|
1) I still think that Yuji is definitely getting a cursed technique and I haven't discounted the idea that implanting memories could still be some part of it (though probably not the main mechanism). I don't buy for a second that Gege didn't see the similarity. Or it might turn out that Todo is his brother too, I guess. It feels inevitable that he returns, even if he doesn't have boogie woogie. I don't think it will be cleave/dismantle because that tech is way too op (and frankly, mechanically uninteresting) to be used regularly. Its power is mostly just a way for Sukuna to gruesomely murder people in service to the story beats. A Toji esque heavenly restriction is also possible but the whole "techniques will imprint on Yuji" thing doesn't feel like a dropped plot point at all. Gege has a giant boner for bringing back stuff that was mentioned early in the series. The only question is how/what. Also Yuji is male so the odds that he'll be tossed aside is statistically a lot lower (kinda joking, kinda not). The story is mechanically much weaker if he dies or becomes useless, even though a major plot element of JJK is that life is suffering and bad things happen to good people. The other thing is the whole "Yuji hunting Mahito like a predator" thing that seems to suggest that Yuji has a particularly active "bad side" that may rival Sukuna's or be a result of him imprinting himself on Yuji. That's a very unexplored and spicy plot point that would be really cool if it came back later, and imo it's more evidence for the idea that he'll imprint Sukuna's techniques and possibly behavior going forward. --------- 2) I'm really skeptical that JJK will end this year. Talk about killing the golden goose... of course Japan is generally more capable of doing that than, say, American media, but still. JJK feels like it has tons of meat left on the bones and we're supposed to believe all of the plot points will resolve this year? I refuse to believe that. Though, I do think there's a high chance of a new manga starting based on the golden era of JJK, so he may pivot into that. Gege has also introduced so many characters that there is simply zero way that all of those characters can pay off narratively in the timeline he's set for himself. If he can tie up even a third of the loose ends he's accumulated by eoy I will be loving amazed. And I desperately hope that we aren't going to end up with a Lost situation where he just ends it and admits that he had no intention of tying anything up. If he did intend to end JJK in this manner, he should have left about half of the characters out of the story, because in a world where JJK ends this year, they are just impediments to a tight, cohesive story (though admittedly Gege seems to have no problems making his stories loving impossible to understand, and heavily bloated, if the rules of the culling game are any indication). Regardless the fact remains that if JJK ends this year it will be the biggest intentional destruction of a successful IP possibly ever. I think it either keeps going, or Gege works backwards and basically constructs the entire golden age of Jujutsu narrative from scratch with a new parallel series or even fleshes out the entire thousand year period from the golden era to current timeline. The only thing that gives me pause is that the culling games arc is written extremely poorly. So it's possible that Gege backed himself into a corner and just wants to end it soon. I hope that's not the case, but I don't think I've EVER seen as big of a whiff as the mechanical underpinnings of how the culling games work. Calling it "too complex" is the understatement of the year. It's some of the most intentionally convoluted writing I've ever seen in my life (especially since it's just an excuse to have tons of fights!!!) and it's hard to believe that he actually intended it to go that way but here we are. I Still love JJK but it's just difficult to see how Gege ties all of the character and narrative beats together... and if he just makes the fireworks happen and ends the story, I guess that's ok, but I really hope he tries to stick it out and fix all of the poo poo that be broke during the Culling Games. JJK is in my top 3 manga ever alongside Hunter x Hunter and Re Zero (haha I know, shut up). It deserves a lot more love than it's been getting. If Gege wanted to completely rewrite the culling games arc through chapter 211, I wouldn't blame him and would totally stick around for that. Taima fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Feb 10, 2023 |
#
¿
Feb 10, 2023 15:40
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 16:09 |
|
|
Hey yall I have been re-reading the manga to prepare for the conclusion of the culling games arc. I assume a lot of you have too, but I had a couple of small questions that I hope you guys could help me understand. The main question I have pertains to when Mahito uses his domain in 0.2 seconds, copying Gojo. (by the way this is an interesting top level point that Gege seems to be making that Gojo can and will be surpassed or at least equaled as humanity and curses mix to level up together, but that's not the point of my question). Here are the relevant pages:  This scene confuses the poo poo out of me. Mahito uses his domain but we don't actually see anyone inside it besides Mahito. Then has has a conversation with Sukuna, and I don't get why; I thought the whole point was he was outside of Sukuna's range, so why are they meeting in that way? And why is Sukuna so passive? He's inside Sukuna's domain for some reason, but as far as I know, enacted such a short domain to specifically prevent that? Who is saying they "won't let that happen"? It's very strictly implied that Mahito is NOT trying to affect Sukuna, and is avoiding such an interaction on purpose, so what does that even mean? And what does Sukuna's understanding with Itadori have to do with this conversation? Sukuna demonstrated, with only a few fingers of power, that he can override Mahito's domain without even using his own. That was the whole point of the Nanami/Yuji/Mahito fight's conclusion. So why does Mahito think he can kill Yuji, especially now that sukuna is ridiculously more powerful? Sukuna nearly killed Mahito last time with a split second flick of his wrist, so why the change of heart now? If I take this whole thing at face value, it's implying that Mahito is bumping up against, but not affecting, Sukuna's soul, and is basically saying Sukuna can't do poo poo because there's no time to switch, even though he presumably would kill Mahito if he could. But he doesn't do anything to Sukuna, or Yuji, and why would Mahito need to say all of this if he wasn't interacting, nor trying to interact, with Sukuna's soul? And it was extremely firmly established that Sukuna can destroy Mahito effortlessly if he wishes, even in Embodiment of Self Perfection. Then, Todo's arm gets blasted off, but as far as I can tell, they're not even in Mahito's domain; Mahito just runs over and blows it off as far as it looks. Idk man I just don't get this scene at all, could someone explain? Mahito's domain is categorized as a guaranteed one hit domain by Nanami. But all he does is, like... outside the domain? blows off Tojo's arm as a regular attack, on the street, no domain. Is this domain supposed to be "written on air" like Sukuna's domain? So many questions. ------------------------------ 2) What the flying gently caress is going on here? Is Choso like 13 feet tall? He must be, because they had zero reason to just slap him into a doorway. I get that thematically he's going to through a lot, and is kind of propping himself up in the doorway to collect his thoughts. But it just seems like such an unnecessary panel unless they're trying to showcase how tall Choso is or something. If I remember right from the latter parts of the Culling Games arc he didn't seem that tall...? 
