How To Write A Tournament Arc
If you’re an avid shounen watcher, then you can easily spot the similar tropes each share: the badass overpowered sensei, the chosen one MC that starts out weak, but is actually gifted with the strongest power in existence, and the angsty edgelord rival. However, the most common affinity all shounens share that even outnumbers the obligatory beach episode, is the TOURNAMENT ARC!
Every anime fan is familiar with this epic event. It’s the perfect setup arc for developing worldbuilding; because it gives the writer an easy way to introduce a large cast of characters, showcasing their personality quirks and skills in epic battles against the main cast. Usually, these characters would never fight because they’re on the same side, so pitting them against each other in a competitive event is an effortless way to establish conflict between characters.
However, so many anime has copy-pasted the same tiresome arc with no innovation nor high quality craft to make such a cool event interesting. It has become a lazy way to enact conflict in their respective worlds, worst of all feeling like filler. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with tournament format, but it became increasingly easy to spot out the laziness plagued throughout out this overdone format after consuming a plethora of anime. The tournament arc should be the time when the author is allowed display their passion for their series, not an easy tool to bypass creativity.
However, there is one series that managed to excel at this format without producing any innovation; simply S class execution; and that series is Jujutsu Kaisen! Now let’s dive in and analyze what made JJK’s tournament arc so special compared to its peers!
Starting from episode 8, we were introduced to two sorcerers from the sister school; Mai zenin and Aoi Todou. And this resulted in a brief clash between both schools showcasing the kyoto school as a powerful threat, giving the tokyo students motivation to improve upon their abilities in gruesome training. From this small scene it established 3 important key factors.
Worldbuilding
A threat
Motivation
We learned of the existence of other sorcerer schools that rivals the main casts strength. And Miya and Nobera were given a reason to step out of their mourning for their supposed friend's death, and improve Apon their ability as sorcerous to take down their opponents in the kyoto-sister event. Gege Akatumi has already constructed a strong foundation to set up the eventual tournament arc, while enlarging the world and developing the characters at the same time!
Now fast forwarding to episode 14, a very important twist is kicked into action that sets the foundation of the tournament. Yoshinobu declares an order of assassination on Yuji to the kyoto students. And instead of them accepting it with ease, they are heavily conflicted on such a heavy burden, because while they may be sorcerers, first they are human beings.
This scene alone bloomed more intriguing conflict that makes this arc unique from your traditional tournament arc; Rather than it just a staple affair of battles between opposing factions; there is internal conflict inside of the kyoto school, as tension builds between the ones who are content with the corrupt mission, and those who’d rather follow their morales. And from this scene the viewer is now given a strong first impression of each of these student's unique personalities, that heavily foreshadows the results of their battles.
Now moving on to episode 15, the main cast is seen establishing a strategy to throw off their opponents, with the meat of the scheme revolving around Yuji being bait for Todou; however, in a striking shounen protagonist manner, Yuji declares that he will win. This scene is pivotal in showcasing the intelligence of these characters, and how much respect they express to their opponents, acknowledging them as a worthy threat. While also revealing the seemingly main conflict of this arc; Yuji vs Todou.
Then as the battle emerges, both schools' plans unexpectedly fail as the kyoto students underestimated Yujis skills, and tokyo group are forced to adapt as their key piece to victory is under threat from the opposing faction. This dance of chaos has skyrocketed the stakes of this tournament as the tokyo student's passion for this fight are ignited, because failure results in a death of a friend. And the kyoto students face potentially harsh retribution if they fail to take down the enormous powerhouse Yuji Itadori.
