Summary
Shōnen manga has evolved significantlyover the past two decades, and audiences are seeing a dramatic shift in both the kinds of stories being told and the lengths of these stories. Concurrently, the anime industry has changed how it adapts shōnen, with the most notable change being the lack of filler, but recent discourse aboutJujutsu Kaisenhas questioned if maybe a little filler is good, actually.
Gege Akutami’s battle shōnen mangaJujutsu Kaisenis in the midst of its final arc, the “Shinjuku Showdown”, with 265 chapters published as of the time of writing, and said to be ending this year. Studio MAPPA premiered the TV anime adaptation back in late 2020, a prequel film in 2021 (both directed by Sunghoo Park), and thena second season in 2023 (directed by Shota Goshozono).
On July 31, Twitter/X user sukuwuna (@cybxrdxze) posted the below regarding their thoughts on filler and modern anime, namely that avoiding it altogether is “killing anime.” He specifically cited the characters ofJujutsu Kaisenas an example of how filler could be a boon to an already well-regarded story.
This Person Makes an Excellent Point
Shōnen stories are getting shorter. This is half out of a desire on behalf of creators to keep the stories relatively tight compared to their peers. The other half stems from pressure to grab readers lest the series be canceled. There’s an argument that modern shōnen isn’t allowed the patience to develop properly, which comes at the cost of what could have been deeper attachments to these characters. Singling out ofJujutsu Kaisenfeels especially apt given its more divisive tendencies.
Jujutsu Kaisenisn’t all that abnormally paced at the start. It is certainly pacedwelland spends appreciable time establishing the rules and hierarchy of its modern fantasy world. It’s only after the Shibuya Incident arc that a paradigm shift occurs. One of the major sources of dramatic tension becomes the lack of plot armor for the supporting cast,while the world the audience has come to knowis deconstructed.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s handling of characters is a source of praise and criticism in equal measure, but as for the latter, fans tend to find fault in how characters can be underutilized before they’re killed off. This extends to the entire cast, but in particular, the main trio has caught flak for how quickly the story seemingly outgrows the need to keep them together.
Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara ofJujutsu Kaisenare all interesting characters on their own, but as a unit, it’s hard to connect with their relationship beyond Season 1, when things escalate severely. For many, this series reaches such a climactic point of no return by its midpoint that there’s an understandable demand for more time spent with these characters outside the main plot. As a remedy, this person suggests “filler,” but that opens a whole other can of worms.
Why Some Fans Took Issue With This Take
As expected, there were a lot of mixed reactions, but much of the division seems to come from how the anime community defines filler. Credit to the naysayers, there is ample precedent for skepticism about filler.In its most practical sense, anime filleris any narrative content created to fill a gap in time while the production team waits for there to be enough source material to continue the main storyline.
How this manifested is irrevocably burned into the memories of shōnen fans who watched these shows, week by week. Logic dictates that if the main plot isn’t advancing, then the characters can’t change all that much. The stories become inconsequential, and these arcs end up cataloged for posterity largely so that future viewers would know to skip them. The point of contention, then, is that anime fans too often treat filler as a blanket term for “anything not advancing the plot.”
This is a fair point also. If a manga is finished or there is ample source material ready to be adapted, anything deviating from/expanding upon it isn’t necessarily filler butjust simply “anime original content.“But the hordes of people jumping to correct an inaccurate usage of the term are missing the larger point here. Filler is just the simplest term to illustrate something more nuanced, at the cost of being misunderstood.
It’s Not About Filler
People aren’t looking for filler so much as they are yearning for longer, more patient storytelling, akin to the shōnen series of the past that took time to build a strong foundation. Certainly, there are valid reasons to want the core pacing to improve - filler or not - but it’s not simply blind nostalgia that has some anime fans wishing for something more. Neither is it simply innovation that has created tighter pacing in modern shōnen.
Tastes change, certainly, but it’s also about the state of the industry and the expectations placed on new series to instantly grab an audience.Many will remember thatBlack Clover’s animewas the source of much ridicule when it first aired but grew to be beloved by many. In the current state of shōnen, it’s hard to imagine many series getting that same chance to earn the admiration of its audience.
Jujutsu Kaisenis popular for a reason. Its world and themes are both incredibly inspired by the works of Tite Kubo and Yoshihiro Togashi while carving a distinct identity of its own. The action is incredible, and the characters - whether they are underutilized in the grand scheme of things or not - are often very likable and compelling. It simplycouldbe better, which is true of a lot of popular media. Here, the anime could have taken some creative liberties to elevate the text.
This could be anything from slice-of-life episodes similar to the Juju Stroll segments or just anime-original missions for the characters to bond on. Just saying, after two years between Seasons 1 and 2, it would have been nice to spend a bitmore time having fun with the charactersbefore the entire world went up in flames.
Characters are everything to a shōnen series. There have been very simple stories made grand by the strengths of their characters, just as there have been intricate stories let down by a poor cast. What has helpedJujutsu Kaisenthrive is the strength of its world-building and themes in tandem with a cast that makes a strong impression very early on. It’s simply this series' cross to bear that the ambitions of its plot at times supersede the depth of its cast.
