The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Episode 9, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s second season was one of the most anticipated releases of Summer 2023, particularly because of the currently airing Shibuya Incident arc. This arc will feature the series first all-out war between the jujutsu sorcerers and the Disaster Cursed Spirits that have continually provoked them. However, these cursed spirits might have good reason for harassing JJK’s protagonists.
The main antagonists for the Shibuya Incident are the Disaster Curses, a group of Special Grades so named because of their link to naturally occurring phenomena. Jogo is the cursed spirit that resulted from the human fear of volcanoes, Dagon from the ocean, Hanami from forests and vegetation and Mahito from the human fear of their own kind. Without the existence of non-sorcerers, these cursed spirits could never have taken form, but now that they have, they believe their destiny is to supplant humans.
How Are Curses Created In Jujutsu Kaisen?
Curses are created when all the latent cursed energy generated from non-sorcerers directing negative emotion at a particular place or phenomenon binds together to form a new entity. The strength of a resulting curse is proportionate to the number of people (and by extension the amount of cursed energy) that were involved in creating it. According to the Jujutsu Kaisen lore, most public institutions like schools and hospitals are haunted by a few low-level curses at least. In contrast, universally feared threats like other humans and volcanoes result in threats wielding techniques as powerful as Mahito's Idle Transfiguration.
Cursed spirits grow in strength and intelligence the longer they live, but most never develop to the point where they are capable of communication with humans or of managing their base instincts. Concepts like the ones the Disaster Curses are based on have been present and feared by humans for millennia, but only took shape a few months before the Shibuya Incident. By then, they had gathered enough cursed energy and strength to allow them to speak as soon as they manifested. The Disaster Curses have also been aided by a mysterious sorcerer masquerading as Suguru Geto for almost as long as they have been alive. In addition to their innate techniques, these Cursed Spirits have shown mastery over Domain Amplification and acute manipulation of cursed energy, abilities that would be impossible for them to learn without a knowledgeable teacher.
The unintentional culprit behind the strength and sudden manifestation of these especially powerful curses might be Gojo Satoru. By virtue of possessing both the Six Eyes and Limitless Cursed Technique, Gojo altered the balance of the world when he was born, with curses beginning to grow more powerful and complicated since his childhood. This strange phenomenon has come to a head with the manifestation of a group of curses that band together not to cover up deficiencies in strength, but because they have reached a level of organization previously thought exclusive to humans.
The Goal of the JJK's Disaster Curses
The Disaster Curses’ goal in a nutshell is to become the “human” race. They wish to bring about the extinction of humans and replace them with a curse paradise. When the humans are eradicated, they and every other curse spawned so far will be free to live as they please, indulging in their worst curse instincts without fear of retaliation from jujutsu sorcerers or anyone else seeking to limit their freedom. Since curses have infinite longevity, all of them in this new paradise would eventually develop intelligence on par with the Disaster Curses, effectively replacing humans as earth’s dominant intelligent life form in the JJK universe.
Their greatest obstacle to making this dream a reality is Gojo Satoru. Even though his birth heralded a new age of stronger cursed spirits, his allegiance to jujutsu society, no matter how flimsy it appears at times, means certain death for any cursed spirit that attempts to stand against humanity. Since killing him is next to impossible, the Disaster Curses have bought into Kenjaku’s plan and settled for sealing him into the Prison Realm. This is the entire point of the Shibuya Incident; the elaborate series of veils and thousands of non-sorcerers trapped in Shibuya station were meticulously placed there for the express purpose of putting Gojo Satoru out of commission. Once he is out of the picture, there will be nothing stopping the Disaster Curses from recreating the world in their image, at least according to Kenjaku.
Cursed Spirits Are Violence Incarnate
Inasmuch as Mahito, Jogo, Hanami and Dagon are several times more intelligent than their kin, they’re still curses at their core. This means they equally share the violent and sadistic nature of the other curses featured in Jujutsu Kaisen. Just as humans feel certain base instincts (like eating, resting, and procreating) but are able to suppress them in order to participate in society, the Disaster Curses are able to ignore their curse instinct to slaughter every human they come across. Their unique impulse control is what has convinced them that they deserve to be the new humans.
However, these violent impulses, no matter how deeply they are suppressed, cannot be ignored for too long because of how curses are created. As the literal embodiments of the worst human emotions, violence is their birthright. It’s no wonder, therefore, that they seem to enjoy battles so much or use fights as catalysts to force their own evolution when they are sufficiently stressed.
Unfortunately for these creatures, they are born into a world that has no love for them. Before they even manifest, potential cursed spirit apparitions are marked for death by Jujutsu society. In a world where it is kill or be killed, the Disaster Curses arguably cannot be blamed for doing what they need to do in order to survive, even if that includes giving in to their violent impulses against humanity.
