This year, two shōnen action series of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine reached their long-awaited conclusions: Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia and Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen.
These were, without a doubt, two of the biggest titans of its genre and demographic, and their absence will certainly leave a huge empty hole in the entire anime and manga industry. However, their respective fan bases reacted to each ending with a lot of controversy and mixed opinions.
As someone who has been reading weekly chapters of both My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen for several years, witnessing these series flesh out their stories until the very end has been mind-blowing. While their finales had a lot of issues, one of them excelled, whereas the other failed, and vice versa. So the only remaining question is: Which one of them had the strongest ending?
A brief recap of the two divisive final chapters
To recap: In the final chapter of My Hero Academia, we see series’ protagonist Izuku Midoriya after eight years have passed since the final battle. He is now Quirkless because he transferred One For All to Tomura Shigaraki, but he became a renowned hero for not only having defeated All For One and Shigaraki but also for inspiring the Hero Society of Japan to improve and be more prone to saving innocent people. While Deku laments that his friends are still active heroes, he still enjoys his job as a teacher at U.A. High School and realizes that he has made an important impact on other people. However, at the very last minute, All Might gives him a special armored suit that lets him become a hero once again.
On the other hand, Jujutsu Kaisen’s ending is much more simple. After the deadly battle with Ryomen Sukuna, Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki go back to their usual lives and stop a corrupt sorcerer who was stalking a woman during one of their missions. However, after they detain the enemy, Itadori assures him that he won’t be executed, echoing the late Satoru Gojo’s dream of inspiring a new generation of sorcerers to be kinder and more empathetic. After a brief interaction between Sukuna and Mahito in the afterlife, we see the final finger of Sukuna resting while hidden away, as it no longer has a curse sealed within it.
Despite their flaws, both endings did many things right
There’s no denying that both My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen had exciting final battles that not only made their respective antagonists seem intimidating and dangerous but also made good use of almost every relevant character who had appeared throughout the series. Both Horikoshi and Akutami’s illustrations were incredibly detailed during these final confrontations, and they will definitely look amazing whenever they get animated by their respective studios.
My Hero Academia did a solid job at closing off almost every single plot beat that it established throughout the series, and most of the characters had satisfying conclusions: From the inspiring and heroic main characters, like Deku himself, Bakugo, Todoroki or Uraraka, to the tragic villains, like Shigaraki, Spinner, Toga or Dabi. Even minor characters like Gentle and La Brava got endearing conclusions to their stories. The time skip during the final chapter was certainly a bold move, but getting to see grown-up versions of Deku and his friends finally become famous Pro Heroes was as satisfying as it was emotional.
The ending of Jujutsu Kaisen was much simpler, as it instead focused on showing how the main three characters were able to not only return to their regular lives but also how their experiences during the Culling Game Arc and the Shinjuku Showdown Arc affected them, especially considering that Nobara Kugisaki was absent from the story for a very long time. Akutami also took his time to explain a few loose ends from the final battle and briefly showed what was going on with other characters like Yuta Okkotsu or Kinji Hakari.
However, My Hero Academia failed in some important areas…
Despite all their positives, both My Hero Academia’s and Jujutsu Kaisen’s endingsleft much to be desired. Even though My Hero Academia managed to close off the stories of most of its important characters, it still left a lot of open plot threads that could have easily been resolved before the finale: What happened to Re-Destro? Is the Quirk Singularity Theory ever going to become a reality? Did Uraraka and Deku get together during the timeskip?
The idea of the eight-year time skip was quite brilliant, but it could have been executed better. Many fans felt it was disappointing that Deku became a teacher and couldn’t fulfil his dream of becoming the #1 Pro Hero, something that the series had established since the very first chapter. Other fans would have also preferred a Naruto/Boruto approach, where they could have seen which members of Class 1-A got together and had children. Lastly, while many fans understand that Deku giving up his powers for the sake of Hero Society fits perfectly within the themes of the entire series, they also criticized the fact that he received a special suit at the very last minute because it ultimately undermines his difficult decision.
And Jujutsu Kaisen’s conclusion felt rushed…
Jujutsu Kaisen is a much different story, though, since fans were already having issues with its final story arcs before Shueisha even announced its finale. Most of them criticized the manga for some of its odd writing choices, like the omission of classic characters like Toge Inumaki or Nobara Kugisaki and the abrupt death of popular character Satoru Gojo at the hands of Ryomen Sukuna. After the critically acclaimed Shibuya Incident Arc, Jujutsu Kaisen went in an entirely different direction that a huge part of the fan base didn’t enjoy. It also left many unanswered questions that left most fans frustrated: What happened during the Heian Era? What did they do with the bodies of Geto and Gojo? Why did Uraume follow Sukuna with so much loyalty?
But the main criticism regarding the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen is related to its abrupt nature. While Akutami had revealed that he intended to end the manga in the near future, many fans believed he could have kept it going for a few more months. The final battle against Ryomen Sukuna felt too drawn out, and by the time the good guys finally came out victorious, the series came to a close before getting the opportunity to properly show how this conflict changed the world and its main players. Personally, the final chapter feels more like the ending of a major story arc instead of feeling like the ending of a manga series that had been in serialization for more than six years.
At the end of the day, it’s all about timing
When Shueisha announced that My Hero Academia was going to end in 5 chapters, the final battle was already over, and the final Epilogue Arc had already begun. So Horikoshi cleverly used these final five chapters to close off most of the big plot threads that still remained open. By the time My Hero Academia ended, Horikoshi had made 430 chapters in total over the course of 10 years. This was quite a lot of time for him to flesh out his world and characters. Although to be fair, some fans argue that this extensive duration made the lack of answers in some areas all the more disappointing.
On the other hand, Shueisha announced that Jujutsu Kaisen only had 5 chapters left right in the middle of Itadori’s final clash against Sukuna, which immediately made fans worry and question if Akutami was going to have enough time to write proper conclusions for every single one of his characters. While he did get the chance to answer many remaining questions, the eventual conclusion of the story felt uneventful and mundane. Jujutsu Kaisen ended at 271 chapters, which is a lot less than My Hero Academia in length. Of course, not all shōnen manga series have to be equally extensive, but Jujutsu Kaisen felt as big and ambitious as some of its contemporaries. Unfortunately, it compromised this ambition by telling its story in half of the time and with fewer chapters.
So, which ending is better? My Hero Academia? Or Jujutsu Kaisen?
While I certainly appreciate that Jujutsu Kaisen took a lot fewer risks and gave us a more concise and predictable ending, it just can’t beat the finale of My Hero Academia for me. It is not without its flaws, but both the Final War Arc and the Epilogue Arc did a way better job at using all the relevant players of the series and closing off almost every single big plot thread than any of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s final arcs.
While it’s perfectly understandable why some fans may find Deku’s final fate to be disappointing, it fits perfectly with the themes of the series that were proposed from the very beginning, and the final panel with him in his iron suit was a little treat for those who still wanted to see him and all of his friends working as Pro Heroes. When compared to the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen, it certainly left more fans satisfied. My Hero Academia just had the more fulfilling ending of the two, even if it was far from perfect.
Nevertheless, regardless of which series had the superior conclusion, there’s no denying that both My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen changed the world of anime and manga forever, and fans of the genre will miss them. It’s important to point out that Horikoshi and Akutami’s unfortunate health issues indirectly caused some of the flaws in their series’ endings, so fans of both are hoping that they will now get a chance to properly rest for a few years. At the end of the day, these two talented authors expressed their desire to keep working in the manga industry, so hopefully, we’ll get to see more amazing stories from them in the near future.
