Jujutsu Kaisen #6-16

Jujutsu Kaisen #6-16

Originally released in 2018

Written by Gege Akutami

Art by Gege Akutami

It's been a bit since I started Jujutsu Kaizen, and knowing very little about it, I wanted to keep going.  Yuji Itadori recently became a jujutsu sorcerer after consuming the finger of history's strongest sorcerer Sukuna, but his team is sent on their latest mission without their teacher, so they're somewhat out of their depth. (Apparently there aren't many jujutsu sorcerers, as the organization is short-staffed)

A cursed spirit has taken over a prison, so their goal is to get any surviving prisoners out safely and run away from the spirit if they encounter it. This is easier said than done, even with the help of Megumi's dog summons to find the prisoners and the exit.

The main trio has a similar set-up to Naruto, with two boys (one energetic and one calm) and a girl. Thankfully, Nobara doesn't seem to have the love obsession that Sakura has, though unlike Sakura, she's not particularly wise; she and Yuji pass three brain cells between the two of them. Nobara doesn't really get much to do during the rescue; Megumi finds the prisoners while Yuji tries to hold off the cursed spirit.

It doesn't go well, forcing Sukuna to emerge and possess Yuki's body so they can both stay alive.  Despite my assumption that the list of rankings shown at the start of the chapter is incomplete (and Sukuna would be a much higher class), Special Grade is indeed the highest grade possible, leading to Sukuna expressing disappointment that this cursed spirit is considered equal in rank to him.

After the battle, Yuji doesn't regain control over his body, leading to Sukuna giving the biggest troll face imaginable:

Sukuna briefly battles with Megumi before Megumi manages to break through to Yuji, ending the possession. (Sukuna mutilated Yuji's body to try and prevent this, but this seems to be so he can take advantage of the situation to force Yuji into making a deal with him)

As Yuji is recovering (and believed to be dead), second year students offer to help Megumi and Nobara train for an upcoming competition between schools. I'm not sure if this is going to be a tournament arc (a staple of Shonen manga) or not, though it certainly seems like it.

While Megumi and Nobara are training with the second years, Yuji is believed to be dead for a little while longer so he can get some one-on-one training with their teacher Gojo. (As Yuji's new to this world, he definitely needs it) As Yuji can't used cursed energy outside of Sukuna's intervention (though Gojo suspects that he'll be able to tap into Sukuna's power at some point), Gojo plans to train him to harness negative emotions, and naturally, his methods are rather unorthodox.

His goal is to keep supplying a dog-like creature with negative energy while watching a wide variety of movies, though his training is interrupted; Gojo is attacked by a volcanic cursed spirit that wants to seal him away, and he feels like this will make good training for Yuji. (Gojo doesn't take the spirit seriously at all, and despite being driven around in a car not too long ago, he went to the school and back in the span of a few seconds, to Yuji's confusion)

The spirit demonstrates the ability of Domain Expansion, altering the surroundings to provide an area that's advantageous to the user (in this case, it looks like the inside of a volcano). It briefly came up before, though this is where the concept is properly explained. Cursed techniques used in a domain by the user will always hit, though they can be blocked with jujutsu techniques, and one Domain Expansion can override another, as Gojo demonstrates.

The arc also introduces two villains who seem like they're going to be major going forward, Geto and Mahito.  It seems hard to say how important they're going to wind up being in the grand scheme of things, if they're going to be around for a few arcs or if they're going to last the whole series. (If Sukuna becomes the main threat overall, I could see him possessing one of them so that he isn't stuck in Yuki's body; unlike the Nine Tailed Fox in Naruto, it doesn't seem like the connection between Yuji and Sukuna is going to become a positive one, since the fox makes Naruto feral/berserk whereas Sukuna retains his intelligence and his initial plan upon being released is to team up with the cursed spirit and murder Yuji's friends)

The series definitely has its similarities with other Shonen Jump manga (with elements of Bleach and Naruto being particularly obvious), though it's entertaining so far. While this series seems like a big hit for Shonen Jump, I've heard very little about it, which is great; it means I can go into it with no expectations or foreknowledge. Time will tell if this school competition winds up being a tournament arc,  a sports competition using their abilities, or something else entirely, and I'm interested to see how it turns out.