In September 2023, Weekly Shonen Jump magazine launched a new manga titled “Kagurabachi“, an epic dark fantasy story that quickly gained a large following among the publication’s readers. Now, this new generation of Shonen Jump manga has achieved a significant milestone by winning Kadokawa's prestigious “Next Manga” award.further cementing its popularity and bringing it closer to a possible anime adaptation.

Kadokawa’s “Tsugimanga” (Upcoming Manga) Award is a user-based award designed to identify emerging series with the greatest potential to become the next big hit in Japan.. Every year, avid manga readers have the opportunity to vote on a selection of curated titles. In the most recent edition, which featured 8,212 eligible titles, Takeru Hokazono’s “Kagurbachi” took first place among print publications with an impressive total of 101,836 votes.

In comparison, second place, “Welcome to Iruma-Kun Demon School!: Mafia Episode,” received 33,033 votes, while in third place was “Tsumiki Ogata and the strange everyday life” with 30,384 votes. In the web manga category, “Girl meets Rock!“,“RuriDragon” and “Vtuber Kusamura Shigemi”they came in first, second and third place respectively.

“Kagurabachi’s” victory is especially notable when compared to previous winners. Last year's winner, "There's a Hole in Student Organization, Too," received 39,283 votes in total, while the 2022 winner, "Medalist," got 47,064 votes. This makes “Kagurabachi’s” victory a landslide victory in comparison. Additionally, the first part of the book “Welcome to Demon School!” was released in March 2017, which gave it much more time to accumulate a following compared to Hokazono’s massive success.

“Kagurabachi” is Hokazono’s first manga story with serialized chapters. Including digital sales, the series currently has over 315,000 copies in circulation (as of July 2024). This impressive sales milestone, coupled with the recent “Next Manga” award, makes it highly likely that the franchise will receive an anime adaptation in the near future.

After Kadokawa announced the winners, Hokazono expressed his gratitude to his followers in an emotional message: “I'm so happy that so many people liked the story and found it interesting, and I'm full of energy to draw more manga. Thank you very much! I'm really motivated to make it even more interesting... so I look forward to your continued support.", he wrote.

Source: Oricon News