''Now, Say It! Tell Me Your Wish!''

Langa Week Day 1: Found Family/Celebration

The other prompt is Cake and I like to think they brought a cake to the park and share it before a long afternoon of skating 🎂 @langaweek

Drawing is inspired by that one vine and the background image I used can be found here!

mulled it over for a while and ultimately decided i'm really digging this arajin-matakara fight, because like

the whole series has set up arajin as a piece of shit fuckhead (and i LOVE that for him) but this whole lying to matakara about wanting to be a honki people thing... is like the one thing he did not actually do

i get real rambly under the cut but tl;dr the way matakara treats arajin is the way arajin treats mahoro and that is suuuch a juicy parallel to me

throughout the whole series arajin has been not at all subtly trying to get away from these fights

could he have been more direct about that with matakara? sure maybe! but matakara was really ignoring all the signs that arajin is not who he thinks he is

which is such a delicious parallel to how arajin willfully ignores all the signs that mahoro is not into him

like. matakara built this version of arajin up in his head, with all these unreasonable, unrealistic, and honestly unfair? expectations based off some past foolishness from when they were very small children. he's clinging to this version of arajin that only exists in his head and has basically shown zero evidence of existing in real life

(yes arajin shows crumbs of courage but i think the scales are tipped pretty heavily towards his I DO NOT WANT ANY PART OF THIS moments)

this fight between them was like if arajin were to blow up at mahoro like "you've been leading me on this whole time!" when obviously. lol. no she has not

she did initially! just like tiny arajin as a child had those honki people ambitions! his ambitions may have been genuine, while mahoro feigned interest in him with malicious intent, but they're same in the sense that after that initial story beat, they have consistently demonstrated that actually no what happened back then no longer applies (whether because they grew out of it, in arajin's case, or they were faking interest in the first place, in mahoro's case)

but arajin is blinded by what he wants (mahoro) and ignores the reality of mahoro snubbing him at every turn, and matakara does the same, ignoring the reality of arajin really just... being extremely reluctant to have anything at all to do with him

anyway that's the main thing i'm chewing on and loving here, but ALSO i think the story paints this parallel in such an interesting way because like

matakara is just a big sweet ouppy dog of a boy! it's so so so easy to feel sorry for him, to root for him, to think the best of him. which i still do btw, in fact this episode made me like him more than i already did

because matakara is so uwu angelboy perfect, and arajin is such a dickhead, it's easy to instinctively think oh matakara must be completely right to be hurt and arajin must have hurt him. even if that isn't the case! this doesn't make arajin any less of a dickhead, but he's a dickhead mainly for other reasons

the fact that they've been set up as the perfect epitome of the Pure Boy and the Pervy Boy tropes is just such clever framing for this parallel between them, because i imagine a lot of viewers, if told what mataakara is doing to arajin is what arajin is doing to mahoro, would be like omg wtf no my pure angel baby is nothing like that disgusting freak?

except in this case! he literally is!! which is brilliant!!! i think it adds nuance to both matakara's character and arajin's character at the same time, making it so it's not just one of them is Perfect and one of them is Wrong All The Time

what's even better is that this made sense for matakara, like his reaction breaks him out of the Pure Angel mold but doesn't feel out of character. his emotions are already running high with what happened to his brother, plus akutaro is malewife mansplain manipulating him behind the scenes, so of course he feels like he's driven towards this emotional high that leads to this blowup

the groundwork was already laid out, and it wasn't even subtle. it was right on the surface! but this episode really highlighted how matakara's way of treating arajin is so much like arajin's way of treating mahoro and how inevitable it was that things would reach this point

(there are moments, even in this episode, that are in hindsight so clearly setting up this parallel! like arajin trying to talk to mahoro during lunch, mahoro CLEARLY not interested, making viewers think ugh arajin get a clue. then matakara often IMMEDIATELY coming in to try to talk to arajin, when arajin is the one who clearly isn't interested, making viewers think boo arajin be nicer to him! like i think the show deliberately set the audience up to have those emotional reactions, and this is the moment where the rug is pulled out from under us, so to speak, where it becomes even more obvious that... wait... double standard much?)

anyway. personally my only gripe with this episode is i wished they'd done more with aniki than just pseudo-fridge him, and hope they do still do more with him in the coming eps? but kind of understandable if they don't, because it is just a one-cour show after all

the actual blowup between arajin and matakara was just. mawh, chef's kiss. perfect

DID SOMEONE SAY BUCCHIGIRI GENDERBENDS 🔥🔥💪

first batch! had some much fun designing all these even though some of them don’t look too different 😭 some of these were difficult to do since imo bucchigiri would be chock full of butches n some of the designs were already androgynous (i.e. hagure) but anyways…

extra notes: matakara had a long skirt originally but it didn’t make sense w his fighting style. arajin has a qipao and shorts bc I liked his gym uniform. jabashiri has a half skirt and hagure has a skirt. I kept the male uniforms since the black breaks up the colours well + gangs have different uniforms.

