The rumor regarding Shota Goshozono, or “Gosso,” as his fans refer to him, possibly leaving the Jujutsu Kaisen series has become one of the biggest talking points within the anime world as of February 16, 2026. While there is no official word from any of the parties involved, there are various prominent leakers who are all talking about the same story, that this is possibly a strategic move.
The “Single Cour” contract theory
The theory that Goshozono was hired to work on the third season of the Jujutsu Kaisen series, or “The Culling Game Part 1,” consisting of 13 episodes, is becoming increasingly popular among the “leakers.” If this is indeed true, then it means that the leaving of Goshozono is merely the end of his contract.
The basis for this theory is that the amount of work that Goshozono handled was enormous. One of the bases for this theory is that Goshozono is said to have storyboarded all of the episodes in “The Culling Game Part 1.” This is a tremendous amount of work that is unprecedented for an anime director.
The most interesting piece of information that the “leakers” are revealing is that Goshozono is possibly moving to Europe. Although there are speculations that he might be working at Illumination Studios Paris, there are also speculations that he might be working at Fortiche Production, the creators of Arcane.
It is not impossible that this is the case since the style of direction, cinematography, and lighting that Goshozono utilizes is similar to the hybrid 2D/3D style that Fortiche Production is famous for producing. This would be a continuation of the current trend of the best of Japan’s creators working hand-in-hand with the best of the West, who are willing to give better working conditions.
The attention has now turned to Culling Game Part 2, where the compromise would be that Goshozono would stay on as “Chief Director” while an assistant, such as Yosuke Takada, would handle the production.
There are also speculations that the anime would be handled by J.C. Staff instead of MAPPA. This would not be possible since the investment in the anime would be handled by MAPPA. Adding more fuel to the speculations is the fact that Chief Animation Director Hiromi Niwa revealed that Episode 8 would be released on February 26 and would be a “benchmark for the industry.” This would be Goshozono’s “mic drop” moment.
