#modulo

I definitely had to sit on this and really think about it.

For the record, I do like Modulo for what it is. (I saw someone call it a "disgusting story" and practically dragged the themes and when you know the themes... yeah, that is a very terrible thing to say...) I didn't expect much, but I didn't expect little. It wasn't going to be a long story, so... I learned that when it comes to getting into something, don't have high expectations for it but also don't expect it to be bad. Just getting that off my chest!

Now, if I had creative liberty of Modulo (and let's say I would be able to make it a longer story for fun)? I can't think of much I would change about it, at least not a lot off the top of my head.

The one thing that does itch at my brain in a bad way is how Rika's ring was registered to the Gojo clan. It may be technically a cursed tool as it is the connection to Rika, but I still don't like it being belonging to the Gojo clan given the sentimental value.

That ring once belonged to the Orimoto family (her mother's and yeah, Rika took it, but...) that Rika gave to someone she dearly cares about. Having the ring being under she Gojo clan's name and something two siblings who fight over it that Yuta is the grandfather of with another woman (hey, Maki, love you) just feels wrong to me.

I think altogether, I wouldn't even included the ring as part of the story given how Yuka and Tsurugi fighting over it seem to have stop being a focus for the majority of the story.

I think about thing I would change is the epilogue. Look, Todo is a cool dude and all and I'm happy for him. But I did not care to see that he got married. I like that he was Miyaguni's mentor, but that was about it for me. Didn't care for it.

I would have preferred more on Megumi or even Toge even since he kind of didn't have much of a story.

We have Usami who has the Cursed Speech Technique. I would have loved to see Usami, a character who kind of does have relevance in Modulo, have been shown to have some kind of connection to Toge in the epilogue. Like, the Inumaki in general I would have loved more exploration on, especially after the Zenin clan got wiped out. Like, did they fill in that space or what? What happened to Toge after JJK?

I would have touched on that in Modulo, name mention Toge or something.

If not that, Iori Okkotsu would have definitely been the topic of the epilogue. I do like the mystery of him since I like imagining what could have been though. But I think I would have liked to have gave him a cameo or some hint of his whereabouts. Like, we get some more on him in the bonus material, but some way I would have added that into the story.

I would have also explored on Osuki's line about Yuji's presence feeling similar to a Kalyan's (WHICH I PREDICTED IN MY POSTS AND FIC). That still has me in a chokehold.

And Miwa should have some kind of involvement or mention. I envision that she became a master in other weapons since she can't draw a katana anymore and was a teacher.

Also, that shark dude with the tiger! Osada! He and that tiger would probably have gotten another appearance. I know he is an one-time character but I liked him.

More exploration on the other Simurians, too. I feel like they deserve a bit more screentime.

I've been struggling to describe Mahoraga's placement and role in Jujutsu Kaisen because this shikigami is more than just a puppet of a character but that doesn't make Maho a fully realised character itself. It's a half-sentient weapon with enormous weight inside the story who doesn't possess free will but it feels like it does because it attacks it's own wielder during its first summoning. Sometimes it also feels like Maho has a (bloodthirsty, loves fighting and winning) personality but that can't be really true. Or could it?

And then in the sequel a guy more or less falls in love with Mahoraga, too, which muddies the waters of kind of character or plot device it is.

But it came to me recently: Mahoraga is basically the Avatar State; it occupies the same role as that.

Not Aang, not the other avatars; the Avatar State as this unbelievably powerful weapon with enormous weight in the story which has to be "tamed" to be controlled fully, otherwise it can harm the "wielder" and those around them.

But putting Mahoraga and the Avatar State side-by-side like that made it finally click for me on what Maho has been lacking as a character/plot element this entire time: meaningful connections to the other characters, plot and themes.

Aang, the Avatar State and the previous avatars are deeply connected. The Avatar State is one part of a whole. Megumi, Mahoraga and Sukuna are not meaningfully connected to each other. For Aang, the AS is an achievement that nonetheless reflected his fears back at him from time to time. For Megumi, Maho is nothing more than a promise for mutual destruction against an enemy. He doesn't achieve anything with Mahoraga, Maho isn't a point of fear or a reflection of his inner self to him, and the only time where he had character development in relation to Maho was when he decided not to use it.

Sukuna has more to do with Mahoraga, but him enjoying Maho's presence and happily fighting alongside it is the most that comes from that connection. And because Sukuna was possessing Megumi's body to use Maho, that connection is fraught with this sense of having "stolen" Mahoraga and so we're back to this shikigami being a weapon disguised as something that pretends to be a character.

And Megumi's and Sukuna's connection feels like something that has stopped half-way through, so Mahoraga and the Ten Shadows Technique as a whole can't bring anything new to their relationship and themes, either.

The AS doesn't try to be its own character while it's meaningfully connected to Aang and the story and themes. Mahoraga isn't meaningfully connected to Megumi and the story and themes, while failing to be its own character and no amount of heart eyes that Dabura throws at Maho will change that.