Gege Akutami's hit shonen manga series Jujutsu Kaisen is going stronger than ever, and by now, the series' manga edition has sold over 55 million copies, making it a serious rival to shonen juggernaut Demon Slayer. The series has a 24-episode anime to its name so far, which is packed with exciting characters and a slick combat system.
Fans are always eager to learn more, and not just about the main characters' strength, especially since it's a given that Yuji Itadori will become more and more powerful. What fans really want to know is how old the characters are, as well as how these ages factor into their designs. Fortunately, the answers are perfectly clear.
How Old Are Nobara, Megumi & Satoru Gojo?
Aside from main protagonist Yuji, three of Jujutsu Kaisen's central characters are Nobara Kugisaki, Megumi Fushiguro and the powerhouse Satoru Gojo, all of whom form a loose team during the events of Jujutsu Kaisen (although Satoru is willing to run off on his own and leave the younger heroes to their own devices). Yuji and his two friends are roughly the same age, and they're also a similar age to most shonen fans in Japan -- about 15-16. It's no coincidence that many shonen and shojo leads are in their early to mid-teens, as this matches the intended core demographic of anime and manga fans.
More specifically, Yuji and his two friends are first years in high school, and their ages reflect that. Nobara Kugisaki is 16 years old during the main events of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, and her birthday is August 7th. She's a few months older than Megumi and Yuji, with both boys being 15 years old. Megumi's birthday is December 22nd, while Yuji's is March 20th.
Satoru Gojo's age is more difficult to determine, given his famously eccentric and juvenile personality and his habit of hiding his intense eyes behind a black bandana. He acts younger than the three main leads but is in fact 28 years old. He was born on December 7th, 1989, meaning the series takes place roughly around 2017-18 -- about the same timeframe when the manga started. Kento Nanami is a few months younger than him, being born on July 3rd, 1990, but acts far more maturely than Satoru does. Appearances can be deceiving, and that may be what prompted anime fans to investigate the main characters' ages in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Why Do the Ages of the Jujutsu Kaisen Characters Matter?
There may be more than one reason why anime fans are so eager to learn the exact ages of Jujutsu Kaisen's main characters beyond the well-known fact that many anime characters look much younger or older than they actually are. Due to its graphic violence, dark tone and horror elements, Jujutsu Kaisen might be mistaken for a seinen anime series in the eyes of some anime fans, and seinen characters span a much wider variety of ages than 14-16.
For instance, someone unfamiliar with the series might see Jujutsu Kaisen and think it's a seinen with college-age protagonists, and they could be using a series such as Tokyo Ghoul for reference. These two shows look fairly similar at a glance, and sure enough, Tokyo Ghoul's lead, Ken Kaneki the half-ghoul, is a first-year college student, about 18-19 years old. He looks a bit young for his age, and at one point, he and Touka even disguise themselves convincingly as high school students.
In addition, Jujutsu Kaisen's combat system actually gives teenagers an edge, since curse energy is based on negative human emotions. Both real and fictional adolescents are often known for their strong emotions, stemming from anger, frustration and rebelliousness, and these emotions can easily fuel and enhance their curse techniques. In other words, Jujutsu Kaisen rewards its young heroes for being typical angsty teens.
However, the protagonist Yuji resists this trend, instead fueling himself with hope and compassion -- and of course, Satoru Gojo's upbeat and whimsical personality clashes greatly with the "angst = curse power" conventions, making it even more difficult to tell exactly how old he or anyone else really is. It's certainly understandable why a pseudo-seinen horror anime with people acting on strong emotions is sure to confuse first-time viewers about everyone's age.
