Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen is slowly approaching its end with many characters parting their ways with the series gradually. As the story progresses, characters come, and, each of them mostly gets the fate of death or worse. What started from a one-shot with Yuta as the protagonist very quickly turned into a full-fledged serialization with Itadori taking the reigns.
Many characters were introduced and just as many were killed. There has been no rule nor exception to it. If a character is important to the audience, then they are more than likely to find themselves dead than anything else. Unless they’re Mei Mei; then she’s safe because no one likes her. While she is the character the fans hate the most, Gojo is the one Akutami despises.
Gege Akutami Understood Gojo’s Importance
When Gege Akutami first wrote Jujutsu Kaisen 0, they weren’t sure if the story could be continued forward or if that would be the end of it. Written as a one-shot with Yuta Okkutsu being the central figure, one character was prominent in transitioning from the prequel to the main manga.
I always planned for Gojo to be the conduit and introduce Itadori to the members of the College soon. Gojo is essential to the story as a mentor. As for Okkotsu, during 0 Volume, the then editor, Kata-san, suggested that it would be easier if Okkotsu wasn’t there, and I liked that idea. Therefore, he doesn’t appear at the beginning of JJK.
During the Jujutsu Kaisen Exhibition (via X), Akutami talked about how Gojo as a character was far too important to a story like this no matter how much they hated him. His behavior may often come off as pretentious but that didn’t mean that Gojo’s power was any less. He was the strongest and he knew it.
To incorporate that, Akutami had to include him in the series. He played an important role, one that was of a mentor and guide. While the mangaka wanted to bring along Yuta as well, that was an idea abandoned because of their editor.
Gojo is the All Might of Jujutsu Kaisen
Gege Akutami may hate Gojo with every cell of their body but his importance isn’t invisible to them. So much so that they even compared the character to All Might in My Hero Academia. While the character may not be the protagonist, that doesn’t necessarily mean their role is rudimentary.
Once it was decided that Okkotsu would be introduced later, I felt that the 0 volume published in Jump Giga should be a mythic element in “JJK”. On the other hand, I never considered the possibility of excluding Gojo. Imagine it would be like MHA without all might.
His importance was unavoidable. Gojo was never going to be excluded from the manga even if Yuta was to transfer to the series or not. His role was big enough to make him a looming figure. If Kohei Horikoshi’s work excluded All Might, that powerful figure everyone looked up to would be missing.
In a similar way, Gojo was known for being the strongest, to be the chosen one. If he was suddenly missing from the series, it would make no sense whatsoever. To keep the flow maintained, his inclusion had to be there.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
