Kagurabachi getting a Spanish translation raises hope for the next Shonen Jump Hit

Kagurabachi, Shonen Jump’s latest rising manga, has received an official Spanish translation as of this week. The young but infamous series has enjoyed great popularity even after its meme-fueled rise to fame faded - and its recent addition to translation bodes well for its continued popularity.

The escapades of the vengeance-driven Chihiro went viral earlier this year after becoming hyped as the next biggest manga, despite only having a few chapters out. Genuine belief in its promise turned to humorous declarations of its inevitable massive success, though now it seems the manga series has received enough positive attention to give it an official translation into Spanish.

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Kagurabachi receives Spanish translation, may have just cemented hit status

Kagurabachi is still popular, following its meme status over the summer and being one of the first manga in years to be officially translated into Spanish by Shuiesha. Despite its initial popularity mostly being ironic, deriding the manga for following trends from other Shonen Jump icons like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, it seems to have taken hold as a consistently popular manga.

Kagurabachi has good art and has an understanding of action, assisted by the intrigue of the plot set up. With only eleven chapters out, the manga seems to be gearing up for its first major arc, introducing a slew of new young sorcerers to join with Chihiro. With this new group and the promise of the coming arc, Kagurabachi doesn’t seem like it’ll lose steam for a good while.

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All the makings of a Shonen Jump hit, with memetic popularity helping

Excellent art helps Kagurabachi keep ahead of its competition. (Image via Takeru Hokazono)

Despite some accusations of the series chasing trends, Kagurabachi does what it does fairly well. As mentioned, it is not a very long series thus far, only having eleven chapters, but what is there is consistent and well drawn. This probably drives viewers who began reading it ironically to become more genuine fans of the series.

The story sees Chihiro, a young swordsman, seeking revenge on his father’s killers. His father was a talented swordsmith, who made war ending enchanted swords - all stolen away by those killer sorcerers. Inevitably, he comes to blows with vicious contract killers and madmen, no doubt intending to use the swords to plunge the world back into darkness.

Besides the protagonist, Chihiro, he’s joined by Mr. Shiba, a war veteran and family friend. There’s Hanao, another friend, and in the sorcerer business as well. Another ally comes in Char, a little girl Chihiro finds protecting due to their shared enemies. There’s also the Kamunabi, essentially the equivalent of a magic using police force, having both good in it (which is seen) and bad (likely to be seen soon).

The antagonist shouldn't go forgotten. That's Sojo, who is utterly deplorable and deeply evil. His presence and actions against his own cronies and otherwise uninvolved civilians are terrible. The reader no doubt wants to see him fall just as much as Chihiro does, and it seems like that's exactly what the series is gearing up for.

It doesn't matter if its rise to popularity was fueled by memes, it seems Kagurabachi might just be here to stay in the pages of Shonen Jump. The magazine itself seems to have faith in the series' international fame, given the official translation into Spanish, introducing it to an even wider audience now. With this faith, the series may just end up becoming as big of a hit as it was humorously hyped to be.