Soooo Minnie Mouse Of Her

watched trolls band together and can I say this. floyd (troye sivan) has the exact voice i always imagined mitsukuni to have in the english dub. goodnight

it's interesting how despite her freakiness, mahoro isn't on the same level of delusional as arajin or matakara. arajin and matakara keep chasing the object of their affection (mahoro for arajin, arajin for matakara) to fuel their own coping mechanisms, and in the process they start to build up a version of them that only exists in their heads. meanwhile, mahoro fangirls over marito and chases after him, sure, but she knows that he won't listen to her and leaves when she knows he doesn't want her there. i think she's self-aware to an extent because mahoro knows what kind of person marito truly is. i hope next episode arajin finally realises that he and matakara are wearing the same hat and does something about it.

Bucchigiri Utena Parallel-The Greek Chorus

In many plays and stories, the Greek Chorus refers to a group of characters that either commentate on the main storyline or have their own subplot that parallels or foreshadows the main story that appears. It's rare when they actually interact with the main characters but their role is meant to emphasize the meanings and plot events that occur.

In Bucchigiri, we have Nyan Nyaight Love which is their version of the Shadow Play Girls from Revolutionary Girl Utena.

For those who aren't familiar with the Shadow Play Girls, they serve as an actual Greek Chorus in the Utena anime. Every episode, the girls put on a cryptic and bizarre play with a message that correlates to the ongoing events or conflicts that Utena, Anthy and the Student Council deal with throughout the series. Some are straight forward and easy to understand, others are straight up wackadoodle and have layers of meaning to comprehend. But each skit contains a hidden but vital message that relates to the main storyline in Utena.

While Nyan Nyaight Love may not be as complicated or bizarre as the Shadow Play Girls, they still do their part in paralleling the Bucchigiri storyline.

Episode 1: Introductions

The first episode features the customer contemplating whether he should go into NNL or if he should leave. It isn't until he sees Arajin being chased down the street by the NG Boys that he enters out of fear of being spotted.

The customer serves as a parallel to Arajin. He too is a wimpy, unappealing, jittery, hopeless, mopey, delusional everyman. And just like how the customer was unsure as to whether he should enter a shady, controversial place like NNL, Arajin also struggles with entering the dangerous and colorful world of the Ichizu Gangs. And his involvement in their lifestyle has mainly been a forced reaction, as in he jumps into the fray while fearful for his safety. The NNL Receptionist can also be seen as a parallel for the colorful banchos and bad boys that Arajin, and the audience, meet in their upcoming encounters.

In the world of Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of the ongoing themes was fairy tales and stories that are told from one person to another. The Shadow Girls fit that theme by putting on plays for the audience about their own stories. So there are clear parallels of the main storyline.

And then we "meet" Jasmine.

Just like it's the customer's first time in a place like NNL, it's also Arajin's first time in the world of Ichizu's gangs. And his meeting with Jasmine is a clear parallel to him meeting Mahoro for the first time. This is more apparent when you take in the Disney movie with Arajin (Aladdin) meeting his beloved Mahoro (Jasmine).

It's also worth noting that the customer asks if he can use the honorific "chan" which is mainly used for people/girls that someone has a close relationship with. And despite meeting her for only one day, Arajin is the one who proposes that it is "fate" that brought him and Mahoro together and how they're destined to be lovers. Clearly he's skipping multiple steps in the relationship making process expecting Mahoro to feel the same way.

Episode 2: I Couldn't Stay Away

The second time, the customer returns and is scared into entering the building after Senya drags along Arajin. Despite some hesitance, he asks the Receptionist for Jasmine again.

So it's pretty obvious, the customer is in "love" with Jasmine and is hooked onto her. Even when she starts to "cling" to him.

At this point, Arajin has fallen head over heels for Mahoro and can't get her out of her head. His new motivations begin and end with conquering Mahoro's heart so he can use her to lose his virginity. And to conquer her heart and be as close to her as possible, he's more than willing to go through a shady and morally ambiguous place like the gang life.

Though the clingy part comes off as self-delusion since Mahoro absolutely hates him and wants nothing to do with him. Even making it clear constantly from this episode onward. Yet Arajin isn't bothered and is eager to make her his.

However, this does set up as it's first example of foreshadowing for the following episode.