Moving on to the main attraction of this event; Yuji vs Todou, the two powerhouses of their schools. This is the birth of a beautiful rivalry between two hot headed brutes. As they clash blows, Todou is fascinated in Yujis exceptional ability. And he takes it upon him to train Yuji in this life-or-death fight because he views Yuji as a brother. At first Yuji doesn’t respond nicely to this strange buffoon, but he quickly brushes any hostility aside as he spiritually connects with his new best friend! This scene established two key side plots that will heavily impact the rest of this arc
A rivalry
Yujis Training
Every shounen protagonist has a rival. It’s an easy way to set up constant conflict, giving the MC an everlasting reason to grow. And ironically Yujis rival is the main one directing Yujis growth in this arc. This is such a unique way to grow a rivalry; rather than Todou being another angsty asshole who wishes to leave Yuji in the dust, he actually wants to help him grow as a powerful sorcerer to contest him in the future. This is legit one of the best rivalries established in anime, and I am anticipating watching their bond grow.
However, shockingly their fight is cut short to give the side cast a chance to showcase their abilities in entirety. And each of these fights are glorious! Rather than them just being gorgeously animated fights with masterful choreography. Each battle is a struggle of opposing morales, as none of these characters in the villains. Each has a respectful goal they wish to achieve to support their family and friends, but are restrained by the corrupt entrenched formalities of sorcerer culture.
And each of the tokyo students' triumph over their opponents flaunting their stronger conviction as jujutsu sorcerers. With Maki stealing the spotlight as she easily takes down two opponents proving her doubters wrong. With the highlight being the fated duel between sisters. Mais façade is finally shattered as her pent-up jealousy explodes as a tragic flashback plays showing Mai’s reason for hating her sister. But Maki’s fierce conviction is too powerful to be swayed by her sisters' sorrows, as she swiftly settles their beef.
These beautiful arrangements of fights are way more enticing than most anime fights; the high stakes with strong contestation of ideals enhanced by wonderfully animated and choreographed direction. Makes JJK deserving of having numerous best fights in any top 100 list.
However, the fun doesn’t stop here as the looming threat of Yujis assassination is reminded to the viewer, with the elder taking things into his own hands. Releasing a semi-first grade into the wild to hunt for Itadoris head. But in a striking twist, Mahitos pals have invaded the tournament, slaying the semi-first grade with ease. Announcing to the audience that the fun time is over and the stakes have been skyrocketed to the heavens. In a genius plan, they form a barrier blocking only Gojo from entering as they hunt down the students. The leader of the invasion being the special grade curse Hanami; A.K.A the strongest hippie alive.
This scene masterfully introduces a group of new villains, making them rememberable to the audience. As each goon are brimming with entertaining and psychotic personalities. While also keeping the viewer on the edge of their seats as they worry about the fate of the students against powerful adversaries.
Then we witness Hanami easily bulldozing her way throughout the students, even brushing aside two of the most threatening students, Toge and Maki. Then as things seem dire, Yuji and Todou arrive in a spectacular superhero like fashion to save the day! However, instead of Todou assisting Yuji right away; he declares that he will not lend a finger until Itadori lands the “black flash”! And in an epic segment, Yuji develops the black flash, painfully harming Hanami, and signaling to Todou, that his brother has grown.
Then in a beautifully animated scene, we witness the twos excellent teamwork pushing back their dominant foe. However, rather than be stunned with fear, Hanami admits that she is enjoying this battle, hence giving her the motivation to not hold back in this legendry fight.
But Todou himself is ready to stop holding back, as he releases his boogie woogie; a simple yet devastating technique that allows him and Yuji to easily dominant Hanami in the fight. However, Todou is not the only with an ace up his sleeve, as Hanami releases a terrifying ability that could result in tragedy for our heroes. But in a remarkable fashion, Gojo breaks the seal and sends chills down the enemies' spines, as he hunts them down one by one. Ending the invasion with the epic hollow purple seemingly exorcising Hanami!
These arrangements of scenes are a perfect execution of concluding the tournament. Showcasing Itadoris and Todous strong bond as rivals, as Itadori learns how to control his power from Todou, spiking his power tremendously. Establishing a powerful antagonist to give our heroes a reason to continue to improve as sorcerers, and reminding the audience why Gojo is the most feared Sorcerer in the world.
Jujutus kaisens tournament arc is nigh-perfect, and should be the perfect example on how to write a tournament arc. All battle shounen authors should takes notes from Gege Akatumis masterful class writing!
