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Jujutsu Kaisen author Gege Akutami could very well be the most popular mangaka at the moment due to his series' popularity, both in the manga and in the anime, but the man himself is a mystery. Akutami has never shown his face in public since he became a popular mangaka and there is no confirmation of how he looks, which adds to the rumors that he was actually a woman a few years ago.
While it has been confirmed that Gege Akutami is in fact a man, there are still questions about why the Jujutsu Kaisen author hides his face. It makes sense for some public figures to protect his privacy, although this situation seems a bit extreme for fans, particularly in the West, but is also worth pointing out that the Akutami is not the first (and probably won't be the last) mangaka to do this.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen series.
Jujutsu Kaisen author Gege Akutami and why he hides his face
Gege Akutami has become a worldwide known public figure because of the success of his Jujutsu Kaisen manga but the man himself has chosen to hide his face over the years, which is why people outside of his private circle don't know what he looks like. This is further emphasized by him drawing himself as a cat with a third eye in the volumes of his manga, which is not very uncommon, since people like Koyoharu Gotouge, the Demon Slayer author, drew herself as a crocodile.
Be that as it may, the reasons for Akutami doing this seem fairly straightforward and logical: privacy. Manga authors in general tend to be very grateful and humble people, so it makes sense that many of them would even go as far as not showing their face in public. And considering Gege Akutami's popularity over the years, it makes even more sense that he wouldn't want to risk going public.
This last part refers to the threats he received in chapter 236 of the manga after he killed off Satoru Gojo, by far the most popular character in the entire series. While opinions on the decision were divisive, most fans took the situation quite well, but a few fans went as far as threatening (as explained here), which is obviously a massive mistake and probably justifies Akutami's decision to not show his face in public because it could mean further problems for him.
Akutami's legacy
Regardless of how the Jujutsu Kaisen series ends, it's fair to say that Gege Akutami has cemented his place as one of the best manga authors of the last decade or so. The series has become a worldwide phenomenon and characters like Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna are household names of the industry these days.
When it comes to the storytelling perspective, Gege Akutami has proven to be very brave in terms of making risky decisions in his story. Whether is killing popular characters like Nanami Kento or Nobara Kugisaki, or even going as far as doing the Zen'in Clan massacre, the author has always tried to make risky moves that have proven to be quite interesting for the fandom.
The element of Cursed Energy and how his battle system works is also quite fascinating, even going as far as justifying characters explaining their abilities to their opponents because it makes them stronger. It shows that Akutami understands the medium and how it works.
Final thoughts
Jujutsu Kaisen is a series with a lot of positive things going to its favor and Gege Akutami is the man responsible for that. While a lot of fans worldwide would like to know how he looks in order to congratulate him and thank him for such a great series, people should also respect the author's desire to not go public.
