The Culling Game Arc is not only an arc full of back-to-back battles and shocking twists, but it’s also the arc that introduces the most number of new characters in the story. When Kenjaku initiates the Culling Game, he awakens cursed energy in many non-curse users along with incarnating ancient curse users. One of the most prominent awakened curse users in Jujutsu Kaisen is Hiromi Higuruma.
Higuruma is introduced in the story as an antagonist whose help Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro need. After his fight against Yuji, Hiruguma changes sides, making him an important ally for our heroes. In this article, we’ll discuss Hiromi Higuruma in Jujutsu Kaisen, including his past, powers, and power level.
Needless to say, there will be some spoilers ahead. Now, let’s begin this article by discussing who Higuruma is in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Table of Contents
Who Is Hiromi Higurumi?
Hiromi Higuruma is a defense attorney who becomes one of the participants of the Culling Game. He awakens his cursed energy when he becomes a participant in the Culling game. Despite being a non-curse user all his life, he quickly grasps the concept of cursed energy and cursed techniques, and soon becomes one of the top players, earning 100 points.
When Megumi and Yuji need 100 points to change a rule of the Culling Game so that Tsumiki Fushiguro doesn’t have to participate in the game anymore, Yuji approaches Higuruma. After their fight, the lawyer realizes that Yuji is a good person who wants to protect the weak and decides to help the boy instead.
Past
Before becoming a participant in the Culling Game, Higuruma was a brilliant defense attorney known for taking impossibly difficult cases. Being an idealistic man, he always wanted to help the wrongly accused and bring justice to society. However, Higuruma confesses that he doesn’t fight cases of the wrongly accused because he has a desire to protect the weak or something like that. Rather, he does it because it feels right and he cannot leave things feeling wrong.
Over the years, his mental state began to deteriorate in the face of the injustice that is prevalent in society. He slowly started to lose faith in the justice system and by the time the Culling Game started, he’s lost all hope and respect for humanity. It isn’t until his encounter with Yuji that Higuruma regains his passion for helping people.
Power and Abilities
Unlike most major characters in the series, Higuruma hasn’t known about curses for very long. It’s only when Kenjaku starts the Culling Game that cursed energy is awakened inside Higuruma. Despite knowing about cursed energy for such a short time and having no training whatsoever, the lawyer quickly becomes proficient in it and even masters domain expansion, something that even many prolific jujutsu sorcerers haven’t managed to do.
Aside from cursed techniques and domain expansions, Higuruma’s true power remains in his intelligence. He is one of the smartest characters in the series and has extensive knowledge of law. And even though his knowledge of law doesn’t seem important in a story of jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits, it’ll about to come in handy in his battle against Ryomen Sukuna.
Cursed Technique
While most jujutsu sorcerers and curse users use cursed techniques as their primary mode of offense, Higuruma seldom uses them. He usually uses his domain expansion against his opponents. However, a cursed technique is needed to be imbued in a domain expansion for it to work.
Higuruma’s unnamed cursed technique allows him to conjure a Shikigami. Thanks to his interest in law, the Shikigami he conjures represents Lady Justice and judges the opponent based on their crimes and statements. The Shikigami, named Judgeman, takes the appearance of a dark floating being with a white face. The eyes and lips of Judgeman are sewn shut, representing the blind nature of justice.
Judgeman’s ideas and knowledge of law come from Higuruma himself, meaning, if Higuruma doesn’t know about a particular law, then Judgeman also doesn’t. However, Judgeman’s judgment is completely free of Higuruma’s influence. The Shikigami has its own voice and even a little bit of personality with it being short of patience.
Domain Expansion: Deadly Sentencing
Higuruma’s domain expansion, Deadly Sentencing, is a broader extension of his cursed technique. When he opens his domain, his opponents are caught in a courtroom trial where they are judged by Judgeman with Higuruma as the prosecutor. Judgeman automatically knows everything about the opponent, though the user does not, and will preside over one crime at a time.
The opponent caught in the domain gets the role of the defendant and has three options on how to act: silence, confession, or denial. If the defendant denies the crime, the prosecutor will offer their rebuttals with the help of the evidence provided by Judgeman. If the defendant is proven to be guilty, Judgeman will issue certain verdicts based on the severity of the crime.
The harshest verdict is the death penalty which will only be issued if the defendant has committed severe crimes like mass murder. A common verdict is Confiscation which makes the defendant unable to use their cursed technique for a period. Deadly Sentencing is a unique domain expansion and its purpose isn’t purely offensive like most domains.Â
Power Level
Higuma is a strong and noticeable character among the expansive cast of Jujutsu Kaisen. His mastery over cursed energy in such a short time is unprecedented. However, if we compare his power levels to other major characters, the result can be surprising.
When it comes to the strength of cursed techniques, Higuruma is clearly at a disadvantage since neither his cursed technique nor his domain is meant for offensive purposes. His skill at physical combat also will not help him much against opponents like Yuta Okkotsu, Kinji Hakari, and not to mention, Sukuna.
Currently, he’s one of the less strong members of the group; stronger than the likes of Panda, Atsuya Kusakabe, and even Mei Mei, but definitely weaker than Yuta, Hakari, and Maki Zenin.
Conclusion
We conclude our discussion on Hiromi Higuruma in Jujutsu Kaisen here. Currently, Higuruma has formed a tag team with Yuji, and the two are caught in a courtroom trial inside Deadly Sentencing with Sukuna where the King of Curses is accused of mass murder in Shibuya. What happens next is what we all are eagerly waiting to see.Â
Read Jujutsu Kaisen manga on the official websites of Shueisha: Manga Plus and Viz Media, and keep reading Otakus’ Notes for more Jujutsu Kaisen content.
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Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.
