Summary
The following contains heavy spoilers forJUJUTSU KAISEN, forBLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, as well as for theBLEACH: Can’t Fear Your Own Worldnovel trilogy by Ryohgo Narita, all available on VIZ’s online manga platform.
There are many comparisons made between the stories of Gege Akutami’sJUJUTSU KAISENand Tite Kubo’sBLEACH. WithMAPPA’s adaptation ofJUJUTSU KAISEN, countless homages to shōnen titleshave been made through animation and direction. That being said, as one catches up to theJUJUTSU KAISENmanga, a few deeper similarities between this world and that ofBLEACHarise.
Someone with a solid foundation in the lore of both titles, and just a little bit of sense and imagination, could make the claim that the world created by Gege Akutami is comparable to a version of theBLEACHuniverse where the total separation of the realms never happened in the first place. How could that be the case?
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Both Series Deal With Souls, But In Very Different Ways
InBLEACH, the structure of the universe is based on the journey of the soul. The universe was split into three parts for the sake of creating order through separating the processes of life and death that made up the primordial chaos. The World of the Living, where souls would incarnate and lead human lives, would be the first destination of souls coming from the afterlife, or “Soul Society”. When people died and passed on peacefully, they would be sent to Soul Society by the Shinigami, where their soul would once again be sent to the World of the Living; however, evil spirits known as Hollows would manifest from thesouls that couldn’t pass over peacefully, a process that is known as “Hollowfication”. These evil spirits reside in Hueco Mundo, a purgatory or limbo realm that exists in the interstice between Soul Society and the World of the Living. Hollows would then feed on the souls of the living and the dead, in turn creating more Hollows, which are effectively the result of a soul lost to despair.
This concept is quite similar toJUJUTSU KAISEN’s presentation of Cursed Spirits, which are malignant spirits borne from the negative emotions and beliefs of human beings, which then feed on human beings, sometimes to the point of evolving into an even more powerful, negative force. Unlike inBLEACH, death to this malignant spirit does not then turn one into a Curse; however, when a Jujutsu Sorcerer – a person with the ability to manipulate Cursed Energy and perform sorcery – is killed through means other than by Jujutsu, they rematerialize as Cursed Spirits, a process that is eerily similar to Hollowfication. The significance of such a process is that it deepens theconnection between humanity and Curses. Souls exist inJUJUTSU KAISEN, and complete destruction of a soul is a dire final possibility, but the importance of this element is that it explains how a person’s ego can survive their reincarnation into a Vengeful Cursed Spirit.
Both Series Explore Vessels of Supernatural Power
JUJUTSU KAISENis set almost completely in modern-day Tokyo (between 2017 and 2018), and the connection to a higher realm of some kind exists throughan entity known as “Master Tengen”, an immortal Jujutsu Sorcerer responsible for spreading and preaching the foundations of Jujutsu sorcery, and worshiped as a deity known as the “Star”. Every 500 years, Tengen is supposed to fuse with an individual known as a “Star Plasma Vessel”, maintaining their immortality and enabling them to hold on to their humanity. However, in 2006, Tōji Fushiguro murdered the Star Plasma Vessel Riko Amanai, and the failure to assimilate caused Tengen to become more of a Cursed Spirit than a human, as the entity “evolved” past their humanity and “became the world itself”. Tengen’s body is housed in the Tokyo Jujutsu Technical High, in the Tomb of the Star, a region deep within the campus that is hidden behind barriers and 1000 doors that shuffle constantly, making admission to the sacred space nearly impossible.
Tengen’s status in the Jujutsu world is reminiscent ofthe role ofBLEACH’s Soul King, who is the cornerstone that makes the tripartite separation of the realms possible. Like Tengen, the Soul King is effectively entrapped, although the conditions are vastly different, as Tengen is still capable of agency. The Star Plasma Vessels are reminiscent of the fragments of the Soul King, revealed during theThousand-Year Blood Wararc. The Soul King’s various body parts represent concepts that affect reality itself in various ways, and he is murdered and mutilated to be made into the basis of the three realms. Parts of his mutilated corpse wind up being caught in the souls of the unborn, whose pregnant mothers were attacked by Hollows seeking the high concentration of spiritual energy found in the unborn.
