Jujutsu Kaisen: Light Novels – Band 1 (2024)

i liked when gojo killed the baby

this was basically fanfiction... but i didnt mind it apart from the fact that i forgot how much i hate mahito for a second like dafuq why was he so sweet and quoting tolkien right before killing my boi
rot in hell bitch

Surprisingly quiet for Jujutsu Kaisen.
This book is probably not for everyone but I enjoyed the little character vignettes and side quests.

I'm a huge fan of Jujutsu Kaisen and I was very excited to read some short stories following familiar characters, but these light novels were so low quality it actually made me angry. Would not recommend.

“L’essentiel, c'était d’avancer. Un pas après l’autre, jusqu’à trouver sa voie.”

I was so curious to discover the novel adapted from one of my favorite mangas of all times. It compiles 5 separate stories following Yuuji & Megumi, Gojo & Nanami, Mahito, Yuuji & Ichiji and Yuuji by himself. And I really loved it !

The stories by themselves don't add much to the plot, if at all. They’re basically bonus scenes set in between the events from the main storyline of the manga. I love that they each had a different mood, going from funny to philosophical to a bit horrifying. There's nothing too fancy about the stories, no big fight scene, or originality in the plot. But they were still very entertaining to read.

What they did the best was definitely add even more character depth. They made me find new reasons to genuinely care about characters I didn't think much about, like Mahito or Ichiji. And Yuuji’s different stories definitely gave me at least a hundred more reasons to be even more in love with our main character. That last story, which was my favorite, definitely had me tearing up from the sheer love I have for him.

I wouldn't recommend the novel to anyone who isn't a huge fan, but if you love the anime or the manga as much as I do, you will find it very interesting to delve more into our characters personalities. I’m really excited for the second novel to be translated, to (hopefully) have stories for our other main characters!

Licensed fanfiction. I've read better stories written in better style on Ao3

Reading the Jujutsu Kaisen light novel made me really happy. I loved getting this look at the characters' lives beyond the story of the manga. And I really liked how lighthearted things were; and at the same time, oddly emotional. Given how crazy things are in the manga, this light novel was the perfect to relax and pretend everyone is happy. I cannot wait for the volume 2 translation to come out!

Gojo the Lakers need a centre. Nanami I need YOU.

All in all, it’s decent. Just a quick, fun palate-cleanser and I’m happy I saved it for after that nightmare of an ending.

Canonically intelligent Gojo you will always be famous 💜

the stories are definitely cheesy and out of character, but they are fun and silly to read <3 it’s nice to have something lighthearted in the jjk universe bc there’s too much pain. ngl i only picked this up for the nanami & gojo story bc i can be convinced to read absolutely anything if nanami is in it. but. nanami fans are clearly not the target audience here bc there was a mahito story right after

Oddly mild for JJK, but not unenjoyable stories. They didn't give the depth I suppose I was looking for, more about the characters' inner lives. These were like little post-chapter stories, mild curse adventures. The Mahito story did stand out, I thought! Could have used some closer editing, both for sentence flow, grammar, and typos.

might be a translation issue, but the writing didn't seem very good. dialogue especially. the only story i really enjoyed was mahitos.

All these little mini stories make me wish they were included in the main series. They’re great for characterizations and relationships between the characters.

This is the first light novel of Jujutsu Kaisen. The English title of this one (according to wiki) is "Soaring Summer and Returning Autumn". The original title (Japanese) is "逝く夏と還る秋 [Iku Natsu to Kaeru Aki]".

Like the light novels of Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba I read last year, this Jujutsu Kaisen light novels gives the exact same vibe. I feel like reading fanfiction but canon, and it makes me so happy since I'm currently (and forever will be) in love with this series. The stories here are faithful to the events in the manga--but the stories in this light novel took place in early chapters (to be exact, before Yuuji came back from death)

There are five stories in this light novel:

1. Wandering around during a Day Off - Yuuji and Megumi strolled around while waiting for Nobara finished shopping. The boys played game in arcade then happened to see Gojo. They followed him to here and there until they arrived to an angelic maid cafe and were forced to spend time there.
This story is so light and fun and perfect for those who love Fushiguro Megumi.

