#jjk theory

[angelsyrip]

according to Japanese lip readers, his last words were "koishiteru ne, ryoukai," which is primarily used to express the deepest form of love. interestingly, Japanese people believe that this word shouldn't be used directly in manga, novels, or any form of media, as it would diminish the meaning of this beautiful term. this word is reserved for private use and is meant to convey a profound love, like "wanting to spend each and every breath with you" type of love. which makes sense why we never get to hear Gojo's last words to Geto.

[jujutsusimp]

So I finally could look at the actual panels of chapter 261 (still lying on my own pool of tears don't mind me).

Yuta holding all of this on his shoulders just crushed my soul even more, even if I knew what was going to happen, seeing it was clearly something else.

A couple things on my mind:

1) YUTA'S BODY

I FEEL SO SICK HE LOST AN ARM SO HE IS APOLOGIZING TO RIKA BECAUSE ENGAGEMENT RING ARE TRADITIONALLY ON LEFT HAND AND NOT ON RIGHT HAND

OH GEGE, IF I CATCH YOU GEGE 😰

Also seeing the sorry state of Yuta's body, can he ever get back into it??? Like I imagine he can take it back if he uses Kenjaku techniques on himself (and it's a one time activation) but would the body be in a good enough state to be used............. I feel like Yuta is either doomed to die if Kenjaku is not a one time activation, or to be trapped in Gojo's body (or another dead body which is not his.) In any case it's going to be horrible and I am already suffering, Yuta clearly didn't deserve such a gruesome fate...

2) THE GRUESOME ROOM

I was wondering wtf this room was at first, it took me some time (and the English translation because the French one was weird) to understand it was the room where the higher ups are.

So............. Gojo's students were just standing behind the door while he was wiping them out to make sure they wouldn't try to come after them if he died like they did in Shibuya... I am so sick... (Also still surprised at how Gojo manages to trust Gakuganji so much after he killed Yaga...)

3) Gojo didn't want his body to be used

He didn't say yes. He didn't say no either.. He dismissed it saying it was impossible for him to lose (while he was on his way making sure that if he did they wouldn't get into trouble... So the possibility he lost really was in his mind at this moment.). Of course he would never say no, if it's the only way to save the world and his students how could he say no... but yeah, it fucks me up so much that he didn't agree to this. Like it makes the profanation even worse somehow... (This is not to blame Yuta at all, Yuta is the one suffering the most from all of this and has valid reasons too, it's just another layer of fucking tragedy.)

IN CONCLUSION

Any spark of joy has now left my body, I think I will take a SMAU break next week because I can't see myself doing fluff right now. I will just eat ice cream and watches the most heartwarming animes known to mankind (please send recs) to recover.

[voidvanityfair]

This meme was a great opportunity to get (a quarter of) my character analysis down

[reinersprozacbottle]

Ok so about my questions about Jin Itadori…

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Most of them remain unanswered but I went back to some old manga scans and I realized that I went through them WAY too quickly omg

Like this man KNEW laaaawd he knew that was not his wife. You’re gonna tell me this sweet looking man basically messed with his partner’s dead-🤚🏾🤚🏾🤚🏾 alright. I can’t do this rn. Now we just need to find out if the binding vow theory is true or not.

What do you guys think? 😭😭

Edit: Also I bet what gramps was about to say is that her death was NOT accidental

[hermitw]

Idk if there is anything to this or if I'm overthinking,,,

But Hakari's face here feels a lot like Sukuna. It's more than the slit eyebrow, it's the same kind of expression, angle, and edgy unserious thing to say.

Hakari looking like a flame and crushing metal to look similar to malevolent shrine.

This all might be a reach BUT I'm wondering if this is meant to show us things about Sukuna's character -

Like the way that Kashimo gives us insight into feral Gojo logic (it isn't about Gojo surviving, it's about Gojo having the opportunity to fight Sukuna all by himself, for example - no one else understood this).

Or the way Uro's bit of backstory can give us an idea of what happened to Sukuna - on that note, Jujutsu Kaisen seems to be about how the strongest are always put on a leash, or put to death.

Back to Hakari - he just wanted to be left alone, and do his own thing - with Kirara by his side, with her technique that keeps anyone from jujutsu society away.

This is interesting bc Sukuna, who just wants to chill in gardens with poetry, has Uraume - who tries to distance sorcerers from bothering Sukuna, and at least stand between Sukuna and Kenjaku.

We know now that Uraume's deal with Kenjaku included being reincarnated as a woman. I think Uraume found that they'd still be nonbinary, regardless of circumstances, but Still we have Uraume and Kirara who are trans and protective of Hakari and Sukuna.

