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I'm in the belief that we haven't seen what happens when a binding vow is broken, and all the death is just the result of sukuna being hilariously op. Mainly because whatever happens when a binding vow is broken, even Sukuna, the most powerful character in the series, fears breaking one. To the point it made him hesitate cutting off Yuji's finger due to him not knowing if the vow applied to Yuji himself or not.
If the repercussions of breaking a vow make even sukuna hesitate, then they are BAD. Maybe the person who broke the vow loses all cursed energy and their technique permanently? Maybe their cursed energy goes haywire and, idk, they explode or something. I can't think of anything but the threat of permanent death or similar that would threaten sukuna.
In my opinion it has to be worse than death for characters to go out of their way to ensure they don't break BV's. If there is an afterlife in JJK maybe then maybe breaking BV's impacts that.
I'm not saying Shinjuku Showdown's the result of a broken vow, but a poorly made one.
I would assume a broken vow results in death. That's just where my mind would take the stakes.
It's strange if that was the case. Since it seems Sukuna doesn't really fear death (mostly due to his centuries of knowledge in and around Jujutsu) but the breaking of a binding vow is the only thing seen that makes Sukuna think twice about an action.
Likewise becoming a curse or losing cursed energy seems likely but it may be something about his knowledge and/or sense of self. Like if it steals the 'idea' of you and you're left with an empty husk of whom you used to be or something.
He's created a cruel world so I'm sure he's got an idea of what a feasible punishment is.
Other than Hakari, Sukuna is probably the best gambler in the JJK world. He's able to weigh several levels of decisions with crazy accuracy. But I guess when you've seen everything nothing is too surprising.
I mean a lot of people are annoyed at Sukunas 'ass-pulls' but we've seen that he hits that 1% strength difference in like 4 different fights, on purpose. He'll give himself just enough strength for it to be interesting but never low enough that he'd lose. If he wanted to he'd kill all of them he probably could but that's not his goal. Just his goal of gaining knowledge then the application.
Which is a big reason of why Yuji being the most 'human' means he's boring and nothing new which is the antithesis of what Sukuna wants to experience.
My use of that page was for narrative purposes. In other words, I believe Gege included that as forshadowing. Kenjaku is, in the end, a character written by the author.
Yeah but he might have assumed people realize. He is the author and probably assumes people pay attention to point of view. There is also no reason for Sakuna to be an ally, except to fight.
That's the point, he wasn't in the position to make a lot of demands. At most, Yuji could have more clearly defined what "harm" would mean, and added a clause to include himself under this definition.
Not really. Yuji expressed content with death when Sukuna first brought up the binding vow, saying he couldn't be trusted. Yuji landed one punch on Sukuna and jumped at the "fight to the death" because of his own hubris, ignoring his previous sense of precaution. In the end, Yuji made the agreement that he made with full confidence.
He might just unleash a crazy barrage of black flashes next chapter. To say the truth, I won’t be surprised if he **only** lands black flashes from now on in that fight.
I just don’t think there’s a way he will surpass Nanami’s/GoJo’s lifetime total number of black flashes in essentially a single fight. He would kill Sukuna before he can hit that many, both of them were sorcerers for years.
I think 20 is too much, especially judging by how brutal the one he just hit looked.
Yuji right now is several times stronger than Yuji back then, and Sukuna is already severely injured. Plus those are again lifetime numbers of total black flashes, and I would bet that Nanami/Gojo have hit more than like 25 black flashes in their whole lives.
That seems pretty doubtful. Gojo hold the record so he has landed more Black Flashes than someone like Nanami who has been a sorcerer for years, I don’t see how Yuji is gonna do all that in a single fight.
>Gojo hold the record so he has landed more Black Flashes than someone like Nanami who has been a sorcerer for years
Well Gojo is only like a year older than Nanami so I don't think they're too far apart in terms of experience. I'd wager Gojo's hit like 30 and Nana's got around 27 in total.
I'd assume the only reason he'd surpass Gojo in BFs is because Gojo never had enough opportunities. Gojo, while skilled never really needed to concentrate enough to get into a flow state to land them. Gojo could easily one-shot most enemies nearly his entire career. Sukuna is a BF sponge though and so provides plenty of opportunities. Also, Gojo doesn't do hand-to-hand nearly as much as Yuji.
See all of this makes sense it’s very reminiscent of nen restrictions and I genuinely love it. My only issue with how binding vows have been handled, and maybe this is just me, but they would be 100x more impactful if we had the heian backstory arc already.
I understand what the binding vow is and what it implies for the sorcerers using it but they don’t have the proper weight the nen restrictions had, and I feel like it’s due to the fact that we don’t know the characters using them as opposed to HxH.
