Jujutsu Kaisen: Who Is Atsuya Kusakabe, the New Guy Seen Talking With Panda?
Jujutsu Kaisen is a series with many characters; some of these have been introduced earlier in the series, while others have been introduced later. The character who will be in focus today has been seen in Jujutsu Kaisen 0, but he was properly introduced at the beginning of the Shibuya Indicent Arc. He is Atsuya Kusakabe, and in this article, you are, of course, going to find out everything you need about this interesting character.
Atsuya Kusakabe is a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer and a second-year Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College instructor. He is a powerful jujutsu sorcerer with a lot of cursed energy, but he is also seemingly a big coward who carer only for his own survival and will avoid a difficult confrontation if he can; still, when needed, he will use his skills to defend his friends and allies. He has a sad past and is close to Tokyo High’s former principal, Masamichi Yaga. He has contributed the Shibuya Incident.
The rest of this article will be dedicated to Atsuya Kusakabe and his story as it happened on the pages of Jujutsu Kaisen. We will explain who Atsuya Kusakabe is, why he is such a relevant character and his overall contribution to the series’ lore. We will answer all the important questions about this intriguing jujutsu sorcerer who appeared to help in Shibuya, so stick with us if you want to know what happened. This article will contain many major spoilers, so be careful if you haven’t actually read the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, as this article will reveal a lot.
Atsuya Kusakabe is a powerful Grade 1 sorcerer and an instructor in Tokyo, but also a major coward
On Halloween, the Shibuya Incident began. Pseudo-Geto and his gang of cursed spirits and jujutsu sorcerers activated a barrier over Shibuya, trapping civilians inside, with the sole goal of sealing Satoru Gojo in the Prison Realm. While Gojo was the principal protagonist of the event, several Response Teams were formed, four in total, to stay alert and intervene when and where needed.
Among the teams was a two-man team called the Kusakabe Team, which consisted of Panda, whom we know quite well, and Atsuya Kusakabe, who was not a well-known personality when he was actually seen for the first time but who is actually a fairly important character in the series. Allow us to tell you his story.
Atsuya’s nephew passed away sometime in the past, and Masamichi Yaga developed a cursed corpse using his nephew’s data, as his younger sister needed the support of her son to survive. Masamichi expresses his dislike for what he has done, but Atsuya reassures him that he is more than grateful for that.
On October 31, when the Shibuya Incident began, Atsuya and Panda were in front of the JR Line’s Shibuya Station’s new south entrance. Panda and Atsuya discuss Panda’s position in this operation and how they must minimize all damage. When Panda worries about the populace, Atsuya reassures him by telling him that he looked behind the curtain and saw no problems.
In addition, Atsuya declares that he won’t return because he felt the presence of several S-Grade cursed spirits behind the curtain. Later, when transformed people start attacking the civilians, Atsuya and Panda rush to the barrier to defend the non-sorcerers.
Atsuya and the others enter the barrier and hear Yuji yell that Satoru has been sealed. Even though Toge Inumaki looks after them, Atsuya and Panda keep looking for vulnerable people. Atsuya persuades Panda to continue looking for individuals in peril since they are vital when Panda suggests they should go aid Satoru.
Atsuya then considers how he is out of reason and that they would soon have to go deeper into Shibuya. In order to avoid having to enter the station’s lowest floors, where he could potentially be killed, Atsuya then intends to appear to be lost inside the station. When Toshihisa Negi and Manami Suda confront Atsuya and Panda and demand their surrender, Atsuya demands to know their narrative, claiming that he cannot simply surrender just like that. Atsuya resolves to confront the two when they have had a chance to explain themselves, taking his time to stay away from S-Grade cursed spirits.
Ryomen Sukuna’s battle with Jogo challenges Atsuya as he prepares to fight. Atsuya and Panda start to flee but are stopped by two adversaries. When Sukuna appears, Atsuya defeats the adversaries and begins warning the others. After the King of Curses orders them to leave after threatening to keep them still until he does so, Atsuya flees.
Panda subsequently discovers him hiding beneath a mound of debris. In his conversation with Panda, Atsuya argued that Yuji should receive the death penalty regardless of what happened to Satoru.
Later, Atsuya makes a timely arrival to stop Pseudo-Geto’s Maximum: Uzumaki attack on Kasumi Miwa. Atsuya consents to think about how his spell allows one to enter the other’s body, as well as how cursed objects and barrier magic are insanely powerful when Choso appears and launches an attack on Pseudo-Geto, accusing him of being Noritoshi Kamo.
Later, Uraume employs Frost Calm, which causes Atsuya to become immobile and frozen in place. Atsuya is set free and declares to himself that he wishes to return home as Uraume unexpectedly falls and his Frost Calm wears off.
Finally, carrying Satoru in the Prison Realm, Noritoshi, and Uraume left Shibuya. Atsuya uses his katana to cut the cords, tying Panda’s hands as he is in a chamber full of seals and has his hands bound. Atsuya warns Panda that he should not tell anyone that he freed him when Panda asks whether he’s sure he wants to do this. Then, before instructing Panda to proceed, Atsuya explains to him that he was used as bait to entice Masamichi and that he was released because he owes a debt to the Tokyo principal.
With his story now told, we can tell you just a bit about his powers and abilities. As we’ve said, as a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, his level of cursed energy is quite high, and that was shown in the series, although his full potential was not shown yet.
As his main weapon, he carries a traditional katana, which is a powerful and effective cursed tool that he has used to reject even Pseudo-Geto’s Maximum: Uzumaki, which is an exceptionally powerful technique. He is also, seemingly, a specialist in barrier techniques; he was seen using two of them, a fast-drawing technique called Batto Sword Drawing and a very similar technique, but with a different stance, that is called Evening Moon Sword Drawing.
And with this, we can actually conclude Atsuya’s story. You now know the whole story, and we hope you’ll be looking forward to more of his appearances in the future.
