Jujutsu Kaisen: Who is Jin Itadori? Everything we know about Yuji's dad, explained

Modified Apr 18, 2024 21:30 GMT

Jujutsu Kaisen: Who is Jin Itadori? Everything we know about Yuji's dad, explained (Image via Shueisha)

On Thursday, April 18, 2024, the long break week for author and illustrator Gege Akutami’s original Jujutsu Kaisen manga series ended with the release of chapter 257’s spoilers. While not the official release from publishing company Shueisha, these leaks have proven to be extremely accurate to the official copies in the past.

Likewise, fans eagerly discuss Jujutsu Kaisen’s latest alleged events, with protagonist Yuji Itadori seemingly hitting eight Black Flashes in a row on Ryomen Sukuna. The issue also revealed that Yuji’s father, Jin, was actually the reincarnation of the soul of Sukuna’s twin, whom he ate in the womb during his mother’s pregnancy.

In turn, this makes Yuji related to Sukuna on some level, further explaining why the two seem destined to destroy each other in what’s likely Jujutsu Kaisen’s final fight. While an undoubtedly enthralling development, fans are also diving into the history of Jin Itadori, curious to see what setup (if any) there was for the reveal of Jin’s origins.

Jin Itadori remains one of Jujutsu Kaisen’s most enigmatic characters, especially given latest spoilers

Expand Tweet

Unfortunately, there was seemingly no prior setup in Jujutsu Kaisen for the reveal that Jin was the reincarnated soul of Sukuna’s twin sibling. While part of this can undoubtedly be attributed to how Akutami went about the reveal, it also stems from how little fans know of and have seen of Jin throughout the series.

Jin was a tall man with short, light, colored hair in a style somewhat similar to Yuji’s current hairstyle. He also wore glasses and greatly resembled Yuji overall. In reality, Jin had Yuji with his partner Kaori, who was seemingly Kenjaku at the time of Yuji’s birth. It’s unclear whether Kaori had been taken over by Kenjaku before the time of Yuji’s conception or not as of this article’s writing.

In any case, Jin’s lone appearance in the series comes from a flashback during Jujutsu Kaisen’s Itadori’s Execution arc. Fans see Jin holding a baby Yuji, telling his father and Yuji’s grandfather Wasuke that if he wants to talk about “her,” he’ll just leave. Wasuke responds that he can live his life how he wants but adds that he’ll die if he doesn’t give up on “her.”

Expand Tweet

Jin responds that Wasuke shouldn’t say things like that in front of Yuji since he may remember, prompting him to respond that he knows Jin wanted a child with a woman named Kaori. At that moment, “Kaori” (who is, in reality, Kenjaku, given the stitches on her forehead) appears and asks her “father-in-law” what he’s talking about.

The flashback ends there, unfortunately, giving fans no additional confirmed info on who Jin is or what happened to him. Likewise, fans largely agree that he’s likely dead based on current events in the story. However, chapter 257’s confirmation of him being the host of the soul of Sukuna’s twin does recontextualize some other parts of the story.

More specifically, it suggests that Wasuke Itadori knew all along about Jin and “Kaori” and likewise wanted to tell Yuji the truth on his deathbed. It also suggests that the Itadori family may be a branch family of one of the big three clans, most likely the Kamo clan. However, this is all speculative as of this article’s writing, with no more info on Jin than what’s described above being currently confirmed.