#sorcery fight maki

[colourstreakgryffin]

Can I request a Maki Zenin x female non sorcerer reader. They are best friends. This could be an angst/fluff/comfort oneshot. Like they are having a usually nice day out. All is going well, and until Maki leaves the reader for a short while, the reader unfortunately collides with Naoya. We all know that he is an asshole so things really go south. When Maki comes back even with tensions high and the destroyed happy atmosphere the situation gets sorted and yeah happy ending.

Haha! Awww, this’ll be the first time I write for Maki so let’s see if I can do the strong girl to the standard she deserves!

Zen'in Maki- Multiple Problems

“You don’t mind just staying here for a bit, right, Dokusha?” Maki asked you politely once she draw down her phone from her face, her golden-browns checking your every movement as she sat on the chair facing you, your frame and hers were practically staring each other down as you fold your arms over the firm wood café table and nodded with all the honesty you could manage

You truly weren’t bothered nor against Maki leaving for as long as she must. Something important could be going on and you care for her, it’d be selfish to force to continue your little café hangout when something drastic can be happening to her or her family as you let out a soft smile and chime your response in that signature sweet tone you’re known for. Maki flashed a relieved smile back, she knew you wouldn’t refuse but she still couldn’t help but beam

“Thanks, Dokusha. I promise I’ll be back in maybe a few minutes! If my order arrives, just tell the waiter I’ll return” Maki explains in a knowledgeable manner, flicking her cute dark green ponytail off her shoulder as she rose to her feet and gave off a friendly wave before walking away casually, keeping her bag of belongings tossed over her shoulder lazily as she disappeared from sight in little time, leaving you all alone at the now semi-empty café table. You continued to smile at nothing, recalling on how you met Maki

Such a wild but cute situation with the two of you that you love to think about at times; Maki defended you from a invisible hand pulling at your hair and once she made that hand disappear, you struck up a conversation as a gratitude sign and Maki found herself going along as she found you sweet. It didn’t take long for her to willingly give you her number so you two can chat after you parted ways

And after all was said and done, you and Maki grew a mutual yet very powerful friendship as she is always looking forward to picking you up from your high school once she is done with Jujutsu High. No, Maki has never told you about her sorcerer status but that’s all because she doesn’t want any cursed spirit to target you. She makes you believe she goes to a private school and you never in-depth question why her glasses have such a odd glaze when worn

Maki is a sweet girl underneath that cold steely exterior. Yes, she was tough and rebellious most of the time you had seen her, but you idolised her like a big sister and she treated you like a little sister back. She opened up to you when she usually wouldn’t with anybody else, not even her own twin sister Mai. You’re the special one and she is doing everything she possibly can to protect you

If only she could have been there in that scene to protect you. As you stood up after several minutes of silent patient waiting for your best friend to return, you realised that you needed to use the Lady’s room and waddled over to it with a slowly growing need to release yourself. However, your plan was throttled by accidentally bumping into a tall figure. Shaking your head in recovery, your eyes scanned up to meet eyes with the person

Zen'in Naoya, Maki’s misogynistic and merciless cousin, judgementally glared at you as you stepped back a bit and he dusted the nonexistent dirt off his dark blue kimono top with disgust marking his dark golden eyes. “Worthless, clumsy fool” Naoya barked, ready to give you the hell for daring to bump into him and ruin his mundane mood. He wasn’t in the best state but he also didn’t wish to be irritated to this level, and it’s all your fault as he will ensure you know that

You internally cried out for Maki as Naoya begin going off at you, shoving you against the wall in a intimidation tactic whilst you felt like crumbling into the hard brick surface whilst Naoya separated his rosy red lips to continue on with his verbal assault, your arms pulled together over your chest as a defensive measure in case he would attempt to swing on you and he did raise his arm

But before anything could strike downwards, a mighty hand grabbed his wrist and firmly, letting out soft cracks and making him grunt in pain as Naoya was spun around to face who the arm belonged to. Your heart jumped in relief as Maki flashed that death stare, a expression that was so sharp it could cut him into pieces. She was definitely not happy with the way he was treating you for not even a mistake, a mere bump and she wouldn’t tolerate you being spoken down to, as if you’re a piece of stepped-on road gum

“What are you doing to my friend, Naoya?” Maki passive-aggressively demanded a answer after keeping eye contact with him for a few uncomfortably long seconds, her voice dark and furious with a tongue so boiling, she could probably spit flames on the spot. She didn’t care much for his mistreatment of her, she could take every punch so easily but not you, she wouldn’t let him ruin somebody so special and important to her

“H-huh? You know him?” You let out a soft, stuttery-like question but just when Maki opened her mouth to speak, Naoya butted in and pushed her back so rudely, leaving your reach to stare her down. “Yes. Cousin… how have you been, huh?” Naoya purred back, equally as passive-aggressive as he let out a malicious smirk at her. Maki didn’t even flinch at any word nor action he pulled, she stood strong with eyes that shot laser beams through his hideous skull. She knew she couldn’t intimidate him to get lost but she could see his cocky grin fade into annoyance

“You’re such a joykill, bitch…” Naoya hissed as he stomped away from Maki altogether to the exit in a delusional sense of victory, knowing that it was truly a waste of time to argue with her with hours on end. She is far too stubborn and annoying. He slammed the café door shut and it eluded Maki to turn around to face you, pulling you away from that uncomfortable wall and bring you steady to your feet again with a comforting hold

Maki’s very frustrated expression dissipated into a gentle smile at the sight of you smiling as well, you encouraged her to let go of her hatred in favour of feeling happy with you. You’re just so adorable and she was happy to protect you once again from the dangers. As she always did but she felt bad that you ended up being basically harassed after she left for under ten minutes. Such a cruel world you to live in but she is here to ensure the cruelty is decreased

“Are you okay, Dokusha? I apologise for him, he is awful. Want to go back to our table now? Our order has, most likely, arrived”

[ihrtsuguru]

sad asf jjk headcannons for y’all —

gojo eats all the favourite foods suguru ever had, so he could keep on remembering what it felt like to go out with him.

shoko keeps pictures of the three of them in her office drawer but there is one that she carries around in her coat pocket.

megumi finds home in nobara and itadori, they remind him of his sibling relationship that had once had been with tsumiki.

nanami still visits all the souvenir shops that hai bara used to go to get satoru and suguru their souvenirs.

gojo has geto and his photo kept in his wallet that he looks at every then and now.

geto when taking care of the twins is reminded of how once he used to do the same for satoru at all points of time.

nanami wishes to have a family of his own, yet he is scared that he would never be a perfect man to create one.

gojo yearns for closure yet he likes to hold onto the memories of whatever he had with suguru.

shoko listens to all the students worries, hoping she had done the same for geto.

maki instead of texting yuuta sends letters for she thinks it is better.

inumaki and panda share an unbreakable bond, their connection far exceeds any other.

crying <333

[gasping-ghostzes]

MY JJK ESSAY FROM LIKE A YEAR AGO??

A/N: I made this a year ago and honestly it was like multiple sessions of me writing at 3am so if it seems iffy and weirdly phrased… yeah that’s why (I was extremely sleep deprived)

The character complexity of Gojo and Suguru is actually insane, but also the most interesting thought out relationship throughout the books. Suguru asks "Are you you the strongest because you are Gojo Satoru. Or, are you Gojo Satoru because you are the strongest" within the first prequel movie. Basically asking Gojo who he is defined as. Is Gojo's whole being and humanity based around being the strongest and having this insanely unique ability or is Gojo defined as a separate being from his techniques. It could be seen as a question for the present time, or be seen as Suguru asking Gojo what HE wants to be and be seen as. The context of this is that even with how overlapping the characters traits and morals tend to be, there is a defining incident that forces the occurrence of the future plot of the anime. Suguru seeing how Non sourrcers acted within the the teenage events and how they celebrated the death of an innocent girl who was only slightly younger than the two. This was the eye opening incident that cause the 2 to unwillingly drift apart.

However, I would definitely argue that Sugurus actions were originally out of love and care for Gojo. Suguru finally understood the risks of Gojo and his Six eyes, how Gojo will be striped away of his humanity and used as a weapon or vessel. So Suguru asking Gojo "Are you you the strongest because you are Gojo Satoru. Or, are you Gojo Satoru because you are the strongest" was asked as a way to show Gojo that he is his own person, even if he is a jujutsu sorcerer, he needs to have the ability to separate himself from his Six Eyes.

This eventually leads to the next larger set event where Suguru and Gojo meet again. Within the manga, the 2 finally meet again, under slightly worse conditions.

I personally see the following quote "My six eyes tell me you are Suguru Geto, but my soul knows otherwise" as an answer back to the previously said statement. Perhaps over the time Gojo has had since Suguru left, Gojo did begin to slightly separate himself from Six Eyes being his one defining trait.

Previously, the mind set Gojo likely would've had is that he was to solely rely on Six Eyes, however its clearly spoken that Gojo is relying on his Soul and heart more. His Six eyes clearly identify the body as Suguru, however its then revealed that Sugurus body is only being used as a vessel to carry out a much older (BASICALLY PREHISTOIC ) sorcerer.

However this scene and brief quote, literally shows how Gojo has had time to think about a question like this. Knowing the Gojo stayed with the jujutsu school, he hadn't yet separated myself from the idea that he and six eyes could only ever co exist as thoughts, feelings and emotions together. But with the quote where he clearly identifys the difference in feelings and thoughts that he has to his technique shows that Gojo has finally distanced himself from only existing for the sake of Six Eyes.

The fact that these 2 quotes perfectly sum up the character relations and developments of Gojo and Suguru is insane. Especially given the fact the time difference if the 2 events was roughly over 12 years between the 2 and inky happened within only one story arc of each other.

The question "Are you you the strongest because you are Gojo Satoru. Or, are you Gojo Satoru because you are the strongest" was more of a question of; if Gojo were to question everything he was brought up in, what he be left with. Gojos entire life, he has received nothing but praise and admiration from other sorcerers, however Suguru was the first to simply treat Gojo as a person. Not an attachment/Vessel of Six Eyes. Many ppl especially sorcerers will go out of their way to act like his friend or lived one purely for their own benefit, using Gojo as a vessel to get their dirty work completed. Suguru was the first sorcerer to not care about Gojos six eyes. Suguru had continuously separated Gojo from his Six Eyes, something seen from when their first introduced to where Suguru leaves Jujutsu Tech.

Its actually really ironic, as within the same scene the second quote is from, it's revealed that Sugurus body is simply a vessel and hostage. Suguru became the very thing he despised, the exact thing that he wanted to set Gojo free from. Gojo had literally altered the making of the world, the moment he was born, whilst Suguru was not. Suguru faced the likely face the fate Gojo possibly couldve had; being a mindless zombie vessel to carry out Jujutsu society orders and demands.

Personally, I think that Suguru and Gojos relationship was high key fruity,  Suguru explicitly wanted to abolish and rebuild jujutsu society for the betterment of Gojo. Gojo also clearly states that its his SOUL that immediate knew that Sugurus mind was replaced with Kanjakus. They may not have explicitly dated, but their relations with each other was based around the idea of them being soulmate/soulties. Their last farewell, where Suguru dies, both in manga and in anime, was muted dialogue. Gojo tells suguru something, however we as the audience do not get to know what was stated. If/When the dialogue is revealed it will either make or break my entire being. The 1 piece of dialogue is placed as some of the most sentimental shit ever seem in the Manga.

Another relationship of 2 characters that can be seen as slightly identical to Sugurus and Gojos is Fushiguros and Ittadoris relationship. Both pairs meet within Jujutsu tech, one is seen as jujutsu society's trophie while the other tends to keep to himself much more. Ittadori is similar to Gojo, both a granted with an insane ability by mere chance, which leads them to being much more know within the society itself. While Fushiguro and Suguru are mirrors of each other, both hold similar perspectives of jujutsu society and both tend to be more reserved around people he doesn't like or respect.

Within art by the author Gege, the positioning and subject matter leads us to believe that Fushiguro and Suguru are more alike than we think. With current manga chapters, this us only more present, having Megumi forcefully become a vessel for Sukuna. The following actions of the killing if his sister were against Fushiguros entire reason for going to jujutsu tech. He was used as a vessel for sukuna, as Suguru was for Kenjaku.

