Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen ((呪じゅ術じゅつ廻かい戦せん Jujutsu Kaisen, aka Curse Art Rotation Battles) is a Dark Urban Fantasy manga written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, which was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump frm 2018 to 2024. It's actually a sequel to a four-part story named Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High that Akutami published in 2017 in WSJ, which was later re-edited and released as a single volume and a movie by Studio MAPPA. It also has an Animated Adaptation by the aforementioned MAPPA: the first season ran from October 2020 to March 2021, the second went from July to December 2023, and the third is slated for early 2026. And last but not least, there's a Spin Off named Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo, which is by both Akutami and the artist Yuuji Iwasaki: it started in September 2025.

The setting is a world like our normal Earth, but there's a huge catch: there are many Cursed Spirits, a race of spiritual beings that humans cannot normally see, and born from the energy coming from people's negative emotions. To keep them from harming people, whether innocent or not, some Sorcerers alias humans who actually can see these Cursed Spirits are trained and employed by the Japanese Government to fight either these malignant Cursed Spirits or other Sorcerers who use their powers for malicious purposes, who are known as Curse Users.

The story properly starts with the appearance of Yuuji Itadori, an athletic high school first year boy who promised to his recently deceased grandfather that he'd always do kind deeds, so he would not die alone. Soon, he has to start living up to said promise - first he meets a Sorcerer around his age named Megumi Fushiguro, who's looking for a Cursed Object (an item full of Cursed Energy), and then Yuuji's friends Setsuko and Takeshi (who, like him, are members of their school's Occult Club) find said object first and release the spirits inside it. Desperate to save his buddies, Megumi and himself, Yuuji takes the cursed object, which is a human finger... and then he swallows it! Which makes him the vessel of the owner of said finger: the VERY powerful and VERY feared Ryomen Sukuna, the undisputed King of Curses who was sealed away a thousand years ago.

Faced with either being executed due to being Sukuna's vessel or becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer to hunt down the rest of Sukuna's fingers, Yuuji logically chooses the latter. From then on he enrolls in Tokyo Jujutsu High (a Tokyo school only for Sorcerers) as a first year student, alongside Megumi and their fellow student Nobara Kugisaki; under the watch of Satoru Gojo, the most powerful of all Jujutsu Sorcerers, the three and other Sorcerers (like the second years Toge Inumaki, Maki Zenin and Yuuta Okkotsu, plus their... rather quirky companion Panda) do their best to fight both Curse Users and Cursed Spirits. . .

Tropes used in Jujutsu Kaisen include:

• Academy of Adventure - Wizarding School: Both of the Jujutsu High Schools, where the Jujutsu Sorcerers train ever since youth.
• Action Fashionista: Nobara Kugisaki is very proud of her Action Girl strength and also of her very cute looks, albeit her actual performance isn't all that impressive. See Faux Action Girl below.
• Action Girl: The above mentioned Nobara - plus Maki Zen'in, Yuki Tsukumo (doubling as a former Barrier Maiden), Mei Mei, Kasumi Miwa, etc.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie shows how Yuuta and Rika met in a children's hospital plus more of their budding Childhood Friend Romance. It also delves some more in Maki's Dark and Troubled Past, displays more of Suguru Geto and his people's POVs (ie, there's a brief flashback to Geto's last talk with Gojo after his Face Heel Turn AND actually shows their Christmas Eve's battles against the people of both Jujutsu Highs (the manga only showed the Yuuta and Rika vs. Geto one), etc.
• Aw Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Played very tragically when it comes to Maki and Mai, who get along so badly they go to different schools despite being identical twins... But when Mai lies dying in Maki's arms, the sisters admit under the frustration and resentment they've always loved each other. And Maki's destruction of the Zen'in clan is at least partially purred by Mai's Last Request: Destroy everything!.
  • Toji also has a moment of this when he briefly becomes lucid after he's resurrected. It happens right as he's fighting his own son Megumi, whom he couldn't recognize until then; seeing that the boy has grown up healthy and out of the clutches of the Zenin clan, he reaffirms he's happy with that and kills himself rather than continue fighting his own son. Megumi, who doesn't know he was facing his own father, is left bewildered and shocked by this.
