One Great Panel: Gachiakuta, Part 2

The chain is figurative.

Volume 6 of Gachiakuta introduced something I didn’t see coming. It created a brand new way this series could go that would change everything. It probably won’t go that way, but if it did… just craziness.

Also, not for nothing, Gachiakuta could have had about 20 One Great Panels at this point because Kei Urana’s art is so good, but I’ve tried to restrain myself to only going all in on the panels that rise above the stunning collection from this series.

The one we’re looking at today has major story implications, and while the imagery may seem heavy-handed, I’m still an advocate for it. Let’s get to it.

This is from Volume 6, page 178

Context: Rudo, the scared looking one at the bottom of the panel, was born and raised in the Sphere, a world of rich people. When his pseudo-father is killed and he gets the blame, they condemn him to death, throw him off the Sphere, and he ends up in this garbage world under the Sphere. His goal—get back to the Sphere. But here, he meets the leader of the “bad guys” who gives him a new option—destroy the Sphere. Rudo pushes back against the idea, but then this panel opens something new.

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Okay, let’s start with the story implications. As mentioned, this whole time, Rudo has been on a singular directive. When he and the Cleaners end up face to face with the Raiders, Rudo is fuming. He hates them. Wants to crush their heads and stuff. Here, he’s seen with the leader of the raiders, Zodyl Typhon.

The entire conversation, Rudo has been business as usual. But then Typhon hits him with the idea—destroy the sphere with me (that moment was also a candidate for a One Great Panel). That concept sent me into a tizzy, but I covered that in a different piece.

Surprisingly, at least to me, Rudo doesn’t respond at all to that idea. He’s still fuming.

But then this panel happens and all of a sudden, it occurred to me. Rudo has been hung up on this idea. This conversation, about what it would be like to destroy the Sphere, is what’s holding him captive. Why? Because subconsciously, he is drawn to the idea. Maybe he isn’t sold on it, but he’s not totally against it either. He thinks he should be, but he isn’t.

And about that imagery—yes, it is a tad obvious, but Gachiakuta is not one for such figurative imagery, so I actually think, when you’ve gone through the series and come to this moment, it's impact is quite effective because of that sparseness.

Not just that, but the blocking is super strong too. Rudo—who, to be fair, is quite short—cowering in the shadow of Typhon despite fuming at him.

But that’s the thing—they aren’t this physically close during the confrontation. This is just how Rudo’s subconscious feels. What’s so important in this blocking is that it makes Rudo feel like he’s being bullied into thinking this isn’t such a bad idea. At least that’s what Rudo wants to believe, because surely a hero like him shouldn’t be thinking about destroying the entire world of richie-rich folks. Surely.

I always mention how much I enjoy panels that effectively convey feeling through imagery. Wind Breaker does it incredibly well. I never thought Gachiakuta would manage something similar, but here they did just that.

Previously on MangaCraft!