Why the Kagurabachi manga's latest award proves that it's Shueisha's next big hit beyond any doubt, explained

Modified Aug 31, 2024 18:18 GMT

Why the Kagurabachi manga's latest award proves that it's Shueisha's next big hit beyond any doubt, explained (Image via Shueisha)

Author and illustrator Takeru Hokazono’s Kagurabachi manga series has, without a doubt, been one of the most popular and successful from the publisher’s magazine in recent times. Having made it through its first major arc and being on the brink of a huge narrative expansion in scope, more readers than ever are catching up with the comic.

Likewise, it’s fitting that the Kagurabachi manga recently took home the top prize in the Print Manga category of the Next Manga Awards 2024, presented by Kadokawa Corporation subsidiaries. However, what’s truly impressive is that the manga series received over 100 thousand votes in the contest, a massive number that triples those received by the second-place ranking.

This number is especially significant as the Next Manga Award’s final round before placement consists of having fans all over the world vote on either the Japanese or English websites. In other words, the Kagurabachi manga has essentially been crowned the people’s choice for Shueisha’s next hit and is set up for huge success with its presumed eventual anime adaptation.

Kagurabachi manga proves it’s more than just a meme with significance of latest award

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In recent years, as Shueisha has become more preemptive with their cancellations, unreceptive audiences and the resultant lack of a following are considered one of the main factors. Series like Agravity Boys, Time Paradox Ghostwriter, and most recently, MamaYuyu fall into this category either by never gaining a large fanbase or showing progress but taking too long.

However, the Kagurabachi manga, had a massive following from the start thanks to the series becoming something of an anime community meme. Eventually, it stopped becoming a meme, and people realized that Hokazono had created a legitimately great series. Since then, it’s become one of the most successful new Weekly Shonen Jump manga series in recent years, culminating in this latest victory.

This latest victory is likewise significant because it proves the series has widespread, international acclaim, which cannot be ignored and can justify its serialization. This is especially true in the contemporary distribution era of MANGA Plus and other similar platforms, which allow chapters to be translated into English on the same day of their release.

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Such an interpretation is also confirmed by the rumors of Shueisha’s internal comments on the Kagurabachi manga’s fate. It’s alleged that Shueisha internally believes the series can “carry the next generation of Jump” given the success it has had so far. In other words, Shueisha allegedly views the series as being on the same level as series like Naruto, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and even One Piece.

If these rumors are to be believed, then it not only confirms the above interpretation of the victory’s significance but also makes it even more significant internally at Shueisha. While it has been clear that Hokazono’s manga is something special, diehard fans are finally starting to tangible proof of that in the above comments and this awards victory.

Many other successful series like My Hero Academia, Kaguya-sama, The Apothecary Diaries, Undead Unluck, and Oshi no Ko have also won the Print Manga category in the past. This only further serves to emphasize how this proves that Shueisha has found their next big hit, with Hokazono’s manga already following in the footsteps of some of their most successful series.