• Barrier Maiden - MacGuffin Girl: Riko Amanai is an orphan girl who's also the Star Plasma Vessel, destined to merge with the immortal jujutsu sorcerer Tengen so they will keep their Complete Immortality. She's aware of her destiny and accepts it, but as she interacts with Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto who are trying to protect her from people who want to kill her before she merges with Tengen, she starts wishing to stay with her caretaker Misato and her new friends... And when she decides to walk out -- she's shot dead by the Hero-Killer Touji Fushiguro, which devastates Gojo and Geto.
  • Later, it's revealed that there's a former Star Plasma Vessel around: the very powerful Action Girl Yuki Tsukumo, mentioned above, who either ran off or openly refused to perform the merge years ago. She's deeply conflicted about all of this, and heavily resents Tengen for all the sacrifices that have been made to keep them alive.
  • Yuuta could be seen as a Rare Male Example in JJK 0, as he's the Kid with the Leash to the ghost of his First Love, Rika Orimoto - who became the most powerful Curse ever after her horribly tragic death.
• Beary Cute - Pandaing to the Audience: Panda is an upbeat yet calm, Abrupt Mutated Cursed Corpse with a sense of humor that resembles a panda.
• Beach Episode: There's one in the Gojo's Past arc - Satoru Gojo and his then-partner Suguru Geto are tasked with protecting the local MacGuffin Girl Riko in the days before she must merge with the Big Good Tengen, as said above. This includes taking her and her Parental Substitute Misato Kuroi to Okinawa, a Japanese archipielago famous for its beaches, so she can relax and unwind a bit before the merge.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: The Zen'in clan. Holy fucking SHIT, the Zen'in clan. It's next to no wonder that Maki and Touji do NOT want anything to do with these people, and ultimately Maki ends up killing almost all of them.
• Break the Cutie: Sukuna and Mahito go out of their way to utterly traumatise Yuji, the standout example being his newfound friend Junpei's fate. Mahito gains Junpei's trust, then kills his beloved mother Nagi to break him further and push him to a Face Heel Turn. When Yuji manages to talk him down, Mahito transforms the boy into a monster out of spite. Yuji then begs Sukuna to heal him, who refuses and laughs in Yuji's face. Junpei dies in agony and Yuji can do nothing but watch.
  • Maki and Mai used to be cuties. But their Big Screwed-Up Family totally broke them.
• Break the Haughty: Gojo and Geto were both good-hearted but VERY arrogant youths when they were teenagers and took on the job protecting a younger girl, Riko Amanai, with the assumption nothing would pose a threat with them there. Toji Fushiguro promptly proves them wrong by utterly demolishing them both in a sneak attack AND assassinating Riko right in front of Geto. And it takes Gojo a LOT to kill and defeat him. Gojo learns from this horrifying experience and becomes a much better person, but Geto...does not.
• Creepy Child: According to Author's Notes, Rika Orimoto was this before her death. Her mother died when she was five all of a sudden, her father went missing in a camping trip right before she entered elementary school, her paternal grandmother is completely convinced that Rika herself killed her parents or at least had something to do with it...
• Curse: In this world, Curses are spiritual beings brought into being through cursed energy that originates from humans' negative emotions. Especially from non-Jujutsu humans.
  • Jujutsu is magic and skills that both Jujutsu Sorcerors and Curses use by manipulating Cursed Energy.
• The Dreaded: People are absolutely terrified of Sukuna, to the point that when he commands a group of sorcerers not to move while a meteor is about to land on them, they would sooner take their chances with the meteor than defying him.
  • Toji is no slouch in this department either - he's known as the Sorcerer Killer for very good reason and it's heavily implied that Jogo waited until Toji left the building before he attacked Nanami, Maki and Naobito rather than fight the man who just killed his companion Dagon in his own domain.
