The hit shonen action series Jujutsu Kaisen, based on the manga of the same name, is really making waves in the anime community. It is the story of Yuji Itadori, a punkish but good-hearted high school student, who soon gets mixed up in the world of monstrous curses and the powerful sorcerers who fight them, and there's no going back.
On some levels, Jujutsu Kaisen is rather on-the-rails when it comes to shonen, with its core elements being no more and no less than one might expect for a shonen fantasy series. But in between those bare bones are more than a few compelling ideas, characters, and themes that have won over countless viewers and put this series on the map. In what regards is Jujutsu Kaisen on top of its game?
10 Jujutsu Kaisen Elegantly Pays Tribute To Older Shonen Series
In any realm of fiction, modern authors and artists will draw inspiration from classic series that came before them, while striving to add something original and unique to their works. That's the difference between inspiration and imitation, and Jujutsu Kaisen walks that fine line well.
This series is clearly inspired by classic works such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, and Bleach while retaining its own identity, and that is crucial. For example, the punkish Yuji may remind viewers of Yusuke Urameshi and Ichigo Kurosaki, and Satoru Gojo is the new generation's Kakashi Hatake.
9 The Creative Variety Of Curse Monsters
In this series, the antagonists are curses, fantasy beings born from intense and negative human emotions, even after death. These may remind viewers of Hollows from Bleach, and like Hollows, these curses vary from basic monsters to ultra-powerful humanoids and everything in between.
This keeps Jujutsu Kaisen feeling fresh, with different curses calling for different and creative combat techniques to defeat. At first, Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki went up against weak curses, but soon, they faced monsters beyond comprehension.
8 Jujutsu Kaisen Features Powerful & Well-Rounded Female Characters
Older anime series sometimes face criticism for featuring token female characters who are just there for fan service or to give the male lead someone to crush on. That's a real waste of potential, but fortunately, more modern anime series are making up for lost time.
Series such as both Jujutsu Kaisen and its contemporary, My Hero Academia, are lauded for characters such as Nobara Kugisaki and Maki Zenin who are fully fleshed out and have serious combat powers and backstories. This is a trend that may continue well into the future.
7 Jujutsu Kaisen Isn't Ashamed Of Its Eccentric Humor
The world of anime is well known for its eccentric and showy visual gags, from hammerspace to extreme nosebleeds and throwing wooden bath buckets at people's heads. However, Jujutsu Kaisen dispenses with the worn-out cliches and finds its own voice in humor.
This shonen series can make viewers laugh out loud with characters like Aoi Todo, who loudly demands to know what people's taste in women is like, then happily skips off to a convention to meet his favorite idol and shake her hand. The key, though, is that Jujutsu Kaisen does this with a straight face and owns up to its unique humor, whether or not a given viewer finds it funny. Now that's gutsy.
6 The Main Characters All Have Their Vicious Side
In any work of fiction, heroes and villains are set apart by their goals, methods, and worldview, with heroes typically acting in a compassionate, selfless, and honorable way while villains are selfish, cruel, and dishonest. Jujutsu Kaisen blurs the line somewhat and shows some smart restraint in so doing.
Jujutsu Kaisen is clear on who's good and who's evil, but to keep things from getting stale, the story shows the brutal and sadistic side of the main characters, to make sure they aren't just goody-two-shoes all the time. When Nobara and Aoi Todo get serious, they get mean, and that helps round them out a bit more.
5 The "Monster Within" Is Truly Scary & Difficult To Control
Many shonen or even seinen series have a "monster within" element to them, where the hero has a hidden and unique power to call upon in emergencies. Naruto Uzumaki can use the nine-tailed fox's chakra, and Ichigo Kurosaki learned to tame his inner Hollow. But what about Yuji Itadori?
Yuji's monster within is actually the archvillain, Ryomen Sukuna, and Sukuna is a monster even compared to Kurama or a Hollow. Sukuna isn't Yuji's partner; in fact, he wants to control Yuji and destroy everything around him, and Yuji is taking a huge risk every time he calls upon Sukuna. It would be a bit dull if Sukuna's power came with no strings attached.
4 Jujutsu Kaisen Has An Eerie Soundtrack
Any good anime needs a solid soundtrack, and some series are famed for their exquisite OSTs. A good soundtrack will not only be catchy and unique, but it will also match the series' tone and enhance it. Jujutsu Kaisen's OST fits like a glove.
The opening credits music is exciting, and the first outro song is famed for its groovy and catchy melodies, reinforcing the series' stylish and punkish side without subverting the entire franchise's tone. And the main OST has a few truly eerie and haunting tracks to match the dark nature of curses, too, like a horror movie's soundtrack.
3 Yuji Itadori's Power Level Is Balanced
It's not easy to balance a shonen lead's power level. If they're too strong or power up too easily, the tension is lost. If the hero is too weak, it's frustrating to see them so helpless, and they end up relying on outside help or even contrived power-ups. Yuji Itadori doesn't have any of these problems.
Yuji has formidable believable strength and stamina already, and gaining Sukuna's fingers is slowly but surely powering him up. He is tough enough to face his foes, but there is a proper amount of room for improvement in terms of both technique and strength. Yuji's power level is rising smoothly.
2 Yuji's Training Is Unconventional
Most shonen action heroes undergo a variety of training arcs and tournament arcs to develop new skills and show off their abilities, and it's rather easy for such sequences to feel overly familiar or routine. Yuji Itadori's own training arc feels rather unique.
Yuji already has physical combat down pat, so he must boost his understanding and control of curse energy, which means regulating his emotions. He once trained by watching emotional movies while keeping his thoughts in check, and that made for unconventional but meaningful training scenes. Yuji also has a dilemma, where gaining power with Sukuna's fingers means struggling more and more to control Sukuna.
1 Curses Feel Truly Dangerous & Consequential, Especially To Bystanders
When shonen characters fight with weapons, magic powers, or giant robots, there is bound to be collateral damage, such as wrecked buildings, smashed cars, or even fatalities among innocent civilians. Jujutsu Kaisen makes this abundantly clear, and these scenes reinforce how dangerous and wild curses can be.
In one scene, everyone inside a restaurant got burned to death when a powerful curse named Jogo flared up his curse energy despite being asked not to. In other scenes, ordinary civilians get hurt or killed when they run afoul of curses, whether or not those curses were seeking them out on a hunt. And there's also the matter of Junpei Yoshino, who was exploited at the hands of Mahito. He suffered a horrible death, despite being innocent.