Characters / Jujutsu Kaisen: Yuji Itadori

Jujutsu Kaisen Main Character Index
Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School (Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Satoru Gojo) | Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High School | Cursed Spirits (Mahito) | Curse Users (Ryomen Sukuna) | Culling Game Players | Zen'in Clan | Others

---

Yuji Itadori

^{Click here to see Shinjuku Showdown Yuji}

Voiced by: Jun'ya Enoki (Japanese), Adam McArthur (English) ^{Foreign VAs} Enzo Fortuny (Latin American Spanish), Dario Sansalone (Italian)

Age: 15

Jujutsu: Divergent Fist, Black Flash Mastery, Reverse Cursed Technique, Blood Manipulation, Shrine

"I can't say what I'll be thinking when I die, but... I'm not gonna regret the way I live!"

Once an easygoing high school student with a kind disposition, Yuji promised to his grandfather that he would "help others and die surrounded by loved ones" right before before his death. Leading him to, after a chance encounter with Jujutsu Sorcerer Megumi Fushiguro and a dangerous Cursed Spirit, swallow a finger belonging to Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, becoming his vessel and forcing him to become a Sorcerer himself to escape execution.

After consuming one of Sukuna's fingers, it allowed Yuji to wield, perceive, and control cursed energy. While he currently lacks an Innate Technique, Yuji's strength is so great that he can physically overpower most Curses with his bare hands. In addition, he can alter the flow of his Cursed Energy to perform either "Divergent Fist"; where his Cursed Energy lags his hands to give his blows two separate impacts. or a "Black Flash"; which creates a small distortion of space that multiplies the force of an attack to the power of 2.5. Gojo believes he'll also eventually develop Sukuna's Technique.

