Mahito - The Paradox of Humanity (Jujutsu Kaisen) 

There is some garbled audio for about 30 seconds in the video starting at around 7:10 - sorry about that, had to do it due to a copyright claim. Luckily it corrects itself very quickly and the rest of the video is fine, but apologies for that!

The fact that all the other disaster spirits went out with dignity during their last moments while Mahito was crying and running away so pathetically proved that he truly embodied the worst aspects of human nature. Even when some human beings can be evil and greedy they’re truly cowards when karma comes back to bite. Man I truly love Jujutsu Kaisen. Mahito learned that it's no fun being the hunted.

I still think Mahito is Gege best written character only behind Geto it’s not often we get a villain we love to hate by simply being a reflection of humanity

"Being in opposition of something doesn't mean your free of it" this just blown my mind

Mahito unlocking black flash after killing Nobara was terrifying and beautiful. He was an incredible antagonist who succeeded at attacking the weak spots of the hero. He'll definitely be remembered. But I'm glad he's gone.

what made Mahito such an interesting character was his complex and disturbing personality displaying a childlike curiosity and fascination with emotions and the nature of humanity adding depth to his character, making him more than just a one-dimensional villain

He is completely irredeemable, and I bloody love that! It isn't even technically his fault. He is created from the negative emotions and fears we feel of other people, and thereby he is, without a shiver of a doubt, the most terrifying creature in this show. A lot of villains are written as the opposed but same coin of the hero, but most don't succeed in it to this extend. Yuji is someone that is self sacrificial to a fault. He lives for others and never for himself, and that isn't necessarily a good thing, but it is a very human trait that most people would never fear. It isn't necessarily positive trait, but most people would either see it as a good thing or at least never feel terrified because of it. He is the complete opposed of Mahito in literally all ways. His childish behavior is even seen as a more friendly and naive rather than psychotic and uncaring. I absolutely LOVE the way those two characters show off all traits of humans in both extremes!

Even though Mahito made our blood boil so many times, you have to give it to both Akutami-Sensei and Mahito’s JP voice actor Nobunaga Shimazaki-san. Not only did Akutami-Sensei did a good job at making a great and memorable villain, Mahito’s JP voice actor put in 110% into his role, the man deserves an award.

Mahito really is the perfect villain for both Yuji and Jujutsu Kaisen's first half overall. And seeing him finally lose at the end of Shibuya was so satisfying.

Mahito is but half a man. As a curse born from the worst aspects of humanity, he lacks any of our virtues. Mahito is the human curse, and that's all he was ever capable of. A particularly rough obstacle in Yuji's story.

imo, Mahito's role in the stroy gets overlooked and its a shame really cuz i truly enjoyed his character arc. the fact that if he wasnt killed then the story would've truly ended right there and then

I really hope that one day audiences will stop dismissing and disrespecting JJK and realize the type of story it is and the depth in what it does. It gets so much unfair criticism from people not interested in trying even a little bit, people with agendas. Thanks for doing your part, I’m happy you love it.

Yuji and Mahito: The Extremes of Humanity

Mahito running away from Yuji was SO satisfying 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

JJK isn't afraid to do the unexpected, but one of its best surprises is that it didn't have Yuji go "I won't kill you because that'd make me just as bad" when he had Mahito at his mercy.

Mahito is honestly close to perfection. That doesn’t mean he is one of the best characters of all time, as he’s in the story for a limited amount of time. But for his role? Does everything he needs to, with phenomenal voice acting. Executed the themes perfectly. S tier in every regard. Very nice vid.

