It's kinda like money. Paper bills don't have any intrinsic value. Only because we make up the illusion they do. I think that's why he ran away. Not because his life has value or not but because he just felt like running away. Something with no value isn't something useless, you can do whatever you want with it even believe it has value but no matter what you believe in the it doesn't have any value. Being exorcised by itadori or running away both are meaningless so he simply chose the one most convenient to him. Idk if I explained myself correctly though. Just because you believe life is meaningless doesn't mean you want to die or be depressed. It's just a reality.
@@josejose4838I think you did a good job explaining your idea, and I would agree. I kinda see myself as an Absurdist. I personally think life on the whole is meaningless and there is no grand purpose, but that does not keep me from finding subjective meaning in arbitrary places as a conscious thinker. Maybe Mahito is also an absurdist haha.
One more thing about Mahito and his rivalry with Yuji. Out of all the disaster curses, he was the only one to see Yuji just as Yuji, and not just Sukuna's vessel. As much as Mahito wants to avoid an encounter with Sukuna, he's made it a point that he does not care much for him. He wants to kill Yuji. And he outright almost ruined the plan in the Shibuya Arc when makes it a game with Jogo on whether he kills Yuji first, or they get to him first.
To add about Mahito, his stitched up and semi androgynous design is eerily similar to that of a Rebis; which is the alchemical embodiment of the perfection of a being. A self-embodiment of perfection as you will.
Mahito is a villain I don’t love to hate, I don’t hate to hate. I hate him. He’s one of the most despicable and repulsive villains I’ve ever witnessed. And in that he is done perfectly. Glad I saw him get his comeuppance.
@@ThePeakOfHumanEvolution69 Being literally eaten alive by a human is a fitting end for him, though I suppose it's pretty debatable whether Kenjaku still counts as a human being.
@@queencancerous5332 Any curse that's used for Uzumaki is destroyed, their cursed technique is stripped from them and given to the user. Mahito is dead.
I’m not too deep into jujutsu Kaisen, but knowing how many people this guy has mutated just for the hell of it is sick and makes him a pretty good villain in my book
Another part of what made Mahito so despicable was that he was a freak even by Curse standards. Mahito only cared for himself. While Jogo and Dagon mourned Hanami after his death, Mahito wanted to keep on killing without a second thought for his fallen comrade. Edit: Thanks for taking my video idea!
I love how mindset affects characters tho, his whole selfishness made it so that he always grew, didn’t care so much to make curses into the next humanity as he did just having fun and killing as much as he could. If Mahito was left unchecked, he would have became the next Sukuna and that’s not even an understatement
You've completely missed the point. Mahito does care about his friends. The reason why he doesnt mourn is because its pointless to. They cannonicaly will always be born into the world regardless of humanity's state. They can't ever truly die.
Great vid. Interesting thing about Mahito's design; he has red blood, unlike the other curses who have purple. Not sure if this change was solely for the anime or it was always intended, but it's likely another way for him to mirror humans/embody his origins.
yuji not being able to kill Mahito is not really a problem to me because he had the most ironic and terrible thing that could have happened to him happened to him his entire philosophy was freedom to do whatever you want despite the will and actions of others they don't matter because nothing matters so, in the end, he was used as a tool and ended up a slave
He who used others only as a tools. In the end, was wrung out like a dried rag. His cursed energy, wrung out and cursed technique used as a tool. Plus he is still alive. His soul is still there cause the CT is linked to his soul
I really like the symbolism around Mahito's hands, as in comparison to all other creatures, humans are defined by their hands. Anything that our hands can reach will inevitably be changed and shaped to our liking, and this is due to both our endless curiosity and the dexterity that our hands afford us. Aside from balancing reasons, this is likely why Idle Transfiguration can only be activated through Mahito's hands in their base state. My favorite part is how Mahito twists this, using humanity's world-shaping hands to instead disfigure and maul other humans, just like how our own ideas and beliefs can twist the ideas and beliefs of others. He is so well written. Also, Mahito's cursed technique is very similar to Overhaul's quirk as well, though Mahito can only edit humans. Mahito might have had multiple hand-related inspirations from My Hero Academia, which is pretty impressive by my standards.
I don't think he's afraid of death. When he nearly died against yuji and nanami he said it felt inspiring, and he awakened his domain expansion. I think when he's beaten in shibuya he's honestly more scared of Yuji himself, because yuji had evolved into a total monster
@@ArcDeity mis en scene translates to English as everything in a scene. It a principle in film making that everything in a scene is deliberately put there for a reason. Mahito’s feminine legs adhere to mis en scene as they further push the point of Mahito’s androgynous appearance, thus further making him represent all facets of humanity.
