In an era where fans were worried about the possible decline of weekly shounen jump, as
many of their hit series were approaching their finale & the great invasion of webtoons
was a serious boogeyman before crunchyroll happened.
Jujutsu Kaisen made a glorious deput, proving that shounen jump was fine & would stay dominant
for generations.
Though, many are unfamiliar with the interesting history behind the creation of Jujutsu Kaisen.
So, today join me on this deep dive on Jujutsu kaisen!
Pre-Jujutsu Kaisen
Gege Akutami was born in the Iwate Prefecture on February 26, 1992.
At the age of 4 he began reading bleach which he refences as the main influence for his
works among HxH, NGE and other series.
Akutami stated “His brother would always buy weekly shonen jump.
However, he never let me read the issues he bought.
One day when he wasn’t around, I secretly opened an issue and it happened to be the
one bleach debuted in.
The first chapter was so impressive, it made me realize how incredible manga are.
I’ve been hooked ever since”.
Though he wouldn’t truly pick up the pen until he moved to sendai at 5.
Akutami gained a revelation that art wasn't just fun to look at, but fun to draw as well
after seeing his friends' drawings; which inspired him to become a professional artist.
However, despite his passion, Akutami struggled to maintain interest throughout the later
years of his education.
He claimed he didn't care for art, only drawing for school assignments & enrolled in video
production classes despite a mangaka being his dream career.
It wasn’t until a university peer’s excitement for analyzing film and manga rubbed off on
him, did he start writing stories.
In Akutamis last year of university, he decided to participate in a shueisha manga contest.
Though, he was embarrassed by his artwork so Akutami entered the Akatsuka award contest
for gag manga.
And I quote “I sent them a regular story mixed with comedy, but it didn't really work
well with the contest style.
Despite that, the man would later become my first editor.
He liked my story and assured me that my work would pass the selection phase.
He was right but the final step was more difficult.
In the end I didn't receive the prize money, but the jury found my story interesting, which
helped me to get published in one of Sheuisha special issues.
Akutami was overjoyed with this W, because the only editorial line he was familiar with
was shueisha.
As he grew up only reading shonen jump manga, which he believed fit his style best.
In 2014, Akutami published his first work, titled “Kamishiro Sosa”, a one shot chapter
published in sheuisha’s jump next on may 7, 2014.
In the same year, he began working as an assistant under Yasuhiro Kano, the author of Kiss X
Death.
And I qoute “I was terrified, not feeling like I could do it.
Mr. Kano draws very well.
I wanted to say no, for fear that I would disappoint him.
More precisely, my plan was to go there and never get called back there again.
I thought for sure they would never suggest I return there.
Yet Mr. Kano did!
In the end, I worked under him for two years.”
Later, Akutami would publish multiple one shots, with varying levels of success.
Nikai Bongai Barabarjura released in the 44th issue of weekly shounen jump on october 3rd
2016.
This was nominated for the “11th gold future cup” contest of the magazine.
Which was the start of Akutamis momentum towards success.
Though, he wouldn’t become an official mangaka until his next one-shot.
Metropolitan Curse Technical School is a 4-chapter series that ran in jump Giga from april 28
to july 28, 2017.
Due to its positive reception, a full serialization of the series was granted.
The one shot would be retroactively titled as jujutsu kaisen 0 and serve as a prequel
to his next work, Jujutsu kaisen.
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga
Originally, Akutami didn't plan on continuing the story pass Vol. 0 and wanted to switch
to drawing an idol manga.
Though his editor advised him to expand it and it became the jujutsu kaisen we know today.
Also, the original title Akutami came up with jutai taiten or jujutsu sousen.
However, jujutsu kaisen is still very hard to prounce for the seiyuus, even he himself
couldn’t pronounce it.
In the process of writing Jujutsu Kaisen, Akutami had a clear vision on the type of
story he wanted to create.
Akutami stated “I’m attracted to works that bring something new to the table using
different viewpoints.
This kind of thing is what makes a person feel passion for a certain work.
