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Bunji Kugashira (句が知ら 文治, Kugashira Bunji) is a highly skilled gunman, Grave's rival, and a recurring character in the Gungrave series.
He was one of the Big Four of Millennion's Family, a legendary hitman, previously nicknamed; "The Wolf", however, was eventually indirectly however, killed by Grave as he did not land the final blow. Because of his excellent skills, and Brandon's apprentice and good friend until after Brandon's death, believing he had betrayed Millennion. In Gungrave: Overdose, after the collapse of Millenion and the deaths of all its top brass on the airship including Bunji himself in the first game thanks to Grave, he was resurrected by the Corsione Family as a Deadman and is recruited as a sweeper. However, he is killed a second time in a duel by the hands of either Grave, again, Jyuji Kabane or Rocketbilly Redcadillac.
In Gungrave VR U.N, however, he appeared once again, meaning that he was yet again; revived by a mysterious entity, and in Gungrave G.O.R.E, Bunji is a playable character. He's also revealed to be Jyuji Kabane's brother.
In all of the Gungrave games and anime, Bunji is voiced by Fumihiko Takichi. However, in the English dubs of all of Gungraves media, Bunji's voice actor in the original game was Lex Lang, however, was replaced by Steven Jay Blum in Overdose.
Appearance[]
Physical Appearance[]
Bunji's a tall man with a visible hunch-back with a fair skin. He had stubbles and his limbs are notably long. He had a black hair that was swept down, and his eye color is left unknown. However, in GORE, Bunji's appearance is visibly much skinnier and his eyes are revealed; they're colored brown. However, in most of Bunji's appearance, his left eye is red; and his veins are visible.
Clothing[]
In the original Gungrave game and the anime, Bunji wore a casual clothing - which includes; A white long-sleeved shirt covered by a brown coat, and the outfit is finished by a dark blue jeans and a pair of black shoes. Bunji also wears a pair of sunglasses, and frequently smokes.
In Overdose, Bunji returns - with a mummified design and his green coat's longer than before; the shoulders of his coat, along with the bottom of the coat are also ripped, created a messy, spiky bottom that almost looks like a Scarecrow. He wore a very dark-blue shirt, and a ripped dark-blue jeans that's finished with a pair of black boots. The glasses from the last game returns, and from top-to-bottom, Bunji was covered with a bandage.
In GORE however, Bunjis simple design returns; not without changes that includes a plain long-sleeved shirt covered by a brown coat, and a dark-blue jeans with a pair of black shoes and his sunglasses a little different than before.
Personality[]
Bunji has a strange sense of morals in life. Despite killing many he is extremely loyal to those he works for, and after joining Millennion, blindly follows the Code of Iron after Brandon's example. For this reason, he considers himself Brandon's first apprentice and presumably looked up to Brandon as the embodiment of the Code of Iron. Naturally, despite initially acting nonchalant about Brandon's betrayal, Bunji took the news harshly, killing off a Millennion target and his family out of disdain for his late mentor's comparatively peaceful ways of refusing the target's family to be involved and shortly after renaming True Grave to the Kugashira Group. After Bob Poundmax's death, Bunji even goes out of his way to finish off Grave personally, independent of and disregarding Lee's simultaneous desire for revenge.
Bunji's version of the Code of Iron differs from Brandon's only by loyalty: Bunji's being more focused on Harry than on the rest of Millennion, likely due to his respect for Harry. He executed Randy because while the latter had not betrayed Millennion, he had "betrayed Harry MacDowell".
Thirteen years after Harry's ascension, Bunji has a habit of killing off the people he works with indiscriminately, considering them useless after Millennion's employee base has expanded so much at the expense of quality, and prefers to work alone. Bunji also holds Laguna Glock in disdain for the scientist's eagerness in pursuing Necrolization, but solicits his services in order to gain power to match Grave. In the anime, after his first defeat by Grave, Bunji regains respect for his mentor and even adopts his signature finger taunt to start the battle.
In Overdose he seems more depressed, hating his new life as a Deadman, constantly complaining about how whoever resurrected him had a "Bad sense of humor". He also claims that he is a pathetic leech on humanity, now with only one purpose: to fight. He seems to have an unhealthy addiction to cigarettes, almost always seen with one in his mouth, even when undead.
