This article contains spoilers.
The manga Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) (2020), distributed by VIZ Media, is considered a very popular manga by the anime community and Season 2 of the anime earned multiple awards in Crunchyroll’s 2024 Anime Awards, including Anime of the Year.
The manga follows student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Cursed Energy Sorcerers to eliminate a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna, of whom Yuji becomes the host. JJK draws inspiration from popular older titles while also creating engaging lore, interesting characters, and amazing action sequences, all of which are highlighted by the fantastic art of the anime. This is what hooked me and got me following the manga’s weekly release, which is about to come to an end. However, that might be for the best.
While the JJK manga had a strong start, it did have some weaker aspects, such as complicated action sequences, momentum-breaking exposition, and changing the rules of the world to suit the situation. At first, these aspects were easy to look past. However, as the manga continued, the weaker parts grew in number and impact, affecting the overall enjoyment of the manga. Additionally, there was a sense of the author rushing and intentionally neglecting moments of character development and interesting events, including the defeat of one of the most important villains in the series. As the series continued, many of the previously established elements that made JJK great, like the dramatic pay-offs, unique characters, and engaging magic system were undone, leaving some disappointed.
As the series reached its climactic final arc, the manga started to get dragged out. The author’s use of flimsy plot armour, awkward reintroduction of characters, filler content, and, worst of all, huge exposition dumps of off-page events that would have excited fans to have seen — much to the dismay of the long-time fans.
Depending on who you talk to, the current state of JJK varies from possibly the best modern manga getting an anime adaptation, to one of the most disappointing endings in manga history (worse than Naruto (2007), some might say). There was so much potential and unfortunately, there were many missed opportunities. Some of the best characters were given amazing starts, only to be saddled with disappointing deaths, body snatching, or slipping into mediocrity. Beyond that, the amount of important or entertaining events that were not shown to the reader was heartbreaking and missed juicy pay-offs. At the time of writing, the final manga chapter was released and the number of events that were skipped in order to quickly wrap things up is agonizing. I will admit, the ending was better than I expected and it had good closure, but there’s still a bitter feeling about the journey to get here.
JJK could have been the next big pillar of the anime and manga industry, especially as other big titles like My Hero Academia (2016) are coming to an end. I believe there was potential for JJK to be bigger than Naruto (2007) or Bleach (2004) and maybe even bigger than One Piece (1999) (not fighting words, just a wild idea). Its ending is tragic. All I can do is relive my experience with the manga by watching the anime and hope that the adaptation refreshes it in a new and exciting way. Stay tuned for the next arc of the JJK, an anime adaptation called “The Culling Game.” If you believe the rumours, maybe JJK will have a sequel series. The character Kento Nanami said it well in Season 1, “The accumulation of those little despairs is what makes a person an adult.” Or maybe it was said better by Toge Inumaki: “Salmon Roe.”