I also like how (aside from Yuji) Mahito's biggest rival was Nanami, another sorcerer whose technique operates on a fundamental natural principle. Mahito's technique operates on souls, and Nanami's technique operates on the fundamental 'number' of nature, the golden ratio. Seeing as how Mahito's technique literally means "to change the natural by force," it makes sense that Nanami's Ratio technique still couldn't hurt him. Nanami is also the embodiment of 'being an adult,' which means to be an active participant in human society, for better or for worse. This directly contests with Mahito's 'Wu Wei' inspirations, as Mahito wants nothing to do with normal human affairs. Mahito eventually winning against Nanami proves that the concept of 'Wu Wei,' that being "not concering yourself with human affairs allows you to better control them," was correct. To be fair, though, Mahito only did this while Nanami (and by proxy 'human affairs') were on their last leg. He's quite the vulture. We can go down this technique interaction rabbit hole even further. The only two techniques shown to transcend Idle Manipulation were Limitless and Cursed Spirit Manipulation, two techniques wielded by separate interpretations of an enlightened one, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. The only difference between them and Mahito is that they actually have the power to back it up. The only person truly immune to Idle Transfiguration is Gojo, though. Yuji is a special case, as Mahito can still use Idle Transfiguration on him, but he would be killed by Sukuna in turn. He would be """""cursed""""" if you will. Geto isn't immune to Idle Transfiguration, but he was able to avoid it and eventually claim it as his own. Gojo, however, is truly immune to Idle Transfiguration. Mahito can try all the tricks he wants, but a human's creativity cannot overcome a god. While many different characters claim to be a Buddha, Gojo alone is the honored one. The other techniques that had meaningful interactions with Idle Transfiguration were the Straw Doll technique, the Boogie Woogie technique, and technically Simple Domain. Operating on the context that Mahito is an analog for a 'human,' the symbolism is juicy. Nobara's Straw Doll technique is the most common interpretation of a 'curse' in our world. Curses are closely tied to the human soul, and are vessel of humans pure hatred towards each other, so Nobara's Straw Doll technique is one of few things that actually damages Mahito. The other classic technique is Aoi Todo's Boogie Woogie technique. While a human does have a lot of control over their world, they can easily be stopped by another human who knows what they're doing. The Boogie Woogie technique embodies a human's ability to engage in strategy and tactics, and when humans strategize together (i.e. when Boogie Woogie is used with a partner), they are practically unstoppable. The only thing that has actually overcome a full throttle Boogie Woogie Todo and Yuji partnership was Mahito's perfected Self-Embodiment of Perfection, which is him temporarily gaining enlightenment, placing him above other humans. The final thing is Simple Domain, which I think embodies a human's resolve. Mechamaru was able to use it to completely negate Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, proving him to be immune to Mahito's attempts to manipulate him, unlike Junpei. Mechamaru was also being used by Mahito, but he was fully aware of it, and used Mahito for his own gain as well. However, Mechamaru was a flawed human, and while he could withstand Mahito's assault for an admirable amount of time, he eventually crumbled. Todo also used Simple Domain to shield himself from Mahito's Domain, but not even human resolve was enough to counter enlightenment. Todo had to go even further, cutting off his own hand, sacrificing his ability to change the world, to escape the effects of the Domain. This is definitely rambly, but just looking at how Mahito interacts with the cast and the symbolism of the other characters is just insanely interesting.
Kenjaku, with his knowlegde and usage of contracts and binding vows could represent natural laws and order that humans have both discovered and established across history. Mahito, who held no respect for these "laws" ultimately had no true place in the world and had to disappear.
Interesting how in many ways he is a parallel to humanity, always evolving and learning, shaping the world to his needs, yet closed minded to what he thinks its true, since if life has no inherent value, why is he alive ? If the condition of life for you is more favourable than death, so it must have an value. its just an example but he is pretty much like a newborn learning.
Never read it, but if what I understand about the character's values is true then he's a hypocrite. He believes all life and existence has no value or meaning, and yet when he knew for sure he was going to die during that last battle he fled. So he simultaneously holds that life has no meaning while also believing he himself has more meaning then anyone else.
My favourite part of Mahito is how obviously self pretentious he is, he acts and claims so many self righteous things but when chips are down he's just an immature brat selfishly doing whatever he wants
In a way mahito is like a twisted version of gojo. Like mahito gojo has several Buddhist themes he draws from. They also both gave disregard for established traditions. The only difference between the two is the fact that gojo is actively trying to improve his society via having students who could surpass him in theory while mahito is just an asshole who likes putting down others. There are other ways they are similar to each other and themes they have in common but that'd be too much to put here in this single comment.
Mahito is one of the view shonen villains who genuinely creeped me out. His ability to manipulate the soul and deform his victims so casually is truly terrifying.
I think we saw it, and we also saw how yuji surpassed that 100% through sheer force of will, I mean they gave him every skill, tool and weapon within jujutsu that you can think of and allowed him to perfect each of his techniques to the point where he reached even evolve to the point of surpassing its own limits as a curse
I'm pretty sure Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing was his maximum potential being shown. It's his true form - in his own words. Not only is he perfectly fit for combat, and incredibly durable, he can still use his cursed technique, which is one of the strongest in the entire story. If he could also use his domain expansion while using it, it'd literally be perfect.
@@dewo277e9saying that Yuji surpassed his 100% is crazy. Mahito had the upper hand when they were alone, almost killed Yuji but was stopped by Nobara and then the same happened with Todo. Yuji damaged Mahito that much because of Todo, and that damage prevented Mahito from being at 100%. Mahito would have absolutely destroyed Yuji in a 1 vs 1
Interesting thing, the fact that the soul isn't special between lifeforms means that Mahito could have used his technique on many other species than just humans, and simply chose not to. Not surprising and perfectly in-character, but worth noting.
I don't know why but I love Mahito as a character. He has the childlike goofiness and psychoticness that balances out into a devilish and despicable character that I somehow love. His growth and powers, Oh lordy lord. Idle transfiguration is one of my personal favourite abilities of a character in everything I've seen
This sounds weird but Mahito is genuinely one of my favorite characters because every single fight he’s in you can really see how he keep learning new tricks and bullshit abilities from past encounters Edit: also completely forgot to mention and something I realized, in your Geto analysis you mentioned Yu Yu Hakusho’s Sensui, and that reminds me of Elder Toguro who had a similar ability to Mahito, and the parallels of Sensui saving Toguro and Kenjaku “saving” Mahito.
"Like I said, kids are cruel, Itadori. And I'm very in touch with my inner child." ―Mahito to Raid.. i mean Itadori. which is funny cause he is more of a Monsoon philosophy wise.
The hability to change the world by changing people souls is really how humans work. We need to convince people to work for us, so we can mold the world to what we want or need.
You know the tiger and dragon thing might explain why Rengoku lost to Akaza on a symbolic level as both are tigers who mainly use brute force to attack. Problem is Akaza is the bigger tiger of the two and his brute force overwhelmed Rengoku yet Tanjiro whose techniques look like dragons won in the end Thanks to his intelligence and mew techniques
@@mattb.7079 I'm aware, I was drawing a connection between the Tiger and Dragon concept mentioned in this video to Akaza and Rengoku since Metti does a lot of Demon Slayer videos.
Jesus Christ, this video was phenomenal, the analysis was beautiful, the parallels that you mentioned and the script itself, wonderful, I've had goosebumps with the final monologue about Itadori, excellent video man, I've been following you for years, and in my opinion, this is your best video so far, great job. And yes, the best way to refute a nihilist is to black flash him into oblivion, agreed.