---

A — E

• 11th-Hour Superpower: During the final battle with Sukuna, he lands a Black Flash on the King of Curses, resulting in him 'awakening' and unlocking his true potential. As a result, his power skyrockets to the point of putting Sukuna on the backfoot, and finally unlocking his own version of Shrine.
• The Ace: Yuji is leagues stronger than most of his peers and quick to learn and adapt during combat. His training with Todo has allowed him to match both him and Special Grade Curses blow for blow whereas other sorcerers struggle. He's able to perform a Black Flash shortly after learning it even exists, something many sorcerers are unable to do. In that same day, he matches the record holder Nanami in four consecutive Black Flashes against Hanami. During the Jujutsu Sorcerers' fight with Sukuna, the latter was shocked to see Yuji learning Reverse Cursed Technique in one month. Then he later surpasses Gojo in total number of black flashes, while also setting a new record for total number used consecutively with 8, and can finally use Sukuna's Shrine Technique as well as Blood Manipulation
• Acquired Poison Immunity: Yuji's ability to house Sukuna's soul means Innate Techniques that revolve around poison aren't nearly as debilitating to him as they would be for anyone else. Leaving Junpei and the Death Paintings unfavorably matched against him.
  • Him housing Sukuna also allows him to be able to perceive the soul and strike it accordingly, while being immune to having his soul transfigured. Giving him a great advantage in battle against Mahito.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: The anime gives him pink hair while the manga has him in either light brown/blonde hair, though color spreads have given him pink hair nowadays.
• All-Loving Hero: He is kind to a fault and wants to make sure that everyone gets the life that they want to live. As the series goes on, he questions if whether this is the right path, but comes to the understanding that while he can't save everyone, he can at least do his best to protect the living.
• The Aloner: After the Shibuya Incident Yuji becomes this, only being accompanied by Choso because he refuses to leave his "brother" thanks to a combination of guilt for Sukuna's mass murder, Sukuna having plans for Megumi, and being wanted for execution by jujutsu headquarters. It takes Yuji getting beaten by Yuta and a talk with Megumi for Yuji to rejoin his friends.
• Ambiguously Human: The revelation that his mother was one of Kenjaku's vessels implies he might be actually be something akin to the Death Paintings in nature. Later on, Sukuna calls what Kenjaku did to create Yuji the creepiest things he knows.
  • Yuji ends up being the nephew of Sukuna due to Jin Itadori being Sukuna's Reincarnated Twin, although it's unclear what else Kenjaku did to him, it is noted that Yuji has equivalent potential to Sukuna.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Yuji opposes Kenjaku, who is the mastermind behind the cursed spirits group and seals his sensei, and is actually one of his parents, being his mother when he had the host body of a woman.
• Apologetic Attacker: Yuji's kindhearted nature applies to both friends and enemies alike. Yuji even apologizes to Eso right before landing the killing blow on him, feeling empathy for the death painting in his last moments. It's rather tragic in retrospect, as the reader later learns that Yuji and Eso were actually brothers, but neither knew it at the time.
• Arch-Enemy: Yuji quickly grows to hate Sukuna and Mahito's guts. And the feeling's mutual to a sadistic degree on their part.
  • Yuji bitterly regrets failing to save Junpei from Mahito and looks forward to ending him personally, while Mahito detests the existence of someone immune to his prized Innate Technique and makes it his goal to break Yuji's spirit. It intensifies after Mahito kills Nanami and possibly Nobara.
  • Sukuna at best is apathetic towards Yuji, but nonetheless he eagerly takes every opportunity available to torment him with a smile; refusing to help Junpei and laughing at Yuji's inability to save him, massacring a significant portion of Shibuya and showing Yuji the remains specifically to traumatize him, then switches vessels to Megumi and grievously injures Angel. At first, Sukuna continually highlights his absolute apathy to Yuji repeatedly despite all of this, making it clear that he's not doing it because he feels any strong emotion towards him, but simply because he can, and always makes it clear that Yuji is unworthy to face him despite all the bad blood he creates towards the latter. However, by the time of their final confrontation, he's come to really see Yuji as a personal enemy, revealing that he's grown to hate Yuji's unbreakable resolve and how his sheer force of will allows him to survive and keep challenging Sukuna despite being so weaker than him.
• An Arm and a Leg: The special grade cursed spirit bearing one of Sukuna's fingers in the detention center cuts off his arm. Sukuna taking over his body regenerates it back.
• Ascended Fanboy: Yuji is a manga fan and gets to live out his fantasies as a shounen protagonist.
• The Atoner: After Sukuna commits a massacre in Shibuya, Yuji feels the need to continue fighting and save others to atone, thinking how if he were to be executed then he would only be a murderer. When Higurama points out that Yuji isn't guilty of it because he wasn't in control of his body, Yuji states that he believes he is because he was too weak to prevent it.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Todo during their fight against Hanami. Todo's technique was especially potent due to his teamwork with Yuji.
  • Briefly with Nobara during their fight against Eso and Kechizu, with the two activating Black Flash at the same time and defeating the Death Paintings.
  • Again with Todo during the Shibuya incident against Mahito.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Although he's slated to inherit Sukuna's incredibly destructive powers, Yuji is a good kid at heart who wants to do right by his grandfather's memory. When Yuji does develop the ability to use Shrine, it's actually subverted. Although undoubtedly a destructive Cursed Technique, Yuji's specific version of it is framed in a far friendlier light, with little scissors icons being shown on everything he cuts.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Before swallowing Sukuna's fingers, Yuji already had nigh-superhuman physical strength and skill in Taido Martial Arts, which only improves by incorporating cursed energy.
• Bash Brothers:
  • He and Todo are an extremely effective team as fighters, as Todo's Boogie Woogie makes it much easier for Yuji to bypass an opponent's defenses and deliver a Black Flash. When Yuji is at his absolute lowest moment against Mahito, Todo shows up to save him and, after a pep talk, they take on the Disaster Curse together and come out on top, even if it costs Todo his hand.
  • With Choso, his former enemy and literal brother (Kind of. It's complicated). In chapter 256, the two of them run an effective tag team on Sukuna, resulting in them turning the tides on the King of Curses with a Black Flash combo.
• Batman Gambit: A pretty crazy one with Yuta. When fighting Sukuna inside of Yuta's domain, Yuta uses Cleave to tear open a wound in Sukuna's face. Yuji, when throwing hands with Sukuna moments later, gets hit and spits blood into Sukuna's open wound, seemingly as an act of pure spite. Once Sukuna patches up the wound with Reverse Cursed Technique, Yuji uses Blood Manipulation to erupt the blood from inside of Sukuna's body, and blow off Sukuna's arm from the pressure.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may be the defining Nice Guy of the series, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get angry. Junpei's death ramps this trait up to the extreme. It's taken several steps further after the events of the Shibuya Incident. When Yuji and Todo defeat Mahito and reduce him to a pathetic terrified state, Yuji holds nothing but seething hatred for him and calmly explains to Mahito that he is going to kill him and will continue killing every time he reincarnates.
• Blood Magic: Chapter 257 confirm that he got Bloody Murder by eaten 6 Death Paintings
• Blessed with Suck: Eating Sukuna's finger gives him the ability to perform Jujutsu... and also forces him into Sharing a Body with an Ax-Crazy demon who’ll try and take over his body every chance he gets.
• Body Motifs: Hands. His technique is Divergent Fist, unleashes Black Flash through punches, he has his arm cut off by a special grade finger bearer, and his symbol in merchandise is a fist with Sukuna's tongue sticking out.
• Book Dumb: Not conventionally knowledgeable, and according to the official fanbook a cause of his stress is science subjects and he failed molecular science. Despite this, he quickly gets a hang of cursed energy through watching films as instructed by Gojo, and masters Black Flash very soon after learning about it from Todo.
• Boring, but Practical: Divergent Fist pales in flashiness compared to most Cursed Techniques, or even just the Black Flash move Yuji replaces it with. But it eventually turns out to be very useful for creating openings in an opponent's defense by throwing off their balance, as Mahito found out the hard way.
• Born Winner: Even before eating Sukuna's finger, Yuji was absurdly physically gifted, to the point of casually breaking world records. Once he enters the Jujutsu world, he takes to it like a fish to water, rapidly learning the basics and eventually reaching heights it takes others years to reach. This turns out to be because he's the son of Kenjaku and the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother. This means that Yuji's true potential likely rivals that of Sukuna himself according to Uraume, Sukuna's biggest supporter. This is proven when Yuji 'awakens' after landing a Black Flash on Sukuna in the final battle, not only sky rocketing in strength, but unlocking Sukuna's Shrine.
• Break the Cutie: Defied. Part of the reason why Sukuna hates him is that no matter how hard he tries, he simply cannot break Yuji. Sukuna can torture him, murder his friends and loved ones, and Yuji will just get back on his feet and square up again. In some ways, Yuji is perhaps the only person who Sukuna can't exert his will over. And for a narcissistic petty hedonist like Sukuna, Yuji and what he represents completely piss him off.
• Bruce Lee Clone: Itadori is a master of martial arts and prefers hand to hand combat over any weaponry. He exorcises Eso with an uppercut one-inch punch to the solar plexus that blows his guts out through his back and completely levels the mountain road around him, with the shockwave sending safety girders flying.
• Call-Back: In chapter 257, as Yuji throws Sukuna against a wall and pummels him with a Black Flash, the resulting impact destroys the wall behind Sukuna, seemingly bursting a pipe and making the two fighters stand in shallow water. This is a callback to the final stretch of Yuji's battle against Mahito in Shibuya, where the two mortal enemies came down to a blow of fists while likewise standing in ankle-high water.
• Cannibalism Superpower: Much like his uncle Sukuna, Yuji cannibalizes his siblings by devouring Death Paintings 4 through 9, and in doing so gains the ability to use Blood Manipulation. A brief conversation between him and Choso has Yuji expressing guilt for doing so, but Choso reassures him that their siblings will live on in Yuji.
