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What Kind of Girl do You Like?

If there is something that I liked about the bond between mentor and apprentice that Yuki Tsukumo and Aoi Todo had, it is that even though they didn't show us what the dynamic between Aoi and Yuki was like, it is not necessary to show it either, because just seeing the way Aoi is you realize the impact that Yuki's teachings had on him.

To start, both Aoi and Yuki are unorthodox jujutsu sorcerers and they always ask people they meet the question that gives the title to this post: what kind of girl do you like?

and if their opponent's answer convinces them or they consider them boring, Aoi and Yuki will not hesitate to hit them.

At first this may seem like a joke but the reason why they both ask this question is to know what exactly their opponent is fighting for, what drives them to do what they are doing, to think about what they live for?, what do they want from life?, what are their hobbies? why are they alive? Those are pursuits that make living something other than just surviving day to day.

All this shows that they both focus on they sort of cultivate lives and enjoy them outside of just being a jujutsu sorcerer. They both have hobbies: Yuki travels overseas, Todo loves Takada, an idol. They have lives, outside of being jujutsu sorcerers, and even Yuki's ultimate goal, a world without cursed energy, aligns with this. They extremely proud and indvidualistic people, but their pride allows them to buck tradition and think for themselves, they do what they do because they want to and because it brings them excitement. This is seen with Yuki whe she admits that she doesn't side with the jujutsu sorcerers at all

and that despite helping Tengen, she doesn't agree with their methods of maintaining their immortality by sacrificing young girls who were Star Plasma Vessels such as Riko or Yuki herself.

Aoi for his part decides not to kill Yuji even though those were direct orders from the high command of the jujutsu sorcerers but decides to test him for himself.

All this is just a sample of all the above mentioned.

As individualistic, proud, rude, headstrong as these characters can be, oddly enough both Yuki and Todo are able to cooperate with others. Aoi along with Yuji are not only able to win the two fights they have against their opponents because they are strong but also because Yuji and Todo are working in perfect sync with one another with the use of Todo's cursed technique, Boogie Woogie, which allows them to surprise their opponents multiple times (it's no coincidence that Boogie Woogie is perfect for team use).

Yuki herself cooperates with allies, including Larue, a former member of Geto's family and during the fight against Kenjaku, Yuki shows concern for Choso when he offered to be the vanguard against Kenjaku and even praises him, calling him "Big Brother" and saying that Choso matches her type of man.

After all, it's because of the social cooperation that humans are capable of is also considered to be part of the life drive. Humans are a social species, no man is an island but they have to cooperate together in society in order to survive.

All of the above implies that Aoi and Yuki are "life" symbolism or are surrounded by it. So much so that their cursed energy makes little hearts.

It's not surprising that Yuki was the one who trained Todo and he follows her teachings as a way of respecting the person who got him out of his boredom. It is also no coincidence that precisely these panels where Aoi and Yuki's cursed energy is shown in the form of hearts is when they face enemies that represent death or are related to it in some way.

Aoi and Yuki's passion reaches such a point that they are willing to win even if they are in a deplorable state (curiously both end up losing an arm when fighting Mahito and Kenjako, who represent death or nihilism, but they choose to keep fighting, representing their love for life and being true to themselves through their passion).

As I said before, Aoi and Yuki ask people they know what kind of girl do they like as a way of finding out their goals, which implies that in addition to being passionate, both are also smart and analytical and they even go so far as to share their point of view with their adversaries.

This is shown with Aoi not only knowing how Hanami's seed technique works but also being able to figure out Yuji's shortcomings with regards to his handling of cursed energy and helping him improve its use even though Yuji was his enemy at that moment.

With Yuki it is shown when she interacts with Kenjaku for the first time and they both discuss their theories and plans with each other,

then Yuki predicts a part of Kenjaku's plan with a lot of participation, which consists of convincing foreign countries to take advantage of the cursed energy of sorcerers as an alternative energy source

and this gets to the point that when Yuki meets Kenjaku again they try to analyze each other

without any success.

