Jujutsu Kaisen’s most hated villain was even more important than you realized

Mahito might be Jujutsu Kaisen’s most hated villain, but there’s a deeper symbolism behind his character than many of us realized.

Up until the Shibuya Incident Arc, the Disaster Curses act as major antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen. Consisting of Jogo, Hanami, Dagon, and Mahito, these Special Grade curses are created from humanity’s fundamental fear of natural disasters.

However, Mahito is a little different from his group. Instead of a natural disaster, Mahito is born from humans’ innate fear of each other. That’s why he has the most humanlike appearance out of the team and a terrifying ability to go with it.

Apart from his source, Mahito is also the youngest of the group and is said to hold the most potential. This fact, though previously unnoticed, has now come to attention thanks to a Reddit post. A user asked why Mahito is the youngest when humans’ fear of each other is just as old as any other fear.

The answer behind this is quite simple, but still profound. As some users point out in the comment section, this is a clever social commentary from creator Gege Akutami. 

Humanity’s fear of itself is a reflection of society’s condition, and as time went on, people became more aware of the atrocities their fellow humans are capable of, leading to the birth of this fear, and consequently Mahito’s creation.

One wrote, “Fear of other people, on the other hand, is dependent on the state of society. Early people definitely had conflict between tribes, but as a general rule, people preferred peace over war. Even when you run into members of a rival tribe, you’d probably rather both get to go home than get into a blood feud.

“The idea Gege’s supposedly working on is that humanity has, especially in the modern era, transitioned from largely protecting each other to largely threatening each other. We fear each other in ways we never used to, and the negative emotions from that built up in modern society to add a new natural disaster, human beings.

“As we grew capable of mass destruction, the cursed spirit representing our fears of each other manifested into a spirit that better represents that potential for pure mass destruction.”

It’s a very interesting take on a character as hated as Mahito. But it also shows how Akutami has cleverly incorporated such subtle and profound details in creating his characters. It’ll surely encourage us to look deeper into Jujutsu Kaisen’s other offerings.

Jujutsu Kaisen is finally ending with Chapter 271 on September 29, 2024. Before the monumental occasion comes, check out our rankings of the best Jujutsu Kaisen fights and the most wasted characters in the series.