Summary
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
Jujutsu Kaisen has only one chapter left. And most fans have expressed theirworries and discontent with the current state of the story. Sukuna’s defeat felt sudden and anticlimactic, and the stakes apparently meant nothing. What does author Gege Akutami have in mind for the end of the series? Is it really possible to end the story satisfactorily in such a short time? This is, unfortunately, a very familiar situation with other Shōnen Jump manga. Back in 2016,Bleachfaced basically the same circumstances. It was suddenly announced the manga had five chapters left, and the final battle wasn’t even finished.
There are still so many plot points to resolve, and what’s more worrying is that Akutami seems to be establishing new plot points. Has Akutami just lost control of the story or are they actuallysetting up a sequel to the manga? The horizon seems rather bleak forJujutsu Kaisen.
Unresolved Plot Points
Left to the Wayside
Kenjaku’s main goal was to use theCulling Games to trigger a merger with Tengen. They planned to merge every single human and sorcerer in Japan with Tengen, creating an eldritch deity. After Kenjaku was unceremoniously defeated by Yuta, Sukuna, who had now taken the spot as the main villain, wanted to continue this goal and go on with the merger. Now Sukuna has also been defeated, and the merger never happened. Not only that, but this was never mentioned again. It seems like this major catastrophic event was just forgotten about.
The Culling Game survivors are scattered and some captured by the American military. And while this does get an important mention in the latest chapter, it would be impossible to resolve this in the final chapter.Gojo didn’t get a funeral service or a proper sendoff. Akutami has been known to dislike Gojo quite a lot, and Gojo’s treatment since the Shibuya Incident arc is proof of this. Gojo has been continuously humiliated ever since. It just feels like Akutami let their personal feelings towards their own character dictate his fate, completely disregarding the fans' love for him.
Rushed Ending, Unlikely Resolution
This Feels Familiar, and Not in a Good Way
This whole situation is eerily familiar to howBleachended back in 2016. And as fans know now, the Bleach finale was rushed and mostly anticlimactic. Granted, this was a lot due to Tite Kubo’s incredibly poor health. But nevertheless, the final battle was suddenly resolved in a very controversial way and the sendoff, while it made sense for the characters, was extremely rushed and tacked on. Now, with Jujutsu Kaisen, this feels just like the Bleach finale, but worse in some ways. While Bleach resolves everything in a single chapter, Jujutsu Kaisenactually introduces more elements closer to the end.
Several recent developments make it look like Akutami is heading into a sequel, just like it happened toNaruto, Chainsaw Manand others.Akutami isn’t just not resolving things, they’re adding more to the stack. It just looks like an impossible task to resolve so much and also close out the story in a way fans will be content with.My Hero Academiajust got tons of backlash for its finale. Jujutsu Kaisen following in the same way would be catastrophic for the new generation of Shōnen Jump.
Akutami has to perform a miracle for the finale. That’s in the case they’re not actually up for a part 2. But considering their recent author notes about drawing the finale, this seems unlikely. Jujutsu Kaisen became a worldwide sensation thanks to the first season of the anime, the movie and the exciting manga. But with the final arc and final confrontation with Sukuna, fans felt more tired and detached with every chapter. Manga endings are incredibly hard to get right, and right now,Jujutsu Kaisenis going in that same unfortunate direction.