I wonder if we can even really consider Mahito a bastard since he was effectively born from all the worst emotions of humanity, so effectively he's just acting how he's supposed to as opposed to characters like Doma who chose to be assholes. Being a dick is basically something built into Mahito's body.
Sukuna actually partially brought this up by telling Jogo how his goal of proving curses to be "true humans" was just a way to justify themselves when they never needed any justifications. They were curses and curses are supposed to kill humans. Mahito didn't feel the need to justify his actions because he saw himself as a true curse
Domu was bron without emotions, raised as god (so had no way to develop a moral compass as human child), than become a demon who's nature is to cus suffering to humanity in some form even if it's just eating to live(even my golden demon Akaza does this albeit for men only) so his nature is also to blame for how he is. Either they're both bastards or are both following their nature.
One day after talking about jjk with a coworker i just thought to myself about the Disaster Curses and how the order of how they went When the Forests are dead The Oceans Dry And the Fires Fade All that'll be left is the twisted form of Humanity
basically Mahito is the living embodiment of prejudice which some consider to be a uniquely human of personality traits....which would makes sense why he looks the most human of cursed Spirits
One of the great things that I haven't seen talked about in the Shibuya Arc is how all of the people that Mahito harmed in this arc were people that Yuji had teamed up with before this arc. Yuji had teamed up with Nanami, Nobara, and Todou before the Shhibuya arc and those fights while intense were fights that Yuji and co. came out on top. But in the Shibuya Arc Mahito takes each one of Yuji's allies out of commission in quick succession. Seeing Mahito defeat people Yuji once teamed up and had good synergy with right before Yuji's eyes made Mahito's role in this arc so much more devastating than it had been in prior arcs.
I feel as though I understand humanity and myself more after watching this video. I can relate to this character, and I'm sad that they just become a killing machine. They have so much more potential
No threathen them with death and see their reaction if they simply accept death they might be true nihilist but if they won't accept death they never really were one.
@@130pawelnihilism doesn't mean no fear of death. You can recognize your life has no intrinsic meaning and also fear what happens after you die. Passive and active nihilism are 2 different things. As well as other forms of nihilism. Lowkey I hate when people half ass bring up nihilism and give of a poor understanding of what it is.
Oh this guy! Trust me when I say that when Yuji got to punch this smug spirit right in his face, I almost jumped out of my seat to give him a round of applause! There's an art to making you hate a character like that and Mahito is exactly that kind of hateable being!
What I love most about Mahito is how "metal" he can look sometimes, he strikes a balance between being the most batshit crazy madlad and funny bad man out of any villain character I have ever seen.
Something I appreciate is that Mahito considers himself and Yuji to be the same, one taking lives, and the other saving lives, because it's simply in their nature. But Yuji has had moments of bloodlust, whereas Mahito never experiences the desire to save a life - other than perhaps his own. Despite his ability to transform into anything, he still remains an incomplete person.
The very existence of Mahito os infuriating and exciting for me cause he is undoubtedly the best villain in modern jump. His gleeful destruction of anything and everything one could love, his whimsical childlike nature and ourstanding design allow him to stand above and over any other villain or antagonist in publication right now. I can't wait for him to undoubtedly comeback. Just like Kugisaki AND FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE. SHE'S COMING HOME GOD DAMN IT!
I don't think yuji actually overcame mahito's nihilism just yet. He still has a fragile ideology and only sees himself as a cog to justify his actions since he had to give up his initial reason of doing the morally right thing. This mainly manifested itself because of the sukuna incident though, mahito was just the one to verbalize it and push him over the edge. What he needs, is to get a stronger motivation by the end of the series. Interestingly the motivations of the strongest people in jjk are always mentioned in the series and are always of selfish nature. Even yuta's motivation which seems entirely selfless is still kind of selfish because he wants to save everyone by himself. Imo yuji will develop a more selfish reason as to why he chose to take on such a heavy burden and i hope gege will focus on it.
Mahito is a character I hate and respect a lot as an antagonist. I hate and love how he just kills notable characters, and his dynamic with Yuji is amazing, and his OST was sick. I kinda miss the bastard because on how threatening he was, or just to hypothesize how fast Yuta can pulverize him in a style similar to Roy Mustang (because of positive energy)
In addition, that monster that Mahito creates, called "Polymorphic Soul Isomer" and that only dies with a single strong and forceful blow, alludes to the phrase that "the weakest thugs can only attack in groups", as it said Maki Zenin to Yuta Okkotsu on their first mission when multiple curses attacked at once towards them... only weak cowards are strong or pretend to be strong when they work in a herd to literally lash out at a single person to gain in numbers. That's why it's so easy to destroy in one hit, because they're not really strong and all that stupid confidence goes away when you take away their number advantage and realize that when they fight separately they're very fragile.
I have been waiting for this video. God, in all my life, and in all the media I’ve experienced, I can probably count on one hand the number of characters that have brought as much hatred out of me as Mahito did in the tail end of the Shibuya Incident, and I’m someone who has always loved great antagonists. He is most certainly a well written, truly despicable villain.
I don't know, Douma was born without feelings/emotions, so he couldn't feel exactly what the other expressed. Mahito is perfectly conscious of the other's feelings and use them in his favour, even if they are suffering a lot. A true monster.
Mahito claims life has no meaning but by reminding people of this through traumatic experience, this gave Mahito’s life meaning. So when Yugi was about to pack him up finally, he ran clinging onto his life with meaning. It was at this point his ideology shatters.
I believe mahito is not the fear of hatred but the fear of indifference. Cause in some cases hate can spout love but indifference is straight ignorence.
Not even 10 seconds in this video, I see that one panel of the manga, and I am already in love. What is it with those expressions? Why are they so good?
