"A Honki Person is one who searches for a heart that does not flee. In the Age of Samurai, there were those who threw down their swords and helmets. They elected to do battle while adorned in nothing more than Honki. These people were entirely devoted to reaching their peak potential and their combat arts. Those individuals were known as the Honki People!"
— Narrator
Bucchigiri?! is a fantasy anime, part of the 2024 Winter season lineup. The anime is headed by Hiroko Utsumi (director of Free!, Banana Fish, and Sk8 the Infinity) and is being made by Studio MAPPA.
Arajin Tomoshibi is a down on his luck boy who just came back to his hometown. After meeting his childhood friend again, Arajin ends up involved in the common gang wars of the town when he accidentally releases Senya, a long imprisoned spirit from a shrine, who now accompanies him, and swears to help him lose his virginity.
Tropes in this series include:
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: In-universe example. The NG Boys have to pay Akutaro a large weekly quota. It gets so bad that they are forced to intrude into other delinquents' turfs just to scrape by enough money.
- Ambiguous Situation: The climax of Episode 11 involves Kenichirou losing to Matakara during their duel. Did Kenichirou lose because Matakara was stronger than him? Or was Kenichirou holding back to honor his promise to Mitsukuni?
- "Arabian Nights" Days: The ending song features the teen cast in a Middle Eastern kingdom and decked out in colorful outfits fit for the new world.
- Battle Strip:
- Downplayed Trope. Arajin's arm usually undergoes a Temporary Bulk Change due to Senya's possession, thus destroying his sleeve in the process.
- Kenichirou and Mahiro do this just before they initiate their ultimate war.
- A Boy and His X: A boy and his boisterous genie.
- Been There, Shaped History: Simultaneously Defied and Parodied. Whenever Senya hears of some great warrior from the past, he comically laments being unable to get a chance to fight them.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Subverted. The opening intro portrays Marito, Kenichirou and Akutaro (the three gang leaders) as antagonists that Arajin will have to face. In truth, the only villains among the show is Akutaro along with Ichiya the Blue Genie.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni:
- Arajin and Matakara. Arajin is the red shirt wearing hot head driven by his instincts to lose his virginity; Matakara is a fighter, but otherwise gentle and cool-headed guy with a blue shirt and armband.
- The two Honki people (i.e. Genies) Seiya and Ichiya are set up to be a more literal example. Seiya is the boisterous red oni to Ichiya's cold, calculated blue oni.
- Book Ends: The final episode features several parallels to the first episode.
- Arajin is preparing a cool image for himself in the mirror only to yell at his mom for making gyoza for breakfast.
- The two bozos who were hanging out in the Honki Temple appear again during an interview to discuss the destruction of the temple.
- Arajin hits himself in the head with a magic revolver which leads to him meeting Senya. He reunites with the genie after flicking his metal piece which lands on his head again.
- Bound and Gagged:
- Two of Minato Kai's lackies are tied up and gagged to trees by the NG Boys. To add insult to injury, their bindings are made of fundoshis.
- This also happens to Matakara Asamine after he tries to confront the Emperor in his homebase.
- Breather Episode: Episode 7 is a silly Pro Wrestling Episode that's sandwiched between the resolution of the Minato Kai-Siguma Squad Gang War and Matakara learning about his brother having a critical incident, Arajin's cowardice and being forced to meet Ichiya.
- But Now I Must Go: After clearing up their misunderstandings along with Senya providing a worthy fight, Ichiya is able to let go of his grudge and move on with his life. Senya almost follows him but ends up being reunited with Arajin in the finale's last scene.
- Butt-Monkey: Aside of Seiya, Matakara and Arajin's own mother, just about everyone wishes to harm Arajin in some way. Oh, and he gets shot in the head. In the first episode. Zig-Zagged in the next episode, where he ends up with the exact opposite problem, but there are still several characters left who still have ill will against him.
- Zabu, upon sensing Senya for the first time, slowly starts descending into this territory.
- Central Theme: One of the show's primary themes is unrequited idolization and it's negative consequences.
- You have Arajin who idolizes Mahoro as the perfect girlfriend while ignoring all the red flags surrounding her background.
- Matakara idolizing Arajin as a cool and admirable Honki Person even though he's just a shameless coward.
