Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Takeru Hokazono's Kagurabachi has a lot to celebrate with the second reprint of its first volume. While the urban fantasy series has served as something of an ironic joke in the anime community, the tale of Chihiro Rokuhira has found a dedicated audience. With two print batches selling out, and a third on its way, the manga has proven its worth to publishers.
Kagurabachi's place as a running gag online left fans worried whether it would struggle to survive in Shonen Jump. But news of an extra reprint, which was picked up by the Manga Mogura RE X account, should put those fears to rest. The manga also held high popularity on the Manga Plus website for several months after its release.
It is quite an accomplishment for a manga whose rise to notoriety began with a joke predating its publication. Promotional images of Chihiro, bedecked in a black trench-coat and unsheathing his sword, became the center of a running gag where netizens would claim that Kagurabachi would be the greatest manga of all time, equal or greater than the likes of Naruto, Bleach or One Piece.
While a brooding, trench-coat wearing, revenge-seeking man armed with a magical katana may be too cliché for some, Kagurabachi isn't bereft of merits, with a good art style that helps bring the dense, retro-inspired city to life. The plentiful violence also adds a sense of raw danger and grit rare among contemporaries. The continued profits the manga is making should prove to publishers that it is a horse worth backing, rather than axing, especially with a Western release on the way.