Set in a dystopian future in Kansai, the story follows a young woman who accidentally finds herself in a situation where she is forced to keep up the appearance of a Swindler to ensure she does not get killed by a group of Akudama, criminals who are pursued by the government.

Inspired by Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, Kodaka wrote the original draft of similar villains who acts as the protagonists.

Critical response to the series was positive based on the cyberpunk setting as well as the handling of the main cast, most notably the lead Swindler.

In a dystopian future where Kansai became a vassal state of Kantō, multiple highly skilled criminals, called Akudama, are sent a message from an anonymous client to free a death row prisoner named Cutthroat before they are executed.

Roped into the job are an ordinary girl arrested on a minor charge but forced to keep up the appearance of a Swindler, and a low-level Hoodlum who was accidentally broken out of jail during the initial heist.

The team must work together to finish the job and earn their large payday, all while keeping ahead of the Executioners from the Kansai Police on their tail.

The appeal of Reservoir Dogs led to the team to develop a unique cast with different features, all being referred by pseudonyms rather than personal names.

[12] In an interview a few days prior to the series premiere, Kodaka stated that once it was decided the main cast would be villains, their roles, appearances, personalities, and names were chosen.

The lighting was done by Saori Goda to generate a balance between the multiple colors while photography director Kazuhiro Yamada finished combining all their work.

For him, the biggest asset was having Tanioka as art director based on his idea that helped visualize the setting of Akudama Drive.

The opening and ending video sequences were created to give multiple ideas to the viewers in regards to what the series is about while also showing appealing music.

In order to make the narrative more thrilling, during recording of the series, the Executioners were given more ruthless lines and interactions than the Akudama, even though the latter are criminals.

[19] Yamauchi revised Swindler and Sister's design for the series' second half, giving them a more adult feel based on the video game Detroit: Become Human.

He felt it was an entertaining work as a result of interacting with other famous voice actors like Akio Ōtsuka (Master) and Shunsuke Takeuchi (Brawler).

[22] Megumi Ogata's voice acting was done to create a sexually appealing woman in contrast to her previous roles which included young males.

[25] The producer was concerned about the series promoting "evil" and came up with the idea of every character dying in a "cool" way similar to Reservoir Dogs.

[19] As Swindler goes from an accidental criminal, the narrative explores her acceptance of any dark actions she has to commit for her job which involves her decision to protect Brother and Sister even if she has to kill people.

[26][27] According to Kodaka, the series' main theme regarding the Executioners and their character arcs involve their concept of crime and justice, which is touched upon with Swindler's death.

Taguchi claims the director's cut scene further improves the narrative as it explores more of the chaotic city which Courier was trying to escape from to protect the children.

Funimation licensed the series outside of Asia and streamed it on its website in North America and the British Isles,[40] in Europe through Wakanim,[41] and in Australia and New Zealand through AnimeLab.

Lauren Orsini from Anime News Network and D. M. Moore from Polygon regarded Akudama Drive as their most anticipated series from Fall 2020.

[70] Although Anime Feminist was concerned about the apparent poor portrayal of female characters citing Doctor's skimpy appearance and Swindler's weak persona,[71] Richard Eisbens from Biggest In Japan found the latter intriguing due to how she interacts with the rest of the cast despite her codename giving her the idea of an ordinary person, leading to conspiracy whether or not there was something missing to reveal in the narrative especially based on the writing previously made by the series' staff.

[72] Based on the premise and cast, Syfy.com considered the series as a Suicide Squad-like story with elements of cyberpunk but in the form of a chaotic utopia as a result of how society is viewed.

[74][76] Her eventual confrontation with Cutthroat was also the subject of praise due to how Swindler has embraced her sins and murders one of the most dangerous characters in the series in a gruesome battle.

[26][27] The series finale was acclaimed by Anime News Network and The Fandom Post for the focus given on Swindler's actions to generate chaos in the society to the point the law is attacked as well as Courier's last job he was given by his ally to protect both Brother and Sister.

The writers also found deeper themes in Swindler's death scene which causes a cross shaped blood and the fact that the series aired in Christmas Eve implied more commentary.

[78] In a general review, Otaku USA praised the animation as it "is always spectacular and action choreography/camerawork always hyper-kinetic" but suggested its fans rely on home video to see the uncensored violent scenes which occur multiple times as he was surprised by the large number of deaths in the series.