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some of my favorite kafkas

some bonus hoshinas

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okay it's been a minute

i have been enjoying myself

kaiju no 8

gokurakugai

omniscient reader's viewpoint

i've also been enjoying sakamoto days and kagurabachi, and i'm almost finished with both yona and one piece (!!!)

good times

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This is my 3rd week doing this. Inspired by N7Brendan's RWBY Status Charts

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recent watch log...

pumpkin scissors: cool first episode! always enjoy a tragic supersoldier situation, and alice's dynamic with him is fun. alice is also fun, lol.

hellsing: first few eps are fun!

s2 of jjk: still dealing with that Shounen Battle Blathering but some of the fights are really fun, there's some impressive visuals

s2 of spy x family: i adore it

s2 of heaven official's blessing: well worth the wait

samurai champloo: generally well-written but got some uncomfortable parts with the women

to your eternity ep 1-5: bizarre premise that's quite with some solid writing, but uh. let me just say Ouch. highly recommended if you're okay with crying almost every episode.

want to watch...

hero tales: another arakawa (fullmetal alchemist) story!

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I don't have time right now but the next thing i have to say about this is that kenjaku, gojo, and suguru are all interesting to analyze with this framework.

quick notes:

suguru's power could be seen as synthesizing/repurposing harmful substances into something useful, or consumption converting food/fuel into energy, or the process mastering the things that are/you have made a part of you. Notably, just like energy, whether the curses he devours are used to mitigate or multiply damage is all up to how he uses them! He also sort-of adopts, and in some cases the household is considered an extension of the head of the house, or a country/government an extension of its ruler. he's fun to analyze. Also the fact that a major part of his character is how he presents himself (a form of social control), and his character arc is about grappling with things outside his control when his control mechanism (the function & moral responsibility of sorcerers) breaks.

gege's way of describing gojo's powers baffles me (my best guess is here) which is appropriate to go here! Gojo's pretty blunt and tends to dismiss social mores. His one truth is "i am the strongest" and he's so sure of that that the unknowable outside of him holds no fear for him. He also sees and understands an order of magnitude more than others due to six-eyes, which closes that gap further. In general terms I'd say it's appropriate that he's killed by a cursed technique user (former?) rather than a curse that was never a human.

kenjaku's whole shtick is understanding more! which in this spectrum of human/wanting to know/control <--> curse/the unknowable/uncontrollable puts him on the very human side

i don't know enough about sukuna & his powers to accurately place him but he's also a "strongest" and his fights reveal his incredible analytical ability. He has absolute control over others but doesn't control himself at all.

it also makes sense that the major villains are all humans/former humans instead of curses, because curses are the products of humans, which makes the central conflict humanity versus its own nature (man vs self) rather than man versus curses (man vs man). How do you cope with dangers beyond what you can conceive?

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i don't understand the way that gege describes gojo's powers at all but the time dilation and attraction/repelling aspects of his powers just make me think of gravity and black holes. I'm paraphrasing something I only kind-of understand, but the faster you move, the slower you perceive time - so in a black hole, where the forces of gravity are pulling you faster and faster, I think there's a theory where whatever is falling into it is eventually moving so quickly that their perception of time more or less stops,

so you never actually perceive yourself entering the black hole.

which is what i thought he meant when he was describing limitless but then i looked at it again and he's talking about engineering and math and i just. i don't know. but that's kind of how i make sense of limitless and that aspect of gojo's powers.

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I skimmed the last few chapters because I was so exasperated about taking a comedy break right after killing a major character in an abrupt and unsatisfying way without indicating that there's any resolution incoming. The way Gojo's death was portrayed is so odd that I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back again, but the shounen I've read/watched indicates that it's entirely possible that's just how it's going to be left. Meanwhile I have no brainspace to care about the backstory of a new character and the tonal whiplash left me disconnected.

On the other hand, 244 suddenly places us in a legal drama! And I realized that I dig that the way powers and domain expansions work in JJK means that it's a story where genre-hopping is a thing both in-universe and out-universe. A very loose generalization would be that the power system of JJK is a subjective one, influenced by human belief (like Discworld) where the very act of perceiving changes reality, rather than an objective one (like Captain America, barring the dark depths of comic lore) where there are rules that operate independently of understanding which you need to learn.

