Akutami reveals there is a method behind every Jujutsu Kaisen death, and it's as heartless as everyone thought

Gege Akutami has gained a reputation in the manga industry for being one of the few mangakas who mercilessly kill fan-favorite characters, with each Jujutsu Kaisen death becoming progressively more heartbreaking for the fandom.

For a long time, fans have wondered about the reason behind Akutami's obsession with killing off beloved characters one after another. As the bodies continue to pile up in the ongoing battle against Sukuna in the manga, many fans have resorted to detaching themselves from the characters, anticipating their demise in the upcoming chapters.

In a recent exhibition of the series, Akutami finally gave a reason for the overwhelming number of Jujutsu Kaisen deaths. While his answer wasn't entirely unexpected, it was a cruel and heartless justification for getting rid of such impactful characters.

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Gege Akutami reveals the actual reason for the Jujutsu Kaisen deaths at a recent exhibition

In a recent Jujutsu Kaisen exhibition, Gege Akutami was asked why a despicable character such as Mei Mei survived the Shibuya Incident. In contrast, characters like Kento Nanami and Nobara Kugisaki met their untimely demise. In his answer, Akutami claimed that the characters who are incapable of making the readers feel emotions like sadness when they die do not need to be killed.

While this answer was certainly something that fans would have expected from Gege Akutami, it was nonetheless a cruel reason for him to mercilessly kill beloved characters. It also perfectly explains why fan-favorite characters like Nanami, Nobara, Choso, and Gojo died prematurely.

Kento Nanami's death shocked the entire Jujutsu Kaisen fandom to their core (image via MAPPA)

Over the past few months, fans have been speculating that Akutami may have been paying close attention to the Jujutsu Kaisen popularity polls to add to his "list" of characters he wanted to eliminate.

Now that the mangaka has officially confirmed why he kills off usually well-liked characters, fans are wondering if making Mei Mei their favorite character would lead to her demise.

All things considered, this is actually an engaging writing method, which further shows that Akutami is aware of what he is doing with the characters and the overall story. This is contrary to popular belief among a particular portion of the fandom, who often claim that Akutami makes up random developments as he writes the story and has no idea about the direction of his series.

Satoru Gojo as seen in Jujutsu Kaisen (image via MAPPA)

Killing off popular and beloved characters is an approach that adds a layer of uncertainty to a particular series, as it showcases that no character is safe from death. It also keeps the audience hooked to a series for quite some time, as it makes them want to keep up with every chapter to find out if their favorite character will live to see another day.

Conversely, this approach also comes with its own set of demerits. If Akutami continues to massacre only the fan-favorite characters, Jujutsu Kaisen deaths would become too predictable and lose their shock value over time.

It would also leave the series with a stagnant cast of characters whom fans neither care about at present nor would they want to get attached to in the future since their fate would be sealed the moment they become well-liked in the community.

Jujutsu Kaisen deaths can also be classified into the category of those characters who had to die for either the plot development or for the personal growth of other characters. Among them, Satoru Gojo is a shining example of the former category, whereas Kento Nanami is the perfect example of the latter.

Then there are those Jujutsu Kaisen deaths that, according to Gege Akutami, make the readers incredibly sad and those that barely leave an impact on the story or the readers. In any case, when it comes to character deaths, Jujutsu Kaisen has the edge compared to other shonen series of today.

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Related Links:

• Every Jujutsu Kaisen death so far in the order they happened
• 5 saddest Jujutsu Kaisen deaths so far (& 5 that had little to no impact)
• How does Nanami die in Jujutsu Kaisen? Explained