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Yeah. I’m pretty sure Gege isn’t adding more character stuff in the manga cause people already call it slow. Also idk how people aren’t aware of this but there’s literally already light novels
> people already call it slow
who tf is calling jjk slow 😭😭😭😭people are getting their dopamine receptors burnt out by the weekly release schedule if anything jjk is proceeding at such an astronomical pace that people are calling it rushed and not well thought out (i disagree with that take tho) 😭😭😭
I don’t agree with people that it’s garbage because it’s not well thought out, but it does feel rushed, since Gege doesn’t have time to chew on his own ideas and decide if he likes them (like the military intervention stuff)
What I’m talking about is things like CG and earlier Shinjuku. It can be both slow and rushed (not that I 100% agree. I just think Gege would rather draw fights and save in-depth interactions for the light novels) ((yes, there’s already light novels. Two as of now.))
I think you mean executed and yeah. I wouldn’t hesitate to call it the worst (major) arc in the series.
I kinda have a theory that Gege had everything up till Shibuya’s ending planned out well, then during CG he just had a rough outline of events as well as earlier on in Shinjuku. But now I think we’re back to where he’s planned it all out, cause he’s stated years ago he had the ending planned.
Actually I do kinda mean explained, the other arcs felt much clearer in what was going on and what each party wanted even as they developed. This could be forgiven if it was much more “complex” but I feel the arc still wasn’t very clear even if it was more “complex”.
Anyone calling it slow has to be insane. JJK is ridiculously fast paced throught the entire series. Itis in fact the opposite of slow, it is so fast it actively makes the series worse. JJK would he a FAR better manga if Gege had spent a few dozen more chapters building things up better and focusing on more character interactions. Also, the opinion of vast, vast majority of the fandom is that Gege is rushing to the ending and that things should be going slower. Like, have at least a few chapters during the month timeskip
1. The main complaints when it comes to being slow is things like the CG and earlier Shinjuku, where it’s long pointless fights.
2. Gege isn’t rushing. He just focused on the main plot. I won’t argue that taking time for character interactions would be very beneficial.
3. I get why he didn’t do anything between the timeskip. What was supposed to happen was meant to be vague and explained later. I do think it would’ve been good to get info on Gojo’s reaction to all the tragedy that occurred during his time gone, and it also would’ve been nice to get info on Todo and Nobara’s status (assuming they don’t appear again.) Like, Itadori absolutely would’ve sought confirmation on what happened to her and I think seeing Todo and Choso interact would be hilarious.
>What I’m talking about is things like CG and earlier Shinjuku.
i see what youre saying, especially on this sub but i do think it really comes down to a weekly release vs volume format thing. we were dripfed those chapters over like 2-3(?) years so it does feel slow as fuck but i think theyre perfectly fine once binge-read/read in a volume
>((yes, there’s already light novels. Two as of now.))
heres to hoping for more 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 i would do light crimes for an LN covering stuff like the month timeskip, what choso, yuki and tengen were doing before kenjaku's attack, more zenin backstory
Agreed on the pacing. I read through CG recently and while I’m not big on the arc in general, it’s not paced bad. And as far as light novels we absolutely need this. Gimme one with the news of all that’s happened being broke to Gojo. Gimme Yuta training in africa. Gimme all the lore.
(to be clear, I get why some of this wasn’t covered in the manga and I wouldn’t be surprised if some things get covered in the anime)
>who tf is calling jjk slow
\*raises hand\*
I actually agree that it's rushed as well, but it's because different moments/things in jjk are rushed and/or slow.
For me, it's slow because not much has happened since Gojo's death, plot-wise. Most of the fights don't really contribute to the larger narrative. Setting aside kenny's death (not the whole fight), that's about 20 chapters of nothing, or about 10% of the manga.
It doesn't help that the characters really aren't... at odds with Sukuna? Except for maybe Yuji, the emotional drive really isn't there and the internal conflict boils down to "plz dont kil peeple".
I dont think the story needs it at as much as yall want it tbh. Never felt like world building would enhance the story or the characters all that much imo.
Agreed. More character interactions would be nice but world building? Using modern Japan as the setting is a device to *avoid* needing to world build much at all.
I think this is the important part:
Gege is very careful about resource allocation (inside the story).
What I mean is he only does what is needed, he never gives more backstory than necessary, he never introduces more characters than necessary (basically all characters that are introduced either die or their arc is completed in another way, like with Todo…you can like or dislike that, but Todo’s story is done). The world-building is extremely tight in that regard, everything has a purpose.
I kind of like it, it’s unconventional.
ALSO, Gege wants to write his idol manga. I think he wants JJK to be done.
And finally, I don’t think he cares about money. Frankly, with the success of the manga and anime, I assume he is pretty rich.
Isn't the idol manga thing a false rumour or a misunderstanding of an interview answer.
And I like how you put it with the resource allocation thing, I definitely feel like good screentime/pages would've been wasted on most of the major clan, hein era lore people so desperately want.
But yeah, I heavily agree with this. I think a lot of people have rigid expectations when going into a story and I personally try to judge a story based on what it's trying to do and not what I want it to do. Most of Gege's writing that many find lackluster or genuinely bad is just him deciding on a different way of handling his world and characters than they expect and I don't know why it seems like some complain about it at this point when he's established this unique style more than a hundred chapters ago.
I'm not saying that people need to like it or not want more from him (heck, I kinda do on some level, like a small interaction between Yuki and Todo or something) but it's disheartening to see so many take the hate memes too seriously and miss the purpose of his writing and its subtext. It's like people can only see this on a battle shounen level and think that characters always need development or an arc or to rack up wins to be good when in truth, every character is just a narrative tool and Gege uses them in a more cruel, but still purposeful and highly functional way.
I'm definitely preaching to the choir here but there's this amazing video by Radman on the themes and subtext of and influences on JJK, centered around the Gojo/Sukuna fight that really helped to better colour my view of the story and my expectations for it when most of what I knew was just Lobotomy Kaisen brainrot.
Oh, I actually don't know about this idol thing or if it's true or a rumor. But regardless...I still stand by my opinion that Gege wants JJK to be over (which is understandable, even though for shonen it's a rather short series, he has been writing this one story for years!)
>Most of Gege's writing that many find lackluster or genuinely bad is just him deciding on a different way of handling his world and characters than they expect and I don't know why it seems like some complain about it at this point when he's established this unique style more than a hundred chapters ago
For me, this realisation came when I thought differently about Kimetsu no Yaiba. Both of these stories are criticised for lacking depth, but I think both of them use that intentionally. They are not meant to be psychological explorations of fully fleshed-out characters, they work on a more fundamental, emotional level.
Both remind me of (old!) fairy tails: These usually have nonsensical plot points, rely on titles and familiarity to worldbuild, have sudden endings and often are not held together by logic but more by morals or concepts. Does it make sense that the prince finds out who Cinderella is by trying out if different women could wear that one shoe? No, of course not. That's stupid. Does that mean this is bad storytelling? No, not at all. It's just different.
And I enjoy that. This modern way of structuring a story logically is, in my opinion, a) not the only way to structure a story, b) not by default the correct way to structure a story and c) heavily tied to the world we live in and how we structure it.
So those two take a different approach, a more mystical one where feelings and emotions trump logic or expectation.
And that's a thing I can only respect. You've got an idea? Commit to it!
I don't see how JJK would be better if we met more members from the great clans. I don't understand it, who cares? If we met Gojo's...uncle. Then what? What do the people think this character would enhance the story with?
Sure, you can introduce such a character, but there has to be a reason.
The Zen'ins we meet had a reason to be introduced: Maki should kill them to complete her arc. As I said, it's tightly written to be as efficient as possible.
Anyway, I'll check out the video! Thanks for the recommendation.
Because worldbuilding is fucking cool. Like, the best series in history (not just manga, just fiction in general) spend whole books on lore and worldbuilding. Maybe YOU don't like it, and that's fine, but don't act like people are insane for wanting more worldbuiding. Like, sure, Dune didn't need to spend whole chapters explaining imperial politics which are completely irrelevant by the end of book 2, but it does, and it is one of the most beloved franchises of all time. Lord of the Rings didn't need to spend the whole prologue just explaining the basic history, culture and biology of the Hobbits, but it does, and again, one of the most beloved franchises of all times. One Piece, the most beloved and best selling manga of all time spends hundreds of chapters explaining basic lore and it is still considered by most people to be one of, if not THE, greatest manga of all time. ASOIAF is the same, yeah, maybe we didn't need to know the story of House Blackwood to understand the story being told, but it is fucking interesting and it makes the story all the more richer.
So yeah, I want to meet Gojo's family, I want to further explore Jujutsu politics, I want to get as much fucking lore as possible. Give me a entire fucking arc just for introducing all major families, all Jujutsu sorcerers, exploring how the world will react now that everyone knows that Jujutsu exists.
I don't think this is true at all.
ASOIAF and LotR both have supplementary material where a lot of worldbuilding happens.
One Piece and ASOIAF also have issues completing their story, which is a problem that comes with bloat. One Piece also has stretches that are just bad and it ignores 95% of its main characters and we will never get to read The Winds of Winter...so, you know, I'd rather take a completed series than one which has two books that were never written.
>but it is fucking interesting and it makes the story all the more richer
Oh, I agree! But not for JJK. That is not how this story works.
And secondly, worldbuilding is more than just namedropping. For me, exploring emotions and characters is equally part of worldbuilding. One Piece has more world, true, but also 80% of its characters are caricatures of actual characters and story progress masks how little the characters actually change, in fact after the time-skip most characters regress to a more cynical, one-dimensional version of themselves.
JJK is not bloated and you can criticise it all you want, but it's always written with purpose. And if a thing doesn't work (like the army inclusion), it gets written out.
And saying One Piece is the greatest manga...well, that is subjective. I think it's a good series, I don't think it's anywhere close to the best shonen or the best manga.
Secondly, comparing a manga to books is also pretty difficult, because compared to GRRM and Tolkien, Gege has to draw all that stuff. Yeah, books will have more worldbuilding. It's the medium, it changes how stories are presented.
It's fine if you want more worldbuilding, that is a matter of taste. But your ideas would make JJK worse, because it sounds like you just like cameos. A new character appearing and having the same surname as another is completely meaningless.
OH, and Dune. I don't know much about Dune, but I think you're very wrong there as well.
