#not to toot my own horn but this is great priming for the next section

[aliensupersyn]

3b. Part 2: Gojo, Cursed Objects, and WW2

Overall thesis for this project: Godzilla and Mothra create the cultural context of creatives using powerful monsters (or kaiju) to disrupt Japanese bureaucracy and society, usually to make some larger criticism.

Manga spoilers below!

In a post-Godzilla Japan, the kaiju character, the monster, often challenges and disrupts the stability of the status quo. The disruption often exposes negative traits and limitations of those in power, criticizing the authority's abilities. The kaiju might act as a party separated from other warring factions; the kaiju might be integrated into one or more of the story's main factions; and finally, there can be more than one kaiju present, each with their own individual goals. In All-Out Attack, Godzilla appears first. To stop Godzilla from destroying Japan, the three gurdian deities must be summoned: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. I argue that the kaiju narrative not only exists beyond cinema, but that Japanese creatives use certain specifications from older works to reimagine the classic plot of Gojira (1954).

As a kaiju, Gojo represents the eventual need to step beyond the limitations those in power place on an individual. Anything with more power than the self-preserving sovereign will be seen as a threat (Rika possesses Yuta, Yuji hosts Sukuna, and both are sentenced to death). Gojo's mastery of jujutsu, and his massacre of the Higher-Ups, demonstrates a scenario where a person can evolve beyond the system. Gege uses Gojo to argue that justice or an ideal fairness cannot be found in the self-preserving system, because it will always choose to neutralize or eliminate the possibility of something greater than itself, regardless of whether it be a force of good or bad. After Shibuya, the Higher-Ups sought to contain Gojo like they have Sukuna: trapped in a cursed object, and finally beholden to their unmerciful control.

Beyond the usual conventions of the kaiju narrative that I've discussed until now, there exists another important factor. The kaiju narrative must always place Japan under threat of destruction from a great power, usually by a monster. Absinthe makes the point that in the kaiju film narrative, Japan will almost always be the victim. He says that "In Gojira the monster destroys and shatters Tokyo but importantly stays and even in Mosura [(Mothra, 1961)] and Gamera [(1965)] there is this sense that the monster has taken over," emphasizing the importance for one or more of the kaiju to threaten Japan's freedom and sustentation. Demon City Shinjuku released in 1982, and was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri; the animated movie depicts Shinjuku, a special ward of Tokyo, being destroyed by Rebi Ra, then overrun by demons. During World War 2, the 1945 Tokyo air raids destroyed a vast majority of Shinjuku's infrastructure, but the railways and transit remained mostly intact. The enduring transit system aided in Shinjuku becoming the metropolitan area it exists as today.

Anime and manga overtly reference Shinjuku's dark history, often using it as a site where demons or misfortune strikes. Meta-textually, even when removed from its history as a victim of air raids, it exists near Tokyo. Placing misfortune within Shinjuku communicates the near collapse of Tokyo, Japan's heart. In Code Geass, the Britannian army destroyed Shinjuku via air raids. In the story's present, Shinjuku remains as a ruined ghetto in the now occupied Japan, which was renamed Area 11 after its defeat by Britannia. Moving past all the implications of Code Geass' story, I want to focus on Gege's use of Shinjuku as a battlefield within JJK. The final arc of JJK was titled "The Decisive Battle in the Uninhabited, Demon-Infested Shinjuku," effectively marking Shinjuku as a 'demon city.' "Demon-Infested Shinjuku" reads as a clever nod to Kawajiri, and also an important framing for the battle taking place between Sukuna and the remaining cast; everyone uses every skill they have as they participate in a clash of titans that tears the city apart. If he defeats the cast, Sukuna unleashes an unstoppable monster that will destroy Tokyo, then the rest of the world after.

In modern Japanese pop culture, Shinjuku serves as an example of a trope developed through repetition across titles. Not only does Shinjuku itself act as a trope to depict a losing battle against a stronger enemy (Gojo's defeat against Sukuna), but also as an interchangeable setting to convey an approximate danger looming over Tokyo, and more importantly, Japan. Like in All-Out Attack, the other monsters gather to defend Japan from Sukuna, the king. In both titles, the monsters do not fight to protect the Japanese government or care about it's infrastructure. The cast of monsters reduce parts of Tokyo to rubble in their fights; they must, to convey the threat that Japan faces in this awesome battle between kaiju. In All-Out Attack, the guardian deities' motivations were mostly unknown, except for a desire to kill Godzilla. In JJK's "Demon-Infested Shinjuku," the cast members come from all different walks of life, and have their own goals in mind, but they all agree that Sukuna needs to die for one reason or another.

In Jujutsu Kaisen, the kaiju takes many roles. Sukuna throws Japan's government into disarray with a devastating attack that wipes Shibuya off the face of the earth. Maki destroys an important pillar of jujutsu society's government. Gojo puts the final nail in the coffin and kills the bureaucratic powers. The kaijus act within and outside of the established government. The kaiju most importantly exposes the weakness of the setting's government, and in the case of anime and manga, the sovereign will almost always be a bureaucratic system.

Notes:

What's funny is that Yaga got the boot for simply being responsible for Gojo and Geto. They were MAD!

I think a vast majority of anime fans doubt the influence that World War 2 has on Japanese pop culture, and especially anime and manga.

Someone once mentioned to me somethin about Gege's interest in urban areas and infrastructure. I hope this person finds this update interesting!

Sukuna section(s) next!