Jujutsu Kaisen Shimetsu Kaiyu Zenpen • Jujutsu Kaisen The Culling Game - Episode 3 discussion
*Jujutsu Kaisen Shimetsu Kaiyu Zenpen*, episode 3
Alternative names: *Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3*
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Episode|Link
:-:|:-:
1|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q7gj2i)
2|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q7gj2q)
3|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qdnh24)
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Alternative names: *Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3*
**Reminder:** Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.
---
**Streams**
* [Crunchyroll](http://crunchyroll.com/series/GRDV0019R)
**Show information**
* [MyAnimeList](https://myanimelist.net/anime/57658/)
* [AniList](https://anilist.co/anime/172463)
* [AniDB](https://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=18363)
* [Kitsu](https://kitsu.app/anime/48363)
* [Anime-Planet](https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/jujutsu-kaisen-the-culling-game)
* [Official Website](https://jujutsukaisen.jp/)
* **/r/JuJutsuKaisen**
---
**All discussions**
Episode|Link
:-:|:-:
1|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q7gj2i)
2|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q7gj2q)
3|[Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qdnh24)
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This episode was automatically a winner just for letting us see Shoko again.
"Itadori's Friends" have met Tengen-sama! Here to regale us with Yoshiko Sakakibara's mesmerizing voice and provide important plot points.
Yuki has a history with Tengen, which is all the more notable because this is the very same Tengen that Yuki met before...because the assimilation with Riko didn't happen, this Tengen has lived far longer than it was supposed to, and they never actually found anyone compatible to fill in. And that's pertinent to what Kamo...no, the ancient sorcerer KENJAKU, is planning to use to assimilate ALL of Japan into Tengen to turn them into Jujutsu Sorcerers and descend the world into a Jujutsu Apocalypse!
Yuji treating Tengen as just a normal person he's just getting to know and not this otherworldly barrier being.
Thank you Tengen for the handy visual aids to help everyone keep it together!
It was nice to see Shoko (and Ijichi?) as she muses on exactly what the qualifications for getting "stripped" and "killed" in the Culling Games means. Also, all that liquor and cigarettes...she's going through it, huh.
The Culling Game isn't just a Jujutsu Death Battle but a testbed for the process of assimilation and to gather up enough Curse Energy to make it possible. Our protagonists need to go in there, free Gojo, stop Kenjaku, and find some way to get Tsumiki out of participating while they've still got time.
It's funny how much Toji killing Riko set off the plot, and Maki and Megumi recognize him from Shibuya, but still not the full scope of who Toji is. Megumi even having that "huh, do I know that guy?" reaction to his own dad.
Count on Gojo making freeing him that much harder because he's gotten rid of the things most likely to help.
At least everyone has their marching orders: Yuji and Megumi will collect the wayward 3rd year Hakari, Yuki and Choso will stay behind to protect Tengen, Maki with her big boobs will collect all the Cursed Tools her family have stocked up on by using Megumi's influence as the new Zen'in head, and Yuta will brave the trenches of the Culling Game colonies. No pressure.
I love how Yuta talks about this 3rd year Senpai, Hakari, as being possibly stronger than him...and Mai has to flex for Yuta that that's not possible like she's his hype woman.
I'm glad Yuji got a nice sendoff with his big brother.
So what's the effect of the Culling Game? How about taking a struggling comedian named Takaba and making him into a Jujutsu Sorcerer. What could go wrong?
Also Choso getting teary eyed at baby bro heading out lol.
Oh my god Yuji you can’t just ask people why they look like that
Though he's lucky that Tengen didn't tap into the Haman Karn persona or else we'll have a whole different can o' worms to wrangle.
All that talk about colonies awakening her nationalistic spirit...
god i wish i have tengen sama create the presentation for my next meeting
[](#cantbehelped)
The guy had 3 episodes at most in season 2. He's dead and he's the reason for all this to happen.
Now Yuji gotta find his lady next 🔥🔥🔥
[](#assman)
This autocorrect is kinda relevant, so I'm keeping it.
- [Oh boy…](https://i.imgur.com/mY5wnjl.png) [](#emiliaohdear)
- [Aw, this flashback of Riko’s death…](https://i.imgur.com/NfqqSiu.png) [](#sadholo)
- [And there’s the kicker.](https://i.imgur.com/OBYmW4p.png) Big yikes.
