Jujutsu Kaisen almost had a Tournament arc, and Akutami considers it his failure

Modified Jul 10, 2024 02:00 GMT

Jujutsu Kaisen almost had a Tournament arc, and Akutami considers it his failure (Image via Shueisha)

The Culling Games arc of Jujutsu Kaisen is the longest arc of the series, centered around the protagonists fighting against reincarnated sorcerers from the past in hopes of preventing Kenjaku from the activation of the Great Merger between Tengen and humanity.

The arc saw individual battles between each sorcerer and a reincarnated one, but as they didn't happen in a sequence, it couldn't be considered a ' tournament arc.' However, as the author revealed, it could have been one.

During the recent Jujutsu Kaisen exhibition, Gege Akutami revealed that his manga's longest arc could have been a tournament arc. This would have made the Culling Game arc feature a separate arc for the rescue of Gojo Satoru. However, as the author had already introduced everyone from the protagonist's side, he didn't consider writing this arc as a tournament arc.

Disclaimer: This article has potential spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series and has the author's opinion.

Jujutsu Kaiseni: Why Culling Game Arc wouldn't work as a Tournament Arc

One of the best tournament arcs: Tournament of Power (Image via Toei Animation)

Tournament arc is one of the most popular tropes in media and one of the most enjoyable ones in anime. The trope is centered around two sides fighting in a sequenced manner, one fighter at a time, and the side that wins the most battles is considered the winner.

Some of the most popular tournament arcs in anime are from classic anime series like the Dark Tournament arc from Yu Yu Hakusho, the Tournament of Power arc from Dragon Ball Super, the Holy Grail War arc from Fate, and the Chunin Exam arc from Naruto.

Yuta's battle during the Culling Game (Image via Shueisha)

But there could have been another addition to the list of amazing tournament arcs, the Culling Game arc from Jujutsu Kaisen. In a recent interview during the series' exhibition, the author, Gege Akutami, revealed that he wanted the Culling Game arc to be a tournament-arc style arc.

This would have given the author a chance to expand Gojo's escape into a separate arc titled Gojo's Rescue arc. Moreover, this could have also given a key character, Tsumiki Fushigoro, a much-needed character development.

Tsumiki as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

She made her first appearance without any proper introduction and was immediately revealed as the host of Yorozu, the ancient sorcerer. There was close to no lore around her character, which led to her becoming an underwhelming character in the eyes of the majority of the fandom.

But making this arc a tournament arc wasn't possible, and the author declared this a failure on his part. Fortunately, despite declaring this a failure, the author hinted at how a tournament-style arc wouldn't work.

Hakari Kinji as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

First, the author met his editors and consulted them regarding this. He was even ready to change the set of rules that were decided for the Culling Games and change the course of the arc's battles.

However, the only issue that was arriving in this was that the author didn't have any more characters to introduce in the arc. Hakari Kinji was introduced before the Culling arc, and so were the majority of the characters before the arc started. So, the idea of making the Culling Game arc a tournament arc was discarded.

Final thoughts

Other than the new character introduction, some other things made it clear that the Culling Game arc wouldn't have worked as a tournament arc. The biggest giveaway to this was its fights, the core of a tournament arc.

The fights in the Culling Game didn't seem fair, as the ratios didn't make sense. Moreover, anyone could join the battlefield after the games started, like how Naoya's cursed spirit entered to take revenge against Maki. This is a definite violation of a tournament arc trope.

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Edited by Gayatri Chivukula