Is There Too Much Suffering in Jujutsu Kaisen?

Spoilers ahead!

Summary:

• With Jujutsu Kaisen’s popularity, some fans are distressed over the amount of suffering the characters have to go through.
• The protagonist going through hardships is a common thing in anime.
• Jujutsu Kaisen has always been quite dark — and it’s not the only Jump adaptation like that.

The current season of Jujutsu Kaisen is an example of a great sequel. Production issues aside, it’s full of explosive moments, and with it adapting some of the fan favorite arcs of the manga, it drew tons of people to the show. With how brutal the Shibuya Incident arc is, however, some fans are voicing their concerns: is there perhaps too much suffering in the show, especially for Yuji?

Protagonist going through hardships is a normal thing

Characters going through extreme suffering, experiencing extreme losses, isn’t anything new in anime — or in fiction in general. Many anime were characterized by their protagonists suffering throughout the entire show — Rintaro of Steins;Gate and Madoka of Madoka Magica come to mind. In some ways, watching the characters go through mental distress is actually more interesting for the viewers, who will be rooting for the character. It also makes them curious about how the characters are going to overcome their struggles.

JJK was quite dark all along

Fans have to remember, however: since its early arcs, JJK was characterized by its tone, which is overall darker than that of many series it gets compared to. In the first season, Junpei’s death is there to show how dark and unforgiving the world of the anime really is. The hardships and struggles the characters go through are actually among the main reasons the series is popular in the first place — it would be naive to expect the show to cut down on them in Season 2, especially with the events escalating in the most recent animated arc.

Suffering in JJK serves an actual purpose

Perhaps the sentiment comes from the Shibuya arc, in which the sheer scale of terror and destruction is unlike anything we’ve seen in the series so far. Multiple major characters die — and some die in extremely brutal ways. It is understandable why some viewers are distressed — after all, such violence is not something modern viewers expect from a Shounen Jump adaptation.

It’s not new to JJK, however: many series before it had quite a lot of major character deaths in them, including such big hits as Naruto and Hunter x Hunter. Perhaps some fans have wrong expectations from the series (or the genre itself). The amount of death and suffering in JJK showcases the cruel nature of the world it’s set in. It’s curious, however, how Yuji is going to cope with all the things he had to go through.