If you’re an avid shounen watcher, then you can easily spot the similar tropes each share: the badass overpowered sensei, the chosen one MC that starts out weak, but is actually gifted with the strongest power in existence, and the angsty edgelord rival. However, the most common affinity all shounens share that even outnumbers the obligatory beach episode, is the TOURNAMENT ARC!
Every anime fan is familiar with this epic event. It’s the perfect setup arc for developing worldbuilding; because it gives the writer an easy way to introduce a large cast of characters, showcasing their personality quirks and skills in epic battles against the main cast. Usually, these characters would never fight because they’re on the same side, so pitting them against each other in a competitive event is an effortless way to establish conflict between characters.
However, so many anime has copy-pasted the same tiresome arc with no innovation nor high quality craft to make such a cool event interesting. It has become a lazy way to enact conflict in their respective worlds, worst of all feeling like filler. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with tournament format, but it became increasingly easy to spot out the laziness plagued throughout out this overdone format after consuming a plethora of anime. The tournament arc should be the time when the author is allowed display their passion for their series, not an easy tool to bypass creativity.
However, there is one series that managed to excel at this format without producing any innovation; simply S class execution; and that series is Jujutsu Kaisen! Now let’s dive in and analyze what made JJK’s tournament arc so special compared to its peers!
Starting from episode 8, we were introduced to two sorcerers from the sister school; Mai zenin and Aoi Todou. And this resulted in a brief clash between both schools showcasing the kyoto school as a powerful threat, giving the tokyo students motivation to improve upon their abilities in gruesome training. From this small scene it established 3 important key factors.
Worldbuilding
A threat
Motivation
We learned of the existence of other sorcerer schools that rivals the main casts strength. And Miya and Nobera were given a reason to step out of their mourning for their supposed friend's death, and improve Apon their ability as sorcerous to take down their opponents in the kyoto-sister event. Gege Akatumi has already constructed a strong foundation to set up the eventual tournament arc, while enlarging the world and developing the characters at the same time!
Now fast forwarding to episode 14, a very important twist is kicked into action that sets the foundation of the tournament. Yoshinobu declares an order of assassination on Yuji to the kyoto students. And instead of them accepting it with ease, they are heavily conflicted on such a heavy burden, because while they may be sorcerers, first they are human beings.
This scene alone bloomed more intriguing conflict that makes this arc unique from your traditional tournament arc; Rather than it just a staple affair of battles between opposing factions; there is internal conflict inside of the kyoto school, as tension builds between the ones who are content with the corrupt mission, and those who’d rather follow their morales. And from this scene the viewer is now given a strong first impression of each of these student's unique personalities, that heavily foreshadows the results of their battles.
Now moving on to episode 15, the main cast is seen establishing a strategy to throw off their opponents, with the meat of the scheme revolving around Yuji being bait for Todou; however, in a striking shounen protagonist manner, Yuji declares that he will win. This scene is pivotal in showcasing the intelligence of these characters, and how much respect they express to their opponents, acknowledging them as a worthy threat. While also revealing the seemingly main conflict of this arc; Yuji vs Todou.
Then as the battle emerges, both schools' plans unexpectedly fail as the kyoto students underestimated Yujis skills, and tokyo group are forced to adapt as their key piece to victory is under threat from the opposing faction. This dance of chaos has skyrocketed the stakes of this tournament as the tokyo student's passion for this fight are ignited, because failure results in a death of a friend. And the kyoto students face potentially harsh retribution if they fail to take down the enormous powerhouse Yuji Itadori.
