Summary
In a 2020 interview with Le Figaro, Gege Akutami explains his character creation process for Jujutsu Kaisen, focusing on both visual design and unique characteristics. Shonen manga attracts a young male audience, which is why Jujutsu Kaisen has strong and powerful male protagonists. The character designs in Jujutsu Kaisen are visually striking and memorable, with complex personalities that go beyond their initial attributes.
Compelling, well-written characters are one of the most important elements of any good manga or anime. This important detail is captured perfectly in Gege Akutami’s critically acclaimed manga, Jujutsu Kaisen. The series has a lot of great characters that fans find admirable. Without prominent characters like Itadori Yuji and Satoru Gojo, the series would not be able to achieve its current level of popularity and appeal.
In a 2020 interview with French cultural news website Le Figaro, Gege Akutami answered many questions about his manga writing process and the factors he considered when creating Jujutsu Kaisen. He went deeper to find out his creative process and character designs for the series. He explained that each character must first conform to the standards of shounen manga in order to appeal to the target audience. But this is not the only important ingredient. They must meet other general shounen requirements, but they must also have their own unique characteristics and personalities that fans want to learn more about.
Akutami outlines his unique character creation method for Jujutsu Kaisen
Akutami explains the two different processes he uses when creating characters for his manga. Sometimes he designs the form firstincludes intuitive design, while sometimes he focuses on a particular feature or theme and build the character around that element. For example, he created the looks of Panda and Inumaki before developing their personalities. However, with Gojo, he chose a broader theme that he wanted him to express and then designed his interface. He describes the specific characteristic he chose for Gojo’s design as “the intensity of force.” These two unique approaches allow Akutami to create many different personalities.
“The original shounen editorial audience was mainly male children or teenagers, from 8 to 18 years old.” – Le figaro
One ingredient that Akutami cannot ignore is ensuring his characters appeal to the typical demographic. The editorial in the interview makes that clear this typically includes males between the ages of 8 and 18 years old. This is why most popular shounen series today, such as Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece, and Demon Slayer, often include male protagonists of this age. Shonen anime also has many brave, strong heroes that will appeal to young boys and provide them with role models to follow. Jujutsu Kaisen is no different, with strong, prominent heroes like Gojo and Yuji.
Jujutsu Kaisen contains some of the most interesting, well-rounded characters
This series is considered one of Shonen Jump’s best series in many years.
This process that Akutami used for his character designs clearly paid off considering the memorable cast of characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. The manga’s plot is very engaging and worthy of appreciation, but unforgettable characters are what really keep fans coming back. The character designs that Akutami uses are incredible, with looks that readers can definitely recognize anywhere. With Panda and Inumaki, the two characters he first visually designed, it’s clear that a lot of effort went into creating their bold, eye-catching looks. For example, Inumaki’s shy, quiet appearance contrasts with the marks on his mouth that hint at his Cursed Technique.
Jujutsu Kaisen introduces powerful heroes, terrifying villains, and many who fall in between the two. Every person is complex, shaped by their life experiences and the hardships they endure. As Akutami said in the interview, he often chooses an initial theme to base a character on, such as “strength” for Gojo. But, His character is not one-dimensional. Even though Gojo was written around that trait, he became a multi-faceted hero, more than just an embodiment of pure power. Akutami develops the characters of Jujutsu Kaisen into complex beings that develop beyond both the attributes he chooses for them as well as the typical traits of shounen characters, such as strength.
Source: Le Figaro