"A Tale of Two Cogs" Jujutsu Kaisen 3x9: Live Analysis

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome. I made Greg and I am back from Mortsu Kaizen season 3. Today we're getting into episode 9 and what an episode it's about to be. I obviously haven't seen it, but I can already tell you that much. Episode 8 was absolutely phenomenal in so many ways and so much that it completely broke my brain. Uh if you watched last episode, well, if you didn't, go ahead and check that out. But I that's probably one of the shortest videos I've made in recent memory because I tried to do my breakdown discussion after the episode and I simply couldn't. I just couldn't process the absolutely incredible introduction to Higuruma that they had overlaying with or not overlaying but playing side to side with the teasing revelation of the truth about the Colling games. And honestly, I think it's the actual execution, the directing that blew me away almost more than the content itself. The the content was incredible.

[00:01:00]On one hand, we had Megumi talking with Reggie, a new character who Remy was apparently leading Megumi, too. Kind of funny that they have Reggie and Remy.

[00:01:10]But Reggie was basically grilling Megumi about the cooling game. And he clearly established his authority or at least his knowledge on the subject. It's simply by means of knowing who Kenjaku is, completely unprompted, which is quite the statement and quite the ethos boost because he clearly knows what he's talking about. Now, we did have a bomb dropping at the end of the episode. I'm still not sure if that was metaphorical, symbolical, symbolical. At the same time, we had Yuji who was talking with Higuruma, a character we've just been introduced to this episode and yet spent half the episode going through his life basically or not going through his life per se, but going through his struggles within the past like year, I believe, or several years as a lawyer.

[00:01:58]Now, I'm not going to go too much in depth with the recap of the last episode here because before that, we need to go into the comment of the day. And I'll explain why in just a second. Actually, before I get into the comment of the day, I wanted to first go over this episode. Now, this is probably going to be one of my longest pre-up preps, possibly on my channel, because I'm going to do what I didn't do last time due to me being uh brain fried, let's say. I'm going to give it a proper analysis and a proper breakdown, especially the more interesting parts of the episode. And I want to start here in this scene where Higuram is talking with his colleague after his client was found guilty in the second trial. And basically his colleague presses him again saying that you really should stop putting so much into defending these uh clients who are pretty much going to get a guilty verdict one way or another.

[00:02:57]And Higguruma starts to delve deeper into his philosophy. And this is really interesting. I'm not trying to tout the ideal of saving the weak. It's just always gone against my nature to leave things alone when I feel like they're wrong.

[00:03:14]I really like this scene. I really, really like this scene because Higura is being set up as a character we often see in the protagonist shoes. It's a character who sees a system that is wrong and wants to participate in it in order to write it. Right? He's a good lawyer. He even makes a joke when he meets uh Yugji later that he wants to try acting like a bad lawyer by charging him for the consult for just speaking with him. But he is like the good lawyer, right? He's trying to take these people who are basically condemned to death already or condemned to at least their guilty verdict because that's just how the Japanese legal system largely is. And he wants to try to see their cases through for the innocent ones to find them innocent. And he genuinely does that even though he has to deal with the crushing regret and the basically the sense of betrayal that we see this episode with his client when ultimately he fails because for the vast majority of times if not every time he's going to fail. Even with the example here when he's found innocent they go to the second trial and that's rewritten with basically no additional evidence.

[00:04:29]In other words, Higura is a cogna machine. a machine that grinds its cogs to dust eventually, especially when they resist.

[00:04:38]And yet, he isn't being ground down. He explicitly mentions in a second that he wants to keep his eyes open, especially after the goddess of justice closes her eyes to try to be impartial. But since she carries out her verdicts through humans, impartiality is all but impossible. If you were listening carefully, you heard a specific word I used in that a cog. Ima is a cog in the justice system machine. A machine that is far from impartial, far from fair.

[00:05:10]Yet, he wants to try to be not impartial, but be an advocate for the people who are almost certainly going to be judged against whether they are right or wrong.

[00:05:21]And in that sense, while I'm going to compare him to Eugene in a second, spoilers, I do want also want to liken him to the other Justicecentric character in the story, Megumi. It's been a while since season 1, so we haven't really seen this brought up often, but Megumi is also a or at least he sees himself as somebody who carries out justice.

[00:05:45]Megumi similarly but probably more extreme than our Higuruma here wants to carry out justice with partiality, right? He wants to not be as equal as the ideal justice is because he wants to be on the side of people who have been abandoned and he wants to explicitly be on that side which is the opposite of impartial. And I think Higura is similar to Megumi in this degree. He is on the side of the downtrodden, right? He has his own vision of justice. He proclaims that it is basically the side of impartiality.

[00:06:26]Yet, he is a human. How impartial can he really be? Regardless, I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. I wanted to finish up analyzing this scene by pointing out a really interesting distinction that Higuramo makes here.

[00:06:42]He basically admits that to most people and the obvious conclusion one would draw when they're looking at him is that he is an idealist. That he just can't help himself but try to write all the wrongs in the world. And while his actions are that of an idealist, he is not, or at least he believes himself not to be. If you've seen My Hero Academia, he's kind of like Deku. His body starts moving without his thinking, right? He sees something that is wrong and he can't help but act. Not in some inflated ego idealist type, but almost reluctantly.

[00:07:18]He's what you could call a reluctant optimist. And I think that's really interesting because he knows of the damage this does to him, right? And he admits that this is doing harm to him, right? It's not good for him. He wants to fix that habit and it's something that hurts him, but it's something that he can't help. It's just part of his nature. And because it's part of his nature, deep down, he really does want to, right? He wants to keep his eyes open. He doesn't want to close his eyes and carry out the partial impartiality of the justice system.