MORE THAN A STONE

This is not such an extensive topic (or at least that's what I thought when I started), but I found it interesting enough to comment on it.

Rewatching Bucchigiri, I eventually came across the scene in which Arajin offers the "love forever stone" to Mahoro and although the tone with which everything happens is comedy, you can tell that they were already sending us a message with this, because It's not only about Mahoro's rejection, but also what that stone symbolized.

These stones have a special meaning for Arajin, we know that it's something that he only shares with those who are special to him, and it's no coincidence, stones and rocks are usually associated with durability and resistance over time. In this case, the stone represents the love he says he feels for her and the desire for it to last.

But the moment Mahoro receives the stone she immediately drops it, making it VERY clear that she's not interested, not only that, the stone is completely shattered to the point of being irreparable, and although this may seem to be intended to be a comic effect (which it is), it could also be a "clue" disguised as a joke, representing that in reality Arajin's feelings are not strong enough, or as genuine as they seem (and it's not the only occasion in which that this is pointed out)

It's no coincidence that this occurs in the same episode that we see Matakara's "best friend stone", being a complete contrast with Mahoro, not only because of the great happiness that he evidently felt at the moment he received it, but also because it's an object which he has treasured for years with great affection, being one of his most valuable possessions, which helps him feel safe in difficult times.

In addition, there is another key element here, we already said that the stone for Mahoro is not supported (so to speak) by a strong feeling, in the case of Matakara, we are talking about affection, a promise between the two. In addition, Arajin also has his, which we eventually found out about, was significant enough that even after having distanced himself, Arajin doesn't dare to get rid of it, even despite being part of a past that he prefers to leave behind. To this we must also add that the fact that each one has a stone tells us about a shared feeling, so in this case, the affection is not unilateral.

This is something that continues to be pointed out during the second half. In episode 9, Arajin is preparing a new stone for Mahoro, and he doesn't know how to give it to her. Senya demeans the value of the gift, asking him who would want something like that, to which Arajin immediately thinks of Matakara. Considering how the situation was at this point, I think it was about making it clear that even when Matakara idealized Arajin, his feelings were always sincere, something that was also alluded to before in the Nyan Nyaight Love segment, making a clear parallel with the situation between Arajin and Matakara.

And this escalates to a new level in the final episode....

Despite his efforts, Matakara begins to be slowly consumed by the shadows, accompanied only by his most valuable treasures. The photo with his brother and his stone, both broken, completely alone and abandoned by his two most loved people, even after having gained the strength he so desperately sought, showing us how until what seemed like his last moments, Arajin was still important to him, despite everything that had happened.

Fortunately, what we have all been waiting for arrives, Arajin finally fills up the courage to save his friend. Let's get to the point...

The anime had already shown us previously through Mahoro that being Honki it was never about strength, at least not in a physical sense, although I do believe that it's something that each person manages to achieve in their own way, because it should be noted that Arajin doesn't becomes a Honki person when he decides to save Matakara, it happens when he recognize not only how he really felt, but also accepts that he hurt Matakara, and it's from there that his honest desire to face and fixing what he had been running from all this time manifests in the form of the stone seal on Arajin's hand to deliver the final blow, because again, it's not just the stone itself, it's what it represents, because the bond they share transcends the object. Closing with a flourish when Arajin reaffirms the promise between the two, and he does it with HIS stone, the one that even Matakara himself was sure he no longer had, showing that no matter how hard he tried, Arajin (ironically?) was never able to leave his memory behind, no longer with ink, but with blood, symbolizing that their bond will only get stronger from now on.

you cant do this to me

doodle request of hagure and jabashiri drinking slushies and hagure is infodumping about the fighting lore between their gangs to him for the 20th time (jabashiri will always listen)

also extra note: i love your bucchigiri art!!!

SOOO REAL + so cuuuteee

(extra note THANK UUU!!!)

rewatching the first half of bucchigiri and taking note of the lengths matakara goes to communicate with and understand others patiently and compassionately and realizing his problem was that he never thought to extend that kindness to himself, to allow himself to believe that the people in his life would look at his weaker parts and still want to be with him

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.

dey're like his wingmen

Matakara's sad face when Arajin said "we're not friends"......