a thread on how most jjk fans are actively being criticized by the narrative🧵

contents:
0. info
i. intro
ii. grade system
iii. yuta
iv. maki
v. momo
vi. megumi
vii. gojo
viii. mai
ix. conclusion

0. info

before we discuss this, clear something up: power-scaling is completely fine. i have no personal issues with it whatsoever.

but this thread is about how the culture around scaling specifically using belittling terms to dismiss characters unconsciously mirrors the exact themes jjk is trying to challenge.

this is going to be one of my less formal threads. i don't want to trap this in a rigid academic framework, because it doesn't need one. it's just a overall look at how our vocabulary as a fandom reflects the toxic hierarchy of the story.

i'll do deeper individual character analyses later, but for now, let's look at the patterns.

i. intro

jjk is often dismissed as a pure battle shonen and as a series that values power above narrative, but its surface-level focus on power is intentionally deceptive and deceives the average viewer.

gege akutami uses typical genre tropes to hide his social critique, and when fans value characters strictly by their strength, they recreate the exact hierarchy the narrative condemns.

the series repeatedly depicts a world where people are assigned value according to strength, and parts of the fandom end up doing exactly the same thing.

this dilemma and incoherence leads to several fans not realizing the fact that they are unconsciously recreating the same value system the narrative critiques, today i will be talking about how many fans directly parallels jujutsu society and how it neglects a lot of character arcs.

ii. grade system: the political trap

let’s start with the grading system. this should be common knowledge by now, but we need to stop using grades as an objective definition/categorization of strength.

this system is effectively defunct after the shibuya incident, its extremely unreliable and actually was used for political gain in some cases.

the special grade rank is heavily political, characters like yuta and gojo were given it to closely monitor them rather than a determiner for strength (primarily due to gojo's radical mindset), we see grades get loosely given to other people and how the higher-ups won't give characters like maki higher grades due to anti-conservative mindsets

(im sure people dont actually think maki is equal to grade 4 but you get my point)

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so actively using this metric to measure strength is effectively misaligned (esp after shibuya), since, most characters actually fit outside this metric and cannot be defined to a singular grade (takaba, higuruma, hakari, toji/maki, etc)

using this to genuinely grade people is outside the point of the power system, sure sometimes it is used to rank strength, but a lot of the times it is politically motivated/driven and isn't actually fair to the characters

when you use the grading systems to classify characters as an absolute truth, you are effectively reflecting jujutsu society's rigid view of sorcerers and the higher-ups who built it.

iii. yuta: the masculinity trap

when the fandom talks about yuta, the word "fraud" is thrown around a lot.

but a core distinction most people fail to realize is that the story wants you to view him as a "fraud" to traditional shonen standards, but for a positive reason.

yuta okkotsu serves as a formal critique on toxic masculinity and gender conformity, he is a direct parallel to naoya in every way and shows you what healthy masculinity looks like and what it is supposed to represent:

- hes isn't afraid to ask for help when needed
- hes meant to be vulnerable when he needs to be
and its directly criticizing masculinity
- he is caring and loving
- he is emotional and himself without performing

this quote by bell hooks is a great aphorism on what yuta is a criticism of:

in a way, calling yuta a fraud isn't neccessarily a bad thing, sure hes a "fraud" in the traditional hypermasculine sense, but is that necessarily a bad thing? is it a bad thing to be outside of toxic masculinity? is he a fraud because he dismantles stigma behind manhood?

it feels like people only call him a fraud because hes fine with asking for help as a man and is shown as vulnerable

when the fandom calls yuta a "fraud" because he is extremely open as a man, they are enacting the exact "ritual of power" bell hooks is talking about. he is a "fraud" to the toxic standards of manhood.

the fandom calls him a fraud because he refuses to emotionally cripple himself to satisfy their desire for a unfeeling, hypermasculine protagonist

iv. maki: the erasure of the marginalized

when the perfect preparation arc was animated, i saw a lot of fans saying, "i felt nothing during this" or "she just felt like a background character until now." at first, this viewpoint was perplexing, but then the structural brilliance of gege's writing clicked.

i explained this a bit in my reply to this tweet, but to generally simplify, maki is perceived as "less-important" or a "background character" early on because that is exactly how her society sees her.

gege structurally places maki on the margins of the story to make the reader experience the same systemic neglect she experiences in the jujutsu world.

a lot of this thread will talk about how gege writes his characters in a way that society perceives them (because of the common power-above-narrative viewpoint), and maki's arc is a good case study of that

the fandom often mirrors this, before perfect prep, a lot of discussion about maki was basically:

"she's cool, but she's not really important."
"she's just another side character."
"she's basically weaker toji."

and this is directly what a lot of society thinks of her.

her entire struggle is being treated as someone who exists in a system that refuses to acknowledge her worth, and the fandom of jjk was viewing her in the same light of something she actively denies

and on top of this, makis lack of narrative focus early on isn't merely setup for a power-up. it's structurally placing her in the same position she occupies socially. the story itself makes her occupy the margins before violently forcing the community to re-evaluate her and recognize her true strength.

perfect prep arrives and suddenly everyone is forced to recognize her strength and how everyone was underestimating her similar to the society she is ostracized and belittled in

so thats why i think that tweeter had that reaction, in a way, they were like the zenin clan finally having to recognize makis strength and how shes not as weak as society portrays her as, they just probably saw her come out of "nowhere" and be like

"oh shes strong now, cool"

when she always had value regardless of power

v. momo: the silence of the weak

i think this is worth weaving into momo, who is also judged by usefulness

i believe momo is one of the biggest victims of this dilemma overall, even narrative readers belittle her as a "useless character" when thats not her main focus

momos main focus is not her strength, of course the fandom is going to zoom in on that however, because they put power over narrative first.

to have a voice in jjk, you have to be powerful.

and for momo she is not engaged with as a character because of her lack of strength

in my opinion, momo's speech is one of the clearest moments in jjk where someone openly criticizes the expectations placed on women within jujutsu society.

yet despite this, discussions surrounding her character are rarely about her ideas. instead, they focus on her strength, relevance, or lack of major accomplishments.

this is reflective of jujutsu society, since, momo argues that people are judged according to standards that are often impossible to meet.

the audience frequently dismisses her perspective because she is not among the strongest sorcerers in the story.

if a character like gojo delivered the exact same speech, it would likely be remembered far more often. not necessarily because the argument itself or bc hes male, but because it would come from someone whose strength grants him authority within both the narrative and the fandom.