- Mahoro idolizing her older brother Marito to the point of invading his personal space and ogling him while shirtless.
- The same also applies to Zabu wanting to be seen as Matakara's best friend even though his attention is towards Arajin.
- Akutaro once admiring Kenichirou only now he wants to destroy him after he "dismissed" him.
- And lastly there's Senya looking up to his life-long friend Ichiya and trying to take over Arajin's body so he can meet with Ichiya again.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- As Zabu demonstrated, anyone who touches Arajin's metal piercing can see Senya. Matakara is convinced by Akutaro to touch the piercing which is how he learns of Senya's existence and the reason for Arajin's power.
- Arajin's friendship stone is used to free Matakara from his inner darkness in the last episode.
- Chromosome Casting: Following the trend of it's sister shows, Bucchigiri has a predominantly male cast with there being only two prominent but secondary female characters (Mahoro and Arajin's mom).
- Color Motifs:
- Yellow for the Siguma Squad.
- Blue for the Minato Kai.
- Grey for the NG Boys.
- Crapsack World: Honki City, particularly involving the youth, seem to be this. Many teen boys would rather be affiliated in a delinquent gang and spend their time fighting each other or maintaining their gang's political power rather than doing anything productive or non-violent. There appears to be no proactive authority figures (regarding family members, teachers or police) to set the kids straight or keep them from hurting one another. And the teen delinquents don't even have any future goals that go beyond their current gang life. Such is the case with Kenichirou Doman who is quite content with being Minato Kai's leader despite being held back three grades now. Episode 7 also implies that police corruption is an ongoing problem as a Dirty Cop forced some Minato Kai members to sell drugs for him.
- Crater Power: The anime opening indicates the lake in the setting is actually a crater caused by the fight between two past warriors.
- Creator Thumbprint: This is the third series directed by Utsumi with a Cast Full of Pretty Boys. It also brings the very bright color palette used in those other anime as well.
- Darker and Edgier: The series from Episode 8 onwards is noticeably more mature and lacks the same comedic elements featured in the previous episodes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- During the power up sequence, Arajin shouts that he wants to lose his virginity which leads to Senya appearing behind him. The way Senya appears comes off as a burst of blood streaming from Arajin's nose.
- While cornering a despair induced Matakara in the Honki Temple, Akutaro convinces him to use Ichiya's revolver to "help him" dispel the shadowy figures that have been haunting him. Were it not for the magical elements along with Akutaro's long-term revenge plan, this scene can come off as him manipulating Matakara into ending his suffering.
- Easily Forgiven: Happens multiple times in Episode 12.
- Both Minato Kai and Siguma Squad hold no hard feelings towards Mataraka once he apologizes for attacking everyone during his corruption arc.
- The NG Boys and Girls are willing to accept Akutaro back into the gang despite their vocal disdain for him.
- Even though the Customer stole Jasmine and lost her, the Receptionist holds no hard feelings and entices him with a new cat.
- Extremity Extremist: Matakara's fighting style focuses a lot on kicking and using his legs even to block incoming attacks. Marito is likewise preferring kicks as his main fighting style.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: The series takes major influence from Aladdin and other One Thousand and One Nights stories in the characters and setting:
- Arajin's name is a pun on how Aladdin is pronounced in Japanese. He even kicks off the plot by summoning a genie.
- Asamine is suspiciously similar sounding to Jasmine, the name of the Princess in the Disney adaptation. One of the employees of Nyan Nyaight Love is also outright called Jasmine.
- Zabu is a reference to Abu from the the Disney version, even being similarly characterized as mischievous and jealous.
- Seiya literally translates to one thousand, while Ichiya to one. Together, they are one thousand and one.
- Family Theme Naming:
- Marito and Mahoro both have their names start with Ma.
- Matakara and Mitsukuni both have names that start with M, along with a T and a K, in that order.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The anime setting is a big mix of elements from several Eastern Cultures. Food, culture, myth, and architecture come with influences from India, China, and Japan mainly. Add to that also some aesthetic influences from the Middle East.
- Fighting Your Friend:
- In Episode 9, Matakara tries to pick a fight against Arajin per Ichiya's influence. He makes it clear that he intends to fight him again once he become strong enough.
- In Episode 11, Matakara would go on to fight Zabu and Kenichirou despite their conflicting feelings on his change in personality.
