Kagurabachi is the manga of the season. The action fantasy manga, written and illustrated by Takeru Hokazono, debuted in September and took the world by storm with its interesting plot, stunning artwork, and intriguing protagonist. In this article, we’ll talk about that very protagonist, Chihiro Rokuhira, and everything we know about him.
Table of Contents
Chihiro Rokuhira: His Story
I. Past
As we mentioned above, Chihiro Rokuhira is the protagonist of Kagurabachi. Chihiro starts the story as a 14-year-old boy living with his father, Kunishige Rokuhira.
He acts as an apprentice swordsmith under the guidance of his father while also taking care of the menial tasks of the household. Since Kunishige is a jolly yet sort of careless man, most of the house chores fall under Chihiro’s responsibility.
Having grown up with a single father, Chihiro loves and respects Kunishige greatly. In fact, his love for his father acts as the core of his character.
He observes his father’s craft closely while working and wants to become a swordsmith just like him. When Chihiro lets his father know his future goal, Kunishige tells him that as swordsmiths, the responsibility of how and on whom the swords are being used falls on them.
Chihiro respects his father’s philosophy and aspires to abide by it. After formally starting to train to become a swordsmith, Kunishige tells Chihiro about the six enchanted swords he forged and where they are hidden.
Their peaceful lives come to an end the day a group of sorcerers visit their home. The group, calling themselves Hishaku, comes to inquire Kunishige about the enchanted swords he created and hid after the war ended.
When Kunishige refuses to tell them, they injure Chihiro, giving him a gnarly scar on the left side of his face, and kill Kunishige before stealing the enchanted swords from their home.
When Shiba arrives later, he notices that the enchanted barrier around their house is destroyed. He then finds a shell-shocked Chihiro sitting beside his father’s dead body.
The boy tells Shiba everything that happened before vowing to retrieve the six stolen swords forged by his father and to exact vengeance on those who killed him.
II. Present
38 months after his father’s death, Chihiro has trained himself to be a master swordsman and is looking for the enchanted swords stolen by Hishaku. He is helped in this endeavor by Shiba who provides him with every information they get on sorcerers.
After learning that the Korogumi Yakuza family is connected to sorcerers, Chihiro comes to Tokyo with Shiba. Even after killing most of the Yakuza members, they fail to learn anything about Hishaku as the leader of the family is killed by a lethal magic before he can tell Chihiro anything.
Failing to get any new information on Hishaku, Chihiro and Shiba visit Hinao’s cafe where she tells them that she has a new lead about the enchanted swords. She introduces them to the little girl who has come to her cafe earlier, claiming that she’s seen an enchanted sword.
After talking with the little girl, they learn that her name is Char and she is running away from some dangerous people who are after her. She’s clearly starving, so Chihiro takes her to a restaurant to eat. There, Char is attacked by a sorcerer. Chihiro protects her and fights the sorcerer, defeating and capturing him.
Realizing that Char is in grave danger, Chihiro agrees to become her protector. Later while driving Char, he gets a call from Shiba who has been interrogating the sorcerer. He tells Chihiro that Genichi Sojo, an infamous weapons dealer, is the man who currently has the Cloud Gouger sword and is also after Char.
Powers & Abilities
I. Enten
As seen from the story till now, the power system of Kagurabachi is sorcery which can be implemented by channeling a person’s spirit energy efficiently. The enchanted swords are the strongest weapons that can use spirit energy to create powerful attacks. The central plot of the story is the six stolen enchanted swords and Chihiro’s journey to find them.
Chihiro himself also possesses an enchanted sword; in fact, he possesses the last and most powerful enchanted sword forged by Kunishige. The seventh enchanted sword provides Chihiro with a set of powers. To use the sorcery infused in the sword, he draws the blade and chants “Enten”.
Enten allows Chihiro’s spirit energy to manifest outside of his body in the form of two goldfish. The mystical goldfish, each of a different color, have particular powers each that Chihiro can unlock by uttering the color of the fish.
- Black: By calling “Black”, Chihiro calls forth the black goldfish and performs a swift strike with his sword that turns into a large and powerful attack able to cover a huge amount of area. The strike that Black creates is entirely made out of spirit energy, making it very lethal, being able to slice an opponent even without physically touching.
- Red: The other goldfish with red scales takes over when Chihiro chants “Red”. This fish attack gives him the ability to absorb every attack thrown in his way and release the same attack against his opponent.
- Nishiki: This is the most powerful attack of Chihiro as of yet. When he chants “Nishiki”, he summons a multicultural goldfish. The true extent of his attack and the particular ability it provides Chihiro are unknown but it is potent enough to defeat a room full of people with a single hit.
Swordsmanship and Physical Combat
After growing up with swords, Chihiro has mastered the art of swordsmanship. He is quite an efficient swordsman, even without the supernatural ability his enchanted sword provides. Chihiro usually carries two swords, one a normal katana and the other the seventh enchanted blade created by his father. He’s just as proficient in using the katana as he is at using his enchanted sword.
Chihiro is also quite adept at physical combat and can rely on it even without using his blades.
Conclusion
We’ve reached the end of our discussion on Chihiro Rokuhira from Kagurabachi. Chihiro is already proving himself to be an interesting protagonist, someone to cheer for as he accomplishes his goal. The tone of roughness and seriousness in his character also makes him quite intriguing.
Follow the journey of Chihiro Rokuhira by reading Kagurabachi on Manga Plus and Viz Media. We’ll be back with more pieces on Kagurabachi soon.
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Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.
