JUJUTSU KAISEN, VOL. 1 PA

Get ready to meet one of the best character collections in manga, starting with the ridiculously strong and yet otherwise untalened Yuji Itadori, who eats a cursed finger and upends his world. And that’s just the beginning.

To gain the power he needs to save his friend from a cursed spirit, Yuji Itadori swallows a piece of a demon, only to find himself caught in the midst of a horrific war of the supernatural!

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

Although Yuji Itadori looks like your average teenager, his immense physical strength is something to behold! Every sports club wants him to join, but Itadori would rather hang out with the school outcasts in the Occult Research Club. One day, the club manages to get their hands on a sealed cursed object. Little do they know the terror they’ll unleash when they break the seal…

In this new series launch from Akutami (Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical School), Yuji Itadori is sucked into the world of curses when his friends inadvertently become the target of supernatural monsters hell-bent on retrieving a powerful relic that the students recently stumbled upon. When Yuji swallows the relic in order to keep it out of the hands of evil, he finds himself imbued with the spirit of an immensely powerful demon. This sets the scene for Yuji’s upcoming adventures as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, in which he learns to control the diabolic energy within him to fulfill his grandfather’s dying wish–that his talents be used to help others. This overwhelming theme of death and resisting the negative energy of curses is made palatable by moments of kindness, humor, and inspiration to live a life without regret. Yuji is unconventional in his problem-solving methods, often not thinking twice about leaping into action and using comical amounts of force to achieve simple tasks. Similarly, his curse-fighting companions are also unique, from the self-obsessed and capricious Nobara to the logical but still moody Megumi. This blend makes for a well-balanced, enjoyable story now in its seventh installment. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Tite Kubo’s Bleach or Hitoshi Iwaake’s Parasyte.–