• Exclusive Armaments: The Cursed Tools are weapons and support items that used to combat Curses. Like Curses and Jujustu Sorcerers, they are ranked from Grade 4 to Special Grade. The high grade means the greater the Cursed Tool and most Special grades are imbued with a Cursed Technique.
• Faux Action Girl: Nobara acts tough, but she's by far the weakest of the main three students and can be easily seen as this. She rarely wins confrontations alone, getting outclassed by a cursed spirit in her debut episode because she underestimated it (curses in cities are far stronger than their countryside counterparts) and had to get bailed out by Yuji and Megumi. The only time she had a decisive victory was against Momo, who is noted to be the physically weakest of the Kyoto students, and when she tries to fight Mahito in Shibuya, he promptly curbstomps her and blows off half her face in front of Yuji just to taunt him. To be fair it IS Mahito, who in that same arc killed the FAR more badass Nanami, but then one recalls Nobara had a hard time fighting Haruta who's the same guy that Nanami beat to a goddamn pulp few ago... She survives, but BARELY.
• Fiery Redhead: Nobara deliberately invoked this on herself, having dyed her originally black hair red.
• Fight Fire with Fire: Cursed Energy comes from the negativity of humanity and forms Curse Spirits or Curses that bring harm to people. Jujutsu Sorcerers can use this same energy to exorcise these Curses.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Jujutsu Magic of all kinds is based on negative emotions. Healing magic is therefore almost completely unheard of, since to heal anyone a Jujutsu Sorcerer must learn a process to reverse Cursed Energy which is all but impossible for obvious reasons.; ie, Satoru Gojo did manage to kinda unlock the process but only to heal his own injuries AND right after the near death experience that was his first fight with Touji Fushiguro. Only two of the heroes and one villain have managed to do it well enough to heal others: Shouko Ieiri, Yuuta Okkotsu, and Ryomen Sukuna. But things have begun to change, as in later arcs other characters have been revealed as having Healing Factors of their own: the list includes Uraume, Yuki Tsukumo, Kenjaku (in the body of Suguru Geto), etc.
• Grand Theft Me: The Cursed Spirit Kenjaku can do this through his Innate Technique - by swapping brains with his victim. Many persons are known to have been subjected to this, and the most important ones are: a Evil Sorcerer from centuries ago named Noritoshi Kamo, his current host Suguru Geto, and a woman named Kaori Itadori - aka The Hero Yuji's Missing Mom.
• Implied Love Interest: Maki is this to Yuuta, due to their huge Ship Tease in 0.
• Look Both Ways: In the prequel, this is how Yuuta Okkotsu's would-be Patient Childhood Love Interest Rika Orimoto died - and to add more insult to the injury, it's right after she and Yuuta had made a Childhood Marriage Promise! Her soul, however, became a Vengeful Spirit because Yuuta accidentally cursed her into it while desperately praying for her to live through and appointed herself as Yuuta's Guardian Entity, though in practice she was more of a supernatural Violently Protective Girlfriend; Yuuta's goal when he joined the cast in the prequel was to find a way to let her rest in peace...
• Mr Fanservice: The author himself acknowledges he loves drawing handsome, muscular men. Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Toji and Sukuna all have legions of fans thanks to this, especially Gojo and Toji.
• No Sell: Because Toji has zero Cursed Energy, powerful techniques that would stop strong sorcerers in their tracks simply do not work on him. He passes through the barrier meant to repel anyone who isn't invited inside because it cannot sense his presence and his body override Granny Ogami's resurrection technique by stealing it from her grandson's soul, something she notes should be impossible.
• The Power of Love: In the Shibuya Incident arc, when Megumi's late father Toji is resurrected, he becomes a zombie hellbent on fighting the strongest person around him. However, during his fight with his teenaged son Megumi, he snaps out of his rampage when he gets a close enough look at him to recognise Megumi as his child. Toji then asks Megumi his name, and once the boy says it, Toji comments he's glad (meaning he's happy Gojo fulfilled his Last Request and Megumi didn't end up in the Zenin family's clutches after all), chooses Megumi's life over his own and kills himself to stop the fight.