• Celebrity Crush: He introduces himself to Yaga with the fact that he is "into girls like Jennifer Lawrence". According to the official fanbook, he began crushing on her after watching Silver Linings Playbook.
• Character Development: Yuji starts out as an energetic, naive person inexperienced about the jujutsu world. His goal to help as many people as he can so he can have a proper death leads to a lot of hardship and trauma for him. By the time after the Shibuya Incident, he's a lot more somber in demeanor and cynical, bearing a lot of guilt and seeing himself as simply a cog in the grand scheme of the world who no longer needs a reason to kill curses. However it shown that, while not a positive mindset, Yuji's cog mentality serves as a source of strength for him. Even when he's at his absolute lowest, him believing that he has a function he needs to perform at all costs forces him to keep pushing onward no matter how bad things get.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Sure, he's done Karate at his grandfather's behest, but that wouldn't explain how he's able to break the world-record in shot-put by nearly 1½ times the previous one with no form or theory in his throw. The classmates at his normal school are convinced he is the reincarnation of Mirko Cro Cop (who is still alive when the series takes place), a former Croatian special forces soldier, former heavyweight MMA and Kickboxing champion and all around terrifying badass. The reveal that his mother was a former host for Kenjaku and his father was the reincarnated twin of Sukuna implies that this may be the result of him being a Designer Baby made to be Sukuna's host. Yuji is also noted several times to be like Maki and while fighting a Sukuna-possessed Megumi, his strength dramatically increases to the point where Sukuna is shocked by it.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: His innate kindness and desire to die a good death manifests like this. In the first chapter, at the thought of his friends dying, he jumps though a window (on the fourth floor) and punches a monster head on, saving both his friends and Megumi. He also eats Sukuna's finger without hesitation, driven by his passion to save people at the cost of his own life.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Yuji's baggy attire does a great job at hiding just how ripped he is.
• Close-Range Combatant: He lacks any Curse Technique that allows him to fight from a distance, but, as Megumi puts it, he's strong enough to win a fight without Curse energy against every other student.
• Color Motifs: Red, given his trademark hoodie and excitable personality.
• Combat Pragmatist: Because he lacks a proper cursed technique, Yuji takes advantage of everything he can to win. He'll use unorthodox strategies, borrow something in the environment or bait his opponents into a sneak attack.
• Commonality Connection:
  • Forms a friendship with Todo over their shared type of girls — tall girl with big butt. It's somehow strong enough to make them remember their days in school together (which never actually happened, but still).
  • Yuji and Higurama form a friend over their shared feelings of guilt and self-loathing. Both of them define their sense of selves around having a "role" to play and, as indicated by a brief flashback in chapter 246, they seem to understand each other's mindset somewhat, even if Yuji takes issue with how ready Higurama is to die.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Yuta Okkotsu. Yuji is outgoing while Yuta is reserved. Yuta's development in Volume 0 focuses on him becoming more confident and learning to accept the death of a loved one, while Yuji's development has his resolve to save others and give people a meaningful death repeatedly broken and rebuilt, turning him more pessimistic. Their fighting styles are also opposite — Yuta reinforces his frail body with his massive cursed energy to fight with swordsmanship and copied cursed techniques; Yuji has natural superhuman strength to fight barehanded but no proper cursed technique.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Not long after becoming one because of his grandfather's death, Yuji joins Jujutsu High and becomes a sorcerer to help others so that he can be surrounded by others when he dies, as his grandfather told him to at his deathbed.
• Country Mouse: He's from Sendai, considered the boonies compared to a huge metropolis like Tokyo. Because of this, he's amazed to be in Japan's most famous city and briefly forgets that he's there to fight curses rather than sightsee.
• Critical Hit Class: Non-video-game example; Yuji is basically this to Jujutsu society, being a complete natural at using the powerful Black Flash, with the narration at one point even commenting that he is "beloved by that black spark." Not only does he manage to match the world-record holder of consecutive Black Flashes the very first time he manages to use it, he's used more Black Flashes than any other character over the course of the series. In the climactic battle against Sukuna, Yuji manages to double the previous world record for a whopping eight consecutive black flashes.
• Demonic Possession: When Yuji eats Sukuna's finger, this incarnates the King of Curses into his body. From there on out Yuji can theoretically call upon Sukuna whenever desired, though without any guarantee Sukuna will help.
• Designer Baby: Yuji is the son Kenjaku, who inhabited the corpse of Kaori Itadori and copulated with Jin Itadori, the reincarnation of Sukuna's unborn twin brother. It's heavily implied, though not outright stated, that Kenjaku experimented on Yuji inside of the womb to enhance the boy's capabilities.
• Despair Event Horizon: Played with but ultimately defied. Yuji goes through a lot of suffering and trauma over the course of the series. Despite the world constantly beating down on him, Yuji is able to look despair in the eye, shrug it off, and keep going.
• Determinator: Yuji's defining quality. Yuji has an unbreakable will, which is tested time and time again, yet he still has it in him to keep going. More specifically, the story shows that Yuji's devotion to his duty as a Jujutsu sorcerer is what gives him his iron will, to the point that he relegates himself to being nothing more than a cog in a machine. While this isn't shown to be a positive or healthy mindset, the fact that Yuji always has a role that he needs to fulfill gives him a reason to keep going at even his lowest moments.
  • Even a sliced off hand won't stop him from trying to defeat a special grade curse. He gets wounded and stabbed in the foot during his fight with Choso, but ignores the pain and holds his own against him through a grueling battle.
  • After Sukuna takes control of Megumi during the Culling Game, Sukuna cuts up his entire body. Yuji doesn't flinch even the tiniest bit and decks Sukuna straight in the face.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Exaggerated. While Yuji holding zero respect for the King of Curses certainly pisses him off, it's taken several steps further to the point that Yuji's mere existence is taken as a personal attack by Sukuna. Yuji awoke the King of Curses from his slumber, but instead of allowing Sukuna to roam free and cause chaos, Yuji stripped Sukuna of his freedom by using his own body as a prison. And although that would be enough on its own to earn Sukuna's ire, what really eats away at Sukuna is the fact that he can't break Yuji despite the boy flying in the face of his entire worldview. In the climactic battle against Sukuna, although Yuji certainly hates him and wants him dead, he doesn't see Sukuna as important enough to desire revenge against, not even bothering to speak when beating the shit out of him. Because to Yuji, Sukuna is nothing more than another curse who needs to die, effectively robbing Sukuna of the very acknowledgement the King of Curses gave to his own foes.
• Discard and Draw: Learning how to use his energy properly causes him to stop using Divergent Fist in favor of attempting the more powerful Black Flash. He uses it once again during his climactic battle with Mahito, in order to confuse him.
• Dissonant Serenity: The events of the Shibuya Incident ultimately cause this in him from the sheer trauma and loss he's rapidly endured over the course of a single night, as well as Mahito's gleeful "The Reason You Suck" Speech right after Nobara gets (maybe) killed right in front of him nearly pushing him past the Despair Event Horizon. Whilst Todo's Big Damm Heroes moment allows him to get back into fighting shape to finish Mahito off, it's made clear he's burnt out emotionally from everything, and is barely staving off another breakdown with the need to end Mahito for good. When Mahito's at his non-mercy at last, his speech outlying why he'll commit himself to killing the human curse again and again until the day he dies utterly terrifies Mahito into an unsightly display of primal fear at Yuji's unshakable focus on destroying him, with symbolic imagery of wolves dispassionately hunting rabbits being used as Yuji moves in to finish him off for good to underline how he's simply performing a natural part of the cycle of curses and sorcerers, rather than any emotional investment in killing his hated enemy for those he's lost.
• The Ditz: While he's far from outright dimwitted, Yuji can be simple-minded and oblivious.
• Dork Knight: A dedicated sorcerer charged with the daunting task of ending the threat of the most dangerous sorcerer to ever live... and also a goofy teenager at times who gushes at the chance to visit Tokyo and quickly starts bringing up famous shōnen attacks when he first learning about cursed techniques.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Yuji was already absurdly strong and athletic before eating Sukuna's finger, which gave him access to Cursed Energy.
• Enhanced Punch:
  • Yuji's initial main technique, Divergent Fist, is this. Thanks to his body's delay in releasing cursed energy, a ripple is created that causes his punches to hit twice, doing devastating amounts of damage.
  • Black Flash is an even stronger version of this. By applying cursed energy within 0.00001 seconds of a physical impact, the strike's power is increased to the power of 2.5, essentially a Critical Hit. Most sorcerers have a hard time doing this, even Gojo and Sukuna, but Yuji is a natural at it, even able to use the technique four times after training with it. Later in the series, Yuji can use it at will, something no other sorcerer can do, not even the aforementioned two.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones:
  • Yuji has a goal of helping as many people as he can and to give those he can a proper death. However, he absolutely and deservedly hates Mahito after he corrupts and kills Junpei, and even moreso later when Mahito kills Nanami and maims Nobara, trying to break Yuji's spirit. After defeating him, Yuji calmly tells the cursed spirit that he will continuously kill him every time he reincarnates, and no longer needs a reason or any meaning to do so.
  • Yuji’s initial annoyance with Sukuna gradually evolves into genuine hatred as he realises Sukuna’s total disregard for human life. By the Culling Game arc, he remarks just looking at Sukuna’s face makes him feel sick. After Sukuna tricks them so that he can possess Megumi, Yuji has nothing but pure hatred and revulsion towards him.

