Jujutsu Kaisen: Every hand sign in Shibuya opening explained

The opening theme of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Shibuya Incident Arc, showcases impressive visuals, notably incorporating a sequence of diverse hand signs. In this analysis, we delve into the meanings behind each of these intricate hand signs.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 featured the series’ highly-anticipated Shibuya Incident Arc. The series gets more intense and tragic during the Shibuya Incident than ever. Yuji and the others are in for one hell of a ride once the villains execute their plans and unpredictable elements wreak havoc in Shibuya. 

The opening theme, ‘SPECIALZ’ performed by King Gnu, along with the visuals by MAPPA, perfectly captures the essence of one of the most tragic arcs in Jujutsu Kaisen. The opening visuals are surprising, especially for manga fans as it contains many foreshadowing. It’s not unusual for anime series to spoil the upcoming events in the opening themes. 

However, Jujutsu Kaisen Shibuya opening theme really takes tradition to another level by featuring all the tragedies in the arc. We also see a sequence of several hand signs that are crucial to the complex powers of Jujutsu Kaisen. Here’s what each of them means. 

1. Sukuna’s Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine

Crunchyroll

Sukuna, the King of the Curses, has a Domain Expansion worthy of his title. Malevolent Shrine creates an environment similar to a scary Buddhist shrine that has been desecrated to house a demon. Dark-colored water surrounds the shrine, and there are countless bull-shaped skulls on the ground.

His Malevolent Shrine is as advanced as Satoru Gojo’s Unlimited Void, capable of overwhelming the great majority of domains. Malevolent Shrine’s guaranteed hit will ruthlessly cut apart anything within its effective range, excluding Sukuna himself, with two types of slashing attacks: Cleave and Dismantle.

This Domain is unique because unlike most Domains, Malevolent Shrine doesn’t have a barrier, instead its potency lies in its effect area that spans up to 200 meters from Sukuna. The unique, well-crafted, and nefarious looking Domain is befitting of the strongest ancient sorcerer.

2. Mahito’s Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection

Crunchyroll

Mahito is a major antagonist in the series, responsible for countless deaths in Jujutsu Kaisen, the most notable being Junpei and Nanami. Even though he is a relatively new curse, his powers are ever-growing. He conjures his Domain Expansion by hand seals formed by tiny hands inside his mouth. This generates a vast black environment in which Mahito’s target appears with giant hands clasped together in the shape of a flower.

Multiple arms are linked to these hands, gripping one another to form a net pattern that surrounds Mahito’s victim. Self-Embodiment of Perfection enhances the efficiency of Mahito’s cursed technique, Idle Transfiguration, by ensuring it always strikes the target’s soul. As someone who was once trapped in Mahito’s Domain Expansion, Nanami compared the sense of being inside Mahito’s Domain to literally being in Mahito’s hand.

3. Dagon’s Domain Expansion: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha

Crunchyroll

A member of Kenjaku and the special-grade curses’ alliance, Dagon doesn’t make a proper introduction in the story until later in the Shibuya Incident Arc. However, the Shibuya opening already teases his powers in the hand sign sequence. In Season 1, fans have already seen the environment created by this ability. It’s the palace where the major villains hang out. Dagon fully develops in the Shibuya Incident arc, creating a lot of problems for the sorcerers. 

The Horizon of the Captivating Skandha possesses a sure-hit technique that automatically allows Dagon’s shikigami to hit their target. The fish appear abruptly in the target’s perspective, making them nearly impossible to block because the shikigami don’t exist until they hit the target, instantly devouring their flesh.

4. Jogo’s Innate Cursed Technique: Disaster Flames

Crunchyroll

Jogo’s Domain Expansion isn’t included in the hand sign sequence of Jujutsu Kaisen Shibuya opening because of the impact of this specific technique. During the Shibuya Incident, Jogo fights Sukuna using not his Domain Expansion but only his innate techniques. Disaster Flames is his strongest technique and allows him to produce highly concentrated cursed flames.

He can generate flames, shoot heat rays from his palms, or manifest small volcanic openings in the environment that also erupted his powerful beams. Additionally, he can also create fires or blast heat rays from his palms and little volcanic vents in the environment that explode his powerful beams. Jogo already used this technique in Season 1 against Gojo.

5. Choso’s Innate Cursed Technique: Piercing Blood

Crunchyroll

Choso is a Cursed Womb: Death Painting with the innate Blood Manipulation Technique of the Kamo Clan, one of the three great clans. He is ranked special grade and is exceptionally powerful even by cursed spirit standards. The user claps their hands together and fires blood from their fingers after compressing and condensing their blood to the limit with Convergence.

