Matakara Asamine - Blog Posts
AWWWWW
Buddy needs a break ;;m;;
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.
this week's episode was one that i've been looking forward to for a while, and while not perfect in execution, i still found it interesting, especially how it expanded on matakara and how his and arajin's fight played out.
arajin is a character that is guilty, that flees unless absolutely necessary not to, and would rather save face. he is a character that is meant to be unlikeable. contrast this with matakara, who is kind and considerate, helps his friends, and is willing to reach out, even if someone has hurt him. even their reasons for fighting could be pit against each other: arajin wants to fight to lose his virginity, and matakara wants to fight for his brother, arajin, and his friends.
the difference between arajin’s idealization of mahoro and matakara’s idealization of arajin is that, at the very least, you’re meant to make fun of/laugh at arajin- because you're not supposed to like him. matakara’s idealization of arajin is not put in a comedic light, because you're made to sympathize with him; you're meant to root for him. another example of a character who idealizing another person: mahoro. mahoro is self-aware she’s delusional. she’s self aware her brother doesn’t want her, and because she is so weird about him, her brother doesn’t open up to her as a result. but even mahoro (as much as i hate the brocon thing) can recognize it'll never happen. she still has her core values that don't stem from her brother.
arajin and matakara idealize people for two similar reasons. arajin is in love with the idea of mahoro, because she represents what is expected of arajin, a guy who wants to be un notable because he believes he can’t do more.
matakara idealizes arajin, because arajin represents the simpler, ideal life, the best life one can live as honki person, one that he strives toward. he idolizes arajin because he himself needs something to cling onto after his brother is gone.
matakara and arajin are two characters both stuck in the past. they both keep ideals from their childhood; because arajin couldn’t protect matakara, he believes he is weak and cannot do more than that on his own. matakara believes that since arajin wanted to become honkibito together, he would still want the same deep down and it’s him who’s weak.
matakara puts his faith in people, even if it hurts him. arajin doesn't put his faith in people, but he gets hurt because he doesn't trust anyone. both put their faith in different things because they don't trust themselves, so they let others dictate it for them. both are stubborn about their beliefs, yet fragile, and it hurts them when they are questioned so they double down on it.
arajin is an asshole, hell, he's a bad friend, but he never lied about his motives. matakara seeing their relationship through rose-tinted glasses and arajin being detached harms the both of them; it prevents their relationship from progressing any further.
arajin is *partially right, he is not is not what matakara thinks he is: the ideal matakara holds for himself and him. one of the key things that is first emphasized about honki people is that, "they don't run away." this is what arajin has been doing all this time. even then, arajin has not been tricking matakara in any capacity, because matakara has an idea of what arajin is, and clings to it for support.
*arajin didn’t lie back then about wanting to be honki people together, but since he believes he can’t do more for matakara (he’s used to running away) he avoids confrontation about it. matakara’s used these ideals as support so basically it’s like his beliefs were a lie
arajin is no longer the ideal that matakara saw in his childhood. now that matakara's ideals are shattered, he is vunerable to akutaro's & ichiya's manipulation.
i do think arajin and matakara are capable of being friends. however, they both need time and space to process their emotions. it’s shown that they can look out for each other, but one is overly committed (to an ideal version of the other) and the other is not. they need to find a middle ground to understand each other. i love their relationship because they're made out to be so different, yet they're so similar. i love how messy they both are, and i'm so excited to see how their relationship could possibly contrast ichiya/senya's. more importantly, i can't wait to see how their relationship develops/spirals from here.
matakara and his idealisation reminds me of pygmalion ????? where he builds a perfect, rose-shaded vision of arajin that is put so high up on his Pedestal. when that vision is essentially challenged by arajin himself, who is “given life” (a chance to honor the truth) and becomes human, therefore Flawed by extent, matakara is shattered and rejects him. and his love is then made conditional.
arajin is silly, yet hes never paraded himself as anything but. matakara is the sillier one for fooling himself :(
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.
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.