Aoi learned from his mentor Yuki the ability to analyze, create strategies and cooperate with others, as well as inherited her passion and love for life that she had and what better way to respect and honor the person who got him out of his boredom than by doing all the things she taught him.

What Kind of Girl do You Like?

If there is something that I liked about the bond between mentor and apprentice that Yuki Tsukumo and Aoi Todo had, it is that even though they didn't show us what the dynamic between Aoi and Yuki was like, it is not necessary to show it either, because just seeing the way Aoi is you realize the impact that Yuki's teachings had on him.

To start, both Aoi and Yuki are unorthodox jujutsu sorcerers and they always ask people they meet the question that gives the title to this post: what kind of girl do you like?

and if their opponent's answer convinces them or they consider them boring, Aoi and Yuki will not hesitate to hit them.

At first this may seem like a joke but the reason why they both ask this question is to know what exactly their opponent is fighting for, what drives them to do what they are doing, to think about what they live for?, what do they want from life?, what are their hobbies? why are they alive? Those are pursuits that make living something other than just surviving day to day.

All this shows that they both focus on they sort of cultivate lives and enjoy them outside of just being a jujutsu sorcerer. They both have hobbies: Yuki travels overseas, Todo loves Takada, an idol. They have lives, outside of being jujutsu sorcerers, and even Yuki's ultimate goal, a world without cursed energy, aligns with this. They extremely proud and indvidualistic people, but their pride allows them to buck tradition and think for themselves, they do what they do because they want to and because it brings them excitement. This is seen with Yuki whe she admits that she doesn't side with the jujutsu sorcerers at all

and that despite helping Tengen, she doesn't agree with their methods of maintaining their immortality by sacrificing young girls who were Star Plasma Vessels such as Riko or Yuki herself.

Aoi for his part decides not to kill Yuji even though those were direct orders from the high command of the jujutsu sorcerers but decides to test him for himself.

All this is just a sample of all the above mentioned.

As individualistic, proud, rude, headstrong as these characters can be, oddly enough both Yuki and Todo are able to cooperate with others. Aoi along with Yuji are not only able to win the two fights they have against their opponents because they are strong but also because Yuji and Todo are working in perfect sync with one another with the use of Todo's cursed technique, Boogie Woogie, which allows them to surprise their opponents multiple times (it's no coincidence that Boogie Woogie is perfect for team use).

Yuki herself cooperates with allies, including Larue, a former member of Geto's family and during the fight against Kenjaku, Yuki shows concern for Choso when he offered to be the vanguard against Kenjaku and even praises him, calling him "Big Brother" and saying that Choso matches her type of man.

After all, it's because of the social cooperation that humans are capable of is also considered to be part of the life drive. Humans are a social species, no man is an island but they have to cooperate together in society in order to survive.

All of the above implies that Aoi and Yuki are "life" symbolism or are surrounded by it. So much so that their cursed energy makes little hearts.

It's not surprising that Yuki was the one who trained Todo and he follows her teachings as a way of respecting the person who got him out of his boredom. It is also no coincidence that precisely these panels where Aoi and Yuki's cursed energy is shown in the form of hearts is when they face enemies that represent death or are related to it in some way.

Aoi and Yuki's passion reaches such a point that they are willing to win even if they are in a deplorable state (curiously both end up losing an arm when fighting Mahito and Kenjako, who represent death or nihilism, but they choose to keep fighting, representing their love for life and being true to themselves through their passion).

As I said before, Aoi and Yuki ask people they know what kind of girl do they like as a way of finding out their goals, which implies that in addition to being passionate, both are also smart and analytical and they even go so far as to share their point of view with their adversaries.

This is shown with Aoi not only knowing how Hanami's seed technique works but also being able to figure out Yuji's shortcomings with regards to his handling of cursed energy and helping him improve its use even though Yuji was his enemy at that moment.

With Yuki it is shown when she interacts with Kenjaku for the first time and they both discuss their theories and plans with each other,

then Yuki predicts a part of Kenjaku's plan with a lot of participation, which consists of convincing foreign countries to take advantage of the cursed energy of sorcerers as an alternative energy source

and this gets to the point that when Yuki meets Kenjaku again they try to analyze each other

without any success.

