For anime-only viewers, the events in Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was a reality different from the one that was expected. With similar characters and the same cursed energy, the Jujutsu Kaisen movie was heading in the right direction. However, here, the main protagonist was someone else – Yuta Okkutsu. Right from the beginning of the movie, was seen to be terrorized by his own curse, Rika Orimoto, until he joined Tokyo Jujutsu High under the supervision of Satoru Gojo.
The mystery and horror around Rika Orimoto was established in the first scene of Jujutsu Kaisen 0. This was exacerbated by the fact when Yuta was taken by Satoru in a mysterious room full of artefacts on occultism. Here, Gojo offered Yuta a chance to study at the school so that he could train to contain Rika and use her. Yuta accepts. However, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 also saw Suguru Geto taking the role of an antagonist as he actively pursued Rika, who he thought will grant him almost-sure victory in every battle he engages. But why is that? What makes Rika so powerful that a powerful sorcerer like Geto would want it for himself?
Suguru Geto’s pursuit of Yuta’s curse, Rika, in Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was rooted in his hope to achieve a higher rate of success in battles
What makes Rika Orimoto so powerful as a curse?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnBY-iaUgJ4
As children, Rika and Yuta had a special bond, with the two of them thinking they love each other. In fact, Rika even proposed to Yuta that when they grow up, they’ll get married. However, Rika died in a car accident – an incident that Yuta saw happening. Now, her transforming into a curse can be boiled down to two factors:
- Yuta wasn’t ready to accept Rika’s death. He was in denial that she could even die, which led her spirit to cling to him.
- Rika deeply loved and cared for Yuta, as a result of which she believed she needed to care for him even after her death. So, her being a vengeance spirit was a product of her love. The deeper the love, the stronger her cursed spirit.
YES i kin special graded curse rika orimoto pic.twitter.com/0sxODN0fTr
— shuri (。・ω・。) (@iinuuokko) August 29, 2022
Much of her transformation into a special grade cursed spirit remains a mystery, which is why her ability and skills as a vengeful spirit that is enough to earn her the title of “Queen of Curses” is a dubious matter. However, it is known that even if Yuta manifested her hands, she could harm normal civilians and jujutsu sorcerers. If she is summoned in her full form, she is considered a high-level risk by the higher-ups in the jujutsu world.
The threat is so large that the higher-ups thought Satoru Gojo, the current strongest sorcerer, would be unable to restrain it. But there’s reason to support this Jujutsu Kaisen theory. Taking into consideration a fully manifested Rika, who has an infinite pool of cursed energy, she can easily manipulate the energy to her advantage.
Nicknamed the Queen of Curses by Geto and described as being an “endless bundle of cursed energy with an ever evolving technique”. Her absolute devotion to Yuta makes me wonder what would have happened if Geto HAD killed him.
They were honestly the best duo 🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/xCPDLJSUev
— 「𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒔 💙」 (@MarsViBritannia) October 8, 2022
On her first full manifestation, she easily tore down a huge cursed spirit, saving Yuta, Maki, and two other children. During her second manifestation, she adjusted her size to suit Yuta’s battle style. Moreover, aside from launching physical attacks or Cursed Energy Blast, she can also copy Cursed Speech.
All of this combined, it already makes her a strong curse. Though the exploration of her other abilities in her arsenal is still not unknown, if her strength is that large to be out on the same plane as Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, it makes sense for the jujutsu sorcerers to fear her and contain Yuta Okkutsu.
What made the cursed spirit of Rika Orimoto so valuable to Suguru Geto?
damn… it makes sense this is when stuff started going south.
characters that buy into rules or ideologies becoming disillusioned is always so fire pic.twitter.com/rIc0j7xs4c
— michael (@oekhaise) February 20, 2021
In the Gojo’s Past arc of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, viewers saw Geto exorcising curses to turn them into a ball and then swallowing them whole. While this was earlier seen in season 1 and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the ongoing season also showed how distasteful it is. However, this is the primary technique he uses to manipulate the curses into making them his own. Over the years, he became strong enough to possess over four thousand cursed spirits. This made him famous for being called the worst of all curse users.
Now, for a sorcerer of such high skill and caliber, Geto risked it all and declared war on the jujutsu community. In Gojo’s Past arc, the Six Eyes user has referred to both of them as “the strongest.” Assuming that, it can be said that even when Geto was expelled from the academy, he built his powers way up to become the second strongest sorcerer. However, since his goal was the anti-human plan, which means the destruction of humanity, the only hindrance in his path was Gojo, according to him.
So, if he fought Gojo, he would have minimal chances of winning. But possessing Rika, a cursed spirit who even took down Geto’s Maximum: Uzumaki with Cursed Energy Blast and defeated Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate, the strongest vengeful spirit in his possession, Geto saw a clear streak of winning against Gojo.
To reiterate Rika’s powers once again, Geto’s Maximum: Uzumaki used the power of over thousand spirits in his possession to transform into a ball, but if Rika was able to do that, she is incredibly powerful than the movie had let on. But even if Geto didn’t know about his defeat, he was sure it would have given him a sure chance at destroying all the non-sorcerers.
Geto’s Maximum Uzumaki looks much better in physical copy pic.twitter.com/ruZaB0KZ8N
— shiro (@kaikaikitan) June 17, 2021
Unfortunately for Geto, the plan went astray as he was injured fatally and had to submit to his defeat. The end result was his death at the hands of Gojo, but his body was taken hostage by Kenjaku later on. Kenjaku is yet another powerful cursed spirit who wants to take down the jujutsu community and humans. Thus, he, as Pseudo-Geto, may once again pursue Rika or a similar spirit to achieve the success in his plans.