- [Tengen “sore demo”!](https://files.catbox.moe/4pi75f.mp4)
- [Unfortunate.](https://i.imgur.com/QuOu2pI.png) [](#cantbehelped)
- [Choso remaining behind for this reason certainly makes sense.](https://i.imgur.com/gqWkXwL.png)
- [Nice job](https://i.imgur.com/DvsOU80.png) ruining it, [Gojo.](https://i.imgur.com/ztWp8QJ.png) [](#kotohoops)
- [lol](https://i.imgur.com/g21S4Jl.png) [](#azusalaugh)
- [Yuji’s face lollllllllll](https://i.imgur.com/vWcsFhe.png)
still i think i have a good enough understanding.
leaving Choso and Yuki behind makes their fate feel both very uncertain... and not in sense that they might be in the safest place?
not another weeks wait...
Crazy how big JJK has gotten to have cameos like this lol.
[](#dancewithit)
This is an interview between oku hiroya and Chiaki kuriyama.
https://youtu.be/xz7PE4olHbM?si=qeWlrjCotM_1BiGi
The last minute in particular is the good one
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Yeah, Crunchy translated everything. But the fansubs would’ve translated everything directly on the screen, replacing the Japanese texts with another language, not adding subs above or below.
It would’ve been much much better and immersive.
Neither Crunchy, Netflix or any streaming plateform translate like the fansubs would've done it. And it's kind of a shame because people pay for it and these companies are doing the bare minimum.
It aint easy but it aint that hard. Most shows just dont even try.
> My attempt to recap everything that we learned in this episode (and also from the final episode of Season 2 but that are also relevant) in a clear way (I'm no JJK expert) for those who might still be confused :
>
> - The sorcerer whose brain is currently possessing Suguru Geto's body (previously Kamo Noritoshi's body and Yuji's mom's body as revealed in the previous episode) is named Kenjaku and is a sorcerer from the Heian era, just like Sukuna.
>
> - Although his motives are unknown, Kenjaku's goal is the evolution of Humanity. As he explained in the last episode of Season 2, Humans, Sorcerers and Curse Spirits are all possible forms Curse Energy can take, but he believes there must be something beyond that. Something that he can't achieve through experiments that are bound by his own potential (such as the Death Paintings). Something more *optimized*. That is why he seeks to create a "chaos" beyond his control, by making Humans, Sorcerers and Curse Spirits fight and deepen their understanding of Curse Energy. That is one of the Culling Games' purpose.
>
> - Throughout centuries, Kenjaku made pacts with Sorcerers and Curse Spirits. He somehow made Sorcerers into Cursed Objects that he sealed and then implanted/fed to vessels in modern times. He also marked other people with latent Curse Techniques (people who are like Junpei) with his curse energy, which caused them to fall into a deep sleep, like Tsumiki.
>
> - After extracting Mahito's Curse Technique "Idle Transfiguration" in Season 2, he used it to alter all the people he marked. To the vessels, he made them into stronger vessels so that the Sorcerers turned into Cursed Objects could incarnate into them after being unsealed. To the others, he altered them to awaken their latent Curse Techniques. He then also unleashed all the Curse Spirits with whom he made pacts (although he doesn't have to bear the conditions of those pacts, because he's in a different body).
>
> - To make them all fight, he created the Culling Games. They consist in 10 arenas called "Colonies" spread out throughout the main island of Japan. All the people marked and sorcerers he made pacts with are forced to participate, or else they will lose their Curse Technique (abbreviated "CT" from now on) and die in the process (as CTs have something to do with the brain of their possessor). Other people can also enter the games and be bound to their rules.
>
> - The purpose of these Culling Games fights is to use the Players' Curse Energy and the boundaries between the Colonies to prepare the Japanese people for assimilation with Tengen and "send them to the other side". It's a sort of symbolical ritual, just like the crossing a bridge in Jujutsu. This is how Kenjaku intends to achieve this new form/optimization of Curse Energy.
