As manga continues to invade global pop culture, Project X Paris couldn't ignore the phenomenon. Jujutsu Kaisen the new-generation manga that's taking the world by storm. So we're delighted to present our collaboration with THE new benchmark manga.
Jujutsu Kaisen, the new reference manga?
For many years now, manga has been successfully exported from Japan to conquer global pop culture. From now on, every generation will have had its own "cult" manga title that marked its era. For the older generation, there's the Dragon Ball Z / Goldorak / Knights of the Zodiac period. For those a little older, they will have been lucky enough to witness the emergence of the Naruto and One Piece phenomena. And now, it's time for the Jujutsu Kaisen era! Although Jujutsu Kaisen began publication in 2017/2018, it has already made its mark in an increasingly crowded and competitive manga landscape. And in style: in just 6 years, Jujutsu Kaisen has made it into the top 30 best-selling mangas of all time, not to mention the little pirates who have copiously consumed the work on "scan" sites.
The saga's success owes nothing to chance. Its creator, Gege Akutami, had the good idea of getting in touch with production companies to launch the animated series early, as early as the end of 2019. There's nothing like a good anime to make an already successful series even more popular. If we had to list the ingredients of Jujutsu Kaisen's success, we'd be obliged to talk about the story, the script. The story is simple: negative human emotions give rise to very real Scourges, in the form of demons, which remain invisible to human eyes. But not all humans: some, like exorcists, manage to remain in control of their emotions and can therefore see the Scourges, interact with them and, above all, protect the human world from these demons. It's in this universe that we follow the adventure of Yuji Itadori, a student endowed with great strength, who stumbles across a powerful relic, which they inadvertently activate, releasing the most powerful of the Scourges: Ryomen Sukuna. Attacked by numerous demons, Yuji decides to swallow the relic, which causes him to merge with Sukuna. Somewhat by force of events, the student ends up joining a school of exorcism, and decides to become one himself, in order to protect mankind by eliminating the Scourges.
This "cohabitation" between Yuji and Sukuna is what makes this adventure so special. Another element that would explain the shonen's success is the speed with which the tomes are released. Despite the mangaka's health problems, which forced him to take two breaks from publishing during 2021, 24 volumes have been published between the end of 2018 and the time of writing. Finally, the quality of the drawings is obviously one of Jujutsu Kaisen's strong points in the face of the competition, which sometimes neglects the graphic aspect of things a little. The result of all this is that over 80 million volumes of the manga have been sold worldwide, and the work even occupied first place in the Oricon ranking of best-selling manga in Japan between November 2020 and November 2021. As for the anime, it's obviously a big hit too: the Crunchyroll platform, which broadcast the animated series when it was first released in France, recorded its best score ever in France. Jujutsu Kaisen has become a cultural phenomenon for an entire generation.
PXP x Jujutsu Kaisen: streetwear takes on manga!
A phenomenon that Project X Paris is determined to capture. After One Piece Now it's the turn of Jujutsu Kaisen to be adapted for PXP, through a unique collaboration in which our designers have let their creativity run wild. The capsule contains four pieces, and we're going to start by tackling the big one: the hoodie. A hoodie whose design has been completely reworked, notably in terms of the Project X Paris logo, where the "O" has been replaced by the insignia of the exorcism school in which Yuji will be training during his adventure. The manga name appears just above the brand name on the torso, and there's also writing on the back of the sleeves. A warm piece to face the cold days ahead wearing the exorcist brand!
We stay with the warmer pieces, with the Project X Paris x Jujutsu Kaisen round-neck sweatshirt. With a slightly more daring design than the previous piece, this time we have Sukuna, the most powerful of the Scourges, embroidered on the sweatshirt's torso. Once again, the name of the manga appears smaller, just below. And if you're a fan of discreet nods to the manga universe, there's the killer detail: the demon emblem has been placed on the back of the sweatshirt, at collar level. And if you're not a fan of black, the sweatshirt comes in 8 different colors.
Last but not least, we'd like to talk about the two T-shirts that are essential for a successful streetwear outfit. With two very different models: the first is a little more sober, with simply the big "Jujutsu Kaisen" logo followed by "Project X Paris". Logos in their stylized versions: the exorcism school emblem appears in place of the "O", and the "X" has also been reworked for a very successful manga effect. The second piece is a little more extravagant, as the T-shirt features a stylized logo at the top of the torso, in a small font, but above all, a large print depicting Yuji and his teacher and mentor Satoru Gojo, the most powerful exorcist at the Tokyo school. All the protection you need to ward off the evil eye, and all the style you need to walk around with, while making your membership of the Jujustu Kaisen family loud and clear.