#kagurabachi theory

[yakopi]

Kagurabachi theory part 2

In my previous post I talked about my thoughts about the allusions to gods in Kagurabachi, and I mentioned that 7 Enchanted swords could be a vague reference to the 7 prosperity gods. And now I want to talk further about the swords.

Part two. The Enchanted Swords and what makes them special.

At first, I thought that the swords could be a further reference to the different prosperity gods, as Enten summons goldfish and Ebisu is the god of fishery.

This could also tie into the title of the story if the swords have something to do with the gods. Kagura dances often are accompanied by props, and fighting is often associated with dancing.

Meaning that possibly every time Chihiro uses Enten to dance/fight, he invites the (power of the) gods in his bodies.

Then, when I thought it through, I think that I found another connection:

All swords, until now, have a potential link to yokai/mythological creatures.

Enten summons goldfish, and there is a Yokai, Kingyo no yurei, which are goldfish possessed by spirits of the deceased, often murder victims.

Cloudgourge gives ice, water, and lightning abilities and sometimes summons attacks in dragon forms. Dragons in Japan are associated with water and the weather, so that tracks.

Tobimune has summoned feathers in a move called 'Crow/Karasu', and Tengu are a Yokai based on crows.

Kumeyuri has not revealed much about it, just some geisha-like spirits, however, there are enough Yokai that are based on normal-looking women. Yuki-onna, kuchisake onna, Ame-onna etc. I will have to see more to determine (if true) which yokai it is precisely.

The last revealed sword is Magatsumi, which has references to multiple yokai. It creates flowers and butterflies through spider (Jorogumo), dragonfly (koshinuke no mushi), and centipedes (omukade) techniques.

However it could also be a reference to a single yokai: the Jubokko, a vampire tree that consumes all your blood and is associated with insects that will take care of the carcass that is left. It could also explain the black liquid, as blood can become near black the longer it coagulates.

(A Jubokko would also be kind of ironic considering these trees are created when a huge amount of people died at their feet. And wouldnt you know, there was a war going on at the very moment Magatsumi was created.)

We have not seen the other swords, so everything is still possible, however, my theory for now is that the essence of yokai has been in one way or another placed/forged into the swords (hence why they are called Yoto, demon swords).

The first swords contained 1 yokai each, however those swords were just not strong enough. So the 6th sword was forged with either 3 yokai in it to make it more strong, or 1 yokai that could be stronger the more it is used in battle/gets blood.

This theory could also be why Magatsumi had to be sealed away so carefully compared to the other swords. It was already so powerful due to the 3 yokai that nobody should wield it in fear of damage/being corrupted by the yokai.

Or because if it continued to be used it would eventually get so strong that anyone wielding it would be overcome by it.

(If this theory is true, Enten could become an interesting plot point later, as Chihiro's father was murdered, so he could be in the sword.)

TLDR; The demon swords can possibly contain demons. Who could have thought?

(More thoughts in Part 3: Sealing power)

[strangeduckpaper]

Sorcery in Kagurabachi we've seen/heard so far (minus enchanted blades):

Standard sorcery (most sorcery we see, innate sorcery)

Inherited sorcery (Isou and the Storehouse, one passed through genetics, the other through ritual)

Basic movement and barrier sorcery (maybe for enhancing physical capabilities, or Barriers like jjk?)

Geniuses who can use multiple innate sorceries (Hakuri and the first Sazanami)

Unique traits (Char's healing ability, which is never stated to be a sorcery, and the Girl with Icy Skin. Overall reminds me of Six Eyes from JJK)

Question

Are these unique traits inherited sorceries, or something else?

[tricolorgoldfishcafe]

My personal interpretation of the title Kagurabachi that adds another layer to the story

Prepare for a long post.

I start with the fact that I came up with my own little translation of the title, which is "Orchestrating Divine Punishment".

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to replace "Dance of Divine Punishment"; I quite like it in fact - an bit of aesthetic touch. It's nice.

But there is a little catch in my version that I explain in a moment.

This Reddit post inspired me to search for the meaning of Kagurabachi with a different angle in mind, and I found an interesting connection that might add another layer to the manga.

There is this phrase 罰が当たる which means "to incur the wrath of the gods (e.g. by doing something immoral); to incur divine punishment; to pay for one's sins".

If we take the overall theme of the manga, it easily fits to describe Chihiro's crusade to avenge his father's murder.

Yet, let it spin a little and change the perspective to a less obvious one.