I always liked that Mahito felt extremely dangerous anytime he was on screen but never overpowered, especially because he grew in strength with the characters. There was always so much tension

Having just experienced the 'Jujutsu Kaisen' anime, Mahito's paradoxical, dualistic self-destruction quite honestly serves as perfect microcosm of the decay perceived across the setting, the systemic rot and subsequent accumulation of suffering breeding 'Curses' to begin with. Humanity's cataclysmic 'Trajectory', the atrocities we commit and the hatred we allow to persist, perpetuates his vile existence, thus ensuring he can further reflect the darkness he was born of, that of the human heart itself. It's an ever-spiraling, self-amplifying cycle of death and desolation, as Mahito deceptively yearns to understand his very being through the violent decconstruction of all those around him, thus encapsulating all that gave rise to him, never to 'Evolve' beyond this pathetic, hateful creature due to his internalization of humanity's sins and scars. Whilst it's admittedly somewhat disheartening that Mahito is both functionally and thematically veritably identical to an antagonist within my own project (Barring their myriad differences, they're essentially one-to-one lol), I can only admire Gege Akutami's robust and integrative creative process, as is fully exemplified within the quality of his work. Excellent video as always, I do hope the New Year is treating everyone well thus far.

I wonder if Mahito came into being after Twitter became a thing.

One of my favourite shonen villains ever to be honest. I love what he represents thematically, I love his design and how it ties to that theme, his powers make any fight he's in versatile, unpredictable and exciting, his viscious rivalry with Yuji, how he's both intensely hateable and intimidating, and yet, if you didn't know any better, you'd be forgiven for mistaking him as fun and charming. I think people can get so lost in their intense hatred of him they dont appreciate what an effective villain he is - but then again, I guess that also shows his effectiveness lol

Yuji tried to embody the aspects of humanity that Mahito lacked…empathy and trying to do better. He saw Yuji as prey…at first and an obstacle later on. Curses cause harm and taint the virtue of humanity. Mahito built up the conflict in a childish fashion and like a child never looked at himself and found out via a harsh reality. He was definitely “human”

There's something in Mahito's character reminiscent of the Royal Guards from Hunter x Hunter. Despising humanity yet it is their own human traits that provokes their downfall. Great video!

MaGOATo is my guy and the voice acting from his actor in S2 was so phenomenal it's crazy great

S3 hasn't even started and I already miss Mahito. Good character piece.

Honestly i think JJK as a whole could undergo some good literary analysis regarding morals, what it is we fight for and what it means to be human. I love Mahito bc his existence is a call out to just how twisted we are as humans, us just going about our day resulted in this absolute abomination of an individual, we completely screwed ourselves over by being the way we are and bringing him into existence. We can spread as much love and kindness as we wish and are capable, but the darkness is still there, and there will be another individual like Mahito just ready to come into existence bc of our own faults

This helped me better understand why I loved his character so much.

Best villian in fiction ever, the emotions I see Mahito get out of people shows how well written he is.

Curses usualy bleed purple/blue but it seems like Mahito bleeds red, which further emphasizes how "human" of a curses he is

It’s crazy how everyone agrees how twisted mahito is when in reality he is just a reflection of us. Humans.

When discussions around the dark side of humanity arises, I can't help but think one thing: Potential for depravity isn't inherent to only humanity, but all living beings, given high enough consciousness. Any other apex predator in our positions would behave much the same way. Mahito thinking that humans alone don't deserve to exist because of the universal potential for cruelty, is short sighted, as all beings are capable of those act curses included.

What I always found interesting is the fact that Jogo, the volcano/fire curse, truly believed that cursed spirits were the real humans. And from his perspective, it can make sense. Cursed spirits are born from negative emotions, their fears. And because they were never born into love, or from love, all they understand is fear and hatred for the humans who would view them as monsters. And it shows how little they actually all think of humans. Since they were born from negative emotions, they believe that's all humans are: just a collection of negative emotions, fear, hatred, etc. And from their point of view, they'd be right. But it's only half of what makes a human. If cursed spirits got to experience love, kindness, happiness from things that don't cause pain, then I believe they'd all have turned out a lot differently. And it goes to show the tragic cycle: cursed spirits will always be born because there will always be people who are overcome by their negative emotions, by their fear, by their hatred.

