Warning: Contains spoilers forJujutsu Kaisenchapter #271In a matter of months, I’ve gone from a passive fan ofJujutsu Kaisento a die-hard, but a lot of fans miss the things that make me love the series so much. Now thatJujutsu Kaisenreached its conclusion, I find myself totally enchanted.Jujutsu Kaisenisunlike any shōnen I’ve ever seen or read. WithJujutsu Kaisen, Gege Akutami has crafted a masterful narrative with thrilling combat and stunning presentation. That isn’t why I love it so much, though.
Jujutsu Kaisentouches where it shouldn’t. Characters like Yuji, Megumi, Gojo, and Sukunaclick with one another in ways they shouldn’t. Gojo and Sukuna are drawn to each other’s raw power; Megumi doesn’t care that Gojo killed his father; Sukuna openly respects Megumi; Yuji can’t help having a soft spot for Sukuna. It might go without saying thatJujutsu Kaisenis bizarrely profound. Philosophically, in fact, it’s anathema to the norms of today’s shōnen. For that reason, though,fans easily miss its most interesting considerations.
Jujutsu Kaisen Isn’t A Run-Of-The-Mill Shōnen (And We Shouldn’t Act Like It Is)
Jujutsu Kaisen Is Essentially Different From Other Battle Shōnen
Jujutsu Kaisenisnothing like its competition. Right down to its very foundations,Jujutsu Kaisenis a subversive series that hasalways taken aim at major shōnen likeNaruto. Consider the cursed energy system. The result of humans' negativity, cursed energy exists in stark contrast to the energy systems of other series likeNaruto(chakra) andDragon Ball(ki). The fact that the primary enemies—cursed spirits—are the embodiment of this energy shows an interconnection between non-sorcerers and sorcerers, humans and curses, and ultimately, good and evil.
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From its compelling characters to its stunning visuals, Jujutsu Kaisen offers a truly unforgettable reading experience.
Nothing inJujutsu Kaisenis arbitrary. The concept of binary instability is at the very core ofJujutsu Kaisen. Fans miss it simply because, culturally, it’s not very intuitive. What could be called the Western canon has predominantly seen things in terms of concrete good and evil, without much room for uncertainty. However, once you start seeingJujutsu Kaisenasa series that aims to make these binaries as fuzzy as possible, it’s something impossible to unsee.
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Jujutsu Kaisen’s Structure Allows For Deep Complexity
The best example of this is Mahito. Mahito is a curse, but he’s intelligent and humanoid. Since he’s a curse, too, Mahito was birthed by humanity. A curse ordinarily just exists to torment people and avoid exorcism. Mahito is not an ordinary curse, though. As he identifies humanity as an enemy, he also identifies with humanity. He sees himself asa better kind of human, and because he literally grows up and evolves as he takes lives, he sees humanity as the cost of his perfection.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Ending Perfectly Mocks Fans Who Aren’t Happy About It
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The lines between curse and human are further blurred by Mahito: his desire for validation from Kenjaku and affirmation from Sukuna is palpably Freudian. Would I let Mahito kill me for his cause? Of course not. But I can understand how his ideas of good/evil and his general sense of value would be completely different from my own. In fact, the sense of repulsion I get from Mahitois the very thing that he should make me feel. Looking at things in this light,Jujutsu Kaisenopens wide to new interpretations.
As the series concludes,Jujutsu Kaisenemphasizes living authentically and choosing what one lives and dies for. Those themes were there the whole time, though. The problem is that to see them, you have to graspwhy characters like Mahito and Geto think like they do, at a fundamental level that would beg for more empathy than the average fan spares them.
The Controversy Around Jujutsu Kaisen’s Finale Shows How Fans Misunderstand It
In that perspective’s absence, such themes run the risk of cliché.Jujutsu Kaisen’s finale has drawn a lot of accusations of being rushed, lazy, and careless. The most egregious, I think, is calling Sukuna’s shift after his loss an example of “the power of friendship” or a “redemption arc”. It simplydrives home the binary fuzziness that’s always been part of the narrative.
