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Yuta Okkotsu is one of the main characters of Jujutsu Kaisen, and the protagonist of the prequel series, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. He is also one of the only two characters in the manga currently regarded as a special-grade cursed human.
To understand who Yuta Okkotsu I’ll start by explaining the story of Jujutsu Kaisen and how Jujutsu High plays a part in it. For starters, Jujutsu Kaisen is a manga written and illustrated by Gege Akutami and published in Weekly Shonen Jump. The story centers around Yuji Itadori. Yuji Itadori unknowingly gets wrapped into the world of curses and Jujutsu sorcerers because of a cursed finger, Sukuna’s Finger.
While at his high school, Yuji is mixed in with Megumi Fushiguro as he tries to recover a cursed object. Yuji’s friends are in danger during this ordeal, and to save them, Yuji ends up ingesting the cursed object. So basically, he eats Sukuna’s Cursed Finger. This event propels us into the world of jujutsu sorcerers as Yuji Itadori becomes a special grade curse himself.
Here we find out that curse spirits manifest from cursed energy because of humans’ negative emotions. They are powerful enemies that jujutsu sorcerers dedicate their life to fighting. So Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkotsu utilize the power of cursed spirits as the center of their abilities.
This ability makes them a special grade curse spirit because of the spirit they hold inside of them. In this character guide, we will examine who Yuta Okkotsu is as a character, his motivations, his relationships, and what he means to the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
Why Yuta Okkotsu Is Important
Yuta Okkotsu is a special grade cursed human that gets his power from his late childhood friend and love interest, Rika Orimoto. He enrolled at Tokyo Jujutsu High after the events of Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
In Jujutsu Kaisen 0, we first meet Yuta as a scared high-schooler that knows he is cursed but doesn’t necessarily know what it means. Throughout the story, he learns the reality of his curse and how to harness its power so that he can use it in his favor. This realization turns Yuta Okkotsu into one of the strongest characters in Jujutsu Kaisen and the only one capable of stopping Yuti Itadori if Sukuna were ever to break free.
So what is a special grade curse?
Well, curses are a form of spiritual creature in Jujutsu Kaisen. They aren’t inherently evil, but their sole purpose is to haunt humans. Natural evil is when a human gets their hand on one and uses their power for complete evil. On their own, curses don’t have any real goals or plans. They haunt and kill.
A special grade curse is a spiritual being with immense power that can completely change the tide of battle and defeat even the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Yuta Okkotsu – A Demonic Love Affair – Character Overview
To dive into Yuta Okkotsu as a character, we need to examine how his curse came to be and how it has affected him since. His abilities all stem from this curse.
The first time we see Yuta Okkotsu in Jujutsu Kaisen 0, he is a haunted teenager. He’s haunted by the spirit of his childhood friend Rika Orimoto. When they were children, Yuta and Rikpromiseder were together forever and got married to one another. But unfortunately, life had other plans.
Rika is killed in a tragic automobile accident that leaves Yuta Okkotsu devastated. But because of how strong their promise had been and Yuta’s desire to have Rika Orimoto close, she manifested herself as a curse that lives inside of the promise ring. This version of Rika is a monstrous demon that will stop at nothing to protect Yuta Okkotsu.
The only issue is that Yuta Okkotsu isn’t sure how to control Rika. Even when Yuta is only being bullied, Rika will take things to an extreme and kill the perpetrators. When we first see Rika, she’s stuffing one of his bullies in a locker by force.
Even if Yuta tries to end his own life, Rika will be there to stop it. This relationship leads to so much bloodshed that the Jujutsu Sorcerers decide to step in. Yuta asks them to leave him to die in a place where he is completely isolated. But Gojo offers him a different path. He invites Yuta to join him at Jujutsu High, where he can study all about curses with other sorcerers and train to control Rika. This way, he can use Rika to help others instead of hurt them.
Yuta Okkotsu is in the same class as Make Zenin, Toge Inumaki, and PandaWhileme at Jutjusu High. Yuta learns to work with Rika. The events led up to a massive battle against Geto, Gojo’s best friend. Geto decided that the world should get rid of regular humans, and there should only be Jujutsu Sorcerers. Because of this, Yuta goes against him and uses Rika in her most powerful form to defeat him during this battle.