I really enjoyed the character stuff in the most recent Bucchigiri?! episode. It gave me a lot of things to think on. Currently, I don't really feel the need to judge the morality of certain actions, just their sources and consequences. Like Arajin is acting cruelly and selfishly but I can see the reasons why. He doesn't feel like he's worthy of supporting Matakara through this difficult period because Matakara is relying on a version of Arajin that doesn't exist. He can't give him what he wants or needs. Arajin could make an effort to support him, but he's so used to fleeing from conflict that he doesn't know how. This isn't to give him a free pass on his bullshit, it's just that the way he hurt Matakara is a reflection on how he feels about his own weakness. It's a form of character conflict that's interesting to think about.
"Then why don't you teach him?"
"Huh?"
"Aren't you going to live together again?"
"Yeah! When I save up enough money, we'll rent an apartment together! When we do, you've gotta come over!"
"I'm going to busy with Mahoro-chan, so no way."
"Then bring Jin-san with you!" "Not a chance!"
I have so, so many thoughts on today's episode. all i can say is this- they cooked in more ways than one. expect some posts on rambles and theories i have soon, one of which is definitely an analysis on the fight between matakara and arajin, because that stood out as a pivotal moment to me.
elaborate excuse 2 draw Shapes ^_^
the sillies inspired by this cute art
(some) of my thoughts, rambles, and theories- bucchigiri?! ep 6
oh boy... that was a lot. an end to the gang war arc, and soon, the start to a new one. i want to start off by saying the animation was awesome this episode. all the action, emotional moments and small bits of comedy hit where they needed to.
i think it's interesting that it's not just that mahoro absolutely ROASTED akutaro, she also inspired arajin to kick his ass. NOT JUST because he has a crush on her, but because she refused to run, which is what arajin has been doing- it's a wake-up call for him to get some of his shit together.
it's also made blatantly clear that arajin does care about matakara.(the first person he sees when he gains consciousness is him getting fucking beat) hopefully next ep we get to see how their relationship develops from here. obviously they're not quite there yet, and i still think they're going to have a fight at some point- the next conflict focusing on matakara, and arajin showing us how much he's grown.
also, now that akutaro has been defeated, i wonder how ichiya will merge with matakara? how will matakara's conflict, brother, and ichiya and senya's past together play into this? will it be at the expense of matakara himself?
i also don't think this is the end of arajin's development, it's just the start. he'll always be a cringefail loser, but i think what ppl need to realize is that's okay. (his battle cry is still that he wants to lose his virginity, but that's not all there is to him! he beats up akutaro regardless.) he can be a loser and have development. he's not just one or the other, just like the rest of the characters in the show. they can be silly, beat people to a pulp AND have their own emotional moments. the show so far allows all of it, i think that's what makes it so great.
i can't wait to see where the show goes next!!
Happy Valentine’s Day from everyone’s favorite boyo ✨🩵✨
Me: *Just merrily away admiring the revealed merch that has Matakara in it and he is holding a boathouse bucket and towel which references his current living space*
Also me: *saw that one merch of Aramata plus their younger self being plush sized*
YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME, MAPPA?!?! HOW THE FUCK IS IT JUST SO ADORABLE?!? I-
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!
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.
If Matakara ever snapped one day, I would horrificly break down cause all this time, he tries to connect with his childhood buddy again but all Arajin did is push him away and not tell him truth about the incident.
Sooner or later, this would lead to Matakara’s patience running thin and he just suddenly shouts at him. Screaming at Arajin all the while tears are running down his face because he thought of Arajin as his whole world but the latter just keep being a total asshole to him. In turn, this leads to Arajin to realize how much of a jerk he is before he tearfully confesses about what happened during that incident.
Oh boi, if this leads to a fallout in the next ep, RIP my heart 🥺
i dont quite ship them but this is their dynamic to me
This is for you. Give it here. That's so cool! It's a best friend stone! Let's become Honki People together! Yeah!
we know where that smile comes from now
