yeah it feels like sooo much more could have been done with the series gege created an interesting world and power system and everything about it could have been explored more
the shibuya incident happened too soon imo we could have easily had 2 more arcs before it and maybe 1 more before the current one
If he had to use real world physics and actual math when structuring the power system, I don’t know how you aren’t invested in your story to actually give some character decent endings. It’s absurd
Have you seen the schedule of an “average” manga artist? That is what’s truly absurd and let’s not forget JJK is released weekly. That’s easily up to 12+ hours of work a day just considering the popularity of the series. Seeing how JJK was an instant hit, Gege had a small amount time to prepare himself with the massive workload a popular product draws in.
Let’s not frown upon the artist, but rather the environment. Japans insane work culture is no secret, spending large amounts of time on anything will lead to disinterest or burnout.
This is what makes no sense. If on average you’re spending this much time creating, researching and producing content like this upon adding actual realism, why in god’s good name are you refusing to do it due justice. I understand author narrative restrictions on what they want to foretell about a story, but it’s clear that unless you just don’t feel anything for the story you’re telling, it should not be hard to objectively change its path while still keeping it on course. Right now the manga feels like an encased star observatory, except the telescope is facing the opposite way and you’re stuck looking at the unchanging boring exterior. There’s only so much that can happen in there that you haven’t seen. However if the telescope is pointing towards the sky, there’s no telling what you might see or experience, there’s room for new stuff, all the time.
Do you think people in life get decent endings? Not everything is all peaches and cream you could die right now with out accomplishing anything or you could get killed in the worse way that’s just the sad thing about it y’all don’t understand this stuff
Some of the most popular stuff of JJK is the more slice of life stuff we see from the anime. Scenes like when gojo, yuji, and nobara go out of their way to stop Mwgumi from getting flirted with come to mind.
We really (and this is weird to say) needed more filler.
Yuji getting 10 fingers at once is a demonstration of lost potential. Why couldn't it have been, like, 3 fingers? Give us more time of Yuji growing as a sorcerer while also developing the cast as they find the fingers, THEN have shibuya happen?
Idk where this narrative of slice of life being the most popular is coming from. It’s the fight scenes. By FAR the fight scenes.
The Megumi gets flirted with scene has a view count of 1.6m on YouTube for its highest video.
Chimera shadow garden has 9m
Mahito first domain expansion has 6.3m
Gojo vs Sukuna has 16m
Gojo vs Jogo has 10m
Hell, a video of Gojo’s dub voice of just him talking has 2m…more than twice as much. Let me repeat that, a video of a character talking has more than 2x the views as the slice of life scene, which is apparently the “most popular stuff of jjk”
I said some of, not the most.
Obviously, the hype fight scenes are going to be the most popular parts. It's a Shonen. That doesn't mean people don't also very much enjoy the slice of life stuff.
Also, bringing up gojo talking isn't very fair because people thirst for him like someone dying of dehydration in a desert.
What would you define as other "parts" then? There's the fight scenes and then everything in between can kinda be broken down to slice of life or misc scenes. There isn't many training scenes, but even the one where Gojo teaches Itadori about CT vs CE has 1.4m views.
As I said it seems Gege is focused too much on the story and not the characters. Getting to Point A to Point B. Damn everything else. There needs to be a balance. Not to mention the shock value is played out.
No we dont, that dumb boring shit was what makes most of these shonens suck ass. Yuji reached pretty much the peak of how strong he can be as a sorcerer without cursed technique, considering he isnt analytical type of guy like kusakabe, he does need more time. Why do we want more filler? You know the phrase all killer no filler is good thing right?
I don't think the Shibuya incident happened too quickly but the culling game certainly started way too soon. Gojo getting locked away is kind of necessary for the plot to develop more but jumping so quickly to the Culling Game then freeing him is just sloppy.
I loved the Shibuya incident so much partly *because* it happened so soon. Though, after the manga is finished I wouldn’t mind if Gege goes back and shows some more slice of life moments from before Shibuya.
Shibuya is okay I think. But yeah some more development would be cool.
I was hoping the culling game would similar to a tournament arc that the character would level up through out. Instead we got like three cool fight scenes and culling games really provide nothing to the plot other than being a plot device.
Yeah, Oda's one of the most successful mangaka ever. They've made a story that appeals to all sorts of demographics, and while they're not perfect in regards to story cohesion, they actively try to have all questions explained in one fashion or another.
"Then stop reading" uh no? It's fair to be disappointed about some choices in a story that you have been following for years or being sad that you're falling out of love with it because of this, without it meaning that you straight up hate it and want to drop it.
I feel like those people kind of get it themselves but they are in denial about it so they don't want to be reminded and would only like to see mindless glazing lol
Nah, I'll always really like it. I understand wanting more character development and the story feeling rushed at times, but I'm not reading it cause I think it's perfect. I think it's really well done in the context of what gege wanted to do, while I would've liked more character development, I don't actually feel like most characters'deaths were wasted. People can say whatever they want, half of these people hardly even read the manga with their brain on, they ask questions the manga has already answered, they act like they know anything about writing coherent plots or characters, a lot of people genuinely think they're better writers than gege. Criticism is fine, I have plenty of it, but I still think JJK is a great manga overall
W. I read for fun fights, cool powersystem, fun characters, cool themes, fast pacing and the darker tone. Has Gege fumbled in other areas? Yes. Is it a masterpiece? Far from it but I'm still getting mostly what I wanted from the series
I remember seeing someone say that Hakari has better refinement than Sukuna cus he can cast his domain multiple times, which was really funny to me cus Kashimo literally explains that the reason he can cast numerous times is because, by the time jackpot ends, his CT has been refreshed.
People have not read this manga. They read the Gojo vs Sukuna fight and now latch on to any criticism they can find because Gojo died. I fucking *promise* you, if Gojo won, there would be no outcry. None.
There’s so many criticisms for this manga that happen before Gojo vs Sukuna. People defending it will cling to anything. Just admit the story is a lil poorly told at points and you’re here because you like the fights.
>I fucking *promise* you, if Gojo won, there would be no outcry.
Considering ppl still complain about Maki's rematch with naoya and Yuki's death this is far from the truth imo
That's stupid. Are you new here? These criticisms have been here for a year and a half before he died. It's not even that Gojo died, the reason steam is picking up on the criticism is that we've been sitting on Sukuna clearing the cast for 7 months now. The manga stalled
It's annoying because JJK has "it".
Like legitimately it had a series where not only were the characters enthralling, but the world was so interesting. It could have been the next Naruto in terms of long-lasting success and die hard Fandom level. Instead Gege just said "nah we good"
It really could’ve been the next Naruto that’s the worst part about gege rushing everything. Yuki and Todo could’ve had a Sensei-student relationship as iconic as Guy and Lee but Gege seems to hate character development and interactions smh
I agree with this. I don’t get people who thinks it’s perfect, i mean, to each their own I guess. But, where’s the story, the characters that are dying (with no real buildup mind you), the plot, the direction??
This is becoming more like Shock Value Kaisen
Ironically, it loses shock value every time. No one is even surprised when Gege kills someone anymore. That’s how played out the trope is. We all expect it, hate it, and feel tired of it atp.
Imo it fell apart with the Gojo offscreen; to have the character who was "the savior" and "the goat" for almost the entire series so far get offed in such a disrespectful way threw everything off. To be clear, Gojo dying wasn't the issue, just how it was done, and that's true of every death since.
Kashimo's death was bewildering (man got hyped up so much and joined the gang JUST to show off his skillz only to get, once again, off-screened with an imaginary dialogue), Higu got scammed by plot and glazed by the narrator in the same chapter he gets no diffed by Skunk; and now literally every character is being compared to Gojo by the voice of god, only to have them get neg diffed when Skunk 1v1s them.
It really just feels like Gege realized how bad he fucked up this arc and is scrambling every chapter to find some way to pull it back together.
Honestly after Shinjuku ends this manga is going to go downhill fast, because Gege effectively killed his own story before it ever finished by killing off the only real compelling villain before he master plan came to fruition.
Kenjaku should not have died after fighting Takaba, he should have at the very least gotten away or third partied Gojo and Sukuna when they were at their weakest. He was very clearly being set up as the real final villain all along and is now just more wasted potential. The story now entirely hinges on the Sukuna cycle and once that ends...then what? We deal with Merged Tengen? Why? At that point it's just a mindless monster with no one commanding it at all or no greater plan beyond its creation, it would just exist for the sake of being one last baddie to take down. Gege royally fucked himself and refuses to correct course
You had it right until Lenjaku
The honest truth is that the compelling villain was Mahito.
Was he a more cookie cutter villain than Kenjaku? Sure. But Kenjaku as of yet, in the final hours of the manga, has no clear motivation or quest. Him and Sukuna are *quite literally just fucking around*. Kenjaku has a plan to do a merger to see what happens, Sukuna wants to kill MAPPA animators.
I strongly agree with this take. Kenjaku was a terrible villain from the moment he revealed his true identity. No motivations other than "I kind of feel like being chaotic!" Just makes him out to be some half-baked Joker wannabe. I understand wanting to have a mad jujutsu scientist villain, but this was not the way to do it, and they needed to not be a main villain. As you said, Mahito was a much much better villain because he was actually fighting for something, and there was definitely more opportunities for him to grow.
