Takeru Hokazono

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.

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. 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.

Career In September 2023, the serialized version of Kagurabachi launched in Weekly Shōnen Jump. 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. The manga won the 10th Next Manga Award in the print category, and was nominated for the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award and the 49th Kodansha Manga Award in the category.

Style and influences He is a fan of western films, especially Quentin Tarantino and John Wick films.

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

Works Serializations (September 2023 – present; serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)

One-shots (April 2021; published in Jump Giga) (April 2021; published in Jump Giga) (July 2021; published in Jump Giga) (April 2022; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump) (August 2022; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)