Semantics aside, comedy and law are ways that humans cope with life. Domestication and challenge (ten shadows), the science of gravity and the collection of data (limitless/six eyes), the division of time or space into measurable units (nanami's stuff), barriers (tengen, general skill), and cameras (that. uh. zen'in guy) are all different...things that we can use to break down the unknowable into the knowable. If you have a hobby or job like writing or music or engineering, sometimes you process the world through it! It's a worldview thing. I often use story and storytelling as touchstones. I'm just following a train of thought so don't take this as gospel but the ocean curse and patchwork and the volcano dude (i'm bad with names) are all primal fears. We don't understand the wholeness of the ocean. We don't understand why our bodies do what they do*. We can't control a volcano. Curses versus cursed techniques, the things that are beyond our understanding and control and the way we break them down into understandable pieces we can control, right?

So genre-hopping is a fun meta-level on top of that, where chapters that focus on cursed techniques are temporarily applying different lenses to the same problem/story. The timing was too awkward for me to actually enjoy chapters 241-243 or whenever the comedy guy showed up but the concept is cool. And besides that I'm looking forward to this new version of Itadori vs Sukuna.

*this link is for an article called "Guts" by Julia Armfield that's my favorite piece of writing on why having a body can be so scary

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k i have had. enough of fishman island. SKIPPING TO PUNK HAZARD. i've not been careful about spoilers but all i know abt this arc is 1. there's a green bird lady 2. i think law shows up?? 3. uuuh bodyswapping i think which is going to be Fun with sanji -_-

which is kind of refreshing! no idea what's going to happen but here we gooooooo

'kay the gassing and abduction really highlights the fact that the strawhats just having a whole skeleton onboard is full of untapped hilarity. "they must have had a falling out and left this guy here until he became a skeleton.' unparalleled.

i'm enjoying spending more time with brook and learning more about him! funny old man

franky being instantly and incredibly popular with kids and sanji being incredibly bullyable to kids is just. it feels right.

of course the gas guy is voiced by mayuri

okay the concept of devil fruits being able to permanently alter the natural world is cool as shit. one fight making a perfectly normal island into punk hazard?? i want to see more of this!

smoker! ...making...interesting choices about how to wear a gas mask!

something about the sanji-franky interactions in the nursery reminded me that sanji is. what. nineteen? twenty? A Child. franky being the adult in that dynamic is very fun.

the luffy-robin-zoro-usopp group is actually a very fun dynamic i'm enjoying a lot.

chopper being so excited to get an assignment from sanji is very cute

HEY LAW HAS ARRIVED. still not getting over him sounding natsume, it's not what i was expecting originally.

"what brings you here to my vacation home?" OH HE'S SNARKY

i need to go back and watch the other law scenes, turns out he's a smirky little bastard and i'm loving it

gotta figure out how to get screenshots bc there's this one guy who's using his hair? as a hat?? and also law's "eath" tattoo title card is cracking me up. Also brook with another branded teacup!

the strawhats busting into the middle of a tense warlord-marine standoff, doing a full comedy skit, then noticing that they know both parties involved and running the other direction is just. wonderful. i love the strawhats and i love what their nonsense is like when inflicted on other people.

law's silhouette being mostly a long, skinny coat and a long, skinny sword is cracking me up. his other outfit being just. a hoodie and jeans. eyebags for days. amazing. he's just a med student. and he's insufferable. i love it.

mmm love a devil fruit flex

this is fun! i'm having a good time

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just! finished saiyuki og series!!! discovered the first resurrected edition volume recently and it has been. well. it's been a journey lol

oooooooooh boy there sure was some Anatomy and Proportions happening in the first volume but it was super fun to see the art style progress actually. it encouraged me to notice more complex poses and things in the later volumes, and when there was an occasional repeat panel like Sanzo and Goku's first look it was very cool to see the difference in quality.

i have a coupla favorite panels/spreads and generally tried to pay a little more attention to how things are precisely laid out and it was a fun aspect of reading. i want to do some actual breakdowns now, maybe compare early and later layouts.

also! i discovered and watched zeroin! my first intro to saiyuki was discovering reload blast forever ago. the art style in zeroin and the fact that there's a whole set of characters i'd never heard of before made it feel like an au or semi-canonical anime movie, sorta, but i enjoyed it So much and there are some specific notes on sanzo characterization that i want to dig into

sanzo is my fave and the kami-sama arc was So Very Good in that respect but it also grew my love for gojyo three sizes.

the way that they all react when gojyo leaves cracks me up so much. they're So Offended. something so funny and also so tasty that they will not under any circumstances admit out loud that they care about gojyo and miss him so instead they're like we are going to Hurt Him (because he hurt us) for Disrupting Our Daily Routine (he's a fundamental part of our lives) and FORCING us to turn this car around (he left with the full knowledge and expectation that they would follow through with actually continuing to pursue this Very Important job like they always said they would)

mmmmm gojyo's savior complex mmmm it's good.