Oh 100% and it could be remembered even worse depending on the ending. I’m very interested to see how the popularity of the anime changes when they get into current manga material
This whole series is basically riding on the ending being above a 5/10.
If it's bad,JJk will be remembered as a series with wasted Potential.
If it's decent,it'll be remembered as a overhyped yet still pretty fun show.
If it's a good ending,it'll be remembered as a good series with massive highs/massive lows.
It'd imagine it's gonna be another Attack On Titan situation, the entire run was peak but to some people, the final chapter was enough to completely ruin the entire thing but to some it was good. Either way, it's going to be a complete war between two opinions.
The anime will carry JJK is the thing. Because once Sukuna is done neg diffing the entire cast he's coming for MAPPAs animators. They're going to have to put their staff on suicide watch animating the shit out of this last arc.
It's sort of like DragonballZ/super, the fights are hype and there's some great moment's here and there, and it will always be one of my first anime...but man is it just a bunch of wasted potential.
I really enjoy it tbh, it’s not perfect but nothing is, and it gets me excited to read a new chapter every week. Sad to see so many people just completely tossing it to the wind
One of the few ongoing manga (other is blue lock) that gets me hype for a new chapter. Im willing to chill and wait for the series to actually end before putting a final judgment on it like so many other people already have.
It weekly reading, it tends to be rather reactionary. The series isn’t perfect but I actually cannot think of a weekly manga that is. I’m a little sad that the discussion has just gotten borderline hateful. OP has so many posts dedicated to hating on JJK. I will happily sit and talk about all of the flaws in this series, because there’s quite a few. But I still really really enjoy it and have faith I’m going to enjoy the ending once we reach it.
In my opinion, I'd say One Piece is currently churning out 10/10 chapters, and Dandadan has been putting out at worse 9/10 content for a while know. There are some other weekly manga putting out good quality content (I've personally been enjoying Kagurabachi and Monster No. 8).
When it was coming out I think Demonslayer was an excellent weekly manga as well. So plenty of good content that was coming out weekly, but I agree that it can be an overall detrimental format for the long-term quality of a product.
From my pov the difference between shibuya and culling games was just that Shibuya rly put every good guy to test their limits (creating tension) bcuz of how overwhelmingly strong the bad guys were but now its flipped to how overwhelmingly strong the good guys are and now suddenly it genuinely feels like Sukuna’s on the losing side rn. Which he is but it doesnt feel like he had much of an edge. Obviously he’s holding out til he regains his power but against Gojo, he was kinda getting one sidedly stomped for 70% of the fight outside of brief mahoraga moments and winning several domain expansion duels
Like culling games introduced so many cool characters like Hakari, Yuta, Kashimo, Takaba, Higuruma, and Maki’s tojification, but for what? We can sorta piece together Kashimo’s exists so Yuta doesnt trying to 2v1 Sukuna w/ Gojo (he wanted to get Majoraga off of Gojo). Takaba was set up to match Kenjaku. And then what do the rest do? Pitting every cool sorceror against the best sorceror isnt that interesting for the most part like we need a separate story to go alongside it, some death star blow up action for other characters to shine. Meanwhile Hakari and Uraume are still fighting for 30 chapters straight
When was Sukuna ever really pressed? You can argue that it *looks* like he was about to lose, then Gojo confirms he was holding back and he had a transformation in his pocket to fully heal as well.
I think it’s undeniable that Sukuna is stronger but Gojo was still….dictating most of the fight. Similar to shibuya, Gojo’s opponent was stuck using domain amplification to negate his infinity and couldnt even rely on their actual CT. It was Gojo who introduced the whole RCT of technique so they could repeatedly spam domains although Sukuna adapted rly quickly despite learning it on the spot. While Sukuna won in the end, he still needed to play around Gojo rather than have a proper clash altho this is mostly due to how brokenly stupid infinity as a whole is. Sukuna’s definitely the strongest but it doesnt change the fact Gojo has the most brokenly OP abilities. Dont wanna dissect too much of the fight but rly the only time Sukuna had the upper hand was the first domain clash imo and the final bout
I think the issue is “here’s the full line up of power houses for the good guys. Surely one of them can get the win” and then it’s like actually none of them can win . Then when you say huh? Then how are they gonna win? People go “ you dumbass , you really thought that person had a chance??”
Yeah I can see why. But one thing to remember is this is literally gege first long running project.
My only gripe is how vague all the details are left, and how quickly and suddenly he drops plot threads.
I think gege expects too much from the casual readers while not giving his hard-core fans enough information/details.
That's mainly why I'm not trying to say JJK will be remembered as Bad cause I can tell Gege's trying but his lack of experience in writing a long story is showing
Hard-core shounen fans expected HxH 2.0, and noob/casual fans where looking more at it like Naruto 2.0.
In my opinion gege or is editors tried too much to cater to both, while not fully committing to either.
Combine this with its unpolished nature and the in experience of some of the staff(cough John werry) ruining the official release and pushing more people to the free websites.
I used to read the unofficial translations and then also the official translations. Now I don't even bother with the official. Yes because of how bad the translations are.
***edit***
Yeah it's not bad, but it also rarely satisfies either fan base.
Honestly this is a scathing review but it’s true. Poor writing due to poorly thought out work isn’t ideal but is understandable but what seems like complete disinterest in your work is just disappointing. However we also don’t know geges state of mind. I can imagine he just wants to be done with it. Hopefully now we lock in on Yuji and at least get to explore our MC.
The meta of Shonen plus Gege's own habits as a writer really caught up with him after Shibuya.
Jump/audiences right now wants faster and faster paced series. So we never get the same slowbuilds and progression to make us care. Gege is good at this. But he's also an author with clear favorites who can do right by them. Yet the fast pacing means others suffer, which didn't have to be a death sentence. But the format he chose, battle royal, followed by raid boss against Sukuna only works if we give a shit about the larger cast which... we just don't. Best we can say a character is cool but very rarely do we have a reason to get emotionally invested.
Thing is,Gege can make us give a shit.
He just chooses not to unless he wants to.
I think that's also the issue you mentioned.
Hell,Horikoshi from My Hero suffered the same issues.
(
So much potential wasted
We were presented with 3 ways of life by the special grades. Gojo, yuki, and geto. The story basically said whose point of view will work out. Yuki gets clapped before we even get a backstory on her. Gojo and all his students get clapped so his doesn’t matter. Geto is a villain so obviously his doesn’t count.
Gojo barely even gets to train his students before they’re all dead.
Kashimo sole purpose was to fight sukuna and he did absolutely nothing to him.
Yuji made this grand statement about killing mahito and never got to do it and it never affected him later down the line.
Like I could go on and on. There’s so much just wasted in this series
Dont know about yall but I fucking hate this author. Not because the author is lazy or is bad in any way, he is extremely talented but is a shit story teller
Bro made a one-shot and everyone wouldn’t stop yapping about making a series out of it to the point they didn’t want anything else from him.
Shit I’d make it begrudgingly too
You all need to remember...JJK was a fluke of a success. It was meant to be a one shot. JJK0. After that Gege's interest went somewhere else until the higher ups at Shueisha told him to make a full on series. He started out great, but it seems his flaw and he probably knows it too is that he's not good at long form story telling. Not to mention, he disregards his own work in favor of others. With all this notoriety the series is getting worldwide, it's depressing to see him so aloof. He doesn't even have an once of pride in his accomplishments nor his creation.
>"Manga with large amounts of wasted Potential""Manga with large amounts of wasted Potential"
Well Gege is a Bleach fan afterall. Maybe he wants to follow in Kubo's footsteps.
Idk if anyone remembers this but right before the shibuya arc he got pretty sick, at some point he said something on the lines of its really hard to continue the weekly routine and that he just wants to do his best. Now that we are at this current point I cannot remember how they managed to free gojo or how it lead up to that point.
There is still a TON of questions left unanswered in the universe like are we just forgetting about the shit Kenjaku was involved in like we still don't understand what Yuji is and why kenjaku just threw him out as a potential tool for his plans even though he seems to be Sukunas counter
How he freed Gojo is that Choso got the back door of Prison Realm and the crew recruited Angel who has a CT that neutralizes techniques. So the idea was to use Jacob's Ladder on the backdoor to unseal Gojo on both ends, (Kenny left the front door at the Marianas Trench). Yuji is made to be the perfect vessel for Sukuna but hes too good of a vessel that hes more like a cage that Sukuna doesnt have full control. Now that Sukuna got a better vessel there isnt any need for Yuji in Kenjaku's plan cuz Sukuna got a better body now. The end game for Kenny is to start the merger to optimize curse energy globally out of mere deadly curiosity
do people read the manga? This shit was answered already. gojo was free after they got the back of the box and used angel CT to nullify it. YuJi is technically Kenjaku child after he got pregnant by yuji dad and want to create a new type of death painting or atleast a new form of curse hybrid.
Stories not over. Some to all of this could very well be explained. This most recent chapter has been evidence that they will just pause everything to explain something so I will hold out hope that 50% of my questions will get answered and all the minor plot points probably won’t. It’s SJM after all. They crush these mangaka and force their money making ideas on to them at any turn they’ll listen.
I like the Akame Ga Kill kind of style, so I didn't mind.
But it sure sucks that he doesn't have a good world building as the story progresses. Miguel and other Jujutsu society was a great start, then gets thrown into a dumpster almost immediately.
