After the rise of a group called the Masked Demons delivering powerful evil swords that corrupted weak individuals, the Shinsengumi stood up to fight them. However, all but one were slain in the battle. To keep the peace in Kyoto and continue the fight against this organization, seven powerful criminals slated for execution were chosen as replacements for the slain Shinsengumi members. For Ichibanboshi, one of the seven chosen, he is hesitant to agree due to his hatred of samurai after they killed his family. However, his parents’ death and the Masked Demons may be more connected than he thought.
I really don’t care what anyone thinks, this show was basic, but really fun to watch. It’s a simple action with creative characters that looks good. Not everything has to be a delicately woven masterpiece or the same isekai story. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Bucchigire! Bakumatsu Bad Boys, head on down below.
Anime Like Bucchigire! Bakumatsu Bad Boys
For Fans of Outcasts Forced Together in a Group
Akudama Drive
The region of Kansai is overrun by powerful criminals known as Akudama. One night, after picking up 500 yen dropped by an Akudama, an Ordinary Girl finds herself wrapped up in a huge plot to foil a public execution. Now with a bomb collar around her neck, she and other Akudama must complete tasks given by a mysterious Black Cat.
Both series are about a bunch of notorious criminals that are suddenly forced together and told to do a task. However, while they are essentially told to be enforcers of justice in Bucchigire, Akudama Drive still has these criminals still doing technically criminal tasks, the hitch is that these lone wolves need to work together.
Tokyo 24th Ward
On an artificial island in Tokyo Bay labeled as the Tokyo 24th Ward, a fire at a middle school changed the lives many, including three childhood friends – Ran, Kouki, and Shuuta. Having drifted apart after the incident, they are brought together on the first anniversary of the fire when their phones ring simultaneously and they receive a call from Asumi, a girl that died in that fire, showing them a tragedy that will come to pass and asking them to choose the future.
While not all the characters in Tokyo 24th Ward are criminals, it is a series about a group bound together and tasked with solving a mystery and essentially saving people in their city from various events. These series are both very much “mission of the week” action-type anime. They also both feature color-coded characters, great visuals, and remain widely under-watched for whatever reason.
Great Pretender
After life turned him down the path of crime, Makoto Edamura cockily thinks himself the best swindler in Japan. However, after trying to swindle a tourist only for the tourist to swap it back, he finds the police on his trail. Making his escape, he runs into this tourist again, a move that would take him all the way across the sea to Los Angeles. There, he learns that this tourist was in fact a man called Laurent Thierry, a successful confidence man, who wants to recruit him onto his team.
Great Pretender is more of a heist series than heroics. Both series really highlight that just because they are criminals doesn’t mean the characters are bad people. In fact, the people they are fighting (or stealing from) are often depicted as worse people.
Kiznaiver
Katsuhira Agata is a quiet teen whose ability to feel pain has vanished. One day, he, his friend Chidori, and four other teenagers are abducted and bound together by the Kizuna System. While not physically connected, their pain is. Now if one party member is injured, they all feel it.
While the group of characters in Kiznaiver are not criminals, they are helpfully color-coded characters that are all linked together by circumstance. They are then forced to work together in various situations to survive. Throughout, you learn more about these uniquely designed characters and enjoy some very slick animation.
For Fans of Creative Samurai Stories
Orient
After their descent 150 years ago, the demons demanded reverence from humanity as gods. Standing up against these new overlords were the Bushi, who still battle to this day, but the demons preach that they are enemies. Hinamoto, freed from Bushi rule many years ago, lives peacefully and reveres demons. The residents mine rocks for the demons to consume, but for Musashi, a miner in training, he craves freedom. Together with his childhood friend Koujiro, a boy outcasted for being a descendants of a Bushi, they start a fight against the demons for freedom, only to be saved by an actual Bushi band. Seeing them fight and destroy the demons, the pair decide they will form a Bushi band of their own!
Both Bucchigire and Orient are rather new samurai tales that both lean really hard into color coding their main cast. Furthermore, they both also put in some interesting shounen twists to samurai. The weapons and sword styles are varied in both, and they are both big action shows where the characters are often just moving from one fight to the next.
Intrigue in the Bakumatsu
Wandering mercenary Yojiro Akizuki uses his sword for not just work, but to track down supernatural objects and destroy them. On his quest, he crosses paths with a theater group whose members all have a dark past. This chance encounter sees him thrust into conspiracy.
Both series take place in the same time period. If you take all the super-powered sword skills and color coded characters from Buuchigire, and replaced them with more realistic samurai, this is essentially what you would get. It is a more serious show, but it also showcases some solid samurai action.
