Yuji Itadori is 15 years old at the start of Jujutsu Kaisen, and he turns 16 during the main story timeline, which takes place over less than a full year. So if you are asking how old is Yuji Itadori, the most accurate one-line answer is:
Yuji is 15 early on and 16 by later arcs and the ending.
This guide breaks down Yuji’s age in a way that actually matches how Jujutsu Kaisen moves through time, why different sources online sometimes contradict each other, and how to think about his age when you are watching the anime versus reading the manga. If you are following along on ComicK, you can use this as a clean reference while you move between arcs without getting tripped up by timeline confusion.
The direct answer: How old is Yuji Itadori?
Yuji Itadori is 15 years old when the story begins, because he is a first-year high school student when he enters Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Over the course of the series, Yuji has a birthday and becomes 16, and that is the age most readers associate with him in the later arcs and the story’s closing stretch.
If you ever see people confidently stating one single number, they are usually doing one of these things:
- quoting Yuji’s age from the earliest part of the story (15)
- quoting Yuji’s age after his birthday occurs (16)
- using the anime season they watched as if it covers the whole series (it does not)
- ignoring how compressed the story timeline is (JJK moves fast and does not span multiple school years)
Why Yuji’s age is easy to misunderstand
On the surface, “How old is Yuji?” should be simple. In practice, Jujutsu Kaisen creates confusion because it combines four factors:
The story timeline is compressed
A lot happens, but it does not happen across many years. Major tragedies, training leaps, political shifts, and world-level events unfold rapidly.
The series rarely pauses to restate ages
Characters do not regularly announce their ages mid-arc. You are expected to infer age from context, school year, and continuity.
Adaptations create mental shortcuts
Anime viewers often assume each season equals a year of the character’s life. JJK does not follow that rhythm. A huge amount of story can occur without a meaningful time skip.
Fans use different “reference points”
Some people answer “how old is Yuji” as of the first episode. Others answer as of the Shibuya era. Others answer as of the ending. Those are all different points in time.
Yuji’s school year and what it implies about his age
Yuji enters Tokyo Jujutsu High as a first-year student, the same year as Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki. In Japanese high school terms, first-year students are typically 15 to 16 depending on their birthday within the school year.
That alone tells you Yuji is not 17 or 18 during the main story. He is not an upperclassman. He is a first-year thrown into a war.
This matters because it frames one of the most brutal elements of Yuji’s character: the series is not watching an adult professional crumble, it is watching a teenager get accelerated into a role that should never exist.
Yuji’s age by major arcs (the practical breakdown)
Instead of treating Yuji’s age as one static number, it is more accurate to treat it as an age range across the timeline.
Below is the clean way to think about it while reading on ComicK.
Early story and entry to Jujutsu High
Yuji is 15.
This is the phase where he is still fundamentally a normal student in how he thinks and reacts, even if his physicality is abnormal. He is learning the world, learning consequences, and learning that “being willing to die” is not the same thing as understanding what death costs.
The first major turning point and the early “death” event
Yuji is still 15.
This is important because that early temporary death is part of why his age becomes a recurring question online. People remember “Yuji died early” and then assume the series must be longer and more spread out than it is.
But that moment happens while he is still very much a first-year kid who has not even had time to settle into the new world.
Mid-series escalation and major incidents
Yuji is generally 15 turning into 16 depending on exactly where you place his birthday relative to the arc.
This is where most of the confusion begins online, because the story’s events are intense enough that people assume months and years must be passing. In reality, the pacing is ruthless.
Late arcs and the ending stretch
Yuji is treated as 16.
This is the age most “endgame Yuji” discussions assume, because by this point he has endured enough physical and psychological damage that he feels older than he is. That emotional maturity leads fans to mentally age him up, even though the timeline does not.
So, is Yuji 15 or 16?
Both answers can be correct depending on the point in the story.
If someone asks:
“How old is Yuji Itadori at the start of Jujutsu Kaisen?”
Answer: 15.
If someone asks:
“How old is Yuji Itadori in the later arcs or by the ending?”
Answer: 16.
If someone demands a single number with no context, the most honest response is:
Yuji is around 15 to 16 across the main story, because the plot does not span multiple years.
Why Yuji does not “age up” like many shonen protagonists
In a lot of long-running battle series, the protagonist gradually becomes an older teenager through multiple school years, training arcs, and time skips.
Jujutsu Kaisen does not do that with Yuji, and it is a deliberate tonal choice.
Yuji is forced to develop as a fighter and as a person at high speed, but the story does not reward him with the stability of time. He does not get the comfort of growing up slowly.
That produces one of JJK’s most unsettling effects:
Yuji gains the psychological burden of an adult without receiving the time that normally shapes adult identity.
So even if his age is “only” 15 to 16, his lived experience feels far heavier, and many readers unconsciously answer the question with the age they feel he represents rather than the age on paper.
Yuji’s age in the anime versus the manga
If you are watching the anime, Yuji is generally presented as 15 for most of what has been adapted so far, because the adaptation covers earlier sections of the story timeline.
That leads to a common misunderstanding:
- Anime watchers answer 15, because that is what the story still feels like.
- Manga readers answer 16, because they are thinking of later arcs and the conclusion.
Neither group is “wrong.” They are answering different moments.
If you are reading on ComicK and you are already deep into later arcs, you will naturally think of Yuji as 16, because the intensity and responsibility placed on him is far beyond what you associate with a 15-year-old.
Does Yuji’s age matter to the story?
Yes, and not in a trivial way.
Yuji’s age matters because Jujutsu Kaisen repeatedly confronts the idea of consent and burden:
- Yuji did not ask to become Sukuna’s vessel.
