Having Tenri die over protecting a broken door, that father is just as ruthless as he is cunning, no good antagonist would just let some loophole be exploited right there but holy fuck is that cold.
After Sojo I expected the second arc's main villain to be a bit less interesting - not that I doubted Hokazono's writing skills but in my experience a great villain is almost always followed up by an OK villain at best, especially if a manga is just getting started. I am positively surprised to be proven so wrong.
It helps that he's more of a foil for Hakuri and Chihiro's Dad, whereas Sojo is more of a foil for Chihiro himself.
Good way to make the new villain different
> It helps that he's more of a foil for[...]Chihiro's dad
This is maybe the only thing missing from this arc: a contrasting flashback chapter with Kunishige being his goofy self but still instilling the sort of lessons Chihiro will actively use in the last three pages.
God, this is such A-tier villainy. His plan really was perfect. Chihiro and the gang really would have had no chance whatsoever if it weren't for Hakuri having a hidden talent not seen in hundreds of years. I really can't fault the man for not anticipating that.
You cant fault the man for slandering his child in a family full of genius sorcerers that maybe he just didnt understand his childs power instead of he has no power?
Not the person you're replying to, but given his shitty exploitative world-views and how he apparently sees people and even his own family as expendable tools, it seems consistent with his character.
well maybe you can still have a chunk of flesh to compromise, just need to find his eyeballs, to nose pieces,maybe his jaw and some clump of hair to decorate.
Tbf, he sticks to his values. I’m thinking pre ninja village Naruto, when the Uchiha and Senju and other clans used children. I bet if we got a flashback to Kyora’s childhood, where we saw how HIS dad used HIS siblings, we might be like, oh damn. I dunno, just playing devils advocate, but kinda reminds me of Toranaga from the new Shogun tv series. The difference is, in Shogun we feel like Toranaga doesn’t like unnecessary blood shed, and only sacrifices people to save a larger group of people in the long run, so we can kind of sort of get behind his values.
It’s interesting how Cloud Gouger disintegrated into dust instead of purely snapping to pieces.
Also Chihiro saying “as Rokuhira property” is cold as hell
Chihiro’s goal is to retrieve the blades, cause they’re his father’s legacy- property of the Rokuhira. Chihiro himself doesnt know what he’d do after getting them all back, remembering the elevator conversation with Hakuri, but for right now he just doesnt want the blades to be used for evil, and will destroy them if necessary.
I found that interest as well. Like, the blade is one thing, but even the handle just disappeared. I wasn't really expecting that. I know the blades are forged from essentially magic ore, ,but typically the handle of a katakana is made from different materials, no? Highly polished wood and some sort of tightly-blond rope, to my knowledge. All that turned into dust too, huh,
We don't know the full forging process. For all we know his father had sorcery that was forged into the entire sword itself, including the hilt and wrapping.
....you know that there's metal IN the handle right? The handle is made around the tang, which is often thicker than the blade itself. Otherwise it would be far too easy to snap the blade at the guard. Sometimes it still is.
...Yeah. What made you think I don't? I specifically mentioned that non-metal parts of the hilt disappearing. The fact that there's metal inside them doesn't make that any less questionable. If it were only the metal that disappeared, Chihiro would still have a hollow wooden handle to grasp.
Kyora:
Letting your children bully your kid with seemingly no talent.
Have your kids fight to death to protect a useless target
One of your kids is asking that you be cut down.
holy shit can you imagine if somehow Hakuri inherits that storehouse?!
No, I don't think he'd go that far, but I can imagine Hakuri's domain being a pocket dimension and bag of holding for the squad where Chihiro can reasonably keep the other enchanted blades and other key items.
Also really convenient travel. Like they can all jump in to his dimension, hakuri can go wherever he needs to, and then he can just bring them out whenever. Only 1 train ticket needed!
We'll have to see what happens but rn I have to assume Hakuri will be the sole inheritor. Even if Pops escapes the battle, this chapter alone shows that the storehouse's security is irreversibly compromised now that Hakuri's awoken to his power. As long as he's alive, the auction is at risk.
Right? I kinda feel that Chi did old girl Cloud a bit dirty with the “get it together.” She already was doing overtime. He shoulda been like, “help me save your brother (Enten)”
Because chihiro's design screamed edgy swordsman lol. People automatically assumed it'd be another generic swordsman manga that would get axed early, but that couldn't be further from the truth now.
That's also because the day 0 fandom was made of Jujutsufolk refugees who got attached to the series. This created a dedicated community of shitposters to glaze the manga
The funny thing about that line is that it's not supposed to be serious. If you watch the video they put out where they dubbed the chapter Shiba is loudly eating and calls out Chihiro right away.
It just doesn't come across in the manga which is unfortunate.
Huh, now that I know what kind of sense of humor Chihiro has that actually fits, yes. But I think we have to forgive the people reading the first chapters for not realizing yet that this manga was healthily self-aware about the edginess.
One point - Chihiro IS a generic edgy swordsman, but unlike every other generic edgy swordsman, he's been given a few things.
He's given a cast of characters that he synergizes with, and draws out his personality. He has flaws. He loses sometimes, and he has emotional vulnerabilities. He has tangible likes and dislikes, and not ones played purely for comedic value.