There's also the way that Sukuna and Hakari's RCT are on a different level from anyone else. Both of them have been seriously injured, like Hakari choosing to lose a foot bc he can just grow it back (gotta find the shoe though) and Sukuna, ripping out their own heart bc they can live without one.

RCT also comes naturally to them - Sukuna healing Yuuji's hand by accident, Hakari's RCT occurring without effort due to his domain.

Back to this page - Kashimo looks like Gojo, and is somewhat of a mirror to Gojo... So it looks like Gojo vs Sukuna to some extent, right? Am I just brainrotted idk

And the way Kashimo matches Hakari's freak, despite the way Panda looks.... It's them I swear

..... And Sukuna calling Gojo a fish with no name... While Kashimo is the name of the Vessel and we don't know what they were called hundreds of years ago (I think Kashimo and Uraume reincarnated similarly, but the point is Kashimo reflecting Gojo)

[sukunacleavedforeskin]

Gojo's six eyes :

1. Six Eyes in Buddhism & Esoteric Practices and how Gojo might be using it : 

The six eyes is a powerful technique of the Gojo  clan and after  a 100 years Gojo Satoru inherited it. Since this is going to be a bit of long post, I am directly jumping into the content.Remind ya that this is just a theory of mine surrounding the mythology and I have divided this into two: A and B.

GeGe seemed to be very inspired by buddhist and hindu mythology and philosophy. Buddhism talks about multiple eyes as some "divine" vision or sometimes even as "cursed" (like the demons depicted  in folkfore or even sukuna who also has multiple eyes but considered cursed) but given it's Gojo and it was a powerful and inheritable rare technique of that clan,it could be seen divine and godly. In Buddhism the six eyes can be used to see different realms,past, present and future and even through other dimensions.

A. The "Divine Vision" of Six Eyes

In Buddhism, multiple eyes often symbolize enhanced perception, wisdom, and supernatural insight. The concept of six eyes could relate to:

Heavenly Eye (天眼, Tengan) → Sees past, present, and future. Idk if this applies to Gojo,I am on a 50 50,if Gojo could see the past , present and even future,he must have been able to see what  Geto  will become and stop it,or atleast see Sukuna's plans with Megumi or even Nanami's death. But at the same time I think he uses to see the past,in S2 we see Gojo waking up with eyebags and it goes to his past with Geto and their mission to find and bring the star plasma vessel safely,So I think he uses it to see his past and we were actually seeing those from Gojo's perspective.

Wisdom Eye (慧眼, Eigan) → Sees the true nature of reality. I believe this eye could be the main reason that Gojo seemed  "very matured" in his childhood,seeing the reality of world,seeing through the souls,both the malevolent and benevolent,seeing through the trickeries and people's intentions combined with the active threats from curse users and isolation from own parents and peers,could have made him a being with no childhood innocence,cause he literally saw the reality of the world at the first day he came into the world and there is probably no innocence to lose for him.

Dharma Eye (��眼, Hōgan) → Understands Buddhist teachings deeply. As this says, it's for spiritual learning purpose. To understand buddhist teachings,texts about sorcery, cursed techniques etc.

Buddha Eye (仏眼, Butsugan) → The highest form of enlightenment.Maybe he opened this eye in his enlightenment moment? (Idk,if any of you'll have any theories,pls comment).

Fleshly Eye (���眼, Nikugan) → A normal eyes like us,with this eyes he probably sees the surrounding like us.

Demonic Eye (魔眼, Magan) → The ability to see spirits, curses, and hidden forces. With this eye, Gojo can see curses,spirits,cursed techniques and even cursed energy flowing from any object or person.

Or Having six eyes could be a metaphor for a being that can see through all illusions, including spiritual realms, karma, and fate,but I am still confused and I can't find anything in jjk supporting the next one but I just wanna share:

B. Six Eyes & The Six Realms of Existence

The Six Realms of Rebirth (六道, Rokudō) in Buddhist cosmology:

1. Deva (Heavenly beings) Realm – Gods, demigods, celestial beings.

2. Asura (Demigod) Realm – Warlike spirits, beings of arrogance and jealousy.

3. Human Realm – The world of humans, where enlightenment is possible.

4. Animal Realm – Beings driven by instinct and suffering.

5. Preta (Hungry Ghost) Realm – Spirits suffering from unquenchable desires.

6. Naraka (Hell) Realm – A place where sinners suffer extreme punishments.

A six-eyed being may be able to see into all six realms, understanding karma, spirits, and curses. This would make them feared as an exorcist, oracle, or demon. If Gojo could see all this realms at the same time,no wonder it could be exhausting for him and he prefers to use a blindfold.

