Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#183: Kagurabaichi

Have you ever wanted to be part of a phenomenon? If so, sit back, dear viewers, as we venture into the blackened world of Takeru Hokazano's Kagurabachi.

Summary

Fifteen years after the world was gripped in the rows of the Seitei War, Chihiro Rokuhira has known mostly peace and serenity. This is mainly due to his father, Kunishige Rokuhira, a blacksmith of the seven enchanted blades that ended the war. Unfortunately, the young boy will have to carry the family business in more ways than one as three mysterious sorcerers attacked his home and stole 6/7 swords, plus his father's life. Three years later, Chihiro is now primed on the hunt for his father's killers. A goal that will have the entirety of this mystical underworld fade into black.

Characters

Chihiro Rokuhira: Our main hero, Chihiro, is an ... exciting case. While he maintains a stoic drive to avenge his father, he's not heartless. He commands a strong sense of justice and offers himself as a kind warrior to all those for whom he needs help. After spending years with the identical swords he hopes to reclaim, Chihiro is also very organized/clever in his fights and actions, making him incredibly flexible during missions.

Togo Shiba: A former friend of Kunishige, Togo is the closest thing Chihiro has left to a confident confidant and right-hand man. He is a level-headed and humbling figure to his friends through his experience in the Kunambi, a group of sorcerers who intend to keep order. Don't mistake this cavalier nature for idiocy, though. Shibia is a force to be reckoned with through his sorcery of teleportation.

Hiano: Working between the underworld and the mundane, Hinao runs a cafe that spins information on the underworld. Despite the gruesome affair, though, she is an incredibly sweet and helpful soul who serves as an ally for Chihiro.

Char: An orphan of the Kyonagi clan, a people able to heal themselves and others quickly. With this ability, Char has been on the run from various criminal organizations for most of her life. Still, with Chihiro, she can finally be the kid she always wanted to be.

Summary

I've wanted to talk about Kagurabaichi for a while, even before it came out. This has been among the most fascinating mangas among Shonen Jump. Upon its announcement, my Twitter and Tiktok feeds were filled with memes, gassing this as the greatest manga ever and more significant than DBZ, Op, and beyond.

But instead of this praise leading to a set-up for Kagaurbachi to fall on its face, it somehow wrapped around to make the series an instant success. Between Shonen Jump releasing full-length manga animated videos for the series, Tarkeru getting cosigns by Kohei Horikoshi (My Hero Academia) and Gege Akutamai (Jujitsu Kaisen), and the first volume being digitally sold out before even hitting print, the series is excellent.

Combined with one of the most joyous yet passionate communities, I recommend getting into it just to be called a Baichibro, bra, or enby. Amidst all this hype, Kagurabaichi lives up to it as well.

The series does take a while to get started, throwing you into the middle of the action without doing the proper setup. However, you get into the pacing and stick to about chapter 10. The story starts picking up with one of the most intense opening arcs I've seen in the magazine.

Kagaurabaichi takes place in a 2000's 2000s-style urban fantasy world where sorcery has existed for generations. As the plot progresses more of the surrounding world on a need-to-know basis, we see the various factions at play here, all fighting over the blades. So far, we've only been greeted with 2/7 of the blades. The buildup around them makes them feel like incredibly powerful weapons, and the entire world is structured around them after their creation.

However, this is best seen in the frequent fights Takeru blesses us with. To my knowledge, this is his first manga, but you can see his art potential. Through the creative paneling and distinct visuals applied to the blades, there is a clear sense of frenetic speed and split-second surprises and decisions amidst the action. And if we see how the power system evolves, the series seems set to get stronger as the characters' understandings deepen.

So far, while Kagurabaichi decides to show the cruelty of the world, if there is any consistent theme we've seen in the series, it's legacy. As the son of the man who created the enchanted blades, Chihiro takes it upon himself to carry their legacy. But those same blades have and will destroy multiple lives.

At the end of the day, they are weapons that can only be used by those with strong convictions. Combined with the running theme of interpretation and legacy, which affects characters like Char and later Hakuri, I feel there's a fundamental theme of truly analyzing what came before you and wondering if you're willing to continue it.

Epilogue

If given the chance, I think Kagurabaichi has been one of the better newer shonen I've seen. If it manages to keep up the quality, it's had for now. We will know which manga will take the crown once JJK and MHA end soon. For better or worse, I hope this manga's success at least helps inspire Shonen Jump to give more newcomers a chance, but we'll have to see. Until then, let's shine the light on something else.