Jujutsu Kaisen's Gege Akutami Reveals How Itadori's Straightforwardness Might Dull The Narrative

The mangaka explains how Yuji Itadori’s drawbacks make the storyline bland, in a recent Q&A.

By Levin Plassery

Published on Jul 16, 2024 | 05:27 PM IST | 46.1K

Yuji Itadori [PC - Jujutsu Kaisen - Crunchyroll - MAPPA]

In this Article

How Itadori’s Nature Influences the Storyline
Gege Akutami’s Early Days

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen

At a special exhibition in Japan dedicated to Jujutsu Kaisen, Gege Akutami shared insights into Yuji’s straightforward character. Gege Akutami, the mangaka of Jujutsu Kaisen, has risen to fame, with the manga boasting over 90 million copies in circulation.

The manga initially debuted in Shueisha’s shōnen magazine in March 2018. Since then, the anime has seen two successful seasons and a popular film adaptation. Yuji Itadori, the series' central protagonist, led a relatively ordinary life until he unwittingly ate one of Sukuna’s cursed fingers.

As a host to the King of Curses, Yuji tries his best to survive in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Gege Akutami does acknowledge Yuji’s strength, but he revealed that his straightforward nature conflicts with the series’ progress.

How Itadori’s Nature Influences the Storyline

At the special exhibition, Gege explained how he wanted to develop and explore the other characters and not focus only on Yuji Itadori. [translation by soukatsu_ on X, (formerly Twitter)

“I think having such a straightforward guy like Itadori as the main character was a big change for the story,” said the mangaka “My idea was to use other characters to pave a defined path and portray a universal protagonist. I wanted Itadori to be a flexible character.”

Yuji Itadori [PC - Jujutsu Kaisen - Crunchyroll - MAPPA]

This pretty much explains why the first few episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 revolved around Gojo Satoru and his early days at Jujutsu Kaisen High as a student. Akutami also explained how he wanted the characters to resonate well with the readers.

“When Itadori does something straightforward, like saving someone, there’s no real need for a reason behind it, so the story is easy to move forward but it also can lead to the reader not feeling much or not getting a good taste of his actions.“

The mangaka used this narrative in the Culling Game arc. He believes that readers may find it difficult to understand the culling game setup, but if Itadori says that he does not understand either, it will strike a chord with them.

Gege Akutami’s Early Days

Gege Akutami started his journey as a mangaka by imitating his friend before committing to it professionally. In 2014, he worked as an assistant to Yasuhiro Kanō on Kiss x Death. He then worked on short chapters like Kamishiro Sōsa, No. 9, and Nikai Bongai Barabarjura.

In 2017, Akutami published Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, which served as a prologue to his next work, Jujutsu Kaisen. The mangaka also mentioned how Bleach and Narutro shaped Jujutsu Kaisen’s First Chapter during the Q&A.

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