Kinji Hakari’s cursed technique in Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 episode 5, explained

Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 is shaping up to be a refreshingly heady interpretation of Gege Akutami’s source material so far. The latest season sports a more complex visual tapestry courtesy of MAPPA and director Shōta Goshozono, who recently knocked it out of the park with its cathartic Maki Zenin-focused episode. There’s also a more conscious emphasis on reframing established context, allowing a more nuanced understanding of the characters who inhabit the series’ dark, violent world.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 episode 5.]

Episode 5, titled “Passion,” lays the foundation for an epic battle of wills between series protagonist Yuji Itadori and potential ally Kinji Hakari. This confrontation takes place inside Hakari’s Gachinko Fight Club, which Yuji infiltrates alongside Panda and Megumi Fushiguro. As Hakari holds the potential to become an overpowered asset in the upcoming Culling Game, Yuji and his friends hatch a well-meaning scheme to garner his attention without rousing suspicion.

To that end, Yuji poses as a sorcerer unaffiliated with Jujutsu High and ends up in close quarters with the suspended third-year student. MAPPA uses rotoscoping (a technique that traces over live-action footage to create realistic animation) to set this charged interaction as a tense, continuous one-shot, which explodes in a burst of violence after Hakari thinks Yuji is a spy.

Before Yuji has a chance to appeal to Hakari, he finds himself sandwiched between two levitating doors, which slam shut in an attempt to squash him. While Yuji evades this attack in the nick of time, Hakari knees him midair, showcasing his skills as an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant. While the much-awaited Yuji vs. Hakari fight will take place in the next episode, Hakari’s cursed technique seems complicated based on the little we’ve seen so far. Since cursed techniques are intimately linked to a sorcerer’s worldview, what does Hakari’s luck-based technique say about his status as an unpredictable wild card?

Hakari’s innate cursed technique, explained

Image: MAPPA/Crunchyroll

Hakari’s innate technique, Private Pure Love Train, follows the basic rules of Pachinko, a low-stakes, low-strategy Japanese gambling game involving slot machines. In a traditional Pachinko game, the player gets some metal balls after inserting cash or cards into the machine. After this, the balls are shot either with a spring-loaded lever or controlled with a round knob.

The objective is to navigate pins, levers, traps, and obstacles until a payoff target is reached, or for the player to hit the jackpot. Hakari’s Pachinko-based technique is inspired by his favorite romance manga, Private Pure Love Train, which explains why the rules manifest differently within the context of combat. The “train” aspect of this technique allows Hakari to summon the shutter doors that we glimpse in the latest episode, which can pin, slam, or squash opponents in a matter of seconds.

In the fight to come, Hakari attacks Yuji with cursed energy-infused physical blows after realizing that his opponent is deliberately avoiding an offensive strategy. Given the absence of life-or-death stakes within this fight, Hakari doesn’t use his Domain Expansion, Idle Death Gamble, yet, which simulates a train station hosting a probability-based Pachinko game.

Things get a tad convoluted from here on. Hakari’s course in battle is charted by his ability to line up three identical numbers to trigger a jackpot (not unlike a slot machine), but the probability of achieving this is one in 239. Hakari can also use color-coded visual indicators (like reserve balls or doors) to influence the odds of winning and trigger a chain reaction to turn the tide in his favor.

Hakari’s domain is a literal death gamble

Image: Viz Media

Once Hakari activates Idle Death Gamble (which cannot be overridden by a rival domain) and wins the odds to trigger a jackpot, he enters Unkillable Mode, which grants him an extra burst of cursed energy for the exact duration of four minutes and 11 seconds. This limited window is synced to the duration of the romance manga’s theme song, “Admiring You,” which can be heard playing during this particular segment.

Think of this four-minute window as a brief power-up that allows Hakari’s body to use the Reverse Cursed Technique (which reverses cursed energy into positive energy) to heal any injuries sustained during a fight. While this makes him temporarily invincible, the effects end as soon as “Admiring You” stops playing. Bonus abilities include an incredibly high pain tolerance and a higher probability (75%) of triggering yet another jackpot, enhanced by chance boosters that manifest as scenarios or cutscenes from the romance manga.

Image: Viz Media

In episode 5, Hakari tells Yuji about his obsession with “passion” (dubbed “fever” in the manga), described as the extreme lapse of judgement that accompanies addictive habits like gambling, or intense emotions like love. Hakari wants to channel his passion through the fight club and use it to manipulate the collective passion of everyone in Japan to serve his own interests. Given his eagerness to bet on unlikely scenarios and go to any extent to achieve his goals, Hakari’s luck-based cursed technique makes perfect sense. He’s the kind of person who is confident about overcoming impossible odds with a literal gambling mechanic, even when he’s staring death in the face.

Hakari’s ruthless devil-may-care attitude, combined with his complicated cursed technique, stands a solid chance of overwhelming strong opponents who aren’t aware of the game’s intricate rules. Foreknowledge doesn’t guarantee victory either, as Hakari’s strategy is as arbitrary as the whims of a slot machine, whose winning streak can be prolonged as long as luck is on Hakari’s side.

Next week’s episode of Jujutsu Kaisen has its work cut out for it in terms of balancing a crisp explanation of his cursed technique with the visual dynamism of the fight with Yuji. There’s hope that MAPPA has figured out a succinct way of handling this massive info-dump, while letting Hakari shine as the volatile ace that he is.

New episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 release every Thursday on Crunchyroll.