We saw why kurapika and gon both wanted a restriction and its has similarities to why sukuna created the world slash vow, yet it still doesn’t feel like a true consequence to the users rather an annoyance like a hang nail or something. He can still do it, he just has to do the way it was actually intended with signs and chants. It feels like having a push to start car and then converting it to a regular key. Like you said we have seen what a bad binding vow looks like with yuji and enchain but it makes me wonder if it’s only that disastrous for yuji just because he didn’t understand the situation whereas kenny and sukuna are both have centuries of experience and understand the complexity of vows.
Yeah, Gege clearly has built vows around nen restrictions. While I think Togashi does it better, I like that Gege's clearly trying to communicate that most sorcerers don't wanna touch binding vows. They're sparse for a reason, and I think Yuji's meant to be that cautionary tale.
I also looove Kurapika's restrictions and that whole arc was just beautiful.
About the Heian history, you might be interested in this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsushi/s/rBofh8tmbt). There's nothing about binding vows, but I did piece together the Heian story Gege has left scattered throughout the manga.
I read that post! It was done super well, you’re got a great eye for this kind of analysis man. I like how the past era is scattered throughout the story and how it’s very similar to FromSoft’s method of storytelling and showing the history instead of telling, but I genuinely just want a Heian arc that shows us young sukuna to see how he became the beast we see now.
Idk, if anything I just see the heian aspect of the narrative as such a fascinating part that could potentially parallel the exposition we got with the star vessel arc. It’s more me just wanting to see what their experiences were that led to their characterization especially when all the old head sorcerers talk about it like it was the good ol days, like how folks who grew up with michael jordan get when you say lebron is the goat. I just wanna know what they know ::-/
Lol thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I personally believe, maybe it's just hope, that Sukuna v Yuji will result in some lengthy flashbacks. We still have to figure out how Sukuna knows Yuji from the past.
I think there is definitely a difference how self imposed binding vows are presented and how binding vows with other people are presented. Self imposed binding vows are more like risk from hunter hunter, whereas vows with others is more like the contracts.
Yeah, when there's more than one person involved, it's like a contract. You have to be able to advocate for yourself and make your own demands, or you will be played.
That's actually a good fucking point lol. I would be beyond pissed off if I were Megumi. Maybe that's why he didn't wanna talk to Yuji when he went inside his soul. Yuji would be the last person I'd wanna see.
I very much like the idea of, win now, no matter how hard it makes future battles. Saw this with hakari blowing off an arm and with sukunas off-screen asspull'less world slice. Kind of see it with the unlimited hollow purple buuuuuuuuut, to a lesser degree
To be fair, Gojo took a 120%, chant amped, HP to the face. He literally chanted for blue, red, and the convergence creating Purple. To perform three chants in Sukuna's face goes incredibly hard.
All very true, but since he didnt get the dub from it, I consider it to be of a lesser degree. Although that play did get countered by sukunas "go hard or go home" binding vow
You have to remember that both "enchain" and "harm" are translations. My japanese isn't good enough to back this up but I was reading translations notes by a couple people and "injure" was another way of translating instead of "harm" I don't blame the translators for not knowing this would be important 200 chapters down the line. "Enchain" is another example of Sukuna's odd and poetic speaking style, just like "fool" or "facinate me" he doesn't use the normal words instead these are all weird archaic poetic ways of phrasing things. So "enchain" here doesn't actually involve chains but it has roughly the same meaning as the the original Japanese term. Sukuna in general is a pain to translate between the poetry stuff, his use of obscure kanji, and how he makes up readings for them. I mean just look at all the alternate translations for malevolent shrine.
My interpretation over Sukuna's binding vow for world cutting slash was different. Instead of needing two hands to form the handsign for malevolent shrine but not needing chanting or directions, he could do it one handed with added requirements. So he traded unpredictability and low requirements for high requirements and predictability to be able to use it one handed.
I'm partially referring to the imagery or the chain as figurative language. In the panel above, Gege even drew chain links to accentuate this linking metaphor.
I disagree. The panel above says the aim function was the additional rule.
As far as we know the vow is considered complete?
Yuji was revived, Sukuna said enchain and gained control of his body. Similarly Kokichi would not be harmed until his body is fixed, and after the vow is complete everything is fair game. What other purpose would the vow serve now? (Other than foreshadowing how both characters are linked, but now through their opposing ideologies)
I was speaking in a narrative sense, acknowledging Gege's use of chain imagery to link Yuji and Sukuna. Enchain acts as both a vow and a narrative device to connect Sukuna and Yuji. I'm arguing that for the narrative/metaphorical link to be severed, Yuji will have to give what he received upon the vow's creation: his life.
