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The Kagura Bachi manga continues to be a hot topic in the manga community and most fans online can testify that. Whether it's through memes or old-school hype for the story written by Hokazono Takeru, the series has been scaling positions and now has surpassed Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia in Shueisha's MangaPLUS' "hot list," taking over fifth place.
For those who don't know, MangaPLUS is Shueisha's app to read manga online and usually keeps track of the most-read series in recent weeks. The fact that the Kagura Bachi manga is sitting in fifth place right before the release of the second chapter (and continues to be there after it came out), goes to show that the hype has been for more than just the memes.
Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers for the Kagura Bachi manga.
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The Kagura Bachi manga and its recent success in Shueisha's MangaPLUS' "hot list"
The Kagura Bachi manga and its hype train through memes and discourse online have been nothing short of impressive, which has helped the series with its first couple of chapters. While the second chapter is now out, the manga had already surpassed My Hero Academia and reached fifth place in Shueisha's MangaPLUS' "hot list" before it was published, and that feat continues even after its release.
While the memes have certainly helped in giving the series a lot more exposure and generating interest, another reason for the early success has been the desire for new stories in the shonen genre. It's been a while since a new shonen manga has shown up and become the talk of the town, which is why Shonen Jump started their NEXTWAVE initiative to promote new talents, especially considering the future of some of their most popular hits in recent years.
Yuki Tabata left Shonen Jump because of how his Black Clover series' publishing took a toll on him physically and hit series such as My Hero Academia and Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen are close to ending. There is an increasing need for Shonen Jump to come up with new titles that will carry on the next generation of the manga industry and there is hope that the Kagura Bachi manga can do just that.
The premise and early appeal of the series
Chihiro is the son of the most capable swordsmith and things take a turn for the worse as the Yakuza start to take over town. There is a minor time-skip and Chihiro is seen wielding a powerful and magical katana, which allows him to take down several members of the aforementioned Yakuza as he wants to recover the katanas they're using and execute his vengeance.
When it comes to the story itself, there is very little that can be shown or explained in just two chapters, but there was already confirmation of magic and battle scenes, which are mandatory in a battle shonen, of course. There was also mention of sorcerers and how they are allies of the Yakuza, who are also another target in Chihiro's mind, which is something that the series is probably going to address moving forward.
Final thoughts
The Kagura Bachi manga is only starting and it is very difficult to see how it is going to pan out in the near future. While the memes have been very entertaining and the initial chapters are interesting, there are many directions that the series could take on its journey to becoming a successful and entertaining manga.