Laughing Under the Clouds
After the upsetting decision to ban swords, the Meiji Era government commissioned a large prison for dissidents to be built in the middle of Lake Biwa. Tenka Kumou is unofficially assigned to arrest criminals and also serves as ferrymaster to the Biwa prison with his two younger siblings, Soramaru and Chuutrarou. While they live joyfully, the Orochi curse spreads a shadow over the city of Oumi, signaling Orochi’s reincarnation in a human vessel. While many scramble to find the vessel, there are those that seek to seal it and those that have a darker design for the chosen person.
Both series are about creative looking samurai that focus on their sword skills, but also have a bit more power to them than your standard historic samurai. However, while Bucchigire is about the constant battles and adventures of the team, this series is more about unraveling a mystery surrounding this trio of brothers.
For Fans of Diverse Characters
Sengoku Basara
In the Sengoku Period of Japan, constant struggle between local lords has fostered a chaotic Japan. Quelling these lords one after another under his might and military prowess was the Demon King of Owari, Oda Nobunaga who was slowly uniting Japan. However, only two dared rebel against his rule, the One-eyed Dragon of Oshu, Masamune Date and the hot blooded warrior of the Takeda clan, Yukimura Sanada. Though Masamune and Yukimura share a similar goal of defying Oda rule, the two are locked in fierce rivalry that thwarts any hope of a united front. However, under pressure from Oda’s looming force, they must learn to make peace and work together if they hope to survive.
You like samurai that look cool? You like characters that are almost constantly fighting? You like both Bucchigire and Sengoku Basara. While in different time periods, they are all about those big shounen-style battles where the characters look great and they are able to have big fights not bound by realism.
Juuni Taisen
In a world where warfare is constant – and great for business – there are twelve individuals that thrive on the battlefield. These individuals each bear traits that coincide to one animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Those who are born into the right zodiac families or chosen to be the successor to that line are all invited to a competition that takes place every twelve years. In this competition, they will fight to the death. The last one standing will have their any wish granted.
While Juuni Taisen has a plot that is completely described as “people fight in a tournament to kill the other participants,” it does put all its effort into amazing fights. Furthermore, these aren’t just normal mercenaries fighting, they each have a theme to them. Where in Bucchigire the characters are color coded, in Juuni Taisen, they all have abilities and costumes that denote what animal of the Chinese Zodiac that they represent.
Rokka – Braves of the Six Flowers
According to legend, the revival of the Demon God will cause the Goddess to appoint six heroes, called Braves, to prevent the world from becoming a living hell. Adlet Mayer, the self-proclaimed strongest man in the world, travels to Piena in hopes of becoming a Brave. After being briefly jailed for causing trouble, he is indeed called and he sets off on a journey with the princess, another Brave, to defeat the Demon God. However, when all six Braves assemble, there are seven in total and the others soon suspect Adlet is a fraud.
Both series are about a group of chosen heroes that are supposed to fight the big bad. Whereas the twist in Bucchigire is that they are criminals, in Rokka, the twist is that there are seven instead of six chosen warriors and they begin to turn on each other after thinking they were infiltrated. Regardless, while there is some intrigue explored in Rokka, it is a lot interesting fights.
Akame ga Kill
Tatsumi is a naive boy from a rural village that makes the trip to the city in order to join the military and help his hometown. However, after he is rejected, he ends up joining Night Raid, a group of assassins part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the government. From there, he must fight a brutal and increasingly bloody shadow war.
If you don’t necessarily need your characters to be developed, but do need them to have cool powers, like in Bucchigire, Akame ga Kill is for you. It also follows a group of essentially criminals who are bound together to fight an oppressive and occasionally psychotic force that is taking over their nation. It is big battles every episode, but Akame ga Kill has a big passion for killing off character too.
Brave 10
After her temple is burned and the people within slaughtered, Isanami, a priestess of Izumo, is forced to flee. She manages to find a masterless Iga ninja who helps her reach Ueda Castle where she asks the lord, Yukimura Sanada, for help. However, when she reaches him, a mysterious power manifests. This power is strong and coveted by many, so in order to protect it, Yukimura summons ten warriors to defend her.
While Brave 10 is a shoujo show in that there is a girl being guarded by 10 chosen warriors whom she occasionally has romantic moments with, it bears a number of similarities to Bucchigire. Alongside the characters in each show being either ninja or samurai, both series are notable for their group of characters being unique oddballs. They all have quirks to their personality that make them interesting and memorable characters.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Bucchigire! Bakumatsu Bad Boys, let fans know in the comments section below.