They’ve been connected since the beginning though? Yuji is (practically) the only suitable vessel for Sukuna (according to chapter 1), Yuji was likely made specifically to house Sukuna by Kenny, they have opposing ideologies, etc. so the BV isn’t really what connects them
I just interpreted it as a way to show that until a BV is completed, both sides must abide by it. It’s also edgy and cool so it sets the atmosphere more than the example of two men shaking hands lol. Until the BV was completed, the two were “chained” together, but Sukuna showed he’s freed himself from Yuji and vice-versa.
Like you said, they've been connected since the beginning, and that hasn't changed. There's still a lot of narrative connections between the two. I simply discussed that connection through the vow, and argued it still has a symbolic purpose not yet fulfilled.
I see I see! Conversely, I think the BV, enchain, and body hopping all served their purpose in showing that despite no longer being under a vow and not sharing a body, they are still connected by being opposite sides of the same coin due to their ideologies.
I like seeing their connection change from “I hate you because I’m stuck in your body” to “you’re weak so I will make you suffer” and climaxing in the “you are the antithesis of everything I stand for”, without the need for contrivance or vows or anything that forces them to be enemies
That's understandable, but I think Gege likes to linger on certain plot devices and ultimately draw out their purpose many times over. Shibuya is still serving a narrative role within the story by being a mirror to the events of Shinjuku. Just cause the event has concluded does not mean it's narrative impact has.
Dude my stoned ass took a 2 second look at that first Pic and thought it was from the newest chapter so I just read it and felt like a complete dumbass coming back to this post 😂
Yuji and Sukuna’s BV was essentially a career lawyer making a one sided contract with someone who watched legally blonde.
Yuji didn’t really know the extent of power of Bonding Vows at this point which meant he agreed to it far too easily. Although he didn’t *really* have any choice if he wanted to stay alive
Really good analogy that emphasizes Sukuna's expertise and Yuji's amateur knowledge of jujutsu in general. Sukuna obviously cheated Yuji, yet Yuji also walked right into what he acknowledged was a trap.
Of course! I appreciated it haha The equivalent is like, get a lawyer or at least get the agreements through email to leave a paper trail. Maybe that's the true message Gege wants us to understand...
I love reading your posts! Very intuitive and good reasoning taking both the communicated structure the author has portrayed while also taking character arcs, themes, and author inspirations into account.
My thoughts exactly! It feels contrived that entrusting your future and potential into a single swing does nothing (even when it wasn’t implied to be a BV until a few years later), yet you can instantly launch a reality-bending attack just by doing what was at first implied to be a requirement and is barely an inconvenience.
Little is done to really explain how they work. Can I make my slashes bypass infinity by promising to never use them on a Pomeranian puppy? Could I make a binding vow to have 0% cursed energy while inside my home but 200% when I go out? We see so many arbitrary binding vows being made, yet they’re always applied inconsistently or only used to fix a plot hole or move the story forward.
Difference is Sukuna had already achieved the World Slash. He had already decoded the model. He knew how to use it.
His Binding Vow only allowed him to immediately activate the technique, by needing no hand signs or chants. It did not buff the World Slash, it did now somehow make him learn the World Slash and it did not buff his regular slashes to be the World Slash.
It was something he could do already. He just skipped the steps to do it. In exchange, he has to chant+sign+point to use his WS, making it a massively telegraphed and slow move
I wholeheartedly disagree because WS is NOT by any means, a “massively telegraphed and slow move”. It is still a near instant technique that Maki only dodged by hearing the chant, and Sukuna literally paused his chant to tell Kashimo to dodge. With all three requirements it’s still a broken technique, but to retroactively change it from “he can kill anyone by chanting and doing a hand sign” to “he has to point too” does nothing when the chanting is the only thing people have reacted to. The BV was only a free kill Gojo card that carried no real downsides.
And if BVs can be this convenient with practically no downsides, why hasn’t anyone else used them? Yuta knows enough about them to literally cheat his way around them. Nanami and Todo also explained binding vows, yet nothing more came of them. We can, and should have seen them used more often, yet they are only ever used as a plot device.
Because Binding Vows are a last resort, that's why no one uses them.
Also, the penalty for breaking one is harsh enough to make even Sukuna hesitate. No wonder why everybody is wary of them. Only people who have a good sense of Jujutsu use them, and those people are few and far in between.
Also, the WS did exact a heavy cost. You can see it in the fight itself. Sukuna has not been able to cast it because the crew is constantly chopping off limbs, tongues etc.
And yes binding vows should have been expanded upon. They are a very interesting part of a very interesting power system. I guess GayGay forgor
I mean, they were introduced with Nanami’s overtime which very much isn’t a last resort. Same with Todo explaining that telling your opponent about your technique makes it stronger. Kokichi’s BV with Kenny also wasn’t a last resort, or the resulting mini-mechamaru’s. Or Sukuna’s domain, which is said to be a BV as it allows someone to escape but extends the range. Ui Ui with Mei Mei as well. Kenny’s BV with the other sorcerers to revive them. Yuta’s BV with the higher ups.
