Jujutsu Kaisen is one of those series that will go down in history but the ending may have tampered with it. Love or hate it, it has gripped Shonen and anime fans in general for more than 5 years and the fights were pretty engaging, to say the least. It’s safe to say that the Shibuya arc will still be deemed one of Shonen’s best arcs.

Shibuya arc | Credits: Studio MAPPA

Those who have been following Jujutsu Kaisen and Gege Akutami since the beginning, will know that the author took a lot of inspiration from Bleach, Hunter X Hunter, and Naruto. But there’s another series they took references from for all the mythological aspects of Jujutsu Kaisen. This is a show that modern anime fans may not have watched at all.

The series that inspired the mythological elements in Jujutsu Kaisen

Asuka in Evangelion | Credits: Studio Gainax

During an interview in 2020 with a French newspaper, LE FIGARO, series creator Gege Akutami revealed their main source of inspiration for Jujutsu Kaisen‘s mythological aspects and it’s none other than Neon Genesis Evangelion.

One of my influences was Evangelion, which introduced me to biblical myths. But in general, I find that mythology is about stories where men and gods are pitted against each other, without ever really explaining why. Demon Slayer also took Shinto stories and ancient Japanese tales to build its universe as well.

There’s a lot of mythological references in Jujutsu Kaisen. Take Ryomen Sukuna for instance. One of the earliest mentions of the real-world Ryomen Sukuna can be found in a work called Nihon Shoki, which was written around 720 A.D. In these stories, Ryomen Sukuna was a mighty being with two pairs of arms and two pairs of legs, and each pair was on the front and back of the body—much like his Jujutsu Kaisen counterpart.

He was dubbed a natural catastrophe, and during his rule, he destroyed countless regions, leaving a path of death in his wake. Despite the fact that the old literature claims that he was a villain and an adversary of the Emperor, many people regarded him as a heroic figure. In fact, he’s actually considered a minor deity in Japan.

According to folklore, Sukuna was the founding patron of the Senko-Ji and Zenkyu-ji temples, introducing Buddhism to Hida Province, and he is worshipped in many other old temples in the Hida and Mino Provinces, both of which are in present-day Gifu prefecture. In this way, Gege Akutami was inspired by Evangelion to take instances from actual folklore and add them to their stories.

In another interview with Edomonogatari, which featured a conversation between Gege Akutami and Bleach creator, Tite Kubo, Gege listed three truly incredible series: Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, and Evangelion. These works are wildly popular and certainly represent some of the best anime of all time.

Bleach was my initial source of inspiration in elementary school, then Hunter x Hunter and Evangelion were added to the mix in middle school… Since Evangelion was steeped in mythology, I concluded that I should take a different approach by turning to Buddhism instead.

The makers of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s anime adaptation at studio MAPPA took these interviews seriously and decided to sprinkle some Evangelion references in the anime’s coverage of the Shibuya arc.

Evangelion references in Jujutsu Kaisen anime

Mechamaru | Credits: Studio MAPPA

Jujutsu Kaisen episode 32, titled “The Shibuya Incident,” had shots clearly inspired by both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann, with Muta dying in his battle with Mahito. Despite having a few tricks up his sleeve, Mahito eventually defeated the Mechamaru robot because his might was too great to save Muta.

Fans recognized these references, and some of them pointed out that the way Mechamaru screamed for the first time sounded the same as EVA-01 going berserk, bringing forth a huge nostalgia kick of watching Evangelion back in 1996.

Actually, Gege didn’t plan to add this reference to the original source material. In the manga, Mechamaru just pulls out the knife and attempts to stab Mahito and the fight ends. But in the anime, they straight up extend the scene to pay tributes to Gurren Lagann and Evangelion, and the fans aren’t complaining at all.

Perhaps in the future, Jujutsu Kaisen will in turn serve as an inspiration for another Shonen manga author in the making and that person will talk about how the series inspired them to make stories based on Buddhism and Japanese mythology. Hence, the cycle of manga steeped in ancient texts will continue.

Jujutsu Kaisen is now available to watch on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
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