So that's all I could collect for six eyes,I slightly lean towards the first theory but maybe I would make a part 2,for the latter theory I said.

I am getting obsessed with these Chibi figures 😭😭😭

[lev1hei1chou]

Why i believe Gojo could come back

This chapter left us in a devastated state and was absolutely uncalled for, but I personally believe this isnt the end of the strongest sorcerer. There are several reasons as to why (These are just opinions, I could be wrong in certain areas AND personal feelings might make an occassional appearance.)

LEAKS:

This whole panel was obviously made for a reason. And we dont see gojo making a decision. Considering the fact that this is literally THE Gojo Satoru, he's more likely to choose north since there's numerous things left as plot holes. We'll get to that.

Here in this page, he mentions that Toji should've cut his head off to actually kill him. In the leaks, whats cut off is his upper body but not the head! I still can't quite wrap my head around RCT but lets say he's not able to heal himself. You know who can and who would? Yuta and Shoko

Now moving on

"Gojo then bids farewell to everyone." If hes truly gone then why would he be bidding farewell to the fallen comrades? If he's dead then isn't he supposed to stay in the afterlife with them?

Pretty self explanatory

What if Kashimo is going in to distract Sukuna while Shoko and Yuta can heal Gojo?

Now think about this. Gojo is gone, Shoko doesnt fight and who are all left? A bunch of sorcerers who are literally under 20, need guidance and we havent really seen any panel where they actually plan how they're going to go about in the whole battle. Gojo isnt a want, hes a NEED, a NECESSITY.

Remember, Toji who was dead long ago pretty much appeared out of nowhere in Shibuya Arc LMAO so- yes

WHAT IS THIS EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN

Theres no way Gojo would be left sealed for 3 whole years, brought him back just to kill him off in the most disrespectful way possible.

Besides, things that Gojo wanted to do haven't happened yet.

He wanted to tell megumi about his father

He wanted to see his students surpass the strongest sorcerer, aka him

He wanted to get rid of the higher ups

He wanted to properly mourn suguru (for which kenjaku has to be defeated but oh well)

He wanted to save Megumi

How'd we know what Gojo said here.

On to the other aspects of why killing off Gojo was a bad idea. We barely ever saw what happened to him, and an off screen death to the so called strongest sorcerer is just senseless. Gojo is a fan favourite. People started watching the show for Gojo (myself included) and there's a high possibility of multiple people dropping the manga since he isn't even there anymore.

The ending could take a turn for the worse considering the fact that Sukuna is just overpowered and Kenjaku hasn't done anything as of now. Unless there's some heavy plot armor I dont think the students even stand a chance against Sukuna and Kenjaku. Both outcomes- the students and others emerging as victors or sukuna emerging as a victor could make the ending absolutely terrible and this might as well top AOT for being the manga with the most disliked ending.

Gojo Satoru is the mentor for multiple; for Yuji, Nobara, Megumi, Yuta, Maki, Panda, Toge and the third years and its necessary for them to have someone to teach them. It is one of Satoru's wishes to see his students surpass him, which can happen only when he's there since there's nobody else who is actually capable of teaching them and leading them into the world as actual graduated sorcerers.

So Gojo dying will make the manga take a turn for the worse. Killing him off in the middle makes absolutely no sense and is just plain bad writing. People are prolly gonna kill me for this but lets admit the truth. Hyping this battle, building up tension just to finish him off screen is NOT good writing.

Anyways. There is factual proof of Gojo potentially making a return. Maybe at a cost, like him losing his power, losing his "strongest" title or anything else. He may not even be the same anymore but honestly as long as he's back, I'm fine.

It happened previously, and could happen again.

Satoru Gojo may not be the strongest and the honoured one, but may be reborn as a newer version of himself after getting humbled. Lotuses, as mentioned above symbolise rebirth, which is why i believe this is not the end.

A small bit of advice for gojo fans: Go watch haikyuu or highschool babysitters as a form of self care <3

[hashtagloveloses]

a lot of people are saying that narratively it would be anticlimactic if it isn’t gojo who defeats kenjaku, bc kenny is in geto’s body. but gojo’s sealing scene airing in the anime this week reminded me of something - as far we know, kenny STILL doesn’t know much about yuta as a sorcerer. he hasn’t learned more during the culling games (as far as i remember?), so he doesn’t know (bc geto didn’t know) that yuta is a special grade on his own, and cursed rika, not the other way around.

which means when gojo before being sealed says that yuta will beat kenny, while kenny laughs it off in shibuya, i think in the end gojo will be right. obviously the final fight has to be yuji vs sukuna. and specifically yuji and megumi’s soul vs sukuna, to parallel and tie up megumi vs sukuna and yuji’s soul. but just like this story has multiple protagonists, it also has multiple villains - the person who it makes the most sense to be the final face off for kenjaku is YUTA.

