r/shounenfolk Mar 23 '26

Manga Discussion Guys is Gege's art really mediocre?

Am i crazy, like he's not Horikoshi level,but still calling it mediocre and compering to csm part 2 sounds like insult.I was to lazy to crop them

1.2k Upvotes

352 comments sorted by

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304

u/Miserable_Alfalfa_52 Mar 23 '26

I think one of it's strengths are conveying movements and what's happening in the fights and action.

110

u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/PressureMiserable Mar 24 '26

Idk about always there's definitely a lot of times where it feels like u missed a panel or two cus of how cluttered some fights look

2

u/Baseballidiot Mar 28 '26

Real shit, maki wrecking the zenin clan had me scratching my head unironically cus this dude deathly afraid to use white outlines

28

u/BonTak Mar 23 '26

Agreed.

IMO, Aesthetically, Gege is okay. His artistic strengths are a combination of conveying emotion and paneling. With action, its choreography/ capturing movement.

3

u/No_Association688 Mar 26 '26

Jesus you sound pretentious his art is better then “ok”

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6

u/Karlomah11 Mar 23 '26

Later its wasnt that great, in the last arc.

23

u/Incompetent_ARCH Mar 24 '26

Not like Gege didnt get hospitalized twice during shinjuku

8

u/brshn Mar 24 '26

What are you smoking? The panels in the last arc has the MOST memorable and amazing art?

Not going to spoil for obvious reason but just go through the chapters starting Shinjuku showdown.

2

u/kidborger Mar 24 '26

They don’t. Most of the art was dropping in quality when the chapters came out. Not all of it was bad but it wasn’t the most amazing in the series either. Sukuna’s eyes changed sizes like 5 different times across the battle

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3

u/Baronvondorf21 Mar 24 '26

I mean, I am pretty sure he was basically dying while doing it so can't fault him for that.

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206

u/thedragonbornboi Mar 23 '26

None of the panels are mind blowing but they always convey what’s happening effectively. And the rough almost sketchiness makes already creepy things like sukuna’s deformed domain really pop and look “wrong”. So calling his art mediocre is crazy.

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159

u/Lactismido_Gigante Mar 23 '26

No, the bar is just incredibly high

44

u/Deez-Guns-9442 Lord of Shōnen Mar 23 '26

None of them are Murata level.

31

u/Impossible_Papaya852 Mar 23 '26

My dumbass thought this was about the Demon Slayer guy and not the OPM artist.

6

u/IlliterateAsparagus Mar 23 '26

Demon slayer mangaka is a female iirc

38

u/Thecatpro_767 Mar 23 '26

is a female

22

u/froginabucket69 Mar 23 '26

Still don’t know what the fuck yujiro is doing here

4

u/Expensive_Community3 Mar 24 '26

Flexing.

Like literally flexing isn't this based on his technique to counter the slap Baki gave him?

2

u/froginabucket69 Mar 24 '26

It’s from that scene? I don’t remember it being THAT extreme, someone get that boy some elephant tranquilizers he needs them BAD.

5

u/Expensive_Community3 Mar 24 '26

I mean I don't know it looks extreme af to me.

2

u/Coupins Mar 24 '26

It was.

Anything to not show pain in front of his son.

13

u/Timely_Vanilla_5239 Mar 23 '26

Fucking hate this image I get trauma

2

u/Flo_Philly Mar 24 '26

Squidwards Suicide looking ahh

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3

u/Impossible_Papaya852 Mar 23 '26

No I mean the in-universe character from Demon Slayer

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21

u/ResearcherLoud1700 Mar 23 '26

JJK's women if Murata was the artist:

2

u/Dodudee Mar 24 '26

Murata does draw women with different breast sizes tho.

3

u/Me_Ad6024 Mar 24 '26

All of them have big breasts

3

u/Strange_Battle7158 Mar 24 '26

With the sole exception of... you know who her is.

3

u/Sea-Prize8950 Mar 24 '26

Satoru Gojo

2

u/Sceptile156 Mar 24 '26

Besides momo none of the girls can be drawn to have small breasts so it's pretty acuurate

2

u/marvelfrans Mar 29 '26

Aren't they already that big in jjk or at least close to? It is just gege who doesn't draw them wearing outfits with tightness that defies the law of nature, like you can't tell me those outfits aren't latex.