The image shown above is artwork done by the original jjk team, having Fushiguro centred whilst (assumably) Sukunas hands are outreaches almost chocking or controlling the positioning of his head.

Once again, it's implicitly shown as Fushiguro is shown wearing a red scarf with black stripes, similar to those of Sukunas hands.

This was foreshadowing Sukuna forcibly taking control of Fushiguro, even with Ittadori being a willing vessel, Sukuna taking Fushiguros body was more of an act of control. The deal previously made between Sukuna and Ittadori was that Sukuna was allowed to take over Ittadoris body, only if it was necessary. This deal was not made with the idea that Sukuna would later take over Fushiguros body, however, Sukuna having forcible and uncontracted control over Fushiguros body and cursed techniques made killing Megumis sister much more easier.

Although it's unknown what will happen to Fushiguro now, it can be assumed with Sukunas sinister nature, Fushiguros Techniques will be used for Sukunas pleasure.

Fushiguros recent events was consistently foreshadowed within manga panels, official art and even with the parallels between between Suguru and Fushiguro. Because of the parallels between the 2 characters, its likely not going to stop for a while, Fushiguro is more then likely going to be the vessel to Sukuna for the rest of the culling games arc. This is definetly much more sinister than Suguru and Kenjakus situation, atleast in a personal level. Fushiguro has to live consciously, while seeing Sukuna murder his sister and likely others too. Compared to Suguru, whoms body is the only same thing about him, with his brain being physically replaced with Kenjakus brain.

A/N: there was meant to be a gojo and itadori part comparing the two but I decided to scrap it cause it wasn’t that clear and just really vague

Finally Mai and Maki, throughout the story, they are consistently opposing each other's. Both with their skill sets, personality, morals and views on jujutsu society. The 2 of them are twins, it's stated in the manga that their birth was much of disappointment as they were like 2 singular half's of a traditional sorcerer. Maki, is unable to see curses without her specially made glasses, but does have the will and behaviour to fight curses, while Mai does not, she rather do as her family says and not be a sorcerer,  even though she was born with cursed energy. They quite literally complete each other. Within the manga chapters during/after the shibuyu arc, maki does receive cursed energy and the ability to see curses without her glasses. However, this was at the cost of Mai's life.

Within Jujutsu society, twins are seen as a single person, due to the cursed techniques usually being inherited by only one twin. Within the scene of Mais death, she reveals that as long as Mai is alive, Maki will never be able to see curses or have cursed energy. So, as a parting gift, Mai gives Maki her cursed energy. This allows maki to see curses without her glasses, and have almost like indestructible skin. With Makis previous skill set of fighting and wepon use, this only makes her abilities more top tier.

Another way the 2 oppose each other, is there views and morals of jujutsu society. Mai had admitted that she wish her sister had chose the simple life of complying with the Zenin Clans demands and were simple servants to the higher ups. Compared to Maki, who constantly shows a need to prove the Zenin clan wrong and for her to become one of the best jujutsu sorcerers from the Zenin clan. Makis desire of this isn't just out of spite, it's almost put as fate throughout the series. In flashback scenes to where they are kids, Maki shows no fear when crossing paths with curses, this is likely because she can't see them. However even though Mai can see them, she is also the one who'd be the most protected, as she does have cursed energy. Their personalities constantly oppose each other, with Mai also underestimating Makis abilities and ability to fight off curses.

However, at the end of it all, Maki and Mai will always have one of the strongest bonds within Jjk. Before Mais death, there is a scene (Possibly Flashback??) where Mai asks her sister to "Destroy Everything". Destroy everything, would be everything that messed up their lives and their chance at happiness. After Mai passed her Cursed energy to Maki and died, Maki took her revenge and slaughtered the remaining Zenin clan. This is an act of pure revenge and loss, with the way the Zenin clan treated the girls though the manga, Maki and Mai had grown apart and were set up against each other by the clan. Both girls, were mistreated by the clan, due to the little cursed energy they were born with. When Maki eventually left the clan to attend Jujutsu tech, Mai grew to hate her sister for lying to her and breaking the promise Maki gave when they were kids.

Their entire story is one of pure tragedy, they, in my opinion, deserve the world. However, they truly show how jujutsu society views weaker and female jujutsu sorcerers.

I feel as though Mai was a representation of how women in the real world feel when they are unable to be this unattainable personality that a male dominated society will expect them to be. Mai explicitly shows a type of vulnerability that’s often associated with innocence and fear navigating the real world, in most cases, this is when and where the man will show up to guide said girl. However, instead we are given Maki, a young girl who is more vulnerable than Mai, not caring about anything other than protecting her sister and friends. Mai, is shown to have more traditional values in what wearing curse uses should be and what women of the Zenin clan are expected to act. She goes out of her way to blame Maki’s disobedience as to why Mai had to join the rivaling school, how much easier it would’ve been on Mai to simply give up and submit to the clans judgments and wishes.

On the other hand, Maki opposes every value, theme and judgement the clan has about a weaker curse user being able to take down curses. Maki has had a very transparent and clear personality, she doesn’t hide who she is, what her goals and ideals are in her sorcerer journey. Maki may be the younger sister, but multiple times, Maki has shown more inniative and dominance often associated with eldest siblings.

This is likely due to how the abusive and neglectful upbringing has lead to Maki and Mai often put at fighting ends to each other. Maki constantly fights and shows resilience in proving her family wrong about who she will end up being. Within the manga itself, there’s been many explicit comparisons of Maki to Toji, which makes quite a lot of sense. Both Zenins were originally deems to be at the bottom of the ranks, however quickly rose up and became dangerous and deadly fighters. Maki was often underestimated due to Mai inheritance of the curse technique and the ability to see curses. While Toji was underestimated because of Gojo’s existence, who was born a few years later, but changed the world the moment he was born.

A/N: this is where I ended the essay purely because I fell asleep but, I don’t have anything to add onto yet… and if I do, I’d honestly rewrite the essay so it’s more inline with current manga information!! Thanks pookies!

[animehouse-moe]

Yuuki Kamiya, Jujutsu Kaisen, and The Tragedy of Ao No Sumika x Specialz

Now, this isn't to say that Specialz is a terrible opening by any means, just that compared to the electric nature of OP3, it ends up feeling incredibly lackluster from a manga reader's perspective. Because of that, a major blow is dealt to the incredibly ambitious creative effort Kamiya, the director and storyboarder for both OPs, had put into each to personify his visual style. So, let me walk you all along the path explaining the pain in this failed conversion on the success of Ao No Sumika.

⚠️Warning: Manga spoilers for Shibuya will be discussed⚠️

I think it can be no clearer than the two images I've chosen to represent each opening what it was that Kamiya was going for here.

Gojo and Geto, the pair that once formed the strongest are now being pitted against one another. The two halves that constituted a whole now separated.

But let's rewind a little bit to take in the incredible nature of OP3 here. I didn't really speak on it during the arc, but the more I replay it, the more I discover more and more to truly appreciate within it. What makes OP3 so good? Well, I think a great example is Chainsaw Man ending 8.

What does it do? How does it do it? Despite appearances, this ending (as well as both of Kamiya's JJK openings) share very strong design principles with one another, and maybe even just a bit of Shingo Natsume inspiration. Anyways, the things that tie these openings together. Walk cycles, particularly ED8 here and Specialz, they share Kamiya's passion for slow motion walking animations. Character and group isolations also remain important to his creative vision. Singling out characters or groups to convey a feeling or an overall sense of purpose appears frequently, but once more is felt more strongly in Specialz than Ao No Sumika.

... I think most can read into where I'm going with this point. Specialz is closer to Chainsaw Man ED8 than it is to Ao No Sumika's opening. While the former opening still conveys Kamiya's visual style, it's a far greater breakout in terms of framing than Specialz is. We've seen Specialz before with First Death on Chainsaw Man. Not that it's not good, but it's something that leans on what Kamiya has already established.

Ao No Sumika on the other hand? It's light hearted, it's energetic. It's free. The very first scene we get in the opening is of an isolated Gojo using the fade in/out transitions that Kamiya enjoys, so we're very much aware of his style. But you follow it, and what do you happen upon?

Not an orchestrated and slow walking cycle, no. Rather, it's an energetic and full chase as we follow our Jujutsu High students to the train station. Immediately we break free of Kamiya's typical foundation to provide something outside of the box.

And you can find many examples of that within. Kamiya tends to lean towards a more methodic and "heavy" style before the action breakdown happens in an opening. Which, much like his penchant for walk cycles isn't a bad thing, it doesn't make the opening bad. It simply makes it a one-note affair that can prove to be disinteresting, especially when it can feel incredibly similar to JJK OP2 (Vivid Vice).

And that's not a baseless accusation, let me break it down. The walk cycles that appear from Natsume's OP2 in season one, featuring it's slow-motion and whatnot, also appear in OP4. The idea of groupings and the display of them appear in both as well. So on and so forth, you can find a lot of extraneous pieces that bear similarity to one another.

Once more, I believe you can see where I'm going. Whether or not intentional, it is a rather clear fact that Vivid Vice and Specialz share a lot of creative similarities. And, just to keep driving the point home, it's not a bad thing by any means. It's just not something great.

What I do think may be a little bad though is Kamiya's reliance on moments that will appear in the anime.

⚠️Once more, spoiler warning for Shibuya past this point⚠️

So, the front bits of Specialz certainly isn't bad, and a few pieces in between are solid, and the hand sign ending is arguably the best possible sequence to appear in this opening. But there's a lot of muddy bits in the middle that are just manga panels brought to the opening.

From about 44 seconds into the opening, it relies nearly entirely on manga panels for its visuals. There's a few exceptions like the Itadori-Sukuna changeover, but past that it's strictly manga panels.

Frankly speaking, I'm not fan. It's incredibly hype worthy, but it's not what I want to see in an opening. Considering how I've talked about Natsume here I'll use Vivid Vice as an example.

Dance around the story, feature your own take on it, your own inspired vision on how you would approach it. Play it with, shape it to your liking and allude to things that are much farther into the future than the literal present. Ao No Sumika understands this incredibly well, but it seems to elude Specialz.

I've kinda lost the plot, haven't I? The tragedy that befell this pair of openings is what I'm here to discuss, so let me tie a bow on it.

Ao No Sumika and Specialz are meant to be ying and yang. The happy and inspiring OP that tells the story of the nigh-unstoppable duo as they enjoy their blue youth, versus the dark and crimson life that awaits our sorcerers on Halloween.

Yuuki Kamiya loves blue and red highlights in their openings and endings, and they tend to contain both. But neither Ao No Sumika nor Specialz are complete in that regard. His visual style has been fractured to represent the two stories as they become one to show how intricately tied together Gojo's Past and Shibuya are.

And it's a shame. The electric opening that is Ao No Sumika ends up falling flat on its follow up with Specialz. Arguably the greatest potential in openings in a very long time hasn't quite been squandered, but it very unfortunately missed the mark.

[vraisetzen]

"do they know it's a narrative?" jjk edition

inspired by this tweet

[lavenderjewels]

just remembered there’s only like 2 or 3 eps with maki and then we probably won’t see her animated again until season 3,,,

[kamuisen-boxsplits]

✨ BOX SPLIT: JJK Memories of That Day Pita Keychains ✨

Read my “General Info” post before claiming! Please do not claim if you are not 100% committed to purchasing. Message me if you’d like to claim!

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PACKAGES HAVE BEEN DROPPED OFF TO USPS

Prices vary for each + $4 shipping ($14.50 shipping for Canada)

Payment is due in 24 hours after I order

✅ = Paid ❌ = Claimed

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⭐️ CLAIMS ⭐️

Yuuji ($8): IRL Friend (JA) ✅

Fushiguro ($10): @/fushigurxoo (Instagram) ✅

Nobara: ($8): IRL Friend (JA) ✅

Gojo ($14): Me ❌

Yaga & Panda ($6): IRL Friend (JA) ✅

Maki & Mai ($8): IRL Friend (JA) ✅

Nanami ($12): @/tpwkrose (Twitter) ✅

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UPDATED ON 12/31/22

[pencilofawesomeness]

The JJK x TWST crossover that started living rent free in my head >:'D

Random Doodle Edition

Ahem, so, uhh, turns out the characters of Jujutsu Kaisen fit pretty well as Night Raven College students, temperament-wise, and that was all the excuse I needed. Yes the ages get funky but whatever. Happy high school AU except they still get cool powers and Trauma(tm). Just less than JJK canon so I count it as a win.

