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I think the culling games started out fun and then meandered after Megumi’s fight with receipt man I feel like I’m beating a dead horse though because literally every JJK manga reader has complained about this arc for a bunch of reasons. It’s the weakest arc so far with some great fights and dumb outcomes. Its seemingly over, and JJK has gotten better since though not back to its previous heights.
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Jun 20, 2023 15:19
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yum posted:The Culling Games felt very erratic and barebones cause there was very little fluff. Every fight was meant to showcase a different character, which I'm assuming was to set up the finale + provide more jujutsu mechanic homework. We have 1 fight each for the new Big 3 Jujutsu High heavy hitters (Yuta, Maki, Hakari), Yuji, Megumi, Kenjaku (Tengan/Yuki/Big Bro), and finally Sukuna. After their Big Fights, with minor exceptions like Yuji, those characters are basically put in the waiting room in anticipation of the Ultimate Showdown. I feel like Kinji vs Hajime felt pointless and just felt like an excuse to write another fight using the pachinko thing. I admittedly loving hate the Pachinko thing since it doesn't feel like it has anything coherent to the flow of the fight.
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Jun 20, 2023 15:41
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To me it just feels like there's a lot of the culling games that doesn't really matter or amount to anything, while also glossing over some of the things that should be more impactful or given more attention. Yuji vs Propeller and Airplane was nothing. Manga guy just seems kind of extraneous when Hakari also has the Kashimo fight to demonstrate his technique. Yuki and Tsumiki getting done dirty has been mentioned a bunch. The military incursion thing stands out as out of place. On the other hand, things like Yuta's three-way showdown owned, Higuruma owns. Those are fine. They spend a ton of time on Maki's fight and power up, which is fine, but it feels like a stark contrast when you then go to releasing Gojo in like two pages, or the smash-cuts to Kenny explaining his plan to the audience and a skip to the final fights out of nowhere. Angel's whole everything just felt disjointed and I still am lightly confused about all of it. The whole "loves Megumi due to things from the past that we didn't see" legit felt like some curse altering memories or something for how out of nowhere it was and how suddenly she was buddy-buddy with the group, especially when she then fucks up with Sukuna, only to just pop open Gojo's box in a single page or whatever. I was also kind of annoyed last chapter at the big culminating fight between Sukuna and Gojo being a bunch of people sitting in a room talking about it instead of showing us anything, but then this chapter happened and I can forgive that. Disclaimer: I've been reading week to week and didn't go back to re-read for this post so it's entirely possible I'm forgetting bits here and there.
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Jun 20, 2023 17:01
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Nighthand posted:Angel's whole everything just felt disjointed and I still am lightly confused about all of it. The whole "loves Megumi due to things from the past that we didn't see" legit felt like some curse altering memories or something for how out of nowhere it was and how suddenly she was buddy-buddy with the group, especially when she then fucks up with Sukuna, only to just pop open Gojo's box in a single page or whatever. Yeah, the Angel stuff made me feel like I had mistakenly skipped chapters or something.
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Jun 20, 2023 18:34
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The pachinko power is the single best power in the manga. Just a man incredibly in love with a lovely romance manga so much he developed a fighting system based on the slot machine adaptation. That's HxH level dumb guy energy.
