Summary
Many fans love to debate whatthe best modern shonen seriesis, with more than a few picking the hit dark fantasy battleJujutsu Kaisen. However, while there are merits to choosing Gege Akutami’s work as the pinnacle of the genre, it would actually be diminutive to defineJujutsu Kaisenas a mere shonen, a word used to describe series targeted at a young male audience.
The first time I watchedJujutsu Kaisenshortly afterthe release of season 2, I was struck by how much it resonated with themes far more intricate than many shonen openly tackle. I was drawn to the show’s meditations onthe power to create oneself, the world, and one’s own values. As I dug deeper into the series, I discovered themes with a depth that other shonen can’t compare to.
Jujutsu Kaisenfollows the story of Itadori Yuji, unexpectedly brought into a world unseen by the naked eye. In this world, the three main types of humans are sorcerers, curse users, and non-sorcerers. The former two manipulate cursed energy, generated by negative emotions, of which non-sorcerers are mostly unaware. Although the show adopts Yuji as its center, it places far more focus onthe greater politics between these groups.
One Jujutsu Kaisen Episode Made Me Finally Understand All the Hype, & Now I’m a Lifelong Fan
As a first-time watcher, I was curious to see what made Jujutus Kaisen truly stand out, and I found it all in one episode.
Jujutsu KaisenKicks Off With Chance and Overcoming
Yuji’s Journey Shows The Interconnection of Fate, Luck, and Willpower
From the very first episode ofJujutsu Kaisen,shonen tropes are already being subverted. Itadori Yuji is far from a “chosen” protagonist. His friends happen upon one of Sukuna’s fingers, and Yuji ends up in possession of it. Later, when a curse attempts to steal it from him, he eats it:an unpredictable decisionthat immediately entangles him in the sorcerer world.
This accident is how Yuji becomes the center ofJujutsu Kaisen. Although he became the protagonist by chance,he works endlesslytomake the most of the hand he’s dealt. For Yuji, his life and control of Sukuna depend on his ability to overcome Sukuna’s influence while mastering Sukuna and the potential strength he provides.
In shonen anime, “surpassing limits” and “overcoming adversity” are frequent features, but inJujutsu Kaisen, growth is shown to beconnected both with willpower and accident. Yuji never intended to be a sorcerer, but he must learn to overcome himself, buildinga “strength” befitting his circumstances and commitment to sorcery. For example, when Gojo forces him to watch movies to learn to control his cursed energy, Yuji learns the values of patience and stoicism important to Jujutsu sorcerers.
This play of chance and overcoming appears constantly. Toji is Megumi’s estranged father by chance, but Megumi chooses to sever the idea of his father from his self-worth and the life he creates. The twins Geto saved by chance from a village would actively choose to oppose Pseudo-Geto when his values didn’t align with those they admired in Geto. This reflection onwillpower in the face of contingency and constantly changing situationsshows howJujutsu Kaisenadjusts shonen concepts of growth to great effect.
HowJujutsu KaisenChallenges Preconceptions
Jujutsu KaisenTransgresses Shonen Standards With A Bold Critique of Morality and Truth
While writing about Gojo and Geto’s relationship, I realized howtruly complicatedJujutsu Kaisen’s moral depictions are. Gojo and Geto were best friends despite opposing ideologies: Gojo looks down on non-sorcerers but protects them out of tradition; Geto thinks they must be protected. They later “swap”: Gojo feels non-sorcerers must be protected, while Geto comes to detest non-sorcerers and wants a world without them. This happens because of their attachment to Riko, a non-sorcerer with whom they bonded while expecting her to lose her life in a sacrifice, who ends up killed by a mercenary despite their efforts.
The reason Geto comes to hate non-sorcerers is thathis sheer empathy for them created a deep bond with Riko. Geto sees money as a superficial reason for one non-sorcerer to kill another, and he begins to question why sorcerers uphold their duty. This doubt compounds as he learns that non-sorcerers are the main reason for cursed energy and witnesses sorcerers being tortured by non-sorcerers.