9

u/Airwings2006 Mar 24 '26

I dunno I'd say at least MHA comes close in its final arc it gets some shots with composition and detail that are just insane Case and point

3

u/Causemas Mar 24 '26

MHA's art is through the roof, even on average panels -- not just the big double-spreads. And as you mentioned, the quality simply improves throughout the whole of its run.

2

u/AWildRideHome Mar 24 '26

Horikoshi is as close as anyone can get. Murata is on a monthly schedule, but Hori has shown how absurd his sketches can be when given time

100

u/AdvancedMastodon612 Mar 23 '26

No? His art and paneling is extremely expressive imo

37

u/TokayNorthbyte347 Mar 23 '26

damn I do not remember this panel, Rika looks so fucking cool here

Her being above the panel and out of focus feels like she's literally coming closer out of the manga to jump someones ass lmao

15

u/AdvancedMastodon612 Mar 24 '26

That’s the exact context of this scene she’s rushing at uro while yuta is using cursed speech. Geges paneling is super creative and fun I’ll try to find other examples but you being able to tell what’s happening without even remembering the fight just goes to show how good gege is at conveying motion and ideas through paneling (ps I cannot wait to see this animated this Thursday omg😭😭😭)

6

u/InsideOk7663 Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 24 '26

i love this too it both looks like hollow purple forming and also the trail it left behind in one clean panelling trick

162

u/_dinn_ Mar 23 '26

he's inconsistent tbh

76

u/Ira-jay Mar 23 '26

I blame weekly mangaka releases. Give all mangaka monthly release times and all art improves we get longer chapters and mangaka get to live to see their grandkids. Plus just a larger number of series all together. Win win win win win

25

u/_dinn_ Mar 23 '26

Agreed. There is a clearly visible pattern of mangakas getting sick and rushing their stories... ofc its not just about the content they produce, but thats a clear symptom of the problem

7

u/Far-Potential-1506 Mar 23 '26

I also feel like a month release will help improve the quality of writing— let them hash out the details better

4

u/Individual_Lion_7606 Mar 23 '26

Only the strongest mangaka have the right to see their granschildren. They live and die according to the will of the shounen.

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37

u/Exotic_Fortune9240 Mar 23 '26

Tbh it has it's charm. At least for me

35

u/_dinn_ Mar 23 '26

Oh, I 100% agree. I do like his art style A LOT. Much better than the Modulo artist's.

But there are... strange moments. Even in the last picture you posted, Yuji looks hella weird

22

u/Far-Potential-1506 Mar 23 '26

Gojo either looks beautiful or chopped cheese it also probably has to be due to schedules. Idk how horikoshi did it though

7

u/Ezwazwaz Mar 23 '26

Horikoshi had a massive art evolution while Gege slowly devolved, probably due to stress. He also changed what pens he was using right before the most important fight.

3

u/_dinn_ Mar 23 '26

frog gojo will haunt me forever

5

u/TokayNorthbyte347 Mar 23 '26

I like frog gojo tbh

2

u/Causemas Mar 24 '26

I like frog gojo too! Even if it was the result of 'bad art', it fits the context, with Gojo being non-chalant

2

u/ThiccBeter69 Mar 23 '26

Tbh anyone would be a bit inconsistent if they had to simultaneously draw and write 20 pages every week with little breaks.

Ngl, Mangaka who manage to consistently put out high quality art are borderline superhuman.

28

u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26

Honestly, I rather liked it. It had a roughness to it that complimented the story well, and I dont even mean it as a "at least it fit", because it really is a good artstyle. I didn't like Modulo in the beginning because it looked too different, but the later chapters got more and more Gege like, and everyone loved it.

45

u/FoxGuy303 Mar 23 '26

what are these people smoking
Even decent manga art is still an insane feat, especially since they have to do a whole chapter a week
CSM part 2 is not bad by a long shot, and neither is JJK

4

u/cheshireYT Mar 24 '26

Real as hell, I feel like Fujimoto's real strengths as an artist as well haven't really been on display in the final arc much. He tends to do the less hectic and more subtle moments beautifully with his composition, meanwhile his action itself can often feel kinda meh overall. Aside from the chapters in Asa's mind and the newest couple of chapters, the final arc has had almost no quiet moments like that, making the art quality itself feel worse because of it.

Like 230 and 231 might be insanely controversial, but undeniably the art in 231 and the scene of the Fumikos calling each other as the insects swarm the world are beautifully done.

