Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the biggest dark fantasy Shonen series of the modern era, and it’s still continuing to grow in popularity. The manga debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2018, and its anime adaptation by MAPPA was released in 2020. The anime significantly boosted the series’ popularity, and since then, the series has made in mark in the modern Shonen demographic. While the manga concluded last year, the anime still has to adapt the two final arcs. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, which was announced in December 2023, will feature the aftermath of the tragic Shibuya Incident and adapt the Culling Game Arc.
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The Culling Game is an intense battle royale orchestrated by Kenjaku for his elaborate plan. The arc introduces several powerful characters, all competing to score the highest points in the game while trying to get out of this mess alive. The second season of the anime ends on a major cliffhanger, after Yuta Okkotsu’s arrival, who will play a major role in the Culling Game. As the fighting continues, we learn more about the youngest special grade sorcerer, who became famous after the prequel film. The manga set up one of the best moments in the series, only for it to be a huge letdown. And I don’t think even the ending was able to salvage the disappointment that took place in Chapter 179.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen manga!
The Three-Way Domain Clash Could’ve Been One of the Most Iconic Jujutsu Kaisen Moments
Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro were introduced in the Culling Game and served as minor antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen. The manga features their three-way battle with Yuta Okkotsu in the Sendai Colony, after the special-grade sorcerer eliminates Kurourushi from the Culling Game. The fight proved to be quite challenging even for someone like Yuta, who had to fight two extremely powerful opponents together. However, the fight took a major turn in Chapter 178, when the three sorcerers activate their domain together. Ryu and Uro try to keep Rika out of their domain to block any chance of Yuta gaining the initiative.
Chapter 178 ended with this epic double spread, leaving fans excited for what would happen next. Ideally, if the three-way Domain clash was anything like the one between Satoru Gojo and Jogo, Yuta had the highest chances of gaining the upper hand. Not to mention that before this scene, the manga had never once revealed the Domain Expansions of either of these three characters. In the prequel movie, too, Yuta wasn’t able to use a complex technique like this, so one can only imagine how exciting it was to expect to see it soon, and how Jujutsu Kaisen fans felt let down by how it was handled.
Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 178 Built Massive Hype, But It Led to Nothing
All this hype led to nothing since the barriers collapsed instead of overpowering each other due to the complexity of the technique. This scene still sticks out as a sore thumb because of how all this hype led to nothing. You’ve probably noticed Gege Akutami’s habit of ending the majority of the chapters with cliffhangers to build up hype around the series. It’s also one of the reasons why Jujutsu Kaisen is an intriguing series, since these cliffhangers are often to be expected in a battle Shonen. But that doesn’t mean all these cliffhangers would lead somewhere, and that’s completely fair.
However, the three-way is an exception, especially because it had the potential to be so iconic since we had never witnessed something like this in the entire series. The battle between the three continued on, even after the massive screw-up. Yuta ultimately rose as the victor, as expected. Also, let’s not forget that Domain Expansion is easily the best technique in Jujutsu Kaisen, and we just can’t get enough of watching it highlight the individuality of each powerful character. However, even if I forget about the initial disappointment for a second, it still doesn’t change the fact that Domains of Uro and Ryu were never revealed.
Not to mention, it took us more than two years to finally see Yuta’s Domain Expansion in the final arc. Additionally, the domains and Ryu and Uro were never revealed. Ryu’s death was extremely underwhelming, and he served as a hype tool for Sukuna, who had just taken over Megumi’s body. On the other hand, Uro disappeared completely from the story after the fight. We only saw a brief glimpse of her in Chapter 216, before she vanished, leaving no clues behind about her status. It’s almost like with so much happening in so little time, Akutami didn’t have the time to focus on the minor characters.
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