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linkspooky · 1 year

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Jujutsu Kaisen, Chapter 210 Thoughts.

In one chapter, Hana Kurusu went from a minor character to one of the most interesting characters in the culling game. That may sound like I'm jumping the gun, but this one short chapter sets up a lot in terms of Hana, not only her connection to Megumi, but how she foils both Megumi and Yuji. An analysis on Hana and where I think her character may be going underneath the cut.

PART TWO OF THIS POST HERE.

The Anima / Animus

There’s a reason that Yuji brings up Nobara, in the same chapter that Hana’s backstory and connection to Megumi is explained and it has nothing to do with shipping, actually. Hana is connected to Megumi by being his symbolic Anima in the story.

The anima and aninmus are what Jung terms a “Sygzy”, a tearm used by Jung to mean a union of opposites. It is similar to the eastern concept of Yin and Yang. Just like the feminine Yin, and the Masculine Yang, each contain a taenite, a dot that represents the yin within the yang and the yang within the yin. That therefore there exists masculinity within the feminine Yin, and femininity within the masculine yang. Anima is the unconscious feminine side of a man, and anima the unconscious masculine side of a woman, each making up the personal psyche.

In other words Megumi and Hana Kurusu are a pair. Not a ship. Just a pair of characters who are symbolically linked to one another. In some ways literal. It’s established alone not only is Hanas idea of what a good person is built around the idea of Megumi, but she shapes her personality based on what she thinks would make herself worthy to be by his side. Megumi already represents an aspect of Hana’s self, and arguably it works the other way around. Jung believed a male’s sensitivity is often lesser or repressed, and therefore considered the anima (the unconscious feminine side) to be one of their strongest sides. Ergo, men are more likely to repress their feminine sides, and at the same time the only way to develop those sides is to seek out femininity and interact with it. That sounds like basic rules of human interactions, the only way you can learn to have healthy relationships to other people and how to show your emotions in healthy ways is by interacting with people. A natural understanding of another member of the opposite sex is instilled in individuals that stems from constant subjection to members of the opposite sex.

However, this is where the Jungian twist comes in. Jung believed that the human mind understood things in terms of unconscious symbols, Jung was big on dream analysis. He also believed in “archetypes” which are more or less common character types that appear in all stories around the world. The hero. The mother. The mentor. Etc. Etc. Cursed spirits, are a Jungian idea.

The fear of the earth, forest and sea are three archetypal fears in a Jungian sense, who anthropomorphize into Jogo, Hanami and Dagon. Jujutsu Kaisen is a story written using Jungian themes, that the subconscious shared among all human beings creates archetypes like this in their stories. Jogo is the personification of the earth. Hanami the forest. Dagon the sea. They are all archetypes shared across many stories. Here’s a common example of Jung’s argument for archetypes existing... how many stories around the world have a tale of a great flood?

This brief explanation of archetypes is all to say, the Anima / Animus pairing is also an archetype that exists in stories. Jung defines archetypes as character that reoccur in mythology all around the world. He used several examples of female characters in mythology who are made to represent an inner feminine side of their masculine counterparts and associated them with Anima. Examples such as Persephone springtime goddess and wife of Hades. Minerva who serves as a feminine counterpart to Mars and Roman Culture, because Mars represents the violence of war and Athena the strategy. Eve, of Adam and Eve. Quite literally birthed from Adam’s own ribcage.

“The anima is the feminine aspect of the archetypal male/female duality whose projections in the external world can be traced through myth, philosophy and religious doctrine. This duality is often represented in mythical syzygy symbols, which are expressions of parental imagos the singular power of this particular archetype is considered due to an unusually intense repression of the unconscious material considering the parental imagos. Carl G. Jung in 1929

The gender binary is just a made up binary of course but that doesn’t change the fact all socieities have what you would call “feminine” and “masculine” traits, and all people contain both of these traits. A healthy individual balances these traits. Jung’s idea is more or less people need to develop both of these traits inside of them in order to be a healthy individual. A man who suppresses all of his feminine traits will be underdeveloped because he’s unbalanced.

