✦ Hornkneebee, Madukara, or Elvine. Call me any name, or if you want, call me Bee, Maddy or Elv.
✦ I'm a he/them and an agender.
✦ I'm 23 year old as of 2025
✦ Androsexual (?)
✦ Malaysian
✦ Speaks Malay and English well, a little Indonesian
🔗 Agender, Androsexual
✦ What I believe in, my standing.
✦ Ietism, the belief of something more yet does not ascribe to one faith or code of conduct
✦ Left-leaning liberal, advocating for human rights for all
✦ A proud proship/profic, believe that fiction does not effect reality on a 1 to 1 basis
✦ Generally | World-building 🗺️, Writing ✍🏽, Language 📚, Anthropology 🔍
✦ Games | Genshin Impact 🍃, The Sims 👨🏻👩🏾👧🏼👦🏽, Coral Island 🪸, Stardew Valley 🌟, Reverse 1999 ⌛, Punishing Gray Raven 🐦⬛, Honkai Star Rail 🚂, Alchemy Stars 🌌, Love and Deepspace 🛰️, Cookie Run Kingdom 👑, Tears of Themis ⚖️, AFK Journey 🔥Wuthering Waves 📻
✦ TV Shows | Merlin BBC 👑, The Walking Dead 🧟, Freakish 🧪, From 🪨
Bucchigiri?! and 'being Honki' - a Show about Identity and Human Connection
With Hiroko Utsumi's newest work as a director now completed, I want to take a moment to discuss the thematic through-lines of Bucchigiri?! and explain why I think that the story was very coherent even if it first seemed erratic.
At the heart of the series is the concept of the Honki Person(TM) - and that's where the confusion starts. Leaving the word 'Honki' in Japanese for the subs suggests a lore-heavy emphasis on some kind of supernatural mechanic in-story. It caused many viewers expected a well-defined shounen-typical power system - but that isn't what Honki is nor what it was ever meant to be.
"Honki" is the Japanese word 本気, which means Seriousness, Earnestness (or doing something 'in earnest, for real' if used as an adverb). 'Honki People' literally just means 'Earnest People'
And thus "Honki" is doing double duty as a red herring Lore Concept and a regular word - an intentional ambiguity that is inevitably lost by translation.
In the show, the characters do initially think of the 'Honki Person' as a literal thing to become (a supernaturally powerful master martial artist) rather than as a state of being in which one is earnest - but the thing is that the narrative proves them wrong.
But before we get to that, we need to dig a little bit deeper into what a Honki Person is thought to be in-universe:
"Historically", those thought of as Honki were fighters who participated in conflicts 300 years ago - a bit after the end of the Sengoku Period, the continuously warring states that had defined Japan for two centuries. With the advent of the rigidly structured Edo Period, honorable fighters with no clear systemic alliance were no longer needed and the aspiring Honki People(TM) were mercilessly gunned down. This feels out of left field for an anime like Bucchigiri?! to focus on, so I propose a second more allegorical layer to impose over the literal pseudo-historical read.
Even beyond the historical fact that gun imports changed warfare, the usage of guns here is deliberate to represent something. Guns are associated with authorities, and contrasted against the Honki People(TM) shunning weapons and fighting only with their own bodies.
To be Honki(TM) means to be true to yourself and secure in your own identity - this is something that is a hindrance to a social system that relies on rules and groupthink to sustain itself. Supporting this assumption, the theme of 'death' by weapon/authority is mirrored in the show several times:
On the one hand, we have the NG Boys, a gang set apart from the other gangs in the story by their even more rigid hierarchical structure and their willingness to use weaponry. They all follow one leader, have one uniform look, and appear basically brainwashed into blind obedience.
The association of weapons=structure and authority is made pretty clearly through that alone, but is also enhanced by all the members of the NG Boys living under constant threat of being fed to the real authorities of society: the police. Fear keeps everyone in line.
And further, the idea of society as an oppressive force (especially to the lower class) is put into direct focus through Mitsukuni and Matakara. Poverty is brought up briefly before through Senya (our main Honki Person(TM) was a nameless orphan after all) and brought back with the Asamine brothers:
Mitsukuni wishes to escape his social status in order to offer a better life to his brother - and he's forcibly held down by the oppressive system around him.
The cop that causes Mitsukuni to go to jail is equivalent to the guns that shot Senya and Ichiya.
(Utsumi has explored this underlying socially critical current before. Not for nothing, her previous series SK8 opens with the memorable bridge of the title song reading: "before society can kill us".)
But Bucchigiri?! isn't about overthrowing the system. It's about the individual. Understanding the context about authority just helps setting the real theme into focus.
And that theme is to hold on steadfast to who you are and allow yourself to connect with others, even in various kinds of adversity.
After this long, long preamble, let's get to the actual main characters!!
Matakara and Arajin are people who are ruled by fear and who spend 11 episodes running from others and themselves in two very different ways.
Arajin is pretty hated as a protagonist, which amuses me a little, because nobody hates Arajin more than Arajin hates Arajin.
