Gege is actually pretty loud about what Yuji represents. Yuji is the human condition, he is humanity. Mahito and Yuji agree that they are the same, and Mahito’s name means “true human”. Sukuna thinks Yuji is boring because Sukuna values elevation beyond humanity. Sukuna thinks humans are boring and Yuji is pointedly human. Yuji is Sisyphus, pushing his absurd boulder up the hill and giving his own life meaning. People point at him as boring because he is the mirror.
I don’t really see that a lot of Shonan characters have the same integrity’s that surpass limits and keep moving forward to be better. Peter Parker comparison is relatively not that special.
ive always been convinced that yuji was intentionally given superhuman durability and semi-immortality by gege, just so he could beat and kill yuji while keeping him alive(similiar to denji from chainsawman). yuji is meant to be an underdog, strong enough to survive, but not enough to save the ones he loves.
Where he ends up in the series and his ultimate fate is really interesting to me. I could see it going in any number of directions and feeling very fitting either way.
Just a random thought (minor manga spoilers) Yuji inability to save the people he loves isn't,in my opinion, about his strength, but about the world and the hard truth everyone chooses how to live their life and as a result how they die, regardless of Yuji's actions. (Major manga spoilers) look at gojo, literally the strongest if his era, and yet everyone he loved, including himself, end up dying when they are outside of his reach.
It's interesting because that durability actually makes him suffer more. Forces him to live long enough to experience such suffering and learn to try to persevere anyway.
What just gets me about Yuji is that he is kind even when the world is not. This story mocks him, tears him down, kicks him even harder- but he still gets up again and he is still kind. Other stories see protagonists often very rewarded for their kindness, but Yuji is not rewarded. The world is cruel. But he is kind anyway. And even when he is at his lowest, seeing himself as just a cog in the machine- he still thanks Todo, he still thinks of his friends. Yuji is kind for kindness sake, he tries again and again even if he fails, and that's why I personally resonate so hard with him.
Part of what makes Yuji interesting, even as early as season 1, is that unlike many shonen protagonists when his goal is questioned he actually wavers on it. His "I want to die surrounded by people because my grandfather told me to" becomes "I can't let people die because of Sukuna when I could do something. I want people to find meaning in their deaths." And when Mahito calls his bluff, forcing him into a hypothetical ("would you kill someone to end their suffering?") he changes again. All throughout JJK, Yuji's indecision and wavering belief gets chipped and chiseled into a firm stance through trial and tribulation. Speaking as someone who really loves shonen, it makes him special. As much as I adore Naruto, him coming to terms with the title of Hokage isn't anywhere near as nuanced as Yuji's simple hope that he can help people find kindness in the end.
True. Unlike some comments I'm seeing, it isn't a bad thing when other characters (Naruto, Luffy) stick wholly to their ideals and don't doubt themselves. But likewise it's refreshing to see a character that learns, even if it is a very miserable progression.
The reason Yujis goal keeps wavering is because he is lying to himself. He wants to help people but it isn't because he is just that nice. He wants to give his life meaning by doing something only he can do. To be needed. I won't say any specifics but from here on out after Shibuya Yuji is very different. Because he realized the truth. In the grand scheme of things. They only thing that makes him special is his ability to die and take Sukuna with him. That's why I'm so confused as to where his story is going from this point on in the manga. And JJK as a whole. With the story how it is I am really struggling to see any way it can have a satisfying conclusion. Unless Gege does some absolutely massive strides in Yujis character arc in these last months of chapters I don't see any way his story can end in a satisfying way.
@@justmyopinion79 I think it's pretty badass. It's essentially a line of thinking that goes : I want to dedicate myself to helping others. To do that i need to kill curses. As Geto put it, curses will never stop coming, which means my work will never end and my actions will not mean anything in the grand scheme of things but at the end of the day, the help I've given will matter to those I've helped. There isn't a cure to the disease of curses unless you want to pull a Geto.
@ahvin4764 it would be cool if it didn't come from a toxic place within yuji, the issue is that he becomes so focused on the lives of others that he disregards his own, it's suicidal and comes from a place of self-loathing that's why i don't find it cool but i do find it cathartic
@@yosos2 that's because he's a dead man walking. As long as he's sukunas vessel, he has a suspended death sentence on his head. He HAS to die if he's sukunas vessel, as it's the only way Sukuna permanently gets weakened.
I also think people( especially shonen fans) hate him because he's not some chosen, sex is my personality, look at my muscles male fantasy. He's a teenager that got pushed into a world that is cruel, unforgiving and much bigger than himself. He is trying to be positive, to do good, he's a normal , moral kid that wants to make light out of all the darkness in the way of the world. He doesn't need to be your "MY POWER LEVEL IS OVER A THOUSAND AND ALL THE GIRLS WANT ME" trash fire. He's a good kid, making sense of the world he just got thrusted into and keep as much of himself while doing so. Amazing video friend.
its funny you say that when literally in episode 1 he is shown to be a person with inhuman and above average strength and stats. No hes boring because his goals are basic "I want to save everyone" ideals that you see in almost every cookie cuter shonen mc with the only twist is that he cant save no one and gets depressed. Ppl think this is genius when its just misery porn disguised as development. His goals are so shallow because its entirely based on his grandfather that basically dies in the first 2 minutes and until ep 2 or 3 yuji has no goals until he gets beat up for it. Like I could give more of a fuck about his dilemma if his goals were more properly explored and built up in the first episodes of season 1. Instead he is a blank slate mc that is just there to have world building explained to him and follow the story. It's no wonder he gets tossed aside in the story cuz not even the author is interested on own his mc and prefers to focus on porn fights and ramble on his "power system"
@@papaxota4725 Being tossed aside as a cog is literally what he is all about and the current fight is showing the light on what he is as a character around others who pretty much overshadow him. It's the reason why he pisses Sukuna off so much is because he's nothing special and he only does things within whatever role that he was placed on. Whoever said JJK is misery porn has NOT read enough manga when there are worse examples out there.
Yuji's development throughout the first season to Shibuya is so interesting to me given he goes from down playing himself to a side character who's not going to save Gojo, but will give it all he's got, even if it's his life in this one battle with Choso, (and having that completely backfire on him cuz of a certain King of curses), and then accepting his place as a sorcerer in a society where he is only meant to exonerate curses, morality and self safety aside. Hell, I wouldn't even call this a 'positive development arc' necessarily, if anything it's more like a subconscious coping mechanism he puts on where Yuji constantly tries to find something to lash onto, whether that's a martyr to die for his friends to now just being another sorcerer who will go out to try to kill any curse spirit he faces out of a general acceptance of the nature dynamic between them. In a way, he has come full circle in which despite understanding the futility of upholding some semblance of morality in a dog eat dog world like what Mahito believes (which he then uses to justify dpong whatever he wants), Yuji pigeon holds himself into a new role, one where he is playing by its stats quo that people like Gojo so desperately want to get rid of where sorcerers are just a means to the ends that only exist to get rid of spirits. Its kind of said tbh, and i hope much of the manga expends on how thus lack of self care and sacrificial selflessness ends up doing more harm than good.
Yeah, like I alluded to, this is his specific brand of conviction and the fact that it is a subset of idealism is admirable. But it could very easily tear him apart by the end. I’m extremely interested to see how his arc concludes.
Another thing to highlight is Yuji dependence on others. Something that I have always found interesting is that Sukuna is only interested in Yuji when he is alone, when he is with others he loses interest, because that is probably what stops Yuji from becoming stronger. When only he is left against Sukuna, he will have to fight for himself.
"A man looks into the abyss, and there's nothing staring back at him. In that moment, a man finds his character, and that's what keeps him out of the abyss"
Gojo saw very early on that Yuji was the kind of crazy needed to survive the struggles that would come their way. That cog metaphor was perfect for him. He doesn't need to be the one to solve everything, he just needs to do his part.
Yuujis character is so tragic. Not only in the sense of all the loss he experiences, but his development into a cog who only cares about killing curses without a motive. He becomes the very thing gojo desperately tried to steer him away from. A cog with no thought is exactly what the higher ups of jujutsu society want as that is east to control yuujis good intent.
I mean Gojo's ideal were not better (or worse either) since most of his decisions let to that massive mess after Shibuya Yuji can't be Gojo can't be Yuuta or other of his students because was clear he wasn't made to that type of life, he had to learn to find his own meaning that was accord to the World that was living
I always like him since the beginning, but Shibuya Arc made me truly LOVE him and see his depth and his colors. It crushed me seeing him breakdown like that, such a raw and devastating setting. Amazing analysis as always!
I love yuji. Anyone who says he's boring has no reading comprehension skills whatsoever. I've seen people use shallow statements and arguments like "he's boring because he gets a lot of Ls or He's boring because he's not like this character" Not only that, I hate when people compare other characters to a different series. Like these are two different characters in a different setting and universe.
Dismissing criticism because your opinion is different, and then claiming the other opinion is because of low reading comprehension is ironically enough, a sign of poor literary comprehension. Not everyone needs to like your special boy
Hes boring and believe me I've probably read way more novels, webnovels and novellas that you in your entire life lol. The jujutsu series is just mid as a whole tho so yea.. enjoy tho
He’s a good kid, shame he had to see the gruesome remains of both his friends and Shibuya, he’s likable in a very human way, the terribly rough experiences but desire to persevere and then some
He's a killer in a war, you call him "good" because he's on the side of humans, he killed many curses without considering anything because they mean nothing to him, despite the fact that they're a life and many of them can feel happiness, sadness or suffering, he doesn't care neither does he try to find a peaceful way to deal with any curse, he just murders without regard for anything because it fits his goal, just like many curses kill without regard for anything because it fits their goal. That's the whole of the "I am you" speech.
