Jujutsu Kaisen manga finale ranks among the most hyped manga discussions, although fans and critics review it very differently. While a few fans felt satisfied with the ending, many felt cheated with how the story concluded. Let’s try to analyse and understand why it could not meet the hype around the finale.
What led to the hype around the Jujutsu Kaisen manga finale ?
One of the fastest growing manga by Gege Akutami, Jujutsu Kaisen had already conquered the anime world in many ways. Specifically with supernatural action and its storytelling. This pulled a significant amount of fandom towards the manga and contributed towards its present massive pool of manga readers.
What started the hype surrounding its manga’s ending was a large part of the fandom and long time manga readers anxiously waiting how the story around Yuji Itadori and his friends would finally wrap up. And it seems the fandom is not happy with the last chapters and eventually heightened the buzz.
Was the hype justified?
With high expectations established through buildup and foreshadowing within the series, the finale leaves one expecting more similar to other popular manga endings.
The buildups almost hint at something that resembles the endings of Naruto and Attack on Titan where their endings took the breath of the readers away with the emotional impact and fulfilling resolutions.
Contrary to them, Jujutsu Kaisen’s ending feels rushed, lacks depth and emotions built throughout the story. This leaves fans unsatisfied with the series’ ending due to the many loose ends.
Hype always tags an event, and once it gains momentum, it sets high expectations. Thus the fandom thinks a series should have therefore lived up to the hype, and make its readers feel satisfied.
Disappointments of the Finale
Rushed Plot Points and Unredeemed Storylines:
The conclusion rushed through key plot points without even allowing it time to breathe. As a result, fans were left unsatisfied for they would have wanted a more thoughtful conclusion to crucial storylines. The conclusion of the storyline failed to satisfy these expectations.
Example:
The final chapters did not give sufficient time to Sukuna’s fate and his backstory. Questions remained unanswered about his relationship with yuji, thus leaving a dearth of exploration of such issues.
Unveiling of New Ideas and Characters:
The last chapters unveiled new characters and ideas very hastily. In the climax, these new ideas and characters were so startling that as the development of these new concepts when the book was coming to a close it made the readers baffled and oppressed. These ideas seemed urgent because they came so late in the book, it was heavy and disorganized.
For example: Kenjaku and the “Cursed Womb: Death Painting” emerged at the time when things were almost coming to a close. These came with very few backstories. This made it more complicated for the readers because of the dense plot.
Yuji Itadori’s Lack of Proper Development:
Yuji Itadori’s development halted in the last one. His storyline was somewhat put in the background, while giving more importance to others’ storylines. Fans were eagerly awaiting to know his secrets, but at the end, Yuji’s development seemed short of what it should be from what had happened before in the chapters.
Example:
Yuji’s emotional problem with his identity and duties was often portrayed in earlier chapters. For instance, when the series was concluding, and Itadori’s character was at the centre, but it didn’t matter as much because of the focus on his friends, like Megumi, when compared to what happened beforehand.
Shift of Emphasis Away from Important Themes:
Towards the very end, the series refused to take those core themes to a closing level and concentrated only on action. The result was the attenuation of emotional impact.
Themes of sacrifice and morality took a backseat, disconnecting readers from the story’s depth.
Example:
The theme of self-sacrifice set through early arcs with Nanami as an example. The end focuses towards action sequences instead of such strong moral dilemmas that had defined the series.
Loss in Emotional Payoff in the jujutsu kaisen manga finale:
Important scenes in the finale were shallow and lacked the emotional impact of previous seasons’ important scenes. Major elements of the conclusion ended without resolution as if pivotal links were avoided and fans had to fill the emotional depth.
The significant events relating to the complexity of relations, the feature of death, and revelations swept into the final act feeling emotionally unsatisfactory.
Nano – A death scene, but it was a couple of lines early, given the lack of depth in his narrative. His death feels abrupt due to a lack of emotional buildup, leaving readers wanting a connected epilogue.
Uneven screen time for the secondary characters:
The final arc gave the sidelines so much attention that side characters stole many important characters for themselves. It really mixed up some characters with mixed priorities and hence did a very poor job of presenting any good reason to the fans.
Example:
Kashimo and Higuruma had ample time in the final arc, whereas Megumi and Nobara had barely developed. It was disappointing to watch and did little to encourage readers who would have been interested in finding out more about the former set of characters.
Abrupt Tone Shift in the jujutsu kaisen manga finale:
The tone suddenly shifts at the end to be more action-heavy while loosing its emotional and plot aspects. This tonal shift disconnected fans from the earlier more meaningful storytelling and made the finale feel altogether misplaced.
Example:
A great example has been how the earlier arcs had perfectly blended humor and tension well. In the final battle, however, the focus became overwhelmingly grim, detracting from the series’ earlier balance.
Can the Jujutsu kaisen Manga Finale be Redeemed?
A spin-off series is one possible development that would let those fans close up the loop and see all-around satisfaction. It should explore some characters and their backstories with a new perspective of the world of Jujutsu Kaisen.
On top of this, there is hope for potential future developments such as animated adaptations, or even a continuation of the original manga by Gege Akutami that might resolve the fans complaints.
One of the epilogue chapter certainly hint towards both the posibilities with sukuna’s last finger still remaining.
