One of Japan’s Biggest horror manga is ending just in time to kick off Halloween

The Manga Jujutsu Kaisen has seen immense popularity over its six-and-a-half-year run. Volume one of the series was released five years ago but was number thirteen on The New York Times bestseller list for graphic books and comics just last month in August. 

Recently, a post was made by the official Jujutsu Kaisen X account on Aug. 19, revealing that the popular manga will be concluding in its upcoming five chapters. The final chapter is set to be published in the forty-third issue of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine, scheduled to hit Japanese retailers on Sept. 30. It is worth noting that the series has a recent history with multiple short hiatuses. Gege Akutami, the author and illustrator of the series, has had an uphill battle with its completion due to ongoing unspecified health issues. These issues could potentially push back the final chapter release date.  

Jujutsu Kaisen follows Itadori Yuji, a young, athletic high school kid who, after eating a powerful cursed object, is given two options by a mysterious blindfolded man. Option one is for him to be executed on the spot, purging the curse that now slumbers with his soul. Option two is to eat nineteen more cursed objects and forever purge the curse of the great sorcerer Ryomen Sukuna. The series follows Yuji as he enrolls at the secretive Tokyo Jujutsu High and dives deeper into a world of curses, sorcery, and tragedy.  

The series debuted on March 5, 2018, in the fourteenth issue of the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Jujutsu Kaisen was an instant success.  

According to jajanken.net (A website dedicated to publishing popularity poles from the magazine for the English manga audience), the series debuted at number one in the popularity poles. While the second chapter of the series would dip down thirteenth place, the following five maintained a spot in the top 10 and the series would begin slowly solidified itself as a new manga juggernaut. This popularity would eventually cause the series to get picked up for a high-budget anime adaptation by the Japanese animation studio Mappa. Mappa was an industry veteran known for flashy flights and thrilling action set pieces and was looking for a win after a recent series flop with the adaptation of the Korean webcomic The God of High School.  

Jujutsu Kaisen struck gold twice, and the series ending marks a turning point for Weekly Shonen Jump. Aug. 4 wrapped up the equally popular series My Hero Academia written by Kohei Horikoshi, and the iconic One Piece written by Eichiro Oda is nearing its conclusion that’s been twenty-seven years in the making, all in all, giving a feeling of what’s next for the magazine itself. However, it is worth noting that fans still have a confirmed third season of the anime and a potential fourth, depending on how much source material season 3 adapts.  

If you are a fan of horror and action looking for a new series to binge-read in the lead-up to Halloween, the final chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen will be available for all audiences on Sept. 30 on the official Shonen Jump app.