Taima fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Feb 20, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 20, 2023 16:21
|
|
|
Oooh ok I get it now thanks guys  I've been re-reading the whole manga and have noticed so many things. The manga really, really benefits from 1-2 repeat readings, especially the culling game has insanely better pacing when read at your own leisure. Shibuya is one of my favorite arcs in all of anime/manga so having it animated along with the Star Vessel arc is going to be a feast for the soul. However the thing I want animated most is the fight between Hikari and Kashimo. That is my favorite fight in JJK. quote:An aside about Charles/Hikari and drawing: On my second read of the Charles/Hikari fight, I totally missed the point of the conversation which was in hindsight obviously for Gege to air some grievances with the manga industry in Japan. The part where he breaks the dude's finger and goes "art doesn't have to be perfect and imperfect art can convey more emotion" made me laugh out loud because (and honestly I didn't notice this on the first read) Gege is comically horrible at drawing hands, to the point where it's kind of absurd. I get his point, but to be fair the hands are really, really bad lol. From my perspective Gege has two impulses that stand out on the second reading: 1) The hands which are barely an upgrade from Final Fantasy 7 2) a major plot undercurrent is the mistreatment of women in Jujutsu society, which I actually love as a concept, but Gege also goes out of his way to objectify and hurt women in unnecessary ways. Even when he's trying to portray strong women, there are issues here, like the lady who hates the Fujiwara and is just drawn naked a bunch for, idk some reason. I guess she likes being aerodynamic! Also the entire plot point of Mai and Maki being poo poo for Plot Reasons and Mai needing to kill herself so one of them could do anything. I don't get why he piles so much poo poo on women. It's to the point where whenever a woman is introduced I'm like, oh, dope, how is this lady going to get poo poo on later? Maki is essentially forced to become a male character to rival Toji. I would have liked her to retain her femininity and thought she was a cool character. Now she's super powerful but also super serious which makes her the same as many other male sorcerers. Overall though these are relatively minor points. I loving love JJK!!! yum posted:I'm in the camp of Yuji not developing a technique. As noted by Choso, Yuji's specialty is his control of cursed energy, such as the ability to perform black flash almost as if on command, in addition to his monstrous physical strength. It's this hybrid aspect that separates him from Maki/Toji, who rely solely on physical ability with 0 cursed energy. This does put a ceiling on his capabilities though, at least according to the bird-strike lady, but you can become pretty powerful without a technique like the Kyoto new shadow style sword teacher. I feel it'll be whatever Kenjaku did to Yuji before birth + his familial history (where did he learn that ancient martial art? why did Kenjaku choose to infiltrate Yuji's family?) that brings him up to level. Your viewpoint has been reinforced by this week's chapter (214). And I have to admit that Yuji beating people through sheer willpower and willingness to hurt himself is extremely on point thematically with the themes of JJK and specifically Yuji's character. I do think we'll see him live long enough to become what he hates most, as that is heavily implied by the Mahito fight, so I'm curious to see how they work with that. They are setting Yuji up to be something of a monster, both in strength, and perhaps losing the morality that he tried so hard to preserve. Gege is turning Yuji into a T-1000 that seems to automatically heal himself and has nearly unlimited strength which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. At this point I don't think he needs a curse technique, but a domain would be nice, even if it's mostly ornamental (domains in general have kind of lost meaning in JJK but that's another topic). I don't mind though- even if most domains just become a cool art piece addition to the biggest fights, that's pretty dope. Another angle would be for Yuji to truly master black flash in a way that keeps him at 120% potential at nearly all times, so basically a constant in-the-zone power buff instead of a curse technique, and that could include a more powerful, previously undiscovered version of Black Flash that powers him up even more and would sub for a finishing technique. The narrative idea being that Yuji is so attuned to Black Flash that he uncovers an entire upgraded level of ability (say, Black Flame or something). I like this narratively because Yuji is new to the Jujutsu world, so discovering a new way to attune to curse energy above Black Flash would be in keeping with his theme of "becoming powerful partially because he doesn't have any prior training and therefore no prior learned constraints" a la divergent fist. Yuji doesn't have a lifetime of Jujutsu training to weigh him down; which would make a new discovery above Black Flash fit him like a glove in more than one way. quote:More thoughts on the story and 214: My belief is also that Sukuna won't stay in Megumi's body; he will be forced to leave. It's hard to say whether he would go back into Yuji's body or simply use ten shadows to somehow retrieve his own. I don't think Megumi is "dead", not by a long shot, and the narrative doesn't really support Sukuna staying in his body forever either. It seems unlikely that he would return to Yuji at this point, but that's possible if Gege gets written into a corner and needs the plot to re-balance. Sukuna entering Megumi's body could just be an elaborate excuse for Megumi to become extremely powerful by the time Sukuna is forced out. This feels inevitable; all of the main cast need insane power boosts to compete with what is happening in the story. And those power boosts need to happen sooner rather than later. quote:Power scaling issues and character glow-ups: Gege wrote himself into a bit of a corner with the power scaling, which has had a negative impact on the series basically since its inception... it's not a bad thing, but it could be a road block to the pacing as he will need to go out of his way to power up, at the very least, Yuji... Megumi... probably Todo (I refuse to believe he would leave a crowd favorite of this magnitude dead or useless)... along with fun but classically useless women characters who would be rad to see empowered (looking at the Momo and Miwa here specifically, especially since they have both been invoked by the story in various ways recently, and are narrative dead ends if nothing powers them up) and of course Nobara. There is no world in which Gojo and Sukuna are unsealed, and the cast doesn't become ludicrously powerful. There is no way to write that away at this point. Unless Sukuna transferring bodies is something of a red herring, which is possible but unlikely. The fact remains that once Sukuna reaches his full power, everyone else needs to get a glow-up before that or during it. Especially since the story almost requires Gojo to be unsealed, and soon. Really loving soon. Like, in the next 10 chapters soon. This is one of the things that harms JJK; Gege has some narrative elements that almost force the story in certain directions. For instance, 90% of the time the only characters who lose body parts, are ones that can ultimately heal themselves or are close to someone who can. Reverse Curse Technique is a blessing and a curse on the series - fights are hard capped in intensity if people can't lose body parts) but it also hamstrings the narrative. Gege is starting to give everyone reverse curse technique to the point where it seems like it'll be a regular ability more than something special. JJK has a few of these elements, but that's a topic for another day. quote:More general thoughts on the story and the transition of theme/intensity between the arcs covered by the anime so far, and Shibuya: Overall JJK is fuckin cookin right now and I can't wait to see what happens next. This week's chapter (214) is amazing. And I can't overstate how incredible the concept of the Shibuya arc with an unlimited budget will be. And if that does well, the Culling Game fights with unlimited budget will also be out of control. My only issue with Shibuya being an anime is how can they possibly show that on TV? The violence and terror (along with the vibe switch) is basically the entire point of the Shibuya arc. If they have to scale it down it will hurt the arc in huge ways. Though I guess they could just censor it, and then release an uncensored blu ray collection. We'll see. Regardless, if they don't go all out showing the complete and utter disregard for human life that occurs in the manga, the narrative edge is lost. Probably my favorite part of JJK is how it starts as an intentionally somewhat cheesy shonen and then, in Shibuya, transitions to something utterly different, confusing, and horrifying. A true terrorist attack that comes out of nowhere. That change in tone is loving masterful and in my eyes, one of the best things in anime/manga EVER. That will be undermined if Gege can't portray the violence and cruelty that he wants. It's essential that Shibuya be aired as-is. At the same time I don't see how that's possible...  The transition from light-hearted to cruel and violent is especially powerful because if JJK kept on that initial arc - where the implied story is Yuji collecting all of the Sukuna fingers with his friends, over presumably like 15 mass market, money-printing seasons, becoming the next One Piece or DBZ- it would have been one of the most easy to write, popular, and money making shows in the history of anime. Gege threw that all away, on purpose, and the result is just so loving powerful. It's unreal, and something American media would literally Never loving Do because of the potential impact on revenue. Instead of trying to end JJK in a timely manner, media strong-arming would force it to run for 20 years. Instead Gege tears it all down for the sake of the story and pacing. America is losing its grip on artistic media and I'm glad other countries are starting to step in and make their own mass-market projects. The anime masterfully doubles down on this concept by airing one of the lightest, most playful EDs in the history of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6riDJMI-Y8U The op and eds of JJK (and the music in general) are a loving master class for SO many reasons. It's a classic, possibly best-in-class example of how an anime can transform an original manga and make it far more than the sum of its parts. Even with the roadblocks inherent in retaining the pure violence and terror the Shibuya arc entails, if anyone can do it, it's MAPPA. But that deserves it's own entire discussion for another day. The only anime that comes close, for me, in terms of absolutely bomb op/ed that completely recontextualize what's happening, is Re Zero (but I get that's controversial, and isn't in the scope of this already giant post). Forgive the length on this one please, and I won't blame yall if no one reads a word of it turns out I had a lot to say.
