Jujutsu Kaisen: 10 Best Anti-Heroes

Highlights

• Anti-heroes in Jujutsu Kaisen lack morals but fight against evil, like Atsuya, who avoids fights but saves friends when needed.
• Hajime is a bloodthirsty sorcerer seeking strong opponents, only aiding good guys to fight Ryomen Sukuna for personal gain.
• Characters like Naoya and Mei Mei show indifference to saving lives, prioritizing personal goals over heroism in Jujutsu Kaisen.

In the simplest terms, anti-heroes are heroes who do not have the usual qualities that we often associate with heroes. They lack good morals, have questionable motives, and impure thoughts. But at the end of the day, they are the ones who fight against the bad guy and inadvertently save innocent people. They are not the allies of justice; they are the enemies of evil.

Interestingly enough, Jujutsu Kaisen has quite a sizable number of characters that can be described as anti-heroes. Out of every questionable hero in the series, however, some stand out slightly more than others.

10 Atsuya Kusakabe

A Grumpy Sorcerer Who Avoids Fighting

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 83
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 31

Atsuya Kusakabe is a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer who specializes in swordfighting. He is easily one of the best swordsmen among the Sorcerers in Tokyo, and he is also one of the best when it comes to using the Simple Domain technique.

Unfortunately, Atsuya Kusakabe doesn’t have an innate technique. This is the reason why he always tries to avoid confrontation against strong opponents. He would even lie to his colleague (Panda) because he didn’t want to fight special-grade cursed spirits during the Shibuya Incident. That being said, when push comes to shove, Atsuya would still try his best to save his friends.

9 Hajime Kashimo

A Battle-Crazed and Bloodthirsty Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 158

Hajime Kashimo is not a hero, but he’s not a villain either. He is a battle-crazed sorcerer who is always looking for the next strong opponent to fight. He couldn’t care less about the lives of innocent people; all he cares about is having intense and hot-blooded fights against the strongest people around.

The only reason why Hajime Kashimo joined forces with the good guys (Yuji Itadori and the other Jujutsu Sorcerers in Tokyo) during the Culling Game is because he wants to fight the only opponent that he couldn’t beat in his previous life, the King of Curses Ryomen Sukuna.

8 Naoya Zenin

An Arrogant And Two-Faced Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 138

Naoya Zenin is the youngest son of Naobito Zenin and one of the strongest members of the Zenin clan. He believes that he should be the true heir of the clan. That’s also why he is so upset when the title is eventually given to Megumi Fushiguro, the owner of the clan’s signature Ten Shadows Technique.

As a sorcerer, Naoya doesn’t really care about saving the lives of innocent people. In his mind, there’s no need for somebody as strong as him to go out of his way to save weak people. That’s why he only goes on cursed spirits extermination missions to improve his image within the sorcerers’ community.

7 Naobito Zenin

An Arrogant And Lazy Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 42
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 17

Naobito Zenin is Naoya’s father and the head of the Zenin clan before Megumi is appointed as the new leader. Similar to his son, Naobito also only cares about his clan. The lives and safety of regular non-sorcerer people never cross his mind at all.

Somebody of Naobito Zenin’s stature is rarely dispatched to the field to take on extermination missions. But on rare occasions involving dangerous high-grade cursed spirits, he will be asked to participate in the subjugation efforts. And yet, time and time again, he shows no interest in the mission and is often late to the crime scene even when it costs innocent people’s lives, which is precisely what happened during the Shibuya Incident.

6 Kokichi Muta

A Tragic And Treacherous Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 32
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 14

Kokuchi Muta is a second-year student at the Kyoto Jujutsu High. He was born under a technique known as the Heavenly Restriction. In exchange for boundless cursed energy, Kokuchi Muta has an extremely fragile body full of scars and open wounds. That’s why, for his day-to-day activities at school, he uses a humanoid puppet called Mechamaru that he controls from afar.

As Mechamaru, he actively goes out on missions to subjugate cursed spirits and help innocent people with his friends. As Kokichi Muta, he secretly makes a deal with Kenjaku by sharing information about his friends, his school, and other crucial details about the Kyoto sorcerers’ community. In the daylight with his fake machine body, Kokuchi is a hero. In the dimly-lit secret bunker with his real frail body, Kokuchi is a traitor.