- Final Solution: When Senya and Ichiya were human, the rulers of their land sought to wipe out all Honki People so they can wrap up their war and bring about peace.
- Foil: The show features three opposing delinquent gangs, each with a different motif.
- Siguma Squad, lead by Marito Jin. Other members include Outa, Jabashiri and Hagure. They have a subtle Psychopathic Manchild theme, being lead in a somewhat lackadaisical style and even having a Chocobo-esque mascot.
- Minato Kai, lead by Kenichiro is the squad that Asamine, Zabu and Komao belong to. Seemingly the most conventional gang, besides a few blatant allusions to the Yakuza.
- NG Boys, lead by Akutaro. Unlike the previous two, Akutaro is the only named member, while the rest act as The Dividual. Ironically, they have an oddly posh theme, including a standardized dress code and even hairstyle, juxtaposed with an affinity for suggestively restraining their victims with ropes.
- Hagure is subtly built as one to Arajin. Both of them end up in the Siguma Squad, but Arajin was specifically scouted by Marito whereas Hagure seems to be only in it to hang out with Jabashiri; both of them form a duo with a physically stronger friend (Jabashiri for Hagure, Asamine for Arajin); lastly both of them are hesitant to fight, except that Arajin has an escape hatch in the form of Senya, while Hagure is such a Nervous Wreck that he barely dares to even just eavesdrop on stronger adversaries before easily getting scared and fleeing once he is noticed. Even after they are more fleshed out in the later episodes, Hagure shows an ironically more brave disposition than Arajin, despite lacking the power of a Honki genie.
- Foot Focus: The camera zooms in on Arajin, Senya, Asamine and the Blue Genie's feet in the opening theme.
- Foreshadowing:
- The last scene of the OP has Arajin preparing to punch the viewer while Senya flashes in his place. Senya's hidden goal was to take over Arajin's body the more they continued to fight.
- Despite seemingly having no fighting skills, Mahoro can attend class in a school full of male delinquents without any worry. This is because her brother is Marito Jin, the leader of one of the two delinquent groups vying for control over the school, meaning that approaching her is a very, very bad idea. Her placement in the poster right in front of Marito is another hint.
- In Akutaro's debut scene, his grunts notice that he seems to be talking to someone but can't tell with who is it. The very next episode Akutaro is revealed to have been bonded with the Blue Genie Ichiya.
- While writing to his brother about Arajin, Mataraka notices some shadowy figures in the corner of his room. In Episode 8, a flashback reveals that he's always seen them after visiting the Honki Temple. His brother even brings up that they target people with weak hearts. Which they do to Matakara when he's having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
- Frame-Up: In Episode 3, Outa is brutally beaten and is found unconscious in the bathroom with the only clue being a band from Minato Kai. While Sigma Squad believe their rivals to be responsible, Marito refuses to take action since using a cowardly, underhanded attack is something that Minato Kai would never do. Later on, it's revealed to be the doing of the NG Boys who are plotting to pit the two rival groups against each other so they can have complete dominance of the city.
- The Generation Gap: In the first episode, while familiarizing himself with the whole new world, Senya is annoyed at how today's youth are rather shallow and depressed.
- Grand Theft Me: Honki People have a hidden goal of possessing the people who summon them. Senya's insistence on improving his merge rate with Arajin is to possess him and Ichiya resolves to take over Mataraka's body to enact his revenge.
- Gray Rain of Depression: It's a rainy day when Matakara goes to pick his brother up at the train station. Which fits the tone when Matakara learns that his brother was shanked and now in a hospital.
- Held Back in School: Kenichiro was apparently held back three times.
- Hidden Depths: Despite of getting held back three times, Kenichiro has some impressive calligraphy skills.
- Honest John's Dealership: Nyan Nyaight Love has a kitty-ears wearing Pretty Boy as its receptionist who coaxes the clientele in a comically dubious manner.
- Hope Spot: Episode 8 features Matakara leaving to pick up his brother at the train station while his friends (and Arajin) set up a welcoming party at Arajin's family restaurant. But while waiting for his brother, Matakara is instead visited by a parole officer who explains that his brother was stabbed in a surprise fight and may not make it out alive.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Arajin's motivations all surround getting with Mahoro and losing his virginity.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each of the episodes are named after a Chinese themed meal.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Rare (anti-)heroic example. Arajin has a very, very bad aim... So bad that he ends up hitting himself.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side:
- Arajin is shown to be a good cook and has some skill in crafts, while at the same time lacking muscle mass and having virtually no fighting skills without Seiya's assistance.
