It’s been four years since the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen was released. At the time of writing this article, Season 2 has just begun. I watched Jujutsu Kaisen for the first over this past week. Considering that I’m not a big fan of popular shounen anime in general, I was impressed with this one. The storytelling was good and my expectations were subverted in interesting ways at multiple points. Additionally, the soundtrack and animation were both astounding. What appealed to me most in season 1 was Junpei Yoshino’s arc: today’s topic.

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1) Background and Reasons for Junpei’s Death

Junpei’s arc was truly tragic. As you may recall, this boy was severely bullied in school. After Mahito just happened to kill the bullies, Junpei followed him. Mahito then spent some time with Junpei, teaching him about human souls as well as his nihilistic life philosophy. Junpei deeply admired Mahito, not realizing he was about to be manipulated and ultimately killed.

In a nefarious plot that involved killing his mother, Mahito tricked Junpei into fighting Yuuji. When the boy was no longer useful, Mahito transfigured him into a monster. Junpei died shortly after. This was quite a surprise from my standpoint, as I had expected Yuuji to save Junpei. The anime did a great job in making me think the boy would be rescued and become a Jujutsu sorcerer with Yuuji and the others. Although I was impressed with the plot twist, I also felt severely disappointed. Honestly, I thought Junpei was going to be my favorite character. Why did he have to get killed off, and in such a cruel way?

It’s a shame that this character died, and I’ll always wonder what it would be like if he hadn’t met this tragic end. However, I think it worked well for this anime overall. I am a bit of an emotional masochist, so I don’t always hate it when a favorite character of mine dies. Also, it sounds weird to say this, but there are several good reasons for Junpei’s death. First of all, it helped set the relatively dark atmosphere of Jujutsu Kaisen. Secondly, Junpei’s death proved important for the character of Yuuji, having a lasting impact on him. And finally, this unfortunate event served to highlight the terrible reality of bullying.

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2) Junpei and the Atmosphere of Jujutsu Kaisen

As for the first reason, Jujutsu Kaisen does very well presenting itself as a more mature shonen series. Of course, this depends on what you consider standard shounen as well as your perception of what makes something dark. In my mind, examples of standard fighting shonen would be My Hero Academia, One Piece and Naruto. When it comes to shows like Attack on Titan or Claymore, I put them into a separate mental category of “dark shonen.” And there are many other dark shows that, despite targeting the shonen demographic, do not count as shonen in my personal system. (Future Diary and Death Note are examples.)

In my way of thinking, Jujutsu Kaisen rides the lines between standard and dark shounen. It’s similar to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This show has a few dark elements like civilian deaths, character deaths, and fairly heavy psychological themes. In addition, the art style is relatively realistic and serious. However, this definitely isn’t the most violent shonen series you will find. Jujutsu Kaisen is the same in those ways.

Getting back on topic, Jujutsu Kaisen would have been in my category of standard shonen if not for Junpei’s character arc and death. Because this was included, we know this isn’t a series where everyone can be saved. The hero sometimes fails, and characters can die in brutal ways. It also showed that this anime is willing to take on difficult topics like bullying and psychological manipulation. That’s why Junpei’s death is important to the general atmosphere of Jujutsu Kaisen.

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3) Junpei’s Significance to Yuuji Itadori

The tragedy of Junpei was important in the continued character development of the anime’s main protagonist, Yuuji. Prior to Junpei’s death, Yuuji spent time with Junpei. The two of them got along very well, especially considering Junpei was more introverted and quiet. They bonded over watching movies. They ate dinner together, watched a movie, and chilled out. Even though they only knew each other a day, Yuuji said they were already friends.

The most serious psychological struggle for Yuuji is to accept that people may die because of him. Because he ate the cursed finger and awakened Sukuna, several other curses were activated in response. But more relevantly, if Yuuji wasn’t Sukuna’s vessel, then Mahito wouldn’t have tried this experiment with him and Junpei. That surely weighs on Yuuji’s heart, even though I don’t think he should blame himself.

Yuuji doesn’t sink too deep into blaming himself. Most of his emotions on the matter are more angry than sad. The anger is directed at Mahito, who robbed Yuuji of his new friend. In other words, Junpei’s death was the perfect setup to create a strong enmity between Yuuji and Mahito. Yuuji now has a reason to hate Mahito. This is obviously important in a shonen anime. After all, you can’t have a main character who feels nothing toward the villains.

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4) Junpei and the Reality of Bullying

Junpei’s story was important because it showed the horrors of bullying. It’s a problem that many of us don’t like thinking about, but Junpei’s character arc forces us to take a closer look. There are several specific and thorough definitions of bullying. But a simple definition would be the following: “Bullying: to seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable).” Sometimes, the bullying is psychological, emotional, or social. Other times, it’s physical. In Junpei’s case, he suffered intense physical bullying – he was punched, kicked, and burned with cigarettes on multiple occasions.

Whether or not it’s as extreme as Junpei’s case, bullying is always harmful. One in five students report being bullied, according to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. It was painful to watch Junpei being bullied, so we should do whatever we can to reduce bullying in reality. The main way to do that is through education. You must also keep a compassionate and patient mindset. If you’re interested in further education and possible activism, I recommend visiting StopBullying.gov.

On a final note, I want to make a point to say I’m not just “virtue signaling.” This is an important topic to me as a secular humanist. I may not have been bullied in the traditional setting, but it was psychological bullying for sure. If possible, I want to prevent young people from going through the same thing – or much worse.

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5) Closing Thoughts About Junpei

Even though it was disappointing for me, I can see that there are many reasons for why the anime creators chose to kill Junpei. There’s also another reason that I didn’t really explain. Basically, Junpei and his character arc also served to demonstrate just how evil Mahito is, as well as his prowess with manipulating others. The villainy of Mahito deserves its own post another time. Maybe I’ll also eventually have a post about psychological manipulation. If I do that, Mahito will definitely be mentioned.

To sum it up, Junpei’s story was a horrifying tragedy, and I’ll always lowkey wish he had become a central character in the anime. That being said, I can still appreciate the character arc for what it did and how it demonstrated important points. That’s all for today.

Thank you for reading~

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PATREON