Jujutsu Kaisen's greatest flaw: How Satoru Gojo's importance became the series' Achilles' heel

While Jujutsu Kaisen is often regarded as one of the most compelling new-gen Shonen titles, despite the well-deserved hype, Gege Akutami’s manga isn’t without its shortcomings. One of the biggest flaws of the show is actually its star character, Satoru Gojo, or rather, the excessive focus on him. Gojo became incredibly popular right from the get-go.

But while he’s central to the narrative, he somehow also turned central to the show’s appeal, which unintentionally became one of its biggest drawbacks. The actual purpose of Gojo’s character was to act as an influential mentor figure. He should’ve been there only to support the main cast and guide the protagonist and his group.

But his overwhelming presence and growing popularity shifted the focus away from the actual protagonist. He was originally meant to play a supporting role. But he became the unofficial star of the series.

That very aspect caused a sort of imbalance. Rather than just serving his purpose in the story, Gojo’s dominance started overshadowing other characters, and even the central plotline. It made the show feel like the story was revolving around him more than it should have. And this very aspect adversely affected the series in the long run.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen manga and solely reflects the author's opinions.

Satoru Gojo’s overwhelming popularity ended up backfiring on Jujutsu Kaisen as a series

Gojo, as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Jujutsu Kaisen made it clear that Satoru Gojo was in a league of his own right from the very beginning. His character was portrayed as the pinnacle of the present-day jujutsu world. With his handsome character design, he became an instant hit character.

From cool design to an overpowering Cursed Techniques, Gojo had everything going for him. Both key traits that make a character stand out. His personality mixing confidence with goofiness was the cherry on top.

Before long, fans latched onto him. As the series progressed, Gojo’s popularity skyrocketed further over time. Slowly, he became the face of the series; the symbol of Jujutsu Kaisen. Fans regarded all his scenes as a big deal. The fandom loved every second of Gojo screentime.

Gojo using Purple in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

This, of course, boosted the show’s popularity to a degree, but as the show went on, the Gojo-fever became too big, to the point where it felt like he was sidelining everything else, including the protagonist, Yuji Itadori. The story started to feel like it revolved around him in ways that started working adversely to the overall plot. It ultimately ended up working against the series as a whole.

It’s neither the character’s nor the mangaka's fault that his charisma became so huge that it kind of took over. He ended up feeling like someone who should’ve been at the center of the story. But since he wasn’t, it ended up hurting the main characters and throwing off the overall pacing.

Jujutsu Kaisen itself helped fuel the Gojo hype

Gojo’s popularity certainly helped boost Jujutsu Kaisen’s presence in the anime world, but that same fame ended up being a double-edged sword. Fans fell so hard for him that it eventually started working against the show itself. Gojo is quite similar to Kakashi Hatake from Naruto. Both are cool, highly capable mentor figures with a massive fanbase.

But the biggest difference is that Kakashi never outshone Naruto or Sasuke, the protagonist and deuteragonist of the series. He played his role, contributed his part, and the story stayed focused where it needed to. His popularity was huge, but it didn’t mess with the heart of the show.

Satoru Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen (Image via Mappa)

With Gojo, things turned out differently. He fulfilled his role in the story, trained the new generation, and laid out the path for Yuji Itadori and his group with his unmatched power. But the fandom wanted more. A lot more.

Part of the blame also falls on how Gojo was presented from the beginning in the first place. He was hyped up as this invincible, god-tier jujutsu sorcerer from day one. The Jujutsu world seemed to revolve around Gojo. He was the strongest, almost as if the most important, the guy who knew everything.

That portrayal made him look like a big deal. He was naturally someone fans would keep their eyes on. His battles were hyped up more than anyone else’s, and whenever he showed up, it felt like something major was going to happen.

Gojo and Yuji in Jujutsu Kaisen anime (Image via MAPPA)

His role started to resemble someone like Asta from Black Clover, who’s also portrayed as the core of his story. But Asta is supposed to be, because he’s the protagonist. Everything revolving around him makes sense. There’s no disconnect there. In contrast, Hunter x Hunter showed a different approach with shifting main characters.