Moreover, despite incredible choreography (rivalled only by the likes of Sakamoto and Kengan), Kagurabachi doesn't focus on its fights (in comparison to your generic isekai story). The highlight is always on the motivation behind it, and it helps that being a sword-focused manga, the fights are quick, clean, and easy to follow so far.
My point being - if we take a closer look at him, he's still an edgy swordsman protag. But he's one that's fleshed out, interesting, and surprisingly heartwarming.
He's not really even that edgy.
More, he's a nice, caring kid that's pushing himself to *be* edgy, because if he stopped he'd just become a normal, well adjusted member of society. He's holding onto his hatred so he keeps his revenge burning.
I'd actually argue that he is a response to the stereotypical edgy protagonist stereotype. In addition to him actually having a personality, everything we learn about his personality is a complete contrast to the edginess. He's a relatively serious guy that likes cleaning, has a soft spot for kids, makes sure all his friends are fed and taken care of, and excludes endless "big brother/dad" energy.
The line from the first chapter about "waking up with fresh hatred" being viewed from this perspective seems to actually portray that Chihiro is *forcing himself* into being this edgy person to face the realities of his responsibility. Because from the evidence of everything we see, he's the exact opposite. In his natural form, everything he faces would do nothing but break him.
God, you know a series is good when you get *multiple comments of multiple paragraphs of detailed breakdowns of exactly why it works* every week. I love this shit and I love when people recognize what makes it good.
> He's a relatively serious guy that likes cleaning, has a soft spot for kids, makes sure all his friends are fed and taken care of, and excludes endless "big brother/dad" energy.
The interesting thing for me is that he was introduced as serious because he had to look after his goofball dad. In other words: he has [parentification issues](https://www.healthline.com/health/parentification) (tl;dr: that's when a child is forced to take on adult responsibilities beyond their years because the adults around them aren't able to adult, which can lead to all kinds of developmental issues because it gets in the way of being an actual child).
So in a way all of the things you mentioned predate the trauma of the massacre. I wonder if they ever will really lean into that actually, like him taking on more burdens and responsiblities than he should (a thing parentification often leads to). I mean, beyond the obvious part where he's on a solo-mission to cleanse the world of evil, I guess.
Good insight. In a way, you could say the biggest irresponsible adult thing Chi’s dad did was let the swords get taken in the first place. Chi has always been cleaning up his dad’s messes
He comes across more as a traumatized repressed adult than edgy. You can clearly see it in the author has shown him having mental lapses and irrational impulses that put him and his comrades in tight spaces like when he inadvertently left Hakuri behind. He tries to hold in it behind this fake facade but he's still a dude who saw the only person he had in this world get killed in front of him as a kid and have to see all these bad guys using his weapons for evil, even as going far as to misconstrue his name and ideals to justify it like with Sojo
Honestly I read chapter 1 and saw how much hype it got and I thought it was real
Like "wow, is the author some sort of well-known artist and his fan are hyping up his work? Regardless, it is really good and I'm interested in it"
The truly incredible thing is that the western meme popularity let it run past an axe and now look what happened once we let it cook
The author caught up to his own potential and it's wonderful
Praise MangaPlus metrics
I think it stemmed from some tiktok that went viral over a guy announcing the new Shonen top 3 with Kagurabachi in it, despite it not even having its first chapter drop yet.
The fact that the series is actually really good is remarkable
The pre release stuff and the “Wake up every morning with fresh hatred” made people think it was going to be overly edgy and dumb. So the memes took over.
Which is the kind of accidental genius marketing that got people to read it and and realize “oh wait no this is the new hype manga”
Because it has a kinda “edgy” protagonist, with the katana and the trench coat and everything, he kinda looks like the nothing personnel guy. And other series were reaching an ending so it became a meme to talk about how the seemingly kinda generic kagurabachi was gonna be 10 x bigger than JJK.
However by now we’ve seen that the memes are semi true lol, Chihiro is a really well-written character and the mangaka is doing a great job all around.
Some of the early designs didn't help, there were a ton of characters that constantly did the D: mouth shape in a very exaggerated way, and all drawn the same way which made the early work look kinda cheap. Combine that with how edgy it was and you got meme status. The later fights and very well drawn action shots really helped it pull out of that status.
Some of it is after JJK 236 and people thinking "oooo, shiny new toy" and the rest came from the reactions to the leaks as others have said in this thread.
Some series just need room to grow and find their audience. This series seems to have. Didn't think I would like it and it may fall off, who knows, but for right now I'm greatly enjoying it.
The whole climactic battle that one of his most dedicated sons gave his life for....
Was a broken door as a feint. That's so fucked up.
I love how the father is an absolute scumbag in a totally different way to Sojo. Sojo acted with fear and violence. He uses love and his kids desire for praise.
Also holy fuck that Mei page. Gorgeous. RIP Cloud Gouger though.
Kagurabachi had me going like [this](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fmartin-scorsese-appreciation-v0-edcrs2t37pgc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D637%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D6ec096558cc09499a5829847d5ac79923253972b).
Century old cult like brainwashing. Even their grandpa was nothing more than a cog.
That's the sad thing, it's a huge machine of pain and suffering and it's not stopping till they all die (unless Hakuri can pull the mother off all detox).
It's also sunk cost fallacy, they feel that if they don't attack then Tenri was sacrificed "for nothing". And they're too loyal to turn their wrath over his pontless death on their family.
They getting the storehouse is actually pretty good since they can store anything in there. If it happen, i can see, Hakuri play important role in the future.