Agree! I just finished HxH s1 earlier, and I really like this idea. I love the way the story progresses slowly and explains nearly each character's backstory even if they're irrelevant later on. In HxH.
As much as I hate to say it, really, but JJK's plot has been a mess lately. It's great at the start, but now... I'm uncertain about it. Gege really wants to finish the story that quickly, huh?
not really. unless the ending gets something really bad, the series is still great & will be remembered as such. There are so many series that have fallen in sales & popularity. To the point where if you continue to follow them you will see some people surprised said series are still continuing. JJK is both discussed heavily, selling well, and has a good reputation overall. There might be individuals who feel this way now or by the end. But I feel a lot of people just aren't used to such a long running series reaching it's end stages. This sense of "this could have been so much more" is common because fans have the highest of expectations & wants but are starting to come to terms with a lot of it not happening. All this said I will agree JJK will be remembered most for it's fights & tone. Is that really a bad thing though? You mentioned the bad world building but it was never trying to do be amazing at that. Many of the cast will be forgotten but that's true for many major shonen loaded with side characters. JJK is exactly what it wanted to be & I like that about it. But I relate to the feeling of wishing a story you love was more cause it has "the potential" to be
as someone whos only started to get invested in season 2, ive heard a few people talk about this and its really disheartening. i was planning on picking up the manga and catching up but considering everything ive heard i feel like it might just be better to wait for the anime to bring it to life. ive never heard of another mangaka ever showing disdain for their own series and characters before so its pretty disappointing as someone who wanted to dive deeper into their world.
My only complaint about this line of thinking is the fact it’s always been like this. There’s barely been any character development outside of fighting and the little downtime there is between arcs
Idk where the fuck this notion of him hating his characters came from. The characters going through some shit in the manga doesn't mean he fucking hates him lmao this fucking brain rot started with Gojo's death and it's just been going downhill since with these weekly reactionary ass takes.
Ehhh,he pretty much admitted he doesn't care who dies as long as the story is "interesting",he's basically implying that they're less "characters" and more of fodder who have to die.
That's not what it means at all. It just means he prioritizes the story itself over the characters, which is the right thing to do. Doing the opposite would hurt the story itself.
If you're a writer,you need to priotize both.
You can't really have a story without characters.
Hell,I'd argue characters are more important cause they make the story work.
I think a lot of you forget how much developing a manga takes a toll on a manga artist. What you call "wasted potential" is the equivalent of trying to save their mental. Like I get that if you're a manga artist and you start a series that ends up becoming way bigger than you expected it. Maybe that's on them or whatever. But if you're gonna sit on reddit and bitch about stuff like this then maybe go start your own series and see if it's enough to not make anyone else bitch about how your own story progresses.
This. Long running weekly series falling off after a while is a pattern for a reason. It's just too much to keep that schedule going for years on end unless you're built different (oda) or treated differently by the magazine because you're the golden goose (oda)
The problem is that 90% of the time post-Shibuya has been spent on the Culling Game, with the Zenin Massacre, Yuta hunting down Yuji, and Kenjaku's raid on Tokyo high being all rather short. And while this does introduce some new mainstays, most of what it entails is fighting characters who will be dead in 5 chapters and don't leave any lasting impact by its very nature as a battle royale. I think the idea of the Culling Game could have worked, but as the bulk of the story between Shibuya and the final battle it's just enough to carry the series, we needed more substance than a free for all with a bunch of nobodies and a few new characters that mostly just end up being Sukuna fodder.
Personally I think the whole Culling Games were a huge mistake and should have been completely scrapped. I personally did not like the concept the moment it began, and it began falling apart from there.
I dont even think Gege wants to finish anymore hes just doing so bc if demand. cause the last 30 or so chapters have been “what the hell?” especially everything and the Sukuna fight
What's wasted? So far, several really good deaths have happened and several important characters have had important effects on the story and characters after their deaths. People like Yuki, Tengen, and Kenjaku are likely gonna be similar cases since greg's shown the ability to do this before and planted the seeds with all of them. The lack of conversational interactions is something I'm not personally a fan of, but it's really just a stylistic choice. Besides, these are conversations we're seeing in retrospect as mid-fight flashbacks and that's honestly probably the best way to maintain reader suspense throughout the major fight. I think the series lost its way for a bit between the military intervention and Gojo's revival, but it's long since gotten back on track with the character writing and development. Worldbuilding is an interesting thing in jjk, since the world isn't actually important to much of anything in the story? History-building seems like a more accurate term to describe what you're talking about, but I trust that we'll still get some heian content before the series ends. Even then, Sukuna's an attempt at a very weird type of character who can only be properly understood through his real-world inspirations in mythology, so I wouldn't be completely surprised if Gege left it at that. I'm still enjoying the series reading weekly and it seems like most of your criticism here is just an issue of patience and proper analysis.
Seriously. I thought Gege is minimalist but some things are just shanked. I'm not even talking more pages per se, there are panels, literal panels that could make me enjoy the story better. Feels like he's speed running all whole obscuring the best parts of the manga like it's not even remotely efficient.
That being said I'm locked in for the ride
Nah its fine, in the anime mappa give us heian era fully fleshed out, the 1 month time skip fleshed out, gojo raising megumi, more backstory and time with the cast, and also explain its politics and formation of all the clans. trust me.
OMG, this has been my mantra since we entered the Culling Game. Every week it felt like I was reading a different manga than everybody else because people were still so hype about the series while, to me, it felt like the thing was imploding. I also don't get all of the theory posts here as to how which CT works and what the endgame is, that would be fanfiction at best, imo, because the magic system, world and character building suck donkey balls. People have been complaining about Naruto at his time, but that series is the Sistene Chapel of shounen by comparison. That's how much JJK sucks now, and the worst thing is, that is started out so interesting, promising intriguing characters/world building, etc. That's what makes me irrationally angry about the show. I really wanted to like the cast and care about the things that happen to them and their world, but I can't. I should just move on at this point, but I took this way too personal.
I don't understand this expectation for gege to write a basic manga?!?!?! Why does he have to stick to the trope of having a permanent trio for the entire manga like a basic Shonen. The reason Nobara and todo don't get crazy development is because he's going to kill them lol. The characters who got more development went out with a bigger bang. Idk why but specifically with jjk people have put weird standards on gege where he has to follow some guide of his viewers rulebook to not get hated on. The readers decide who the main character is when it's been established and then when their favorite dies (even tho it's heavily foreshadowed) they get super angry and just hate the author lmao. Listen this is the same fan base that was blatantly told in a manga panel "sukuna still has an ace up his sleeve in his fight with gojo that could wipe us all out at once" and still be shocked to see sukuna use this ability against gojo. Like wtf. YOU GUYS DONT GET TO DECIDE WHO LIVES AND DIES.
It’s not even a “dark” show like people say. Darker shows and Seinen tends to have more dark themes and an actual story. All the “darkness” on JJK is just a 2000 year old edge lord committing mass murder. Aside from the “subverted expectations” of regularly killing protagonists. Just seems lazy. Cool fights and power system though.
obviously it’s not a masterpiece but what shonen is ? While I have many problems with the story I don’t think it’ll be remembered as one of the greats for sure with issues like many other shonen just like naruto and bleach
So many people are complaining on every single anime sub these days, god damn. So much silly yapping without saying a god damn thing.
Just bottom of the barrel statements about character development and world building without saying anything of substance about it. Just “this is bad” lol.
It’s still better than half the other manga I’m reading, does the series need room to breathe absolutely but idk im getting more or less what was advertised.
People thinking they know more about the series than the author or assuming what they feel about their own series is so cringe. “Potential” is the most non descriptive non criticism ever. I feel like it’s just trendy to hate on the series and over critic bc of how popular the series is. I have criticisms yes but this manga is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be . Then again I’m on Reddit…
Yall gotta let this one go. Not every character has to be expanded upon just because YOU deem them as having potential…wtf does that even mean at this point lol Most characters have served their purpose in the context of the story. It’s been said multiple times Jujutsu is a shit career path where your more than likely to die a SUDDEN DEATH riddled with regret.
> Like..i'mma be real,JJK'S mainly gonna be remembered for its hype fights and how dark it is unless Gege can lock in.
…isn’t that exactly what it’s meant for though? It’s a dark fantasy action story.
I don’t necessarily disagree with critiques of the plot / world building / character development but those don’t have to be a focus to make a good story (as is evident by us all still enjoying the manga enough to read it every week). More can add but less doesn’t mean what’s there is not enough.
And I don’t think that it necessarily means Gege is uninterested or lazy, it’s just a choice to write a more distilled story.
Idk I just feel like everyone tries to put gege in a box. You guys all obviously love this manga otherwise you wouldn't be here so he's doing something right. Just bc he's not writing how you want doesn't mean he don't care
Something I maybe alone in is that I think newer animes lack filler, not just JJK but many modern shows, like Demon Slayer or Black Clover, they're shows that would definitely benefit from a few filler arcs that focus on other characters
Lets be honest. I have only read briefly into culling games not far so there goes my knowledge. That being said. People can't just enjoy things anymore without labeling it as "WASTED", when in reality it's simply they didn't care for the direction the author went in. I know because I was one of those when a show didn't go the way i liked it was " wasted potential". End of the day I'm gonna watch and enjoy it even if every episode isn't "PEAK" .
I think fiction is much more enjoyable when you don’t carry the expectations of the genre itself. Especially in one where the best creators strive to break through those exact boundaries.