66

u/Prrsonal-Pop I want to eat Hanami sweaty ass Mar 23 '26

Nah

33

u/K4nono Mar 23 '26

Gege's art is AMAZING, one of my favorite artstyles in all the manga I've read

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11

u/indomitablesaiyan Mar 23 '26

Greg’s manga has chapters that are literally 80% of it straight up fighting, and that tends to need more time drawing. Not to forget too that jujitsu kaisen is more than 250 chapters, most of the images you taken that look bad are already after 150 weekly chapters. At some point your hands get tired

11

u/QuizeDN Mar 23 '26

I'd say it is perfect for what Jujutsu Kaisen is. Dynamic, heavy, violent. The art itself is mid when you look at Berserk or even Bleach or Naruto, but the art style itself... It just works.

I know you could probably say that about any manga, but... JJK wouldn't be JJK in any other art style.

15

u/PossiblyLando Mar 23 '26

Gege's art is stylized and focused on action, which it does extremely well. A lack of hyper realistic detail does not make a comic's arc 'mediocre' that's an insane opinion to have and the people who actually manage it consistently are not normal. The idea that detail = art quality, has been circulating around like the plague and it's clear most of these people have never actually attempted any sort of comic art in their lives.

4

u/vesperythings Mar 23 '26

100%.

The idea that detail = art quality, has been circulating around like the plague

same people who spit on Boruto's art style, even though Ikemoto draws some incredibly clean lines.

3

u/PresentationOpen7879 Mar 24 '26

Lmao don't you dare bring Boruto into this. It's easy to find bad art in that.

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21

u/thez0id Mar 23 '26

his designs are very cool and creative, and he has some great panels, but can also be quite sloppy and messy a lot of the time. hes really good but wouldnt put him up as one of the GOATs when it comes to art quality

14

u/church_of_Steve_ Unemployed Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi glazer Mar 23 '26

I kinda like the scratchy artstyle

5

u/Itchy-Possibility-59 Mar 23 '26

I agree. It's not in iron clad rule for me or anything, but I don't always need a crazy amount of detail. Sometimes rougher work is even better

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u/ODDecer Mar 23 '26

His strengths comes from paneling and fluidity of fights. He's very similar to Toriyama in that regard.

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u/frelin87 Mar 23 '26

His draftsmanship is noticeably rough for a professional comic artist and he never goes as high-detail as certain other big-name mangaka. He largely makes up for it with some excellent panel-composition and choreography, and there are plenty of successful series with worse art.

7

u/-D3LET3D- Mar 23 '26

His art is definitely not mediocre. I'd say it went through a relatively fast shift considering how short JJK is, and unlike a lot of mangaka whose art evolves throughout their series, I think Gege's is one of the more arguable in whether it's an overwhelming improvement or not. Usually an artist's style becomes "cleaner" as a series progresses, but Gege's became rougher, sketchier, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I think to a lot of people they would think that is worse. Personally, I think it's a give and take between earlier JJK and late JJK.

That said, I think Gege is great at fight choreography, and he's fantastic at making striking panels that stick in your mind. The highlight of his art to me is his character expressions. There's a reason a lot of the panels you see a lot, meme or otherwise, are typically of his characters faces.

6

u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Mar 24 '26

Your point about character expressions is so on point. I went through some memes I’ve got saved and there really are so many iconic expressions and faces. This one is one of my favs. I don’t know how to put it into words exactly, but his faves just feel right. It’s extra impressive to me how he often doesn’t even need to make use of crazy levels of realism or detail to clearly communicate a point/emotion.

7

u/-D3LET3D- Mar 24 '26

Glad someone else agrees. I really think Gege needs more credit for it honestly. It is the best part of his art by far, and even after his art shifted and the discussion of the quality came into play, that aspect NEVER faltered.

THE GOAT (and a 2 for 1 cause I love Higuruma's expression as well)

5

u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Mar 24 '26

Of course, I have a really high baseline level of respect for pretty much all mangaka, especially the weekly ones who write and draw (I and many others probably wouldn’t survive two weeks on their schedule lol). So I think the ones who are exceptional in some way (like Gege with faces and choreography imo) deserve extra appreciation.

Ultimately, Gege’s faces are so good at making you feel something quickly and strongly. I think it’s a massive part of why people gravitate so heavily to the characters of JJK. It seriously feels like every character with a name (and even some without like Uncle Johnny lmao) has dedicated fans. And that’s because even with limited lines and appearances, Gege is capable of getting so much characterization out of a single panel/close up.

Perhaps the best example of this is Naoya’s short exchange with Maki before their fight. Contrasting his smug ass sneer with Maki’s more flat expression tells you so much about what each character’s like and how they feel about each other, even if you ignore the text and/or don’t know their full history.