Both Series Explore Hybrid Expressions of Basic Concepts
As early as 25 chapters intoBLEACHwas the first reference made to the Arrancar, introducing the possibility of hybrid existences. InBLEACHcanon, it is generally accepted that Hollows seek out powerful souls to devour, and certain Hollows evolve beyond the basic limitations of their kind into various classes, the most notorious and powerful of which is the Vasto Lorde. As Hollows gain intelligence, their forms become more humanoid. Arrancars are Hollows that have broken their masks and gained Shinigami powers – placing theseexistences that are naturally at oddswithin the same vessel. In similar fashion,JUJUTSU KAISENvery early on presents a progression into more human-like forms as a part of the evolution of Curses.
The Soul King inBLEACHis a hybrid existence, one of the first beings and a combination of all the possible races in theBLEACHuniverse – Tengen’s evolution into more of a Curse after thefailed assimilation with Riko Amanaireflects this “compositeness” of the cornerstone being, not to mention that the births of characters like Yuji Itadori and Chōso reflect the hybridization seen in the creation ofBLEACHprotagonist Ichigo Kurosaki, particularly in how his composition is a combination of unusual parentage as well as decisions in life leading to their harbouring of a malignant entity within their bodies. The biggest takeaways here are the similarities between the concept of Tengen and vessels to that of the Soul King and Fullbringers, but also the basic concept of hybrid existence being at the core of the -verse.
Souls Don’t Move On In JUJUTSU KAISEN
The biggest sign that there isn’t much of an afterlife inJUJUTSU KAISENis the persistence of the soul in the body after death, as seen with Getō struggling against Kenjaku within his own body, and the brief return of Tōji Fushiguro. Sorcerers like Sukuna have tapped into some kind of immortality through turning themselves into Cursed Objects, meaning that they can return even if they are killed. The transformation of Zen’in Naoya into a Cursed Spirit shortly after his death indicates that there is no Hell, and even when the body of a living individual is possessed, the soul persists therein, making itunlikely that an afterlife existsin theJUJUTSU KAISENuniverse. Conversely, Masamichi Yaga is actually capable of creating fully-functional Cursed corpses that can maintain their own cursed energy. This is reminiscent of theBLEACHmodified soul and Gigai (Faux Body) concepts, and his ability specifically further expands the idea that souls and bodies are more closely related than usually depicted in fiction.
Both Series Explore Supernatural Societies
One of the most significant impacts of the Shibuya Incident Arc is how it explores more of Jujutsu Society. Gojō’s existence was keeping in check several key players from making any significant moves. However, in his absence, the balance shifted once more as Kenjaku brings back powerful sorcerers from 1000 years ago. The plotting, scheming and manipulation of Getō’s body is reminiscent of Aizen’s faked death and manipulation of the machinations of Soul Society through the murder of the Central 46, but Noritoshi Kamō’s experiments and creations of human-Curse hybrids is reminiscent of Aizen’s Hollowfication experiments with some kind of draw from the Hōgyoku’s impact on theBLEACHuniverse through the attraction of malice seen in Sukuna’s fingers, which are also sentient objects that have immense plot-altering potential.
Through the use of Getō’s body in particular, Kenjaku is able to implicate Gojō in the various events, also manipulating powerful members of Jujutsu Society to get rid of Yaga – much like Aizen’s plan sowed infighting among Gotei 13 Captains and would’ve made the innocent Rukia collateral damage in the grand scheme. The disgracing of the Kamō clan due to Noritoshi’s actions, as well as Maki’s decimation of the Zen’in Clan resembles the diminishing and eventual collapse of the Shiba Clan. Kenjaku’s simple curiosity in this chaos is more up the alley ofCan’t Fear Your Own Worldantagonist Tokinada Tsunayashiro, head of the Great Noble Clan inBLEACHthat maintains the recorded history of the Seireitei, and a family of immense influence over the entirety of the narrative from as far back as the primordial murder of the Soul King.
TheJUJUTSU KAISENuniverse is like a universe of such chaos, because humanity and Curses are mirror existences of such proximity, but also because those who are dead do not experience the kind of experience that leads to “resting in peace” as is generally understood, which is another indication of the same kind of primordial chaos seen before the Soul King’s sacrifice. In a universe where Heaven or Hell do not exist, powerful Sorcerers or entities simply rematerialize as Curses and seek out the living, whileBLEACH’sHell works as a plane where those who wereincredibly powerful rematerialize as malignant entitiesof an unknown composition. Tengen’s assimilation with the world itself is also another indication of a chaotic universe where the natural and the supernatural are always one and the same.