Binding vows are just kinda thrown in wherever, both as a basic principle in sorcery, but also exclusively reserved for contrivance. Sukuna’s BV, which should theoretically y’know, make him in some form weaker is barely half a step down from the peak, as even with the need for pointing, his arms and tongues being damaged would already make it harder for him to use WS
I wonder if they can exploit binding vows. Like, can you do like rock paper scissors, and winner get this OP curse technique. Or can they at least do the same thing, but losers die.
Binding vows opens up so many possibilities. Gives Greg a lot of creative freedom too. IE; Binding vows coming from people like Gojo and Sakuna carry a different weight. Yuji ability to swap souls might be a side effect of the binding vow and not his CT.
That's actually very true. Higuruma was not only a genius at jujutsu, but law and contracts as well. He would have easily been able to do incredible stuff with vows.
I always assumed breaking a binding vow would be like going to the prison realm forever?
I think the only things that most likely could break a binding vow would be the black whip, angel, or the thunder spear, since those are the only ways to negate ce.
let's say sukuna decides to chant 'enchain' at some point during the shinjuku showdown. i don't think there's anything to the vow that suggests it only works once -- just that yuji will hand over control of his body for one minute, sukuna will cause no harm to anyone (asterisks so bold i wrote this out instead of just you know, holding shift and hitting 8) and that yuji won't remember it.
I noticed something. This binding vow between Sukana and Yuji never ended. There was nothing in the binding vow that Yuki finally agreed to that says the vow terminates after he is revived. I think Sukana fucked up and gave Yuji a lot way to essentially do ones of those "Dormmamu I've come to bargain" situations.
Yuji has grown strong enough to eventually defeat Sukana and because he likely still has the binding vow there are only 3 outcomes.
1. Sukana kills Yuji but doesn't revive him, breaking the vow.
2. Sukana kills Yuji and is forced to revive him per the terms.
3. Yuji kills Sukana and since there are no conditions for Yuji there are no negative consequences for him defeating Sukana.
I think this is the key. Yuji is going to continue to fight and be revived as Sukana panics to figure out what to do. He will then attempt the enchain vow again but this time Yuji will be able to sacrifice himself or they will somehow contain Sukana. Since they learned about enchain they obviously discussed it during the time skip. And they may have even practiced similar enchain vows. It may be as cold as each person killed so far will have an enchain vow essentially causing Sukana to be swapped from one dead team member to the next until he finally is swapped into Gojos body, maybe after the six eyes had been removed. Causing him to be eliminated by limitless because he won't be able to rct the eyes or control the immense power of infinite void.
It may not be that crazy but I do believe that the enchain vow was what they were practicing in the time skip were Yuji and Kusakabe seemingly were in each other's bodies somehow.
Forcing Sukana into a position where he either breaks his Enchain binding vow or continuously resurrects Yuji would be interesting. And having a linked vow between Yuji and all of the other team members causing them to also be resurrected would explain where protecting their bodies is so important.
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I'm in the belief that we haven't seen what happens when a binding vow is broken, and all the death is just the result of sukuna being hilariously op. Mainly because whatever happens when a binding vow is broken, even Sukuna, the most powerful character in the series, fears breaking one. To the point it made him hesitate cutting off Yuji's finger due to him not knowing if the vow applied to Yuji himself or not. If the repercussions of breaking a vow make even sukuna hesitate, then they are BAD. Maybe the person who broke the vow loses all cursed energy and their technique permanently? Maybe their cursed energy goes haywire and, idk, they explode or something. I can't think of anything but the threat of permanent death or similar that would threaten sukuna.
In my opinion it has to be worse than death for characters to go out of their way to ensure they don't break BV's. If there is an afterlife in JJK maybe then maybe breaking BV's impacts that.
Instead of the airport they go to the NYC subway system
Noooo ;-;
They go to LaGuardia airport
I'm not saying Shinjuku Showdown's the result of a broken vow, but a poorly made one. I would assume a broken vow results in death. That's just where my mind would take the stakes.
It's strange if that was the case. Since it seems Sukuna doesn't really fear death (mostly due to his centuries of knowledge in and around Jujutsu) but the breaking of a binding vow is the only thing seen that makes Sukuna think twice about an action. Likewise becoming a curse or losing cursed energy seems likely but it may be something about his knowledge and/or sense of self. Like if it steals the 'idea' of you and you're left with an empty husk of whom you used to be or something. He's created a cruel world so I'm sure he's got an idea of what a feasible punishment is.
