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Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 17 

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Byakkoya

One of the things that people forget when watching this episode is how dangerous and terrifying a job being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is. Yuji basically has no choice and has accepted the responsibility of eliminating what is essentially Doomsday MegaSatan from existence once an for all, Megumi has been doing this for a while and has seen overconfident former sorcerers come and go both, Nobara just has the personality of someone who doesn't fear imminent death. Mai has none of this. Mai here, is what you get when you take an average person who isn't crazy or brazen enough to take this job willingly and toss them into the deep end anyway. She's a low tier sorcerer with a trash tier cursed technique who's basically only here because her elitist family was pissed at her sister for embracing her own potential instead of living as a house servant, the same sister with whom she was able to squeeze just the slightest amount of enjoyment in life with but one day just left her behind out of nowhere. She was pulled into something she wasn't physically or mentally prepared for in any way, her wishes and freedom disregarded by everyone around her, including the only person she really liked. Of course, none of this excuses the way she treats the Tokyo side. She's basically taking all of the abuse she's had to endure from her own family and regurgitating it onto strangers, much like a kid who gets beaten by daddy at home and winds up bullying other kids at school. She's been looked down on for so long she feels entitled to the right to look down on someone herself, which everyone knows isn't right in the slightest. This arc has already explored the idea of "Hardship doesn't justify Malice." with Panda vs Mechamaru, and here it does it again with another character who gets dealt a shitty hand and can't think of anything to do but flip the table in despair and disgust. The ideas of "Fairness", "Justice" and/or "Karma" are concepts dreamt up by a species of imperfect, irrational and often self centered animals. Being a good person doesn't mean good things will come your way and being a bastard won't guarantee you misfortune, plenty of bastards are living the good life right now while plenty of honest good people are getting fucked. In a way you could call it ignorant or even arrogant for us to expect a convenience like that to truly exist in the way we want it to, but it still really stings when it doesn't. It hurts like hell. Also, Miwa is cute and she's one of my favorites just for her personality.

NinjaKuma

Love your essay, I love any show that can lead to such conversation to take place and I agree on many many points. This is why I love movies like SAW "Life is not sequential, good does not lead to good nor bad to bad. You can lie, cheat and steal and get elected into office, or you can be a good Samaritan and get run over by a speeding semi".

Byakkoya

(@NinjaKuma) One of the things I love about Jujutsu Kaisen is just how real it gets with its themes and characters, and one of the things I love about fiction in general is the tragic backstory trope, as it shows many different ways that people respond to trauma and hardship. I’d say more, but I don’t want to risk spoiling shit so I’ll just shut up for now. JJK has a lot of things going for it.

Anonymous

Kuma, i think you meant the Habsburg Family (Austrian Monarchy) not the British one 😂

RemnantRyku

Poor Miwa. Imagine being told you're opponent's weak only to find out they're a black belt while you just got your yellow belt. We can't all be gifted in combat like Kuma. This episode made me curious if Yuuji was actually born with a similar Heavenly Pact to Maki's. In episode 1, Megumi comments on Yuuji's superhuman strength when he threw the weighted ball, saying "I wonder if he's like Senpai", which I'm pretty sure he was referring to Maki. And after they explained her Heavenly Pact this episode, it made me wonder if he was similar. After all, Yuuji had little to no cursed energy and was only able to start using cursed techniques because he ate Sukuna's finger, yet before eating the finger he was already super strong and super fast.

Byakkoya

Yeah and he jumped from the ground to the fourth floor of his school too, to kick in that window.

NinjaKuma

I'm not gifted, I was the runt of the litter, fighting never came naturally to me nor do I even watch combat sports. I had to force myself every step of the way. I made the choice, there's no doubt left. I can leave at any time. I choose not to.