@@wiswc no , by good kid I’m referring to him in normal terms and at his kind & earnest , he acts completely differently towards a curse compared to people after all , Shibuya especially changed him all round due to fake Geto(I don’t remember his name),Sukuna, and mahito , though considering the situation and people he’s dealing with, calling him a good kid referring to Yuji battle focused & energetic and sometimes semi-happy go lucky nature before his life was NTR’d by events of the story is at least half fair, at best chalk up “good kid” to me genuinely feeling sympathy for the guy who both selfishly and selflessly in pain and terror cried bleed and screamed in agony, shame & disgust at the sight of Shibuya
@@wiswcIdk what point you thought you made but it falls incredibly flat. The concepts of good and evil don’t mean much in JJK objectively speaking, it’s all relative to perspective, curse or human, what’s good or evil to one side won’t be to the other. Morality is incredibly subjective to the individual, a massive aspect of jujutsu itself is the self actualization of one’s power to do what the please, and live according to your nature. That being said you’re framing Mahito and Yujis dichotomy as a direct mirror of eachother, along with both curses and humans having equivalent autonomy in the nature of their existence, which is only partly true. Mahito and Yuji share a “sides of the same coin” relationship, but they are not a mirror of eachother. They represent two fundamentally and diametrically opposed core natures in conflict, with said natures ultimately leading to the same impact when viewed from the others perspective. So in a way yes, Yuji can be said not be “good” bc he kills curses with no hesitation or remorse, for not trying “peaceful” means or trying to find non fatal means of neutralizing a curse, despite them having the potential for sapience and emotion. You can definitely say that but then I’d have to say that you don’t understand what a curse is. Curses and humans are not equal beings, in the sense that humans can exist without curses, curses won’t form at all without humans. They are the byproduct of the cursed energy produced by every non sorcerer collecting and pooling around places, concepts or even people. They are born from the negative emotions of humanity itself and simply just form into representations of those emotions over time. That means 2 important things. 1. Humans fundamentally have a broader and more extensive emotional range, as well a much much higher variety of individual dispositions and core natures. It’s made very clear early on and reinforced several times that a curse cannot be reasoned with like a person. Yuji can’t just try to talk them down or something like he was doing with Junpei, it simply won’t work, not on a full curse, at best a human curse user or cursed object and/or womb hybrid may be receptive to peaceful solutions and the “dignity obtained by human reason”. 2. True curses share a fundamentally hostile nature towards humanity. Keep in mind 99% of curses that form or exist at any given time will be grade 4-2 at most, and the vast majority aren’t sapient or able to reason at ALL, much less to the degree a human can. Even Curse “reason” is simply their intelligence. The ones capable understand the human condition and thus recognize it in us, thus making them able to manipulate it but they themselves only exist on the negative half of that experience. Yes a curse can be happy, but not for basically no reason, simply bc it’s a nice day out or they got a good drink in their hand like a human can be. Curses exist to make humans suffer and thus their positive emotions come directly from human negative ones, along with more curses. You can’t act like Yuji killing curses isn’t different than a curse killing a human, bc that ignores why jujutsu sorcerers exist. It’s impossible for curses and sorcerers to exist in the same world peacefully. A sorcerer can and the stronger ones probably do just ignore weak curses that are hiding bc they can sense them or bc they’re so weak it’s more of a waste of time to exorcise them. I doubt the little curse They planned to use to see if jumpei was a sorcerer would be much a threat if they just let it go. They can’t though bc that curse will immediately try to find someone and, ya know, curse them bc fundamentally there’s nothing a curse finds more enjoyment in than human suffering. So yes Yuji can walk down a newborn curse with no remorse and break it in half while it cries out for mercy and still be morally justified from the perspective that killing the curse will spare others suffering while letting it live will increase it, and given that it’s a given curses don’t spare sorcerers other than to toy with them. Yuji isn’t good by the standards of like, Deku from MHA bc ya how hero society be, but he is good by the standards of any soldier
“Half the evil in this world occurs while decent people stand by and do nothing wrong. It’s not enough to refrain from evil, Trell. People have to attempt to do right, even if they believe they cannot succeed.” “Even when it’s stupid to try?” he asked with savage sarcasm. “Especially then,” she replied sweetly. “That’s how it’s done, Trell. You break your heart against this stony world. You fling yourself at it, on the side of good, and you do not ask the cost. That’s how you do it.” Robin Hobb - The Mad Ship
The thing you mentioned about Yuji serving as a kind of reader insert in trying to find meaning in cruel deaths, that's exactly what this video made me realize, I definitely felt like their deaths were abrupt, and now I know why, and instead of my usual reaction to abrupt deaths in stories (dissatisfaction), now I love this. I also like how this only works in JJK. Thanks for this video, AJ.
I think that ideal that Yuji has to keep killing curses, and to keep being him despite accepting the futility of trying to fight against the tide is very reminiscient of Jogo deciding to do things the "proper way". And, if the people who decide to stay true to themselves to the end are the strong ones, like you said earlier, then Jogo's decision to refuse to burn everything down and to stay idealistic makes Sukuna's "Stand proud, you're strong" a lot more meaningful.
such a treat to see yuuji well understood. it's been an uphill battle for him, but it hasn't ever not been. cursed energy is so consistent with how it rewards a stronger concept of self; eso's fight with yuuji is my personal favorite example of it. i think black flashes not being as consistent for sorcerers and curses as something like a domain expansion or a supreme art has to do with requiring a complete understanding and full rejection of your opponent. yuuji lands his black flash on eso when he thinks eso is a cursed spirit, but not when he knows eso is human. it's an incredible showing of empathy from yuuji, and the moment that led me to understand that selfishness underlies all of jujutsu. mahito is an incredible foil to yuuji as his pattern of interactions with other characters highlights that he is the embodiment of unfairness and improper death. junpei, mechamaru, and nanami were all beaten down and broken by the world, with mahito being the final nail. mahito calling himself the human curse proves the state of the world and how it actively tries to destroy yuuji's ideals, but their final battle shows that with the help of others, yuuji can still win out. super interested to see how this will go in the future, as now jujutsu society and especially yuta will be against him too. this video reminded me of the scene in chainsaw man where kishibe asked denji and power about their positions regarding devils. yuuji would fail his test immediately, and that's a big difference between that world and jjk. denji is struggling to find his own path in a world with no right one, and yuuji is struggling on his right path in a world vying to find a path.
When I watched the episode where Todo motivated Yuji, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Erwin’s “My Soldiers speech” from AOT. I feel like that speech embodies Yuji’s resilience to move forward.
I love how characters surprising deaths and their anticlimactic feeling makes us feel exactly how Yuji would have felt. And that’s why we end up loving Yuji, cause we feel him. Just as we’re powerless to change the story, Yuji is unable to prevent the deaths of his friends.
Yuji is different from most shonen protags in the fact that he isn't the embodiment of the right way to live in his world. He's just as lost as everybody else trying to find his way. He isn't the embodiment of freedom like Luffy or someone like Naruto where the story bends over backwards to validate his worldview. Yuji is like a real person in that he develops a worldview, tests it against the world and both he and his view change in response to the world. I find that a thousand times more compelling than unrelenting, almost insane shonen protagonist "good" and "niceness".
@@murderman8578 It's not about realism, I just like it better when it feels like a character is part of their world instead of the world feeling like an amusement park built just for them. Luffy feels like part of his world, it doesn't revolve completely around him. Other people can progress the story, they have their own goals and ambitions independent of Luffy. Yuji is the same but even more so.
You’ve made a good point here, in particular how Yuji had to modify his role in the story in order to continue to be the force for good that he strives to be. Many other shonen protagonists don’t necessarily have to reckon with the kind of limited role they can fill in the same way he can because they are, at least at some point, made capable of rising to the challenge. There is arguably not enough strength in anyone in JJK to become that person in this world. They can get stronger, face stronger opponents, but the world of curses bears down on them regardless, pushing beyond their limits to their breaking point. Finding his form of meaning, as well as others, in that world is no mean feat and he does it by bending his perspective.
@@WilsonEvergreens-rv3uj I didn’t say anything about it being deep. I’d say it’s noteworthy and that it’s more than many shonen protagonists manage. You’re welcome to disagree, though I don’t appreciate the condescension.
Yuji is going to be what breaks the corruption of the Jujustu Society, we've seen it from Gojo that the higher ups don't like the idea of doing things differently and they wanted to get rid of people like Yuji and Yuta but Gojo is what stopped that. Now with Shibuya concluded we see the corruption of the Jujutsu Higher-Ups on full display
THIS. This right here is why I love Yuji and JJK as a whole. To me there's so many different ways to look at the story, to look at Yuji and every other character, it can be interpreted differently by everyone (art is subjective, WOAH), which I feel is a huge and rarely seen achievement. Amazing analysis about how you look at Yuji and the JJK world.
Tbh itadori’s my top 5 for this show because of the ingenuity and entertainment he provides when it comes down to fighting. He adapts to nearly ANY team up he’s in, he’s a solid, capable pick for a fight(not too busted but not too weak), his whole gimmick is literally just punching and kicking hard with CE and CT, and yet his fights are the most interesting to watch with how he uses his power. He’s really a balanced protagonist that makes the best of the terrible hand he was dealt. I genuinely don’t remember him having any serious ass pulls throughout the series. Plus he doesn’t have any insane power ups or revelations that he’s the child of a prophecy.(You know the mfs I’m talking about 😂) If we give him a few years, he’ll easily be one of the stronger end characters in JJK
Youre goddamn right. If anything, Yuji life is the exact opposite of the chosen one. He is cursed, despite his power. His existence indirectly caused the death of his loved ones and so many others. Its sad and depressing. But he kept pushing through and fight the good fight. He is much better than the "chosen one". ( we dont need to mention the character by name cause we all know who it is lol)
Thanks Aleczanderxr. You've found the words that I lack to describe why JJK moves me so much. I think Yuji is too often not seen for how amazing he is. While surrounded by death that even the readers often question the purpose of he keeps going and tries to make what change he can.
Honestly i think one of the reasons he doesn't have more fans with the shonen audience is because he doesn't have a distinct power. He just punches and uses blackflash which is a punch with black lighting
Theres been a lot of slander saying he's not the MC, which was especially disgusting. All because he's not being handle to the same degree as other Shonen MCs
When you ask them why they hate Yuji, they all give 2 answer 1. Yuji is not strong or have cool ability 2. He do not have a win on his own. So, you all want the same Naruto, Deku, Asta, Tanjiro, etc type of character, so that you can complain about every MC is destined for success from the start
@@madambutterfly1997 out of everything i said you picked out Deku and Tanjiro and didn't even understand what i was trying to say. Anyway, yes deku and tanjiro barely win on their own but they always get the finishing blow and they always gets new powerup in the middle of the fight out of nowhere. Which Yuji do not gets and which make Yuji different from all these copy cats
the main argument for people who say this is the fact that he barley gets any screen time which is completely false. but this take mainly comes from people who have been reading jjk weekly as the chapters have been coming out. and unfortunately gege has attracted an extremely impatient community consisting of people who are either only in it for the fights, and the other half that dont understand the concept of implicit depth
There’s an irony that I wish you’d touched on which is that Sukuna tends to give those he kills (consider Jogo and other manga spoiler deaths) meaningful if not beautiful deaths. Conversely Yuji gives gruesome and cruel death to Mahito
Another banger essay. Beautifully written & structured and a great run-down of JJK's themes as a whole. Loved the thesis of Yuji's grandfather's last words being Yuji's curse to bear as that really does bring it back full circle for him and for the series :')
I noticed a strong concept of meaning Vs nihilism in jujutsu, yuji always represented meaning to me, it fought to make sense of things during the most painful times, it kept true to himself when others tried to crush him; i can see why you love him.
i'm active in the anime community on threads & i've already convinced a handful of people who actually went & watched your video, because i was moved by it. yuji slowly grew on me especially after my second watch of jjk. you put into words all the feelings i had that i didn't understand about him either. now i'm just tearing up listening to your video again & reading some of these comments because as much as i wish i could protect yuji & not see him endure utter hell...i'm so fucking proud of him. he knows he's & underdog but never resigns himself to it & continues to push forward all while maintaining a sense of innocence & his childlike nature. i hope that's never completely taken from him. i just care so much about him.
