Jujutsu Kaisen: How Can Riko See Curses?

The Gojo’s Past Arc is currently being adapted as part of the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen, and among the many new characters is Riko Amanai, the current Star Plasma Vessel and one of the most important characters in this small arc. Riko Amanai is destined to merge with Master Tengen, and while she initially accepts her role with a lot of vigor, she would later change her mind because she decides she wants to live. Riko Amanai did not demonstrate any special powers, but she was able to see jujutsu and curses. So, in light of that, how can she even see curses? We are going to answer that question here.

Riko Amanai is the current Star Plasma Vessel, and she is, thus, able to see jujutsu, as well as curses, although she herself is a non-curse user and has no special techniques; in fact, it seems that she has no fighting skills whatsoever (unlike Misato Kuroi, her caretaker). The ability to see jujutsu and curses is probably tied to the brain, but even the most skilled jujutsu medical experts cannot explain this. It has been theorized that Riko Amanai became aware of jujutsu and curses at the moment when she realized that she was the Star Plasma Vessel, which is a probable explanation.

The rest of this article will focus on the character of Riko Amanai in Jujutsu Kaisen. We are going to focus on the fact that she was able to see jujutsu and curses, as we are going to explain, in more detail, how Riko Amanai was able to see them while – at the same time – not being a proper sorcerer or curse user. Thus, Riko Amanai will be the only focus of this article. This article might contain a smaller number of spoilers, so do be careful while you’re reading.

The origin of Riko’s skill is unknown, but she probably received her abilities because the became the Star Plasma Vessel

Riko Amanai is a young girl who was the Star Plasma Vessel back in 2006, destined to become Tengen’s new host body, a task she had fully embraced initially, but later changed her mind as she decided that she wanted to live more than become an immortal entity.

Her protection was a vital mission assigned to Gojo and Geto, as many jujutsu sorcerers and religious groups wanted to prevent such a merger. Near the end of the mission, she admitted to Geto that she wanted to live her life more as a normal teenager instead of merging with Tengen.

Moments later, Toji shot her in the head, completing her assassination. The aftermath of Amanai’s death has manifested itself in the present as Tengen, who has not merged with her as he should have in 2006, has evolved into a being more like a curse rather than a human, who may become an enemy of humanity. Kenjaku orchestrated these events in preparation for Tengen’s merging with Japan’s humans.

Now that we’ve told you who Riko Amanai was, we can actually tell you a bit about her powers, and it will literally be just a bit, as Riko Amanai’s powers and abilities are quite… well, they’re more or less non-existent.

Riko Amanai is a character who seemingly has no fighting skills whatsoever, and from what we could deduce, she wasn’t able to defend herself from curse users, which is why she had Misato as her caretaker and, later, Gojo and Geto to protect her from the attackers.

Her only known ability seemingly consists of her being able to see jujutsu and curses. She cannot use any cursed techniques nor has an innate technique, but it seems that she is still considered a part of the jujutsu community due to her ability to see everything.

She is also the current Star Plasma Vessel, which means that she is compatible with Master Tengen, but we don’t actually know what that entails and how that is reflected in her skills and abilities.

So, now that you know what she is capable of, can we actually deduce how she can do it? Well… no. Namely, it is assumed that the ability to see jujutsu is tied to the brain somehow, but even the most skilled medical experts in the jujutsu society don’t actually know how that works.

And while it can be implied that people are simply born with that skill (in some cases, it is inherited), this has not been explained properly. It is known that humans who are about to die at the hands of a curse are able to see it moments before their death, as well as those who are in grave danger, so it could be something related to certain hormones, but as we’ve said, it is a mystery.

The only known way to activate this ability artificially is through Mahito’s Idle Transfiguration technique. Of course, Mahito’s innate technique has severe consequences, so we can confirm that Riko Amanai has not been subjected to it; in fact, Mahito wasn’t even a factor at the time, as he is a main character in the present timeline.

So, which of these situations applies to Riko? We don’t actually know, but as we have said, it is theorized that Riko activated her abilities once she became aware she was the new Star Plasma Vessel.

Her abilities might have also been activated during the accident that killed her parents, but Akutami never confirmed such a thing – in fact, we don’t even know what the accident was (but if Riko was there and survived it, the level of danger might have triggered the activity). So, in light of that, we assume that the activation of Riko’s ability could be tied to her status of the Star Plasma Vessel, which would make sense in the longer run.