Even though Mahoro hates him, she decides to play along with his infatuation with her when he's recruited into Siguma Squad. She's "clinging" to him in order to sway and manipulate him so he'll be able to take over Siguma Squad as it's new leader, forcing her brother to graduate so she can have him all to himself. Or so Arajin will get beat up badly, she's down for whatever. And because Arajin is stuck in his self-delusion about Mahoro and their destined love life, he doesn't see the red flags and falls for her claws. Eager to continue hanging out with the violent happy SS regardless of the peril he may face.

Episode 3: This episode did not feature a NNL segment.

Episode 4: Please Forgive Me

The customer is once again contemplating whether he should go in or not, even saying that he should just quit. Alas, a chubby Arajin scares him inside where he once again asks for Jasmine. Only now he's in hot water for having left her for so long.

While normally this would be a stand in for Arajin and his hopeless love for Mahoro and how he's failing her, this time, the customer represents another character.

In this case, it's Matakara.

Earlier in the episode, he gets into another conversation with Arajin over the upcoming Gang War and how they should stop it. But it soon turns into another plea for him to rebuild their friendship and how he wants to become Honki people with him like before. Despite his efforts, Arajin tells him to get over it and orders him to leave him alone. Just like a cat turning her back on the customer after their absence.

And just like the customer blames himself for her anger, Matakara believes he's at fault for their friendship failing. Because he was too weak to fight the thugs who beat him up which is why Arajin abandoned him. And much like how the customer never viewed at any other "cat", Matakara has his eyes and heart only for Arajin. Even after making new friends in the Minato Kai club, his idol has always been his childhood friend who inspired him when he was just a weak boy so many years ago.

And he'll make that fact known to Arajin everytime they meet; reminding him that he's someone of great importance in his life and that he just has to believe him. No matter how many times he's turned away, Matakara still holds him dearly in his heart.

Episode 5: The Next Level

The customer returns and declares that it's a big day for him. This time he gets scared in by Kenichirou and the Minato Kai Gang making their way to the upcoming warzone.

Hoping to patch things up with Jasmine, the customer presents a gift.

The way I interpret this scene, it comes off as taking his relationship with Jasmine to the next level by giving her a choker. For pets, giving them a choker can be considered the same as giving them a collar. Usually to signify your bond as master and pet. Or in this case, it comes off as the customer treating his precious Jasmine to a gift in the hopes of raising her mood.

For this scene, I see it as a parallel to everyone's relationships and how they're moving on to the next level.

This takes place during the Gang War two parter with both gangs going at each other only for the NG Boys to stage their attack. The fighting persists until Arajin steps in to protect Mahoro from being killed by Akutaro. And while fighting, he gains a major power boost from Senya as his merge rate increases as a result.

And once he defeats the NG Emperor, everyone's mood cheers up for the better and their relationships improve as a result. The rival gangs are more friendly with each other and are able to get along in spite of their rivalry that's lasted for years. Matakara gets to have a bonding moment with Arajin which is a huge step compared to how coldly he's been treated in the past. And Senya is super excited that the merge rate between him and Arajin has increased.

Everything and everyone is in better spirits now.

To bad it won't last for very long.

Episode 6: This episode does not feature an NNL segment.

Episode 7: A New Cat???

The customer is once again worried about whether he should enter NNL and is scared into coming in when Arajin rushes by due to being late for the Group Date.

The receptionist welcomes him into the establishment and asks if he wants his usual. But to his surprise, the customer has someone else in mind.

It's hard to say why exactly the customer decided to go for a new cat instead of Jasmine. Perhaps it's because he's become used to the NNL environment and is bold enough to try someone different.

But what strikes me fancy about this part is not so much the change in cat but the receptionist's reaction. All this time, we've seen him as a silly catboy who loves to tease the customer and rolls with him coming to see his precious Jasmine. But it's the change in cat that causes him to react this way. He loses his silly front and shows actual shock and maybe concern over such a drastic change. He doesn't even revert back to his playful self as it cuts straight to the customer meeting Pu'er-chan (Fun fact: Pu'er is a type of tea that's specially grown in China. And taking Jasmine into account, the cats at NNL are all named after Chinese tea flavors).

So he goes on with meeting the new cat even though he still has feelings for Jasmine. And he's greatly surprised to see Pu'er accept him with relative ease based on his elated reaction.

So to start, this segment is ripe with foreshadowing as it features the customer deciding to take a break from his old cat of interest and goes for a new cat. The customer changes his old cat for a new one. And who do we know who's interested in choosing someone new at the end of Episode 7?

"Do you know? Do you know? Do you know who he chooses?"