Thank you so much for putting into perspective how I felt about Yuji but didn’t have the words for. Your videos are a blessing to come across. Appreciate you🙏🏾
The explanation of how the power/societal system of curses/cursed energy is thematically and materially connected to the way that the series tackles death was ingenius. Nicely done
Just as i'm in the beginning of the video i can't help but think to myself about people's ability to empathize and get an idea for how things could be for someone else but i feel there is this gigantic mass brainwashing (For no one's benefit really..) that empathy is just shoes you can put on. I don't think empathy is this rare special ability that a select few have but i don't think people identify empathy when they correctly practice it. What most people call empathy is the feeling you get when you see someone have a small cut, when someone vomits, when someone cries, you get the eerie feeling upon seeing a small cut, you feel your stomach swirl when you see someone vomit, when someone cries you become sad and teary with them. That's not empathy, far from it, empathy is voluntary, it's tiring because it's self imposed questions and dialog with the self and the removal of the ego in the process. The above is just you in someone else's image, it's a innate reaction, of course it's emotional but emotions don't really equate a empathetic person. How often did you get the sympathies of someone because, let's say you have issues with your relationships so you went to this person and this person shows sympathy but their sympathy meant not much, it's even alien in some regards, their felt emotion and spoken words towards you seemed more like a self imposition into YOUR story, into YOUR situation, into your emotions, because they see their own failing relationships and think to themselves "oh yeah i know how it feels" but Empathy is throwing out the shoes and re conceptualizing what shoes are. A good therapist will sometimes stop you at the simplest of words and ask you, what does that word mean to you ? Because in order to understand, you need to go back to the drawing board. I think the reason why people have this problem with Yuji's character is exactly that they can't remove themselves from a equation, i don't think people are worst for it no, it's normal. Especially since, let's be honest a lot of 16 year olds watch JJK too, every year there is a new batch of them so it's not a surprise and they're not exactly good at understanding fictional characters that don't fit their pallet and given that pallet is small as well. The only way to get better at empathy and remove that ego barrier that makes you self impose into other's life is by the voluntary transformation into the unknown. I Know this is a people discussion more so then JJK but it's something i've been thinking about, about why so many people seem to see so little in many fictional characters despite their loud and clear interest in the show and it's story.
It's worth mentioning that the mindset he got at after going through Shibuya feels, at least for me, as a middle stage of what ought to be his complete character developement. Though it's fair to say the lessons he learns from this arc count as character developement, it evidently represents just a step in the path the character needs to take in order to truly complete his journey. And speaking of "journey", I'd love to see a short analysis of Yuji's growth up to Shibuya's Incident's end through the lens of the Hero's Journey theory; maybe point out at what stage of the narrative scheme he stands.
I agree. Yuji hasn’t even been life for half a year yet. Basically Yuji hit a hard time and then just got a big shit taken on him by life…the “I’m a cog” mindset could very well just be a coping mechanism that will be abandoned later (🤞🏽)…it’s a pretty grim way to look at things. I hope the endgame is what Gojo was trying to do…reform the JJK society
Great video and I'm very glad this exists to help open some peoples' eyes but I wish people in the comments wouldn't show their insecurities.. You can love JJK without slandering Naruto, you can love Yuji without slandering Gojo. It's possible people, I promise.
My favorite character personally is Choso. But Itadori has the best protagonist character building of any manga I ever read, everything revolves around him in the story and his next step or implication in the next event is always unclear. You want Sukuna to recognise him, you empathize when people around him die and you get inspired each time by how he handles adversity; at the same time he doesn't overshadow the others at all. This mangaka really put the level few steps higher.
He sort of feels like a foil to a more traditional shounen protagonist like Ichigo, where Resolve and Hidden Power Ups dont save the day. Ichigo, for all his trials and tribulations, never really lost anyone during the run of the show, except antagnonists that he respected or important unrelated background characters. This show feels like it takes a similar archtype of young man and sets him in a much more grim but realistic world, and i really appreciate the hopeless and mechanized feel of it.
Yuji is a great protag and mc plus some of his other huge moments still to be animated and that "I am you" straight shivers and chills to Mahito also he always got his brothers Choso and Todo
20:59 About Yuuji possibly dying alone, I definitely see that. Yuuji near death, unsure of how he feels, probably dissatisfied but too tired to be upset about it. And then it feels like an epiphany, maybe he doesn't have anyone physically to see him go like his grandfather wished him, but I don't feel like Yuuji would truly be dying alone. He's dying with his friends. It's so weird, but it makes sense to me in a bittersweet way. Just like Nobara and Nanami who found their purpose in ther life at the very last moments, "it wasn't so bad." I feel like Yuuji could see that too. That all those connections he did, maybe they're not alive physically, but they were real to him. He's dying with those memories, he's not alone.
Seeing what yujis philosophy has evolved into from his cog mindset yuji truly is the anti curse of JJK. The boy born as cursed as Ryomen sukuna yet values and appreciates humanity so much he offered the chance to experience it to the king of curses himself, twice.
As always, love your videos! Keep em up! Shonen is (most of the time) an underdog story about "not giving up". These words can ring meaningless in the hands of a lesser author, but in those special stories, they seem so beautiful. As you already stated, Yuji has that Shonen-attitude down perfectly. He struggles, he falls, he gets back up. But what I like to highlight are the amazing side characters here, that did fall down in sight of this unforgiving world, but came back around to do what's right: Nanami helping that bakery lady. Shoko telling Yuji that he didn't kill the transformed humans. Kokichi (Mechamaru) fighting his condition. And another special one, that hasn't been animated yet.
We know that it's hopeless, we know that it can't truly be completed; doing so would forgo the purpose of it. The very nature of it is contradictory and impossible. But there is a reason we continue to fight for it. So long as we do, we can make things a little bit better, reach ever closer to our ideal, and even if we never make it to the end, we can overcome it by speed. We fight not to restrict it, but to repel it. Yuji has not set his goal any lower. He has only defined it more, stopped being disappointed by his own failures. Like this, he has become unrelenting in reaching his ultimate goal.
It has been very difficult to understand the whole subtext behind Yuji in this world, but your video helps put it together better than I could have. Some could view his grandpa's words as a curse upon Yuji and how his circumstances within this world begin to twist his words in a way that only serves to reinforce it's narrative. It could also just be that his words and Yuji's unrelenting mindset are what the world needs to break it's curse in a sense. Great video. Glad you talked about Yuji and honestly was shocked to find out he was greatly disliked by many.
Seeing Yuji be so genuinely good, and try so hard to save lives, only to fail and be forced to kill and fight for his life all while blaming himself is just so compelling to me. I’ve always found myself drawn to chaotic good characters and Yuji is one of my favorites ever. His change from naive optimistic heroism, to self sacrificial service as his means of saving lives just feels so real to me
Do you know what yuji from jjk and Subaru from re zero have in common? They both struggle to find the value of their lives Both of them think that they have to save other people otherwise they don't deserve to live The difference is the reason behind said struggling Subaru struggles with his weakness and the fact that his death can be used as a tool only makes it harder for him to value his own life Yuji struggles because his death would put a stop sukuna and technically saves lives
Yuji is also trying to find meaning in his own life. If one day his ideas about humanity change, he will have a reason to live. He's going to be more selfish, just like sukuna. But Yuji's character is unshakable. For now...
i think people underrate the Berserk influence in JJK. Yuji is thrown into, instead of born into, a life of boundless suffering, truly seeming cursed. I know Luffy and Naruto will be Pirate King and Hokage. The only thing I know for sure is Yuji is gonna suffer. The horror, gore, Jungian ideals, the dualist exploration of Nietzschean ideals w/ Gojo vs Sukuna similar to the real vs false Ubermench in Guts vs Griffith, the millennia old mastermind with the exposed brain. The first apostle kill with the DragonSlayer reminds me of the curse that Yuki killed Vs Kenjaku. The grimy/rage panels seem to have taken influence from how Muria draws Guts sometime (throwing in my obligatory Togashi mention) Both suffer a lot because they care about people and hold onto the love they have for other people, maybe the biggest reason why they continue the struggle. The existentialist tragedy, continuous struggle through the cruel, unfair world. A world that has beaten it into you that forces above you are so much more powerful than you. But it’s just not in you to entirely give up who you are. i also can’t help but feel like Yuji/ a Jujutsu Sorcerers life in the system is how Gege feels about being a mangaka. i love Yuji, and i knew you’d come through with a great breakdown as usual. thanks!
I think what makes me connect with Itadori more than someone like Naruto is just how much more brutal and human the story that surround him is. It's a world where people get ahead by becoming similar to the monsters they fight, unrelentingly selfish and greedy. So when a generally pleasant and hopeful kid like Itadori comes in, his kindness isn't rewarded, at best most are indifferent to it, at worst he's actively tormented and beat into the dirt for it. Not to put down Naruto but I could never really connect with him because no matter what the story told you about how cutthroat everything is, this blonde brat would go anywhere and be praised for thinking peace in is an option as if no one has and constantly talked highly of by damn near everyone around him. It felt less like an underdog story of a kid struggling his way to the top and more and more like he's a kid being boosted to the top and everyone in his life knows he's the main character. He felt like cognitive dissonace the character. By contrast Itadori goes through hell and worse and when he comes out the other end he does so scarred, bruised, broken, but still able to move and that's enough. That struggle will always resonate with me more than Naruto bending the world to his whim. Sometimes things won't be ok, sometimes things will hurt you in ways you'll never forget, but what matters is you get out in one piece and keep moving.
i absolutely love Naruto as a symbol of an ideal but also love Yuji, you cooked with your analysis. it’s kind of why i love Itadori in the same way I love Guts, which is a totally different way that I love Naruto/Luffy
Well your criticism of Naruto is valid but you forgot something in my opinion. One series is named Naruto, the other is named Jujutsu Kaisen. (Sorcery Battle) Notice how one isn't named Ninja Kaisen and how the other isn't named Yuji. Naruto is a vision of the world, while Jujutsu Kaisen is a vision of another world. Naruto is a story about a character that shapes a world, while Jujutsu Kaisen is a story about a world that shapes a character. (You could say it often is the big difference between shonen and seinen btw, hence why HxH and JJK have more seinen vibes and why One Piece or Naruto have more shonen vibes) In term of preferences, I'd say it all comes down on how you make both of these aspects work in the universe, and what you think your own position in the world is as a reader. Are you someone living in a world, or is the world something you live in? I like how both Yuji and Naruto fight the world and the characters that represents different ideas. (Although I do think Yuji doesn't have nearly as much as Naruto in that regard, making Naruto a more complex series as it tackles more themes. Doesn't make it better though) But in one the story progressed in a way that we could understand the world through Naruto, while the other progressed in a way that we could understand the world through the world. I personally prefer the former, because it's easier to relate to human beings and I feel like it's the best way for an author to bring out the primary values and ideas of his work. But the nuance in the latter is also charming and can (probably will) push you to think more because it's not always so obvious. When you do realise that, I think it's when you can really start liking pretty much any form of media as long as it has meaning.