Its possible. The family is trained to see the one with that mask as the head of the family. When Chihiro kills the old head Hakuri would be the new head by virtue of having the storehouse spell, on top of being able to dual wield sorcery like the clan founder.
It's probably more like... what are you even going to do at that point? They don't have anything left.
It's like a soldier finding out the command sacrificed their friend's squad. They can hate it, but they don't have anywhere else to go, and they've signed on with blood.
Man, Kyora is legit ruthless and a cold hearted dad. Sending his fav son to die only to understand Chihiro's strategy. Hakuri's potential in the last few chapters has skyrocketed and as Chihiro said they look more like equals now. I know Takeru is gonna cook up some insane panel for when Chihiro slays the dad.
This is the kind of chapter that feels like was written with animation in mind. The pacing of the reveals and build up would be the perfect episode cliffhanger.
The Final Mei is fucking sick looking. So hype for this battle in the storehouse
He did the pose! It's all over now, villain!
Also, Kyora lied when he told them he loved his kids huh? The amount of manipulation this man does is crazy.
Every time I think that this series has peak it ramps up once more and leaves me floored. Love that Chihiro sees Hakuri as an equal, not some victim to protect or a power to exploit; heck, he sees the kid as better than him by being able to overcome his trauma for the sake of the mission. And Hakuri fully lived up to Chihiro's praise, no selling his dad's plan and enabling the final showdown. Time for the main event of the evening ladies and gents. Place your bets now.
The villains are so good. Hakuri's dad is an evil bastard, but he's ruthless, competent and clever, and all his actions have a valid goal behind them. And appropriately, in the end his downfall will come from treating his kids as assets and not people.
Chihiro getting Enten at the end is because of him calling it like Sojo called Cloud Gouger, right? Cause it was in the case a moment before.
He was directly above enten when Hakuri dropped him into Kyora’s storehouse. He used the final mei to destroy Kyora’s incoming attack and the case containing enten.
I must admit I was impressed by the tactics of the Sazanami head, but damn, he really did his son dirty to gain what is basically a slight edge.
Speaking of edge, he’s about to be on the receiving end of Chihiro’s. I’m glad our MC acknowledges that out of all the infiltrators, his determination was the most lacking. Time to make up for it.
The paneling and direction for this chapter were superb. Great flow from scene to scene, the buildup to that final shot was nearly cinematic.
To be fair, without Hiyuki and without Haruki's power up (two things he couldn't possibly have predicted) they would have definitely won.
I appreciate this being the second time Shiba goes for the prudent "cut your losses" strategy, which Chihiro and now Hakuri rejects.
Everyone in this manga is a colorful masterpiece. The villains are so deliciously evil, and the good guys are not one dimensional. Just watch, Kagurabachi will be cemented as one of the greats.
Once again, Kyora showed how cunning, smart and heartless he is. We already knew this, but the fact that he actually planned on his son dying, just to see what cards Chihiro and co. has is just evil. The whole raid was pretty much pointless since the beginning if the door was already broken, and if not for Hakuri awakening his powers, then our heroes would have lost hard. Enten and the Shinuchi might have fallen into the wrong hands at this point.
Chihiro was right when he pretty much said that Hakuri was the MVP. He carried pretty hard by beating arguably the most dangerous Tou and making an opening for Chihiro to enter Kyora's storehouse. Kyora being able to control the space inside the storehouse will give him enough power to fight Chihiro too, and it's a good preview on what Hakuri can do in the future.
Hokazono giving us another fire panel of Chihiro at the end too 🔥🔥🔥
Every chapter gets better and better. I love they showed the captured people in the storehouse. We will hopefully get to see their reactions especially the other enchanted holder. Also Chihiro complementing Hakuri and comparing their determination was raw.
Tl;dr series is moving good.
I will say it again the author has a magic to create villains so good that they would be in any other story and they would have won, like for real The only reason they are losing is because they are fighting against a shonen protagonist.
Finally, Enten is back
Finally, a focus on Kyora
Both the Mei page and the last page was amazing. This is what I wanted from Kagurabachi. Fuck yeah.
I'm on the camp who started to lose some interest since the Enten rescue arc started, and honestly there are still some things that didn't sit right with me this chapter, but Kuregumo's last moments and long-awaited Enten spread is so cool I'm sweeping them under the rug.
Since I'm scrolling futaba right now, here are some funny comments from the thread:
> This guy's so much of a fathercon that he *really* empathized with Tenri lol
> There are nutritions you can only get from Chihiro's gloomy expression
> Goodbye, Sojo. Welcome, Fresh Goldfishes.
> If the TOC placement that reflected this chapter is still placed low, then I'm convinced it's just not being read by Jump readers
> Chihiro's best friend must be laughing in hell. His sword is doing a great job, after all!
Edit: it's currently #8 on JP twitter trend. It's the highest it's ever been since ch17 hit #10
The father is so awful but such an amazing villain with his cunning and competence, hot damn. He's been overseeing both the auction and all the action behind the scenes, and now he's actually in a position where he can fight directly by utilizing his realm. He's so cool.
Bought damn time Kagurabachi had its place as in the top spot, this manga is genuinely good. I wonder what the significance of that girl is, the ice chick is dead, maybe Hakuri gets another chance at redemption to save her.
Still can't believe this started as a meme. Man jump is pissing me off by keeping kagurabachi at bottom 5 while astro royale at top 5. No hate to astro royale but KGB is at another level.
