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KAGURABACHI

Author: Takeru Hokazono

Volumes: None as of yet (11 chapters so far released)

Published by: Shonen Jump [click HERE for digital chapters]

 REMINDER (or if you didn’t read the intro): If it’s on this list, it’s worth your time. My rulings are FINAL! (also despite a lot more japanese entries, there are plenty alternates to discover as we travel higher up the list)

We don’t know a great deal about main character Chihiro’s abilities yet, but Kagurabachi knows exactly how to keep readers invested. At the time of writing this it’s only just over 10 chapters in, but we have samurai swords with powers, and despite that concept being tired, Takeru Hokazono manages to make the whole thing feel fresh.

The story starts with Chihiro in what almost feels more like a hobby manga setting with his father being a swordsmith, long story short his dad has been killed, and the swords he made (bar one) have been stolen, so Chihiro has vowed to use the only remaining sword to get the stolen ones back while punishing the killers.

I don’t really have any criticisms to lob at it, so why isn’t it higher up in the list? Well firstly it’s too early to really see how good this will be, and it has not survived the cancellation window yet, so we don’t really know what the future holds for it in any real sense. It might survive into next year… it might not. If it does survive and I make this a yearly affair I can see this series being somewhere in the top 10 (potentially).