1) yuta has defeated geto’s cursed techniques before.

2) narratively it would be full circle if gojo’s student and teachings defeats the ancient curse user who stole gojo’s beloved’s body. especially if gojo died before he could properly mourn geto’s body like he said he wanted. there’s also a theory that with gojo dead, yuta could copy the six eyes + limitless, but even without that, it would work.

3) the main theme of jjk is BREAKING LITERAL GENERATIONAL CURSES. if the only special grade sorcerer left alive (Yuta), trained by Gojo who mentored a new gen to operate differently and care about each other and change jujutsu society, defeats one of the most powerful curse user’s of ancient times (Kenjaku), it will be a symbolic defeat of the cycle, and of the new finally exorcising the bad of the old.

[msromanis]

I figure Kenjaku and Tengen’s backstory was pretty similar to Gojo and Geto’s. We know from manga that Kenjaku is well aquainted with Tengen. We see this in chapter 208 when Kenjaku is approached by Tengen.

After his fight with Yuki, Kenjaku goes to the Tomb of the Star. When he sees Tengen, he calls them a friend.

Both Kenjaku and Tengen are barrier users. Perhaps their role was to ensure the safety of humanity and protect jujutsu sorcerers. But at one point, some thousand or more years ago, they fell apart. Tengen was advocating buddhism ideals that are the core of jujutsu society now, while Kenjaku disagreed with the concept of exorcising curses and protecting humans from them, forcing the evolution of humankind by merging with Tengen. Their philosophies clashed and they became enemies, much like Gojo and Geto did.

Too bad this wasn’t elaborated more in the manga by Gege. It would’ve deepen the meaning of the story and add a nice parallel to it.

[wh0reforfantasy]

GOJO. AND. GETO. okay listen- I swear I could write an essay, a BOOK on how the hidden inventory/ premature death arc is honestly some of the best anime storyline I've seen.

first off- Toji was a Canon event for the both of them, Gojo having evolved from basically being killed by Toji and learning reverse technique plus hollow purple, and then Geto coming to the realization (after seeing Riko, a charm of innocence, and his best friend being killed) that all he's worked for and been prideful in- is nothing. Two different evolutions.

Geto becomes depressed and loses all meaning in his work as a jujutsu sorcerer. He then comes to the conclusion that, if there's no humans- there's no more cursed energy. No humans= all the people he cares about are safe. Getos job was to swallow and exorcize curses, in the literal sense of absorbing the evil into himself. He was eating other humans issues, making it hard for him to establish its for the greater good with each curse he consumes.

The little girls being scolded and told they were evil by the villagers... was just the final straw. Another human threat to innocent jujutsu sorcerers. That's when Geto was lost unconditionally.

By the time Gojo realized, it was simply too late. They had both evolved in different ways and they both evolved to protect each other. Downright to the end they loved each other as best friends and I believe Gojo only put Geto down because there was no controlling his vision or curing him through the mental trauma that led Geto down the path of genocide in the first place.

Gojo watched his friend slowly spiral and die, knowing there wasn't anything to be done but just to sit and wait. Wait until the day he had to take care of it. ANYWAYS- can't wait for the movie lmao.

[megashadowdragon]

tengen is sukuna's mother

It's time for me to do something. Let's start with this page, aka one of the only times we see Sukuna mention Tengen directly in the manga. We see him eating his old body, which is now a shinbutsu mummy. This state is achieved only via *extreme* fasting which will keep the body-

what's the takeaway here

We know that Sukuna should have been a twin, but was forced to eat him to survive due to starvation from his mother's womb. My theory is that Tengen is Sukuna's mother, which is exactly why he called the act of eating his old body that Tengen had conserved with her ironic

He was eating "Himself" because of her again, and not only that the "himself" in question was left in a state of extreme starvation, tying in to the first time again. Imo, this scene, is Tengen expressing desire to feel close to her son, even just by looking like him, because

-she couldn't give him even a smidge of the motherly love he should've had due to her being deeply plunged in her isolation and buddhist practices, only idly watching the world unfold, which deeply infuriates activists like Kenjaku and Tsukumo Yuki

And what Sukuna undergone before being born was akin a gu ritual, and the Culling Game is like a gu ritual too, where the strongest survives

"With this theory in mind it gives another layer of poetry to Yuji and Sukuna. Both were abnormal due to their mothers, both were too strong to relate to others, both bear the spiral of curses in their eyes yet the path they chose were fundamentally different"

[jujutsusimp]

Biggest misconceptions I had on JJK

So before I went full nerd into JJK reading the wiki and debating in the fandom, I watched the anime like a normal person and I had several misconceptions.

