In March 2021, Bleach manga creator Tite Kubo and Jujutsu Kaisen creator Gege Akutami sat together for an interview, which was later published in the Jujutsu Kaisen official fan book. It was a historical moment for the manga world, as both creators are considered legends in the anime and manga industries.
The two discussed their respective series, their process, characters, and who their favorite character in each other’s series was. While they talked about it all, Kubo was asked about the female characters in Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen. Kubo gave a cryptic answer, which led many fans to believe that he was criticizing Akutami’s work.
When the interview was shared on the internet, fans were not happy with Kubo’s response, and they targeted him for not only criticizing the female characters in Jujutsu Kaisen but also for the Fan-Service art that he used to include in Bleach manga when the series started.
Tite Kubo States That The Personality of Jujutsu Kaisen Women is Unyielding
The interview between Kubo and Gege Akutami was translated and shared by @IDuckyx on X (Formerly Twitter). Kubo pointed out that the female characters in Jujutsu Kaisen do not fit his taste. They have stiff personalities which might be the result of Akutami’s preference.
Kubo said:
“Sorry to say this in front of the author, but none of the female characters fit my taste. Overall, don’t you think that their personality is unyielding? When there is a bias in the number of genders (that appeared in the Manga) most of the time the author’s taste/preference is reflected. So is it Akutami-sensei’s preference?”
Akutami replied to Kubo’s remarks that they do not like to draw female characters, which is why they try to avoid them. However, Kubo’s opinion about Jujutsu Kaisen‘s women was not liked by the fanbase. They instantly went on to attack the mangaka and point out the alleged hypocrisy of him using Fan-Service art to in a way promote his work.
Tite Kubo Has a History of Including Fan-Service Arts in Bleach
Fan-Services is a common element of the Shonen Jump manga series. However, Tite Kubo’s Bleach has a history of overusing Fan-Service art in the manga chapters and the anime series. Bleach fans are accustomed to desirable female characters with overly exaggerated body figures and scenes that are often s*xual in nature.
Some examples of such characters are Rangiku Matsumoto, Orihime Inoue, and Yoruichi Shihouin. For a long time, fans believed that fan-service became an integral part of Bleach and was being used to increase its popularity among anime and manga fans. The series even received some hate regarding this particular aspect.
Compared to Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen does not include Fan-Service art as much. The general opinion about Jujutsu Kaisen’s female characters is that they are focused on getting stronger and more powerful in order to fight along with the male characters in the series.
Irrespective of such comparisons, both Bleach and Jujutsu Kaisen are considered two of the best anime and manga series in the world.
You can watch Jujutsu Kaisen on Crunchyroll and Bleach on Hulu, and read the manga on Viz Media.