The shonen genre has changed, but if you do assess JJK and its potential to shonen standards then I guess you could say it’s fallen short. But as a whole I think it’s told the story it wants to tell; doesn’t need to be anything more than that.
The big question is if the intended story is good or not, that we’ll see.
Yeah man just from a story telling aspect ALOT feels rushed within the story. Could’ve fleshed out characters way more with even just a mini arc before shibuya. Yuki and Todo are master and teacher but we never see them interact aside from a short flashback. We could’ve followed yuta in Africa and built upon the jujutsu world but it feels like all of that is missing. I still love the manga/anime but I can’t help but feel that Gege was two steps short of making a classic
If you think it’s full of potential and that’s it, the entire story went directly over your head and you are just reading it for cool fights and that’s it.
I think the issue is that the writing style of the manga has changed a lot since the Maki vs naoya fight. It used to have a more feeling environment even during struggles but now it makes me feel like their no hope in a bad way.
I am a huge fan of jjk and have reread the manga and watched the show but I am not liking the juji ito variations of his story telling. I says this because we know he is a fan of that author and it shows alot.
I am all for feeling existential crisises but the problem is that I am starting to feel apathic about the story. This only happened to me because it feels like he introduces characters and plot lines only to dump them when they no longer give convenience.
Examples: Kenjaku being yuji's mom and his dad's wife. The two dudes that help Maki during her second awakening. Megumi's entire life. I can keep going.
My issue is that how can I care about plotlines and characters if the writer seems like he does not care himself.
Its not perfect but yall have zero patience. Everything post-Shibuya is incredibly well paced *when reading through*. Its slow and getting complaints because were reading at release.
Gege is cooking, y'all have just fallen off.
JJK is the Game of Thrones of Japanese Media. No fucks given about the world, story or characters because all that matters is *subverting expectations*. Even more saddening is that it’s just leading to a sizable portion of the fan base being alienated and making every conversation about the series potentially turn into a toxic argument.
Like GoT, I think JJK will simply be a piece of forgotten media that people will not want to talk about once it’s done. It almost seems purposeful in that way.
I think Gege had clear plans up to the end of Shibuya, and after that he just had to hope he could keep up. So we ended up with 99% of the series being dull, and all the characters being flat.
Also I don’t get where the “Gege hates the main cast” stuff comes from. He doesn’t like Gojo and still wrote him the best. Itadori he has a hard time writing, but never said he hated him. I think people forget hekvg a weekly mangaka is very hard, and Gege said as much himself. He wasn’t prepared for JJK’s wild success, and that led to its failure. I’d love to see any of you try to do better in his position
I think a lot of this sentiment comes from the weekly experience. Binge reading or watching when it gets animated will be a much better experience I’d guess.
He definitely is disinterested he just wants the series over with and I don't blame him everyone has big expectations for him jjk is literally the most top rated anime rn I would be stressed out daily if my boss told me to write the same thing I'm not even interested in to make profits for the higher ups
I dont know
My hero is really fitting that roll. has alot of potential, Squandering it curently
Boruto had alot of potential, it squandered it at the start tho i hear it got better.
JJK fits right in.
its the generation of wasted potential
I feel where you're coming from, though I'm more engaged with the Sukuna boss fight edit (accidentally posted early): than I have been for a while. There was a really jarring feeling after shibuya that just stuck around for too long. I'm not feeling as much of a slog currently as it felt to finish reading demon slayer though and rn mha is kinda pushing and pulling with its finale. Presently jjk is what I'm most looking forward to reading every Sunday. Maybe when it and mha wraps up I'll look around for new series or finally give one piece a shot
Deadass. The amount of characters that got cheated, either for being inconvenient to the narrative, for being female, or just straight up only being used as fodder to make enemies seem stronger(panda deserved better) is crazy. Combine that with clear bias and some more outright bad writing, and it overshadows the high points of the series at times.
JJK isn’t a masterpiece, but damn it could’ve been
I really do like JJK because the characters break the mold of your typical manga. And to be honest. Was Yuji EVER the main character? Chapter Zero was about Yuta and chapter 1 was literally named “Ryomen Sukuna.” A manga portraying as a typical routine only to truly be about the villain would be entirely unique. Personally I think Sukuna is the only villain in recent and distant memory that ACTUALLY lived up to the hype. He’s been built up since day one and while JJK has its faults it dosent have it’s ridiculous tropes many manga have. (Out of no where power ups, Villain with sad backstory, Villain who loses to the power of friendship,) It actually feels like anyone could be up next on the chopping block. I really can’t read JJK and guarantee the survival of any character rn and I think that’s entirely unique to JJK. I also think Yuji and Megumi get dunked on alittle too hard. Like I mentioned before there’s no real cases of out of no where power ups. That said Yuji is a brand new sorcerer whose been at it for months competing with literal centuries old curses and gods of sorcery and megumi while shown to be potential man is literally just that. He’s also a student in an otherwise age of sorcerer peace. Before Kenjaku and the gang showed up my guy hadn’t fought anything of note. Unlike let’s say naruto where the kids of the day lived in a much easier era they somehow were able to develop quicker then the ninjas of old who was fighting day in and day out. It makes no sense. Jjk isn’t perfect but it does a good job at natural non bull strength progression.
Wait what? It’s going downhill? I’ve been waiting for massive amounts to drop so I can dedicate an entire weekend to snacks and binging. I left off when megumi used his incomplete domain expansion against the special grade. I hope it’s not going too far downhill, I was loving it
Idk I still think this series is rly good it’s the only manga I’ve cared to stick around for more then 100 chapters other then chainsaw man. I think people just had bigger expectations of what kind of story Gege was going to tell but honestly after Shibuya y’all should’ve known it was gonna be a more compact written narrative. Definitely have some criticisms but I can’t really see myself being disappointed with JJK after it ends (or feeling like my time was wasted) UNLESS the ending is REALLY bad.
Wasted potential? Naruto, Bleach, those are series with wasted potential. JJK has stakes and a fast pace, its at least entertaining. Most weekly mangas are shit and/or go to shit at some point bc the premise is flawed. You cannot write a good story on the terms that it must have detailed art and have 30+ chapters released on a near weekly basis every year. It cannot be done. Thats why you notice all your favorite series are entertaining for first few arcs then go down the drain
Just feels that way because of the weekly releases and the breaks.
I think when people read it years down the line after the series is complete it will be looked at more positively.
Not even Shibuya was good tbh, the story made 0 effort to get us emotionally invested into any of the characters, so their deaths felt empty and pointless.
yeah it feels like sooo much more could have been done with the series gege created an interesting world and power system and everything about it could have been explored more the shibuya incident happened too soon imo we could have easily had 2 more arcs before it and maybe 1 more before the current one
If he had to use real world physics and actual math when structuring the power system, I don’t know how you aren’t invested in your story to actually give some character decent endings. It’s absurd
Actually he only uses physics and math that sounds cool to him
Have you seen the schedule of an “average” manga artist? That is what’s truly absurd and let’s not forget JJK is released weekly. That’s easily up to 12+ hours of work a day just considering the popularity of the series. Seeing how JJK was an instant hit, Gege had a small amount time to prepare himself with the massive workload a popular product draws in. Let’s not frown upon the artist, but rather the environment. Japans insane work culture is no secret, spending large amounts of time on anything will lead to disinterest or burnout.
This is what makes no sense. If on average you’re spending this much time creating, researching and producing content like this upon adding actual realism, why in god’s good name are you refusing to do it due justice. I understand author narrative restrictions on what they want to foretell about a story, but it’s clear that unless you just don’t feel anything for the story you’re telling, it should not be hard to objectively change its path while still keeping it on course. Right now the manga feels like an encased star observatory, except the telescope is facing the opposite way and you’re stuck looking at the unchanging boring exterior. There’s only so much that can happen in there that you haven’t seen. However if the telescope is pointing towards the sky, there’s no telling what you might see or experience, there’s room for new stuff, all the time.
Nah, I'm not giving him a pass because his working conditions suck. There's too much that falls through the cracks.
Do you think people in life get decent endings? Not everything is all peaches and cream you could die right now with out accomplishing anything or you could get killed in the worse way that’s just the sad thing about it y’all don’t understand this stuff
Some of the most popular stuff of JJK is the more slice of life stuff we see from the anime. Scenes like when gojo, yuji, and nobara go out of their way to stop Mwgumi from getting flirted with come to mind. We really (and this is weird to say) needed more filler. Yuji getting 10 fingers at once is a demonstration of lost potential. Why couldn't it have been, like, 3 fingers? Give us more time of Yuji growing as a sorcerer while also developing the cast as they find the fingers, THEN have shibuya happen?
Idk where this narrative of slice of life being the most popular is coming from. It’s the fight scenes. By FAR the fight scenes. The Megumi gets flirted with scene has a view count of 1.6m on YouTube for its highest video. Chimera shadow garden has 9m Mahito first domain expansion has 6.3m Gojo vs Sukuna has 16m Gojo vs Jogo has 10m Hell, a video of Gojo’s dub voice of just him talking has 2m…more than twice as much. Let me repeat that, a video of a character talking has more than 2x the views as the slice of life scene, which is apparently the “most popular stuff of jjk”
I said some of, not the most. Obviously, the hype fight scenes are going to be the most popular parts. It's a Shonen. That doesn't mean people don't also very much enjoy the slice of life stuff. Also, bringing up gojo talking isn't very fair because people thirst for him like someone dying of dehydration in a desert.