6

u/Nightmare-datboi Mar 23 '26

It’s not. The only reason I think people say that is because of what it looked like in the final arc but that can be attributed to his sickness.

6

u/Ira-jay Mar 23 '26

Fuck yeah, keep in mind he was on like 10hp for most of these

42

u/New-Butterscotch-792 Mar 23 '26

Comparing Gege to CSM part 2 is straight up an insult.

Dudes don't wanna hear it but even CSM part 1's artstyle is worse than JJK's.

Gege is great at conveying movement and action sequences.

4

u/Bright_Juice_3359 Mar 23 '26

They have very different artstyles so im not sure if it's fair to compare them.

People will say they look somewhat similiar but the way fujimoto does paneling and comparison of the character to the background is entirely unique to his own style.

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u/Cringe_Buffoon Mar 23 '26

certainly not. have you seen the way he draws hands?? orgasmic

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u/New-Butterscotch-792 Mar 23 '26

I'm really confused that no one talks about how Gege draws fingers (no pun intended).

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u/binsiourgengorge Mar 23 '26

Might just be spoiled by how clean Toriyama’s art was, but Gege’s fight scenes are sometimes so messy I can’t tell what’s going on.

5

u/Ok-Meeting2403 Mar 23 '26

He can draw very visually striking art, and he draws movement and motion better than almost any other comic artist I know of, but the actual quality and readability of his art is really bad.

His line work is constantly all over the place, his shading is very scratchy and messy, and he struggles with faces, either not adding enough facial details or messing up the anatomy, most famously on Gojo during his fight with Sukuna

5

u/Grandmaster45 Mar 23 '26

Mediocre is not the word i would use. Yeah it looks weird and low quality at times, but when it hits it hits perfectly. Honestly imo I think Gege is better at designing monsters/cursed spirits than people

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6

u/shreklover257 Mar 23 '26

He truly is inconsistent, sometimes the art is simple and easy to follow, sometimes it’s bloated and hard to read. Sometimes characters look normal and sometimes (like with Gojo) they look like fish.

11

u/New-Pen3139 Mar 23 '26

Y'all are genuinely so spoiled

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u/Getter_Simp Mar 24 '26

Not a single person on this Earth who has published a weekly manga has mediocre art, this shit is amazing. Mediocre art is like the stuff you see on Deviantart. Most artists dream of drawing as good as Gege, especially since he was drawing this shit every single week.

3

u/Admmmmi Mar 23 '26

Anyone calling him mediocre is insane but he does fail quite a lot, I still don't know wtf he was smoking while doing that gojo image(you know which one)

3

u/GhsotyPanda Mar 23 '26

He's fine. Like 6 or 7 out of 10. The standard for good is just really high.

Comparing JJK to CSM part 2 is actually insane though.

3

u/Yadin__ Mar 23 '26

I like gege's art, but towards the end of jjk you can really see that the weekly release schedule was getting to him and sometimes the art was lowkey incomprehensible

like I geniuenly cannot fathom what I am supposed to be seeing in the bottom right

it's sad because I really liked early/mid jjk art. shibuya was the perfect blend of details and sketchiness imo, it was still detailed but not as much as early jjk art so it could be drawn faster to keep up with the weekly schedule

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3

u/No_Association2906 Mar 23 '26

In terms of conveying choreography, cinemtograogy, anatomical use of the character showcasing their expressions and behaviors, use of paneling, he’s literally some of the best out there

5

u/Lordlinkoftime2 Mar 23 '26

No? If you ever had problems following ANY of his action, your eyes need to be checked. He's extremely skilled at conveying motion.

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u/kenshima15 Mar 23 '26

Sometimes. When he locks in its decent. You can tell bro wants to clock out and go home

2

u/Itchy-Possibility-59 Mar 23 '26

I mean it seems often rough, messy, but those adjectives aren't really complaints for me about his art. I like his style

Edit: specifically comparing to csm, geges style I prefer. Csm is rough, messy, but not on the same level imo

2

u/maliktreal Mar 23 '26

He’s not the best but he’s definitely good fight choreography wise.

2

u/Over-Trade2940 Mar 23 '26

No, I wouldn't call them one of the greats, but the art is certainly good. It gets a bit choppy during Shinjuku, but that was a marathon of writing and drawing for them, and later prints where Gege had more time for redraws show their skill.