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Jun 20, 2023 18:47
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:The pachinko power is the single best power in the manga. Just a man incredibly in love with a lovely romance manga so much he developed a fighting system based on the slot machine adaptation. That's HxH level dumb guy energy. I like the idea in theory but I don't like the execution. Dumb powers in HxH feel like they have enough flow to make them work so 'I punch a dude and it loans him energy but then he collects interest and loses his powers if he goes bankrupt' is a goofy power than lends itself well to tense fights. Hell within the manga itself I think I think the lawyer dude or Sumo guys execute weird ideas way better
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Jun 20, 2023 18:52
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If I have a problem with Hakari's domain, it is that it won't be incredibly useful in taking down Sukuna and questionably useful against Kenjaku. First of all Hakari can't afford to lose a domain tug-of-war otherwise he gets nothing out of his power. So best case he uses his domain on one of the team just to land a jackpot to start his momentum and then he's got 4 minutes 11 seconds of unlimited cursed energy. But unlimited cursed energy isn't as great a buff when faced with someone like Sukuna because it doesn't give Hakari any other tools to use. So place him in this current fight and Sukuna just keeps plastering him with damage and out CQCing him until the jackpot runs out and Hakari gets turned into ground beef. If Sukuna doesn't just decapitate him during jackpot entirely. Kenjaku no doubt would have ways to play keepaway and play for time and then Hakari is out of the game. Yuta might have a time limit on fully manifesting Rika but he's still a monster of cursed energy without her. With her he has more tools and abilities he can use. Higuruma's domain at least either removes the opponents techniques (or CE) and can give him access to the sword of Judgement which is a 1HKO attack. On top of that his gavel has more combat utility than Hakari's sliding doors or pachinko balls. Hakari can't even really use his damage nullifying continuations without increased probability and presumably only within his domain. Kashimo by contrast has far more utility with the unique trait of his cursed energy while Hakari's isn't really that good other than hurting more than normal. Taken as a whole his domain is good but I can only really see him being some top tier sorcerer in the modern context but he's outclassed by the powerful ancient sorcerers. Had things been slightly different or had Kashimo been willing to use his cursed technique, Hakari would be dead. And don't get me wrong I really do like Hakari's character and ability but the biggest problem with him going into these last confrontations is the same problem everyone else not Gojo is going to have. What can they actually do to win this fight? ZenMasterBullshit posted:The pachinko power is the single best power in the manga. Just a man incredibly in love with a lovely romance manga so much he developed a fighting system based on the slot machine adaptation. That's HxH level dumb guy energy.
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Jun 20, 2023 19:29
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i really liked what little there was of the kenjaku/military stuff
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Jun 20, 2023 20:20
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Brought To You By posted:Taken as a whole his domain is good but I can only really see him being some top tier sorcerer in the modern context but he's outclassed by the powerful ancient sorcerers. Had things been slightly different or had Kashimo been willing to use his cursed technique, Hakari would be dead. Takaba is still the strongest of the crop. drat I want to see him put against Sukuna.
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Jun 20, 2023 20:54
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Brought To You By posted:Had things been slightly different or had Kashimo been willing to use his cursed technique, Hakari would be dead. Kashimo literally stood still for a while and let him get a Jackpot once, cause he wanted to try and kill Hakari while he was at his apex, and felt playing it safe was how losers think. The only reason Kashimo lost that fight was because they were close to the water.
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Jun 20, 2023 21:47
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Brought To You By posted:If I have a problem with Hakari's domain, it is that it won't be incredibly useful in taking down Sukuna and questionably useful against Kenjaku. First of all Hakari can't afford to lose a domain tug-of-war otherwise he gets nothing out of his power. So best case he uses his domain on one of the team just to land a jackpot to start his momentum and then he's got 4 minutes 11 seconds of unlimited cursed energy. But unlimited cursed energy isn't as great a buff when faced with someone like Sukuna because it doesn't give Hakari any other tools to use. So place him in this current fight and Sukuna just keeps plastering him with damage and out CQCing him until the jackpot runs out and Hakari gets turned into ground beef. If Sukuna doesn't just decapitate him during jackpot entirely. Kenjaku no doubt would have ways to play keepaway and play for time and then Hakari is out of the game. No one can afford to lose a domain tug of war really e: hakari’s even has an added benefit of simple domain not really affecting it
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Jun 21, 2023 01:51
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MonsterEnvy posted:Kashimo literally stood still for a while and let him get a Jackpot once, cause he wanted to try and kill Hakari while he was at his apex, and felt playing it safe was how losers think. No he didn't. They enter Hakari's domain twice. The first time he gets the explanation from Hakari's guaranteed hit. In that same domain expansion they fight and Hakari gets his continue. They keep fighting and then Hakari hits the jackpot. Then Kashimo says he could wait for Hakari's jackpot to run out and attack but that's how losers think and he wants to kill Hakari while he's unkillable. He tries a few things that don't work then uses the super charge to hit Hakari right as Hakari's jackpot ends. Then Hakari opens his domain as he falls and instantly hits his jackpot. Kashimo never waits to let him hit the jackpot. He just says he'll kill Hakari without waiting for the jackpot to end. Which he is unable to do and then moves on to trying to stop Hakari opening his domain again. As for the water being lucky I feel like you can apply stuff like that