Can Kagurabachi Lead the Next Generation of Shonen Jump?

Can Kagurabachi really be the face of Shonen Jump's new gen of hits?

By Nick Valdez

With so many major franchises ending their runs with Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine this year, Kagurabachi could be the face of the next generations of hits if it can keep up its current pace. Shonen Jump is now working through a huge period of change as this Summer has seen some series come to an end, and the Fall will be ending another. Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia previously wrapped up its run, and Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen manga will be ending later this month. These are two of the pillars that have been holding up the magazine through sheer tenure alone. 

These two series are major losses for the magazine as they were the series that had the tenure on par with a series like Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. They've been in the magazine for such a long time, that now that they are leaving it's going to leave a vacuum that Shonen Jump is going to need to fill with some newer hits. While there are series that can continue to hold up the torch already running in the magazine, there needs to be something newer and fresh to get the level of attention that these two hits had. This could be Kagurabachi. 

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(Photo: Shueisha)

What Is Kagurabachi? 

Originally created by Takeru Hokazono in September 2023, Kagurabachi has officially celebrated its first anniversary of its debut in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The series stars Chihiro Rokuhira, the son of famous blacksmith Kunishige Rokuhira. During a past war, Kunishige forged a collection of spell enhanced blades known as the Enchanted Blades. Each one is unique with its own source of power and ability, and one night Kunishige was killed and the Blades were stolen. 

Chihiro, who hid during the attack, then spends the next couple of years training to use the seventh of the Enchanted Blades, Enten, with the goal of finding all those who killed his father and eliminating them himself. It's led him on a path of revenge that sees him trying to become a one-man army, but finding out that he'll need the help from some crucial allies in order to take on the increasingly dangerous enemies that he's come across in the series thus far. It's a much different kind of series that many of its compatriots in the magazine right now. 

Why Is Kagurabachi Popular? 

Kagurabachi is such a different kind of case from any of Shonen Jump's debuts in recent memory. It's unique to the internet age as well as the first chapter was a viral hit among fans before it even officially released in the magazine. This is basically unheard of for any kind of new series that Shueisha has tried to launch, and just the promo imagery alone helped push the debut to wild new levels that manga fans really didn't expect it to reach. Especially when that virality had a blend of both genuine excitement and slightly ironic hype. 

There were all sorts of memes making light of the fact it was getting so popular so early (as some fans even imagined what an anime could look like), but through it all it ended up being for the best as the manga had a highly successful first chapter. That chapter was so well received that the series has gone to have one of the best first year runs in recent memory as well. Nabbing tons of awards, selling out its manga volumes in Japan (with only three volumes compiled at the time of this publication too), and even Shueisha's editorial department has noted their hopes to really headline it as a future hit. 

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Can Kagurabachi Be Shonen Jump's Next Hit? 

The question of whether or not Kagurabachi can be the next modern Shonen Jump hit has essentially already been answered. In it's first year, the series has proven that it can be a hit with fans. The real test is whether or not it can reach an audience outside of that bubble. That's something that likely won't be tested until Kagurabachi is at least a few years into its serialization. The series mentioned earlier in this piece are pretty much the same way. My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen were hits among manga fans, but then exploded much later into the runs. 

When Kagurabachi gets an anime (and it's a matter of if, not when), then it will be showcased to a whole new world of fans. That will be the test of whether or not it can lead a new generation of hits. A rising tide lifts all shifts, and Kagurabachi needs other new series taking off at the same time in order to really be the face of the new generation. Shonen Jump needs a new series to pretty much quickly hit the same levels of notoriety so that Kagurabachi will have something to lead. But it's definitely going to get there as it's got all the tools. Now it just needs a steady, and lengthy serialization. 

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