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Nobody knows Jujutsu Kaisen mangaka Gege Akutami’s real name, and they’d very much like to keep it that way.
Art tends to overshadow its creators. It’s a somewhat universal rule that applies to many entertainment industries, including manga. Some mangaka may have cult followings among their readers, but the vast majority of people that engage with their work may never know the person behind the story — which suits Jujutsu Kaisen‘s mangaka Gege Akutami perfectly fine, apparently.
Even for a mangaka, shockingly little is known about Akutami. For starters, “Gege Akutami” is not even their real name — it’s just a pen name. Akutami’s manga credits include Jujutsu Kaisen as well as several other Shonen Jump one-shots, such as Kamishiro Sousa and Nikai Bongai Barabarujura, neither of which are available in English.
Akutami is popularly referred to using he/him pronouns but their gender has never outrightly been confirmed. Their author notes left at the end of every Jujutsu Kaisen chapter are usually accompanied by a one-eyed cat avatar, but there’s actually more to it than that. In a 2015 profile for another of their one-shot manga, No. 9, Akutami drew a self-portrait sans-cat mask, which has led many to believe that the mangaka might actually be a woman. Jujutsu Kaisen’s stellar female cast has also fanned the flames of this rumor, as writing well-rounded female characters is a task male mangaka have had limited success with.
Akutami offers no peek into their personal life either. Their author notes, while consistent and friendly, reveal no personal information. Akutami instead uses them to shed more light on potentially confusing aspects of the chapter, share amusing anecdotes about their writing process and even to poke fun at some of the characters they’ve created — but there’s never any information that would aid one attempting to build a solid profile of the mysterious mangaka.
Akutami appears married to the idea of anonymity. They even managed to protect their identity while appearing on national television. When Jujutsu Kaisen won the grand prize on the Mando Kobayashi manga variety show, Akutami showed up for the resulting interview in full cosplay. They’d dressed as the fan-favorite character, Mechamaru, completely obscuring their face and all traces of skin from view. Akutami really does not want to be seen.
In the long run, not knowing Gege Akutami’s real identity doesn’t change anything much. Their work on Jujutsu Kaisen continues to get better every chapter and, if they intend on continuing to preserve their anonymity, that’s just something fans will just have to respect, however curious they might be.
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