Jujutsu Kaisen’s Creator is Retconning One of the Series’ Strongest Powers

In the Jujutsu Kaisen universe filled with overpowered abilities, Black Flash is considered an extremely potent but unreliable technique that was susceptible to being countered. At least that was the common thinking up until Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter #256, where creator Gege Akutami buffed Black Flash to be the most broken ability a sorcerer can ever hope to have in their bag of magic tricks.

After defeating Satoru Gojo and several other powerful sorcerers, over the last few chapters, it seemed that the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, had finally met his match as the combined efforts of Yuta, Yuji, Maki, and others were too much for the ancient sorcerer to overcome.

But just as the end seemed near in Chapter #255 with three of his hands cut off or beyond repair, a critically injured heart, and the inability to heal himself with reverse curse energy, Sukuna shocked all combatants with a second Black Flash strike just minutes after his first – a move rarely accomplished even when a sorcerer is at full health.

Jujutsu Kaisen Takes Away Black Flash’s Limitations

This Powerful Ability Has Been a Staple of the Series

Black Flash is defined as a distortion in space when cursed energy hits a target a fraction of a second after a physical hit, causing the cursed energy to “flash back”. While often mistaken for a cursed technique, Black Flash is actually more of an enhancement or force multiplier. When activated, Black Flash increases the damage of a strike by 2.5 times its normal power.

For such a strong ability, almost any sorcerer can utilize a Black Flash strike if the right conditions exist. Usually, this happens when circumstances are so taxing or stressful that the users are pushed to their limit. Also, Black Flash only happens to physical strikes, so it is experienced more often by sorcerers who prefer a close combat approach.

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“Itadori Yuji Awakens”: Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji Finally Has the Chance to Prove Sukuna Wrong

Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji makes a definitive statement with a Black Flash, hinting that Sukuna may have made a grave mistake by underestimating him.

Black Flash Is An Unreliable Ability

Not Even the Most Skilled Sorcerers Can Use It at Will

If those conditions are met, then a Black Flash strike may be released. Naturally, the stronger and more skilled a user is, the more damage a Black Flash strike can cause. Indeed, a Black Flash strike by a pure fighter like Yuji or Maki would be considerably more punishing than one by Megumi.

However, the major problem with Black Flash is that a user never really knows if it can be activated when they need it. Not even supreme sorcerers with exceptional control of their cursed energy, like Gojo, can utilize Black Flash on demand, to the point that the number of consecutive Black Flash hits is a badge of honor in the jujutsu community.

So, while Black Flash has the potential to be a game-changer in a fight, it’s certainly not an ability a user can rely on. Indeed, doing so would be dangerous. Only a few jujutsu sorcery practitioners have accessed the ability, and those who have can count the times they succeeded at using it in an attack. Accordingly, most Jujutsu Kaisen fans considered it an awesome but limited ability.

Black Flash’s Side Effect May Be More Broken Than Its Primary Use

Consecutive Black Flashes Can Make the Users Recover Their Reverse Cursed Technique

So, for many fans, it came as something of a surprise when, in Chapter #255, they found out that Black Flash helped Gojo regain his ability to use Reverse Cursed Technique. That is, Black Flash possesses a secondary capability that has a positive impact on the user even while simultaneously causing damage to the target.

Up until that point, all but the most dedicated Jujutsu Kaisen fans believed that Black Flash was only an offensive/combat technique. However, the comment confirms the retcon of Black Flash that was first revealed in Gojo’s fight with Sukuna. That retcon, in turn, has its roots in two prior and unconnected situations in the story.

The first situation occurs in Chapter #50 where senior Jujutsu sorcerer Kento Nanami describes what users experience when they use Black Flash consecutively:

When successfully using Black Flash, Jujutsu users are in a zone similar to what athletes experience.

That is, they enter a state of optimal performance that combines concentration without distraction, confident exuberance, and complete mastery of all the skills and abilities they innately have or have learned throughout their practice. Nanami captured the essence of the feeling perfectly: performing jujutsu sorcery becomes as natural as breathing.

The second situation occurs during the fight between Yuji, Todo, and Mahito in Chapter #128 when, just after Todo uses Black Flash against Mahito, the in-comic narration suggests that using Black Flash once allows the user to unlock 120 percent of their potential.

Black Flash May Be The Ability That Decides The Fate Of The World

Yuji and Sukuna Will Trade Black Flashes

Of course, based on the understanding of Black Flash before Gojo’s fight with Sukuna, the application of these other elements of the ability just added to the idea that it improved the overall performance of a cursed energy user. Indeed, using Nanami’s analogy as an example – when athletes are in the zone – everyone is impressed by the fact that they can’t miss a shot. No one – other than Akutami – thought it could have beneficial recuperative abilities for the user.

But that is indeed what happened to Gojo with that second Black Flash strike in the fight against Sukuna. Specifically, while the strike landed major damage on the target, it also allowed him to regain another top-tier jujutsu sorcery technique in Reverse Cursed Energy. Indeed, while landing a devastating blow on an opponent in a fight is a desirable outcome, being able to recover the ability to stay alive seems infinitely more useful.

Chapter #256 begins with Gojo explaining why he can’t use Black Flash at will, despite his Six Eyes. This proves that the technique will once again play a major role in the story, and it serves to highlight Yuji’s potential as one who has been “chosen by the sparks of black”. However, the question remains if Sukuna’s Black Flashes have also helped him recover his Domain technique, which would spell doom for the heroes.

Jujutsu Kaisen has retconned the already devastating Black Flash ability to an even higher status – and now it will be a battle between Sukuna and Yuji to see who can benefit from it the most.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available from Manga Plus and Viz.com

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Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen is a supernatural action anime that follows high school student Yuuji Itadori as he battles against magical curses. After Yuji selflessly saves a classmate by taking a curse into his own body, he is discovered and trained by a powerful sorcerer named Satoru Gojo. Gojo, who also happens to be a faculty member at a high school, enrolls Yuji there to help him and other students prepare themselves against the supernatural forces that plague humanity.

Release Date

October 2, 2020

Seasons

3