“The persona, the ideal picture of a man as he should be, is inwardly compensated by feminine weakness, and as the indivdual outwardly plays the strong man, so he beecomes inwardly a woman, the anima, for it is the anima that reacts to that persona. But because the inner world is dark and invisible to the extraverted consciousness, and because a man is all the less capable of conceiving his weaknesses the more he is identified with the person, the persona’s counterpart the anima remains completely in the dark and is at once projected so that our hero comes under the heel of his wife’s slipper.” Two essays on analytical SPsychology, CW7 (1957) “The relationships between the Ego and the Uncosncious” P. 309

In a fictional story therefore, a character who represses his more feminine or what he would consider his vulnerable traits is going to end up projecting those traits outward. He will create an archetype of the Anima which is all of those feminine traits he holds within himself, externalized into another character.

Jung is making a case that how we interact with feminine and masculine traits within ourselves, is first modeled to us in our formative years either by our parents or the next best thing. For example and this is speaking in the broadest terms, for a lot of children their first exposure to feminity is with their mothers, and masculinity is in their relationship to their fathers.

Archetypal images are described as pre-existent, available and active from the moment of birth as possibilities of ideas which are subsequently elaborated on by the individual.

The anima image is seen to be active in childhood projecting superhuman qualities on the mother before sinking back into the unconscious under the influence of external reality...” Carl G. Jung in 1929

Megumi as it stands does not have a mother or a father, so he is already missing out on this most positive formative relationship.

You can even see a small display of the anima / animus dynamic between Toji and Megumama. In extra material Gege states Megumi’s mother was enough to convince Toji to give up his unstable lifestyle and stay around for awhile, nurturing a more domestic side of him. When she dies, Toji becomes an incredibly toxic individual abandoning his family and focusing on his most toxic and extreme masculine traits, his habits of making money only to waste it on hedonism, his denial of any kind of affection of Megumi, his extremely violent lifestyle.

Toji is a lot of things, but from a Jungian Perspective he is incredibly out of balance. He represses all of his weaker, what would be considered feminine traits in order to try to express his masculine ones and all it results in is a mess of a person.

Megumi is in many ways a parallel to Toji. They look almost identical at times, especially in moments where Megumi is about to get violent. Megumi is not an overtly masculine character like Toji, if anything he is downright boyish at times and yet he shares the same lack of balance that Toji does because Megumi is also an incredibly repressed individual.

Megumi has a habit in the manga of flipping the fuck out. That’s the scientific term for it. A jungian perspective would argue this is because Megumi as an orphan abandoned by both mother and father who does not have formative memories of either, he has not been taught how to balance this duality within himself. In fact the only family member Megumi had as a young age to model what correct behavior is, was Tsumiki herself.

It starts all the way back at this scene. Todo asks Megumi what his type of person is, and we see a brief flash of Tsumiki. This isn’t to suggest that Megumi is subconsciously attracted to Tsumiki, but rather she is the image of what a good person is in his mind.

Megumi’s idea of goodness is based around Tsumiki, the same way our parents are supposed to instill morals in us and model correct behavior, but Megumi does not have parents. He has an older sister, so his entire idea of the way people are supposed to behave is based off of that person his only real social connection. However, we learn into Megumi’s backstory that despite living with Tsumiki for so long, he also lost her in a sudden and uncontrollable accident.

Megumi is robbed of that important and formative connection. If his only model for goodness and proper behavior is gone, then what does Megumi have left to guide him? Megumi is definitely not toxically masculine to the extent that Toji is, but he is as an individual underdeveloped. He’s not very emotive. He doesn’t really express himself whatsoever. He is rarely truthful with his friends unless they badger them into it, and will outright keep secrets. Gojo even comments on his habit of always sacrificing himself rather than going after what he wants.

Toji brazenly displays his power as the sorcerer killer in an attempt to deny all vulnerability and cover it up with a display of toxic masculinity. On the other hand I would say that due to the only important female in his life, Megumi is stunted. He has a growing dark side that Megumi himself seems unaware of, that at moments makes him act in ways that are dangerously similiar to Toji, especially when he uses his power in anger to cover up vulnerability. Gege even establishes these with pretty clear visual parallels between father and son.

When Megumi loses control he tends to rely on his more masculine, aggressive traits we see this at the end of his fight in the Culling Games Arc. Remi as she is fleeing associates men with wolves, and it’s megumi’s black wolf specifically that is chasing her. It’s a big black wolf, chasing after a woman, who has been regularly taken advantage of by the men in her life. The symbolism is pretty overt. A man who has a underdeveloped anima side is therefore not going to interact well with feminity because those traits within themselves are out of balance.

