Thinking… Senya’s Pin(???) Is In Arajin’s Head Yet Both Arajin And Senya Are More Emotional…

the episode was interesting story-wise as always (aside from arajin having one extra cringe hetero moment not related to mahoro) it fell a bit short for me. maybe because it felt less crazy than the last two eps. Don’t get me wrong, it looked good as always, by no means disappointing- just between shots and the way the story plays out feels more… choppy?? something feels a bit off. I can’t explain it. If there’s something happening behind the scenes I hope gets remedied because I don’t want the production/story to go downhill because it has so much potential

On the positives: we get to see mahoro being an evil girlboss this episode, siguma squad and more delinquent gang lore seeing how differently each gang operates. the welcoming party you can tell they’re all having fun even tho they’re beating each other up

theories/questions for future episodes: does that mean if arajin is going to become marito’s successor will he fight matakara??? or will matakara fight marito or mahoro? it’d be interesting to see mahoro fight someone because she’s clearly capable of force and manipulation in other ways (slaps arajin, screams like a siren to get matakara to go away) Now that he knows the reason why arajin joined siguma I wonder how willing matakara is to fight for him/get him back.

I also wonder how the NG boys will play into the next/future ep. next episode is probably about the war between the gangs because that’s where the episode left off.

I think I like the more subtle acting in this show. Like right here I think Arajin is understanding that when he talked down about Honki people (as a result of his own trauma about events in the past), he was belittling the sentiment keeping Matakara afloat without his brother. Before this he had been too absorbed in his own imagined problems to think that Matakara was struggling with something himself.

MAHORO CHANNNN <333

literally shaking with excitement original aladdin theory is real can’t wait for everything to fall apart for arajin

thinking about the majority western vs japanese reactions of bl fans to bucchigiri wherein there was more of a focus on the concept of arajin's "redemption" on the western side while the japanese side focused more on something like mutual "reconciliation"

Questions Of Love In Bucchigiri!?

Hiroko Utsumi is no stranger to distilling homoeroticism into their works, but Bucchigiri!? is able to take it a step further as it intertwines with the hypermasculine idea of fighting and gangs. Because of that, Bucchigiri!? poses two questions to the definition of love and how people experience it.

"What is love versus lust?"

Truthfully, it's a rather simple question to answer (at least to someone outside of high school). The point being the depth of feeling. Lust is strong but shallow, while love moves much deeper.

And the second episode in particular expresses this very strongly through the two gang leaders, Marito and Ken.

They don't feel any way in particular about Arajin until they feel their punch. After that, like Marito says, they just can't forget about it. That's all they know about this kid, "his" punch. And that's all they want from him as well.

The point is to express superficial lust towards Arajin because of something they only experience one single time. They believe that they want the strength behind the person no matter what because of a single moment.

And it's a great comparison to make against Matakara's feelings for Arajin.

Matakara doesn't need to feel "Arajin's" strength to know how he feels about him. On the contrary, he only ever needed to fight (really train) beside him to come to understand that emotion. Even more than that is Matakara's understanding of Arajin outside of fights, and he focuses in specifically on Arajin's passivity and carefulness.

Because of that, you can begin to draw the conclusion that "Lust" is represented by actions involving violence and action, while "Love" stems more from passivity and aversion in this context. Which I think is really really great. It's sort a sort of symbolic explanation of the whole point of violence being boorish and shallow while other communication is deeper and more valuable.

"How much is love worth if they don't love you for who you are?"

Super easy example here with this one. Just look at the Love Forever stone Arajin gives Mahoro vs the friendship one that he gave Matakara.

The whole point is that Arajin's love in the hands of someone who doesn't love him isn't valuable at all, nor is it valuable in the hands of someone that doesn't love him for who he is.

Marito and Ken can only feel something for Arajin because of the strength channeled through him by Senya. It's something entirely foreign to Arajin as a person, and represents both how shallow the gang leaders are, but also how shallow Arajin is.

Loving yourself is something that's tricky to do, and obviously especially so for high school kids. I think it's well understood at this point that Arajin struggles to love himself in a meaningful way, and that's expressed by his willingness to take on Senya.

Case and point being that he intentionally used Senya's strength to try and make himself look good in front of Mahoro, and in the same way used it against Ken to the same effect.

He's afraid of being and accepting himself, so he's allowed something else to speak for him. And while that catches the eye of many, including Matakara, Arajin himself already knows that it's nothing more than a farce to save face.

It's just... really great work in terms of narrative as it bundles so many different aspects of love together to create this complicated web that all stems from Arajin's inability to love himself. Matakara loves the current Arajin, but that Arajin is unable to face himself so he runs from the reflection that Matakara offers and buries himself in lust and unrequited romance.

And that all just comes from high school kids duking it out for fun alongside mystical fighting people that can merge with humans.

It's definitely a step up the symbolic ladder in comparison to Sk8 The Infinity, but I think it's allowed Utsumi to express much more in terms of romance through implicit narratives.

These first two episodes have been incredible, and I'm loving every moment and want to share every bit, but the overall production effort Mappa's been putting in leaves me in an awkward spot for sharing stuff like this.

I really love to, and I want to celebrate the efforts of the staff behind the series, but Mappa rains on that parade with its terrible scheduling and work ethic. The credits are a veritable mess that make episodes like this an incredible feat. And I'll celebrate that and share what I want to, but I do also want to call out Mappa for their terrible work as a studio.

everybody watch this show

My theory on how the next arc on BUCCHIGIRI?! would go down

Ok so since it was announced that next week’s episode would be postponed on the 2nd March (thankfully it seems like MAPPA is giving the animators and writers a break), I’m going to brainstorm on how it would go:

- Arajin slowly but surely is developing back into his old self but with much more confidence and vigour.

- Mitsukuni returning and there would be a reunion between the Asamine brothers.

- We have a limelight episode on the lesser known characters such as Jabashiri and Hagure.

- Zabu and Komao will get more focus in the next arc and probably have backstories.

- Mahoro, out of nowhere, asked Marito to train her. Marito would be hesitant at first because of the danger his sister would face but after some convincing from Outa, Marito would take up the offer but warns his sister that he won’t go easy on her.

- (Continued from above) Of course while this could be a front where Mahoro wants to be closer to her brother, she actually wants to be on his level and be just as strong as him (which would of course means that she would have a character arc)

- Arajin and Matakara rebuilding their friendship and having some ship subtext lol.

- New antagonist would be a corrupt political figure.

- Akutaro somehow returns and is now serving under the new antagonist to exact his revenge on Minato Kai, Siguma Squad and Arajin for foiling his plans.

Something I find fascinating is the way Matakara just refuses to take off his rose colored glasses when it comes to Arajin. Matakara is a kind, sincere and thoughtful guy, ready to fight injustice, so you would think he would not stand someone with a personality like Arajin. But that's not what's happening here. He always talks about the "super cool and kind and strong Ara-chan" even though this description could not be more removed from reality. Even as "Matakara's childhood friend", Arajin didn't have the strength to defend his opinions or protect Matakara (and the bullies make fun of him for that!)

I wonder what Matakara is seeing in Arajin, that we, the viewers aren't seeing yet