The dragon and tiger analysis is extremely nice, though, to nitpick a little bit, it is a little weird that you didn’t just directly point out Yuji have the word tiger(虎) in his family name (虎杖)
Mahito is one of the greatest villains to ever grace shounen. His very existence motivates hatred in the reader, actively making him more compelling as he seemingly gets more powerful the more the READER (a human) despises him. Every victory he obtains is a metatextual example of how effective being soullessly destructive is, when Humanity is able to cut loose and destroy its opposition. The approach is played for grimdark comedy, where only a child can hold such a dark ideal in their simple, unrefined mind. You seethe with every fight, as Mahito seemingly exploits any cheat to win-until that catharsis when you start screaming at Itadori to put him down once and for all, in vindication. [30:06] Can we just say how beautiful of a narrative choice it is that Itadori Yuji exists in the capacity he does? As of Chapter 222, he actively breaks the concept of Mahito's philosophy, as his Cursed Technique (CT) is the ability to trade a body with a target, while maintaining souls. Thus, he could hijack anyone and trap them in a body that isn't their choosing. It seems like Yuji purposely chose a power which would slay another DRAGON, since Wisdom goes out the window when the gifts your mind relied on to plan are no longer yours to abuse.
I remember watching yhis when it came put, having absolutely no idea who Mahito or what JJK is... Habing watched and read JJK and coming back... i cannot believe how much i hate Mahito and his actions, bro is a living menace... was, was a living menace.
Considering that his domain only has a "sure hit" property and doesn't have a "sure kill" one (cause he doesn't need it), it's probably easier and cheaper to use than those domains that require both "sure hit" and "sure kill" properties.
Ironic that Mahito thinks life has no value, yet desperately runs from Yuji who was ready to kill him.
It's kinda like money. Paper bills don't have any intrinsic value. Only because we make up the illusion they do. I think that's why he ran away. Not because his life has value or not but because he just felt like running away. Something with no value isn't something useless, you can do whatever you want with it even believe it has value but no matter what you believe in the it doesn't have any value. Being exorcised by itadori or running away both are meaningless so he simply chose the one most convenient to him. Idk if I explained myself correctly though. Just because you believe life is meaningless doesn't mean you want to die or be depressed. It's just a reality.
his contradictory beliefs plus him being the embodiment of humanity is glorious writing
"The quickest way to refute a nihilist is to kill them."
My life may have no value but I still want it- mahito
@@josejose4838I think you did a good job explaining your idea, and I would agree. I kinda see myself as an Absurdist. I personally think life on the whole is meaningless and there is no grand purpose, but that does not keep me from finding subjective meaning in arbitrary places as a conscious thinker. Maybe Mahito is also an absurdist haha.
This guy walks outside barefooted and probably never bathes.
That already confirms he's cursed
I don't get it.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 no shoes equals evil i guess?
I mean you are closer to the earth that way.
Only cowards wear shoes
@@patricklukcy13 🤦♂️
Mahito is a good embodiment of the old saying.
“ Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”
The fact that his technique is literally "idle transfiguration" is even better
I thought it was "idle mind is the devil's workshop"
Yami's final form in Okami explained.
@@Gazing-09 I Just realised thats true.
@@raindancejam9466they're the same picture lookin ahh boy
One more thing about Mahito and his rivalry with Yuji. Out of all the disaster curses, he was the only one to see Yuji just as Yuji, and not just Sukuna's vessel. As much as Mahito wants to avoid an encounter with Sukuna, he's made it a point that he does not care much for him. He wants to kill Yuji. And he outright almost ruined the plan in the Shibuya Arc when makes it a game with Jogo on whether he kills Yuji first, or they get to him first.
When the psycho genocidal maniac is the one to treat u as an actual being not a tool
@@blu3d3vil97and specifically bc he wants to violate you
To add about Mahito, his stitched up and semi androgynous design is eerily similar to that of a Rebis; which is the alchemical embodiment of the perfection of a being. A self-embodiment of perfection as you will.
A Mahussy, perhaps?
@@funghiciabatta551 how dare you 😤
Someone's been watching Castlevania 😏
@@jesseweneedtofast"you gopping little shit"
@@funghiciabatta551 the mahussy hits different bro
Mahito is a villain I don’t love to hate, I don’t hate to hate. I hate him. He’s one of the most despicable and repulsive villains I’ve ever witnessed. And in that he is done perfectly. Glad I saw him get his comeuppance.
As a being born of hate he's not meant to be liked in any way
Not a very satisfying comeuppance though... Would've preferred to see Yuji absolutely destroy him.
@@ThePeakOfHumanEvolution69 Being literally eaten alive by a human is a fitting end for him, though I suppose it's pretty debatable whether Kenjaku still counts as a human being.
He’s not really dead though, Pseudo-Geto just incorporated him into his curse technique
@@queencancerous5332 Any curse that's used for Uzumaki is destroyed, their cursed technique is stripped from them and given to the user. Mahito is dead.
I’m not too deep into jujutsu Kaisen, but knowing how many people this guy has mutated just for the hell of it is sick and makes him a pretty good villain in my book
I feel like JJK is shonen with the fat trimmed and free dessert
He’s alright.
@@GiroAureo he’s very good.
He really plays into the urban horror vibe of the beginning of the manga.
@@Ebola-Kun that’s jujutsu kaisen in a nutshell, plus what makes it so good.
I love Mahito’s end
He babbles about how life has no value yet runs away like a pathetic coward when he stared certain death in the face
Yalls hatred for him got yall thinking this actually means something lol
Another part of what made Mahito so despicable was that he was a freak even by Curse standards. Mahito only cared for himself. While Jogo and Dagon mourned Hanami after his death, Mahito wanted to keep on killing without a second thought for his fallen comrade.
Edit: Thanks for taking my video idea!
But he didn't know they were dead
After the fight with Gojo, Jogo told Mahito that Hanami was dead
This also plays into the whole Self-affirmation theme in JJK
I love how mindset affects characters tho, his whole selfishness made it so that he always grew, didn’t care so much to make curses into the next humanity as he did just having fun and killing as much as he could. If Mahito was left unchecked, he would have became the next Sukuna and that’s not even an understatement
You've completely missed the point. Mahito does care about his friends. The reason why he doesnt mourn is because its pointless to. They cannonicaly will always be born into the world regardless of humanity's state. They can't ever truly die.
Great vid.
Interesting thing about Mahito's design; he has red blood, unlike the other curses who have purple. Not sure if this change was solely for the anime or it was always intended, but it's likely another way for him to mirror humans/embody his origins.
