Bucchigiri is a lot of things. It is by turns funny and cringe, rewarding and disappointing, interesting and confusing. But I enjoyed it, especially in retrospect, and I've had to back out a reason why.

I think it works best as a parody of a specific subgenre or a mismash of two specific kinds of story. Even then it's deeply imperfect and often feels like two separate shows, but one of those shows is very fun.

Arajin is an ecchi protagonist. He is ready and excited to be the protagonist of a harem anime set in a Japanese high school. Unfortunately, the show he finds himself in has only a single named girl with speaking lines. Literally one. Every other character besides that girl (and his mother) is a guy. He finds this horrible. Agonizing. Revolting. He's meant for a raunchy, if cliche, show with a morally dubious protagonist and fawning women. The kind you watch and promptly forget about, or maaaaybe keep as a problematic favorite.

By comparison, the world of Bucchigiri is morally upright and honorable. Young men between the ages of 16 and 23 fight for turf and glory and pride. Everyone one of them has a deeper emotional connection with another man than they do with any woman in the series. Bucchigiri's world is one of male companionship and brotherhood and violence. Of grimaces and tough speeches and fight between boys in school uniforms. Think Wind-Breaker or something similarly meant to center rough boys and their strong feelings about one another.

The entertainment value of Bucchigiri is in that disparity: Arajin couldn't give a single fuck about honor or friendship or brotherhood; he's trying to touch boobs. Instead his scheming thrusts him into a world of gangs and turf and family drama and years-long grudges that can only be solved by fights. If you like dirtbag protagonists like Kazuma from KonoSuba or Kei from Gantz you'll feel right at home here. Arajin runs from his problems at every opportunity until he literally can't. That's often frustrating to watch. He squirms and complains and waffles, and his power comes courtesy of a genie that has enough bravado and masculine battlelust for the both of them.

He persists in this obnoxious, trash, cowardly behavior for waaay too long. Most of the show is spent on events that finally, finally, force him to develop come conviction and do more than just leer at a woman who clearly and specifically would push him off a cliff if it meant getting to act on her (awful) older brother complex.,

His former best friend Matakara works very well as a foil. Taller, more muscular, more genuine, more handsome, he is everything that Arajin isn't, including friendly. He teases what the show could be if Arajin wasn't there. His character arc (no spoilers here) contrasts well with Arajin's, even if its middle portion also drags on too long.

The two genie have the weakest arc to me, a misunderstanding several hundred years in the making that relies on one of them ignoring all subtext and remaining as oblivious as possible. It's not as satisfying, but I can forgive that because the core of the show, that 'fish out of water,' 'character from another genre thrust into a contrasting one' dynamic is funny enough to carry the show for me.

I might be the only one who did, but I enjoyed Bucchigiri much more than the shows it parodies, even if it does so unintentionally.