[00:07:52]And I think that's really interesting, especially once you consider that this story takes place in Jiujitsu Kaisen. If you've seen my streams, especially my more recent ones, then you've got a pretty good idea how I see JJK's power system, or at least my developing theory of it, thanks to a lot of the folks that are from the IPC, my little Discord community. JJK is not your typical shownen. Its power system is it's similar to the Colon games itself almost this self-regulating self prophesizing system that I wouldn't say it has its own morals per se but it certainly has its own biases in JJK power is almost directly connected to ego. They are strongly correlated if not slightly causated.

[00:08:44]The more ego you have and the more centered around yourself you are and the more you want to impress yourself upon the world, the stronger your jiu-jitsu is. Just look at domain expansions, right? You are literally interrupting the world, overlaying your own personal world onto the world. You are invading the world. You are forcing your mind upon the outside around your surroundings. And sure enough, Higuruma has a domain expansion, right? He just uses it. He throws it out as soon as the fight begins with Yuji.

[00:09:19]What does it say about Higuruma? This good lawyer who can't help but chase after the downtrodden in this broken system, this cog that's refusing to be ground down to dust. What does it say that that character not only has a domain that he can impress upon the world, but has one that seems to be quite powerful, quite potent. I think this speaks to Higuruma's core and what he really believes. Now, I'm not trying to call this bluff. I think he genuinely truly believes he's on the right side and that he has a solution for the broken system he's involved himself in. I think he truly believes that.

[00:10:01]And I think that's the issue actually because identifying a problem and believing in a solution are two very different things. Anyone can point out a problem that they see. It's not that hard. It's easy to poke holes, right?

[00:10:16]And things that aren't really working.

[00:10:18]But I would argue that those who truly believe in a solution believe that you are wrong and this is right. The more you believe in that, the more dangerous you tend to be. This is not to say that solutions are wrong and you can't have them. But this is to say that humans are biased creatures, right? We cannot be impartial. The more we believe we have the right solution when the rest of the world around us doesn't, that's ego, right? It doesn't necessarily make you wrong. Like I said, I don't think humans can't have solutions.

[00:10:51]But I think if you have the solution and it's a solution that seemingly only you believe in or only you have thought of, odds are that's closer to a delusion than a miracle. Odds are you regardless of whether you believe in it or not, there's a reason why you seem to be alone in thinking that way. And sure enough, from someone else's perspective, they could probably poke so many holes in your belief, right? Again, getting ahead of myself, but when he presents the idea of using something like the Colon Games for justice, the idea of having laws be followed through binding vows, that sounds like a great idea until you realize our legal system needs to be human because it's talking about humans, right? We need the ability to find exceptions.

[00:11:43]Otherwise, how are you going to delineate between self-defense and murder? It sounds easy, but the minute you start thinking about it, countless exceptions start to emerge because we're just human, right? So, we need humans to judge these things and to decide whether this falls within that or not. That's why we can't have these lines. That's why things need to be gray. So having a system that he thinks was impartial and will truly benefit the public, sure it might be better than what they currently have, but it is far from the solution.

[00:12:19]I've literally been sitting here for like 10 minutes and I poked several holes in it. Those are ones I just thought of right now, by the way. I could probably think of more. And yet he truly believes he is in the right. Now I'm not saying he believes in that system entirely. He's obviously observing the cooling game and building this thesis, building this idea. What I'm saying is that his belief of being in the right is not wrong but is dangerous because again that is inextricably tied to his ego. The belief that you are right or that you know what is right.

[00:13:00]None of us know what's right, even if we can point out what's wrong. That being said, this is what we're presented with, right? I'm not here to judge him. I'm here merely to point out the egoentrism that is almost more dangerous because it's going unnoticed. And I assume it's going unnoticed because he doesn't seem to be fully aware of it himself. So, Higura is a fairly egotistical person.

[00:13:26]Not in the egoomaniacal way, not in the sense that he's like Sukuna, but in the same way that somebody who is very self-conscious is also egoentrical, right? By nature, you are worried about yourself, you're constantly thinking about yourself. While it's not feeding your ego in a positive way, it is still centering your world around your ego, egocentric.

[00:13:46]So again, this is not judgment, merely pointing out what I'm seeing. And in this kind of world, someone like Higuruma is practically destined to be powerful, right? Because he fills that condition that I am right, that I will change the world. Because that's the other piece, right? Egoentrism and a willingness and desire to change the world. He clearly has both, which means he's probably going to be an incredibly difficult opponent to fight. This stands in stark contrast to the other character that we're not introduced to this episode. We met him the previous episode, I believe.

[00:14:25]And this is Ami, who we also get a little bit of backstory for.

[00:14:30]He sees this kid who's being bullied and very subtly tries to help him.

[00:14:35]Basically, tries to tell him that going with the flow is the best way to get along with people or at least not become the target of people. And yet Amay is clearly non-interventional, right? He doesn't actually want to intervene. He doesn't want to get in between two people. And he certainly doesn't want to take punches or beat up the bad guys. In that sense, he's the furthest thing from Higuruma.

[00:14:59]And when Itadori comes in here and actually starts beating them up, he calls him an idiot at first, but then he's kind of in shock because I mean, everyone is. It's a it's a middle schooler who's beating the crap out of these high schoolers.

[00:15:13]and actually is able to carry out his justice.

[00:15:18]And Amay's shaken by this. Amay is clearly not powerful, right? We haven't seen him fight. I suppose there's always a chance that he could be super meek but super overpowered, but I don't think so because he's being led around by all these other people. I mean, he seems to be basically the Aaron boy, right?

[00:15:37]especially for that engine-haired girl before. She explicitly said, "I'm going to freaking kill you if you if you keep acting up." And he was gravelling, right? He's a survivor. And again, this is not judging him. I'm just pointing out the character I see. And in particular, I'm pointing this out because of this contrast with the Guruma.

[00:15:59]The Guruduma wants to fight against the system. Amay wants to roll with the waves. They are literally opposite ends of the spectrum. But when it comes to Jutsu Kaisen, it's clear which one the power system is going to favor. That's probably why Amay is stuck doing these tasks and why I presume if we see him next episode, maybe he will intervene.