Seitei War was said that occur between sorcerers and a unknown opponent. Now, if we assume the other side didn't have anything to do with supernatural entities, but consisted of normal human beings with very strict and traditional way of thinking, we might have got a good starting point.

If Datenseki could amplify spirit energy of a regular human beings and sorcerers alike, then people who were living as "gods" as these who were trained in the art of sorcery in a world where sorcery was exclusive to selectioned groups, for example, there is a ground for a conflict.

These groups would felt threatened, blood could be shed, the conflict would break out, and the war would begin.

Amidst the fight there could be a swordsmith that found a way to stabilize and turn the Datenseki (supposedly a mystical powerful element outside of human reach) into a weapon to wield, breaking the sacred, divine legend.

After the war during which a group of traditional sorcerers (or "gods" here) lost their powers, their position, their influence, they turned against the man who makes it all possible.

Rokuhira Kunishige.

They judge him as a heretic and punished by death. Steal the blades they think are their rightful possassion. Furthermore, after securing them and killing current wielders they might return the previous order, hence the whole Hishaku plot.

It's just a loose concept, having not yet any solid ground in the manga.

There is a man in traditional cloth in Chihiro's memory during Kunishige's assassination and later a man in similar outfit was at the meeting with Sojo (the other being Yura, I think). And the information that sorcerers become well-known in a wake of Seitei War.

It suggest that there is someone along side with Yura, or behind Yura, that might have even bigger power and resentment, or whatever.

[strangeduckpaper]

Interesting concept, and it got me thinking of a relatively similar concept:

Related to your notes on this post (and earlier theories from both of us) positing that Enten was designed to destroy the other Enchanted Blades, Enten won't necessarily grow more powerful than the other blades, but instead better at countering them:

Enten, more specifically Aka, will gain the capability to absorb and neutralize the effects of the other blades, like when Chihiro used Enten as a lightning rod, but perfected and less risky to him, or redirect them, maybe using Nishiki to cloak himself in the other blade's power to somehow render himself immune to their effects.

It would both counter the other blade's powers and stop them from harming others, mitigating the further damage that they can do.

considering enten was made after the shinuchi and exclusively for chihiro do you think enten has the possibility to be just as strong or even far superior to the shinuchi

[farsight-the-char]

Thinking about other nations reacting to the broader “Swords stolen stuff”, like:

“What do you mean the 6 Super Swords were stolen, and their creator murdered?” 

“What do you mean it was a private criminal organization, and now they are giving them out to other criminals?” 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS A 7TH?!” 

[jessunderstands]

Cue megalovania

[irisbellemoon]

now that jjk is ending, I think I'll read kagurabachi......

[troythecatfish]

[llama-milk-for-the-egg-nog]

why are people giving kagurabachi the morbius treatment. I thought the reason people pulled a morbius on morbius was because people didn't wanna see jared leto cast in stuff anymore. what is the point of doing this to kagurabachi

[mothboypoison]

Okay I have some thoughts on the latest chapter!

When Kyora was explaining the storehouse, he said "It's a sacred power, and it comes with a price." - has that 'price' ever been explained before? Because, uh, I don't like the sound of that!! (sneaky edit: or is the price just not using Isou?)

"Because you loved me" - was such a powerful line. Hakuri took all of Soya's hits for years and built up his strength and his spirit energy and unleashed it on Soya... Soya brought about his own defeat because of what he did to Hakuri (is he actually fucking dead??)

Tenri is a really tragic character. I felt bad for him... and that death didn't feel honourable.

Chihiro seemed very upset by Tenri's death, and Hakuri seemed way more measured and sure of himself, almost like a role reversal.

"We'll end this... together." - I loved the callback to earlier, and the emphasis that they will do this TOGETHER.

I think Kyora knows what's happened. He can summon 'items' registered to the storehouse so I think he knows what's happened to Tenri/Soya (though I'm not 100% convinced Soya is dead). He looked... resigned?

I really like the theory that they will use Hakuri's storehouse to hold the sacred blades (until they destroy them?). The Sazanami legacy being used for good to prevent the Rokuhira legacy from being used for evil.

In conclusion: Shiba = STILL HOT. HakuHiro = STILL WINNING. Kagurabachi = STILL AMAZING!!!!

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 55 Stress Posting

Greetings, dear void. It is time... FOR A HAKURI PoV CHAPTER! And more JP-EN yapping from me than usual because honestly, this chapter was cool, but it was mostly set-up for whatever's going to happen next week. There's not much to muse on without trending towards pure speculation rather fast. Plus I finally got access to the JP version so I've been despairing at how far I have to go to actually learn the damn language...