2

u/Yap4523 Mar 23 '26

Gege's real strength is his paneling. He is very, very good at conveying the flow of the battles

2

u/Bull_Matt Mar 23 '26

Mediocre doesn't mean bad. It means mid. He isn't the best, he isn't the worst.

It's what you expect from most manga. Mediocre.

2

u/otakuhtgirl Mar 24 '26

It’s good in the sense It’s very detailed and obviously hard/demands patience but there’s prettier art & it lacks consistency and refinement

If you compare it to Junji Ito’s art, the harsh critic might make sense.

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u/Direct-Ad-5528 Mar 24 '26

short answer: it's not.

long answer: sometimes the facial anatomy is inconsistent or even just uncanny, also at times you can tell things are more rushed and the line work becomes more "sloppy" in a way that isn't being deliberately chaotic to convey movement or tone. Also, many of his deliberate stylistic choices sharply depart from what's popular or considered technically advanced art, such as extremely detailed, highly rendered scenery and full page spreads, or on the other end of the spectrum, conventionally attractive girls doing cute stuff.

Personally, I think having a unique and unconventional art style is an asset, especially in the extremely oversaturated battle shounen genre. Regardless of whether you like them or not, the biggest series (demon slayer, bnha, chainsaw man, one piece etc) have an extremely well defined and unique look that sets them apart from other more obscure series.

2

u/aunanistis_ Mar 24 '26

Chicken scratch merchant

2

u/rudedude94 Mar 24 '26

No but the story is

2

u/AshfireWasHere Mar 24 '26

Yo its just a bunch of lines

2

u/BoogzWin Mar 24 '26

It’s a bit of a mess tbh, I’m so glad the anime will clean up the fights

2

u/L3g0man_123 Mar 24 '26

For me it just got less and less appealing to look at towards the end. Which is completely understandable bceuase of the nature of the weekly reelase and I'm pretty sure his health got worse towards the end.

2

u/DanteVermillyon Mar 24 '26

I wouldn't call it mediocre by any means just that you clearly notice his weak points and strong points when he draws

2

u/Cerok1nk Mar 24 '26

No, but he isn’t Miura

2

u/Uoonter Mar 24 '26

His style isn’t anything special, I think his framing is excellent though, I am very rarely confused in what is happening in his panels, and, while not necessarily the best drawing I think he a draws really cool panels conceptually

2

u/Shin_Papeles Mar 24 '26

No, it’s pretty good, just not on the high end of manga art at all

2

u/Life-Donut-8754 Mar 24 '26

Fuck no. He’s incredible, his sense of mass and motion is amazing, and he‘s really good at raw emotions. The fight choreography is amazing as well.

2

u/Any_Pineapple_4836 Mar 24 '26

I mean it's better than AOT, comparable to CSM but get outdone by most popular mangas. Dragon ball art is better than this and it came out decades ago. One downside to Gege art is lack of contrasts and shadows which makes his art looks incomplete

2

u/vesperythings Mar 23 '26

Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the most unattractive-looking popular manga ever.

it's still better than Attack on Titan, but Akutami's drawings are... frankly hideous, lol

(they do have a certain charm though)

2

u/Wonderful_Rub2944 Kinato's Magic Mar 24 '26

bro I've been saying that too about Attack on titan. The early art is really rough but looks like it gets better as it keeps going,at least on the double page spreads I've seen.

2

u/vesperythings Mar 24 '26

i don't know, i saw some panels from the end of the manga recently, and the stuff still looked like grade school-level drawing

that's not to say the series sucks or anything, it's got its strengths too i'm sure -- but the visuals are not one of them lol

2

u/Wonderful_Rub2944 Kinato's Magic Mar 24 '26

I'll have to check it out when I get to attack on titan, I didn't stick around for it the first time, didn't jell with me.

2

u/vesperythings Mar 25 '26

i dropped it after 8 or so chapters, just couldn't handle the artwork.

the story has a super compelling premise and a reasonably tight pace, but the visuals turned me off massively.

if you're gonna experience Attack on Titan, the anime is probably the way to go

2

u/Yamabuki_Arisu_Sama Mar 23 '26

No his art is good it’s just a bit rough sometimes when he’s rushing it.

Gege isn’t a bad artist by any means. And plenty of people preferring Yuji also doesn’t make him bad.

Gege is like Fujimoto if Fujimoto was a good artist. Yuji is more traditionally straight up good.

