With his classmates, Yuji exorcises Curses while trying to honor his grandfather's legacy and save others unconditionally so that when he is executed after eating all twenty fingers, he will not be alone in his death.

His family name, Itadori, comes from Japanese knotweed, or Fallopia japonica which is used in traditional medicine to take away pain which represents Yuji's caring interior.

[1] Akutami has stated if he were to identify Yuji's theme music it would be "Heart ni Hi wo Tsukete" by 9mm Parabellum Bullet and "Itsuka Dokoka De" by Kuchiroro, songs that combine heavy metal with chill jazz.

Akutami wished for Yuji to be a more popular character, leading to a change of pace after several consecutive battles and be more involved in a chapter about love interests.

According to Akutami in 2021, the end of Yuji's character arc has already been planned in advance with it set to finish within the next two years, though Sukuna's finale is up in air.

[13] In the finale of the anime's second season, Yuji was given a new scene not present in the manga where he performs an ippon-jime, a Japanese sign of moving the hands in symbolism of the series continuing.

[16] For the second season, Enoki cited Yuji's mental breakdown upon seeing Sukuna's chaos as important as he had yell as the character did while crying and throwing up.

[18] Yuji first appears in Jujutsu Kaisen as an eccentric 15-year-old who lives with his grandfather Wasuke and is a member of his high school's Occult Club.

On the day of his grandfather's death, Yuji is approached by first-year Jujutsu Sorcerer Megumi Fushiguro, who inquires about one of Sukuna's fingers that the occult club illicitly obtained.

Alongside Todo, he and the other Jujutsu students and staff repel an invasion of the school by Mahito and Hanami, a Cursed Spirit who is environmentally conscious.

He and Nobara kill them, though Yuji expresses regret when he realizes they have physical bodies and that he disrupted their tight-knit brotherly bond.

In October of the same year, Yuji is sent to Shibuya when Mahito and the Cursed Spirits lay one final siege on the Jujutsu Sorcerers of Japan.

Yuta fakes Yuji's death as requested by Gojo and joins him and other sorcerrs to participate in Kenjaku's Culling Games.

Yuji also gained blood manipulation after consuming the remaining cursed wombs and opened a domain expansion in complete shape.

[20] Writing for Polygon, Chingy Nea initially stated to finding Yuji to be "a typical shōnen hero meant to appeal to young boys...He’s earnest and goofy like Naruto, incredibly self-sacrificing like Midoriya from My Hero Academia" but went on to acknowledge how "whereas the prototypical shōnen protagonist’s function is to change the world...[Jujutsu Kaisen] attempts to reconcile the ideals of its genre with the crushing nature of modern life...this affects Itadori.

"[21] The character was also compared to Bleach's protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki due to their parallels especially in his early appearances; such as being young fighters who develop supernatural powers as well as evil alter-egos in order to protect people from giant monsters.

[22] Comic Book Resources compared Itadori's temptation to use Sukuna similar to other shōnen heroes such as Ichigo's Hollow persona as an analysis of how everybody has inner conflicts.

[23] Karen Lu, writing from Yale University, also took note of the way Yuji bent stereotypes about a young, male anime protagonist.

She said that "instead of the protagonist bull-headedly persevering through the impossible and ignoring the advice of his friends, Yuji realizes very early on that he cannot save everyone" and commended the way the anime and manga demonstrate that "he actually has to get stronger and suffer death," concluding with the thought that "it’s inspiring yet sobering.

"[24] Other positive reception has been directed at how Yuji "openly takes on a huge responsibility and sacrifices his own safety to save his friends" and how his interactions with them "overflows with fun energy.

"[26] When the prequel Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was released, critics often compared Yuji Itadori to his predecessor, the protagonist Yuta Okkotsu.

[30] Sportskeeda came to regard Yuta as a more compelling protagonist than Yuji based on his likable personality as well as his fighting style which he manages to control on his own.

[31] James Beckett from Anime News Network and IGN criticized Yuji's role in the second season for coming across as a weak main character as most of the narrative relied on an assemble cast who kept dying or getting several wounds at the same time he fights.

[32][33] Anime News Network critcized how Nanami and especially Nobara's fates appear to be close to the trope of a "women in refrigerators" to shock Yuji's character.

[35] Comic Book Resources found it ridiculous that Yuji could defeat Sukuna on his own based on how Akutami handled the powers of his characters in the Shinjuku arc.