But hey! Another color page next week! Hokazono-sensei's really suffering from success isn't he? Kagurabachi's getting the top-tier marketing push now that it managed to get over 1M copies in circulation with only 4 volumes out. Maybe we'll start to see the same level of CPs as Akane Banashi soon!

Samura and the Makizumi

Who the hell are you?

Does whatever he's got going on explain the female bearer's super young appearance...? The EN TL leaves it vague here, but JP is pretty specific that his body is that of a child but he isn't one in truth.

Why the adult in a child's body thing at all though? Why mimic Samura like that too? And why are we getting that packaged with a lazy-yet-competent commander archetype? Something about the combination of traits for this character just rubs me the wrong way. The cognitive dissonance worked -I'm interested in him and his situation- but it's unpleasant to deal with. This introduction felt unexpected in a bad way. I bet I'll be a minority on that though so I'll keep my rubbish opinions about him to myself. Maybe.

I have a theory on why Mini Samura is copying our favourite blind fighter guy at least. The official name for the squad in Japanese is 神奈備御庭番-座村親衛隊 [Kamunabi oniwa-ban - Samura shineitai]. The professional EN TL will parse all that much better than I can, but I just want to point out something fun. The last word (親衛隊) means "elite guards"/"bodyguards". Most of the time. It can also mean "groupies" or "ardent fans". So take that and stuff it in your back pocket in case the squad doesn't job here.

Anyway, this chapter is why we met the Makizumi [巻墨] a few weeks ago in chapter 50. Yes, it's the same kanji as "Masumi" that they were introduced as. I'm not sure why since my Japanese is, uh, not great. But it's not an EN translation error. The original JP indicates that Uruha says ますみ [masumi] in Ch. 50 via the Ruby next to the kanji. This time, however, the Ruby over their name in the spread says まきずみ [makizumi]. At least it's not truly a new name I suppose? The meaning -Rolled Ink- stays the same regardless.

At any rate, these guys are definitely all going to live and fight another day. Because named teams full of elite personnel formed for a specific purpose have great survival and success rates in this series. Yup. (Maybe being ninja will make the difference? Somehow???)

Who trained these guys, I wonder... Samura's hella scary for an "assistant master".

Samura getting annoyed that his disciple joined the fight...! It's sweet of him to care and still treat Uruha like an apprentice in some ways. They're both war veterans who have seen and experienced too much, but some dynamics don't change with the passing of time.

I appreciate that the villains and their tactics are well-thought out. Adjusting to fight a blind man with super senses isn't done as well as one would like in many series, sadly. They often get to style all over their enemies because they're underestimated, then are treated like a sighted person with a gimmick thereafter. But the Hishaku ain't about that and have actively planned against him by scrambling his smell and hearing while also sending Mr. Hatshaku and his undetectable trees. Very smart on Hokazono-sensei's part!

This is just so awesome! The spreads of Chihiro and Hiyuki meeting and parting again in ch. 29 are two of my absolute favourites in the series so far, so to see it again (kinda) makes me happy.

Samura cut part of Uruha's topknot here. He played it that close, huh. It's pretty cool that Samura has a wild fighting style that his allies have to adjust around. Normally blind fighters are super precise but Samura's just slicing and dicing anything that's living and ready to kill! But if you're that good then I guess it's worth training a few people to be able to compliment your moveset so they can safely support you.

Samura and Uruha aren't in perfect sync, and Uruha's still willing to take risks and throw himself into danger. But he's more than capable of being an asset in this fight without guaranteeing he'll become a burden later (unlike a certain someone...).

Uh Oh

He's so cute with his big ol' eyes and pensive expression.

Did Chihiro whip out his phone while keeping Hiruhiko pinned to the seat with his foot!? Anyway, this is only the second time in the series where he hasn't appeared in even a single panel. So we get to spend a whole chapter getting exposition via Hakuri!

I'm gonna take some time to yap about him because it's been nearly three weeks since he showed up a lot and I missed him terribly.

Stop, stop, STOP!!

Note: Hakuri's line in the panel before (...���だけじゃないか" ["I'm the only one."]) doesn't directly match up to Kyora's final line from Ch. 43 (私だけだ... 私だけが全うできなかった ["I'm the only one... who failed to fulfill my duty."]), so it's not a direct reference even if the TL makes it seem like one. Hakuri's sentiment is different- his is "I can't be the only one" vs. Kyora's "I'm actually the only one". There are just a lot of characters who are convicted in their beliefs in this manga!

So much for getting to recover in 30 minutes, I guess.

