A little over a year ago, Akutami Gege’s final chapter of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga brought the six-year run to a close. Not everyone was happy about the way things shook out in the end, but all-in-all, Jujutsu Kaisen still remains one of my favorite manga from the last decade. When Akutami-san announced a new spin-off, I was equal parts excited and hesitant.
Spin-offs and sequels can be a mixed bag of disappointment and dashed hopes. I went into Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo without expectations, and I came out on the other side with some thoughts I couldn’t keep to myself.
JJK Felt Fresh When It Started
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First things first: I am an unabashed JJK fan girl. My entire office is like a shrine to Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto and Kento Nanami, with figures and art wall to wall. I will read or watch anything Jujutsu Kaisen-related or adjacent, simply because that’s how my ADHD brain works. I’m fully committed, and I’ll see it through, no matter what.
When The Culling Games arc started, things went all over the place. Characters of significance were introduced in ways that made it hard for them to stand out with the kind of impact they deserved. That’s not to say Akutami-san’s choices were senseless; they just felt rushed more often than not, especially once The Culling Games kicked off. Jujutsu Kaisen started out as the kind of story that deserved a long haul. Of course, 272 chapters is nothing to sneeze at, but it could have been so much more.
Yeah, I’m crying, Gojo! Be more polite.
Yeah, I’m still bitter about Gojo. I’m still heartbroken that Geto’s mental struggles were poorly handled, with his best friend not pushing harder when he actually noticed Suguru wasn’t getting enough sleep or eating enough. I’m still more than angry at times that Geto’s mental break led him from feeling too deeply to feeling justified in committing parricide and mass genocide.
None of that has anything to do with Modulo. But, even after a single chapter, I am uneasy about things already cropping up that have me convinced that despite the sacrifices Gojo and Itadori made, nothing has changed in Jujutsu Society. I also find myself with questions I fear will either get ridiculous answers or none at all, but that’s another story.
Gojo Spent His Short Adult Life Dismantling Oppressive Jujutsu Society Ideals
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One of the biggest issues in Jujutsu Society during Gojo and Itadori’s times was outdated and oppressive ideologies enforced by a collection of conservative old men we know as the higher-ups. The higher-ups seemed to have no regard for the lives of young sorcerers, as witnessed in their lack of support for Geto’s mental decline after the disastrous Star Plasma Vessel mission. Okkotsu Yuta’s connection to cursed spirit Rika Orimoto, dubbed the Queen of Curses, made him a target for execution, and the same fate awaited Itadori once he swallowed the first of Sukuna’s fingers.
The fact that they were all just kids meant nothing to the higher-ups. They were dangerous, and they needed to be eradicated, but Gojo couldn’t abide their bloodlust, especially after losing Suguru to his own despair. There also seemed to be little to no respect for female sorcerers, made evident by the Zen’in clan’s abhorrent treatment of twin sisters Maki and Mai, which was so profound that Maki actually ran away from home.
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Modulo actually starts out with a scene suggesting that, despite everything Gojo worked to change, there are still people in Jujutsu society clinging to the misogynistic ideals that kept the three clans in power for centuries. Maki and Yuta’s grandchildren, Okkotsu Tsurugi and Yuka, are immediately put at odds against one another when their mother chooses to arm Yuka’s older brother Tsurugi with the cursed ring Yuta specifically gave to his granddaughter before his death.
Not only does this launch the siblings into an instant rivalry, forcing Yuka to constantly look for ways to outshine her brother, but the reasons given for it are just… lame. Their mother basically answers the why of it with the equivalent of, “Because that’s the way it is.” To me, that suggests that even almost 70 years into the future, Jujutsu society hasn’t learned much of anything from the past, especially from the sacrifices the kids’ own grandmother made for them during The Culling Games.
To say that has me feeling disappointed isn’t an understatement. If anything, it has me questioning the expansion of the world, and I want to know more, but at what cost?
So, Yeah, Jujutsu Aliens Are A Thing
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Aliens in manga and are nothing new. From Goku’s Saiyan roots in Dragon Ball to Naruto‘s Ōtsutsuki Clan firmly established at the center of the entire ninja world, integrating aliens into the story as the root source of supernatural abilities has its merits. That being said, it’s overdone, and it kind of makes me sad that this is the direction the story is taking.
I liked it better cursed energy leaked out into the world from negative human energy and emotion. Assigning it to aliens somehow sort of dampens the impact of human emotion (something we can all relate to) becoming so unbearable, it creates curses.
I’m not saying it was aliens…
Add into that the obvious physical similarities between the alien Maru and JJK‘s main protagonist, Ryomen Sukuna, and all that history of jujutsu society fans have been speculating over takes on new meaning. Call me whiny, but I don’t want Sukuna to be an alien.
And I certainly don’t want to find out Gojo’s six-eyes came from some ancient alien conspiracy that infiltrated and firmly established the three sorcerer clans. Even if I can easily pull up at least ten images from the manga right now that make Gojo look exactly like he descended from a long line of aliens, I don’t want to. Finally, add to that definitely not wanting to discover Kenjaku was Invasion of the Body Snatcher alien all along, and I arrive back at my original statements. It’s overdone, and it makes me sad.
At this point, I’m Ōtsutsuki’d out. I haven’t even started reading Two Blue Vortex because Boruto already had issues that made it hard to love even half as much as I loved Naruto. I also haven’t started DANDADAN yet for similar reasons, despite numerous positive recommendations from friends and constant exposure to it at work. I just don’t know if I can personally alien anymore right now.
In the end, I ask myself the question: Will I keep reading Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo? I already know the answer is Yes. Because I’m a stupid fangirl and I’ve already started, so I can’t really stop now. I want to see where it’s going to go. Maybe I’ll change my mind about aliens later, or maybe I won’t. It could turn out that speculations I’ve had aren’t even close to where this is going, which is the real reason I won’t stop reading it. I want to know. I’m like one of those commercials from the 1980s for The National Enquirer:
Enquiring minds want to know. Who wants to know? I WANT TO KNOW.
Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo On a Scale of 1 to 10
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If I was going to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d probably give Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo a 6 at this point. I can only hope my next encounter with Modulo feels more inspiring, but I’ll keep my expectations minimized. I’m also going to take some time to read through it again this weekend, after I come back from Infinity Castle, of course, to see if my thoughts change at all. I’ll keep those thoughts in mind for Chapter 2.