Yuta Okkotsu realizes that he is the one who cursed Rika Orimoto. Gojo informs Yuta that he can trace his lineage back to Michizane Sugawara, which basically makes them relatives. This information explains why Yuta can use an almost limitless amount of curse energy.
After this discovery, Yuta is able to let Rika Orimoto go. This discovery leads Yuta to believe that he will lose his powers, but since they are actually tied to his lineage, he doesn’t. Rika, the cursed spirit, also stays with him despite Rika Orimoto’s passing on. Rika still retains the same protective personality, but Yuta is able to control her more easily.
From here, Yuta goes on to study with Miguel and harnesses his ability. When we first hear of him in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Megumi Fushiguro states that he is currently studying overseas.
Appearance, Personality, and Relationships
Appearance
Yuta Okkotsu is a young adult teenager. In the current events in the series, he is 17 years old and is of average height. He has black hair and dark blue eyes. He always has dark circles under his eyes, a trait he probably carries since he cursed Rika. Since he wasn’t able to control her, it would cause him massive stress, and he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
He wears black jeans from Jujutsu High and a unique white shirt with a mock neck and sleeves that go to his arms. He has white shoes and always looks stressed out. You rarely ever see Yuta Okkotsu smile. He is always focused on his mission.
Personality
Yuta Okkotsu’s personality goes through many changes all throughout the Jujutsu Kaisen series. At first, Yuta is shy and timid. He tends to be alone and is bullied by others because of it. These emotions are only amplified by his cursed spirit Rika since she kills anyone that hurts Yuta. It’s the reason that Jujutsu Sorcerers pursue him in the first place.
During the events of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, when Yuta is taken in by Jujutsu Sorcerers and put under Gojo’s care, he begins to open up a little thanks to his classmates. When he first meets Maki Zenin, she notices that he’s just an emotional kid that blocks himself from the world and chooses to get dragged around by the flow of his surroundings.
Yuta acknowledges this and resolves himself to become a jujutsu sorcerer so that one day he’d be in control of his own future. Yuta begins to train alongside his new friends, where he gains new confidence. With this new confidence, he decides to make it his mission to set Rika free finally.
Abilities, Powers, and Weapons
Yuta Okkotsu is one of the most powerful Jujutsu sorcerers. He is recognized as one of only four special grade sorcerers by Jujutsu High. He obtained this ranking almost immediately due to Rika’s haunting power and how it protected him.
He’s showcased incredible curse energy levels and has even been able to output reverse cursed technique as a positive, which is a highly high-level power.
He trained his ability with a Katana with Maki, who is regarded as one of the best cursed tool users in Jujutsu High. To top it off, since mastering his control of Rika, he has been able to have her hold different cursed tools for him. Meaning he could pull them out mid-battle if necessary.
Yuta Okkotsu’s Jujutsu Abilities
Advanced Cursed Energy Control
Yuta’s control of cursed energy is almost second to none. He can reinforce himself to minimize most enemy damage to almost nothing. It would take a mighty force even to force him to break a sweat.
His physical reinforcement can also maximize his damage output to the point where if an enemy is caught in an attack, then it could spell certain doom for them. Yuta is also able to use Reverse Cursed Technique without much trouble, whereas even an elite sorcerer would struggle using it constantly.
Immeasurable Cursed Energy
Yuta is said to have the greatest amount of cursed energy of all humans. This is one of the main reasons that he is so prolific as a Jujutsu Sorcerer and why Gojo Satoru considers him stronger than himself. However, Gojo Satoru himself has an infinite flow of cursed energy. When someone meets Yuta, the amount of cursed energy he possesses is always enough to startle or put them on alert.
Great Cursed Energy Output
Yuta is able to imbue his attacks with an enormous amount of cursed energy. This allows him to unleash devastating attacks with a wide range of effects. He is also able to output reverse cursed energy, which is basically unheard of.
Greatly Enhanced Strength
Due to his ability to reinforce significantly himself with his tremendous amount of cursed energy, Yuta is able to enhance his strength and physical attacks greatly.
Greatly Enhanced Endurance
The same can be said about reinforcing himself for defense. Due to his massive cursed energy output, he is able to minimize significantly most physical attacks.
