The Culling Recreation is in full swing in season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen, which appears to be gearing in direction of extra decisive and drawn-out fights. Episode 6, titled “Cog,” opens with a visually breathtaking battle between Kirara Hoshi and Megumi Fushiguro, who’s aided by Panda. As quickly as Kirara’s constellation-based cursed method (known as Love Rendezvous) is unraveled, Yuji Itadori and Kinji Hakari have interaction in a battle of wills on the roof of Gachinko Combat Membership.
[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for season 3 episode 6 of Jujutsu Kaisen]
As established in earlier episodes, Hakari’s gambling-focused cursed method, Non-public Pure Love Practice, is a robust asset for anybody who needs to win Kenjaku’s demise match. Whereas Yuji and his allies hatch a well-intended scheme to achieve Hakari’s belief, issues go awry after he suspects that Yuji is a Jujutsu Excessive spy. To persuade Hakari that his resolve is iron-clad, Yuji doesn’t make any offensive strikes throughout their showdown and absorbs 4 lethal hits imbued with Hakari’s cursed power. Whereas this sequence feels a tad anticlimactic compared to Gege Akutami’s manga supply materials, the strain between these characters is charged sufficient to warrant a satisfying decision.
MAPPA wastes no time in brandishing its technical artistry. Episode 6 opens with a battle membership thug turning into the sufferer of Megumi’s Ten Shadows Method, which is shot like a tense infiltration sequence. As the person lights a cigarette together with his again to pitch-black darkness, we see Megumi’s face flicker ominously behind him proper earlier than he’s incapacitated. The depth of this opener shortly dissipates with Panda’s infiltration technique, who poses as an harmless animal earlier than punching two baffled thugs with out regret. Panda’s comedic presence brings much-needed levity to an in any other case action-packed episode, which proceeds to right away pit Megumi and Panda in opposition to Kirara’s distinctive cursed method.
What makes this battle fascinating is its refusal to depend on brute power. Kirara’s technique hinges on a foreknowledge of constellations and a knack for arbitrary sample recognition, with cursed power deciding the sequence of marked targets. Each Panda and Megumi are disoriented by Love Rendezvous at first, however Megumi is fast to discern that the cursed method mimics a Southern Cross. This isn’t a simple feat by any means, as he and Panda are consistently subjected to an attraction and repulsion mechanic that makes them collide into/draw back from residing beings and inanimate objects. After Megumi figures out that depth of subject components into the Southern Cross sample, Kirara is impressed by his perceptive brilliance, and the battle involves an finish.
Fast lower to Hakari punching Yuji onerous sufficient to ship him flying by means of the roof’s door, with our pink-haired protagonist trying completely battered. Infected by Yuji’s refusal to interact, Hakari repeatedly hits him with cursed energy-charged punches, however Yuji manages to face again up each time. When Hakari criticizes Yuji’s lack of “ardour,” Yuji says he’s a “cog,” an interchangeable half of a bigger machine. Yuji clarifies that his objective is to function a device to assist exorcise curses, which fully negates private hopes or desires. The cog metaphor had at all times been embedded in Yuji’s standing as a vessel for Sukuna (the King of Curses), however that is the primary time he acknowledges it.
Whereas Yuji did nurture a semblance of hope upon becoming a member of Jujutsu Excessive, the Shibuya Incident fully robbed him of the need to chase self-serving pursuits. His grandfather, Wasuke Itadori, had already instilled a way of selfless altruism in him earlier than dying, which morphs into the guilt-stricken helplessness he experiences after Sukuna leaves behind a path of destruction in Shibuya. It’s price noting that not a lot time has handed between Shibuya and the continued Culling Recreation, which makes Yuji’s “cog” remark much more urgent and tragic. He doesn’t assign any worth to his wishes anymore, as his existence is supposed to serve a system that eradicates curses whereas exploiting baby sorcerers like him.
That stated, the anomaly inside Yuji’s cog mindset lies in his resilience. Yuji may understand himself as a minuscule half of a complete, however he isn’t a pushover who’s afraid to battle for what’s proper. This instinctive want to guard folks with out second thought is combined in together with his consciousness that he’s right here to meet a operate for the larger good. Hakari acknowledges this quiet energy, decoding it as a unique form of “ardour” that units Yuji aside. This prompts him to eagerly align himself with Yuji and his buddies.
Episode 6 of Jujutsu Kaisen ends with the addition of a brand new rule to the Culling Recreation and the introduction of the traditional and lethal Hajime Kashimo, who expresses an curiosity in preventing Sukuna after defeating an unknown participant. Because the ending preview denotes, episode 7 will transfer on to the occasions that happen at Tokyo Colony No. 1, the place Yuji and Megumi have their work lower out for them within the face of recent, intriguing threats. If MAPPA sustains its spectacular streak of adapting season 3 with verve and depth, the street forward for Jujutsu Kaisen could possibly be extra thrilling than ever earlier than.
New episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 launch each Thursday on Crunchyroll.
