Forged in the samurai fire of savage stakes and etched in the bloodbath of “kill them all” revenge, the power system in Kagurabachi is robust and precise. With the concept of Enchanted Blades at its core, the power system devised by Takeru Hokazono – the creator of the manga series that gets the much-anticipated Kagurabachi anime adaptation in 2027 – offers a masterclass in balancing simplicity with sophistication.
Revolving around the use of spirit energy in combat, the Kagurabachi power system takes a minimalist approach. There are a few ironclad rules that up the stakes as high as they go. Because Enchanted Blades form a lifetime bond with their bearers, the Sword Bearer’s death is the sole prerequisite for the blade’s deployment by anyone else. The intensity of this bond can also easily destroy the bearer’s mind and body by itself if mismanaged. With only three blade techniques thrown into the mix, much is left for the bearer’s creativity.
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Interestingly, that’s exactly where Enchanted Blade techniques weave plenty of sophistication to put the anticipated Kagurabachi adaptation among the top modern anime with amazing power systems. While its savagely simple rules of engagement give Kagurabachi a smooth live-action cinematic feel, freeing the audience from windy info dumps filled with mechanical intricacies of the battle scene, nuanced strategizing around Enchanted Blade techniques takes center stage.
This unique focus gives Kagurabachi the atmosphere of a lethal game of chess and feels like a fresh breath through the somewhat stilted air of traditional shonen manga. It’s high time we got to know the chess pieces in this strategic samurai action gambit on the board of vengeful savagery. With over two dozen Enchanted Blade techniques revealed in the Kagurabachi manga so far, let’s see which ones live up to being the strongest.
25
Spider (Kumo)
- Enchanted Blade: Magatsumi (Shinuchi)
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 41, 103, 107
Deployed during Chihiro’s fight against Kyora, Spider is the weakest Enchanted Blade technique in and of itself, even though it belongs to the deadliest of all Enchanted Blades revealed in the Kagurabachi manga so far. The combat utility of the Kumo technique is one of a setup for a devastating follow-up attack – something Kyora is quick to wield right away.
Weaving an immobilizing web-like pattern of spirit energy, Kumo entraps the target at a long range and makes it impossible for the body to dodge what’s coming next. Where Spider shows its limits, though, is its inability to affect the target’s command of spirit energy – this lets Chihiro counter Kumo by tapping into Enten’s inherent protective power against Magatsumi’s might.
24
Owl (Fukuro)
- Enchanted Blade: Tobimune
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 59-60, 62
Manifesting itself as a pair of large owl eyes that turn the sky into one massive vantage point, the Fukuro technique is geared toward pattern recognition and target identification. Owl can sense the use of spirit energy and guide offense by locating its whereabouts, which reflects the supportive nature of Tobimune intended by Chihiro’s father.
Given the scope of its power, Fukuro will be a strong contender for the most overpowered shonen anime eye abilities when it makes an appearance in the Kagurabachi anime. Owl levels the playing field by modifying the tactical realities for everyone involved.
What limits the capacity of this technique, though, is the surveillance range – the longer the range at play is, the larger the spirit energy signature has to be for Fukuro to detect it. More so, a surveillance-conscious target can throw dust in Owl’s eyes by managing their spirit energy and not activating any Enchanted Blade techniques.
23
External Suzaku (Gaibu Suzaku)
- Enchanted Blade: Tobimune
- Category: Extension Technique
- Manga: Chapters 77, 84, 107
This healing powerhouse is the manifestation of Tobimune’s True Realm, which this Enchanted Blade’s bearer, Samura, enters in the Sword Bearer Assassination arc. Though it transcends Tobimune’s base set of Enchanted Blade techniques, External Suzaku comes with no destructive power of its own. Its danger in the world of one of the most fascinating manga series of the past decade lies in a different kind of game-changing potential.
Unlike Suzaku, whose flames can harm anyone trying to get to the wounded body of Tobimune’s bearer, External Suzaku is entirely remedial in nature. As a state of synchrony between Tobimune and Samura’s will, External Suzaku can negate any level of damage by reviving allies and objects alike. Rather than matching destruction with more destruction, External Suzaku turns killing into an exercise in futility.
22
Kou (Water)
- Enchanted Blade: Cloud Gouger (Kuregumo)
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 13, 16
Be it drenching the opponent in a flood or casting a dense fog, Kou is Cloud Gouger’s signature decoy technique that manipulates water in order to disorient the adversary. Compared with the elemental savagery of its counterparts, Kou may well feel like the weakest Cloud Gouger technique.
With that said, its ability to empower other Enchanted Blade techniques in Cloud Gouger’s toolkit, not to mention the tactical edge that it gives the sword bearer, proves that Kou is far from being harmless. In the Vs. Sojo arc, Cloud Gouger’s bearer, Sojo, drowns the elite Kamunabi task force that hunts him in a bloodbath thanks in no small part to his strategic use of the Kou technique.