>
> - The reason all of this is happening now, is because Tengen would always be protected by the Six Eyes in the past. As "fated", just like the appearance of the Star Plasma. Now that Kenjaku has sealed Gojo, he can operate more freely. It's also because of the appearances of Geto Suguru with his Curse Manipulation technique and Toji's interference throwing "fate" out of whack (because it's like he doesn't exist to the eyes of destiny, as he has zero Curse Energy). Since Toji killed the Star Plasma (Riko) who was supposed to stop Tengen's aging, Tengen is now becoming an omniscient entity able to merge with more than just the Star Plasma. Tengen is also becoming closer to a Curse Spirit, making them potentially vulnerable to Geto's Curse Manipulation. All of these events created the perfect storm for Kenjaku to execute his plan now.
>
> - Of course, if all Japanese people were to merge with Tengen, there would be no stop to the spreading of their negative emotions and the world would be plunged into darkness. That's why Kenjaku must be stopped.
>
> I think that's it, let me know if I forgot anything, if anything's unclear and correct me if I got anything wrong ! I hope this will be helpful.
>
I'm really glad that they kept Yuta's line about Hakari being stronger than him and Maki's response
That was the most entertaining exposition dump I've ever watched.
[](#godisdead)
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This is a lot of info and this is probably the best animated info dump I've ever seen.
Recruit Hakari and Angel. Get tools and help with everything else. Make rules to help Tsumiki and end the Culling Game.
Free Gojo and/or stop the Culling Game. That would be all.
I hope mappa animators can see their families for a bit because this episode was clean as usual.
The goals of Itadori and the others can be roughly summed up in three points:
“Save Gojo-sensei!”
“Save Fushiguro’s sister (Tsumiki), who was forced to participate in the game”
“Defeat Kenjaku and put an end to this insane game”
To achieve that, they plan to gather allies who can help free Gojo, accumulate points, and create a rule that allows them to escape the game.
If they can revive Gojo, they can probably defeat Kenjaku.
"unsealed" not "revive". Those are very different thugs
As far as we know, all the players of the culling game are:
* Jujutsu sorcerers who go into the colonies
* Random muggles getting caught up in it
* Random muggles who had a cursed energy awakening (forced by Kenjaku last season) and managed to survive (a.k.a new Jujutsu Sorcerers)
* A ton of curses (released by Geto's technique last season)
* Sorcerers from the past (I'm not sure if they're all from around 1000 years ago or from any time in the past) whose souls were reincarnated into the bodies of random muggles (much like Sukuna's soul was reincarnated inside Yuji after his finger got eaten)
but also sukuna's soul was reincarnated after the finger...did the other people not have to do the same? or did they all ingest some part of the older sorcerers too.
In short: yes just like Yuji, they all unnkowingly ate cursed objects with an ancient sorcerer's soul sealed in them.
When he released Idle Transfiguration after absorbing Mahito, he activated all of that at once. The latent cursed energy users either died or got powers and the vessels either died, got possessed by a past sorcerer or somehow (like Yuji) can hold it off/share a body with 2 souls.
Okay, *this* is the part that was screwing with me. Not sure if it's just been too long since I've seen season 2 or what, but this clicked it into place.
Kenjaku didn't have access to prison realm when Gojo was born, so didn't bother just killing him but was rewarded by Geto being born with CSM to normal parents
Toji broke the loop by being someone Tengen could do nothing to control (barriers completely fail) (He got involved due to mamaguro dying, don't know how this fits into this whole fate stuff)
Gojo rejected Toji breaking everything by learning RCT and goes on to, presumably, master every other stuff that the last six eyes limitless user didnot achieve, making him the strongest
But Kenjaku again gets rewarded by finally birthing Yuji and landing Sukuna. He said Sukuna was only an alternative so we can assume the general age of jujutsu and sorcery is still part of what Kenjaku wants as well.
Poor Yuuta, he wants to be with everyone but has to go on his own again. It's amusing how unconcerned Fushiguro is about losing his life to Sukuna, that face Yuuji made was funny.
The moment Yuuji thanked Chousou was so sweet, I like seeing Chousou's smile. The tears after was funny too.
Also, i like Mappa’s creativity with infographic. Certainly a lot more digestible than the manga.
