What To Expect From Bucchigiri?!, MAPPA's Upcoming Delinquent Anime

Highlights

MAPPA's upcoming anime Bucchigiri?! explores the delinquent subgenre in a unique and entertaining way, featuring hand-to-hand combat and supernatural elements.
Inspired by Middle Eastern folklore, the series draws from the One Thousand and One Nights collection, adding a touch of Arabian Nights to its narrative.
Bucchigiri?! boasts a large and diverse cast of characters with vibrant and creative designs, promising a blend of comedy and action that is reminiscent of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and SK8 the Infinity.

During the Spring season this year, a brand-new original anime was announced, created by the director of Banana Fish Hiroko Utsumi and Taku Kishimoto, the scriptwriter and series composer of various hit titles like BLUE LOCK, as well as MAPPA and TOHO. Titled Bucchigiri?!, the upcoming anime is centered on delinquents, but judging from trailers and visuals, this is going to be a rather unique exploration of the "yankee", or "delinquent" subgenre in anime.

The upcoming Bucchigiri?! will be directed by creator Hiroko Utsumi at MAPPA, adding yet another anime project to the ever-packed schedule to which the studio's animators and contractors are subject. Coming in Winter 2024, Bucchigiri?! might just be one of the anime titles to look out for this coming anime season. So, what can we expect from MAPPA's Bucchigiri?!?

Bucchigiri?! Takes Some Classic Anime Tropes & Adds In Something New

Aladdin Tomoshibi (also Romanized to "Arajin") is a teenager who transfers to Ichizu High, a school he doesn't realize is packed to the rafters with delinquents, punks and ne'er-do-wells. With his dream of having a cheerful school life going down the drain, Aladdin's hopes are buoyed by the presence of a beautiful girl named Mahoro, whom he sees as "the angel amidst the garbage". He also runs into his childhood friend, Matakara Asamine, and together, Aladdin and Matakara find themselves fighting wave after wave of battles against some of the strongest individuals at the school, not to mention the fact that at some point, Aladdin winds up unleashing an ancient Djinn named Senya, who asks him to speak his true wish: to lose his virginity!

Staff members revealed to be working on Bucchigiri?! at MAPPA include series director Hiroko Utsumi, who worked together with the studio in the production of Banana Fish; scriptwriter Taku Kishimoto; composer Michiru Oshima (Music, Fullmetal Alchemist) with sound production by dugout; character designer Takahiro Kagami (Animation Director, Banana Fish), with sub-character designers and chief animation directors Hiroyuki Saita and Kiminori Itō; art director Kurumi Suzuki (Background Art, Maquia - When the Promised Flower Blooms) and animation producer Takahiro Ogawa (Animation Producer, Kakegurui 2). Other staff include colour key artist Yukiko Kakita (colour key, Gurren Lagann); director of photography Shinnosuke Kato (photography, Dorohedoro) and editor Tomoki Nagasaka (editing assistant, Samurai Champloo). The opening theme of Bucchigiri?! is "Sesame" performed by Kroi.

A Story Inspired By Middle Eastern Folklore

As you may have noticed, the protagonist's name and the presence of a "djinn" point towards Bucchigiri?! as a narrative being (at least in part) inspired by the One Thousand and One Nights collection of stories by various authors, translators, and scholars across West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa. Some of these stories can be traced back to ancient Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian and even Mesopotamian literature. This literature has inspired several modern-age reinterpretations and variations, including Disney's Aladdin films and Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic franchise created by Shinobu Ohtaka. With two trailers out, there hasn't been too much revealed about just how some of the series' events are connected; however, there were several scenes featuring hand-to-hand combat, banality, and wacky hijinks, as well as various elements that seemed supernatural or over-the-top, beyond the presence of Senya the djinn.

Bucchigiri!?! Features A Large Cast With Their Own Unique Character Designs

Since Bucchigiri?! is the creation of the director of SK8 the Infinity, the series has a similar emphasis on aesthetic quality and vibrancy when it comes to character design. The two trailers released so far have revealed a number of characters in Bucchigiri!?!, and their designs communicate quite a number of anime archetypes. One of the characters, Marito, is eerily reminiscent of a certain patch-faced villain from Jujutsu Kaisen, with a name just as eerie; while other characters include the bright-eyed best friend; the cold, calculating glasses-wearing genius; the madonna, and many others. The character designs and the feel of the trailers makes Bucchigiri?! reminiscent of some kind of combination of the dramatic flair of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with a very SK8-esque emphasis on a predominantly male cast, and like the aforementioned, the character designs are quite varied and creative given that this is still a school anime.

Cast members announced include Genki Ōkawa (Garp, Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun) as Aladdin Tomoshibi; Yūsuke Hoshino (Asaka, Boruto: Next Generations) as Matakara Asamine; Anna Nagase (Ushiō Kofune, Summer Time Render) as Mahoro; Chihiro Suzuki (Sunabōzu, Desert Punk) as Akutaro; Jirō Saitō (Theo Magath, Attack on Titan: The Final Season) as Kenichiro; Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp, One Piece) as Komao; Makoto Furukawa (Saitama, One Punch Man) as Jabashiri; Masafumi Kobatake (Guppy, SAND LAND) as Majin Senya; Nozomu Sasaki (Johan Liebert, Monster) as Marito; Ryōta Takeuchi (Elias Ainsworth, The Ancient Magus' Bride) as Ōta; Shōta Hayama (Wong, Shenmue the Animation) as Hagure; Yukihiro Nozuyama (Ryōhei Hayashi, Tokyo Revengers) as Zabu.

Viewers Should Expect A Unique Blend of Comedy and Action

The two Bucchigiri?! trailers we've gotten so far have teased several aspects of the upcoming anime, but it wouldn't be a delinquent anime if there weren't a few fights here and there. With its supernatural elements, and placement within a school known for delinquency, Bucchigiri?! is set to have some entrancing action and fight scenes far more intense than one would expect from a show that's just about delinquents. The series' grounding in the Arabian Nights sets it up for various interesting plot lines and elements that would otherwise have very little relevance in this kind of anime, but it is evident from the trailers that Bucchigiri?! isn't going to be a serious or pensive narrative, and seems to have a lot of fun moments in a chaotic but interesting mix of shonen tropes.

Other delinquent anime have not quite melded the supernatural, the mythical or the literary with their narratives quite like Bucchigiri?!, at least not since Beelzebub. A lot of anime feature delinquent characters, but very few make delinquency as a sub-culture the core of their story in the way that something like Tokyo Revengers, Rokudo's Bad Girls, GTO, or even Slam Dunk would. On some level, Bucchigiri?! seems to be channeling the kind of energy that makes it something akin to a modern-day Cromartie High School, and that is a big reason why it is a series to look out for in the new year. Bucchigiri?! premieres January 13 at 23:00 JST.