Jujutsu Kaisen has now come to its complete end with the release of the manga’s final volume in Japan, and the creator behind it all has bid goodbye to the series with a rather heartbreaking final message to fans. Jujutsu Kaisen came to an end earlier this Fall, and it resulted in quite a divisive response from fans. The series seemed to end in a truncated way with many questions left unanswered, and that’s sort of been par for the course for a series that built up potential plot threads only to never follow them up later. It even seems like Akutami has been aware of these criticisms.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The release of Jujutsu Kaisen’s final volume in Japan came with a final goodbye message from series creator Gege Akutami (as noted by @Go_Jover on X) that continues the author’s self-deprecating style when speaking to fans. Openly addressing his mental state through the course of the series, the message to fans begins with such, “The product Jujutsu Kaisen was pissed out for nearly six and a half years, nearly seven years if you include the serialization of the special issues, and what I learned was ‘I really am an idiot…’” Teasing the heartbreaking nature of the message overall.
Jujutsu Kaisen Creator Says Goodbye to Fans
“I was, of course, pushing myself to the limits to pull out everything I could for my creations, and after about three years of serialization, my already rough personality began to become absentminded,” Akutami continued as the creator noted his mental state and struggles during serialization. “Even though I was complaining that ‘I’m fed up with having things pointed out to me that could be figured out by looking it up on the internet!!,’ I still made the mistake on Volume 18 with the sanpin, and ended up thinking like Gecko Moria that ‘well, if something happens, the people around me will figure it out…’ I’ve also been writing the openings for 6 and a half through 7 years through instincts.”
Thanking his editors for all their work with the series, Akutami opened up about his feelings of absentmindedness through serialization, “The reason I did not talk much in between the volumes was because I had become absentminded. When first becoming serialized, I took into consideration that Jujutsu Kaisen was being serialized in a major magazine, I had the feeling of trying to do my best to alleviate those who would read Jujutsu Kaisen and feel hurt, and those who would be hurt by those who read Jujutsu Kaisen.”
It’s through this sentiment that Akutami continues to be hard on himself. And he was fairly open about these continued struggles that he had in this final message, “The result of that was me telling myself, ‘Shut up! I get it, you just want to be seen as a good person!!’ and hurting myself. So I stopped trying that. To begin with, that very idea was prideful and I understand now that it was due to me lacking the conviction to put my created work out into the world.”
And gets even harsher as the message continues further too, “This is embarrassing, but even now, I do not fully have that conviction, when considering evil intent that doesn’t exist, I still want to shout out loudly, but the root cause of it is in my immaturity as a mangaka, so I hold it in…or rather, I continue on in a condition where all I can do is swallow it down.”
RELATED: Jujutsu Kaisen Ending Isn’t Bad But Left a Major Question Unanswered
But at the end of the day, Akutami is glad to see that the work speaks for itself within Shonen Jump, “The good thing about Shonen Jump is that the brand image is built not around the creator but the created work. And so, by trusting myself, to make it so that readers can read my manga without worry, I will take the lessons of these seven years to heart, and I want to overcome my problems after this.” Teasing his future, Akutami is starting the learning process towards what’s next.
“I have books packed that I bought during serialization, some for study, some just to have around because they might make me smarter. In truth, I do feel they made me smarter just by having them around, even if I didn’t read them. It’s scary.” With a final goodbye to fans, Akutami states, “This is the end of the Jujutsu Kaisen that I have drawn. To everyone who supported me, to the people who it read it all at once when it became topical, to those who read it wanting to see what came after the anime, to the person who just happened to read the final volume. Any reason is fine. I truly thank you. Until we meet again.”