What stops Megumi right away though is the image of Tsumiki. THe person who before she was taken away from him, modeled a more correct way to relate to vulnerability. Tsumiki who advocates for nurturing, forgiving others, an incredibly feminine figure in Megumi’s life.

However, ti’s at this moment that Megumi first encounters Hana. Who I am arguging is Megumi’s true anima character. She is his feminine counterpart in the story, he is meant to interact with in order to develop a fuller sense of self, and reconcile these traits that are at war within himself.

The projection-making factor is the anima, or rather the unconscious as represented by the anima. Whenever she appears, in dreams, visions, and fantasies, she takes on personified form, thus demonstrating that the factor she embodies possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a feminine being. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous product of the unconscious. Nor is she a substitute figure for the mother. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that the numinous qualities which make the mother-imago so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype of the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child. [The Syzygy: Anime and Animus, C.G. Jung, Aion: Researches into the PHenomenology of the Self, P. 11-22

A lot of people are saying Hana is female Yuji, which is just incorrect. She is female Megumi. The same way that Megumi’s entire ideal of what a good person is, is built around the image of Tsumiki the only person in his life to show him care and compassion. Hana is similar to Megumi an orphan with no father or mother figure.

In fact she is one step further because the maternal figure and caretaker she did have was a a curse that barely provided for them and then ate children.

Megumi’s intervention was the only demonstration of caring she ever had, just like Tsumiki’s was for Megumi, and on top of that Megumi was someone of a similar age just like how Megumi and Tsumiki are siblings only a few years apart. They are both people whose entire moral identity is modeled around someone else. The opposite to the Anima is the Animus. The masculine side of women. Just like the first exposure to femininity is usually the relationship with the mother, the first exposure to masculinity is with the father.

Woman is compensated by a masculine element and therefore her unconscious has, so to speak, a masculine imprint. This results in a considerable psychological difference between men and women, and accordingly I have called the projection-making factor in women the animus, which means mind or spirit. The animus corresponds to the paternal Logos just as the anima corresponds to the maternal Eros.

[The Syzygy: Anime and Animus, C.G. Jung, Aion: Researches into the PHenomenology of the Self, P. 11-22

However, Megumi demonstrates that masculinity instead by protecting and saving her with his white wolf. The same way that Tsumiki demonstrated a healthy femininity with her decision to care and watch out for her brother and try to impress some morals upon him. He is in every way her animus, the same way she is his anima.

Hana’s design and name also share several symbols of the anima. Jung believed that four distinct level of “Eros” which he named, Eve, Helen, Mary and Sophia are the process which a man undergoes to open up to greater emotionality within himself.

Eros named after the god of love, the roman version of cupid, both versions are depicted often as men with wings, which was obviously a symbol that christianity co-opted for their most typical portrayals of cherubic angels. Angel is quite literally a christian angel with a halo and everything, she also visually calls up the imagery of Eros because once again christian angels are designed after Eros.

The first stage of development of the Eros is named the Eve - the object of desire, provider of nourishment, security and love. Named after the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. At this point the Anima is tied up with woman as a provider of nourishment, security and love. The man at this animal cannot function well without a woman. The same way that Megumi himself, is out of balance due to the fact that Tsumiki, his literal only healthy familial relationship is missing from his life. In fact his entire goal right now is to rescue Tsumiki in order to restore that balance in himself again.

The painting this is invoking isn’t subtle, it’s Da Vinci’s famous painting the “The Creation of Adam.” Hana is appearing as a godlike figure to rescue a man in this scene. The way at this stage of Eros, the Eve appears to him to help him as well, the same way she showed up practically out of nowhere to help Megumi in his greatest time of need. Hana is being presented to us as an otherworldly figure, who’s only real desire is to be helpful to Megumi.

She also immediately makes claims of destiny and connection between them She is in a way destined for him, because she represents the Eros side, the part of Megumi’s emotions that he is meant to learn to integrate so he can become a fuller, more well-rounded person. They are even connected down to their names.

