Crunchyroll's My Hero Academia Replacement Sets New Record In Japan

My Hero Academia was one of the most popular anime series of the last decade. Sadly, in 2024, its manga ended, and in 2025, its final season was officially released. This has left a large gap open for a new series to swoop in and fill it. For My Hero Academia, this replacement series is looking increasingly likely to be none other than the shonen hit, Kagurabachi.

Kagurabachi is a new Gen Weekly Shonen Jump series that is quickly rising in popularity. In 2025, it ended up in the top 20 best-selling manga of the year, and in 2026, its individual volumes are faring quite well. This success will only skyrocket in 2027 when its new anime adaptation finally releases. Kagurabachi could definitely cement itself as one of the most popular new series, and one that Weekly Shonen Jump could come to rely on.

Kagurabachi Showcases Incredible Sales Numbers in 2025 and 2026 Despite No Anime Adaptation

Weekly Shonen Jump has been in a rough spot over the last few years as quite a few of its most popular series, which include My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, have ended. The magazine is now looking for new hits to come through and fill the hole left behind by its departing giants. At the moment, there seems to be only one new series with actual massive potential, and that's a brilliant series by Takeru Hokazono, known as Kagurabachi. Kagurabachi first started serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump on September 19, 2023, in issue #42. Currently, it's still ongoing and features over 135 chapters, with more being released every single week.

For now, Kagurabachi has no anime adaptation, so all the hype behind it comes exclusively from the manga by creator Takeru Hokazono. Despite the clear disadvantage it is currently facing with no anime, the series has still proven to be one of the most ambitious manga of the last couple of years.

For context, Oricon, the most reliable source for overall manga sales, officially unveiled its top 200 best-selling manga series of 2025. It specifically took into account all recorded sales that have taken place between November 18, 2024, and November 14, 2025. In this new report, revealed on October 21, Kagurabachi fared incredibly well. It ended up as the 19th best-selling manga series in Japan. In fact, it surpassed quite a few other manga with already established anime franchises.

In total, Oricon reported a record of over 1.3 million sales in just one year for Kagurabachi. For a series with no anime, that is greatly impressive. It achieved this sales milestone with 5 volumes in total, those being Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, and Volume 9. With 2025 out of the way, fans might be wondering how this sales figure evolved in 2026. This year is a bit harder to determine at the moment. Oricon’s total sales figures aren’t out yet, so how Kagurabachi is exactly faring in the grand scheme of things is unknown. While we don’t know the total, it’s clear based on individual manga sales that it's already doing great.

For example, Kagurabachi's latest volume, Volume #12, was released on September 4, 2026, and it debuted at Number 1 in Oricon upon its release, with over 50k sales. For its first week, it ranked ahead of the likes of Dandadan and Kingdom. Oricon also indicated that Volume 10 of the series has surpassed 150k sales in total, which is a healthy progression for a series in its early stages like Kagurabachi. For a full breakdown of Kagurabachi's 2026 performance, we will have to wait until 2027. However, it looks like Kagurabachi is on the same track as last year in terms of 2026 overall sales.

Why Kagurabachi Sales Are Going To Skyrocket In 2027

Kagurabachi's current sales figures are greatly impressive. For a manga series to achieve so much without the help of an anime isn't something we see every day. This simply means that Takeru Hokazono's work is enough by itself to keep fans coming back for more every single week.

His story and his art have captivated thousands who are always lined up to buy any new Kagurabachi volume. With that being said, the current popularity of Kagurabachi is nothing in comparison to what's coming next year.

In 2027, Kagurabachi is officially getting an anime adaptation. We don't know a lot about Kagurabachi's new anime, but what we do know is that it is being released sometime in April 2027, and that it is currently being produced by Studio CyPic, with Tetsuya Takeuchi at the helm of the project as its director. The teaser released during Jump Press back on April 27, 2026 makes us very hopeful and excited for what’s to come. It is clear the studio is going all out with the Kagurabachi adaptation, and that it's going to be an anime worth checking out when it releases.

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Kagurabachi Is Crunchyroll And WSJ’s New Hit Series Replacement For My Hero Academia

Weekly Shonen Jump needs a new big hit today like never before. That is because, for the first time in decades, the sales figures for the magazine officially fell under the 1 million mark. This is a shocking turn for the industry and a bad indicator of Weekly Shonen Jump's current health. The fall in sales is undoubtedly caused by the lack of interesting content in the magazine currently. At the moment, only One Piece stands as a big manga series with an established and dedicated fanbase. Other big series have already ended, like Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, and My Hero Academia. Weekly Shonen Jump needs to find new hits, and fast.

Kagurabachi is definitely their most ambitious possible hit at the moment. If Kagurabachi's anime adaptation by Studio CyPic is as good as it is made out to be, we could see the rise of a new mainstream shonen. It could come through as a perfect replacement for other series that have left the magazine, specifically My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi. This is especially because the creator of Kagurabachi has a long history with Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of My Hero Academia. Horikoshi was one of the first to promote Kagurabachi when it first debuted, and the two have worked together previously and respect each other’s work greatly. Kagurabachi and My Hero Academia don't share many story elements, but in legacy, there is no better series to carry forward what Horikoshi has left behind.

My Hero Academia TV-14 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Action Adventure Comedy Anime Release Date 2016 - 2026-00-00 Studio Bones Creator Kōhei Horikoshi Streaming Service(s) Hulu, Crunchyroll