Kagurabachi Creator Explains the Manga’s Goldish Mascot

Kagurabachi has been taking over Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and the creator behind it all explained why the manga series uses goldfish as part of Chihiro Rokuhira’s main ability! Kagurabachi went viral with fans around the world before the first chapter even released with the magazine, and a large part of the reason why is due to the fact that it looked so different than the rest of the action series within it. Kagurabachi series creator has gone on record about their inspirations from Western movies and other action franchises, and this also led to the addition of the goldfish at the cetner of it all. 

When asked about the inclusion of Japanese aesthetics surrounding the swords, goldfish and more in a recent interview with Asahi (as spotted by @brkagurabachi on X), Hokazono noted that this is due to the exaggerated way that Japanese culture was often shown in Hollywood. Getting excited as a Japanese person every time he saw something like that, Hokazono revealed that he originally intended to go with a koi fish before settling on a goldfish due to how the ratio of its body and fins fit better with Chihiro’s attacks and central relationship with his father. 

Why Kagurabachi Uses Goldfish

“In Hollywood movies, you often see an exaggerated version of Japan. As a Japanese person, I’d get excited every time I saw that,” Hokazono began. “It looked really cool. So, I thought it would be great to someday create a story set in such a town.” Elaborating further, Hokazono explained why goldfish were incorporated into Chihiro’s Enten attack and how it was almost a different fish entirely. “Initially, I planned to draw carp. I thought Koi would look beautiful in black and white.”

“In a revenge tale where the protagonist’s clothes are stained black with blood, the colors white, black, and red match well, making colored illustrations look cool,” Hokazono continued. “I really intended to go with Koi until the last minute, but when finalizing the storyboard, I realized that goldfish would be easier to symbolize the daily life between Chihiro and his father.Plus, it’s about the ratio of the body to the fins. With Koi, the body is long, and even if you draw the fins beautifully, they end up looking chubby. When I tried drawing the scene where Chihiro unsheathes his sword in the first [chapter], I found that goldfish have a good balance with the fins, and there are also fantails, providing more variety in shape.”