Geto’s hatred stems from a strong and sincere love for non-sorcerers. Conversely, Gojo’s development follows his feeling of failure and sense of duty. Although Gojo becomes very “selfless” in his ideology, his motivations are egoistic, based on his ability to overcome himself and his limitations to better serve his role. For his duty of destroying curses,Gojo will happily eschew conventional morality and heroic ideals.
Jujutsu Kaisenshows thatideology and morals develop by chance. Most importantly, they develop in unexpected ways; love can become hate with a little nudge. Nonetheless, these fickle axioms seem to decide everything. Contrasting with Gojo and Geto, the Zen’in sisters grew up in the same environment and culture. Maki is a non-sorcerer whose combat ability comes from her mastery of cursed tools. Her interactions within the Zen’in clan were different from Mai’s because, within a prestigious sorcerer clan, she was a non-sorcerer.
Mai becomes fueled by resentment, trying her hardest yet failing to keep up with Maki. As Mai stews within the Zen’in clan, Maki separates from the cultural and ideological system controlling her life and dictating her value. She then grows stronger than ever as a non-sorcerer whosestrength blurs the lines of the sorcerer/non-sorcerer distinction.
With both Mai and Geto,Jujutsu Kaisencritiques morality while gently raising the question of whether emotions like egoistic resentment or pride truly make adequate replacements for morals.There is no single reason for any character’s commitments, being rooted in their experiences, beliefs, and values. This contrast to the black-and-white dynamics of other shōnen, allowingJujutsu Kaisento depict characters who bothconform to shōnen standards while exhibiting thematic complexity.
Jujutsu KaisenAsks What It Means to Be Human
The Politics Of The Series Make It Speak On Something Special
In the world ofJujutsu Kaisen, humanity is often stripped away. It’s not as simple as sorcerers and curse users being stronger than non-sorcerers. Sorcerers, curse users, and non-sorcerersall challenge one another’s essential worth. The “unbreakable” Yuji blurs the lines by becoming a sorcerer by accident. Maki is a non-sorcerer whose lack of cursed energy makes her body superhuman. Toji uses the fact that he’s not a curse user to his advantage when he penetrates Gojo’s Infinity barrier.
To show whyJujutsu Kaisenis so special, I’ll connect it with my interest in disability philosophy. Disabled people are well aware of what it means to have one’s agency taken away because of social perceptions, limitations, and labels. InJujutsu Kaisen, I found a question resembling one that helped me significantly. “I obtained this body and these circumstances by chance—what is left that I can choose?”
InJujutsu Kaisen, fate is something you create, not something you’re born with.
I found that to feel like “disability” wasn’t an impediment or an unfortunate curse, I had to think of itin terms of the context that had structured it: one I had the power to overcome, subvert, or at least have a say in. Context is always important inJujutsu Kaisen. Although Sukuna disdains humans and casts aside any moral norms, he respects Megumi for his potential. Facing Gojo, Geto’s body acts against Kenjaku, its cursed spirit inhabitant, showing their bond lingering after death. Touchingly,Yuji iconically mourns his enemies.
Shōnen series love “chosen” characters. Maybe the son of the world’s most famous hunter follows in his footsteps; maybe the son of a Hokage seeks to become an even stronger Hokage himself. These stories are interesting and can introduce compelling obstacles, but the reasonJujutsu Kaisenspoke to me is that thereisn’t an overarching sense of logic or fate controlling the series. InJujutsu Kaisen, fate is something you create, not something you’re born with.
AlthoughJujutsu Kaisenspoke to me on a personal level, any viewer whose actions and potential feel predetermined will find a reason to love it. It’s not just a shonen: it’s a shonen wherethe stakes are being considered human or, at least, worthy of life. The wayJujutsu Kaisenapproaches that question isn’t found anywhere else.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Cast
Jujutsu Kaisen follows Yuji Itadori, a high school student with extraordinary strength, who becomes intertwined with curses after ingesting a cursed object. Under the guidance of sorcerer Satoru Gojo, Yuji joins Tokyo Jujutsu High School to combat malevolent forces and navigate his new, perilous existence.
