The last of my sleepers for Winter 2024 is the best of them. Bucchigiri?! was worth the wait. It’s old-school and retro in all the ways it’s good to be and none of the bad, a thoroughly entertaining romp through 22 minutes of madcap humor and outrageous visuals. There are no big seiyuu in this cast and they’re not missed – the voices are fresh and that makes the material feel fresh too. It’s easy to get caught up in it without being drawn into the personas of the actors.
The reason Bucchigiri was on the sleeper list was the staff. Principally Kishimoto Taku (for the millionth time, the writer is the most important player for an original series), whose resume includes stuff like 91 Days. But also names like director Utsumi Hiroko and animator Kagami Takahiro, industry stalwarts with experience at places like Bones and Kyoto Animation. I have a theory that the best MAPPA works are the ones without the big commercial pedigree – stuff like Dance Dance Danseur and Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi. The stuff those tentpole productions pay for – almost as if they’re the series the studio lets the creators get on with and doesn’t meddle because it’s not worth their attention.
Bucchigiri has all the earmarks of one of those shows. It comes off as kind of Gainax-y – not as much as Idaten but then it lacks the direct Gainax links that one had. I think these sorts of throwback anime gravitate towards the Gainax vibe because it’s so closely identified with that sort of “real anime”. The look is classic 2000s and so is the comic style, which may or may not be your thing. The basic premise here is a seemingly meek kid named Tomoshibi Araji (Okawa Genki) arriving at a new school (this may be Yokohama, I’m not sure). It’s the sort of delinquent paradise anime loves which probably doesn’t exist in real Japan, a battleground between two warring gang factions.
Araji has no interest in any of this – he just wants to get laid. And he immediately sets his sights on Mahoro Jin (actual teenager Nagase Anna). She’s a cutie patootie and is immediately super friendly to Araji (who dreams of their names merging into Jin Araji), but unfortunately she’s just leading him on to make her brother Marito (Sasaki Nozomu) jealous as she’s apparently a total brocon. Unfortunately for Araji Marito is the leader of one of the gangs to boot. The leader of the other one is apparently Asamine Matakara (Hoshino Yuusuke). He happens to be a childhood friend of Araji, who lived in this town until five years earlier, though Arajin is not at all glad to see him again.
The supporting cast is full of amusing oddballs. Araji’s mom runs a Chinese restaurant and seems to be rooting harding for Araji to climb the steps to adulthood than he is. His teacher frequents the sort of club teachers shouldn’t frequent. One of Asamine’s two lackeys seems to be wearing a kilt, and the two of them take an unhealthy interest in getting Araji into trouble (perhaps jealous of his obvious admiration for him). That leads to Araji getting pantsed and chased to a local shrine by gang members whose arcade turf they lure him into, where he shoots an old gun he finds and winds up summoning a genie named Senya (Kobatake Masafumi). Araji’s (“Arajin” is the Romanization of Aladdin, BTW) wish, unsurprisingly, is “I want to lose my virginity”.
There’s some jibber-jabber about the legend of the “Honki people“, which Senya is obviously tied in with and as far as I know is completely made up by Kishimoto. Araji is more than meets the eye, clearly – Matakara’s attitude alone suggests that – but his persona is very winning just the same. This is all very madcap and outrageous but it totally works for me. It replicates the experience of watching anime 20 years ago in a way only people who were actually making anime then could pull off. It never makes sense to commit to an original series after one episode, but Kishimoto being the writer instills confidence that Bucchigiri will have staying power. I hope so, because this was the best premiere of the season outside the big three.
animealex
January 14, 2024 at 6:10 pmI mean, it was clear, that the girl was up to no good, but I didn’t expect her to be a brocon and delighting in seeing boys getting beat up by her big brother. She seems nice…
I think I will watch this. The comedy is on point and Araji gotta have to be something more to him, than just wishing to get laid. Oh well, the way it’s going in the first episode, that wish will backfire spectacularly and I’m here for it.
Guardian Enzo
January 14, 2024 at 7:13 pmUnfortunately staff are already bemoaning on twitter that the production is in disarray. MAPPA effect kicking in before the premiere even aired.
animealex
January 14, 2024 at 10:06 pmYeah, heard that too. I wish it wasn’t made by MAPPA, but it is, what it is.
Sander
January 14, 2024 at 11:17 pmIt’s indeed Yokohama. The park where Araji and Mahoro have their “date” is Yamashita Park. Which is close to Chinatown, so that also makes sense. The shrine however is on a made-up extension of Oshanbashi Pier, and I assume the school is just as fictional as the many domes shown in some skyline shots.
But very much enjoyed this one, certainly one of the best premieres of this season!
Brian Guy
January 15, 2024 at 5:09 amWhile this all sounds like a more “realistic” Rokudou no Onna-tachi, I’m willing to give it a look based on the recommendation.
Nicc
January 15, 2024 at 9:08 amI first confused this show with another one because the name sounded so familiar. Ah, that was “Bucchigire!” from 2022, a different show altogether.
This is a late arrival in the season, but fashionably so. Indeed, it’s got a retro feel and I liked the Middle Eastern elements in the setting. So, yep, we’ve got Tomoshibi Araji transferring to a school full of delinquents. He used to the from that city until moving out and it looks his family moved back in again. We get introduced to a colorful cast of delinquents quickly with one of them being Asamine Matakara, a childhood friend of his back when Araji still lived there. I kept expecting Freddie and Mechazawa to show up, but then I remembered that I was watching a different series.
So, there are two rival factions at the school vying for control, but Araji isn’t interested in getting mixed up in that. He’s looking to get a girlfriend and there just so happens to be a cute girl in the class. It’s love at first sight as he meets Mahoro Jin and she seems to like him too. As for Araji’s home life, he lives with his mom and helps to run mom’s restaurant. He’s a skilled cook, at the very least. She’s happy that Araji is going on a date with a girl, but she’s not quite what she seems.
Before the date happens, he does indeed get set up by two of Asamine’s lackeys and he gets chased down by a gang from a different school. After a long chase, he decides to hole up in an old shrine and as a last resort fires an old gun. It’s enough to get the ruffians to leave, but it looks like he summoned a genie, Senya. What is thy wish to be granted? Yep, losing his V-card.
Later, the date with Mahoro seems to be going well until she leads to her big brother, Marito, who happens to be the leader one of the factions. She’s brocon and Araji is about to be one of the long line of victims that she has brought to Marito to beat up. That’s when Araji decides to make his wish to Senya as he’s not about to die a virgin. The powerup that he receives from Senya does appear to have something to do with the “Honki people” that was mentioned in the prologue. That was a pretty fun episode and I’ll be on board for at least next week.
Guardian Enzo
January 15, 2024 at 9:10 amHeh. I made that very same mistake (downloaded the wrong episode).
Fortunately this one was much better.
Faceless Grunt
February 4, 2024 at 8:40 amStarted watching this because you are blogging it. This show is … something else. It has more attitude then all candidates from an America’s Next Top Model season combined, and seemingly little reason for its setting (as of now). (I really do not get the arab theme yet)
But whatever, I’m down for this! I was not around 20 years ago to watch outrageous anime. But if they all had such vigor, feel free to recommend me some more
Guardian Enzo
February 4, 2024 at 8:55 amI still have some uncertainties with it but it’s a piece of work for sure. Hoping Kishimoto has a big plan in mind.