Jujutsu Kaisen’s Culling Game Pokes Fun at MHA & Demon Slayer

The deadly seriousness of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Culling Game did not stop its creator Gege Akutami from using it to have a laugh at the expense of fellow Shonen Jump titles Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia.

The Culling Game is the last major step in the evil sorcerer Kenjaku’s multi-century plan to return the world to a “better time” when sorcery was supreme. The game calls for a select group of newly-created sorcerers to fight against a similarly selected group of cursed spirits or spirits with malevolent tendencies. So far, the Culling Game has featured a number of violent confrontations between cursed spirits and the sorcerers from Japan’s two top-level sorcerer schools. However, in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 195, fans are introduced to Daido Hagane, an ancient swordsman of unmatchable skill, who was resurrected by Kenjaku to participate in the Culling Game. Appearing without his sword, Daido first sets out to find a suitable katana sword to use. But with swords having become obsolete in modern society, Daido is forced to scavenge for a sword wherever he can.

Eventually, in a great sequence, Daido spots a sword in a child’s toy box. Relieved that he has finally located the one tool he needs to slay cursed spirits, Daido grabs at the sword only to find that it’s a plastic replica of a sword used in Demon Slayer, that announces it’s performing “First form water surface slash!!. With his hopes of finding a proper katana dashed, Daido weeps in disappointment. For fans, however, the genius of the sequence is twofold. First, in addition to the hat tip from Akutami to Demon Slayer, he also pokes fun at it. Not only is the first “sword” a master swordsman of Daido’s talents finds a toy, but a toy that admits it is only capable of the most basic moves. To be sure, before most demon slayers are commissioned to be considered capable of fighting demons, they must successfully gain command of the technique. The scene is manga humor at its finest.

In addition, the toy box that Daido pulls the sword from also contains a doll that unmistakably resembles My Hero Academia‘s All Might when he was in his prime. The figure seems to replicate All Might’s rabbit-like tufts of hair, and the iconic “raised hand” pose he made after defeating One for All in My Hero Academia chapter 99. The figure’s placement in a box of seemingly unwanted toys could be interpreted as a suggestion that My Hero Academia is or has become irrelevant and should be mothballed and replaced with more currently popular entertainment such as Jujutsu Kaisen.

While poking fun at others might be a common element of comics in the United States, it is not a characteristic regularly found in the Japanese manga industry, let alone one seen happening in the same publishing house. This is what makes Jujutsu Kaisen’s Culling Gamedigs at Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia so interesting, especially considering the editorial control Shonen Jump holds over its manga creators. However, for fans, it provides great insight into the minds of the manga creator. In this case, it reveals the fact that Akutami is clearly a fan of the works of his fellow Shonen Jump creators, and that like any fan, Akutami has some thoughts on the manga he follows. However, unlike most fans, he has one of the greatest platforms, namely his own manga Jujutsu Kasien‘s Culling Game storyline, to make his opinions on Shonen Jump manga like Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia known.

The latest chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen is available now on Viz Media’s Shonen Jump app!