Mahito has to be Gege Akutami’s magnus opus of a character only rivaled by my boy Suguru Geto. To be able to craft such a fascinating, layered yet revolting piece of shit cannot be trivialized. I felt every ounce of suffering that Mahito afflicted on Yuji to the point where I had to stop while reading the manga. Homie had me gasping for air and fighting to keep my dinner inside my stomach. I think both Yuji and Mahito are truly their respect « YOU.ARE.MY.SPECIAL » because they just reflect each other on so many levels while being very different. It’s like you said they are both Light and Darkness in a way. Anyway 🎵 Where you go, I go What you see, I see 🎵

mahito was the nightmare😎 a masterpiece character👏

Only by accepting one's humanity can one hope to overcome it. "I count him braver who overcomes himself than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self" -Aristotle

"I am a jujutsu sorcerer" thanks to Mahito, Yuji saw his purpose. Just like Mahito's "I'm a true curse". Yuji and Mahito they molded eachother into the embodiment of their works. Which is sad because Mahito being chased by wolves is representative of curses and sorcerers relationship, he was hunting a human he was being hunted by a sorcerer

5:33 - "which he firmly BELIEVES" one of the biggest points and caveats. "Yuji is NOT representative of that side of humanity" THANK YOU!!!!! the arc featuring the main students before Shibuya directly shows Itadori feeling empathy for what he thought was a pure curse seeing his brother die. Then he discussed with Kugsaki about their feelings over the deaths, who was shown to be the one who is *actually* like Mahito with zero remorse killing the other side. Mahito was wrong, they weren't even truly 100% opposites In that way described until Itadori finally was forced to make that change. the moment of Itadori feeling empathy for eso and ketchizu, going from that to the literal image of his heartless shadow standing over Mahito, is so compelling seeing how this cruel world forces us to squash the inherent empathy we have in order to get by without an impossible to surmount level of suffering. Mahito really is the curse of the worst of humanity, of the collective of society showing us as individuals that our youthful ideals are to be slowly wrung out of us till we have sacrficied our values and become selfish, only caring about ourselves and the ones we have chosen to care about. If Mahito is the worst of Humanity, how could Yuji be the exact same as him throughout the whole story? They had to be in opposition to be compelling adversaries. Mahito slowly walks Yuji down and breaks down his heart. From the pain we saw Yuji have putting the transfigued humans out of their misery, to Nanami, to finally Nobara. Yuji has had enough. He becomes more resolute than we've ever seen, more anumalistic than ever seen. The collective of humanity has gotten to another of us, sadly stripping away our best qualities, bringing out the most monstrous Yuji we've ever seen. Akutami really is incredible, for so many people to love Mahito and this "I'm you" moment but to misunderstand the main point. The JJK reading comprehension cruse strikes again, the two sides of the brain dead, takes everything literally fans and the ones who actually think past the surface. I knew Alex would not let us down and make a video pointing out this. Thank you again, you are one of the best doing it 🙏

Kento Nanami expressed his belief that children become adults by accumulating despair throughout their lives. Mahito, despite being a living accumulation of human despair, remains a child up until he is defeated by Yuji Itadori and exorcised by Pseudo-Geto. He believes himself to be superior to everyone else in terms of wisdom, power, and importance, only to have this narcissistic self-perception broken apart right before him.

One of the interesting aspects of mahito is he's supposed to represent like the dark version of the Buddha. Theres this RU-vidr, Metinotthebadguy, that goes in depth on the Buddhist aspect of mahito

Mahito is a reflection of humanity and uses humans as the source of his cursed technique. It's kinda fitting that his idle transfiguration is countered by Geto's Cursed spirit manipulation. Althought Mahito seemed like peak villianhood, he's countered by what he was created from.

Still the absolute GOAT of anime critical reading!

