Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuji Itradori enters the realm of stop-motion animation, as he displays both style and heart in one animator's amazing fan-made parkour sequence.
Animated by Misaki Yamanaka and edited by Rio Kasubuchi from the YouTube channel Animist, the video follows Yuji acrobatically traversing a desk in order to tuck in Megumi Fushiguro after his blanket is blown away while their mentor Gojo Satoru watches on. Yuji's stop-motion freerunning was uploaded not only as a standalone 30-second sequence, but also a two-minute "Making-Of" where the creators can be seen meticulously posing and positioning the toys, as well as making various edits using digital effects.
Animist touched on the idea behind Yuji's animation in the video's description, mentioning how his smooth moves were meant to show off both the character's skill and kindness. "I tried to appeal to Itadori's big moves while free running in this shoot," the description reads. "I also expressed Itadori's kindness when he gently put a blanket on Fushiguro."
Jujutsu Kaisen isn't the only popular anime property Animist has made a recent stop-motion animation for, however. Shotaro Kaneda's motorcycle slide from Akira was faithfully recreated by the YouTube channel back in September, as Animist used toys and foley sound effects to bring the iconic scene to life.
Beginning as a manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, Jujutsu Kaisen focuses on highschooler Yuji Itadori who joins a secret organization of sorcerers after becoming the vessel for Ryomen Sukuna, an ancient and powerful cursed spirit. The series was adapted into an anime from Studio MAPPA in 2020, with its 24-episode first season having concluded earlier this year.
Due out in Japanese theaters next month, a prequel movie titled Jujutsu Kaisen 0 will adapt the events of a short manga miniseries that Akutami wrote prior to the publication of Jujutsu Kaisen, which is still set in the same world. Though the anime's first season is already finished, director Sunghoo Park has revealed he originally envisioned the anime series beginning with the storyline that is now featured in the movie.
Coming off the anime's popularity and the hype around the film, Jujutsu Kaisen manga sales have been soaring this past year. More than 60 million copies of the manga series are expected to be in circulation before the end of 2021, marking a 700% increase from the previous year. As such, Jujutsu Kaisen has entered into the top 50 best-selling manga of all time.
Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen manga is localized in English and is distributed in North America by Viz Media, while the anime series is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and HBO Max.
Source: YouTube