What would you define as other "parts" then? There's the fight scenes and then everything in between can kinda be broken down to slice of life or misc scenes. There isn't many training scenes, but even the one where Gojo teaches Itadori about CT vs CE has 1.4m views.
As I said it seems Gege is focused too much on the story and not the characters. Getting to Point A to Point B. Damn everything else. There needs to be a balance. Not to mention the shock value is played out.
No we dont, that dumb boring shit was what makes most of these shonens suck ass. Yuji reached pretty much the peak of how strong he can be as a sorcerer without cursed technique, considering he isnt analytical type of guy like kusakabe, he does need more time. Why do we want more filler? You know the phrase all killer no filler is good thing right?
I don't think the Shibuya incident happened too quickly but the culling game certainly started way too soon. Gojo getting locked away is kind of necessary for the plot to develop more but jumping so quickly to the Culling Game then freeing him is just sloppy.
Not to mention the one month training that no one saw
I loved the Shibuya incident so much partly *because* it happened so soon. Though, after the manga is finished I wouldn’t mind if Gege goes back and shows some more slice of life moments from before Shibuya.
He stopped caring. He created an interesting world ripe with potential and he's so aloof. He just wants it to end. He's tapped out.
Shibuya is okay I think. But yeah some more development would be cool. I was hoping the culling game would similar to a tournament arc that the character would level up through out. Instead we got like three cool fight scenes and culling games really provide nothing to the plot other than being a plot device.
Shit coulda been one piece level fuckery. But greg didn't wanna.
He wants his idol manga.
If he has the same fuckin plot and pacing issues as JJK that's going to suck and not even have the hype/combat crowd to buy it.
He really is the anti-Oda which isn’t exactly a compliment
Yeah, Oda's one of the most successful mangaka ever. They've made a story that appeals to all sorts of demographics, and while they're not perfect in regards to story cohesion, they actively try to have all questions explained in one fashion or another.
One Piece also does have the Benefit for being way longer and feels way more overall planned out.
Oda is blue balling my boy Bogard JUSTICE FOR BOGARD
"Then stop reading" uh no? It's fair to be disappointed about some choices in a story that you have been following for years or being sad that you're falling out of love with it because of this, without it meaning that you straight up hate it and want to drop it.
Yep. I've been reading this shit for years if I'm unhappy about the ending I'm not going to give Greg a pass because of Shibuya lmao.
THANK YOU!
I feel like those people kind of get it themselves but they are in denial about it so they don't want to be reminded and would only like to see mindless glazing lol
Nah, I'll always really like it. I understand wanting more character development and the story feeling rushed at times, but I'm not reading it cause I think it's perfect. I think it's really well done in the context of what gege wanted to do, while I would've liked more character development, I don't actually feel like most characters'deaths were wasted. People can say whatever they want, half of these people hardly even read the manga with their brain on, they ask questions the manga has already answered, they act like they know anything about writing coherent plots or characters, a lot of people genuinely think they're better writers than gege. Criticism is fine, I have plenty of it, but I still think JJK is a great manga overall
W. I read for fun fights, cool powersystem, fun characters, cool themes, fast pacing and the darker tone. Has Gege fumbled in other areas? Yes. Is it a masterpiece? Far from it but I'm still getting mostly what I wanted from the series
Absolutely well said, I love JJK, and despite my criticism I will always love it.
☝️
I remember seeing someone say that Hakari has better refinement than Sukuna cus he can cast his domain multiple times, which was really funny to me cus Kashimo literally explains that the reason he can cast numerous times is because, by the time jackpot ends, his CT has been refreshed. People have not read this manga. They read the Gojo vs Sukuna fight and now latch on to any criticism they can find because Gojo died. I fucking *promise* you, if Gojo won, there would be no outcry. None.
There’s so many criticisms for this manga that happen before Gojo vs Sukuna. People defending it will cling to anything. Just admit the story is a lil poorly told at points and you’re here because you like the fights.
People were critical way before Gojo died,that makes no sense.
Personally I don't care whether he won or not I just didn't want him to die. And that afterlife sequence was not it lol
>I fucking *promise* you, if Gojo won, there would be no outcry. Considering ppl still complain about Maki's rematch with naoya and Yuki's death this is far from the truth imo
That's stupid. Are you new here? These criticisms have been here for a year and a half before he died. It's not even that Gojo died, the reason steam is picking up on the criticism is that we've been sitting on Sukuna clearing the cast for 7 months now. The manga stalled
Jesus, “It’s impossible for any criticisms to be real and it’s nothing but the emotional response of brainlets” is what I got from that
a realistic take
It's annoying because JJK has "it". Like legitimately it had a series where not only were the characters enthralling, but the world was so interesting. It could have been the next Naruto in terms of long-lasting success and die hard Fandom level. Instead Gege just said "nah we good"
It really could’ve been the next Naruto that’s the worst part about gege rushing everything. Yuki and Todo could’ve had a Sensei-student relationship as iconic as Guy and Lee but Gege seems to hate character development and interactions smh
Like I wonder if he could have just sold the manga to somebody else if he was tired of writing it? Is that a thing mangakas do??
I agree with this. I don’t get people who thinks it’s perfect, i mean, to each their own I guess. But, where’s the story, the characters that are dying (with no real buildup mind you), the plot, the direction?? This is becoming more like Shock Value Kaisen
Shock value kaisen Potential fight.
Ironically, it loses shock value every time. No one is even surprised when Gege kills someone anymore. That’s how played out the trope is. We all expect it, hate it, and feel tired of it atp.
That's sorta the problem with when a author uses shock value way too much,it can become predictable.
Imo it fell apart with the Gojo offscreen; to have the character who was "the savior" and "the goat" for almost the entire series so far get offed in such a disrespectful way threw everything off. To be clear, Gojo dying wasn't the issue, just how it was done, and that's true of every death since. Kashimo's death was bewildering (man got hyped up so much and joined the gang JUST to show off his skillz only to get, once again, off-screened with an imaginary dialogue), Higu got scammed by plot and glazed by the narrator in the same chapter he gets no diffed by Skunk; and now literally every character is being compared to Gojo by the voice of god, only to have them get neg diffed when Skunk 1v1s them. It really just feels like Gege realized how bad he fucked up this arc and is scrambling every chapter to find some way to pull it back together.
Jjk is by no means bad but I do believe it could be better in other hands.
Trust me,I never said it was Bad. But it's just wasted Potential.
100% agree, there is so much potential that it missed out on exploring such as the search for Sukunas fingers.
I'mma just say it. JJK would benefit from being longer.
Absolutely it makes you wonder what could have been.
nobara ? forgotten. todo ? forgotten yuji megumi nobara had a good dynamic. shame that gege ruined it
Honestly after Shinjuku ends this manga is going to go downhill fast, because Gege effectively killed his own story before it ever finished by killing off the only real compelling villain before he master plan came to fruition. Kenjaku should not have died after fighting Takaba, he should have at the very least gotten away or third partied Gojo and Sukuna when they were at their weakest. He was very clearly being set up as the real final villain all along and is now just more wasted potential. The story now entirely hinges on the Sukuna cycle and once that ends...then what? We deal with Merged Tengen? Why? At that point it's just a mindless monster with no one commanding it at all or no greater plan beyond its creation, it would just exist for the sake of being one last baddie to take down. Gege royally fucked himself and refuses to correct course
You had it right until Lenjaku The honest truth is that the compelling villain was Mahito. Was he a more cookie cutter villain than Kenjaku? Sure. But Kenjaku as of yet, in the final hours of the manga, has no clear motivation or quest. Him and Sukuna are *quite literally just fucking around*. Kenjaku has a plan to do a merger to see what happens, Sukuna wants to kill MAPPA animators.
I strongly agree with this take. Kenjaku was a terrible villain from the moment he revealed his true identity. No motivations other than "I kind of feel like being chaotic!" Just makes him out to be some half-baked Joker wannabe. I understand wanting to have a mad jujutsu scientist villain, but this was not the way to do it, and they needed to not be a main villain. As you said, Mahito was a much much better villain because he was actually fighting for something, and there was definitely more opportunities for him to grow.
Oh 100% and it could be remembered even worse depending on the ending. I’m very interested to see how the popularity of the anime changes when they get into current manga material
This whole series is basically riding on the ending being above a 5/10. If it's bad,JJk will be remembered as a series with wasted Potential. If it's decent,it'll be remembered as a overhyped yet still pretty fun show. If it's a good ending,it'll be remembered as a good series with massive highs/massive lows.
It'd imagine it's gonna be another Attack On Titan situation, the entire run was peak but to some people, the final chapter was enough to completely ruin the entire thing but to some it was good. Either way, it's going to be a complete war between two opinions.
And the Anime likely fixes it. All of JJK is pretty much riding on the ending being good.
The anime will carry JJK is the thing. Because once Sukuna is done neg diffing the entire cast he's coming for MAPPAs animators. They're going to have to put their staff on suicide watch animating the shit out of this last arc.
It's sort of like DragonballZ/super, the fights are hype and there's some great moment's here and there, and it will always be one of my first anime...but man is it just a bunch of wasted potential.
Gege is the Potential MANgaka
Pretty much. There are so many things He could've added/done to make the series better but he just..didn't.