He’s by far my favorite Jjk character

Mahito is my favourite character. ever since we first met him in season 1, I started rooting for him. he stands for everything I love about stories. by the way, something I love is that the story itself agrees with Mahito. do you recall what Mahito said to Itadori after he killed Nobara? well, lets compare that to the lyrics of 'REMEMBER', the song that plays during the season 1 finale and season 2's Choso fight. "It's not right or wrong, it's not right or wrong. Here in this war, nobody wins in the end. We fight to breathe for another day. It's not right or wrong, it's not right or wrong. Here in this war, we're gonna find in the end. The will to survive, fear to die, comes the same." need I elaborate? anywho, It's really sad that he's gone now, just an extracted cursed technique for Not-Geto to use. for me most of all! I lost both my favorite character (Mahito) and the side I was rooting for (Curses). Jogo, Hanami, Dagon and Mahito were my side in this war, and, as we can see, neither won in the end. Just death and devastation on both sides. so I guess i'll move to rooting for Choso and Maki, lol, since every other character I like is dead, sealed, or Sukuna (who, lets be real, isn't coming out any time soon or the other half of the cast would die instantly lmao). rest in piece Curses, you were the true humans. 🙏🙏

Mahito's facial expressions are amazing. I like to think he's subconsciously using his ability to make himself more expressive and that makes his design so interesting.

I think Mahito might be the best pure evil character.

mahito is a great villain

Admittedly not the point of this video, but Mahito never fully scared me because he did horrific things. Mahito scared me because he was a villain that power scaled with the main cast. Most villains are introduced as obscenely powerful and subsequently stay at that level for the protagonists to catch up to; then becoming stronger after getting the MacGuffin. But Mahito kept growing in battle, not bringing in some new mess thanks to some off-screen BS. And it made him a bit sympathetic - his strength was earned. He truly was like Yuji - a shonen protag who grows stronger through life-or-death battles.

Mahitos curse womb spawned when League of Legends was released

Great video as usual

Mahito is one of my favorite villains in shonen. It’s nice to see a villain that is just absolute evil.

MAHITO IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!! I adore him and how vicious and silly he is!!!! I love this video so much aaaaa

This voice actor did such a good job bringing this character to life

One of the best villains. Mahito is the coldest, especially when he made his arm transform into June Pei forcing Yugi to relive his death and failure.

Thank you for making a video about JJK's best ever character. I am happy beyond words. 💖

Imagine if mahito was actually 16 years old like the mcs at the beginning. He would be one of the most terrifying villians ever

Mahito is an anime Judge Holden

The goat... Oh yeah and mahito's a good character.😅

Bro Mahito is negative emotion from twitter. Change my mind

Loved this, thank you. What a twisted character.

Definitely an awesome villain.

At his core, Mahito is shallow. And he's written that way because I believe he was the lense through which Gege critiques the simplicity of shonen protagonists. Yuji is extraordinarily naive and self-righteous at this point in the story. Mahito is used to deconstruct and expose the weakness of such extreme simplicity to Yuji and the reader. Because after Mahito's simplistic evil, Yuji has to face Geto zombie boy and Sukuna. Both of which are nuanced evils.

10:52 "and he died like a human" *Spoilers below* Pseudo Geto said something similar mockingly in one of his recent fights... ☹

I'm happy for watching this video so early,your content is amazing

Where Mahito went, Yuji went

His character motivation reminds me a lot of Johan Liebert’s goals. Yuji is a living counter-argument to all of his attitudes toward humanity and himself. By breaking Yuji and dragging him down to his level, he can assure himself that he’s correct in his beliefs. It’s a childish and petty form of reasoning, which is very in line with his character.

Mahito is HIM. Or was, anyway, until Yuji took that title from him. I seriously don't understand how people can hate him. I get the reasons but I can't force myself to dislike him, he's just too good and fun to watch.

Seeing Mahito become the prey and being terrified warmed my heart and put a big smile on my face

Funny how both him and junpei are my favorite characters

Have a drinking game every time Aleczandxr says humanity

For all these reasons, Mahito is the best written villain in the series.

Ive never felt so much hatred for a character in any piece of fiction

I didn't even need to watch the whole video before I pressed the like button, because I knew it would be a thoughtful and original reflection And it was/is!