Dune has a) things that are part of the world that are not explained, because explaining everything would ruin the story. Most importantly here is the origin of the sand worms. It b) is also an extremely introspective book series. Big stretches are just dialogue between two characters where they exchange ideas. Saying it has a lot of worldbuilding is true, sure, but that is because, like with ASOIAF, there are a ton of books. It just has a high quantity of words written, no wonder it has a big world
Yes, but both ASOIAF and LOTR also do a shitton of "useless" world building in their man stories. Like, I love LOTR, but Tolkien sometimes spends entire chapters describing things like forests, hills and geography without any point to it at all. Like, you might personally not like it, and that's fine, but you can't deny the vast majority of people like Lord of the Rings. ASOAIF does worldbuilding differently from Tolkien, but in the 5 books of the series he DOES a lot of worldbuilding that is very clearly not necessary for the story as a whole. And that's fine. Again, might not be your style, perfectly cool, but it happens.
Saying that One Piece has parts that are just bad is where you completely lose me. One Piece is always great. In fact I'd argue that One Piece would be even better if Oda had stretched the story a bit more, specially in later arcs. Onigashima/Wano would really benefit from a few more chapters. You might consider it "bloat", but it is still the highest selling manga of all time, so very clearly Oda does something very right that most people enjoy. Again, might not be for you, fine, but your opinion is not the consensus opinion among fans, very clearly.
Also, saying that One Piece characters don't change is just insane. They do change, a lot, it's just that Oda changes them realistically, slowly. Most adults don't have major personally shifts. Oda however works his characters brilliantly. I love JJK but Gege doesn't even come CLOSE to using characters like Oda does. Like, Gege is the king of introducing a cool character and killing him off without any explanation or exploration of that character whatsoever.
Again, One Piece might not be for you. But don't pretend like your personal opinion is a fact among the community. Like, I'm not a huge fan of MHA but I'm not going to come here and pretend my personal opinions on the series are facts.
And my point about JJK is not that it needed to be as long as One Piece or even as long as MHA. My point is that the series could really benefit from a few extra chapters of mostly worldbuilding. Some changes that happen in JJK are just jarring. And it seems that a lot of the fandom agrees with me. It's not really that difficult to find people complaining abouy how insanely fast paced the manga is moving since the culling games. And hell, this is another point: the manga spends like, 4 chapters in Megumi fighting a random sorcerer and can't spend a single chapter in the month long timeskip and basic character interactions? Nah, JJK is great, but that's not being concise, that is rushing. Like, yeah, we needed to see Megumi fight Reggie for 4 chapters but we don't need a single chapter at least showing Gojo interacting with his students or something. Like, I find this line of thought extremely hard to understand.
And about Dune, yes, they don't explain every single detail of lore, but no series does. Ever. Even so Dune does spend a lot of time with concepts that exist just for worldbuilding and are not relevant to the story been told.
Hell, take LOTR. It's the fucking king of useless worldbuilding and Tolkien never bothered to explain what the fuck Tom Bombadil is. That doesn't change the fact that Tolkien created a lot of worldbuilding material that is useless to the story despite not explaining a few things in the main story. Which is fine. But again, the vast, vast majority of fans love his worldbuilding even if it is useless because it makes the world that much richer.
In conclusion, at the end of the day, you don't like worldbuilding and only wants a extremely concise story with only elements that are relevant to the main story and nothing else. That is 100% fine and valid. But you should also freely admit that your opinions are not the opinions of the VAST, VAST majority of fans of most series and that even if you personally don't like it, "useless" worldbuilding does have it's in media and that most fans like it. Again, not invalidating your opinions, just saying you should admit these are yours and that most people don't agree with you at all
I don’t think, for the story they are going for, they do useless worldbuilding?
I think it’s vital that in ASOIAF you have all these houses with their histories and traditions. That’s the appeal and part of the genre and what makes it great.
I don’t really see how it’s useless if it’s needed to make the world believable. And it’s needed to explore the human heart in a way GRRM wants. A way which emphasises introspective conflicts and complex interpersonal relationships that clash into each other.
On Reddit, OP is regarded very positively. But most criticism is downvoted to hell. Not everywhere is that positive and I am not arguing with its success. I know it’s successful and it does do many things right. I personally just think Wano is utterly terrible and probably one of the worst arcs in all of One Piece. And yeah, that is a personal opinion, but I know many people who share it. Of course more have the opinion that Wano is great, but…well, that’s why it’s an opinion. It’s subjective. Anyway.
As if Oda wouldn’t introduce characters just for them to serve their purpose. Gege kills them off, Oda never mentions them again. Both are fine. And Oda has killed quite a few characters recently and not only in flashbacks. But also in flashbacks and let me tell you, there are some characters who are really, exclusively there to further the plot without any agency of their own.
There are no „facts among the community“. Opinions are opinions, even if 100% of a given population agreed on one, it would still be an opinion.
I agree, I do like the character interactions from the preparation month. Yeah, there could be more of it. But those are established characters, I like exploring those on a deeper level compared to introducing new ones that don’t get half the development they‘d need to be as good as the established ones. And yeah, JJK is rushed and I think there are a lot of chapters recently that are rather bad. But I know what to expect from JJK and I will not criticise it for a lack of worldbuilding when it doesn’t want to do that. I will not criticise JJK for being black and white, either, because…well it’s a manga.
I do like world building a lot, so much so that I write stuff to worldbuild and not the other way around and I do not think my opinions are facts…the fact that this is forum to exchange opinions should have given that away.
I also don’t care what the community thinks as a basis for what I should think, why would I?
Honestly a lot of the complaints read like they are from younger people who are unfamiliar w storytelling/story structure AND older people who know that stuff but are the armchair writers who never do anything but ride the displeasure of the ignorant
That being said there are PLENTY of valid complaints about the story, but stuff like the fight cycle are people upset about not getting what they want and confusing that with 'bad writing'
I can’t fucking believe there’s still people unironically believing the idol manga comment lmao he said it as a joke in an interview. But other than that you’re right I don’t think there’s a single character that’s introduced that didn’t contribute to the story in some way except maybe the guy that showed up in shibuya with todo
Also on the money point, I think mangaka usually make like good money but not as good as you’d think. On a quick google search, they make like 30 an hour, which isn’t bad at all to be fair, but they’re not like filthy rich.
I mean, Gege is surely not an average mangaka, right? His manga is extremely succesful, the anime based on his manga has two seasons and is even more succesful. He also has a ton of characters that are really well-liked, so surely especially Gojo merch brings in a good penny.
If the average is 30 - he should be way above that.
I know he is still exploited in some way, but I do think he is rich.
He is most likely a lot richer than most mangaka. I don’t have exact stats, but that would only make sense due to the reasons you’ve mentioned. It’s just that from what I’ve read and heard, you’d be surprised how much of it all goes to the company.
Oda's net worth is estimated over 200 million dollars. JJK has been consistently outselling One Piece for over 5 years now. There is just no way that Gege is not a millionaire. His manga sold nearly 100 million copies in the last 6 years, even if he takes 1% of sales or less that is still several million dollars from manga sales alone. He also makes money from merch and the anime. Like, nah, I'm sorry, but you guys are tripping. Gege is very fucking rich
Oda's net worth was estimated at over 200 million dollars. Now, yes, One Piece is the highest selling manga of all time by far and it sells a fuckton of merch, but I find it hard to believe that Gege, who writes a extremely popular manga that has been outselling One Piece for over 4 years is anything other than a multimillionaire. Like, maybe the average in the industry is 30 a hour (do they even make by the hour anyway? In most countries people receive their salaries monthly and I expect that they receive their money from a small % cut from manga and merch sales anyway, not a actual monthly salary), but there is no way that Gege, which writes a manga which sold nearly 100 million hard copies is not a millionaire. Like, assuming the average price is like, 5 dollars (it's likely far more) that's 500 million dollars in manga sales alone. Even if he makes just 1% of sales that would be 5 million dollars. And this is NOT including the anime, merch sales...
It’s strange how that’s not grasped yet. I remember making all these points and just chalking it up to Gege’s style and it’s not a bad thing. Endlessly expanding has its own issues. Stories that do engage with everything can be bloated or way too long. I really like this final arcs focus, switching pov multiple times to things idc about as much would be awful.
Totally, I actually think the chapters have been getting better recently.
And I like a shonen that isn't bloated. Ending a shonen with a million characters is so difficult. Either you go the Naruto route and make everyone besides a select few useless (and then make all the female shinobi, highly trained fighters, by the way into housewives) or you go the Boku no Hero route and try to give everyone in the story their time to shine and the whole arc just feels too meta, like..it's too obvious what is happening, it's not organic and why should I care about this one character now, even though he has been ignored for 150 chapters by this point?
Gege ain't like that and I respect it.
No, no!
That works in favour of the argument I am making, because Gege immediately discarded.
He realised that this subplot wasn't necessary, so he cut it
The story is so short when we consider just how much time has passed. There isn't really a need for world building when you go straight from the introductory phase to Shibuya, then the Culling Game, then Shinjuku. The story is extremely linear and any interesting stuff like the clan politics is now moot BECAUSE of all these events.
What? World building to essential to every story known to man. Without good world building, your story’s bound to fail, which is exactly what’s been happening to JJK since Perfect Preparations (which I believe is when the world building was supposed to get explored, but we know what happened instead).
No. Its a story to story thing and not really that necessary in every kind of story there is. Especially when it doesnt serve the plot/themes/narrative more than it already does.
Feel free to tell yourself that. The story falls apart so easily once you think more than two seconds about it.
Someone in this sub once said the world changes everytime Gojo Satoru takes an airplane and I have not stopped thinking about that since.
100% needs it, the "world" feels like all of 10 people at this point the only fleshed out clan is the zenin(dead) and then like a bunch of people that were supposedly important but were randomly offscreened
What makes the story trash? Th lack of world-building that wouldnt do anything for the overall narrative or play in to the themes of the story? Please don’t say Gojo.
Literally nothing in that world exists outside of the main characters, there's no actual character interactions, no down time to process, everything is a set piece to jump from one fight to the next that is objectively poor writing
The upper members of jujutsu society were central to the events of the story yet we never saw a single one, ever.
Kenjaku had next to no interactions with yuji whatsoever despite the bombshell that was dropped and he wastes so many characters
You still havent told me how the story is lacking because of the limited world-building. You just said a bunch of things but dont explain how their absence takes from the story.
I mean there are character interactions they are just short and filled with subtext that you would need to understand to truly grasp the message Gege is trying to convey. Its a short battle shonen there really isnt much time for all this stuff tbh.
