Throughout the manga, we have seen how Jujutsu Kaisen He has been collecting different concepts from some of the most successful anime to implement them in his work. However, there are two classic Shonen Jump manga that, without them, Itadori’s story might not have reached where it is: Bleach and Naruto.
Through an interview at the exhibition of Jujutsu Kaisen In Japan, translated by Twitter user soukatsu_, Gege Akutami explained how these two series were very important in telling the beginning of their story, one for the development of Sukuna and Itadori and one for the framework of the story.
In Naruto, it’s the relationship between the protagonist Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Fox. For Itadori, it’s Sukuna, and for Okkotsu, it’s Rika. In volume 0, the story ended in a reconciliation like in Naruto, but I thought Jujutsu Kaisen needed a different approach, so I tried to portray Sukuna as someone completely incompatible with Itadori. For Bleach, it’s the framework of the story. The protagonist, Ichigo, becomes a shinigami of his own free will after he gets caught up in an unexpected incident. In Jujutsu Kaisen, when Itadori ingests the cursed object, I was very much aware of the “of his own free will” aspect.
Akutami explained that both works were the main basis with which he began to narrate the series, but he made some changes so that the work had a different approach to what has been seen so far. Unlike NarutoSukuna has never tried to make peace with Itadori, but quite the opposite. Regarding Bleachyes it is something more similar, since both Ichigo and Yuji had no other choice but to do something risky of their own free will.
And even with these great inspirations, Akutami has made it clear that his manga is unique in many ways. The power system is somewhat similar to that of Bleachbut with much more convoluted aspects in which even the author himself has no idea. On the other hand, there is also the impassiveness of killing beloved characters, something that many hate but applaud in equal parts, since they are tired of seeing unexpected rescues by “the good guys” in other mangas.
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