Taima fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Feb 23, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2023 17:07
|
|
|
Refined my stupid mega-post lol
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2023 16:06
|
|
|
ZenMasterBullshit posted:Saying Maki sacrificed her femininity by getting a short haircut and mostly remaining the same person but more determined is incredibly telling OP. Assuming you're talking to me I do feel like Maki is objectively becoming Toji, who was a male character. That is the point of her transition; she exists as a foil against Toji. I just wanted Maki to stay true to her character beats, not become super serious Toji-but-probably-stronger. that's just my opinion though; we can agree to disagree on this point. She got more powerful in a way that entailed her look switching to classically male features, and is now being strictly compared to a man (Toji) in terms of her entire scaling. I liked that Maki was determined to succeed in Jujutsu society on her own terms and with her own style. That was her whole thing. Then, to power up, Mai was forced to die (???) and she was forced to become, in many ways, a completely different person that is literally just a dude she is constantly compared to, which included artistic changes to that end. If Gege didn't have a very strong history of sidelining female characters, I wouldn't care as much. It's just hard to see Mai literally say "you can't succeed because I don't want to succeed, I'm garbage and need to get thrown out with the trash if you want to grow" like... gently caress dude, that's so rough. Mai's power to create physical items was one of my favorite powers too (once it got more empowered) and had tons of narrative and artistic license! She could have done so many cool rear end things. On the top level I like Maki's character still and she has a lot to do- she is being set up as a main character with all that entails- but why is her entire identity being compared to a specific man when her entire previous character arc was specifically about not doing that... Your point that a woman can be feminine with classically male features is well taken, but I can't take that principle and run with it because of the other ways in which her character (and female characters broadly) have been treated in the series. She will no doubt end up being her own thing, surpassing Toji, but this entire arc is very much about her becoming a near-carbon copy of him. At the end of the day JJK's treatment of women doesn't ruin the series for me, and I'm not a crusader for social justice such that I won't read a work because of something like that, I just wish the handling of female characters had a bit more... tact and finesse in JJK. And I would love to see them do more; I loved Yuki Tsukumo vs. Kenjaku and would have loved to see her character more, and frankly I was not happy that she made a loving BLACK HOLE and Kenjaku just lost his shirt and was like, "oh that was scary, haha, anyways onto the next evil think cya" Though I will concede that the Yuki vs. Kenjaku fight was already narratively weak (Kenjaku dying at that time would destroy the story, so he had plot armor and therefore was guaranteed to win). I just wish that Kenjaku had some lasting issue stemming from the fight, like maybe losing an arm or something. Literally loving anything besides Kenjaku fighting the only female special grade and coming out of it basically totally unharmed... EmmyOk posted:I don't think domains are useless or pointless rn they are still every bit as powerful as always. In fact I think the inevitable Gojo Sukuna fight is going to come down to domain expansion. I'm really curious who wins there because as powerful as Infinite Void is the narrator voice calls Sukuna's boundary less DE "an artist using the air as canvas" and a total masterwork. God I hope we get that fight though if we do my assumption would be Gojo loses somehow due to it being a shonene and the MC having to win lol. That's fair. I don't know- my issue with domains has always been that are so powerful that they need to be subverted in weird ways. Hollow Wicker Basket and Simple domain are something of a counter, but it feels like a bandaid to me. If a character can't do an anti-domain technique they are more or less sitting ducks, which Gege writes around by just, you know, not having those characters fight and/or making extenuating circumstances that nullify the advantage, but to me that's again kind of a bandaid. The stronger (or otherwise more self-manifested, and true to ones self) domain overwrites the weak one, which is to me not an especially interesting interaction either. Gege's change of course where he's making domains more tightly integrated with a character's general fighting style, more than a one hit kill situation, does help for sure. And I can't deny that I love seeing a good domain! I thought Kenny's domain was loving awesome and it's thematically amazing that he can "paint it on air" like Sukuna (I will intentionally leave out how wack Sumiki's death was in that scene as it's another topic). At the end of the day, domains are incredibly loving cool and I love seeing an artistic representation of a character. So it's not all bad. But they've also been narratively difficult to control and again, we can see that Gege realized this to some degree, as the general role of domains have significantly changed as the story has progressed. So yeah I'm torn. Domains are awesome but all of my favorite fights in the series either have no domain, a non one-hit domain, or a domain that is narratively subverted like Mahito's domain being destroyed by Sukuna (that is one of my favorite scenes!) EmmyOk posted:On a final note I don't think JJK is bleak or hopeless at all though the characters often feel that way and especially now. I don't see Itadori becoming what he hates. I see him finally gaining the same compassion for himself he has for others and that he deserves to live. I think he's truly considered himself dead since his stay of execution and that's how he's been treating himself. Even taking the blame for Shibuya in Higurama's court. Basically I want a Nico Robin "I want to live" moment from our boy I agree that the top level narrative is not hopeless. Though I think you could argue that Itadori has already, to some degree, seen himself become what he hates- wasn't that a main function of his clash with Mahito? Yuji destroys curses with just as little thought as Mahito destroys humans (and actually kills several humans who were transfigured). I found the duality there to be an interesting narrative point. Though it's totally reasonable that he wouldn't become evil or whatever, that's fair. He even calls back to this in the most recent chapter by questioning why everyone has to kill each other all the time and make each other miserable; but he says that after having basically genocided curses (and humans, as "necessary") in the past. I don't know. It just feels like an interesting narrative beat that I would like to see explored more as we go on. For example maybe at some point Yuji will need to kill human(s) again in the service of killing more curses, idk, just an interesting juxtaposition that feels worth going into more Really appreciate being able to go over this stuff with yall it's super fun! Btw I was initially on board with Yuji getting auto reverse curse technique like Hikari but his finger is still gone in the following panels; if it was Yuji healing himself, presumably the finger would be back. That's why I think it was power exiting through his back and not blood/tissue Taima fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Feb 24, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 15:14
|
|
|
Huh? Where are you seeing dat?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 15:55
|
|
|
Oh, huh, interesting!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 16:02
|
|
|
btw Sukuna implies that Yuji is a reincarnated sorcerer in this chapter I'm pretty sure. That's huge. It's also extremely possible that Yuji is a clone of Sukuna, which explains how he is such an appropriate Container for Sukuna in the first place) and might literally be Sukuna except without the history that caused him to go corrupt. This is bolstered by the fact that Yuji looks incredibly similar to how Sukuna did in the Heian era, minus all of the... uh... extras. Both are super interesting ideas, but I'm leaning towards the latter. Also as an aside, there's also an excellent and super well-supported theory that Sukuna's final curse technique is the thunder arrow from Japanese (or Hindu? I forget) folklore and for that reason, Hajime is going to pull a Jogo and be killed by his own element in the same way that Gojo was killed by fire. So in the end Hajime would be an opportunity for Sukuna to employ that technique, and probably in a situation where he's supposedly going to lose, then kills Hajime with his thunder arrow. The thunder arrow is 100% supported by imagery that Gege himself has put out showing that Sukuna has 4 techniques, one for each arm, and two of those are bow techniques. The imagery that Gege released shows Sukuna with a thunder artifact. I can dig up the theory if anyone wants, it's pretty dope and as far as I'm concerned the theory combined with Gege's own artwork of Sukuna, confirms it. Gege loves putting pieces of the puzzle in plain sight, just like he put the Sukuna tattoos on Megumi's frog in the beginning of the manga. Another interesting theory is that Yuji was, in fact, growing the entire time he housed Sukuna, but was actively using a large portion of his cursed energy to contain him fully. Therefore, when Sukuna left, all of that energy that was previously used to contain Sukuna was instead able to be channeled outward, hence the power up. This is easily the most moment for JJK theorycrafting in the entire run so far, it's so dope. Can't wait for the next few chapters!!! Taima fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Feb 24, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 16:57
