Jujutsu Kaisen 【Ch.239】Takaba will lose to Kenjkau?!

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After a one-week break, Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 239 has finally been released!



In the last chapter, Yuji and Higuruma appeared in front of Sukuna, and we thought their final battle would start.

But that’s not the case.



Gege Sensei presents a different story in this chapter, focusing on Kenjaku.



This chapter centers on Kenjaku in Iwate Prefecture, with Takaba showing up to confront him…



Many of us might have wondered, “What’s going on?!”

I certainly did.



However, there are some amusing and intriguing events in this chapter that I’ll explain in this podcast.



I will discuss:



・Who is the lady with rolled hair?

・Missing translation

・Takaba’s humorous moments

This discussion will be divided into three parts covering pages 1-6, 7-15, and 16-19.



Let’s get started!



Page 1~6

Chapter 239 starts with a roll haired lady running in Iwate colony.



There is a comment from editor saying “新宿決戦同刻！！ロール髪お嬢様、走る！！”

In English, it translates to “The same time as the Shinjuku Battle! Roll-haired lady, run!”



In Japanese, she is referred to as お嬢様 (Ojosama).

Do you know what it means?



This is not just any lady. Ojosama, a formal Japanese term that literally means “young lady,” is typically used in anime to describe wealthy, high-class female characters.



For example, Ai-chan from Crayon Shinchan and Sumire from Sakura Wars are typical examples of Ojosama characters.



According to Gege Sensei’s comments in this week’s WSJ, this lady was originally intended to appear from Chapter 1. So, she could be Yuji’s classmate or something of the sort.



The most memorable scene in this part is Kenjaku’s cursed spirit. It resembles Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle. Calcifer is a fire spirit, but this one appears to be a water Curse.


The standout feature of this Curse is its ability to exist in a gas, solid, or liquid form, I believe. Moreover, if you strike it while it’s in solid form, you can brainwash the affected person.



How useful.



Page 7~15


From page 7, Hazenoki makes an appearance. Kenjaku offers him friendship with conditions:



“You must never bore me.

You must be my equal.”



Kenjaku’s way of asking for friendship is quite psychopathic.



Kenjaku and Hazenoki watch Gojo and Sukuna’s battle together. Kenjaku remarks, “Lookin’ Good!” when he sees Gojo’s dying face.



I believe a part of Geto’s soul is manifesting in this scene. These words sound like his.



Hazenoki was expecting backup, but it won’t happen. Kenjaku is monitoring Shinjuku, allowing him to make a quick escape.



He’s not only checking Cursed Energy in Shinjuku but also observing it visually. This completely overcomes Geto’s old weakness. When he was at Jujutsu High, he couldn’t visually observe things through his cursed spirits. Gojo requested this, but he declined, which is why he allowed Toji to enter the barrier.



Additionally, as I mentioned on Twitter, there’s a mistranslation on this page. When Kenjaku is explaining, a scale is depicted. This scale is meant to show us that Kenjaku is measuring the amount of Cursed Energy. However, in English, it’s labeled “Gravity.”



Why did this happen? It’s due to the similarities between the Japanese words. In Japanese, it’s written as “じゅりょく (Juryoku)” in Hiragana, while “Gravity” is written as “じゅうりょく (Juuryoku)” in Japanese. These words are quite similar, differing by just one character. This likely led to the translator’s mistake. Translation is indeed challenging, and while I don’t blame the translator, I want to ensure you fully understand this chapter, so I’ll explain it further.



Kenjaku’s purpose is mentioned again. He wants to witness what you haven’t seen and receive confirmation that what you find interesting is truly intriguing. According to him, this is what life is about. He’s quite the mad scientist, isn’t he?



Then Hazenoki’s response differs a bit between Japanese and English. In English, he says, “beats me; you can’t eat it for all I care.” In Japanese, it’s, “知らねーよ、毎朝テメエのクソでも眺めてろ” which roughly translates to “I don’t care; just watch your own crap every morning.” The Japanese version has a more offensive tone, and personally, I find it more ironic.



And that’s when Takaba makes an appearance.



Page 16〜19



Takaba came to Iwate and sing a song.
は〜ばる　来たぜ　函館〜



He sings this song in Japanese.

This song is from Hokodate no Onna sung by Saburo Kitajima.



Hakodate is a city in Hokkaido, but this place is in Iwate. So Takaba cracks a joke as soon as he arrives.



Then Kenjaku attacks Takaba. He uses the same Cursed Spirits as he did on Yuji during the Shibuya Incident. However, it doesn’t work. This is due to Takaba’s technique. His technique allows him to manifest situations he imagines as “funny” into reality.


On page 18, there is a parody of “Kochikame.” “Kochikame” is a legendary comedy manga in Weekly Shonen Jump (WSJ). It has been published for over 40 years and has 200 volumes. The panel comes from when “Kochikame” collaborated with “Dragon Ball” for its 30th-anniversary special. In the original scene, the main character, Ryotsu, received energy bullets from Frieza, but they didn’t work. In this situation, Gege Sensei depicts Kenjaku as Frieza, and Takaba calls him クソ坊主 in Japanese, which means “F***ing monk.” In English, he’s simply called “Monk,” but it’s actually more offensive in the original Japanese context.



On the last page of this chapter, Takaba and Kenjaku begin a comedy routine. Their lines, “世の中ね興奮することがいっぱいありますけど、1番興奮るすのは〜” and “… 間違いないね,” are borrowed from a Japanese comedy duo, Sandwich Man. They use these phrases when starting a “Manzai,” a traditional form of comedy where a duo entertains the audience through a comical conversation. In Manzai, there are two roles: the “ボケ” (boke), who intentionally says or does something funny, and the “ツッコミ” (tsukkomi), who points it out. In this case, if they were Sandwich Man, Takaba would be the Tsukkomi, and Kenjaku would be the Boke, though in this situation, it’s the opposite.



Additionally, Sandwich Man appears in Chapter 153, during Hakari’s gambling arena scenes. Interestingly, Gege Sensei is from the same hometown, Sendai, as Sandwich Man, which may explain the reference.



This is quite amusing, and it hints that Takaba and Kenjaku might continue with their comedy fight in the next chapter.

I can’t wait to see it



From here I’m going to talk about my thought about this battle.

I think Takaba will lose.



Why do I think so?



There is 1 big reason.

According to an interview, Gege Sensei said, “Takaba’s weakness as a comedian will be pointed out by a certain character.”



This certain character would be Kenjaku. Now, what is Takaba’s weakness?



Almost all of his jokes aren’t original. His costume is borrowed from Center man, a Japanese comedian’s character. And in this chapter, he uses jokes from Kochikame and Sandwich Man. There’s nothing truly original about his humor. Every original gag he’s ever attempted fell flat; he wasn’t a successful comedian before.



If Kenjaku points out his lack of originality, Takaba will lose his confidence. Without confidence, he won’t feel funny, and his technique wouldn’t work.



This is my prediction. After that, Yuta and Maki may step in to fight Kenjaku.



That’s my take on it. What are your thoughts? Please feel free to share your opinion.



That’s it for this podcast.
How was it?



I believe your understanding of Chapter 239 has deepened.

Stay tuned for more podcasts about Jujutsu Kaisen’s anime and others.



And tweet with #KylePod if you have any comments or questions!!



Thanks for listening.

Bye bye.