His past cowardice in failing to protect Matakara has clearly shown him that he is a pathetic person and he's spent his whole life since then trying to avoid being reminded of this. He avoids Matakara, the strongest reminder of his failure, but further than that he avoids connection with anybody that he could see as a peer.
Arajin is solely focused on finding love and romance because he feels inherently inferior to every person he would be invited to contrast himself against. He avoids other guys because he hates himself. He shuns connection and pursues only people (girls) he views as different enough to not invite any comparison.
Matakara meanwhile has major abandonment issues - he's lost his parents, Arajin, and his brother. Everyone important to him keeps vanishing from his life and in order to keep himself from feeling powerless about this he decides to blame himself.
If it's his own fault that people leave him (because he's weak) then there is something in his power that he can do in order to avoid being hurt again (becoming stronger). In order to maintain this state of motivational self-hatred, he puts others on a pedestal.
Matakara needs Arajin to be strong, powerful, honest and admirable... because that is the image he holds himself up by. In Mitsukuni and Arajin, Matakara creates god-like icons to chase after. And by doing so, he also shuns genuine connection.
Being confronted with Arajin as a flawed person gives Matakara a breakdown because it makes it harder to run from his own loneliness by focusing on chasing after Arajin.
Arajin is always running, but Matakara is always chasing... because he can't stand to look behind and face his monster.
In a lot of ways, Arajin and Matakara can't connect because they care about each other. Arajin can't stand what he allowed to happen to Matakara because he cared about Matakara. Matakara clings to Arajin because he loves him.
This theme of love hindering connection is again mirrored in two other characters - Senya and Ichiya, of course.
Ichiya, unwilling to confront his own terminal illness head-on, wishes to avoid it by goading Senya into killing him. By doing this, he can run from his own weakness and put Senya on a pedestal instead.
Meanwhile Senya is attached to their connection as-is and wishes to maintain this master-disciple dynamic forever - going so far as to deny his own strength in order to avoid acknowledging their changing dynamic.
Both of them are denying something about themselves.
It is their self-denial that makes their communication and thus connection break down.
Ichiya can't make Senya go Honki(TM) (which should have definitely been translated as an adverb here, e.g. 'failing to make him get serious') because he is also not HONEST with him or himself.
In the finale, Senya finally admits his motivations (his illness, his perceived weakness) and he is rewarded with the honest fight he'd been craving. They both stopped running.
This theme becomes even clearer through the two leads, of course, but even earlier than that it exists in Mahoro.
Mahoro's scene in episode 6 is the thematic linchpin that carried the whole show on its shoulders. Through Mahoro, everyone in the cast gets their first glimpse at true unrelenting Honki(tm) - and it is something totally unrelated to fighting prowess.
Mahoro is physically powerless against Akutaro, but she won't run. She has a heart that won't run away, the key quality of the Honki Person(TM), because she has an unshakable sense of self-identity.
It would be easy to dismiss her cutesy design as a contrivance to give Arajin a conventional-looking love interest despite going to Delinquent Academy - but it also says something about HER. Mahoro marches to the beat of her own drum. She does not care that she does not fit in, she does not mind being alone - she'll stick right to her own aesthetic and priorities.
So it's easy for her to call out Akutaro - and in doing so, call out the whole cast along with him:
You're empty. You are nothing but a shell, shaped by how you relate to those around you. You have nothing to offer.
And how are you supposed to connect with anybody, when you don't even know who you are?
(Notably, Mahoro is also a character who refuses to compromise on her self even for love - she knows she does not appeal to Marito, but she's not changing herself to be more his type. Her Honki does not budge, even for him.)
And lest you think I am exaggerating by connecting the theme of identity and emptiness back to all of the cast instead of just Akutaro: it does come back with Matakara.
Matakara can't believe anybody would know him and care for him, because he doesn't know himself.
For Matakara, facing himself means acknowledging his fear of abandonment rather than externalizing it as a hallucination of a literal monster.
But facing yourself doesn't just mean facing your demons, it also means facing your own positive qualities. And that is Arajin's story.
Even as Arajin turned into a scummy, evasive and selfish guy, there is a part of him that has a throughline to who he always was. He's someone who can get invested in others with reckless abandon.
Whether as a child with Matakara, or in the present with Mahoro... Arajin wants to connect.
Bucchigiri?! is a show full of innuendo and sexual gags. Merging with a genie gets equated to sex, fighting gets equated to sex... and of course this is for laughs, but it's also thematic.
Because all these things are about connection. About facing someone else with your whole self.
On a literal level, yes, Arajin absolutely wants to get laid. This is his sincere desire, and good for him.
But at the same time, his battle cry of 'I want to lose my virginity!' is him crying out for a real connection, even at a time when he shunned the idea thereof.
In the end, being a Honki Person(TM) has nothing to do with fighting. Fighting is the way a lot of the rough and tumble guys on the show like to connect, but it is not the only way to do so and not the only way to be Honki(TM).
Arajin never learns to love brawling - he did it out of circumstance and necessity, but it's not his hobby. He does not need to discover some hidden love of fighting, because this show fundamentally isn't about how 'fighting is inherently good' or anything.