Aoi learned from his mentor Yuki the ability to analyze, create strategies and cooperate with others, as well as inherited her passion and love for life that she had and what better way to respect and honor the person who got him out of his boredom than by doing all the things she taught him.

For those who say that Satoru Gojo lost unfairly against Sukuna, they forget that we are talking about an ancient sorcerer from the Heian era in the golden age of sorcery and he was not just any sorcerer but the strongest of that time. Sukuna had a huge amount of experience as well as being quite smart because Sukuna wanted to see what Mahoraga was capable of and saw his fight against Satoru as the perfect opportunity to use the shikigami and to do so he made Gojo think that he could beat him if he used his domain extension and although he looked as bad as Satoru by letting himself be attacked by it, actually every time Satoru used the Infinite Void he was only strengthening Mahoraga.

Sukuna conditioned the fight so that he would win with the shikigami, but if Sukuna had wanted, he could have ended the fight much earlier by using Domain Amplification (the improved version of Simple Domain) in each domain extension clash he had with Satoru, avoiding suffering damage from the latter, and when Satoru couldn't use his domain extension and his Limitless Technique to protect himself due to the wear and tear on his brain, Sukuna would eliminate him using the Malevolent Shrine. If it were not for Sukuna's whim of wanting to use Mahoraga, he would have beaten Satoru and it is even implied that Sukuna allowed himself to be hit so that Mahoraga would adapt to Satoru's infinity.

Even in their activation of domains Gojo had to destroy and regenerate his brain five times while Sukuna didn't have this problem, this is because Sukuna didn't lose his domain as many times as Satoru because we must not forget that Sukuna's domain doesn't need barrier like Gojo's so it was easier to destroy Satoru's domain than Sukuna's.

I've always seen Sister Sage as what Maki Zenin would have been if instead of being born with her Heavenly Restriction she had been born with Gojo clan's Six Eyes or with Kenjaku and Yuki Tsukumo's intelligence.

Sage is like Maki in that they were completely underestimated by everyone just for being women and belonging to a minority group in their respective societies they grew up in (Sage is African-American, Maki has no cursed energy because her Heavenly Restriction) and have abilities that everyone is ignored at best case and not taken seriously and mocked at worst (with Sage it's her superintelligence, with Maki it's her superhuman physical capabilities) and are willing to prove to themselves and everyone what they are capable of achieving. Both women want to be respected and taken seriously and prove to others that they were wrong to underestimate them... and both women ended up being right.

Also, if Maki had lost Mai because of a curse that Maki could have easily defeated because of her Heavenly Restriction but the Zenin clan wouldn't let her save her knowing that Maki is physically stronger because of her Heavenly Restriction and if she had never met Yuta, Maki would have been as resentful and bitter as Sage because Sage could have saved her grandmother but no one let her do it and nobody listens to her or respects her and now Sage will force everyone to listen to her and respects to her.

For those who say that Satoru Gojo lost unfairly against Sukuna, they forget that we are talking about an ancient sorcerer from the Heian era in the golden age of sorcery and he was not just any sorcerer but the strongest of that time. Sukuna had a huge amount of experience as well as being quite smart because Sukuna wanted to see what Mahoraga was capable of and saw his fight against Satoru as the perfect opportunity to use the shikigami and to do so he made Gojo think that he could beat him if he used his domain extension and although he looked as bad as Satoru by letting himself be attacked by it, actually every time Satoru used the Infinite Void he was only strengthening Mahoraga.

Sukuna conditioned the fight so that he would win with the shikigami, but if Sukuna had wanted, he could have ended the fight much earlier by using Domain Amplification (the improved version of Simple Domain) in each domain extension clash he had with Satoru, avoiding suffering damage from the latter, and when Satoru couldn't use his domain extension and his Limitless Technique to protect himself due to the wear and tear on his brain, Sukuna would eliminate him using the Malevolent Shrine. If it were not for Sukuna's whim of wanting to use Mahoraga, he would have beaten Satoru and it is even implied that Sukuna allowed himself to be hit so that Mahoraga would adapt to Satoru's infinity.