And mixed with the receptionist's reaction of shock and concern, the series itself has underwent a change in tone based on everything that happened in Episode 8. The comedy and jokes are significantly toned down in order focus on the more serious and heartbreaking elements of Matakara's brother being suddenly hospitalized and Arajin confessing that he was a coward all along which all leads up to Matakara falling into the palms of Ichiya, our presumed villain of the show.

Another things I want to mention/theorize is that when the customer brings up how he couldn't get Jasmine out of his head, that was a parallel to Ichiya being unable to get Senya out of his head. The two genies have a long, hidden but deep history with each other and it's implied that Senya did something to warrant his wrath. And given that Ichiya has a grudge in his heart that he intends to resolve, his goals in using Matakara are all but stated to be part of his masterplan of taking revenge against Senya.

And the last part with Pu'er fully embracing the customer will be foreshadowing of Matakara accepting Ichiya's proposal and power with minimal hesitation. With him at the brink of despair and with no one to turn to for emotional support (sorry Minato Kai boys), he'll be desperate and eager to follow Ichiya's will no matter how questionable or corrupt it may be. It isn't clear as to what type of wish Mataraka will make or what Ichiya will offer him to go along with his revenge, but the boy is clearly at his most vulnerable and weakest. He'll accept anything and fall into Ichiya's hands just to make the pain more bearable.

Conclusion

The Nyan Nyaight Love segments are meant to serve as a Greek Chorus for the Bucchigiri series. Paralleling the dynamics and conflicts between the main characters (Arajin, Matakara and Mahoro) while also providing foreshadowing for events to come. Much like the Shadow Play Girls and how they would parallel and foreshadow the main events in Utena. And under the assumption that we'll get more NNL segments, then the scenes with the customer and the receptionist will foretell more of what will happen throughout the show and the relationships between the characters.

And those are my thoughts on this nonsensical skit. What do you guys think? If you have your own interpretations for these segments or if there was something that you agreed or disagreed with, please feel free to reblog this and share your comments. It's worth mentioning that the plays that the Shadow Girls held had various ways of being interpreted so there's really no wrong way to go about this.

I think it should be obvious, but Bucchigiri is an anime about bonds and relationships, with three different ways of approaching it, sex, fights and cooking.

Saying that Arajin only wants sex and losing his virginity is to stay with the most superficial aspect of his character. Because yes, that's what he says he wants, but there are signs that it's not what he really seeks, a meaningful bond/relationship with someone, surely in an attempt to fill the void of that friendship he lost when leaving Matakara behind, because if we look closely, despite what he says, every time Arajin fantasizes about Mahoro it's never in a sexual way, what we see are bonding moments.

And his rejection of fights doesn't seem like a simple coincidence, not only because it's a characteristic of his condition as an antihero (in the classic sense of the word). But it's important to remember that just like sex and cooking (for someone) they are ways of relating, I mean… it is a very common trope… "men understand each other in a fight" which is particularly important here because it's the main way in which the boys relate to each other. Seen this way, by rejecting fights Arajin not only rejects confrontation, but the possibility of relating to the other boys, because doing so means constantly facing his guilt of what happened with Matakara (which also left him with after-effects), because if you pay attention, you can see that Arajin does care about him, more than he is willing to admit.

Let's also add to that how important cooking is (which I already have an analysis on this), cooking is independence, maturity, the warmth of a home and above all affection. I never get tired of saying it, the food in Bucchigiri "speaks", the single scene where Arajin and Matakara cook together in episode 8 is simply beautiful and tells us several things about both characters, their backgrounds, the state of their relationship, how they have coped with their lives after separating. And not only that, but cooking is presented as a kind of "third way" with respect to the previous two, not for nothing the last scene that both friends share is precisely cooking together.

By the way, have you noticed that there is in fact a common idea between sex, fighting and cooking (especially between the first two)? They all involve in one way or another "give it your all" and in particular "being exposed" and therefore "being vulnerable" which ends up being part of the resolution of the conflict, because it is at the moment when Matakara admits his pain that Arajin is also able to accept not only his guilt but the damage he caused him, it is there that he is finally able to gain the determination necessary to become a honki person and save his friend.

Bucchigiri is a story about bonds, relationships, trauma, loneliness, but it doesn't throw all its cards on the table in one sitting, it's also a story told through the small details it wants you to notice, because there's a lot to see if you are willing to give it a chance, it's a unique experience, even touching, that despite its flaws (because it has them) gives off a lot of personality, charisma and especially soul.

Happy Birthday Matakara!!

Marito doodle and Arajin if you could? Please!

i didn't know if u meant them together sorry 😭!! but here u go :D!!!