- Komao is easy-going to the point of being bubbly, wears a skirt and has Girlish Pigtails.
- Invisible to Normals:
- Senya can't be seen by anyone but Arajin. However, touching Arajin's metal dot enables Zabu to sense Senya enough to hear his voice.
- Likewise, Akutaro seems to be the only person that can notice Ichiya but his minions can't see him.
- Inner City School: Ichizu High is a run-down and poorly managed school where it's delinquent gangs run the place and do anything they want. It's also made apparent that the homeroom teacher has no authority and teaches his lessons while everyone ignores him to do their own things.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: At the end of Episode 11, Arajin seeks out Senya so they can merge once more in order to stop his out-of-control friend Matakara.
- A Lighter Shade of Gray: Director Utsumi mentions that while the Minato Kai and Siguma Squads are portrayed as carefree thugs who enjoy beating each other up, she never intended for them to be flat out delinquents who went about hurting the innocents. This is done to make them more honorable compared to the NG Boys who fit that category.
- Locked into Strangeness: Played with. While Arajin's hair doesn't change after getting hit by the bullet that kickstarts the story, he now has a metal dot on his temple, which looks like a piercing and he hides it with his hair.
- Love at First Punch: Every time Arajin punches one of the gang leaders while powered up by Senya, they immediately develop a massive man-crush on him.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Everything about Episode 6. To start, Kenichirou and Marito go all out in attacking each other that it leaves them both bruised and unconscious. Then the NG Emperor challenges the banchos' subordinates and utterly destroys them in battle. And finally, the Emperor gets his butt handed to him when Arajin musters the courage to fight back which also boosts his merge rate with Senya, granting him the power to win.
- Once More, with Clarity: One of the first scenes of the anime show Matakara taking down another man and smiling ominously. The rest of the scene is played later, showing that the smile was not ominous at all, but in fact as friendly as it could've been.
- Our Genies Are Different: In this universe, genies are referred to as "Honki people" and Senya mentions that "Honki" has the same spelling as "Majin". He's still able to grant wishes for people but he and his kind have a rich history of fighting opponents to become stronger. And instead of a lamp, Senya resides in a tiny metal plate that gets stuck on Arajin's head. It's also revealed that both him and Ichiya started out as ordinary humans who eventurally turned into Honki People.
- Police Are Useless: The city clearly doesn't have the greatest police force given the rampant gang activity that takes place. Though they do seem to intervene on certain occasions, such as arresting Matakara's older brother by sending him to juvenile hall. Though in Episode 7, it's explained that the reason for his incarceration was because he beat up a Dirty Cop who was forcing his friends to sell drugs.
- Poor Communication Kills: Episode 11 explains the conflict between Senya and Ichiya. At some point in their training, Ichiya began to resent Senya believing that he was holding back against him out of mockery and openly demanded that he give him a genuine death match. While Senya did give it his all, he never considered going all out to the point of murder as he cherished Ichiya as a friend and didn't want to hurt him. Unfortunately, both of them are killed before they can clear things up with Ichiya vowing to hold onto his grudge for eternity, much to Senya's sorrow.
- Pro Wrestling Episode: Episode 7 features Minato Kai and Siguma Squad going to the beach together for fun times. And by fun times they mean pummeling each other in a wrestling arena while decked out in wrestling gear, much to Arajin's horror and Senya's excitement.
- The Rival:
- Kenichiro and Marito, the leaders of their respective gangs, constantly fight for control over the school.
- Asamine and Jabashiri form a very unfriendly rivalry. It gets so bad that their respective friends (Arajin and Hagure) become worried for their well-being.
- Senya apparently has an unequal rivalry with Ichiya.
- Running Gag:
- Marito eating kebab or recommending kebab to others.
- Arajin losing all his clothes, save for his underwear.
- The other delinquents showing discomfort or annoyance at Mahoro gushing over her older brother.
- Arajin running away to use the toilet whenever he's in the middle of a fight.
