Power Systems: Jujutsu Kaisen, A Successor To Hunter x Hunter

 A good power system can really cement itself into the minds of readers, I.E. cool powers and abilities. For Jujutsu Kaisen it would cursed energy and the slew of things the characters can do with it. So I will be looking at all the aspects of cursed energy to see what works and what might not. 

Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen 

Cursed Energy 

A lot of shonen series have a sort of answer to why their characters have super abilities, Dragon Ball it is Ki or "fighting power", Fairy Tail its "magic power", and for Jujutsu Kaisen its cursed energy. 

One of the main functions of cursed energy is to give the characters a sort of way to measure up their strength with one another. In ways like "oh he is on the level with special grade spirits" or "this is the level of a special grade sorcerer".

 

Other than being a way to detect a character's strength, it also can be used as a boost to the strength of a character. 

So at the base level there really isn't too much that distinguishes itself from other series, but from here on it gets more interesting. 

Cursed Techniques 

Every sorcerer is born with an innate technique and as they grow up they find out exactly what it is. This is an aspect of the series that shines the most as some of the abilities are quite unique and different. 

For instance, we have the character Takaba's ability Comedian. Essentially he can make his jokes become real, which allows him to do whatever he really wants. 

Or Reggie Star whose ability is Contractual Re-Creation, which allows him to conjure up things in recept or contracts where he is and control them. 

They are just fun to watch especially when it comes to the strategies these characters use when they face off against other unique abilities. 

 

Another important thing Gege Akutami does is not give all of his character abilities that reflect a character's personality. 

An example of this would be Aoi Todo's Boogie Woogie, which is mainly a support-type ability that allows him to switch places with a person. However, if you have seen the series, you would know that Todo is set up as this bruiser/offensive type sorcerer. So seeing him have this type of ability is kind of shocking to see. 

Or even Satoru Gojo's Limitless, which allows him to put an infinite amount of space between himself and everything around him. Which I think is ironic because Gojo is always a very jovial and center of attention kind of guy, yet his ability pushes people away from himself.  

Or Yoshinobu Gakuganji who uses his body as an amp for his guitar to attack his foes. He is shown to be a very traditionalist sorcery that is against straying away from the traditions of sorcery, but we see him using this electric guitar as a weapon. 

When all of them pulled out their respective abilities it kind of shocked me, since I was so used to seeing a character whip out an ability that magically matches their personality. It made me wonder, what would happen if that character got a different ability, how would they would use it. I think Jujutsu Kaisen has sort of shown me what I asked.

 Black Flash

The black flash is when a character gets in the mojo of fighting, and allows them to do a ton of damage. I think the concept is interesting as it gives an explanation as to how the characters end up doing more damage than they were previously. Most battle shonen will have done a similar thing, except they never really explain what happened, so it tends to feel like a copout. 

Take any number of fights in Fairy Tail where Natsu is fighting a super-strong character and is doing no real damage to them. Out of nowhere, his attacks become stronger and he defeats the main antagonist, no explanation other than he was fighting for his friends, so he put more effort into his attacks.    

Here with Jujutsu Kaisen, we get an explanation and it is very appreciated. 

Binding Vows

By far the most intriguing aspect of the series is the binding vow. Where a character can make a contract with themself or others that can enhance their abilities in some aspect. But if you break a contract with another person it results in death. This is similar to nen in Hunter X Hunter where the characters can make contracts with their abilities to make them more powerful, something many people praise Yoshihiro Togashi for implementing well into his series.  

So far there aren't a lot of vows we know of, but the ones we get are fascinating.

Like Kento Nanamis Overtime, where he is limited on the amount of cursed energy he can use while he is working on the clock. But once the working day is over the amount of cursed energy he can use is immense.   

Or with Yuta Okkotsu, where he is forced into a binding vow where the condition is he has to Yuji Itadori. He gets around this by killing Yuji, but simultaneously healing him so he does die but comes back. 

Domain 

I think the least thought-out aspect of the series are the domain expansions. When we get introduced to the idea of a domain and domain expansion, they are touted as the end all be all move to use on an opponent, as they guarantee an attack that can't miss. 

However every time we do get to see one of these attacks, to our shock they never work. usually, this occurs when the enemy attacks the main characters, so one could say the outcome is to be expected. But I would say, don't set up these attacks as the ultimate finisher if you don't want to use them that way. 

The one time where this really worked and felt clever was when Yuji and Nanami were fighting Mahito. Mahito traps Nanami into his domain and Nanami gives up thinking it is the end. However, Yuji breaks into his domain as they usually are made to keep things in, not out. Since a domain is like the inner mind of the character, and Yuji has Sukuna inside of him who is a powerful sorcerer, so Sukuna decides to attack Mahito destroying his domain. 

This works as earlier Sukuna told Mahito not to touch his soul, where he inadvertently just did. Since Sukuna is such a powerful character this doesn't feel like a copout but perfectly set up. 

All though they are really cool to see as each one has a unique design. That is all they really are, cool backdrops. Either Gege Akutami needs to use them less often or start using them the way they were originally intended. 

Takeaways

• When creating a power system, try to deviate from generic abilities
• Add a unique aspect to your system
• You don't need to reinvent the wheel, just a different angle
• Don't implement something you don't intend to use in the way you describe it

That's all I have this time, have a nice day!