I mean it makes sense. The other curses are made from different abstract things while everything Mahito is made from is human.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 hes still a cursed spirit whose composed of solely cursed energy physically
yuji not being able to kill Mahito is not really a problem to me because he had the most ironic and terrible thing that could have happened to him happened to him his entire philosophy was freedom to do whatever you want despite the will and actions of others they don't matter because nothing matters so, in the end, he was used as a tool and ended up a slave
He who used others only as a tools. In the end, was wrung out like a dried rag. His cursed energy, wrung out and cursed technique used as a tool. Plus he is still alive. His soul is still there cause the CT is linked to his soul
He got "idle transfigured" himself
I really like the symbolism around Mahito's hands, as in comparison to all other creatures, humans are defined by their hands. Anything that our hands can reach will inevitably be changed and shaped to our liking, and this is due to both our endless curiosity and the dexterity that our hands afford us. Aside from balancing reasons, this is likely why Idle Transfiguration can only be activated through Mahito's hands in their base state. My favorite part is how Mahito twists this, using humanity's world-shaping hands to instead disfigure and maul other humans, just like how our own ideas and beliefs can twist the ideas and beliefs of others. He is so well written.
Also, Mahito's cursed technique is very similar to Overhaul's quirk as well, though Mahito can only edit humans. Mahito might have had multiple hand-related inspirations from My Hero Academia, which is pretty impressive by my standards.
If i am not mistaking, Mahito was kinda inspired from Shigaraki.
The creator of JJK likes BNHA so he based part of his design from Shigaraki.
Funny how Mahito says life has no meaning, but is clearly scared of death
Good,he is the personification of all evil that there is no human being
I don't think he's afraid of death. When he nearly died against yuji and nanami he said it felt inspiring, and he awakened his domain expansion.
I think when he's beaten in shibuya he's honestly more scared of Yuji himself, because yuji had evolved into a total monster
Yea hes tge most human curse therefore has human hipocracy
Well, the best way to defeat an existential nihilist is to put a gun to their head after all.
No better way in instilling a fear of death than to put them at deaths door.
Man had never really been that close to death until that point
"do you know the quickest way to refute a moral nihilist?" was tuff as hell, incredible video as always meti
Kill them, right?
Is it, really, tho?
I didn't get it
@@HerutheHero well, having a gun over one's head can quickly make anybody care for their own lives
@@HerutheHero punch nihilists and suddenly theyll start caring
@@lucaseduardoferreira9015 Ok I got it thank you
In the design his long hair could be to give him an androgynous look as he’s a representation of all humanity he resembles both a man and a woman .
In addition, when we see Mahito swimming after his fight, his legs look rather feminine
@@mimikyuliker946 why you staring at legs
@@ArcDeity mis en scene, ever heard of it?
@@mimikyuliker946 heard of what?
@@ArcDeity mis en scene translates to English as everything in a scene. It a principle in film making that everything in a scene is deliberately put there for a reason. Mahito’s feminine legs adhere to mis en scene as they further push the point of Mahito’s androgynous appearance, thus further making him represent all facets of humanity.
I also like how (aside from Yuji) Mahito's biggest rival was Nanami, another sorcerer whose technique operates on a fundamental natural principle. Mahito's technique operates on souls, and Nanami's technique operates on the fundamental 'number' of nature, the golden ratio. Seeing as how Mahito's technique literally means "to change the natural by force," it makes sense that Nanami's Ratio technique still couldn't hurt him. Nanami is also the embodiment of 'being an adult,' which means to be an active participant in human society, for better or for worse. This directly contests with Mahito's 'Wu Wei' inspirations, as Mahito wants nothing to do with normal human affairs. Mahito eventually winning against Nanami proves that the concept of 'Wu Wei,' that being "not concering yourself with human affairs allows you to better control them," was correct. To be fair, though, Mahito only did this while Nanami (and by proxy 'human affairs') were on their last leg. He's quite the vulture.
We can go down this technique interaction rabbit hole even further. The only two techniques shown to transcend Idle Manipulation were Limitless and Cursed Spirit Manipulation, two techniques wielded by separate interpretations of an enlightened one, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. The only difference between them and Mahito is that they actually have the power to back it up. The only person truly immune to Idle Transfiguration is Gojo, though. Yuji is a special case, as Mahito can still use Idle Transfiguration on him, but he would be killed by Sukuna in turn. He would be """""cursed""""" if you will. Geto isn't immune to Idle Transfiguration, but he was able to avoid it and eventually claim it as his own. Gojo, however, is truly immune to Idle Transfiguration. Mahito can try all the tricks he wants, but a human's creativity cannot overcome a god. While many different characters claim to be a Buddha, Gojo alone is the honored one.
The other techniques that had meaningful interactions with Idle Transfiguration were the Straw Doll technique, the Boogie Woogie technique, and technically Simple Domain. Operating on the context that Mahito is an analog for a 'human,' the symbolism is juicy. Nobara's Straw Doll technique is the most common interpretation of a 'curse' in our world. Curses are closely tied to the human soul, and are vessel of humans pure hatred towards each other, so Nobara's Straw Doll technique is one of few things that actually damages Mahito. The other classic technique is Aoi Todo's Boogie Woogie technique. While a human does have a lot of control over their world, they can easily be stopped by another human who knows what they're doing. The Boogie Woogie technique embodies a human's ability to engage in strategy and tactics, and when humans strategize together (i.e. when Boogie Woogie is used with a partner), they are practically unstoppable. The only thing that has actually overcome a full throttle Boogie Woogie Todo and Yuji partnership was Mahito's perfected Self-Embodiment of Perfection, which is him temporarily gaining enlightenment, placing him above other humans. The final thing is Simple Domain, which I think embodies a human's resolve. Mechamaru was able to use it to completely negate Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, proving him to be immune to Mahito's attempts to manipulate him, unlike Junpei. Mechamaru was also being used by Mahito, but he was fully aware of it, and used Mahito for his own gain as well. However, Mechamaru was a flawed human, and while he could withstand Mahito's assault for an admirable amount of time, he eventually crumbled. Todo also used Simple Domain to shield himself from Mahito's Domain, but not even human resolve was enough to counter enlightenment. Todo had to go even further, cutting off his own hand, sacrificing his ability to change the world, to escape the effects of the Domain.