to so many manga fights that it doesn't mean much. Gege decided Hakari was winning that fight, he didn't run a simulation to see what would happen. I like Kashimo a lot but I also feel Gege cheated a little bit by saying his CT isn't his lightning. That's fine and we have a precedent for cursed energy texture with Hakari. It's such a powerful ability without being an official CT though. It's a guaranteed hit that doesn't need a domain, with massive range, and can build massive power. Outside of Gojo and Okktosu I don't think anyone else could do anything. Even Okkotsu I don't think his RCE could survive the stuff that Hakari could shrug off and instantly regrow. Like it's all well and good to say "ahh he's limited to using his cursed technique only once!" then just having a separate ability that's stronger than almost any other single cursed technique we've seen. e: also I guess it’s lucky Kenjaku decided that the electrolysis of water is something that all the ancient sorcerers would need to know about the modern world EmmyOk fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Jun 21, 2023 |
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Jun 21, 2023 02:10
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Hakari vs Kashimo seems like it was meant to provide a case example for domains and RCT. We got a dude who can chain cast domain expansion multiple times, where the fight doesn't end instantly due to the non-lethality of the sure-hit, versus a guy who has no technique or direct countermeasure and is basically encouraging his opponent to do his super Saiyan 3 powerup. The fight shows how DE's instantaneous hit functions and that you can even control and relocate the barrier whilst still in it. The rest of the fight is just Kashimo whaling on Hakari while he tanks everything and demonstrates how op RCT is with unlimited cursed energy, how it functions, and its limitations. It brings more context to how Gojo and Sukuna are using RCT in their current fight. According to Gege, Hakari's domain does pretty well in a traditional domain vs domain battle because it bypasses the sure-hit vs sure-hit clash due to its incredibly fast activation speed. But it's probably still susceptible to the same weakness of being brittle on the outside. We don't know whether Kenjaku's DE has the same increased range as Sukuna's though, so maybe it'll be more viable against him.
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Jun 21, 2023 02:19
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I doubt Kenjaku would deploy a domain against Hakari. Outside of Gojo and Hakari (probably Sukuna too) people can’t afford to deploy a domain more than once. It’s safer for him to risk fighting Hakari in his domain and letting him get the jackpot and save his domain expansion for Okkotsu.
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Jun 21, 2023 02:27
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Everything up to and including Shibuya was a really good build up minus Hidden Inventory which managed to finish strong enough to not bug me much. Shibuya had a ton of poo poo going on and it all kinda flowed together and was easy to follow, and it was legitimately shocking in places. The Culling Game was fun in many parts because it went HxH in curse battles vs Shibuya's brutal knock-down, drag-out desperate straight power struggles. There was so much kinda pointless crap in it though that felt like it was there to justify stuff you could've just said works "because" and focused on something else. Like the US getting involved and sending in soldiers because some presidential aide's first thought was "Cursed Energy is Energy!!!" instead of "Holy poo poo these people can mulch people with their minds we gotta get in on that" which is what any American politician would really think, and then absolutely loving nothing comes of that outside of providing some dead bodies for Kenjaku in an already densely populated country. It was completely unneeded and really loving stupid, and chapters were wasted on that which could've been used on I dunno- the main cast?? It could've been completely removed and you could've just said Kenjaku had all the cursed energy he needed anyway and nobody would've blinked. Nobody is gonna be like "Man where did Kenjaku get all the suffering he needed for his big plan!? Hello, Cinema Sins!?" Then there's a handful of fights I literally only remembered just now because people remembered them. I straight up do not remember the propeller guy having a fight before the soldier lady mentioned having to dome him with a 50 cal to kill him. I don't remember the receipt guy. I'm flipping through parts of the Culling Game and I'm like "Goddamn, this happened?". That's not great considering I read this week to week and I remember every single thing that happens up through the end of Shibuya. It's weird because I do really think there's some really bright spots here and there in the arc.
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Jun 21, 2023 02:33
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EmmyOk posted:No he didn't. They enter Hakari's domain twice. The first time he gets the explanation from Hakari's guaranteed hit. In that same domain expansion they fight and Hakari gets his continue. They keep fighting and then Hakari hits the jackpot. Your right I misremembered. I thought during one Domain he just stood still and let it happen. EmmyOk posted:e: also I guess it’s lucky Kenjaku decided that the electrolysis of water is something that all the ancient sorcerers would need to know about the modern world Incarnated Sorcerer's get their knowledge of the modern world from their hosts. Kashimo's host was appearntly a bit of a science nerd. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jun 21, 2023 |
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Jun 21, 2023 03:10
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It's hilarious that Sukuna is so insanely confident that he's eager to fight the strongest sorcerer in the world and immediately face a gauntlet like Yuta, Kashimo, Hakari + everyone else while they're coordinating to take him down. Like yeah on any other day he could low diff any two of them at once but after fighting Gojo and all at the same time? That will be fun
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Jun 21, 2023 03:12
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Tosk posted:It's hilarious that Sukuna is so insanely confident that he's eager to fight the strongest sorcerer in the world and immediately face a gauntlet like Yuta, Kashimo, Hakari + everyone else while they're coordinating to take him down. To be fair I think the gauntlet is nervous. Like Yuta's big thing is having an absurd amount of Cursed Energy, and so he is quick to notice that Sukuna easily doubles him in that area.
