Satoru Gojo

• 1. The Honored One

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  Satoru Gojo, often called The Honored One, is a fictional sorcerer from Gege Akutami's manga and anime series Jujutsu Kaisen. In August 2024, Shueisha held its fourth Jujutsu Kaisen character popularity poll, and Gojo came first with 113,392 votes. That is a striking result for someone who is not the series' protagonist. He is a teacher who wears a blindfold, jokes his way through danger, and is regarded by many as one of the most dangerous people alive. Why did audiences around the world take to him so strongly? Where did Akutami find the idea for him? And why did the story's treatment of his fate stir such strong reactions among readers?

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• 2. The Mentor

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  Gojo first appeared in Akutami's short series Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, where he mentored a cursed teenager named Yuta Okkotsu. Yuta suffers from Rika's curse. That miniseries became the prequel Jujutsu Kaisen 0. In the main series, Gojo takes the same role for Yuji Itadori, a student who carries a curse of Sukuna.

  At Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School, Gojo holds the self-proclaimed title of The Strongest. Most allies and enemies never actually dispute it. In Jujutsu Kaisen 0, he recruits Yuta, who arrives with his Curse Spirit, Rika Orimoto, and persuades him to join the school. He then sends Yuta to train with the previous year's students, Panda, Maki Zenin and Toge Inumaki. The goal is to help Yuta control his curse and make friends.

  On the day of the Kyoto Goodwill Event, Gojo watches the competition on monitors with other faculty members. When intruders invade the site, he heads there with Utahime and Yoshinobu. He restrains Juzo with ease and turns his Hollow Purple technique on Hanami.

  Gojo also persuades his superiors at the college to keep Yuji alive until Yuji has taken in every one of Sukuna's fingers. Meanwhile he teaches Yuji alongside Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki. Akutami wrote these bonds simply, because Gojo only wants troublemakers like them to grow strong. Japanese custom favors last names, yet Gojo calls his students by their first names. Akutami explained that Gojo gives no proper consideration to such social traditions.

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• 3. Blindfold and Six Eyes

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  Akutami's key idea for Gojo's design was a blindfold that the wearer can see through, thanks to supernatural powers. Those powers belong to his Six Eyes. The eyes bear extrasensory abilities that intensify his power to manipulate, see and read cursed energy. They also amplify his own technique, which is called Limitless.

  In his debut in Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Gojo and Yuta were linked by Akutami to Michizane Sugawara, a famous figure in Japanese history. Akutami described Sugawara as the source of both characters' supernatural powers. He did this as a tribute to his late editor, Yamanaka.

  Gojo's look is meant to be that of a bishonen, a beautiful young man. His face was inspired by Tonbo Tobitake, a major character in Naruto. Akutami wanted a figure who is formidable yet endearing, and passionate about his students.

  Critics noticed that the connection to Sugawara no Michizane was left vague. Some suspected it could matter later, especially when Yuta reappears in Jujutsu Kaisen and wonders about his relationship with Sugawara.

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• 4. Gojo and Geto

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  Suguru Geto was a previous student at Jujutsu High and an old friend of Gojo. The manga's Hidden Inventory arc explores their shared past. When Gojo, Geto and Shoko were all in high school, they were assigned to escort Riko Amanai, the Star Plasma Vessel. She was due to merge with Tengen, an immortal sorcerer.

  During the mission, the mercenary Toji Fushiguro attacked, defeated Gojo and Geto, and killed Riko. Gojo recovered and killed Toji. Geto, however, began to doubt his duties as a sorcerer. Grown tired of protecting non-sorcerers, he vowed to kill every one of them to stop more cursed spirits from being born. He escaped from the school and massacred a village with his powers. Gojo confronted him about the crime but could not kill him and let him go.

  In Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Geto returns, drawn to Yuta's curse. He wishes to create a world of sorcerers only. After a fight with Yuta, he is gravely injured, and Gojo later executes him. Gojo then helps Yuta understand the true nature of his curse and powers.

  The Mary Sue called the relationship tragic. Otaquest stressed how important it is, and how its ending surprised readers of the main series. When the second season adapted their youth, IGN praised the dynamic. IGN also found Gojo's powers too complicated to explain and thought Geto seemed more important in that arc.

  After the anime adapted the flashbacks, Polygon's Ana Diaz noticed that fans were writing dōjinshi stories about the pair, and some of them went viral.

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• 5. Voices Behind Him

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  Yuichi Nakamura voices Gojo in Japanese. The role runs from serious scenes to comical gags, with many different facial expressions. Nakamura played it without restricting his range, and he repeated at the recording site that he enjoyed the gags. He saw no change in Gojo's characterization, finding his mentoring of Yuta similar to the other protagonists in the main series. He also enjoyed the school-like relationships. Megumi Ogata, who voices Yuta, impressed him with a large range of emotions.

  The second season was harder. Nakamura said he struggled to portray Gojo properly because two story arcs show the same character with different quirks and personality, owing to his age. Mariya Ise voiced the younger Gojo in a flashback. Nakamura was also impressed that the studio Mappa gave the character more facial expressions, which brought more direction from his superiors.