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:Sukuna more or less seems to have the same gear as his myth counterpart. Two blades, and a bow. (They are just not physical blades and a bow.)  Sukuna in folklore uses two bows and two blades, is my understanding. This image shows him with a Trishula, which is of fire element, and the vajra, which is of thunder element. Both of these infer ability strength on the level of actual gods btw. 20 finger Sukuna is going to be, more or less, a literal god. That is also why he is called the Fallen One; he is a divine being who broke from an upstanding path. There are very few people who can contend with Sukuna for this reason. Right now, probably only Gojo. The techniques that Gege is implying are above the level of anything that we've seen in the manga barring Hollow Purple. Frankly that might not even be enough. Gojo may actually need to ascend again, or be ascended due to his time in the prison realm. It's established in Shibuya that Gojo's mind works overtime compared to a normal person's, so I could see a thread here that Gege might imply that Gojo had functionally unlimited time to prepare, meditate, and build curse energy while in Prison Realm even if time passes differently within it, which is implied as well. I don't believe that Gojo's brain being of a higher power is accidental. He is a diety imo. This all ties into the "war of the gods" theme is developing in JJK; we have Angel, and we have Sukuna, who is essentially a fallen diety, and we have Tengen, who is basically God(?) or at least there's an argument that he is a stand in for such a thing. We also have Gojo who resurrected from death itself and ascended to godhood due to his fight with Toji. For this reason I would be amazed if Angel is dead; she is a pivotal character not just in the current story, but in the greater meta-story of godhood that the story is transitioning to. Narratively, her death makes zero sense. It would set the entire story back. As an aside, when Gojo ascends, he is using the point up/ point down imagery which means he sees himself as a master of heaven and earth:  Anyone who wants to defeat Sukuna or post-godhood Gojo will need to ascend to godhood themselves, or something similar to it. Presumably Yuji just ascended or is on the path to doing so. Anyone who wants to fight with Sukuna needs that sort of glow-up given the implied status of Sukuna's full-strength attacks that Gege is basing his lore off of. Sukuna has the powers of God and Gojo has the Limitless, which is by definition something godly, it frees him from the restraints of normal humans. Curse energy essentially doesn't apply to him; he's moved beyond it as a plot point. That was confirmed early on when Gege explained that Gojo just kind of, just doesn't lose cursed energy anymore. quote:So what is that dagger-ball weapon thing that Sukuna is also holding? That weapon on the right is known as the vajra (thunderbolt) and just like how the trishula was Shiva’s weapon, the vajra is associated with one specific Hindu deity that some Naruto fans may be familiar with; the vajra is Indra’s weapon, or the God of Thunder. this sets up a direct confrontation between Hajime and Sukuna where Hajime whips out his busted-rear end curse technique that is MADE for Sukuna and can only be used once, and then have Sukuna use his own thunder attack and kill him, in a nearly exact arc of Jogo vs. Sukuna. It's simultaneously a dope moment, and a technique reveal. Unfortunately, it feels like Hajime is written into a bit of a corner here; all he cares about is fighting Sukuna, but it's not like Hajime is going to kill Sukuna, that makes zero narrative sense, so we'll probably get a super dope battle and he'll die. ------------------ Here is a refined theory, which I will post the TLDR to, but anyone who has the time should really read the entire post, which is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsushi/comments/v5joob/sukunas_last_hidden_cursed_technique_will_be_a/ Sukuna’s last hidden cursed technique will be a DIVINE THUNDER ARROW This theory sounds absolutely crazy but I think that Sukuna is hiding one last technique (so a total of 4, not 20) and it's a Divine Thunder Arrow. The basis for this theory comes from the cover of Chapter 117 where Sukuna is depicted holding two cryptic weapons and an analysis of these weapons from real-life mythology. TLDR: Each of Sukuna’s four abilities draw from a book called Nihon Shoki that Gege admitted to using for reference for Sukuna’s character in JUMP #23 2020. In Nihon Shoki, Ryomen Sukuna is depicted having four arms, using two swords and two bows. I think the swords correspond to Cleave and Dismantle, and the two bows correspond to the Fire Arrow and an eventual Thunder Arrow The cover for Chapter 117 depicts all of Sukuna’s current and hidden abilities The trident or trishula corresponds to a Hindu deity known as Shiva who is known for a cosmic thunder The ball-dagger weapon corresponds to a vajra with a kila (dagger) attached to it. The kila corresponds to Cleave and Dismantle and the vajra corresponds to a Hindu deity known as Indra, who is known for a thunder arrow attack also called a vajra (Any Naruto fans?) Shiva and Indra’s fire/thunder arrow attacks match up perfectly with the depiction of Sukuna with two bows in Nihon Shoki. Two arrows for two bows Not only is Malevolent Shrine divine in its own nature, so is the Fire Arrow and Thunder Arrow in its background lore, making Sukuna extremely OP the unabonger posted:Was wondering why this wasn't more talked about tbh. Yeah I think people are waiting for official translation but given the context, I feel like it's worth talking about already, because that seems pretty straightforward but what do I know
Taima fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Feb 24, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 20:40
|
|
|
Yeah man, agree
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2023 22:44
|
|
|
There's clearly something to Yuji -> Sakuna because they just like, look the exact same. The historical pictures shown of Sakuna's body are just like... evil cursed Yuji.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2023 01:02
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:I honestly think they don't look very much like each other. er idk Sakuna and Yuji both seem to have off-pink hair but in the one you posted his hair is brown. It is what it is, we’ll see soon probably.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2023 04:51
|
|
|
Oxxidation posted:his hair was later revised to the same color as sukuna’s Interesting. Do you (or anyone reading) think this has relevance? I know the Brought to You By doesn't see a resemblance but I definitely do imo. We know for a fact now (or at least with 90% certainty) that Yuji is from the Heian era in some way, same as Sukuna, so paternal lineage is possible, or a clone? The specifics are unclear. It's also somewhat possible that Yuji is from before the Heian era, due to the fact that Druv was an incarnated sorcerer and was alive decades before the Heian era started, if I remember right, so it's possible that Yuji may have even set off the Heian era in some way, was made inactive in some way, and held by Kenjaku until this very timeline. Kenjaku has called Yuji the Eye of the Storm of a new world, and he doesn't say that poo poo casually. We also know that strong sorcerers being born can flip the entire society on its head- after all, this entire re-emergence of Heian is almost entirely precipitated by Satoru Gojo being born. It is implied that his birth changed the entire balance of the world, and his ascendence in particular vs. Toji is implied to have more or less set off the entire story up until now. Yuji's dad seems like he will play a pivotal part in the understanding of Kenjaku's motivations; We know that Kenjaku specifically mated with Yuji's dad for some reason, we just don't know exactly what. His genes? His Curse Technique? Like Sukuna infers, whatever it is, it's going to be gross. At the same time, Kenjaku has been very clear that the other death painting wombs are failures, but he has so much respect for Yuji that he almost has some kind of paternal love for him. That must mean his potential is absurd, since Kenjaku only admires strength. Which is why he has nothing but disappointment for Choso even though he's pretty boss in his own right. So we can be sure at this point that Yuji is re-blossoming as the central part of the story after being largely absent for the Culling Games, and he is set to be one of the strongest. So strong, in fact, that he could surpass Gojo, which would probably mean (putting on my narrative writer cap for a moment) that Gojo dies to Sukuna along the way. This is something that Gojo implied about him in the beginning of the story, and we know Gojo can see people's potential with the Six Eyes. He probably knew something about Yuji that he didn't reveal, and it may be along the same lines as what his grandpa tried to tell him before he passed in the hospital. And, since the official translation is out, we can be sure of the dialogue. Unfortunately I actually liked the scan translation more than the official one, but theyr'e both really good. It's going to be a long wait to see the next chapter. I haven't been this hype on JJK since Shibuya. That also brings up another point, is this the final part of the Culling arc? I don't know what to think about the culling games arc, if it ends soon, it will be by far the shittiest arc in the series. I did go back and read it, and it definitely flows better if you binge it vs. weekly, but it's felt a bit like a hiatus where Gege just mashes figurines together. Though the fights were pretty fuego, especially Hikari vs Kashimo (even if Kashimo's destiny is pretty obviously to get bodied by Sukuna and probably with his own element, like Jogo). We could be in the final payoff stages of the arc, in which case, it could end up being a pretty dope arc but it has a lot of ground to make up if it's going to be anywhere NEAR as hype as Shibuya Incident. Gege plays the long game though, and whatever he's setting up for the next arc - likely a clash between literal gods of Jujutsu - should be a banger. Right now it's looking like the culling games arc will end with Sukuna getting his body back, along with whatever fallout occurs from Tengen being absorbed. e: another possibility is that the Culling Game was, partially, to give Yuji himself more power, as Kenjaku has been clear from the beginning that the culling games have several distinct purposes and that some of those purposes are not