@@Bornagainvillain I don't really agree. A lot of people already liked it before, sales also confirm that. Naruto was good with Zabuza, great with Chunin Exam/Gaara, incredible with Sasuke Recovery and got even better by Itachi/Pain. All the arcs in between are kinda setup so some people don't really like them, but its got some great moments like Asuma's death, Tsunade search, Sasori's backstory and such. Then even if there were some problems with the 4th Ninja War, it was still an absolute blast of an arc overall. Naruto is kinda goated imo.
This comment shows a great understanding of JJK, but a poor one of Naruto. That's a stale and played-out take. Naruto was absolutely up against it for the majority of his childhood. He was given special powers but he was only able to make it to a point where he could use them because he persevered in spite of overwhelming odds and a village full of people that ostracized him.
This video perfectly captures how great of a character Yuuji is within the story of JJK. From the jump, this fifteen year old child was doomed to suffer and suffer greatly for trying to live up to the ideals presented to him by his grandfather. For me, he represents the concept of an inner child that's been completely battered by life yet persists with the brightest smile. Generally, because Yuuji is presented as such a happy, goofy character, I think some fail to realize he was broken from the start, or if not broken, heavily burying his more negative feelings until circumstances forced those things out for the viewer to see and hear. He's doing his best with the worst of hands in this Jujutsu mess he unwittingly threw himself into. That's admirable and inspiring precisely because that sort of resilience in anyone is rare. It's one thing to overcome difficulties in life and another to overcome it without becoming jaded toward everything. So, to sum all that up...I love this character too.❤ Also, I noticed you used Cid's theme from FF16 at the end of this analysis. As a fellow FF16 player, I salute you for that. Another top tier character. :) Best wishes and God bless you. Great work on this!
Part of why I like yuuji so much is that even though he's such a hopeful and optimistic person, he still breaks down at the horror show that is his life. Characters that don't back down or waver in their beliefs are inspiring, but I like that yuuji feels the suffering of his life, questions his decisions and even life at his lowest moments, but then gets up, reevaluates his priorities, and keeps going, while still striving for a better future for the people around him.
To me, the more he loses the more I want him to finally get a w, and that’s really what got me behind his character, especially after what transpired in Shibuya
Itadori is an average shonen protagonist on his own, but he's perfect for the world he inhabits since he perfectly contradicts it with his good nature.
3:06 yes you get it his struggle to not only stay alive but to stay human i believe is a core part to jujutsu kaisen as a whole as yuji told mahito "i am you" one side of the same coin all a curse really is. Its someone who has only malicious intent and heres yuji fighting the worst curses day after day nearly dying actually dying and lossing everyone he cares about he still fights he still is human
No matter how much time passes I know I can always count on you to come out with fantastic, moving character analysis that I revisit all the time. Thank you for it across the years.
I absolutely admire Yuji he’s so empathic, the ep of him fighting Jumpai the way he stoped mid fight just to say I’m here to listen tell me what happened, also he was hesitated to kill transformed humans begging to him to be killed 💔 that touched me❤
Ayo this was fire. I could never really put my finger on why I liked him so much outside of his determination but this makes sense and is articulated nicely. Big ups and happy new year.
Yuji is a great mc for jujutsu kaisen because he goes against everything the jujutsu world is about. No matter what happens to yuji he never throws away his humanity and keeps moving forward while everyone else in the story throws away their humanity for greater power even gojo is a byproduct of this. Sukuna is the embodiment of what the jujutsu world is which is why he hate yuji so much calling him boring because yuji is the opposite of sukuna ideals.
If JJK was released during the early 2000s - 2010s when I would still be a pre-teen, I wouldn't pick Yuji as a character I would adore. He would come off as boring or even side-character material probably putting me off the series. I would argue either Gojo/Megumi should have been the MCs. But as someone in her late 20s, I could relate to Yuji being someone who's "ordinary" being thrown into shit situations with people who are more "powerful" than him, forcing him to keep up to survive. He symbolises human resilience - the character trait of just persevering in everyday life. Seeing him break down during the Shibuya Arc then pick himself back up and acknowledge the people who helped him defeat Mahito (or at least reduced him into a scared bunny lol) cemented my adoration for the guy. He's a fitting anime MC in today's world.
what made adore the shibuya arc and the series is how willing it is to really challenge yuji ideals. it forces him come terms with the weight of it. it makes him waver and change. he thinks he found a better compromise but the world tells him that wrong too and he must again come to terms with it. yet even though the world time and time has battered him and tore down his ideals, yuji still gets up. he still is himself, changed but still yuji. it makes him much more endearing. im interested to see where he ends up by the end. it kind give me echos of guts in berserk, his simple desire to survive and stuggle through the messed up world he is in becomes this beacon of light in the darkness of it all.
Great analysis Aleczandxr, it made me appreciate yuji’s journey in the shibuya arc even more and makes me curious to see how his story is concluded at the end of the series.
When watching Yuji i often think about the lines, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" from the Bible, it's not about the religion could you believe it but the symbolism, it inspires me, Power under God’s control. I think people often mistake meek with weak but a synonym for meek is tamed. Yuji at the start albeit could be said yes he had strength but he was also just a prey, innocent and naive, unaware of his own depths to sink into. In my view and perhaps especially as a man because of it's physical aspect of "Strength" that it doesn't lend itself without getting in contact with the shadow self and taming it first. It goes perfectly with the story because of the theme curses and how they come to be and what they represent as the negative side of humans. We all have seen someone clearly capable of destructive malice and you know it damn well they could support it too with their physical build and perhaps skills yet you feel safe to be around. On the reverse someone with 1/4 of that persons strength but you're checking the exists because you fear for your life ? What is up with that. The difference is the internalization of evil between all three, the prey doesn't have tools to protect itself and is unaware of their own capability to cause harm, to be evil, therefore they cannot act out the violence they need in order to protect themselves and stand above. The middle way of the road is someone with plenty of malice, awareness of the levels of the damage they could inflict but no reserve, no handles on that ride, it's involuntary, it's not considered strength but a hungry Hyena. On the third, having tamed the beast, having been able to incorporate their evil, their shadow side are capable of protecting themselves when they need to and they can extend that protection onto others, wich is why you feel safe above the baseline around such people. Yuji's line about "I'm you" referring to Mahito saying that hes a curse, therefore it's only natural he'd kill people, now Yuji having found that yes, he is also capable of that same evil. Is a high point of him incorporating evil into his build.
Man, your writing is so coincise and so effective without wasted words or filler. It’s straight to the point but with some floral language. I really like how you articulate the motifs/themes in the show. Thank you. It definitely adds to my overall understanding of JJK and appreciation of the shows which feels like a modernized Yu Yu Hakusho
I always love to see a good Yuji analysis video. I also share similar sentiments. I always say to really enjoy him people have to let go of the comparisons between him and other protagonists before him because jjk isn’t trying to write a story that would put him in uplifting situations and “mc like” triumphs. The story does not reward his heroism nor is it talked about in the series almost ever. But his impact truly lies in the connections he’s made with the other cast and how that shows through their own actions in life and in death. Jjk’s core lies in how his story ends in my opinion and I look forward to it.
Jujutsu kaisen is a tragedy disguised as Shonen in the beginning yuji though he was gonna live a cool hero fantasy but this is what happens when fantasy meets reality kinda but reality punches those fantasies out of him and accepts his role as a cog in a machine
I understand what you mean but shonen can be tragedies too. And top to bottom, chapter 1 to the current chapter, JJK is true battle shonen through and through.
As Sukuna said, Yuji is the only person that can rival Sukuna on the level of his Spirit and Ideals. No matter how much Sukuna breaks him, Yuji will rise again. He truly possesses an Indomitable Spirit.
This video was AMAZING. Ever since I started the show I really liked the character of Yuji, but similarly to how you described, I wasn’t able to grasp what it was that I liked about him 😂 After watching this I think I might have a better idea of it and if my friend ask why he is my favorite character, I won’t just be like ‘uhh.. idk?’ 😅
Gege is actually pretty loud about what Yuji represents. Yuji is the human condition, he is humanity. Mahito and Yuji agree that they are the same, and Mahito’s name means “true human”. Sukuna thinks Yuji is boring because Sukuna values elevation beyond humanity. Sukuna thinks humans are boring and Yuji is pointedly human. Yuji is Sisyphus, pushing his absurd boulder up the hill and giving his own life meaning. People point at him as boring because he is the mirror.
Bro you said Sakuna three times
one must imagine sisyphus happy
That’s why yuji a fire character, unfortunately people love to say he’s not the main character or he’s a boring character.
Camus😢 @@mordagok
I think he’s one of the best examples of deconstructing a popular archetype there is
He’s anything but boring
Yuji is the Peter Parker of shounen to me. Between the ever present sense of hope, guilt, suffering, and perseverance he’s HIM
I don’t really see that a lot of Shonan characters have the same integrity’s that surpass limits and keep moving forward to be better. Peter Parker comparison is relatively not that special.
Does Spiderman ever get as dark as JJK? I've only seen the movies.
Can we please stop with the comparisons, Yuji is Yuji.
@@seemonuzumaki723 yes it can get pretty dark
@@seemonuzumaki723some comics are legit tormenting spiderman alot of times that it turned to a meme
ive always been convinced that yuji was intentionally given superhuman durability and semi-immortality by gege, just so he could beat and kill yuji while keeping him alive(similiar to denji from chainsawman). yuji is meant to be an underdog, strong enough to survive, but not enough to save the ones he loves.
Where he ends up in the series and his ultimate fate is really interesting to me. I could see it going in any number of directions and feeling very fitting either way.
Just a random thought (minor manga spoilers) Yuji inability to save the people he loves isn't,in my opinion, about his strength, but about the world and the hard truth everyone chooses how to live their life and as a result how they die, regardless of Yuji's actions.
(Major manga spoilers) look at gojo, literally the strongest if his era, and yet everyone he loved, including himself, end up dying when they are outside of his reach.
It's interesting because that durability actually makes him suffer more. Forces him to live long enough to experience such suffering and learn to try to persevere anyway.
@@Aleczandxractually he was holding back.
Basically Guts from Berserk 😂 but that’s why we love him 😤
What just gets me about Yuji is that he is kind even when the world is not. This story mocks him, tears him down, kicks him even harder- but he still gets up again and he is still kind. Other stories see protagonists often very rewarded for their kindness, but Yuji is not rewarded. The world is cruel. But he is kind anyway. And even when he is at his lowest, seeing himself as just a cog in the machine- he still thanks Todo, he still thinks of his friends. Yuji is kind for kindness sake, he tries again and again even if he fails, and that's why I personally resonate so hard with him.
Part of what makes Yuji interesting, even as early as season 1, is that unlike many shonen protagonists when his goal is questioned he actually wavers on it. His "I want to die surrounded by people because my grandfather told me to" becomes "I can't let people die because of Sukuna when I could do something. I want people to find meaning in their deaths." And when Mahito calls his bluff, forcing him into a hypothetical ("would you kill someone to end their suffering?") he changes again. All throughout JJK, Yuji's indecision and wavering belief gets chipped and chiseled into a firm stance through trial and tribulation.
Speaking as someone who really loves shonen, it makes him special. As much as I adore Naruto, him coming to terms with the title of Hokage isn't anywhere near as nuanced as Yuji's simple hope that he can help people find kindness in the end.