A basic rule of shonen is to start with a simple story, waiting a little bit to introduce
the darker subject and then make the story more and more complex”.
Akutami acknowledged Yu Yu Hakushos dark tournament arc for being an exceptionally written tale
that questions the notion of justice, which is a theme heavily apparent in jujutsu Kaisen.
Also, he praises evangalions for making a hero sympathetic despite all of his uncertainties.
Which is also a major aspect of Itadori Yujis character.
However, the tale of jujutsu kaisen wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
There was a time when JJK was at risk of getting canceled, to avoid that Akutami decided to
add a plot twist and made Yuuji die in Vol. 1 with a shocking sentence "Among them, one
died".
He said if JJK was axed for real then the protag dying there is a good move lol.
Such a bold move would save the franchise and would serve as a reminder that Akutami
is willing to kill off characters, as long as it’s interesting.
Though Jujutsu Kaisen wouldn't truly capitulate into mainstream success until the anime aired.
The Anime Era
On November 20th, 2019 the jujutsu kaisen anime was announced.
At first, there was mild fanfare because Jujutsu kaisen wasn’t mainstream yet, but had a
cult audience spreading its good name.
Then finally on October 3rd, 2020 the anime aired and blew everyone away!
It easily amassed a large audience, and would continue to grow, dominating the fall 2020
season.
Studio Mappa did a phenomenal job with the adaption enhancing the source material, especially
the art.
The monumental success of the anime would skyrocket manga sales by nearly 600%.
Before the anime, Jujutsu kaisen highest peak was 240k, but would decline in later volumes.
After the anime, volume sales escalated to the millions, and as of today volume sales
are predicted to hit 60 million circulation on Christmas day!
The fun times don’t end yet folks.
After the anime concluded.
A JJK 0 movie was announced, and with the recent success of anime movies, it’s likely
JJK 0 will break even more records!
Also, despite zero updates, season 2 is inevitable after the movie airs.
However, despite so much success, the manga would experience very turbulent times.
Post-Anime
After the anime ended, and millions of new fans jumped onto the manga.
They were met with uncertainty, as bad news piled Apon the manga.
First, jujutsu kaisen went on numerous unexpected breaks.
Though, every mangaka takes breaks, this is nothing new.
It wasn’t until Akutami went on a month-long hiatus and disclosed his deteriorating health,
did fans start to worry.
Akutami stated “I have been asked by the editorial department to take a break from
the series, but I don’t want to slow down the weekly serialization of Jujutsu Kaisen
since I’d like to draw the end of the series as soon as possible, and just put a hold on
my answer.
However, I’m just not able to recover my schedule compared to other mangaka when they
take a single break.
If nothing is done about this, the same thing will be repeated over and over again, so I
decided to accept the proposal from the editorial department.
The suspension period should be about one month.”
Excluding Akutamis health issues, the other line that caught readers attention.
Is his wish to end the series as soon as possible.
Recently Akutami revealed that he plans to end JJK in 2023.
And I quote “I have decided the ending.
In another interview, I said that Fushiguro’s end was decided but Itadori’s end is yet
to be decided.
Also, Sukuna’s end slightly undecided”.
So, it seems the ending is nigh, but Akutami is still uncertain on how to wrap up some
character arcs.
However, with the multiple breaks, I wouldn’t be shocked if JJK extended into 2024.
Nevertheless, fans were troubled that Akutami would rush the ending either because of health
issues or a loss of interest in writing JJK.
Also, there were rumors about weekly sales declining, but that was a consequence from
the hiatus.
Now Akutami is back in full force, and Jujutsu Kaisen is back to dominating as usual.
JJK has a very promising future even if it won't be continuing much longer.
Hell, maybe Akutami might achieve his old dream of making a idol series once JJK ends.
Only time can tell...
Final thoughts
If I left out any important information, feel free to let me know.
Doing a deep dive on Akutami was difficult., because he’s a very secretive person like
most mangaka it seems.
Heck, most people thought Akutami was a woman at first considering the strong characterization
of female characters.
It also doesn’t help that in his only public appearance, he cosplayed as mechamaru to hide
his face.
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