It is sometimes hard to imagine any manga ending, as so often it feels like they could go on and on forever telling an infinite amount of stories. Most manga run for some time, with a handful having achieved over 1000 chapters, such as the well-loved One Piece, but the creator of the popular Jujutsu Kaisen has no such intention for his own work, which could mean the end of the manga is drawing near.
Jujutsu Kaisen has been one of the more popular manga as of late, and since being adapted into an anime, that popularity has only grown. But instead of trying to squeeze out every little bit that he can from his creation, author and illustrator Gege Akutami will end the story as he sees fit. The first chapter was released in March of 2018 and contains 22 volumes at the time of writing. Akutami created it as a sequel to his other work Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School which was created a year prior and was retroactively titled Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
The story follows Yuji Itadori, a high school student already in possession of some rather impressive physical abilities, who consumes the finger of a powerful curse named Ryomen Sukuna. By consuming the finger, he allows himself to become the host to Sukuna which makes him a threat to the world, a world protected by sorcerers. However, after seeing him maintain control over his body, the powerful sorcerer Satoru Gojo decided to spare him and instead takes him to the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School to train and track down the remaining fingers.
This stay of execution is only temporary though, as they believe that if they have Itadori consume all the fingers then they can kill him and all remaining remnants of Sukuna in one go, ending the curse forever at the cost of Itadori’s life. His time at the school of course allows him to make friends, work as part of a team and continue to eliminate other curses, but evil plans are afoot, set in motion by the corrupted sorcerer Suguru Geto and a cabal of curses determined to defeat the sorcerers once and for all.
Both the manga and the anime have been critically lauded, earning many awards for both with the anime also earning the respectable title of Best Anime of the Year at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The anime was also the second most watched in 2020, sitting only behind Black Clover. With such amazing critical and commercial success then, why would Akutami want to stop? Well, it would seem that the creator would prefer quality over quantity and has had an ending in mind for some time now.
It was Akutami himself who stated that the manga would not go on forever, speaking in an interview (in disguise) back in 2021 with Mandou Kobayashi, he said that the manga would end within the next two years. He discussed having a clear ending in mind and knowing exactly what was going to happen to both Itadori and his peer Megumi Fishiguro. The announcement that the end was nigh shocked fans of the anime and manga who would obviously welcome more than just another two years’ worth of stories from the characters.
This isn’t the first time a manga artist at peek popularity has said that they won’t drag things out though, with the creator of one of the most popular manga/anime of all time Demon Slayer‘s Koyoharu Gotouge ending the story after only four years. It isn’t a bad thing to know when to put the pens and pencils down and conclude the story once and for all. Almost any anime fan can tell you of a story that they fell in love with getting suddenly dropped, or disappearing on some never-ending hiatus resulting in heartbreak.
Akutami further doubled down on his decision to end the story sometime this year with a message he left in a January edition of Weekly Shonen Jump, which was then shared to Twitter.
The story itself seems to be building up to a dramatic conclusion with everything coming together for a rather significant event that will likely end the story swiftly and concisely. Though the manga may end this year, we still have the anime adaption to look forward to, so there is that at least. Even when it all comes to an end, you can always count on there being more great anime available.
Jujutsu Kaisen season two is on the way and will be available to watch on Crunchyroll sometime in July.