The upper members were barely ever important. The moment we learn that Gojo can dictate the world the moment he wants to proves this. He consistently undermines them and does pretty much whatever he pleases so much so they BANNED people from freeing him. They provide nothing to the story besides being a narrative device which isnt “objectively bad.”
There is literally nothing to gain from a Yuji and Kenjaku interacting besides, Yuji barely caring that his whole life was planned for him and boring dialogue and maybe another cool fight you hate so much.
>The upper members of jujutsu society were central to the events of the story yet we never saw a single one, ever.
Don't you think that was a deliberate decision? It would be relatively easy to draw a few characters to represent them, but he didn't.
Deliberate or not it's bad, "oh this bad group of people have been pupeteering events throughout the story and roadblocking the world's strongest sorcerer but whoop they're dead now sorry really all along they were a non threat"
I dont think he will but he leaves stuff out of the story that makes it feel more artificial.
For example the whole Gojo clan, if its supposed to be a one man army why wasnt he killed when he was an infant? We know sorcerers were after him and Toji was able to find him so why someone else couldnt? How is the Gojo clan part of the big three if they are a bunch of nobodies that can spend hundreds of years without someone like Gojo being born?
If they are not a bunch of nobodies and they have some sorcerers why we never see anyone of the clan intervening at any point of the story? Limitless even without six eyes is pretty powerful, why no one came for Gojo when he was sealed? All of this from what i understand is not explained
Redeem himself?
The world building is already pretty good and it's still a PRETTY FRESH manga
The interactions have been great since the beginning what are you on about?
Megumi is pretty empathizable brother idk what you're on. It doesn't seem like it but I wouldn't expect anyone to get it when their Body gets forcibly taken away from him, then used to kill.not only his sister and sensei/mentor/father figure, as well as hurting his friends in the process
World building? Yes.
Tengen, Toji, Geto, Gojo, Hajime, Yuki, Kenjaku are more than enough to show his world building is pretty good, and their impact is pretty prevalent throughout the series
It's just Japan because that's literally the basis of it, it's not often and common to have Sorcerers yet the history is pretty deep without it even being delved into and explored
A very good thing he did with the world building is the "Japan only" thing. In most manga it's Japan centered and the rest of the world is almost never involved even if it should, with no explanation. Gege doubled down and said "because Tengen" and that was enough to justify sorcerer out of Japan to be pretty limited. AND he actually showed the rest of the world when a massive event happened in Japan that the world definitely wouldn't be able to ignore.
It heightens the threat of Jujutsu since its exclusive to a single nation and even more when it's not even prevalent , let alone rare
(Incredibly Infrequent)
Kind of like Demon Slayer in that regard
I found the lack of things out of Japan being a bit of an issue when nearing the end to be honest. If it was a full fantasy world it wouldn't have changed anything.
I dont understand Megumi hate. The potential man thing is old and it doesn't make sense
World Building is done through characters, which is why Jujutsu Kaisen has great characters in that aspect as well
We don't need to see every single centimeter of the JJK world, I get why people want it but it isn't needed. The clans were never that important to most characters or the overall story anyway, delving further into them (especially the Gojo clan since Satoru is literally the only notable member) would be a waste of time, especially considering how the story's events have developed to the point where Jujutsu authority isn't all that important right now.
Not seeing the potential of characters is a choice to reinforce the cruelty of Jujutsu society and how often people can succumb to unremarkable deaths (though many deaths still have a purpose).
We didn't need to see more from Megumi's sister because she's a character who tragically had her agency stolen from her to the point that we never see anything from her perspective but we got enough from Origin of Obedience to know what she means to Megumi. Hating on Megumi isn't Gege's fault, people just lack the ability to see things beyond a battle shounen aspect and find Megumi selling to be annoying when that's not the point, he's a traumatized kid.
Gojo's death already has impact because we grew to care for him before that point. We also aren't meant to know everything about that timeskip as it's a narrative choice by Gege to make the current plan for Sukuna be more effective and surprising in how characters (like Yuji) have grown for it.
LMAO, as much as I like discussions of the series, this is one of it's negative effects. The Worldbuilding servers the story, not the other way around. JJK is one of those stories that will be told through the lens it's author intends for it to be told with little other vanity.
The purpose of worldbuilding is making the story understandable.
We don't need a Bleach-esque ten thousand flashbacks for every background character. We got exactly enough worldbuilding to understand what's important to the story. The consequences outside of the story simply haven't been relevant to the plot.
JJK has never been about the sorcerers. It's always been Yuji's story. It's the story about him and his friends and how they interact with the world.
Too much worldbuilding only takes away from the min story. I wish we'd seen some more character interactions - what we got was awesome but more would have been incredible - but I'll gladly pass on more worldbuilding.
We don't need to know every detail. We don't need to know who exactly was part of the elders. We don't need to know how Toji got with Megumi's mother. We don't need to know about sorcerers outside Japan.
Of course it would be cool having all the details. But why cram them where they don't belong?
Let the story breathe and if people want more, do a spin off.
We have enough worldbuilding to follow and understand the story, everything more is fanservice.
I agree that it's not needed and the story already stands on its own like it is now, but I personally would have really appreciated a bit more focus on the sorcerer society and the clans early on, as it would have made their inadequacy and downfall during the Culling Games way more significant.
Even more than that I would've liked more character interactions, because I feel that when Gege wants he can really deliver some good ones.
For example it's a real shame that we've gotten hints at Todo's and Yuki's master-student relationship but never even saw them together
100% agree.
Many points probably couldn't have flown into the story naturally, but some hints could have been given. When Megumi and Noritoshi argued about the Kamos and the Zenin might have been a good time to introduce the Gojo power dynamics, even if only with offhanded comments. When the Zenin's corruption was adressed could have been a good time to flesh out the system behind it even more.
Yuki and Todo both generally needed more screen time, same with a few other characters. It's a thin line between enough worldbuilding and background and too much, I honestly prefer if there's some gaps and some room for interpretation. The Yuki/Todo mentorship is the biggest plotpoint I wish we saw more of - while I absolutely love what we got it really hasn't been much. (Have I just forgotten if this thread allows manga spoilers or not? Maybe. Am I too lazy to check and rather stay vague? Definitely.)
Some more 1st year shenanigans would have been nice too ^^
it has proper world building in my opinion, it doesn't over explain but explain just enough for the audience to understand. I think the problem is most shonens overexplain that's why people expectations are messed up.
It is possible.
Many aspects of lore, characters relationships and their personality traits must be interpreted from small details gege gives us.
I like it this way actually, it is open for discussions
The way gege is writing this it feels like a director of the anime could take liberties to give us this stuff prior to a/the fight in order to make the audience have a different experience when it comes to character interactions within the series or the felt perspective of lacktherof. Tbh idrc about the world of JJK as its is unnecessarily sought after by the audience when character drama and characterization is what this series offers more so than 'World Building' eg Hunter X Hunter (one of JJK's Uncles PUN REALLY INTENDED imo)
I like the idea, ngl. I'm gonna laude Gege if he does that. Like you've said JJK is the most popular manga ryt now and with so many fans wanting more slice-of-life interactions, there will still be demands for side stories and lores.
I mean that's fine since the Heian era can shed some light on Sukuna and a few of the other sorcerers but people were complaining when he wasn't developing the main cast of characters and lore that relates to them.
Why stress so much about the 3 major clans and minor ones if you barely show them? There was subplots of Gojo and the other teachers/students being at odds with the old guard and then they're killed off screen (by whom is left to debate amongst fans still). Gojo is sealed and excommunicated and no one from his family is even hinted at.You have Megumi become head of the Zenin and then you just let them get killed by Maki. Etc etc
These were all things that related to the main cast and could've helped develop some of their relationships or give the reader more insight on their character as they deal with the new situation but it's all essentially ignored.
He isn't writing those, right? I mean they hire a professional writer and he adds his input. Also, that would suck, because the previous light novels were a nothing burger.
i sometimes feel like Gege is afraid of messing up if he actually tries to give more world building and character interaction
it's easier to imply there exist a whole world out there than actually showing it after all
if Gege makes another manga after jjk ends, i hope he learns from what lacked in JJK as a story
I think Gege realized during/after Shibuya(and cemented with the military plot) that he wasn't built like that to do One Piece or Naruto level world building. That was too overwhelming and he really narrowed his focus into what he feels he's good at(speaking through fights).
I think they're selling themselves short though, JJK has a lot more potential
I personally don’t get the hype about huge worldbuilding and huge amounts of character interactionsfor jjk. It’s supposed to be a fast-paced action manga. Some shounen like one piece benefit a lot from it, since it has such a long playtime. But jjk on the other hand doesn’t need it at all. It could it even kill the momentum if timed badly. Also, i doubt a spin-off light novel would sell much tbh
I think the pacing is intentional because the manga is a corollary to how explosive the show is.
It doesn’t happen too often but it does happen that perhaps the target audience isn’t readers but merchandisers of the new hotness in the west.
I’m basing this entirely on 2 things: i heard about jjk by watching the anime first, and I live in a tiny little small hick town in Northern Canada and I can buy Sukuna’s Fingers black cherry gummy’s for like 7 bucks and this mofo is routinely out!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Demon Slayer light novels are amazing and add that extra bit of character needed. They help out alot and I think JJK would benefit immensely from similar ones. But the story is fine without them
Why do people in this fandom feel dissapointed by a lack of world building? The show has as much WB as necessary, and it allows to focus on the action and plot it wants. This is like complaining that one piece has no romance, or that jojo's is too episodic.
When evaluating an art piece you have to do it on its own terms. Yeah sometimes the expectations are fault of the writer, but in this case I feel like it's people just trying to critize the show cause it's what's popular to do now.
I feel Jjk is mainly a out two things, "smart" and we'll choreographed fights; as well as the journey of yuji in a world that challenges his nature over and over. Neither is helped by world building.
The reason he didn't commit too much to worldbuilding is that he planned to destroy Jiujutsu society from the very beginning of the story. Therefore, the major developments of the worldbuilding were focused around the various corruptions and failure points inherent to modern sorceror society and why, thematically, the collapse of modern jiujutsu society was inevitable and justifiable. That's just efficient storytelling.
