Jujutsu Kaisen has secured its place among the modern classics of anime alongside other mega-hits like Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan, among a few other esteemed titles. It's easy to take these anime at face value and admire their creative imagination, but these anime didn't pop out of nowhere. Even these mega-hits had to draw inspiration from somewhere, making them a part of the industry's natural life cycle.
Jujutsu Kaisen has a clearly defined voice of its own with its sorcerers, curses, and grim storytelling of horror and loss. It's not a ripoff of anything in particular, which is commendable, but Jujutsu Kaisen still owes some elements of its design to what came before. A small handful of outstanding anime, most of them shonen, either probably or definitely contributed a few ingredients to Jujutsu Kaisen's final design. Fans of any of those anime are bound to love author Gege Akutami's creation, with Jujutsu Kaisen honoring its predecessors while taking those ideas in new directions.
6 Major Anime That Inspired Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer is one of the biggest anime out there, but it definitely took some inspiration from these anime.
Bleach is Honored With Jujutsu Kaisen's Monsters and Half-Other Hero
Yuji is the New Ichigo
If there is one anime series that inspired Jujutsu Kaisen more than any other, it would be Tite Kubo's Bleach. This famed anime earned a slot in the shonen "big three" for a reason, with Bleach being an outstanding successor to Dragon Ball in a world of spirits and swords. A few modern anime owe their creative flair to the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki, and Jujutsu Kaisen definitely copied a few notes from this series. That starts with the protagonist's design, with Yuji Itadori being a tough high schooler who gained supernatural powers one day to defeat a monster.
That sounds wonderfully familiar to any fan of Bleach and its orange-haired hero, and there's still more. Both anime are set in a modern Japanese setting while mixing in monsters and magic to add some supernatural flair. Both anime also involve a goofy mentor, with Satoru Gojo being the new Kisuke Urahara in many ways. Satoru may look more like Kakashi from Naruto, but his goofball personality is 100% Kisuke.
Naruto Clearly Helped Inspire Jujutsu Kaisen's Main Trio
Three Students and One Mentor is a Winning Formula
Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto is another member of the famed "big three" that clearly played a major role in Jujutsu Kaisen's ultimate design. Above all, Gege Akutami was clearly smitten with the idea of an anime's heroes coming in groups of three, with a strong, older mentor to hold the trio together. Naruto's Team 7 set the standard for anime trios going forward, and Jujutsu Kaisen wasn't about to miss its turn. This is partly why Satoru can be compared so easily to Kakashi Hatake, though Satoru's original design is owed to a more obscure Naruto character.
Jujutsu Kaisen: 5 Strongest Physical Fighters In The Series, Ranked
In a series filled with broken and insane techniques, these stand out as the strongest physical fighters in Jujutsu Kaisen.
To round things out, Yuji is the new Naruto Uzumaki as an outgoing action star who has a horrible monster living inside him. Somehow, Ryomen Sukuna became even more horrific and dreadful than the nine-tailed fox Kurama, and that's saying something. Meanwhile, Megumi Fushiguro is Sasuke Uchiha with more restrained angst, and Nobara Kugisaki is a much-needed improvement on the design of Sakura Haruno.
Hunter x Hunter's DNA Can Be Found in Jujutsu Kaisen's Creative Design
Sorcerers Don't Need Nen to Be Cool
The legendary shonen anime Hunter x Hunter still hasn't finished its story, but anime viewers and creators alike have seen enough to get some fun ideas from what they saw. That includes Gege Akutami, who modeled Jujutsu Kaisen's own combat system after Hunter x Hunter's own. That includes the concept of binding pacts to make certain abilities more legitimate and rules-based. Some powers or abilities actually feel cooler and more "official" than abstract one that do whatever the plot requires of them.
It's easy to draw parallels between Hunter x Hunter's Nen battle system and Jujutsu Kaisen's own spirit energy. Both combat systems throw open the doors to all kinds of innovative and unique abilities that keep viewers on their toes. Nen could do practically anything in Hunter x Hunter, while curse energy can pull off incredible feats based on 7:3 ratios, morphing flesh, blood control, swapping places with a partner, and much more.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Contributed its Love of Symbolism and Philosophy
Anime is More Fun When it Makes Viewers Think a Little
At a glance, it may seem odd to say Jujutsu Kaisen borrowed some ideas from the iconic science fiction anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The latter is a complex deconstruction of the mecha genre with flawed teenage heroes and serious personal woes, but that's not so tough to adapt in something like Jujutsu Kaisen. Gege Akutami's anime has nothing to do with giant robots, but the story does mimic Neon Genesis Evangelion's focus on symbolism.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Could Yuji Itadori Actually Become Stronger Than Gojo?
Could Yuji actually surpass Jujutsu Kaisen's strongest sorcerer?
Neon Genesis Evangelion made good use of religious iconography, such as the Spear of Longinus and the fact the alien invaders are Angels. Meanwhile, Biblical and Buddhist imagery and concepts all found their way into Jujutsu Kaisen to add visual flair as well as spiritual depth that both Japanese and Western viewers can enjoy. On a more personal note, the gut-wrenching personal woes of Jujutsu Kaisen's cast took some cues from Neon Genesis Evangelion, with both Shinji Ikari and Yuji suffering mental strain from the tough reality of what they are doing. Fighting leaves mental as well as physical scars, and these anime series know it.
My Hero Academia Ignited the Spark of Jujutsu Kaisen's Creativity
Like Deku, Yuji is a Talented Fighter at a Special School
It's common for modern anime to draw inspiration from anime that are 10 years or even 20 years old, but there are some notable exceptions. My Hero Academia is younger than the likes of Bleach and Hunter x Hunter, but it still had a role in Jujutsu Kaisen's creation. At the very least, the very existence of My Hero Academia prompted Gege Akutami to fire up his imagination and draw his own supernatural battle manga, hence Jujutsu Kaisen's genesis.
Other than motivating Gege Akutami to create Jujutsu Kaisen, it's not entirely clear how My Hero Academia helped contribute to Jujutsu Kaisen, but fans might note some similarities. At the very least, both anime feature an ordinary teen boy who ingested something to gain powers before getting sent to a special school for gifted fighters. Deku got One For All when he trained hard and ingested a strand of All Might's hair, while Yuji was burdened with Sukuna's power upon ingesting a finger one night at his high school.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 3, 2020
- Network
- TBS, MBS, CBC, Tulip Television, BSN, tys, NBC, HBC, RKK, i-Television, SBS, IBC, BSS, MRO, OBS, TUF, RSK, TUY, tbc, RKB, SBC, KUTV, RBC, UTY, RCC, MRT, atv, MBC
Cast
-
Junya EnokiYuji Itadori -
Yuichi NakamuraSatoru Gojo
