Jujutsu Kaisen Trolls Fans Expecting Ultimate Domain Expansion Battle
Warning: spoilers ahead for Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 179!
Despite building reader anticipation in the previous chapter, the first three-way Domain Expansion battle to ever transpire in Jujutsu Kaisen is already over, but it still has some major implications for future altercations and for the ongoing fight between Yuta and three other Culling Game players.
Even though all fighting styles in Jujutsu Kaisen are highly complex and creative in their own right, Domain Expansions are easily the series' most complicated and celebrated techniques. For the jujutsu sorcerers in the actual story, they are the supreme ability that few can master, and when more than one Domain Expansion is involved, the intricacy of how they function and interact with each other grows exponentially. Before chapter 179, the highest number of Domains in one battle was two and this had only occurred twice - or even once, if not counting Simple Domains. However, in this latest chapter, Yuta Okkotsu, Takako Uro, and Ryu Ishigori all unleash their own Domain Expansions.
But then the three barriers collapse. As mangaka Gege Akutami explains, having three Domain Expansions instead of two is much more complex, and apparently this puts the conditions on both sides of the barriers out of whack, resulting in the domains shattering. Additionally, the fact that the cursed spirit Kurourushi had in fact reproduced before going dormant added an "unexpected intruder," contributing to the overall instability of the three barriers. Aside from the obvious trolling on Gege's part as the much anticipated moment ends so quickly, this unexpected development creates some major implications.
The first and most obvious is that this has greatly shortened the length of the overall fight. As Gege reminds readers, summoning a Domain Expansion burns through quite a bit of cursed energy, resulting in all three Culling Game players now being much weaker than had they not summoned these advanced barriers. Furthermore, the "child" of the original Kurourushi - who doesn't share the same memories or loyalties as their parent - was free to attack anybody, and not only went after Uro but tore off her arm.
Another troubling implication is that Gege has now made it much less likely that fans will ever get to experience a three-way Domain Expansion battle in full. From the immediate imbalance in this chapter, it's clear the only way this could happen is if certain conditions are met. For example, the fighters would have to be in an area where both the internal and external conditions of the Domain Expansions are equal - which probably means that the actual environment would have to be rich in cursed spirit energy. There also couldn't be unexpected intruders, so the fight would have to be take place in a remote area where it would be less likely that another jujutsu sorcerer or cursed spirit could suddenly join the fight.
Before now, fans weren't even expecting there to ever be a three-way Domain Expansion. But now that this idea has been introduced, demand is sure to persist. And with Gege's track record in Jujutsu Kaisen, it's likely that fans won't get to see this incredible type of battle until the very end - if at all.