• Power System: Jujutsu are various skills, techniques, and sorcery, that sorcerers and cursed spirits use by manipulating their Cursed Energy. It has different categories:
  • Cursed Energy Manipulation is the most basic form, where the energy flows through the body of the sorcerer that can enhance their physical abilities.
  • Cursed Techniques are the advanced form of Cursed Energy Manipulation where they use the energy to produce a specialized ability. There are three types of Cursed Techniques: Innate, Inherited, and Barrier. Innate Techniques are abilities unique to the sorcerer that come to them from birth. Inherited Techniques are mighty powers passed down in sorcerer families and are used to help bring these families prosperity in the Jujutsu community. Barrier Techniques involve creating barriers to protect themselves, capture a target or other uses.
  • Shikigami are Cursed Spirits that sorcerers can summon, similar to Barrier Techniques, requiring no natural talent. While some Shikigami users may not have their own techniques, the Shikigami can have their own.
  • Cursed Restrictions are limitations through Jujutsu that can benefit their user for a caveat. The most common technique is Revealing One's Hand, which involves divulging their Jujutsu in battles to make them more effective.
• The Red Baron: Sukuna is known as The King of Curses.
• Sailor Fuku: The uniforms of Jujutsu High are rather customizable, but tend to be based on gakurans. ie, Megumi uses a gakuran close to normal ones, Yuuji customized his with a hoodie, Yuuta's own uniform has a white jacket, and both Maki and Nobara wear gakuran-like tops with flowing skirts and tights.
  • In the Gojo's past arc the younger Satoru Gojo, Shouko Ieiri, Kento Nanami, Yuu Haibara and Suguru Geto wore Jujutsu High uniforms, sometimes with their own spins too (ie, Shoko used a miniskirt, Geto favored baggy pants, Yuu's top was shorter and open plus he wore a white shirt underneath). However, Gojo and Geto's protegée and new friend Riko Amanai attended another school (Renchoku Girls' Junior High) and wore its white and blue seifuku.
  • Mimiko and Nanako Hasaba, Geto's protegées whom he rescued from cruel non-Sorcerers as little girls, wore seifuku - Mimiko's was a traditional dark blue fuku, Nanako's was a white and blue one with a Magic Skirt. (Albeit Nanako wore a more Western uniform in 0)
  • Saki Rindou from the Phantom Parade game wears a blue fuku with a belly-baring shirt and a super long skirt.
  • The Idol Singer Nobuko Takada wears a fuku as well.
• Screw This I'm Outta Here: During the fight between Sukuna and Jogo, Kusakabe explains to Panda and the other sorcerer's they're currently fighting that their battle no longer matters with those two duking it out and they prepare to flee. Too bad Sukuna didn't give them permission.
• Ship Tease: Yuuta Okkotsu and Maki Zen'in have quite a bit of it in JJK 0. Much to Rika Orimoto's displeasure.
• Shonen Demographic: Published in Shonen Jump and all.
• Shower of Angst: In the Gojo's Past arc, Suguru Geto does this after his protegé and friend Riko is killed before his very eyes, her murderer Touji Fushiguro almost kills him, and he starts taking steps from the Despair Event Horizon to his Face Heel Turn.
• Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics:
  • In the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 prequel, Yuuta transferred to Jujutsu High after an incident where he was cornered by a bunch of boys, called out to Rika's ghost in fright, and she almost killed the bullies by brutally beating them and literally cramming them in one single locker.
  • Junpei Yoshino, a boy that both Mahito and Yuuji befriend, has been bullied to the point of being a Misanthrope Supreme. When the first awakens his potential as a Curse Technique user, he eagerly uses it to punish the bullies. But few later, thinking that one of the bullies killed his beloved mother Nagi (in reality, it was Mahito) pushes him to a Despair Event Horizon-laced Face Heel Turn.
  • A girl named Fumi was harassed in her primary school, but then she made a friend in Nobara...
• The Maiden Name Debate: Megumi Fushiguro's father Touji Zenin did this and became Touji Fushiguro due to his massive hatred of his VERY fucked-up birth family.

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