Recently, I was reading the JJK official characters book and it reminded me some of them so here we are!

I thought Sukuna was a Curse Spirit before becoming a relic (or more exactly a Sorcerer turned into a Curse at his death like Naoya), but nop, he was just a Curse user, aka a human... To my defense THE MAN HAS FOUR ARMS AND A BELLY MOUTH.

I thought Tsumiki was Toji's daughter (and he was an asshole for only thinking about Megumi lmao). But nop, it's Megumi's sister by alliance, she is not blood related to Toji (although, I am not sure this is explained in the manga really?)

I thought Choso and the other Cursed wombs were "asleep" during their time as relics, but we see them sort of talking in chap 259 it's dreadful. 😭 I am also wondering if Sukuna was a bit conscious during his time as a relic, as Gege says in the character's book "He is a master of killing time who spent thousand years spacing out." Like did the man really get bored stiff during all this time, no wonder he was excited to kill people again 😂

I don't know why I imagined Toji was a heavy drinker but apparently he hates alcohol because he can't get drunk. On the other hand I didn't see Nanami drinking since he is so responsible but he drinks a lot apparently. When you think about it, it's logical, salary man have a culture of drinking after work in Japan, it's just totally not a thing here so I missed it. Also, not a misconception but the fact Gojo can't hold it's liquor is hilarious and cute.

I really believe that Utahime liked Gojo and was just being a tsundere with him, but apparently she really, sincerely, hates him and I was fooled by Gojo who can't imagine someone not liking him lmao.

I tought Gege had a heart

Am I the only one? 😅 What are yours? I feel like I am missing some big ones 🤔

[voidvanityfair]

This is the entirety of my Mahito character Analysis! I have no clue how to link a document, so I’ve pasted it below. 🩵

This is not just for his fans, I would like it if even those that purely despise Mahito to read this to better understand his character.

The name Mahito means ‘true human’. People believe this to be ironic knowing that he was for a long time the centre villain and curse Alongside Kenjaku and the other disaster curses, although they cannot hold the title of ‘main villain’ when it came to standing beside Mahito.

Mahito and his knowledge on the soul:

This is not ironic at all, and my reasoning is that he is the natural nature of a human, not the sane and organised manner of the masses. He is the hatred and cruelty that each person holds. People argue that there is more good than evil in the world, but after learning about the soul itself, Mahito knows that to be untrue, each and every human is in the same form of the ‘yin and yang’. We all hold good and evil and even the kindest of souls such as Yuji can be pushed over the edge, spilling that black dot into the pureness of his being. That is what Mahito creates, he brings out the worst of the soul purely because he is the only one who can see it, he is the only one who can grasp it and understand it.

His natural enemy:

Speaking of grasping souls, Mahito seems to believe in the start of his existence that the only way he can use ‘idle transfiguration’ is by making contact with his victim. This is also untrue, and only goes to show how little he knows about humans, and in turn, himself. He could not directly touch Itadori’s soul because Sukuna would destroy him for it, so he had to circle around his plan and start from scratch. How was he to corrupt Itadori’s soul if he could not touch it? But then again, how is any human driven to detachment and pure insanity? It certainly wasn’t always by the hand of a curse, no, it was both physical and psychological. He would murder horrendously those that Yuji loved, and he would make him watch as he smiled and laughed and made it clear he enjoyed it, all to drive Yuji over the edge of his soul. He was maddening the boy without even having to touch him.

In the last episodes, Mahito feared what he had created, that being Yujis gaze. The term ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ is true in this instance, Mahito could see the detachment in his gaze and feared it. It made people wonder what he was expecting, after all he wanted this. But Yuji looked down on Mahito like he had always looked down on his own prey, and it frightened him as he would anyone, because he is that human. He is the cornered prey he so loved to destroy, he was the essence of a human and he could not comprehend it.

Bleeding theory & psychological effect:

Another human aspect of Mahito, which so many people surprisingly missed was that he bleeds red. And since he is practically never on the defensive he is bleeding in half the panels he appears in. Perhaps, in some instances that is why people seem to hate him more than they should. Artists will usually make certain things visual, like his blood, to make the viewers despise the character even more without them really realising it. So knowing that this may be the case, many would see the red blood and look at him like a human, instead of something that was born to act the way he does like a curse should. So maybe it is purely because he is not covered in that wretched purple blood that all the fandom’s other favourite curses bleed, maybe that is the psychological reasoning behind the hatred he receives.

