Jujutsu Kaisen's first-year group reunites in new illustration

Modified Oct 21, 2024 20:00 GMT

Monday, October 21, 2024 saw X (formerly Twitter) user and reputable Jujutsu Kaisen anime and manga news source @Go_Jover (Myamura) share a new official illustration. The illustration comes from series creator and mangaka Gege Akutami, and features the full force of the series’ first-year group reuniting.

This includes Jujutsu Kaisen fan-favorite Satoru Gojo, as well as fellow first-year teacher Kento Nanami and first-year students Megumi Fushiguro, Yuji Itadori, and Nobara Kugisaki. While the illustration unfortunately doesn’t seem to be announcing anything new for the series, it’s nevertheless exciting to see material continuing to be released after the manga’s conclusion.

New Jujutsu Kaisen illustration seemingly references JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure artwork

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The five Jujutsu Kaisen characters mentioned above as featured in this illustration can each be seen sitting in a luxurious chair. Each of the five are sitting in their own chair, but the designs of all are the same. The series’ title can be seen above them, with the image also featuring an ornate border design. The background is varying shades of red, with designs on the walls of the room the fivesome are sitting in also featuring ornate designs.

It’s unclear what purpose, if any, the illustration serves as of this article’s writing, but it’s likely meant as nothing more than new artwork Akutami wanted to share with fans. Any major announcement for the manga which it would be intending to make likely would’ve been shared when the manga concluded on Monday, September 30, 2024. However, no significant news for the series was shared in the wake of its conclusion.

Some are pointing out the distinct similarities to artwork from mangaka Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. Specifically, the promotional artwork for the “JOJO World” limited-time amusement center bears striking similarities to Akutami’s artwork. Each piece’s general composition is structured in a similar manner, with both sets of characters also sitting in seemingly expensive chairs.

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In any case, fans are happy to be receiving new artwork from the series regardless of what the reason is or what similarities it may bear to other illustrations. Akutami’s fanbase is one of the most fervent in the general anime and manga community, hence their excited reactions to artwork meant as nothing more than just that. Many fans were hoping for a sequel series after the original manga’s conclusion, but this seems unlikely as of this writing.

Akutami’s original manga series began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in March 2018. The manga ran there until its aforementioned conclusion at the end of September 2024. The series ran for 271 chapters, which will be collected into 30 compilation volumes total. Of these 30 released or planned volumes, 23 have been translated into English.