Why Kagurabachi needs an anime to become Jujutsu Kaisen's replacement in Weekly Shonen Jump, explored

Modified Aug 26, 2024 17:00 GMT

Why Kagurabachi needs an anime to become Jujutsu Kaisen — Chihiro and Yuji as seen in Kagurabachi and Jujutsu Kaisen (Image via Shueisha)

With the Jujutsu Kaisen manga ending in September 2024, Kagurabachi has been touted as one of the primary series that could replace it as one of the faces of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. This is because the magazine has almost always marketed three series together but with the end of My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, the magazine will only be left with One Piece.

Yoshihiro Togashi is indeed set to return from hiatus to continue Hunter X Hunter manga. However, given the manga creator's history of long hiatuses, one cannot think of him as a permanent solution. Therefore, Weekly Shonen Jump needs to come up with a solution. Given the current series within the magazine, Kagurabachi could be a good contender, however, unlike popular belief, it would need an anime to assume the responsibility.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinion.

Why does Kagurabachi need an anime to replace Jujutsu Kaisen?

Yuji Itadori as seen in Jujutsu Kaisen manga (Image via Shueisha)

As fans might remember, Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen manga was quite popular. However, it never reached its potential heights as a manga before the series received an anime adaptation. All of this changed after anime studio MAPPA produced a sound anime adaptation for the series.

The same was the case for Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer manga which witnessed increased sales following the release of the anime adaptation produced by Ufotable.

Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke as seen in Demon Slayer (Image via Shueisha)

As for Takeru Hokazono's Kagurabachi manga, it is very popular and has a lot of sales even without an anime. However, in no way has it really blown up. This is especially evident in how much people talk about the series on online platforms. The ratio when compared to some of the popular series is just too low.

The popularity of a manga relies a lot on its marketing. While it wasn't initially doing as well in Japan, it received a great reception from the population of the West. This popularity also helped push the manga sales in Japan.

Chihiro as seen in Kagurabachi manga (Image via Shueisha)

This was the first time a manga had impacted so well in the Western market that it influenced sales in Japan.

Even the editor-in-chief of the Weekly Shonen Jump publicly acknowledged the "overseas" popularity of Kagurabachi manga at Jump Festa 2024. On that occasion, he also requested Japanese readers to try the manga.

In addition, a renowned agency in Japan, Nikkei Newspaper, conducted a survey and studied the international popularity of the series. The manga's popularity was further solidified when the latest English-translated VOMIC was released by Shonen Jump.

Despite all that, the manga needs an anime for marketing. This is because an anime helps market a manga's sales a whole lot more than what it can accomplish alone. This is especially because manga only caters to manga readers and not anime watchers. Once Kagurabachi's anime airs, only then can one say with certainty about its impact.

If any major anime studio happens to pick up the project and does a faithful adaptation of it, the series is bound to get popular. This would not be possible without any anime as the sales would never reach the same heights.

Ruby Hoshino as seen in Oshi no Ko manga (Image via Shueisha)

This is also evident from the case of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Oshi no Ko, both of which witnessed a huge rise in manga sales thanks to anime adaptation.

Therefore, if Kagurabachi manga were to receive an anime adaptation, the series could witness a huge rise in its sales, which might inadvertently increase its position with Weekly Shonen Jump, making it one of the faces of the magazine.