Jujutsu Kaisen is celebrated for innovating on classic shonen anime tropes, but playing with tropes doesn't exempt a show from those tropes' faults. Even dedicated Jujutsu Kaisen fans can admit that certain parts of Jujutsu Kaisen are difficult to celebrate when compared to other anime series that ignore shonen anime tropes entirely.
The way Jujutsu Kaisen weaves shonen anime tropes into its plot is brilliant. So brilliant in fact that it clearly presents the failures of the shonen anime genre. Shonen anime has been and always will be great, but even Jujutsu Kaisen, one of the best of the new-gen, can get annoying. Especially when the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Mahito is onscreen.
10 Mahito Is Creepy, Weird, & Evil Enough To Make Viewers Cringe
By using humanity's own negative emotions to power his villains, Gege Akutami invited the viewers to invest their own feelings into his mythology. Mahito's entire purpose is to be hated. The more the Mahito annoys viewers the happier and stronger Mahito becomes.
Mahito is a brilliant antagonist even when compared to the best shonen anime antagonists. Literally, every aspect of Mahito's character is detestable. From a cursed technique that transfigures the human body to a childish personality that revels in combat the same way Goku does. The most detestable of all Mahito's traits, though, has to be his disregard for human life. On multiple occasions, fans of JJK have had their hearts ripped out by Mahito, and the carnage has only begun.
9 Teasing Viewers With A Shot Of Junpei During The Opening Sequence Was Misleading & Annoying
Though manga fans may have been prepared for the Junpei drama that took place during the Vs Mahito Arc, those that jumped on the JJK anime train could not have been more unprepared for what happened to Junpei. The producers behind JJK even went as far as putting Junpei in a Tokyo Jujutsu High uniform during the Opening Sequence to mislead fans into thinking Junpei would make it out of season 1 alive.
Unfortunately, this short clip of Junpei smiling alongside Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara is nothing more than a figment of Yuji's imagination. This sort of Opening Sequence tease feels like a low blow, even for a genre that prioritizes plot twists over every other story beat.
8 Gojo Stans Will Even Admit That Megumi Deserved A More Elaborate & Respectful Recruitment Than What Satoru Put Forward
Satoru Gojo's irreverent behavior is one of the more endearing aspects of his personality, but there are moments where even dedicated stans of Gojo wished he could reign in his superficial behavior just a bit. The moment Satoru Gojo meets Megumi Fushigiro is one of these moments.
The way Gojo fawns over Megumi makes it clear that the strongest jujutsu sorcerer is recruiting Megumi for selfish reasons. If joining Gojo as a jujutsu sorcerer wasn't beneficial for Megumi as well, he would have been justified in denying Satoru's request due to his lack of decorum.
7 Adam McArthur Adds A Much-Needed Levity To What Is Technically A Kids Show, But Even Dedicated Fans Have To Admit That The English Dub Is Missing Something
Yuji Itadori's character justifies the decision to choose a voice actor that prioritizes a level and normal tone of voice over the typical overdramatic voice acting common in anime. Still, anime fans have gotten so used to the melodrama, which makes the English dub of JJK a bit difficult to sit through.
Adam McArthur is a fantastic voice actor who has worked on a number of high-profile voice acting jobs prior to Jujutsu Kaisen. His work should be celebrated for adding the levity to Jujutsu Kaisen that it desperately needs considering its target audience. Nobody can deny that Jujutsu Kaisen is a dark and deeply upsetting show, but Yuji adds a light that makes all the pain worth it in the end.
6 Nothing Annoys Dedicated Fans More Than Watching Megumi Fushigiro Lay Down A Sacrifice Bunt
Megumi Fushigiro is one of the three characters that make up Yuji Itadori's First Year class at Tokyo Jujutsu High. The young jujutsu sorcerer inherited one of the most powerful cursed techniques in the JJK mythos and carries an incredible amount of cursed energy to match.
On top of being extremely powerful, Megumi is angsty and stoic, two attributes that anime fans love in their best boys. All of Megumi's strengths only amplify how annoying it is when Megumi chooses to play support instead of showing off his own strengths on the fronts lines. Even dedicated fans have to admit that it would have been nice to see Megumi really swing at Mechamaru's pitches rather than sacrificing his own at-bat to move Nobara to second base.
5 The Sound Design In Jujutsu Kaisen Should Be Celebrated, But The Warbling Cursed Spirits Are Far Too Unsettling To Celebrate
The warbling sound effects that follow low-ranked cursed spirits around are meant to be unsettling, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Every fan wants to be tough and admit that the cursed spirits in Jujutsu Kaisen are not scary, but something about the sound effect just forces viewers to tense up.
Though it is cool that anime production has evolved past campy sound effects that make viewers cringe out of embarrassment, it is interesting that the post-production team decided to motivate fans into uncomfortable feelings while watching their show.
4 Since Yuji Left The Occult Research Club To Join Tokyo Jujutsu High, He Hasn't Seen His Original High School Friends At All
The first episode of the anime brings viewers into the life of Yuji Itadori through the Occult Research Club at a public school in Sendai. Yuji and two other ordinary students make up the Occult Research Club but even dedicated fans will be hard-pressed to remember these two characters' names.
Sasaki and Iguchi are not important to the plot of JJK past the first episode, but if they eventually end up reappearing in the Culling Games that Psuedo-Geto has arranged for in the most recent chapters of the manga, nobody will be upset. In fact, it is a bit upsetting that Yuji never visits his high school friends again after transferring to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
3 Principal Gakuganji Is Annoying Despite Saying & Doing Almost Nothing
Nothing is more annoying than watching an old man begrudgingly hold on to an outdated form of strength like enhancing a guitar with cursed energy. Cursed Sound Amplification should be such a cool cursed technique considering how important sound and music are to the anime genre.
There are of course those that can respect Principal Gakuganji's skill, but even fellow guitarists had to be upset considering Gakuganji's technique was so weak. Gojo handles Juzo Kumiya within seconds, proving that the new generation is simply on a different level than the last. If Gege had intended to respect Rock 'n Roll with Gakuganji's character, the technique would have been much more effective against someone on Kumiya's level.
2 After Tengen's Barriers Tech Was Explained Mahito Breaks In To Steal A Dozen Special Grade Cursed Items
Tengen is not a popular name amongst anime-only fans of Jujutsu Kaisen, but manga readers know that the reason Tokyo Jujutsu High stays safe from curse users and cursed spirits is because of Tengen's knowledge of the Barrier Technique. The first season of the anime never gives viewers the chance to see Tengen, but it does mention him by name.
This name drop even mentions the fact that Tengen is responsible for protecting the school. After all, this talk about Tengen's Barrier Tech, Mahito still breaks into the school and leaves with over a dozen special grade cursed items. Why even hype up a faceless character just to break them down before fans ever get to see their face?
1 Jujutsu Kaisen Is A Fantastic Shonen Anime, But It Is Still A Shonen Anime
Despite being awarded a number of honors for its success as a shonen anime, there are still those who believe that Jujutsu Kaisen borrows a bit too much from the shonen genre. With shows like Attack on Titan and Death Note matching the success of classic shonen series like Bleach and Naruto without building their plot around shonen tropes, even a new-gen shonen as masterfully crafted as JJK can fall flat in comparison.
Yuji is a great shonen protagonist and Jujutsu Kaisen does generally excel when reinventing shonen anime tropes, but that doesn't make it any less annoying when the plot to find Sukuna's fingers is interrupted by a baseball game. Just because Gege Akutami is brilliant enough to fit a baseball game into his plot doesn't mean that he should. Even dedicated fans of JJK can admit it.