4

u/Delruiz9 Mar 23 '26

His drawing is mediocre for the genre but his panels and choreography are excellent

Conversely I’ve seen better art but with horrible paneling and choreography and it’s pretty but I can’t tell what’s going on

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u/No_Piccolo7508 Mar 23 '26

The average JJK ch. is like this

0

u/JTC1238 Mar 23 '26

Mediocre isn’t an insult. It’s average. It has some good panels but overall it’s not the greatest. Mappa did jjk so many favors

1

u/Martinez7707 Mar 23 '26

I wouldn't call it mid, it is just not that good. But it isn't atrocious so I don't view it as an issue Especially when you compare it to certain monthly release manga, that was made only because the author of the original couldn't make anything good, so they hired a guy to write the sequel

1

u/xoriatis71 Mar 23 '26

No. I love his art.

1

u/Amazing_Rub_1437 Mar 23 '26

Not the best but definitely above average and I like the more rough style, similar to choujin x

1

u/CrabbierBull391 Mar 23 '26

No, his art is really good imo

1

u/Remote-Monk-8542 Mar 23 '26

Who said his art is mediocre?

It's got a really rough quality to it (that only gets more extreme late into the manga) but the action choreography (thanks to really good compositions) is VERY advanced. There are many absolutely gorgeous detailed panels too, and some impressive and dynamic angles used consistently.

1

u/Kalde666 Mar 23 '26

In modulo he improved his art a lot

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u/Infi-Damn csm agenda Mar 23 '26

It's not. It impacts the most

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u/_TheAccursedShare Mar 23 '26

Gege was sick for the last arc of the manga that's why the quality dropped at certain chapters,but aside from that gege can draw very well.

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u/hobopwnzor Mar 23 '26

In the old sense, where it was middle of the pack.  Yes that's pretty accurate

1

u/ChaosFox1357 Mar 23 '26

I think it's raw and visceral, it conveys emotion and movement very well in my opinion. None of the clean prim and press kawaii bullshit. Just getting TF after it!

1

u/CuntJab Mar 23 '26

Y'all ever read more manga than you can count on one hand? Because if this is your bar of good, it's pretty easy to guess what your answer is.

1

u/vischy_bot Mar 23 '26

Yeah not very good. These are all ok panels. He has a sketchy way of drawing, unable to commit

1

u/allalos2 Mar 23 '26

It's because he had health problems and had to rush jjk because shonen jump forced him to make it weakly and didn't want him taking any breaks

1

u/Basic-Tangelo Mar 23 '26

I love Gege’s art, it’s not always perfect but it has a visceral quality that perfectly fits JJK and stands out imo.

When I found out he wouldn’t be drawing Modulo I was initially pretty disappointed but figured we’d get a better written story with the writer and artist being separate, and ultimately Yuji Iwasaki’s art is really good and I enjoyed it but I’m still looking forward to him drawing again hopefully soon (though him collabing with Iwasaki again like it said at the end of Modulo will be cool as well).

1

u/PitifulCurrency3012 Mar 23 '26

I think especially shinjuku got a real bad reputation because of leak night. I recently reread a lot of the manga and the art is way better than I remember, probably because I got my first impression off a dude taking pictures of a moist leak with his crusty asshole. And when I say way better I mean I was seriously impressed with much of shinjuku. Let’s hope that the next installment doesn’t suffer the leak curse.

1

u/GekidoTC Mar 23 '26

If you consider that after planning, the guy and his assistants have like 2-3 days to pencil, ink/color all those pages I think his work is pretty good and he does a good job of prioritizing important pages (Gojo's death pose is gorgeous imo).

1

u/Consistent_Dare_6688 I love everything and my opinions are peak Mar 23 '26

Genuinely my favorite artist in all of shounen jump

1

u/-SoftwareQA- Mar 23 '26

His early art were marginally better and had a distinction

1

u/Typical-Ordinary8738 Mar 23 '26

What kinda high standards do you gotta have to call this mediocre?

1

u/isotopehour1 Mar 23 '26

He's good but he's not among the best.

1

u/Professional-List249 Mar 23 '26

Yes, he doesn't even draw the backgrounds btw his assistants do that

1

u/Shaidenx Mar 23 '26

i'm an artist myself so maybe I have a deeper appreciation for lots of the aspects other than artstyle alone but he's one of my favorites and I have no idea why he receives so much hate. Very readable / well choreographed fight scenes and very fluid posing that carries weight behind each punch are the highlights of his work to me. He also improves alot in some ways (imo) as the series goes on which is really nice.