[00:16:19]Maybe Yuji's going to be in trouble and he has to step in. I don't think he's going to be very powerful.

[00:16:24]I think somebody who is so disinterested, who doesn't want to interject into the world is going to be given much by jiu-jitsu.

[00:16:33]And I think his main purpose here, at least for the moment, is to stand in contrast to Higuruma.

[00:16:42]And it's really interesting how they're setting this up because we have those two foils and then we have another foil.

[00:16:54]Maybe don't go on that face. Higuruma and Yugji are perhaps just as much foils as Higuruma and Amay, but in a far more subtle way. in a more subtle but ironically in-your-face. It's hard to describe. They are obviously interacting here, right? They're about to clash.

[00:17:09]Next episode's probably going to be an insane fight between the two of them.

[00:17:12]And yet, when you actually think about their characters on the surface, there isn't a whole lot of connections between them. They don't seem to be as strong foils, especially when you consider go with the flow ami and resist, fight change, rorow, ro fight the power.

[00:17:31]But this is where I want to refer back to what I was talking about freaking like 15 minutes ago now because I told you this would be long.

[00:17:39]I mentioned that Higura is a cog in the justice system machine.

[00:17:46]Okay, I'll stop being polite with you.

[00:17:48]You're not stupid. On the surface, you might want to say, "Oh, that's nothing.

[00:17:51]There just happens to be the same a similar analogy."

[00:17:54]But if it happens to be a similar analogy, that's far from something you should shrug off, right? That in and of itself is significant.

[00:18:03]They are both cogs.

[00:18:06]Higuruma is a cog that resists and continues to push while Yuji is one who was effectively ground down until he complied until he embraces role as a cog. So, let's get into the most interesting part of this pri. It's with this that I'm going to finally bring in the comment of the day. As you can see, I decided to do it in the opposite order. But the reason why I initially brought it up was because it was Catch's comment here that got me thinking about this and got me to really dive into last episode and find all these things I wanted to talk about. As usual, I'm not going to read it out to you. Go ahead and check last episode in the comments and read it yourself. Give it a like while you're there cuz he definitely deserves it. Catch has an interesting point to bring up here. He talks about how Higura basically is in this machine and he's still trying to fight against it while slowly being crushed by it, refusing, being unable to change it and refusing to be a cog. Meanwhile, Yuji willingly places himself in as a cog and decides to effectively work within the machine. I really like this idea. I like the idea that Higuruma is a cog that doesn't fit in the machine, so he's trying to change the machine, whereas Yuji is placing himself in the machine to operate as a [ __ ] the best he can.

[00:19:14]And I'm not going to say that's wrong, obviously. No interpretations are wrong.

[00:19:18]I want to posit a different extension of this extended analogy if you would. And I'm going to start by offering up another analogy because that's just what we do, right? Analogies on analogies on analogies, but it will come full circle.

[00:19:32]Trust me. When you have somebody and they're facing a brick wall and they decide to repeatedly slam their forehead against the wall, generally one of two things will happen.

[00:19:44]Provided they don't walk away and give up. For most people, maybe Eugene is an exception. The wall is not going to break. The wall is stronger than the head. One of two things will happen if they continue that action. One, their head will break. or two, they will bang their head so much that their brain will get a little bit loose and they will effectively lose their mind. Either the body breaks or the mind breaks because you can't just slam your brain container up against a object that is far stronger than it. Duh. So, let's look at those two circumstances. When the head breaks, one way or another, you give up, right? You stop banging your head against the wall.

[00:20:25]I think Eugi is this broken head. I think he slammed his head against the wall so many times that eventually the pain became too intense. He stopped almost involuntarily. He stopped resisting. He stopped slamming his head against the wall and he I wouldn't say he walked away, but he submitted. He was forced to submit. You could even say because the Shibuya instant was it's hardly fair to call it voluntary submission when you're dealing with something like that.

[00:20:55]But the other one's a little more interesting.

[00:20:58]The head can break or the mind can break.

[00:21:03]I think Higgura's mind is broken.

[00:21:07]I think he has slammed his head against the wall so many times that he now believes he can reshape the wall itself.

[00:21:16]That he knows how big the wall is, that he knows how to break it, that he knows how to mold it. I think his brain is a little bit too loose.

[00:21:26]But he's not going to give up, is he?

[00:21:29]His head refuses to break.

[00:21:33]That doesn't mean he'll actually break the wall. It just means he'll die further into his delusions.

[00:21:40]But I think this presents an interesting dichotomy between these two characters, both slamming their heads against the wall. One, seeing the futility, decided to work with it, right? He became a cog.

[00:21:51]The other continues to grind and won't break. One is about submission, the other ego. And it's kind of funny because in most shownen stories, you don't hear about the mindbreaking, right? You hear about the keep going, give never give up, gamate, and eventually you'll pull through. Keep banging your head against that wall.

[00:22:10]They conveniently leave out the part where your mind eventually gives sway because it can only stand so much blunt force trauma. And I wonder if this is what Higura is presenting here through Jiujutsu Kaisen. I said that backwards.

[00:22:23]I wonder if this is what Jiu-jitsu Kaizen is presenting through Higura. The idea that just resisting and just not breaking also isn't enough.

[00:22:34]That's not to say Yuji's right for giving up, but I think eventually you Yugji's giving up will circle around to finding a creative solution. Whereas Higuruma has been self-satisfied by his conclusion, his delusion.

[00:22:51]Now, I'm not going to predict how this fight's going to go. I'm really curious.

[00:22:55]I'm excited to see how it goes. But I'm a not confident enough of my writing to create this own create the situation in my head and try to as a novelist write my own story to this. I'd much rather see how things play out and b I think it's just more fun that way. I don't get the self-satisfaction that most people get from making theories and being right. I'd much rather be surprised and be amazed and then analyze afterwards.

[00:23:18]So, I'm just going to do that and we're going to see if Amaya gets involved.