got blasted by the idea of gojyo and hakkai starting an orphanage when they're done with the mission. hakkai was a teacher and still models himself as a "childcare professional"/co-parent to goku and gojyo wants to save somebody So Badly. also good luck resocializing goku to not be killing people/fighting for his life every other day for Two Entire Formative Teenage Years, helping kids and not having it backfire spectacularly in his face would be good for him

i just read the fourth volume so that's most of what i've got on my mind, i know i have More thoughts from the other volumes

besides the fact that sanzo's joints are gonna/have gotta be So Fucked Up. he really is a grandpa. poor guy.

feels good to nail some characterization aspects like genjyo "i'm a coldhearted bastard and you'd better stay out of my way" (developed coping mechanisms to deal with the traumatic loss of a parent and people repeatedly Attacking Him at an early age) sanzo, cho "yes i'm the wife/mother, please excuse these skeletons, the cleaver is only for special occasions" hakkai, sha "i'm the only one here who understands how to be a normal person" (he does not but he does have the highest emotional intelligence) gojyo, and son "i'm a teenager" (he's a teenager, also growing up with the aforementioned trio as parental/familial figures and starting to come into his own!!) goku

not a single one of these men has had a normal relationship or even prolonged interaction with a woman

i had no idea there was a whole brainwashing segment with kougaiji?? and i really want to see more of lirin, there are fun parallels there to explore that i really wanna dig into

i had no idea to what level sanzo was a bastard gremlin with a gun who just Happens to also be the highest of high priests before and now that i do it delights me. the very hypocrisy of his acceptance in his position disgusts him because He Is Not Priest Material but also it's what his dad wanted for him so fuck everybody who tries to take that from him. in any other situation he'd be the shady penniless vagabond gun for hire but koumyou happened. and now we all get to enjoy it.

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💗🌸 The Forger Family 🌸💗

(together in the same manga panel)

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moria’s voice is grating and i want to take a pin to him and his clown shoes are entirely appropriate imho

shallot is the perfect descriptor and get him out of my sight plz

unrelated but here’s a determined luffy for all ur determination needs

yes, yes he is.

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I find the opening of most of the op movies to be a special highlight i enjoy as much - or more than - the rest of the movie, depending on the movie. Film Gold had that quirky stage-style fight with the music and the spotlights, movie 4 we have a quick tour through town and the strawhats being domestic, Strong World we have the awesome chase thru the jungle, etc.

Baron omatsuri (which i have yet to finish) really stands out to me tho bc it starts with that somewhat ominous message, just the sound of the waves with no music, and then it’s luffy, unmoving and silent, on the figurehead, and then we have a long bit of scene where it’s alternating only between two static shots - a very wide shot and the intro shot for each character, which is kinda staged more as a picture with a characterizing background than as a real indication of what they were doing, and each character is added to the wide shot but we don’t see them move, they just appear, and the dialogue is moving somewhat independently of the camera. Then Zoro calls for Luffy and it switches to luffy and stays there while nami reads, no cutting back and forth, and then we switch to a shot of luffy’s smile and segue into the ghibli-esque credits that i love a lot but are a pretty severe turn from the first series of shots.

IDK if it’s my prior knowledge of the turn the movie takes later or what but the lack of music and static shots makes the very beginning feel slightly off-kilter to me, like it could be benign or it could be creepy but i’m not getting any music or camera qeues so! i don’t know! and it’s a wonderfully quirky and, as far as i know, unique intro.

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Sukuna practiced “Sokushinbutsu”, or Self-Mummification, to escape "death"

Warning: this post contains spoilers - read only if you're on par with chapter 220

By now, it's obvious how the juxtaposition of Soul and Body in context and the manner in which they relate to one another, permeate the JJK universe.

It's a recurring theme that concept that, in my opinion, is finding its culmination with our favourite King of Curses.

This is Sukuna, or rather, what remains of his embalmed and dessicated self:

The empty shell of his body remains intact, most probably indestructible and awaiting resurrection, hence why it's been preserved for over 1000 years within cavernous depths under Tengen's potent Hida Holy mountain purification barrier.

I first hypothesised that Sukuna had resorted to an ancient practice of self-preservation, known as “Sokushinbutsu”, when this cover art was revealed roughly 3 years ago:

(If anyone's interested, I've utilised this theory in my JJK fanfic here)

Notice how in both the depictions of Sukuna display his characteristic 4 eyes, one set horizontal and the other vertical!

Body and Cursed Objects

Although they are conceptually different, the body and soul are somewhat related - and theoretically, the body is able to exist disjointly from the soul. The only exception to this, or perhaps extension, is Toji Fushiguro, who was able to over-write someone else's soul, allowing for his volition to manifest and suppress the host he was summoned into.

