In the history of the entertainment world, there are many things that “they become popular as a meme“. It already happened with movies like “Morbius” and “Blue Beetle“, but this trend reached the manga industry in the form of “Kagurabachi“written and illustrated by Takeru Hokazono. The debut of the work in September 2023 was filled with applause from the community, who praised it as “a shonen revolution” as much as he could, with more and more people joining the meme.
In fact, many people who have written positive or negative things about the series have not even read a single episode! But it seems that others did take the trend seriously, since “Kagurabachi” has remained in good positions in Shueisha’s MANGA Plus service since its premiere. It currently occupies eleventh position with a total of 11,612 readings, a respectable figure.
But as is well known, The Japanese market remains the most important for publishers like Shueisha, and “Kagurabachi” has not featured much in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump. Let us remember that the index of each edition of the magazine is considered as “a popularity ranking” of the works that are published in its pages. That is, the most popular mangas offer their new chapters on the first pages, while the less popular ones are relegated to the last.
So we can see that “Kagurabachi” has not had good results in Japan, since it has been appearing in the last sections of the magazine. (or, at most, half). Generally when a series falls to the bottom of the Weekly Shonen Jump index, readers begin to prepare for its imminent cancellation. However, “Kagurabachi” readers around the world have started the “#BACHIFLEX” campaign on social media.
This campaign consists of purchasing the first compilation volume of “Kagurabachi” (the only one available from Japan) through different distributors, which includes paying shipping costs and different sales commissions. After receiving the book, fans share a photo to show their support for the work, but will it be enough to save “Kagurabachi” from cancellation?
Yuta Momimayaeditor of Shueisha’s Shonen Jump Plus (the digital medium where the manga is published), revealed on Twitter that he is aware of the trend and popularity of “Kagurabachi”:
- «The first volume of the Weekly Shonen Jump series KAGURABACHI went on sale last week, and we heard about and saw the campaign from foreign readers who used the hashtag #BACHIFLEX to support the series by purchasing the book. Reports of foreign readers from various countries getting the comics. The website is full of messages from around the world about getting the first volume of the manga, which just went on sale in Japan last week, along with various national flags.».
- «This is, of course, a single volume in Japanese. (There is still no translated version of the comic in publishing). Although it’s easier to get Japanese comics abroad these days at local Kinokuniya and other stores, we were delighted. And I felt again that the era when “a manga only became popular abroad after becoming an anime” was over.and that now that the new series can be read all over the world at the same time as in Japan on MANGA Plus, We are in an era where “even a newcomer’s new series can quickly become popular around the world if serialization gets going.”».
Of course, although the publisher’s words are hopeful for the “Kagurabachi” fan community, it is actually sales that determine whether or not a manga will eventually be canceled. Reviewing the most recent numbers from Oricon, for the week from January 29 to February 4, 2024, the first volume of “Kagurabachi” totaled 12,386 copies sold, taking fourth position behind “Undead Unluck”, “The Elusive Samurai” and “Black Clover.” Will they be enough?
Fountain: @momiyama2019 on Twitter
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