I consulted on the Kanji of Hana’s name with my friend and bully @kaibutsushidousha

Link: 来栖華 Hana Kurusu Kai: 華 is a kanji that rarely means "flower" but more often means "luxury" or "lavishness" Kai: Now Kurusu's kanji means "upcoming nest", obviously because she's the Angel's host Kai: But also. Kurusu is pronounced “Cross” because of the angel of chrstianity. Kai: Wait. Wait. Wait. I figured out Hana. It’s the japanese spelling of the hebrew name “Hannah.” Name meaning “blessing, favor, grace” or in japanese “Megumi.” Kai: Hana = Megumi. Kai: Because their soulmates (Hana Kurusu is holding me at gunpoint to say this)

On one, final note I want to mention that an anima / animus relationship does not necessarily have to be coded romantically. All it means is a character made to represent Megumi’s repressed feminine side in the story he is meant to interact with in order to develop as a character. Jung even mentions that they could become a romantic pair, but it’s just as likely they could argue as well.

This singular fact is due to the following circumstance: when animus and anima meet, the animus draws his sword of power and the anima ejects her poison of illusion and seduction. The outcome need not always be negative, since the two are equally likely to fall in love (a special instance of love at first sight). [The Syzygy: Anime and Animus, C.G. Jung, Aion: Researches into the PHenomenology of the Self, P. 11-22]

In other words, they are just as likely to come to blows, as fall in love. I’m not making a prediction in regards to either, because we barely know anything about Hana yet besides her origin. However, they already have a conflict set up, Hana’s desire to exterminate Yuji’s is the exact opposite of Megumi’s to save him.

On top of that, despite the fact that they both show a desire to help the people closest to them in order to stand alongside them, you could say Hana’s moral views paint Megumi’s in much more selfish terms. Um, basically Megumi sort of dresses up his desires in ideas of justice and fairness. When really his only desire is to selfishly save a few people closest to him.

Of course Megumi states this too, that he only picks and chooses who he saves selfishly. He’s not out to be a hero. He is half-aware that these are just his selfish ideals and desires not a heroic sense of right and wrong he is working under.

On the other hand it’s clear Megumi puts people like Yuji who will recklessly save anyone, and Tsumiki who will not curse others on a pedestal. They are what good people are in his mind. He thinks Yuji’s ideals are better than his. Megumi is worshiping an idealism he cannot live up to.

Whereas, Hana is much more upfront about the selfishness of her desire to help people. For one, she expresses a pretty similar morality to what Megumi is always saying, that they don’t have to go out of their way to save people. Megumi probably thinks that Yuji’s thinking is more correct than his way of thinking, but he doesn’t really argue with Angel / Hana either. That is probably something that Megumi would have said in this situation if Angel hadn’t, that they really don’t benefit in the longrun from going out of their way to save all the soldiers and the more pragmatic option is to help the greater amount of people by doing something that can put an end to the culling games.

If anything Hana/Angel’s confrontation with Yuji here, reflects the same kind of confrontation that he and Megumi had in the reform school. That Yuji shouldn’t go out of his way to save a convicted crimminal or risk himself or the mission because they are not worth it. Another way in which Hana/Angel displays her similarity as the feminine / anima half of Megumi.

Megumi even goes out of his way to lecture Yuji for picking a fight with her on purpose. Further evidence he doesn’t really find Hana/Angel’s position all that disagreeable, she was expressing a sentiment that Megumi would usually express, and it was Yuji who went out of his way to argue with her Megumi didn’t object in any real way.

Even when Kurusu does save a solider, it’s not out of the goodness of her heart. Megumi picks and chooses who to save selfishly because he wants to protect and cherish the few good people in his life, Tsumiki, Yuji. The unstated part of that is also, he wants to keep them by his side. He’s saddened by the loss of Tsumiki and is currently trying to get her back which is his number one priority for entering the culling games. Hana similarly goes out of her way to help a solider, but her internal reasoning is revealed to us. She’s not doing it out of the goodness of her heart. Much like Megumi’s relationship to Tsumiki or Yuji. Megumi is her definition of a good person, and she wants to be a person worthy of being by Megumi’s side.

Her act of saving someone is really just as selfish as Megumi, but done out of a human desire to connect. That’s what an anima / animus pairing do in a story, they seek out each other, because they need the other in order to grow.

