Jujutsu Kaisen Reveals Its Smartest Hero With a Thrilling Fight
Warning! Contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 180!
Yuta Okkotsu just proved that he is one of the smartest characters in the entire Jujutsu Kaisen series. Jujutsu Kaisen is a manga by Gege Akutami following the constant war between sorcerers and curses. The various human sorcerers in the series are each able to use a cursed technique that gives them an edge in combat. Yuta's technique is already incredibly powerful, but he has the cunning and intellect to make it nigh unbeatable.
Yuta is the protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which is the prequel to the main series. In the prequel, he comes to terms with his cursed technique, which originally functions by using the soul of his dead childhood friend Rika. At the end of 0, Rika's soul is able to pass on, but Yuta's technique still uses the remnants of her intentions to power it. It still manifests as an entity called Rika, albeit a slightly less powerful one. Using this Rika he is able to copy other cursed techniques and use them as his own. He is able to use these techniques startlingly quickly after acquiring them, as Jujutsu Kaisen's latest chapter shows.
In chapter 180, Yuta is able to deflect a blast of cursed energy from his opponent, Ishigori, by mimicking the cursed technique of an enemy who had fallen earlier in the same clash. This user, Uro, has the ability to bend the air around her as she wishes. So Yuta is able to deflect Ishigori’s attack by bending the air upwards and causing the beam to shoot harmlessly into the sky. Or so Ishigori thinks. For later in that same fight, Yuta maneuvers him into position to get hit with the falling blast of energy.
This is an incredibly impressive feat both in terms of manipulation and calculation. After punching the beam upwards, Yuta is never again shown to look upwards at the beam, which allows him to pretend that it is no longer a part of his strategy, causing Ishigori to forget about it. But in order to pull this off, Yuta has to calculate in his head how long the beam would remain in the air and where it would ultimately land. And he has to do all of this while also surviving Ishigori’s continued attacks. This is one of the most impressive mental feats in the series so far, and easily cements Yuta as one of the smartest people in the series.
The conclusion of this fight thus shows that while Yuta's cursed technique is incredibly powerful, his intellect is his best weapon. After the events of the prequel, Yuta has largely trained offscreen and this battle is the first time he is able to really show off his full skills. After displaying the full extent of his abilities, Yuta has easily cemented himself as one of Jujutsu Kaisen's most fearsome fighters both in terms of cursed technique power level and with regards to his genius intellect.