Yup. Yuji is the most human protagonist. I love it
True. Unlike some comments I'm seeing, it isn't a bad thing when other characters (Naruto, Luffy) stick wholly to their ideals and don't doubt themselves. But likewise it's refreshing to see a character that learns, even if it is a very miserable progression.
It's not being chipped and chiseled. It's growing, becoming more defined, taking its true form, shifting and adapting according to Yuji.
I think one of the most likeable things a character can do is be open and learn. It shows a genuinely good intent, and a lack of ego.
The reason Yujis goal keeps wavering is because he is lying to himself. He wants to help people but it isn't because he is just that nice. He wants to give his life meaning by doing something only he can do. To be needed. I won't say any specifics but from here on out after Shibuya Yuji is very different. Because he realized the truth. In the grand scheme of things. They only thing that makes him special is his ability to die and take Sukuna with him. That's why I'm so confused as to where his story is going from this point on in the manga. And JJK as a whole. With the story how it is I am really struggling to see any way it can have a satisfying conclusion. Unless Gege does some absolutely massive strides in Yujis character arc in these last months of chapters I don't see any way his story can end in a satisfying way.
"He is Sukuna's special. He is the Jujutsu Kaisen"
10:33
I kneeled.
This really was our Jujutsu Kaisen
@@Aleczandxrare you stand proud you are strong or are you the one who left it all behind because you are Nah I’d win?
@@Yueff nah, i'd win
He will Jujutsued them Kaisen. Bravo Vince
Panda.
People misrepresent his character alot, his self harming attitude isn't supposed to be badass, neither is the whole cog concept
And he still keeps going because he wants to help people
It's equal parts sad and admirable, but it isn't badass or raw at all yeah
@@justmyopinion79 I think it's pretty badass. It's essentially a line of thinking that goes : I want to dedicate myself to helping others. To do that i need to kill curses. As Geto put it, curses will never stop coming, which means my work will never end and my actions will not mean anything in the grand scheme of things but at the end of the day, the help I've given will matter to those I've helped. There isn't a cure to the disease of curses unless you want to pull a Geto.
@ahvin4764 it would be cool if it didn't come from a toxic place within yuji, the issue is that he becomes so focused on the lives of others that he disregards his own, it's suicidal and comes from a place of self-loathing that's why i don't find it cool but i do find it cathartic
@@yosos2 that's because he's a dead man walking. As long as he's sukunas vessel, he has a suspended death sentence on his head. He HAS to die if he's sukunas vessel, as it's the only way Sukuna permanently gets weakened.
I also think people( especially shonen fans) hate him because he's not some chosen, sex is my personality, look at my muscles male fantasy. He's a teenager that got pushed into a world that is cruel, unforgiving and much bigger than himself. He is trying to be positive, to do good, he's a normal , moral kid that wants to make light out of all the darkness in the way of the world. He doesn't need to be your "MY POWER LEVEL IS OVER A THOUSAND AND ALL THE GIRLS WANT ME" trash fire. He's a good kid, making sense of the world he just got thrusted into and keep as much of himself while doing so. Amazing video friend.
its funny you say that when literally in episode 1 he is shown to be a person with inhuman and above average strength and stats.
No hes boring because his goals are basic "I want to save everyone" ideals that you see in almost every cookie cuter shonen mc with the only twist is that he cant save no one and gets depressed. Ppl think this is genius when its just misery porn disguised as development. His goals are so shallow because its entirely based on his grandfather that basically dies in the first 2 minutes and until ep 2 or 3 yuji has no goals until he gets beat up for it.
Like I could give more of a fuck about his dilemma if his goals were more properly explored and built up in the first episodes of season 1. Instead he is a blank slate mc that is just there to have world building explained to him and follow the story. It's no wonder he gets tossed aside in the story cuz not even the author is interested on own his mc and prefers to focus on porn fights and ramble on his "power system"
@@papaxota4725 Being tossed aside as a cog is literally what he is all about and the current fight is showing the light on what he is as a character around others who pretty much overshadow him. It's the reason why he pisses Sukuna off so much is because he's nothing special and he only does things within whatever role that he was placed on. Whoever said JJK is misery porn has NOT read enough manga when there are worse examples out there.
Yuji's development throughout the first season to Shibuya is so interesting to me given he goes from down playing himself to a side character who's not going to save Gojo, but will give it all he's got, even if it's his life in this one battle with Choso, (and having that completely backfire on him cuz of a certain King of curses), and then accepting his place as a sorcerer in a society where he is only meant to exonerate curses, morality and self safety aside.
Hell, I wouldn't even call this a 'positive development arc' necessarily, if anything it's more like a subconscious coping mechanism he puts on where Yuji constantly tries to find something to lash onto, whether that's a martyr to die for his friends to now just being another sorcerer who will go out to try to kill any curse spirit he faces out of a general acceptance of the nature dynamic between them.
In a way, he has come full circle in which despite understanding the futility of upholding some semblance of morality in a dog eat dog world like what Mahito believes (which he then uses to justify dpong whatever he wants), Yuji pigeon holds himself into a new role, one where he is playing by its stats quo that people like Gojo so desperately want to get rid of where sorcerers are just a means to the ends that only exist to get rid of spirits.
Its kind of said tbh, and i hope much of the manga expends on how thus lack of self care and sacrificial selflessness ends up doing more harm than good.
Thank you 🙏
Yeah, like I alluded to, this is his specific brand of conviction and the fact that it is a subset of idealism is admirable. But it could very easily tear him apart by the end. I’m extremely interested to see how his arc concludes.
pigeon-holes himself*
eggcorn?
Another thing to highlight is Yuji dependence on others. Something that I have always found interesting is that Sukuna is only interested in Yuji when he is alone, when he is with others he loses interest, because that is probably what stops Yuji from becoming stronger. When only he is left against Sukuna, he will have to fight for himself.
@@lord_quasardamn
"A man looks into the abyss, and there's nothing staring back at him. In that moment, a man finds his character, and that's what keeps him out of the abyss"
Gojo saw very early on that Yuji was the kind of crazy needed to survive the struggles that would come their way. That cog metaphor was perfect for him. He doesn't need to be the one to solve everything, he just needs to do his part.
Gojo and Nanami being who they are and seeing such potential in him speaks for itself I think.
@@Aleczandxr I agree 💯
Yuujis character is so tragic. Not only in the sense of all the loss he experiences, but his development into a cog who only cares about killing curses without a motive.
He becomes the very thing gojo desperately tried to steer him away from. A cog with no thought is exactly what the higher ups of jujutsu society want as that is east to control yuujis good intent.
Yeah that's so sad like i wonder what's gonna happen to him in the end
I mean Gojo's ideal were not better (or worse either) since most of his decisions let to that massive mess after Shibuya
Yuji can't be Gojo can't be Yuuta or other of his students because was clear he wasn't made to that type of life, he had to learn to find his own meaning that was accord to the World that was living
I always like him since the beginning, but Shibuya Arc made me truly LOVE him and see his depth and his colors. It crushed me seeing him breakdown like that, such a raw and devastating setting. Amazing analysis as always!
Thank you!
I love yuji. Anyone who says he's boring has no reading comprehension skills whatsoever. I've seen people use shallow statements and arguments like "he's boring because he gets a lot of Ls or He's boring because he's not like this character" Not only that, I hate when people compare other characters to a different series. Like these are two different characters in a different setting and universe.
Dismissing criticism because your opinion is different, and then claiming the other opinion is because of low reading comprehension is ironically enough, a sign of poor literary comprehension. Not everyone needs to like your special boy
“I’m smarter because I like yuji” 💀
Yuji is like a under written version of Ichigo
Hes boring and believe me I've probably read way more novels, webnovels and novellas that you in your entire life lol. The jujutsu series is just mid as a whole tho so yea.. enjoy tho
@@MrBen580so if you think jujutsu kaisen is mid, why did you click on this video pretaining to jujustu kaisen?
He’s a good kid, shame he had to see the gruesome remains of both his friends and Shibuya, he’s likable in a very human way, the terribly rough experiences but desire to persevere and then some
He's a killer in a war, you call him "good" because he's on the side of humans, he killed many curses without considering anything because they mean nothing to him, despite the fact that they're a life and many of them can feel happiness, sadness or suffering, he doesn't care neither does he try to find a peaceful way to deal with any curse, he just murders without regard for anything because it fits his goal, just like many curses kill without regard for anything because it fits their goal.
That's the whole of the "I am you" speech.
@@wiswc no , by good kid I’m referring to him in normal terms and at his kind & earnest , he acts completely differently towards a curse compared to people after all , Shibuya especially changed him all round due to fake Geto(I don’t remember his name),Sukuna, and mahito , though considering the situation and people he’s dealing with, calling him a good kid referring to Yuji battle focused & energetic and sometimes semi-happy go lucky nature before his life was NTR’d by events of the story is at least half fair, at best chalk up “good kid” to me genuinely feeling sympathy for the guy who both selfishly and selflessly in pain and terror cried bleed and screamed in agony, shame & disgust at the sight of Shibuya
@@wiswcIdk what point you thought you made but it falls incredibly flat. The concepts of good and evil don’t mean much in JJK objectively speaking, it’s all relative to perspective, curse or human, what’s good or evil to one side won’t be to the other. Morality is incredibly subjective to the individual, a massive aspect of jujutsu itself is the self actualization of one’s power to do what the please, and live according to your nature.
That being said you’re framing Mahito and Yujis dichotomy as a direct mirror of eachother, along with both curses and humans having equivalent autonomy in the nature of their existence, which is only partly true.
Mahito and Yuji share a “sides of the same coin” relationship, but they are not a mirror of eachother. They represent two fundamentally and diametrically opposed core natures in conflict, with said natures ultimately leading to the same impact when viewed from the others perspective.
So in a way yes, Yuji can be said not be “good” bc he kills curses with no hesitation or remorse, for not trying “peaceful” means or trying to find non fatal means of neutralizing a curse, despite them having the potential for sapience and emotion. You can definitely say that but then I’d have to say that you don’t understand what a curse is.
Curses and humans are not equal beings, in the sense that humans can exist without curses, curses won’t form at all without humans. They are the byproduct of the cursed energy produced by every non sorcerer collecting and pooling around places, concepts or even people. They are born from the negative emotions of humanity itself and simply just form into representations of those emotions over time.
That means 2 important things.
1. Humans fundamentally have a broader and more extensive emotional range, as well a much much higher variety of individual dispositions and core natures.
It’s made very clear early on and reinforced several times that a curse cannot be reasoned with like a person. Yuji can’t just try to talk them down or something like he was doing with Junpei, it simply won’t work, not on a full curse, at best a human curse user or cursed object and/or womb hybrid may be receptive to peaceful solutions and the “dignity obtained by human reason”.
2. True curses share a fundamentally hostile nature towards humanity. Keep in mind 99% of curses that form or exist at any given time will be grade 4-2 at most, and the vast majority aren’t sapient or able to reason at ALL, much less to the degree a human can. Even Curse “reason” is simply their intelligence. The ones capable understand the human condition and thus recognize it in us, thus making them able to manipulate it but they themselves only exist on the negative half of that experience.