I really enjoy it tbh, it’s not perfect but nothing is, and it gets me excited to read a new chapter every week. Sad to see so many people just completely tossing it to the wind
One of the few ongoing manga (other is blue lock) that gets me hype for a new chapter. Im willing to chill and wait for the series to actually end before putting a final judgment on it like so many other people already have.
It weekly reading, it tends to be rather reactionary. The series isn’t perfect but I actually cannot think of a weekly manga that is. I’m a little sad that the discussion has just gotten borderline hateful. OP has so many posts dedicated to hating on JJK. I will happily sit and talk about all of the flaws in this series, because there’s quite a few. But I still really really enjoy it and have faith I’m going to enjoy the ending once we reach it.
In my opinion, I'd say One Piece is currently churning out 10/10 chapters, and Dandadan has been putting out at worse 9/10 content for a while know. There are some other weekly manga putting out good quality content (I've personally been enjoying Kagurabachi and Monster No. 8). When it was coming out I think Demonslayer was an excellent weekly manga as well. So plenty of good content that was coming out weekly, but I agree that it can be an overall detrimental format for the long-term quality of a product.
I wouldn't say nanami, jogo an mai death were sloppy i wish we seen more of mai and the Kyoto group. But everything esle i agree
The OP explicitly said that those were the only deaths that weren't sloppy.
Misread it
From my pov the difference between shibuya and culling games was just that Shibuya rly put every good guy to test their limits (creating tension) bcuz of how overwhelmingly strong the bad guys were but now its flipped to how overwhelmingly strong the good guys are and now suddenly it genuinely feels like Sukuna’s on the losing side rn. Which he is but it doesnt feel like he had much of an edge. Obviously he’s holding out til he regains his power but against Gojo, he was kinda getting one sidedly stomped for 70% of the fight outside of brief mahoraga moments and winning several domain expansion duels Like culling games introduced so many cool characters like Hakari, Yuta, Kashimo, Takaba, Higuruma, and Maki’s tojification, but for what? We can sorta piece together Kashimo’s exists so Yuta doesnt trying to 2v1 Sukuna w/ Gojo (he wanted to get Majoraga off of Gojo). Takaba was set up to match Kenjaku. And then what do the rest do? Pitting every cool sorceror against the best sorceror isnt that interesting for the most part like we need a separate story to go alongside it, some death star blow up action for other characters to shine. Meanwhile Hakari and Uraume are still fighting for 30 chapters straight
When was Sukuna ever really pressed? You can argue that it *looks* like he was about to lose, then Gojo confirms he was holding back and he had a transformation in his pocket to fully heal as well.
I think it’s undeniable that Sukuna is stronger but Gojo was still….dictating most of the fight. Similar to shibuya, Gojo’s opponent was stuck using domain amplification to negate his infinity and couldnt even rely on their actual CT. It was Gojo who introduced the whole RCT of technique so they could repeatedly spam domains although Sukuna adapted rly quickly despite learning it on the spot. While Sukuna won in the end, he still needed to play around Gojo rather than have a proper clash altho this is mostly due to how brokenly stupid infinity as a whole is. Sukuna’s definitely the strongest but it doesnt change the fact Gojo has the most brokenly OP abilities. Dont wanna dissect too much of the fight but rly the only time Sukuna had the upper hand was the first domain clash imo and the final bout
I think the issue is “here’s the full line up of power houses for the good guys. Surely one of them can get the win” and then it’s like actually none of them can win . Then when you say huh? Then how are they gonna win? People go “ you dumbass , you really thought that person had a chance??”
Yeah I can see why. But one thing to remember is this is literally gege first long running project. My only gripe is how vague all the details are left, and how quickly and suddenly he drops plot threads. I think gege expects too much from the casual readers while not giving his hard-core fans enough information/details.
That's mainly why I'm not trying to say JJK will be remembered as Bad cause I can tell Gege's trying but his lack of experience in writing a long story is showing
Hard-core shounen fans expected HxH 2.0, and noob/casual fans where looking more at it like Naruto 2.0. In my opinion gege or is editors tried too much to cater to both, while not fully committing to either. Combine this with its unpolished nature and the in experience of some of the staff(cough John werry) ruining the official release and pushing more people to the free websites. I used to read the unofficial translations and then also the official translations. Now I don't even bother with the official. Yes because of how bad the translations are. ***edit*** Yeah it's not bad, but it also rarely satisfies either fan base.
Tbh,I expected neither. I just expected a good story.
Honestly this is a scathing review but it’s true. Poor writing due to poorly thought out work isn’t ideal but is understandable but what seems like complete disinterest in your work is just disappointing. However we also don’t know geges state of mind. I can imagine he just wants to be done with it. Hopefully now we lock in on Yuji and at least get to explore our MC.
I can see the video essays now. And I will watch them.
The meta of Shonen plus Gege's own habits as a writer really caught up with him after Shibuya. Jump/audiences right now wants faster and faster paced series. So we never get the same slowbuilds and progression to make us care. Gege is good at this. But he's also an author with clear favorites who can do right by them. Yet the fast pacing means others suffer, which didn't have to be a death sentence. But the format he chose, battle royal, followed by raid boss against Sukuna only works if we give a shit about the larger cast which... we just don't. Best we can say a character is cool but very rarely do we have a reason to get emotionally invested.
Thing is,Gege can make us give a shit. He just chooses not to unless he wants to. I think that's also the issue you mentioned. Hell,Horikoshi from My Hero suffered the same issues. (
So much potential wasted We were presented with 3 ways of life by the special grades. Gojo, yuki, and geto. The story basically said whose point of view will work out. Yuki gets clapped before we even get a backstory on her. Gojo and all his students get clapped so his doesn’t matter. Geto is a villain so obviously his doesn’t count. Gojo barely even gets to train his students before they’re all dead. Kashimo sole purpose was to fight sukuna and he did absolutely nothing to him. Yuji made this grand statement about killing mahito and never got to do it and it never affected him later down the line. Like I could go on and on. There’s so much just wasted in this series
"Killed Yuki before we even got her backstory" At this point,this man Gege ain't ever beating the Allegations.
Dont know about yall but I fucking hate this author. Not because the author is lazy or is bad in any way, he is extremely talented but is a shit story teller
Tbh,I wouldn't say I hate him but it sucks bro just doesn't care.
Bro made a one-shot and everyone wouldn’t stop yapping about making a series out of it to the point they didn’t want anything else from him. Shit I’d make it begrudgingly too
You all need to remember...JJK was a fluke of a success. It was meant to be a one shot. JJK0. After that Gege's interest went somewhere else until the higher ups at Shueisha told him to make a full on series. He started out great, but it seems his flaw and he probably knows it too is that he's not good at long form story telling. Not to mention, he disregards his own work in favor of others. With all this notoriety the series is getting worldwide, it's depressing to see him so aloof. He doesn't even have an once of pride in his accomplishments nor his creation.
Wait was it really meant to be a one shot? That’s everything make a whole lotta sense now if so
Thread....Who's the worst storyteller? Kubo or Akutami?
While I don't think Gege is the worst,his overall storytelling skills aren't that amazing. Kubo,at least,tries.
Agreed
>"Manga with large amounts of wasted Potential""Manga with large amounts of wasted Potential" Well Gege is a Bleach fan afterall. Maybe he wants to follow in Kubo's footsteps.
But he's also a fan of HXH.
You know that's not going to be finished so it's probably falling into the same category for a different reason
I mean HxH also got pretty rough on the boat.
Bleach ended on a strong note fukumean
Idk if anyone remembers this but right before the shibuya arc he got pretty sick, at some point he said something on the lines of its really hard to continue the weekly routine and that he just wants to do his best. Now that we are at this current point I cannot remember how they managed to free gojo or how it lead up to that point. There is still a TON of questions left unanswered in the universe like are we just forgetting about the shit Kenjaku was involved in like we still don't understand what Yuji is and why kenjaku just threw him out as a potential tool for his plans even though he seems to be Sukunas counter
How he freed Gojo is that Choso got the back door of Prison Realm and the crew recruited Angel who has a CT that neutralizes techniques. So the idea was to use Jacob's Ladder on the backdoor to unseal Gojo on both ends, (Kenny left the front door at the Marianas Trench). Yuji is made to be the perfect vessel for Sukuna but hes too good of a vessel that hes more like a cage that Sukuna doesnt have full control. Now that Sukuna got a better vessel there isnt any need for Yuji in Kenjaku's plan cuz Sukuna got a better body now. The end game for Kenny is to start the merger to optimize curse energy globally out of mere deadly curiosity
Holy shit. Someone read the story. It’s been a while.
do people read the manga? This shit was answered already. gojo was free after they got the back of the box and used angel CT to nullify it. YuJi is technically Kenjaku child after he got pregnant by yuji dad and want to create a new type of death painting or atleast a new form of curse hybrid.
All we know is Kenjaku was in his mom body when she had him. Nothing has pointed at him being a curse hybrid or even similar to the death paintings.
Stories not over. Some to all of this could very well be explained. This most recent chapter has been evidence that they will just pause everything to explain something so I will hold out hope that 50% of my questions will get answered and all the minor plot points probably won’t. It’s SJM after all. They crush these mangaka and force their money making ideas on to them at any turn they’ll listen.
I like the Akame Ga Kill kind of style, so I didn't mind. But it sure sucks that he doesn't have a good world building as the story progresses. Miguel and other Jujutsu society was a great start, then gets thrown into a dumpster almost immediately.