revealed. That would square with Yuji getting his giant power-up now that Tengen has been brought under control. Though it feels equally probable that Yuji was being held back by Sukuna; we know that holding another soul in your own takes a lot of effort, so with Sukuna gone, he may just have more power to use. Regardless, any power-ups that occur right now are highly suspicious and may have to do with the culmination of the Culling Games themselves. After all, we know that their purpose is partially to confer power to certain entities that are not fully understood yet. I assume the current arc ends when Sukuna's body is created from the bath that Uraume and Kenjaku are preparing for him. That's also nice for Megumi fans as the bath, combined with the fact that Megumi is currently capping Sukuna's power, mean with almost sure certainty that Megumi will remain in the story. He will also reach his full potential at that time, as Sukuna is basically training him right now. That's actually an interesting side point; Sukuna has, intentionally or not, been training multiple people. Yuji and Megumi specifically. So he may have a longer term goal regarding that, and it may be a vow with Kenjaku. I also think that we'll at some point see Geto's body returned to him, but don't have quite enough evidence to start yammerin' about that yet. If Geto does come back, it would imply imo that Gojo and Geto will fight together, and ultimately be splatted, by Sukuna. That would be a great way to tie up both character's arcs, considering the huge plot point in Hidden Inventory that Gojo AND Geto are the strongest pre-awaken, and the whole "Gojo loses his only friend and is now lonely at the top and kind of a monster" vibe that was inferred at the time. As Gege was very careful to have Gojo say "we are the strongest" then later the famous panel where Gojo states that he is the sole god of Jujutsu. Having that come full circle and having both Gojo and Geta die heroically, likely to accomplish some larger task in the laundry list to kill Sukuna, would be a good send off with plenty of narrative backstory and foreshadowing. Taima fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Feb 26, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2023 16:10
|
|
|
A weird part about Yuji is that he did multiple extremely specific things that would have made Kenjaku's plans hard or impossible otherwise. First of all, it is implied more than once that Kenjaku set up the situation where Yuji ate the first finger, in the school. An almost impossible situation (how do you MAKE someone eat a loving finger on accident), but it was instrumental to Kenjaku's plan. If Yuji hadn't eaten that first finger, there would have been no one to actually hurt Mahito, besides Nobura, but she wasn't strong enough to say the least, to hunt and ultimately exorcise Mahito the way Yuji did. Therefore he wouldn't have been exorcised, therefore he wouldn't have been refined by his fighting with Yuji to get strong enough to reach max strength Idol Transfiguration. Kenjaku says that during the scene where he absorbs Mahito. He directly implies that without Yuji being there to be a foil for Mahito, he never would have grown strong enough to be a part of the broader "remote transfiguration" plan in the first place. Then of course there would be no one to start the chain that brings back Sukuna. Sure, Sukuna can choose his vessel, but presumably needed Yuji to "get the ball rolling" so he could have a place for his soul to start enacting things and ultimately becoming strong enough, after more fingers, to switch bodies. Kenjaku directly orchestrates everything Yuji does in the entire show, and somehow knows what he'll do in each situation. There's like five different parts of Kenjaku's plan that Yuji is the foundation of. Now, Yuji is beginning to be a direct foil to Sukuna, which again, is completely in line with Kanjaku's plan for everyone to fight and get stronger and reach a new pinnacle of humanity. If Sukuna didn't have a foil it wouldn't be good for Kenjaku; ultimately Kenny doesn't want everyone to die; he has his own goals that go both ways, as the two sides need to be equivalent enough to perform the ritualistic fighting he requires. Kenjaku not having a "side" per se is an interesting part of his character that goes beyond what we're talking about. He's not really a classic villain, but that's for another day. I strongly believe that Yuji is related to Sukuna in some way; I've heard a rumor that he could be Sukuna's humanity, that he shed when he became half curse. Maybe they're literally related. Maybe there's just designed as direct foils for each other. Regardless, the fact remains that Kenjaku has micro-managed every single moment of Yuji's life so far, in a way that is kind of unexplainable and impossible. How that control is occurring hasn't been revealed yet but it's coming imo. Kenny calls Yuji "the eye of the storm" and so far, he's totally right. I wonder how he's pulling the strings cuz it sure seems like he does whatever Kenjaku wants 100% of the time. And it's not like, top level strategy; he's making Yuji do extremely specific and impossible things like eating a finger out of nowhere that suggests some kind of direct, almost fate-based control. He knew that Yuji was going to eat that first finger... there's literally no backup plan if he doesn't. I think a lot of people get wrapped up in "Kenjaku made Yuji to be a vessel for Sukuna" and think of his role as secondary, but if anything I think it's becoming clear that Sukuna is the optional part of this plan, NOT the other way around. Taima fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Feb 27, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Feb 27, 2023 19:40
|
|
|
Is there a premium edition of JJK manga? I don't collect manga, I use an ipad. I don't think normal, non-premium manga is a good experience, bad paper stock, panels getting clipped by the spine... but I do in rare cases grab premium sets. So far I have all of the Soul Eater perfect hardcover editions, and Berserk hard cover premium edition from 1-11. Would love to add JJK to that list but I don't really know much about physical manga.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2023 16:55
|
|
|
drat ok thanks man. I really like dorohedoro and hope it gets a season 2 in anime form. Could you do me a solid and link to the Dorohedoro hardcovers? Anyways! FIRE chapter this week. ----Don't unlock this if you don't want spoilers---- Maki entrance, 2v1 Sukuna and throw hands, then Uruame arrives on a sweet Kenny cursed flying fish, freezes everyone again, and they are off to the bath on Nue finally, after of course stopping to talk poo poo about Yuji having zero rizz (which is becoming a real pattern)  interestingly, an entirely new spell from Sukuna, but looks like it might be a modified version of his knife moves.Mirror panel of Toji's stance and Maki's stance, further confirming that Maki is finally as strong as a man (ty for making this a major plot point Gege, man you can be wack sometimes) after much trials and tribulations:  Uruame dropping that Hello Fresh / is on one:  Getting ready for the bath:  Lots more but I'm not gonna sit here and post everything. Cheers! It’s also some kind of anniversary or something for JJK so there are colored/extra cool paneling/double panels etc. Taima fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Mar 1, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2023 15:05
|
|
|
That's a dope plan
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2023 19:04
|
|
|
JJK is making me sad. The first two major arcs are incredible. Arc 1 sets the stage perfectly imo for Shibuya, which was extremely focused and Gege was on fire. Clearly enjoyed what he was up to and it really showed. Then the culling games happened and everyone was like "well- he's probably building up to something, let him cook, trust in Gege" but culling games was pretty lackluster in retrospect, not bad but not amazing by any stretch. Serviceable is the word I would use. Now it just feels like the primary goal is to close out the series, the panel quality is down, the story went from focused to super broad in a way that does not feel good, and I get the feeling that if Gege could end this poo poo next week he would. I think the community would totally understand if he wanted to take a hiatus. God knows the work is overwhelming in manga production. Or maybe he should pass the manga off to someone on his team. idk what the answer is but this ain't feelin right imo. Still totally worth reading, but drat. There's still time to come up for air and go "listen this isn't what we're trying to do, we're taking 3 months to figure out poo poo out" like that would be completely ok. But we're getting pretty close to where that will no longer help... Taima fucked around with this message at 17:27 on May 22, 2023 |
|
#
¿
May 22, 2023 17:24
|
|
|