Even in their activation of domains Gojo had to destroy and regenerate his brain five times while Sukuna didn't have this problem, this is because Sukuna didn't lose his domain as many times as Satoru because we must not forget that Sukuna's domain doesn't need barrier like Gojo's so it was easier to destroy Satoru's domain than Sukuna's.

I've always seen Sister Sage as what Maki Zenin would have been if instead of being born with her Heavenly Restriction she had been born with Gojo clan's Six Eyes or with Kenjaku and Yuki Tsukumo's intelligence.

Sage is like Maki in that they were completely underestimated by everyone just for being women and belonging to a minority group in their respective societies they grew up in (Sage is African-American, Maki has no cursed energy because her Heavenly Restriction) and have abilities that everyone is ignored at best case and not taken seriously and mocked at worst (with Sage it's her superintelligence, with Maki it's her superhuman physical capabilities) and are willing to prove to themselves and everyone what they are capable of achieving. Both women want to be respected and taken seriously and prove to others that they were wrong to underestimate them... and both women ended up being right.

Also, if Maki had lost Mai because of a curse that Maki could have easily defeated because of her Heavenly Restriction but the Zenin clan wouldn't let her save her knowing that Maki is physically stronger because of her Heavenly Restriction and if she had never met Yuta, Maki would have been as resentful and bitter as Sage because Sage could have saved her grandmother but no one let her do it and nobody listens to her or respects her and now Sage will force everyone to listen to her and respects to her.

I’m crying now

YUTA WAS ALWAYS SELFISH

I was originally going to make this post the week the big twist with Yuta in Gojo's body happened, because of the massive subversion that it was. It was the kind of twist that made you question if everything you ever knew about the character was wrong. Namely, Yuta one of the most empathic sorcerers we see in the series - the character who seems to lack the selfishness of the other sorcerers that make up jujutsu society. The kid who fights with the literal power of love.

Was Yuta a monster to begin with and we just didn't see?

So ignore the clickbaity tagline, Yuta is one of my favorite characters I'm not going to start calling him a terrible person. Rather that Yuta is dismissed as a soft kid or a wifeguy, when he's actually more cunning and cutthroat than anyone gives him credit for.

If a sorcerer is nothing more than a con-artist, then if the talent for trickery he displayed in the Sukuna fight is anything to go by Yuta is a true sorcerer down to his bones. Yuta turning Gojo's body into a puppet seems like a massive twist, and almost out of character for Yuta who was so devoted to Gojo.

His earlier fight in the culling game even seemed to hint that Yuta was too soft and he didn't truly have the attitude to fight someone like Ryomen Sukuna who was the embodiment of a calamity.

These panels seemed like a prophecy that Yuta was doomed to fall short against Sukuna. That he could never live up to his title as the next Satoru Gojo, because unlike Gojo and Sukuna who can stand on the top alone Yuta clings to his loved ones.

Sukuna got to where he is by rejecting love. Sukuna is Sukuna because he's never needed anyone to satisfy him. So how can Yuta who needs to be surrounded by his loved ones at all time to validate him and tell him it's okay for him to be alive even compete?

However, even in JJK zero Yuta's love is questioned on whether or not it's as selfless and "pure" as it seems. To begin with, Maki calls him out early on for attracting bullies by playing the victim a lot. He pretends to be a good and innocent person put upon by his circumstances and bullies when really he doesn't want to help himself. Instead of standing up to the bullies he's always let Rika protect him and then condemned her for being a monster. He's let Rika take the blame for all the destruction, even though Rika is HIS cursed technique, created by HIS emotions, and is protecting him.

Yuta doesn't make any attempt to try to learn to control Rika, or even work with her, he just shrivels away in fear.

"You act like a good person, but it feels fake..." Yuta has always adopted the facade of a good person. He seems soft, socially anxious and withdrawn, even after he gains confidence as a sorcerer those traits don't go away because they're a part of his outward persona. Jung divides the psyche into two parts, the persona a mask that faces the world the parts of yourself that come out in your social interaction with people and then there's the shadow your repressed personality.