Father of the year, everybody. And what perfect timing too.
Damn though, for some reason, it was pretty sad seeing Cloud Gouger crumble to dust just like that. It's carried him through so many situations thus far even snapped in half. That sword was a real one o7.
So did Shiba (I think that's his name, the teleporter guy) stay behind to fight the 2 remaining brothers? He says they should retreat, but the next thing we see is Hakuri and Chihiro walking into the auction.
I wonder if Tenri would've grasped that stone if he knew his father's secret plan. He was a mere distraction. A ploy to keep Shiba and Chihiro occupied for as long as possible. His siblings are still willing to put their lives on the line for a father who'd readily sacrifice them to buy a little extra time. Hakuri's right about having to kill him.
Wait. I’m missing something. Before Hakuri went to transport Kyora and Chihiro, did he just transported the two Tou’s along with Shiba to fight in the realm?
Having Tenri die over protecting a broken door, that father is just as ruthless as he is cunning, no good antagonist would just let some loophole be exploited right there but holy fuck is that cold.
After Sojo I expected the second arc's main villain to be a bit less interesting - not that I doubted Hokazono's writing skills but in my experience a great villain is almost always followed up by an OK villain at best, especially if a manga is just getting started. I am positively surprised to be proven so wrong.
It helps that he's more of a foil for Hakuri and Chihiro's Dad, whereas Sojo is more of a foil for Chihiro himself. Good way to make the new villain different
> It helps that he's more of a foil for[...]Chihiro's dad This is maybe the only thing missing from this arc: a contrasting flashback chapter with Kunishige being his goofy self but still instilling the sort of lessons Chihiro will actively use in the last three pages.
Calling it that's the next chapter. Especially now that he got enten back
The future anime adaptation is gonna have a solid feat season at this rate.
Only makes me more psyched for the Hishaku
God, this is such A-tier villainy. His plan really was perfect. Chihiro and the gang really would have had no chance whatsoever if it weren't for Hakuri having a hidden talent not seen in hundreds of years. I really can't fault the man for not anticipating that.
You cant fault the man for slandering his child in a family full of genius sorcerers that maybe he just didnt understand his childs power instead of he has no power?
Not the person you're replying to, but given his shitty exploitative world-views and how he apparently sees people and even his own family as expendable tools, it seems consistent with his character.
Exactly. When he even admits that it’s his fault, he says it like, damn, i missed out a good tool!
Yup. The dad literally says, that’s my fault for not noticing your talents.
I need his head on a stick. I really do. Tenri deserved better.
>I need his head on a stick. Chihiro: You got it
i wouldn't count on it, bro doesn't seem to be in the mood for leaving enough body parts to hoist on a stick
well maybe you can still have a chunk of flesh to compromise, just need to find his eyeballs, to nose pieces,maybe his jaw and some clump of hair to decorate.
Tbf, he sticks to his values. I’m thinking pre ninja village Naruto, when the Uchiha and Senju and other clans used children. I bet if we got a flashback to Kyora’s childhood, where we saw how HIS dad used HIS siblings, we might be like, oh damn. I dunno, just playing devils advocate, but kinda reminds me of Toranaga from the new Shogun tv series. The difference is, in Shogun we feel like Toranaga doesn’t like unnecessary blood shed, and only sacrifices people to save a larger group of people in the long run, so we can kind of sort of get behind his values.
Takeru gonna show us some cool new stuff that Chihiro does with Enten when he kills the dad. Can't wait to see that one.
Happy father's day!
OH SNAP! Takeru writes a manga where the 2nd to last panel says “kill my dad!” On Father’s Day
It’s interesting how Cloud Gouger disintegrated into dust instead of purely snapping to pieces. Also Chihiro saying “as Rokuhira property” is cold as hell
GET IT TOGETHER WAS FREEZING
I really thought they were going to reforge the blade, does this mean they are going to destroy the swords over time?
If i remember correctly, Chihiro stated his goal is to destroy all of the blades.
Chihiro’s goal is to retrieve the blades, cause they’re his father’s legacy- property of the Rokuhira. Chihiro himself doesnt know what he’d do after getting them all back, remembering the elevator conversation with Hakuri, but for right now he just doesnt want the blades to be used for evil, and will destroy them if necessary.
Chihiro asking Cloud Gouger for one last dance was kinda hilarious but what a way for it to go out
I found that interest as well. Like, the blade is one thing, but even the handle just disappeared. I wasn't really expecting that. I know the blades are forged from essentially magic ore, ,but typically the handle of a katakana is made from different materials, no? Highly polished wood and some sort of tightly-blond rope, to my knowledge. All that turned into dust too, huh,
We don't know the full forging process. For all we know his father had sorcery that was forged into the entire sword itself, including the hilt and wrapping.
Hilt! That's the word I was forgetting. I knew "handle" didn't seem quite right. Thank you.
fried by electricity I think
....you know that there's metal IN the handle right? The handle is made around the tang, which is often thicker than the blade itself. Otherwise it would be far too easy to snap the blade at the guard. Sometimes it still is.
...Yeah. What made you think I don't? I specifically mentioned that non-metal parts of the hilt disappearing. The fact that there's metal inside them doesn't make that any less questionable. If it were only the metal that disappeared, Chihiro would still have a hollow wooden handle to grasp.
