Hope they won't fumble.
Summary:
- Bucchigiri?! is an original anime from MAPPA.
- It mixes the plot about high school delinquents with the supernatural powers of djinn from Arabian Nights.
- It looks positively unhinged.
- It has no connection to the Bucchigiri series of OVAs from 1989.
- We hope MAPPA's inner turmoil won't affect the production of this show.
We love seeing original anime because the lack of source material makes them even more unpredictable, even if they seem filled with tropes. This can be said about Bucchigiri?! — an original anime from studio MAPPA that will be released on January 13, 2024.
Add some magic to the yankees
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The premise of the anime is a mix of a school of delinquents and Arabian Nights. Arajin Tomoshibi moves to Ichizu High School to start a new life. The school, much to his surprise, is filled with delinquents, one is more unhinged than the other, but thankfully he meets at least one person who isn’t alienated by him — it's his childhood friend, Matakara Asamine, who calls him Ara-chan and looks like the gentlest and nicest giant.
If you look at the trailers, you'll see something that feels like a mix of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Beelzebub, and Cromartie High School at first — it's very colorful, filled with action, boys with stylish hair with crazy colors, and general insanity. The thing that ups the ante, though, is revealed in the second half of the trailer: Ara-chan becomes the master of the djinn, Senya, who grants him wishes. Throughout the series of events, it's revealed that what Ara-chan wishes for is to finally lose his virginity — and the series shows that he already has a perfect candidate to help him with his problem, a nice and angelic Mahoro who seems a little bit out of place in this school.
Completely original
The name may feel misleading to those who already have a wide knowledge of an old school anime, as in 1989 there was a series of 4 OVAs called Bucchigiri, just without all the exclamation and question marks. It also focused on the lives of high school delinquents, but lacked supernatural elements.
And no, Bucchigiri?! is a completely original project written and directed by the director of Banana Fish and Sk8 The Infinity, Hiroko Utsumi, together with Taku Kishimoto, MAPPA, and TOHO. Considering Utsumi's previous works, which also include Free!, we can say with certainty that the show is going to focus on portraying the bonds of male friendship as the cast engages in various physical activities — it seems that it will be filled with fights against powerful enemies from other schools and possibly supernatural deities.
We cannot speculate much on the plot because it's an original show, but we will be waiting despite the controversies surrounding MAPPA's management. We hope that the team that works on Bucchigiri?! is not as overworked as the one that handles both Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man.