Yuki Tsukumo’s Epic Showdown with Kenjaku in Jujutsu Kaisen

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Summary

  • The Culling Game arc in Jujutsu Kaisen features an intense battle between Yuki and Kenjaku with high stakes.
  • Yuki reveals her powerful technique, Star Rage, in a rapid and engaging fight against Kenjaku.
  • Choso’s sacrifice and Yuki’s persistence make for a compelling storyline, although Yuki’s potential could have been explored more.
Title Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game
Director Shota Goshozono
Studio MAPPA

Heed this notice: The subsequent content reveals significant plot details from Jujutsu Kaisen, volume 23 (chapters 200-208). You can access these chapters via Viz Media.

The Culling Game arc of Jujutsu Kaisen has no shortage of intricate and exciting fights, but the duel between Yuki Tsukumo and Kenjaku stands out, in particular, for what the heroes stand to lose. It’s a layered battle between limited participants, begging to be dissected, both for its merits as a shining example of this franchise’s action direction and as a victim of its cast’s wasted potential.

Beginning in earnest around Chapter 205, the fight between these two powerful sorcerers truly began earlier, with the battle between Kenjaku and Choso, the latter of whom nearly died facing the former. Thanks to Choso putting the pressure on his opponent, he forced Kenjaku to reveal a hidden cursed technique, giving Yuki just enough insight to tap in and face her opponent unafraid.

Putting The Battle into Context

While the rest of the cast are dispersed throughout Japan fighting in the Culling Game, Yuki and Choso have stayed behind in the Star Corridor to protect Master Tengen. If Kenjaku were to absorb Tengen as a Cursed Spirit, he’d be able to fulfill his goal of merging all of Japan’s populace into a single entity for nothing other than his own amusement and curiosity.

Yuki’s Entrance/ The Reveal of “Star Rage”

In the grand scheme of things, Yuki’s fight with Kenjaku is fast. It is a series of bold moves that each succeeds or fails with considerable consequences and rapidly shifts the tide in the other’s favor. It is the thought processes of the combatants – and the mechanics of their techniques – that break up the pace and make the fight so engaging. Things get off to an incredible start when Yuki wastes no time revealing why she is a special grade sorcerer.

She folds up her shikigami, Garuda, and kicks it like a soccer ball, straight through the huge cursed spirit Kenjaku just summoned, and then sends him flying with a punch for good measure. Yuki’s technique, Star Rage, gives her and Garuda virtual mass, granting their attacks extraordinary strength. After watching Kenjaku barely get scratched by Choso previously, this gnarly hit comes as a breath of fresh air, but it doesn’t take long for the pendulum to swing the other way.

A Battle of Minds, Miscalculation, and Raging Stars

The Domain Expansion Strategy

As Kenjaku unveils his “Womb Profusion” Domain, I can’t help but feel like another layer of this complex game is being unraveled. The objective here seems to be to provoke Kenjaku into revealing his domain, allowing Tengen – a skilled domain master – to counteract it.

Given that the entire battlefield itself functions as one large domain, it makes sense that Tengen, Yuki, and Choso often appear in various locations during flashbacks interspersed with the fight. This strategy is reminiscent of a 4D chess match where every move has far-reaching implications.

Unfortunately, Tengen’s plan backfires big time. Kenjaku’s domain ends up working like Sukuna’s did in Shibuya against Mahoraga – with no barrier enclosing it. Tengen still manages to dispel it, but only after Yuki has been brutally injured. Kenjaku’s mistake, then, was thinking that would be enough to keep her down because even with one arm completely crushed, she wails on him relentlessly. But the best part is when Choso reenters the fight, beckoning the third act of this duel to the death.

Choso Gets His Second Wind

The non-linear way in which the reader is informed of the plan is a major part of what makes this fight work on a technical and emotional level. Previously, when Choso insists on fighting Kenjaku first, it comes across as a noble sacrifice, but the return to this conversation in Chapter 207 humorously turns it from a sacrifice into a misdirection. Yuki reminds Choso that he hasn’t even heard their full plan yet, but even after hearing the plan, he’s adamant that he still go first.