  Kaiji Tang voices Satoru in English. Tang regarded him as one of "the trolliest trolls to ever troll anime." He praised Gojo's whimsical nature and the way he treats his students. Likable and kind in a dark narrative, Gojo also shows interesting supernatural powers. Arrogance, Tang said, is his only weak point, and it makes him seem more human. In another interview, Tang compared Gojo to the comic book character Clark Kent. He believed the charm lies in Gojo acting like a spoiled child despite his age.

  Tang had not read the manga before casting, so he read it as research. He noted that when Gojo first meets Yuji, he considers killing a cursed teenager, which reveals a rarely explored darker side. Compared with earlier roles such as Gearless Joe from Megalobox and Archer from Fate/stay night, Tang felt Gojo views the world in a more childish way. Lohit Sharma voices Gojo in Hindi.

  To fit the English lines to the animated lip movements, Tang ended up ad-libbing, and the result was Gojo swearing as he confronts Jogo.

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• 6. Bringing Him to Screen

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  Sunghoo Park directed the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. He said one of Gojo's early scenes was especially tough to produce. It involved the Domain Expansion, and he still found it memorable. The original manga scene was black-and-white, so Park and his team asked Akutami for guidance on the colors of Gojo's Domain Expansion.

  For the animated film, Park said the Okkotsu and Rika story was the highlight. He also wanted to give more room to other manga characters. Chief among them was the past between Gojo and Geto, which the original manga covered only briefly. A new fight scene between Gojo and Miguel was requested for the climax. Crunchyroll noted that Gojo gets more screen time in the film, which it described as a treat for a fan favorite.

  Promotion leaned on him too. Advertisements for the film showed Gojo as a dog, made together with SoftBank Group. In December 2021, Mappa and Shueisha celebrated his birthday, and PulpFiction Cine noted him as one of the most popular characters while the movie was being promoted.

  The second season's music turned back to his youth. The opening song "Where Our Blue Is" by Tatsuya Kitani shows Gojo and Geto as young men against blue backgrounds. The ending theme "Light" uses a more relaxed melody and stresses their friendship.

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• 7. The Christmas Eve Duel

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  At Shibuya, Special Grade Cursed Spirits ambushed Gojo. He exorcised Hanami, but Kenjaku managed to seal him away in the Prison Realm. Before that, Gojo had arranged for Yuta to protect Yuji from being executed, should something bad happen to him.

  Gojo's students succeeded in freeing him from the Prison Realm. He immediately challenged Sukuna to a duel on Christmas Eve. After several exchanges, he came close to winning, but Sukuna killed him. Gojo then finds himself in an airport, talking with Geto and his other late friends. His corpse is later used by Yuta to help Yuji fight and defeat Sukuna.

  The chapter shook readers. Manga artist Kenjiro Hata went on a hiatus from writing Fly Me to the Moon, needing time to recover from the shocking event. According to IGN, Akutami received death threats over Gojo's death. In September 2023, leaks of the 236th chapter caused a major controversy online. Fans took to social media to react, and the hashtag #GojoSatoru was trending on X with more than 11,400 posts.

  The death also became famous for its irony, since Gojo had faced Sukuna and Kenjaku with such confidence. Comic Book Resources had mixed opinions. It praised the major impact on the whole narrative, since nearly all the survivors who watched him die were his students. Yet it felt Akutami was trying too hard to darken the series by killing several characters in the Shinjuku arc.

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• 8. Fans and Critics

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  A Viz Media popularity poll in March 2021 named Gojo the most popular character in the franchise. A 2021 poll by LINE Research also put him first among Jujutsu Kaisen characters. In the Animages Anime Grand Prix for Best Male Character, he ranked second in 2021 behind Kyojuro Rengoku from Demon Slayer. In 2022, he was third, behind Yuta Okkotsu and Tengen Uzui of Demon Slayer. Yuichi Nakamura ranked eighth in Best Voice Actor in 2021 and fifth the following year.

  At the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Gojo was nominated for Best Boy, and his fight against Ryomen Sukuna for Best Fight Scene. Nakamura was nominated for Best Voice Artist Performance in Japanese. He later won Best Actor in Supporting Role at the 16th Seiyu Awards. At the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Gojo won Best Supporting Character. Nakamura and Leo Rabelo won their voice categories, while Jose Gilberto Vilchis lost to Emilio Trevino's Denji. Gojo also won the Newtype Anime Award for Best Male Character in 2024, and in 2025 Lohit Sharma won the Hindi voice award at the 9th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

  In Chile, fans illustrated Gojo on an advertising billboard inside the Universidad de Chile station of Metro de Santiago when the second season aired.

  Comic Book Resources ranked Gojo the ninth most mature character in the series despite his childish personality. It called him highly lovable and dangerous, with over-the-top powers nobody could rival. StudyBreak saw his flamboyance as fitting comic relief, with his combat against serious threats still impressive. Bleeding Cool compared him with mentors such as Kakashi Hatake, All Might and Aizawa. It judged Gojo more likable, calling him "truly a balance of caring coldness with power that keeps dismissing any serious threats."

  Fans have long compared Gojo to Killua Zoldyck from Hunter × Hunter. When Mariya Ise, known for voicing Killua, was cast as the younger Gojo, Hindustan Times said the meme had come to life. Once the series ended, GameRant wrote that Gojo and Yuta overshadowed Yuji, the actual main character.

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