This is definitely rambly, but just looking at how Mahito interacts with the cast and the symbolism of the other characters is just insanely interesting.
Kenjaku, with his knowlegde and usage of contracts and binding vows could represent natural laws and order that humans have both discovered and established across history. Mahito, who held no respect for these "laws" ultimately had no true place in the world and had to disappear.
Interesting how in many ways he is a parallel to humanity, always evolving and learning, shaping the world to his needs, yet closed minded to what he thinks its true, since if life has no inherent value, why is he alive ? If the condition of life for you is more favourable than death, so it must have an value. its just an example but he is pretty much like a newborn learning.
*despite what he did mahito is still a greatly written character and definitely a favorite of alot of the people in the community*
*and he deserves to be the fav*
Nah pretty sure everyone (me included) hates his guts
Which makes him a good villain
@@NotFanti was complimenting his writing which made him a good character(hating his guts is also part of it)
@@NotFantihe’s like Envy from FMA but if Arakawa actually succeeded in making us hate the character
@@NotFantinah I love him and his philosophy. I just think it was takin to an extreme
Never read it, but if what I understand about the character's values is true then he's a hypocrite.
He believes all life and existence has no value or meaning, and yet when he knew for sure he was going to die during that last battle he fled.
So he simultaneously holds that life has no meaning while also believing he himself has more meaning then anyone else.
A true human indeed
It's basically the Nihilist scene from Smiling Friends.
I know some people irl like that it makes me sick having to have met them.
This also fits theme of jjk's strongest caring only for themselves
Not rlly
In all my years of viewing and reading pieces of fiction, I have never met a villain more hateable than the human curse, Mahito.
Kinda ironic how the most hatable character in the series is himself a representation of humanity’s own spite towards itself
Shou Tucker entered the chat
Griffith nods his head in agreement*
@@carlweeper7436lmfao that’s hilarious dude
My favourite part of Mahito is how obviously self pretentious he is, he acts and claims so many self righteous things but when chips are down he's just an immature brat selfishly doing whatever he wants
Ayo why Mahito rockin that school girl uniform so well
Nah, i’d hit
In a way mahito is like a twisted version of gojo. Like mahito gojo has several Buddhist themes he draws from. They also both gave disregard for established traditions.
The only difference between the two is the fact that gojo is actively trying to improve his society via having students who could surpass him in theory while mahito is just an asshole who likes putting down others. There are other ways they are similar to each other and themes they have in common but that'd be too much to put here in this single comment.
It's not everyday that I hear the manga series
"World Trigger" be mentioned.
Truly an interesting power system.
Great series in general
Mahito is one of the view shonen villains who genuinely creeped me out. His ability to manipulate the soul and deform his victims so casually is truly terrifying.
Mahito was easily one of the best villains in the series, it's a shame we never got to see his full potential
I think we saw it, and we also saw how yuji surpassed that 100% through sheer force of will, I mean they gave him every skill, tool and weapon within jujutsu that you can think of and allowed him to perfect each of his techniques to the point where he reached even evolve to the point of surpassing its own limits as a curse
I'm pretty sure Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing was his maximum potential being shown. It's his true form - in his own words. Not only is he perfectly fit for combat, and incredibly durable, he can still use his cursed technique, which is one of the strongest in the entire story. If he could also use his domain expansion while using it, it'd literally be perfect.
@@Gunsblazin94pop
@@dewo277e9saying that Yuji surpassed his 100% is crazy. Mahito had the upper hand when they were alone, almost killed Yuji but was stopped by Nobara and then the same happened with Todo. Yuji damaged Mahito that much because of Todo, and that damage prevented Mahito from being at 100%.
Mahito would have absolutely destroyed Yuji in a 1 vs 1
Interesting thing, the fact that the soul isn't special between lifeforms means that Mahito could have used his technique on many other species than just humans, and simply chose not to.
Not surprising and perfectly in-character, but worth noting.
I don't know why but I love Mahito as a character. He has the childlike goofiness and psychoticness that balances out into a devilish and despicable character that I somehow love. His growth and powers, Oh lordy lord. Idle transfiguration is one of my personal favourite abilities of a character in everything I've seen
"Geto gimme a stocks card" has to be the funniest shit ever
This sounds weird but Mahito is genuinely one of my favorite characters because every single fight he’s in you can really see how he keep learning new tricks and bullshit abilities from past encounters
Edit: also completely forgot to mention and something I realized, in your Geto analysis you mentioned Yu Yu Hakusho’s Sensui, and that reminds me of Elder Toguro who had a similar ability to Mahito, and the parallels of Sensui saving Toguro and Kenjaku “saving” Mahito.
Also, if Mahito was kept unchecked, he could become a monster similar or equal in power with Sukuna
Yeah I enjoyed him too. He was likeable in a weird way but you also hated him at the same time
I love Mahito so much dude he's by far my favorite character next to Kenjaku
"Like I said, kids are cruel, Itadori. And I'm very in touch with my inner child." ―Mahito to Raid.. i mean Itadori.
which is funny cause he is more of a Monsoon philosophy wise.
"Like I said, Kids are cruel, Yuji. And I _loooooooove_ minors!"
@@grandarkfang_1482 "activating woman deflectors"
The hability to change the world by changing people souls is really how humans work. We need to convince people to work for us, so we can mold the world to what we want or need.
You know the tiger and dragon thing might explain why Rengoku lost to Akaza on a symbolic level as both are tigers who mainly use brute force to attack. Problem is Akaza is the bigger tiger of the two and his brute force overwhelmed Rengoku yet Tanjiro whose techniques look like dragons won in the end Thanks to his intelligence and mew techniques
Wrong video dude
@@mattb.7079 I'm aware, I was drawing a connection between the Tiger and Dragon concept mentioned in this video to Akaza and Rengoku since Metti does a lot of Demon Slayer videos.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 Yeah my bad, I hadn't watch the whole video yet
Mid slayer
😂😂😂 idk but that sht was interesting af
Ok, the Self Embodiment of Perfection part with Brahman's theme playing in the background was just chilling, in a good way. Well played.
Meti's meticulously managed alliterations are always amazingly amusing.