* [Choso & Yuki](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/64dda1628036.jpg)
* [Kenjaku's Objective Chart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/9d36d0abccf8.jpg)
* [The Culling Game Objective Chart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/dcb8cbff63f7.jpg)
* [Itadori's Friends' Mission Chart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/cad0542264ef.jpg)
* [Each Person's Actions Chart](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/ed564c10ac72.jpg)
Well, that was one way to have a fucking exposition episode! [Tengen-sama basically made a 3D PowerPoint presentation](https://i.imgur.com/yPy5EJx.jpeg) outlining what Kenjaku's objective is, what the culling game is, what Yuuji's group's mission is, and what each person will be doing. They even included charts in the end, which I stitched together, so people like me who had a bit of trouble following along can just read for reference.
Despite this being exposition-heavy, this was still pretty fun. I had a good laugh at [Yuuji being so blunt at asking Tengen-sama why they look like that](https://i.imgur.com/ZXnfNZt.jpeg) I also love how [Panda is catching strays from Maki](https://i.imgur.com/T7NFjDC.jpeg).
I also like how [everyone went silent at Rule #4 of the Culling Game.](https://i.imgur.com/13jwrqv.jpeg) Yeah, that was very straightforward. I don't think they needed to discuss that further, but it sounds like Megumi has an idea to work around that rule.
- The sorcerer whose brain is currently possessing Suguru Geto's body (previously Kamo Noritoshi's body and Yuji's mom's body as revealed in the previous episode) is named Kenjaku and is a sorcerer from the Heian era, just like Sukuna.
- Although his motives are unknown, Kenjaku's goal is the evolution of Humanity. As he explained in the last episode of Season 2, Humans, Sorcerers and Curse Spirits are all possible forms Curse Energy can take, but he believes there must be something beyond that. Something that he can't achieve through experiments that are bound by his own potential (such as the Death Paintings). Something more *optimized*. That is why he seeks to create a "chaos" beyond his control, by making Humans, Sorcerers and Curse Spirits fight and deepen their understanding of Curse Energy. That is one of the Culling Games' purpose.
- Throughout centuries, Kenjaku made pacts with Sorcerers and Curse Spirits. He somehow made Sorcerers into Cursed Objects that he sealed and then implanted/fed to vessels in modern times. He also marked other people with latent Curse Techniques (people who are like Junpei) with his curse energy, which caused them to fall into a deep sleep, like Tsumiki.
- After extracting Mahito's Curse Technique "Idle Transfiguration" in Season 2, he used it to alter all the people he marked. To the vessels, he made them into stronger vessels so that the Sorcerers turned into Cursed Objects could incarnate into them after being unsealed. To the others, he altered them to awaken their latent Curse Techniques. He then also unleashed all the Curse Spirits with whom he made pacts (although he doesn't have to bear the conditions of those pacts, because he's in a different body).
- To make them all fight, he created the Culling Games. They consist in 10 arenas called "Colonies" spread out throughout the main island of Japan. All the people marked and sorcerers he made pacts with are forced to participate, or else they will lose their Curse Technique (abbreviated "CT" from now on) and die in the process (as CTs have something to do with the brain of their possessor). Other people can also enter the games and be bound to their rules.
- The purpose of these Culling Games fights is a preparation for the Japanese people to be able to merge with Tengen. It's a sort of symbolical ritual in Jujutsu, just like the crossing a bridge. This is how Kenjaku intends to achieve this new form/optimization of Curse Energy.
- The reason all of this is happening now, is because Tengen would always be protected by the Six Eyes in the past. As "fated", just like the appearance of the Star Plasma. Now that Kenjaku has sealed Gojo, he can operate more freely. It's also because of the appearances of Geto Suguru with his Curse Manipulation technique and Toji's interference throwing "fate" out of whack (because it's like he doesn't exist to the eyes of destiny, as he has zero Curse Energy). Since Toji killed the Star Plasma (Riko) who was supposed to stop Tengen's aging, Tengen is now becoming an omniscient entity able to merge with more than just the Star Plasma. Tengen is also becoming closer to a Curse Spirit, making them potentially vulnerable to Geto's Curse Manipulation. All of these events created the perfect storm for Kenjaku to execute his plan now.
- Of course, if all Japanese people were to merge with Tengen, there would be no stop to the spreading of their negative emotions and the world would be plunged into darkness. That's why Kenjaku must be stopped.
I think that's it, let me know if I forgot anything, if anything's unclear and correct me if I got anything wrong ! I hope this will be helpful.