Kaimon Art For The Heck Of It ._.

my thoughts and theories on ep 5

starting with the things i did like, i think the animation + visuals are overall very consistent for the series so far. the tone of the episode was a bit more serious because, well... akutaro and the gang war and the growing tensions between characters.

we finally got see the full flashback of matakara and arajin's backstory and it was a nice surprise to see how matakara stood up for himself and arajin of course runs away (understandable) but i'm hoping in future episodes we get more on their pasts (with matakara's brother too. maybe the reason his brother is in juvie is because he did something bad to the bullies and he didn't tell/lied to matakara? this could be interesting later on) and how it affects the present and future character growth. I hope we also get to see the reason why arajin moved away as it’ll help us understand his character more (literally running away from circumstances. A lot of his character is running away and how he has to confront it) akutaro is a fun villain! a complete dramatic and horny menace. i'm so glad he got his face punched in. i wonder how he got ichiya (what influence does ichiya have over him/he have over ichiya?) and if he’ll continue to be the series’ big bad later on or if he’ll just be the antag for this arc.

the good thing about arajin being so indecisive about joining anyone is that we get to see how each gang operates. this time, we see the ng boys (and girls?? they have girls too) and how akutaro has everyone under his finger. he uses fear and threats to manipulate them into doing what he wants, forces them to do his dirty work. we also see how he got kicked out of minatokai and a bit of kenichiro and marito's battle in the background. i wonder how the blue majin will merge with matakara because it's foreshadowed heavily. (“no doubt those kicks are ichiya’s” and matakara’s fighting style revolves around them) right now the blue majin is with akutaro) i’m also dying to know senya’s motives and past with ichiya and how it could tie into the conflict between their person.

i feel like the gag of arajin and his *cough* rampant thinking with his dick is starting to wear on my nerves a bit, but i don't HATE him. i get that his character is supposed to be poking fun at that trope. i think what's interesting is that you could point out that male characters who are considered to be strong also happen to have lots of connections + affections (platonic or romantic) toward other men. arajin by contrast, rejects it in favour of chasing after women (maybe it’s what he thinks will prove his masculinity to others? or it's like. a distraction from his issues?)

maybe it’s not that deep, but it's something i wanted to point out anyway.

on the topic of arajin: my biggest worry is that while i DO have hope arajin's character development is on the way soon, i am concerned that they'll start it too late (like ep 10 which is unlikely but) and not give us enough time to fully sympathize or connect with his relationship towards matakara and the others around him. i understand he's supposed to be a selfish and unlikeable character, but i feel with like there's only so long you can stretch out the drama before it wears thin if you don’t expand on it; which is something have hope that they’ll do since there’s a lot of setup there.

i know arajin’s character is why most people are dropping the anime, but i'm hoping most people will at least be patient for the development. we're only at episode 5. (like sk8 for example had the conflict span from ep 7-10. this is a larger scale conflict so ofc it'd take longer) bucchigiri has a lot of potential, and i’m hoping they’ll stick the landing.

(i also need to see the fight between kenichiro and marito next ep ; i know it'll be awesome.) with the title of the next ep's title being "much much friendship! 'nira-reba'-lution 21!" i do hope we get to see much, much more in terms of friendships (a falling out maybe?) , arajin-related or otherwise. i'm excited to see where the anime goes next!

the fact that the bucchigiri writer actually used to carve stone stamps for the girls he liked and utsumi learning this and going "yes, i can use this for gay implications" is SO much

Talking more on the theme of delusion, Matakara relies on it as an escape from his sensitive emotional nature. Since childhood he's been susceptable to these dark thoughts, which his brother (and presumably kid Arajin) helped him deal with. Now, without his brother, the ideal of Arajin he cultivated since childhood, the one who believed in becoming a Honki person with him, is the main thing able to distract him from his painful reality. He was writing a letter to his brother the first time one of the shadows appeared in the series and he proceeded to pick up the stone stamp in order to calm himself. After Arajin rebuffed him when he asked him to call off the gang war, other shadows appeared and he needed to rely on the connection with his brother in order to find strength and later appeal to Mahoro. As he is now, he needs some kind of ideal or delusion to be able to keep functioning.

twelve episodes is nothing in this economy. bucchigiri deserved exactly thirty-nine episodes and a movie that toed the line between retelling and direct sequel to the original series

a study in grief // (i love Shapes)

finally got my hands on skaters and this precious duo in particular 🤲💗 fjdjskksk wanna squeeze them sm

this is all I could think of when Mahoro told Arajin to stop her brother from starting a war tbh

procrastination hitting like a mf so its time to pull this image i made out again 💔

went on twitter and actually i think some ppl are slightly misunderstanding what matakara meant when he accused arajin of lying. like...it's true, arajin never lied to matakara about wanting to fight in the present, so it would be unreasonable to call him out on that specifically. but like

with the way the emphasis is placed on arajin's strength the whole argument, plus the cut to the flashback, matakara was asking if a) arajin's strength/bravery, and b) the promise made to him in the past, the foundation of their entire childhood friendship, were a lie. which, y'know, the promise wasn't, arajin definitely meant it at the time. but arajin doesn't want to admit that or outright deny it, so he deflects by saying it's not true anymore.

to me the focus of the argument was arajin forcing matakara to see him as he sees himself (ie. as a weak, selfish coward), shattering matakara's delusional idea of him in the process. arajin using senya to become strong isn't an inherently malicious lie, and i honestly don't think matakara thinks that either. to matakara the 'lie' is both the version of arajin he made up and the genuine things arajin told him in the past.

i just realized that Godfrey is a catboy. pointy ear styled hair. bell around neck. youthful catgirl maids move over for elderly catboy butler