F — M

• Failure Knight: His failure to save Junpei from Mahito's influence affects Yuji greatly. However, after talking with Nanami about it he decides to continue, resolving to not lose again until killing Mahito. Which makes it all the worse when Yuji is forced to watch Mahito kill Nanami and Nobara. In the Culling Game, just when things are looking up and it seems like the heroes have everything in the bag, everything goes wrong and Sukuna takes over Megumi's body while Yuji helplessly watches. The trope is played with as time goes on, however. Yuji more than understands that failures are inevitably going to happen and that he will lose those he cares about, yet he still has it in him to look despair in the eye, shrug it off, and keep going.
• Fake Memories: Todo invents a fictitious backstory where Yuji went to school with him and they were best friends. This happens again, when Choso is prevented from finishing off Yuji thanks to a sudden hallucination of him and his brothers in a friendly picnic. This is not connected to his abilities at all: Choso's hallucination was caused by his own ability to sense the death of his brethren, which they are by the mutual parentage of Kenjaku.
• Fanboy: Funnily enough of shōnen manga, bringing up techniques from shōnen series when learning about cursed techniques.
• Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: A Running Gag in the series is Itadori's attraction to Jennifer Lawrence.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Yuji fights near-entirely with his bare hands and only uses cursed energy to augment the strength of his blows, making him the Fighter. Megumi, who wields the most powerful cursed technique and factors it the most into combat, is the Mage, while Nobara's preference for hiding how her Straw Doll Technique works and fighting at range makes her the Thief.
• Fights Like a Normal: Thanks to not having a proper cursed technique, Yuji is one of the few jujutsu sorcerers who fights entirely with martial arts, with even his techniques like Divergent Fist and Black Flash augmenting his normal punches through cursed energy.
• Fingore: Yuji is missing his left pinkie finger after Sukuna imbued it with his power as a way to transfer himself to Megumi.
• Foil:
  • To Megumi. Yuji is upbeat and friendly while Megumi is serious and aloof. Yuji desires to save the lives of everyone he can, while Megumi only wants to help those who are good and kind. Yuji's cursed energy comes from swallowing Sukuna's finger and he fights using martial arts that make use of his natural superhuman strength. Megumi, on the other hand, was born with great potential as a wielder of the Ten Shadows Technique and fights mostly by summoning shikigami to attack enemies on his behalf.
  • To Yuta. Both were initially sentenced to execution for something without their control, and became sorcerers as a way out of their fates. Both initially fought to find meaning in their living. However, Yuta started as a quiet, shrinking teenager compared to Yuji's enthusiastic and open attitude. Like Yuji, he's affable to those he cares about, yet holds a terrifying conviction to kill when he believes he must. In Shibuya, it's noted that his fighting style is based around reinforcing his weak physical body with his immense amounts of cursed energy — Yuji notes this is the exact opposite of his own approach. Both are revealed to have their cursed energy from different lineages; Yuta is related to Michizane Sugiwara, a distant ancestor to Gojo; while Yuji is Sukuna's nephew in a sense that his father is a reincarnation of Sukuna's brother.
  • With Mahito. Yuji strongly believes in the value of human life and his goal is to save as many people as he can. As a result, he believes it is amoral to take another human life and tries to avoid doing so. Mahito is the embodiment of human hatred for each other and believes that humanity should be eradicated, having no empathy for human life whatsoever. Mahito's cursed technique allows him to modify and fuse souls, while Yuji's ability to contain a soul allows him to separate souls, specifically Incarnations. Yuji's cursed energy comes from having another soul in his body, making him Mahito's natural enemy in terms of abilities. During their fight in Shibuya, Mahito tries breaking Yuji's resolve by pointing out they are the same, Mahito killing without a second thought and Yuji doing the same with saving others. After defeating Mahito, Yuji admits to Mahito that he's a reflection of him, and doesn't need a reason to kill curses.
  • To Maki, with both of their character arcs being the polar opposite of each other's. Yuji came from a normal background before being thrust into the world of Jujutsu sorcerers. As Yuji was given an essential role that only he could fulfill, he clung onto his sense of duty to society, with it serving as a major source of strength for him. Maki, conversely, was born into the Zen'in clan, and was completely exiled for her entire life, eventually choosing to become a sorcerer just to stick it to her family. After the traumatic events at Shibuya, Yuji denies his own individuality and develops a "cog in the machine" mentality to stop himself from giving into despair, with Nanami's and Nobara's deaths being what solidify his convictions. Maki is betrayed by the Zen'in clan and left for dead. Spurned on by Mai's death at the hands of her father, Maki chooses to burn the Zen'in clan to the ground and embrace her individuality as a complete outlier of Jujutsu society. All that is to say, Yuji derives his strength from denying his own individuality and resolving to commit to the expectations of being a Jujutsu Sorcerer. On the other hand, Maki derives her strength from embracing her individual freedom and throwing society's traditional expectations of being a Jujutsu Sorcerer to the wayside. Tellingly, while both of them are extremely powerful physical fighters, Yuji fights through mastering Cursed Energy while Maki fights through completely rejecting it.
  • To Sukuna: both are prodigies who base their lives entirely off of their own ideal and accept what they are wholeheartedly, but are complete opposites in every other possible way. Sukuna is at his core defined by selfishness and hedonism, Yuji is defined by his selflessness. Whereas Sukuna goes wholehog embracing the monster he is, Yuji sees himself as a 'cog in the machine' whose duty is to destroy Curses for the sake of others. Sukuna cheated death by turning himself into his fingers, while Yuji doesn't fear death at all so long as he dies protecting others.
• Freudian Trio: The Ego to Nobara's Id and Megumi's Superego, being the most easygoing and falling in the middle in terms of temperament.
• Fun Personified: Yuji has an open sense of humor, and will gladly pull jokes to make those around him feel better; it even worked on Junpei Yoshino. Though, as Megumi and Nobara's reaction to seeing him alive after being presumed dead shows, his humor doesn't always land. Sadly, however, the cut-throat world of Jujutsu Kaisen seriously takes it toll on Yuji's upbeat nature. After Shibuya, Yuji never makes a single joke or laughs from that point onwards.
• Glasgow Grin: During his fight with Mahito in Shibuya, his left cheek is torn open, exposing his teeth. However the scar it heals into does not resemble a true "Glasgow grin".
• Goal in Life: To save as many people as he can as a jujutsu sorcerer so that he'll have a good, meaningful death surrounded by his loved ones, a goal instilled into Yuji by his grandfather before he died.