Something that JJK had in spades initially, was this loving awesome vibe. Am I crazy here? The vibe was this super interesting mix of urban and archaic and it really worked imo. As seen in the many banger OP end ED for the anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6riDJMI-Y8U Blowing up that vibe for Shibuya made perfect sense; it's a horror arc, after a breezy low-ish stakes urban setup arc. Great, I'm on board. Go to dark places, king! The contrast and whiplash was imo expertly done. But, it would have been fantastic to go back to what the show was doing before Shibuya, afterwards. There was just so much more meat on the bone there. He set up this incredible world and then burned it to the loving ground. To me the main benefits of JJK revolved around its characters, its breezy but sometimes serious vibe, urban aesthetic, combining the new with the old in a way that felt fresh and fun and a really interesting/elaborate power system. But in retrospect Gege basically destroyed the best premises of his own manga (during and after Shibuya) by literally killing or incapacitating most of the best characters that could have fueled the show for seasons to come. He even severely handicapped Itadori at a moment where he needed to be the fuel for the series because so many other key characters were gone, and then just let him hang in the wind for like... a loving year. JJK ultimately threw everything that (imo) made it loving awesome straight on the cutting room floor. It's such a weird decision. I want them to go anime only and redo everything starting with not killing Nobara or Todo. Nanami... I would prefer if he lived but it makes sense in his arc for him to die, so whatever. Then just start the series from there post-Shibuya, and go back to what made JJK so fire In retrospect it's loving insane the way Gege just burned down the roots of what could have been one of the best shonens ever. There's a million shonen conceits that would have allowed Gojo to stick around. Take away his powers, or massively reduce them temporarily. What if the Prison Realm just, for example, sealed away the Six Eyes? The Six Eyes are the whole thing that makes him so overpowered, taking those away makes him powerful but mortal. Gojo could then fulfill the role of mentor that he always wanted without breaking the story. Or, make it so that he's powerful but needs time and circumstance to use them. I am reminded of the laser gun in Tengoku-Daimakyo; a powerful narrative conceit that can only be used sometimes. Works fine in the story. You don't have to give up and shelve the most popular character on the show for like 2 years bro. And for the record there's also a bunch of narrative reasons why Gojo losing the Six Eyes and finally taking off his eye wrapping and stepping completely into the mentor role would be completely in-keeping with, and an expansion of, his entire character arc, but that's a whole other can of worms. Or, poo poo, make a central narrative the idea that Gojo can't interfere because if he does, the people under him will fail to evolve enough to win longer term. He would have to put his full faith into his students, which is on point with his central themes (I vs us), while keeping him around as a crowd pleaser who can also fulfill the narrative of Story Dad. Keep Nobara, why are you loving killing Nobara? Why are you retiring Todo? I feel like this is going to go down as one of the biggest disappointments in anime/manga  We traded in Nobara for a dude with a loving propeller on his head. This dynamic where most of the main characters either died or receded after Shibuya is one of the most baffling single decisions I've ever seen... As someone astutely pointed out, shonens have a hard time sticking the landing, agreed, but the level of self-own that has occurred in JJK is on a whole other level. Taima fucked around with this message at 10:26 on May 23, 2023 |
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 09:42
|
|
|
I just hope they give the proper time and respect towards animating the guy whose primary Jujutsu-power is having a propeller from a helicopter on his head. Like- yes- we lost Todo and Nobara, but that's lightning in a bottle, Mappa.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 17:06
|
|
|
I've pretty much lost interest in JJK, which is weird because it's one of my favorites and Gege is 100% goated, but it feels a lot more like someone making action figures hit each other than it ever has and I totally get that some people like that? But whatever JJK was just feels gone somehow. Like, you can feel the passion exiting the building in real time (which probably means it was gone a while ago) Last time I'll mention it but drat dude. I'm not even mad I'm just disinterested which is almost worse. I wonder if they'll keep on like this with constantly skipping weeks and generally making it clear that they're very meh on the whole thing, or if they'll pick up and power through to some probably underwhelming and rushed ending. Something I think about a lot in manga is, I wish it was normalized for projects to go on when the author loses steam. Gege really didn't have to do JJK dirty like this, he has other people working on the project; just take a back seat and be the "ideas guy" and let other people on your team take over the day to day while you remain the creative lead. The whole structure was there for a much longer and involved project that would have really benefited from taking it slow too. Which doesn't mean it has to be slow, the dude can do whatever he wants obviously, but drat if you're going to close out a project like this at least make it good, even if they move to a schedule of one chapter per month but retained the quality, that would be preferable imo. Taima fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Jun 6, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2023 10:18
|
|
|
I went back and re-read JJK and while it definitely flows better binging it, it's also pretty funny how it progresses once you get into the culling games. The story was very narratively tight and followed conventional writing. When a thread is brought up, it's almost always followed up on, which is generally how good writing works. Everything comes together pretty masterfully and the culmination of Shibuya arc is so fantastic as a result, and really closes a lot of important concepts while also beginning new super interesting ones. Then, the manga completely changes. The pacing quickly derails. Narrative plot points are brought up with clear intention to "become a thing" and then are abandoned, again and again. Huge plot points are resolved off screen or just get left behind constantly and certain plot points that have been teased since the start of the manga are resolved quickly, feel unearned, and kinda leave everyone going "???" It's impossible to even go over all of the threads that are followed and then abandoned, but seriously, read the culling games onward and your mind will be blown how often stuff just comes up and then goes absolutely nowhere. JJK is awesome but the narrative, as such, mostly died at the end of the Shibuya arc, and the manga is now a "don't think about it too much" kind of deal, which is fine and common in manga, but drat. Reading through it you can just see the motivation and precise narrative completely dissolve almost immediately post Shibuya, it's pretty wild. Or in other words the manga feels storyboarded and planned through Shibuya and then turned into this... like... improvised weekly production after that. I really hope that JJK gets a remaster/rewrite at some point because hindsight is 20/20 and the bones for an incredible, and very long, and very successful manga are sitting here in a pile (we are talking the next One Piece), just need to sort them out after this is all said and done. Pick a few threads out of the 287 concepts introduced post Shibuya that went nowhere and rewrite the manga from then on with those points in mind. That being said after adjusting my expectations it's been a lot of fun. I do wish the battles had more panels on a weekly basis though; the way things are going, they basically need to get into the final set of battles and circumstances right loving now due to how few panels are actually being drawn per week if Gege wants to successfully end the series this year. For that reason I suspect the plot is on rails now towards the conclusion, there's just no time.  ^^ The hilarious part is that Gege basically said as much with this exact Kenjaku monologue and we didn't get that he was inserting himself into the manga and basically saying "I'm making most of this up as I go along from now on and hopefully that allows me to go beyond my limits because I am out of ideas" Narrative voice: it was not better Still one of the best running though, and he clearly wanted to find some motivation or story beat that allowed him to get fully back on board mentally, hence the giant pile of concepts that were approached and then abandoned. We would probably be in a different place with this manga if he had found what he was looking for in the flickering chaos. Then you have the health problems Gege is experiencing, but I don't think there's any evidence those problems are physical. Gege is only 31 years old. It seems much more likely that he feels completely out of ideas with JJK, and is forcing himself to slog through the remainder of this arc.  Artists have a hard time pushing themselves through creating art they no longer resonate with or feel they can do justice to. Taima fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jun 18, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jun 18, 2023 10:48
|
|
|
Asuron posted:These are a lot of assumptions about planning , motivation, passion etc that have no basis other than you don’t like the story as it is. There are clearly lots of planned elements here with Tengen, Yujis whole deal, Kenjaku’s history , Sukuna as a whole , that are very clearly the planned out moments of this arc and all things revolve around them being resolved in some way by getting characters in the spot they need to be to resolve them. That's true, you don't change the game with propeller on his head guy without years if not decades of planning. Just kidding, I don't know what to say man it's just an opinion, I am not Gege. Were parts planned? Clearly! There's plenty of good poo poo in this manga. If your bar for organization is "had an outline where some major characters do things for the story" then sure, no debate there. Where it gets a lot more fuzzy is the details, namely, starting and stopping many threads over and over. Seriously read culling games onward and try to keep in your heads the things that Gege brings up and then drops It's a good rear end manga which is why I'm even bothering to state my personal opinion but cmon.Manga artists burn out all the time but Gege has imo left pretty solid clues that he's burned on the series and I just think the writing and short chapters and pacing and "see what sticks" method of throwing spaghetti at the wall post Shibuya is all pretty unfortunate evidence for a broader theme here. The good news is I think CG and onward will play well when it comes to the anime; they just need to pick and choose what they animate and that should be a tight enough plotline. The individual elements of a good manga are there, they're just clunky and uninspired sometimes. That's ok. Dude is human, it's still in my top 10 so the criticism should be viewed in that light. I'm also intentionally not critiquing the indiviual plot beats because I accept that other people might like them more. I don't know how you enjoy, like, Tsumiki being a huge plot point in the Culling Games that was telegraphed basically the entire manga, only for her to