THAT ENDING
YOOOOOOOOO that was a godtier analysis and ending and never expected to get a reference for that in a JJK video
Jesus Christ, this video was phenomenal, the analysis was beautiful, the parallels that you mentioned and the script itself, wonderful, I've had goosebumps with the final monologue about Itadori, excellent video man, I've been following you for years, and in my opinion, this is your best video so far, great job.
And yes, the best way to refute a nihilist is to black flash him into oblivion, agreed.
I wonder if we can even really consider Mahito a bastard since he was effectively born from all the worst emotions of humanity, so effectively he's just acting how he's supposed to as opposed to characters like Doma who chose to be assholes.
Being a dick is basically something built into Mahito's body.
Doma was born without emotions and raised as if he were a God, if Doma can be a bastard (which he is) so can Mahito
Sukuna actually partially brought this up by telling Jogo how his goal of proving curses to be "true humans" was just a way to justify themselves when they never needed any justifications. They were curses and curses are supposed to kill humans. Mahito didn't feel the need to justify his actions because he saw himself as a true curse
Domu was bron without emotions, raised as god (so had no way to develop a moral compass as human child), than become a demon who's nature is to cus suffering to humanity in some form even if it's just eating to live(even my golden demon Akaza does this albeit for men only) so his nature is also to blame for how he is.
Either they're both bastards or are both following their nature.
Great video, I'd love to see a "Building a Bastard: Kisaki Tetta"
One day after talking about jjk with a coworker i just thought to myself about the Disaster Curses and how the order of how they went
When the Forests are dead
The Oceans Dry
And the Fires Fade
All that'll be left is the twisted form of Humanity
Holy crap, I just realized how Mahito is basically how Frankenstein's monster was supposed to look like.
No not rlly
basically Mahito is the living embodiment of prejudice which some consider to be a uniquely human of personality traits....which would makes sense why he looks the most human of cursed Spirits
Mahito is like a Weasel. Always sneaking around, waiting for the right opportunity to strike
One of the great things that I haven't seen talked about in the Shibuya Arc is how all of the people that Mahito harmed in this arc were people that Yuji had teamed up with before this arc. Yuji had teamed up with Nanami, Nobara, and Todou before the Shhibuya arc and those fights while intense were fights that Yuji and co. came out on top. But in the Shibuya Arc Mahito takes each one of Yuji's allies out of commission in quick succession. Seeing Mahito defeat people Yuji once teamed up and had good synergy with right before Yuji's eyes made Mahito's role in this arc so much more devastating than it had been in prior arcs.
I love the alliteration that you do at the start of every video when you introduce the subject of the video. So satisfying!
In smiling friends, when Grim is faced with death, he reacts the same way as Mahito does despite pretty similar nihilistic beliefs before
I read Mario at first and thought tf did the red plumber do!?
According to MatPat, a lot
He stole my liver
That bit at the end was the perfect opportunity for a smiling friends reference
Glad I wasn't the only one reminded of the smiling friends at the end.
Can’t wait for you to cover Sukuna, dude makes Mahito look well adjusted
Mahito is worse than Sukuna
Dude I'm so glad I found this channel so entertaining and the love for shimoneta a man after my own heart
Thank you for analysing Mahito. I knew it would be a great villain to analyse and you deliverd it passing my expectations, keep it up :)
When I saw Mahito running away from Yuji, all I could think of was the scene from Smiling Friends where Grim begs Boss for his life to be spared.
I feel as though I understand humanity and myself more after watching this video. I can relate to this character, and I'm sad that they just become a killing machine. They have so much more potential
I fucking love Mahito so much, my favorite JJK character
Lmao same
“Do you know the quickest way to refute a moral Nihilist?”
Are you implying its to punch them in the face?
No threathen them with death and see their reaction if they simply accept death they might be true nihilist but if they won't accept death they never really were one.
@@130pawelnihilism doesn't mean no fear of death. You can recognize your life has no intrinsic meaning and also fear what happens after you die.
Passive and active nihilism are 2 different things. As well as other forms of nihilism. Lowkey I hate when people half ass bring up nihilism and give of a poor understanding of what it is.
Oh this guy! Trust me when I say that when Yuji got to punch this smug spirit right in his face, I almost jumped out of my seat to give him a round of applause! There's an art to making you hate a character like that and Mahito is exactly that kind of hateable being!
Jujutsu Kaisen: where everyone is the protag of their own story
ever since i saw this series on your channel i knew mahito would be perfect for it
mahitos my favorite character, hes such a good villain and so despicable even compared to other curses
What I love most about Mahito is how "metal" he can look sometimes, he strikes a balance between being the most batshit crazy madlad and funny bad man out of any villain character I have ever seen.
The two psychopath and best girl killers in new gen Mahito and Doma.
Mahito is so underrated, dude is a top tier villain
Something I appreciate is that Mahito considers himself and Yuji to be the same, one taking lives, and the other saving lives, because it's simply in their nature. But Yuji has had moments of bloodlust, whereas Mahito never experiences the desire to save a life - other than perhaps his own. Despite his ability to transform into anything, he still remains an incomplete person.
No they're the same in regards to killing. They both kill indiscriminately, the difference is one kills people and the other curses
The very existence of Mahito os infuriating and exciting for me cause he is undoubtedly the best villain in modern jump. His gleeful destruction of anything and everything one could love, his whimsical childlike nature and ourstanding design allow him to stand above and over any other villain or antagonist in publication right now. I can't wait for him to undoubtedly comeback. Just like Kugisaki AND FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE. SHE'S COMING HOME GOD DAMN IT!
Can I have some of that copium too I hope she come back soon
@@carlweeper7436 We don't need copium. She's coming back.
I don't think yuji actually overcame mahito's nihilism just yet. He still has a fragile ideology and only sees himself as a cog to justify his actions since he had to give up his initial reason of doing the morally right thing. This mainly manifested itself because of the sukuna incident though, mahito was just the one to verbalize it and push him over the edge. What he needs, is to get a stronger motivation by the end of the series.