And again the blood is a very simple symbol of his human body. His organic state is human and the essence of humanity quite literally flows through him, he cannot escape it because he would not only have to drain himself of blood, but destroy the entirety of his soul. But of course, he was too young to realise these things, and most likely never thought to question it.

Mahitos effect on viewers:

I also want to add how confused i was knowing that he his hated so distastefully, to the point where people make hour long videos of just Mahito whining and crying, and go on to attack people that find him the slightest bit interesting. I have been continuously told to ‘get therapy’ and had multiple people ghost me over even posting about him. As dramatic as these fans are, it just goes to show how insanely well written Mahito is, and they are only proving how his character is successfully portrayed as annoying and disgusting to certain people… which I will not elaborate on because i will be doxed. (People unable to understand a proper character that wasn’t written just to sit and look cool on a pile of bones for half the series, and people that cannot comprehend their favourite curse ever hurting their favourite sorcerers until it happens)

Mahito is not a curse and is unknowing to this:

This is also very subjective, but when i rewatched jujitsu Kaisen i picked up on why Yuji shouted ‘what the hell are you Mahito’. Less on the fact that this interaction was insanely good voice acting, and more on the fact that Mahito did not answer the question with ‘i am a curse’. I believe this was done purposely, since Yuji has never been confused by a curse before, and has never asked the question, not even when he killed the two crying brothers. Mahito is very obviously different to all curses, he is so human that it scared Yuji, and it made him doubt himself in each and every battle he found himself in with Mahito until he saw him weak and dying. Only then, when he ran out of cursed energy and souls did Yuji truly see that his vessel was a helpless human.

The death of Mahito (Yuji):

‘You are me’ and ‘I am you’ was not just an exchange of hatred, it was the both of them slowly coming to the realisation that the one thing they do have in common is humanity. It is almost as if they switched places, Yuji curled up and crying on the floor to Mahito sobbing and running away from him. Mahito’s merciless gaze and hunger to kill being practically given to Yuji when he went after him in the woods. It all makes sense once you realise that the key words ‘I am you’ meant so much more than his last vows of revenge, it was the tragedy which followed the loss of his youth, the kindness he had. In truth, Mahito succeeded in killing Yuji.

Character appearance:

More on his appearance: he has heterochromia eyes (two different colours) and before i say this i did look into the meanings which there were none, so this is just purely theory and my own take on his design. I think that Gege did this purposefully to mirror both curse and human. Eyes are the window to the soul and his just happen to be double paned windows. If you look at the majority of illustrated curses other than Kenjaku and Sukuna, since they have human vessels, you’ll notice that they either do not possess eyes, or they are deep reds and voided black around the iris rather than white. This very obviously symbolises their demonic nature and appearance, but Mahito does not harbour this. I believe that the blue eye is a symbol of his strings to humans, and the grey eye is his symbol to being a ‘curse’, almost like a half breed of the two. Since the grey eye has a pretty unique pattern to it, its the second thing to his stitches that gives away his vessel being a curse.

Speaking of his stitches he would quite literally be able to fool any low grade sorcerer if he did not have them all over his body. It is the one thing other than his dramatic and rather comical body alterations that makes him very deceiving. The stitches most likely symbolise how he has been put together in his birth, a symbol of humanity’s imperfection and perfection all at once. He is quite literally an “embodiment of perfection”, the perfect embodiment of humanity.

Ive seen many people refer to him as similar to Frankenstein’s monster, which is ironic since that monster was created by a human, and ended up being freakishly emotional and dangerous. On a more scientific take it is also probably to make his body looser so that he can dislocate and sever his limbs to create weapons such as his arm sword, and that one time he twisted his own head off just to dodge a punch. I don’t believe there is a theory on the design choice for his clothes, and there is certainly no excuse for the shoes he wears. And his strange leggings that seem to be stitched onto him in season 2 were probably put into his design because both Gege and the animators ran out of censoring ideas.

Fighting style:

He is constantly on the offensive, there is not one instance, really, that he is on the defensive instead. He only ever shields and shells himself within his own body when he is vulnerable to genuine damage. He is indestructible but also terribly clever. He is called a coward by fans and characters simultaneously because of how many times he’s ran away in a battle. But again, this is what makes him so clever, he knows his limits, and he is playing with humans to stretch these limits. This is what not only curses lack, but villains in general, they never run because of pride. Mahito doesn’t understand the concept of an ego, he does not let it affect him, that is why he is so dangerous. He knew when to run, even in the end.

