What Makes Jujutsu Kaisen so Successful?

Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the anime that shocked the world on October 2020. That time people are really hyped on Attack on Titan that they almost overlooked on this anime. Thankfully, after episode 1 where Itadori Yuuji ate the first Sukuna finger. They really did broke the internet and slowly started to get everyone's attention. But is that really the only reason why it is so successful?

After few weeks of release, the manga sale actually increased and as of March 2021 it finally reached over 40 Million copies in circulation. Well isn't that a success? Even the anime was loved by many after getting high ratings in any anime rating websites (got a 8.78 rating in MyAnimeList). I even believe that this is the best shounen offered over the last decade. But what really makes Jujutsu Kaisen so Successful among the other shounen over the last 10 years?

It Is a Generic Shounen in a Good Way

It follows what shounen anime really is. A trio protagonist with a super cool teacher. Have a super power. There's an entity that lives within the body of the main character. And above all else, protect someone else's lives especially to someone they love. But why it is a good way that makes Jujutsu Kaisen different from the other shounen?. Shounen is the most popular anime genre. It can be watched by anyone no matter the age  or gender. So sticking to the idea of a generic shounen is a good choice. Anyone can easily understand what it is all about and anyone's appreciation will not be that hard to get. So yeah, being a generic shounen contributed a lot in Jujutsu Kaisen success.

They Really Know How to Mix Comedy into Shounen

Almost every shounen has a comedy included in it. But what I really hate about Comedy in shounen anime is the timing. Who would enjoy if in between a fierce and intense battle the character just spit a pun out of nowhere. Like seriously if the part of battle you just need to be serious or else the mood build up will just get ruined by the unnecessary jokes (get that Fairy Tail?). Thats what make Jujutsu Kaisen different from most of them. They know the timing of the jokes. The serious part remain serious while the comedy part will just be comedy. In fact it is actually funny especially that they mostly use parody.

They Know How to Make Anime Adaptation Properly

Making anime adaptation is not always about faithfully adapt the manga. There are many more factor to be consider in order to decide if it is a good anime adaptation or not. That includes animation. They made a right choice in choosing MAPPA as animating studio. MAPPA is one of the best studio in terms of animating a fighting scenes. They can make a decent fighting scenes without making it look like 3D or CGI. We need to consider the voice acting and precise sound effects too. Jujutsu Kaisen already proven its success in anime adaptation. Its rating in MAL is a proof that they made a good adaptation. In fact the anime has higher rating compared to manga.

Genius at Producing Opening and Ending Songs

Not gonna lie, the op and ed songs of Jujutsu Kaisen is really good (especially the first cour). But what makes them genius is the use of popular Japanese music artists well known in YouTube. They use the music of E ve as the first opening song. E ve is one of the music artist that I listen to even before Jujutsu Kaisen. He only have a million subscribers at that time but look at now, he will reach 3 million soon. There is also a group named ALI which make the first ending song. I've seen ALI before too in their song with Beastars first opening so I'm quite surprised that they are part of Jujutsu Kaisen too. The OP 2 artist is a complete alien to me. It is made by the artist named Who-ya Extended. I think this is his first debut song. It's not that bad and yeah it fits the movie too. And lastly the ED 2 sung by Cü shu Nie. This is actually a pretty ending song cause I really love Cü shu Nie works. I've known her since the Tokyo Ghoul ed 3 song "Asphyxia" so I'm glad she did this ending song for Jujutsu Kaisen. The opening and ending song of Jujutsu Kaisen is a win win for both anime and artists. And that's what make Jujutsu Kaisen even more popular.

Very Good Fighting Scenes

Jujutsu Kaisen is godly in making fighting scenes. Maybe it all thanks to MAPPA. This type of fighting skills can be seen rarely in any other anime and most of them are 3D or CGI. I don't have any Idea about the amount of budget and effort MAPPA used in this anime because it is so well made. Making a cool fights and flashy techniques without breaking the anatomy and didn't look 3D is on the other level. Looking forward to the next season cause this anime is full of fighting as hell. So yeah, good job to this one.

Cool Characters and Designs

The characters in manga is already cool but I'm really surprised that MAPPA made them even more cooler. Well it's kind of predicted cause MAPPA is really good at this. For example; the characters of Kakegurui, God of High School, Banana Fish and Yuri on Ice. They can make the vibes shounen but the character design is far from being childrens show looking. And admit it Gojo Satoru coolness is in another level. Especially when they use their special technique "Domain Expansion" that design is just pure breathtaking. Even the villains are cool as hell. Everything in this anime is just pure coolness that gets almost everybody's heart.

Jujutsu Kaisen is very successful because of Author's trust in his own works. Imagine introducing your work's anime adaptation into public even though it is not that super popular in the first place is a huge gamble. Gege Akutami is truely a genius cause he know that his work will succeed and put everything to gamble. And the success of his manga and the anime is truely a hard work paid off. Congratulations to the team behind Jujutsu Kaisen.