Bucchigiri?!

Episode 3

There's a delicate balance that must be maintained with a cast full of violent jackasses. If you make everyone too vicious, you risk turning your show into 20 minutes of hanging out with mean-spirited assholes that nobody wants to deal with. Too little, and you undermine any of the edge or comedy that you might be aiming for with a cast like this, leaving the audience with a bunch of wannabe bad boys sporting all the grit of non-alcoholic beer. Seeing as Bucchigiri?! has, at most, 2.5 named characters who wouldn't happily turn another person's face into chunky marinara, it needs to strike that balance moving forward, especially as it starts to develop some of these rowdy, rough boys and their bizarre world of school warfare.

In some cases, I think it's succeeding, like when we get to know Marito this week. That boy is an absolute menace, but he's made it work through these opening episodes by being a ton of fun, roaming the halls of this school like a delinquent cryptid and following his whims wherever they lead him. Everything from his body language and facial expressions to the way he lounges around in a whorish manner just brims with infectious personality. He even runs Siguma like a kid's idea of a street gang, and all of his underlings are just as eager to play brutal versions of playground games as him. It's kind of cute, in a physically intimidating way. Honestly, I need an entire episode of these dudes playing dodgeball with cinderblocks, or maybe a version of baseball where you have to bite off the catcher's ear to score a run. In terms of wanton, hilarious violence, Marito is far and away the best boy so far, and that's only partially thanks to him easily being the hottest too.

That said, there's only so long that comedic bloodshed can keep being funny, and that time is quickly running out for Arajin and his whole story. Yeah, it's funny to see him continually dig his own grave and barely bluff his way through Siguma's initiation, but the longer he plays this same tune, the more I crave some actual development for him. “Wants to get his dick wet with the most toxic girl in school” cannot carry a character arc on its own, and no amount of ominous foreshadowing with Senya staring at Arajin's magical tramp stamp is going to remedy that. It's astonishing that we still haven't had him talk with Matakara yet, and the longer their relationship is obfuscated, the more frustrating Arajin becomes as a protagonist. Like with all the violence, there's a balance to making your protagonist a weenie working against his own best interests, and we're swiftly reaching a tipping point.

Thankfully, the show finally has some direction for the larger story. The third faction, apparently called the NG Boys, is working to covertly foster a full-on war between Siguma and Minato Kai, at the direction of some ridiculous-looking glasses guy with the dumbest haircut in this whole show – and I do not say that lightly. This new element is pretty welcome, as it gives a more concrete conflict for everyone besides Arajin to focus on. It also gives the rest of the cast some much-needed texture, as it establishes that while both gangs are at odds with one another, their leaders have a certain level of mutual respect and trust. That's some classic delinquent material, but it's a vital handhold on what have otherwise been pretty directionless characters in vague conflict with one another. Now, there's tension about whether the two sides will fall for their mutual enemy's trick, if they're willing to trust one another's honor, or if they'll be able to keep their underlings in line as emotions come to a boil.

I'm hoping that with this new direction – and with our overall cast firmly established – the show can start to build upon this foundation. The novelty and impact of this cast and world have come and gone, and if we're going to keep up the energy, we need to start digging past the surface.

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Bucchigiri?! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.