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Highlights
- Cursed Energy is the foundation of the Jujutsu world and is created from negative emotions, giving people the ability to see Cursed Spirits and sense energy in others.
- Jujutsu sorcerers manipulate their own reserves of cursed energy to perform powerful Cursed Techniques, which are unique to each sorcerer and evolve with them over time.
- The application of cursed energy can be used offensively and defensively in battle, amplifying attacks or forming barriers. It can also be imbued into Cursed Tools and Cursed Objects for fighting against Cursed Spirits.
As complicated and confusing as all the different Cursed Techniques are in Jujutsu Kaisen may get, the basis for these is always Cursed Energy. Other than that, characters are generally ranked by their strength based on the amount of Cursed Energy they have at their disposal, which allows them to fight against even stronger opponents on more equal footing. Since everything is rooted in cursed energy, the Cursed Spirits in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen are also made from a surplus of it created by negative emotions.
However, despite it being the foundation of the entire Jujutsu world, it can still be a confusing topic for many. It is stated that in Jujutsu Kaisen, every person has cursed energy, though some have far more than others. Due to this disparity, these characters are categorized as Special Grade and their cursed energy is in such a surplus that they can power an entire country by themselves, while at the same time, there are those with such little Cursed Energy that they don’t even have an innate technique.
What is Cursed Energy?
Cursed Energy is essentially defined as energy that is created from negative emotions. Since every human has experienced some sort of negative emotion, such as fear, anger or grief, at some point in their lives, it can be said that every human also has at least some level of cursed energy within themselves, no matter how small. However, if the amount of energy in a single person reaches a certain threshold, that person gains the ability to see Cursed Spirits and can sense this energy in other people or places.
The minimum degree to which a normal human can be considered a Jujutsu sorcerer is when they can see Cursed Spirits and detect cursed energy, due to which Jujutsu sorcerers are an extremely rare occurrence in the world. However, Cursed Spirits are slightly more common because when cursed energy tends to accumulate around a certain aspect or place, the excess then seeps out and manifests itself in the form of an evil spirit.
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However, the case of something like this can only really happen when it comes to the negative emotions of regular humans. This is because Jujutsu sorcerers are extensively trained to hone and master their emotions and cursed energy to prevent something like this from ever happening. Instead, the cursed energy that these sorcerers have is channeled into their Jujutsu in the form of their Cursed Technique.
The ability to detect an opponent’s energy is imperative to a Jujutsu sorcerer. This is because in battle situations cursed energy can fluctuate, which allows for the Jujutsu sorcerer to accurately predict the movements and attacks of their enemies, or even outside of battle situations when detecting and following pockets of Cursed Energy can lead to a sorcerer finding another user or a curse that is out of their sight.
Application of Cursed Energy
Those who have progressed beyond the point of merely detecting it can manipulate their own reserves of cursed energy into their powerful Cursed Techniques. Jujutsu is essentially the application of these techniques upon learning to manipulate one’s Cursed Energy, which stems from mastering their emotions and channeling that power into this technique. A great example of this is at the very start of the series when Yuji can detect the cursed energy around his school but cannot see cursed spirits. Later, even after learning to see these spirits, Yuji would need to go through extensive training to learn and apply his Cursed Energy properly.
Gojo best described Cursed Energy to Yuji during his training, where he likened it to electricity. He said that this energy is very volatile and is also very difficult to use in its base form and despite being able to do significant damage in this state, it is best used when channeled through a sorcerer’s technique. In battle, cursed energy can be used both offensively and defensively as it can either amplify the damage of an attack or can be used to form a certain kind of barrier that defends from others’ cursed energy attacks.
Cursed Techniques are a manipulation of cursed energy that are unique to each Jujutsu sorcerer. These techniques are fueled by a user’s own Cursed Energy and most of them tend to be engraved onto the brain of the sorcerer at birth, usually manifesting themselves at the age of five or six. As the user grows over time, the Cursed Technique evolves to suit who they are and are essentially an extension of the sorcerer’s personlaity.
Cursed Techniques have two aspects that make them up; Lapse and Reversal. Lapse is essentially defined as the neutral state of the technique and how it is generally supposed to be manifested when imbued with cursed energy. Reversal is the opposite of how this technique acts and it comes about by the multiplication of negative energy to form positive energy, though this ability is exceedingly rare and only a few sorcerers can perform it.
Domain Expansions are generally considered to be the pinnacle of Jujutsu sorcery and can only be fully performed by those beings that have perfect control over their cursed energy. These are typically performed within an enclosed barrier that has been imbued with the user’s Cursed Technique, completely enveloping a certain area where the user’s technique is significantly magnified and is granted a guaranteed hit on the target within the barrier, who is unable to use their technique at this time.
Moreover, there is another great application of cursed energy when it is imbued into Cursed Tools. Cursed Tools are weapons or support items that have cursed energy imbued into them so that even non-sorcerers can fight against Cursed Spirits. Traditional weapons such as swords can have this energy channeled into them over time, eventually becoming semi-cursed tools. Much like sorcerers and Cursed Spirits, these weapons are also graded and most of them have Cursed Techniques.
Cursed Objects function in a very similar way, though they are drenched in a lot of cursed energy due to their dark history. These objects are generally made up of the remains of older, powerful sorcerers and can be used to incarnate these sorcerers into the bodies of compatible vessels, even centuries after their demise. However, this is not always the case as the Prison Realm is a Special Grade cursed object that is used for other reasons.
Jujutsu Kaisen can be streamed on Prime Video.