[00:23:22]Maybe we'll get more Reggie. Maybe we'll see if Yetto, who's apparently in China, actually drop real bombs or if that's more metaphorical. We'll see. There's a lot to get to. I'm really excited for it. I hope you are, too. If you do want to be the next comment of the day, I know this one I didn't really talk about the comment too much. It was more just a diving off board for my main discussion.

[00:23:42]But if you do want to be the comment of the day next time, drop your comment down there. I read every single one. And if it's the one I most want to bring up here, or even if it's the second most, cuz sometimes I do more than one, I'll show it up in the next episode. So, I hope to see you down there and maybe I'll see you there. But with all that said, let's get into the episode. One last thing before I get started. If you do want to see the unaltered version of this reaction, go ahead and check out Patreon in the description. It's going to be $2 a month for full access to all of my reactions. I don't edit them down on YouTube, but the audio and the visuals have to be altered just to avoid copyright. So, if you want the full unaltered version, then go ahead check out Patreon. And if you want to join for free, you also get access to my Discord server, which is a great place just to see my community interact basically outside of these episodes. And if we talk about the shows, it's all sorts of fun stuff. But that's enough shilling for here. I'm just gonna hop into Jutsu Kaizen season 3 episode 9.

[00:24:39]Looks like we are starting with the opening.

[00:24:43]For some reason, there was some audio glitching last episode too, especially affecting Higura's voice. We won't get that this time. Turn this up a little bit because we are in for quite the episode, I'm sure.

[00:24:58]and the stream where I get to fully analyze the visuals of this opening come nearer and nearer with every passing week.

[00:25:07]I think I've got like four episodes left of the season, too. So, I'm super excited for that.

[00:25:14]Then I get to wait with the rest of you finally for season 4 games part two.

[00:25:24]Poor Yuji.

[00:25:32]>> Can already tell this is going to be such an insane episode.

[00:25:37]The buildup with last time with Higuruma. Like I talked about it in the pre-up prep, but it's just absolutely phenomenal.

[00:25:44]>> Oh, hey, Reggie's in the opening, too.

[00:25:46]That's cool. I guess pretty much everyone is in that little character lineup.

[00:25:53]There's also an interesting bit of uh Yuki in this opening. So, I wonder if we're going to get to see more of her and you and you before the end of the season. I'm sure we will. We haven't checked in with them in a while. So, Tokyo number one colony part three.

[00:26:13]>> Yep. Just starting straight off with the domain expansion because why not?

[00:26:20]Oh, he's going to try to move.

[00:26:24]I don't like your Ooh, the ground building beneath him looks really cool.

[00:26:29]Yeah, he's not concerned at all. I He's going to be in what do you call like deadly sentencing?

[00:26:45]Is this going to be a debate >> for remarks?

[00:26:50]>> Judgement.

[00:26:54]So, this is just going to be an episode of Ace Attorney basically bring the Magi Vegas Parker despite being Oh my god, he's being judged for being underage. You're kidding me.

[00:27:21]Interesting.

[00:27:23]He's trying to find an excuse.

[00:27:27]Oh, so interesting.

[00:27:34]So, I mean, this seems pretty heavily balanced in his favor, right?

[00:27:39]>> Being an actual attorney.

[00:27:45]But of course it's it's biased, right?

[00:27:47]It's domain.

[00:27:57]Judgment is the judge. Makes sense.

[00:28:02]Saiboni.

[00:28:22]Oh, interesting. Rather than like a final move.

[00:28:28]Interesting.

[00:28:31]Yeah. Now they're a lot more like just special attacks, final moves, final smashes, if you would.

[00:28:51]Oh, interesting.

[00:28:53]Bit of elitism.

[00:28:57]Unintentional elitism.

[00:29:09]That's super interesting. Great expansion of domains.

[00:29:23]Makes sense.

[00:29:28]Yeah. I mean, hopefully there's more trials than just you entering underage.

[00:29:32]That's pretty small. Kind of lame.

[00:30:02]Time is valuable.

[00:30:16]What's in the evidence? Yeah.

[00:30:58]whatever that even means. Yeah.

[00:31:01]You just don't have enough information.

[00:31:07]Okay, >> he's going with the bathroom.

[00:31:16]That's a good It's good defense.

[00:31:21]Mhm.

[00:31:28]All right. What's in that envelope?

[00:31:34]time is a picture of him playing games.

[00:31:40]Oh, so he was at the cash exchange, but maybe I was just talking to him.

[00:31:48]I was clearly just asking where the restroom is.

[00:31:59]Oh, come on. That's so easily dismissible.

[00:32:14]His voice so weak.

[00:32:29]Okay, I don't know about that one.

[00:32:41]Oh, really?

[00:32:56]just lie.

[00:33:01]That's cool. So, he's almost acting he's like providing advice as a defense attorney what he would have the confiscation back here with the absolutely incredible lighting.

[00:33:18]Yeah. What was confiscated? Oh, I guess we're outside of the domain.

[00:33:27]I'm sure we'll see at the worst possible.

[00:33:33]Okay, so he's got a blowup hammer.

[00:33:37]Yeah, that is really interesting.

[00:33:43]He's huge.

[00:33:45]on there.

[00:33:47]>> Endurance.

[00:33:50]I'm a sturdy sob.

[00:33:57]He had his first energy confiscated.

[00:34:03]>> That's why he didn't like put up a any defense.

[00:34:08]Thankfully, he's really strong even without it. At least the edge he was pointing out.

[00:34:22]He's determined.

[00:34:35]Not a genius, but gifted.

[00:34:42]I mean 102 points.

[00:34:50]He basically uses his domain to debuff his opponent and then he fights them within 12 days.

[00:35:07]Jeez.

[00:35:20]Yeah, he's doing He is really good at using that thing.

[00:35:25]Appear, disappear, shrink, and grow as he needs it. He can just alter it however he wants.

[00:35:32]Backwards crawl.

[00:35:34]He even makes it like elastic.

[00:35:38]What in the world?

[00:35:44]And he can just Sure, why not? You can do basically whatever he wants with it.

