set in a post-apocalyptic domed city following investigator Re-l Mayer as she becomes drawn into the mystery of the Proxies after being attacked by mysterious creatures.

Like Gachiakuta, Ergo Proxy interrogates ideas of class divide and social unrest in an isolated metropolis ravaged by disease. It also employs a stark digital aesthetic while exploring weighty themes of identity and humanity's self-destructive qualities mirrored in the Trash Beasts.

10) Made in Abyss

At first, Made in Abyss seems far removed from Gachiakuta's dystopian universe. But at its core, both shows center on descending into monster-filled environments that test human limits.

Made in Abyss chronicles two kids, Riko and Reg, diving into the eponymous chasm housing forgotten relics and alien creatures. The Abyss functions as an intriguing archaeological frontier, its various layers harboring lost treasures and civilizations contrasting sharply with lethal beasts.

As Riko and Reg bond through shared adversity, their journey parallels Rudo's surviving the Pit with help from the Cleaners. Additionally, gorgeous art depicting the Abyss' alien vistas underlines a sense of transcendent adventure.

Conclusion

With its fresh dark fantasy setting and emotional depth, Gachiakuta should appeal to viewers craving intense, socially conscious anime. These 10 series all offer similar shades of provocative dystopian ideas or high-stakes supernatural combat filtered through a gritty, graffiti-tinged lens.

So check out these engrossing shows while watching Gachiakuta's hard-hitting two-cour run in summer 2025.