u/randomMeatballman17

I am not a schizo I swear.

Now, Mahito is not what I would call a "conventional" good character. He lacks many qualities you'd find in one—depth/complexity, character development, etc. After all; he is a curse, and that is all he is at the end of the day. He kills because it is his nature and that's all there is to him as a *person.* But as a *character* he is amazing for a different reason.

When discussing JJK, I often see many commenting on the dynamic between Yuji and Sukuna. Whereas there exists a handful that would call it the best dynamic in JJK—I digress; that would be Yuji and Mahito.

Yuji's ideology is straight forward: He is strong and therefore must bear the burden and responsibility of protecting the weak, as it is his grandfather's last wish—an important detail to add to this would be that Yuji refuses to take the lives of human people.

This is where Mahito comes in; a cruel mirror of Yuji designed to mock him and his character.

Yuji—a human—exorcises curses, whereas Mahito—a curse—kills humans. This already stirs up an intruiging conflict; is Yuji the same as Mahito? The idea is enforced by the fact that cursed spirits such as Jogo and Hanami seem to possess the thought process and emotions of a human, and the question is pushed until it finally breaks Yuji.

Symbolically, it is almost ironic. Mahito symbolises "the fear of other humans" which adds another layer to the cruelty which I think many overlook, because now it asks *who is Yuji's true enemy?* Mahito is the fear of other humans—so what is Yuji protecting them against, themselves? Protecting humans from other humans? It brews a fascinating conflict due to Yuji's unwillingness and hesitence to kill humans and it clashes with his ideology by asking questions that have no right answers: "If your duty is to save as many people as you can, are you willing to punish those who bring them harm? When you must save as many as you can, who will you choose to live or die? Prioritise. Is saving someone truly worth killing someone else?" and they push Yuji into a corner where he is forced to hold onto his ideals.

And the cruelest part of it all; mockery. Mahito is who Yuji wishes he were. Yuji is not fixed to his ideology—it's discipline and inner conflict and it is hard for someone like Yuji. Yuji struggles to act out his ideals because, at the end of the day, he is still human. He saves people because it is his grandfather's wish and he knows that it is right, but not an obligation. On the other hand, Mahito will kill as many people as he sees fit. It is not something that he believes in—simply his very nature pushing him forward. It is easy to him and he will never have to struggle or think twice because it is the purpose to his existence. Imagine if that were Yuji; a boy who could do so much good without even a sliver of doubt in his actions because *it is his nature* rather than a burden or a duty he pushes himself to uphold. Mahito is not just a mirror of Yuji—rather a mirror made to mock him and laugh in his face by being the perfect version of him. That is the highest form of cruelty one can achieve.

Tldr; Mahito is not an amazing character because of conventional depth or development, but rather because of the symbolism, ideas, philosophies, character parallels and dynamics he provides to the story which excellently elevated the writing of Yuji as a character and the Shibuya Incident as a story arc.

Battle Cats lowkey full of statement and preptime merchants

Petition to completely remove hyperversal/1-B

POTEMKIN BUSTEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!!

Two stories centered around the theme of loss and grief: Canto 6 and Heaven Sent, which did it better?

Mahito is a phenomenally well written character—hear me out.