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Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 titled Fluctuations premiered on October 26, 2023. Following Yuji's epic struggle against Choso in the prior episode, this one focused on two battles: Mei Mei and Ui Ui vs. the Smallpox Deity and Nanami, Maki, Naobito, and Megumi vs. Dogan.
Both battles prove tough affairs, even for all the grade 1 sorcerers involved. Jujutsu Kaisen's Shibuya Incident arc continues hurtling toward its climatic and bloody finish, and this episode was a followup to episode 36. It began Mei Mei and Ui Ui vs. the Smallpox Deity and following up on where Team Zenin went.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 features two big battles from unexpected sources
The first fight starts and ends before the opening even plays. Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 starts with a full five minutes of Mei Mei and Ui Ui fighting off the lethal Smallpox Deity. Everything is explained in the fight including how the Smallpox Deity's Domain Expansion's guaranteed hit effect works.
Basically, the person with the highest cursed energy gets locked in a coffin, buried by a boulder, and then killed in three seconds by smallpox. Mei Mei bursts out of the coffin, uses one of her crows as a decoy to test her theory, and then has Ui Ui act as a decoy. Her Bird Strike technique is demonstrated here too.
The gist of the Bird Strike technique that premieres in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 is that the crow gets imbued with cursed energy beyond its normal limits and then hurls itself in a kamikaze attack. The effect is a strike so powerful that only Gojo has ever survived it. This exorcises the curse, allowing Mei Mei and Ui Ui to face Psuedo-Geto without incident.
Team Zenin vs. Dagon
One particularly interesting curse being featured in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, episode 14 is Dagon. Dagon has been with the Disaster Curse villain faction since the start of the series but didn't get much time to show off his power prior. The episode gives him that space, though likewise shares focus with Naobito Zenin.
Naobito's inherited technique makes him the fastest jujutsu sorcerer, save for Gojo. His technique effectively turns the world into an animated cel, with frame-by-frame executions of movements and actions. Dagon is affected by this, his first form having to literally vomit out all the bones of all the humans he was ever fed.
In turn, Dagon activates his Domain Expansion: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha. It should look familiar to any longtime fan, it was the tropical island that the villains made their plans in during the first season. Dagon is already frustrating to fight due to summoning water and having "nearly endless HP" according to Nanami.
The Fushiguro Factor
The battle inside Dagon's domain in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 is harrowing, to say the least. Dagon's guaranteed hit technique inside left the team separated and bombarded for several moments. The sure-hit technique is a problem: it involves shikigami fishes and sea serpents that hit Maki, Nanami, and Naobito at ultra-fast speeds.
Nanami and Maki are able to fend off a few, with Nanami killing all the ones on him for a solid minute. Naobito ends up maimed, losing his left arm which also messes him up later on. When all things seemed dire, Megumi showed up inside the domain and used his domain to cancel out Dagon's.
A plan was then formed: aside from Gojo, Domain Expansions cannot be done more than once a day. Megumi's plan was to get everyone out of Dagon's Domain, and then gang up on him when everyone was out. Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 ends with a twist, as Toji Fushiguro burst into the Domain with a rather sick smile on his face.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 14 goes by fairly quickly despite the two fights that occur within it. The animation is solid as always from Studio MAPPA, especially in regards to the explanation and sudden applications of Naobito Zenin's inherited technique.
The preview for the next episode states it's going to be titled Fluctuations part 2. Manga readers already know this leads to a father and son fight, but there are other things at play for next time that are real game changers for the Shibuya Incident. Toji is one of them, but then there's the question of where Jogo is.
Fans will need to tune in next week to see what follows in the Shibuya Incident Arc.