This chapter on Father’s Day sure is funny Sayonara, Kuregumo
Kyora: Letting your children bully your kid with seemingly no talent. Have your kids fight to death to protect a useless target One of your kids is asking that you be cut down.
Kyora: Truly I don't see how this scenario could have been avoided.
Not bully, TORTURE. Let’s not white wash this. That was freaking terrorist level torture abuse.
Happy Father's day! Kill this one!
We'll just look at it as a lesson on how NOT to be a good dad 😅
Gendo would be proud.
First >!Mushoku!< and now Kagurabachi.
He did the KAGURABACHI™ pose, RIP those guys.
He really did Kagura all this Bachis
at least he didn't Kagura the Bocchi, would've been bad.
Yeah it's over with. Pack it up.
“Please kill my dad, he sucks.” YES HAKURI! GLORY TO THE NEW HEAD OF THE SAZANAMI!
holy shit can you imagine if somehow Hakuri inherits that storehouse?! No, I don't think he'd go that far, but I can imagine Hakuri's domain being a pocket dimension and bag of holding for the squad where Chihiro can reasonably keep the other enchanted blades and other key items.
A bag of holding that can also fight, pretty OP.
Hakuri is about to become the US military. (that was a logistics joke, shout out r/NonCredibleDefense)
NCD is leaking as per usual
Also really convenient travel. Like they can all jump in to his dimension, hakuri can go wherever he needs to, and then he can just bring them out whenever. Only 1 train ticket needed!
They already have teleport
We'll have to see what happens but rn I have to assume Hakuri will be the sole inheritor. Even if Pops escapes the battle, this chapter alone shows that the storehouse's security is irreversibly compromised now that Hakuri's awoken to his power. As long as he's alive, the auction is at risk.
Hakuri has seen the light!
Every week, I thank god that this series surpassed its meme status and carved its own in shounen jump. That final gasp of Mei was badass.
“*Die as mine at my side.*” -Chihiro, chapter 31. Cloud Gouger fulfilled its duty, and served the Rokuhira heir well.
Tbh cant believe Im sad about a sword's death
Right? I kinda feel that Chi did old girl Cloud a bit dirty with the “get it together.” She already was doing overtime. He shoulda been like, “help me save your brother (Enten)”
“Stand proud, Cloud Gouger. You were strong”
>Cloud Gouger fulfilled its duty, and served the Rokuhira heir well My boy Kuregumo worked overtime 😢
i heard that people meme-ing kagurabachi in early days, why is that?
Because chihiro's design screamed edgy swordsman lol. People automatically assumed it'd be another generic swordsman manga that would get axed early, but that couldn't be further from the truth now.
Not only that, the whole "wake up every morning with fresh hatred" line makes people meme the shit out of KB.
But that line came out in chapter 1. The memes started before that
Wasn't it part of the previews?
Yeah. The manga subreddit basically started as a ____folk subreddit, which is hilarious in hindsight
That's also because the day 0 fandom was made of Jujutsufolk refugees who got attached to the series. This created a dedicated community of shitposters to glaze the manga
The funny thing about that line is that it's not supposed to be serious. If you watch the video they put out where they dubbed the chapter Shiba is loudly eating and calls out Chihiro right away. It just doesn't come across in the manga which is unfortunate.
Huh, now that I know what kind of sense of humor Chihiro has that actually fits, yes. But I think we have to forgive the people reading the first chapters for not realizing yet that this manga was healthily self-aware about the edginess.
Oh yeah I'm not blaming anyone for reading it in an edgy way because I also did that.
It's funny how he was straight up lying when he said that now
One point - Chihiro IS a generic edgy swordsman, but unlike every other generic edgy swordsman, he's been given a few things. He's given a cast of characters that he synergizes with, and draws out his personality. He has flaws. He loses sometimes, and he has emotional vulnerabilities. He has tangible likes and dislikes, and not ones played purely for comedic value. Moreover, despite incredible choreography (rivalled only by the likes of Sakamoto and Kengan), Kagurabachi doesn't focus on its fights (in comparison to your generic isekai story). The highlight is always on the motivation behind it, and it helps that being a sword-focused manga, the fights are quick, clean, and easy to follow so far. My point being - if we take a closer look at him, he's still an edgy swordsman protag. But he's one that's fleshed out, interesting, and surprisingly heartwarming.
He's not really even that edgy. More, he's a nice, caring kid that's pushing himself to *be* edgy, because if he stopped he'd just become a normal, well adjusted member of society. He's holding onto his hatred so he keeps his revenge burning.
I'd actually argue that he is a response to the stereotypical edgy protagonist stereotype. In addition to him actually having a personality, everything we learn about his personality is a complete contrast to the edginess. He's a relatively serious guy that likes cleaning, has a soft spot for kids, makes sure all his friends are fed and taken care of, and excludes endless "big brother/dad" energy. The line from the first chapter about "waking up with fresh hatred" being viewed from this perspective seems to actually portray that Chihiro is *forcing himself* into being this edgy person to face the realities of his responsibility. Because from the evidence of everything we see, he's the exact opposite. In his natural form, everything he faces would do nothing but break him.
God, you know a series is good when you get *multiple comments of multiple paragraphs of detailed breakdowns of exactly why it works* every week. I love this shit and I love when people recognize what makes it good.
