Warning: Contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen’s final arc.Since its early years,Jujutsu Kaisenhas been regarded as one of the most revolutionaryshōnenmanga in recent memory. Between its fast pacing and how it typically avoids the biggest clichés of its demographic, it was seen as a breath of fresh air by those who had grown tired of repetitiveshōnenstories, andJujutsu Kaisen“not being like othershōnenmanga” became its biggest selling point.
However, that reputation is highly exaggerated. While it would do a disservice toJujutsu Kaisen’s quality to label it as entirely cliché, between its pacing and how the worldbuilding and cast were handled, especially Yuji,Jujutsu Kaisenlargely kept to the same practices that have become typical ofshōnenmangafar more often than people give it credit for.Jujutsu Kaisenwas never as revolutionary as it was made out to be, and that all came to a head with everything that happened inJujutsu Kaisen’s finale.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Characters Were Never Treated Better Than The Average Shōnen Manga
Jujutsu Kaisen Wasted Most of Its Cast
The first area whereJujutsu Kaisenultimately fails to break the mold is how it treats its characters. For starters, a common criticism ofshōnenmanga is their tendency to not focus much on anyone outside the main characters, and sure enough,Jujutsu Kaisenoften failed to give anyone in its supporting cast much in the way of screen time or development. By the final arc, most of the cast had little involvement in the story beyond occasional exposition and a few fight scenes, and it left many of them feeling far shallower than they needed to.
Regarding the characters,Jujutsu Kaisen’s female cast often got the worst treatmentout of anyone. While Maki was consistently the subject of great writing and development,the majority ofJujutsu Kaisen’s female characters got very little attentioncompared to the male characters, with Yuki and Yorozu dying in their first fight after years of buildup, Hana constantly being overpowered despite being a high-tier sorcerer, and Miwa very unceremoniously losing her ability to fight.Jujutsu Kaisenwas once praised for its handling of its female cast, but as time went on, it became just as bad as its contemporaries, if not worse.
Of all the female characters inJujutsu Kaisen, though,Nobara was undoubtedly treated the worst. Not only did she receive far less development than Yuji and Megumi, but after the story spent years never making it clear whether she was dead or alive,Nobara’s return toJujutsu Kaisenonly happened at the very end of the story which, naturally, afforded no time for anything meaningful to be done with her. Nobara was, unfortunately, another example of ashōnenmanga’s female protagonist being overshadowed by the male protagonists, and that’s always been one of the story’s biggest points of contention.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hero Isn’t As Groundbreaking As People Think
Is Yuji Really The Best Shōnen Manga Protagonist?
Another specific area in whichJujutsu Kaisenisn’t very groundbreaking is with its protagonist, Yuji. The most common style of writing for ashōnenmanga protagonist is to make them a kindhearted and somewhat dimwitted young boy who fights primarily in close combat.Yuji has embodied all the most basic characteristics of ashōnenmanga protagonistsince the beginning ofJujutsu Kaisen. It wasn’t until the final arc that Yuji started using new techniques and tactics, but he still defaulted to punching and kicking, which is far more standard than one might expect, given his reputation.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s final arc also highlights how Yuji isn’t too far removed from the typicalshōnenmain character. While Yuji is often said to be a deconstruction ofshōnenprotagonists,Jujutsu Kaisen’s final arc has Yuji relying on sheer willpower and, arguably, the power of friendship to defeat Sukuna, two of the most defining elements of ashonenprotagonist. The deconstructive elements of Yuji’s character are typically attributed to the dark and dramatic writing surrounding him, but those elements aren’t inherently deconstructive, so that argument ultimately falls flat.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Pacing & Worldbuilding Always Held It Back
The Biggest Problems With Jujutsu Kaisen’s Writing
The biggest overlapJujutsu Kaisenhas with othershōnenmanga, however, is in its pacing and worldbuilding. WhileJujutsu Kaisen’s fast pacing was initially seen as a strength of its writing, it gradually became a problem as it prevented character arcs from fully developing and made story beats move too fast to hit as effectively as possible.Pacing issues negatively impacting writing is a common criticism ofshōnenmanga thatJujutsu Kaisencouldn’t avoid, and that was especially noticeable in the finale with it ending in a way that did very little to resolve its lingering plot threads.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s pacing issues also directly go into the problems with its worldbuilding.Shōnenmanga often fail to properly flesh out their worlds due to poor pacing and prioritizing the plot, fights, and characters, and sure enough,Jujutsu Kaisenvery infamously did little to fully develop its worldbuilding from start to finish. Elements like Sukuna’s backstory, the inner workings of jujutsu society, and how the larger world reacts to everything in the later arcs were always being poorly addressed, and it madeJujutsu Kaisenfeel like another story that prioritized fights over everything more often than not.
Why Jujutsu Kaisen Is Great, Despite Not Being Groundbreaking
Jujutsu Kaisenis far less groundbreaking than its reputation would suggest, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great series. For starters, even if the fighting tends to get more focus than the character or narrative writing,Jujutsu Kaisen’s fight scenes are some of the best of anyshōnenseries of the past few years, with the manga always having creative choreography and artwork, and the anime making that look even better with every episode. There are few stories with as great action asJujutsu Kaisen, and to some extent, it’s worth getting invested in just for that.
While a lot of the overlapJujutsu Kaisenhas withshōnenmanga is to the detriment of its narrative, that’s not always the case, as between the fight scenes, the dramatic writing, and how engaging the characters can be as individuals and in groups,Jujutsu Kaisenalmost always plays into the best aspects ofshōnenmanga to be just as fun to read as other stories, if not more so. Even if theJujutsu Kaisenmanga isn’t groundbreaking, it’s become one of the biggest anime franchises in the world for a reason, and it’s still plenty worth reading or watching.
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.