And that’s all I have to say about that. I am going to continue this post in a part two because I seriously did not expect the first part to get this long and I want to have mercy on my readers. U

#hana kurusu #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen theory #jujutsu kaisen analysis #megumi fushiguro #itadori yuji #tsumiki fushiguro #angel #culling games arc #jjk 210 #jjk 210 spoilers #jujutsu kaisen 210 #jujutsu kaisen 210 spoilers

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ilythecolorpink · 7 months

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Convince You To Join (Hiromi Higuruma x fem reader)

Another day, another mission for you to complete as you were asked to visit Defense Attorney Hiromi Higuruma. Since you are a jujutsu sorcerer and Kenjaku gave Hiromi Higuruma his cursed technique, you were instructed to try to persuade him to join the organization. You were friends and co-workers with him before you turned into a sorcerer. Even though he comes off as apathetic and detached from others with you, he is different.

The sound of your heels as you ascend the steps of the firm announces your presence. You open the entrance doors, As you pass by the multiple workers complain about how many cases they have on hand. You stop as you find his office. You hear a "Come in" from the other side of his door as you softly knock on it. He was dressed professionally, with a black suit, tie, dress pants, and a sunflower pin on his left shoulder, as you opened the door to see him. "It's been a while, Y/N, how have you been?" he asks as he slumps into a chair at his desk and wears a tired expression.

You smile at him and say, “I have been good, I’ve missed you." He responds, "Hmm how sweet, tell me what do you need Y/N?," as he looks up and down at you. "The higher-ups are looking into you since you have obtained a curse technique", you approach him and sit down in front of his desk with your legs crossed. He spreads his legs out in his chair and asks, "Really now? What do those bastards want?" "They seem to want to recruit you as a sorcerer", you tell him with an amused tone. He chuckles a little before saying, "Heh, how foolish, I'm not going to join in that easily." You slowly put your hand towards his tie as you lightly grab it, wanting him to lean closer up at you taking in his intoxicating scent.

"Do you think that I can convince you?" you ask in a seductive whisper. "Maybe, what do you think my decision will be?" he asks, gazing intently into your eyes the entire time. "I think you wouldn’t, but you’ve got such a talent, it would be such a waste" you tease, delicately pressing your heel against the chair that's wedged between his legs. "After all, I think you wouldn't do it if I wasn't there, now would you?" you remark as you continue to whisper close to his ear and glide your hand up and down his chest. He replies in a sultry tone, "And if I said yes, then what hm? ", with a slight smirk. "I might just reward you if you say yes", you remark as you pull away from his ear, close the gap between you, and move your face in close proximity to his.

He gives you a longing look and says, in a domineering tone, "If you beg for it, I'll consider joining." You blush at his tone and remain silent for a moment. "Come on darling, use that pretty mouth of yours," he says as he stands up and towers over you, placing a hand on your chin and placing another on your waist. You inhale deeply and bite your lip before saying, "Please join us, We need you." You feel a warmth in your chest. He questions you saying “We? You can do better than that dear.” Your voice becomes more desperate as you say “Please Hiromi, I need you... I need all of you.” As he kisses you, he grips your face, pulls your body closer to him, and deepens the kiss by inserting his tongue into your mouth.

You moan with pleasure because you don't want this to end. He pulls back, leaving you breathless for air while remarking, "Such a good girl." As one of his coworkers asks him to look at something, you both hear a knock. "Looks like work always wants to separate us, huh?" he sighs. "When can I see you again?" you ask as you get down from his desk, your cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He whispers, "Soon, meet me here again tomorrow evening" as he tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear. You start to go as you hear another knock at the door, but not before you ask, "You know you never answered my question?" He grinned and said, "I guess you'll find out tomorrow, now be safe my love."

A/N: I hope y'all like this. He is so fine. I'm so glad Yuji pulled up and called his lawyer against Sukuna fr fr. I love yall.

#x reader #jjk #anime #fanfic #jjk x reader #x y/n #anime and manga #jujutsu kaisen #higuruma hiromi #hiromi higuruma #hiromi higuruma x reader #jjk higuruma #higuruma x reader #higuruma hiromi x reader #ilysm #lawyer #jujustsu kaisen x reader #i love big noses #culling game arc

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