Jujutsu Kaisen has ended after 271 chapters. The series, which started in 2018, had high expectations from fans for its final chapter. Thankfully, creator Gege Akutami uses the last chapter of his series to craft a heartfelt and intimate sendoff for its core character, Yuji Itadori.
One More Mission
The chapter starts off feeling like any other day in the life of Jujutsu High first-years Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara. There hasn’t been a real low-stakes mission for this trio since before the Shibuya Incident, which kicked off the final arcs of the series and was followed by death, destruction, and several high-consequence fights. So, seeing Yuji and his two classmates hang out really made this last chapter of the manga feel like something out of the earliest chapters in the series. It was an unexpected but welcome change of pace.
The mission focuses on an unnamed couple that hasn’t appeared in the series before. The boyfriend seems to have enlarged, freakish eyes only the girlfriend can see. It’s clear that the couple has been cursed for one reason or another, leading to the first years being sent to Jujutsu High to investigate. The chapter is less about action and building upon the already dense lore of Jujutsu Kaisen and more about showing the growth of the students that the recently deceased Satoru Gojo had hand-picked.
Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara easily apprehend the sorcerer responsible for the curse, and it’s in these brief pages that Gege highlights the whole point of the chapter: readers are treated to one last Satoru Gojo flashback right before the fight with Sukuna.
‘Satoru Gojo Hardly Matters Now’
In this last conversation between Yuji and Gojo, Itadori requests that he do body swap training with Gojo. Gojo reluctantly agrees but is against it as, in his own words, “Satoru Gojo hardly matters now.” It’s an interesting statement from the sorcerer dubbed the strongest that initially comes off as confusing to both Yuji and the reader. However, it makes more sense as Satoru elaborates that one day, eventually, he won’t be around anymore, whether he dies in this fight with Sukuna or not. Yuji perceives Gojo’s sudden disinterest in himself as a lack of confidence. However, it’s anything but.
Instead, Gojo’s insistence that he won’t be relevant soon is because of his realization that his dream will come true. Established in the original one-shot Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Gojo’s struggle being the strongest led to his dream of fostering the next generation of sorcerers, and teaching them and honing their skills so that one day they’d be as strong as him, and he wouldn’t be alone. Gojo’s story arc was the most tragic in the series, and this final flashback provides closure on the character’s internal struggle while also bringing Yuji’s story arc full circle.
Related: Jujutsu Kaisen Creator Insists That Yuji Itadori Is ‘Bland’
The Final Chapter’s Title: ‘From Now On’
At the end of the flashback, Gojo laughs at Yuji’s youthful naivety, saying that, although Itadori thinks it sounds like his confidence is gone, Gojo has “never been more sure of” himself. Despite going into a fight to the death he’ll likely lose, his dream has come true. There are new Jujutsu Sorcerers to lead the way from now on. Gege Akutami accentuates this point with Yuji mimicking Gojo’s expression and words when talking to the sorcerer he and the other two first years apprehended. Instead of dealing with the stranger negatively, Yuji wants to give him a chance, replicating the same chance Gojo gave him hundreds of chapters ago.
The chapter shifts focus to Sukuna, who is in a spiritual crossway/limbo with Itadroi’s former enemy, Mahito, as the two discuss their lives and deaths. Surprisingly, it seems that Yuji’s attempt at empathy and compassion towards Sukuna at the end of their battle has shifted the curse’s perspective, as the former king of curses decides that, in the next life, he’ll change how he lives, leaving Mahito alone in his anger and darkness.
The chapter (and the series) ends with a look at the next generation of Sorcerers, who have bright futures ahead. The final page depicts the final Sukuna finger, once a special-grade cursed object that attracted malice and evil, now in a box labeled as a talisman to ward off evil spirits. The series ends the same way it began, with a finger housed in a hidden box for entirely different reasons. Gege Akutami exhibits the growth of his characters and the fulfillment of the dreams of the ones who are gone through a small and intimate chapter that says so much with so little.
Jujutsu Kaisen wasn’t always a perfect series. However, Gege Akutami always kept things interesting and thought-provoking with his intricate world-building, spiritual themes of growth, visceral art that made the fights leap through the page, and a story that felt like it meant something. Not all of our questions and theories may have been answered, but Akutami gave his characters the ending they deserved.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read on VIZ and other platforms. The anime is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
Published: Oct 2, 2024 12:25 pm