[00:35:59]Feel like it goes without saying, but the animation, just the directing, everything about this has been phenomenal.

[00:36:08]A serious debuff.

[00:36:12]>> Oh, it's complicated.

[00:36:15]>> Just blocked his curs energy. Yeah, because he doesn't have a stiff technique.

[00:36:24]H even to you, huh?

[00:36:32]That's a great question. We've been wondering the whole series.

[00:36:36]Yeah, but he had this long before he knew about cursed energy or death. No matter what, no matter what the how is He's not used to extended battles. Makes sense.

[00:37:14]God, that thing is insane.

[00:37:18]I mean, not it's not just powerful. He's just really good with it, right? You got to give credit to Higura himself.

[00:37:29]Uh-oh. Be careful.

[00:37:32]Don't spill the bathtub water.

[00:37:37]Unless he's just going to do it. No, Gi.

[00:37:50]>> Takes one to no one.

[00:37:53]>> His eyes are changing a little bit. It's getting serious.

[00:38:01]You have no idea when it's even going to come back.

[00:38:06]>> I mean, he seems dependent on his weapon. If you can disarm him somehow >> or maybe try to talk to him, distract him.

[00:38:17]Oh, the sweat.

[00:38:20]This OST is also going crazy. That guitar.

[00:38:25]Oh, a retrial.

[00:38:30]Good thinking.

[00:38:32]Immediately takes him back into the domain.

[00:38:37]>> Yeah.

[00:38:53]to two.

[00:38:55]>> Yeah. So, it goes to the third stage like he mentioned.

[00:38:59]>> Even though the second one's the main bottleneck.

[00:39:11]Oh no.

[00:39:16]Oh, is >> he just going to immediately say guilty?

[00:39:38]Yeah, that just flipped a switch on him.

[00:39:41]Even Higuruma was caught off guard though.

[00:39:46]>> To be fair, that's not a normal reaction.

[00:39:49]Is that gonna is that sparking something in Higura?

[00:39:53]>> Seeing how Yuji responded.

[00:40:01]Wow.

[00:40:16]You'd have a lot more change that way, but also you'd end up being crushed by the system like every other judge, I imagine.

[00:40:26]>> Oh, is that executioner? Yeah.

[00:40:40]He won't deny it, but he's still going to fight.

[00:40:45]This piano track in the background.

[00:40:49]What a somber scene.

[00:41:01]Okay.

[00:41:05]Criminals.

[00:41:21]ugly for them or you're ugly.

[00:41:26]All people including you, right?

[00:41:35]person.

[00:41:37]He sees himself.

[00:41:46]His mind did break.

[00:41:49]I was right.

[00:41:57]Cuz then I'll have to follow the verdicts.

[00:42:01]>> He'd rather fight for them.

[00:42:10]Oh, this OST, this scene is beautiful.

[00:42:21]Cutting out the sound.

[00:42:27]Cherished.

[00:42:31]>> Why are you angry?

[00:42:33]Why did you admit it?

[00:42:46]He was Why did you declare yourself guilty when you're innocent?

[00:42:56]Because he believes himself to be guilty.

[00:43:04]Oh, Hikuruma put away his sword because he can't do it.

[00:43:15]>> Yeah, he saw.

[00:43:18]Ow.

[00:43:22]Sound judgment.

[00:43:25]>> Yeah. Yeah. He's not of the sound mind because he wasn't. Yeah, exactly.

[00:43:34]That was the evidence.

[00:43:37]Why did you say you're guilty when you're not?

[00:43:42]Cuz that's the opposite of what he's dealt with his whole life, right?

[00:43:47]As a lawyer, he kept dealing with people who were innocent but declared guilty.

[00:43:50]But Yugji's the opposite.

[00:44:02]He's worse than guilty.

[00:44:04]He's kind over.

[00:44:35]Eugi's worthy of the points for you.

[00:44:40]Nice framing.

[00:44:47]>> Yeah.

[00:45:00]This shot. I love it.

[00:45:11]That's This uh ending has never been so fitting.

[00:46:09]Oh, Eugi, you precious boy.

[00:46:40]We're getting the rule.

[00:46:44]possible transfer points. Now they can get past the 19 days approved just like that.

[00:47:00]All right, that's a big hurdle. Oh, one of my points.

[00:47:11]I guess he got a point.

[00:47:13]Yeah, that resets it, right?

[00:47:16]>> Yeah. Yeah, because you also change your points like that. Oh my god, look at his posture.

[00:47:39]Guilty.

[00:47:50]like looking into an unbearable mirror, right?

[00:47:56]Oh, Guruma walking out into the light off the stage.

[00:48:04]What an episode.

[00:48:07]What a beautiful, heartbreaking episode.

[00:48:13]What an important episode, especially for Yugji, right? I mean, as somebody who's deemed himself guilty, who fully believes that he's responsible, there's no better first proper opponent to fight than a defense attorney, right?

[00:48:35]a defense attorney who's all but decided to play the part of judge, jury, and executioner.

[00:48:45]Oh, okay. I'm not going to bother trying to get back to that. But super solid episode. What an unexpected way to develop this because when you see him using his domain expansion and suddenly you start getting into this, your immediate thought is this is bad.

[00:49:04]He's using his trump card right off the bat.

[00:49:07]And then you see this, you can't even be violent. Like, what the heck?

[00:49:13]But it turns out it's for both of us because this is not a trump card.

[00:49:18]It's a debuff space.

[00:49:23]Remarks are the exception. Emotional damage is allowed.

[00:49:28]So, we start off with this rather this rather trivial silly judgment or a indictment about entering a parlor despite being underage.

