Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi Fushiguro was meant to be the main hero, not Yuji!

Jujutsu Kaisen is considered one of the greatest anime of modern times and fans are always tracking and reading the behind-the-scenes of one of the MAPPA's dark shonen series trio. 

It appears that the original draft of Jujutsu Kaisen was drastically different from what we see on screens today, as the creator initially planned for Megumi Fushiguro to be the series' protagonist.

Currently, Jujutsu Kaisen is celebrating its success with a new art exhibition in Japan. During this event, the mangaka who penned the series shared insights about the manga's origins.

Gege Akutami, the mastermind behind Jujutsu Kaisen, revealed that in the initial drafts, Megumi was designed to be the main character. He also outlined how Yuji Itadori's role has evolved since the franchise's inception.

Akutami explained that when he first conceptualised the series, Megumi was created first to be the protagonist, followed by Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki.

The original storyline resembled the events of the Culling Game arc but was eventually discarded during the planning stages. This led to the development of the Jujutsu Kaisen we know today.

"It was Fushiguro [then] Itadori [then] Kugisaki," Akutami answered when asked in which order he created the series protagonist-wise. 

"Originally, Jujutsu Sousen [the initial name for the series] had a character that became the prototype for Fushiguro. In Sousen, that young boy ended up housing Sukuna, and the setting was similar to the Culling Game, with Itadori in a supporting role," he said.

"Kugisaki was a character conceptualised for the manga serialization. I didn't think to do anything unique with the initial character configurations so I made them into a three-man-cell like in Naruto," Gege added.

Expanding on this, Akutami disclosed that he developed a new concept more suitable for a shonen series, initially intending to include Fushiguro as a main character before ultimately deciding to make Yuji the protagonist because his character was more adaptable.

"When Sousen was dropped during our serialization meetings, I decided to try one more time and draw a story that was more suitable for a Shonen magazine. Fushiguro's character was already quite set in stone in my mind, and I thought Itadori would be more adaptable so I changed the character configuration."