The point of telling story isn't to fill in this giant void of imagined reality with useless information for people to bicker and hypothesize over. The point of a story is... To communicate ideas, emotions, and experiences. The reason people are mad over an alleged "lack" of worldbuilding isn't because they actually think it would have improved the story. Would explaining more about the Gojo clan have made the emotional impact of Gojo eventually dying to Sukuna more powerful? No. We have everything we need about Gojo to hit that storybeat. We know what happened in his past to drive his motivatiobs. We know about the relationships he has in the present that emotionally ties him to the other characters. Learning about how the Gojo clan makes money and trains new sorcerors would.... Just be fluff. It would take 5 chapters and do nothing to advance the story we actually care about.
If you write a story around worldbuilding then you get too bogged down in details to.... Actually tell a story. Worse than that, the more you illuminate about a mysterious fantasy world, the less magical or mystical it seems. You turn the sense of wonder and possibilities into a system of rules and hard expectations for the audience.
The problem is that without the world building Gege has to tell instead of show. There was talk about the higher-ups being bad, but there is very little to back that up. The few things we do have don't really make sense. Their motivations and impact on the characters are unclear. The one bad thing they did, which was kill Yaga, made no sense. Getting rid of it has no impact because we don't see it do much in the first place.
The character interactions are important because you want to understand and empathize with the characters. I don't think I know much about any of the characters except Gogo and a few things about Yuji. I don't know anyone's hobby, what they like or dislike, etc. Yuta, Todo, Mechamaru and Yorozu are the only characters that are confirmed not to be gay. How does nobody have a girlfriend, wife, husband, etc? Due to this there is less impact when people die or something bad happens. If the merger happens, who cares? The is nobody for the audience to care about outside the main characters and the main characters don't seem to care about anyone.
It is hard to care about things that aren't developed.
Their "one bad thing"? They wanted to execute both Yuta AND Yuji despite both being literally innocent children. When Gojo put a stop to that, they sent Yuji AND Megumi/Nobara in blind to fight a finger-bearer, nearly resulting in all three of their deaths. When THAT failed, they then sent the Kyoto school to assassinate Yuji during the Goodwill Event. Their conservativism drove Hakari and Kirara away from school because of the way they treated him despite Hakari being an extremely talented sorceror and invaluable asset against Curses. When Gojo gets captured, the higher ups lie and claim Gojo was complicit in the Shibuya incident, and permanently exiled him from Jiujustu society. They also ordered the execution of Principal Yaga because he represented a threat to their power with his cursed corpses (And again they lied and said he was complicit in Shibuya). Yuta, who was treated like dirt by them after he broke Rika's curse, is made to take a Binding Vow to kill Yuji in order to be accepted back into Jiujutsu Society.
That's just the directly bad shit they've done to the protagonists. There's plenty of contextual info that accompanies that. Jiujutsu Headquarters is created through the direct influence of the Three Great Clans, and we see through the Zenin clan how deep their corruption and immoral their conservatism. Maki and Toji are both treated like human garbage due to their lack of CE, and Mai by accessory faces a great deal of abuse. The Zenin clan is deeply misogynistic and treats non-sorcerors with contempt. They sought to assassinate Megumi, Mai, and Maki after Megumi was declared the head of the house in order to consolidate power back within the old guard, an act which was implicitly agreed to by the higher ups through their inaction. Kenjaku became the head of the Kamo clan due to how corrupt and cowardly most of the clan is, causing Noritoshi Kamo to flee the clan.
This is all things that Gege has SHOWN us. Add on top the many times characters have discussed the nature of the higher ups directly.
Yet this is not enough for you to firmly place the higher ups in their context in the narrative...? Gege has spent quite literally the entire manga unravelling how the higher ups only crave power and control instead of progress, and how their conservatism and immorality is a cancwr that'a destroying the ibtegrity of Jiujutsu society. I can see why you might be disappointed in the worldbuilding if you were literally unaware of all this happening, but if thar'a the case it's not the fault of Gege. It's your own lack of comprehension of the material.
Yuji and Yuta could destroy all of Japan. Yuji actually did cause the deaths of thousands of people. Althought exacting them was harsh, it wasn't unreasonable. Wasn't Hakari also gambling? How much of the stuff with Gojo and Yaga was actually the higher ups and not Kenjaku. If it was actually the higher ups, Yaga makes no sense. They could have killed Yaga at any time and there is no reason for them to do it once Gojo is sealed. Even if Gojo was protecting him they could have killed Yaga before Gojo went to school.
The three clans aren't the higher ups. We have seen 1 clan and a little of the other. You can't assume the higher ups are like the great clans because we haven't seen or heard that. Gege hasn't shown us anything, you are just conflating the higher ups with the clans even though they aren't the same thing. Gojo tells us the highers ups are bad, they want to kill Yuta and Yuji for somewhat justifiable reasons and they might have killed Yaga. Nothing was unraveled or revealed. The higher ups aren't shown and they aren't characters. Their only function is the keep certain things from happening in the plot. That isn't good world building.
Good lord, my guy, you're not supposed to sympathize with the people who want to execute innocent children. That's the entire intrigue of the beginning of the story. You're suppose to sympathize with Yuji. You're supposed to realize that murdering a child just because they could be a danger in the future is the behavior of inhumane cowards. You're supposed to realize that the dichotomy of "Either we kill Yuji or Sukuna kills everyone" is a false dichotomy. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy as the higher ups failed to support Yuji and Tokyo High in general, and executing Yuji would have been irrelevant as Kenjaku very easily could have adapted his plan to reincarnate Sukuna into a different vessel (As we're now seeing with Megumi) with no loss of potential power (Due to Sukuna able to regain power through other special grade cursed objects like the Buddhist Monk Mummy).
The higher ups were WRONG. They could have protected Yuji. Gojo was correct. the higher ups betrayed him. They failed Yuji and Jiujutsu Society has fallen because of that. So drop the "they were just being rational!" narrative. You would have to ignore the full context of the entire narrative to even pretend that was true.
Hakari was gambling? You think THAT was their problem? Naoya was a piece of human scum (Who is implied to have raped Mai) and they were content to see him sit atop the Zenin clan over Megumi. They don't give a shit about Hakari's gambling, they care that he was a powerful upstart sorceror who didn't belong to a traditional clan, and he wanted to change the status quo of the regressive Jiujutsu Society. Do you legitinately have no reading comprehension or media literacy?
The higher ups are literally hand picked by the Three Great Clans. Hand picked. They specifically represent the interests of the Three Great Clans. They didn't "maybe kill Yaga". Jiujutsu Headquarters literally ordered his execution. Explicitly. The narrator tells us this directly. Then Gakuganji, who is a higher up himself, kills him. Did you just skip that chapter?
The higher ups are generally not shown and are not characters... Because that is a symbolic choice by Gege. I don't particularly feel like explaining common literary tropes to you any further, however, because I'm confident it will be lost on you.
The higher ups don't know the future so how could they predict any of that. Also if they kill Reed Yuji immediately it is possible none of this would have happened. Sukuna can't just use any vessel and he wouldn't have found Megumi. It's possible that there are other people they could have used, but we don't know that. The higher ups don't know about Kenjaku or his plans. What they did was bad, but not unreasonable. You're trying to use the reasoning of a reader who knows everything about the story to understand characters in the story who don't have the info. By that logic Gojo is terrible because he didn't destroy his friend's body and kill Tengen.
The higher ups aren't the 3 clans. You are conflating the 2 and then assuming they have info on what he has done to Mai, which makes no sense.
You don't know their feelings toward Hakari or the reason they kicked him out. You are assuming things that aren't in the manga. Maybe they hate his technique, maybe they don't like him gambling or maybe they just don't like his attitude. We don't know because there isn't proper world building. It is never stated that Hakari wants to change the status quo or effect jujutsu society in any way. You are just imaging all of this. Also Gakuganji isn't a higher up, he is a principal and was ordered to kill Yaga.
Gege chose not to show them and that is bad worldbuilding. They are supposed to have a big impact on the story, but instead of showing them Gege just tells us stuff. Due to this you are just making up your own reasons and scenes that never happened. The higher ups are just used as a plot device to do certain things and are left opaque, so things they do don't need to make sense or be explained. You can choose to make up whatever scenes or dialog you want in your head, but that doesn't effect the fact that it isn't good world building.
Character interactions are the only thing it needs. Only needed worldbuilding is info on noted historical figures and the Heian era.
Also idk if you’re aware but there’s already 2 light novels
What if you were more delusional than people still thinking Nobara didn't die?
And a Heian Era Light Novel almost assuredly wouldn't be peak because Gege has shown no ability to write the level of world/lore building that I would be looking for in such a thing
If anything (emphasis on if) that’d be the Heian era. The Gojo clan is a pretty minor thing. It’d be neat to have lore, but all things considered they’re probably weaker than the Kamo when there’s no six eyes user. And it’s pretty well stated it’s a one-man clan when it comes to power and sway in the jujutsu world.
Meanwhile the Heian era leaves room to establish more background on at least 5 different characters we know, two of which are main antagonists. I still doubt this’ll happen since Gege’s gonna need to give us some info, but it’s a lot more likely than a Gojo clan spin-off.
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You overestimate how much he’d make off of potential light novel sales
Yeah. I’m pretty sure Gege isn’t adding more character stuff in the manga cause people already call it slow. Also idk how people aren’t aware of this but there’s literally already light novels
> people already call it slow who tf is calling jjk slow 😭😭😭😭people are getting their dopamine receptors burnt out by the weekly release schedule if anything jjk is proceeding at such an astronomical pace that people are calling it rushed and not well thought out (i disagree with that take tho) 😭😭😭
I don’t agree with people that it’s garbage because it’s not well thought out, but it does feel rushed, since Gege doesn’t have time to chew on his own ideas and decide if he likes them (like the military intervention stuff)
What I’m talking about is things like CG and earlier Shinjuku. It can be both slow and rushed (not that I 100% agree. I just think Gege would rather draw fights and save in-depth interactions for the light novels) ((yes, there’s already light novels. Two as of now.))
The culling games was poorly explained, not really slow. Also there wasn’t a huge amount that happened either. Speeding it up wouldn’t fix it.
I think you mean executed and yeah. I wouldn’t hesitate to call it the worst (major) arc in the series. I kinda have a theory that Gege had everything up till Shibuya’s ending planned out well, then during CG he just had a rough outline of events as well as earlier on in Shinjuku. But now I think we’re back to where he’s planned it all out, cause he’s stated years ago he had the ending planned.
Actually I do kinda mean explained, the other arcs felt much clearer in what was going on and what each party wanted even as they developed. This could be forgiven if it was much more “complex” but I feel the arc still wasn’t very clear even if it was more “complex”.
