Highlights
- The Ten Shadows Cursed Technique, especially Mahoraga, is a formidable power in Jujutsu Kaisen, rivaling even Sukuna and Gojo.
- Mahoraga’s adaptation ability allows him to counter any attack or technique, making him virtually unbeatable in prolonged battles.
- The key to defeating Mahoraga lies in ending the fight quickly before he can fully adapt to and counter all attacks thrown at him.
Cursed Techniques are the bread and butter of Jujutsu Kaisen, and in some families, like the Zenin Clan, a person’s worth is determined by the strength of their technique. Had he been raised in his clan, Megumi would have been treated like royalty due to the strength of his Ten Shadows Cursed Technique, which allows him to summon and control 10 Shikigami.
Though each has its advantages, the final Shikigami, Mahoraga, is all a user of this technique really needs. This character is powerful enough to contend with the likes of Sukuna and Gojo, easily earning him a spot within the top 5 strongest characters in the entire series due to his unique adaptation ability. In this article, let’s take a look at this ability and see why it makes Mahoraga such a terrifying opponent to face in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Who Is Mahoraga?
|
First Appearance |
Jujutsu Kaisen, Episode 40, “Thunderclap, Part 1” |
|---|---|
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Debut Date |
November 9, 2023 |
|
Story Arc |
The Shibuya Incident |
Being the tenth and final Shikigami of the inherited Ten Shadows technique, Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga is the most powerful of them all, not only due to his signature adaptation ability, but also because of how strong and durable he is despite it. This monster is a gigantic humanoid figure with an eight-handled wheel levitating above his head, which is the source behind his monstrous power.
Mahoraga is so powerful that, throughout the history of the Ten Shadows technique, which has existed for many centuries due to it being an inherited technique of the Zenin Clan, not a single user has ever been able to tame the beast alone. It was first summoned by Megumi against Haruta but would later fight Sukuna, where the King of Curses defeated it. Eventually, Sukuna took over Megumi’s body and tamed the beast, using it in his fight against Gojo in the Shinjuku Showdown arc.
How Does Mahoraga’s Adaptation Work?
Though he is an extremely tough combatant in pretty much every regard, the true reason behind Mahoraga’s fearsome strength is his ability to adapt to all phenomena infinitely. This means that no matter how powerful or complicated the technique of his opponents might be, if the fight goes on for long enough, Mahoraga will always adapt to their Cursed Technique or fighting style, almost guaranteeing a victory for the Shikigami.
The wheel floating above Mahoraga’s head is the key to finding out how his adaptation works. Whenever Mahoraga encounters an attack of any kind, he takes in the information about the attack. Eventually, when he sees the attack or technique often enough, the wheel turns, signifying Mahoraga has adapted to it. This adaptation is manifested in either how he reacts to the attack or his finding out the perfect counter to it.
I bet this Shikigami’s power is the ability to adapt to any and all phenomena! Kind of like a late throw is rock-paper-scissors!
An example of this was when he fought Sukuna, where the King of Curses repeatedly used his Cursed Technique, Dismantle and Cleave, to send out innumerable slashes toward the Shikigami. To counter this, Mahoraga eventually adapted to all kinds of slashing damage, making him impervious to Sukuna’s technique, prompting the Fallen One to break out his Divine Flames to put Mahoraga down for good.
The extent of the adaptation is incredible. Not only could Mahoraga eventually see Sukuna’s otherwise invisible slashes, but his adaptation made him completely immune to all slashing damage, which allowed him to walk through Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine Domain Expansion like it was nothing, shocking even Sukuna himself. As stated earlier, the only way to defeat this monster is to destroy him in one fell swoop, because if the fight goes on long enough, he will eventually adapt to anything thrown at him.
Moreover, Mahoraga’s adaptation works offensively as well. If he comes across a person or technique that cannot be harmed by traditional means, his wheel will turn and eventually make him realize what to do in order to combat this. For example, in Sukuna’s fight against Gojo, the King of Curses was only able to kill the Limitless sorcerer by having Mahoraga adapt to Infinity, which it did by slashing the space around Gojo instead of Gojo himself.
It also seems that the complexity of whatever Mahoraga goes up against seems to influence how quickly he can adapt to it. For example, he adapted to Dismantle quite rapidly due to its nature of being a simple slashing attack, but adapting to Infinity proved to take far longer due to the complexity and strength of the Cursed Technique. Moreover, the more times Mahoraga encounters a technique or attack, the quicker his adaptation to it becomes. Even once he has found a counter to it, his adaptation allows him to further analyze it and think of other means to damage it.
Jujutsu Kaisen can be streamed on Amazon Prime and Netflix.
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