It's a show about how even when you hate yourself and think you're as low as it can get, acknowledging your own self in full is the first step to finding a real bond with somebody else.
It just also happens to feature a bunch of delinquents who love to punch a lot.
I've done it! The first batch of my OCs is done! Over the next few days, I'll be unveiling one by one – given that I have the time and energy – explaining each person's stories and convictions in life.
Though, I hadn't explore much the story that I'll try to weave with them together, not to mention the few more OCs in the works that will be revealed after the last one has (from top to bottom, left to right).
For now, I'm just happy that I'm done with them and love to explore more as I go forwards!
// sexual act, minors and those applicable are warned //
Testing the waters whether this be hit with Tumblr's guideline or not. As per Tumblr's mature content policy, content that is considered sexually explicit has a focus on the genitalia, which is not visible safe for the actually act itself.
That's out of the way, these are my new OCs: Grevor (blond) and Ichor (brunette). This is not their actual dynamic, but I was using them for my own amusement :3
Wanted to share some of these because it came out great, so here!
"Biceptember huh? Silly things you got there on the web." – Agung
But he never disappoint in serving! Agung is joining in the 'Biceptember' just for fun ;)
Also, because he wanted to take pics of his form :3
(bonus underneath break)
Much to adore about this man. Not really have solid stories to be dealt with him, but I love taking pictures of him – especially with more kinship :3 – and to be frank, no one could resist that charming teeth of his XD
A few days ago (I checked, 9 days ago), I had introduced to you Jay – one of my sims oc – and while after, I did made a few others (2, actually), I never got the chance to actually introduce them!
So, here we have Agung Satriyawan; a seasoned fighter that retired to be a freelancing herbalist and Fen Chun; a woman with an elusive nature, assertive but have a temper that rivals that of a raging hornet.
For now, I'm keeping close what's my project be – don't have much vision yet, to be honest – but I did experiment about with Agung Satriyawan for a photoshoot (wait for Agung's biceptember post 😉)
So, you’re writing a thing, and you need to name a character. And, as we all know, naming a character is a giant pain in the ass. I offer this list of shit I use pretty regularly, for this purpose.
Behind the Name (The etymologies are weird as fuck, in a few places, but it’s great if you’ve got a name and need to find other names that are from or derived from the same culture/language)
Behind the Surname (BTN for family names)
Academy of Saint Gabriel Medieval Names Archive (This is the go-to for medieval names in Europe and the Near East. Hardcore scholarship and a distinct lack of fucking around.)
Kate Monk’s Onomastikon (The original internet name resource.)
The Soldier in Later Medieval England (Actual names from English military rolls around the Battle of Agincourt)
England’s Immigrants (Non-native residents of England, 1330-1550)
Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain
Mapping the Medieval Countryside - People (People appearing in English inquisitions post mortem, 1418-1447)
Wiktionary’s Index of Biblical Names
Ancient Names Galleria (The weird shit is here. If you need Akkadian or Phoenecian names, those are totally covered.)
Trismegistos People (Names extracted from the Trismegistos Texts – mostly names from Graeco-Roman Egypt.)
Personally, I use the shit out of Trismegistos People, England’s Immigrants, and the Ancient Names Galleria. If you’ve got good sources I didn’t hit, feel free to add them in a reblog. I’m always looking for more good name resources. (And almost all of what I have is Europe and the Near East, with a little North Africa.)
Dropping this update in the most recent reblog in my notes, in the hopes it falls into as many laps as possible. Here’s some more good sources for names, this time with a more African focus.
Wikipedia Category: Surnames of African Origin (which is helpfully divided into sections by language)
Wikipedia Category: Amharic Language Names (I believe this list is primarily, if not entirely, given names.)
YorubaName (“an online intervention to preserve and document all Yorùbá names in a multimedia format.”)
Writing Adolescent Fiction: Character names: Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan (a list of given names and surnames with notes on how full names are constructed in each culture listed)
Again, if you know any good sources, particularly for regions I haven’t covered, let me know!
So You Want to Name a Sino (a fairly detailed guide on how to name a Chinese character without sounding like too much of a moron)
Most Popular Baby Names for Girls Since 1960 (most popular American girls’ names, by state, from 1960-2012, as a gif)
Popular Baby Names (the US Social Security database of naming trends in the US, with search options for date, gender, location, and trend)
A Guide to Names and Naming Practises (a UK government guide to common names and structure of names from around the world, split first by continent and then by culture. PDF.)
Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature (an entire book on trends in English naming and name structure and the Puritan influence, from 1880. PDF.)
Things I am particularly looking for reliable sources for, if you’ve got them: North and South American aboriginal names, Southeast and East Asian names, names from the former USSR, Australian aboriginal names. (All of these by culture or language family, if possible, not just by current national borders.)
Introducing y'all to Jay! He's a sim that I made for something that I'm not really sure will be going through, but here he is! I'm still hammering out the kinks surrounding his lore, so I'll be making an actually introduction post for Jay!
