Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuji Itadori joins Squid Game in a way nobody imagined

Modified Jan 14, 2025 17:30 GMT

While it has been some time since the Jujutsu Kaisen manga ended, the hype surrounding the series has yet to die down. This is especially evident from how the fans treat the series and adore its characters in their special ways. As part of this, one Jujutsu Kaisen fan etched their love for the Gege Akutami manga with the newly released Netflix show, Squid Game season 2.

As fans must remember, Jujutsu Kaisen protagonist Yuji Itadori was quite a cheerful character. This was especially evident from the fact that he carried this demeanor despite being given a delayed death sentence. As time passed by, Yuji became much more brooding. This development matched perfectly with a recent meme from Squid Game season 2 as fans did not miss the opportunity to create the perfect fan art based on the series protagonist.

Jujutsu Kaisen fan reimagines Seong Gi-hun as Yuji Itadori

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After Squid Game season 2 started streaming on Netflix, fans noticed one particular detail about its protagonist Seong Gi-hun in the second season. Unlike the first season where he happily smiled for the picture taken before the start of the games, the second season saw him with a tense look, possibly worried about what was to come later.

This parallel gave birth to a new meme as fans compared the two expressions side by side to depict the development of a character when compared to themselves at the start of a series. With that in mind, several anime fans started comparing their series protagonist's first look and current look to depict how much they had changed.

Yuji Itadori as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

Similarly, one anime fan @ReziJellyfish on X created a fan art depicting the comparison between Yuji Itadori at the start and end of the series. He was drawn smiling in a chibi form to depict his look at the start of the series and in a more mature form to depict his demeanor at the end of the series.

The two artworks were very distinct from one another and clearly represented how much the character had grown over the course of the entire series.

Fans' reaction to the Squid Game-inspired Jujutsu Kaisen fan art

Yuji Itadori as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Most Jujutsu Kaisen fans loved the fan art as they loved how silly Yuji Itadori looked in the first half depicting his character at the start of the series. With that, they even praised the anime fan for their unique art style.

"I LOVE WHEN U DRAW THEM STUPID LOOKING HE LOOKS SO SILLY HERE," one fan said.

"I know it’s yuji but at first glance I thought it was thanos ngl," another fan said.

"IS HIS NUMBER 320 BC OF HIS BIRTHDAY (I only know this bc we share a birthday..)," another added.

Meanwhile, other fans happened to confuse Yuji with Thanos. As fans must know, Squid Game season 2 featured a new character called Thanos (a name inspired by the Marvel character) who had purple hair. Hence, given their similar hair colors, the two characters shared some resemblance.

Lastly, other fans noticed that Yuji Itadori's shirt number "320" was based on his birthday, i.e., March 20. They loved the detail and expressed their joy in figuring out the same.