Jujutsu Kaisen: How Strong Is Kinji Hakari? Domain Expansion Explained
Infamous for his short temper, Hakari Kinji is a third-year student at Jujutsu High! Gojo Satoru believes that Hakari is one of the only sorcerors in the world with the potential to surpass him!
So, to understand just how strong Hakari is, let’s take a deep look at his powers, abilities, and strengths!
Physical Abilities:
Super Strength and Cursed Energy Trait:
In chapter 157 of the manga, Itadori voluntarily took the brunt of Hakari’s punches to prove his point. And, to him, it felt like instead of punches, it was like Hakari was hitting him with a baseball bat that had a saw-like edge. And it didn’t take Hakari too long to let the cat out of the bag, because the secret was with his cursed energy!
According to Gojo, Hakari’s energy had an edge that was making his punches seem extremely harsh. This was the first time Jujutsu Kaisen introduced a special feature of a character’s cursed energy, so it was quite a surprise.
Labeled as a new concept called cursed energy traits, this was introduced in the recent chapters. This was also present in Hakari’s battle against Kashimo, who has a unique cursed energy trait of electricity.
Although this concept is fairly new, we can conclude from their clash that cursed energy gives an edge *pun intended* to the sorcerer. It is an extra layer of firepower to a physical attack covered with cursed energy that just cannot be avoided.
In Hakari’s case, even if Itadori had managed to take on the cursed energy, he couldn’t have done anything about the feeling of being hit with a bat having rough edges!
Hand-to-Hand Combat:
Hakari is quite adept at hand-to-hand combat, especially because of his agility. His entire fight against Bernard, the manga artist was proof of how he is excellent when it comes to physical capabilities!
Hakari didn’t even take his hands out of his pockets until it was necessary!
Insane Reflexes:
Bernard noted Hakari’s perception of battle in chapter 182 when Hakari jumped far away from him. He also said that it os more than just a reflex, telling us that Hakari has honed his skills in actual battle as he was even involved in the fight of Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
Despite Bernard having an insane technique of seeing a few seconds into the future just like the bottom-left panel of a manga as he explains, Hakari managed to defeat him!
Battle IQ:
Hakari is one of the smartest fighters in all of Jujutsu Kaisen so far. Against Bernard the Mangaka, it didn’t take Hakari too long to find a way out of Bernard’s ability to look into the future. The answer was to attack from his blind spots.
To do this, Hakari moved around Bernard swiftly enough that he lost sight of Hakari and took a massive punch to the stomach from him. Again, all of this was only possible due to his power level. Even against Kashimo, who is a veteran, Hakari displays quick thinking in high-pressure situations and creates complex strategies to outsmart the opponent’s outsmarting!
Hakari’s Cursed Technique And Domain Expansion:
Moving away from physicality, let’s talk about Cursed Techniques! Now, it should be apparent that when Gojo considers someone to have the potential to surpass them, enormous amounts of CE are compulsory!
Hakari’s Cursed Technique, “Private Pure Love Train” allows him to manipulate probabilities and use attacks inspired by a romance manga series that he loves. While he uses this mainly through his domain, that isn’t always the case.
I know, this makes zero sense, so let’s take our time to understand Hakari’s true strength!
For this, we have to look deeper into his Domain Expansion!
Hakari’s domain expansion is called Idle Death Gamble or Restless Gambler and is based on the pachinko system.
Every step of this domain is based on probability, and even Hakari has no clue if he will hit a jackpot or not.
Pachinko refers to a slot machine that shoots tiny silver balls at a fast pace. This game aims to hit jackpots in a limited time by either managing to get the ball in the jackpot area and/or winning mini-games.
Just like the usual pachinko machine has a theme, Hakari’s domain also has a theme which is CR Private Pure Love Train, a manga with 7 characters all representing 7 numbers.
The end goal of Hakari is also to hit a jackpot by getting three of the same character, much like a lottery machine.
This jackpot gives BROKEN advantages to Hakari:
- Replenished Cursed Energy.
- Infinite Cursed Energy for 4 minutes and 11 seconds.
- Super resistance to pain.
- Automatic Reversed Cursed Technique.
- Higher Probability of a Jackpot or faster spins.
To arrive at a jackpot, Hakari begins with the starting scenario where he can use two kinds of visual indicators: balls or doors that also have 3 colors to them.
In order of increasing chances to hit a jackpot, these colors are green, red, and gold. Hakari can choose any effect and if he can use them thrice, he may get a jackpot because the success of his attacks is all up to luck.
However, if he can use an effect for the 4th time or a rainbow-colored ball or door, it guarantees him a jackpot. It’s kind of like a player having the bad luck to the point that the game dishes out a pity pull which is guaranteed success on the next pull/roll.
When Hakari uses these indicators once or more, a riichi scenario begins. Riichi also called reach, is a concept from mah-jong. A reach is not too different from when we say “UNO!” when only one card remains during a game of Uno.
Similarly, if Hakari gets 2 of the same characters, the domain starts a scenario.
These scenarios are nothing but different situations like in games that give you a chance to pull a prize or a jackpot in Hakari’s case.
And since Hakari’s domain is based on a romance manga, there are different levels of hype or excitement related to each scene.
You can think of it as how much impact a scene can have on the plot. So, a scene where the protagonist has to make it through the ticket gates to make it to work on time doesn’t have major plot importance.
Thus, this scene has 1 star or a very low chances of hitting a jackpot. These unfavorable conditions can also be mitigated by chance boosters that are like extra tools or items from a game.
On the other hand, if the female lead decides to leave the last train to stay back with the male lead, that’s a huge plot point. The hype of this scenario is enough that the chances to hit jackpot are over 80%!
And what if Hakari does not hit a jackpot? Well, then another round begins from the starting scene and loops until Hakari wins that jackpot.
According to him, he has never gone past 30 rounds against any enemy, which is insane considering the actual probability to hit the jackpot is only 1/239.
Moreover, he can also stack bonuses he wins in multiple rounds like tickets in an arcade to redeem the powers later on! This is probably what Hakari on a roll means because as he gets jackpots, the chances to get more of them only increase every time.
Conclusion:
Hakari’s Domain Expansion, Idle Death Gamble makes him invincible for 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Furthermore, it grants him an increasing probability of hitting the jackpot to unlock this ability!
This gives him the potential to be invincible for an infinite period! While the chances to hit a jackpot are 1/239, Hakari never went past 30 rounds. As the probability keeps on increasing, there’s a great chance that against opponents like Sukuna or Gojo, Hakari might reach his true potential!
What do you guys think of Hakari’s powers? Comment below!