- Yuji did not grow up training for this world.
- Yuji is a teenager asked to carry consequences that crush trained adults.
When a series places that much suffering onto a young character, it becomes a statement about the setting itself. It is telling you:
This world is not fair, and it does not protect the young.
That is one reason Yuji remains such a compelling protagonist even for readers who prefer more “strategic” main characters. Yuji’s core trait is not brilliance. It is endurance and empathy under impossible conditions.
Those traits land differently when you remember he is 15 to 16, not 20.
How old is Yuji compared to other key characters?
Because Yuji is a first-year, he sits at the younger end of the central cast.
Megumi Fushiguro
Megumi is Yuji’s classmate and is roughly the same age range, typically understood as 15 to 16.
Nobara Kugisaki
Nobara is also a first-year and is typically treated as the same age bracket, around 15 to 16.
Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, Panda
These students are above Yuji’s year, generally treated as older students. They are not decades older, but they are not first-years.
Satoru Gojo
Gojo is an adult instructor. The exact number is less important than the contrast: Gojo is a fully grown adult whose role is to teach and protect, while Yuji is a teenager being thrown into conflicts that even adults cannot control.
This comparison matters because it highlights one of the series’ darkest ironies:
Even with adult protectors present, the teenagers still become the ones paying the heaviest cost.
A clear ComicK reading tip for age and timeline clarity
If you are using ComicK to read Jujutsu Kaisen straight through, you can keep Yuji’s age simple by using this mental model:
- Early arcs: Yuji is 15
- Mid arcs: Yuji is 15 turning 16
- Late arcs and ending: Yuji is 16
If you hold that steady, you will not get thrown off by fan posts that insist he is only 15 or insist he is much older.
The story’s emotional scale is huge, but the calendar time is not.
Why some people claim Yuji is older than he really is
You will sometimes see claims like “Yuji is 17” or “Yuji is 18.”
Those claims typically come from:
- assuming the story spans multiple school years
- blending anime pacing with typical long-form shonen pacing
- confusing Yuji with another character’s age
- treating promotional materials, fan wikis, or casual posts as canon without checking context
- mentally aging Yuji up because his experiences feel like they should belong to an older person
The safest rule is this:
If someone’s age claim contradicts the fact Yuji is a first-year and the story timeline is compressed, it is probably not reliable.
What Yuji’s age tells you about his role as a protagonist
Yuji is not written as a “future legend” who gradually becomes the strongest. He is written as a human being forced to become functional inside a nightmare.
His age supports that interpretation in three ways:
Yuji’s optimism is believable early on
A 15-year-old who believes he can “save people” through effort and sincerity makes sense. That belief is not stupid. It is youth.
Yuji’s guilt hits harder because he is young
When Yuji internalizes blame for things outside his control, it reads as psychologically real. Teenagers often personalize harm in ways adults might intellectually resist.
Yuji’s endurance becomes heroic
An adult enduring this suffering might feel expected in a dark fantasy. A teenager enduring it becomes a moral statement about resilience and the cost of violence.
In other words, Yuji’s age is not trivia. It is part of why his arc is so emotionally effective.
Featured Genres on ComicK for readers who like Yuji’s style of story
If you are reading Jujutsu Kaisen on ComicK because you enjoy Yuji’s mix of brutality, heart, and high-stakes action, these genres tend to deliver a similar experience:
- Dark Fantasy
- Supernatural Action
- Horror and Occult
- Battle Shonen
- Psychological Thriller
These categories often share the same qualities that define Yuji’s journey: survival is expensive, morality is tested, and growth is carved out of damage rather than comfort.
FAQ: How old is Yuji Itadori? (10 questions)
How old is Yuji Itadori at the beginning of Jujutsu Kaisen?
Yuji is 15 years old at the start.
How old is Yuji Itadori in Season 1 of the anime?
Yuji is 15 throughout the early anime storyline.
Does Yuji turn 16 in Jujutsu Kaisen?
Yes. Yuji has a birthday during the story timeline and becomes 16.
How old is Yuji during the Shibuya Incident arc?
Yuji is generally understood to be 15 turning 16, depending on where you place his birthday relative to that arc.
How old is Yuji Itadori by the end of the manga?
Yuji is 16 by the ending.
Is Yuji older than Megumi?
No. Yuji and Megumi are classmates and are roughly the same age range, about 15 to 16.
Is Yuji older than Nobara?
No. Nobara is also a first-year, so she is in the same general age bracket as Yuji.
Why do some people say Yuji is 17 or 18?
Because they assume the story spans multiple years, but the main timeline is far more compressed than that.
How old is Yuji compared to Gojo?
Yuji is a teenager (15 to 16). Gojo is an adult instructor. The exact gap matters less than the contrast in responsibility and power.
What is the simplest correct answer to “how old is Yuji Itadori”?
Yuji is 15 at the start and 16 later in the story, and he stays within that range across the main timeline.
So, how old is Yuji Itadori? Yuji is 15 when Jujutsu Kaisen begins, and he becomes 16 later, with the full story largely contained inside that narrow age window.
That tight range is not a flaw or an oversight. It is part of what makes Jujutsu Kaisen feel so ruthless. Yuji is not given years to grow into the weight placed on him. He is forced to carry it almost immediately, and that is exactly why his story hits as hard as it does when you read it straight through on ComicK.
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Jessica is a content editor at ComicK, with experience tracking and curating information from a wide range of Manga, Manhwa, and Manhua sources. Her editorial work focuses on objectivity, verifiable information, and meeting the needs of readers seeking reliable insights into the world of comics.