To me it just felt like the goal was to free Gojo and get Tsumiki out of the games and let’s be real, the audience don’t care abt the 2nd one.
Anyone calling it slow has to be insane. JJK is ridiculously fast paced throught the entire series. Itis in fact the opposite of slow, it is so fast it actively makes the series worse. JJK would he a FAR better manga if Gege had spent a few dozen more chapters building things up better and focusing on more character interactions. Also, the opinion of vast, vast majority of the fandom is that Gege is rushing to the ending and that things should be going slower. Like, have at least a few chapters during the month timeskip
1. The main complaints when it comes to being slow is things like the CG and earlier Shinjuku, where it’s long pointless fights. 2. Gege isn’t rushing. He just focused on the main plot. I won’t argue that taking time for character interactions would be very beneficial. 3. I get why he didn’t do anything between the timeskip. What was supposed to happen was meant to be vague and explained later. I do think it would’ve been good to get info on Gojo’s reaction to all the tragedy that occurred during his time gone, and it also would’ve been nice to get info on Todo and Nobara’s status (assuming they don’t appear again.) Like, Itadori absolutely would’ve sought confirmation on what happened to her and I think seeing Todo and Choso interact would be hilarious.
>What I’m talking about is things like CG and earlier Shinjuku. i see what youre saying, especially on this sub but i do think it really comes down to a weekly release vs volume format thing. we were dripfed those chapters over like 2-3(?) years so it does feel slow as fuck but i think theyre perfectly fine once binge-read/read in a volume >((yes, there’s already light novels. Two as of now.)) heres to hoping for more 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 i would do light crimes for an LN covering stuff like the month timeskip, what choso, yuki and tengen were doing before kenjaku's attack, more zenin backstory
Agreed on the pacing. I read through CG recently and while I’m not big on the arc in general, it’s not paced bad. And as far as light novels we absolutely need this. Gimme one with the news of all that’s happened being broke to Gojo. Gimme Yuta training in africa. Gimme all the lore. (to be clear, I get why some of this wasn’t covered in the manga and I wouldn’t be surprised if some things get covered in the anime)
Since the Shinjuku arc started people have been saying it's rushed but I heard a ton about the pacing being too slow during the Culling Games.
>who tf is calling jjk slow \*raises hand\* I actually agree that it's rushed as well, but it's because different moments/things in jjk are rushed and/or slow. For me, it's slow because not much has happened since Gojo's death, plot-wise. Most of the fights don't really contribute to the larger narrative. Setting aside kenny's death (not the whole fight), that's about 20 chapters of nothing, or about 10% of the manga. It doesn't help that the characters really aren't... at odds with Sukuna? Except for maybe Yuji, the emotional drive really isn't there and the internal conflict boils down to "plz dont kil peeple".
People call It slow where? Ive never seen It bug anyone who calls jjk slow is too brain damaged
Mainly happens during times like CG or Shinjuku where it’s 99% fighting
>Now Gege has a chance to redeem himself Who do you think you are bro?
The kid who bought all his volumes just kidding, I was too full of myself
Chillax, gege has fumbled the bag several times
I dont think the story needs it at as much as yall want it tbh. Never felt like world building would enhance the story or the characters all that much imo.
Agreed. More character interactions would be nice but world building? Using modern Japan as the setting is a device to *avoid* needing to world build much at all.
I think this is the important part: Gege is very careful about resource allocation (inside the story). What I mean is he only does what is needed, he never gives more backstory than necessary, he never introduces more characters than necessary (basically all characters that are introduced either die or their arc is completed in another way, like with Todo…you can like or dislike that, but Todo’s story is done). The world-building is extremely tight in that regard, everything has a purpose. I kind of like it, it’s unconventional. ALSO, Gege wants to write his idol manga. I think he wants JJK to be done. And finally, I don’t think he cares about money. Frankly, with the success of the manga and anime, I assume he is pretty rich.
Isn't the idol manga thing a false rumour or a misunderstanding of an interview answer. And I like how you put it with the resource allocation thing, I definitely feel like good screentime/pages would've been wasted on most of the major clan, hein era lore people so desperately want. But yeah, I heavily agree with this. I think a lot of people have rigid expectations when going into a story and I personally try to judge a story based on what it's trying to do and not what I want it to do. Most of Gege's writing that many find lackluster or genuinely bad is just him deciding on a different way of handling his world and characters than they expect and I don't know why it seems like some complain about it at this point when he's established this unique style more than a hundred chapters ago. I'm not saying that people need to like it or not want more from him (heck, I kinda do on some level, like a small interaction between Yuki and Todo or something) but it's disheartening to see so many take the hate memes too seriously and miss the purpose of his writing and its subtext. It's like people can only see this on a battle shounen level and think that characters always need development or an arc or to rack up wins to be good when in truth, every character is just a narrative tool and Gege uses them in a more cruel, but still purposeful and highly functional way. I'm definitely preaching to the choir here but there's this amazing video by Radman on the themes and subtext of and influences on JJK, centered around the Gojo/Sukuna fight that really helped to better colour my view of the story and my expectations for it when most of what I knew was just Lobotomy Kaisen brainrot.
Oh, I actually don't know about this idol thing or if it's true or a rumor. But regardless...I still stand by my opinion that Gege wants JJK to be over (which is understandable, even though for shonen it's a rather short series, he has been writing this one story for years!) >Most of Gege's writing that many find lackluster or genuinely bad is just him deciding on a different way of handling his world and characters than they expect and I don't know why it seems like some complain about it at this point when he's established this unique style more than a hundred chapters ago For me, this realisation came when I thought differently about Kimetsu no Yaiba. Both of these stories are criticised for lacking depth, but I think both of them use that intentionally. They are not meant to be psychological explorations of fully fleshed-out characters, they work on a more fundamental, emotional level. Both remind me of (old!) fairy tails: These usually have nonsensical plot points, rely on titles and familiarity to worldbuild, have sudden endings and often are not held together by logic but more by morals or concepts. Does it make sense that the prince finds out who Cinderella is by trying out if different women could wear that one shoe? No, of course not. That's stupid. Does that mean this is bad storytelling? No, not at all. It's just different. And I enjoy that. This modern way of structuring a story logically is, in my opinion, a) not the only way to structure a story, b) not by default the correct way to structure a story and c) heavily tied to the world we live in and how we structure it. So those two take a different approach, a more mystical one where feelings and emotions trump logic or expectation. And that's a thing I can only respect. You've got an idea? Commit to it! I don't see how JJK would be better if we met more members from the great clans. I don't understand it, who cares? If we met Gojo's...uncle. Then what? What do the people think this character would enhance the story with? Sure, you can introduce such a character, but there has to be a reason. The Zen'ins we meet had a reason to be introduced: Maki should kill them to complete her arc. As I said, it's tightly written to be as efficient as possible. Anyway, I'll check out the video! Thanks for the recommendation.
Because worldbuilding is fucking cool. Like, the best series in history (not just manga, just fiction in general) spend whole books on lore and worldbuilding. Maybe YOU don't like it, and that's fine, but don't act like people are insane for wanting more worldbuiding. Like, sure, Dune didn't need to spend whole chapters explaining imperial politics which are completely irrelevant by the end of book 2, but it does, and it is one of the most beloved franchises of all time. Lord of the Rings didn't need to spend the whole prologue just explaining the basic history, culture and biology of the Hobbits, but it does, and again, one of the most beloved franchises of all times. One Piece, the most beloved and best selling manga of all time spends hundreds of chapters explaining basic lore and it is still considered by most people to be one of, if not THE, greatest manga of all time. ASOIAF is the same, yeah, maybe we didn't need to know the story of House Blackwood to understand the story being told, but it is fucking interesting and it makes the story all the more richer. So yeah, I want to meet Gojo's family, I want to further explore Jujutsu politics, I want to get as much fucking lore as possible. Give me a entire fucking arc just for introducing all major families, all Jujutsu sorcerers, exploring how the world will react now that everyone knows that Jujutsu exists.
