When people think of Shonen Jump, the games that immediately come to mind are probably hits like My Hero Academia, One Piece or Dragon Ball. Japanese publisher Shueisha recently unveiled the series which they believe will nurture the next generation of Shonen Jump readers.
Recently, a popular Japanese TV show called Manganuma highlighted Takeru Hokasono's Kagurabachi — a newer action manga series that began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in September 2023. According to the Manganuma showrunners Kawashima and Yamauchi, Kagurabachi has become a huge hit with readers, leading it to Animate Bookstores' list of top recommended titles for 2024. Kawashima and Yamauchi also recalled a conversation with a Shueisha representative that reflected the publisher's high hopes for the series. “Surname [Shueisha’s employee] said that they want Kagurabachi to continue the next generation of Jump,” the TV host reported. An X fan page (formerly Twitter) called Kagurabachi Brasil shared Manganuma's segment, along with a brief summary, as seen below.
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While many Shonen Jump heroes are primarily motivated by a desire to protect others or a desire to become stronger, Kagurabachi is primarily a revenge story. The plot revolves around a young man named Chihiro Rokuhira, who spent most of his youth training to become a famous swordsmith like his father, Kunishige. However, Chihiro's good ambitions were destroyed the day his father was brutally murdered. From that day forward, his new mission is to avenge his father by hunting down the killer. In reality, the culprit was not simply a lone swordsman but also a member of a witch organization called Hishaku.
Kagurabachi's dark, revenge-filled plot offers a different kind of Shonen Jump story
Despite (or perhaps partly because of) Kagurabachi's dark premise, the series has attracted a large following both domestically and internationally. Although the series currently has only one published volume, it has more than 200,000 copies in circulation worldwide (as of May 2024). This total includes both physical and digital manga sales. According to Manganuma, copies of Kagurabachi have almost flown off the shelves in Japanese bookstores, showing that the craze shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. “It [is] extremely famous. It was so popular that the comic sold out immediately.”
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Kagurabachi has been praised for its dark similarities to Jujutsu Kaisen and Hell's Heaven
Kagurabachi's overwhelming popularity is due to several factors. For example, Chihiro has a completely different personality than many other shounen main characters. Instead of sharing the happy-go-lucky spirit of heroes like Luffy and Goku, Chihiro is extremely cold and calculating. However, he still sympathizes with the plight of others and often takes time to help those in need. Chihiro's nuanced personality seems to have resonated with readers, some of whom may have grown tired of the standard archetypes featured in many shounen manga. Kagurabachi was also praised for tapping into the spirit of dark shounen series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Hell's Paradise, not shying away from tackling heavy themes like trauma and loss, but still finding ways to incorporate a sense of thrilling right at your place. Action scene.
The Kagurabachi manga, which includes 35 written chapters, is available to read in English through VIZ Media.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
