It’s no secret that Gege Akutami has taken a leaf out of each Bleach and Naruto for his work Jujutsu Kaisen – be it the inspiration behind Gojo and even the creation of a trio that includes Itadori, Megumi & Nobara.

Nevertheless, the creator has elaborated extra on the affect on Bleach and Naruto in Jujutsu Kaisen. This data got here to mild in a Q&A catalog that was handed out as part of the Jujutsu Kaisen Exhibition held at Shibuya in July 2024.

In line with Akutami, the dynamic between Naruto Uzumaki and the 9-Tailed Fox Kurama in Naruto served as a mannequin for the relationships between Itadori Yuji and Sukuna, in addition to Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto in JJK.

Each these characters home a demon inside them, and the inspiration was drawn from Naruto – which made the trope mainstream and ultra-popular.

Nevertheless, Akutami determined to maneuver away from the reconciliation that had occurred between Naruto and Kurama when it got here to Jujutsu Kaisen.

He did make Okkotsu reconcile with Rika Orimoto by the top of JJK 0, nevertheless, the creator opted for a extra antagonistic portrayal of Sukuna, ensuring that his beliefs don’t align with that of Itadori.

Akutami additionally cited Bleach as a big affect, significantly by way of the aware selection that Ichigo took to turn out to be a soul reaper (shinigami).

Regardless of being thrust into an sudden state of affairs involving Rukia, Ichigo selected to turn out to be a shinigami by his personal volition. Akutami consciously used this theme as a blueprint when he made Itadori ingest Sukuna’s finger.

Try Akutami’s complete reply under (translation credit: Soukatsu on Twitter):

In Naruto, it’s the connection between the principle character Uzumaki Naruto and the 9 Tailed Fox (Kurama). For Itadori, it’s Sukuna and for Okkotsu, it’s Rika. In Quantity 0, the story led to reconciliation like in Naruto, however I believed Jujutsu Kaisen wanted a special method, so I attempted to painting Sukuna as somebody fully incompatible [with Itadori]. For Bleach, it’s the story framework. The protagonist Ichigo turns into a shinigami of his personal volition after getting swept up in an sudden incident. I used to be actually aware of the “of his personal will” facet in Jujutsu Kaisen when Itadori ingests the cursed object.

The Q&A’s from the exhibition additionally revealed that Akutami had initially deliberate on making Megumi the protagonist within the unique draft of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Nevertheless, the concept obtained rejected which led to him selecting Itadori, regardless of the potential for him making the story bland, as the principle character of the collection.

In Akutami’s thoughts, Fushiguro’s character was already set in stone, because of him being the protagonist within the unique draft. So when it got here to the brand new draft, Akutami added some components from Rukia’s position as a senpai and competent skilled into the character.

In line with the creator, this was as a result of Fushiguro wanted a special method to justice than Ichigo. And this was fairly evident from Fushiguro’s character in Jujutsu Kaisen, who was the precise reverse of Itadori when it got here to their beliefs.

This was highlighted properly sufficient within the fearsome womb arc.

At his core, Fushiguro hasn’t modified however, in distinction to Sousen, Kaisen was impressed by the primary chapter of Bleach, and I felt that Fushiguro wanted a special method to justice in comparison with Ichigo, so I added that and different components much like Rukia’s place as a senpai and competent skilled.

Jujutsu Kaisen manga, which started serializing in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Soar in 2018.

As of July 2024, the chapters of the manga have been collected into 27 tankobon volumes, with over 90 million copies in circulation.

Supply: Jujutsu Kaisen exhibition by way of Soukatsu