- Once per Episode, the indecisive costumer is torn between entering the Nyan Nyaight Love or not, only for the shenanigans of either Arajin or the delinquents making him enter in a panic and then sheepishly ask for Jasmine when the kitty-eared receptionist welcomes him.
- Shout-Out:
- A Loser Protagonist receives a Super Mode after being hit with a supernatural bullet in the first episode. Hmmm....
- In Episode 9, Akutaro covers himself with a hood and acts in a deranged manner reminiscent of Shigaraki Tomura.
- In one episode, Arajin has a brief Art Shift moment that makes him look like a Doraemon or Osomatsu-kun character.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: All of the characters are named, in some fashion, off of characters in the 1001 Nights (especially the various adaptations of The Genie in the Lamp). Senya and Ichiya in particular are, if you rearrange their names, the 1001 nights themselves (千夜, 1000 nights; 一夜, one night).
- Shown Their Work:
- The nods to Chinese culture in the anime aren't coincidental - it is a nod to the original version of Aladdin supposedly originating in China note , before the better known version was finalized somewhere in the Silk Road (possibly Turkmenistan) and later added to 1001 Nights collection in its Western translation.
- The story features two unequal rival genies from the start, a nod to the lesser known genie of the ring who assists the protagonist, but draws a line at directly going up against the (more powerful) genie of the lamp.
- The Smurfette Principle: Mahoro is the only prominent girl in the teen cast. It's made more apparent in the ending where she's the only girl dancing alongside the male cast.
- Status Quo Is God: Once Matakara is saved from his inner darkness, everything goes back to "normal". Minato Kai welcomes him with open arms and they're still on good terms with former rival group Siguma Squad. Arajin continues to pursue Mahoro with the hopes of using her to lose his virginity with zero progress. Mahoro continues to obsess over her brother and shows jealous hostility to anyone he shows interest in (in this case, Arajin's mom). Akutaro has been welcomed back into the NG Boys despite being despised by his former minions. The Receptionist of Nyan Nyaight Love convinces the Customer to come back to his establishment despite losing their most popular cat. And Senya ends up returning to Arajin despite supposedly moving on alongside Ichiya.
- Story Arc:
- Episodes 1-6 can be called the Gang War Arc as it focuses on the rivalry between Minato Kai and Siguma Squad.
- The second half of the season can be considered the Ichiya Rising Arc as the Blue Genie organizes his revenge using Matakara as his key pawn.
- They Just Dont Get It: Arajin refuses to back down on his pursuit for Mahoro, even when it's clear that she doesn't want to give him the time of day. Even Senya began to get tired of it.
- Title Drop: At the end of the first episode, Senya shouts out the series title, this apparently being an invocation of the spell by which he combines with Arajin.
- Toilet Humor: Whenever Arajin is preparing to do something big (like confessing to a girl or taking a punch) he gets the urge to use the bathroom and runs away like an 3-year old.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Arajin is a fairly self-important and rude guy to everyone but Mahoro, someone whom he's only interested to get sex from. It makes his status as Butt-Monkey pretty funny.
- Unwanted Harem: It looks like Arajin is getting one where he gains the unwanted and almost romantic attention of gang leaders Marito and Kenichiro.
- Walking Shirtless Scene:
- Senya is a huge guy who wears only pants.
- Ichiya is similarly muscular and wears a barely modified belly dancer outfit.
- In a flashback, it is revealed that both of them abstained from wearing shirts their whole life.
- Downplayed with Marito. He does wear a shirt, but very loosely, to the point that his left shoulder and part of his chest is constantly exposed. Also, he has a Shirtless Scene roughly every other episode.
- Almost everyone from Minato Kai and Siguma Squad spend most of episode 7 shirtless.
- Wham Shot: At the end of episode 4, Senya notices the Blue Genie Ichiya to be the one influencing Akutaro all along.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 6 concludes with Arajin finally defeating Akutaro, much to Seiya's shock. However, in the final shot of the scene Seiya gets yet another Traitor Shot affirming that Akutaro is mostly likely only a Disc-One Final Boss.
- Episode 8 features Arajin revealing to Matakara that his new strength came from Senya and how he abandoned him when he was beat up that fateful day. If that wasn't enough, Matakara is tricked into shooting himself with Ichiya's revolver, forcing him into his clutches.
- Workout Fanservice: Asamine gets a very detailed close-up to his muscular back while exercising.
