Bunji Kugashira - Blog Posts

Happy Holidays Gungrave fans!

Have a Bunji!

I drew this one to parallel Juji!

Bartendin’ Blues

Sypnosis || In which Mika finds Bunji after the events of G.O.R.E

WC || 868

Contents || bartender/drinksmith!Bunji, Mika is in her 30’s (relatively), pure fluff and sprinkles of angst, Bunji in his old man feelings, decent ending, somewhat rushed.

Note || I keep thinking about… what IF Bunji worked as a bartender? Would be so neat. Especially also along with the idea that Mika and Bunji could possibly actually have a positive interaction for ONCE. They very rarely interact in canon, but this little writing of mine is just an idea of that happening.

The sea of bastards was not something new to him. 

Chain of command my ass.

There sure was hell ain’t no kings, and there was no god cept’ man. He looked down at the bottom of the bottle long enough to understand something close or other, he killed his deposition, and now he’d naturally assume it was genetically defined within all men amongst the bottoms of the earth. However Bunji left that life behind a long time ago, but his reputation stained him, like a target upon his back. It was lucky in nature that he was left alone to his vices, vying for a more less dramatic life.

Right now, that was far down his list of worries however. 

Mind over matter he’d tell himself. 

Yet this ain’t one of his usual bastard patrons, this was a lady. Someone he seldom had the grievance of meeting once or twice, hell he remembers saving her too. 

“Anythin’ to your fancy little lady?” He spoke, casting her a knowing look as he walked over to her spot of location within the bar. The silver-headed woman tensed up, sensing she was a focus of attention within the bartender’s eyes. She wasn’t sure exactly what to say, or what to do for that matter, getting here was the easy part — trying to strike up a conversation with the man that saved her from that exploding airship on top of the building so many years ago wasn’t.

Red flickered upon in the vision of the two, a quiet reminder that he was under the control of a greedy asshole who was trying to ensure the spread of SEED. The very subject of the matter that coursed through the veins of the young lady. 

The very bullet that he shot her with. 

She held her nimble and fragile hands together, fiddling with her fingers in order to stead her ever-growing anxiety. The wolfish man stood there with a patience he never could’ve had when he was younger, awaiting her words. Finally, she had spoken, so tenderly, “Just something regular, nothing too strong. I am sure you have better knowledge on drinks then I do Mr. Kugashira.” As if it were, it felt like yesterday he remembered crossing paths with her for the very first time. When she was twelve years old, a target was on her back for merely being the daughter of Big Daddy, a well-respected man who maintained the age-old Millenion and left it with a great legacy. Only back then, Bra- Beyond The Grave had risen to ensure every single last one of the members of Millenion would be sent to their own graves. 

His calloused hands moved upon instinct, without hesitation to gather up the ingredients upon hearing her request. Bunji wanted to speak, but his vocal cords were more or less worse for wear, yet he made the effort to do so anyway. “Mika,” He began, his chest rumbling in a low chuckle, “Ain’t that your name?” His voice was gravelly, yet so warm. It reminded Mika of a fondness a father would have for his children, but she shook off the memory and nodded with a quiet hum. 

Bunji set down the mixer, bringing up his hand to adjust the collar right atop his tie. “Well I suppose I can’t just assume yer’ only here to reminisce aren’t you?” Quiet laughter shook his shoulders, trembling may they be. He resumed his ministrations, not caring if Mika had answered him or not. 

It was then he had set her drink down in front of her crossed arms, had she mustered the courage to respond, “SEED has resurfaced, and we need more hands. It’s becoming difficult to obtain.” 

“So you want me to join your little resistance group?” He shot back, toying with bar tools that he had in hand. Mika went quiet, and that confirmed everything he had suspected. Bunji’s shoulders faltered, in a way displaying his exhaustion, but he could never truly feel anything of the sort. A deadman has no need for pain or the physical toll a nasty situation would take on a person. “Your father would be pretty impressed y’know.”

Mika’s eyes shot up, wide with surprise at the sincerity in the former hitman’s words. He was glad he constantly wore his sunglasses, his eyes would be telling a completely different story to the young lady. 

A sigh escaped her lips, her head somewhat hanging low, the eventful memories all coming back of her mother telling Mika all about Big Daddy. How powerful and what a proud man he was, “Pretty sure he wouldn’t be proud of me at all.” 

Bunji cracked his neck, leaning forward and crossing his arms as he got a closer look at Mika, “Now why in the hell would’ja say that?” He raised his eyebrow, truly showing his confusion. Bunji had meant it when he said her father would be proud of her, but why would she downplay her own efforts in life? Especially if she was working so hard to prevent the disaster of SEED from destroying the lives of civilians and people alike. 

In his book, that would be nothing short of someone who truly was human.

Someone asks what picture is in your locket and you open it to reveal this.

Average Bunji fan behaviour 🙃

(I stole the original drawing from Gungrave Archives, namely this page:

)

Also an extra pic from when I was volunteering at a conference:

(look at my tech support dawg we're going to accidentally make the whole audio system combust)

Ideas that I want to discuss on this blog

This isn’t in any order or anything this is just a bunch of thoughts I’ve wanted to talk about regarding this lovely series.

Trigun/Gungrave narrative & themes comparison: On a scale of "love and peace" to "kick their ass"

Brandon Heat is a combination of both Vash and Wolfwood

Is Bunji Kugashira similar to Nicholas D. Wolfwood in certain aspects besides appearance?

Vash & Knives vs. Brandon & Harry: Expectations of trust/loyalty

Bunji Kugashira's hangups about brothers (first Juji then Brandon?)

What's the history between the Kugashira brothers?

How canon is the Gungrave anime to the first Gungrave video game? Was Overdose supposed to bridge the two (appearance of Sherry???)

Why isn't there more Gungrave/Trigun crossover content?

Tsuneo Imahori is so good at music dude: How the Gungrave soundtracks create another layer of atmosphere & emotion

What the fuck was up with Gungrave VR & Gungrave G.O.R.E.?

How and why is Rocketbilly Redcadillac?

I want to see more hijinks with Juji and RB, they are sooooo

Why is Juji not in G.O.R.E.? (Sad but probably not canon idea that he was eventually overcome by the SEED in him)

What it's like to be a deadman aka why don't we let the Gungrave cast experience body horror too

Madhouse wanted the Gungrave anime to be a spiritual successor of the 1998 Trigun anime

Will there ever be another entry in the franchise after G.O.R.E.?

Trigun and Gungrave say aliens are real folks (maybe canon maybe not)

Beyond the Grave & Vincent Valentine: Two ultra sad goth bois that just want to take a nap in their coffins

Feel free to make your own post for any of these ideas or something. As I said before my activity on this blog is going to be pretty inconsistent so don’t expect anything from me anytime soon. Then again just last night I started writing a short little Juji story but I don’t know when I’m gonna finish it. I also plan to do fanart but motivation to draw has honestly become more evasive than wanting to write. If you have any questions or suggestions I’d love to read them in the comments or tags at least. See you guys later!

so now that everyone has caught up on the various trigun canons, i humbly suggest obsessing over yasuhiro nightow’s other work – starting with this ancient anime: gungrave.

links:

gungrave tag on ao3

watch gungrave on crunchyroll

watch gungrave on hulu

never must stop, it's stealing my heart

So I'm watching Gungrave and...

IS THAT YOU WOLFWOOD???

And LIVIO???

Nightow loved his blorbos so much he reincarnated them, huh.

Gungrave doodles!

It’s kind of an AU timeline after overdose but before GORE, basically.