Snow rabbit:

Mahito was portrayed as a snowy rabbit when being chased by Yuji through the woods. And even though many people are sceptical of Gege’s writing skills and probably believe he did this because a bunny is the first prey of a wolf that comes to mind, I do not believe this was done without intended symbolism. It most certainly portrays the shift in power dynamics, as I had explained earlier, they switched places in that scene which was not arguably but definitely the main turning point for Yuji. Rabbits are easily hunted, vulnerable animals, but alongside this they are one of the most loved creatures for their harmless nature. Why would Gege depict a character that finds the torture of a human entertaining, as a snowy rabbit? Would this not then cause the viewer to feel sorrow or pity on him? That was my initial idea, but with the knowledge that every Yuji fan and their mother having applauded the scene and made it their entire personality, I was proven wrong. He was vulnerable for a reason, because it’s what we had always wanted, for him to show a weakness we thought did not exist.

Mahitos overall symbolism:

It pleases us humans to watch something we despise die, especially when it is so tragically written, you can refuse this but it is true, there is pleasure in it. But this is what made Mahito more than just a character, more than simply a villain in another hero’s story. There was ‘you are me’ and ‘I am you’ but truly it all narrows down to he is us.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and if you do hate this particular character, I hope you can at least now understand why, and perhaps too why I do not.

[reinersprozacbottle]

Ya’ll I think Gege is killing the kids in the final chapter

It’s not funny and it will make me throw my phone across the room but…

[hermitw]

Ainu appearance in JJK - Sukuna, tattoos, and the Inumaki clan (and Yaga Masamichi & bears)

A bit of background before we get more into it:

The Ainu (“human” or “people”) are an indigenous people in Japan native to the regions of Hokkaidō, Northern Tōhoku, and Karafuto, among others. As part of their ancestral tradition, Ainu women had the custom of getting tattoos on their bodies, including their lips. For the Ainu, the tattoo was perceived as a symbol of beauty, a talisman and an indispensable tool to prepare their body for after death. However, the traditional tattoo was legally prohibited by the Japanese government in 1871, in an attempt to force Ainu to follow a “Japanese lifestyle”. As the result, Ainu women reduced the use of tattoos on their bodies, progressively changing their concept of beauty and losing an important part of their ancestral tradition. 

https://dajf.org.uk/event/the-meaning-of-tattoos-for-ainu-women

…the Ainu people were stripped of their land, customs, and language in hopes that they would assimilate to Japanese culture. It wasn't until 1997 that this law was lifted and the Ainu people were allowed to practice their own customs again, but by that time, much of the damage was done. 

https://www.tofugu.com/japan/ainu-japan/

I am building off of this analysis about Sukuna's tattoos which I'd read before but just recently watched the linked yt vid and I'm 

Going insane bc the Ainu tattoo process involves slicing and burning (Sukuna's CT…) 

And the style looks a lot like sukuna's... in color, thickness, geometry... The focus of bands and circles, on the face and arms...

There is also resemblance to inumaki's marks. I wonder if that clan is related... Along with Sukuna, Wasuke (grandpa) and Yuuji Itadori, (and Heian Uraume) their hair is thick, wavy, above the shoulder, and lighter in color. I don't think we ever see Toge write - his preference for speaking could be another hint, with the Ainu language being spoken.

For the sake of staying focused and not spreading misinformation (iirc cursed speech users are supposed to be killed as soon as they're noticed), for now I'm thinking that the inumaki clan assimilated into Japanese culture, possibly hiding, denying, or forgetting their background - but most likely forced into submitting to jujutsu headquarters, who fear the inumaki clan, instead of considering them as one of the major 3. (the Ainu were not legally recognized as a people until 2018, so their rejection from jujutsu politics just seems to fit).

I've only found this photo of Sukuna's outfit irl (innate domain), but pretty much every Ainu character has the same piece in Golden Kamuy - and the colors are the same.

The Ainu language being polysynthetic makes it even more convincing that Sukuna intentionally addressed Gojo as husband.  

I wonder if sukuna preferred to use their CT for more peaceful, creative purposes (there were all those comments about slicing fish, the malevolent kitchen, not to mention their interest in flowers and poetry etc etc). 

The tattoos could have significance in preparing the body for death - which feels relevant, considering how they always show in any form Sukuna takes, and at times when Yuuji is still fronting (after eating a finger). 