Plot[]
Past[]
Joining Millennion[]
Bunji is introduced working with a small time gang, who ask him to find Harry MacDowell and kill him. He brings Harry to them before they point dozens of guns towards him, he raises his hands as Harry suddenly grabs a pistol and fights back, Bunji joining. The two take cover behind the car they came in.
Bunji meets Brandon.
As Bunji moves forward to fight back, Brandon arrives and fights as well. The two back towards each other as they kill many, yet as their backs hit again they instantly turn with guns pressed against each others face. Harry explains that Bunji is with them, and asks if Bunji wishes to join Millennion, which he refuses unless he could be beaten unarmed. Harry prepares to fight but Brandon holds him back, fighting him instead. Bunji is defeated and joins Millennion, finding new respect in Brandon.
Bunji is later seen joining Brandon, Bear, and Cid Gallarde for drinks. When a drunken Cid pulls out his gun to test the two junior members, Bunji and his mentor immediately hold him at gunpoint, forcing Cid to concede that he is beaten and that it was time for the next generation to take over.
Blood War and Cannon Vulcan[]
Bunji creates the hit squad True Grave with Brandon, being the second in command. Bunji becomes involved in many operations, including the battle against Blood War and Cannon Vulcan with the prototype necrolyzers, helping Brandon against them. In the first battle, the two scout Lightning territory for War and Vulcan and encounter the prototypes, but largely unaware of their adversaries' undead natures, run out of bullets futilely shooting their opponents. Bunji is held at gunpoint by three of the prototype necrolyzers while War persuades Brandon to deliver Big Daddy to him.
Brandon shows up alone with several heavy guns intending to fight the Orgmen alone, but is later joined by Bunji, who prevents War from killing Brandon. Again, the undead nature of their opponents ensures that neither of them are able to keep their opponents dead for long, and both are soon disabled by bullets from their enemies. Only the timely decay of the necrolyzers ensures that Bunji and Brandon survive, and Bunji helps Brandon aim the pistol at War and deal a lethal shot.
The battle is not yet won, as War returns as a necrolyzer himself, easily withstanding Brandon's and Bunji's shots, but the two are saved with the timely intervention of Harry MacDowell and Balladbird Lee, who crash into War with a minivan. However, even this isn't enough to stop War, who tosses the minivan aside, and draws his golden pistol on the four men. War is finally brought down with a barrage of gunfire from Bear Walken's hit squad Overkill and Bunji witnesses Brandon take War's own golden pistol and finish off his opponent with a single shot.
The Rise of Harry MacDowell[]
Three years pass and Bunji accidentally botches one job, suffering a shoulder injury, for which Brandon silently berates him for his recklessness. After this, Bunji increasingly becomes involved in Harry's schemes, killing Randy on Lee's orders after Harry set him up as an embezzler. Hearing from Harry that Brandon had betrayed the organization, Bunji takes his word at face-value and initially appears nonchalant about it. However, Brandon's betrayal had affected him personally, as on a job to kill a target, Bunji disregards his subordinates' impulses to isolate the target without affecting the family, barging into the home and killing off the target, his wife, and the children, shortly after, renaming True Grave to the Kugashira Group.
Later, when Big Daddy confronts Harry in an attempt to kill him, Bunji shoots the gun out of his hand with a single shot and leaves Harry to deal with the rest. In the thirteen years that follow, Bunji becomes part of the Big Four, along with Bear Walken, Balladbird Lee and Bob Poundmax.
Gungrave[]
Beyond the Grave[]
In a meeting in which Harry and the Big Four discuss the new force that has been killing off Orgmen, Bunji is quick to dismiss claims that Brandon was responsible, as he was sure that Brandon was dead.
When Grave crashes into a mansion following information planted by Bob Poundmax, Bunji greets him with Harry and the rest of the Big Four. Bunji pulls a gun on Grave when Grave aims his at Harry, but is interrupted by Bob, who offers to fight Grave himself to test out his Superior powers.
Harry, Bunji, and the rest of the Big Four greet Grave in an airship after the latter kills the other Millennion executives.
Bunji is also seen on the sidelines of Grave's fight with Lee, having saved Mika from her fall, and watches Grave's fight with Lee from nearby.