IS THERE ANY ADULT?

I have released some ideas on Twitter lately, but when I realized that there was a common thread, it seemed like a good idea to put them together to organize them better(and maybe expand a little).

The way Bucchigiri approaches the "adult world" is something to say the least curious when you think about it. The gangs seem to be in their own reality, where everything related seems relatively distant. However, what is striking is that despite this, the anime doesn't completely rule them out, it recognizes their influence on their daily lives, and not only that, but also the great importance of adult guidance, with Arajin and Matakara being a clear example of this

Arajin was raised by his mother (we have no information regarding his father) who we can see has always been there for him, giving him her love and guidance, which we see by how she bequeaths him her cooking skills, a curious mix between independence and giving love/affection, key elements to mature as a person (being serious/Honki in a way)

But in the case of Matakara, everything indicates that he was a child raised by another (Mitsukuni) and that inevitably creates a gap between him and other kids his age, especially having grown up in a house where both brothers never felt comfortable, which is easy to notice by their desire to get out of there.

There is something I want to make clear, so far, it doesn't seem that the relationship between the Asamine brothers and their relatives was conflictive or hostile , but some tension can be felt, so I cannot assume that they had bad intentions, but it doesn't seem they did a lot to make both children feel welcome and safe, which can be seen in several details, such as the little (or no) interaction between them and Matakara

Or how, unlike Arajin, his lunches are not homemade, but bought and although it may not seem like it, this says a lot, because both houses are also family businesses in which they have to serve several clients, from what it seems to me that this parallelism is intentional and to make us see that despite coming from similar backgrounds, the treatment that Arajin and Matakara receive from the adults they live with is very different.

This is when food "speaks" in Bucchigiri, because it translates not only as affection, but also warmth of home, therefore, safety(There's already an analysis of this specific topic for those who may be interested). It's an interesting way to telling us (along with his oppressive room) that Matakara never had that while growing up.

Because no matter how hard Mitsukuni tried, he wasn't a father, not even an adult, he was another child, one who must also have his own scars after everything that happened, someone who was trying to play a role for which he was clearly not prepared. The fact that he doesn't know how to cook is a good way to represent it, because it's a skill linked to independence and therefore to adulthood.

In fact, it is very curious that Arajin is coincidentally the only one of all the young characters who knows how to cook, because something similar happens with Mahoro, who cooks for her brother who is in the hospital, but it is evident that she is not good at it, which which could indicate (at least based on what has already been said) that she has not had that guidance from the adults around her either.

However, we still have something else to address, we have already seen that even if it's subtle, Bucchigiri doesn't rule out the importance of adults as guiding figures, but just as this is pointed out, a line is also crossed, making it very clear to us that although There are adults like Yayako or Ken who can be trusted, there are also those who take advantage of young people, doing a lot of damage in the process.

Let's not forget the police officer who was trying to distribute drugs using members of Minato kai and probably other kids in the area, a situation for which Mitsukuni had to assume the consequences of taking the lead and putting a stop to it with his own hands, having to leave his brother behind in the process(reminding us of the harsh reality that exists in Honki city in the process).

And of course Ichiya is not spared, we are talking about someone who took advantage of an emotionally unstable teenager in his most vulnerable state to achieve his revenge against Senya, subjecting him to manipulation and emotional abuse, also using Matakara's pain as basically fuel. Situation that would have had the worst possible outcome if it weren't for Arajin managing to save his friend in time, but removing the supernatural factor, not all young people in real life are so lucky.

But leaving that aside, I think that both "genies" do something important, showing that adults are not perfect and that in a certain way they have not finished "growing" at all, in the sense that they are people who can still learn, commit mistakes, that can hide things from you, even if their intentions are not bad at all(Senya) or understand that their bad actions may have a root (Ichiya). Something quite curious, because like being Honki, maturity/adulthood is something that is sometimes diffuse and not entirely clear.

Although it wasn't the main theme, and it is certainly somewhat in the background, the "adult world" in Bucchigiri is still present throughout the anime in various details if you pay attention. There are still some things left, Mitsukuni and Ken seem to me to be characters that should be talked about separately, because their role as young adults seems to function as a kind of midpoint between the "world of gangs" and the "adult world", as well as maturity and the sense of duty, that is a key element for both.

''Now, say it! Tell me your wish!''

THE PARALLELS ARE DRIVING ME INSANE.

Pretty boy ✨🩵✨

something I love about Anakt Garden uniforms is how they differ between each character, so here's a few little observations (sorry for the crude doodles)!