Full Manifestation
After realizing that he was the one cursing Rika Orimoto, Yuta was able to keep Rika as an innate ability despite Rika Orimoto’s passing on. Because of it, Yuta is able to control Rika much more thoroughly. Yuta can also have Rika manifest herself completely to handle other tasks for him.
Copy
Yuta is able to copy any abilities that have been passed down to others through their sorcerer’s clan. It’s an incredibly useful ability that allows him to use new techniques in the middle of battle quickly.
These are a few of the powers he’s been able to copy thus far in the manga:
- Cursed Speech
- Shikigami
- Sky Manipulation
Reverse Cursed Technique
The Reverse Cursed Technique turns a user’s cursed technique into a positive output that is used to heal the user and others. It’s an incredibly difficult technique to master but one that proves monumental against more difficult enemies.
Usually, the cursed technique is meant to destroy. That is why when you reverse it. It does the opposite.
Weapons
Katana
Yuta Okkotsu has a Katana on in him most of the time, but it is not the basis of his power. Due to this, he opts to use his incredible cursed techniques to fight some of the more elite enemies in close-quarter combat by reinforcing his Katanas. He doesn’t have a single Katana that he uses, and if one breaks, he replaces it.
Steel Arm
Yuta Okkotsu has seen to hold many cursed tools with Rika, but one of the only ones we’ve seen in action is the Steel Arm which adds even more power to his punches and allows him to reinforce them more efficiently. Although the Steel Arm shatters in his fight against Takako Uro.
Every Battle Yuta Okkotsu Has Been In Thus Far
In Jujutsu Kaisen, battles, where a sorcerer’s life is on the line, are an everyday occurrence. Yuta Okkotsu is no stranger to those. Despite not being too prominent in the earlier arcs, Yuta Okkotsu gains a much more significant role in the story in the Sendai Colony Arc.
Here we really get to see Yuta Okkotsu using his powers after learning to use them more clearly. These are all Yuta Okkotsu’s battles involved in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
Cursed Child Arc
This is the original arc of Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High. It covers the initial story of Yuta Okkotsu and how he struggled with controlling Rika Orimoto. During the entirety of this arc, he still believes that Rika is haunting him.
Yuta Okkotsu & Maki Zenin vs. Cursed Spirits
During this battle, Yuta and Maki become overwhelmed by cursed spirits, and Yuta decides to invoke the power of Rika willingly for the first time by putting on the Ring that she had given him.
Yuta Okkotsu & Toge Inumaki vs. Cursed Spirits
This fight shows how Yuta is still hesitant to rely on others and doesn’t need to rely on Rika to fight. During this fight, Yuta creates an opening for Toge and even gives him cough medicine to amplify his ability.
Yuta Okkotsu vs. Suguru Geto
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- This battle pushes Yuta to his limits and causes him to unlock an even greater ability in Rika. It’s necessary to stop the lengths Suguru Geto goes to try and defeat Yuta. Yuta kisses Rika during this fight which causes her to enter an even more powerful state. They are able to overcome Suguru.
- It is during the aftermath of this battle that Yuta discovers he was actually the one cursing Rika, and he is able to let her go finally.
- Yuta is still able to summon a version of Rika after these events that retain the same personality and characteristics as Rika Orimoto.
Itadori’s Extermination Arc
This is the first time we have been shown Yuta Okkotsu in the main Jujutsu Kaisen manga. For many, this is the first encounter with Yuta Okkotsu ever since Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High is meant to serve as a prequel to this arc.
Here Yuta Okkotsu appears before Yuji Itadori with orders to kill him from the higher-ups.
- Yuta Okkotsu vs. Cursed Spirit
- This is our first glimpse of Yuta Okkotsu. He crashes on top of a cursed spirit and saves a girl from it. The cursed spirit tries to attack him, but Yuta quickly overwhelms it.
- Yuji Itadori vs. Yuta Okkotsu
- During this fight, we see just how significant the difference in power between Yuta Okkotsu and Yuji Itadori is. Despite his best efforts, Yuji is restricted by Rika and stabbed in the heart by Yuta.
- Thankfully, this is simply a ploy by Yuta to navigate around a binding vow he had made with the higher-ups to kill Yuji. Yuta had basically killed Yuji by stabbing him in the heart, but Yuta had immediately used the reverse cursed technique to heal him.
