What Is “OPP” in ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’? Meaning Explained!!

Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga has been published since March 5, 2018, and is still ongoing, with a total of 24 volumes as of the time of writing this article. The manga became a global phenomenon, and the ongoing anime has quickly become one of the most popular in the history of the genre. But, while most fans follow the series because of the characters and the plot, the manga also provided us with a proper pop-culture reference in Chapter 32, which was adapted in Episode 14 of the anime. The “OPP” pose was seen in the series, and in this article, we are going to explain it to you.

The phrase “OPP” followed by a trademark pose has been taken from the comedy routine of Yoshio Kojima, a famous Japanese comedian. During his performances, he always says the “はい、おっぱっぴー oppappi” phrase and then does the trademark pose which made the concept famous. “OPP” stands for “Ocean-Pacific-Peace” and means “Peace to the Pacific Ocean.”

The rest of this article will focus on the “OPP” phrase seen in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga and anime, as done by Itadori and Gojo. This is a famous moment from Japanese pop culture, and we have decided to explain the whole concept to you in this article so you can get a full grasp on what happened in the series and how it is related to the original concept seen, as we’ve said, in the comedy routine of Yoshio Kojima, a famous Japanese comedian.

“OPP” means “Peace to the Pacific Ocean”

In Chapter 32 of the original Jujutsu Kaisen manga, titled “Introspection” and published on October 22, 2018, for the first time (now part of Volume 4 of the manga), Itadori and Gojo do a special performance. This scene was included in the Jujutsu Sanpo omake segment of Episode 14 of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime series, titled “Kyoto Sister School Goodwill Event – Team Battle, Part 0”, which premiered on January 16, 2021, in Japan.

As you can see, Itadori and Gojo did a specific pose in this chapter and episode while uttering the phrase “OPP”, or “はい、おっぱっぴー oppappi” in Japanese. This is something that most Western fans will not know, but Japanese fans probably did understand the reference. The phrase “OPP” stands for “Ocean-Pacific-Peace”, and means “Peace to the Pacific Ocean”.

The message itself is clear – pacificism and no war in the Pacific, which has always been a very turbulent region in that aspect due to China, Japan, the United States, and Russia constantly having political tensions between them. But, while the message is more than clear, it is unclear why this would appear in Jujutsu Kaisen? Well, as Japanese fans will probably know, the “はい、おっぱっぴー oppappi” routine is actually part of a comedy routine by Japanese comedian Yoshio Kojima, and it seems that Gege Akutami is a fan of the comedian as well.

We have deduced this because it is uncommon to see such references in manga and anime series, which often focus on cultural and historical references rather than those stemming from contemporary Japanese popular culture. This is why we assume that Akutami himself is a fan of Kojima and that he actually shares his views on the issue.

Kojima himself was quite pleased with this reference. After Episode 14 aired, he posted a video of himself doing the pose in Speedos while at the same time imitating Itadori. He also thanked Akutami for the reference, obviously being proud because of everything that had happened. This also shows that this was a very surprising reference, i.e., as we have said, something that is neither common nor usual in the world of anime and manga. It was also a nice hommage to Japanese popular culture.

As for the characters themselves, knowing how quirky both Itadori and Gojo are, this pose and phrase made absolute sense, and they did not seem like the odd ones out, neither in the manga nor in the anime. This is, in fact, exactly what both Gojo and Itadori would do, so Akutami did a good thing here in more ways than one.

We understand that fans from the West, whether you’ve read the manga or seen the anime, were left clueless as to the actual meaning of the phrase. This is really something that is almost exclusively Japanese, and we assume that not even all the Japanese fans understood it immediately, but most probably did.

That is why we have decided to write this article and explain everything. We hope that we’ve cleared everything up for you and that both the meaning of this scene and its context are not completely clear, and that there are no issues related to the “OPP” phrase in Jujutsu Kaisen anymore.