21
Banquet (En)
- Enchanted Blade: Kumeyuri
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 75-76
Kicking the disorientation game up a notch, the Banquet technique takes a particularly malevolent turn when psychopathic figures like Hiruhiko get to bear Kumeyuri – the Enchanted Blade devised specifically for psychological warfare. Hiruhiko deploys Banquet as more than just a tactic – he uses it to draw Chihiro’s attention.
Like all illusions, the Banquet technique is destructive only as a setup that exploits the mind’s existing weaknesses and to the extent that one succumbs to its influence. During the battle at the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel, both Samura and Chihiro eventually find a way to leverage their Enchanted Blade techniques to render Banquet ineffective.
20
Yui (Ice)
- Enchanted Blade: Cloud Gouger (Kuregumo)
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 8-9, 34
Adding a touch of elemental madness to the game of traps, the Yui technique is something that many of the top shonen anime characters with ice powers would get interested in. From freezing the opponent’s movements to creating frozen obstacles, Yui brings a creative touch of ice chaos wherever Cloud Gouger is pointing.
What makes Yui vulnerable is the significant amount of spirit energy that this Enchanted Blade technique demands from the bearer. The deployment of Yui is also limited to the aim of Cloud Gouger, making it ineffective against an opponent who evades the attack or cuts right through it, which is what Chihiro does with Enten’s Kuro.
19
Aka (Red)
- Enchanted Blade: Enten
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 4, 41, 83-84
Demanding impeccable timing and calibrated use of spirit energy, Aka is a technique that thrives in the hands of exceptional blade mastery – something Chihiro may soon outrank the most capable anime sword fighters at. Despite its reactive nature, Aka is one mean red goldfish that knows how to turn the tables on the opponent.
In Enten’s arsenal, Aka is a counterattack technique that can absorb and redirect the kinetic energy of the attack. Throughout the manga, Chihiro shows both symmetrical and asymmetrical uses of the technique, relying on Aka to unleash the energy of the attack back on the opponent as well as enhancing his own movement in combat.
18
Crow (Karasu)
- Enchanted Blade: Tobimune
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 56, 83-84
When Crow finally makes its debut in the Kagurabachi anime adaptation, Samura will have every chance to rank at the top of anime characters with the coolest teleportation powers. This Enchanted Blade technique allows Tobimune’s bearer to take combat footwork to the next level by teleporting wherever necessary on the battlefield.
Once activated, Crow fills the air with a cloud of black feathers, each feather offering a spatial shortcut for Tobimune’s bearer to take and show up where the feather is. By themselves, feathers aren’t exactly harmless either – they are sharp objects that accompany Tobimune’s bearer and cut whoever gets in the way.
17
External Crow (Gaibu Karasu)
- Enchanted Blade: Tobimune
- Category: Extension Technique
- Manga: Chapter 103
Stepping up Tobimune’s teleportation game, this extension technique allows the blade’s bearer to use the mechanics of the Crow technique to relocate living beings and sizable objects in the environment. External Crow gives Tobimune’s bearer a dangerous environmental control edge in combat. This is something that Samura demonstrates when using External Crow during his and Chihiro’s showdown against the leader of Hishaku Yura.
To prevent Yura’s wielding of Magatsumi from placing innocent lives in danger, Samura deploys External Crow and relocates an entire train car along with Yura away from nearby civilians. In doing so, Samura reveals the downside of the technique, as the focus on its execution leaves him vulnerable to Yura’s Dragonfly deployment.
16
Play (Yu)
- Enchanted Blade: Kumeyuri
- Category: Base Technique
- Manga: Chapters 76-77
Where there is a place for a special power, there is room for a twisted take on it. This is what Kumeyuri’s Play technique has a dangerous potential for when it comes to environmental manipulation in combat. With this Enchanted Blade’s nature anchored in the battles of the mind, the Play technique is intended to be deployed in symphony with the mind-altering power of Banquet.
On its own, Play manifests itself as a pair of levitating figures that resemble geisha and that can move various aspects of the environment in ways limited only to the imagination of Kumeyuri’s bearer. In the case of Hiruhiko, the imagination is filled with just the stuff that the most murderous minds among the shonen anime characters who live for killing are made of.
Enchanted Blades form a state of resonance with the mind of the bearer, and Kumeyuri is inherently designed to balance its telekinetic power with the amount of reverence that its bearer feels for an object. Since Hiruhiko can’t live up to this delicate balance, he ends up using Kumeyuri’s Play technique on corpses, manipulating dead bodies as mere objects in a macabre theater of his own making.