Really cool that we see the mask "assembling"! It's only been shown intact when he activates the storehouse sorcery up to this point. So it's a neat visual representation of his resolve coming together during the time crunch as well. Hakuri is nothing if not dedicated to hurting and throwing himself into danger for the sake of others. Even after Healer Lady set up a flag for him to become useless or worse if he does so here. Oh, Hakuri...

He's helping Chihiro because he wants to make the world a safer place. Plus his whole thing after Ice Lady is that he'll "never let a life slip through [his] hands again". It's exceptionally noble and heroic of him! But is it worth potentially derailing the plans via brain damage or permanent ability loss?

Hakuri's not gonna die, obviously. I'm also 50/50 on him losing access to his sorcery at all, much less permanently. But something's going to get fucked up here and it'll probably be his fault. Again. He's gotta learn how to value himself the hard way, apparently. All we can do is wait to see what price will be paid for Hakuri's reckless disregard for his own well-being. (I'm not sure how I feel about this, but what if Hakuri gets Healer Lady killed? He could go 2/2 on women who were kind to him dying because of his actions right in front of him. Man that would suck.)

This is looking to be like one of the developments I was hoping for at the end of the Rakuzaichi arc. Hakuri does NOT chill when it comes to saving lives. Being borderline suicidal about this is his way of atoning for his and his family's sins, in my mind. But is it better to risk your life every time, or let people get hurt -possibly die- to keep doing greater good in the long-run? It's a common question raised in super hero comics, and I hope we get to see it explored with Hakuri (and Uruha) here. I'm really interested in what Hokazono-sensei has to say about it and the dissonance it would cause in Hakuri's character.

Arc Soothsaying

This is just a supposition, and I've been wrong so many times that I'm kind of hesitant to put this out there, but here goes. I know I can be as cringey as I like in your ambivalent embrace, kind void.

I think... I think... Hakuri's growth this arc will be specifically learning to value himself enough that he's able to act against his ideals.

Recall how Hakuri was the one to point out that Uruha knew the value of his life in Chapter 48 when he would have charged right in. And now he's with Samura, the guy who fights and kills to preserve himself despite it going against his Buddhist beliefs. Hakuri's constantly pushing himself to the limit, refusing to let other people get hurt for his sake. He won't let himself be the only one risking his life even if there's no strategic value for him to act- even if it would most helpful for everyone if he ran to safety. So I think he's going to have to put saving his own life above anything else later this arc and it's going to be terrible for him.

It would compliment the theme of negative self-image that's been set up with Chihiro too. They're both heroic, though it usually comes across in completely opposite ways (Chihiro's in his villain era right now, for one). And both of them have a lot of work to do when it comes to learning how to love themselves. Hakuri to understand his own "value", Chihiro to understand he's not a monster.

Learning more about the Bearers, Kunishige, and what happened in the Seitei war will almost certainly help Chihiro to realize he really isn't so different from the heroes he idolizes. As for Hakuri, it's hard to say right now. Uruha's going to be important to his growth I'm fairly certain. But we haven't even met all the Bearers yet so I don't want to start thinking in absolutes about who will help who and in what way.

We also have to wait and see what becomes of Hiruhiko after this encounter. He's obviously meant to be a counter to both Hakuri and Chihiro; how that manifests, exactly, is something I'm looking forward to seeing. It'll give more insight on how we can expect them to develop. Chihiro and Hiruhiko are pretty blatant right now with their outlook on what it means to kill and such, and there's set up for Hiruhiko to clash with Hakuri over what it means to be an equal and a friend.

For Chihiro and Hakuri... too early to say. Need to see what happens at Senkutsuji. My instincts are saying a rift of some kind will form between them over killing, equality, and/or their self-sacrificing tendencies but I'm always wrong, so. Just waiting and watching on that for now.

Anyway. Thanks as always, void. Here's hoping our boys don't have to suffer too much in the coming weeks/months. Except Hiruhiko. He can suffer enough for all of them.

[yakopi]

Kagurabachi theories

So I recently started to read Kagurabachi and man, does this have a lot of potential? Amazing art, compelling characters, and behind a seemingly pretty straightforward story, a lot of information that is purposefully left out.

So right now I am just going to write down my many thoughts/ideas/theories that I am going to dump it here, in parts, because I do not want 1 big post.

Part one: Gods and what's not.

I am going to start with something that I have noticed, namely the references to gods in the stories.