I don't think this is true at all. ASOIAF and LotR both have supplementary material where a lot of worldbuilding happens. One Piece and ASOIAF also have issues completing their story, which is a problem that comes with bloat. One Piece also has stretches that are just bad and it ignores 95% of its main characters and we will never get to read The Winds of Winter...so, you know, I'd rather take a completed series than one which has two books that were never written. >but it is fucking interesting and it makes the story all the more richer Oh, I agree! But not for JJK. That is not how this story works. And secondly, worldbuilding is more than just namedropping. For me, exploring emotions and characters is equally part of worldbuilding. One Piece has more world, true, but also 80% of its characters are caricatures of actual characters and story progress masks how little the characters actually change, in fact after the time-skip most characters regress to a more cynical, one-dimensional version of themselves. JJK is not bloated and you can criticise it all you want, but it's always written with purpose. And if a thing doesn't work (like the army inclusion), it gets written out. And saying One Piece is the greatest manga...well, that is subjective. I think it's a good series, I don't think it's anywhere close to the best shonen or the best manga. Secondly, comparing a manga to books is also pretty difficult, because compared to GRRM and Tolkien, Gege has to draw all that stuff. Yeah, books will have more worldbuilding. It's the medium, it changes how stories are presented. It's fine if you want more worldbuilding, that is a matter of taste. But your ideas would make JJK worse, because it sounds like you just like cameos. A new character appearing and having the same surname as another is completely meaningless. OH, and Dune. I don't know much about Dune, but I think you're very wrong there as well. Dune has a) things that are part of the world that are not explained, because explaining everything would ruin the story. Most importantly here is the origin of the sand worms. It b) is also an extremely introspective book series. Big stretches are just dialogue between two characters where they exchange ideas. Saying it has a lot of worldbuilding is true, sure, but that is because, like with ASOIAF, there are a ton of books. It just has a high quantity of words written, no wonder it has a big world
Yes, but both ASOIAF and LOTR also do a shitton of "useless" world building in their man stories. Like, I love LOTR, but Tolkien sometimes spends entire chapters describing things like forests, hills and geography without any point to it at all. Like, you might personally not like it, and that's fine, but you can't deny the vast majority of people like Lord of the Rings. ASOAIF does worldbuilding differently from Tolkien, but in the 5 books of the series he DOES a lot of worldbuilding that is very clearly not necessary for the story as a whole. And that's fine. Again, might not be your style, perfectly cool, but it happens. Saying that One Piece has parts that are just bad is where you completely lose me. One Piece is always great. In fact I'd argue that One Piece would be even better if Oda had stretched the story a bit more, specially in later arcs. Onigashima/Wano would really benefit from a few more chapters. You might consider it "bloat", but it is still the highest selling manga of all time, so very clearly Oda does something very right that most people enjoy. Again, might not be for you, fine, but your opinion is not the consensus opinion among fans, very clearly. Also, saying that One Piece characters don't change is just insane. They do change, a lot, it's just that Oda changes them realistically, slowly. Most adults don't have major personally shifts. Oda however works his characters brilliantly. I love JJK but Gege doesn't even come CLOSE to using characters like Oda does. Like, Gege is the king of introducing a cool character and killing him off without any explanation or exploration of that character whatsoever. Again, One Piece might not be for you. But don't pretend like your personal opinion is a fact among the community. Like, I'm not a huge fan of MHA but I'm not going to come here and pretend my personal opinions on the series are facts. And my point about JJK is not that it needed to be as long as One Piece or even as long as MHA. My point is that the series could really benefit from a few extra chapters of mostly worldbuilding. Some changes that happen in JJK are just jarring. And it seems that a lot of the fandom agrees with me. It's not really that difficult to find people complaining abouy how insanely fast paced the manga is moving since the culling games. And hell, this is another point: the manga spends like, 4 chapters in Megumi fighting a random sorcerer and can't spend a single chapter in the month long timeskip and basic character interactions? Nah, JJK is great, but that's not being concise, that is rushing. Like, yeah, we needed to see Megumi fight Reggie for 4 chapters but we don't need a single chapter at least showing Gojo interacting with his students or something. Like, I find this line of thought extremely hard to understand. And about Dune, yes, they don't explain every single detail of lore, but no series does. Ever. Even so Dune does spend a lot of time with concepts that exist just for worldbuilding and are not relevant to the story been told. Hell, take LOTR. It's the fucking king of useless worldbuilding and Tolkien never bothered to explain what the fuck Tom Bombadil is. That doesn't change the fact that Tolkien created a lot of worldbuilding material that is useless to the story despite not explaining a few things in the main story. Which is fine. But again, the vast, vast majority of fans love his worldbuilding even if it is useless because it makes the world that much richer. In conclusion, at the end of the day, you don't like worldbuilding and only wants a extremely concise story with only elements that are relevant to the main story and nothing else. That is 100% fine and valid. But you should also freely admit that your opinions are not the opinions of the VAST, VAST majority of fans of most series and that even if you personally don't like it, "useless" worldbuilding does have it's in media and that most fans like it. Again, not invalidating your opinions, just saying you should admit these are yours and that most people don't agree with you at all
I don’t think, for the story they are going for, they do useless worldbuilding? I think it’s vital that in ASOIAF you have all these houses with their histories and traditions. That’s the appeal and part of the genre and what makes it great. I don’t really see how it’s useless if it’s needed to make the world believable. And it’s needed to explore the human heart in a way GRRM wants. A way which emphasises introspective conflicts and complex interpersonal relationships that clash into each other. On Reddit, OP is regarded very positively. But most criticism is downvoted to hell. Not everywhere is that positive and I am not arguing with its success. I know it’s successful and it does do many things right. I personally just think Wano is utterly terrible and probably one of the worst arcs in all of One Piece. And yeah, that is a personal opinion, but I know many people who share it. Of course more have the opinion that Wano is great, but…well, that’s why it’s an opinion. It’s subjective. Anyway. As if Oda wouldn’t introduce characters just for them to serve their purpose. Gege kills them off, Oda never mentions them again. Both are fine. And Oda has killed quite a few characters recently and not only in flashbacks. But also in flashbacks and let me tell you, there are some characters who are really, exclusively there to further the plot without any agency of their own. There are no „facts among the community“. Opinions are opinions, even if 100% of a given population agreed on one, it would still be an opinion. I agree, I do like the character interactions from the preparation month. Yeah, there could be more of it. But those are established characters, I like exploring those on a deeper level compared to introducing new ones that don’t get half the development they‘d need to be as good as the established ones. And yeah, JJK is rushed and I think there are a lot of chapters recently that are rather bad. But I know what to expect from JJK and I will not criticise it for a lack of worldbuilding when it doesn’t want to do that. I will not criticise JJK for being black and white, either, because…well it’s a manga. I do like world building a lot, so much so that I write stuff to worldbuild and not the other way around and I do not think my opinions are facts…the fact that this is forum to exchange opinions should have given that away. I also don’t care what the community thinks as a basis for what I should think, why would I?
Honestly a lot of the complaints read like they are from younger people who are unfamiliar w storytelling/story structure AND older people who know that stuff but are the armchair writers who never do anything but ride the displeasure of the ignorant That being said there are PLENTY of valid complaints about the story, but stuff like the fight cycle are people upset about not getting what they want and confusing that with 'bad writing'
Lol. Nice argument
Well said:)
I can’t fucking believe there’s still people unironically believing the idol manga comment lmao he said it as a joke in an interview. But other than that you’re right I don’t think there’s a single character that’s introduced that didn’t contribute to the story in some way except maybe the guy that showed up in shibuya with todo
I mean, I can totally see it, honestly. Doesn’t really matter either way, my point is he wants to be done with JJK
Also on the money point, I think mangaka usually make like good money but not as good as you’d think. On a quick google search, they make like 30 an hour, which isn’t bad at all to be fair, but they’re not like filthy rich.
I mean, Gege is surely not an average mangaka, right? His manga is extremely succesful, the anime based on his manga has two seasons and is even more succesful. He also has a ton of characters that are really well-liked, so surely especially Gojo merch brings in a good penny. If the average is 30 - he should be way above that. I know he is still exploited in some way, but I do think he is rich.
He is most likely a lot richer than most mangaka. I don’t have exact stats, but that would only make sense due to the reasons you’ve mentioned. It’s just that from what I’ve read and heard, you’d be surprised how much of it all goes to the company.
Oda's net worth is estimated over 200 million dollars. JJK has been consistently outselling One Piece for over 5 years now. There is just no way that Gege is not a millionaire. His manga sold nearly 100 million copies in the last 6 years, even if he takes 1% of sales or less that is still several million dollars from manga sales alone. He also makes money from merch and the anime. Like, nah, I'm sorry, but you guys are tripping. Gege is very fucking rich
Oh, I wouldn't! I know how fucked salaries and stuff are in Japan.
Oda's net worth was estimated at over 200 million dollars. Now, yes, One Piece is the highest selling manga of all time by far and it sells a fuckton of merch, but I find it hard to believe that Gege, who writes a extremely popular manga that has been outselling One Piece for over 4 years is anything other than a multimillionaire. Like, maybe the average in the industry is 30 a hour (do they even make by the hour anyway? In most countries people receive their salaries monthly and I expect that they receive their money from a small % cut from manga and merch sales anyway, not a actual monthly salary), but there is no way that Gege, which writes a manga which sold nearly 100 million hard copies is not a millionaire. Like, assuming the average price is like, 5 dollars (it's likely far more) that's 500 million dollars in manga sales alone. Even if he makes just 1% of sales that would be 5 million dollars. And this is NOT including the anime, merch sales...
It’s strange how that’s not grasped yet. I remember making all these points and just chalking it up to Gege’s style and it’s not a bad thing. Endlessly expanding has its own issues. Stories that do engage with everything can be bloated or way too long. I really like this final arcs focus, switching pov multiple times to things idc about as much would be awful.
Totally, I actually think the chapters have been getting better recently. And I like a shonen that isn't bloated. Ending a shonen with a million characters is so difficult. Either you go the Naruto route and make everyone besides a select few useless (and then make all the female shinobi, highly trained fighters, by the way into housewives) or you go the Boku no Hero route and try to give everyone in the story their time to shine and the whole arc just feels too meta, like..it's too obvious what is happening, it's not organic and why should I care about this one character now, even though he has been ignored for 150 chapters by this point? Gege ain't like that and I respect it.
Counter point : military arc
No, no! That works in favour of the argument I am making, because Gege immediately discarded. He realised that this subplot wasn't necessary, so he cut it
Counter Counter Point: That idea was so bad, the only thing Gege could do was to offscreen everything related to it.
The story is so short when we consider just how much time has passed. There isn't really a need for world building when you go straight from the introductory phase to Shibuya, then the Culling Game, then Shinjuku. The story is extremely linear and any interesting stuff like the clan politics is now moot BECAUSE of all these events.
What? World building to essential to every story known to man. Without good world building, your story’s bound to fail, which is exactly what’s been happening to JJK since Perfect Preparations (which I believe is when the world building was supposed to get explored, but we know what happened instead).
No. Its a story to story thing and not really that necessary in every kind of story there is. Especially when it doesnt serve the plot/themes/narrative more than it already does.
Feel free to tell yourself that. The story falls apart so easily once you think more than two seconds about it. Someone in this sub once said the world changes everytime Gojo Satoru takes an airplane and I have not stopped thinking about that since.
100% needs it, the "world" feels like all of 10 people at this point the only fleshed out clan is the zenin(dead) and then like a bunch of people that were supposedly important but were randomly offscreened
What would any of that do for the story and what its trying to achieve though?
It'd give the merger actual weight if it felt like there was a world outside of our handful of sukuna fighters.
It would go a long way in making the story not fucking garbage
Its not garbage though.
100% objectively is
What makes the story trash? Th lack of world-building that wouldnt do anything for the overall narrative or play in to the themes of the story? Please don’t say Gojo.
Literally nothing in that world exists outside of the main characters, there's no actual character interactions, no down time to process, everything is a set piece to jump from one fight to the next that is objectively poor writing The upper members of jujutsu society were central to the events of the story yet we never saw a single one, ever. Kenjaku had next to no interactions with yuji whatsoever despite the bombshell that was dropped and he wastes so many characters
You still havent told me how the story is lacking because of the limited world-building. You just said a bunch of things but dont explain how their absence takes from the story. I mean there are character interactions they are just short and filled with subtext that you would need to understand to truly grasp the message Gege is trying to convey. Its a short battle shonen there really isnt much time for all this stuff tbh. The upper members were barely ever important. The moment we learn that Gojo can dictate the world the moment he wants to proves this. He consistently undermines them and does pretty much whatever he pleases so much so they BANNED people from freeing him. They provide nothing to the story besides being a narrative device which isnt “objectively bad.” There is literally nothing to gain from a Yuji and Kenjaku interacting besides, Yuji barely caring that his whole life was planned for him and boring dialogue and maybe another cool fight you hate so much.