Interestingly enough, ancient sorcerers didn't possess the knowledge of how to incarnate, which is why they accepted Kenjaku's offer:

Kenjaku marked hundreds of non-sorcerers and made them consume cursed items in preparation for the Culling Game.

These cursed items were the remains of the sorcerers Kenjaku had made a millennium-old pact with. At the conclusion of the Shibuya Incident, Kenjaku cast Idle Transfiguration from a distance and strengthened the people he had designated as vessels.

He immediately followed up by releasing the seals on the cursed items.

This was similar to Sukuna's relationship with Yuji in that it caused a thousand evil sorcerers to reawaken in new bodies that were all meticulously chosen by the one casting the curse.

Sukuna is the sole exception, having found a way to preserve his soul outside of his body - or at least, his body as a whole:

So how did he do it? This is where it gets interesting:

Sokoshinbutsu

The symbolism in Jujutsu Kaisen is insane, Buddhist lore is nested in practically every aspect of the saga, from the naming of individual Domain Expansion to the depiction of hand seals to the characters themselves, who are imbued with the mythos of Buddhism.

And as the parallels are abundant and permeate the JJK universe, Sukuna too is a parable of certain divinatory figures.

I'm sure anyone can see the startling similarities between this relic and Sukuna's perfectly preserved shell, the attire is near identical!

This is a mummified monk, what remains of a man who practiced Shokoshinbutsu.

Numerous sokushinbutsu, or mummified remains of ascetics who adhered to a hard regimen of self-discipline to maintain their bodies in death, may be found in the Dewa mountains in Yamagata Prefecture. An authority on folk religions lifts the curtain on these enigmatic "living Buddhas."

The esoteric teachings of Shingon founder Koukai (774–835 : note that the Heian Period spans from 794 to 1185!) had an impact on the macabre custom's development.

Koukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, preached that by arduous effort, anybody might become a Buddha "in the body"—without aspire to Buddhahood after rebirth—in the current life.

This idea is known as sokushin jōbutsu.

Gege is absolutely brilliant, thematically this ancient practice ties in perfectly! There's a reference to living beyond death, divinity achieved through the body, and furthermore the profusion of mummies is linked to the worship of Mounts which have become sacred sites in Japan!

Here's a fascinating excerpt:

The most distinguished of the sennichi yamagomori involved the ascetic committing to being buried alive. In a rite called dochū nyūjō, an issei gyōnin would be placed in a specially constructed subterranean cell to continue his meditations for three years and three months, transforming at death into a sokushinbutsu.

Though this practice is considered more folklore than historical fact, it would be brilliant if Sukuna had sought out death on his own accord (and I think that's the case) within a subterranean cell, after delving into obscure occult practices in order to fracture his soul into 20 distinct slivers and channel them into his fingers that become cursed objects.

This form of ritual suicide would then elevate him to demiurge, thus cheating death: eternal preservation of the body, eternal permanence of the soul.

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A brief look into the Hand seals (印) of Domain Expansions

The hand seal used by Domain expansion users is shirushi (印) or mudra of various bodhisattvas. In normal practice, these seals are performed while chanting the mantra for respective Bodhisattva.

1. Jougo, Domain: Coffin of Iron Mountain (蓋棺鉄囲山 / gaikan tecchizen); seal is associated with Daikokuten.

Also known as Mahakala, or "the Great Black one", or "the Great Time", Daikokuten is originated from Shiva in Hinduism, who plays role as the destroyer of all things as per his connection to "time" (kala), whose aspects later adopted by Buddhism. In Japan, Daikokuten is one of the seven lucky gods (七福神 / shichifukujin) associated with food and wealth.

2. Gojou Satoru, Domain: Unlimited Void (無量空処 / muryoukuusho); seal is associated with Taishakuten or Sakra

Sakra means "powerful" or "mighty", and is originated from Indra. Taishakuten is often depicted as a pair with Brahma (or Bonten) as the greatest protector deities (dharmapala) of Buddhism. As Indra governs other devas in heaven, Taishakuten is also depicted to govern other 32 gods in heaven and served by the Four Heavenly Kings (四天王 / shitennou).

3. Ryoumen Sukuna, Domain: Malevolent Shrine (伏魔御厨子 / fukuma mizushi); seal is associated with Enmaten or Yama

Enmaten is more famously known as King of Hell, he is a deity who governs fate, death, and underworld. He passes judgements to soul of people who had died, to send them to the appropriate afterworld. He is often depicted to have fierce expression. He is also the protector deity of south direction.