2. Resurrection Puppet - Gojo accompanied Nanami in a mission to exorcise a "puppet" who claimed to be able to resurrect the deads. I really love this story--Gojo is as annoying-but-funny as usual and getting on Nanami's nerves (but they are good friends, after all). The dialogues here are so witty--I'm very glad this story became an audio drama so I don't have to only imagine how those dialogues be portrayed by Nakamura-san and Tsudaken-san. :)
(You can find the audio drama on YouTube; there's someone who kindly translated it.)

3. Fables from the Dark - Mahito's story when he encountered a "weird" human being who had given up everything in life. I didn't really like Mahito he killed Nanami, for God's sake!! but as a character, he's a great one (plus, Shimazaki-san voiced him!). I think this story can make us understand Mahito a bit better.

4. The Hardworking Ijichi-sensei - A story about Yuuji who spent a day following Ijichi-san to many places to work. I LOOOOVE this story. Ijichi-san may not be a popular character, but he's an ordinary adult among the "specials" one and that makes him so relatable to many other adults who read JJK like me. This story explained to us how was the administrative works behind the exorcising or fighting events in JJK and make us understand how important the auxiliary managers were and why the Jujutsu Sorcerer Society needed a lot of them. I really like the relationship between Ijichi-san and Yuuji here.

5. A Guardian Phantom Patrolling - Yuuji encountered a middle school boy who didn't want to come home because there was a demon in his house. Yuuji tried to exorcise the demon, but it came back later.
I love this story too. It was simple but perfect to portray Yuuji's characterization. In the manga and anime, he's always portrayed as kindhearted, sympathetic, perceptive, and understanding, but this story (along with the fourth story) affirmed it by providing other good examples. Besides, I feel like I see the suppressed part of Yuuji's here: the part of him who feels lonely because he's just alone in this world after his grandpa died.
Before reading this, I already admire and love Yuuji as a shonen protagonist. This story reminds me why do I feel that way towards him.

***

I enjoyed this light novel. The characters are so in-character. I can imagine the scenes in this light novel as a manga/anime visual in my head. I also love Kitaguni-sensei's writing. This light novel is different media from the manga or anime, but it doesn't lose the "touch" that Jujutsu Kaisen has in its core story. It's so well-written, thoughtful, and presenting the deeper exploration of the characters without ruining them at all. This light novel completes the manga series in a beautiful way.

"In this world, tragedies too often end in misery, even when it's possible to help."'

Thank you to Netgalley and Viz for a copy of this in exchange for my review.

This light novel, written by Kitaguni (with original story by Gege), includes a series of short stories of our favorite characters from the original manga.

In these stories we get to read what our favorite Sorcerers and Curses do on their off days between the main storyline. We hear about Megumi and Yuji following Gojo around on his day off, a mission Nanami takes on where Gojo invites himself to join, Mahito looking for a place to stay, Yuji being off-loaded onto Ijichi by Gojo, and what Yuji did to pass his time before revealing that he wasn't actually dead!

I really enjoyed these stories because it gives the readers a more descriptive way of understanding all these important characters! For example, Mahito- a huge villain in the original manga- actually can be kind of thoughtful? Who would have thought! I give this books a rounded up 4.5/5 stars. It was a solid read that accurately depicted our beloved characters and taught me even more about their personalities!

This honestly got better, originally I was going to give it 3 stars since it felt way too fanfic-y but some of the later stories really resonated well and I thoroughly enjoyed them; especially the third and fourth ones!

My babies 🥹🥹🥹

So this was a super fun and entertaining read. I love how I get to see the daily lives and personalities of characters outside of stressful life or death situations. The writing was unexpectedly really beautiful and I appreciate the details regarding world building that the manga didn't cover. I used to be a huge Mahito hater but after reading his part, he has climbed the ranks of the most interesting characters/favorite villains for me. I've also learned to love Yuuji even more, he's such a cinnamon roll I can't 😭😭

i can’t believe it’s canon that mahito read the metamorphosis

This book basically contains 5 small stories combined together. Each stories uses its own set of characters to tell and some are more serious and some are more focused on the comedy side of the show. If you like jujutsu kaisen and want some character stories I'd say this is the novel for you! I very much enjoyed reading it and it gave me some inside in some of the lesser seen characters and the world of jujutsu kaisen. Not all of the small stories are as interesting, but I greatly enjoyed most of them and it always amazes me how this show can have me laughing out loud one moment and turn very serious the next

This was a great re-entry into the Jujutsu Kaisen world for me. I think Kitaguni was able to effectively expand Akutami's world using his material and gave the characters he worked with plenty of material to flesh them out more. I especially enjoyed the Mahito and Ijichi chapters because I was able to see different sides of them. The translation was clunky at times with a couple errors that tripped me up a bit, yet that was a minor flaw in what I found to be an enjoyable read. More sympathetic Yuji and serious Gojo underneath his clownery will always be a win in this franchise.