The first is one that some will probably already have noticed; the meaning of the title. Kagurabachi: gods dance/entertainment + retribution/karma. Thus this could mean something like divine retribution if translated literally. However, we can look at what the kagura embodies, namely inviting the presence of a god in the dancer's body. So maybe it could mean that this is an invitation for a higher being to enact divine retribution through a medium…

Furthermore, the main 'good guy' organization right now, the Kamunabi (which can also be read as kannabi) is named after a shrine that hosts a god. This organization has also been observed to be very good at sealing things, namely the enchanted swords in boxes and the wielders of those swords in different dimensions.

(Edit: Meanwhile the big bad guy group is called Hishaku (help, navel + burn/scorch, although the first kanji is sometimes also used in fire-related terms). Curiously, Hishaku with different kanji is a ladle commonly found in shrines and used in ceremonies. It can also be used to repel certain Yurei (ghost yokai) when given to them.)

A little more abstract with references to gods is the amount of swords. There were 6 blades made, and the number 6 is considered a bad number in Japan because it sounds like the word used for 'nothing'.

Later, a seventh sword, Enten, was made for Chihiro. 7 is a lucky number. This is because there are 7 gods of prosperity. This is maybe why Enten was made: the father wanted his son not to inherit nothing. He wanted Chihiro to inherit prosperity, as any father should, and invoked the gods for it.

This could all be a big coincidence, however, in my next posts, I will go further with this god connection because that is the fun part of theorizing.

TLDR; Kagurabachi has references to gods in the title, in the Kamunabi, and in the swords. This will be coming back later.

[strangeduckpaper]

I thought of an Enchanted Sword idea, based on the elements of Earth, Wind and Fire (Yes, the concept is partially a joke based off the band) and their associated disasters: Earthquakes, Typhoons, and the Fires of Edo.

The Sword could cause tremors or summon pieces of earth and rock, command gale force winds and bursts of fire. The main draw of the sword, however, would be the ability to combine them, like combining fire and wind to create firenados, or drawing pieces of earth and rock based shrapnel into the gale, or melting stone into lava, cooling it with wind into something like obsidian, before shooting the fragments off with hurricane force winds.

I imagine that this guy is the wielder:

EDIT: Plus, additional blacksmith references? Since it's mentioned on the wiki he has a blacksmith like appearance, and beyond that he just gives off blacksmith vibes to me

[tricolorgoldfishcafe]

I'm a fan of the theory that Uruha Yoji is an inside man of Hishaku and until proved wrong by the series I feel excited as a storyteller and writer myself what a nice set up it could be for a great plot twist

I've talked about it on Reddit already: here and here.

I was going to write a nice analysis of manga and a bit of my own speculation about the nature of Uruha Yoji's situation as a war veteran, but RL caught up with me for now.

I'll do this, even if it turns out to be only a head canon. The potential here is a great one on the level of the story and on meta level. The twist would be a wreckage and the massive disappointment from the characters within the story.

(Absent of Shiba also bothers me and add another layer to this theory, as they might assume there's an inside man in this mission. Also, if Samura knew about Chihiro why Uruha didn't have an idea...)

I'm curious how this play out in the series, and for now only share links to these two threads.

[farsight-the-char]

Kunishige only being around 22 when Chihiro was born kinda fuels my theory that he was Chihiro's Uncle, and adopted the boy after the war (thus becoming dad). 22 is a bit young for a guy like him to be having a kid normally.

Chihiro's mom was Kunishige's older sister in this theory, killed during the war.

[mahgck]

KAGURABACHI CH51

BABY CHIHIRO FLASHBACK WHO CHEERED!!!!

wow.... he puts the cigarette between his lips but doesnt give it the power to kill him.......... maybe rokuhira glazing can be our always

WAAAAAA samura actually taught chihiro some swordwork RAAAAAAA honestly ive been wondering where he learned how to use a sword. like did kunishige teach him? how good at it was he? did kunishige ever wield his own enchanted blades? where the hell did he learn how to make them. i have so many questions that can surely only be revealed through old man yaoi.

this week on kaguraomegaverse.

is this how cigarettes work. how did it go down so fast. is he really bad at smoking or is he really good at smoking

god samura is so cool. i hope the theory that his blade looks like a bat ie has bat powers is true. its seeming more and more likely lol

ok so its seeming like samuras in the shiba/azami/kunishige age range (mid fourties?) and uruha is probably like mid thirties. based on the picture he had with kunishige was he a teenager in the seitei war. who let him have a nuke.

omg blade name drop hello tobimune

GREAT CHAPTER!! I know i said last week i didnt want to go back to chihiro but is he ok. haha. chihiro you doing ok bud. dont let neomahito kick your ass buddy.