• Gone Horribly Right: Kenjaku influenced Yuji's birth in order for him to be the perfect vessel for Sukuna and succeeded. Yuji was too perfect, in fact. Yuji acts as a proper container or prison for Sukuna, preventing the malevolent sorcerer from taking over his body. However, it's a zigzagged example since it's indicated that this was likely intentional on Kenjaku's part.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Yuji had known Taido Martial Arts prior to the beginning of the series, but he's been more akin to a gifted brawler, exploiting openings and throwing punches and counters like a pro to the point that Todo heaps praise on him for his skills. Even after two Curse Techniques, he's inexperienced enough in both of them that he still primarily relies on just throwing hands.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: After the Shibuya Incident, Yuji gains a neat scar between his two eyes and one on the left edge of his mouth.
• A Good Way to Die: A secondary goal of Yuji in the series. Thanks to the words of his grandfather, he decides he wants to go out in a way that he believes is right. While he's far from a Death Seeker, he wants to make the most of his life and help as many people as he can, so that his death feels proper.
• Half-Human Hybrid: The Kyoto students derisively refer to Yuji as a "half-curse" because of Sukuna's presence in his body even though he is human.
• Handsome Lech: He's well-groomed and athletic, but his occasionally careless manner of speech has made it hard for him to get a girlfriend.
• Has a Type:
  • By his own admission, he's into "tall girls with big butts like Jennifer Lawrence". Answering Todo's question about this very topic makes them instantly True Companions.
  • In middle school, when asked by classmates which girls in their year he likes, Yuji prefers the chubby, shy Yuko for her elegant manners and handwriting. Yuko ends up dropping all the extra weight and has a growth spurt not long after they graduate, making her actually line up with Yuji's preferences.
• The Heart: Yuji is easily the most openly empathetic and compassionate character in the story. Even though he gets a lot less upbeat after Shibuya, the kid still has it in him to never give in to despair and always move forward. Before Gojo's and Sukuna's fight, there's an uneasy silence as Gojo heads out to the battle, before Yuji tells his sensei that his curse technique is the way, which Gojo drops so that Yuji can give his sensei an affectionate pat on the back. All the other students immediately join in.
• Heroes Fight Barehanded: The hero of the story and fights using martial arts backed up by cursed energy and superhuman physicality.
• Heroic BSoD: Falls into this due to the cumulation of Sukuna mass murdering civilians and Mahito killing Nanami and gravely injuring Nobara during the Shibuya Incident, feeling that he failed to compensate for being a murderer through helping others. Todo convinces Yuji that as a jujutsu sorcerer he shouldn't limit himself to that and to honor Nanami's sacrifice. Megumi later persuades a guilty Yuji to rejoin him by helping him as a jujutsu sorcerer.
• Heroic Build: Fitting his great physical strength, Yuji is packed with muscle despite being of otherwise average height and weight. His old highschool coach kept trying to get him into the track-and-field and decathlon, something he has an ideal body for due to being both slim and strong.
• Heroic BSoD: Along with the Despair Event Horizon, he falls into this after witnessing Shibuya getting obliterated by Sukuna and Nanami dying. Nobara getting heavily wounded by Mahito was the final straw to damn near break him.
• Heroic RRoD: During the final confrontation with Sukuna, Yuji collapses due to improperly healing the many internal injuries he suffered from tanking Sukuna’s Cleaves and is forced to sit out to heal for a while.
• Heroic Second Wind: After Mahito blows up Nobara's eye and she falls, Yuji is left in shock and loses his resolve, leaving him to get beaten down by Mahito. He gets saved by Todo, who urges him to find meaning in Nanami's sacrifice. This leads Yuji to take on Nanami's suffering and rejoin the fight against the cursed spirit.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Yuji has his goal of saving others to have a meaningful death questioned by himself even in spite of the good he does and tries to accomplish. This is especially prominent in the Shibuya Incident, in which Sukuna takes over his body and commits a massacre, with Yuji thinking to himself that he should just die. And later on when Mahito kills Nanami and severely injures Nobara, with Yuji considering himself as only a murderer who failed at trying to redeem himself through saving others. It takes some wise words from Todo to get him to gain the willpower to continue fighting Mahito, from Megumi to rejoin him to partake in the Culling Games, and Higurama to try to convince Yuji that he isn't at fault for Sukuna's massacre.
• Heroic Willpower: Yuji can control Sukuna's presence in his body with this, to the surprise of Gojo.
• Hero Protagonist: The protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen, whose goal is to save as many people as he can or ensure they have a proper, respectful death.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: After the Shibuya Incident, jujutsu headquarters revokes his death sentence suspension and orders Yuji to be executed immediately, with Yuta appointed as the executioner.
• Horrifying the Horror: Yuji's Killing Intent towards Mahito, a special grade curse and the embodiment of human hatred for each other, after defeating him and expressing his intent to keep on killing him every time he reincarnates has the once proud cursed spirit running away in absolute terror.
• Hot-Blooded: He is shown to have his fiery moments (especially during comedic moments), but he's not a particularly boastful person compared to the likes of Nobara and Todo.
• Idiot Hero: Yuji is not especially bookish, believing that Yokohama is in Tokyo, and he complains about Todo stomping on his head as it could make him even dumber than he already is. His easygoing demeanor and tendency to not think things through make him come across as a bit of a spaz. But Yuji is an exceptionally fast learner when it comes to anything related to his body or practical hands-on applications of his powers.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His first name can be romanized as "Yuuji" or "Yuji". Officially it's the latter.
• Instant Expert: It's pointed out several times that Yuji is an extremely fast learner, getting a basic grasp of his ability to control Curse Energy within days of being given an exercise by Gojo. His brawling skills grow by leaps and bounds after Todo starts giving him advice, and he performs the highly advanced Black Flash just minutes after being given a basic explanation, and matching the record for most Black Flashes in a row in the ensuing fight. That isn't accounting how he learned Reverse Cursed Technique, which itself is a complex technique with its mechanics, and he learned it by a month.
• It's All My Fault: Blames himself for Sukuna's mass murder in Shibuya, not denying the accusation by Higurama's Judgeman. Even when Higurama points out he had no control over himself, Yuji still thinks it was his fault because he was too weak.
• It's Personal:
  • Mahito cements himself as Yuji's Arch-Nemesis when he manipulates Junpei, with whom Yuji had become friends, murders his mother, and gives him an outright cruel death by turning him into a monster. It's taken even further in Shibuya when Mahito kills Nanami and Nobara right in front of him. Mahito, likewise, views Yuji his personal goal after fleeing from him and Nanami, being more concerned about one-upping Yuji during Shibuya than he is about getting Sukuna on the curses' side.
  • Mutually with Sukuna, with the two of them coming to deeply hate each other. Sukuna kills thousands of innocent people in Shibuya and, when Yuji regains consciousness, Sukuna intentionally has Yuji wake up in front of the destruction he unwittingly caused. Later on, Sukuna takes control of Yuji's body and shoves his finger down Megumi's throat when he's at his lowest point, forcing Yuji to watch as Sukuna ruins Megumi's life by forcing him to kill his own sister. Although Sukuna is a total sociopath towards everyone, he especially seems to have it out for Yuji in particular.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: Yuji's enmity with Mahito is given more focus in the first part of the series, with the two becoming one another's arch-enemies. For Yuji, Mahito's manipulation and murder of Junpei, killing of Nanami and potentially Nobara inflict the deepest emotional wounds. The entire climactic fight of the Shibuya Incident arc is Yuji settling the score with Mahito before he shifts to Kenjaku and Sukuna.