Interestingly the motivations of the strongest people in jjk are always mentioned in the series and are always of selfish nature. Even yuta's motivation which seems entirely selfless is still kind of selfish because he wants to save everyone by himself. Imo yuji will develop a more selfish reason as to why he chose to take on such a heavy burden and i hope gege will focus on it.
Honestly it could be as simple as expressing pure hatred. I hate curses
Mahito is a character I hate and respect a lot as an antagonist. I hate and love how he just kills notable characters, and his dynamic with Yuji is amazing, and his OST was sick. I kinda miss the bastard because on how threatening he was, or just to hypothesize how fast Yuta can pulverize him in a style similar to Roy Mustang (because of positive energy)
So, Mahito is a Magikarp!?
In addition, that monster that Mahito creates, called "Polymorphic Soul Isomer" and that only dies with a single strong and forceful blow, alludes to the phrase that "the weakest thugs can only attack in groups", as it said Maki Zenin to Yuta Okkotsu on their first mission when multiple curses attacked at once towards them... only weak cowards are strong or pretend to be strong when they work in a herd to literally lash out at a single person to gain in numbers. That's why it's so easy to destroy in one hit, because they're not really strong and all that stupid confidence goes away when you take away their number advantage and realize that when they fight separately they're very fragile.
I want schoolgirl Mahito-chan to dominate the shit outta me, to scar me to the core, to destroy me physically, mentally and emotionally
Dawg what
Excuse us but w h a t?
😟
I have been waiting for this video. God, in all my life, and in all the media I’ve experienced, I can probably count on one hand the number of characters that have brought as much hatred out of me as Mahito did in the tail end of the Shibuya Incident, and I’m someone who has always loved great antagonists. He is most certainly a well written, truly despicable villain.
Meti keeps flashing me with school girl mahito and I'm like one second hating their gutts and the next second thinking:"Damn they're fine as hell!"
Mahito is in my opinion one of the best well written villians in recent manga at least, everything about him fits him perfectly.
He’s a bit like Douma from Demon Slayer
You’ve simply just gotta hate the bastard and the author did a very good job making sure we did
I don't know, Douma was born without feelings/emotions, so he couldn't feel exactly what the other expressed. Mahito is perfectly conscious of the other's feelings and use them in his favour, even if they are suffering a lot. A true monster.
He remains one of the best characters in shonen period. Loved to see his pathetic evil ass in the last chapter
This was a very well made video. I enjoyed listening to it.
i hate mahito for what he's done to characters i like, but also love him at the same time for how he's just pure evil. he's such an amazing villian
31:00 once it hit me I let out the ugliest gut laugh imagineable
11/10 video forreal man
I'm not sure what the joke is
Is it beating the shit out of them?
@@kalo_vera the simplest way to refute a moral nihilist... Is to kill them. It's a title for an indie song. I guess it's supposed to be a reference
Mahito claims life has no meaning but by reminding people of this through traumatic experience, this gave Mahito’s life meaning.
So when Yugi was about to pack him up finally, he ran clinging onto his life with meaning. It was at this point his ideology shatters.
Can’t believe there’s a yakuza joke in here somewhere.
(10 YEARS IN THE JOIN MADE YOU A-)
Mahito-chan is the greatest thing ever created. They/them Mahito supremacy 🛐
Mahussy
I'm so in love with this thing
Thank you, Meti
Mahito is an actual villan, you don't want him to win.
I believe mahito is not the fear of hatred but the fear of indifference. Cause in some cases hate can spout love but indifference is straight ignorence.
I'm so glad I waited till the season was over to watch this and not be spoiled:)
Of course this video pops up after the latest episode
I was waiting for this, really wanted to know what makes Mahito so hateable as a villain, compared to Sukuna (which many people like).
Sukuna is both despicable and not as exciting as a character as Mahito, the reason people like him so much is the fetishisation of power
Not even 10 seconds in this video, I see that one panel of the manga, and I am already in love. What is it with those expressions? Why are they so good?
Love how you have the Brahman theme from DDS2 playing in the background.
DAMN YOU METIII!!! YOU MADE ME GO DOWN THE MAHITO-CHAN HOLE TOO!!! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!!
The dragon and tiger analysis is extremely nice, though, to nitpick a little bit, it is a little weird that you didn’t just directly point out Yuji have the word tiger(虎) in his family name (虎杖)
I'd save that more for a Yuji video, but yeah I probably should have mentioned it
He’s the best villain in the series. Unfortunately
Everyones a badass until they have to box itadori.
Mahito is one of the greatest villains to ever grace shounen. His very existence motivates hatred in the reader, actively making him more compelling as he seemingly gets more powerful the more the READER (a human) despises him. Every victory he obtains is a metatextual example of how effective being soullessly destructive is, when Humanity is able to cut loose and destroy its opposition. The approach is played for grimdark comedy, where only a child can hold such a dark ideal in their simple, unrefined mind. You seethe with every fight, as Mahito seemingly exploits any cheat to win-until that catharsis when you start screaming at Itadori to put him down once and for all, in vindication.
[30:06] Can we just say how beautiful of a narrative choice it is that Itadori Yuji exists in the capacity he does? As of Chapter 222, he actively breaks the concept of Mahito's philosophy, as his Cursed Technique (CT) is the ability to trade a body with a target, while maintaining souls. Thus, he could hijack anyone and trap them in a body that isn't their choosing. It seems like Yuji purposely chose a power which would slay another DRAGON, since Wisdom goes out the window when the gifts your mind relied on to plan are no longer yours to abuse.
The quickest way to refute a nialist is to beat him up?😂😂😂
getting to see mahito crawl and run for his life was so deeply satisfying, it sucks yuji couldn't finish him off.
Shigaraki ain’t got shit on my son Mahito.
And they keep ruining Shigaraki more so yeah Mahito wins
I remember watching yhis when it came put, having absolutely no idea who Mahito or what JJK is...
Habing watched and read JJK and coming back... i cannot believe how much i hate Mahito and his actions, bro is a living menace... was, was a living menace.
Considering that his domain only has a "sure hit" property and doesn't have a "sure kill" one (cause he doesn't need it), it's probably easier and cheaper to use than those domains that require both "sure hit" and "sure kill" properties.
Wasnt expecting nietzsche to pull up but always a pleasure to have him pull up