History Manga / Kagurabachi

* EarlyBirdCameo: A sorceror wearing a ''hannya'' mask is first seen in Hinao's exposition in Ch. 3 before making an appearance in the story proper in Ch. 7.

* EvolvingWeapon: On top of the sheer power Kunishige's enchanted swords have, another reason why they're so dangerous is that they have a "true realm" beyond their base limits, allowing their wielders to gain new techniques and abilities unique to them the more they understand and harmonize with the blades. For example, Chihiro, after being forced to fight in a badly-injured state, learned to both use his Nishiki and Kuro abilities in ways that could compensate for his reduced physical abilites, with Nishiki granting a constant boost to his movements rather than powering up a single strike and Kuro being able to execute multiple smaller slashes rather than one powerful attack.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Daruma taunts Chihiro about her dead mother and her SenselessSacrifice. [[spoiler:He dies thinking that Sojo has murdered ''his'' mother and with his attempt to kill Sojo backfiring on not just himself, but his only remaining family member--his sister.]]

* Legacy. Chihiro's quest to retrieve the enchanted blades is motivated just as much by a desire to protect Rokuhira's legacy as it is by revenge. Likewise, Sojo also wants to carry on Rokuhira's will—albeit one informed by his own interpretation of Rokuhira's work rather than by the man he actually was.
* Responsibility, particularly surrounding weapons. Kunishige instills in Chihiro the notion that katanas ought to be used to defeat evil and protect the weak, and that rather than blindly follow the same path he did in making the Enchanted Blades, Chihiro should put more thought into what kind of katana he ought to forge and why. In the present, Chihiro refuses to tolerate those who use katanas to commit evil, and his main goal besides avenging his father's murder is to retrieve the stolen Enchanted Blades and keep them out of the wrong hands.

* CentralTheme: Legacy. Chihiro's quest to retrieve the enchanted blades is motivated just as much by a desire to protect Rokuhira's legacy as it is by revenge. Likewise, Sojo also wants to carry on Rokuhira's will—albeit one informed by his own interpretation of Rokuhira's work rather than by the man he actually was.
** Another recurring theme seems to be parent-child relationships. The catalyst for the story was Chihiro losing his father. He becomes something of a surrogate father-figure to Char, who in turn had just recently lost her mother

* WainscotSociety: The manga takes place in a post-{{Masquerade}} setting. Sorcerers historically kept themselves a secret from the rest of society. The [[GreatOffscreenWar Imperial War]], however, was so chaotic that the sorcerers completely did away with any boundaries separating them from {{Muggles}}, now operating completely in the open.

* PhlebotinumOverload: If a sorcerer attempts to wield more spiritual energy than their body can handle, they explode. The mystic blades avoid this by storing energy ''outside'' the wielder's body in the form of a GuardianEntity, allowing far more power than normal sorcery.

[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kagurabachi.png]]
[[caption-width-right:275:''I can't allow slime like you to wield katana''.]]

!!Tropes

* MookHorrorShow: When Chihiro's mission to retrieve Char from Sojo's headquarters goes loud, he figures out techniques to keep fighting even in his injured state. What follows is multiple pages of overconfident henchmen being warned about the situation while Chihiro [[FunnyBackgroundMoment slices and dices guards in the background]]. Eventually Chihiro emerges onto the foreground, decapitates one last pair of guards and casually offers Char a sandwich.

The manga follows Chihiro, the son of a blacksmith who specializes in creating powerful swords to be used in battles involving the Yakuza. Despite this, the father and son live a peaceful and happy life together despite their differing dispositions. However, when tragedy strikes, Chihiro takes up his father's final sword to seek bloody revenge.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Norisaku Madoka is the cruel StarterVillain who attempts to kidnap Char but is defeated and captured. Shiba convinces him to reconcile with his family, but both his mother and sister are assassinated by Sojo [[HeelFaceDoorSlam before Norisaku himself dies]] in a panicked and botched SuicideAttack that ends up finishing off his badly injured but still barely alive sister. This is followed by a scene of the unnamed MindRape henchman's encouraging words to his brother [[BlackComedy being juxtaposed]] with Chihiro blowing his head into the sky. The brother asks Sojo to avenge him... and gets slaughtered too for no reason.

''Kagurabachi'' (カグラバチ) is a 2023 action {{Shounen}} manga created by Takeru Hokazono.

The manga started serialization worldwide on September 18th, 2023.

! Tropes

* ImprobableWeaponUser: A bad guy pursuing Char sits in on her conversation with Chihiro in a soba shop, eventually getting so annoyed with the proprietor demanding he order something or leave that he stabs him in the throat with a pair of disposable chopsticks.

* NoNameGiven: None of the sorcerors pursuing Char have had their names mentioned, with the first alternately nicknamed "Cylinder Head" (due to his haircut), "that daruma-wielding moron" and "daruma idiot" (after his tools), and the MarionetteMaster and TheEmpath don't even use anything but pronouns to refer to each other; the other sorcerers in pursuit of Char don't even have enough dialogue for names to be dropped.
* ThePowerOfHate: Chihiro claims that he would refuse treatment for his scars so he can wake up every morning "with fresh hatred" by seeing them again and gain. It's this hatred that leads to the MindRape above (involving making him relive the day his father was murdered) backfiring ''horribly'' on the sorceror attempting to induce a HeroicBSOD on him.
--> '''Chihiro:''' That day is what drives me. ''You just made the reason clearer''.

** Chapter 8 begins with the door to Hinao's café ringing behind her as it opens. The scene silently cuts back in time to Madoka, the Daruma henchman, being murdered by Sojo for his failure. Then Sojo gets the location of Hinao's café from the brother of the MindRape henchman and murders him too before getting to the café and opening the door.

* TimeSkip: The first chapter has a time skip of 3 years and 2 months, with Chihiro becoming a hardened warrior after his father was killed; there's also one in Chapter 3 to establish that Hinao and Shiba knew each other around the time of the murder.

* ThePowerOfHate: Chihiro claims that he refuses treatment for his scars so he can wake up every morning "with fresh hatred", and it's this that leads to the MindRape above, involving making him relive the day his father was murdered, backfiring ''horribly'' on the sorceror attempting to induce a HeroicBSOD on him.

[[caption-width-right:275:''I can't let slime like you wield katana''.]]

* MindRape: One henchman in chapter 6 ambushes Chihiro and forces him to experience a nightmare about his father's death, [[HeroicBSOD momentarily incapacitating him]]. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain However]], Chihiro is fueled by ThePowerOfHate and just gets psyched up to slice all the villains around him to ribbons.