Yuta's shadow is a literal monster that declares her love for him and then expresses that love by violently destroying everything around him.

Yes, Rika initially contained the soul of someone else but Rika the curse was created by his technique, her power corresponds to his emotions, she comes from his shadow, and even after the real Rika passes on the Shikigami RIKA still remains completely under Yuta's control. Rika is Yuta, the embodiment of his twisted definition of love that would curse his loved ones to keep them by his side forever because he can't live without them. All of Rika's insane possessiveness? That's Yuta's too. Rika's violent overprotectiveness? That's Yuta.

How poetic is it really that Yuta and Rika are so codependent that Yuta's shadow, the other half of his personality is literally RIKA. Yuta cannot exist without love, and without someone too love, he's so terrified of being alone that he cursed Rika and then turned her corpse into a puppet after death. He uses his loved one as a weapon to fight his enemies.

If you think about it for more than five minutes Yuta's cursed technique and Rika has some seriously messed up implications, but it's hard too because as messed up as Yuta's love is it's still genuine.

Love is a curse, but in 236 Nanami speculates that sometimes curses can save people too, just like how Jujutsu Sorcerers use curses to fight and protect others.

So Yuta's love is a screaming, raging, overprotective monster, but it's also what give shim the motivation to fight ofr others. Yuta's love is a curse, but curses can save people too.

Yuta on the other hand isn't aware of his own darker nature most of the time.

The big twist in Jujutsu kaisen Zero is that just as Maki accused him of from the beginning, Yuta was playing the victim all along. He acted like Rika cursed him with her dying breath, but Yuta was the one who cursed her because he couldn't bear to live without her.

However, even this apology is a bit telling of Yuta's self-centered nature. He immediately turns everything into his fault and starts beating himself up over it. He doesn't look at anyone else's perspectives or that other people had a role to play. He deliberately ignores Rika's feelings on the past few years, which Rika is quick to point out for him.

This scene has a parallel later where Yuta ultimately, only thinks about himself first and foremost. In spite of wanting so badly to be surrounded by his loved ones, it's more about him loving them, and less about their feelings for him.

After all he's completely willing to commit a double suicide with Rika to protect his friends, ignoring the fact Rika doesn't want him to pass on just yet, and Maki, Inumaki and Panda wouldn't want him to disappear either. This scene has a direct parallel a year later in the fight against Sukuna when Yuta gives up his body.

Maki almost breaks character from her usual culling game arcs stoicity to fight and argue with Yuta to stop him form doing this, and Rika who one year earlier told Yuta to live a long life so she wouldn't have to see him on the other side so soon is reduced to screaming and sobbing while holding his dead body.

Yuta loves people, or at least he feels an intense amount of love for people, but he can be as self-centered as the other sorcerers we see in the story. Geto even points this out right away, that Yuta is selfish, that he's seeking self-affirmation first and foremost. He needs other people's approval, their love, to feel like he deserves to exist. He'll do anything to earn that love, and once he has it he'll do anything to protect it but it's ultimately for himself.

It manifests in Yuta's technique itself copy, which first and foremost requires Yuta to consume parts of his loved ones that can never be healed if he wants to keep their copied technique. Yuta gets stronger by literally eating his loved ones. We have canon confirmation that Yuta fed part of Inumaki's severed arm to Rika.

Yuta's cursed technique is to emulate the strengths of all of his loved ones copying them and making them a part of his oqn technique, because Yuta will take any shape and form in order to be loved. It's also the perfect technique for fighting as a part of a group, because someone like Sukuna will naturally assume that Yuta's technique STEALS instead of COPYING so he'll forget that the original still retains their technique.

Yuta's not only selfish and has a very selfish, overprotective love for others, but it's those exact qualities that make him an effective sorcerer strong in the area that Gojo is the weakest. Group coordination.

Gojo is in his element when he's alone, but Yuta is so codependent that he literally cannot exist unless other people are looking at him. His strength comes from the things he copies and takes from his friend, and he turned his loved one into a puppet to fight others. Is it really that surprising that this kid would willingly use Gojo's body as a weapon after death when that's literally what he did to Rika.