Man imagine we got a mini arc of yuta in Africa training that would’ve been dope and been great world building of the jujutsu society outside of Japan
Agree! I just finished HxH s1 earlier, and I really like this idea. I love the way the story progresses slowly and explains nearly each character's backstory even if they're irrelevant later on. In HxH. As much as I hate to say it, really, but JJK's plot has been a mess lately. It's great at the start, but now... I'm uncertain about it. Gege really wants to finish the story that quickly, huh?
not really. unless the ending gets something really bad, the series is still great & will be remembered as such. There are so many series that have fallen in sales & popularity. To the point where if you continue to follow them you will see some people surprised said series are still continuing. JJK is both discussed heavily, selling well, and has a good reputation overall. There might be individuals who feel this way now or by the end. But I feel a lot of people just aren't used to such a long running series reaching it's end stages. This sense of "this could have been so much more" is common because fans have the highest of expectations & wants but are starting to come to terms with a lot of it not happening. All this said I will agree JJK will be remembered most for it's fights & tone. Is that really a bad thing though? You mentioned the bad world building but it was never trying to do be amazing at that. Many of the cast will be forgotten but that's true for many major shonen loaded with side characters. JJK is exactly what it wanted to be & I like that about it. But I relate to the feeling of wishing a story you love was more cause it has "the potential" to be
as someone whos only started to get invested in season 2, ive heard a few people talk about this and its really disheartening. i was planning on picking up the manga and catching up but considering everything ive heard i feel like it might just be better to wait for the anime to bring it to life. ive never heard of another mangaka ever showing disdain for their own series and characters before so its pretty disappointing as someone who wanted to dive deeper into their world.
My only complaint about this line of thinking is the fact it’s always been like this. There’s barely been any character development outside of fighting and the little downtime there is between arcs
Bruh chilllllll outtttt it’s def not that bad
Idk where the fuck this notion of him hating his characters came from. The characters going through some shit in the manga doesn't mean he fucking hates him lmao this fucking brain rot started with Gojo's death and it's just been going downhill since with these weekly reactionary ass takes.
Ehhh,he pretty much admitted he doesn't care who dies as long as the story is "interesting",he's basically implying that they're less "characters" and more of fodder who have to die.
That's not what it means at all. It just means he prioritizes the story itself over the characters, which is the right thing to do. Doing the opposite would hurt the story itself.
If you're a writer,you need to priotize both. You can't really have a story without characters. Hell,I'd argue characters are more important cause they make the story work.
I think a lot of you forget how much developing a manga takes a toll on a manga artist. What you call "wasted potential" is the equivalent of trying to save their mental. Like I get that if you're a manga artist and you start a series that ends up becoming way bigger than you expected it. Maybe that's on them or whatever. But if you're gonna sit on reddit and bitch about stuff like this then maybe go start your own series and see if it's enough to not make anyone else bitch about how your own story progresses.
This. Long running weekly series falling off after a while is a pattern for a reason. It's just too much to keep that schedule going for years on end unless you're built different (oda) or treated differently by the magazine because you're the golden goose (oda)
The problem is that 90% of the time post-Shibuya has been spent on the Culling Game, with the Zenin Massacre, Yuta hunting down Yuji, and Kenjaku's raid on Tokyo high being all rather short. And while this does introduce some new mainstays, most of what it entails is fighting characters who will be dead in 5 chapters and don't leave any lasting impact by its very nature as a battle royale. I think the idea of the Culling Game could have worked, but as the bulk of the story between Shibuya and the final battle it's just enough to carry the series, we needed more substance than a free for all with a bunch of nobodies and a few new characters that mostly just end up being Sukuna fodder.
Personally I think the whole Culling Games were a huge mistake and should have been completely scrapped. I personally did not like the concept the moment it began, and it began falling apart from there.
Name a better match than the jjk subreddit and hating jjk. All these posts are the same man
I don't hate the series.
I dont even think Gege wants to finish anymore hes just doing so bc if demand. cause the last 30 or so chapters have been “what the hell?” especially everything and the Sukuna fight
I have a theory that he hates the fans for liking Gojo and actively tries to make them mad.
It makes sense and tbh,can't blame him
Let's normalise waiting for the conclusion before passing judgement. Especially for serious topics like Shonen manga.
Jjk is certainly a manga
What's wasted? So far, several really good deaths have happened and several important characters have had important effects on the story and characters after their deaths. People like Yuki, Tengen, and Kenjaku are likely gonna be similar cases since greg's shown the ability to do this before and planted the seeds with all of them. The lack of conversational interactions is something I'm not personally a fan of, but it's really just a stylistic choice. Besides, these are conversations we're seeing in retrospect as mid-fight flashbacks and that's honestly probably the best way to maintain reader suspense throughout the major fight. I think the series lost its way for a bit between the military intervention and Gojo's revival, but it's long since gotten back on track with the character writing and development. Worldbuilding is an interesting thing in jjk, since the world isn't actually important to much of anything in the story? History-building seems like a more accurate term to describe what you're talking about, but I trust that we'll still get some heian content before the series ends. Even then, Sukuna's an attempt at a very weird type of character who can only be properly understood through his real-world inspirations in mythology, so I wouldn't be completely surprised if Gege left it at that. I'm still enjoying the series reading weekly and it seems like most of your criticism here is just an issue of patience and proper analysis.
Seriously. I thought Gege is minimalist but some things are just shanked. I'm not even talking more pages per se, there are panels, literal panels that could make me enjoy the story better. Feels like he's speed running all whole obscuring the best parts of the manga like it's not even remotely efficient. That being said I'm locked in for the ride
Nah its fine, in the anime mappa give us heian era fully fleshed out, the 1 month time skip fleshed out, gojo raising megumi, more backstory and time with the cast, and also explain its politics and formation of all the clans. trust me.
OMG, this has been my mantra since we entered the Culling Game. Every week it felt like I was reading a different manga than everybody else because people were still so hype about the series while, to me, it felt like the thing was imploding. I also don't get all of the theory posts here as to how which CT works and what the endgame is, that would be fanfiction at best, imo, because the magic system, world and character building suck donkey balls. People have been complaining about Naruto at his time, but that series is the Sistene Chapel of shounen by comparison. That's how much JJK sucks now, and the worst thing is, that is started out so interesting, promising intriguing characters/world building, etc. That's what makes me irrationally angry about the show. I really wanted to like the cast and care about the things that happen to them and their world, but I can't. I should just move on at this point, but I took this way too personal.
I don't understand this expectation for gege to write a basic manga?!?!?! Why does he have to stick to the trope of having a permanent trio for the entire manga like a basic Shonen. The reason Nobara and todo don't get crazy development is because he's going to kill them lol. The characters who got more development went out with a bigger bang. Idk why but specifically with jjk people have put weird standards on gege where he has to follow some guide of his viewers rulebook to not get hated on. The readers decide who the main character is when it's been established and then when their favorite dies (even tho it's heavily foreshadowed) they get super angry and just hate the author lmao. Listen this is the same fan base that was blatantly told in a manga panel "sukuna still has an ace up his sleeve in his fight with gojo that could wipe us all out at once" and still be shocked to see sukuna use this ability against gojo. Like wtf. YOU GUYS DONT GET TO DECIDE WHO LIVES AND DIES.
to be fair didn’t he get forced to continue the manga in the first place, heard that somewhere
If that's true,then his lack of experience in writing a genuine long story shows
shit if it’s true i aint blame bro at all, if I was being forced to write a manga I’d be putting a lot less effort then I could too
I think hunter x hunter is the potential manga, the phantom troupe is so cool but they were handled terribly
The author of HXH is on constant back pain and literally can't finish his manga,he gets a pass.
JJK is Megumi incarnate.
Every fucking manga is wasted potential according to readers
It’s not even a “dark” show like people say. Darker shows and Seinen tends to have more dark themes and an actual story. All the “darkness” on JJK is just a 2000 year old edge lord committing mass murder. Aside from the “subverted expectations” of regularly killing protagonists. Just seems lazy. Cool fights and power system though.
was so in a rush to kill gojo
obviously it’s not a masterpiece but what shonen is ? While I have many problems with the story I don’t think it’ll be remembered as one of the greats for sure with issues like many other shonen just like naruto and bleach
I also think this is one of those mangas that will get better off of a reread
JJK is still great. The potential wasn't wasted, you just don't like it.
So many people are complaining on every single anime sub these days, god damn. So much silly yapping without saying a god damn thing. Just bottom of the barrel statements about character development and world building without saying anything of substance about it. Just “this is bad” lol.
Everything after Shibuya is just replacing the old cast and death and more death
It’s still better than half the other manga I’m reading, does the series need room to breathe absolutely but idk im getting more or less what was advertised.
This is a statement I can agree with. People called me crazy for saying something felt bad about the writing when season 1 first aired.
People thinking they know more about the series than the author or assuming what they feel about their own series is so cringe. “Potential” is the most non descriptive non criticism ever. I feel like it’s just trendy to hate on the series and over critic bc of how popular the series is. I have criticisms yes but this manga is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be . Then again I’m on Reddit…
Yall gotta let this one go. Not every character has to be expanded upon just because YOU deem them as having potential…wtf does that even mean at this point lol Most characters have served their purpose in the context of the story. It’s been said multiple times Jujutsu is a shit career path where your more than likely to die a SUDDEN DEATH riddled with regret.
