Jujutsu Kaisen Creator Outs Their Biggest Culling Game Regret

Jujutsu Kaisen’s second season came to a close by shaking up the world of Jujutsu Tech via the Shibuya Incident Arc. Thanks to the plan put into fruition by Suguru Geto, Gojo has been locked away inside the Prison Realm, various heroes have been killed, and the Culling Game has been put into practice. The third season of MAPPA’s supernatural hit series will put the Culling Game front and center but the arc has already come to an end in the manga. In a recent interview, series creator Gege Akutami broke down one of his biggest regrets when it came to creating the Culling Game.

For those who might not be entirely familiar with the Culling Game, it involves a plot unleashed by Geto who awakens a vast swath of cursed energy users that battle one another to see who stands out on top. Thanks to the various blows that Yuji Itadori took during the Shibuya Incident Arc, the anime protagonist is on the run from both heroes and villains alike. Sukuna’s reign of destruction took countless lives in Shibuya and Jujutsu Tech has put a bounty on Yuji’s head as a result. Unfortunately for Itadori, his would-be executioner is none other than Yuta Okkotsu, the star of Jujutsu Kaisen 0. 

Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game’s Regret

In a recent interview, Akutami stated that they regretted now making the Culling Game more of a ‘tournament-style battle’, “I now regret not making the Culling Game into a tournament-style battle. When introducing new characters, I wanted to create excitement by telling side stories for each character in advance, like ‘When will they appear? What will happen if they fight?’ and ‘Oh, this character appears at this timing?’ If the Culling Game had adopted a tournament-style format, I think the story would have been much clearer, and characters like Tsumiki and Kurusu could have been more prominently featured. Additionally, it might have allowed for the incorporation of the Gojo Retrieval Arc as well.” 

While manga readers aren’t sure how many more chapters Jujutsu Kaisen has in the tank, Akutami hasn’t been shy that the current arc will be its last. Without diving into spoiler territory, the stakes have been raised to such a degree in the final fight of the franchise that it will be a miracle if any of the anime heroes walk out of the confrontation alive. 

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