Moving on to the main attraction of this event; Yuji vs Todou, the two powerhouses of their schools. This is the birth of a beautiful rivalry between two hot headed brutes. As they clash blows, Todou is fascinated in Yujis exceptional ability. And he takes it upon him to train Yuji in this life-or-death fight because he views Yuji as a brother. At first Yuji doesn’t respond nicely to this strange buffoon, but he quickly brushes any hostility aside as he spiritually connects with his new best friend! This scene established two key side plots that will heavily impact the rest of this arc
A rivalry
Yujis Training
Every shounen protagonist has a rival. It’s an easy way to set up constant conflict, giving the MC an everlasting reason to grow. And ironically Yujis rival is the main one directing Yujis growth in this arc. This is such a unique way to grow a rivalry; rather than Todou being another angsty asshole who wishes to leave Yuji in the dust, he actually wants to help him grow as a powerful sorcerer to contest him in the future. This is legit one of the best rivalries established in anime, and I am anticipating watching their bond grow.
However, shockingly their fight is cut short to give the side cast a chance to showcase their abilities in entirety. And each of these fights are glorious! Rather than them just being gorgeously animated fights with masterful choreography. Each battle is a struggle of opposing morales, as none of these characters in the villains. Each has a respectful goal they wish to achieve to support their family and friends, but are restrained by the corrupt entrenched formalities of sorcerer culture.
And each of the tokyo students' triumph over their opponents flaunting their stronger conviction as jujutsu sorcerers. With Maki stealing the spotlight as she easily takes down two opponents proving her doubters wrong. With the highlight being the fated duel between sisters. Mais façade is finally shattered as her pent-up jealousy explodes as a tragic flashback plays showing Mai’s reason for hating her sister. But Maki’s fierce conviction is too powerful to be swayed by her sisters' sorrows, as she swiftly settles their beef.
These beautiful arrangements of fights are way more enticing than most anime fights; the high stakes with strong contestation of ideals enhanced by wonderfully animated and choreographed direction. Makes JJK deserving of having numerous best fights in any top 100 list.
However, the fun doesn’t stop here as the looming threat of Yujis assassination is reminded to the viewer, with the elder taking things into his own hands. Releasing a semi-first grade into the wild to hunt for Itadoris head. But in a striking twist, Mahitos pals have invaded the tournament, slaying the semi-first grade with ease. Announcing to the audience that the fun time is over and the stakes have been skyrocketed to the heavens. In a genius plan, they form a barrier blocking only Gojo from entering as they hunt down the students. The leader of the invasion being the special grade curse Hanami; A.K.A the strongest hippie alive.
This scene masterfully introduces a group of new villains, making them rememberable to the audience. As each goon are brimming with entertaining and psychotic personalities. While also keeping the viewer on the edge of their seats as they worry about the fate of the students against powerful adversaries.
Then we witness Hanami easily bulldozing her way throughout the students, even brushing aside two of the most threatening students, Toge and Maki. Then as things seem dire, Yuji and Todou arrive in a spectacular superhero like fashion to save the day! However, instead of Todou assisting Yuji right away; he declares that he will not lend a finger until Itadori lands the “black flash”! And in an epic segment, Yuji develops the black flash, painfully harming Hanami, and signaling to Todou, that his brother has grown.
Then in a beautifully animated scene, we witness the twos excellent teamwork pushing back their dominant foe. However, rather than be stunned with fear, Hanami admits that she is enjoying this battle, hence giving her the motivation to not hold back in this legendry fight.
But Todou himself is ready to stop holding back, as he releases his boogie woogie; a simple yet devastating technique that allows him and Yuji to easily dominant Hanami in the fight. However, Todou is not the only with an ace up his sleeve, as Hanami releases a terrifying ability that could result in tragedy for our heroes. But in a remarkable fashion, Gojo breaks the seal and sends chills down the enemies' spines, as he hunts them down one by one. Ending the invasion with the epic hollow purple seemingly exorcising Hanami!
These arrangements of scenes are a perfect execution of concluding the tournament. Showcasing Itadoris and Todous strong bond as rivals, as Itadori learns how to control his power from Todou, spiking his power tremendously. Establishing a powerful antagonist to give our heroes a reason to continue to improve as sorcerers, and reminding the audience why Gojo is the most feared Sorcerer in the world.
Jujutus kaisens tournament arc is nigh-perfect, and should be the perfect example on how to write a tournament arc. All battle shounen authors should takes notes from Gege Akatumis masterful class writing!