5 Aoi Todo

A Laid Back And Stubborn Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 16
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 8

Aoi Todo is a third-year student at the Kyoto Jujutsu High and a Grade 1 Jujutsu sorcerer. People are often intimidated by his towering physique and scary face, but he is actually gentle at heart. As a matter of fact, Aoi Todo is by far the most righteous person on this list. His sense of justice is so strong that he willingly sacrifices his body for those that he cares about.

That being said, Aoi Todo always moves at his own pace. No matter how dire the situation might be, nobody can force Aoi to do things that he doesn’t want to do. Not only that, but he would often be late on a mission because he had more important things to do. Aoi famously refuses to go on a mission because he has to attend his favorite idol’s show. So yes, he is a hero, but fans shouldn’t expect him to do what they want him to.

4 Kinji Hakari

A Cunning Sorcerer Who Loves Gambling

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 11
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 6

Kinji Hakari is one of the strongest sorcerers among the third-year students of Tokyo Jujutsu High. However, out of everybody in the school, he is also the one who is never interested in saving other people’s lives. All he wants to do is gamble. He loves gambling so much that he even develops his cursed technique around gambling.

To a gambler like Kinji Hakari, the world can burn, and he would still focus on his gambling. However, once Yuji, Panda, and the other fellow students of the Tokyo Jujutsu High manage to convince him to help them in their struggle against Kenjaku and Sukuna, Hakari quickly becomes a valuable fighter to their forces. He will gladly jump to the frontline and gamble his life away on an intense battle to the death.

3 Mei Mei

A Greedy And Opportunistic Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 0-3
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 17

Mei Mei may be a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, but she never exterminates cursed spirits or defeats other sorcerers for the good of the people. On the contrary, she will only accept a mission if there’s money in it. In her mind, there’s no reason to risk her life without getting the appropriate compensation. In this case, that compensation is money.

While her money-first principle may seem distasteful to some, others actually find it quite useful. Unlike other sorcerers (Kinji Hakari) who require a lengthy discussion and explanation to make them join the fight against Sukuna, Mei Mei doesn’t need any of that. As long as she receives the proper compensation, she will fight for one side without any hesitation. Be it fighting against the forces of evil or saving countless innocent lives, she will do it all for the right price.

2 Choso

An Indifferent And Merciless Cursed Spirit

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 60
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 24

Choso was a cursed spirit that was born out of Kenjaku’s Cursed Womb: Death Paintings. That’s why he was actually one of the antagonists of the story. But that all changed when he met Yuji Itadori, whom he considers a younger brother. Even since then, he has always been on his brother’s side, be it when they fight together to bring Kenjaku down or when they go face-to-face against the King of Curses himself.

In Choso’s mind, there is no such thing as good or bad. The only thing that matters to him is his brothers. If Yuji wants to defeat Sukuna, he will be there with him. If, for some reason, Yuji turns into a mass murderer, he will also be there with him. This strange moral compass means Choso can be the enemy of mankind in one minute and the savior of humanity in the next.

1 Maki Zenin

An Apathetic And Callous Sorcerer

• First Appearance (Manga): Chapter 0-1
• First Appearance (Anime): Episode 5

Due to Heavenly Restriction, Maki Zenin was born with barely any cursed energy in her body in exchange for tremendous physical prowess. When her twin sister, Mai Zenin, died, Maki unlocked the full extent of her physical abilities, which made her as strong as the infamous Toji Fushigoro. After her sister’s death, Maki becomes a callous and apathetic person. She treats every mission as a job that she has to complete, no matter what. When given a choice between saving innocent people or defeating the enemy, she would always choose to defeat the enemy first.

In her mind, letting the enemy loose will only result in more casualties, so taking them down should always be the first priority, even if it means sacrificing several innocent lives in the process. She always looks at situations objectively and chooses the lesser of the two evils, taking emotion out of the equation. That’s why she is the perfect embodiment of an anti-hero.