Jujutsu Kaisen undercuts one of Yuji's greatest feats in an unforgivable way

Modified Nov 26, 2024 05:25 GMT

Jujutsu Kaisen didn't highlight a major aspect of Yuji's character (Image via MAPPA).

Jujutsu Kaisen has been known for extremely quick pacing, which left several events underdeveloped, but an aspect a lot of people don't point out is the progress of the protagonist, Yuji Itadori. While the main character is fairly beloved by the fandom, there is the fact that he became a high-level Jujutsu sorcerer in just six months.

Yuji started the series with superhuman strength, which is a great edge, but his becoming Ryomen Sukuna's vessel made him capable of learning a lot of things with ease. Moreover, throughout Jujutsu Kaisen, it is confirmed that he was Kenjaku's son and an experiment related to the Cursed Wombs, with author Gege Akutami not executing his development all too well in the story.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a publication.

Explaining why Yuji Itadori's development as a sorcerer wasn't executed well in Jujutsu Kaisen

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

A major aspect, not often mentioned in the community is that Yuji Itadori went from knowing nothing of Jujutsu sorcery to using all the different abilities available in the battle system in just six months. Moreover, he did this while simply being a teenager, which means that he has the entirety of his life to become even stronger, although the execution was also a major problem.

Until the Shinjuku Showdown arc, Yuji only used the Black Flash, which he learned rather easily with the help of Aoi Todo and learned most of the series' techniques offscreen. This was during the preparation for the final battle against Ryomen Sukuna, where he switched bodies with other characters thanks to Ui Ui to boost his abilities.

It was already explained that having Sukuna in his body and the latter executing high-level Jujutsu sorcery such as the Reverse Cursed Technique and Domain Expansion made his body get used to these moves and learn them with greater ease. However, there was no build-up for this and the lack of seeing him train makes this growth so sudden and unearned.

More issues with this

Yuji's development was rushed (Image via MAPPA).

There are other examples in Jujutsu Kaisen, with quick development, such as Hiromi Higuruma and Yuta Okkotsu learning sorcery and high-level skills in no time. Moreover, Yuji being a partial Cursed Womb, an experiment of Kenjaku, and related to Sukuna, gives him a logical reason for his growth, but the problem is the execution.

Audiences didn't get to see Yuji learn Simple Domain, the Reverse Cursed Technique, or even Blood Manipulation despite being confirmed to be Choso's brother for a long time. Understandably, author Gege Akutami wanted to provide a surprise but that came at the expense of Yuji's development, which hurt the series in the grand scheme of things.

It doesn't feel like a natural progression, robbing Yuji of time in the spotlight that could have greatly benefitted him, especially considering that he has been criticized for playing second fiddle many times in the series. There is also a strong argument that he should have learned some of these abilities, such as Simple Domain, long before the final arc.

Final thoughts

Most Jujutsu Kaisen fans want to see Yuji rise from a normal Jujutsu sorcerer to a high-level expert like Gojo. However, the execution was lacking and Akutami didn't give his protagonist the time to grow that he so desperately needed.

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Edited by Bharath S