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Jun 21, 2023 03:16
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EmmyOk posted:I doubt Kenjaku would deploy a domain against Hakari. Outside of Gojo and Hakari (probably Sukuna too) people can’t afford to deploy a domain more than once. It’s safer for him to risk fighting Hakari in his domain and letting him get the jackpot and save his domain expansion for Okkotsu. I think that's true, but the Kenjaku fight probably won't be a 1v1. It seems likely that he'll cast his DE against multiple people. I was thinking that they could wait for Kenjaku to use his DE, and then Yuta and Hakari could use their own to replicate what happened in Sendai. But since Kenjaku has an open barrier DE, this would probably work against them since his DE wouldn't be involved in the barrier clash. Fabricated posted:Like the US getting involved and sending in soldiers because some presidential aide's first thought was "Cursed Energy is Energy!!!" instead of "Holy poo poo these people can mulch people with their minds we gotta get in on that" which is what any American politician would really think, and then absolutely loving nothing comes of that outside of providing some dead bodies for Kenjaku in an already densely populated country. It was completely unneeded and really loving stupid, and chapters were wasted on that which could've been used on I dunno- the main cast?? It could've been completely removed and you could've just said Kenjaku had all the cursed energy he needed anyway and nobody would've blinked. Nobody is gonna be like "Man where did Kenjaku get all the suffering he needed for his big plan!? Hello, Cinema Sins!?" Yeah, I don't think it was executed very well, but I think the point of the US (and other countrys involvement) was to show the complete destruction of the status quo. Gege likes to subvert a lot of shonen tropes, so I think he's telling us that the cats out of the bag - the entire world knows about the existence of cursed energy and sorcerers. Whatever happens after the Sukuna fight, the world will have been irreversibly changed.
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Jun 21, 2023 03:20
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MonsterEnvy posted:To be fair I think the gauntlet is nervous. Like Yuta's big thing is having an absurd amount of Cursed Energy, and so he is quick to notice that Sukuna easily doubles him in that area. They definitely should be to be fair, but Sukuna should probably be feeling the heat too, it's gonna be a long day for him even if he beats Gojo. They'll most likely have full intel and it's unlikely Sukuna comes out unscathed, so it really looks like their best possible shot. Obviously even if that eventuality arises Kenjaku is going to come in for his gotcha, but at that point he might just gently caress over Sukuna as well if it's his endgame Tosk fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jun 21, 2023 |
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Jun 21, 2023 03:38
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EmmyOk posted:As for the water being lucky I feel like you can apply stuff like that to so many manga fights that it doesn't mean much. Gege decided Hakari was winning that fight, he didn't run a simulation to see what would happen. Or better yet use that same lower level of bolt and just time it for when Hakari's jackpot ends which Kashimo already had the timing down for. A few punches to the head during the last seconds of the song and KaBOOM! Like you said, Gege decided Hakari was going to win but I just wish it didn't require him to use every tool he had too right before he's supposed to be helping take on the final boss. If he had one or two things said but not shown, it would give me hope those would be more useful in the coming fight. EmmyOk posted:No one can afford to lose a domain tug of war really
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Jun 21, 2023 03:41
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That is an interesting way to conclude the domain expansion fights where both domains are supposed to be instant kills. Have one domain dominant the other, and have one domain have a glaring weakness. This way, the fight can continue without wondering why either is not using their best move.
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Jun 21, 2023 04:23
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Tosk posted:They definitely should be to be fair, but Sukuna should probably be feeling the heat too, it's gonna be a long day for him even if he beats Gojo. They'll most likely have full intel and it's unlikely Sukuna comes out unscathed, so it really looks like their best possible shot. Obviously even if that eventuality arises Kenjaku is going to come in for his gotcha, but at that point he might just gently caress over Sukuna as well if it's his endgame The thing is, if Sukuna wins he has RCT and an absurd amount of Cursed Energy that he uses very well, so they might still not be a threat to him. Even after Gojo got his Technique back Sukuna is still smiles.