• It's What I Do: How he comes to see his grim task of slaying Curses, and the ensuing exposure to darkness and misery.
• Junior Counterpart: Out of the three heroes, it's obvious he's the closest to Gojo's wavelength.
• Keet: Yuji is generally really chipper and upbeat, and will easily get psyched up for something positive.
• Kid Hero: He's fifteen at the start of the story. Nanami initially treats him like a child because he doesn't want Yuji to abandon his youth. He later acknowledges him as a sorcerer when Yuji proves himself against Mahito.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Despite his best efforts, Yuji can rarely truly help those in need, something he has a hard time reconciling with. This naturally sours his optimism, which only gets worse throughout his fights with the antagonists' forces, especially Mahito. By the end of the Shibuya incident, Yuji has largely given in to cynicism.
• Lightning Bruiser: Yuji is definitely a powerful individual, with enough natural raw power to match sorcerers known for their ability in close combat, the agility to leap around like a monkey, and completed a 50-meter track in 3 seconds.
• Long-Lost Relative:
  • It's eventually revealed Yuji is this to all the Death Paintings, because both he and they are spiritually Kenjaku's children due to a side-effect of his Body Surf ability. As a result, Choso's ability to sense the well-being of the other Death Paintings extends to Yuji as well.
  • Sukuna reveals that Yuji's father Jin Itadori is the reincarnation of his twin brother whom he ate in the womb, technically making Yuji his nephew.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Kenjaku is actually Yuji's mother of sorts, as she was a prior host of his.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Yuji lacks an Innate Technique, and has no training in even basic tenets of Jujutsu anyone is capable of like Binding Vows or a Simple Domain. But his Charles Atlas Superpowers are so great he can pose a legitimate threat to even Special Grade Curses with just normal martial arts.
• Magnetic Hero: Yuji has caused both the violent and unpredictable Todo and the half-curse Choso to declare him their brother in spirit, later revealed to be his actual half-brother. Lampshaded when Panda comments on Yuji's "freaky pheromones" after Choso joins the fight on his side.
• Man of Kryptonite: Yuji's nature as Sukuna's Vessel makes him one toward Mahito. Having to house a second soul within his body and keep it separate from his own has taught Yuji how to instinctively perceive the shape of the soul, allowing him to strike Mahito's soul directly and causes injuries the Disaster Curse can't undo with Idle Transfiguration. Mahito also can't transfigure him directly without touching (and consequently enraging) the soul of Sukuna.
  • Yuji being Sukuna's host also makes him immune to all kinds of poisons and Cursed Techniques involving poisons, as Junpei, Eso and Kechizu learned.
  • Despite Sukuna's immense power, he is utterly incapable of exerting control over Yuji's body without his consent. Yuji demonstrates the ability to willingly switch control between them back-and-forth under precise timing as part of Goto's test upon their first meeting, whereas Sukuna cannot prevent this loss of control at all. However, if Yuji forces Sukuna into control, such as against the Special-grade curse, then there's a period of time where he's unable to fully regain control, giving Sukuna valuable free agency. Getting force-fed the majority of Sukuna's fingers also 'overloaded' Yuji, allowing Sukuna an extended period of free reign to devastate Shibuya with, though it taking most of his remaining fingers to achieve that meant it's a one-time deal. More importantly, Sukuna being incarnated into Yuji's mortal flesh means that it's possible to kill the otherwise-indestructible sorcerer, which is the entire reason Yuji is given a delayed death sentence. It's later revealed that this unique ability is likely because Yuji was specifically born/created in some fashion to serve as Sukuna's vessel by Kenjaku, and unlike other sorcerers, Yuji is designed more as a 'prison' than a vessel. Even a powerful and talented sorcerer like Megumi is totally helpless to resist Sukuna's essence when he manages to transfer himself into him, but Yuji can both contain his essence and retain his free will at the same time, which is implied to fuel Sukuna's contemptuous animosity towards him.
  • Yuji's awareness of souls has developed to the point that his punches alone can disrupt Sukuna's control over Megumi. With each attack, Sukuna's Cursed Energy output drops and he has less control over Megumi's body. In tandem with Yuta's Domain applying Angel's Cursed Technique, the two aim to weaken Sukuna to the point that they can exorcise him from Megumi entirely.
• Mark of the Beast: After eating Sukuna's finger, he gains markings, or rather eyelids, below the sides of his eyes that open whenever Sukuna awakens. In addition, when Sukuna takes control, his tattoos manifest over his body, his eyes turn red and his hair stands up. Yuji loses these markings when Sukuna abandons his body for Megumi's.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Yuji translates as "abundant, help, and brave" with the individual syllables meanings of slow/relax ("yu") and caring for others ("ji"). This perfectly fits being a heroic Nice Guy who wants to help as many people as he can.
  • His surname Itadori comes from Japanese knotweed used in traditional medicine to alleviate pain, signifying his caring nature.
• Mellow Fellow: Yuji has a kind, easygoing disposition and adapts to learning humanity is under threat from superpowered manifestations of human hatred bizarrely quickly.
• The Movie Buff: Ends up getting into movies as a hobby after watching hundreds of them during his training.
• Mr. Fanservice: Clothing Damage, often leading to a Shirtless Scene, usually leads to this, as Yuji is very fit and good-looking.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Comes to this conclusion regarding Mahito. He concedes to Mahito that he is him and tells the cursed spirit that he'll keep on killing him each time he reincarnates, and doesn't need a reason to because he's a cog in the grand scheme of things.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Yuji does have a fairly toned physique, but it's nowhere near the amount of muscle the impossible feats of strength he pulls off constantly should require. Among Jujutsu High's students, only Maki (whose strength stems from the explicitly supernatural Heavenly Restriction), Todo (who's twice Yuji's size), Yuta, Hakari, Sukuna, and Gojo (absolute masters of enhancing one's strength with Cursed Energy) come anywhere close to his level of physical power.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Completely blames himself for Sukuna's rampage at the tail-end of Shibuya, despite Higuruma outright spelling out to him that he had no control over any of Sukuna's actions, just because he wasn't strong enough to restrain the Sorcerer.
• Mysterious Parent: Yuji's parentage is brought up at the beginning of the series by his grandfather, but Yuji refuses to listen. It comes up again much later in the series, after Choso speculates on the origin of their connection. He proposes that Yuji's father must have been a vessel for Kenjaku, who was also his own creator. Choso's thinking was half-correct, as it turns out Yuji's mother was the actual vessel.