Yes a curse can be happy, but not for basically no reason, simply bc it’s a nice day out or they got a good drink in their hand like a human can be. Curses exist to make humans suffer and thus their positive emotions come directly from human negative ones, along with more curses.
You can’t act like Yuji killing curses isn’t different than a curse killing a human, bc that ignores why jujutsu sorcerers exist. It’s impossible for curses and sorcerers to exist in the same world peacefully. A sorcerer can and the stronger ones probably do just ignore weak curses that are hiding bc they can sense them or bc they’re so weak it’s more of a waste of time to exorcise them. I doubt the little curse They planned to use to see if jumpei was a sorcerer would be much a threat if they just let it go.
They can’t though bc that curse will immediately try to find someone and, ya know, curse them bc fundamentally there’s nothing a curse finds more enjoyment in than human suffering.
So yes Yuji can walk down a newborn curse with no remorse and break it in half while it cries out for mercy and still be morally justified from the perspective that killing the curse will spare others suffering while letting it live will increase it, and given that it’s a given curses don’t spare sorcerers other than to toy with them.
Yuji isn’t good by the standards of like, Deku from MHA bc ya how hero society be, but he is good by the standards of any soldier
Yuji is my all time favorite mc in anime. My boy stands on business
“Half the evil in this world occurs while decent people stand by and do nothing wrong. It’s not enough to refrain from evil, Trell. People have to attempt to do right, even if they believe they cannot succeed.”
“Even when it’s stupid to try?” he asked with savage sarcasm.
“Especially then,” she replied sweetly. “That’s how it’s done, Trell. You break your heart against this stony world. You fling yourself at it, on the side of good, and you do not ask the cost. That’s how you do it.”
Robin Hobb - The Mad Ship
The thing you mentioned about Yuji serving as a kind of reader insert in trying to find meaning in cruel deaths, that's exactly what this video made me realize, I definitely felt like their deaths were abrupt, and now I know why, and instead of my usual reaction to abrupt deaths in stories (dissatisfaction), now I love this. I also like how this only works in JJK. Thanks for this video, AJ.
My pleasure my friend!
“Even when being mocked, dont let the embers of your rage burn out”
I think that ideal that Yuji has to keep killing curses, and to keep being him despite accepting the futility of trying to fight against the tide is very reminiscient of Jogo deciding to do things the "proper way". And, if the people who decide to stay true to themselves to the end are the strong ones, like you said earlier, then Jogo's decision to refuse to burn everything down and to stay idealistic makes Sukuna's "Stand proud, you're strong" a lot more meaningful.
such a treat to see yuuji well understood. it's been an uphill battle for him, but it hasn't ever not been.
cursed energy is so consistent with how it rewards a stronger concept of self; eso's fight with yuuji is my personal favorite example of it. i think black flashes not being as consistent for sorcerers and curses as something like a domain expansion or a supreme art has to do with requiring a complete understanding and full rejection of your opponent. yuuji lands his black flash on eso when he thinks eso is a cursed spirit, but not when he knows eso is human. it's an incredible showing of empathy from yuuji, and the moment that led me to understand that selfishness underlies all of jujutsu.
mahito is an incredible foil to yuuji as his pattern of interactions with other characters highlights that he is the embodiment of unfairness and improper death. junpei, mechamaru, and nanami were all beaten down and broken by the world, with mahito being the final nail. mahito calling himself the human curse proves the state of the world and how it actively tries to destroy yuuji's ideals, but their final battle shows that with the help of others, yuuji can still win out. super interested to see how this will go in the future, as now jujutsu society and especially yuta will be against him too.
this video reminded me of the scene in chainsaw man where kishibe asked denji and power about their positions regarding devils. yuuji would fail his test immediately, and that's a big difference between that world and jjk. denji is struggling to find his own path in a world with no right one, and yuuji is struggling on his right path in a world vying to find a path.
When I watched the episode where Todo motivated Yuji, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Erwin’s “My Soldiers speech” from AOT. I feel like that speech embodies Yuji’s resilience to move forward.
Finally a Yuji analysis! He's such an interesting character & seeing him fall into utter despair during Shibuya was rough
No one suffers like Yuji and still have a will to fight.
I love how characters surprising deaths and their anticlimactic feeling makes us feel exactly how Yuji would have felt. And that’s why we end up loving Yuji, cause we feel him. Just as we’re powerless to change the story, Yuji is unable to prevent the deaths of his friends.
Yuji is different from most shonen protags in the fact that he isn't the embodiment of the right way to live in his world. He's just as lost as everybody else trying to find his way. He isn't the embodiment of freedom like Luffy or someone like Naruto where the story bends over backwards to validate his worldview. Yuji is like a real person in that he develops a worldview, tests it against the world and both he and his view change in response to the world. I find that a thousand times more compelling than unrelenting, almost insane shonen protagonist "good" and "niceness".
Honestly I love Luffy like that compared to Yuji
Realism doesn't necessarily equal entertaining
@@murderman8578 but that doesn't mean being 'realistic' equals 'not entertaining'
@@murderman8578 It's not about realism, I just like it better when it feels like a character is part of their world instead of the world feeling like an amusement park built just for them. Luffy feels like part of his world, it doesn't revolve completely around him. Other people can progress the story, they have their own goals and ambitions independent of Luffy. Yuji is the same but even more so.
@kal973 not saying it doesn't but for Shounen stories it's not the ideal place to look for realism
How does the world bend to narutos view?
You’ve made a good point here, in particular how Yuji had to modify his role in the story in order to continue to be the force for good that he strives to be. Many other shonen protagonists don’t necessarily have to reckon with the kind of limited role they can fill in the same way he can because they are, at least at some point, made capable of rising to the challenge. There is arguably not enough strength in anyone in JJK to become that person in this world. They can get stronger, face stronger opponents, but the world of curses bears down on them regardless, pushing beyond their limits to their breaking point. Finding his form of meaning, as well as others, in that world is no mean feat and he does it by bending his perspective.
@@WilsonEvergreens-rv3uj I didn’t say anything about it being deep. I’d say it’s noteworthy and that it’s more than many shonen protagonists manage. You’re welcome to disagree, though I don’t appreciate the condescension.
Yuji is going to be what breaks the corruption of the Jujustu Society, we've seen it from Gojo that the higher ups don't like the idea of doing things differently and they wanted to get rid of people like Yuji and Yuta but Gojo is what stopped that. Now with Shibuya concluded we see the corruption of the Jujutsu Higher-Ups on full display
Yuji has become one of my favorite fictional characters across any genre or medium.
THIS. This right here is why I love Yuji and JJK as a whole. To me there's so many different ways to look at the story, to look at Yuji and every other character, it can be interpreted differently by everyone (art is subjective, WOAH), which I feel is a huge and rarely seen achievement. Amazing analysis about how you look at Yuji and the JJK world.
Tbh itadori’s my top 5 for this show because of the ingenuity and entertainment he provides when it comes down to fighting. He adapts to nearly ANY team up he’s in, he’s a solid, capable pick for a fight(not too busted but not too weak), his whole gimmick is literally just punching and kicking hard with CE and CT, and yet his fights are the most interesting to watch with how he uses his power. He’s really a balanced protagonist that makes the best of the terrible hand he was dealt. I genuinely don’t remember him having any serious ass pulls throughout the series. Plus he doesn’t have any insane power ups or revelations that he’s the child of a prophecy.(You know the mfs I’m talking about 😂) If we give him a few years, he’ll easily be one of the stronger end characters in JJK
Youre goddamn right. If anything, Yuji life is the exact opposite of the chosen one. He is cursed, despite his power. His existence indirectly caused the death of his loved ones and so many others. Its sad and depressing. But he kept pushing through and fight the good fight. He is much better than the "chosen one". ( we dont need to mention the character by name cause we all know who it is lol)
Said chosen one/child of prophecy made himself chosen tho
Thanks Aleczanderxr. You've found the words that I lack to describe why JJK moves me so much. I think Yuji is too often not seen for how amazing he is. While surrounded by death that even the readers often question the purpose of he keeps going and tries to make what change he can.
My pleasure :)
Honestly i think one of the reasons he doesn't have more fans with the shonen audience is because he doesn't have a distinct power. He just punches and uses blackflash which is a punch with black lighting
Nope it's more of him being the Everyman
And that the cast is more Intresting to watch than him
Yuji is also the perfect dance partner.
Homie can turn any tag battle drom a 6/10 to an 11/10 regardless of who he has to keep up with.
Theres been a lot of slander saying he's not the MC, which was especially disgusting. All because he's not being handle to the same degree as other Shonen MCs
When you ask them why they hate Yuji, they all give 2 answer
1. Yuji is not strong or have cool ability
2. He do not have a win on his own.
So, you all want the same Naruto, Deku, Asta, Tanjiro, etc type of character, so that you can complain about every MC is destined for success from the start
@@ayush9202 Deku and Tanjiro barely win on their own.
@@ayush9202tanjiro barely wins himself
@@madambutterfly1997 out of everything i said you picked out Deku and Tanjiro and didn't even understand what i was trying to say.
Anyway, yes deku and tanjiro barely win on their own but they always get the finishing blow and they always gets new powerup in the middle of the fight out of nowhere. Which Yuji do not gets and which make Yuji different from all these copy cats
the main argument for people who say this is the fact that he barley gets any screen time which is completely false.
but this take mainly comes from people who have been reading jjk weekly as the chapters have been coming out. and unfortunately gege has attracted an extremely impatient community consisting of people who are either only in it for the fights, and the other half that dont understand the concept of implicit depth
There’s an irony that I wish you’d touched on which is that Sukuna tends to give those he kills (consider Jogo and other manga spoiler deaths) meaningful if not beautiful deaths. Conversely Yuji gives gruesome and cruel death to Mahito
I don’t personally see how that would’ve had a place in this script - not to mention, Yuji didn’t kill Mahito.
Another banger essay. Beautifully written & structured and a great run-down of JJK's themes as a whole. Loved the thesis of Yuji's grandfather's last words being Yuji's curse to bear as that really does bring it back full circle for him and for the series :')
I noticed a strong concept of meaning Vs nihilism in jujutsu, yuji always represented meaning to me, it fought to make sense of things during the most painful times, it kept true to himself when others tried to crush him; i can see why you love him.
one of the most misunderstood main chars in this gen. goated analysis
i'm active in the anime community on threads & i've already convinced a handful of people who actually went & watched your video, because i was moved by it. yuji slowly grew on me especially after my second watch of jjk. you put into words all the feelings i had that i didn't understand about him either. now i'm just tearing up listening to your video again & reading some of these comments because as much as i wish i could protect yuji & not see him endure utter hell...i'm so fucking proud of him. he knows he's & underdog but never resigns himself to it & continues to push forward all while maintaining a sense of innocence & his childlike nature. i hope that's never completely taken from him. i just care so much about him.