I also may or may not have written an entire oneshot (here on AO3) for some freshmen Satoru & Suguru bonding, featuring me still bullying Satoru over his funky eyes.

Image Text (and me rambling more) underneath the cut

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Gojo Satoru (of the Jupiter Clan)

Ignihyde Housewarden Year: Junior Species: Sky Dragon (Fae) Club: Movie Analysis Club Unique Magic: Six Eyes—pretty much just like canon Six Eyes. They can see far and wide and out of normal sight, and they can see magic in a highly detailed manner. They are also powered by magic that just, never stops ever, so he can decrease or increase the power/range at will to a degree, but technically, cutting off magic from them altogether will blind him. Also he has an inherited magic that he by no means asked for, which is, sad drumroll, Gate of the Underworld. (There are no shrouds in this AU, just me finding ways to forever make Satoru instrumental to the well-being of the world to his own detriment. I have waaaaay more thoughts about the "Jupiter Clan of dragons" and what that actually entails, but they are still jumbled and shifting, so. Maybe later.)

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Geto Suguru (of the Draconia Clan)

Diasomnia Housewarden Year: Junior Species: Night Dragon (Fae) Club: Equestrian Club Unique Magic: Magic-eater—can consume and nullify any spell and gain its base magic. With minimum side effects. Mostly. :)

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Satoru and Suguru are their usual brand of special-grade menaces, being the only two adolescent dragon fae in the world, buttttt they still inevitably become besties. With Shoko too, of course, who has no fear and will mess with them as they see fit.

Suguru is essentially Malleus in this AU, though in Suguru-fashion, he's way more stubborn when it comes to trying to catch up. (Translating him being new to sorcery to being new to technology was surprisingly low-hanging fruit.) Meanwhile I borrowed the Jupiter name/legacy because it was fitting and made the Gojo Clan into a long-lived dynasty of antisocial dragons who fist-fight and deal with Phantoms and recently accidentally became a tech empire, which is pretty close to the Sorcerer Family vibe a la TWST, if I say so myself.

There's definitely a lot of backstory I have in mind for the two of them. Neither of them beat teen parenthood (they are currently Malleus-aged, so 178 years old, but that's still teenagehood for a dragon/fae) and acquired children through various means, much to the consternation of their elders/court. I might develop/write more solid ideas later, but Suguru has a reverse characterization moment when he finds two starved/beaten human children (the twins) and begins his journey of losing all intrinsic racism via love, and Satoru still somehow gets his shit wrecked by Toji (probably a heist gone violent or something) and then finds out he had abandoned children: human Tsumiki and half-fae Megumi.

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Nobara Orientation Comic:

Nobara: Obviously, I'm going to get ~Pomefiore~ because I'm elegant and graceful. (And a badass queen, of course)

Mirror: The nature of your soul is... Savanaclaw

Nobara, getting dragged away from the Mirror by Maki: HEY WAIT A MINUTE! STOP MESSING WITH ME YOU DIRTY SMUGED HUNK OF JUNK AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I THINK OF—

(Nobara gets her reverse-Epel moment, but she adapts quickly. Especially because she still comes to have mad respect for Maki.)

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Ieri Shoko

Ignihyde Vice-Housewarden Year: Junior Species: Merfolk (Nurse Shark) Club: Science Club Unique Magic: Reverse—rewinds a target to its previous state within twenty four hours. The longer within the range, the harder/more magic it will take, especially for larger targets, so realistically her range is less. (For example, if someone cracked a piece of glass 24 hours ago, Shoko could restore it, but a day-old wound on a living being would be much harder.)

Making Shoko a mermaid was a joke to myself at first but then I liked it and it spiraled and now Nurse Shark Shoko is unironically one of my favorite things that I have drawn. The joke was right there too, but it's mostly fun to me because nurse sharks are docile and apathetic creatures, for the large part (they are still sharks lol), and I think match her temperament well.

Also when Satoru pestered the previous housewarden enough times to accidentally gain the title for himself, he made Shoko his vice (mostly because he trusted her) to make sure he never had to do the paperwork and the boring parts. She makes him do it anyway. To the dorm, she is less of a vice and more of a "dragon wrangler," which is still extremely appreciated.

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Zen'in Maki

Savanaclaw Housewarden Year: Sophomore Species: Human Club: Track & Field Unique Magic: N/A—Maki doesn't actually have magic of her own, but she is unnaturally resistant to most magic. She can, however, use magic/cast spells through a magic-capable familiar.

She befriended a phoenix when she was younger, having survived an encounter with a wild youth. (idk what I want the details to be but I think it would be cool if she had some related burns to it, with the idea that these creatures are rare and volatile and hard for normal humans to handle without high magic resistance.) His name is Torch because I don't think Maki would put that much thought into a name, so long as its not completely stupid sounding. I almost named the phoenix Jogo but I refrained for my own sanity.

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Inumaki Toge

Savanaclaw Year: Sophomore Species: Human Club: Board Game Club Unique Magic: Reality Speak—pretty much just how Cursed Speech works but with a world-friendly name. Also it can apply to inanimate objects as well. The power and scope of the command is proportional to the magic required.

Toge gets an overall nicer time in this AU because he doesn't have cursed speech 24/7 and therefore can speak normally. Though the idea of him being able to affect people/bend reality with his words does freak people out. I imagine he had a rough childhood nonetheless, because why not, leading him to be less verbal than he would have been otherwise.

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Okkotsu Yuuta

Diasomnia Year: Sophomore Species: Human Club: Board Game Club Unique Magic: Wraith Pact-maker—he can enhance/bolster a ghost's magic/presence through making a link with himself. It has to be mutual, and it can last for any duration of time, although actively using the link does require magic. The ghost in question gains magic and grounding from Yuuta, and Yuuta can use the ghost's magic, including their UM, if applicable. He can have multiple links, but the first and main recipient of this magic is his childhood friend Rika.

Between her longlasting connection with Yuuta and her brutal death, she is a more wraith-like and powerful ghost. Her unique magic was to copy other people's UMs, which Yuuta can use through her in short bursts.

-

I didn't have space nor solid ideas for unique magics for the Hasaba twins and the Fushiguros, so I didn't do full bios for them. Later, perhaps. All of the girls are sophomores and Megumi is a freshman. Tsumiki and Nanako are sharing their social brain cell and trading stories of stupid things their dragon dads/older brothers/untitled guardians have done, while Megumi is helping budding-gamer Mimiko learn Pokemon strats. I love the idea of them all being friends, maybe after minimal difficulty in the girls' first year, likely on account of the twins being a little Sebek-shaped, in terms of wanting to be The Best Guards for Suguru, etc etc.

-

I technically have way more ideas for other characters and other dorms, but, I will end this here, for now. I am trying to reign myself in lmao.

[kel-lance]

Jjk headcanons/fan theories/ random thoughts/random facts

I made this in a few months time so its prob repetitive

Tsumiki went into her year and 7 month long coma when megumi was 13-14 years old meaning tsumiki missed her sweet 16 :( (she’s a year older than him)

Toji was a good dad in the end (both times) bc he was already dead and told Gojo to take Megumi as a F u/later fix the alliance’s of the clans and to make sure that Megumi would be protected, fed, housed, and taught sorcery bc toji damn well couldn’t much less protect his kids from curses anyhow.

Noaya (and the men of the Zenin clan) abused Mai and maki bc they’re women (implied SA) noaya hinted at asking to beats em up like he used to (could be implied bc he called them hot & Mai has the same face) but he was also possibly teasing since Mai just 💀 but there’s no way he could have known that

It’s worse to be a male Zenin with no cursed energy bc then you’d be absolutely powerless, useless, worthless, etc. no other clan woman would want you and your fam would never coughed for you much less protect you bc why do they have to you were born a Zenin and yet…

So we know Kokichi Toji Mai n maki all were hit with HR but it was just a double whammy to also be twins? Yes. HR hit Toji so hard bc he was the first to be without cursed energy but then Nanako and Mimiko, bc they’re fraternal twins that that’s possible they’re able to both have CE?

Kenjaku stayed in Iori for so long that his stitches healed I’m guessing he planned it all (or saw hat happened which is why he chose Jin (bc there’s no way that’s random) and killed Jin and went to Geto when it was time (did Ken know about the KFC break up too??)

maki had no CE but still couldn’t get in tune with her full potential is bc Mai was there this the twin HR is f’d but there’s probably more chance one could 💀 the other to become powerful but in this instance it was about sacrifice and distance love. Different paths yet they were “the same person” so that’s only with identical twins?

sukuna loves to eat and is a cannibal and lactates and has 4 arms, 6 mouths or more, 20 fingers, many eyes, 4 legs, 10 toes, 3 heads, hopefully 9ft tall in his monster form…. 

stg toji had his divorced dad rock on religiously (nickel back fan don’t even start w me, weezer son nickleback dad)

nobara gonna be used in some way theres no reason to have her status as unknown of not to edge us istg I’ll even take a cursed spirit piloting her to mess with Yuuji more and she’s part of sukuna or some even worse group they gotta fight after the culling game arc

after chapter 253 are maki and yuta dead?? Hopefully Yuta was eaten but on Yutas birthday gege thats foul (I love it) 🫣🤩

It’s past ch253 and we’re waiting for 3/24 for the next chapter but I heard yuta yelled at Hakari to shut up with cursed speech? Or was that earlier 

Maki Mai and Megumi and Tsumiki met probably around the time tsumiki went into that coma/megs entered jjk no wonder hes so formal//doesn’t know them well he was under gojos protection for so long

some jsckass said mais first love is unknown or megumi are you dumb shes in love with her sister no sister kissed the other to give them a sword cooly and die she literally just wanted to be with her no matter what to go to the ends of the earth it didn’t matter as long n as maki was with her but maki knew Mai’s potential to be better than her so she tried to make herself better, leaving Mai behind in the process and they still never hated each other even after all the time away.

mai likes to take care of cacti/the clan favored her over maki bc she has at least some CE//weve only seen maki being affected by her family's rejection (jjk0 makis mom said shed wished shed never have given birth to her as she was a failure and same girlie but my mom chose any and everyone to compare me to) but Mai either didn’t see herself special in that way and put the blame on maki or dealt with it in her own way (maki vs the fam excluding Mai and Megumi // whereas Mai’s version US against the world)

if choso is yuujis brother and kamo is one of chosos distant family, that would mean Yuuji, Choso, Yuki, Todo, and Kamo are all "Brothers" I love the thought of them being super cool and scary together with their cute yuki & Yuuji golden retrievers in a Doberman family

the same people who ship yuki and choso also ship utahime and gojo or shoko and gojo yall have NO comprehension skills at ALL or cant believe men n women b close like Yuuji & Nobara/Power & Denji/ Sasha & Connie/ Nami & Usopp, Franky, or Luffy) 

Kenny planted the first finger by Geto’s twins to Yuuji’s school. they just had to get the finger to the occult club 

Does Kenny have a witch or oracle or even premeditative powers to know the future or did he just plan this out to a T and what is his damn goal 

Yuuji and Yuta are from the same home town bc gege said it’d be easier for the story but then todo also went to Yuuji’s middle school

Nobara dyes her hair lighter and I wonder how often she talks to Fumi back at home. And her grandmother if she’s like me w low contact

Megumi was alone with gojo for almost 2 years (no tsumiki) no wonder he’s so to himself he was probably always with tsumiki before, who decided everything for them (in a big sis way) and he respected it 

