Sure, a Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba tie-up is meant to get fans excited, but not like this.

Popular sushi chain Kurazushi (also known as Kura Sushi) is currently running a cross promotion with hit manga/anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. As part of the celebration for the franchise’s upcoming theatrical anime, Kurazushi has added a few new items to its menu that are inspired by the Demon Slayer cast. For example, here’s the “Nezuko’s Ice Cream with Plenty of Berries,” which Kurazushi says is “a dessert that perfectly matches the cute image” of the character.

But of course, you can’t salute Demon Slayer without mentioning its protagonist, Tanjiro, and Kurazushi has decided to pay its respects in udon noodle form. They even recreated the iconic green-and-black checkboard pattern of his haori coat in fish cake form, which makes for a pretty eye-catching visual.

However, it’s not nearly as attention-grabbing as the name Kurazushi chose for the dish: Tanjiro’s Bukkake Udon (炭治郎のぶっかけうどん in Japanese text).

Now, bukkake is a word that can bring up very different mental images depending on how you first heard it, so let’s discuss the possible interpretations. A lot of non-native-Japanese speakers’ first exposure to “bukkake” is as a term used in the Japanese adult video industry, where it describes a scene where an actor ejaculates on the face or body of his female costar.

But bukkake’s original linguistic origins are much more chaste. It’s a form of the verb bukkakeru, which just means to splash something onto something else. In the Japanese culinary world, it’s used to indicate noodles in which the broth is splashed and various toppings dashed onto them.

Because there’s nothing inherently salacious about the word, context makes a big difference, and so Japanese people don’t dissolve into giggles when they see “bukkake udon” listed on a menu…or at least they usually don’t. By directly attaching a specific person/character to the bukkake udon, though, Kurazushi muddies the issue of how “Tanjiro’s Bukkake Udon” is supposed to be parsed. Do you separate “Tanjiro’s” and “Bukkake Udon,” to indicate that this is a style of bukkake udon made in Tanjiro’s image? Or do you pair “Tanjiro’s Bukkake” and make it the descriptor for “Udon,” implying that these are noodles that Tanjiro seasoned by busting a nut into?

▼ Upon seeing “Tanjiro’s Bukkake Udon” one Twitter user couldn’t resist drawing a mental parallel to an unofficial adult parody of Demon Slayer.

Other commenters also had a difficult time keeping their thoughts pure, reacting to the dish’s name with:

“I’m a low-brow kind of person, so I spent five solid minutes giggling at the menu when I saw the name.”
“Totally can’t help laughing at it.”
“Look, Kurazushi, sorry to be the one to break this to you, but you probably shouldn’t put a person’s name in front of ‘bukkake’ like that.”
“Such a horny name.”
“Imagine putting in an order to go, and then when it’s ready they say ‘OK, who’s taking home Tanjiro’s Bukkake Udon?’”
“Gotta change that ASAP.”

Apparently Kurazushi agreed with that last comment. As you can see in the lower right of the below tweet, the chain has now renamed the dish to simply Tanjiro’s udon (炭治郎のうどん), a change that’s being met with a mixture of relief and sadness, depending on the individual.

Oh, and it’s worth pointing out that while the majority of the online chatter has been about the noodles’ name, those who have eaten them report that they’re quite good.

So don’t feel too bad, because just like we’re pretty sure Shakespeare said, a bukkake by any other name would taste just as delicious.

Sources: PR Wire via Twitter/@ fool_10 via Jin, Twitter
Images: PR Wire
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