like... be taken over by some evil naked lady who is then killed in the dumbest way possible by all of Sukuna's cool Shadow Toys. Just one more in a long line of lady characters getting done insanely dirty for what seems like very little reason. At least that plot thread was resolved even if it was kind of dumb, which you can't say for the other million dropped points along the way post Shibuya. Like I said, it's a good manga, you just need to Not Think About It Please once Shibuya concludes. It just kind of sucks (imo) that it's come to that because JJK always prided itself on having a pretty coherent and tight structure and it really did, minus a couple of things, until CG. It would be easier to not worry about the week to week plot specifics if that was the goal from the beginning. Plenty of manga have weird pacing and plot issues, hell sometimes that's what makes a manga awesome. It just seemed like Gege specifically was doing everything in his power to avoid that style of writing, until a very specific point in the series where that just... wasn't true anymore. He does cool things to, for example I kind of like how he just kind of forgot Yuji existed besides the (awesome) Higuruma fight and we're about to end the manga and we still don't even know who Yuji is, what his overall purpose is, and he isn't even powered up yet. Having a protagonist for a story and then basically saying gently caress you to that character takes a lot of balls and while I wish Yuji stayed the main character, I can totally respect the inherent rizz of saying "classic basics for writing a story are not for me". In fact that's something I love about Manga and Anime in general, it's so creative and up to the author's wishes vs. western media which has gotten soooo restrictive in every way possible. Taima fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Jun 19, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jun 19, 2023 12:07
|
|
|
It's a topic that deserves being discussed at more length imo, but I respect your viewpoint that art can't be critiqued or whatever. Please feel free to put me on ignore, I don't know what to say. I'm just trying to make an argument and it takes a second, so I'll happily write about it for like 10 or 15 minutes JJK is cool and it's just interesting to me how it played out. But yeah of course there's no room for discussion if "things that happen in it" is not up for critique like you are implying. Taima fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Jun 19, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jun 19, 2023 12:34
|
|
|
It's so sad that this manga is being closed out so fast. It's dope, don't get me wrong. But drat. There is so much to explore. I assume given the popularity though that we are going to get a million spin-offs. HOLY poo poo lmao 11/10 imagine if he crafted the jujutsu sorcerer pin.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2023 15:34
|
|
|
I've always thought that when Sukuna fights Kashimo, he's going to open his shrine and use his lightning attack that has been foreshadowed for a jillion chapters. This tracks because he opened his shrine to use the fire attack on Jogo, which represents a theme of Sukuna using his shrine capabilities to kill people who represent those elements, because it's funny to him. I don't think it's a coincidence at all that Kashimo is elemental and uses an element that sukuna obviously has and has therefore been Chekhov's Gun'ed My main issue with this whole "Gojo dying" reversal is I don't like cleave. It's cool in the way that a child plays with their action figures would think it was cool, but mechanically it just sucks. Oh, he... slashes people real hard, literally the least interesting ability ever. This is also why I was never convinced that Yuji would get those attacks; they are just so uninteresting. The only good thing I can say about Cleave is that it's great to show how truly brutal Sukuna is in very specific scenes, mainly thinking back to when he cleaves Mahito after Yuji invades his domain expansion. That is easily one of the best parts of JJK to me. Or when he kills Ryu, that was... fine. Or when he diffs those random girls, I guess. But now that Sukuna is at full power, as an ability it feels anti-climatic. There is nothing thematically or mechanically interesting about cutting someone really hard unless it's used as a narrative device and I feel like it's a big reason why this chapter feels extremely odd. Regarding Gojo, I would be pretty surprised if he's fully dead, as weird as that sounds. The foreshadowing on the fight was that Gojo would lose (obviously, backed into a narrative corner here imo) but I still strongly feel that he has a duty to split Sukuna from Megumi and that was his stated intent from the beginning. Gojo has something up his sleeve, in some way, count on it Ten Shadows has been used unless you count the full Totality, but that feels extremely reserved for when Megumi comes back, since that also gives him a huge buff that he really, really needs, especially if Gege is closing out the story as soon as he wants. If that wasn't the case, Sukuna would have used it. It's too cool of a concept to drop entirely for no reason. There is almost zero narrative reason to keep Sukuna in that body now and really only hampers the narrative, especially since Gege went out of his way to count all of the other Shadows destroyed in what really feels like a statement that ten shadows is done for Sukuna. So yeah, I am all in on Sukuna being ripped from Megumi somewhere between "next chapter" and "really soon", and the shadows totality being his buff. The whole "slashing reality" thing will probably turn out to be a total nothingburger, meant for Gojo alone, because the narratives around it are detrimental to the story if it really is all-powerful in the way that people are suggesting. Kashimo getting destroyed is absolutely guaranteed regardless, especially if that "fight" happens now, as there is no point in having that fight at this exact moment unless it's a 1 to 2 chapter no diff, though it will probably be cool, quick, and let Kashimo show off his cool technique before he's blown out. There is a small chance that his technique will be what splits Sukuna and Megumi; I don't think it's probable but if Gojo doesn't do it, Kashimo's secret ability is my second choice/guess. Pacing-wise going straight into another fight is a super weird choice so yeah, if the fight does happen, it will be a small showcase, over quick, and serve some narrative device. Regardless I don't think that Kashimo is going to get into the fight right away. Something will happen and that something is probably Gojo's last... whatever he ends up doing. Taima fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Sep 21, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2023 14:48
|
|
|
Fair Bear Maiden posted:It's kinda the opposite, I've seen a lot of people suddenly lose all the investment they had left in the story. Might just be fan grief atm, but I'm really wondering how JJK will fare in popularity polls going forward. Call me crazy but I don't think he is out of the story. I think he will remain a character somehow but without any ability to fight, or otherwise communicate with the cast somehow, at some time in the future. Though, if he is really out entirely, that really does signal that the manga is trying to close out as quickly as Gege inferred.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2023 15:18
|
|
|
Holy poo poo the new leaks, fuckin hype
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2023 03:45
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:I honestly am just having trouble following the flow of action. The art is really not doing its job there. It's really bad, and my boy Kashimo got done real dirty, he is barely even drawn, it's like, stylistic outlines...? And we were teased on that CT for so many chapters. I hope he isn't just going to end the series here or something. Dude seems kinda done tho. I still think the end of chapter is really hype though, so let's see what happens. Taima fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Oct 5, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2023 22:06
|
|
|
This is such a good point. I really liked Kashimo and his fight against hikari is up there on my top fights of the series (even if I don't love Hakari's domain and what it means for his fighting style and character). Literally nothing of what made Kashimo good, whatsoever, is present here. His powers also suck. His artwork ALSO sucks. I have to think we'll see more from Kashimo because the alternative is just... soooo corny Gonna be honest here, I don't say this often but I think JJK needs to go on an extended break, and maybe even just reroll the timeline back to somewhere in the culling game. I didn't love the culling game, but there's a lot of fun things in it, and with the power of hindsight I think this series could be brought back on track, especially if the culling games were shortened to contain only the hottest bits. Or JJK could pull a weird take-backsies where this whole part is a dream that someone was having and we wake up earlier in the story. It's that dire imo. And even if the series doesn't do a rollback, let's get this man a solid 3 month break to cook. This is not a great situation for anyone and the very least they should do is hold the manga for a while and let him cool off and think about where this is all going. e: the whole Kashimo being intellectual about strength is particularly loving stupid because that's exactly what he would never do. His whole shtick is that he doesn't care about that poo poo. Taima fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Oct 7, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 7, 2023 18:04
|
|
|