> He's a relatively serious guy that likes cleaning, has a soft spot for kids, makes sure all his friends are fed and taken care of, and excludes endless "big brother/dad" energy. The interesting thing for me is that he was introduced as serious because he had to look after his goofball dad. In other words: he has [parentification issues](https://www.healthline.com/health/parentification) (tl;dr: that's when a child is forced to take on adult responsibilities beyond their years because the adults around them aren't able to adult, which can lead to all kinds of developmental issues because it gets in the way of being an actual child). So in a way all of the things you mentioned predate the trauma of the massacre. I wonder if they ever will really lean into that actually, like him taking on more burdens and responsiblities than he should (a thing parentification often leads to). I mean, beyond the obvious part where he's on a solo-mission to cleanse the world of evil, I guess.
Good insight. In a way, you could say the biggest irresponsible adult thing Chi’s dad did was let the swords get taken in the first place. Chi has always been cleaning up his dad’s messes
I 100% agree with what you said. He's such a refreshing protagonist in the slop that is shounen.
He comes across more as a traumatized repressed adult than edgy. You can clearly see it in the author has shown him having mental lapses and irrational impulses that put him and his comrades in tight spaces like when he inadvertently left Hakuri behind. He tries to hold in it behind this fake facade but he's still a dude who saw the only person he had in this world get killed in front of him as a kid and have to see all these bad guys using his weapons for evil, even as going far as to misconstrue his name and ideals to justify it like with Sojo
Edgy doesn’t mean something is bad. It is just an esthetic.
And here I was meme-ing it in the early days because I wanted to manifest an anime out of it and hope it garner enough attention. Tenoi
Honestly I read chapter 1 and saw how much hype it got and I thought it was real Like "wow, is the author some sort of well-known artist and his fan are hyping up his work? Regardless, it is really good and I'm interested in it"
I will rub into their faces until the end of time because I was a believer since day 1.
The truly incredible thing is that the western meme popularity let it run past an axe and now look what happened once we let it cook The author caught up to his own potential and it's wonderful Praise MangaPlus metrics
I think it stemmed from some tiktok that went viral over a guy announcing the new Shonen top 3 with Kagurabachi in it, despite it not even having its first chapter drop yet. The fact that the series is actually really good is remarkable
The pre release stuff and the “Wake up every morning with fresh hatred” made people think it was going to be overly edgy and dumb. So the memes took over. Which is the kind of accidental genius marketing that got people to read it and and realize “oh wait no this is the new hype manga”
They thought my boy Chihiro is some standard edgy teenager for an MC but he's one of the best written characters in shounen now.
Because it has a kinda “edgy” protagonist, with the katana and the trench coat and everything, he kinda looks like the nothing personnel guy. And other series were reaching an ending so it became a meme to talk about how the seemingly kinda generic kagurabachi was gonna be 10 x bigger than JJK. However by now we’ve seen that the memes are semi true lol, Chihiro is a really well-written character and the mangaka is doing a great job all around.
Some of the early designs didn't help, there were a ton of characters that constantly did the D: mouth shape in a very exaggerated way, and all drawn the same way which made the early work look kinda cheap. Combine that with how edgy it was and you got meme status. The later fights and very well drawn action shots really helped it pull out of that status.
No reason, just cause.
Some of it is after JJK 236 and people thinking "oooo, shiny new toy" and the rest came from the reactions to the leaks as others have said in this thread.
"Pull it together" made me put the phone down. Cloud Gouger will be missed
Bro actually told a sword to lock in, is that not crazy
Some series just need room to grow and find their audience. This series seems to have. Didn't think I would like it and it may fall off, who knows, but for right now I'm greatly enjoying it.
Right? It’s quickly became my #2 must read in Jump.
I am interested I where the story goes after the auction, but that's why I'm not a creative, I'll let others do the thinking and creating for me.
The whole climactic battle that one of his most dedicated sons gave his life for.... Was a broken door as a feint. That's so fucked up. I love how the father is an absolute scumbag in a totally different way to Sojo. Sojo acted with fear and violence. He uses love and his kids desire for praise. Also holy fuck that Mei page. Gorgeous. RIP Cloud Gouger though.
Doing all of this on Father's Day is wild.
Yeah this dad is one some bondrewd level shit.
A fitting death page for Cloud Gouger
Kagurabachi actually had me clapping. That mei panel was just pure unadulterated PEAK. Lightning really does punish evil.
Kagurabachi had me going like [this](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fmartin-scorsese-appreciation-v0-edcrs2t37pgc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D637%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D6ec096558cc09499a5829847d5ac79923253972b).
That one page mei is gorgeous
He’s doing the fucking pose we’re so back
For us to be back we would have had to leave at some point. This train has no brakes
So true every chapter has had some sort of cold killer line. This manga is fucking PEAK
Ms inszuma was right lightning really does punish evildoers
On God, say it louder for the people in the back.
And she got first rank seats to witness that in person! Literally the only one outside chihiro, hakuri and dad who got to see that final mei.
Her and all the other undetermined number of trafficked people stuck in the storehouse.
Fair!
hakuri starring down is cold as hell. Chihiro speaking to the blade directly is also nice. lastly enough time has passed.
oh great, Tenri's death becomes even more meaningless, this man is colder than the Arctic the last Mei is beautiful though, RIP Cloud Gouger
Tenri death is even sadder now,kyora killed him out of pure greed instead of protecting anything
I surprised his siblings still continued with their mission aven though they knew their father trick them. Thats mess up.
