If you’ve been watching Jujutsu Kaisen, many of the arc’s names can become negligible. Although manga readers were privileged not to miss the names of the arcs and volumes since they’re printed out on the first page, they’re becoming harder to keep track of now that a lot of the event in the manga has spiraled into pure, undiluted chaos among other tragedies.
But there are some arcs that are more memorable than others. These are Jujutsu Kaisen‘s arcs ranked from worst to best based on their importance and fan reception.
11. Fearsome Womb Arc
The Fearsome Womb Arc is where Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 began, and it introduced Itadori Yuji among the other characters many fans are familiar with. Itadori Yuji was a normal boy who was raised by his grandfather. Upon his grandfather’s death, he asked Yuji to avoid dying alone like himself.
Shortly after, Yuji was thrust into the unusual world of Jujutsu Kaisen after eating one of Ryomen Sukuna’s fingers. As disgusting as eating a wrinkly old finger sounds, it’s not the weirdest power-up in anime history. It’s pretty basic for many shonen anime main characters to consume a strange thing in exchange for broken powers. Fearsome Womb Arc also introduced many important characters in the series, but it’s not the greatest Jujutsu Kaisen arc among the others.
10. Vs. Mahito Arc
Also featured in Season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen is the Vs. Mahito Arc, which featured the first fight between Grade 1 Sorcerer Nanami Kento and Special Grade Curse Mahito. Nanami Kento was introduced as a straightforward man who decided to return to the world of jujutsu after realizing that the corporate world was just as terrible. He concluded that if both worlds “suck,” then he might as well choose the world where he can make some impact onto. That’s how Nanami Kento became a teacher at Tokyo Jujutsu High after quitting high-paying his corporate job. Aside from proving just how strong Nanami Kento is, he also proved to be a good and protective teacher to Yuji.
For the Nanami stans who feel outraged at this ranking, this arc introduced one of the most beloved characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. It’s a good arc by all means, and seeing him battle against a curse which he doesn’t have an advantage against is a great feat. But this isn’t one of the most pivotal arcs in the series.
9. Death Painting Arc
First-year students Fushiguro Megumi, Kugisaki Nobara, and Itadori Yuji were sent to investigate Saitama Urami East Junior High which had a strange series of disappearances. Unbeknownst to the latter two, Megumi was a student of this school along with his sister, Tsumiki. It seems that Megumi had a reputation in the school for being unusually strong, and having beaten up multiple punks within the school was a pastime for him as a student.
This is also the arc that featured Megumi’s Domain Expansion after fighting one of the spirits from the Cursed Womb: Death Painting. It also showed Yuji and Nobara’s amazing cursed techniques and their astounding capabilities as first-year students. This is the last arc animated for Season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen, but it’s a good show of power for the Tokyo Jujutsu High students who are growing into their techniques despite their struggle against higher-grade curses.
8. Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc
There are Jujutsu schools outside of Tokyo, notably, Kyoto Jujutsu High. Some remember this arc to have Tokyo Students and Kyoto Students fighting nearly to the death during the event only for Hanami, a Special Grade Curse to invade the Tokyo Campus. Luckily, many of the Kyoto students were just as strong and could put up a good fight against curses. Let’s face it, you probably remember this arc for two other things: Todo’s “besto friendo” meme which made him Yuji’s instant, self-professed best friend, and the baseball game all the students had in the end.
Beyond that, the Kyoto Goodwill Event was also a good introduction to other important characters and a small display of collaboration between student sorcerers.
7. Cursed Child Arc
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is the prequel of the series, and it follows a 16-year-old Okkotsu Yuta who shares a somewhat similar fate to Itadori Yuji. He was also going to be executed because he was classified as a Special Grade Cursed Human. But instead, he was brought into Tokyo Jujutsu High with Gojo Satoru as his mentor. This arc also introduced Geto Suguru, who has become a rogue religious figure who hated non-curse users. He was a former Tokyo Jujutsu High student, who gained a cult following, and it was clear from the start that he had plans to eradicate non-curse users.
This arc not only showed a ton of amazing fight scenes, but it was also good enough to be a standalone movie for Jujutsu Kaisen.
6. Gojo’s Past Arc
Who would’ve thought that the hateful Geto Suguru was once Gojo Satoru’s best friend, whom he had the notorious KFC breakup with? All you need to know is that Gojo and Geto were both best friends and that they went to Tokyo Jujutsu High. They had a falling out after the events of the Premature Death chapters, which caused Geto to leave the jujutsu world for a pursuit that is notably more sinister.
This is the story of how Gojo Satoru became “The Strongest,” despite coming into a showdown with the Heavenly Restricted Fushiguro Toji. Gojo’s Past Arc is also the starting point of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, and it’s arguably crucial in explaining Satoru and Suguru’s backgrounds.
5. Itadori’s Extermination Arc
The Itadori’s Extermination Arc is likely not going to be animated into Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, but the events of this arc happen immediately after the bloody Shibuya Incident Arc. Without his mentor’s protection, Itadori Yuji’s fate is up in the air again and his execution sentence is now back in effect.
The one tasked to execute him is none other than Okkotsu Yuta himself, who was also a student of Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Although this arc only has seven chapters, Itadori’s Extermination Arc was important in introducing characters that worked against the backdrop of the story.
4. Culling Game Arc
If the Shibuya Incident Arc was bloody, then think of the Culling Game Arc as a battle royale for jujutsu sorcerers. It’s brutal to the point of being considered the worst act of jujutsu terrorism. Kenjaku planned to “evolve” humanity using cursed energy, which just means that only the best and strongest sorcerers would survive. Anybody who refuses to join these “games” will die or have their cursed technique expelled.
Despite having so many fight sequences, many characters were given more depth in this arc for better or worse. The Culling Game Arc is what many would expect a shonen manga to be: full of unyielding battles and unprecedented brutality. The only reason it isn’t at the top now is because many fans weren’t fond of the intricacies of The Culling Games, and some even think of this arc as a filler.
3. Perfect Preparation Arc
All hell is about to break loose because of Kenjaku’s plan to activate the Culling Game. Despite having faked his death, Yuji Itadori couldn’t catch a break. It seems that he isn’t alone in this, since Fushiguro Megumi had his own clan conspiring against him, and his cousin, Zenin Maki had a lot of fighting to do against their own clan.
It’s safe to say that even with the looming threat of sorcerer battle royale in the air because of Kenjaku’s plans, Maki stole the show in this chapter by proving her combat intelligence and physical prowess as a heavenly restricted person. Even without considering Mai, the Perfect Preparation Arc managed to fit in a lot of other important details about the series despite being short.
2. Shibuya Incident Arc
Notoriously one of the most traumatizing arcs in the manga, the Shibuya Incident Arc left nobody safe. Fan favorites, and even “The Strongest” himself was not safe from the events of the manga and anime. Civilians, especially, were not spared from this massacre. Kenjaku and his team of cursed spirits intended to seal Gojo Satoru on the night of October 31, 2018, at Shibuya. The jujutsu world was thrown into chaos, and many sorcerers lost their lives in this gruesome incident.
There were many epic fights, shocking deaths, heartbreaking reunions, and so much more.
1. Shinjuku Showdown Arc
The return of Gojo Satoru happened in the Shinjuku Showdown Arc, where he iconically vowed to kill Kenjaku on December 24, 2018. There’s a lot more to happen before the story ends, but Chapter 236 concludes the fight between Ryomen Sukuna and Gojo Satoru.
Based on plot impact and the utter breakdown of Twitter, Shinjuku Showdown Arc is the best arc to date.
(featured image: MAPPA)
