Jujutsu Kaisen Creator Reveals His Secret Homages to Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho

Jujutsu Kaisen's creator has revealed some of the secret homages to Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho [...]

Jujutsu Kaisen's creator has revealed some of the secret homages to Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho hidden in the series! Fans of Jujutsu Kaisen have always been quick to notice how the series seems to take influence from previous Shonen Jump works to create a whole new world of its own, and series creator Gege Akutami has never been shy about this either. There are several asides and outright direct references to these older works with Yoshihiro Togashi's Yu Yu Hakusho named in several moments throughout the series as a whole. But the homages go even deeper than that.

In an interview with Fuji TV's Mando Kobayashi program to celebrate Jujutsu Kaisen's special award, Akutami revealed some of the details behind his characters. As he explained (and translated thanks to @soukatsu_ on Twitter), the brash and brutal (but very friendly) Aoi Todo is actually a baked in reference to Kenpachi Zaraki from Tite Kubo's Bleach series.

Jujutsu Kaisen Bleach Yu Yu Hakusho
(Photo: Shueisha)

As Akutami noted in the interview, Zaraki was the inspiration for Todo's character and Todo was named as such in the first place because it seemed like a "strong" name fitting for the fighter. This isn't the only character inspired by other Shonen Jump works either as Akutami explained that the foe Suguru Geto is actually inspired by one of Yu Yu Hakusho's most notable villains, Shinobu Sensui.

Akutami revealed that Geto is indeed an homage to the cold demeanor of Sensui, and while he was emotionally invested in Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho's Chapter Black arc, he couldn't feel the same for Geto. It makes a lot of sense considering Geto's path is kind of the same. But while Sensui did see some humans horribly treating the demons he had been tasked to kill, Geto kind of lost his way and grew disillusioned with humanity overall. His descent happened for a much less noble cause.

So while fans might have noticed these small comparisons between Jujutsu Kaisen and other action series, it seems the creator intentionally baked some of these ideas into his own work! But what do you think of these connections? Are you hoping Jujutsu Kaisen becomes a legendary series like those two big ones? How do you feel about Todo and Geto overall? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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