Mid-series, the focus shifts only to Gon and Killua; Kurapika and Leorio are gone. But the story later shifted back to Kurapika and Leorio in the Dark Continent arc while Gon and Killua disappear. Regardless, the overall appeal of Hunter x Hunter remained interesting throughout despite the shift in character focus. Whereas when Gojo was gone from focus, Jujutsu Kaisen significantly lost its charm for many, especially after his death.

For Gojo, as the show went on, people began treating him like he is/should’ve been the main character. When he got sealed, fans were devastated and just counted the days until he’d return. And when he died, many couldn’t accept it.

Theories, denial, and frustration took over the fandom. That kind of intense reaction shouldn't really happen for a supporting character, but Gojo had been built up so much that, for many, he was the show.

Some fans even lost interest after his death. They criticized the decision, questioned the writing, and some even accused Gege Akutami-san, the creator, of "hating" Gojo. But the reality is that he needed to be removed. For the protagonist Yuji and the other student characters to truly grow and become central figures, Gojo couldn’t stay front and center forever.

His overpowering strength had to either be sidelined or nerfed; otherwise, there would be no point to the protagonist. Because that’s just how storytelling in Shonen works.

It’s true that Akutami-san himself has admitted to not liking Gojo’s character personally. But it feels only natural for the author to feel that way when a character meant to support the story ends up dominating it and derailing audience expectations.

He had to remove Gojo from the scene. It’s not about dislike; it’s about what the story needs. Gojo’s death was painful for a large section of fans, but it was necessary and even somewhat inevitable at the rate things escalated surrounding him.

It made sense in the context of the story to show that even someone that powerful can fall, and true growth comes from struggle and teamwork. It fits the traditional Shonen message. But the show unknowingly created the problem of fans latching onto him as the main draw by making him such a central figure early on. So many disliked it when the story moved in a different direction.

Satoru Gojo can also be compared to Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. Both are charismatic mentor figures, with amazing fight scenes, and both have some of the most powerful abilities in their respective worlds. Roy had a huge impact on the Fullmetal Alchemist fanbase, same as Gojo did with Jujutsu Kaisen.

But the difference is in how each series handled them. Roy was always important; viewers couldn’t ignore his presence. But the spotlight never lingered on him for too long at the same time. The story never shifted into a "Roy Mustang show," but it also never completely sidelined him. His role stayed balanced, and that balance kept his popularity from hurting the overall series.

For Gojo, though, the focus became a little too heavy at times. What started as a supporting role gradually began to feel central, whether that was the creator’s intention or not. And that shift is part of what threw off the overall direction of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Geto and Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen (Image via Akutami Gege/Shueisha)

The only time he could be considered a main character was during his Past Arc. And even that wasn’t purely for his development, but more to add context around Suguru Geto, one of the series’ key villains. His connection to Geto just happened to make Gojo relevant again in that timeline. All this extra focus also gave off the impression that Gojo was central to the entire story, that he’d always play a major role, just by existing.

The very illusion created by how much attention he got, how powerful he was, how heavily the story leaned on him, all ended up making him feel more important than he actually was for the plot. It’s part of why his presence became both a blessing and a curse for Jujutsu Kaisen.

The Gojo hype set false expectations that were never going to be met. In the end, Jujutsu Kaisen gave Gojo so much attention, power, and presence that he became bigger than the series itself, be it only in the eyes of many in the fandom, it was enough to do the harm. That’s what caused the backlash. His popularity, which was at first one of Jujutsu Kaisen's strengths, slowly turned into one of the show’s biggest hurdles.

Final thoughts

In the end, whether it was his design, his personality, or just how ridiculously powerful he was, Satoru Gojo ended up winning over the fandom way more than he probably should have. Even people who don’t know the name Jujutsu Kaisen, if they’ve spent even a little bit of time in the anime space, they're are likely to recognize Gojo.

The twist is that he’s not even the main character, not the protagonist, not even the deuteragonist. Yet somehow, he completely overshadowed Yuji and Megumi, the protagonist and deuteragonist, who were supposed to be the central figures. After he went out of the picture, the overall hype around the series noticeably dropped.

A lot of fans actually dropped the manga altogether after his death, because it became "uninteresting." That drop in interest worsened with the manga's rather controversial ending, many calling it "mid." His departure created a void too big for the rst of the story to fill.

It wasn't entirely because the writing fell apart, but because too many people stuck around just for Gojo. His overpopularity became one of Jujutsu Kaisen's biggest shortcomings.