They could be symbols of beauty, or coming of age. 

To go along with the trans Sukuna evidence - Ainu men grew beards, and the women got tattoos. 

The use of tattoos as a talisman is interesting - the way that Geto saw Gojo as his talisman, that Sukuna said “love is worthless”, the way that some of them look like eyes - which would give sukuna six eyes (and convinced me that jjk would end with Gojokuna). I wonder if it was partially out of hypervigilance, or to enhance observation - Sukuna's edge was the ability to analyze and adapt faster than anyone else.

They might have been a method of protection from trafficking. There is some historical evidence of enslavement. Forced assimilation and relocation certainly happened during Sukuna's lifetime.

The Ainu people were from the northeast island.

Iirc, Heian events of jjk were around Kyoto (I'll have to read again so pls correct me here) - or at least, Sukuna's appearances are not in Hokkaido, but further west.

As a side note, it was the northeast part of the sea where Momotaro was going to fight demons, which kenjaku (who I blame for history remembering sukuna as a demon) and Gojo (who always wanted to fight sukuna) mentioned… Idk if this has any connection, but I think about it (the theme of momotaro vs momotetsu, mainly).  

This mentions a means of preventing evil spirits from entering the body through the mouth. The same source has a historical timeline, up until today (which is interesting and worth reading):

I'll add this screenshot if you want a bit more Heian context:

Since their tattoos were criminalized in the Meiji era, we know less about the practice and significance now. There could have been a lot of style evolution over the hundreds of years since the Heian era. 

Some part of me wonder if Sukuna's tattoos were originally the bands with space in between (one more reason to prefer megkuna over true form), but were filled in later as a mark of ownership. Uro isn't a perfect reference with her CT, but she is always wearing that choker, which feels similar. Idk, the solid ones around true form Sukuna's wrists and ankles read like shackles to me. 

We know from that brief moment in JJK0 that Ainu sorcerers exist in-universe, and it sounds like they work separately from jujutsu headquarters - only contacted as a last resort. We don't get to know what their CTs are like, but I reread JJK0 looking for anyone with a burning or slicing CT during the parade. It doesn't look like the Ainu Jujutsu Society showed up, but there wasn't much in the manga compared to the movie.

This instrument (tonkuri) looks So Familiar (it sounds rly cool, the artist has more chill & acoustic music out also on bandcamp, soundcloud etc), I swear it was shown in the manga. (one more thing to look for on read 4… if anyone finds this, or has anything to correct or elaborate on, please go ahead). 

https://youtu.be/TI6nMOi0IoQ

Additional thoughts are the way that Sukuna's talk about the fish, slicing, mincing, plant identification etc etc it just. Idk if I'm reading too much into this but looking up Ainu foods are like??? Ok I see what you did gege.

Also, from the yt vid that drove me to look into this - Mayunkiki's introduction.

My name is Mayun Kiki. Mayun refers to the clanking sound of metal in Ainu, which is thought to be a noble sound in our culture.

Kiki means "scratching everywhere" and I was given this name as I have a habit of scratching myself.

The clanking sound of metal being noble...

And thank you to @thepersonperson for giving me so much to think about in all those meta analysis posts

Eta; Masamichi Yaga and bears (Panda)

The Ainu people worshipped bears, and at times sacrificed them to release the spirit. But first, the young bear is raised almost like a human child.

While Yaga has made a wide range of creatures, it is interesting that Panda is always sacrificing himself without hesitation, and that Yuuji spent the most time with the bear (i thought the green one, Kathy, is based on the Kappa).

So I can't say anything with certainty, but Yaga also has thick hair and deep-set eyes, and facial hair so... The way he worked with the bear spirit and raised Panda as his own child,, it's there right?

And in jjk0, Yaga made the call to contact the Ainu sorcerers - this is the only time we hear that name in the series (at least in the manga, I haven't finished the light novels yet).

One way that the Ainu were similar to the Japanese is in the way of religion. The Ainu, just like the Japanese people, were animists and believed that all things are inhabited by spirits known as kamuy. While there are many gods in Ainu belief, one of the most important is known as Kim-un Kamuy, or the god of bears and the mountains. All animals are thought to be the manifestations of gods on Earth in Ainu culture, however, the bear is believed to be the head of gods and is therefore known as kamuy, or "God."

Yaga being, by far, the leading expert on cursed corpse sorcery...

Traditionally, the Ainu sacrificed bears in order to release the kamuy within them to the spirit world. One tradition, called lotame, involves the raising of a young bear cub as if it were an Ainu child and then sacrificing once it has come of age.

Tell me this is not about Panda.