As a devoted fan, I can’t help but marvel at the intriguing dialogues that Choso engages in, which not only shed light on his evolution but also reveal his intellect. He posits a compelling argument: Kenjaku will unleash his domain if he’s assured that he solely needs to focus on Yuki, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. The synergy between Yuki’s Star Rage, my blood manipulation abilities, and our combined martial arts prowess leaves Kenjaku reeling. In fact, even when he regenerates his gravity manipulation technique, it seems like Yuki is on the brink of vanquishing him, but then…

The End of Special Grade Sorcerer Yuki Tsukumo

There tends to be some debate among fans about whether Kenjaku classifies as a special grade, but frankly, the aftermath of this fight makes it abundantly clear that he is at that level or close to it. After luring Yuki into a trap, he uses a compressed form of the cursed technique, Uzumaki, to blast a hole in her body. Before Choso can respond, Tengen sends him outside the barrier; it’s the one part of the plan Yuki kept from him, so she could save his life if the worst happened.

With Choso safe, Yuki pulls out her trump card. She increases her density to its limit, turning herself into a black hole to take Kenjaku down with her. The barrier, as well as Tokyo Jujutsu High, are destroyed, but even after all that, Kenjaku emerges from the rubble, victorious. As it happens, the gravity technique he’d been using the whole fight was simply a reversal of the antigravity technique that Kaori Itadori – Yuji’s mother – possessed. Kenjaku took a gamble and employed the technique normally, using his body as a domain in the process. An annoyingly clever win.

The Good and Bad of This Colossal Fight

Yuki has been defeated, Tengen has been absorbed, and Choso has lived to tell the tale to the rest of the heroes so that they might plan their next steps. The biggest criticism of this fight is a familiar one: Yuki is another dead character who didn’t reach her full potential. Considering her status in this world and the magnetism of her personality, people wanted to learn more about her.

Discussing “Jujutsu Kaisen,” a popular anime, I’d like to point out that despite its many compelling characters, themes, and engaging mechanics, there are still areas where it could have been expanded upon further. However, when focusing on the fight scenes themselves, revisiting them has only served to emphasize how impressive they truly are. As previously mentioned, the non-linear exposition contributes significantly to the battle’s smooth flow, demonstrating the considerable thought that Akutami put into ensuring each frame was impactful.

How Yuki and Choso Benefited From This Volume

Her final words to him carry so much weight, and Choso staying in the story as long as he does is perhaps Yuki’s greatest gift to the story.

We might not have gotten a lot of time to truly know Yuki Tsukumo, but she proved without a shadow of a doubt why she was a special grade sorcerer. Her attitude, frightening strength, and downright harrowing persistence despite her injuries all skyrocket her to levels of cool only rivaled by Maki, another standout female member of the cast. The real problem, understandably, lies in how her final attack didn’t amount to anything, but that wasn’t meant to be her legacy – Choso was.

This volume sees Choso wrestle with the weight of his past actions and resolve to sacrifice himself, not only to atone but so that Yuji can live. Yuki understands his guilt but decides that he needs to live so that Yuji isn’t alone. Her final words to him carry so much weight, and Choso staying in the story as long as he does is perhaps Yuki’s greatest gift to the story.

Of course, your mileage may vary on how well Choso was handled after Volume 23, but if the fulfillment of Choso’s will was that Yuji wouldn’t be alone, he had all the friends he needed in the end. Furthermore, if Choso fulfilling that role as Yuji’s brother was Yuki’s wish, then it came true, even if not for long. Through good and bad, this was an exceptional fight and a major turning point in Jujutsu Kaisen that will be very interesting to see adapted whenever Season 3 finally comes out.

Jujutsu Kaisen is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

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2025-03-16 16:11