The ongoing Shibuya Incident arc adaptation is turning out to be one of the best arcs in the second season of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime. Of course, the major highlights of this arc are the exhilarating battles and Gojo showing off his psychopathic side (also seen in Gojo’s past arc). Among the incredible battles, there is also the revelation of the guy who has been pulling the strings of all the events from the shadows. He is called Kenjaku, and he is the absolute mastermind in the history of Jujutsu Kaisen. I know that you were completely caught off guard by this unexpected twist in JJK Season 2. So, let’s learn about this enigmatic character in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Who is Kenjaku in Jujutsu Kaisen?
I’m sure many of you must be wondering, “Who the hell is this guy?” trying to pass himself off as Geto Suguru. Making his introduction in the craziest way possible, we see Geto lifting his head (like opening a can) and showing off his brains. Yeah, the brain has a mouth and can talk. His original name is known as Kenjaku (or Psuedo-Geto).
He is a long-standing Jujutsu Sorcerer who continued to live for more than 1,000 years using his inborn technique. What’s special about his innate technique? With his cursed technique, Kenjaku can transplant his brain into any other person’s body and take control of their being. So, this is the cheat code he has been using to escape death countless times and keep himself alive for 1,000+ years.
Throughout the years, Kenjaku has jumped from one body to another and, right now, continues to live in today’s world via Geto Suguru’s body. Yeah, we all presumed Geto to be dead, as shown in the ending of the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie, but Kenjaku took control of his body. With unlimited knowledge of Jujutsu and cursed energy, he has become a mastermind and an ultimate manipulator. With these skills, he has orchestrated the chaos symphony throughout the Jujutsu Kaisen series and continues to do so until he has achieved his goal.
History of Kenjaku in Jujutsu Kaisen
Throughout history, Kenjaku has captured the bodies of many people and survived successfully against time and death. However, there are many important people’s bodies he has inhabited and changed the course of history through his vile acts. Furthermore, there are only a few victim’s names (who Kenjaku controlled) mentioned in the history books.
When Kenjaku implants his brain and takes over someone’s body, they get a stitches-like scar on their forehead, which is due to binding vows. It makes them easier to identify for us as well. That said, let’s start with the first victim and list down all the people who were affected by Kenjaku’s brain implant technique.
Unnamed Guy
Kenjaku’s first victim that we saw in the manga was an undisclosed character. It is mentioned that he used this body to enter into binding vows with the Jujutsu Sorcerers of that era.
Noritoshi Kamo
Next up, in the Meiji era of Japan, Kenjaku was able to steal a vessel from one of the important families in Jujutsu society, the Kamo family. Kenjaku successfully took complete control over Noritoshi Kamo (the ancestor of current-gen Noritoshi Kamo, who we list in our list of the strongest Jujutsu Kaisen characters).
With this body, Kenjaku conducted unimaginable cruel research by coupling humans and cursed spirits. This resulted in the cursed womb: death paintings we see today. Due to these abominable events, Noritoshi was considered a stain in Kamo history and an egregious sorcerer of all time as well.
Kaori Itadori
Who would have imagined that the repugnant Kenjaku would even be capable of controlling the mother of our protagonist, Itadori Yuji? He indeed took control of Kaori Itadori at one point, as confirmed by the mark on her forehead. This means Kenjaku pretended to be Kaori and together with Jin Itadori, it led to the birth of Itadori Yuji. However, Kenjaku’s plans for Yuji are currently unknown.
Geto Suguru
After Kaori, in this current generation, Kenjaku implanted his brain into one of the strongest sorcerers of this era, Geto Suguru. After the battle with Okkotsu Yuta, Geto was killed by his best friend Gojo, as mentioned in the last words of Geto.
As Geto’s body wasn’t cremated, Kenjaku took advantage of this situation. Therefore, before Kenjaku’s name was revealed, this version of Geto was called “Pseudo-Geto.” From then on, he continued to live inside this body as Pseudo-Geto and gained all of Geto’s powers.
Kenjaku’s Goal in Jujutsu Kaisen
So what does this Kenjaku guy want? Does he want to seize and rule the world? Or does he want to obliterate everything in his way? Rather than that, it looks like he has a unique goal. In chapter 202 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Kenjaku reveals his grand plan, which is to merge Master Tengen and all the non-sorcerers in Japan to give birth to a single entity. He doesn’t know what the outcome will be — how the entity will look like, what it will do, etc., but that’s his intention.
Upon Choso questioning him to further explain his motive, like what’s in it for him and why is he doing it in the first place, Kenjaku simply replies with, “It just sounds fun.” Furthermore, he even mentions that if the resulting entity had a funny face, it wouldn’t be hilarious. In a nutshell, he felt like a kid holding a crayon in his hand along with a blank sheet. Deep down, that’s how he feels, and the guy simply wants to put an end to humanity for fun!
Along with this, he has also talked about unlocking the unlimited potential of his cursed energy. Additionally, he also stated to Yuki Tsukumo that harnessing cursed energy is crucial for humanity’s future. After living for 1,000+ years and surviving a millennium of wars and coalitions, he views our planet as a cursed one. He deeply resents the contemporary societal structures and feels that everyone should experience what it’s like to incrementally move towards their goals in life.
Jujutsu Kaisen Kenjaku: Powers & Abilities
Kenjaku is one of the most powerful characters to exist in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. Just imagine how much knowledge about cursed energy he must have gathered after being alive for over a thousand years. All this knowledge along with his powers make him one of the most novel characters in the series. So how does his cursed technique give him an upper hand over others, let’s see:
- As said earlier, his innate technique allows him to transplant his brain to any choice of target body. Upon successful transplantation, he takes complete control over the body and can cheat death. This is identified by the stitched scar marks on the victim’s forehead.
- As soon as he seizes control over a new body, Kenjaku has access to the victim’s memories, cursed energy supply, and even their cursed abilities.
- Even after switching from one body to another, he can keep possession of all the techniques of his previous hosts. Nonetheless, it is said that the amount of innate techniques and information his brain can hold is limited. However, the accurate limit to its unknown.
So, as you can see, Kenjaku not only has immense knowledge about the Jujutsu world but has the ability to acquire possession of numerous powerful techniques alongside his own. This makes him a terrifying opponent to battle against. It should also be noted that he has defeated Choso, Yuki, and even Tengen back-to-back in one go. Still, he doesn’t consider him on the same level as Gojo or Sukuna. Undoubtedly, he is one of the strongest, though!