P.S. Time to put more bank in a future Nanami x Gojo idea that's been running around my head for the past few months.

I’m rating each story separately but i have to say that the characters felt off way off for me but I did like 2 of the 5 stories so that’s something right ?. I just couldn’t keep my hands away from a Jujutsu Kaisen related thingy (i can’t find the fan book anywhere 😕) also there was a Mahito story that one I hated the most because I hate his guts 💕

Chapter 1: Kyujitsu Kaisen ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chapter 2: Resurrection doll ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chapter 3: Allegory in darkness ⭐️
Chapter 4: ijichi at work ⭐️⭐️
Chapter 5: illusory trek to the guardian demon ⭐️⭐️

Ich liebe Jujutsu Kaisen, dieser Light Novel konnte mich aber nicht völlig überzeugen. Es gibt fünf Kurzgeschichten mit unterschiedlichen Charakteren. Von den fünf Geschichten mochte ich zwei, die anderen konnten mich nicht überzeugen.

Der Schreibstil ist ausserdem sehr simpel und einfach gehalten, vor allem bei der ersten Geschichte. Kann natürlich an der Übersetzung liegen. Oder Light Novels sind generell so geschrieben, da habe ich leider zu wenige gelesen um es zu beurteilen.

Die Geschichten sind ganz ok, aber wie es geschrieben ist ruiniert irgendwie alles.. Es fühlt sich an, als wäre es für 5 Jährige geschrieben, in ganz einfacher Sprache, dabei wird es als 16+ vermarket. Auch scheinen die Charaktere zum großen Teil nicht wie sie selbst; sehr schade!

I have no complaints… literally such a good light novel. it suprisingly made me like mahito? AND I DONT EVEN LIKE THAT GUY. we also get to know the work behind the sorcerers… learn more about itadori after his “death”. it’s just an interesting take outside of the manga. 10/10 if you’re a JJK fan.

i love mahito hes my baby girl i started reading franz kafka because of him. he reads the metamorphosis in the short story an allegory in darkness in this novel. hes so well read and smart hes just a goofball.

Damn I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t like it. I think it would have been better as an audiobook and sadly I found some grammatical mistakes in my edition 🥲

Healing from the current arc

I REAALLLYYYYY LIKED IT I love how the characters were portrayed, I loved the dynamics I loved everything though I wish the translation and the writing style were *a bit* different. The way the narrator described things felt too inconsistent at some points, but I could get the visuals they were trying to imply! At some point of the translation I did feel a bit confused but I definitely don't regret reading it. I loved it even. I hope to enjoy the next light novel! It felt very bittersweet and it helps me forget parts of the ongoing manga that made me very very depressed.

from looking at the reviews, it seems like this book isn’t for everyone. but i really enjoyed it!
i saw a few people say that they thought these stories were out of character, but i thought they were well written and true to the characters personalities. seeing them written this way was refreshing and felt like a good change.
the stories were simple and fun to read, i enjoyed all of them and used this book to fill my time when i was bored. i would definitely suggest this to other fans of jjk, and i look forward to reading the next one.

I actually really enjoyed the writing in the light novel. These short stories gave us more insight into the manga characters and their daily life, while also answering some questions about what happens between the plot's lines. The whole experience was bittersweet. For someone who read everything, I can only feel a sense of dread and nostalgia while reading this. It did however provide me some comfort in these dark days.

A nice, easy breezy light novel in the JJK setting. Reading this felt like the first few arcs in the series, where the main characters still attend classes and act like students.

Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu HIGH SCHOOL, after all.

This was fun, completely optional reading. Big fans of the series will enjoy. My favorite chapter was Fushigoro and Itadori accidentally getting themselves stuck in a compromising situation in a maid cafe while looking for Gojo.