Kagurabachi: How John Wick Inspired the Hit Manga

Kagurabachi‘s become one of the fastest new hits with Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and the editor behind the series revealed how the John Wick films actually inspired the manga! Kagurabachi has suddenly found itself in a worldwide popularity as it gained viral attention among manga fans online before the first chapter was even released. Takeru Hokazono’s original manga series has been keeping this hot streak going as more fans are drawn to its pages, but it turns out that those behind the manga series have been caught by surprise with the manga’s worldwide popularity outside of Japan. 

Kagurabachi manga editor Takuro Imamura recently spoke with Shueisha’s MangaPlus service about the series’ inspirations, and revealed that series creator Hokazono wanted to craft a revenge story. Not only did the editor find this uncommon as revenge stories are rarer in shonen magazines, but Imamura stated that Hokazono seems to be further inspired by the John Wick films and wanted to draw a revenge story like the ones seen in films like that. 

Kagurabachi: How John Wick Inspired the Manga

“It was because Hokazono said that he wanted to ‘make a revenge story,” Imamura stated when asked how Kagurabachi’s manga came to be. “Back then, I thought that doing a revenge story in a shonen magazine was relatively uncommon. However, considering that Hokazono had been drawing revenge stories as one-shots, I decided to take on the challenge, believing that it would lead to the creation of an interesting piece of work.” Revealing that these revenge stories just might be Hokazono’s favorite genre. 

“I think it’s simply his favorite genre. Hokazono likes Western movies, especially Tarantino films,” Imamura continued. “Lately, he seems to be a fan of movies like John Wick as well. I believe he wanted to draw the kind of revenge story often featured in those types of films. Rather than trying to draw a ‘Jump-like’ story, he’s adopting a stance of drawing what he personally likes.” Although these Western influences had been huge with fans outside of Japan, the response was unexpected. 

“However, since he’s creating it with the intention of gaining popularity in the Jump magazine, we hadn’t consciously considered how it might appeal internationally,” Imamura stated. “When I heard it was buzzing overseas after the serialization started, I was surprised, thinking, ‘Wait, it’s popular there?’ It was a pleasantly unexpected response, like a happy miscalculation.” 

But were you able to gleam some of John Wick in Kagurabachi? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on X (formerly known as Twitter)!