4. Mahito; Domain: Self-Embodiment of Perfection (自閉円頓裹 / jihei endonka); seals are associated with Kokuuzou bosatsu or Akasagharba and Gigeiten

Kokuuzou bosatsu (虚空蔵菩薩) is known as one of the eight great bodhisattvas, whose wisdom is said to be as vast as the space, hence his association with the space element (虚空 ; kokuu, lit. "empty space"). He is worshipped for wisdom, knowledge, and memory.

On the other hand, Gigeiten is a celestial maiden who governs over entertainment and good fortune. She is said to have been born from the hair of Maheshavara, thus she possesses good looks. She is also a master of various art forms.

5. Fushiguro Megumi, Domain: Chimera Shadow Garden (嵌合暗翳庭 / kangou'an eitei), seal is associated with Bhaisajyaguru or Yakushi Nyorai

Also called as Medicine Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai is known for his twelve vows to attain enlightenment. He aspired to heal people's illnesses, cure diseases, and erase the sufferings of sentient beings. The twelve Heavenly Generals (十二神将 / juuni shinshou) are his followers, originated as yakshas who were converted by his teachings. Hence Makora, or Mahoraga as one of Fushiguro's shikigami.

6. Okkotsu Yuuta, Domain: unknown, seal is associated with Dakini

Dakini is a type of female demon or yakshini. The portrayal of Dakinis vary among beliefs, ranging from flesh-eating female demons, similar to Kali in Hinduism, to goddess associated with constituents of human body. In Japan, the Dakini later were coalesced into a single deity called Dakiniten, who later syncretized with deity Inari, goddess of agriculture, represented by a celestial maiden riding white fox.

7. Ishigoori Ryu, Domain: unknown, seal is associated with Kujaku Myo-ou or Mahamayuri

Mahamayuri is a female bodhisattva, whose name means "Great Peacock". She is depicted to have three faces and four arms. Because peacock eats poisonous snakes such as cobra and other pests, Mahamayuri became known to be able to protect her followers from pain and disasters. She is also believed to be able to protect people from poisoning, either physically or spiritually.

8. Uro Takako, domain: unknown, seal is associated with Kundali

Also known as Amritankundali, he is a wrathful protector deity regarded as the manifestation Ratnasambhava, who was focused on equality, to destroy greed and pride. He is also said to be manifestation of Akasagarbha. In addition the nectar of immortality is believed to be originated from him.

9. Hakari Kinji, Domain: Idle Death Gambler (坐殺博徒 / zasatsu bakuto), seal is associated with Benzaiten or Saraswati

Benzaiten as one of the seven lucky gods (七福神 / shichifukujin) is worshipped for monetary fortune. She is often depicted playing biwa as goddess of music. Saraswati is also regarded as goddess of river, hence she becomes known as goddess of "all things flow"; water, time, music, eloquence, fortune, and knowledge. Another version of Benzaiten depicted her as a protector deity having eight hands holding weapons; a bow (弓 / yumi), arrow (箭 / sen), sword (刀 / katana), ax (斧 / ono), spear (三股戟 / sankogeki), long pestle (独鈷杵 / tokkosho), iron wheel (輪 / rin), and rope (羂索 / kenjaku).

Other known domain expansion but unknown hand seal

10. Hanami, domain: unknown, seal is unknown

11. Dagon, domain: Horizon of Captivating Skandha (蕩蘊平線 / tau'un heisen). Seal has "golden pouch" (宝袋 / houtai) motif, which symbolizes wealth.

12. Higuruma Hiromi, domain: Deadly Sentencing (誅伏賜死 / chuubuku shishi), seal is unknown.

誅伏 (chuubuku) means to be sentenced for one's crime or sin, while 自裁 (shishi) means to be ordered to suicide. So his domain means sentenced suicide due for one's sin.

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okay i have thoughts about this

gojo is copying toji - the manga itself even draws attention to it and while its trying to play it iff as a joke i dont think it is

i think gojo deliberately chose to dress like toji

the only person who was able to defeat him, who was able to make him feel weak - and thus the one gojo subjectivelly sees as stronger than himelf

he is emulating toji to feel stronger

do you have any idea how crazy this makes me feel - toji made him feel powerless and now that hes in a similiar situation - the cube, sukuna, kenjaku, all the rest of the shit - he's returning back to this first experience and taking back that power

people more eloquent with words probably already talked about this but i just had to - it makes me a little crazy to think about just how deeply the fight with toji affected him

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CHAPTER 151: perfect preparation, part 4.

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fucking relatable master yupa