The approach to characters’ deaths could have been better.
Major manga spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- Jujutsu Kaisen features a lot of suffering.
- It doesn’t always properly explore it, though.
- Fans wish the series gave them more time to grieve.
Although Jujutsu Kaisen didn’t feel like it back at the beginning, it turned out to be a series that isn’t afraid of killing important characters. Moreover, the manga enjoys doing that a bit too much.
Important Characters Are Not Safe
It would be a crime not to start with Gojo ‘cause… you know. He was one of the most popular Jujutsu Kaisen characters, the strongest sorcerer with completely unmatched power. Yet he was killed off-screen, without giving readers or other characters any time to say goodbye.
The same happened with Nobara (if she’s even dead), Yaga and Yuki. All these characters were cut off from the story, and there just wasn’t enough time to grieve over their deaths. There’s no mourning, no funeral, no farewells. Jujutsu Kaisen gets rid of characters and keeps moving forward.
There’s one good thing about it, though. The author doesn’t like dwelling on things that aren’t relevant to the story, so it helps him keep the fast pacing of the series. Fans think that it’s Gege’s greatest strength and weakness at the same time.
Jujutsu Kaisen manages to avoid fillers and irrelevant story parts, and this is a great thing, indeed, but fans still can’t help but feel upset that the series is rushing through so many plot twists, and doesn’t let the readers just breathe.
It Could Have Been Better
What’s even worse is that there are actually good examples of character deaths in the series. For example, Nanami’s was handled pretty well. He had a wonderful scene, dreaming about retiring in Malaysia. It truly felt like a beautiful goodbye, even though Nanami didn’t deserve to die at all.
However, it’s not even about death inclusively. There’s trauma written all around various Jujutsu Kaisen characters, but the series seems to never fully explore it. Maki suffered so much, she got burnt and lost her sister; there’s a lot of room for development and storytelling ideas, but no one even comments on her scars.
Inumaki lost an arm off-screen, and the series has forgotten about him entirely. Readers aren’t even sure what he’s doing right now, how is that even possible? He used to be an important character after all.
Jujutsu Kaisen is undeniably a great series with a lot of things going on at the same time. But it would be even greater if it spent just a little bit more time paying attention to its characters, their feelings and their fates.