Crunchyroll’s new hit Gachiakuta is doing more than dominating its viewership charts, thanks to the introduction of its fascinating protagonist, Rudo Surebrec. The character’s deeply-wounded psyche has been through plenty even before being dropped to the Ground world, and the anime’s English dub star weighs in on how it affects his portrayal.
Speaking in an interview with Screen Rant at Anime Pasadena 2025, Bryson Baugus detailed his experiences playing Rudo, up to and including when the character is lost in his rage. Surprisingly, the Gachiakuta character is powerfully resonant in how he expresses dissatisfaction with the world’s dire circumstances. In fact, Baugus sees it as downright therapeutic to embody Rudo.
Gachiakuta’s Rudo Shows the Power of Releasing Your Emotions
While early episodes of Gachiakuta certainly could have indicated a darker path of vengeance for Rudo, furious at his persistent outsider position in society, later installments have shown nuance to his stance. Rudo wants to change the world, and merely sees a broken system in front of him which enrages him. As Gachiakuta progresses, so too do Rudo’s coping mechanisms.
Speaking on his experiences so far portraying Rudo, Bryson Baugus spoke to Screen Rant and how it reflects a different part of himself he doesn’t normally get to show.
“I feel like it taps into a side of myself that I don’t really let show very often. I’m generally a very cordial person. I try to be very nice. If I’m feeling any sort of resentment, I have more of a tendency to hide that in myself.
And I feel like Rudo has been a really good therapeutic outlet for things that I may be feeling deep within myself about certain things and people that may have done me wrong in the past or just different things like that.”
-Bryson Baugus
Baugus speaks to the genuine difficulty one can have in maintaining social decorum in the face of injustice either on a personal or societal level. Rudo hardly presents an appropriate solution, but his portrayal is certainly a strong outlet. However, as Rudo is able to lean more on his found family, the Cleaners, he soon finds a way to channel his anger positively.
Rudo is, due to a background of abuse leaving heavy scarring on his hands, while he was eventually abandoned by his parents. He had difficulty communicating with others and cultivating a positive outward image of himself, with difficulty even smiling. Being subsequently framed for Regto’s murder in the series premiere, before being cast from his home, is obviously traumatizing.
Rudo wouldn’t instantly readjust once he landed on the Ground, and wouldn’t be immediately won over by the power of friendship for quite some time. His rage, unable to be put into words, led to him laying down a thrashing on Amo Empool in Gachiakuta episode #12, and was a thoroughly poor decision. But through communication, Rudo finds his path.
Solo Leveling Could Never Drop Such a Poignant Anime Quote
The charm of Gachiakuta is in how novel it feels while still channeling classic 2000s-era anime vibes, particularly of Naruto’s tinges of amiable maladjustment. Solo Leveling isn’t made to communicate such emotions, and many of the top anime of the era tackle different themes. But Gachiakuta just encapsulated Rudo’s oddly lovable blend of rebellion.
Separated from the Cleaners in the Trash Storm Arc, Rudo lets loose of how he has processed recent events. Just before being dropped off the Sphere, he vowed bloody vengeance against those who wronged him; however, this came from a nihilistic place as he was thoroughly abandoned by society. In this one Gachiakuta monologue, it’s clear his perspective has changed.
“Trash, humans…none of it is ‘waste’. Meeting you isn’t a waste either. It let me realize what I have that you don’t, Zodyl— a team that held their hands out to me. I was nobody to them— a garbage kid with nothing but anger to his name and they gave me a home. Even though, as a Sphereite, I brought danger to their door, they didn’t treat me like a nuisance either. They treated me like me! The only people besides Regto, on the Sphere or the Ground, who ever saw me as me…were them! My revenge, my anger…I’ll never forget either of them. But…it’s not enough for me anymore! If you want to know what I’m getting at…I wanna live with them, have fun with them, and happily get my revenge! You piece of sh-t!”
-Rudo Surebrec, Gachiakuta Episode #20
It’s here that Rudo can’t carry out the same extremes he felt through his rage. It’s unlikely that, upon reaching the Sphere, he’d be inclined now to commit a massacre, as it’d alienate him from his Cleaner teammates. His revenge is more likely in how he’ll break down society’s barriers in how it treats different classes of people.
Rudo admires the acceptance that has been offered to him. Rudo is progressively winning over Zanka as an ally. Riyo has seen Rudo’s scars and what he has to do to maintain them. Enjin acts like an older brother to him. There are now far more people accepting him for who he is, gluttonous and obsessed with sweets, than what he had before.
This acceptance, and how Rudo embraces it, feeling a sense of purpose from it, makes for a powerful, important quote in the current anime season. Gachiakuta is still too young to be appraised too greatly, but moments like these create a strong impression for a layered, broken protagonist who is putting himself together, just like the refuse he so caringly repairs.
- Release Date
-
July 6, 2025
- Network
-
TBS, MBS, CBC, Tulip Television, BSN, tys, NBC, HBC, RKK, i-Television, SBS, IBC, BSS, MRO, OBS, TUF, RSK, TUY, tbc, RKB, SBC, KUTV, RBC, UTY, RCC, MRT, atv, MBC
- Directors
-
Satoshi Nakagawa
-
Aoi Ichikawa
Rudo (voice)
-
Katsuyuki Konishi
Enjin (voice)
