Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Jujutsu Kaisen #199While it's no secret that Yuji Itadori is a skillful sorcerer with a superhero's physical capabilities, what is less well-known is that he is also one of the most intelligent characters in Jujutsu Kaisen, with a geeky penchant for ing obscure facts and uttering them at bizarre moments.
Prior to becoming a sorcerer, Yuji was just an average teenager grinding his way through high school like so many other youths. However, a normal life was not to be for Yuji as Jujutsu Kaisen's opening chapters prove. At a young age, Yuji exhibited superhero levels of strength, resilience, and speed. However, rather than put these assets to use by ing one of his school's sports teams, Yuji ed his school's "Occult Research Club". While this might seem strange it sharply proved that Yuji was a true "otaku", or nerd at heart. Perhaps the clearest expression of Yuji's nerd-otaku persona is his computer-like ability to retain enormous amounts of seemingly random information about pop culture and his off-putting way of expressing this knowledge at weird times, such as in the middle of a fight.
In Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 199, the first words out of Yuji's mouth when he and Takada spot Kurusu carrying Megumi away is, "Patrasche," which is an obscure reference to the manga Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World. Re:Zero tells the story of Subaru Natsuki, a young unemployed man who is transported to another world and given the power to return to a predetermined "save point" in his life if he is ever killed, while all the memories of his life up to the point he dies. Patrasche is Subaru's dragon that he uses for transport and in battle. Yuji most likely made the reference because the way Kurusu was carrying Megumi reminded him of the way Patraschi carried Subaru.
Yuji Has Always Been a Huge Nerd in Jujutsu Kaisen
This is far from the only instance of Yuji dropping pop cultures reference that go over his classmates' heads. In Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 32 Yuji pops out of the box Gojo rolled in, and yells, "Oppappi". This is another reference to the pose and shout-out made famous by the Japanese television comedian Yoshio Kojima. While Oppappi is translated as "ocean, pacific, peace" it does not really have any meaning in Kojima's overall comedy routine. Judging from the reaction of his classmates, in typical nerd-otaku fashion, only Yuji got the humor of the prank.
While Yuji Itadori's nerd-otaku side may not be for all fans, it definitely singles him out as one of the most interesting characters not only in Jujutsu Kaisen but in shonen manga generally.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available now from Viz Media.
