Warning! Contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 219!Although Jujutsu Kaisen has pushed Shonen Jump‘s age rating in the past, one of its recent chapters goes far enough to be a major problem for future anime adaptations. Mangaka Gege Akutami has never been afraid to show scenes much more graphic than a typical Shonen series, but this is mostly in terms of gore and violence. His latest chapter pushes the boundary in a much different way.

Chapter #219 of Jujutsu Kaisen features a flashback of Yorozu’s past in the times of the ancient sorcerers. She is apparently very carefree, lounging around naked before an attendant appears and tells her that Sukuna wants to see her. She then puts on a robe and heads to see the King of Curses. Upon seeing him, she throws herself on Sukuna and is forcibly thrown off by one of his followers. After she is thrown back, she defiantly states that she’ll be the one by Sukuna’s side, before collapsing from her wound. But in the panel of that declaration, her robe is open, and her full-frontal nudity is displayed without any censorship.

Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Nudity is Impossible to Adapt

Of course, Jujutsu Kaisen‘s art style is the only thing that makes this scene even remotely appropriate to show in a magazine targeted towards teenagers. Jujutsu Kaisen and its author are often criticized for the manga’s rough style and lack of details, but it often lends the series’ fights a gritty dynamism that sets it apart from other manga. On this occasion, Gege’s controversial style also serves to prevent the reader from seeing too much of the details of Yorozu’s body. However, Mappa’s superb anime adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen has taken the opposite approach, using a much more detailed style. It seems they will continue to use this style for future arcs, given it is on full display in the new trailer for Jujutsu Kaisen‘s second season. This often serves to elevate the anime’s source material but of course, when it comes to adapting this scene, problems will arise as it would be very inappropriate for a young audience.

Unfortunately for Mappa, the scene is too important to Yorozu’s character to omit. While it is unclear whether the wound that Yorozu receives here is what ultimately killed her, the fact she still loves Sukuna after it shows her fanatical devotion to him. This then causes the “gift” she gives him at the end of their Culling Game battle to make a lot more sense. In addition, her nudity represents how little she cares about societal norms and how others think of her. All of these are important parts of her character that would be lost if the scene was presented in a drastically different way.

Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Manga Can Go Places the Anime Can’t

Of course, Mappa can always just use censor bars or mosaics to cover Yorozu’s nudity in a non-diegetic way and this is probably what they will do when they eventually adapt this scene. However, this chapter reveals an interesting advantage that the series’ manga has over its anime adaptation. While Jujutsu Kaisen‘s manga art may look crude, it allows Gege to portray things that would normally be forbidden in a Shonen manga, making it very hard for the anime to adapt.

Jujutsu Kaisen chapter #219 is available to read from Viz Media.