Jujutsu Kaisen is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 2018. The individual chapters of Jujutsu Kaisen are collected and published by Shueisha, with fifteen tankōbon volumes released as of March 2021. The story follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Jujutsu Sorcerers in order to kill a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna, of whom Yuji becomes the host. The series is a sequel to a four-chapter monthly series called Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, which was published in Shueisha’s Jump GIGA from April to July 2017, and was later released under the title Jujutsu Kaisen 0 in December 2018.
Jujutsu Kaisen is licensed for English-language release in North America by Viz Media and publishes the manga in print since December 2019. Shueisha publishes the series in English on the Manga Plus app and website. Two light novels written by Ballad Kitaguni have been released under the Jump J-Books imprint on May 2019 and January 2020, respectively. A 24-episode anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA aired on MBS from October 2020 to March 2021. The anime is licensed by Crunchyroll for streaming outside of Asia, who premiered an English dub in November 2020. The original soundtrack of the anime was released in April 2021.
As of April 2021, the Jujutsu Kaisen manga had over 45 million copies in circulation, including digital versions, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.
Setting
In Jujutsu Kaisen, all living beings emanate an energy called Cursed Energy, which arises from negative emotions that naturally flow throughout the body. Normal people cannot control this flow in their bodies. As a result, they continually lose Cursed Energy, resulting in the birth of Curses, a race of spiritual beings whose primary desire is to bring harm to humanity.
Jujutsu Sorcerers are people who control the flow of Cursed Energy in their bodies, allowing them to use it as they please and also to reduce its release. High-ranking Sorcerers and Curses can refine this energy and use it to perform Cursed Techniques, which tend to be unique to the user or their family. An advanced form of Cursed Technique is Domain Expansion, through which the user can use their Cursed Energy to build a pocket dimension that covers the surrounding area within which all attacks will be stronger.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Top 10 Fan-Favorite Characters
Maki Zenin – 352+ Favorites
A frequently recurring supporting character, Maki Zenin is unique from the rest of the cast in the sense that she has extremely low cursed energy, which is obviously not seen as a redeeming quality for a sorcerer to have. To compensate for this, she uses a variety of cursed weapons instead and is an expert in wielding all kinds of weapons. But despite lacking in the cursed energy department, she has superhuman physical strength and is the strongest after Yuuji Itadori in terms of physical prowess.
Aoi Toudou – 377+ Favorites
Aoi Toudou had a very memorable introduction as a character, although not a very nice one. Suddenly showing up in episode 8 with his partner Mai Zenin, he proceeds to beat Fushiguro up brutally just because he couldn’t properly answer the question ”What kind of woman is your type?” The fight is merciless and Toudou’s reasons for engaging Fushiguro in the first place are equally hilarious.
Panda – 403+ Favorites
What is there not to love about a fluffy and friendly panda that can talk and is also a martial arts expert? Contrary to what many probably think and what it looks like on the surface, the character Panda is not actually a panda. He is an “Abrupt Mutated Cursed Corpse” created by Masamichi Yaga, the headmaster of the curse-related college where Itadori and the other protagonists study.
Kento Nanami – 827+ Favorites
Kento Nanami is one of the strongest sorcerer’s in the anime, on par with Gojou. He quit being a sorcerer at one point and started working as a normal salaryman as he didn’t like being a sorcerer. He afterward quit his job and started working as a sorcerer again, simply because “work is sh*t.” A man of extreme professionalism and maturity, he is the polar opposite of Gojou and carries an air of respect for himself. He treats his position as a jujutsu sorcerer as just another job.
Toge Inumaki – 850+ Favorite
Jujutsu Kaisen is filled with characters each more peculiar than the other and Toge Inumaki is no different. Sorcerers in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe all use cursed technique’s in one way or another, and for Inumaki it is through his mouth. Due to his ability “Cursed Speech,” signified by the marks on his tongue and both cheeks, he cannot speak normally as his words are literally cursed.
Nobara Kugisaki – 1092+ Favorites
Nobara Kugisaki makes up the female component of the main trio. Not as goofy as Itadori or as serious as Fushiguro, she represents a middle ground of her own. Although not particularly strong, she has proved her strength of character as a determined jujutsu sorcerer. It also wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that her weapon of choice, nails and a hammer, is probably one of the most unique in anime ever.
Sukuna Ryoumen – 1486+ Favorites
Sukuna Ryomen is the biggest threat to protagonist Yuuji’s life, which in traditional terms makes him the main villain. However, even if that’s what’s in store for the character, as far he has maintained a somewhat neutral position. He is a demon on a whole different power level, the very definition of overpowered, but other than that (and the occasional murder spree’s and the psychopathic nature), he is an easy-going person. Ironically enough, despite being a demon of such great caliber.
Megumi Fushiguro – 1518+ Favorites
Both Gojou and Itadori together make an extremely hilarious comedic duo, perhaps a little bit too much. Nobara Kugisakis’s seriousness is perfect to keep them in check and balance the tone of the plot. He is also arguably the strongest and most experienced of the main trio consisting of himself, Yuuji and Megumi, not counting Sukuna as he is too unstable.
Yuuji Itadori – 2668+ Favorites
Yuuji Itadori as a protagonist is not the most solidly written character, but through him, the anime takes a refreshing take on what a protagonist is like. In a rather grim setting involving murders and horrifying demons, he along with Gojou provides some much-needed comic relief. He is technically super strong as generic anime protagonists tend to be, but he doesn’t actually have access to that power.
Satoru Gojou – 7379+ Favorites
The sheer difference in the number of votes (or “favorites”) between Satoru Gojou and the other characters speaks volumes about how loved he is. He is a sensei-type character, but at times can be the most childish of them all. However, his goofiness never comes in the way of his strength, as he has shown time and time again in the show that he’s the strongest sorcerer. He knows how to have fun with his underlings and also how to train them properly. All in all, there’s nothing not to love about the guy.
Production
In 2017, Gege Akutami published Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, a 4-chapter series that ran in Jump GIGA from April 28 to July 28. This series would serve later as a prequel to Jujutsu Kaisen, being retroactively titled Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Akutami began the publication of Jujutsu Kaisen in the 2018 14th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, released on March 5, 2018.
Akutami stated that Neon Genesis Evangelion influenced him to develop the mythological aspects of the series. Akutami is a fan of horror films, and its influence is noted in the series, expressing as well that he used to be obsessed with found footage films. Akutami is particularly a fan of Yoshihiro Togashi, author of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter. Akutami is also a fan of Tite Kubo, author of Bleach, and discussed in an interview with him the similarities between their works.