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Jun 21, 2023 05:17
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Brought To You By posted:To the point I was making, I'd agree with MonsterEnvy that the fight having water nearby is what allowed Hakari to win because he was not outpacing Kashimo in fisticuffs or damage. Without the water, all Kashimo has to do is use a bigger bolt of lightning to blast off Hakari's head during jackpot. I can't have an infinite capacity to repair damage while it is being dealt. The one he initially used was a baby spark next to the one that almost killed Hakari right afterwards. I think you could say this about any character not just Hakari. Okktosu or Yuki would have had their heads or stomachs nuked the exact same way and have even less defence against it than Hakari. Okkotsu does have very high cursed energy (though his output isn't as high) and RCT. I don't think he has shown he can heal as quickly or effectively as Hakari's automatic healing though. Kashimo was able to route the supercharged bolt through Hakari but maybe he can't aim those routed bolts the same way as when he tags opponents directly. I wonder if Kashimo also needs to retag/charge their staff to do that super move again. Kashimo also mentions Hakari is getting faster as they fight. Their hand to hand combat after Hakari's domain expansion during their fight is much more equal than the rest of the fight. Hakari feels like a snowball and I think he could have overwhelmed Kashimo. My main issue with the fight is Kashimo is overpowered. I dislike the "I have a cursed technique I can only use once so I couldn't use it" set-up. It doesn't feel like a limiting factor at all. Kashimo's lightning is incredibly high damage, a guaranteed hit, and it's not clear how much energy it cost him either. He didn't seem like he was running out of CE until the water. Only he and Hakari have displayed cursed energy texture as a thing. Hakari's is such a minor buff comparatively that it doesn't feel like they're the same thing at all. It feels like Gege gave Kashimo two abilities but only one is classed as a "technique". If you considered Kashimo's lightning as a technique it would easily be in the upper echelons of all cursed techniques we've seen. All fights are ultimately determined by who the author wants to win, but if you're thinking about that while reading then it's not written well. The winner whether they were the underdog or not should feel like they earned it or that established rules of a series were followed. Nothing is worse than a deus ex machina or a character using the "power of friendship". Kashimo is a smart fighter and I think any attempt to bully or knock them into water wouldn't work. Hakari using the fact Kashimo couldn't see the outside world while in his domain to change its coordinates is a really smart move. Yes he's lucky there's a source of water there for him to do that, but using his domain to pull it off felt incredibly satisfying to me. As Hakari says, he uses skill to grab a hold of luck! Kashimo is also lucky (or if you're charitable Kenjaku chose) he got put in a body of someone who understood electrolysis. I liked that because it felt like a really clever and smart application of lightning powers you don't normally see. Hakari realising Kashimo was taking his arm to prevent another domain expansion and turning that to his advantage with a binding vow also felt smart. He used his opponent's plan against them on the fly to turn a loss into a win. Kashimo had the stronger technique, was better at fighting, and had a lot more experience but still lost to Hakari. I can see why some people consider Hakari "lucky" but for me it felt like he executed a good strategy at two key points to win. Brought To You By posted:Yes, but the issue is that unlike Higuruma specifically whose domain is in the same camp as Hakari's. And unlike other competent sorcerer in general who have useful cursed techniques. Hakari has nothing useful without activating his domain first. Higuruma never shows anything other than his domain expansion in the fight with Yuji and I don't believe we see him fight anyone else. He immediately opens his domain on Yuji and Yuji is found guilty. This also happens the second time Higuruma's domain is opened during the retrial. So Higurama's in the exact same boat as Hakari. Presumably his gavel is his normal cursed technique which isn't particularly strong. It only gives Itadori and other opponents trouble because their cursed technique is sealed when they're found guilty. I don't think this ability is better than Hakari's effects outside of his domain. From Hakari's fight with Charles we can see Hakari is pretty strong hand-to-hand. He easily figures out and adjusts to Charles being able to forsee his moves, and then even accounts for Charles counter to his counter. Hakari's cursed texture made Itadori note how hard he hits even without effort, and he no sold Itadori head butting him. Outside of people like Todo, Maki, or Yuji I think Hakari comes across pretty strong in combat. Kashimo is just even better and comes across as being on that highest tier rather than it Hakari being mediocre. It's a bit unfair to say outside of his domain expansion Hakari is useless because his entire ability is predicated on being able to open a domain endlessly. Almost everyone else can only risk doing a domain expansion once. In any fight where one or both sorcerers have a domain expansion it will ultimately come down to who has a better domain. I think very few fights between sorcerers with domains wouldn't eventually result in one of them deciding they had to deploy their domain. If you're going to lose and you only have domain expansion left then you're going to try it even if you think it'll lose to your opponent. Hakari just forces it to a head immediately. He's definitely a snowball and is weakest at the start of fights. An encounter like the threeway fight Yuta had would be really bad for Hakari. Though I'd be curious about his Domain Expansion cost even on a failed one compared to the instant kill domains.
