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Who Is Mahito In Jujutsu Kaisen?

Mahito is an eccentric antagonist, the kind who manages to lift the thrills of a shounen series single-handedly. We first encounter him relaxing in a beach like domain while Getou pays him a visit. His appearance (with a patchwork face), high intellect and ability to hold conversations in a normal fashion made Mahito seem like a human.

But it was later revealed that he too is a cursed spirit, who was allied with Getou Suguru. 

Who is Mahito?

Mahito is a cursed spirit born out of the hatred spewed between humans. Hatred is a negative emotion. As humans began to hate each other more, the cursed energy that leaked out of them and took shape, giving birth to Mahito. He mentions this to Junpei during one of their meetings.

Mahito is born out of hatred between humans

Mahito, like other cursed spirits, is looking to eradicate humanity and take their place as true humans. He is so dedicated to this cause that he doesn’t mind losing his own life in the process of doing so.

According to Nanami, Mahito is a curse who was born recently. As a result he was less powerful at the start. The cursed spirit was very curious and spent time experimenting about his own powers and limitations, just like a kid would try to find out his limitations. His childlike demeanor is visible multiple times in the series, especially during his interaction with fellow cursed spirits Jogo (Jujutsu Kaisen manga chapter 32) and also while experiencing something new during his fights with Itadori and Nanami. It is during these fights that he unlocks new powers.

Nanami notes that Mahito is a child

In his first fight against Itadori and Nanami, Mahito is pushed to a corner and when he experiences a near death situation he learns to use his domain expansion, “Self Embodiment of Perfection” (Jujutsu Kaisen manga chapter 29). During his second encounter with Itadori, he learnt the true essence of his soul and unlocked a new form “Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing” (Jujutsu Kaisen manga chapter 130).

Mahito’s sadistic nature and lack of any sympathy:

Mahito initially used his powers to experiment on humans. And he was shown to have no particular emotions while doing so, suggesting that he had no sympathy for them whatsoever. He was also sadistic in nature, which was quite visible from his plans to break Itadori’s soul. In fact, Mahito enjoyed toying with the emotions of humans and thoroughly enjoyed what he did to Junpei and Itadori.

Mahito and Junpei in Jujutsu Kaisen

During their fight, Nanami noted that both Mahito and Gojou Satoru were similar in some ways. Both of them had an almost textbook superficiality and enormous strength. But in Mahito’s case, it was more on the darker side. Mahito was greedily enjoying his development as a cursed spirit. He learnt something new from every fight and grew in strength. Nanami realised that this would happen and decided to exorcise him before it was too late. However, Mahito would evade him eventually.

Mahito’s Philosophical Side:

Mahito also has a philosophical side to him that he often displays. This is due to his innate ability to see and perceive the souls of humans. This ability could be related to his innate technique of being able to manipulate souls. According to Mahito people don’t have a heart. Instead the emotions that people experience come from the soul. He  is intrigued by the nature of the human soul and conducts experiments on it. 

Mahitos philosophy
Life has no particular meaning for Mahito

For Mahito, the soul is nothing too special as he is able to see it as normal humans can see the body and tissues. To him, human life has no particular meaning or weight or value. It just exists, just like everything else exists in the world. He believes the lack of value and meaning in life should allow everyone to do whatever they want without fearing any remorse or repercussions. This is one of the reasons why he doesn’t shy away from conduction experiments on humans and toying with their emotions.

Power Levels:

Though Mahito started out weak, he grows to be a very formidable opponent for the Jujutsu Sorcerers, especially Nanami and Itadori in the future. The reason is because he constantly kept on growing through his experiences as Nanami had noted. During their first encounter, he was not even as strong as Jogo, but by the time Mahito had his ultimate showdown with Itadori and Todou, he managed to find the true essence of his soul and unlock his final form. 

Mahito Domain expansion in Jujutsu Kaisen
Mahito domain expansion

Other than that he had a high intellect and ability to perceive the situation better as he gained more experience. Furthermore, his innate skill of soul transmogrification made him a difficult opponent. He could modify his soul and reinforce his body making it hard to land a hit on him. Even getting hit by him would be suicidal as that gave him a free pass to modify the opponent’s soul. 

We could say that Mahito’s encounter with Itadori, his mortal enemy, is what gave meaning to his life. His motives revolved around breaking Itadori’s soul and then paving a way for cursed spirits to rule over the world. What are your opinions on Mahito as a character and as an antagonist? Let us know your opinions in the comments section!

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