The anime adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen has been widely anticipated since its announcement in 2019. The manga series, which is currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, has gained a wide readership over the past couple of years, so fans have definitely been apprehensive and excited to see how well animation studio MAPPA will do at adapting the story into an animated format.
While overall, the series seems to stick fairly true to its source material, there are definitely differences between the comic format of the story and that of the anime, as it’s impossible to directly translate the storytelling styles from one format to another. But some of these differences are more notable than others, and some are possibly even positive changes.
10 The First Episode Has A Different Beginning Than The First Chapter Of The Manga
While much of the first episode of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga follows the first chapter of the manga pretty closely, it does have one major difference. The beginning of the episode actually shows the beginning of the second chapter of the manga. This serves a specific purpose in the series, since it begins the story in media res, allowing viewers to dive right into the middle of the story and a more exciting action sequence, as opposed to slowly learning about the world.
9 There Are Different Character Perspectives In The Anime
In a comic of any kind, it’s very difficult to pull off changing perspectives or points of view, since the storytelling has to be pretty careful in order to make sense. This doesn’t mean it never happens, but it is uncommon, and that goes for Jujutsu Kaisen as well, which mostly sticks to Yuji’s perspective.
The anime isn’t fettered by this, however, and there is more time spent with other characters, seeing them react to different situations and getting their thoughts on them.
8 The Death Of Yuji’s Grandfather Has More Weight In The Anime
In the manga, the death of Yuji’s grandfather definitely takes a toll on Yuji, in that it changes his life for the worse. But beyond that, it doesn’t seem to personally affect Yuji that much, and he doesn’t spend a lot of time reacting to it. The anime spends a lot more time with this event, even showing Yuji in moments of real grief, crying over the death of his loved one. It’s added development for the protagonist and a more authentic version of what might happen in this scenario.
7 There’s More Time Spent On Action Sequences In The Anime
While animating a complex and good-looking action sequence is certainly a huge amount of work, the work of a manga artist might be even more difficult, especially considering the tight timeframe involved in creating new chapters of the series on a weekly schedule. This can mean that not every action sequence is super-detailed or long-lasting since drawing those sequences takes a long time. The anime has more room to give them a lot of excitement and to really get into the details of what’s happening, extending them into longer sequences.
6 There’s Less Room For Character Development In The Anime
As in much shonen anime, Jujutsu Kaisen has a lot of characters in an ensemble cast. In the manga, there’s a little more room to develop these characters and their relationships with each other. But in the anime, there’s a limited amount of space to really delve into who these people are, especially considering how much there is to cover in the plot in such a small number of episodes. This can lead to some of the characters feeling forced into the series and like they come out of nowhere.
5 The Series Is Fairly Short For A Shonen Adaption
While it’s always possible that there could be a sequel series or a second season announced later on, the anime is currently only set to be 24 episodes. Considering the fact that there are more than 100 chapters of the manga and counting, it seems likely that the entirety of the series is not going to end up being adapted as an anime. This means the series will have to pick and choose which chapters and story arcs will be in the anime.
4 The Series Features “Juju Sanpo” Shorts
While most anime series actually spend a lot of time trying to cut parts of the manga that are less relevant or which take up too much space, Jujutsu Kaisen actually makes room to expand on the world-building and the characters in the series.
The show does this with the inclusion of the “Juju Sanpo” shorts at the end of most episodes. The shorts show the main characters as they go about their daily lives, including the things they get up to when they’re not embroiled in the main plot.
3 There Are More Visual Gags
The Jujutsu Kaisen manga certainly has a lot of its funny moments, as many shonen manga do. It helps with lifting the spirit a bit, especially after a lot of weighty or intense moments. But being animated gives the television series space to really push the comedic moments. Using animation and voice acting lets them do more visual gags and puns and to advance the hilarity of moments that are already fairly funny in the telling of the story in the manga.
2 There Are Some Differences In Character Designs
Most anime adaptations try to keep the character designs fairly close to the original seen in the manga. But since the art style is almost always slightly different, due to the manga creator not personally drawing it, and due to the fact that manga is mostly drawn in black and white, the characters sometimes look slightly different in the anime. For instance, Mahito, whose face is made up of a patchwork design anyway, has heterochromia, meaning he has two different colored eyes, in the anime to further push this design.
1 The Character Relationships Are Better Written In The Anime
Shonen stories, in both manga and anime, sometimes fail to fully flesh out the relationships between the characters and why they’re important. Jujutsu Kaisen in particular spends a little more time on this in the anime than in the manga, particularly regarding Yuji’s relationship with his grandfather. The series spends a little more time on the characters’ relationships, which also seems to give more weight to some of the other relationships Yuji has as well since his grandfather urges him to surround himself with others.