Yutas a pos for forgetting how Rika 💀 then trapping her w him bc of how traumatized he was like bruh you also yelled at her the first time u ever yelled at Rika was over another girl and he doesn’t do much else but manipulate like the Pisces man he is (I kin him/made an oc before I found out about his BITCH ass and he got everything word for word but is a dude I’m losing it) 

As an astrologer, I must say Gege’s planning with the character birthdays and everything else I can read from that is incredibly accurate I’ll give examples in the next points

geto’s mission was to go to remote village, he finds curse and exorcizes it, finds the twins the next dy, he kills everyone, he goes back to his pants to get supplies and kills them (prob no his first choice but once again was probably proven right) and runs has been gone for way too long and gojo doesn’t know what th ehhell happened. which is why he was so mad at kfc and geto just had to accept his new role while gojo was still in the past

Toji and Megumi (Kamo, Nobara, Todo) being cancer moons meaning they care about the heart, (todo has other placements making it seem a lil more “shallow” when he just wants a “straight” answer (lmao Megumi)

Yuta being a Leo moon and (outwardly asked) liking the chest

Yuuji being a libra moon liking butts all this makes sense (libra moons are indecisive, will weight out all the possibilities and still want the peaceful side unless there’s such chaos there’s no way for that to happen… then we snap)

Yuuji and Junpei would’ve been perfect friends we already saw but they both just didn’t ask for any of this and chose their own paths, they’re almost parallels of each other 

Geto’s birthchart shows a lot more of wanting to get humanity to evolve where gojos looks more like a POWERFUL cog in the machine 

Yap: Gege basically made this for women I’m sorry boys but why all the beautiful men & perfectly written women & relationships maybe it’s just a rare case where the mangaka actually knows women (or gege is a woman 🤗) & how all the dudes fit a Yaoi archetype & the women,,, they’re perfect & cute & not sexualized (other than maki in jjk0 & the glasses girl in ep 1 getting groped) but everything else is just hot w/o taking ur clothes off kinda energy & thats INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT w everything else going on 

You think something broke in Meimei when she said she wanted to be comforted and Gojo was like bruh I was joking 🙃 

Kirara and Uranme’s gender is yes 👍🏼 

Geto raising the girls as a 17-18yr old is insane same age as Megumi and gojo so for how long was Geto their dad? Inbetween 10 years but when did the girls realize that that wasn’t their dad anymore? I’m guessing Kenny can remember the vessel he takes overs memory or does something to their brain to replace it w him

I doubt a male mangaka can write good women (mostly bc of the stereotype that they’re shut ins but also from just reading/watching with my own eyes and being a woman myself) and add them in correctly, though the thing is in jjk they’re all just in a world but in Naruto and berserk and stuff she’s the add in into /their/ world where they keep fighting bc they miss each other and she gotta be used and a pillar for them or an excuse like Nobara and shoko weren’t used like that by satsug and itafushi they were their own ppl w their own sh like don’t get me wrong vasca and Sakura also were their own people but they really were given the bottom of the barrel sh bc of the dudes decisions. Shoko and Nobara strictly did what they wanted instead of falter to men

They’re literally all kids it doesn’t matter if some are weaker or useless, imagine a god/demon came here rn like the strongest will survive/fight you have to also apply the “weak characters” to irl bc I bet you they’re still stronger than most of us (miwa, Kamo, idk about momo still but she been w them I can’t doubt her skill just cause they had POWERFUL enemies

Gojo not being able to drink makes sense no drugs to impair his power and eyes (maybe lightweight maybe uncontrollable drunk and no one’s really ready or able to control that) 

Gojo isn’t coming back and he wouldn’t bc he half assed the fight and now he’s with his love and everyone has to fend for themselves now 

I like to think Gojo had Megumi and tsumiki, Geto had Nanako and Mimiko and nanami had Nobara and Yuuji in this preschool/parent AU (tojis gojos ex baby daddy) 

All of them are taller than me other than momo and Nobara. (Im 5’4” so gojos 10 years older and a foot taller 🫣) 

In one of Geges book covers it has Gojo in the winter w pink camellias and those flowers mean ily even after death and that flower is also specifically for the birthday feb3 (Geto’s) AGAIN WHY I THINK GEGES A WOMAN RAHHHHH

Maki, Mai, Toji, Kamo, Kokichi were all raised w no love like at all. Yuta had it good til 11, Miwa, yuuji and megumi never fully had it good, todo, Toge (?), Panda, momo, and nobara were just chillin.

HOW DID NOBARA COME UP WITH HER TECHNIQUE THEYRE ALL EMO BITCHES SHE WAS LITERALLY 16 FOR 2 MONTHS BEFORE HER FACE BLAST

SHE WAS SO YOUNG HOW DID SHE COME UP WITH HAMMERING NAILS INTO HERSELF WHAT

Uranme and Kirara go by (they/them)

Gojo and Geto were soulmates no matter the relationship

Utahime, Shoko, Momo, Mai and Nobara all like girls 

Gojo knew Geto for the short amount of time but thought of him for 5x longer.

Megumi’s been without his sister for 1.5 years so she went into a coma when he was 13, his 2nd-3rd year of junior high)

  Mai and maki didn’t know about Toji and Megumi until that year (2018)

Kenjaku planted the first finger at Yuuji’s school by Nanako and Mimiko (they’re the same age) hence why thanking Satsuki for taking care of his son

The person Rika is gone, her cursed spirit is what remains (an embodiment of her love/the curse yuta placed on her)

Yuta is wrong for using Rika and forgetting about his promise and why she’s even there for 6 YEARS then yelling at her about Maki 

Shoko started smoking in high school and stopped about 5 years ago, but started again when she heard Geto was alive again. 

Sukuna has 6 mouths, 4 arms, 4 legs, many eyes, and lactates. 

Choso, Yuuji, Kamo, Todo, and Yuki are all “brothers” by blood or not idc i love their lil weirdo family.

Toji was a good dad, dealt the worst hand, everything going down so the best way to protect his kids is to give them to people who can kill curses and teach them about sorcery. 

Nobara and Yuuji have the same friendship as Power and Denji, Nami and Franky/Luffy/Usopp

[linkspooky]

"Ultimate Strength... and the Solitude it Brings!!"

So this is a thoughts for chapter 233, and also a meta on the whole Gojo and Sukuna fight in general as we're nearing the end. My biggest question here is what exactly does this fight mean for Gojo's character? Why is he fighting and how does that compare to Sukuna?

Before the fight even begins on the eve of Gojo's unboxing we're given a reminder of the loneliness that is at the core of its character. That his central motivation is to raise strong companions so they'll be able to live out the springtime of their youths. That they won't be left alone the way that he was, and the way that also Geto was before he fell from grace.

It seems like Gojo's takeaway here was "I need to intervene earlier" otherwise another Geto will happen. Which is why he his next action in the manga is to find Megumi and recruit him, with the warning that if he's not strong enough he'll be left behind. Because this is Gojo logic we're working here strength = good.

If he raises strong enough companions he'll finally have equals. If he raises students who are strong enough, they won't fall to the corruption of the Jujutsu World.

He doesn't want children to be left alone the way he was left alone as a child, and the way Geto was. However, he also rather condescendingly thinks that the only people who could possibly be on his level are those who are physically strong. There we see Gojo's good intentions mix with how ingrained he is into the society that he was raised in.

The foundation of Jujutsu Society is might = right.

I'm going to borrow a quote from another manga to explain it. Don't read it because the author is a criminals but Makoto Shishio espouses views that are pretty similiar to all of Jujutsu Society as a whole (and yes even Gojo).

Saitro: Kill evil quickly. Shishio: Kill evil quickly? Am I evil? What is evil? In my eyes weakness is evil, raw power is justice.

We actually see this theme repeated over and over again "the ugliness of the weak" or how wekaness itself is considered a crime.

Ironically these two characters who decry the ugliness of the weak then go on to be mass murderers... so you know. Look in the mirrors, guys. People who are victims are often condescendingly spoken down to, lambasted while they're in pain, told they are wrong.

Then you have characters like Toji who while being horrible people are almost fetishiticallly praised just by the virtue that they are strong. Like yes, Toji abandoned his son, solid him, then gambled away all the money he got from selling him, and then killed a high school girl by shooting him in the back of the head but... he was so strong.

Maki becoming more like Toji is apparently a good thing, because you know... he was just so strong. Toji is a pathetic manchild and a loser but because he fits Jujutsu Society's ideal of raw strength so well he ends up being held up regardless as some kind of gold standard.

Which kind of just goes to show how twisted the ideals of Jujutsu Society are. "Weakness is evil, and raw power is justice."

No one embodies this viewpoint more though than Sukuna. In his brief fight against Yuji he almost quotes another Makoto Shishio quote word for word.

Makoto Shishio: "The weak's reason for being is to be food for the strong. Those who are even too weak to be food have no right to exist and the strongest of the strong are at the top of the food chain. The Meiji government is weaker than I am and has no right to be in control of this country. Power belongs to the strong, it belongs to me alone. Taking over this country is my right by natural law. If you're strong you live and if you're weak you die."

Sukuna even says something similiar early on that it's ridiculous that Gojo isn't in charge of the entire sorcery world because of his position as the strongest.

Sukuna just like Gojo before entering the fight receives another reminder of just how alone he is as an individual in his fight against Yorozu, which is where the quote about the loneliness of the strongest emerges from. Yorozu's fight ends with a flashback of Yorozu in the heian era recognizing how alone Sukuna was while the rest of his crowd was worshipping him and despreately wanting to be by his side.

Whereas, before entering the fight Shoko reflects on how Gojo would never allow her to be by his side even though she's been right next to him for years.

The parallel is pretty clear here, these are two people who stand alone at the top of the food chain. They are the extreme version of "right of the individual" or "right of the strong." To borrow from another manga Tokyo Ghoul this time on how to define right of the strong.

"Every disadvantage in the world is from a lack of competence..." or translated in other version's a lack of individual competence. It's the extreme form of individualism that both Gojo and Sukuna represent, if you're tramepled upon, violated, abused, it's your fault for being weak and letting it happening. If you were simply strong enough you could have prevented it from happening.

Gojo and Sukuna both see the world in that black and white logic, however, Gojo has the added burden of his duty as a sorcerer of protecting non-sorcerers that he took on from Geto. Gojo can't kill without meaning or just use his power to stomp over others because Geto drilled it in his head at his weakest moment post Riko's death and awakening that it's important for sorcerers to have meaning to their actions.

In every other way though Gojo is a believer of right of the strong. IT's what he preaches and practices. Hence why his problem solving method is just to win the big fight all alone. Every conflict in the world and every problem to be solved is just a matter of being strong enough in Gojo's eyes.

Which is why I wonder if that explains Gojo's attitude towards this fight with Sukuna. Megumi's life is on the line, the chips are down on the table, but Gojo just seems to treat this like it's a champion prize fight.

Gojo's attitude is notably different from when he was fighting in the beginning of the Shibuya Incident Arc.

Gojo's angry that Jogo and the cursed family are trying to gang up on him and win using strategy rather because none of them are individually strong enough to beat him on their own. He's vicious and brutal the entire fight because it's almost like they've insulted him by trying to challenge him.

Whereas with Sukuna despite the fact that the emotional stakes are way, way higher. Despite the fact one of Gojo's students is in danger and he may even have to kill said student, Gojo just jokes around the entire time and seems to be enjoying himself. It seems like this would be the fight for Gojo to get lose his mind and get unhinged but no.

Yuji and Gojo are both characters who admit they might have to kill Megumi in order to resolve this situation, but look at the differences in their reactions.

Yuji's horrified, and to be fair in Yuji's defense even if Yuji is forced to kill Megumi in order to "save" him. Yuji was the previous host of Sukuna and he was one hundred percent willing to get killed by Yuta or Gojo if he ever went out of control again.

However, Gojo's response to the fact that Megumi got possessed is... let's say less serious.

"I can totally beat up Megumi."

Now, in Gojo's case in comparison to Yuji. Yuji is just a child of Megumi's age and he was also in Megumi's position of being taken over by Sukuna before this and was willing to risk his life on that. Gojo is in a position of power over Megumi. He was obligated to protect Megumi, and now having failed in that obligation isn't really making any attempt to save him.

