Of all the big new age shounen battle series, few have been compared to one another more than Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen. The comparison’s have even reached the ears of both series’ mangaka, who openly admit to being fans of each other’s work.
One point of comparison is the two series’ main threats/power systems; devils and curses. The two can seem similar on the surface, as both are based around beings created from human emotions, and each series’ main protagonist is sharing a body with one of these beings (Yuji with the curse Sukuna and Denji with the chainsaw devil, Pochita). However, there are some significant differences that set them apart.
What Is A Curse?
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The main source of supernatural activity in Jujutsu Kaisen is the phenomenon of cursed energy. At the most basic level, curses are supernatural effects caused by some kind of malice or ill will. Cursed spirits themselves are beings born of cursed energy. The odds are, if a place or thing is the object of enough negative emotions, a curse will likely manifest around it. For example, schools are often in danger of spawning curses due to the negative emotions of students being pooled together. Cities are also stated to have more powerful and intelligent curses, as the level of negative emotion in them is much more dense due to the higher population.
There are even curses born from fear, including Mahito who was born from human’s fear of each other, and Hanami who was born from man's fear of nature. As these are rather strong and common fears, the curses are consequently very powerful.
Jujutsu Sorcerers are people who can harness cursed energy for their own ends, and are imbued with innate, unchangeable abilities from birth. They often use these abilities to eliminate curses via exorcism, but curses can always be revived by the same feelings that spawned them. If a jujutsu sorcerer isn’t killed with cursed energy, they can even become curses themselves via their negative emotions.
What Is A Devil?
On the other side of this comparison, devils are very similar to the specific category of curse that Mahito and Jogo fall into. They are formed directly from humanity’s fear of anything. It could be the fear of bats, swords, eternity, or even darkness. Even things humans don’t fear a lot like sea cucumbers and tomatoes have corresponding devils. However, the amount of fear directed at them does increase their power, meaning something like the Tomato Devil is extremely weak.
Since there can only be one devil of any given fear, killing that devil in any way will send it back to hell. The only way for it to then return is to be killed again in hell, meaning that most devils are in an ongoing cycle of reincarnation.
Devils are also able to make contracts with humans, trading some of their abilities for something belonging to the human in question. For example, the devil hunter Aki trades a small part of his skin every time he uses the Fox Devil’s powers. Meanwhile, Denji was able to have his heart replaced by Pochita on the condition that he accomplished his dreams for Pochita to see.
How The Differences Manifest
It might already be clear how different these two systems actually are. For one, in JJK, humanity has the benefit of having jujutsu sorcerers, even though they are rather rare. This means they have a built-in way to combat curses, and destroy them semi-permanently if not permanently. In CM, however, humans have no special abilities to combat devils with, meaning they are forced to make contracts with devils in order to stand a chance, ultimately putting them at the whim of the devils.
This small dynamic change means JJK gets to address family lineages, martial arts, destiny etc since its power system has a long and studied history and is largely controllable by humans. CM on the other hand, is tilted more towards personal narratives and self-sacrifice, as even the strongest devil hunters are regularly chipping away at themselves, leaving no time to build traditions or pass down techniques.
Curses tend to be much more plentiful than devils since they can be created in so many more ways. They’re also much more unpredictable. While one can roughly assume the abilities of a devil based on its name, any given cursed spirit could have nearly anything up its sleeve.
CM also ends up being even darker than JJK, as not only are its characters constantly sacrificing themselves for a fighting chance, but since the devils are known to everyone, average people do not even have the luxury of ignorance. Everyone knows that a devil could appear at any moment and end their lives in a mindless rampage. This issue is even one of the bigger plot points in Chainsaw Man part 2.