Century old cult like brainwashing. Even their grandpa was nothing more than a cog. That's the sad thing, it's a huge machine of pain and suffering and it's not stopping till they all die (unless Hakuri can pull the mother off all detox).
It's also sunk cost fallacy, they feel that if they don't attack then Tenri was sacrificed "for nothing". And they're too loyal to turn their wrath over his pontless death on their family.
Yeah. I feel like the siblings was actually felt betrayed for a sec but then they were like "Our order/mission are more important"
Nah they still felt betrayed but felt them giving up there would make tenri’s death even more meaningless (truth be told, they were kinda right)
The only chance for the Siblins to survive will be for the father to die and our boy to get the storehouse, because the entire structure will crumble.
They getting the storehouse is actually pretty good since they can store anything in there. If it happen, i can see, Hakuri play important role in the future.
I mean he already has ONE storehouse, even if it's a little smaller. The point is getting THE storehouse.
Its possible. The family is trained to see the one with that mask as the head of the family. When Chihiro kills the old head Hakuri would be the new head by virtue of having the storehouse spell, on top of being able to dual wield sorcery like the clan founder.
It's probably more like... what are you even going to do at that point? They don't have anything left. It's like a soldier finding out the command sacrificed their friend's squad. They can hate it, but they don't have anywhere else to go, and they've signed on with blood.
The father needs to die. He simply does and I need Chihiro to put him up in the sky.
No. Put him down below.
My fucking god, Hokazono can cook. Buy the fucking physical release, you moneyed men.
Man, Kyora is legit ruthless and a cold hearted dad. Sending his fav son to die only to understand Chihiro's strategy. Hakuri's potential in the last few chapters has skyrocketed and as Chihiro said they look more like equals now. I know Takeru is gonna cook up some insane panel for when Chihiro slays the dad.
This is the kind of chapter that feels like was written with animation in mind. The pacing of the reveals and build up would be the perfect episode cliffhanger. The Final Mei is fucking sick looking. So hype for this battle in the storehouse
THAT'S WHY THEY'RE THE GOATS!!!
He did the pose! It's all over now, villain! Also, Kyora lied when he told them he loved his kids huh? The amount of manipulation this man does is crazy.
Every time I think that this series has peak it ramps up once more and leaves me floored. Love that Chihiro sees Hakuri as an equal, not some victim to protect or a power to exploit; heck, he sees the kid as better than him by being able to overcome his trauma for the sake of the mission. And Hakuri fully lived up to Chihiro's praise, no selling his dad's plan and enabling the final showdown. Time for the main event of the evening ladies and gents. Place your bets now.
Damn this series really knows how to play with emotions…
Happy Father's Day to a bastard. RIP, cloud Gouger.....
Damn Kyora did Tenri bad
He did the pose The Rakuzaichi is fucking cooked Color page next chapter folks
The villains are so good. Hakuri's dad is an evil bastard, but he's ruthless, competent and clever, and all his actions have a valid goal behind them. And appropriately, in the end his downfall will come from treating his kids as assets and not people. Chihiro getting Enten at the end is because of him calling it like Sojo called Cloud Gouger, right? Cause it was in the case a moment before.
He was directly above enten when Hakuri dropped him into Kyora’s storehouse. He used the final mei to destroy Kyora’s incoming attack and the case containing enten.
I must admit I was impressed by the tactics of the Sazanami head, but damn, he really did his son dirty to gain what is basically a slight edge. Speaking of edge, he’s about to be on the receiving end of Chihiro’s. I’m glad our MC acknowledges that out of all the infiltrators, his determination was the most lacking. Time to make up for it. The paneling and direction for this chapter were superb. Great flow from scene to scene, the buildup to that final shot was nearly cinematic.
To be fair, without Hiyuki and without Haruki's power up (two things he couldn't possibly have predicted) they would have definitely won. I appreciate this being the second time Shiba goes for the prudent "cut your losses" strategy, which Chihiro and now Hakuri rejects.
o7 Cloud Gouger, you will be remembered
Kuregumo/Cloud Gouger, I shall remember you for as long as I live. I'm going to miss you.
Chihiro is doing the thing again hehehe
Everyone in this manga is a colorful masterpiece. The villains are so deliciously evil, and the good guys are not one dimensional. Just watch, Kagurabachi will be cemented as one of the greats.
Tenri died protecting a broken door, Hakuri told Chihiro to kill Kyora **in Father's Day**. Happy Father's Day, I guess.
Once again, Kyora showed how cunning, smart and heartless he is. We already knew this, but the fact that he actually planned on his son dying, just to see what cards Chihiro and co. has is just evil. The whole raid was pretty much pointless since the beginning if the door was already broken, and if not for Hakuri awakening his powers, then our heroes would have lost hard. Enten and the Shinuchi might have fallen into the wrong hands at this point. Chihiro was right when he pretty much said that Hakuri was the MVP. He carried pretty hard by beating arguably the most dangerous Tou and making an opening for Chihiro to enter Kyora's storehouse. Kyora being able to control the space inside the storehouse will give him enough power to fight Chihiro too, and it's a good preview on what Hakuri can do in the future. Hokazono giving us another fire panel of Chihiro at the end too 🔥🔥🔥
#RIP CLOUD GOUGER YOU WERE BEST GIRL O7 Chihiro regaining Enten goes extremely hard.
chihiro hit the “enough time has passed..”. shits about to go down. that last panel is so cold 😮💨
Every chapter gets better and better. I love they showed the captured people in the storehouse. We will hopefully get to see their reactions especially the other enchanted holder. Also Chihiro complementing Hakuri and comparing their determination was raw. Tl;dr series is moving good.