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Jun 21, 2023 13:09
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yum posted:I think that's true, but the Kenjaku fight probably won't be a 1v1. It seems likely that he'll cast his DE against multiple people. I forgot Kenjaku had an open domain too, I misremembered it as Tengen stripping his barrier. I had been thinking Hakari's instant hit would make him decide not to open his domain to counter. Very curious to see how multiple domains interact with an open domain. I think the backups will take on the ten shadows or Kenjaku rather than Sukuna. MonsterEnvy posted:The thing is, if Sukuna wins he has RCT and an absurd amount of Cursed Energy that he uses very well, so they might still not be a threat to him. Even after Gojo got his Technique back Sukuna is still smiles. He still has so much in the tank against Gojo. I'm curious if the arrow or Mahoraga comes out next, assuming that was the end of his domain expansion. I hope we get something new from Gojo in this fight too. Toji pushed him into finally understanding RCT and Hollow Purple. I wonder if Sukuna can push him into a higher understanding or usage of something.
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Jun 21, 2023 13:17
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Kashimo is definitely overpowered, he was undefeated in life and the strongest in his era. He follows the trend of ancient sorcerors being stronger the closer they are to the Golden Age (and weaker closer to the modern age). The strongest in the era following Kashimo's was Ryu, and I don't think he's anywhere close. A lot of Kashimo's lethality comes from his martial proficiency though, I think someone observed he was practicing something similar to the Wing Chun style. That's a pretty bad match for Hakari's freeform brawler style, like watching an electric Ipman whale on a random henchman with too much hp. While Kashimo didn't use his CT, I think it's important to note that Hakari wasn't trying to kill him, only incapacitate him for his points.
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Jun 21, 2023 16:15
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Hakari and Okkotsu are still far from their ceiling I think. They’re like Gojo was before Hidden Inventory. Before he fought Toji Gojo was already considered the strongest in the world. Then he lost and ended up evolving during and after the fight. I don’t think either of them is as strong as Gojo was before hidden Inventory, just that they’ve a lot of room to grow. Ancient sorcerers had to fight constantly and refined themselves through endless combat. Kashimo is presumably at the peak of his abilities already. I don’t think we’ll see a growth spurt before the end of the series from Hakari or Okkotsu though.
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Jun 21, 2023 17:56
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EmmyOk posted:Higuruma never shows anything other than his domain expansion in the fight with Yuji and I don't believe we see him fight anyone else. No, he's only shown being one of the two sorcerors having more than 100 points after Kashimo spends his first 100.
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Jun 21, 2023 18:29
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EmmyOk posted:He still has so much in the tank against Gojo. I'm curious if the arrow or Mahoraga comes out next, assuming that was the end of his domain expansion. I hope we get something new from Gojo in this fight too. Toji pushed him into finally understanding RCT and Hollow Purple. I wonder if Sukuna can push him into a higher understanding or usage of something. I know this isn't what you were referring to but we really already did. No one even thought what Gojo did last chapter was possible. The peanut gallery is pretty much watching Euler vs Ramanujan fight with magical math and push the field to new heights in realtime. I'm definitely curious to see Gojo bring out some new offensive technique though. His opening Purple at 200% output didn't get much done. Tosk fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jun 21, 2023 |
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Jun 21, 2023 18:35
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EmmyOk posted:My main issue with the fight is Kashimo is overpowered. I dislike the "I have a cursed technique I can only use once so I couldn't use it" set-up. It doesn't feel like a limiting factor at all. Kashimo's lightning is incredibly high damage, a guaranteed hit, and it's not clear how much energy it cost him either. He didn't seem like he was running out of CE until the water. Only he and Hakari have displayed cursed energy texture as a thing. Hakari's is such a minor buff comparatively that it doesn't feel like they're the same thing at all. It feels like Gege gave Kashimo two abilities but only one is classed as a "technique". If you considered Kashimo's lightning as a technique it would easily be in the upper echelons of all cursed techniques we've seen. quote:Kashimo is also lucky (or if you're charitable Kenjaku chose) he got put in a body of someone who understood electrolysis. I liked that because it felt like a really clever and smart application of lightning powers you don't normally see. Hakari realising Kashimo was taking his arm to prevent another domain expansion