Now, do I think Gojo is actually trying to kill Megumi?

I'm hovering towards no at the moment. His line here indicates that he thinks there may be a way to revive Megumi after he kills Sukuna once.

However, I think the author wants us to quesiton whether or not GOjo's priorities are really in the right here. After all the other characters are questioning if he's actually trying to help Megumi. Megumi's already been on the receiving end of the unlimited void because of Gojo using his body as a punching bag.

Rather, I think the takeaway here is that Sukuna is bringing out the worst in Gojo because Sukuna represents Gojo at his worst and most toxic. Gojo totally believes in that individual right of the strong.

He thinks that it's the way the world works, everything comes down to how individually strong you are. If you want to fix something? Well just raise a buch of strong children into strong adults and that'll solve everything.

This fight is everything that appeals to Gojo's black and white world view, because he can fix this whole situation with a heavy weight prize fight match between him and Sukuna. Which is where we get to the line this chapter that I used as the banner image.

Why is Gojo fighting here?

Is it because he wants to save Megumi? Is it because he needs to save all of his students and Tokyo as a whole from Kenjaku?

Or is he just fighting for personal satisfaction to be secure in his position as the strongest?

The situation we're in right now reminds me so much of his lines towards Amanai shortly after he awakaned as the strongest. He should be angry for Megumi's sake but...

At the moment the only thing that seems to matter is his fight against Sukuna and the satisfaction from winning.

I guess that's just what happens when you're a main character in a Shonen Manga.

[hornyhermitry]

These are not the Zenins you’re looking for - Naobito & Naoya ramblings and then some

Since there’s no real alternative for longer rants with a personal flavour, let’s give this a shot here on tumblr I guess? Heh.

Preface

General Naobito facts:

71 years → born in 1946, died 2018

Curse Technique: Projection Sorcery

Special Grade 1 Sorcerer

One younger brother - Ogi Zenin

Probably one older brother - unnamed, father of Toji Zenin

(I assume Ogi is younger because they are clearly not twins from the way they look, Ogi looks younger and Ogi’s children Maki & Mai are ca. 10 years younger than Naobito’s son Naoya).

Three sons - youngest son Naoya (27 years in 2018 - born when Naobito was 44)

Fastest Jujucist (except for Gojo Satoru)

Both Naobito & Naoya are names that translate to honesty & straightforwardness. Naobito’s further includes a meaning of “helpful/support”

Hobby: Anime

Favorite food: Sake

Least favorite food: Fishcake

Observations & conclusions from his manga scenes:

Confident, determined, affirmative, tactical (ref. Dagon fight + Jogo appearance right before the burn, doesn’t mind losing an arm, thinks ahead of Toji going for Dagon and jumps in to distract in support)

Cocky & playful, enjoys fighting (often grinning, excited to see Dagon evolve, taunts Nanami “Two 1st grades cannot exorcise (Dagon)?”)

Petty (annoyed by everyone fixated on 4K 60FPS and stupid numbers, retorts to Maki wanting to take Clan Lead)

He was drinking and did not care about Maki leaving the clan. There was no mockery and no attempt to stop her. Only when she said she’d become the next clan head, he asked if he should make her life harder.

He showed up to Shibuya to help out the rest (Maki mocks his drinking habits, with cans next to him he shouts over to her to bring him drinks, but later he nonchalantly breathes into Nanami’s face and we see he actually has not been drinking) and is excited to hear Gojo has been sealed, wants to celebrate.

Maki antagonizes him uncalled for, a bait he does not take but tells her matter of factly she should be the one to go home, to which Nanami agrees.

Assumption based on minor clues

Clan head since the 80s or 90s — depending on circumstances.

→ 2018-1185 (Zenin at the very least date back to Heian times) = 833 years with 26 Zenin clan heads= average leadership of 32 years = his latest “starting date” would have been 1999.

IMO it is very likely he took over earlier than that, because as far as averages go, it usually is way longer spans that are interspersed with very short ones.

(see: “medieval life expectancy was just 31” which did not have most people die at 31 but caused by a high infant mortality seeking the average - you either died as a kid or lived into your 60s).

I think he took over in the mid to late 80s because that sets up the unfortunate situation his family line had to deal with.

On a factual level it’s also not unlikely, because the first half of the 20th century was a chaotic time all around the globe, full of societal shifts and political conflicts that may have potentially led to Naobito’s father/Naoya’s grandfather dying “early”.

Anyway. I present to you:

THE LIFE & TIMES OF NAOBITO ZENIN aka HOLY HEADCANON

The historical context is what makes Naobito so interesting to me and further supports my personal controversial headcanon that:

Naobito & Naoya Zenin are NOT the major players in the, let’s call it “traditional Zenin camp” that exiled Toji and used all kinds of shady internal clan politics to keep power systems up.

Let me take you on a very exhaustive detour on what Naobito being 71 years old in 2018 translates to.

He was born at the brink of World War II and in the wake of the atomic bomb.

During his lifespan, Japan went from a humbled country on its knees to a major player in the global economy, driving technological advancements. During his youth, Japan’s patriotism loosened and a lot of American culture was adapted - the yankii subculture rose to prominence.

JJK readers were told that the Heian era was the peak of jujucists. IRL historically, it was a time famous for many violent conflicts and natural disasters.

Since JJK establishes negative emotions breed curses and cursed energy, this means Naobito‘s young years must have been infested with stronger curses than ever, spawned from the aftermath, suffering, resentment and personal tragedies of WWII, Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

Born in 1946 within months of arguably the worst moment of Japanese history, emerging with a new technique utilising modern animation processes, his potential power upon birth likely matched the new level of curse threats, enabling him to eventually become the fastest Jujucist alive with the use of his modern technique. Growing up in a strongly American-influenced Japan in a rapidly changing world, he was a completely different person than his father (who had seen multiple wars but no massive technological and social progress yet) likely was.

Being the middle child, his father was likely 25-45 years older than him (men back then often fathered their first child between 19 & 23, so I assume he fathered his middle child at 25+), therefore born between 1921 and 1900. This makes him very likely a very hardline conservative patriot who took great pride in the battles he fought in - either during WWI or WWII or even both. A man raised in the spirit of a proud nationalist Japan at the peak of its expansionist mindset across Asia, high in spirits from the successful war against Russia and winning military campaigns in China, Singapore and more East Asian territories. Japan during Naobito’s father’s youth wore uniforms and kimonos.

Whereas Naobito’s social upbringing (outside of his father’s direct influence) was shaped by a more globalist approach and culture, appeasing to the West and showing e.g. through the Olympics of 1964 what a modern country they had become. So when Naobito was 18, Tokyo modernised its post-war infrastructure and built both the Metro as well as the Shinkansen connecting Tokyo and Osaka which kicked off the economic growth in a global spotlight and highlighted how well Japan had rebuilt itself after the defeat 20 years ago. Japan during Naobito’s youth wore slacks, jeans and white shirts. He is old in 2018, but he is a "modern man" in comparison to what came before and he is accustomed to change and progress.

Due to this clash of ideals and lived realities in the world around them, I think Naobito and his father had a very rocky relationship once Naobito entered puberty (and listened to jazz, blues, rock and dressed in blue jeans and leather jackets) and that they had some fundamentally different views on things.

The realities of external life could not have been more different between Naobito’s father and Naobito. Whether it was the world around them or the eventual standing of their clan, Naobito was dealt a very different hand of cards than a very very long line of Zenins in previous generations had been dealt for many centuries.

Due to going up against a man with so much pride and confidence when emancipating himself as his own person, I believe Naobito grew a strong backbone and was a very genuine, upright person - within the limits of his time and upbringing. Much more progressive and less patriotic than his father in any case, which surely was a source of conflict. Yet, I suspect that succeeding in spite of his father’s disapproval is what fueled him to become a more capable and autonomous person than his brothers are and to show that an allegedly inferior curse technique will not hold him back. But Naobito and his father did not only clash about this. In the later Hakari introduction chapter, JJK establishes there are several political factions and some are in favor of traditional millenia old curse techniques like Megumi's 10 Shadows or Gojo's Six Eyes and shun new curse techniques like Projection Sorcery and Idle Gambling that only emerged with new technology. Since sorcerer grades are based on Jujutsu strength and such, people with a modern curse technique are clowned on and not properly being recognized - which applies to both Naobito and Naoya.

The realities of life for Naobito and Naoya are very similar and Naoya’s life is dealing with similar challenges as his father’s. Unlike his father, Naobito was confronted with the reality of established values, routines and social hierarchies becoming horribly moot and due to his own curse technique not being a prestigious one, he was forced to reevaluate the legitimacy of what his father had taught him and what old clans perpetuated. Both in light of the changing world and also his own value as a person and a jujucist. Naoya was confronted with a similar road to growth and reevaluating the classic Jujutsu society & clan values, also having received the same modern technique as his father and witnessing the new kind of strength Toji wielded.

While I do say that Naobito is a different man than his father, I am a firm believer that “the apple does not fall far from the tree” and very much see the likeness between Naobito and Naoya. I feel I should clarify this applies more to personality traits than opinions and I think all three of them are more straightforward and more blunt than the other family lines.

The people readers are told to be suffering by the Zenin family’s actions and opinions are Maki and Toji.

Both of which are not Naobito’s children. They are children of Naobito’s older and younger brothers.

Naobito’s unknown older brother exiles Toji due to him being resented and seen useless by the majority of the clan for not having techniques or energy, Naobito’s younger brother Ogi and his wife raise Maki & Mai in a cruel way, on top of that Ogi is shown to secretly plot behind people’s backs and be involved (with e.g. Jinichi) in inner-clan intrigues and betrayal. Funny enough, Toji himself is shown to be as much of a schemer (as seen through his bounty plan) and backstabber (pun intended) in line with his upbringing.

Naoya & Naobito on the other hand speak their mind openly, announce their gripes and do what they want. Naoya and Naobito are not schemers, they very much are -in accordance with their names - straightforward.

Naoya is many things, but he is not a liar.

Both Naoya and Nabito are eccentrics with a very flashy style that does not conform to plain traditions:

Naoya with his piercings and dyed hair (I’ve previously mentioned his white hakama being unusual for men, which still holds true, but it is not uncommon for high rank swordsmen to wear white ones, so I have now come to conclude these indicate his rank as Chief of the Hei) and Naobito, as an old man, sporting this over the top moustache.

There is an idiom about Japanese society that the nail who sticks out gets hammered down. Both Naoya and Naobito are doing everything to stand out and refuse to fall in line with unreflected traditional actions.

Both have not inherited the Ten Shadows technique but Projection Sorcery - as a result, both are on their own side which aligns more with the reformer side (that contains other Jujucists such as Hakari & Kirara who also have modern techniques), than the conventional conservatives (such as the higher ups or the Kamos. On that note, take a moment to reflect on the implications of Maki and Mai wearing modern school uniforms while Kamo Junior wears a uniform that much more resembles traditional clan attire: The Kamos are as conservative as the Zenins and probably more so than Naobito).

Both Naobito and Naoya are denied their perceived birthright purely by the unfortunate existence of Gojo Satoru and his Six Eyes, and Megumi having the 10 Shadows Technique, for the first time in hundreds of years denying the Zenin’s claim to fame.

Since Gojo was born 1989, I personally like to imagine Naobito tasted clan leadership as “the strongest” (and, in his case, fastest) for at least a few years before the one to change the world’s balance was born - simultaneously stealing Naobito’s position at the peak of the Jujutsu world and also denying that of his at that point two sons. Toji was already past the point of manifesting a cursed technique and therefore all existing “sons” of the Zenin family were ruled out to take their clan’s glory back from Gojo Satoru.

So Naobito tried and succeeded in having another son - I believe this is why Naoya was fathered by him as late as at 44 years. All hopes to restore the waning Zenin power were now on this little boy growing up. Would he be the one to manifest 10 Shadows and make the Zenin a worthy competitor to the Gojo clan again?

No.