N —Y

• Naïve Newcomer: Has no knowledge about the jujutsu world until the fateful day he meets Megumi who's investigating one of Sukuna's fingers. The early part of the story focuses on Yuji learning how to use cursed energy and what it means to be a sorcerer.
• Naked on Revival: Justified. He comes back to life thanks to a forced Binding Vow by Sukuna while his body is naked and about to be dissected by Shoko at the school morgue.
• Named Weapons: The dagger Slaughter Demon. Before it broke anyway.
• Next Tier Power-Up: During the time skip, he manages to gain Reverse Curse Technique and Blood Manipulation, as well as get overall much stronger. During the Final Battle with Sukuna, however, he manages to finally 'awaken' after landing a Black Flash on Sukuna, not only skyrocketting in power, but finally unlocking Shrine.
• Nice Guy: Yuji is a kind, selfless, and unassuming young man who only wants strength to help the people around him.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: A heroic example. Yuji is disciplined and hardly ever wastes time in combat bantering with his opponents when against a serious enemy. He goes in for the kill whenever possible and does not relent on his attacks. Mahito, Eso, Kechizu, Ko Guy, and Sukuna can attest to this. This is because Yuji, in a story filled with Blood Knight characters, does not derive pleasure from fighting. To Yuji, fighting is just a means to an end and so has no desire to meaninglessly prolong it.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Yuji declares he and Mahito are indeed more alike than he hoped to, noting how both of them want to kill their enemies till their last breath, which outright drives Mahito into a panic.
  Yuji: You're right, Mahito. I'm you. I wanted to reject you, convince myself that you were wrong. But that doesn't matter now. I'm gonna kill you. Even if you come back as another curse, I'll kill you. Change your name. Change your form. I'll kill you again. I don't need to find meaning or a reason. Maybe in a hundred years after my death, the meaning behind my actions will become apparent. In the grand scheme of things... I'm probably nothing more than a cog. But I'll keep killing curses... for as long as I can. That's my role in all this.
• Out of Focus:
  • Gojo's Past Arc only features Yuji at the very end along with the other first-years. Justified, Yuji would have been a kid during Gojo's time.
  • Perfect Preparation Arc only has Yuji in the beginning when the students and allies learn about the Culling Games from Master Tengen. The rest of the arc is centered on Maki.
  • Played with in the Culling Game arc. The beginning and end of the arc puts Yuji in the spotlight, but the middle portions shift the POV over to other characters for a significant chunk of time. So while Yuji still gets the most focus out of any individual character, the majority of the arc is spent on characters other than himself.
• Parental Abandonment: He knows nothing about his parents and was raised solely by his grandfather. His father Jin had him with Kenjaku while in the host body of a woman, while Jin's fate is unknown.
• Primary-Color Champion: The hero of the series, and wears Jujutsu High's dark blue Custom Uniform with a red hoodie.
• Rage Breaking Point: The traumatic events he endures and the sheer sadism of the curses he meets, particularly Mahito, push Yuji into this a few times. Unusually, whilst he will somewhat lose himself to anger and become more reckless with his well-being, he also slips into Tranquil Fury during these moments, being laser-focused on beating his target to death no matter what happens to him and being capable of strategising despite his visibly furious countenance.
• Raised by Grandparents: Yuji was raised by his grandfather, who dies in the beginning of the story. When his grandfather tries to speak about his parents on his deathbed, Yuji refuses to listen.
• Real Men Can Cook: In one Juju Sanpo segment, it's revealed that he can cook some impressive meatballs, and even taught Megumi how to make some.
• Red Baron: He was known The Tiger of West Junior High, for his unparalleled physical prowess.
• Red Is Heroic: Yuji's Custom Uniform includes a red hoodie that contrasts with the rest of his and the cast's dark-colored outfits, as well as red shoes. He's also the main hero of the series.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Megumi's Blue. Yuji is outgoing, excitable, and much more optimistic, wanting to save everyone he can. Megumi is sullen, collected, and much more cynical, only wanting to save those he believes deserve to be saved. Visually as well — Yuji has pink hair, a red hoodie, and red shoes while Megumi's black hair has a blue tint and he has blue eyes in the anime.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Is about to enact this on Mahito, who is forced to run away in terror. However, Kenjaku gets to Mahito before Yuji does.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: A Rare Male Example. Yuji has pink hair and is an energetic, friendly guy.
• Say My Name: After Mahito kills Nanami.
  Yuji: What the hell are you?! Mahito!!
  Mahito: I can hear you just fine without you yelling! Yuji Itadori!
• Scars Are Forever: He gets two scars right across his forehead and over the left end of his mouth after the battles in Shibuya, both of which were inflicted by Mahito during their vicious confrontation.
• Shadow Archetype: A rare heroic example. Yuji almost always goes up against opponents far above his weight class, yet he never lets that deter him. No matter how many times Yuji faces despair in the face, he always bounces back like a ray of hope. Yuji's mere existence spits in the face of Sukuna's worldview. Sukuna scoffs at the notion of fighting for anything beyond pleasure and dismisses idealism as weakness, yet Yuji proves that dedication to one's ideals is strength. There's also the fact that Yuji is the son of the reincarnation of Sukuna's unborn twin brother whom the he cannibalized in the womb. Because of how the soul is treated in Jujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna's twin was his other half that he sought to discard, believing he gained more strength in doing so. However, Yuji's pure refusal to go down proves to the King of Curses that, no matter how much he wants to wish otherwise, he can never truly leave that aspect of himself behind.
• Shirtless Scene: Has multiple: twice when Sukuna takes over his body and rips off his shirt, when his top gets torn off by Uraume's ice, and when he uses his top as a decoy during the fight against Higurama.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: At the end of the Culling Game, once Sukuna hijacks Megumi's body, he and Yuji subsequently come to blows. Sukuna attempts to tear into Yuji by asking why he bothers trying despite being so weak, to which Yuji responds by telling him to shut it.
  Yuji: You!! All of you!! Why can't you just live normally?! Why can't you just live without causing suffering?!
  Sukuna: To me, the real question is why are you all so weak? Why do such weaklings cling so fiercely to life? How can a creature that falls apart at a touch say that it always wants to be happy? The helpless have no choice but to swallow the suffering life gives them.
  Yuji: Then let's see if you can swallow my suffering.
• Shonen Hair: The protagonist of a shōnen series and has spiky pink hair.
• Sibling Team: Becomes this with Choso after he learns that Yuji is his younger brother, with the two fighting Yuta and Naoya together when they're sent to execute Yuji.
• Smarter Than You Look: Yuji doesn't consider himself particularly bright, and his ditziness gives off the impression that he's a true Idiot Hero. But he's clever and resourceful, particularly in a brawl. Todo, considered The Ace among sorcerers in training, praises Yuji's ability to utilize terrain, rapidly improve his brawling skills, and use of cursed energy after only a few minutes of advice.
• Soldier vs. Warrior: The soldier to Sukuna's warrior. Yuji fights Curses and Curse Users out of his sense of duty, with things like pride, affirmation, or thrill not on his mind while in battle. Sukuna lives for the hedonistic thrill of battle, toying with his opponents and killing them once he gets bored. Yuji takes zero pleasure in fighting, getting the job done as fast as he can without needlessly prolonging the ordeal. After the Shibuya Incident arc, this mentality further grows in him, considering himself a cog in the machine of Jujutsu and acting out of duty. This is further shown in the Shinjuku Showdown, where he continuously attacks Sukuna in a calm yet furious onslaught without bantering or expressing any thrill or emotions other than that Sukuna must die and Megumi must be saved.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Downplayed. Yuji is a friendly, somewhat simple-minded teenager with spiky pink hair who naturally has superhuman physical strength. His motivation in becoming a jujutsu sorcerer is not To Be a Master, but make his incoming death a meaningful one.
• Strong and Skilled: Yuji has always been a powerful fighter with great martial arts technique and gains quick mastery over his cursed energy. However after the Shibuya Incident, he increases his overall abilities to where Choso notes that Yuji has incorporated more finesse to his fighting style, adding fluid control of cursed energy on top of his unreal physical strength, and compares him to Sukuna. Uraume's late comments after learning of Yuji's origin might genuinely be true, especially after he 'awakens' and unlocks his full potential.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks almost identical to his father Jin, though the latter has a less spiky hairstyle.