I have an Always Sunny pepe silvia "string connecting things together in JJK" wall and after the recent chapter I am confident I know the ending. Higaruma confiscates Sukuna's CT, causing a fist fight between Yuji and Sukuna (this is the completely obvious setup since Yuji is so durable in a fight). Right in the middle of a fight, with no explanation or warning, we are dropped into the Afterlife, again. Yuji says "Sukuna could have beaten me with 1 finger, this is good for the story for me to say this" Sukuna suddenly appears above Yuji and plummets downward through the air into a table, shattering it, before passing out. Gojo, Yuji and everyone is stunned. Cut to Nobara, also dead, also stunned. She's drinking tea and drops it on the ground, the cup shatters in slow motion. What happened? Hear me out: decapitated suddenly. Off screen obviously because who wants to draw that, Gege hasn't had it in him to draw the conclusion to a fight for a hot minute, in favor of shifting to a realm with, coincidentally, a white background and therefore easy to draw. Cut back to the living world, and we see it: that dude whose curse technique is having a loving real, actual propeller from a loving helicopter on his head in real life slumps against the ground; Sukuna's neck was so durable that it broke the propeller while it was traveling through. Both helicoptor guy and Sukuna die together simultaneously in a heap while Yuta wails offscreen. Genjaku also appears in the Easy to Draw Realm and goes "wow you guys should have seen the dope fight that took me out, that was nuts, probably the best shonen fight. Even better than when I survived a literal black hole for Reasons". End credits No Wave posted:Is it common to call Kenjaku Geto? Cause if so man that is confusing. Genjaku Taima fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2023 14:36
|
|
|
There’s only one answer: we go anime original after shibuya babyyyyyyyy, time to hit the big red button Nobara: alive, but with a dope eye patch Toji: resurrected. how did they let someone so cool die, its calvinball, bring him back Todo: back in action Yuki: in the story Angel: literally not even a character. A set of plot conveniences to tie the story up more quickly and easily Yorozu: not in the story when you look back at what went wrong with JJK, imo, it's hard to escape the reality that Gege basically broke the series for the sake of making Shibuya really loving good. No holds barred, iconic characters dying left and right. That is part of what makes Shibuya one of the most special arcs in manga, and it's genuinely awesome to feel like no one has plot armor and could die a moment later. The problem is he loving killed all of the best characters and it's so weird that he did that in retrospect. The narrative heart of the series died in Shibuya, and so did the character-based writing. It was like Gege gave up, and was just like "I can't fix this so lets play with cool action figures for 100 chapters while the main character pretty much completely fucks off" Can anyone think of another piece of popular media that simply kills or incapacitates all of the crowd favorite characters, all at once, effectively removes the main character, and then just kind of... keeps going? Gege traded his entire story for Propeller Guy and a set of obtuse rules lawyering BS that even he forgets in about 12 seconds. That's why the entire thing needs to be retconned and the best parts used as the inspiration for an entirely new anime-only setup that includes the pivotal main characters remaining alive. The post-Shibuya whiplash was bad in the manga, but the weekly format makes the weirdest narrative decisions less impactful; people just kind of forget how bad it all was over time as new chapters come out. But it will be incredibly loving confusing in the anime specifically. It's going to expose all of the lamest decisions of the culling games in the worst way possible. Taima fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Oct 15, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2023 00:07
|
|
|
No Wave posted:I think this is overstated. Or was, until Gojo died. The characters who died up through Shibuya were remote control robot (unimportant), Nanami (who always had death flags), Mahito (I assume no one was sad to see him go), volcano head (funny and all but always a weirdly strong nobody), and Nobara. Which of these characters was the narrative heart of the series? Todo and Nobara left the story. Yuji left his OWN story for most of the culling games. Gojo left for the entire culling games. we can agree to disagree, that’s fine, but those characters were the heart of the story for me. Megumi was around I guess, sometimes
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2023 22:04
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:I felt Jogo was the heart and soul of the villains. I agree that he had so much to give to the series and I was pretty surprised when he got taken out. In a sense, his righteous fury encapsulated a lot of the overall grievances of the disaster curses: he hated humans on a similarly basic level to Mahito, and represented the limitless fury and wanton destruction of volcanos/nature, so is a very decent stand in for the desires and viewpoints of Hanami as well. Dagon just kind of... vibed? so I can't speak for him, he was awesome though. The concept of a permanent, hidden and beautiful tropical beach domain owns. It felt like Jogo was being setup to learn more about himself as a curse and the role that curses and sorcerers play in the grand scheme. He could have lived on as the sole remaining disaster curse and been a good stand in for all of them, learning and growing as the story unfolded, but then he just kinda got no diffed. again. Admittedly it was a really cool scene though. Unfortunately there isn't a ton of plot-based learning/empowerment post Shibuya unless you count that whole thing where Maki stumbled on the sumo guy and the sword guy randomly and became Toji. I've always been a fan of characters in shonen growing over time because it's also an opportunity to really explore their characters. I do think Maki has one of the better overall arcs though, and wish we could see a lot more of her as New-Toji. I'm sure she'll have some moments to shine, but the story is quickly closing. Taima fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Oct 16, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 16, 2023 13:37
|
|
|
The craziest thing about Mahito is that he was basically Jesus. His capacity to do good, were he amenable to it, was almost literally unlimited. The power to make people into their best self is an insane, insane ability. For example, Limitless rivals this ability, but only in the sense that Gojo could kill anyone who disagreed with him, causing the geopolitical power to shift. If the will was there, Mahito could cause the absolute transcendence of humanity. I love that about his character. Taima fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Oct 17, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2023 20:37
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:The issue with Mahito helping humanity is that he was made of humans hate for each other, and never would have been able to act in a way to benefit them. Oh definitely, 100%. I just love the idea that he's basically Evil Jesus in some ways. We know he has the ability to help humans because of the pact with Kokichi, there's nothing stopping him from doing so besides his character traits (and of course he was trying to get out of that agreement even then, but he did do it). He had the powers of a literal god.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2023 21:23
|
|
|
Holy sheit re: the leaks gege is the biggest troll in the game (that is not a spoiler in any way, shape or form)
Taima fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Oct 18, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2023 13:46
|
|
|
never said it was good and it's not some secret info by any stretch, go read it if you wantJerkface posted:you gonna link it or what Oh, sure thing. To be totally honest the leaks are regarded as a normal part of the week in the greater, like, jjk manga community. I wasn't aware that people didn't know where to find them, and was definitely not trying to hold it over anyone's head (nor would that be a cool thing to do, so I get why people are perceiving it negatively). https://www.reddit.com/r/JuJutsuKaisen/comments/17ajn79/jujutsu_kaisen_chapter_239_prerelease_leaks_thread/ This explains how to get them and all that. I don't know what percentage of JJK readers check out the leaks but it is very, very common and in no way secret It goes without saying that the leaks are an inferior method of reading JJK, however, if you want to keep up on the fan theories and such, a lot of the most involved people are posting about it now, not on Sunday. That's why I check the leaks, at least. By the time the actual official English chapter is out that conversation is almost a week old and 90% of the discussion has already happened and concluded I normally just check the leaks out and then wait for the final one on Sunday but I believe the full chapter is translated and released a couple of days after the leaks come out, so that would as far as I know mean it would be available like, tomorrow or Fri I think. Taima fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Oct 18, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2023 14:24
|
|
|
Yeah the leaks are just the standard for anyone trying to discuss fan theory on Discord and/or Reddit, that's basically the internet at this point unfortunately. Otherwise you're way, way behind the discussion, which imo makes them mandatory if you intend to add to that discussion or even just read it as it unfolds. My apologies friend. You can follow the link and get yourself all set up. No Wave posted:If posting links or images for context is too much emotional labor maybe it would be better to post on discord instead? .. are you ok dude? It's easy to forget at times that SA is insular and doesn't sometimes have access to things that are standard everywhere else. It was not my intention to make you so upset. Taima fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Oct 18, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2023 14:47
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 16:09 |
|
|
I R SMART LIKE ROCK posted:like being behind in this situation is still days ahead of the majority of people. Reddit isn't the internet and most people aren't knee deep in theory discussion and chapter analysis We can agree to disagree with regards to Reddit and Discord being the internet or not that's fine. I can see that this is a sore point in general, my apologies. I'll stop, I'm done, and I'm legitimately sorry that people took it so personally
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2023 15:24
|
|