Jujutsu Kaisen is finally returning to the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, following several weeks off to help author Gege Akutami restore his schedule.
More specifically, Jujutsu Kaisen will return with chapter 153 in issue no. 35, on sale 2 August. Given that the last installment was published on 14 June, this means that Akutami’s hiatus will have lasted for seven weeks total. The author himself gave the ballpark figure of ‘around one month’ when the announcement was first made, suggesting that things took a little longer than expected.
Is this a bad thing? Not really, because neither Akutami nor the readers want delays like this to happen again. The whole point of taking an extended hiatus was to ensure that small breaks didn’t disrupt the flow of weekly serialization, so it’s arguably better to take more time now than later. Besides, that ‘around one month’ figure was always just a ballpark estimate, anyway.
【連載再開のおしらせ】
８月２日(月)発売の週刊少年ジャンプ３５号にて、#呪術廻戦 の連載が再開いたします。今後とも応援よろしくお願いします。— 呪術廻戦【公式】 (@jujutsu_PR) July 16, 2021
Spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen manga up to chapter 152 ahead.
Undoubtedly, manga readers will be very glad to see Jujutsu Kaisen return at the beginning of this August. Last time the story left off, Maki had just massacred the entire Zenin clan and essentially become the new Toji Fushigoro. And as if that wasn’t enough, all of that was just preparation for the Culling Game, which has yet to start properly. It’s pretty clear that Gege Akutami has some incredible stuff hidden up his sleeve.
Looking more broadly, however, it’s probably a good thing that Jujutsu Kaisen made a return when it did. Although the hiatus was said to only be temporary, so are nearly all breaks that eventually lead into infinite hiatus. If that fate befell Jujutsu Kaisen, then I’m not sure what Studio MAPPA would do.
Make terrible anime-original movies like Studio MADHOUSE did for Hunter x Hunter, probably.
Jujutsu Kaisen will return on 2 August. You can read chapter 153 as it comes out for free via VIZ Media!