With JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 3 Part 1 entering the Culling Game arc, the series introduced a new ending theme song, “Yoake no Uta,” performed by jo0ji. A longtime fan of the series, jo0ji approached the song by placing Yuji Itadori’s emotional turmoil at its center, creating a track that reflects “the instability of someone who must keep fighting even when both body and mind are exhausted.”
In this interview, jo0ji discusses the moment in the manga that inspired the song, the challenge of structuring it around the anime’s 90-second ending version, and how seeing the final animation changed his understanding of the music. Check out the song below, and read on for the full interview.
Q: You’ve followed JUJUTSU KAISEN since the beginning. During the Culling Game arc, before you knew you’d ever be writing music for it, was there a moment that hit you differently as a reader?
A: There’s a scene where Uro Takako says to Yuta Okkotsu,
“You don’t need to become anyone. People who say that are always those who have already become someone.”
When I heard that line, I realized that the message I had often expressed in my songs, “you don’t need to become someone,” could also be interpreted in a different way. That realization became the starting point for writing “Yoake no uta.”
Q: That arc is structurally unlike anything that came before it in the series. It fractures into simultaneous battlefronts across multiple locations, with characters fighting separately and in parallel. Did that fragmentation influence how you built “Yoake no Uta,” or did you consciously narrow the focus to a single emotional throughline?
A: I began writing this song with Yuji Itadori’s anguish as the core theme.
Throughout the process, I found myself overlapping my own emotions with his, especially the parts where both he and I feel weighed down or mentally overwhelmed.
Even though the arc itself is fragmented across many battlefronts, I chose not to follow that structure musically. Instead, I narrowed the focus to a single emotional throughline: the struggle and the desire to break free from that pain.
The melody has two contrasting sides, one extremely dark and the other refreshing, reflecting the instability of someone who must keep fighting even when both body and mind are exhausted.
The lyrics also move through three stages: a monologue, a confession, and finally a sense of determination, finding a small light at the end.
Q: What was the biggest creative challenge when composing the song?
A: Since I had to create the 90-second anime version first, the biggest challenge was how to create the dynamics of the full version’s ending.
The chorus used in the anime is actually the first chorus in the full version. I added orchestral sounds there, so I had to experiment a lot to figure out how to make the final section even bigger musically.
Q: The church-like organ texture is one of the most distinctive sonic choices in the arrangement. Since the track was arranged collaboratively, how did that sound take shape during production
A: During a meeting with director Shota Goshozono, the very first key visual he showed me featured stained glass. That image inspired me to include an organ in the arrangement.
©Gege Akutami/Shueisha/JUJUTSU KAISEN Project
Q: When you first saw the completed ending animation paired with your song, did any specific imagery shift your understanding of what you had written?
A: It felt as if Yuji Itadori was reflecting on his entire life up to that point. Seeing that made me feel that the song had become even more Yuji’s own.
Q: Your upcoming Zepp tour is titled “Yoake Mae,” which means “Before Dawn,” placing it in the precise moment before your song begins. Is that an intentional dialogue between the two?
A: Before performing live, I didn’t know how songs would really feel when played on stage. Learning which songs work well live has helped my songwriting.
The title of this tour, Yoakemae (“Before Dawn”), is meant to mirror the struggles I went through while creating “Yoake no uta,” and also my own journey in music.
You can listen to “Yoake no Uta,” the ending theme for JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 3 Part 1, at the following link: https://jujutsukaisen.lnk.to/digital-physical. The link also includes the opening theme “AIZO” by King Gnu as well as the physical release of their album AIZO, currently available for pre-orders.
We would like to thank jo0ji for taking the time to share his thoughts on creating “Yoake no Uta,” as well as Sony Masterworks France and More To Come for helping make this interview possible.
Featured jo0ji image © photo by KIZEN
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