Jujutsu Kaisenof Satoru Gojo has become a cultural sensation, but few fans realize his relationship with anime’s greatest hero, Goku. Understanding the reasons behind Gojo’s widespread cultural influence can be challenging, but looking at Dragon ballof the massive impact itself, is easier to understand. Both Gojo and Goku have become definitive pinnacles of the anime world, spreading far beyond the manga/anime subculture itself.
Goku and Gojo have something in common: we can find them everywhere. This profound influence on Gojo’s ending is surprising, as few characters from recent decades have been so ubiquitous. From Megan Thee Stallion to Cillian Murphy, you can see Gojo and Jujutsu Kaisen being referenced, even in gestures as small as mimicking the expansion of his domain. What is it about Satoru Gojo that makes him more present in pop culture than other great shōnen heroes?
Gojo and Goku share inimitable greatness
The blue-eyed wizard is the first since Goku to be so effortlessly cool
One of the greatest ironies Jujutsu Kaisen is that the character that would most capture the audience’s hearts would not be its protagonist Yuji, but instead, the spectacular force that is Satoru Gojo. It makes sense, in a way. Gojo shares something very special with Goku: an overwhelming strength combined with an untouchable sense of calm.
While other anime heroes have cultural staying power, Gojo is embodied in a unique set of iconography: the trademark black sunglasses and domain-expanding finger gesture are on their way to becoming as recognizable as the powers- ups Kamehameha or Super Saiyan. This doesn’t just extend to Gojo, but everyone Jujutsu Kaisen as a whole. Jujutsu Kaisen shares a kind of name recognition with Dragon ball like an anime style model.
Although certain animes like naruto or Death Note achieved similar notoriety, Jujutsu Kaisen pushes the same cultural buttons that Dragon ball. In its own time, the name Jujutsu Kaisen has become synonymous with maturity and storytelling that seems to have, overall, transcended shōnen as a genre. Show how naruto or Bleach may be equally recognizable, but they lack some undefined social x-factor that Jujutsu Kaisen and Dragon ball possess.
Gojo, like Goku before him, has become emblematic of the same things they do Jujutsu Kaisen a unique series, producing lifelong fans. Like this Dragon ball created a cultural niche, with its soap opera elements and fantastic powers that drew an analogue to the Western superhero, Jujutsu Kaisen speaks to the culture of its own time and place.
Gojo and Goku reflect the desires of a core demographic
An old cliché proved true once again
“Girls want him and boys want to be him” – so goes the old saying. However, when it comes to understanding what makes Gojo and Goku part of a pop cultural lineage, this is really crucial. It goes without saying that Gojo is handsome, but that doesn’t explain much of the allure that spectators of all types have – including heterosexual men. Although it may seem like an exaggeration at first glance, understanding how Gojo and Goku appeal to masculine ideals in different eras can provide a very interesting insight into his pop success.
In a time of relative cultural optimism, the idea that a character like Goku could train hard and always surpass his limits to become a representative of brute, insurmountable strength had a particular appeal.
Goku was a product of the more direct and brazen masculinity of the 1980s, when bodybuilders like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were everywhere. In a time of relative cultural optimism, the idea that a character like Goku could train hard and always surpass his limits to become a representative of brute, insurmountable strength had a particular appeal. This likely resonated with male viewers, young and old, who were able to project themselves onto Goku. Goku was, in other words, a character who I felt good to watch.
Gojo is similar: the perfect hero for a different time—a more pessimistic and dissatisfied time. In contrast to Goku’s open quest to become the strongest, Gojo and already the strongest, and this leads to great loneliness. This dissatisfaction with a conventional kind of greatness and the indifference with which Gojo treats his own unparalleled ability resonates with male viewers today on an unconscious level, in the same way that Goku appealed strongly to the absurdly serious depictions of hypermasculinity of the 1980s.
Goku represents total optimism, especially for men: anything one sets out to, with a combination of talent, luck and hard work, can be achieved. Other shonen heroes like Naruto, Demon Slayeris Tanjiro, or Black CloverAsta would follow this path: with sincerity and heart, anything is possible. Gojo serves as the final response, undermining Goku’s call.
Gojo is already the strongest; It’s horrible. Gojo is not humble, nor “good-hearted”, nor particularly hard-working. He is, in fact, a parody of the worldview that made Goku and his progeny possible. In the same stroke, being a parody, it is also a realization of the total impossibility that the parody seems to aim at. This and It’s possible to be the greatest, but becoming the greatest is so absurd that it’s not worth it. Today, with prosperous futures excluded by existential uncertainty, Gojo is at once a comforting affirmation and a sarcastic denial of Goku’s unconscious symbolism..
In all this complexity, the ease culminates in one of the most magnetic personalities in shōnen in decades. When Gojo strikes his iconic pose or coldly tells Kenjaku that he would beat Sukuna, it’s hard not to hear an echo of Goku’s unwavering confidence and desire to be the best. How exactly this echo sounds is the biggest mystery. There is an inexplicable dialogue between Jujutsu Kaisenof Gojo and Dragon ballit’s Goku, and it’s the key to understanding why Gojo will be a cultural touchstone for years to come.