The blood, now infused with cursed energy, can travel at the speed of sound. Furthermore, Choso can use this technique to inject his poisonous blood into his opponents. As shown in the opening, Choso uses this technique for the first time in the Shibuya Incident arc of Jujutsu Kaisen.

6. Aoi Todo’s Innate Cursed Technique: Boogie Woogie

Crunchyroll

As someone from a non-sorcerer background, Aoi doesn’t have any flashy ability. However, being personally trained by the Special Grade sorcerer Yuki Tsukumo, Todo easily became a very capable Grade 1 sorcerer. His technique, Boogie Woogie, is triggered by clapping his hands, as shown in the hand sign sequence of Jujutsu Kaisen Shibuya opening.

It allows him to change the orientation of anything that contains even a tiny bit of cursed energy. In the fights with Hanami and Mahito, Aoi demonstrates that despite being a simple technique, he can utilize it to the fullest thanks to his creativity and intelligence.

7. Megumi Fushiguro’s strongest Shikigami: Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga

Crunchyroll

Megumi Fushiguro is a character with incredible potential that can even be on the same level as Gojo someday. Thanks to his father lineage as a Zenin, Megumi has inherited their highly coveted Ten Shadows Technique. The technique allows him to summon a number of powerful Shikigami, the strongest being Mahoraga.

Megumi has tried summoning this Shikigami a couple of times in Season 1. But he stops a moment before activating it. This is because of the risks involved, as Mahoraga could also easily kill its summoner. However, Megumi finally uses this Shikigami, and its powers are deadly. Mahoraga is the trump card of the Zenin Clan, but no sorcerer in history has ever been able to tame it, not even Megumi.

The Shikigami has the ability to adapt to any and all phenomena, which makes it a force to be reckoned with. When a specific attack hurts it, Mahoraga’s wheel spins, allowing it to adapt. If its opponent employs the same tactic again, Mahoraga will counter it. This also works offensively, with attacks changing to efficiently break through their opponent’s defenses.

8. Satoru Gojo’s Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void

Crunchyroll

As the strongest sorcerer alive, Gojo has one of the most devastating Domain Expansions in the world. The reason the visual includes Gojo’s eyes is because he always uncovers them whenever using this ability. This Domain Expansion sends the user and their targets into the Limitless, vast emptiness of infinite knowledge. The unending raw information streams into the target’s consciousness, overloading them to the point where they’re completely immobilized.

The victim’s total incapacity is created by a phenomenon in which they can see and feel everything while not being able to see or feel anything at the same time. All of their activities in life are forced onto them indefinitely, and they can do nothing but die slowly. This effect has no effect on the user or anyone they are in contact with.

In the Shibuya Incident Arc, Gojo impressively opens his Domain for 0.2 seconds to spare the non-sorcerers from dying from its effect. Later in the series, he will demonstrate just how deadly his Domain Expansion can get. After reducing the effect limit of his Domain, he can strengthen its barrier to the point that it can even surpass Sukuna’s Domain.

How to watch Crunchyroll from outside your location in 2024?

Crunchyroll is the world’s best hub for streaming anime, whether it’s One Piece, Attack on Titan, or Jujutsu Kaisen – and thanks to ExpressVPN, you can access the platform’s full library even if you’re outside the US.

If you’re abroad, here’s what you need to do to access Crunchyroll’s full selection – and it really is this simple:

1. Sign up for ExpressVPN, which has ultra-fast servers and offers a secure, private connection wherever you are in the world
2.  Connect to a location anywhere in the US; Express VPN allows you to choose from 24 different spots, from New Jersey to Santa Monica
3.  Visit Crunchyroll online and start streaming all of your favorite animes – and perhaps some you’ve never watched

Accessing Crunchyroll’s US roster makes a difference; for example, Hong Kong users only have access to less than 100 titles, while the US has nearly 1,000 movies and TV shows.

You can also stream anime on Crunchyroll for free with an ad-supported plan, or you can pay for a subscription – there’s even a 14-day free trial if you can’t quite make up your mind.

There is a long time before Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 is released. In the meantime, you can get yourself well-versed with the jujutsu world with our articles on the strongest characters Sukuna defeated or how Suguru Geto died in Jujutsu Kaisen. If you’re in a mood for something fun, maybe you’ll like some weird Jujutsu Kaisen fan theories and the iconic scenes Gege Akutami recreated in his popular manga.

Please note that if you click on a product link on this page, we may earn a small affiliate commission.