[00:49:43]And we go through this whole scene, which is it's fine. It's kind of fun. I think I get a feeling that KK just kind of wanted to play Ace Attorney a little bit here. Most of what this is for is it's about setting up the next one, right? It's this is more building up these trials and also establishing just how this domain works and what's unique about these domains, how this domain largely is ematatic of earlier domains back before they were basically just glorified final smashes and when they were more accessible to people. I mentioned elitism during the reaction and it's not that certain people were deemed to be too low for it, right? It's it wasn't like a conscious thing. It was more just this became the norm. It became established that these are how this is how domains should be now. They should be these final smashes, these ultimate moves, which is a lot more complicated, a lot more difficult and basically just phased out the people who weren't capable of doing it.

[00:50:45]Soul fight is just absolutely beautiful.

[00:50:50]And I completely agree with with the narrator here. His tech his specialty certainly is being Oh my god. flipping around. His specialty definitely is being a sorcerer. Really being a more of a martial artist. No. No. The credit goes to being a sorcerer because the way he's able to manipulate this weapon, not only making it larger and smaller, making it appear disappear, it doesn't matter how good the tool is, right? What matters more than that is how it's about the wielder, right? There we go. For some reason, the DLC just like crashed or something. It just stopped responding. So, as I was saying, it's not about how powerful his technique is, right? Or how powerful his weapon is.

[00:51:30]It's about how you use it. And he uses it remarkably well.

[00:51:35]And Yugji obviously doesn't stand a chance having being effectively stripped of his cursed energy since he doesn't have a technique to strip. He's got his strength, but it's just not enough, right?

[00:51:48]He was a genius, but a gem that shone brightest as a sorcerer.

[00:51:54]I don't know if it's fair calling it talent, though. I'm sure he worked hard for it.

[00:51:59]Well, then again, he's not really a fighter by heart, so maybe it is talent.

[00:52:04]Maybe it's just something that came naturally to him. I'm skipping through most of this fight cuz I don't have a whole lot to say because it's just a brilliant fight, right? not a whole lot to analyze, at least not for me. If you have someone who's like an expert at analyzing animation, they could probably do better. But what I'm more interested in is the solution. He arrives at a technique for court trials. And then he demands a retrial.

[00:52:28]And just like that, Judge Man grants it and he gets to go through a second case.

[00:52:35]This one is far less I want to say far less forgiving and to a degree it is at the same time it's kind of ironic that first one he really couldn't win but this one he almost couldn't lose right not that he knew what the evidence was but the fact that the evidence basically proved him innocent and yet without missing a beat without so much as a beat of sweat rolling down his cheek.

[00:53:07]Yeah, I killed them. That's not a lie and I won't deny it. And even Higuruma is shocked and judgment is not happy.

[00:53:25]And Hui has the face of a broken cog.

[00:53:30]This is what I meant when I said that the first trial is really just setting up this one. It's sort of like a bait and switch in a sense. There's a bait and switch within this bait and switch.

[00:53:39]When we hear that he's standing accused by judgment for killing these people, you think, "Oh, he can just argue Sukuna, right? I didn't do it."

[00:53:48]Maybe the evidence will have him physically doing it, but he had a different personality basically effectively.

[00:53:55]So, there's the bait and switch here, right? the obvious one of he doesn't even deny it and he's just fully willing to admit it. Something that makes perfect sense in hindsight because throughout the season, we've seen nothing but him being more than willing to take responsibility even when it isn't necessarily his to take. For those who aren't new here, you're probably tired of me bringing up the blame game.

[00:54:18]You certainly know my opinions on it. I don't believe that it's worth anything.

[00:54:23]I don't think it gets anything done. I think you can play it till the sun sets.

[00:54:27]You could play it till the sun envelops us all even. There's no point in it. Oh, Skuna killed them. Oh, but Yuji's the reason why Skuna killed them. Oh, but Gojo is the reason Yuji's still alive.

[00:54:37]Oh, but blah blah blah, right? They're the reason Gojo is the way it is. You can't really play that game, which is why it's less important who's actually guilty and more important about accepting responsibility.

[00:54:49]And in that sense, Yugji's not wrong because he does accept responsibility, right?

[00:54:57]I think where he strays and the thing he did that was wrong is condemning himself because this trial is literal here, right? its domain, but it also is great as an analogy because Yugji is simply not willing to fight for himself.

[00:55:21]Plain and simple.

[00:55:24]He doesn't believe that his case is worth defending. He doesn't believe that he's worth defending.

[00:55:31]He has decided that he's guilty and that his punishment is participating as a cog in a machine that he can't tolerate.

[00:55:40]As somebody like Huggura who wants to do right, who wants to keep people from improper deaths, improper punishments, he submits to this intolerable system as his judgment.

[00:55:58]So when you get to the literal trial here, he doesn't object because in his mind he's guilty. And that's as real as being guilty. in actuality, right? It's good enough for him.

[00:56:15]Why would he object here if he believes it in his heart?

[00:56:22]But does believing something in your heart make it true?

[00:56:28]Well, I think Higgura and the way he reacts to Yugji's self admission is a subtle counterpoint.

[00:56:45]He sees Yugji's straightforward, genuine desire for right. Right. He believes himself guilty because he has this moral compass and he violated it.

[00:57:00]So Higura sees that moral compass that he has too that's caused him so much pain. The path he's already gone down.

[00:57:13]There's nothing down there. You're walking into the dark hoping you'll find something. The only thing waiting for you is what you can see.

[00:57:22]darkness, blinding darkness.

[00:57:29]It's the most angry and emotional we've ever seen. Huhiguruma and I really like this dialogue that's playing over this as he's been decreed as the executioner as he's in a sense judging Ethodori. Though you could argue that judgment did that by executing him, by carrying out his sentence, he's judging him, right? By possessing that technique, he's judging him. So, it's perfect that as they're fighting, as he's carrying out his judgment, he's saying in this past, "I won't be a judge." Because he doesn't believe he can't. Oh, this fight is so beautiful.

[00:58:09]I'm getting distracted.

[00:58:11]I can't be a judge. I'm not interested in promotions, so I'm knock it out for it. Because that's one thing, right?

[00:58:16]That's a big cultural difference between at least the US and Japan is that in Japan, judges are largely stuck in their own system. They're a lot like Kong politics in the US.