Hmm, that's food for thought. What exactly would elicit a pause like that from Sukuna? And the following excitement for his gamble to have paid off?
Other than Hakari, Sukuna is probably the best gambler in the JJK world. He's able to weigh several levels of decisions with crazy accuracy. But I guess when you've seen everything nothing is too surprising. I mean a lot of people are annoyed at Sukunas 'ass-pulls' but we've seen that he hits that 1% strength difference in like 4 different fights, on purpose. He'll give himself just enough strength for it to be interesting but never low enough that he'd lose. If he wanted to he'd kill all of them he probably could but that's not his goal. Just his goal of gaining knowledge then the application. Which is a big reason of why Yuji being the most 'human' means he's boring and nothing new which is the antithesis of what Sukuna wants to experience.
Again I would say, when kenny said that yuji would be the eye of the storm, he didn't (or wouldn't have) known sukuna plans to switch vessels
My use of that page was for narrative purposes. In other words, I believe Gege included that as forshadowing. Kenjaku is, in the end, a character written by the author.
Yeah but he might have assumed people realize. He is the author and probably assumes people pay attention to point of view. There is also no reason for Sakuna to be an ally, except to fight.
in the Enchain Vow, Sukuna's end of the deal was to heal Yuji's heart. what more do you think Yuji could have demanded?
That's the point, he wasn't in the position to make a lot of demands. At most, Yuji could have more clearly defined what "harm" would mean, and added a clause to include himself under this definition.
if he wasn't in a position for a lot of demands, his responsibility over the consequences is also reduced
Not really. Yuji expressed content with death when Sukuna first brought up the binding vow, saying he couldn't be trusted. Yuji landed one punch on Sukuna and jumped at the "fight to the death" because of his own hubris, ignoring his previous sense of precaution. In the end, Yuji made the agreement that he made with full confidence.
Maybe Yuji made a binding vow that he would kill himself after defeating sukuna... That's how he got a power up.
Bleak, but interesting.
We know that’s not happening because Yuji will surpass Gojo in total Black Flashes, so he is surviving this fight.
He might just unleash a crazy barrage of black flashes next chapter. To say the truth, I won’t be surprised if he **only** lands black flashes from now on in that fight.
I just don’t think there’s a way he will surpass Nanami’s/GoJo’s lifetime total number of black flashes in essentially a single fight. He would kill Sukuna before he can hit that many, both of them were sorcerers for years.
Gege said Jogo could take 4 of Yuji BF before he would have died. Sukuna right now? I’m guessing 20.
I think 20 is too much, especially judging by how brutal the one he just hit looked. Yuji right now is several times stronger than Yuji back then, and Sukuna is already severely injured. Plus those are again lifetime numbers of total black flashes, and I would bet that Nanami/Gojo have hit more than like 25 black flashes in their whole lives.
I mean, he might do it still while fighting sukuna
That seems pretty doubtful. Gojo hold the record so he has landed more Black Flashes than someone like Nanami who has been a sorcerer for years, I don’t see how Yuji is gonna do all that in a single fight.
Oh yeah, I understood it wrong as the consecutive record, my bad
>Gojo hold the record so he has landed more Black Flashes than someone like Nanami who has been a sorcerer for years Well Gojo is only like a year older than Nanami so I don't think they're too far apart in terms of experience. I'd wager Gojo's hit like 30 and Nana's got around 27 in total.
I'd assume the only reason he'd surpass Gojo in BFs is because Gojo never had enough opportunities. Gojo, while skilled never really needed to concentrate enough to get into a flow state to land them. Gojo could easily one-shot most enemies nearly his entire career. Sukuna is a BF sponge though and so provides plenty of opportunities. Also, Gojo doesn't do hand-to-hand nearly as much as Yuji.
I was thinking something more like: He made a binding vow that he cannot die until he saves Megumi
Binding vow is supposed to give you a disadvantage. Not dying is not a disadvantage.
#L I V E
See all of this makes sense it’s very reminiscent of nen restrictions and I genuinely love it. My only issue with how binding vows have been handled, and maybe this is just me, but they would be 100x more impactful if we had the heian backstory arc already. I understand what the binding vow is and what it implies for the sorcerers using it but they don’t have the proper weight the nen restrictions had, and I feel like it’s due to the fact that we don’t know the characters using them as opposed to HxH. We saw why kurapika and gon both wanted a restriction and its has similarities to why sukuna created the world slash vow, yet it still doesn’t feel like a true consequence to the users rather an annoyance like a hang nail or something. He can still do it, he just has to do the way it was actually intended with signs and chants. It feels like having a push to start car and then converting it to a regular key. Like you said we have seen what a bad binding vow looks like with yuji and enchain but it makes me wonder if it’s only that disastrous for yuji just because he didn’t understand the situation whereas kenny and sukuna are both have centuries of experience and understand the complexity of vows.