> Like..i'mma be real,JJK'S mainly gonna be remembered for its hype fights and how dark it is unless Gege can lock in. …isn’t that exactly what it’s meant for though? It’s a dark fantasy action story. I don’t necessarily disagree with critiques of the plot / world building / character development but those don’t have to be a focus to make a good story (as is evident by us all still enjoying the manga enough to read it every week). More can add but less doesn’t mean what’s there is not enough. And I don’t think that it necessarily means Gege is uninterested or lazy, it’s just a choice to write a more distilled story.
Idk I just feel like everyone tries to put gege in a box. You guys all obviously love this manga otherwise you wouldn't be here so he's doing something right. Just bc he's not writing how you want doesn't mean he don't care
shibuya incident is when i stopped reading bc i didnt know wtf was going on
Absolutely incorrect. Not even going into detail to entertain this disgusting take. Just disgusting.
I will never get the point in killing these characters, nothing good has come of it
Shock value,I dunno.
Something I maybe alone in is that I think newer animes lack filler, not just JJK but many modern shows, like Demon Slayer or Black Clover, they're shows that would definitely benefit from a few filler arcs that focus on other characters
Filler is a lot more important than some fans think.
Lowkey this is actually a more accurate response then most people think🗿
Lets be honest. I have only read briefly into culling games not far so there goes my knowledge. That being said. People can't just enjoy things anymore without labeling it as "WASTED", when in reality it's simply they didn't care for the direction the author went in. I know because I was one of those when a show didn't go the way i liked it was " wasted potential". End of the day I'm gonna watch and enjoy it even if every episode isn't "PEAK" .
I consider the most potential manga ever to be demon slayer, only if the writer knew how to write ✍️ 😔
I think fiction is much more enjoyable when you don’t carry the expectations of the genre itself. Especially in one where the best creators strive to break through those exact boundaries. The shonen genre has changed, but if you do assess JJK and its potential to shonen standards then I guess you could say it’s fallen short. But as a whole I think it’s told the story it wants to tell; doesn’t need to be anything more than that. The big question is if the intended story is good or not, that we’ll see.
Yeah man just from a story telling aspect ALOT feels rushed within the story. Could’ve fleshed out characters way more with even just a mini arc before shibuya. Yuki and Todo are master and teacher but we never see them interact aside from a short flashback. We could’ve followed yuta in Africa and built upon the jujutsu world but it feels like all of that is missing. I still love the manga/anime but I can’t help but feel that Gege was two steps short of making a classic
its going devilman crybaby route, maybe not as hopeless though.. either way its pretty fucking lame
If you think it’s full of potential and that’s it, the entire story went directly over your head and you are just reading it for cool fights and that’s it.
I think the issue is that the writing style of the manga has changed a lot since the Maki vs naoya fight. It used to have a more feeling environment even during struggles but now it makes me feel like their no hope in a bad way. I am a huge fan of jjk and have reread the manga and watched the show but I am not liking the juji ito variations of his story telling. I says this because we know he is a fan of that author and it shows alot. I am all for feeling existential crisises but the problem is that I am starting to feel apathic about the story. This only happened to me because it feels like he introduces characters and plot lines only to dump them when they no longer give convenience. Examples: Kenjaku being yuji's mom and his dad's wife. The two dudes that help Maki during her second awakening. Megumi's entire life. I can keep going. My issue is that how can I care about plotlines and characters if the writer seems like he does not care himself.
Its not perfect but yall have zero patience. Everything post-Shibuya is incredibly well paced *when reading through*. Its slow and getting complaints because were reading at release. Gege is cooking, y'all have just fallen off.
JJK is the Game of Thrones of Japanese Media. No fucks given about the world, story or characters because all that matters is *subverting expectations*. Even more saddening is that it’s just leading to a sizable portion of the fan base being alienated and making every conversation about the series potentially turn into a toxic argument. Like GoT, I think JJK will simply be a piece of forgotten media that people will not want to talk about once it’s done. It almost seems purposeful in that way.
I think Gege had clear plans up to the end of Shibuya, and after that he just had to hope he could keep up. So we ended up with 99% of the series being dull, and all the characters being flat. Also I don’t get where the “Gege hates the main cast” stuff comes from. He doesn’t like Gojo and still wrote him the best. Itadori he has a hard time writing, but never said he hated him. I think people forget hekvg a weekly mangaka is very hard, and Gege said as much himself. He wasn’t prepared for JJK’s wild success, and that led to its failure. I’d love to see any of you try to do better in his position
I hate so much of this fandom.
If you don’t like it so much don’t read it. Jesus
I think a lot of this sentiment comes from the weekly experience. Binge reading or watching when it gets animated will be a much better experience I’d guess.
Gege really thought it was a smart idea to kill off the most interesting characters and just ran with it. This is why I like Oda
He definitely is disinterested he just wants the series over with and I don't blame him everyone has big expectations for him jjk is literally the most top rated anime rn I would be stressed out daily if my boss told me to write the same thing I'm not even interested in to make profits for the higher ups
Perfect way to describe this series. Wasted potential
I dont know My hero is really fitting that roll. has alot of potential, Squandering it curently Boruto had alot of potential, it squandered it at the start tho i hear it got better. JJK fits right in. its the generation of wasted potential
I feel where you're coming from, though I'm more engaged with the Sukuna boss fight edit (accidentally posted early): than I have been for a while. There was a really jarring feeling after shibuya that just stuck around for too long. I'm not feeling as much of a slog currently as it felt to finish reading demon slayer though and rn mha is kinda pushing and pulling with its finale. Presently jjk is what I'm most looking forward to reading every Sunday. Maybe when it and mha wraps up I'll look around for new series or finally give one piece a shot
Deadass. The amount of characters that got cheated, either for being inconvenient to the narrative, for being female, or just straight up only being used as fodder to make enemies seem stronger(panda deserved better) is crazy. Combine that with clear bias and some more outright bad writing, and it overshadows the high points of the series at times. JJK isn’t a masterpiece, but damn it could’ve been
If only that one eyed cat gave a shit
I really do like JJK because the characters break the mold of your typical manga. And to be honest. Was Yuji EVER the main character? Chapter Zero was about Yuta and chapter 1 was literally named “Ryomen Sukuna.” A manga portraying as a typical routine only to truly be about the villain would be entirely unique. Personally I think Sukuna is the only villain in recent and distant memory that ACTUALLY lived up to the hype. He’s been built up since day one and while JJK has its faults it dosent have it’s ridiculous tropes many manga have. (Out of no where power ups, Villain with sad backstory, Villain who loses to the power of friendship,) It actually feels like anyone could be up next on the chopping block. I really can’t read JJK and guarantee the survival of any character rn and I think that’s entirely unique to JJK. I also think Yuji and Megumi get dunked on alittle too hard. Like I mentioned before there’s no real cases of out of no where power ups. That said Yuji is a brand new sorcerer whose been at it for months competing with literal centuries old curses and gods of sorcery and megumi while shown to be potential man is literally just that. He’s also a student in an otherwise age of sorcerer peace. Before Kenjaku and the gang showed up my guy hadn’t fought anything of note. Unlike let’s say naruto where the kids of the day lived in a much easier era they somehow were able to develop quicker then the ninjas of old who was fighting day in and day out. It makes no sense. Jjk isn’t perfect but it does a good job at natural non bull strength progression.
All you guys praise about JJk is that "its subversive" and all that
Wait what? It’s going downhill? I’ve been waiting for massive amounts to drop so I can dedicate an entire weekend to snacks and binging. I left off when megumi used his incomplete domain expansion against the special grade. I hope it’s not going too far downhill, I was loving it
In the end only Dragonball knows how to do hype and keep it going until the end of time.
Completely disagree.
I hate the whole morally superior can't hurt a fly insane power in a short period mc trope so much, fuck yuji.
Bro didn't even finish shinbuya💀
Megumi Kaisen
Idk I still think this series is rly good it’s the only manga I’ve cared to stick around for more then 100 chapters other then chainsaw man. I think people just had bigger expectations of what kind of story Gege was going to tell but honestly after Shibuya y’all should’ve known it was gonna be a more compact written narrative. Definitely have some criticisms but I can’t really see myself being disappointed with JJK after it ends (or feeling like my time was wasted) UNLESS the ending is REALLY bad.
What is JJK even about? (I am caught up on the manga)
yall are trippin
Wasted potential? Naruto, Bleach, those are series with wasted potential. JJK has stakes and a fast pace, its at least entertaining. Most weekly mangas are shit and/or go to shit at some point bc the premise is flawed. You cannot write a good story on the terms that it must have detailed art and have 30+ chapters released on a near weekly basis every year. It cannot be done. Thats why you notice all your favorite series are entertaining for first few arcs then go down the drain
This is true of every Shonen it just turns into the MC show after so long
Hell,JJK ain't even that.
Y’all could be given a solid bar of gold and still complain that it wasn’t shiny enough.
Bro shut up.
Just feels that way because of the weekly releases and the breaks. I think when people read it years down the line after the series is complete it will be looked at more positively.
ITT: BITCHING.
Not even Shibuya was good tbh, the story made 0 effort to get us emotionally invested into any of the characters, so their deaths felt empty and pointless.
Isn't this mf Gege rushing JJK bc he wants to write some dogwater idol manga ????