This becomes apparent if one tries to see Yuji and Sukuna as a binary compounding other binaries: good/evil, human/curse, present/past, and so on. From the binary’s genesis when Yuji ate part of Sukuna’s body all the way to Sukuna’s possession of Megumi’s body, Sukuna’s soul shared space with Yuji’s. The fact that Yuji’s soul can dominate Sukuna’sis the reason sorcerers and curses take an interest in him in the first place.
It’s alsoonly possible because Yuji and Sukuna are related.Jujutsu Kaisenis aboutthe inseparability of perceived opposites. InJujutsu Kaisen, humans and curses, good and evil, and souls and bodies can’t be defined without one another. Without Yuji, Sukuna couldn’t have returned; without Sukuna, Yuji couldn’t be a hero. To drive home the point of this inseparability, Yuji is eventually revealed to be the son of Sukuna’s reincarnated twin brother, Jin Itadori. Even Yuji’s ability to manipulate cursed energy later is the result of Sukuna’s influence.
Jujutsu Kaisenwas written to be the explosives clearing the ground for new construction.
So when, in the end, Sukuna changes his view of Yuji,it’s unsurprising to me. Yuji and Sukuna recognize the dependence of one on the other. As Yuji says to Sukuna: “I’m you”. It also doesn’t signal Sukuna’s value system changing; the opposite—when Mahito asks why his position changed, Sukuna simply says that he lost. Sukuna always valued raw power, and his brutal outlook reflected that. Yuji’s strength over Sukuna showed him the weakness of his values and the strength of Yuji’s own, so he submitted.
This is also intimated by Yuji’s discussion with Gojo in the same chapter.Both Gojo and Sukuna were titans of individual strength; that’s the reason that fans clamored for and hyped up their battle for so long, and the reason that they were so disappointed when Gojo lost. But Gojo’s individual strength isolated him, and he said that he hoped the other sorcerers would find a strength different from his own.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Finale Explained Why Sukuna Became a Villain (Almost)
The hints in Jujutsu Kaisen’s finale suggest that Sukuna’s dark transformation is rooted in a compelling and tragic backstory.
The collective strength employed by Yuji and the other sorcerers was greater, in the end, than Sukuna’s individual strength. Both Gojo and Sukuna knew that. It’s not just thatGojo never intended to win against Sukuna. It’s that if Gojo won, it would ruinJujutsu Kaisen’s steady-from-the-start attempt at undermining the comfortable assumptions of shōnen manga.
Gojo had to lose to show thatJujutsu Kaisenis different. It isn’t a story where “good” automatically wins over “evil”. It isn’t a story whereGojo dies so Yuji can claim his rightful glory as the protagonist.Jujutsu Kaisenisn’t a story where stray criminals abuse an agnostic power system, nor is it a story where ideas appear as gimmicks or spur-of-the-moment power-ups before disappearing.
Jujutsu Kaisenwas never meant to be a run-of-the-mill shōnen. I think Gege meant for it to be read asa purgative targeting shōnen’s goofy self-certainty, signed and stamped from the belly of the beast. It was written to be the explosives clearing the ground for new construction. In a genre where things tend to be oversimplified,Jujutsu Kaisenis a series that exists to show just how complicated and interconnected the world actually is, and fans do it a disservice by missing that.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisenis a Japanese anime and manga series created by Gege Akutami. The story is set in a world where Cursed Spirits, born from negative human emotions, prey on humanity. It follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he becomes entangled in the world of Jujutsu Sorcery after swallowing a cursed talisman—Ryomen Sukuna’s finger—and becomes the host for one of the most powerful curses. Yuji joins the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College to learn how to combat curses while searching for the remaining fingers of Sukuna to exorcise him permanently.
