Kagurabachi fans, kecil break dulu. Takeru Hokazono’s hit manga is taking a one-week pause due to the author’s health, according to an announcement in this year’s 25th issue of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.
The good news: this is not a long hiatus. The series is scheduled to return on May 25, so Malaysian and SEA readers following the weekly drop should only be missing one chapter cycle.
Still, for a manga that has been moving at full shonen speed since launch, this kind of update is worth paying attention to. Kagurabachi previously had an unscheduled one-week break in June last year because of Hokazono’s sudden illness, and another break in October due to production reasons. Weekly manga deadlines are famously brutal, so honestly, if the creator needs time to recover, better take the break now than force things until the work suffers.
For readers here, Kagurabachi has become one of those titles that spread fast through memes first, then proved it actually had the sauce. Hokazono launched the series in Weekly Shonen Jump in September 2023, and it has grown into one of the magazine’s most-watched newer action titles. Shueisha released the 11th compiled volume in Japan on May 1.
The numbers are also no joke. The manga had passed 2.2 million copies in circulation as of May 2025, and is now listed at 4 million copies in circulation as of April. That kind of jump says a lot: Kagurabachi is no longer just “that internet hype manga.” It is becoming a real modern Jump player.
If you are reading legally from Malaysia or anywhere in SEA, the easiest route is still digital. Viz Media’s Shonen Jump service and Shueisha’s MANGA Plus are publishing the manga in English, which is great because it means fans here do not need to wait months just to stay current with the Japanese conversation. Viz is also releasing the manga physically, with volume 7 out on May 5.
Story-wise, Kagurabachi follows Chihiro, a young swordsman shaped by his bond with his swordsmith father and a violent tragedy that pushes him onto a revenge path. The appeal is simple but effective: stylish blade fights, clean revenge energy, and a lead character who feels cool without trying too hard. Very easy to see why anime fans here are already watching it closely.
The industry has noticed too. Kagurabachi won the print category at the Next Manga Awards 2024, picked up nominations for the 70th Shogakukan Manga Awards and the 49th Kodansha Manga Awards, and even landed a nomination for the 2025 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. It also ranked #13 on Da Vinci’s top manga titles of 2025 list in January.
And yes, the big one: Kagurabachi is getting a TV anime adaptation, currently set to debut in April 2027. That gives manga readers plenty of time to catch up before the anime-only crowd arrives.
For now, the main thing is simple: no panic, just one week off. Let Hokazono rest, let the team reset, and we’ll be back to sword revenge business soon.
Source: Anime News Network