and turning that to his advantage with a binding vow also felt smart. He used his opponent's plan against them on the fly to turn a loss into a win. Kashimo had the stronger technique, was better at fighting, and had a lot more experience but still lost to Hakari. I can see why some people consider Hakari "lucky" but for me it felt like he executed a good strategy at two key points to win. As an aside Hakari making that specific binding vow is a lot like Gojo using RCT to speed up regaining his CT. I didn't know people could do that but I'm ok with it. I'll just end this tangent by saying luck in fiction is weird because it isn't true luck. Hakari does have the excuse of riding an increased probability mode during his 2nd domain but the end result is that he still wins every relevant draw save the first which only demonstrates that his domain loops until he wins or dies. Maybe if it wasn't so certain that Hakari would die if he had bad odds (like not being able to use a continuation) I'd pay less mind to the fact that he only ever won out of necessity. quote:Presumably his gavel is his normal cursed technique which isn't particularly strong. It only gives Itadori and other opponents trouble because their cursed technique is sealed when they're found guilty. I don't think this ability is better than Hakari's effects outside of his domain. quote:It's a bit unfair to say outside of his domain expansion Hakari is useless because his entire ability is predicated on being able to open a domain endlessly. tl;dr bring back Todo so he can literally and metaphorically help clap Sukuna.
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Jun 21, 2023 20:44
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Brought To You By posted:The story has multiple instances of people who are born with some kind of tradeoff for their cursed techniques. Some people get screwed over like Mechamaru being born a cripple but having a large amount of CE as well as puppet sorcery. Takaba and that one tattoo luck guy don't know what their powers are but both effectively warp reality. I get your problem but I have no issue with Kashimo because he has to be overpowered. The era he lived in was cut throat and there's a strong argument that the strongest abilities to exist are all from the past. So it makes sense to me that Hakari's texture is a lesser trait compared to Kashimo's lightning. I don't mind Kashimo being overpowered, I'm fine with other eras having standout strong sorcerers. The part I think falls short is that I don't buy in to the story's "and he didn't even use his CT!" angle. It didn't successfully sell it to me when he has a cursed technique he uses freely in all but name. Brought To You By posted:I'll just end this tangent by saying luck in fiction is weird because it isn't true luck. Hakari does have the excuse of riding an increased probability mode during his 2nd domain but the end result is that he still wins every relevant draw save the first which only demonstrates that his domain loops until he wins or dies. Maybe if it wasn't so certain that Hakari would die if he had bad odds (like not being able to use a continuation) I'd pay less mind to the fact that he only ever won out of necessity. I think the biggest weakness is this for sure. When a character's ability is based around randomness it's hard to do it justice. It was badass when he opened his domain on the verge of death though. My favourite parts of the fight are moving the domain coordinates and last second vow to sacrifice his arm for these reasons. Brought To You By posted:His Gavel is stupid good as a weapon; malleable with variable sizes and weight and he can never be disarmed as he can always desummon/resummon it. Even without taking away someone's technique that's definitely better than Hakari's doors in my mind. Both are skilled in fighting as we saw and Higuruma is already stated to be on the same level as a 1st class sorcerer. If he weren't and if he didn't have that gavel Yuji could still have rolled him with just brute strength which is a complement in this context. His gavel isn't that amazing and if you ranked it by itself among all the techniques we've seen in the series I don't think it rates that highly by itself. Higuruma is really strong but his gavel isn't that incredible imo series wide. We don't even know if he can use it like that before his first ruling. Brought To You By posted:It's very fair going into the future fights because if he doesn't get his domain off what is he realistically going to do to Kenjaku or Sukuna? I'm not saying he's a bad fighter but I am saying Sukuna is definitely better in CQC and Kenjaku doesn't play fair nor want fist fights. Hakari can also only use his domain endlessly if he keeps getting jackpots. A very real concern because of the two opponents he'd be fighting, one so far could shred his domain from the outside and leave Hakari high and dry. And I want to make it clear I'm not trying to dog Hakari. He's a good character with a good ability but even as a group effort I'm struggling to see how any combination of characters takes down Sukuna without Gojo severely crippling him first. If you're talking about specifically the end game fights and set-up then yeah I'd agree for sure he's going to struggle the most compared to what he's normally capable of. I was thinking of his general 1 v 1 level.