Same, I feel u, very well said 💯✨✨✨✨
Thank you so much for putting into perspective how I felt about Yuji but didn’t have the words for. Your videos are a blessing to come across. Appreciate you🙏🏾
My pleasure mate :)
The explanation of how the power/societal system of curses/cursed energy is thematically and materially connected to the way that the series tackles death was ingenius. Nicely done
Just as i'm in the beginning of the video i can't help but think to myself about people's ability to empathize and get an idea for how things could be for someone else but i feel there is this gigantic mass brainwashing (For no one's benefit really..) that empathy is just shoes you can put on. I don't think empathy is this rare special ability that a select few have but i don't think people identify empathy when they correctly practice it. What most people call empathy is the feeling you get when you see someone have a small cut, when someone vomits, when someone cries, you get the eerie feeling upon seeing a small cut, you feel your stomach swirl when you see someone vomit, when someone cries you become sad and teary with them.
That's not empathy, far from it, empathy is voluntary, it's tiring because it's self imposed questions and dialog with the self and the removal of the ego in the process. The above is just you in someone else's image, it's a innate reaction, of course it's emotional but emotions don't really equate a empathetic person. How often did you get the sympathies of someone because, let's say you have issues with your relationships so you went to this person and this person shows sympathy but their sympathy meant not much, it's even alien in some regards, their felt emotion and spoken words towards you seemed more like a self imposition into YOUR story, into YOUR situation, into your emotions, because they see their own failing relationships and think to themselves "oh yeah i know how it feels" but Empathy is throwing out the shoes and re conceptualizing what shoes are. A good therapist will sometimes stop you at the simplest of words and ask you, what does that word mean to you ? Because in order to understand, you need to go back to the drawing board.
I think the reason why people have this problem with Yuji's character is exactly that they can't remove themselves from a equation, i don't think people are worst for it no, it's normal. Especially since, let's be honest a lot of 16 year olds watch JJK too, every year there is a new batch of them so it's not a surprise and they're not exactly good at understanding fictional characters that don't fit their pallet and given that pallet is small as well. The only way to get better at empathy and remove that ego barrier that makes you self impose into other's life is by the voluntary transformation into the unknown. I Know this is a people discussion more so then JJK but it's something i've been thinking about, about why so many people seem to see so little in many fictional characters despite their loud and clear interest in the show and it's story.
Very Interesting. Ur saying empathy is more than walking into somebody else's shoes? I see u 💯
It's interesting you mention Guts. Because Yuji is, in a way, the Guts of JJK. He is 'The Struggler'
It's worth mentioning that the mindset he got at after going through Shibuya feels, at least for me, as a middle stage of what ought to be his complete character developement. Though it's fair to say the lessons he learns from this arc count as character developement, it evidently represents just a step in the path the character needs to take in order to truly complete his journey. And speaking of "journey", I'd love to see a short analysis of Yuji's growth up to Shibuya's Incident's end through the lens of the Hero's Journey theory; maybe point out at what stage of the narrative scheme he stands.
I agree. Yuji hasn’t even been life for half a year yet. Basically Yuji hit a hard time and then just got a big shit taken on him by life…the “I’m a cog” mindset could very well just be a coping mechanism that will be abandoned later (🤞🏽)…it’s a pretty grim way to look at things. I hope the endgame is what Gojo was trying to do…reform the JJK society
Great video and I'm very glad this exists to help open some peoples' eyes but I wish people in the comments wouldn't show their insecurities.. You can love JJK without slandering Naruto, you can love Yuji without slandering Gojo. It's possible people, I promise.
this is how shonen discourse be, my friend. Unfortunately that's how it be
My favorite character personally is Choso. But Itadori has the best protagonist character building of any manga I ever read, everything revolves around him in the story and his next step or implication in the next event is always unclear. You want Sukuna to recognise him, you empathize when people around him die and you get inspired each time by how he handles adversity; at the same time he doesn't overshadow the others at all. This mangaka really put the level few steps higher.
He sort of feels like a foil to a more traditional shounen protagonist like Ichigo, where Resolve and Hidden Power Ups dont save the day. Ichigo, for all his trials and tribulations, never really lost anyone during the run of the show, except antagnonists that he respected or important unrelated background characters.
This show feels like it takes a similar archtype of young man and sets him in a much more grim but realistic world, and i really appreciate the hopeless and mechanized feel of it.
Yuji is a great protag and mc plus some of his other huge moments still to be animated and that "I am you" straight shivers and chills to Mahito also he always got his brothers Choso and Todo
Yuji and Higu will be incredible to witness
I need Todo back NOW.
20:59 About Yuuji possibly dying alone, I definitely see that. Yuuji near death, unsure of how he feels, probably dissatisfied but too tired to be upset about it. And then it feels like an epiphany, maybe he doesn't have anyone physically to see him go like his grandfather wished him, but I don't feel like Yuuji would truly be dying alone. He's dying with his friends. It's so weird, but it makes sense to me in a bittersweet way. Just like Nobara and Nanami who found their purpose in ther life at the very last moments, "it wasn't so bad." I feel like Yuuji could see that too. That all those connections he did, maybe they're not alive physically, but they were real to him. He's dying with those memories, he's not alone.
Jesus, if that actually happens it'll hit like a sack of concrete to the face
The opening of this video was beautifully done. Great idea, great execution.
when you said there’s no hero in the sky to save the day. it made me realize i should’ve made the connection to know gojo was never going to win.
True. I honestly don't even know how Sukuna could possibly lose.
I love Itadori. In the coming arcs especially I think people will start to appreciate him more and more
Seeing what yujis philosophy has evolved into from his cog mindset yuji truly is the anti curse of JJK. The boy born as cursed as Ryomen sukuna yet values and appreciates humanity so much he offered the chance to experience it to the king of curses himself, twice.
As always, love your videos! Keep em up!
Shonen is (most of the time) an underdog story about "not giving up". These words can ring meaningless in the hands of a lesser author, but in those special stories, they seem so beautiful.
As you already stated, Yuji has that Shonen-attitude down perfectly. He struggles, he falls, he gets back up.
But what I like to highlight are the amazing side characters here, that did fall down in sight of this unforgiving world, but came back around to do what's right:
Nanami helping that bakery lady.
Shoko telling Yuji that he didn't kill the transformed humans.
Kokichi (Mechamaru) fighting his condition.
And another special one, that hasn't been animated yet.
We know that it's hopeless, we know that it can't truly be completed; doing so would forgo the purpose of it. The very nature of it is contradictory and impossible. But there is a reason we continue to fight for it. So long as we do, we can make things a little bit better, reach ever closer to our ideal, and even if we never make it to the end, we can overcome it by speed. We fight not to restrict it, but to repel it.
Yuji has not set his goal any lower. He has only defined it more, stopped being disappointed by his own failures. Like this, he has become unrelenting in reaching his ultimate goal.
It has been very difficult to understand the whole subtext behind Yuji in this world, but your video helps put it together better than I could have. Some could view his grandpa's words as a curse upon Yuji and how his circumstances within this world begin to twist his words in a way that only serves to reinforce it's narrative. It could also just be that his words and Yuji's unrelenting mindset are what the world needs to break it's curse in a sense.
Great video. Glad you talked about Yuji and honestly was shocked to find out he was greatly disliked by many.
Much appreciated, happy that the video was of some value!
Great video man. I knew I loved Yuji but you helped me understand why
My pleasure, happy to help!
Seeing Yuji be so genuinely good, and try so hard to save lives, only to fail and be forced to kill and fight for his life all while blaming himself is just so compelling to me.
I’ve always found myself drawn to chaotic good characters and Yuji is one of my favorites ever. His change from naive optimistic heroism, to self sacrificial service as his means of saving lives just feels so real to me
Can't decide what I love more about your videos, between the quality analysis and the use of Final Fantasy OSTs as background music
I’ve only watched this one time and it’s already my favorite yuji analysis video
Do you know what yuji from jjk and Subaru from re zero have in common?
They both struggle to find the value of their lives
Both of them think that they have to save other people otherwise they don't deserve to live
The difference is the reason behind said struggling
Subaru struggles with his weakness and the fact that his death can be used as a tool only makes it harder for him to value his own life
Yuji struggles because his death would put a stop sukuna and technically saves lives
i've always loved your videos, but this has made me truly appreciate a character i otherwise couldnt describe whatsoever why i liked
I'm so glad! That’s very gratifying to see, especially for a character like Yuji.
Yuji is also trying to find meaning in his own life. If one day his ideas about humanity change, he will have a reason to live. He's going to be more selfish, just like sukuna. But Yuji's character is unshakable. For now...
i think people underrate the Berserk influence in JJK.
Yuji is thrown into, instead of born into, a life of boundless suffering, truly seeming cursed. I know Luffy and Naruto will be Pirate King and Hokage. The only thing I know for sure is Yuji is gonna suffer.
The horror, gore, Jungian ideals, the dualist exploration of Nietzschean ideals w/ Gojo vs Sukuna similar to the real vs false Ubermench in Guts vs Griffith, the millennia old mastermind with the exposed brain.
The first apostle kill with the DragonSlayer reminds me of the curse that Yuki killed Vs Kenjaku. The grimy/rage panels seem to have taken influence from how Muria draws Guts sometime (throwing in my obligatory Togashi mention)
Both suffer a lot because they care about people and hold onto the love they have for other people, maybe the biggest reason why they continue the struggle.
The existentialist tragedy, continuous struggle through the cruel, unfair world. A world that has beaten it into you that forces above you are so much more powerful than you. But it’s just not in you to entirely give up who you are.
i also can’t help but feel like Yuji/ a Jujutsu Sorcerers life in the system is how Gege feels about being a mangaka.
i love Yuji, and i knew you’d come through with a great breakdown as usual. thanks!
20:24 That reminded me of Trigun. Vash mom's word had a similar effect on him, even if she didn't intend for that to happen
I think what makes me connect with Itadori more than someone like Naruto is just how much more brutal and human the story that surround him is. It's a world where people get ahead by becoming similar to the monsters they fight, unrelentingly selfish and greedy. So when a generally pleasant and hopeful kid like Itadori comes in, his kindness isn't rewarded, at best most are indifferent to it, at worst he's actively tormented and beat into the dirt for it. Not to put down Naruto but I could never really connect with him because no matter what the story told you about how cutthroat everything is, this blonde brat would go anywhere and be praised for thinking peace in is an option as if no one has and constantly talked highly of by damn near everyone around him. It felt less like an underdog story of a kid struggling his way to the top and more and more like he's a kid being boosted to the top and everyone in his life knows he's the main character. He felt like cognitive dissonace the character. By contrast Itadori goes through hell and worse and when he comes out the other end he does so scarred, bruised, broken, but still able to move and that's enough. That struggle will always resonate with me more than Naruto bending the world to his whim. Sometimes things won't be ok, sometimes things will hurt you in ways you'll never forget, but what matters is you get out in one piece and keep moving.
i absolutely love Naruto as a symbol of an ideal but also love Yuji, you cooked with your analysis.
it’s kind of why i love Itadori in the same way I love Guts, which is a totally different way that I love Naruto/Luffy
Well your criticism of Naruto is valid but you forgot something in my opinion.