Sendai Colony Arc
The Sendai Colony Arc revolves around the Culling Game that Yuta, Yuji, and other characters join in order to find someone that is capable of unsealing Satoru Gojo from his imprisonment. The Sendai Colony itself features Yuta Okkotsu facing off against some powerful Jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits.
- Yuta Okkotsu vs. Kurourushi
- Kurourushi is a special grade spirit that Yuta Okkotsu encounters in the Sendai Colony. It is the first time Yuta has fought seriously since Jujutsu Kaisen 0. During this fight, Yuta defeats Kurourushi by using a mouth-to-mouth reverse cursed energy blast. This shows the lengths that Yuta is willing to go to defeat an enemy since this requires him to get face-to-face with a dangerous special-grade spirit.
- Yuta Okkotsu vs. Takako Uro vs. Ryu Ishigori
- Takako and Ryu are two sorcerers from the past that have been reincarnated for the Culling Game. Yuta Okkotsu is able to copy Takako’s ability during this fight. It’s the most challenging fight we see Yuta take on since his introduction to Jujutsu Kaisen, but he manages to incapacitate both of them.
Fun Facts About Yuta Okkutsu & Interesting Quotes
Yuta Okkotsu Quotes
- “I want to be with people. I want to be needed and want to be confident that it’s ok to keep living.”
- “I want to live strongly and honestly.”
- “I’ll give you my future, heart, and body… I love you, Rika. This is pure love.”
Yuta Okkotsu Trivia
- Yuta is one of only four special grade Jujutsu Sorcerers.
- Initially, Yuta Okkotsu was set to be the protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen. He was the star of the one-shot that would later be turned into Jujutsu Kaisen.
- Gojo gave Yuta his first Katana in order to help him control his immense cursed energy.
- Yuta had originally asked Rika to be with him forever, but due to the shock of losing her, his memories had become distorted.
Yuta Okkotsu’s Weaknesses
Yuta Okkotsu hasn’t really shown any weakness besides his selflessness. He has shown that he’ll put himself on the line for others and that he’ll show compassion where others wouldn’t.
Other than that, it would take a mighty sorcerer or cursed spirit to take down Yuta Okkotsu.
Yuta Okkotsu’s Motives & Missions
Currently, Yuta Okkotsu is on a mission to free Satoru Gojo from his Prison Realm by locating a player named Angel in the Culling Game.
FAQs
Question: Who is Rika Orimoto?
Answer: Rika Orimoto is the childhood friend of Yuta Okkotsu. One day while walking home, Rika Orimoto is tragically killed in a traffic accident. Yuta witnesses this and becomes cursed by her spirit. It isn’t until later that we find out that it was actually Yuta who cursed her and wasn’t ready to let go of her.
Rika always seemed cheerful and happy to be with Yuta. When Yuta was able to lift the curse, Rike forgave him and even said that she was glad to be cursed with him.
Question: Is Rika The Source of Yuta Okkotsu’s Cursed Energy?
Answer: No, Rika is not the source of Yuta’s cursed energy. It is believed to be because of his lineage and his family’s ties to Jujutsu Sorcerers. Rika only served to activate his abilities.
Question: Is Yuta Okkotsu Stronger Than Yuji Itadori?
Answer: As of right now, yes. Yuta Okkotsu has a much deeper understanding of cursed energy and is able to use it in ways that Yuji Itadori still can’t. Simply being able to use revere cursed technique puts Yuta at a massive advantage since he’d be able to regenerate his wounds. Once Yuji learns to control his cursed energy more clearly, then he may prove to be a match due to the dormant abilities of Sukuna.
Final Thoughts on Yuta Okkotsu
Yuta Okkotsu is one of the strongest characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. He is also one of the most complex. His origin is similar to Yuji Itadori, and they are both considered special grade Jujutsu Sorcerers due to the special grade cursed spirits that they possess.
He is a fantastic character that gives us a glimpse of the power that Yuji might be able to achieve in the near future. He also serves to bring peace of mind to Jujutsu Sorcerers now that Satoru Gojo has been sealed. I am definitely looking forward to seeing where his character development goes and how he will feel when he is reunited with Gojo.