「黒」 (Kuro Oubu)
“Black Oubu”

No waiting—action now!

Bubuki Buranki is back, and it’s not wasting any time getting back into the action. Which I love—start with a fight, then we’re thrust into a new setting with the characters, and before the episode’s out we’ve met Azuma’s enigmatic (and totally redonkulous) little sister Kazuki Kaoruko, a whole new team of Bubuki users, a return of old antagonists, and a new guy I want to see stabbed in the dick. There’s a lot going on in this first episode, which, if you’re not versed in all things Bubuki Buranki, might be too much. I don’t think they’re trying to make this a graceful entry point to the series. Which, honestly, is my preference. Go watch the first season if you want to know what’s going on! Though even then, you’ll only understand so much.

This series has always been all over the place, and the second season seems to aim to continue that. Which, depending on your opinion, might be a benefit or a demerit. I just got done beating up on Active Raid a bit, but I think it works better here, because the plot always seems to be humming around the foreground of Bubuki Buranki, even if it’s nuts. Plus, that action, those expressions, that Hiiragi getting punched in the face! (That’s what you get, ya perv.) I also appreciate how they toss details in that make you think, like fallen London. Makes you wonder, eh?

The star of this episode was undoubtedly Kaoruko, who is an absolute hoot. While Azuma is an admirable if not always a particularly thrilling protagonist, Kaoruko is chock full of character—boasting, bloviating, self-important, determined. She’s a lot of fun. I’m still not entirely sure if she is a protagonist—antagonist or rival are still on the table, especially when she’s sporting a Black Oubu—but damn if she isn’t fun.

Last of all is this prick, who seems tailor made for instant hatred. Well, mission fuckin’ accomplished! ‘Cause I want to see this sucker go down, and I barely know anything about him. What I do know is that Bubuki Buranki has never excelled in character complexity—side comments like Kaoruko muttering “I won’t let anyone die” is about as deep as it’s ever gone—so I don’t expect him to be revealed as doing what he does for good reasons. He’s a bully, and even if Hiiragi was standing up to him as much due to ulterior motives, I agree with his sentiment. I can’t wait until this guy gets beat the hell up. It can’t come too soon.

Coverage note: It’s unlikely that I’ll continue blogging Bubuki Buranki: Hoshi no Kyojin. Not because the first episode wasn’t good, because it was! Because it’s likely I won’t cover anything at all this season. I’ve got four jobs right now, and I would desperately like that to be three, until such time as I can ditch one of the other ones and pick this fun one back up. We’ll see, I’m notoriously stupid about such things, but it’s probably not likely. Sorry.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Kaoruko is fun bonkers, the action starts immediately, and BBK/BRNK is as cartoony and fun as ever. I approve #bbkbrnk s2e1

Random thoughts:

My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for a FREE prequel short story. At stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Understanding catcalling via beer, What happens when you work 80+ hrs a week, Re Zero: The hero who strives, and I have four jobs right now.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「so beautiful ;- )」 by Komatsu Mikako

21 Comments

  1. Enan84
  2. You can tell from this first ep that the cg got a slight makeover from last season….i couldn’t help but think that the animation staff were tryna show off how well acclimated they’ve become at making the facial expressions of thr characters less janky. The change in facial expressions is a bit more seamless and the animation itself is a bit more expressive when compared to season 1.

    sonicsenryaku
  3. Are you still planning on covering Vivid Strike, or has plans changed? I think the first episode looks promising, with several plot-threads being put forth that could lead to interesting conflict.

    Andmeuths
  4. I’m sure this episode was good, but I’m still stuck on how even his teammates still treats Azuma like crap. Seriously, it wasn’t even funny the first time, but now they full-on ditch him? In another country? That makes sense. Not like he’s important or anything if there’s a fight. Oh, wait…

    Aex
    1. Ticket Problem they all have tickets for the first flight could be quite difficult to reschedule, airline will not accept my friend got held back normally so it might be go or not go at all as next flight might not have the spaces for 5 where one might fit. And airline might work with held back person and not make them pay extra fee while the rest they would charge cancelation and reschedule at maximum rate the new tickets.

      RedRocket
    2. Seemed like they were just giving their friend shit to me. As RedRocket said, it’s just an airline problem, and as long as they were reasonably sure he WOULD be able to get on a later flight, I’da done the same thing. They wouldn’t have gotten rescheduled since they didn’t have an official reason to miss their original flights, after all.

      1. It would’ve been better if it wasn’t done so obviously just to give the sister the spotlight, though. Writers didn’t even try, so the whole thing just felt like “Meh, who cares about that dweeb.”

        Aex
  5. Interesting plot had to marathon all last season. Plot seams to be focused on the twist, and unavoidable fate but I liked the fun and the fact the bad guys were not as bad as you think they were first season. Guy on the other hand seams pure evil willing to kill all of Russia for his goals.

    RedRocket
  6. Kaoruko’s top if there is not something glueing it down it will expose her fairly frequently as there is no normal bra possible. I have seen this in action trust me, wet t-shirt contest the cut the shirt up from bottom is way more revealing than cut shirt down from top. 😉

    RedRocket
  7. She’s hitting on him ’cause of his long ring fingers?

    There is some truth in what she says. People with long ring fingers are more sensitive to testosterone. So they have a higher libido, act more bossy etc. etc.

    Enan84
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