One series is named Naruto, the other is named Jujutsu Kaisen. (Sorcery Battle)
Notice how one isn't named Ninja Kaisen and how the other isn't named Yuji.
Naruto is a vision of the world, while Jujutsu Kaisen is a vision of another world. Naruto is a story about a character that shapes a world, while Jujutsu Kaisen is a story about a world that shapes a character. (You could say it often is the big difference between shonen and seinen btw, hence why HxH and JJK have more seinen vibes and why One Piece or Naruto have more shonen vibes)
In term of preferences, I'd say it all comes down on how you make both of these aspects work in the universe, and what you think your own position in the world is as a reader. Are you someone living in a world, or is the world something you live in?
I like how both Yuji and Naruto fight the world and the characters that represents different ideas. (Although I do think Yuji doesn't have nearly as much as Naruto in that regard, making Naruto a more complex series as it tackles more themes. Doesn't make it better though)
But in one the story progressed in a way that we could understand the world through Naruto, while the other progressed in a way that we could understand the world through the world.
I personally prefer the former, because it's easier to relate to human beings and I feel like it's the best way for an author to bring out the primary values and ideas of his work. But the nuance in the latter is also charming and can (probably will) push you to think more because it's not always so obvious.
When you do realise that, I think it's when you can really start liking pretty much any form of media as long as it has meaning.
No one spoke highly of Naruto until after the pain arc…
@@Bornagainvillain I don't really agree. A lot of people already liked it before, sales also confirm that. Naruto was good with Zabuza, great with Chunin Exam/Gaara, incredible with Sasuke Recovery and got even better by Itachi/Pain. All the arcs in between are kinda setup so some people don't really like them, but its got some great moments like Asuma's death, Tsunade search, Sasori's backstory and such.
Then even if there were some problems with the 4th Ninja War, it was still an absolute blast of an arc overall.
Naruto is kinda goated imo.
This comment shows a great understanding of JJK, but a poor one of Naruto. That's a stale and played-out take. Naruto was absolutely up against it for the majority of his childhood. He was given special powers but he was only able to make it to a point where he could use them because he persevered in spite of overwhelming odds and a village full of people that ostracized him.
yuji and sukuna are truly special, love how their dynamic works
This video perfectly captures how great of a character Yuuji is within the story of JJK. From the jump, this fifteen year old child was doomed to suffer and suffer greatly for trying to live up to the ideals presented to him by his grandfather. For me, he represents the concept of an inner child that's been completely battered by life yet persists with the brightest smile. Generally, because Yuuji is presented as such a happy, goofy character, I think some fail to realize he was broken from the start, or if not broken, heavily burying his more negative feelings until circumstances forced those things out for the viewer to see and hear. He's doing his best with the worst of hands in this Jujutsu mess he unwittingly threw himself into. That's admirable and inspiring precisely because that sort of resilience in anyone is rare. It's one thing to overcome difficulties in life and another to overcome it without becoming jaded toward everything.
So, to sum all that up...I love this character too.❤
Also, I noticed you used Cid's theme from FF16 at the end of this analysis. As a fellow FF16 player, I salute you for that. Another top tier character. :)
Best wishes and God bless you. Great work on this!
Appreciated, glad you enjoyed!
Part of why I like yuuji so much is that even though he's such a hopeful and optimistic person, he still breaks down at the horror show that is his life. Characters that don't back down or waver in their beliefs are inspiring, but I like that yuuji feels the suffering of his life, questions his decisions and even life at his lowest moments, but then gets up, reevaluates his priorities, and keeps going, while still striving for a better future for the people around him.
To me, the more he loses the more I want him to finally get a w, and that’s really what got me behind his character, especially after what transpired in Shibuya
Yuji has the natrure of a pure hero but he soon relises that this world has non so he has to adapt to a more serious and dangous society
Itadori is an average shonen protagonist on his own, but he's perfect for the world he inhabits since he perfectly contradicts it with his good nature.
3:06 yes you get it his struggle to not only stay alive but to stay human i believe is a core part to jujutsu kaisen as a whole as yuji told mahito "i am you" one side of the same coin all a curse really is. Its someone who has only malicious intent and heres yuji fighting the worst curses day after day nearly dying actually dying and lossing everyone he cares about he still fights he still is human
No matter how much time passes I know I can always count on you to come out with fantastic, moving character analysis that I revisit all the time. Thank you for it across the years.
Wow, this thumbnail sums him up as a character so well.
I absolutely admire Yuji he’s so empathic, the ep of him fighting Jumpai the way he stoped mid fight just to say I’m here to listen tell me what happened, also he was hesitated to kill transformed humans begging to him to be killed 💔 that touched me❤
Ayo this was fire. I could never really put my finger on why I liked him so much outside of his determination but this makes sense and is articulated nicely. Big ups and happy new year.
In the end it doesn’t matter.
But what does matter. Is that it mattered to you.
That is powerful that yuji had to give up on his ideals to live and change anything but that is ok he had to just keep moving
Yuji is a great mc for jujutsu kaisen because he goes against everything the jujutsu world is about. No matter what happens to yuji he never throws away his humanity and keeps moving forward while everyone else in the story throws away their humanity for greater power even gojo is a byproduct of this. Sukuna is the embodiment of what the jujutsu world is which is why he hate yuji so much calling him boring because yuji is the opposite of sukuna ideals.
If JJK was released during the early 2000s - 2010s when I would still be a pre-teen, I wouldn't pick Yuji as a character I would adore. He would come off as boring or even side-character material probably putting me off the series. I would argue either Gojo/Megumi should have been the MCs.
But as someone in her late 20s, I could relate to Yuji being someone who's "ordinary" being thrown into shit situations with people who are more "powerful" than him, forcing him to keep up to survive. He symbolises human resilience - the character trait of just persevering in everyday life. Seeing him break down during the Shibuya Arc then pick himself back up and acknowledge the people who helped him defeat Mahito (or at least reduced him into a scared bunny lol) cemented my adoration for the guy. He's a fitting anime MC in today's world.
what made adore the shibuya arc and the series is how willing it is to really challenge yuji ideals. it forces him come terms with the weight of it. it makes him waver and change. he thinks he found a better compromise but the world tells him that wrong too and he must again come to terms with it. yet even though the world time and time has battered him and tore down his ideals, yuji still gets up. he still is himself, changed but still yuji. it makes him much more endearing. im interested to see where he ends up by the end. it kind give me echos of guts in berserk, his simple desire to survive and stuggle through the messed up world he is in becomes this beacon of light in the darkness of it all.
Great analysis Aleczandxr, it made me appreciate yuji’s journey in the shibuya arc even more and makes me curious to see how his story is concluded at the end of the series.
Exactly the channel I’ve been looking for
Someone cooked here, loved this analysis!
Glad you enjoyed! I’ve got a few other JJK videos in case you’re interested too
@@Aleczandxr of course! I’m looking forward to them ;)
When watching Yuji i often think about the lines, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" from the Bible, it's not about the religion could you believe it but the symbolism, it inspires me, Power under God’s control. I think people often mistake meek with weak but a synonym for meek is tamed. Yuji at the start albeit could be said yes he had strength but he was also just a prey, innocent and naive, unaware of his own depths to sink into. In my view and perhaps especially as a man because of it's physical aspect of "Strength" that it doesn't lend itself without getting in contact with the shadow self and taming it first.
It goes perfectly with the story because of the theme curses and how they come to be and what they represent as the negative side of humans. We all have seen someone clearly capable of destructive malice and you know it damn well they could support it too with their physical build and perhaps skills yet you feel safe to be around. On the reverse someone with 1/4 of that persons strength but you're checking the exists because you fear for your life ? What is up with that.
The difference is the internalization of evil between all three, the prey doesn't have tools to protect itself and is unaware of their own capability to cause harm, to be evil, therefore they cannot act out the violence they need in order to protect themselves and stand above. The middle way of the road is someone with plenty of malice, awareness of the levels of the damage they could inflict but no reserve, no handles on that ride, it's involuntary, it's not considered strength but a hungry Hyena. On the third, having tamed the beast, having been able to incorporate their evil, their shadow side are capable of protecting themselves when they need to and they can extend that protection onto others, wich is why you feel safe above the baseline around such people. Yuji's line about "I'm you" referring to Mahito saying that hes a curse, therefore it's only natural he'd kill people, now Yuji having found that yes, he is also capable of that same evil. Is a high point of him incorporating evil into his build.
Man, your writing is so coincise and so effective without wasted words or filler. It’s straight to the point but with some floral language. I really like how you articulate the motifs/themes in the show. Thank you. It definitely adds to my overall understanding of JJK and appreciation of the shows which feels like a modernized Yu Yu Hakusho
This is very nice of you to say, thank you! I’m glad you think so.
Finally bro did a jjk analysis, nice video. now pls do one about Suguru geto pls
He has one for Geto
Check my channel my friend LOL I have like 6 JJK videos already, one of them on Geto. Glad you enjoyed this one.
I always love to see a good Yuji analysis video.
I also share similar sentiments. I always say to really enjoy him people have to let go of the comparisons between him and other protagonists before him because jjk isn’t trying to write a story that would put him in uplifting situations and “mc like” triumphs. The story does not reward his heroism nor is it talked about in the series almost ever. But his impact truly lies in the connections he’s made with the other cast and how that shows through their own actions in life and in death.
Jjk’s core lies in how his story ends in my opinion and I look forward to it.
This was fire, maybe my favourite Jujutsu Kaisen video.
Bro I don't know why, but this video made me cry. Thank you.
My pleasure.
If curses in JJK are born out of negative emotion...
Where's the Gamer Rage Curse?
Jujutsu kaisen is a tragedy disguised as Shonen in the beginning yuji though he was gonna live a cool hero fantasy but this is what happens when fantasy meets reality kinda but reality punches those fantasies out of him and accepts his role as a cog in a machine
Well the thing is there are shonen series like jjk. Good example is the original devilman manga
I understand what you mean but shonen can be tragedies too. And top to bottom, chapter 1 to the current chapter, JJK is true battle shonen through and through.
Thank you for reminding me of clouds coma, the mideel theme is engraved in my brain I swear.
AMAZIONG ANALYSIS AND I CAN SEE OLD VIBES
So cool you made a video about Yuji! I see a lot of resemblance between jjk, berserk and hxh. I love your videos and your takes on characters!
So glad you enjoy them!
As Sukuna said, Yuji is the only person that can rival Sukuna on the level of his Spirit and Ideals. No matter how much Sukuna breaks him, Yuji will rise again. He truly possesses an Indomitable Spirit.
just wanna say todo reaching that conclusion about death adds to its validity since todo is unironically the smartest student in pure IQ
He’s my top 1 in jjk I love him so much, great video as usual!
This video was AMAZING. Ever since I started the show I really liked the character of Yuji, but similarly to how you described, I wasn’t able to grasp what it was that I liked about him 😂
After watching this I think I might have a better idea of it and if my friend ask why he is my favorite character, I won’t just be like ‘uhh.. idk?’ 😅
I'm so glad you found it valuable!