Bunji is next seen detonating a series of bombs attached to Bear Walken's skyscraper shortly after Grave kills the old hitman, acknowledging Grave shortly before they fall. The resulting explosion destroys the skyscraper and causes Grave to crash into a nearby church building, with Bunji challenging his mentor to one last gunfight, but is defeated by Grave. Dying, Bunji laments that he had given a pathetic performance, especially to his former mentor.
After Bob's death, Bunji digs up Brandon's grave, his suspicions further confirmed that the grave was empty. Bunji shoots the gravestone bearing his name and goes hunting for Grave alone, armed with a series of pre-planted bombs and a gun that paralyzes tissue. He manages to paralyze three of Brandon's limbs and proceeds to execute him, but is interrupted by Mika Asagi, who begs him to stop. Mika's constant shouting irritates Bunji and he fires a series of warning shots around her, angrily denying that she knew anything about Millennion and himself. Bunji's threatening behavior enrages Grave, who, making an effort to stand up, knocks Bunji down with a single punch, knocking off his sunglasses. Bunji's attempts to point his gun and draw another gun from his jacket sleeve are interrupted by Grave pinning down each arm with a knee, and he laughs nervously as Grave repeatedly punches his face with his single functioning arm. The barrage only stops when Mika begs Grave to stop.
Following this encounter, Bunji drinks heavily, even to the point of being kicked out of a bar associated with Millennion, who did not recognize the hitman due to his lone wolf nature. He meets a pet cat and later approaches Laguna Glock, declaring his intent to become a Superior to confront Grave one last time on even grounds.
Bunji wields Left Head in the fight against Grave
Gungrave: Overdose[]
Note: This is from Jyuji's perspective.
Bunji awaits Grave
Bunji's skills were great enough to have him resurrected for use by the Corsiones. He seems to hate being a Deadman, but he accepts it, remembering he could get revenge on Grave. He tracks Grave and his team through much of the story, until the Corsiones decide to take off on their plane, with Bunji and Fangoram being the first line of defense. As he awaited his rival, he was instead met with his long lost brother, Juji. He explains why he was there, and wishes to test Juji's skills.
Bunji is finally put at peace
The two clash, and after an extremely powerful Bladestorm, Bunji falls. Bunji asks of one last thing from his brother, to be the man he could've been if he wasn't a monster consumed by a thirst for blood. He thanks his brother, who was shocked to be able to defeat him, and dies for the last time.
Between Gungrave VR U.N & G.O.R.E[]
At some point, he was resurrected and soon enough at the end of the game; Bunji appeared, calling Grave "Big guy" shortly before the screen fades away.
Gungrave G.O.R.E[]
TBA
Relationships[]
Beyond The Grave[]
- Main article: Beyond The Grave
Harry MacDowell[]
- Main article: Harry MacDowell
Mika Asagi[]
- Main article: Mika Asagi
Abilities and Skills[]
Gameplay[]
Boss Battles[]
Gungrave[]
- Main article: Gungrave
Gungrave: Overdose[]
- Main article: Gungrave: Overdose
Gungrave G.O.R.E[]
- Main article: Gungrave G.O.R.E
Bunji's Cat[]
Bunji's cat
In the anime adaption, Bunji befriends a stray, one eared cat during his time in the gutter. He acts uncharacteristically kind to this cat and keeps it with him regularly. After Bunji's death, the cat chases his soul, accidentally causing a recently-widowed Harry MacDowell to crash.
Trivia[]
- Bunji's appearance was based off of Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun, another series made by Nightow.
- He's a playable character in Overdose as Jyuji's alternate skin.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
- ”Hey, Partner.” His final words, to his cat.
- "Hey bro."
- "Yeah, Yeah. They'll have to taste my justice!"
- "With your powers, make me invincible."
- "Whats wrong partner? You don't seem too energetic..."
- "Brother, please don't betray us."
- "I am pathetic"
- "If there is a God, he must have a nasty sense of humor. Why else give a man who's lived so long yet another chance to make a fool of himself?"
- "Everything I'm about to do, I learnt from you."
- "Here it goes."
- "Thank you."
- "Give him a message for me, tell him I won't be able to see him again."