The series that are hated for completely opposite reasons.
Spoilers for both series ahead!
Summary:
- Hardly anyone dies in My Hero Academia.
- Jujutsu Kaisen is too cruel to its characters.
- Both strategies don’t work well.
When an anime is as popular as My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) and Jujutsu Kaisen, it gets not only love from the fans, but also a fair share of hate. And both series’ haters seem to dislike the same thing about both shows, but in two different ways.
You might have already guessed it, but yes, we’d like to talk about the deaths of important characters. And both My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen approach this concept in an unsatisfactory way.
No One Dies
My Hero Academia is so kind to its characters that fans don’t feel any stakes anymore. There are no consequences to the characters’ choices, it doesn’t matter what they do, viewers just know that they will stay alive and unharmed.
Even the characters that were thought to be dead, were revealed to be actually alive later.
No one was even worried when Deku lost his arms in one of the recent MHA chapters, because readers knew he’d find a way to get them back. And that is exactly what happened.
Moreover, there was only one chapter for readers to worry about. Why even make him lose his limbs in the first place if it was going to get undone in the next chapter?
Everyone Dies
Jujutsu Kaisen is the complete opposite. It’s notorious for ruining the lives of its characters. Sometimes it feels like you shouldn’t even pick favorites, since they’re going to die and get crippled and tortured anyway.
It started back in the Shibuya Incident Arc with the deaths of Nanami, Nobara and Toji and keeps going now during the final battle with Sukuna. Characters are dropping like flies, and no one is even surprised anymore when they see another breathless body on the ground.
There’s Got to Be a Balance
This leads us to a very simple idea: there always has to be a balance to keep the story entertaining. Not everyone can make it out alive if you want readers to really care for your characters. Sacrifices have to be made, fans should feel the stakes and fear for the lives of their faves.
But when there’s a sacrifice in every chapter, it becomes repetitive and even boring. You stop caring about the characters not because you just know that nothing bad will happen to them, but because you know that it will. Hence there’s no point in getting attached to them.
Balance is important to make the story interesting, and it’s something that My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen need to learn.