The end of Gojo’s Past arc in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 saw the reintroduction of Yuki Tsukumo, but this time, as a special grade sorcerer who visited Jujutsu Tech. Her dramatic entry in episode 5 as she asked Suguru Geto, “What kind of girls do you like?” reverberated with Aoi Todo’s signature phrase, who asks the same question to his male peers.
Turns out, Yuki Tsukumo and Aoi Todo shared a mentor-mentee kind of relationship, and majority of the knowledge he had been imparted as a sorcerer, had come through Yuki. However, while she has been an influential presence in Aoi Todo’s life and to some extent, Geto, it still raises the question of who she is and how she will affect the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen anime.
Note: This article contains spoilers from the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
Yuki Tsukumo had been one of the most influential figures in Jujutsu Kaisen
> Special Grade status
> Hand-to-hand specialist
> Shikigami is a Divine bird reference
> CT is a Muhammad Ali reference
> Reversed Cursed Technique
> Can actually destroy the world
> Calvin Klein underwear modelYuki Tsukumo the woman that you ARE#JujutsuKaisen #呪術廻戦 pic.twitter.com/Wq0xMYfVAv
— Lightning (@lightning446) August 3, 2023
Just like Mei Mei, Yuki Tsukumo was also a professional sorcerer who didn’t align herself with the Jujutsu Tech. The reason was that she didn’t agree with the ideologies of the Jujutsu Headquarters. As such, she aimed to create a curse-free world – an objective that she had shared with Suguru Geto in 2007, but the latter misunderstood her words to come up with his own twisted ideology. Moreover, even though she noticed Geto struggling with his morality and his position as a jujutsu sorcerer, she also advised him to consider the option that didn’t require the extermination of human beings, aka non-sorcerers.
If the contents of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 5 is anything to go by, she had built the reputation of being a lazy sorcerer who didn’t take on missions assigned to her. However, her refusal to take the mission was just to show her defiance towards the higher-ups. As such, while she initially seemed to have sulked, Yuki instantly showed that she didn’t care what others thought of her and much rather preferred to be an independent sorcerer.
The conversation she had with Geto was ironically resumed during the Culling Game arc, when she confronted Kenjaku, who was in possession of Geto’s body. Although the topic was not the same, she told Pseudo-Geto, or Kenjaku, about her plans regarding the curse-free human world. She even explicitly rejected Kenjaku’s ideology of using humans and making them into resources. Yuki believed this would only lead to a world full of suffering, so she even said how she wants to beat Kenjaku in order to fix his attitude.
An interesting observation to make here is that despite not being an ally of Jujutsu Tech, she fought for their causes and even made sure that the younger students were safe. During the fight it also became evident that she isn’t afraid to sacrifice herself. Being a former Star Plasma Vessel of Master Tengen, she understands the gravity of sacrifice and likewise rejects Tengen’s views on the same. Yet, despite her obvious dislike, she chose to protect him alongside Tengen because she wanted to speak with him.
For Kenjaku, it holds no value and they are okay with killing everyone simply to see the end result
For Choso, it is something he denied his brothers arbitrarily out of fear
And, for Yuki, it is of undeniable valuable; worth living for & dying for unconditionally pic.twitter.com/HGhFKTRHz3
— 👁🗨ayti (@sugurugetowo) August 3, 2023
During Yuki Tsukumo and Choso’s confrontation with Kenjaku in Jujutsu Kaisen, it also became evident that she could be an empath. Even though they didn’t know each other, the two became close when Yuki showed emotional support to him. She even referred to him as her “big brother.” Moreover, her act of encouragement had been seen earlier during her conversation with Geto or mentorship of Aoi Todo. Then, when Choso wanted to sacrifice himself for her, she instead encouraged him to live on and had him removed from the game through Master Tengen.
The move may have not been favourable for her, as this led her to stand against Kenjaku. Despite being an extremely skilled fighter and sorcerer, she sustained gruesome injuries but still continued to fight Kenjaku and taunted him throughout. This only reflected her resilience while confronting her enemies. Even during her final moments, she didn’t lose her confidence and aimed to take Kenjaku with her. However, that didn’t work out as the latter survived and continued to assert his position as one of the major antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen.
To briefly touch upon the relationship between Aoi Todo and Yuki Tsukumo, the latter met him at a time when Aoi, a young kid back then, fought a guy older than her and still felt bored. She liked that about him and instantly took Aoi under her wing. Yuki Tsukumo’s influence on Aoi was so great that aside from learning and developing curses from her, especially the Simple Domain, he also inherited her signature phrase, “what kind of girls do you like?.”
Thus, the woman who had been seen for a brief while throughout Jujutsu Kaisen is perhaps one of the most influential figures in the series. With pizzazz and confidence, she led her way, and the same she imparted on her mentee and the other younger students. While her death was marked by a loss for the jujutsu community, the fight against Kenjaku was incredibly important as it gave a large insight on her character and her position as a jujutsu sorcerer.
