The new Weekly Shonen Jump manga series Kagurabachi has overtaken the digital readership of Jujutsu Kaisen a month after its first chapter inspired an array of viral memes.
Kagurabachi is currently the second-most popular manga series on the Manga Plus app, dethroning Jujutsu Kaisen from its second-place reign while sitting comfortably behind One Piece, which remains in the number one spot. Previously, Kagurabachi managed to outrank Chainsaw Man for number three.
The growing popularity of Kagurabachi comes after the Takeru Hokazono series went viral online over its Sept. 19 debut chapter. Various social media accounts such as X (formerly Twitter) were making memes based on the straightforward edginess of Chapter 1. Various social media posts declared the new Shonen Jump series as the greatest manga of all time and its protagonist, Chihiro Rokuhira, a better hero than the likes of Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Even Takeru has taken notice of the explosive online celebration of his manga on X.
However, based on the surging performance of Kagurabachi on the Manga Plus app, readers are finding themselves unironically addicted to the manga. This means Kagurabachi isn't simply a repeat of Morbius, the poorly-received Spider-Man spinoff villain movie that became memed to such a great degree that Sony re-released the film in theaters, believing its viral online appeal would boost ticket sales (it didn't). Currently, five chapters of Kagurabachi have been released simultaneously online via the Manga Plus and Viz Media apps.
Manga Plus is the official global digital manga reader from Shueisha, the Japanese publishing company behind the Shonen Jump magazine line. It features a diverse catalog of popular manga series like Dragon Ball Super, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, My Hero Academia and Bleach. The service is subscription-driven ($1.99 for a standard monthly plan, while deluxe costs $4.99 per month), but a free one-month trial is available.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
