Jujutsu Kaisen Creator Unpacks Their Goal for Gojo's Past Arc

Jujutsu Kaisen's creator explained why they explore Gojo and Geto's past with the Hidden Inventory arc!

By Nick Valdez

Jujutsu Kaisen's creator opened up about what they wanted to accomplish by exploring Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto's past with a flashback arc! Jujutsu Kaisen had one of its most eventful arcs to dates in the anime with the Shibuya Incident, but before all of that took place, the anime also took some time out of its run to explore an important mission from the past with the Hidden Inventory and Premature Death arcs. Lumped up into the "Gojo's Past arc" by fans of the manga, the creator behind it all recently opened up about going back to the past. 

As part of Jujutsu Kaisen's special art exhibition, series creator Gege Akutami has been revealing special behind-the-scenes looks at the manga's development and with it sharing new tidbits about how it's all been made. As for exploring Gojo and Geto's past with a special arc, Akutami explained that he wanted to make a flashback arc to help the Shibuya Incident, and was hoping to use Gojo and Geto's appeal to keep fans interested in how the past ties into the present. 

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(Photo:

Poster for Hidden Inventory Arc in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

- TOHO Animation)

Jujutsu Kaisen: Why Gojo and Geto's Past Was Explored

"I've always wanted to try creating a past arc," Akutami explained (as translated by @soukatsu_ on X) "My editor often told me that flashback arcs tend to be received poorly (and drop in survey rankings), but I really wanted to try approaching it in my own way. The reason for the timing [of the arc] was because one of the major events of Shibuya Incident, Gojo's sealing, wouldn't have made sense to readers without that past arc, so I kind of just shoved it in at the closest point in the story as possible."

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As for why Akutami used Gojo and Geto, he was hoping to have fans questioning how the past ties into the present, "Gojo and Geto had character [appeal] power in this arc so I had a sense that there was potential for it to be pretty interesting. But like I mentioned earlier, my editor as the time, Katayama, told me that past arcs where the protagonist doesn't appear 'usually lead to lower survey rankings and reader engagement.' But I thought it would be okay if I kept presenting readers with the question of 'does this...connect to present time?' so I decided to give it a shot and start building the outline [for the arc]. So I guess my aim was that question."

You can find the newest chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen's manga with Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library and Shueisha's MangaPlus service. 

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