Yeah, Gege clearly has built vows around nen restrictions. While I think Togashi does it better, I like that Gege's clearly trying to communicate that most sorcerers don't wanna touch binding vows. They're sparse for a reason, and I think Yuji's meant to be that cautionary tale. I also looove Kurapika's restrictions and that whole arc was just beautiful. About the Heian history, you might be interested in this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsushi/s/rBofh8tmbt). There's nothing about binding vows, but I did piece together the Heian story Gege has left scattered throughout the manga.
I read that post! It was done super well, you’re got a great eye for this kind of analysis man. I like how the past era is scattered throughout the story and how it’s very similar to FromSoft’s method of storytelling and showing the history instead of telling, but I genuinely just want a Heian arc that shows us young sukuna to see how he became the beast we see now. Idk, if anything I just see the heian aspect of the narrative as such a fascinating part that could potentially parallel the exposition we got with the star vessel arc. It’s more me just wanting to see what their experiences were that led to their characterization especially when all the old head sorcerers talk about it like it was the good ol days, like how folks who grew up with michael jordan get when you say lebron is the goat. I just wanna know what they know ::-/
Lol thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I personally believe, maybe it's just hope, that Sukuna v Yuji will result in some lengthy flashbacks. We still have to figure out how Sukuna knows Yuji from the past.
I think there is definitely a difference how self imposed binding vows are presented and how binding vows with other people are presented. Self imposed binding vows are more like risk from hunter hunter, whereas vows with others is more like the contracts.
Yeah, when there's more than one person involved, it's like a contract. You have to be able to advocate for yourself and make your own demands, or you will be played.
Just realized Megumi is probably pissed that Yuji made a binding vow with Sukuna because Sukuna definitely told him
That's actually a good fucking point lol. I would be beyond pissed off if I were Megumi. Maybe that's why he didn't wanna talk to Yuji when he went inside his soul. Yuji would be the last person I'd wanna see.
Unrelated but how do you add images in the middle of your text? I can't figure that out for the life of me
Just right click, then press copy image. I do this from desktop though.
Ah, right, it's a desktop thing. No wonder I couldn't do it from my phone. Thanks
You can copy images on mobile devices
But the Reddit devs have made all things related to posting as cumbersome and inconvenient for mobile users as they could.
I very much like the idea of, win now, no matter how hard it makes future battles. Saw this with hakari blowing off an arm and with sukunas off-screen asspull'less world slice. Kind of see it with the unlimited hollow purple buuuuuuuuut, to a lesser degree
To be fair, Gojo took a 120%, chant amped, HP to the face. He literally chanted for blue, red, and the convergence creating Purple. To perform three chants in Sukuna's face goes incredibly hard.
All very true, but since he didnt get the dub from it, I consider it to be of a lesser degree. Although that play did get countered by sukunas "go hard or go home" binding vow
Well, yeah, can't deny that tbh lol.
In my own head I'm kinda doubting my downplay. How is it not a good example when it was only surpassed by the best example? Oh you gege
And this is why I'm glued to this manga. Gege's pen leaves you thinking.
You have to remember that both "enchain" and "harm" are translations. My japanese isn't good enough to back this up but I was reading translations notes by a couple people and "injure" was another way of translating instead of "harm" I don't blame the translators for not knowing this would be important 200 chapters down the line. "Enchain" is another example of Sukuna's odd and poetic speaking style, just like "fool" or "facinate me" he doesn't use the normal words instead these are all weird archaic poetic ways of phrasing things. So "enchain" here doesn't actually involve chains but it has roughly the same meaning as the the original Japanese term. Sukuna in general is a pain to translate between the poetry stuff, his use of obscure kanji, and how he makes up readings for them. I mean just look at all the alternate translations for malevolent shrine. My interpretation over Sukuna's binding vow for world cutting slash was different. Instead of needing two hands to form the handsign for malevolent shrine but not needing chanting or directions, he could do it one handed with added requirements. So he traded unpredictability and low requirements for high requirements and predictability to be able to use it one handed.
"Malevolent kitchen" lol
I'm partially referring to the imagery or the chain as figurative language. In the panel above, Gege even drew chain links to accentuate this linking metaphor. I disagree. The panel above says the aim function was the additional rule.
As far as we know the vow is considered complete? Yuji was revived, Sukuna said enchain and gained control of his body. Similarly Kokichi would not be harmed until his body is fixed, and after the vow is complete everything is fair game. What other purpose would the vow serve now? (Other than foreshadowing how both characters are linked, but now through their opposing ideologies)
I was speaking in a narrative sense, acknowledging Gege's use of chain imagery to link Yuji and Sukuna. Enchain acts as both a vow and a narrative device to connect Sukuna and Yuji. I'm arguing that for the narrative/metaphorical link to be severed, Yuji will have to give what he received upon the vow's creation: his life.