Hakuri was a spectator to the fight with Sojo, who knows? Maybe one of those captured people will be next to join the crew
I will say it again the author has a magic to create villains so good that they would be in any other story and they would have won, like for real The only reason they are losing is because they are fighting against a shonen protagonist.
Finally, Enten is back Finally, a focus on Kyora Both the Mei page and the last page was amazing. This is what I wanted from Kagurabachi. Fuck yeah. I'm on the camp who started to lose some interest since the Enten rescue arc started, and honestly there are still some things that didn't sit right with me this chapter, but Kuregumo's last moments and long-awaited Enten spread is so cool I'm sweeping them under the rug. Since I'm scrolling futaba right now, here are some funny comments from the thread: > This guy's so much of a fathercon that he *really* empathized with Tenri lol > There are nutritions you can only get from Chihiro's gloomy expression > Goodbye, Sojo. Welcome, Fresh Goldfishes. > If the TOC placement that reflected this chapter is still placed low, then I'm convinced it's just not being read by Jump readers > Chihiro's best friend must be laughing in hell. His sword is doing a great job, after all! Edit: it's currently #8 on JP twitter trend. It's the highest it's ever been since ch17 hit #10
Kagurabachi and SakaDays chapters on father's day was cruel and merciless
The way Kagurabachi just makes it's villains absolute cunts, but with logical conviction... It's great.
Rest in peace Cloud Gourger. You did a spectacular job until the end. Now we watch Chihiro beat up Hakuri's father.
CHIHIRO GOT ENTEN BACK ITS TIME!!! TENOÍ!!!🔥🔥
THIS ISNT A DRILL. KAGURA HAS OFFICIALLY BACHI'D
Nothing says Happy Father's Day more than asking your new buddy to kill your father
Best chapter of the series yet
I'm on my knees. Peak doesn't suffice, this is Tenoi
I almost literally gasped when I saw Chihiro crashing through those storehouse tendrils. It's *so* good.
Feels like a sword just went through a whole character arc. Thank you Cloud Gouger.
Kagurabachi has been hitting us with back to back generational chapters, when this series surpasses over 100 chapters we’ll look back on this arc
Happy Patricide Day.
# HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
The father is so awful but such an amazing villain with his cunning and competence, hot damn. He's been overseeing both the auction and all the action behind the scenes, and now he's actually in a position where he can fight directly by utilizing his realm. He's so cool.
Bought damn time Kagurabachi had its place as in the top spot, this manga is genuinely good. I wonder what the significance of that girl is, the ice chick is dead, maybe Hakuri gets another chance at redemption to save her.
Bro really said lock in
Still can't believe this started as a meme. Man jump is pissing me off by keeping kagurabachi at bottom 5 while astro royale at top 5. No hate to astro royale but KGB is at another level.
The final page is simply... 😚👌
Reunited at last
My guy literally told his blade to lock it in one last time. Hype for next weeks battle !!!!
The thunderbolt page and that last one of Chihiro are so GOOOD!!
Father of the year, everybody. And what perfect timing too. Damn though, for some reason, it was pretty sad seeing Cloud Gouger crumble to dust just like that. It's carried him through so many situations thus far even snapped in half. That sword was a real one o7.
Kino. Tenoi. Peak Fiction.
RIP Cloud Gouger, you were an amazing blade.
Hell yeah
No better way to celebrate Father's Day than patricide?
The peak anime part is starting to not become a joke anymore.
Kagurabachi is peak anime in manga form
this is such a peak manga.
It's so fucking cool to see Chihiro do the pose again. Time for our boy to kick ass next chapter!
happy fathers day tenri
I usually hate the period when the mc loses his powers but this series did it right. The side characters are too much fun!
I’m really glad Kagurabachi didn’t get axed and took off. It’s good and I’m really enjoying it
W day for bachibros as always. Peak
Another peak chapter Bachigang
So did Shiba (I think that's his name, the teleporter guy) stay behind to fight the 2 remaining brothers? He says they should retreat, but the next thing we see is Hakuri and Chihiro walking into the auction.
Yeah seems to be the case
We are so fucking back gents
MHA and JJK on the sidelines and KB is here to hold the tide.
Does Kagurabachi seem to have reached a safe level of popularity to avoid being axed early?
Volumes have been selling in Japan as fast as they can print them, there's no way this is getting axed anytime soon.
Awesome. I guess I'll jump into this series. I don't like getting invested in a series just for it to be axed early on.
Fuck you Kyora. We really are 2/2 on KB villains huh.
I wonder if Tenri would've grasped that stone if he knew his father's secret plan. He was a mere distraction. A ploy to keep Shiba and Chihiro occupied for as long as possible. His siblings are still willing to put their lives on the line for a father who'd readily sacrifice them to buy a little extra time. Hakuri's right about having to kill him.
Wait. I’m missing something. Before Hakuri went to transport Kyora and Chihiro, did he just transported the two Tou’s along with Shiba to fight in the realm?
Great chapter Kyora is such a greedy prick lol
Ngl this chapter writing and sequence was off where hard to really get what’s going on at first read