[00:58:31]It's a world where you bend the knee, submit, and go along with what people like to get in people's good graces so you can get promoted and you can rise up the rankings, right? It's practic It's a business. It's a business.

[00:58:44]All people are weak and ugly.

[00:58:51]But at that time, until that moment, that depravity was meant to be cherished.

[00:59:00]I'm not certain how to take that line.

[00:59:07]I'm not sure.

[00:59:10]The best I can come up with is this is a response to Yuji admitting guilt.

[00:59:18]I wonder if the depravity to be cherished is yourself standing by yourself.

[00:59:28]I'm not sure how to take this.

[00:59:38]That depravity, that filth, kemp impurity, which no other creature has but humans, is meant to be cherished.

[00:59:52]Until that moment, I assume until judgment, I'm not entirely sure how to take this.

[01:00:06]It's beautiful. It's a beautiful line.

[01:00:08]The idea of cherishing your depravity, cherishing something that is uniquely sinful about you.

[01:00:16]Perhaps he's talking about fighting for your innocence, about defending yourself until the moment of judgment, which Yuji didn't do.

[01:00:25]Perhaps he's saying that even those judges who are so focused on promotion, which he doesn't have, should cling to that which is clearly wrong.

[01:00:36]Their desire to move up in the world instead of carrying out impartial judgments, something they should cling to.

[01:00:43]Maybe it's just about pride.

[01:00:46]I think out of context, you can apply it to so many things, right?

[01:00:51]One of my favorite thematic through lines of shownen stories, especially the ones that are less afraid and more direct about confronting the wrongs of humans. Just look at Guran Logan, right? If you haven't seen Guran Lon, watch it. But it's a story about being impudent basically in the face of God. About being wrong, being a threat to the world and being proud of it. Taking the good and the bad of you. Taking the parts of you that are sinful and the parts of you that are aspiring, that are reaching for the stars. In Girl and Log on, the main quote, the basically thesis of the story is a line that's repeated in throughout it and it's one that changes in the finale throughout the show. It's talking, it's about the main character saying, "My drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens." Again, that impedance, right?

[01:01:46]I'm the one who will pierce the very heavens themselves.

[01:01:50]And yet, in the finale, the main character, Simone, changes it. My drill is the drill that creates the heavens.

[01:01:57]On the surface, nothing's really changed. And in the depths, you could say nothing's really changed. It's still about going somewhere you don't really belong. It's about rising up when maybe you don't deserve to. But language is important, far more important than I think people give it credit for. Changing from your drill will pierce the heavens to it creating the heavens is not only about arrogance. It's not only fighting against rorow ro row fight the power but it's a statement that you are truly realizing it right. You are accepting your destiny. You are proud of it. You're not just piercing the heavens. You're creating the heavens.

[01:02:38]You are creating new a new heaven. You are creating your eternal bliss.

[01:02:44]You are truly personifying and embodying the good and the bad because there is no good and bad of you. Right? It's all it's all a bunch of it's all gray mess.

[01:02:54]Even if you call it sinful, that doesn't make it wrong. And even if it's wrong, that doesn't mean you shouldn't find some pride in it. Because wrong or not, it's you.

[01:03:06]And it's fulfilling that full you that makes Gran Logan such an incredible and such a human story.

[01:03:15]I don't know if that's necessarily what he's talking about here. I it might just be flying over my head because Gay writes in a way that it's very particular and very minimalistic. So, it's easy for things to fly over my head because I'm not good at connecting the dots a lot.

[01:03:31]But I do love the idea that filth that's uniquely human should be cherished. I was going to move on to the next scene, but there is one more thing I want to say here.

[01:03:44]It's actually about Eugi.

[01:03:48]I've mentioned before that it is my personal belief that nobody will ever be as big of a critic of you as you are.

[01:04:01]At the same time, no one will be a bigger advocate for you than you.

[01:04:12]Which is why I think this is so sad where Yuji's gone down. I think it's what triggered Higuruma, right? It's that Yugji refuses to advocate for himself. He has stretch such a strong moral compass that he condemned himself.

[01:04:31]He refuses to be his own biggest advocate.

[01:04:34]And if he won't do it, then who will?

[01:04:42]I can't say I don't relate to it, though. I can't say I don't understand it. I know more than I know plenty of what it's like to condemn yourself, to find yourself guilty, whether you are or not.

[01:05:00]And I know the damage it does to your psyche.

[01:05:03]I mentioned earlier in the analysis that whether it's true or not is true in Yugji's head. And to him, that's as good as being true, right? In a sense, that's its own ego.

[01:05:18]That his mental judgment he's imposing on reality.

[01:05:24]Only he's not being very impositional about it, is he? So, I don't know if that'll actually manifest as a technique or as a domain. But the reason I said it's as good as being real, at least to him, is because ultimately your mind is shaped by your thoughts.

[01:05:40]You can't control your thoughts, at least not most of them. But you can control how you react to them. You control how you engage with them.

[01:05:49]You control whether you engage with them or whether you just acknowledge them and move on.

[01:05:57]When it comes to shaping your mind in that sense, it doesn't matter reality.

[01:06:02]If you've decided something, if you've decided you're guilty, then your mind will be shaped accordingly.

[01:06:10]Reality be damned.

[01:06:12]Right? He's suffering regardless of reality because he finds himself guilty. I really like this line.

[01:06:26]I wish he elaborated more on it so Yugji could maybe get it in his head, but I also think he recognizes that Yugji's not really in a place right now to hear it.

[01:06:37]But this is a really beautiful message and hopefully this is a seed being planted in Yuji's mind, even if he doesn't really think much of it because immediately you move on, right? But Tiguruma is saying a lot with very little here, isn't he?

[01:06:51]What he's really saying here is you may find yourself guilty. You may think you were too weak to stop something and maybe you were. Doesn't matter.

[01:07:02]What matters is if you convict yourself, if you stop fighting, if you submit to being a cog, then how are you going to help people who are about to follow down the same path? If Eugi switches from savior to killer, then who's going to take the savior's place?