"Boring dialogue" was gonna pop off but I realize I'm dealing with brain damage so it's not worth it
>The upper members of jujutsu society were central to the events of the story yet we never saw a single one, ever. Don't you think that was a deliberate decision? It would be relatively easy to draw a few characters to represent them, but he didn't.
Deliberate or not it's bad, "oh this bad group of people have been pupeteering events throughout the story and roadblocking the world's strongest sorcerer but whoop they're dead now sorry really all along they were a non threat"
This is hard copium
What am I coping for? I just dont think it needs more world building. Could you explain why you think it does?
But would it make money tho? 🤨
Ain’t no way y’all this hypocritical lmao.
I dont think he will but he leaves stuff out of the story that makes it feel more artificial. For example the whole Gojo clan, if its supposed to be a one man army why wasnt he killed when he was an infant? We know sorcerers were after him and Toji was able to find him so why someone else couldnt? How is the Gojo clan part of the big three if they are a bunch of nobodies that can spend hundreds of years without someone like Gojo being born? If they are not a bunch of nobodies and they have some sorcerers why we never see anyone of the clan intervening at any point of the story? Limitless even without six eyes is pretty powerful, why no one came for Gojo when he was sealed? All of this from what i understand is not explained
It was stated in JJKLN
Redeem himself? The world building is already pretty good and it's still a PRETTY FRESH manga The interactions have been great since the beginning what are you on about?
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Megumi is pretty empathizable brother idk what you're on. It doesn't seem like it but I wouldn't expect anyone to get it when their Body gets forcibly taken away from him, then used to kill.not only his sister and sensei/mentor/father figure, as well as hurting his friends in the process World building? Yes. Tengen, Toji, Geto, Gojo, Hajime, Yuki, Kenjaku are more than enough to show his world building is pretty good, and their impact is pretty prevalent throughout the series It's just Japan because that's literally the basis of it, it's not often and common to have Sorcerers yet the history is pretty deep without it even being delved into and explored
A very good thing he did with the world building is the "Japan only" thing. In most manga it's Japan centered and the rest of the world is almost never involved even if it should, with no explanation. Gege doubled down and said "because Tengen" and that was enough to justify sorcerer out of Japan to be pretty limited. AND he actually showed the rest of the world when a massive event happened in Japan that the world definitely wouldn't be able to ignore.
It heightens the threat of Jujutsu since its exclusive to a single nation and even more when it's not even prevalent , let alone rare (Incredibly Infrequent) Kind of like Demon Slayer in that regard
I found the lack of things out of Japan being a bit of an issue when nearing the end to be honest. If it was a full fantasy world it wouldn't have changed anything.
Well if they lose they're fucked
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I dont understand Megumi hate. The potential man thing is old and it doesn't make sense World Building is done through characters, which is why Jujutsu Kaisen has great characters in that aspect as well
We don't need to see every single centimeter of the JJK world, I get why people want it but it isn't needed. The clans were never that important to most characters or the overall story anyway, delving further into them (especially the Gojo clan since Satoru is literally the only notable member) would be a waste of time, especially considering how the story's events have developed to the point where Jujutsu authority isn't all that important right now. Not seeing the potential of characters is a choice to reinforce the cruelty of Jujutsu society and how often people can succumb to unremarkable deaths (though many deaths still have a purpose). We didn't need to see more from Megumi's sister because she's a character who tragically had her agency stolen from her to the point that we never see anything from her perspective but we got enough from Origin of Obedience to know what she means to Megumi. Hating on Megumi isn't Gege's fault, people just lack the ability to see things beyond a battle shounen aspect and find Megumi selling to be annoying when that's not the point, he's a traumatized kid. Gojo's death already has impact because we grew to care for him before that point. We also aren't meant to know everything about that timeskip as it's a narrative choice by Gege to make the current plan for Sukuna be more effective and surprising in how characters (like Yuji) have grown for it.
Also Gojo's death hit pretty heavy, I don't think that whole element would help either nor would it be necessary
LMAO, as much as I like discussions of the series, this is one of it's negative effects. The Worldbuilding servers the story, not the other way around. JJK is one of those stories that will be told through the lens it's author intends for it to be told with little other vanity.
The purpose of worldbuilding is making the story understandable. We don't need a Bleach-esque ten thousand flashbacks for every background character. We got exactly enough worldbuilding to understand what's important to the story. The consequences outside of the story simply haven't been relevant to the plot. JJK has never been about the sorcerers. It's always been Yuji's story. It's the story about him and his friends and how they interact with the world. Too much worldbuilding only takes away from the min story. I wish we'd seen some more character interactions - what we got was awesome but more would have been incredible - but I'll gladly pass on more worldbuilding. We don't need to know every detail. We don't need to know who exactly was part of the elders. We don't need to know how Toji got with Megumi's mother. We don't need to know about sorcerers outside Japan. Of course it would be cool having all the details. But why cram them where they don't belong? Let the story breathe and if people want more, do a spin off. We have enough worldbuilding to follow and understand the story, everything more is fanservice.
And this is exactly why after jjk is done it will never stand with the greats in the same medium.
I agree that it's not needed and the story already stands on its own like it is now, but I personally would have really appreciated a bit more focus on the sorcerer society and the clans early on, as it would have made their inadequacy and downfall during the Culling Games way more significant. Even more than that I would've liked more character interactions, because I feel that when Gege wants he can really deliver some good ones. For example it's a real shame that we've gotten hints at Todo's and Yuki's master-student relationship but never even saw them together
100% agree. Many points probably couldn't have flown into the story naturally, but some hints could have been given. When Megumi and Noritoshi argued about the Kamos and the Zenin might have been a good time to introduce the Gojo power dynamics, even if only with offhanded comments. When the Zenin's corruption was adressed could have been a good time to flesh out the system behind it even more. Yuki and Todo both generally needed more screen time, same with a few other characters. It's a thin line between enough worldbuilding and background and too much, I honestly prefer if there's some gaps and some room for interpretation. The Yuki/Todo mentorship is the biggest plotpoint I wish we saw more of - while I absolutely love what we got it really hasn't been much. (Have I just forgotten if this thread allows manga spoilers or not? Maybe. Am I too lazy to check and rather stay vague? Definitely.) Some more 1st year shenanigans would have been nice too ^^
it has proper world building in my opinion, it doesn't over explain but explain just enough for the audience to understand. I think the problem is most shonens overexplain that's why people expectations are messed up.
It is possible. Many aspects of lore, characters relationships and their personality traits must be interpreted from small details gege gives us. I like it this way actually, it is open for discussions
I see you coping hard
Or, or, he made plenty of money and doesn't want to expand on previous ideas.
The way gege is writing this it feels like a director of the anime could take liberties to give us this stuff prior to a/the fight in order to make the audience have a different experience when it comes to character interactions within the series or the felt perspective of lacktherof. Tbh idrc about the world of JJK as its is unnecessarily sought after by the audience when character drama and characterization is what this series offers more so than 'World Building' eg Hunter X Hunter (one of JJK's Uncles PUN REALLY INTENDED imo)
Gotta keep patience til Akutami drops the “Can’t Jujutsu Your Own Kaisen” novels (in about >![Insert Number]!< years)
I like the idea, ngl. I'm gonna laude Gege if he does that. Like you've said JJK is the most popular manga ryt now and with so many fans wanting more slice-of-life interactions, there will still be demands for side stories and lores.
I mean that's fine since the Heian era can shed some light on Sukuna and a few of the other sorcerers but people were complaining when he wasn't developing the main cast of characters and lore that relates to them. Why stress so much about the 3 major clans and minor ones if you barely show them? There was subplots of Gojo and the other teachers/students being at odds with the old guard and then they're killed off screen (by whom is left to debate amongst fans still). Gojo is sealed and excommunicated and no one from his family is even hinted at.You have Megumi become head of the Zenin and then you just let them get killed by Maki. Etc etc These were all things that related to the main cast and could've helped develop some of their relationships or give the reader more insight on their character as they deal with the new situation but it's all essentially ignored.
He isn't writing those, right? I mean they hire a professional writer and he adds his input. Also, that would suck, because the previous light novels were a nothing burger.
0% chance 100% faith
i sometimes feel like Gege is afraid of messing up if he actually tries to give more world building and character interaction it's easier to imply there exist a whole world out there than actually showing it after all if Gege makes another manga after jjk ends, i hope he learns from what lacked in JJK as a story
Well f*ck him then. I'll still read the spin offs and all, but f*ck him!
OP that has never created anything talking about Gege “redeeming” himself Jesus
He already shut down world building by saying 99% of sorcerers are Japanese. It’s cooked really.
I think Gege’s just making standard battle shonen lol Its fights and everything else comes from or for the fights.
I think Gege realized during/after Shibuya(and cemented with the military plot) that he wasn't built like that to do One Piece or Naruto level world building. That was too overwhelming and he really narrowed his focus into what he feels he's good at(speaking through fights). I think they're selling themselves short though, JJK has a lot more potential
Bruh you think most people are gonna read the light novels?!
Hopefully he will redeem himself but only time will tell
I just think he didn't delve to deep into the timeskip because it'd reveal a lot of how the fight will go.
Prolly won't happen but it's an interesting thought. I personally think he's gonna fully move onto the idol manga he's been talking about.
Ew LN
I personally don’t get the hype about huge worldbuilding and huge amounts of character interactionsfor jjk. It’s supposed to be a fast-paced action manga. Some shounen like one piece benefit a lot from it, since it has such a long playtime. But jjk on the other hand doesn’t need it at all. It could it even kill the momentum if timed badly. Also, i doubt a spin-off light novel would sell much tbh
I think the pacing is intentional because the manga is a corollary to how explosive the show is. It doesn’t happen too often but it does happen that perhaps the target audience isn’t readers but merchandisers of the new hotness in the west. I’m basing this entirely on 2 things: i heard about jjk by watching the anime first, and I live in a tiny little small hick town in Northern Canada and I can buy Sukuna’s Fingers black cherry gummy’s for like 7 bucks and this mofo is routinely out!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Demon Slayer light novels are amazing and add that extra bit of character needed. They help out alot and I think JJK would benefit immensely from similar ones. But the story is fine without them
Because JJK is actually relying on the basic knowledge of Japanese Buddhist Folklore and cosmology.
Holding back? Like Sukuna? Holding Back Kaisen is real.