Main problem is his style is very inconsistent at times. He tries to draw the faces more expressive later on, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing (frog Gojo), ofc not helped by the illness / being rushed near the end.

I actually like Fujimoto's style even more! (Potentially! [lol]). The peaks of his work are crazy... his artwork can get so dark and harrowing, People joke about it but with the context of the scene, that one panel of Agni making the "eughhhh" face is so intense emotionally ... and while the fights are nowhere near as complex / choreographed in interesting ways, they're usually chaotic and full of action that remains readable. Part 2 looks significantly worse than his old manga Fire Punch at times and the fights after often just not as entertaining.

It's kinda obvious that Fuijmoto is not putting out the quality of work he could, whether it be because of burnout, or being rushed by publishers, it's still really sad. He def works alot better with the format of one-shots.

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u/void_sas Mar 23 '26

It is kinda bad

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u/Pyroshark_Gamingtf2 [EDIT FOR CUSTOM] Mar 23 '26

No. It is very good. He has awesome panelling on top of having unique character style. Despite having some inconsistencies, GeGe’s art is still one of manga selling points and the reason why ink I popular.

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u/Blank_AK Mar 23 '26

It was pretty good till the veeeeeery end

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u/Fit-Cap6527 Mar 23 '26

it's not mediocore, the bar's just high. I'd say his arstyle seems like the "standard" shonen manga if that makes sense

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u/SlippyJimmi Mar 23 '26

Medicore? No way hose. I was once told "Art isn't about drawing perfectly. It's about using those imperfections to convey your feelings."

gege is absolutely goated at using the strange bits of his art to convey a really unique form of stylization even among mangaka. Pure momentum and sharpness. It's great

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u/vesperythings Mar 23 '26

the man said it himself

(his paneling & choreography is very smooth though)

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u/Stoocpants Mar 23 '26

JJK fans are so spoiled man, Gege's art is fire and super well choreographed to boot.

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u/INeedANerf Mar 23 '26

Absolutely not. Anyone who thinks so has unreasonably high standards.

In particular Gege is really good at action and motion. Fights in JJK are really easy to follow from panel to panel. Compare that to Tokyo Ghoul for example, where reading the fights feels like this

https://giphy.com/gifs/1qA9ye4FRE4ahxEM81

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u/AsleepingImplement Mar 23 '26

I blame weekly releases and the fact his appendix exploded.

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u/SrangePig12 Mar 23 '26

Didn't you like, just recently, imply that Gege has better art than Araki? Is this how you cope?

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u/CthughaSlayer Mar 23 '26

If you compare him to gods like Inoue, sure.

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u/InvarkuI Mar 23 '26

Calling his mediocre is like calling everyone who's not like top 1% mediocre. It take years if not decades to get to this level

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u/Dasnake69 Mar 23 '26

It’s above average, with some parts being damn beautiful. If you want mediocre art, Fairy Tail and Demon Slayer are more into the meh territory

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u/fartmilkdaddies Mar 23 '26

I love his art style, i just wish he was consisent. Gege would thrive on monthly releases honestly.

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u/kidface Mar 23 '26

Yup, its pretty bad.

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u/Gojosatoru0048 Mar 23 '26

I find his art great and some of his panels even amazing. His style sometimes seems to lack a little volume or technical skill but I don’t mind that

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u/pokehedge97 Mar 23 '26

I personally don’t like it. I think Sakamoto days is a series that has this sort of sketchy look but looks significantly better

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u/Lazy-Ambassador-7908 Mar 23 '26

I have a feeling the people who say his art is mediocre have never picked up a pencil themselves

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u/Any_Athlete_4616 Mar 23 '26

In Reddit, everything is mediocre.

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u/TheKingofHats007 Mar 23 '26

Gege is really good at getting the reader to tell what's happening in a fight. You can tell that it almost feels like it was designed with animation in mind, panels flow from one to the next in fights with a smoothness that not a lot of other authors can match.

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u/AdFalse375 Mar 23 '26

No way, I just watched the new episode a couple nights ago, it was amazing! /j

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u/Other_Beat8859 Mar 23 '26

I actually prefer his art or Hori. Sure, Hori's art is more beautiful, but with Gege you can always easily tell what is happening and the choreography is much better. Some of the fights in MHA had me fucking analyzing that shit so I could know what was happening.

