The phrase, ‘Great minds think alike,’ is apt when it comes to some of the most groundbreaking mangakas in the industry. Gege Akutami is the proud creator of Jujutsu Kaisen, while Tite Kubo has written Bleach, one of the Big Three series. In an interview, the authors received a chance to connect with each other and were shocked to realize that they both had more things in common than they had previously imagined.
Both Tite Kubo and Gege Akutami fawning over each others’ creations was endearing, to say the least. It didn’t take much time to unearth the influences behind each author, and it became apparent that their love for Japanese mythology stood supreme.
Tite Kubo Reveals the Major Manga Series that Influenced Him
In the interview with Gege Akutami, Tite Kubo revealed all the manga that have inspired him. The author admitted that he started out with GeGeGe no Kitaro, the anime and manga series by Shigeru Mizuki that began serialization in 1960 which popularized folklore as well as creatures like yokai. He then shifted to reading Saint Seiya, a story that follows five mystical warriors.
It is clear that Kubo was influenced by several manga that had mystical features in it. The author also stated that one of his favorites is Bastard!!: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy. Set in a Dungeons & Dragons-style world, it is about a dark wizard who has been set free. As the name suggests, it is a dark fantasy anime set in a post-apocalyptic world that portrays many gore-filled scenes.
Gege Akutami reminded Tite Kubo that Bastard!! had also inspired Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of Hunter x Hunter. To this, Kubo commented:
I might’ve taken inspiration from Bastard!!’s anime-style art. It’s just, I didn’t know how to apply screentones, so I would frantically draw all my effects by hand.
It is funny to think that Kubo-sensei, the creator of one of the Big Three of the Shounen genre, could not apply screentones and thus resorted to hand-drawing them without asking for help.
Tite Kubo’s Love for Japanese Mythology
If you have read Bleach, you know that it is about the afterlife and the struggles of shinigami. The concept of the shinigami is a new take on the Japanese folklore of Gods of Death. In fact, Kubo has also drawn inspiration from Japanese mythology to create many of his characters. For example, The King of the Underworld is called Yama, according to Japanese religion. In Bleach, the head of the 13 Captains is Yamamoto.
So, of course, Kubo would be fascinated by Gege Akutami’s incorporation of mythological elements in Jujutsu Kaisen. He stated that some of the references in Jujutsu Kaisen seem familiar, which makes him feel an affinity to the series.
I love incorporating Buddhist concepts as well, so I was pleasantly surprised to find someone else covering obscure topics like Death Paintings.
While Akutami was hesitant about how well he had used the concepts in his own work and called it a ‘filmsy approach,’ Kubo consoled him by saying he had done well enough. Both Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen deal heavily with the undertones of Japanese religion, culture, and mythology, so it was only a matter of time before the authors could begin to relate to each other.
Bleach is available to read on Viz Media, and the anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
