The Shibuya Incident arc of the smash hit anime Jujutsu Kaisen concluded with a seismic power shift, leaving its sorcerers scattered, broken, and facing an existential threat without their strongest champion, Satoru Gojo. As the dust settles and new dangers emerge, the trajectory is set for Yuta Okkotsu—a powerful sorcerer who has been operating in the shadows—to take center stage. Yuta’s history is integral to the upcoming third season, especially since the first arc of Season 3—named “Execution”— is a direct reference to Yuta’s promise that closed out Season 2. Understanding his strength, background, and relationships is necessary to grasp where he fits in amidst the high-stakes drama, life-or-death battles, and conspiracies that await in the next season.
Yuta’s return as a main character and major player in Season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen promises to raise the power ceiling and spells trouble for his enemies.
10) He is One of Only Four Special Grade Sorcerers
Yuta holds the incredibly rare and prestigious rank of Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer—the highest a Sorcerer can possibly rank. This designation is given to those with unimaginable power, cursed energy, and cursed techniques who can take on any cursed spirit. The rank marks Yuta as one of the most powerful players in the entire world of jujutsu.
This exclusive club has only four members. The others are Satoru Gojo, who is currently sealed, the deceased antagonist Suguru Geto (but his body is possessed by an ancient sorcerer using Geto’s innate and rare cursed technique), and Yuki Tsukumo, a mysterious woman dedicated to reforming the jujutsu world. Yuta’s presence among this elite group confirms that he is on par with the strongest figures that Jujutsu High has ever seen.
9) He Can Copy Any Cursed Technique He Sees
One of the most terrifying aspects of Yuta’s power (if you’re his enemy) is his ability to copy and use any cursed technique he witnesses. This is a highly rare and potentially limitless power that allows him to adapt to any opponent and gain an ever-expanding arsenal of cursed techniques. This makes him extremely unpredictable in a fight, especially since he can use the Inumaki clan curse technique: cursed speech.
This ability is tied to his bond with Rika, the fully manifested cursed spirit attached to him. While the exact conditions for the copying are complex—as are many aspects of lore in Jujutsu Kaisen—and often involve Rika’s assistance, this power ensures that very few opponents can stand against him without him quickly developing a counter-strategy.
8) His Childhood Best Friend Became a Special Grade Curse
The tragedy at the heart of Yuta’s power stems from the death of his childhood best friend, Rika Orimoto. At the age of 11, Rika was killed in a bloody traffic accident right in front of him. Yuta, unable to accept her death, subconsciously cursed her spirit due to the trauma of the moment.
This curse resulted in Rika becoming a monstrous, powerful, and vengeful Special Grade Cursed Spirit known as the “Queen of Curses.” This spirit was fiercely protective of Yuta and was the source of his massive initial power and violent outbursts before he learned to control her through the training he received from Gojo at Jujutsu High.
7) He Was Absent in the First Two Seasons For Good Reason
Yuta’s original story is told in the film Jujutsu Kaisen: 0. The film takes audiences through Yuta’s first chaotic year at Jujutsu High, but then he is nowhere to be seen in the main events of the first two seasons. However, his absence was not a mere oversight but was by design. He was sent personally by Gojo on an extended assignment in Africa as part of his ongoing training and to make use of Yuta’s great power.
His companion on this mission was Miguel, a talented foreign sorcerer who previously fought against Gojo during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. The goal of this trip was to locate and secure powerful, special-grade cursed tools and artifacts. However, Gojo’s reasoning for assigning this quest to Yuta remains unexplained in the anime.
6) He Has Nearly Unlimted Cursed Energy
Yuta possesses an almost unlimited supply of cursed energy— an inborn trait that is exceptionally rare even among the other Special Grade Sorcerers. This seemingly endless reserve allows Yuta to execute techniques repeatedly and last in combat for far longer than most other sorcerers. With Gojo’s training, his control over his energy became exceptional.
Remarkably, his cursed energy reserves are even greater than even the world’s strongest sorcerer, Satoru Gojo. While Gojo’s technique, Limitless, is more efficient and powerful, Yuta’s sheer quantity of energy is unmatched, granting him the ability to use large-scale techniques and powerful barriers repeatedly without fatigue.
Yuta’s massive amount of power is partially explained by his ancestry. He is a descendant of an ancient, powerful sorcerer, Michizane Sugawara—one of the three great vengeful spirits of Japan. This lineage connects him to a deep source of sorcerer power and tradition within the jujutsu world.
Through this same ancestor, Yuta and Gojo are distantly related. This family tie is part of the reason the two are considered to be the most gifted and powerful sorcerers of the modern era, suggesting that their extraordinary abilities are, in part, a genetic inheritance from their ancient ancestor.
4) He is Just as Overpowered as Gojo
Yuta, alongside Gojo, represents the quintessential “overpowered” archetype in the shonen genre. His incredible reserves of cursed energy, his copying ability, and his control over the Queen of Curses make him an almost unstoppable force capable of defeating most enemies with relative ease. From a narrative standpoint, Yuta’s mission overseas was necessary during the disastrous Shibuya Incident. If Yuta had been present, sealing Gojo in the prison realm wouldn’t have been as big of loss for those fighting against the cursed spirits and curse users.
There is a very noticeable power imbalance between Yuta and the series’ main protagonist, Yuji Itadori. Yuji is not naturally gifted with cursed energy and doesn’t have an innate technique of his own, but instead earns his strength through rigorous training, sheer resilience, and physical force. Yuta’s return in Season 3 will reintroduce a powerful player who can match the incredible destructive force of the season’s main antagonist, Kenjaku.
3) He Returned in the Closing Moment of Season 2 With a Mission
Yuta made his dramatic return for the first time since Jujustu Kaisen: 0 following the Shibuya Incident. After saving a little girl from a monstrous spirit and barely exerting any energy doing so, he appeared before the Jujutsu higher-ups/elders, who were attempting to use the chaos to consolidate power and issue death sentences for those they deemed a threat, including Gojo and Yuji.
In a shocking development, Yuta publicly vowed to the higher-ups that he would execute Yuji Itadori himself. This was a shocking turn of events in the closing moments of Season 2, as Yuta is known to be a kind and peaceful Jujutsu High student and Gojo’s prized student. Yuta uses Toge Inumaki’s injury—losing an arm—as an explanation for his animosity towards Yuji. His true motivations, however, remain to be seen in Season 3.
2) He Defeated Geto as a First Year
Yuta’s first year as a sorcerer was marked by an attack on Tokyo that cemented his status as a Special Grade Sorcerer: the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. It is revealed that Geto orchestrated the entire event to distract the capable sorcerers and draw them away from Jujutsu High so he could face and undefended Yuta and steal Rika and her power.
In this climactic battle, Yuta displayed the full extent of his power for the first time, defeating and mortally wounding Geto. This victory was essential to his identity as a sorcerer, as it also allowed him to finally understand and accept Rika’s death, which subsequently freed her spirit from the curse he had unknowingly placed upon her years earlier.
1) He is a Skilled Swordsman
Despite his impressive cursed energy reserves and powerful techniques, Yuta is also a highly skilled close-quarters combatant. His primary choice is a katana, which he keeps strapped to his back at all times and wields with deadly proficiency. Yuta incorporates his katana into his fighting style to deliver powerful blade strikes imbued with cursed energy.
The use of a weapon was originally suggested during his first year as a way for him to focus and channel the cursed energy that he did not fully understand. While Yuta naturally took to the katana, the sharpened skill effectively made him a versatile fighter. He often pairs his swordsmanship with his copied cursed techniques, proving that his battle skills extend far beyond just his raw reserves of power.
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