Chapter 4 of Kagurabachi finally explained what sorcery is

Kagurabachi Chapter 4 continues the trend of explaining series mechanics, and this time, it’s all about sorcery.

A manga series is nothing without its power system. The days of Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball, where characters simply hit harder than each other, are long gone, and modern fans demand a more complex system to both keep fights entertaining and spark community debates. Kagurabachi is no exception. While sorcery is still quite vague, Chapter 4 has clarified a little bit about how it works and what powers will look like in the future.

Chapter 4 didn’t move the story forward much from Chapter 3. Sharu still hasn’t shared much about her predicament, and aside from getting a formal name in Kuregumo, the cloud sword is still missing. Protagonist Chihiro dueled with a mysterious assailant, showing off some more of his sword’s unique powers. 

And to the surprise of many fans, some of those powers even got an explanation.

Chapter 4 explains how sorcery works in Kagurabachi

In Chapter 4, author Takeru Hokazono explained how sorcery works in the world of Kagurabachi with more explicit and implicit examples.

Sorcery is a very vague concept that hasn’t been explored much, but the most recent issue explained both the fictional concept behind it and why swords help to use it. The term used is “genryoku,” which doesn’t have a clear literal meaning. In Kagurabachi, genryoku refers to a mystical life energy that exists in everyone. Sorcerors are able to harness it for other purposes, such as growing trees out of the ground or summoning explosive Daruma dolls. Mystical swords like the one used by Chihiro can also harness genryoku to be used for specific powers.

However, the explosive Daruma dolls give even more information than the explanation. The sorcerer that Chihiro duels appears to have the explicit power of summoning explosive dolls to use as grenades. It’s not clear if he purposefully chose to develop that power or if it’s innately tied to him, but it’s clear that foes will have specific powers that Chihiro must overcome. The lead’s cursed sword also has specific goldfish-related abilities, though they are still fairly vague. It is confirmed that he is able to cut things from a distance, which is itself a common trope in shonen manga.