Japan’s CyberAgent and Shochiku have acquired the rights to adapt Takeru Hokazono’s ongoing action manga Kagurabachi into a new anime series. 

As reported yesterday by Tokyo Keizai Online, CyberAgent subsidiary CygamesPictures will handle the animation on this project, in addition to its work on The Summer Hikaru Died for Netflix. 

First published in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine last September, Kagurabachi revolves around Chihiro, a teenager fighting against an evil crime syndicate of sorcerers to avenge the death of his swordsmith father and reclaim six enchanted swords that were stolen from him. Hokazono confirmed online last month that more than 1.3 million copies of the manga for teens are currently in circulation, and it has also been viewed more than 99 million times on Shueisha’s MANGA Plus e-reading platform. 

Major Japanese studios including Toei Animation (Dragon Ball and One Piece), MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen) and Pierrot (Bleach) also competed for the anime rights to Kagurabachi, but CyberAgent came out on top with its 55.2% stake in streaming service ABEMA and experience in global anime IP expansion. For its part, Shochiku specializes in theatrical distribution and owns more than 20 Japanese cinemas for showcasing the new series.