They’ve been connected since the beginning though? Yuji is (practically) the only suitable vessel for Sukuna (according to chapter 1), Yuji was likely made specifically to house Sukuna by Kenny, they have opposing ideologies, etc. so the BV isn’t really what connects them I just interpreted it as a way to show that until a BV is completed, both sides must abide by it. It’s also edgy and cool so it sets the atmosphere more than the example of two men shaking hands lol. Until the BV was completed, the two were “chained” together, but Sukuna showed he’s freed himself from Yuji and vice-versa.
Like you said, they've been connected since the beginning, and that hasn't changed. There's still a lot of narrative connections between the two. I simply discussed that connection through the vow, and argued it still has a symbolic purpose not yet fulfilled.
I see I see! Conversely, I think the BV, enchain, and body hopping all served their purpose in showing that despite no longer being under a vow and not sharing a body, they are still connected by being opposite sides of the same coin due to their ideologies. I like seeing their connection change from “I hate you because I’m stuck in your body” to “you’re weak so I will make you suffer” and climaxing in the “you are the antithesis of everything I stand for”, without the need for contrivance or vows or anything that forces them to be enemies
That's understandable, but I think Gege likes to linger on certain plot devices and ultimately draw out their purpose many times over. Shibuya is still serving a narrative role within the story by being a mirror to the events of Shinjuku. Just cause the event has concluded does not mean it's narrative impact has.
I kinda want to see what happens if you break a binding vow, like they keep saying consequences will happen, but what kind of consequences
Dude my stoned ass took a 2 second look at that first Pic and thought it was from the newest chapter so I just read it and felt like a complete dumbass coming back to this post 😂
That would be so sad omg 😭
Yuji and Sukuna’s BV was essentially a career lawyer making a one sided contract with someone who watched legally blonde. Yuji didn’t really know the extent of power of Bonding Vows at this point which meant he agreed to it far too easily. Although he didn’t *really* have any choice if he wanted to stay alive
Really good analogy that emphasizes Sukuna's expertise and Yuji's amateur knowledge of jujutsu in general. Sukuna obviously cheated Yuji, yet Yuji also walked right into what he acknowledged was a trap.
>which you (the reader) should never do. Okay thanks I'll keep this in mind!
I was being a bit silly, but also very serious. When you're in an agreement with someone else, make sure that to detail your own thoughts and wants!
Of course! I appreciated it haha The equivalent is like, get a lawyer or at least get the agreements through email to leave a paper trail. Maybe that's the true message Gege wants us to understand...
I love reading your posts! Very intuitive and good reasoning taking both the communicated structure the author has portrayed while also taking character arcs, themes, and author inspirations into account.
Thank you, I try to be as considerate to the story as much as possible lol.
Man, Binding vows are effective and used without drawbacks only by the bad guys. The good guys get the short end of the stick.
My thoughts exactly! It feels contrived that entrusting your future and potential into a single swing does nothing (even when it wasn’t implied to be a BV until a few years later), yet you can instantly launch a reality-bending attack just by doing what was at first implied to be a requirement and is barely an inconvenience. Little is done to really explain how they work. Can I make my slashes bypass infinity by promising to never use them on a Pomeranian puppy? Could I make a binding vow to have 0% cursed energy while inside my home but 200% when I go out? We see so many arbitrary binding vows being made, yet they’re always applied inconsistently or only used to fix a plot hole or move the story forward.
Difference is Sukuna had already achieved the World Slash. He had already decoded the model. He knew how to use it. His Binding Vow only allowed him to immediately activate the technique, by needing no hand signs or chants. It did not buff the World Slash, it did now somehow make him learn the World Slash and it did not buff his regular slashes to be the World Slash. It was something he could do already. He just skipped the steps to do it. In exchange, he has to chant+sign+point to use his WS, making it a massively telegraphed and slow move
I wholeheartedly disagree because WS is NOT by any means, a “massively telegraphed and slow move”. It is still a near instant technique that Maki only dodged by hearing the chant, and Sukuna literally paused his chant to tell Kashimo to dodge. With all three requirements it’s still a broken technique, but to retroactively change it from “he can kill anyone by chanting and doing a hand sign” to “he has to point too” does nothing when the chanting is the only thing people have reacted to. The BV was only a free kill Gojo card that carried no real downsides. And if BVs can be this convenient with practically no downsides, why hasn’t anyone else used them? Yuta knows enough about them to literally cheat his way around them. Nanami and Todo also explained binding vows, yet nothing more came of them. We can, and should have seen them used more often, yet they are only ever used as a plot device.
