🔗 Share this article

The Culling Game ritual in the hit anime series is framed as one of the most disturbing acts of jujutsu terrorism in history. The third season has been steadily peeling back the unsettling layers of this deadly competition, though its final objective remains unknown to the players themselves. The sorcerer Yuta Okkotsu entered the game following the events of the third episode, with Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro subsequently attempting to recruit companions and formulate plans to endure. The duo were split up immediately upon arriving in the first Tokyo colony, leading up to an exciting confrontation between Megumi and the reincarnated sorcerer Reggie Star in the tenth episode.

A Genius Strategist and a Game's Hollow Victory

While episode 11 cements Megumi’s status as a genius battle strategist, it also casts a spotlight on the profoundly paradoxical nature of the Culling Game. With the strongest sorcerers at the mercy of a contest that doubles as a deathtrap, the series redefines what it means to be the "strongest" in a society that harbors disdain for the weak. It is not about overpowering opponents to demonstrate superiority—it's about revealing how futile that type of strength is within a manipulated framework.

A Battle of Wits and Domains

Episode 10 concluded with Megumi activating his incomplete domain, Chimera Shadow Garden, inside a confined gym. The penultimate episode of this story arc resumes with Reggie dismissing this move due to his domain-countering ability, Hollow Wicker Basket. Reggie's esoteric technique enables him to avoid damage by neutralizing domain barriers that utilize a cursed technique, which cancels any sure-hit effects. However, since Hollow Wicker Basket does not defend against cursed techniques themselves, its effectiveness depends on the existence of a barrier. Megumi's domain, being not fully realized, does not possess a barrier altogether, which is precisely why he lured Reggie into the closed-off gymnasium to serve as a makeshift enclosure. This clever ploy allows Megumi to overwhelm Reggie with manifestations of his technique, catching the sorcerer off-guard with this unexpected loophole.

The visual presentation has been brilliant this season. The clash between Megumi and Reggie is executed with meticulous care, incorporating shaky-cam movements and fisheye lenses to create a sense of urgency and kinetic energy.

Even the visual of Megumi barely keeping his domain stable while burdened by the pressure of Reggie's summoned objects is striking to behold. The gymnasium's shadowy interior illuminates with Megumi's azure spiritual power, pulling Reggie into the bottomless pit of his Ten Shadows Technique. Although Reggie does his best to withstand Megumi, he is outmaneuvered at each juncture. Reggie attempts to crush Megumi by materializing a structure, but it breaks through the floor, sending them into the pool located beneath the gymnasium. At this moment, it becomes abundantly clear that Megumi had not retreated fearfully—he had deliberately lured Reggie into a trap, which concludes with Megumi dispelling his domain once Reggie's drenched receipts become ineffective.

A Hollow Triumph

After a tense fist fight, Megumi stuns Reggie with Divine Dog: Totality to execute the final blow. In his dying moments, Reggie compares sorcerers to liars while commending Megumi's cleverness. It is then that Reggie discloses he was never allied with Kenjaku; he was merely a bystander who became entangled in the Culling Game. Megumi brings up Master Tengen to elicit a possible confession about his involvement, but Reggie's final words dwell upon the utter futility of the game itself. These words make Megumi's victory feel hollow as he realizes that Tengen may not have been totally forthcoming about the real purpose of the Game. Megumi has already been forced to kill two sorcerers in his own defense, an act that must weigh heavily on him despite his perception that the means justify the end if he wishes to save Tsumiki.

Kenjaku's Enigmatic Goal

Kenjaku's true endgame remains the most intriguing aspect of the story. He appears to be using the Culling Game as a direct method to cull the weakest within the sorcerer world. The immense stress of the battles may even awaken new cursed techniques among the strongest participants. An illusion of control is at play, as the game's complex rules mask the fact that it is, in essence, a ruthless mass murder ritual. This "survival of the fittest" dynamic radically changes the definition of the "most powerful," as it does not boil down solely to the raw strength of one's technique.

We are given a hint of this when a voiceover states that Fumihiko Takaba's Comedian technique is so potent it could even oppose Satoru Gojo's Limitless, yet Takaba remains blissfully unaware of his own strength. Another sorcerer often inspiring comparisons to Gojo is Yuta, who concludes the installment by defeating the historical figure Dhruv Lakdawalla in the Sendai Colony. Lakdawalla's death dissolves the stalemate in that colony, paving the way for intense battles involving Yuta in the impending conclusion.

The Fundamental Paradox

The tragic irony of the Culling Game is the false promise of power it markets to its most skilled players. The mastermind ultimately aims to use Sukuna as a "bomb" to trigger the collapse of jujutsu society, a process that will inevitably endanger the weak and defenseless. This dynamic between the strong and the weak was fleshed out in a previous story arc, where Gojo and Suguru Geto maintained diametrically opposed worldviews. A young Gojo, in his arrogance, had distanced his status as the "most powerful" from moral responsibility, while a young Geto believed that strength only holds meaning if it safeguards the vulnerable. These viewpoints reverse after a tragic event, propelling Geto toward a destructive path driven by his contempt for non-sorcerers. Meanwhile, Gojo's painful experience leads him to understand that strength is empty without a new wave of sorcerers to uphold a tradition steeped in empathy—an empathy that encompasses the well-being of non-sorcerers, who must be shielded from the malignant presence of curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 undermines this vision for a more compassionate society with Kenjaku's plan to merge humanity with Tengen. This apathetic goal disregards individuality and views jujutsu sorcerers as pawns used for fulfilling empty whims. Following the rules of the Culling Game does not guarantee safety, especially since the outcomes are manipulated yet unpredictable. The vision of a winner is a lie, just as a world without survivors is as devoid of meaning as a waking dream. With season 3, part 1 coming to an end next week, we will be one step closer to witnessing the mockery that the Culling Game makes of its most gifted sorcerers.