Is Gege a Good Fight Choreographer? Why Todo is Amazing
This will be a sort of series analyzing different aspects of Gege's choice of fighting elements and his magic system, with considerations for the anime as well. Though I will be analyzing Jujutsu Kaisen's magic system, I will mostly be focusing on the physical fighting elements, including hand to hand, weapon use, and overall strategic combat. You cannot discuss a jjk fight without mentioning the importance of strategy and deception!
TLDR: Just read the Problem Solver Section for a general idea of what I'm talking about.
I've been reflecting heavily about how to use powerful people in a story all at once. In my mind, in order to have powerful characters, the author will simply have to upscale all others to somewhat match them; that way, an author can avoid a power fantasy or mary sue issue. Upscaling does not always mean bigger blasts. Todo exemplifies a character with a strong ability not reliant on a huge blast.
In effect, Todo uses Goku's Instant Transmission, but limited to an uncertain, wide range relative to himself. I enjoy Gege's ability to take aspects of other manga and effortlessly incorporate them into jjk. Even if Boogie Woogie was not meant to be Goku's IT, there are other direct references to other powers like Yuji's jajanken (Gon from HunterxHunter), and Domain Expansions being similar to bankai (Bleach). Point being, Gege takes pieces of other magic systems and adds to them what he needs to ensure jjkverse maintains its individuality.
Boogie Woogie, The Problem Solver
Boogie Woogie has stood up against two of the most difficult opponents in the entire verse: Kenjaku and Sukuna. Before I delve into breaking down Todo's use as a powerful story mechanism, a small rant. Skip the section below if you don't care about Yuki vs. Kenjaku.
Kenjaku having gravity abilities exists solely so that he can logically survive Yuki's Bombaye and mass-type cursed technique. It makes sense narratively for Yuki to defend Tengen and eventually face Kenjaku, considering they philosophically oppose one another. Yet, with all intents and purposes, Yuki should have killed Kenjaku there. While the fight was entertaining, why go so far as to give Yuki something like a black hole just for it to be countered with a cursed technique reversal? That part specifically was not entertaining, it was disrespectful to both Yuki and the reader who had to see it.
Rant over.
The difficulties that Kenjaku presents as an opponent in a fight:
Extremely powerful Simple Domain
An open Domain Expansion
360 antigravity shield
Any number of useful cursed spirits
Powerful rct/healing
The issue of Kenjaku having arguably the most powerful simple domain and having an open barrier with gravity powers meant that he was practically undefeatable. If someone tried to do a domain battle, he would either easily suffer their domain with SD, or he'd win the clash with an open barrier. If Kenjaku needs to block something, he will just use his antigravity shield. Kenjaku also has multiple cursed spirits with differing beneficial utilities for him to use; this allows Gege to add whatever backdoor or advantage Kenjaku needs ay any given moment. If Kenjaku needs to escape, Gege can write in a useful cursed spirit that will allow it.
In all fairness, in the Lake Gosho colony, Gege used Kenjaku's abilities to their most sensible limits. Why wouldn't Kenjaku have secured surveillance spirits? Of course Kenjaku can track all the resurrected sorcerers. Kenjaku's caution and overall security makes sense for his character, as he's calculating and strategic.
Kenjaku's own capabilities therefore demands a character who does at least one of two things: Gege needs a character that matches his SD, DE, and gravity abilities, and or someone who simply bypasses those factors. Todo, coupled with Yuta, simply bypass all the things that make Kenjaku a difficult opponent. To note, Takaba did his part in weakening and distracting Kenjaku, which allowed Todo and Yuta's attack to work.
From Lightning's Twitter:
Kenjaku's antigravity shield acts as the ultimate last effort defense. I will avoid saying that Gege wrote himself into a corner, but it does boggle my mind that Gege allowed Kenjaku to have this ability. Regardless of my issues with his gravity powers, Gege masterfully uses Todo to bypass such an overpowered ability.
Correcting TCB's Mistake
The sound effect on the double spread does not say SLICE, but it instead was Todo's vibraslap onomatopoeia. Kenjaku was standing next to Takaba's body, then after the attack, Yuta now stands in the same place. Yuta and Kenjaku switched places, which allowed Yuta to bypass the antigravity shield. Kenjaku would have been able to use it at least in the direction that Yuta was in, so Todo swapped Yuta to be behind Kenjaku.
Todo performed BW again here to bring Yuta and Kenjaku closer so Yuta could stab Kenjaku in the brain.
Just Avoid the Domain Clash
I originally believed that Sukuna would not get his domain back because there's no real way for anyone in the cast to survive it. Again, Sukuna demands the anti-mary sue rules: Gege needs a character that matches his DE and Kamino, and or someone who simply bypasses those factors. Todo does the latter yet again. By expanding his technique, he could successfully save the cast from being oneshotted. I like Gege's execution here, because it allows for the cool moment of Sukuna finally revealing Kamino, and the audience gets to enjoy the calamity that it brings. Gege does all of that while saving the audience from a complete wipeout of the cast. Yet, Gege still understands the give and take of a high stakes narrative and includes a heart wrenching death for good measure.
Essentially, Todo and BW allows for Gege to allow powerful characters like Kenjaku and Sukuna to sensibly perform at their best while not being the unbeatable plot devices that Gege made them to be. At the very least, BW enables defeat to a certain degree. Gege's characters' interesting and creative abilities allows for dynamic, somewhat chaotic, but fulfilling fights.
i really don't understand why ppl hate the iron fist so much. i put off watching it simply bc of the reviews ive seen. but a few days ago i reached a point where i had nothing to watch and said fuck it bc i love marvel. i was under the impression that his story was similar to Luke cage's and saw ppl talking abt them fighting in blk hoodies and basically just a fuck the white boy mentality everywhere. their stories are completely different, they have different powers so why ppl are comparing them idk. Yes I think the fighting choreography could be better and Danny needs a bit of acting buffing but I've seen much worse. I mean luke cage for instance. I started and stopped watching it 3 times bc it's so bad. Luke cage is a horrible actor imo he shows no emotion but anger or just content, his facial expressions don't change, the new hulk in the avengers is shit, THE ANT MAN ACTOR IS SHIT. needless to say no more will i put off seeing something I want just bc of reviews.