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Jun 21, 2023 21:05
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yum posted:Kashimo is definitely overpowered, he was undefeated in life and the strongest in his era. He follows the trend of ancient sorcerors being stronger the closer they are to the Golden Age (and weaker closer to the modern age). The strongest in the era following Kashimo's was Ryu, and I don't think he's anywhere close. A lot of Kashimo's lethality comes from his martial proficiency though, I think someone observed he was practicing something similar to the Wing Chun style. That's a pretty bad match for Hakari's freeform brawler style, like watching an electric Ipman whale on a random henchman with too much hp. While Kashimo didn't use his CT, I think it's important to note that Hakari wasn't trying to kill him, only incapacitate him for his points. You have to remember that in Anime World every fighting style is pretty much equal to each other, in a medium where a common and extremely effective fighting style is “I only use kicks”
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Jun 21, 2023 21:06
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I think the gavel is just part of his CT. The trial is also part of the judge man ability and as stated when the fight started, he figured he out he had to make barriers because of the necessity to complete the trial. I imagine it would work outside it, but the opponent doesn’t have to stand around while he completes the trial, because the shikigami still appears outside of the domain expansion. So he figured out domain expansion by necessity and made rules ensuring the ability is completed before he can be attacked or interrupted.
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Jun 22, 2023 03:38
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Well Sorcery is all binding vows and contracts and cause and effect so who better to navigate that than a lawyer.
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Jun 22, 2023 09:46
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Asuron posted:I think the gavel is just part of his CT. The trial is also part of the judge man ability and as stated when the fight started, he figured he out he had to make barriers because of the necessity to complete the trial. I imagine it would work outside it, but the opponent doesn’t have to stand around while he completes the trial, because the shikigami still appears outside of the domain expansion. Higurumua's gavel turns into Executioner's Sword when Judgeman passes a death sentence. It''s possible the gavel's malleable form is also the result of a guilty verdict. I assume if death sentence had been Itadori's first verdict ,Judgeman would have confiscated Itadori's technique as well as giving Higuruma the sword. On balance I still think it's most likely the malleable form is Higuruma's basic technique. Higuruma ftw
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Jun 22, 2023 10:19
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EmmyOk posted:His gavel isn't that amazing and if you ranked it by itself among all the techniques we've seen in the series I don't think it rates that highly by itself. Higuruma is really strong but his gavel isn't that incredible imo series wide. We don't even know if he can use it like that before his first ruling. Asuron posted:So he figured out domain expansion by necessity and made rules ensuring the ability is completed before he can be attacked or interrupted.
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Jun 22, 2023 11:19
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I just mean that Higurama's not in a better position than Hakari if neither can open a domain.
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Jun 22, 2023 11:50
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Brought To You By posted:Taken on it's own the Gavel could have just been someone elses's CT and they could still be good with just that. I'm not saying it's top tier but if someone like MeiMei can presumably reach Grade 2 status with just physical reinforcement and a huge Axe, then I can appreciate what having a shapeshifting weapon brings to a fight. At the very least someone with that kind of power could also reach Grade 2 in terms of effectiveness. I actually took a bit of a re-read to double check and it reads to me that he was figuring out his innate CT (Judgeman, the gavel) and he found he could use domain expansion really easy, allowing him to understand how to enhance his CT by reverse engineering it to see what ways he could enhance the base skills with the court rules and guilty verdicts. It’s like Hakari’s CT, who can also manifest the train doors from his domain (when he fought Yuji)and presumably more can be manifested, the domain just amplifies whatever they can do and make sure it goes off to maximum effect.
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Jun 22, 2023 11:55
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I can’t follow any of this chapter to chapter I’m just along for the ride
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Jun 22, 2023 13:59
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EmmyOk posted:I just mean that Higurama's not in a better position than Hakari if neither can open a domain. Asuron posted:I actually took a bit of a re-read to double check and it reads to me that he was figuring out his innate CT (Judgeman, the gavel) and he found he could use domain expansion really easy, allowing him to understand how to enhance his CT by reverse engineering it to see what ways he could enhance the base skills with the court rules and guilty verdicts. quote:It’s like Hakari’s CT, who can also manifest the train doors from his domain (when he fought Yuji)and presumably more can be manifested, the domain just amplifies whatever they can do and make sure it goes off to maximum effect.
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Jun 22, 2023 17:59
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