Matakara Asamine, a gentle giant who is sunshine personified in a world of delinquency, turns into a dreary and dark shell of what he once was, after a heavy personal loss and coming across a nefarious Majin.
The world of Bucchigiri?! is rife with colorful delinquents who square up against each other far more than studying or doing anything academia-related.
Amidst a sea of raging ruffians and growling gangsters, Matakara Asamine is a bit of an outlier, in that he’s a sweetheart and a decent guy, even if he could lay most other delinquents to rest if he wanted to.
An always cheerful and warm person, Asamine goes through a twisted turn of events one day, after which his state of mind becomes riddled with ominous cobwebs, which triggers a radical change in his personality.
A profound loss
Matakara loses his older brother in a stabbing incident just before he was supposed to get out of the juvie, having spent his time there.
Awaiting the day of his brother’s release, anticipating his return and the day they begin living together again, only for those hopes to be crushed so suddenly wipes all the smile off Matakara’s face.
He gets plunged into an abyss of despair, and the blue Majin named Ichiya, who has been eying him as an ideal host for himself for a while, uses his fears and despair to manipulate him.
Ichiya’s manipulation
Bit by bit, Ichiya plants and grows inside Matakara’s mind, the idea that he needs to beat Arajin and defeat him to get over his fears and escape the black miasma that continues to haunt him.
He brainwashes him into believing Arajin is a cheater and backstabber, and that he doesn’t want him to become powerful like he has, through the use of Senya.
This manipulation leads to the stage where Ichiya can completely take over Matakara, so that he can have a rematch with the red Majin, Senya.
The aftermath
Matakara has lost his brother, which has left him with no reason to keep on going the way he has been all this while. After their parents passed away, his brother raised him and ensured that he’d be taken care of when he went to juvenile detention.
He has been looking forward to the day he would reunite with his brother and they would resume their happy days like before.
However, now that he’s lost that, it’s progressively become more and more difficult for him to hold on to his usual optimism.
He’s become bleak, resentful, and laser-focused on beating them all. He does so with great efficacy. As he borrows more and more of Ichiya’s power, he beats up opponents he couldn’t otherwise.
He eventually beats the Siguma head, Jin Marito, and before fighting the head of Minato Kai, he beats up a lot of his friends, who all fail to stop him and talk him out of his one-note, uncharacteristic change in personality.
Also Read: Matakara Asamine: Bucchigri?! character explained