• Super-Reflexes: His reflexes are fast enough to dodge Piercing Blood, a technique that travels at the speed of sound.
• Super-Strength: Yuji is unique among Sorcerers because he somehow has this without using Magic Enhancement — in the very first chapter he was able to casually break the shot put world record and jump directly through the fourth floor window of his school building. It even extends to being able to throw cars!
• Supporting Protagonist: After the Shibuya arc, the story focuses more on Megumi, including his relationship with the Zen'in Clan, Sukuna's plans for him, and the difficulties of his now awakened stepsister. Megumi also gets more fights during the Culling Games, and Hana Kurusu, the sorcerer the surviving protagonists are trying to make contact with, winds up having a history with Megumi. This unfortunately culminates in Sukuna using the Binding Vow he tricked Yuji into accepting to possess Megumi during a Moment of Weakness, enabling him to escape his confinement within Yuji and leaving Yuji back as the story's protagonist again, now worse off than before.
• Sword and Fist: Yuji is a trained hand-to-hand combatant and also fights with a charmed weapon called Slaughter Demon. That is, until Slaughter Demon gets destroyed two chapters later by a Special Grade. Yuji becomes a full Bare-Fisted Monk afterwards.
  • During his brief bout with Yuta upon their first meeting, Yuta's superior cursed energy and ability to channel it through his katana gave him a close-range advantage over Yuji. To counter that, Yuji scavenged a utility knife from a nearby abandoned vehicle, revealing that Gojo had been training him in channeling Cursed Energy through weapons prior to Shibuya. Despite briefly fending off Yuta's strikes with it, the weapon ultimately broke.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Seeing Eso's tears at the death of his brother is enough to make Itadori stop his attack for a moment, and even apologize before finishing him. He has a heart-to-heart with Nobara after the battle, addressing the remorse he feels.
• Tangled Family Tree: Yuji's family tree is very convoluted due to two reasons. The first reason is that his mother, Kaori Itadori, had her corpse possessed by Kenjaku, who proceeded to have Yuji with Jin Itadori. Kenjaku had body-hopped sorcerers for centuries, but his most notable previous incarnation was the infamous Noritoshi Kamo, ancestor of the Kamo clan as well as the creator/father of the Death Paintings, which makes Choso, Eso, and Kechizu Yuji's half-brothers and the Kamo clan Yuji's distant cousins. The second reason is that Yuji's father is the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother, whom he consumed in the womb, which technically makes Sukuna Yuji's uncle.
• Taking You with Me: Jujutsu Society's higher-ups only agreed to suspend Yuji's death sentence if he agreed to find and eat the rest of Sukuna's twenty fingers and then allowed himself to be executed, in the hopes of finally ending the King of Curses's threat once and for all. It's one of the reasons Sukuna ditches his vessel to possess Megumi.
• Talented, but Trained: Naturally has superhuman physical strength, but is also a great martial artist who can acrobatically dodge attacks and strike from different angles.
• Tears of Remorse: Cries these after Sukuna takes over his body and commits a massacre in Shibuya. Yuji tells himself to just die already, but reminds himself that if he were to die now he'd just be a murderer, convincing himself to save others to atone.
• These Hands Have Killed:
  • Falls into deep contemplation when he has to kill the people transfigured by Mahito. Unlike most examples, Yuji isn't bothered by the guilt of his actions, rather that he couldn't give them a natural death.
  • Admits to the mass murder in Shibuya committed by Sukuna when questioned by Higuruma's Judgeman, stating that he's not lying and won't deny it. When Higurama points out that Sukuna posssessed in his body and he couldn't control himself and didn't voluntarily abandon self-control, Yuji still thinks it's his fault because he was too weak.
• Took a Level in Badass: He starts off a normal (albeit impossibly strong) teenage boy, but his encounters with Cursed Energy after eating Sukuna's finger gradually shape him into a Grade-1 level sorcerer. After learning from Gojo and Aoi about how to use his body's delay in Cursed Energy to his advantage, he learns how to incorporate it into his attacks to make them stronger, namely in the form of "Divergent Fist" and eventually "Black Flash". Shibuya sees him grow exponentially in both strength and power, and even beat down Mahito.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Yuji starts off as a cheerful, spirited young man who desires to save many people to have a meaningful death. Throughout the story, however, he becomes more jaded, as his life as a sorcerer puts him through situations with no possible happy outcome. The Shibuya Incident has him fall deeper into this, with Sukuna's massacre, Nanami's death, and Nobara's maiming, to the point that he sees himself as a cog in the machine of the grand scheme of things, meant only to kill cursed spirits for as long as he can.
• Tranquil Fury: Towards Mahito after he defeats him, conceding that he is him and calmly telling him that he'll kill him every time he reincarnates and doesn't need reason or meaning to because he's a cog in the greater scheme of things. This terrifies Mahito enough to try and flee, with the two visually compared to a wolf and its rabbit prey.
• Trauma Conga Line: The Shibuya Incident puts Yuji through the wringer — his sensei Gojo is sealed, Sukuna takes over his body and commits a massacre, Nanami is killed and Nobara is maimed in front of him by Mahito who tries to break his spirit, and in the end Kenjaku leaves with Yuji unable to save his sensei.
• Underestimating Badassery: Due to a combination of his unfamiliarity with the Jujutsu world, and not having had a chance to witness how obscenely powerful he can be when cutting loose, Yuji massively overestimates his chances in a direct fight with Sukuna. When the latter reframes his offer to resurrect Yuji with a Binding vow attached to enable him to non-consensually control him for one minute upon command as a wager for successfully beating him in a fight, with Yuji's reward being a resurrection with no strings attached, Yuji's confidence in his fighting skills leads him to accept. The very same panel he says yes, his head is already cut in two before he's even finished saying that he'll kick Sukuna's ass. This comes back to bite everybody in the worst possible way, as Sukuna later uses this command (which he additionally ordered Yuji to forget about making) to regain control when everybody's distracted and successfully transfer his essence into Megumi, granting him access to a vessel he can fully control even after Yuji's long since come to understand how preferable death would be to allowing Sukuna any control over a situation.
• Unique Protagonist Asset: Despite the one in a million chance, Yuji manages to survive eating Sukuna's finger, becoming his host which starts the plot of Yuji becoming a sorcerer and consuming all his fingers. It's later heavily implied that the reason Yuji is able to do so is because he is the son of Kenjaku, the paintings' creator.
• Unstoppable Rage: When Mahito transfigures Junpei into a horrid creature and causing him to die from the shock, Yuji ultimately declares that he will kill Mahito with a barely restrained tone and gives him an incredibly bloody beatdown.
• Variant Power Copying: He finally unlocks Shrine in the final battle with Sukuna, but Sukuna notes due to Yuji being a different person and it being the modern age, Yuji's version will differ from his. This is shown by Yuji's version having somewhat cartoonish 'cut here' lines. While it seems to require touching what he wants to cut, he can precisely cut anything on the object he's cutting rather than just projecting slashes from his hand like Sukuna does.
• Wax On, Wax Off: Gojo trains him to properly and instinctively manage his Cursed Energy by having him channel it through a violent doll that he must hold at all times while watching several different kinds of film, or it will spring to life and punch him.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After getting put through the ringer in Shibuya with Sukuna taking over his body and causing a massacre, Megumi convinces a guilty Yuji to rejoin him to partake in Kenjaku's Culling Games by acknowledging him as a jujutsu sorcerer who can't be judged by others and telling him to prove his worth through saving others, including himself.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Not precisely, given no one knows how long it may take, but once he has absorbed all of Sukuna's fingers he's scheduled to be executed to wipe the sorcerer with him. In a rare case, Yuji actively works towards that goal to file the numbers down before Sukuna can exert itself on the world, accepting it as his duty and the way he's going to go out. After the Shibuya Incident, he has consumed 15 of the 20 fingers of Sukuna, putting him at 3 quarters of the way towards actualising his end goal, though the circumstances of that incident force him to prioritise restoring order to Japan's curse society by freeing Gojo before he makes any further attempts to find the remaining fingers. Seems to be currently averted as Sukuna, irritated with Yuji's efforts to let both of them die, pounces on the opportunity provided by "Tsumiki" to make Megumi his new vessel.

---