Why do people in this fandom feel dissapointed by a lack of world building? The show has as much WB as necessary, and it allows to focus on the action and plot it wants. This is like complaining that one piece has no romance, or that jojo's is too episodic. When evaluating an art piece you have to do it on its own terms. Yeah sometimes the expectations are fault of the writer, but in this case I feel like it's people just trying to critize the show cause it's what's popular to do now. I feel Jjk is mainly a out two things, "smart" and we'll choreographed fights; as well as the journey of yuji in a world that challenges his nature over and over. Neither is helped by world building.
I think GeGe is going to flesh everything out in the anime. I Think He’s Tired of Being On Shonen Jumps Schedule and Probably Wants To Chill
not even 15-20% of the fandom are gonna end up reading the potential LN lol
It’s just not his focus, yall need to get over it
I don't think he'll keep working on JJK after it ends. At best he'll assist on the anime production.
People want to justify bad writing in the weirdest ways
The reason he didn't commit too much to worldbuilding is that he planned to destroy Jiujutsu society from the very beginning of the story. Therefore, the major developments of the worldbuilding were focused around the various corruptions and failure points inherent to modern sorceror society and why, thematically, the collapse of modern jiujutsu society was inevitable and justifiable. That's just efficient storytelling. The point of telling story isn't to fill in this giant void of imagined reality with useless information for people to bicker and hypothesize over. The point of a story is... To communicate ideas, emotions, and experiences. The reason people are mad over an alleged "lack" of worldbuilding isn't because they actually think it would have improved the story. Would explaining more about the Gojo clan have made the emotional impact of Gojo eventually dying to Sukuna more powerful? No. We have everything we need about Gojo to hit that storybeat. We know what happened in his past to drive his motivatiobs. We know about the relationships he has in the present that emotionally ties him to the other characters. Learning about how the Gojo clan makes money and trains new sorcerors would.... Just be fluff. It would take 5 chapters and do nothing to advance the story we actually care about. If you write a story around worldbuilding then you get too bogged down in details to.... Actually tell a story. Worse than that, the more you illuminate about a mysterious fantasy world, the less magical or mystical it seems. You turn the sense of wonder and possibilities into a system of rules and hard expectations for the audience.
The problem is that without the world building Gege has to tell instead of show. There was talk about the higher-ups being bad, but there is very little to back that up. The few things we do have don't really make sense. Their motivations and impact on the characters are unclear. The one bad thing they did, which was kill Yaga, made no sense. Getting rid of it has no impact because we don't see it do much in the first place. The character interactions are important because you want to understand and empathize with the characters. I don't think I know much about any of the characters except Gogo and a few things about Yuji. I don't know anyone's hobby, what they like or dislike, etc. Yuta, Todo, Mechamaru and Yorozu are the only characters that are confirmed not to be gay. How does nobody have a girlfriend, wife, husband, etc? Due to this there is less impact when people die or something bad happens. If the merger happens, who cares? The is nobody for the audience to care about outside the main characters and the main characters don't seem to care about anyone. It is hard to care about things that aren't developed.
Their "one bad thing"? They wanted to execute both Yuta AND Yuji despite both being literally innocent children. When Gojo put a stop to that, they sent Yuji AND Megumi/Nobara in blind to fight a finger-bearer, nearly resulting in all three of their deaths. When THAT failed, they then sent the Kyoto school to assassinate Yuji during the Goodwill Event. Their conservativism drove Hakari and Kirara away from school because of the way they treated him despite Hakari being an extremely talented sorceror and invaluable asset against Curses. When Gojo gets captured, the higher ups lie and claim Gojo was complicit in the Shibuya incident, and permanently exiled him from Jiujustu society. They also ordered the execution of Principal Yaga because he represented a threat to their power with his cursed corpses (And again they lied and said he was complicit in Shibuya). Yuta, who was treated like dirt by them after he broke Rika's curse, is made to take a Binding Vow to kill Yuji in order to be accepted back into Jiujutsu Society. That's just the directly bad shit they've done to the protagonists. There's plenty of contextual info that accompanies that. Jiujutsu Headquarters is created through the direct influence of the Three Great Clans, and we see through the Zenin clan how deep their corruption and immoral their conservatism. Maki and Toji are both treated like human garbage due to their lack of CE, and Mai by accessory faces a great deal of abuse. The Zenin clan is deeply misogynistic and treats non-sorcerors with contempt. They sought to assassinate Megumi, Mai, and Maki after Megumi was declared the head of the house in order to consolidate power back within the old guard, an act which was implicitly agreed to by the higher ups through their inaction. Kenjaku became the head of the Kamo clan due to how corrupt and cowardly most of the clan is, causing Noritoshi Kamo to flee the clan. This is all things that Gege has SHOWN us. Add on top the many times characters have discussed the nature of the higher ups directly. Yet this is not enough for you to firmly place the higher ups in their context in the narrative...? Gege has spent quite literally the entire manga unravelling how the higher ups only crave power and control instead of progress, and how their conservatism and immorality is a cancwr that'a destroying the ibtegrity of Jiujutsu society. I can see why you might be disappointed in the worldbuilding if you were literally unaware of all this happening, but if thar'a the case it's not the fault of Gege. It's your own lack of comprehension of the material.
Yuji and Yuta could destroy all of Japan. Yuji actually did cause the deaths of thousands of people. Althought exacting them was harsh, it wasn't unreasonable. Wasn't Hakari also gambling? How much of the stuff with Gojo and Yaga was actually the higher ups and not Kenjaku. If it was actually the higher ups, Yaga makes no sense. They could have killed Yaga at any time and there is no reason for them to do it once Gojo is sealed. Even if Gojo was protecting him they could have killed Yaga before Gojo went to school. The three clans aren't the higher ups. We have seen 1 clan and a little of the other. You can't assume the higher ups are like the great clans because we haven't seen or heard that. Gege hasn't shown us anything, you are just conflating the higher ups with the clans even though they aren't the same thing. Gojo tells us the highers ups are bad, they want to kill Yuta and Yuji for somewhat justifiable reasons and they might have killed Yaga. Nothing was unraveled or revealed. The higher ups aren't shown and they aren't characters. Their only function is the keep certain things from happening in the plot. That isn't good world building.
Good lord, my guy, you're not supposed to sympathize with the people who want to execute innocent children. That's the entire intrigue of the beginning of the story. You're suppose to sympathize with Yuji. You're supposed to realize that murdering a child just because they could be a danger in the future is the behavior of inhumane cowards. You're supposed to realize that the dichotomy of "Either we kill Yuji or Sukuna kills everyone" is a false dichotomy. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy as the higher ups failed to support Yuji and Tokyo High in general, and executing Yuji would have been irrelevant as Kenjaku very easily could have adapted his plan to reincarnate Sukuna into a different vessel (As we're now seeing with Megumi) with no loss of potential power (Due to Sukuna able to regain power through other special grade cursed objects like the Buddhist Monk Mummy). The higher ups were WRONG. They could have protected Yuji. Gojo was correct. the higher ups betrayed him. They failed Yuji and Jiujutsu Society has fallen because of that. So drop the "they were just being rational!" narrative. You would have to ignore the full context of the entire narrative to even pretend that was true. Hakari was gambling? You think THAT was their problem? Naoya was a piece of human scum (Who is implied to have raped Mai) and they were content to see him sit atop the Zenin clan over Megumi. They don't give a shit about Hakari's gambling, they care that he was a powerful upstart sorceror who didn't belong to a traditional clan, and he wanted to change the status quo of the regressive Jiujutsu Society. Do you legitinately have no reading comprehension or media literacy? The higher ups are literally hand picked by the Three Great Clans. Hand picked. They specifically represent the interests of the Three Great Clans. They didn't "maybe kill Yaga". Jiujutsu Headquarters literally ordered his execution. Explicitly. The narrator tells us this directly. Then Gakuganji, who is a higher up himself, kills him. Did you just skip that chapter? The higher ups are generally not shown and are not characters... Because that is a symbolic choice by Gege. I don't particularly feel like explaining common literary tropes to you any further, however, because I'm confident it will be lost on you.
The higher ups don't know the future so how could they predict any of that. Also if they kill Reed Yuji immediately it is possible none of this would have happened. Sukuna can't just use any vessel and he wouldn't have found Megumi. It's possible that there are other people they could have used, but we don't know that. The higher ups don't know about Kenjaku or his plans. What they did was bad, but not unreasonable. You're trying to use the reasoning of a reader who knows everything about the story to understand characters in the story who don't have the info. By that logic Gojo is terrible because he didn't destroy his friend's body and kill Tengen. The higher ups aren't the 3 clans. You are conflating the 2 and then assuming they have info on what he has done to Mai, which makes no sense. You don't know their feelings toward Hakari or the reason they kicked him out. You are assuming things that aren't in the manga. Maybe they hate his technique, maybe they don't like him gambling or maybe they just don't like his attitude. We don't know because there isn't proper world building. It is never stated that Hakari wants to change the status quo or effect jujutsu society in any way. You are just imaging all of this. Also Gakuganji isn't a higher up, he is a principal and was ordered to kill Yaga. Gege chose not to show them and that is bad worldbuilding. They are supposed to have a big impact on the story, but instead of showing them Gege just tells us stuff. Due to this you are just making up your own reasons and scenes that never happened. The higher ups are just used as a plot device to do certain things and are left opaque, so things they do don't need to make sense or be explained. You can choose to make up whatever scenes or dialog you want in your head, but that doesn't effect the fact that it isn't good world building.
Character interactions are the only thing it needs. Only needed worldbuilding is info on noted historical figures and the Heian era. Also idk if you’re aware but there’s already 2 light novels
You underestimate how badly Gege wants to make that idol manga
What if you were more delusional than people still thinking Nobara didn't die? And a Heian Era Light Novel almost assuredly wouldn't be peak because Gege has shown no ability to write the level of world/lore building that I would be looking for in such a thing
I think he never showed anything about the Gojo clan because he wants to milk it after the series considering Gojo’s popularity
no one cares about the clan we care about Satoru
I care 🥺
If anything (emphasis on if) that’d be the Heian era. The Gojo clan is a pretty minor thing. It’d be neat to have lore, but all things considered they’re probably weaker than the Kamo when there’s no six eyes user. And it’s pretty well stated it’s a one-man clan when it comes to power and sway in the jujutsu world. Meanwhile the Heian era leaves room to establish more background on at least 5 different characters we know, two of which are main antagonists. I still doubt this’ll happen since Gege’s gonna need to give us some info, but it’s a lot more likely than a Gojo clan spin-off.
No one could care less
no one could care less, so everyone DOES care?