Jujutsu Kaisen - Manga Spoiler thread (Untagged spoilers)

Sukuna is how the author explores the concept of what it means to be a jujutsu sorcerer.

Despite the fact that he spent most of the manga sealed inside Yuji, he's the character with the most agency in terms of navigating the fate that cursed energy imposes on sorcerers, in terms of his overwhelming self realisation as a character.

I was never bothered by Aizen & Madara even while it was still ongoing. I actually liked watching them kick ass and never thought their villain plot armor was too bad except for Madara with one Rinnegan eye beating up all 9 Tailed Beasts and sealing them all in minutes while all the other characters did nothing.

So far the Sukuna battles hasn't exactly been my favourite but there are still some fun moments and I don't think it has jumped the shark yet.

Like was anyone really expecting Sukuna to be depowered and just killed by the Executioner Sword? Clearly things were never going to go that smoothly. Fights not over yet and I think the good guys still have some cards up their sleeves to turn the tables.

Edited by burninganimefan357 on Dec 16th 2023 at 5:03:57 AM

I'll admit that there's some stuff in JJK that hasn't completely clicked with me for whatever reason. I guess it's like how watching the anime has made me rethink and clarify other thoughts I'd had beforehand. This part is kinda one of them.

Mind, I get one major part of it: Sukuna is the embodiment of hedonism. He takes what he wants and doesn't give a shit. That fits with the existentialist themes of JJK, where it's contrasted to Yuji's selflessness and desire to die surrounded by friends.

I don't think the argument, Sukuna didn't have the cursed tool at the Shibuya massacre, as a legit counterpoint when Judgeman confiscated Yuji's cursed energy for visiting a Pachinko parlor and he certainly wasn't using cursed energy for that when it happened in 2017 before he even ate Sukuna's finger.

Edited by Ikedatakeshi on Dec 16th 2023 at 9:46:06 PM

Yuuji doesn't have anything else to confiscate though which is why that one doesn't bug me. Sukuna has a handful of techniques so even if Judgeman failed to grab dismantle and cleave specifically I'd have accepted it, the RNG nature of Judgeman is actually a pretty good way to limit how op a technique like that could be. I was also curious to see how Sukuna would game the system (the answer being that he didn't even have to try was somehow less funny than if I he inexplicably understood modern day law). The answer though being tha Yorozu's weapon, which he's barely used, barely cares about and is honestly the least troublesome part of his arsenal being taken is just very "Ain't that really fucking convenient huh". It's honestly the most boring subversion to a character's too early overconfidence so far.

I wouldn't really describe that as complaints dwindling when the reaction to Shibuya by manga readers itself was so overwhelmingly positive it actually gave some people hype backlash. People might have lower expectations set now that the source readers themselves are colder to the material but I kind of doubt it's going to be this grand 180° of opinions just because it gets animated.

Edited by Mami on Dec 16th 2023 at 4:36:59 PM

Not *just* because it gets animated. It's the standard cycle. It always happens.

O....Kay I guess?

Edited by Mami on Dec 16th 2023 at 4:38:49 PM

I really don't understand the confusion here. I'm pointing out that this is an overall trend in shonen discourse and that complaining about what's going on *now* is going to change once it's over, it's animated, people have some time to check the series out with fresh eyes, so on and so on, yadayada.

This *always* happens. It's silly to try and act otherwise when there's multiple examples proving this to be the case. Soon there'll be another shonen to take JJK's place and people will complain the same way.

Edited by Diana1969 on Dec 16th 2023 at 9:54:37 AM

It's less confusion and more I still don't really fully agree with you. But that's just that, there isn't really anything more to say.

Edited by Mami on Dec 16th 2023 at 5:11:06 PM

It always gets very, very tedious when the villains always win and the heroes never do

Edited by asterism on Dec 16th 2023 at 4:18:30 PM

The heroes not losing sounds more like a positive to me

JJK is kiiinda of in a weird position in regards to that? Technically the heroes do have victories, all the disaster curses got killed and they were doing pretty good for themselves in the colony battles. It's just that unlike most stuff the narrative kind of has a way of making those victories kind of feel meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

I mean frankly the "Oh the heroes never win anything" argument is *another* age-old one that gets applied to plenty of other series. It's kind of a cliche.

Let's focus on JJK instead of those other series then

Fine by me, then.

Is there anything to discuss that isn't just complaining that JJK is going downhill or jumped the shark?

I kind of like how things are going. The Heroes just got a big win against Kenjaku, and I find Sukuna a good antagonist.

I just want to know where the heck Todou is. And well my random from like 3 weeks ago about whether Mahito being absorbed by Kenjaku will probably amount to something since Kenjaku commented that he had left something behind to continue his legacy which might make Nobara's extremely random reveal to be able to sense souls 2 seconds before her eye got exploded mean something . Though it's only half hearted speculation, JJK is one of those stories where I think my attempts to predict how arcs may go is an actual waste of time.

I feel like talking about the story and events happening in the chapters shouldn't be reduced down to "complaining about JJK going downhill." Might as well stop having threads at all if we have to force positivity and not be open about our thoughts.

Pointing out how frustrating it is that every new chapter gets hit with the same constant negativity and bashing is not the same as telling people to not be open about their thoughts.

It makes discussion obnoxious when every new chapter is some variation of "JJK jumped the shark" over and over again.

I will admit I do really enjoy how the Kenjaku stuff panned out. Like how he lost in a way that makes total sense, and the fight with Tanaba was fun.

I expect he'll still do one last trick, but overall he has been my favorite villain of the series behind Mahito.

I mean, my problems are mostly with Sukuna, but given how central he is to the narrative, it is a fairly massive weakness

I can't believe Yuta's Domain Expansion is straight up Unlimited Blade Works. Against Sukuna is especially funny.

I think Kenjaku's "fight" against Takaba was great, and I love that it was the downfall of the character. I haven't seen anything like it in any other shonen. I just hope that we get a little more info on the character's background, because right now he feels a little Aizen-like in that regard.

Edited by ThreeFacedMan on Jan 31st 2024 at 9:52:28 PM

Spoilers for this weeks chapter are crazy(saw them via an artists retweet).

Jin Itadori(Yujis dad) is Sukunas twin brother reincarnation making Yuji his nephew, Sukuna absorbed his twin in the womb, Yuji uses Malevolent Shrine, and six black flashes on the King of Curses.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 18th 2024 at 6:15:41 AM

that just raises further questions