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Gege Akutami’sJujutsu Kaisenis, quite easily, one of the most popular stories out there. Although the manga concluded last year, its fanbase is still quite strong, and fans absolutely adore this story for various reasons.Jujutsu Kaisen’sfinal arc, Shinjuku Showdown, was absolutely immense in terms of combat and fans got to see some of the very best fights that this series has ever produced.
More importantly, character arcs started being concluded finally, and most of the beloved characters of the fans got their own endings. At the same time, it is here that the hopes of a ton of characters died who wanted certain individuals to play a more important role. These characters ended up being wasted, in one way or another, and there certainly isn’t a death of them in the story either. But, while some characters never mattered much to begin with, a few others had tremendous potential.
The Many Wasted Characters In Jujutsu Kaisen
When JJK began and its premise was set, fans knew they this story was going to be absolutely massive. The first few chapters alone were enough to claim that the series was going to be on an entirely different level when compared to some other new-generation manga running in Jump. One thing that caught the attention of the fans with the manga was, undoubtedly, the incredible art style and some of the most exciting battles. But, it can’t be denied that the intriguing characters ofJujutsu Kaisenended up playing a significant role in it gaining as many fans as it did as well. Jujutsu Kaisen’s cast of exciting characters threw focus on the likes of Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Gojo Satoru, Ryomen Sukuna,and Nobara Kugisaki at first. Then, slowly, more characters started being introduced and finally, an exciting cast of characters started being built up.
Itadori, tell everyone that it was fun! — Nobara Kugisaki
If there’s one thing that fans can say for sure, it is thatJujutsu Kaisenalways had a great cast of characters. Yet, it is one department where it, much like many other stories running in Jump, failed. In the case ofJujutsu Kaisen, it was increasingly difficult for the author to do justice to all characters and that’s because the story didn’t run for long.Jujutsu Kaisendidn’t even hit 300 chapters, and for an author to do justice to every single cast member in that time was borderline impossible. The time JJK ran for was largely affected by the health of the author, which is unfortunate. But, while that does help one understand why certain side characters weren’t as fleshed out as expected, it certainly doesn’t excuse the author not focusing on some of the more important members of the cast, such as the main female character inJujutsu Kaisen, Nobara Kugisaki.
Why Nobara May Be JJK’s Biggest Fumble
When it comes to wasted characters, different individuals hold different weight in the story. Nobara is most certainly one of the prime candidates when it comes to wastedJJKcharacters and there is a reason for that. Firstly, one must openly acknowledge that there are most definitely characters inJJKthat have gotten even less screen time than Nobara. There are some others who are treated even worse. But, these characters don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Nobara, on the other hand, does. As a main character, the author not focusing on Nobara is much more wasteful for the story than him not focusing on, Miwa, for example.
Unfortunately, Nobara ended up becoming the most wasted character in the series. Although the beginning of her journey was great inJKK, she ended up losing importance eventually. When the story began, Nobara took the spotlight on many occasions.
The author even made sure to involve her in some of the biggest and most exciting battles in the entire story, and this was something that the fans loved, so much so thatthere were claims of Nobara being the best female character in the entire Jump. Of course, these claims were exaggerated still, but it was certainly nice to see her being paid a lot of attention.
Unfortunately, the script was completely flipped in Jujutsu Kaisen in the Shibuya arc, where Nobara was largely underwhelming and was cut out of the picture entirely due to Mahito’s powers. With Mahito’s strong attacks, Nobara ended up receiving fatal damage to the point where fans assumed her to have died.The author kept the door open for Nobara’s return, but unfortunately, she remained out of the story for over half of it, which is shameful for a main character.
Later down the line, Nobara only returned in the final few chapters of Jujutsu Kaisen to deal one blow to Sukuna while not even being on the battlefield and calling it a day. From there onwards, the series simply concluded and Nobara was left as a character who was simply hollow. The sad part is that Nobara had a ton of potential and she could’ve easily been one of the best characters in the story. Unfortunately, Gege never gave her that opportunity and to this day, she remains incredibly underutilized and largely wasted.
Shoko Could’ve Been More Important
Shoko Was A Glorified Hospital
Yet another character that was utterly wasted inJujutsu Kaisenwas Shoko. Fans know her to be extremely useful due to her Reverse Cursed Technique. However, that’s all she does in the story. Shoko was a big part of one of the major trios inJJK, alongside Geto and Gojo.While both Gojo and Geto ended up getting big roles, Shoko was simply on the sidelines and all her potential was wasted.
Along with her, there are many other characters with wasted potential inJJK. But, undoubtedly, Nobara takes the cake due to her standing as one of the main characters and the fact that the author didn’t do anything with her. Still,that doesn’t make Nobara any less popularas fans already love her for the impression that she left on them when she was first introduced in the story.
IfJJKever gets a sequel, which is highly unlikely at this point, fans can only hope that the author decides to work on certain characters who were left on the sidelines in the originalJJKstory, and given the attention that they very much deserve.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s last chapter, JJK 271, was finally released on June 27, 2025. Fans can read the series on theManga Plusand the Shonen Jump apps.