How telling is it that like Yuta learned that Rika was cursed by him, went so far to exorcise her spirit, and then after finally letting go after her spirit passed on he made a second Shikigami named Rika a few months later made out of the small remnants of cursed energy that Rika left behind as a gift after passing on. The dude is not over Rika, he's like, Geto and Gojo levels of not over Rika.

Yuta's cursed technique being the literal weaponization of his love and his loved ones makes him the best character for group coordination in the entire series. Yuta even adopts apsects of hakari's persona when making his plans against Sukuna since he decides to gamble at several key points in the plan.

Several of the key moments in the fight are all Yuta's plans, with some collaboration from Angel. He makes several bets too like Hakari would. The first being going to finish Kenjaku by himself and using both Todo and Takaba in conjunction to trick him. The second is the bet that he'd be able to make it back in time to rejoin the fight in case Higuruma's plan fail.

It was Yuta who let his own domain barrier down on purpose to let Sukuna think he had the victory so he would let his guard down and make it easy for Maki to ambush him. Something that also required perfect coordination between Yuta and Maki working in tandem with one another.

Yuta set up Hana to do one large jacob's ladder when Sukuna least expected it because he knew Sukuna would forget that his technique is COPY and not steal. He also made the biggest bluff which was leading Sukuna to believe that he fed Rika his last finger.

These aren't just good bluffs, they require near perfect coordination with your allies and taking several chances on them. Nobara might not have even woken up so the last finger / resonance Gambit was perhaps the biggest gamble. Maki and Yuta had to coordinate with each other well so Maki would be there when Yuta dropped the barrier. Yuta needed Takaba a relatively new and inexperienced sorcerer to survive against the threat that was Kenjaku, and he needed all of his allies to stay alive while he was prioritizing Kenjaku.

These are all plans Satoru Gojo would never have been able to pull off, because Gojo only ever relies on himself. If Yuta and Hakari had intervened in the Gojo and Sukuna fight then he would not have been able to go all out, whereas Yuta REQUIRES people collaborating with him in order TO GO ALL OUT.

This is Yuta. This is his strength. Yuta is nothing without love, so he takes on the forms of the people he loves and takes things from the people he loves in order to gain the power to protect him. Yuta copies everything from the people he loves, so is it really that much of a surprise that he'd become a monster just like Gojo.

In some ways, Geto and Yuuta were the same. Geto was too sincere. To someone like him, the reality that the world of sorcerers presented to him was just too cruel. ’…that in a world like this, I couldn’t be truly happy from the bottom of my heart.’ To live for the purpose of being yourself. And for that goal, Geto could only continue to pursue his twisted dream, drowning himself in the curse that lies in the gap between ideal and reality.

Love is a weapon for Yuta. Just like his curse technique can take any form, so does Yuta's love, and so does Yuta himself. Love always wins, and in order to do so Yuta will take any shape necessary, no matter how twisted.

Love is the worst curse of them all, and Yuta will become the worst monster of them all if it means protecting his love ones.

Look how sad Yuuji is at the thought that Gojo could ever think he was forgettable 🥺. Gojo is his sensei and Yuuji loves his sensei, so much.

And Yuuji knows what it is like to feel like one cog in the never-ending curse machine, easily replaceable when broken and that's fine for him (at this point) but he would never let any of his friends think they were replaceable, EVER.

And so I actually don't care what Gege thinks; even it is in the way only one cog can only remember another, Itadori Yuuji will always remember Gojo Satoru.

ATTENTION JUJUTSU KAISEN FANDOM

As a fellow manga reader and anime watcher of the series, I have decided to think about creating cursed techniques for the sake of meta, fun, and creating cursed techniques that would be fun to debatable and how they will function in practice and in the battle field!

Therefore I will create a Cursed Technique masterlist and have my own creativity work on creating types of Cursed Techniques to work in the JJK series, whether it's for sorcerers and for curses!

I thought it be a fun way to show my creativity in the manga/anime world as I do with my Teen Wolf, Titans, and Hunger Games world's.

STAY TUNED!!!