Naobito, at this point already several years into watching his clan’s decline, lost the last bit of hope to restore its glory by traditional means and standards when his son manifested his very own curse technique: Projection Sorcery. Personally, I believe that your curse technique is heavily related to your personality - or call it soul if you like - and both Naobito and Naoya having the same technique reflects their similarity in character.

So Naobito raised Naoya to try and surpass the competing Gojo Six Eyes boy even without inheriting the jackpot technique.

While I do believe that Naoya was pampered by servants and women growing up, being the son of the Clan Lead and future Zenin heir in a long line of proud Jujucists, I also coin Naobito as one to give tough love, and demand a lot and would assume Ogi resented him because he would remind him of his own lack of potential, lack of power and lack of future.

On the topic of Ogi:

He is a weak, bitter man who holds resentment for everyone around him and blames everyone but himself for his shortcomings.

Being the youngest brother, his upbringing was different from Naobito‘s and I imagine that especially after witnessing his father and older brother argue and clash, he tried to suck up to his father by being a yesman to all his views and often tried to throw his older brothers under the bus and snitch about his activities.

He has always been a miserable rat with no backbone, hoping for another authority figure to spoonfeed him power.

He never learned that power is not given but taken and failed to take ownership for his life and actions right until his death.

Toji‘s father/Naobito‘s older brother:

I have little thoughts about Toji‘s father/Naobito‘s older brother, but I think he also clashed with his father and (this is super out there) maybe refused to take responsibility despite being the firstborn son and had no interest in leading the clan. I think he was on good terms with Naobito either way and I can see the two of them in their late teens/early 20s out in town, wearing jeans, pomade in their hair, smoking, flirting and riding around on motorbikes with Ogi nagging on the backseat how irresponsible, shameful and reckless they are while they tell the miserable virgin to shut up and learn to be a man.

(In fact, this is the Zenin backstory I want to read and write about, hahaha).

I consider it possible Ogi remained unmarried/a virgin for most his life and only decided to marry a few years after Naobito‘s youngest son Naoya had also failed to manifest Ten Shadows, in a last ill-guided attempt to steal his brother‘s superiority by fathering a child with the golden curse technique. Unfortunately Maki and Mai did not get it either and, to add insult to injury, were girls. Ogi must have been seething about his unlikely decision to marry after all. Possibly he was talked into it by others in the Zenin clan who did not hold Naobito and his ways and his son Naoya in high regard - considering them too unruly and progressive, affirming their future support to Ogi‘s line if he ever takes action.

Either way, I think Ogi and Naobito (and Naoya) are on bad terms and Ogi is a weak rat that deserves to be stepped on by greater people.

Most readers sympathise with Maki and Megumi and their goals and views because that‘s the lense through which we see the story, but take a step back to think about the legitimacy of it for a moment.

Maki leaving the clan is fair, but why would she (or unwilling Megumi) be suitable candidates for leading what‘s essentially a business with lives and salaries and adult people in national positions of power and military units? The thought of it is absurd. It‘s only natural for Naoya, who was raised into this responsibility from a young age, to be outraged over a noname teenager stealing his legacy from him the moment he was supposed to get it in his mid to late 20s. It’s as outrageous as Gojo taking it from Naobito.

My personal headcanon on Naobito’s drinking habit is that it formed in his later years, after Gojo’s curse technique emerged. Struggling to come to grips in his mid 50s, after a life lived for the Zenin legacy for ultimately nothing, watching the power loss and decline of relevancy the Zenin hold after the unfortunate event series - Toji energyless and exiled - Gojo born with Six Eyes - Naoya not having Ten Shadows - from the sidelines of history and the center stage of his clan, with his older brother & his father definitely already dead at this point and him being left with the joke of a person that Ogi is, he took to drinking. “If it‘s all drifting into irrelevancy, I might as well sit back and have a drink in my remaining years.” Something to this extent. In line with this, writing Megumi into his will was a drop in the ocean and at this point no dent in the current state of the clan already past its prime in his eyes.

And yet, old Naobito, leader of the most powerful and wealthy Jujutsu clan (who does not need money) goes to help with the curse outbreak in Shibuya. Sober, despite Maki‘s claims.

And he does not pull a Kusakabe avoiding the curses roaming around but genuinely puts in effort to defeat Dagon and save Maki (who left the clan) after telling her to go home (which against all reason she refuses out of teenage thickheadedness and nearly dies burnt to a crisp as a consequence).

Whereas her father, Naobito‘s little brother Ogi, throws her into a cursed pit to die.

Now, as for Naoya.

Unlike Maki's mother, he does not try to stop her from getting to the curse tools. Unlike her father, he does not throw her into a cursed pit to die. Unlike Jinichi he is not involved in a plot to have her killed.

He mocks her for having an ugly face, rendering her a total failure (on top of not having CE and being a bad fighter). Compared to what everyone else is doing to her, that is really tame.

What I find interesting and most people oddly gloss over, is how he asks her if her plan is to stay in the shadow of Megumi and Yuta.

The implication of this is that he looks down on her choice to tag along behind two other boys — instead of rising up to defeat the odds stacked against her which he potentially considers her capable of. If he was not considering her worthy of being her own person, why would he mock her for being in the shadow of those two? Much like Naobito raised Naoya with tough love, I think this (unconsciously) is a jab at Maki to take Naoya and Naobito as a role model (instead of her weak father) and rise to greatness despite the odds. Somewhere in that douchebaggery of his, he considers her biggest fault her passiveness and acceptance of other people’s low opinion of her and tries to get her to snap and rethink. Be the rebel that Naobito and Naoya also are and were.

I think Naoya, with his definition of and thoughts on strength, his contrarian taunting of everyone else in the clan after his father’s death, had plans to reform the Zenin clan in his own vision once his time as a head comes, to mare sure it will be sustainable in a new age of Jujutsu with less outdated ways of thinking. Naoya has his own agenda. He is not following anyone else's. He does not care for Sukuna's plans, he does not care about Kenjaku's plans. He does not care about Gojo's or Maki's plans (the latter ofc only up until she is all up in his face with her actions) he just wants to get promoted, nothing more. That's not any bizarrely evil masterplan, just a guy trying to steer his life in accordance with his personal vision and goals.

One of my most genuine headcanons about Naoya is that, without Maki and Megumi, he’d have been with Hakari’s and Kirara’s reformer faction and wouldn’t ever have been perceived as an antagonist at all. Because he is not a villain, he is an antagonist, and specifically for Maki & Megumi - he has zero personal agenda with the rest of the cast (aside from Gojo in the broadest sense, but in the same way his father already had it and just lived with it).

Naoya’s whole life revolved around two things: eventually stepping up to lead the clan and to prove himself worthy despite an inferior curse technique, so naturally Megumi stealing the head position from him with contractual fineprint pisses him off to the max. And then to add insult to injury, his “untalented, ugly little cousin” runs amok and slaughters the clan he was supposed to inherit right under his nose. Which he, interestingly, kind of brushes off like water under the bridge and just mocks her for being heartless. He holds no sentimental feelings towards those people murdered there, going by his lack of reaction. And does not care about the Zenin legacy being wiped out for the most part. Which hints at him having prepared for a reform that has now become moot through Maki’s actions.

Now only his other goal in life remains. To be the strongest next to Toji and Gojo. And had Maki not challenged that, had it been anyone else over a different topic, he would not have cared. But his biggest insecurity aka driver was prodded and his arrogance and refusal to acknowledge strength in another Zenin child not him became his downfall. On that note, I also do not consider him a misogynist in particular - he is a petty, spiteful instigator and goader and shittalks everyone. He baits Jinichi into attacking him, he baits Maki in a sexist way, he shittalks women in front of his aunt and he shittalks his brothers to Choso. He does not exclusively single out women to disrespect, he disrespects ANYONE. (Like young Gojo by the way, who behaved the same before he met Geto - all these kids raised into clans, especially as child prodigies set up for future greatness, have little respect for others. A baseline a big ego and a certain arrogance and always feeling better than the rest, no natural instinct to care for others and no respect for established rules are traits both share. Fortunately, Geto opened Gojo’s eyes on the responsibility of strength and taught him some consideration and at least a little humility and kindness. Otherwise, Gojo and Naoya would indeed be standing right next to each other, in arrogance and disrespect for those lower than them).

For what it’s worth, I think Naoya is sexist but the one who is an actual misogynist is Ogi. And that’s why Naoya’s treating Ogi’s wife and daughters mockingly the same way their father/husband does. Yes, there is a difference between sexism (crude prejudice and discrimination) and misogynism (actual contempt and dislike/hatred of women). And while we’re at it -- most of Jujutsu society’s clan-raised peers (vs. random recruits like Yuji, Yuta, Todo) will be sexist. They just don’t get a chance to show it in the manga because their arcs revolve around other things. Kenjaku, Sukuna, Gojo, are all certified sexists given their upbringing and backgrounds.But their stories are different ones, so it’s not likely to come up. Although there has been Gojo’s remark about scary women and Sukuna looking forward to killing women - just saying.

Personally, I don’t see characters or people IRL as good or bad, that’s a childish way of thinking and in such narrow simplistic boxes that only fit in children’s cartoons. People are people. Flawed. Everyone has flaws and everyone has reasons why they have those flaws. Some people click better with your own flaws, some end up causing issues in your life. One bad trait and deed or one good trait and deed doesn’t make or break a person. It’s the sum of what you repeatedly do. Intentions are secondary, the outcome of your actions makes it real. “Who’s worse? The demon who killed 2000 humans or the human who told another human her face is ugly?” is a stupid game to play, especially on childish claims like “oh but sexism is real” like death and murder aren’t just because your sheltered little life has been free from them so far. Grow up and start recognizing the realities of physical violence. Anyway. Naoya mocked Maki for being unable to find a husband with her scarred face, her father threw her into a pit to kill her. People who think Naoya is her issue need to get a grip.

The Zenins you are looking for are not this line of the family but the rest.

And I wanna drink sake and watch anime with Naobito. And listen to him telling me stories from his 30s in the late 1970s.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[mahaguro]

TALKING JJK CHAPTER 253

At this point, I don’t know what to say.

Going into this fight, Maki showed great promise. But in the same breath, it’s that same excellence that pushed Sukuna to landing a direct Black Flash.

Well…she lasted just as long as Kashimo, but most definitely outperformed him at least.

Sukuna was off the shits though lol. He started going after Maki with so much aggression and vigor that he was a lot more talkative than usual.

At first, I thought maybe he was ideologically threatened by Maki, but no. He appeared rather stoked by the opportunity to test his jujutsu on the Heavenly Restriction—a prowess that goes against the very essence of sorcery.

Although she was able to put up a great fight, albeit briefly, it left Kusakabe as the last man standing. He almost couldn’t believe it 😭

At the start of the chapter, Kusakabe is stated to be the strongest Grade 1 sorcerer. Right above Nanami, Mei Mei, and another by the name of Usami. Of course, Kusakabe rejects this and couldn’t be bothered, but I don’t think the appraisal is meaningless.

(loved gojo and nanami cameo, god I miss them)

There’s speculation that Kusakabe may very well possess a CT, but haven’t shared it out of self-preservation and not wanting to be given Special Grade duties. Honestly, he’s so real lol. He’s notorious for avoiding unfavorable encounters, but has never failed to come to someone’s aid when needed. He impressively countered a fully amped Uzumaki and survived.

I don’t expect to Kusakabe to win, but I have high hopes that he’ll show out. Which might actually work in his favor. Sukuna tends to leave openings when it comes to abilities unbeknownst to him, so this should be no different (hopefully).

Yuji is still around kinda so maybe Kusakabe won’t be alone for the entirety of the fight.

I’m thinking 254 will start or include some flashback to a conversation in the time-skip or why he became a teacher at Jujutsu Tech. Would be interesting to see that.

The shiesty sorcery tried it. Ino need to run 😂

[yggdraseed]

An Incomplete Analysis of the Sukunadome

I stress the point that this is an inherently incomplete analysis. It's getting late, I'm tired and unhappy, and… well, the fight isn't over yet, so there's no way this analysis could be complete even if I felt like it. However, it's on my mind, and I feel the need to start exerting myself more on these things. Sometimes sweat is the better medicine. I know this is a long one and doesn’t have any pictures, but if we all support each other, we’ll get through it together.

