Episode 11 – “Narrow-Minded”
In the beginning of Jujutsu Kaisen episode 11, Nanami goes “overtime,” Mahito notes that he made a “vow” with himself “to limit himself in order to gain greater power once he goes into overtime.” In Jujutsu Kaisen, vows with oneself imposes some restriction on the user that’s potentially harmful. The vow will grant them an increase in curse energy. When Nanami reveals how his technique works, this increases his power. Nanami destroys a wall with his Ratio Technique: Collapse. While Mahito considers avoiding the wall, his leg is severed by Nanami. He retreats, leaving Mahito to be crushed by the wall. Elsewhere, Yuji and Junpei are talking. Yuji directly asks what happened at the movie theater. Juupei lies and says that he “saw nothing.” They continue to talk while Geto watches from above.
They bond over movies, then Juupei’s mother, Nagi Yoshino, arrives and invites Yuji to dinner. The three have fun, talking and laughing. Yuji become even closer and before he leaves Juupei asks Yuji “what he would do if he’s forced to kill someone.” Yuji responds that he would “try not to because the value of life would become even more unclear.” Juupei believes that humans don’t have hearts, but his mother and Yuji are still good people. He claims that therefore he would never kill. However, his mother is killed after she finds a Sukuna finger on the dinning room table and a curse appears. Devastated, Juupei seeks revenge on his bully.
Juupei’s desperation
Mahito and Geto cast a curtain over the school, hoping to use Juupei to manipulate Yuji. Not only has Mahito been using Juupei from the beginning, he and Geto kill his mother. The students in the auditorium fall asleep. Juupei attacks Shota, questioning him over the Sukuna finger. Now a jujutsu sorcerer, Juupei poisons Shota. However, Yuji interrupts him asking “what is he doing?” Episode 11 of Jujutsu Kaisen is largely setup for the climax of this arc. I thought Juupei would matter after this arc, but he might get killed soon. If Mahito’s primary goal was to get to Sukuna (Yuji) through Juupei, then the latter has served his purpose. Regardless, Juupei is a more sympathetic figure, having become desperate because of his mother’s murder. If Yuji can get Juupei to stop before he kills, maybe there’s hope for him.
I like Juunpei as a character- the road he’s travelling and the development he’s undergone thus far. It’s making this dark turn for his character all the more interesting- especially with how his actions are going to affect Yuji.