The original Jujutsu Kaisen manga wrapped its final chapters in fall 2024, but there was always one thing fans wanted to see that was never delivered. Protagonist Yuji Itadori still had unfinished business with one Special Grade curse when the manga ended. Unfortunately, the opportunity to avenge his fallen friends and mentors was unceremoniously robbed from him near the end of the Shibuya Incident.
The King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, may have been Yuji’s biggest obstacle to overcome, but there was another challenge he needed to resolve himself. Long before the devastation in Shibuya, the real trial that forced Yuji to recognize himself as a jujutsu sorcerer came during the Vs. Mahito story arc. The fact that he never got to finish his fight with Mahito was a grave injustice to his character that Gege Akutami could finally solve in Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo.
Mahito Preyed On Yuji’s Soft Heart from the Beginning
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Yuji Itadori had plenty of experiences with cursed spritis before encountering Mahito, the curse inhabiting his own body included. Coming back from death after Sukuna tore out Yuji’s heart, Gojo realized his newest student needed more training if he was going to survive the battles ahead. Pairing him with Kento Nanami, the two of them first encountered the aftermath of Mahito’s murderous brutality in the movie theater and then on the rooftop.
Still inexperienced in the ways of Jujutsu sorcery, Yuji stood firmly behind his beliefs when it came to killing humans, even if they were curse users. The rooftop battle with the transfigured humans Mahito left in his wake started to put things into perspective, but even as he swore he still wouldn’t kill them, the next challenge he faced would force him to go against his own beliefs.
Mahito’s corruption of Junpei Yoshino reached its pinnacle after the cursed spirits left one of Sukuna’s fingers in Junpei’s home. Convincing the grieving teen that his rich enemies did this to show off their power, he went in search of vengeance. Junpei almost went beyond the point of no return before Yuji arrived, but their budding friendship was enough to convince him.
Just as Yuji finished assuring Junpei that Jujutsu High would help him, Mahito arrived on the scene to try and coax Sukuna to take over. What Mahito didn’t know was that Sukuna already had the freedom to take over Yuji’s body, due to the pact they struck in Malevolent Shrine while Yuji was dead. Mahito Transfiguring Junpei forced Yuji to kill his new friend in order to save him, almost immediately negating his conviction against killing humans.
Yuji Itadori and Mahito Shaped Each Other’s Growth & Power
In those early battles, fans saw how powerful Mahito was. Much like Yuji was a fledgling sorcerer, Mahito was still a relatively young cursed spirit. He was still discovering himself. His encounters with Nanami in the sewers and Yuji at the school, would go on to shape him into one of the most powerful cursed spirits in the group.
The other curses, save for Kenjaku, fell to the sorcerers and Sukuna during the Shibuya Incident, but Mahito was still going strong. Taking advantage of the exhausted sorcerers, he got the best of Nanami, ending Yuji’s mentor right in front of him. With his already broken spirit reignited by Nanami’s brutal death, he went toe-to-toe with Mahito throughout Shibuya in an epic battle that put both of their strengths to the test.
Mahito not only killed Nanami, but then went after Nobara Kugisaki. When he left Kugisaki for dead, it broke Yuji’s spirit again. In the moments it became too much for him to bear, Aoi Todo arrived on the scene to help his self-proclaimed brother and best friend face his greatest challenge to date. The battle of Todo and Itadori against Mahito cost Todo the lower half of his arm, making it all but impossible to use Boogie Woogie. Boogie Woogie had been giving the duo an upper-hand in the fight and allowing Yuji to deliver black flash after black flash.
With Mahito on the verge of his first real defeat, he tried to scamper away. Yuji stalks after him with dark determination, ready to do away with him once and for all. Before he can, Mahito crawls hopefully toward pseudo-Geto for saving, only to become his catalyst for Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Maximum: Uzumaki. And just like that, Mahito is gone, and Yuji’s left unfulfilled.
Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Mentions Bringing Itadori Back Multiple Times
With Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo‘s introduction of the Simurians, and their most powerful warrior, Dabura, future Jujutsu society has been looking for a solution since their first encounter with the aliens. Learning that Yuji Itadori was still alive, and the current strongest sorcererwas one of the highlights of fans’ reading experience. When Akutami also interjected a small Mahito cameo, the perfect opportunity to provide Yuji with the closure he deserves presented itself.
JJK Modulo‘s readers have since learned that Itadori is not only still alive, but incapable of aging. That alone means that, despite his technical age, Yuji is more than likely in peak condition. Having decades to perfect his techniques, going toe-to-toe with Mahito in the current timeline would be a very different battle. One in which he could finally avenge the deaths of Junpei, Kokichi Muta and Nanami, who all died while Mahito laughed at the suffering he was causing.
Despite focusing on a new generation in Modulothose glimpses of Yuji and Mahito is enough to make fans want to see the two finally have the battle to end all battles. Mahito reborn already has plenty of fuel to pour on the out-of-control fire of broken trust between Japan’s sorcerers and the Simurian aliens. With recent information from Modulo‘s manga chapter 12 that the Simurian Kalyans and cursed spirits are similar enough to break relations beyond repair, the Simurians have the capability to raise Mahito to near-god status with their worship.
The foundation to provide Yuji, and JJK fans, the closure they’ve been longing for since Mahito was wiped out by Kenjaku has been built. Maybe it’s the one battle Yuji’s been waiting for, the ending he’s been praying for while walking the world like a ghost. As Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 is about to kick off in January, preceded by Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution premiering in U.S. theaters this Friday, it’s a lot to consider going forward.
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Jujutsu Kaisen
- Release Date
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October 3, 2020
- Network
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TBS, MBS, CBC, Tulip Television, BSN, tys, NBCHBC, RKK, i-Television, SBS, IBC, BSS, MRO, OBS, TUF, RSK, TUY, tbc, RKB, SBC, KUTV, RBC, UTY, RCC, MRT, atv, MBC
- Directors
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Ryohei Takeshita, Masataka Akai, Chie Nishizawa, Daisuke Tsukushi, Tomomi Kamiya, Kakushi Ifuku, Ken Takahashi
- Writers
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Hiroshi Seko
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Yuichi Nakamura
Satoru Gojo
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- Release Date
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September 8, 2025
- Franchise
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Jujutsu Kaisen
- Author
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Gege Akutami
- Artist
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Yuji Iwasaki
- Genre
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Action, Fantasy
- Chapters
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6
Set roughly 68 years after the Culling Game, Modulo follows Yuta Okkotsu and Maki Zenin’s grandchildren, descendants who inherit a legacy as intense as that of their ancestors.