Full disclosure, I wish more people had gotten filtered by this fight and just stopped talking about Jujutsu Kaisen by now. Like yeah, I think it's great different people see things in different ways, but let's all be honest with ourselves here, most of the people criticizing this fight are not doing so with any sort of literary or artistic perspective or good faith. Most of it is Gojo fans who are still crying, seething, vomiting, pissing, and shitting over the fact that the character they attached their ego to didn't win Jujutsu Kaisen like they wanted. If this describes you, well, this post will probably do you some good, but I'm confident nobody who takes the stance that Gojo should have won would have the space in their mind for what I'm about to say about Sukunadome.

Because that's what I'm calling it. "The Sukuna Cycle" was maybe a little funny for a week or two, but like most memes about this series, it wasn't really based on the story so much as it was on an agenda. Kusakabe was part of the fight since Yuji and Higuruma entered, and up until Miguel, we knew all the combatants who would be tagging in were there. We knew Yuta was off dealing with Kenjaku and would return, we knew Maki was in play, and there really weren't a lot of switches. Just Choso leaving and coming back, Ui Ui retrieving Higuruma's and Gojo's corpses, and… you know, actually, I think that's it. Sure isn't as much as the "Sukuna Cycle" memes made it out to be, huh?

Okay, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm a big JJK fan and a big JJK fandom hater. I think JJK has the worst Western internet fanbase I've seen in a long time, with only a few oases scattered across the internet where you can find intelligent life. Like it's insane what kind of bullshit a person can convince themselves of.

However, I'm not analyzing JJK's fanbase, I'm analyzing JJK. Someday we'll litigate whether or not Lobotomy Kaisen was really funny enough to justify how badly it ruined this fanbase's ability to objectively, productively engage with with one of the most competently written and culturally impactful manga to come out this century. Today is not that day.

So Sukuna's got four arms and knows how to use them. He's got four eyes and so much sass one mouth wasn't enough for the amount of trash he's got to talk to the youths of today. Just on a basic level, having four arms would be such an insignificant power in any other Shonen as to almost be a joke. Yet with how jujutsu sorcery functions as a power system and how adept Sukuna is at using every possible advantage at his disposal - even going so far as to take what probably should be disadvantages and twist them to work for him - having the ability to make hand seals while fighting hand-to-hand, and being able to chant without interrupting his breathing, are inseparable from Sukuna's godlike fighting ability. I love how something seemingly so mundane is such a huge x factor for Sukuna.

We continually see how Sukuna is a complex, but fundamentally vile antagonist. He has a very rich, detailed view of the world, but one that fundamentally reduces every other human being to be his playthings and food. It's just that Sukuna says, "Don't like it? Then get stronger." It's a very Social Darwinist, late stage capitalist view to be coming from the Heian Era, and I think that maybe it's intentional. Shitty people are shitty in mostly the same ways, it's just they find new things to be shitty about or to use to be shitty with.

Like if that were all it is, it'd make Sukuna so effective as a villain to hate and would slot so nicely into Jujutsu Kaisen's overarching social and political commentary. Cruelty within suffering, selfishness as a strength and a weakness, the unfairness of how the strength to pursue one's agency is unevenly distributed and how the haves don’t realize how easily they could have instead been have-nots, it's all there.

But there’s this inherent charisma to Sukuna that I think is intentional. He has this noblesse oblige where he’s so inherently aware of his greatness that he doesn’t have a problem with giving credit where credit is due. Like he talks all the trash when he’s fighting Jogo, but where Gojo’s insults come across as puerile and blunt, Sukuna’s always displaying this wit to him. And when the battle’s over, he acknowledges that even though Jogo wasn’t as strong as him, he was stronger than most and could have gone even further if he hadn’t held himself back. He starts off belittling Gojo in their fight, but by the end, he expresses a profound respect and gratitude towards Gojo. Like it’s a very warped form of those sentiments, but I think it’s sincere. Even with Ishigori, when Sukuna fails to cut him the first time, he just acknowledges it was disrespectful to hold back and that he’ll give it full force the next strike.

Something to keep in mind is that everything Megumi warned Yuji about when it comes to ancient sorcerers applies to Sukuna as well. They’re not treated as uniformly, unambiguously evil anymore than anyone else in JJK is, and are acknowledged as having fundamentally different world views about violence and the value of human life. Kashimo, for instance, seems to value his life only because he’s able to risk his life and lay it on the line. They’re people from an era where children died so young that parents often gave them numbered names so as to not get too attached until they’d see if their kids actually were going to make it or not. If you didn’t give your whole life over to a goal, you probably wouldn’t achieve it. Whereas modern sorcerers, modern people, have all these complex and sometimes contradictory views and needs, ancient sorcerers show a tendency to shave everything away except their one singular conviction because that was what you had to do in an era of much shorter life expectancies and peril on all sides. You’d be very lucky to accomplish one life goal, let alone as many as people of today set out to achieve: graduating high school, graduating college, getting a job, starting a family, and hopefully having one or two passions on the side. Fundamentally different worldviews from fundamentally different periods of history.

And Sukuna is no different. His goal is simple: partake in the many colors and flavors of humanity through mortal combat in the arena of sorcery. Sukuna’s love for sorcery runs deep. He’s always curious about different cursed techniques, even ones that are pedestrian to a sorcerer of his level, like Nanako’s smartphone-based technique. He reminds me of a quote from Baki: “Someone who works hard can never beat someone who enjoys himself.” Sukuna has clearly put forth great effort to master sorcery, but clearly doesn’t see it as work. He sees it as just doing what he enjoys and is good at.

Unfortunately for everyone else, he enjoys killing and is extremely good at it. Sukuna is the ultimate ethical heat death of the “live for yourself, cherish your own agency, don’t let yourself be controlled” mindset that is the ideological starting point of JJK. It’s a very dark, extreme interpretation of Buddhist non-attachment, where even compassion is an attachment to ultimately shed. Sukuna lives perfectly freely, including being free from guilt or compassion.

Naturally, there’s an exception. All things seem to have exceptions. In Sukuna’s case, that would be Uraume. I’ve been fascinated by their dynamic since we first learned of Uraume’s allegiance to Sukuna during Shibuya and I still can’t wait to know more. Suffice to say, Sukuna dotes on Uraume, forgiving their mistakes and seeming to enjoy their company not just because of their service to him, but because their existence makes him happy. I’m reminded of Power in Chainsaw Man, how she was seemingly incapable of empathy or mercy until she met Meowy.

Honestly, Sukuna reminds me a lot of a lot of characters in Chainsaw Man. People who are trying to climb from this state of misery, of struggling just to meet basic desires, and learning to be human. Yet Sukuna is so strong he never needed to learn to be human. He never needed to cooperate with others to survive — or at least, doesn’t seem to believe he did — and so he never saw the value in it. And so he’s basically brute forced his way around having to undergo an arc like Denji’s, and has instead ended up a hedonistic black hole devising all these complicated philosophical arguments to justify what is, really, a very simplistic, predatory desire to only satisfy his basic material wants and creative interests and nothing else for anyone else.

But like, it’s not that simple. If you give to others, you get something immaterial in return. I can’t quantity it or define it, but I’m sure most of you know what I mean. The happiness that comes from taking care of others’ needs, and the deeper levels beyond that happiness. Like I do believe that’s the subtext behind Binding Vows as metaphor: that you almost never give without getting in return. You might not get the same thing back, in the same form, but being changed by the act of putting the needs and wants of others before your own even temporarily still is part of the exchange. It’s part of becoming complete as a human being.

Sukuna has defied that exchange and broken the cycle, and I don’t think it’s inherently for his own benefit. There are some thing about being human that you don’t just get to opt out of, no matter how much you claim you’re more than or less than human. Even if Sukuna doesn’t think he’s lost something of value, he has. And that something of value is inherent to the whole point of this final battle.

Jujutsu Kaisen is basically working on two big problems. There are lots of ideas at play in the series, but there are two fundamental problems for which every fiight, every character arc, every turn of the gears consitutes part of the calculus to solve one or both of those problems.

The first problem, a thematic and philosophical one: “How do you love and fight for something when you know you’re going to die?”

The second problem, a metatextual one: “Is there any artistic and social value left in the Shonen formula as it stands in the modern day?”

And this fight is, ultimately, where GeGe is showing their work. It’s where Yuji has to defeat Sukuna, if not in terms of out-boxing him, then in terms of prevailing over his beliefs about humanity and the world as a whole.

GeGe has stripped Yuji of everything that is supposed to determine the worth of a Shonen protagonist’s victory. He’s not fighting alone, he didn’t go off and train all by himself, he trained with a lot of powerful, smart people who helped him. And Yuji is arguably not even the most important participant in the fight. So why should we care if Yuji wins?

The answer is so simple it’s easy to lose track of it. Yuji is risking his life to rescue someone, his friend, from being exploited, and to save the people of Japan from being exploited. Even after everything that’s happened, Yuji plants his fucking feet and takes a stance that no, shithead, there is such a thing as the right thing. Maybe it isn’t obvious all the time, and it sure as hell isn’t always easy to know what it is, but he knows now with certainty what it isn’t: to exploit others or to destroy yourself. We can find our answers somewhere in-between.

Sometimes we can’t resolve our problems with a tidy solution that makes everyone happy and sometimes we have to carve a piece of ourselves out and give to something we won’t be sure to see the fruition of, but that’s just life. It doesn’t mean we have to throw away all hope for things to get better. Even if the world won’t become utopian, it can still become better, no matter how many nihilists hide their own inequities behind assertions that there is no point.

Nihilism is not a solution to the problems of life, it is the choice to run away and hide. To give into nihilism is to give up the fight even while other people are still fighting all around you.

So that’s the fucking point of the Sukunadome. Nobara already said it better than anyone else has before she made Mahito look like the bitch he was and always will be: “Sometimes you need to fight even when you know you can’t win.” Because you won’t always win and you won’t escape death, nor will you know what lies beyond death. However, you can still live according to your principles and fight for the things you see as meaningful even if other people don’t.

That is why so many characters have come and gone from the fight. All gave some, some gave all. Nobody is truly useless — even if Miwa self-deprecatingly jokes about being useless, she still was the one thing standing between Maki and Malevolent Shrine’s eviscerating hellscape. Even Amai’s sweets-conjuring joke technique saved Hana from a would-be fatal fall and helped to supply sugar to the brains of people using reverse cursed technique in Shoko’s triage. Larue couldn’t do much, but they caught Sukuna’s eye at the perfect time for Yuji to land a Black Flash, and that means something. It all means something.

Given how deeply GeGe clearly respects Hunter X Hunter, I want to end off by citing one of the quotes in Hunter X Hunter that has been the most impactful for me and I suspect has been about as impactful on GeGe: “It seems small things… infinitesimally small things… are needed to build the entire universe. The size of a thing has nothing to do with its power.” We always seem to direct our senses to the superlatives. The largest, the oldest, the loudest, the things that hit the hardest. But while it would be wrong to throw those out, we often lose sight of how many little, important things there are in the midst of those huge, important things.

Seeing someone’s smile when you remembered something they said that showed you were listening to them. The feeling of a warm breeze on a summer morning. The smell of honeysuckle on your walk home. Waking up to rain on a Sunday. The taste of watermelon. Getting married. Having your heart broken. Songs that make you smile, songs that make you cry — songs that do both, and songs that make you feel things you can’t describe. When you’re always looking to those immense, monolithic things, always comparing your seemingly small, seemingley meaningless life to them, you lose sight of just how meaningful all of it is.

Just because it doesn’t have cosmic, absolute meaning doesn’t make it meaningless. Every little thing that means something to you is worthy of being cherished. The people around you, the things that bring you happiness, even if that happiness is going to ebb and flow. It’s all worth fighting for and living for. It just takes bravery and conviction to keep fighting and keep living with authenticity and love. And if there’s an artistic value, a greater meaning to Shonen, now and always, it’s the unerring, unabashed belief that there’s a reason to aim high and not give up.