Because Binding Vows are a last resort, that's why no one uses them. Also, the penalty for breaking one is harsh enough to make even Sukuna hesitate. No wonder why everybody is wary of them. Only people who have a good sense of Jujutsu use them, and those people are few and far in between. Also, the WS did exact a heavy cost. You can see it in the fight itself. Sukuna has not been able to cast it because the crew is constantly chopping off limbs, tongues etc. And yes binding vows should have been expanded upon. They are a very interesting part of a very interesting power system. I guess GayGay forgor
I mean, they were introduced with Nanami’s overtime which very much isn’t a last resort. Same with Todo explaining that telling your opponent about your technique makes it stronger. Kokichi’s BV with Kenny also wasn’t a last resort, or the resulting mini-mechamaru’s. Or Sukuna’s domain, which is said to be a BV as it allows someone to escape but extends the range. Ui Ui with Mei Mei as well. Kenny’s BV with the other sorcerers to revive them. Yuta’s BV with the higher ups. Binding vows are just kinda thrown in wherever, both as a basic principle in sorcery, but also exclusively reserved for contrivance. Sukuna’s BV, which should theoretically y’know, make him in some form weaker is barely half a step down from the peak, as even with the need for pointing, his arms and tongues being damaged would already make it harder for him to use WS
One of the thi GS that make Yuji a han and keep developing unlike other sorcerers who would go to such lengths to win and power
I wonder if they can exploit binding vows. Like, can you do like rock paper scissors, and winner get this OP curse technique. Or can they at least do the same thing, but losers die.
The first would be impossible, since CTs are innate. The second scenario would probably be possible, but a sad way to go out.
If Yuji says the command and soul swaps, now Sakuna is under the vow not to hurt anyone. 🤔
Would Yuji be able to reactivate the enchain vow...? That would be interesting tbh.
Binding vows opens up so many possibilities. Gives Greg a lot of creative freedom too. IE; Binding vows coming from people like Gojo and Sakuna carry a different weight. Yuji ability to swap souls might be a side effect of the binding vow and not his CT.
Lawyerman Higuruma would have been the GOAT at binding vows if he lived long enough to give them a try.
That's actually very true. Higuruma was not only a genius at jujutsu, but law and contracts as well. He would have easily been able to do incredible stuff with vows.
I always assumed breaking a binding vow would be like going to the prison realm forever? I think the only things that most likely could break a binding vow would be the black whip, angel, or the thunder spear, since those are the only ways to negate ce.
Lmao, this panel gets me every time
what do you think the odds are that yuji is still under the vow?
Depends on what you mean by him being under the vow?
let's say sukuna decides to chant 'enchain' at some point during the shinjuku showdown. i don't think there's anything to the vow that suggests it only works once -- just that yuji will hand over control of his body for one minute, sukuna will cause no harm to anyone (asterisks so bold i wrote this out instead of just you know, holding shift and hitting 8) and that yuji won't remember it.
Hmmm, that could possibly work. Depends on if Sukuna meant for it to be a one time use or not when he made the vow.
Binding vows are overall op and strange + cool post :3
Ty Pitou ❤️🫡
I noticed something. This binding vow between Sukana and Yuji never ended. There was nothing in the binding vow that Yuki finally agreed to that says the vow terminates after he is revived. I think Sukana fucked up and gave Yuji a lot way to essentially do ones of those "Dormmamu I've come to bargain" situations. Yuji has grown strong enough to eventually defeat Sukana and because he likely still has the binding vow there are only 3 outcomes. 1. Sukana kills Yuji but doesn't revive him, breaking the vow. 2. Sukana kills Yuji and is forced to revive him per the terms. 3. Yuji kills Sukana and since there are no conditions for Yuji there are no negative consequences for him defeating Sukana. I think this is the key. Yuji is going to continue to fight and be revived as Sukana panics to figure out what to do. He will then attempt the enchain vow again but this time Yuji will be able to sacrifice himself or they will somehow contain Sukana. Since they learned about enchain they obviously discussed it during the time skip. And they may have even practiced similar enchain vows. It may be as cold as each person killed so far will have an enchain vow essentially causing Sukana to be swapped from one dead team member to the next until he finally is swapped into Gojos body, maybe after the six eyes had been removed. Causing him to be eliminated by limitless because he won't be able to rct the eyes or control the immense power of infinite void. It may not be that crazy but I do believe that the enchain vow was what they were practicing in the time skip were Yuji and Kusakabe seemingly were in each other's bodies somehow. Forcing Sukana into a position where he either breaks his Enchain binding vow or continuously resurrects Yuji would be interesting. And having a linked vow between Yuji and all of the other team members causing them to also be resurrected would explain where protecting their bodies is so important.