AJ PUMPING OUT THE JJK VIDEOS I FEEL BLESSED

Before I get any further in this video, I'm actually so excited you posted an analysis for Mahito. The scene you started with is so fascinating to me and I'm so interested in hearing your take on the character. Edit: As an anime only who got spoiled on "Pseudo-Geto"'s real name, even though it's such a minor spoiler, it shows your meticulous effort to not spoil any part of the narrative for others. Very considerate :) Edit 2: SO BEAUTIFUL. Thank you. We all must acknowledge and gain as much awareness of this darkness inside of us as possible. It's existence is undeniable, and the more we run from it and avoid it the more power it has over us. Some of the nicest people are miserable inside because they haven't confronted this side of themselves. Some of the kindest people are so kind because they have. And it's so genuinely valuable to acknowledge this darkness within so that it does not engulf us. "Do not neglect your potential for commiting atrocity. And also don't underestimate how much joy you could experience while doing it." - Jordan Peterson

Great video. I was doing some thinking after rewatching the snow and I honestly feel like Gojo and Mahito could work better as parallels while Geto and Itadori would seem to mirror one another as well.

Nothing a Balam Industries sponsored field trip to Shibuya can’t handle.

love ur videos

Mahito is a great example of a pure evil monster. Cruel, sadistic and full of malicious feelings, Mahito represented the true darkness in the world of JJK.

Awesome

Goat dropped

Silliest jjk villain

Nothing deserves more fear than the malice of a powerful scorned child.

I really liked when Mahito attacked Faux-Geto one last time, turning on his prior conspirator, it hit me how he was the human curse. Not exactly bravery, just one last struggle to live. Funnily enough, had he managed to touch him, both of them would probably die since they were surrounded by sorcerers at the time.

Mahito was so creepy and even more scary than Sukuna. I'm glad he died already. If he had lived, he would have been a terrible disaster

Fun fact: The opening of season 2 it call specialz

He Just Like Me Fr

I think it would be cool to do a video comparing Mechamaru from JJK with Robot from Invincible. They're just so eerily similar!

What disturbs me the most about Mahito is how often he makes sense...🤷‍♂

I... don't know what to say It's a lot to take in, definitely something I'll think about for a while I actually prefer Mahito to Sukuna in most aspects, so this breakdown is really interesting to me A very, very good video, you deserve my like and so many more

Mahito would have won against yuji if he didn't transform in his last fight. He threw away what made him a threat, his adaptability and creativity for a new shiny body that looks much more like a curse, but even if he is a curse he is the HUMAN curse. He should have stayed human to win, and not try to be just a curse.

I hate and love Mahito as a character because as you said, he is arguably the most human character in the series, for good or bad/better or worse.

doing horrific things to others only to cry and wail when they're done to you, lamenting your fate, sounds aboyt human. would've even been more so if mahito gave some excuse about following orders, doing it out of necessity, or just plain whining about how unfair it is.

It’s a damn SHAME that there aren’t more villains like Mahito in anime, and just in general. I hope Sukuna ends up forming some kind of dynamic with Yuji like Mahito did, because I honestly miss that so much. *Prefacing this next section with MASSIVE CSM and JJK Spoilers* It always seems like villains are so distant, yet my favorite part of any series has got to be when the protagonist and antagonist just interact with each other. The movie Heat had a really, *REALLY* good example of this with the diner scene. That’s definitely the one thing that I’d say CSM needs too. Makima was nice, but she was more so the Aizen style of manipulator behind the scenes. Her torment of Denji was impersonal, and she felt nothing towards him. Denji slicing her open with a chainsaw still had to be one of the most cathartic moments in manga, but I still feel like it lacked that personal feeling of the “I’m you” moment. I hope we get more of that in both CSM and JJK

I wish mahito had encountered toji the representation of body over soul alot could have been done there

He’s kind of cute

Mahito running away from yuji 10/10 moment, shame “geto” absorbed him instead of Yuji erasing him

Reminds me of the dwarf in the Flask/Father from Fma. Born of a human, caused countless atrocities, and went out like a coward in the end.

Mahito is simultaneously one of the most evil, yet also not totally complicit for his depravity because of how he was created. It’s interesting.

If sukuna is the king of curses then Mahito is the jester of curses.

amazing villain……..

Is “disaster” curse just a descriptor of a type of special grade?