Because sometimes, life hurts. But if it’s just pain, Yuji Itadori will never stop. We’ll see what I have to amend, reconsider, or elaborate on when the fight is finished. I hope this gave some of you a new way to look at it.

[meospseo]

Maki, Toji, and Freedom

I think the worst parroted talking point in JJK discussions is that "Maki just becomes Toji 2.0". It's an idea that commonly comes up in any discussion or Maki or female characters in JJK about how she was reduced to a facsimile of a dead male character the author prefers.

I think this is a gross misunderstanding and oversimplification of Maki's character arc and does a disservice to both characters. Yes, there are many very deliberate parallels in the manga, textually and sub-textually, that discusses their mirroring. But these are usually from the viewpoint of others or from the manga discussing her abilities and growth.

While Maki does undergo a personality shift after awakening, she does not begin echoing Toji in any capacity. Toji is arrogant, flippant, and selfish; a man willing to kill kids and sell his own son for cash. He is at the end of the day a broken man who threw away all personal relations after the death of someone he deeply cared about.

Maki on the other hand is at first blunt, determined, and brash; a woman who only decided to become a sorcerer to spite her family. although she has moments of levity and kindheartedness, she is still motivated by revenge.

When Maki awakens after losing Mai, the person she cared most about, Maki retreats inward, becoming more distant and bitter, but still equally determined; a woman living with the burden of having killed her own parents.

On a surface level, it's easy to see how Maki acting more emotionally detached mirror's Toji's grief, but it's just that; grief. both of them have lost who they cared about the most and it would be strange not to see them retreat inward emotionally.

The difference is in how they deal with their grief; Toji becomes solely self-destructive, selling his own services and his own son only to gamble it away. he is completely lost without his wife. Maki on the other hand becomes outwardly destructive, desperately trying to honor Mai’s and her own dream to destroy the Zen’in clan. Even with these differences, Maki still continues to grow, expressing remorse over indulging in vengeance. Where Maki makes a mistake and learns from it, Toji dies for it.

These differences exist beyond their personalities, even with the same abilities, they utilize their skill sets in different ways that reflect their personalities. Toji is known as the Sorcerer Killer, he is an assassin and hired killer. In Hidden Inventory, instead of attempting to assassinate Riko outright, he delegates the work to others by putting a fake bounty up to tire down Gojo. Toji doesn’t work for free, he isn’t a man held by ideals like pride, loyalty, or friendship. His true self is an opportunist, and when he deviates from that, he dies.

At least, that’s what he tells himself in his last moments, but his desire for self-affirmation, to completely discredit the apex of jujutsu sorcery and spite the Zen’in clan, says otherwise.

I don't think it's a coincidence, either, that a discussion of Maki's abilities and being shunned by the Zen'in family is immediately followed by Mei-Mei's comment about connections based on money, the same belief that brought about Toji's downfall.

Maki, meanwhile, is a woman defined by strength, both physical and mental. Maki’s determination to spite her family is the core of her motivation for much of the story, it’s what drives her to be stronger. Though Maki is far from dumb, she manages to figure out and counter Naoya’s technique in a matter of moments, she never relies on trickery or plans the same way Toji does. This stems from the fact that Maki has the luxury to rely on others; though Maki desires self-affirmation through internal strength, she isn’t stubborn enough to turn to isolation. Toji meanwhile, is completely alone and forced to fight through unorthodox plans – strength exists merely as a means to an end for Toji, while strength exists as a source of pride and a goal in of itself for Maki.

Freedom is perhaps the greatest line connecting the two stains of the Zen’in clan. Free from cursed energy, free from expectations, free the constraints of a cursed technique. It’s what really, truly motivated Maki in the first place; the freedom to choose what to be, to leave home. Maki refused to live a normal life and fall into a hole serving her family with Mai and instead opted to become stronger.

Toji, meanwhile, is described as a man who escaped fate and broke the chain of destiny keeping the star plasma vessel and the six eyes together.

But Toji’s defiance only shatters others chains, as he never truly escaped the shadow of the Zen’in clan, being haunted by them and the fate of his son in his last moments.

Maki, meanwhile, makes peace with the fact that she can never really make peace, that she can only look forward and keep moving.

Maki Zen’in is arguably one of the best written characters in the series, and to see any discussion or her reduced to “she’s good but Toji 2.0” is disheartening and a rejection of reading characters on even a basic level. Reducing characters to their powers and abilities is literally exactly what the story is actively disparaging in current chapters! When all you can see is someone’s strengths and abilities, you’re dehumanizing them into a monster; and Maki deserves better to be known as nothing more than a monster.

[animehouse-moe]

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 8: Shibuya Incident 3

This is what I was worried about, what I thought was arguably the worst case scenario for what we'd get for season 2. Thankfully, only a single battle falls to this effort, but we have no telling what the future may hold. Not entirely devoid of good, the episode is overwhelmingly still, but also oddly flashy. A brutal balance to strike, worsened by the ghosting and dimming imposed on it, I don't think it'll take long for me to explain what's going on with this episode.

So, first things first, the praise. This episode takes Geto's explanation of Domain Amplification and how to handle Gojo, and shapes it into something rather appealing compared to the manga. I think it's a good change, but one that I'm still curious about. The real fight between Gojo, and Hanami, Jogo, and Choso starts next episode. I'm unsure of the reasoning behind splitting up the explanation into parts that are stippled throughout. It would work equally well as a closer to prep the tension for the ensuing fight.

Gojo, the all powerful sorcerer, has a "weakness" that's being exploited, and so he rises to the challenge. Now, I'll state once more that it's not a critique of the anime's exposition, but just a question of why they chose to split it up instead of keeping it in line with the manga.

Anyways, here's Hanami, Dagon, and Mahito playing with the kids while Geto explains things.

Similarly, I think them condensing the respective fights was a good decision. With the pacing of them, consolidating them works much better to preserve pace and engagement.

Also, there's a good few ambitious scenes in the episode, that are arguably well done. I think disappointingly though, very few have to do with actual combat, and arguably fewer that are specifically animated.

Let's start with Yuji's reaction to Mahito being in Shibuya. Not quite the manga, but it's pretty comparable to his reactions from season 1. Because of the lack of animation though, you don't really feel that oomph like you did with S1 Yuji, which is somewhat saddening. Still, far from the worst.

You know, I think I might just speed things along. The very core of this episode is good layouts. Animation doesn't really follow, nor does it keep up with said LOs. Here's a few examples though, like Yuji's running cycle paired with his character acting. Solid and smooth, it's well done even though it's different from the first season.

Similarly, but arguably worse, is Choso's Slicing Exorcism. Solid idea, good boards, surprisingly good animation. Terrible composition and art. Which is a shame, it's a really solid approach to Choso's style of combat, and it's squandered by negative effort in its surroundings. Better than a blurred background, but still far from good.

But that's really as far as my praise can go. As I said to open, the episode is painfully still, but attempts to be incredibly flashy. Some boards work well, but they're largely limited to stills and non-combat sequences.

Grasshopper vs Yuji was nearly a complete letdown in that regard. Drawing out the comical/silly moments, quickening its pace while completely changing its scale, and offer a total lack of impact and weight. By all means, its a flunking score that even makes you doubt if what transpired in the previous episode was at all associated to the execution of today's.

And that doesn't even mention the weirdness of trying to mimic a JJK 0 fight scene of Yuta & Rika vs Geto. Choppy, sluggish, and the animation/choreography makes no sense. Completely changes the scale of Grasshopper as well as the limit of their abilities, as well as Yuji. Essentially what I said with the prior episode, the scale of combat has grown to an unreasonable scale that misrepresents their ability.

And then there's the whole rapid fire punching that takes place. Bad choreography in the first place (though a bit more forgivable in manga format) that's made completely unwatchable thanks to ghosting and dimming. No real words, so just watch this clip from an account on Twitter.

And I think that pretty well sums it up. Not a good episode, not a good fight. Praying for better times, and for that matter pacing. With the Kyoto Exchange Event as the benchmark for group battling as well as exposition, Shibuya is already struggle to keep on reasonable pacing. I think Shibuya moves fast in the first place, but I still believe that said pace has been quickened with the anime. For reference, this episode adapts "about" 5 chapters (some contents are piecemealed from other chapters and re-organized, so tough to perfectly gauge), while Kyoto Exchange averaged about 3 chapters an episode.

I refuse to say I'm ringing alarm bells, as I'd already done that before this season, let alone this part of it, began. This is just stating the facts of what unfolds in front of viewers now. I'm just disappointed that following the impressive work of the previous episode that we fall so far. Hopefully the following episode of next week can pick up the pieces once more.

[artoriarts]

there’s a lot of talk about missed potential in jjk, and I agree, while culling games onward was a good ol fight shonen, shibuya incident was something special, dark and painful but built on a core foundation of hope and positivity that drives yuji as a character, but it kinda peaked there, never hitting the same emotional depth after, with the exception of maki and the zenin assassination arc.

But from the many things I’ve seen brought up, one of the things I haven’t seen is just the core premise of cursed energy not being used like it could be from the getgo. Instead of just being Ki, it was something developed *through* the negative emotions that pool and spawn curses. This is just gonna be me spitballing but listen listen.

Yuta’s the best way to segue into this. A sensitive kid loses his best friend and spirals into grief, unknowingly channeling his cursed technique (instead of just being able to copy, him being able to replicate/leech soul ‘data’ in general) as he hangs on to every memory and memento of her, acting as almost ritual and binding her soul to his, resulting in the vengeful spirit we know of rika, his raw cursed energy output resulting from the feedback loop of negativity that comes from the mass guilt of the horrors rika enacts in his defense, as well as the guilt of trapping her with him in the first place when he learns it’s his fault. His power is the direct result of the weight he carries with him.

And in the same way, other characters bear their trauma in their power. Maki’s frustration and spite at the circumstances of her birth placing her under every disadvantage with the system as it is. Sukuna’s raw hatred and disdain for his fellow man. Gojo’s isolation from his own humanity as The Strongest, growing up both closer to everyone than anyone could ever know, as the six eyes’ ability to see the flow of cursed energy allows him to practically read people’s minds emotionally, and yet expectations and power have placed him on a pedestal so far away from humanity, pressured and forced into sorcery, not a single other interest permitted, from the moment of his birth. Yuji, being a newcomer, predominantly working off fear and the still fresh grief of his grandpa, along with the pressure he now feels as someone capable of sorcery to protect those who are not, one bornout of love but no less harsh, and after shibuya, like yuta, he gains a burning core of guilt for what his life has allowed to happen. Stretching more now but instead of becoming racist and getting skilljacked, geto breaking at the end of hidden inventory is where his character launches off from, instead of how it dooms itself to end; I would need to put more thought into it to make it make concrete sense but his want to rid the world of nonsorcerers and “evolve humanity” is not out of hatred for the weak but his love for humanity as a whole, he wants a humanity that can defend itself against the natural consequence of its existence that is cursed energy, and sorcerers are basically the only ones who can do that, so non-sorcerers are simply liabilities and sources of cursed energy that don’t pull their own weight, and kenjaku is maybe more like a symbiote to him, his patron that just so happens to have the same practical goals as him, albeit a different motive of pure scientific curiosity (assuming they still want the tengen merger or if they’re still in the story at all, they don’t fit into this brainbaby idea quite as well as everything else, but I digress).

And this isn’t just a story thing, it also affects the battle system too. Desperation while losing a fight actively makes you more powerful - also means consequently that like people who keep their cool like gojo (ignoring the minor insanity (and him seeing his ex-boyfriend)) have an inherent power limiter; he may be the strongest but he doesn’t get the same power buffs that everyone else can. Maybe positive energy actually like exists aside from mahoraga and rct. it’s harder to use because well people latch onto negative emotion easier than positive emotion and if you’re fighting obviously things are not sunshine and rainbows, but it is more effective against pure curses and can heal (also then if you can only rct off positive emotion, that power swing from negativity kinda shifts you into a glass canon with more damage but less ability to heal).

Do I turn this into fanfic. Do I do that thing where you make fanfic but break it so far from anything canon it’s basically just original content. or do I just keep it all locked in my head because I’m lazy. Decisions decisions.