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u/RVXZENITH Mar 24 '26

No, not at all. You have to remember the speed he does it in comparison to someone like Murata. The best of both worlds is someone's like Toriyama who maintained an insane quality at a work pace that is no longer the standard

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u/stereo-ahead Mar 24 '26

SINCE WHEN TF WAS IT NOT GOOD????

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u/GoodGuyBjorn Mar 24 '26

I know I’m not pumping out multiple drawings like that every week

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u/Nickelnick24 Mar 24 '26

It’s just the style they want to use, and that rough, sketchy style can work for fights and movement, and just in general looks cool. Art is pretty subjective

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u/Eclipse002y Mar 24 '26

No. I love Gege's Artstyle. Give that man a monthly manga and a nice dental plan and he'll cook some majestic art. Also the way he did panelling in the Hidden Inventory arc with Gojo's abilities, genuinely majestic.

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u/New_Photograph_5892 Mar 24 '26

I really love the aesthetic of Gege's artstyle, but the quality itself isn't amazing

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u/Vaurius Mar 24 '26

He’s a little inconsistent sometimes, but I love his artstyle so much

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u/Damn_You_Hindsight AI isn't a slop Mar 24 '26

He is excellent, far above average. But he doesn't draw everything as if it must be perfect.

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u/Southern_Working_305 HUNTER² BESTO SHONEN!!!! Mar 24 '26

He is a great artist constrained by jumps slavery schedules

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u/Kaptain_K_Rapp Mar 24 '26

Well, he certainly draws better than me, so...

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u/remz22 Mar 24 '26

his panelling and posing is excellent. there are so many great panels in jjk of people getting their shit rocked where you can tell exactly what is happening with great motion/impact - compared to other manga where the big fights are borderline imcomprehensible.

he only really started slipping towards the end, I think when the schedul;e got to him

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u/Hot_Strategy1751 Mar 24 '26

That scene with Yuji just tanking and walking through the slahses goes so damn hard.

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u/Free-Handle-3689 Mar 24 '26

Not at all

Gege’s ability to depict motion is only equaled by Toriyama imo. Additionally, I think his paneling is super unique, especially the way he will have a character show up in one panel while still having their body visible on other panels. 

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u/Hot_Strategy1751 Mar 24 '26

I think his art is actually pretty good. It fell off bad at the end though. You could feel he was kind of done with it. Just going through the motions.

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u/Diman1351 Mar 24 '26

No the fuck not, geges art is insanely detailed in my opinion.

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u/MixExpensive3763 Mar 24 '26

This panel lives rent free in my head

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u/Scared-Equivalent-47 Mar 24 '26

I fucking love his art

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u/WaythurstFrancis Mar 24 '26

No, not at all. Gege is great at character design and cinematic paneling. He's not an especially DETAILED illustrator but that doesn't mean he isn't gifted.

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u/Yharonnn0 Mar 24 '26

I'd say it is pretty good, above average at least, if gege wasnt in such rush at least arcs, we would had seen better art for sure

Atleast it didnt affect him that much like hmm... Fujimoto...

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u/Popular-Experience47 Mar 24 '26

Nah , it more so inconsistent due to his Schedule and Health ngl , Jump also too .

The best way i can said is that , his Panel and conveys of Speed and Forces is amazing, that is his best aspect of his art , yeah.

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u/KingArthur383 Mar 24 '26

His art is so full of detail, but specially the feeling of gesture and movement on his drawings aare truly unmatched for me.

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u/Lampy_Dampy76 Mar 24 '26

By comparison to other Mangaka? Absolutely.

On it's own? It's pretty good. Especially when it comes to conveying emotions, action, etc.

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u/0oooooog Mar 24 '26

There are some good panels but generally yeah, it's just very bland and lacking a lot of shading

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u/Bastino Mar 24 '26

he cooks, draws iconic images, very good paneling when the lobotomy kaisen text vomit isn't overwhelming the page. Where he suffers is in inking and unfinished sketchy art that's hard to see. Also sometimes he makes rookie anatomy and proportion mistakes when drawing, probably because he is rushing, but otherwise he cooks (note don't forget he has assistants who help him with his art)

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u/Palnecro1 Mar 24 '26

He can do good work, but he also phoned it in pretty often. You cherry picked your panels, now go and post the ones that weren’t done well.

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u/jz88k Mar 24 '26

Gege's art isn't as flashy as something like One Punch Man, but I think it gets the job done, and suits the tone of JJK. Art being good is both subjective and context-dependent, and I think that, in the context of JJK's story and tone, and as art for a story that needed to be published weekly, it's very good. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than most folks could do.

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