Takeru Hokazono

Takeru Hokazono (Japanese: 外薗健, Hepburn: Hokazono Takeru; born September 6, 2000) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for Kagurabachi, which is serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since September 2023, and licensed by Viz Media in North America.

Takeru Hokazono
外薗健
Born	(2000-09-06) September 6, 2000 (age 24)[1] Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Occupation	Manga artist
Years active	2020–present
Known for	Kagurabachi

Biography

Takeru Hokazono was born in the Osaka Prefecture, Japan on September 6, 2000. He grew up reading Weekly Shōnen Jump and had a desire to have a work serialized in the magazine. The author is a fan of Naruto, and the series inspired him to become a manga artist.^[2] Hokazono started making manga during the COVID-19 pandemic while he was in college.^[2] His first manga was the one-shot Enten published in Jump Giga Spring 2021 issue and won the 100th Tezuka Award. His other one-shot Farewell! Cherry Boy! was also published in the same issue.^[3]

Career

In September 2023, the serialized version of Kagurabachi launched in Weekly Shōnen Jump.^[4] Hokazono created Kagurabachi because he wanted to write a revenge story. He had already tackled the theme in his one-shots, which led his editor to take on the challenge of serializing Kagurabachi.^[2]

Hokazono's Kagurabachi was the highest-voted work in the Manga Plus AX poll, beating out Sakamoto Days, RuriDragon, and Blue Box.^[5] The manga won the 10th Next Manga Award in the print category,^[6] and was nominated for the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award and the 49th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.^[7][8]

Style and influences

He is a fan of western films, especially Quentin Tarantino and John Wick films.^[2] This prompted the author to go for a revenge-themed story in Kagurabachi.^[2] Along with Tarantino, the author is also a fan of directors Christopher Nolan and David Fincher.^[9]

Hokazono's story elements in Kagurabachi were also inspired by Naruto, Chainsaw Man, Ajin: Demi-Human, and Attack on Titan. His earlier one-shots, especially Enten, were influenced more by Naruto.^[2]

Works

Serializations

• Kagurabachi (カグラバチ) (September 2023 – present; serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)

One-shots

• Enten (炎天) (April 2021; published in Jump Giga)
• Farewell! Cherry Boy! (さらば！チェリーボーイ！) (April 2021; published in Jump Giga)
• Chain (チエイン) (July 2021; published in Jump Giga)
• Madogiwa de Amu (まどぎわで編む; Knitting by the Window) (April 2022; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
• Roku no Meiyaku (ロクの冥約) (August 2022; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)