Jujutsu Kaisen creator Gege Akutami reflects on the manga's seven-year journey: ‘I'm fed up with…'
Gege Akutami, creator of Jujutsu Kaisen, candidly reflects on his seven-year journey, admitting struggles with self-doubt and the pressures of serialisation.
Gege Akutami, the creator of Jujutsu Kaisen, has opened up about the personal and professional challenges he faced throughout his creative journey. In a heartfelt and candid message, he reflected on the moments of doubt and struggles he encountered while bringing his renowned series to life. He laid bare his raw self-criticism with profound honesty and a keen awareness of his own limitations which offered fans an intimate look into the mind of the celebrated author during the 7-year-long journey of creating Jujutsu Kaisen.

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Gege Akutami reveals his moments of frustration
Akutami did not shy away from sharing his moments of frustration and struggles with the manga during its making. In his public note, he began, “The product Jujutsu Kaisen was pissed out for six and a half years, nearly seven years if you include the serialisation of the special issues, and what I learned was ‘I am really an idiot....’ I was, of course, pushing myself to the limits to pull out everything I could for my creations, and after about three years of serialisation, my already rough personality began to become absentminded.”
He continued, “Even though I was complaining that ‘I'm fed up with having things pointed out to me that could be figured out by looking it up on the internet!!,’ I still made the mistake on volume 18 with the sanpin and ended up thinking like Gecko Moria that ‘well, if something happens, the people around me will figure it out....’”
Akutami also admitted the trouble he caused to his colleagues including the designer, and editor among others. He said, “I've also been writing the openings for six and a half to seven years through instincts. But what this means is that the adults around me were just that reliable. I have really greatly troubled all of my editors-Katayama-san, Ikeda-san, and Fukuda-san, the volume manager Yanagida-san, the designer Ishino-san, and my assistants. Speaking of being a trouble, I believe I put quite a bit of stress every week on the editorial department and everyone at the printers. I really apologise greatly for that," as reported by Mitzusen.
He reminisced about the first time he discussed Jujutsu Kaisen all those years ago. Akutami wrote, “Jujutsu Kaisen began running with my first editor Yamanaka-san, and we immediately entered an underground forced labour arc, but he periodically communicated with me. Thank you, and am grateful for meeting you.” Read the full note here.
Times when Akutami lacked confidence
The famous mangaka admitted that despite the success of Jujutsu Kiasen there were times when he lacked confidence in his work and himself. Akutami wrote, “The reason I did not talk much in between the volumes was because I had become absentminded. When first becoming serialized, I took into consideration that Jujutsu Kaisen was being serialized in a major magazine. I had this feeling of trying to do my best to alleviate those who would read Jujutsu Kaisen and feel hurt, and those who would be hurt by those who read Jujutsu Kaisen.”
He continued, “The result of that was me telling myself, ‘Shut up! I get it, you (Akutami) just want to be seen as a good person!!’ and hurting myself. So I stopped trying that. To begin with, that very idea was prideful, and I understand now that it was due to me lacking the conviction to put my created work out into the world. This is embarrassing, but even now, I do not fully have that conviction. When considering evil intent that doesn't exist, I still want to shout out loudly, but the root cause of it is my immaturity as a mangaka, so I hold it in... or rather, I continue on in a condition where all I can do is swallow it down.”
Akutami also divulged, “The good thing about Shonen Jump is that the brand image is built around not the creator but the created work. And so, by trusting myself, to make it so that readers can read my manga without worry, I will take the lessons of these seven years to heart, and I want to overcome my problems after this. I have books packed that I bought during serialisation, some for study, some just to have around because they might make me smarter.” He added, “In truth, I do feel they made me smarter just by having them around, even if I didn't read them. It's scary. This is the end of the Jujutsu Kaisen that I have drawn.”
The creator ended the note on a warm note as he wrote, “To everyone who supported me, to the people who read it all at once when it became topical, to those who read it wanting to see what came after the anime, to the person who just happened to read this final volume. Any reason is fine. I truly thank you. Until we meet again,” as reported by Mitzusen.

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