[01:07:26]Eugi in switching his goals is unable to save people now. Not unable, but he's no longer prioritizing saving people, right? Instead, he's a weapon. Which is why I say it doesn't matter whether he's guilty or not. And it's why I think things like the death sentence, it's why I think being punished, put in prison for life is such a ridiculous punishment for all but the most extreme circumstances.

[01:07:50]Because by removing somebody from society, you are removing the potential for them to do any more good.

[01:07:58]By Eugi stepping back from fighting against the machine, surrendering to being a cog, he is depriving the world of all the good he could have done by resisting.

[01:08:08]all the people he could have helped. And it's not a one-way street either, right?

[01:08:13]That's why he's bringing this up here.

[01:08:15]That's why I'm hoping this is a seed that'll plant, that'll slowly start to bloom within him because I want Yugji to realize that as crass as it may sound, he just has to keep moving forward, we all do, right?

[01:08:34]I don't care how many people you've killed. I don't care how guilty you are.

[01:08:38]I don't care how many sins you've accumulated. If there is more good in the world you can do, but you refuse to do it because you're afraid of the bad you could do. You are depriving the world of those good acts. You don't know the future. No one knows the future. But by not acting, you are refusing to do good.

[01:08:58]And that and that alone is certain.

[01:09:02]There may still be plenty of people who are weak like you who could really use your help.

[01:09:08]And he gives Eugi the points because he believes in Eugi. Because he believes Yugji can still help those people even if Eugi doesn't. Just holding the shot is great.

[01:09:26]It cuts to black.

[01:09:28]It felt absolutely awful killing somebody of your own valition.

[01:09:34]And then we cut to the credits.

[01:09:36]Absolutely.

[01:09:39]You didn't really think I wasn't going to talk about this line, did you?

[01:09:43]Spoken by Higuruma, who's killed 20 sorcerers and two innocent people who we now know were the judge and prosecutor of that case.

[01:09:54]who said in the very previous episode, "It feels great to give somebody what's coming to them when they piss you off."

[01:10:04]I think to a degree this is him acknowledging the duality, the contradictions within him.

[01:10:12]The pleasure he feels killing people who piss him off, who are wrong, is his ego, right? It's his mind being broken from slamming his head against the brick wall.

[01:10:24]It's the depravity that you should cherish.

[01:10:30]Now, admitting that it feels awful to kill people of your own valition is his rational side, right? His true heart.

[01:10:43]You could say getting giving people what's coming to them is his nature.

[01:10:50]But recognizing how awful it feels is his soul, his core, because both can exist.

[01:11:00]Both do exist in everybody. And the less you think one or the other exists within you, the more likely it is for it to take advantage of you because you're unable to acknowledge it exists. The less you face reality, the more things reality does behind the scenes, right?

[01:11:17]because you're always facing turning your back to it.

[01:11:21]So, this is a great moment for Higura because he's aware. He knows that he has an ego. He knows that even if he doesn't acknowledge that his vision of justice isn't actually just or isn't as unbiased as he wants it to be, even if he won't acknowledge that, he acknowledges that killing people doesn't feel good.

[01:11:49]The way he like the way he practically like drags himself out his hunch shoulders and then he turns himself in.

[01:12:05]Till then, I need to think.

[01:12:08]I stay with you. I'll hide myself even more. I don't know if we'll see more of him in the future.

[01:12:14]I've got a feeling we won't.

[01:12:16]And I don't think we need to.

[01:12:19]I think this subtle character journey that Higguro has gone on as a result of fighting against Yugji is already complete.

[01:12:33]Because I think him realizing how awful it feel to kill people is a truth that he was unwilling to wrestle with until he fought Yugji, who so unabashedly refused to advocate for himself.

[01:12:48]And there's a bit of irony to it.

[01:12:53]Yugji, who is innocent but deems himself guilty, inspires Higura, who is guilty but refused to accept he's guilty, to turn himself in.

[01:13:08]Which is why I don't really think it's Yugji's actions or Eugi's situation that caused him to Higura to rethink his himself and the course he's going on.

[01:13:20]I think it's just him reconnecting with his roots. Him seeing Yugji being so unabashedly himself. him seeing Yugji while not advocating for himself, sticking to his moral compass regardless of the damage it does to him, regardless of how painful it is, regardless of the repercussions even.

[01:13:44]He sticks to that moral compass.

[01:13:48]And I think he realized how far he strayed from his But it's never too late, is it?

[01:14:00]It's never too late to stop what you're doing, see how far you've strayed, and start making your way back.

[01:14:09]That's not to say you'll be able to continue on a new path. Maybe you'll be you'll turn yourself in, be judged, be executed. But even then, just because you strayed doesn't mean you have to just keep going, right? There's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard is there's no turning back now. There's always a turning back.

[01:14:26]And it looks like Higura is doing just that.

[01:14:29]What a phenomenal episode. What a great phenomenal character. I really enjoyed this. I hope you enjoyed it as well. I imagine you did because this episode was hyped up quite a bit and I see why. A brilliant introspection both of Higura and of Yuji. And after something like this, I'm kind of terrified to see what the rest of the season has to offer. But there's only one way to find out, and that's to watch the next one. I won't be doing that right now. But if you want to see when I do do that and when I upload it, go ahead and subscribe to get notified. Once again, leave a like if you enjoyed. It really does help me out.

[01:15:00]It shows the algorithm that you're enjoying it and you're engaging with it, and it shows me that you liked it. So, I appreciate that a lot. Thank you. You know, Patreon, blah, blah, blah.

[01:15:07]Comments, blah, blah, blah. YouTube housekeeping, forget all that. I'm not even in the mood right now. I'm just still in awe about this. I need to bask about this for a little while longer.

[01:15:15]So, with all that being said, I'm so out of it. Thank you so much for watching. I hope to see you in the next one. And until then, have a lovely rest of your day.