Warning: contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 191!
While the current 'Culling Game' story arc might be the most crucial saga in Jujutsu Kaisen to date, it is undoubtedly the manga's most complicated story. Unfortunately, this has led more than a few fans to give up on what is surely one of the best of the modern shonen manga. To help fans better understand what the Culling Game is about, one fan stepped up and summarized it all in one tweet.
Coming after the Shibuya Incident, the most beloved saga of the series so far, fans had high expectations at the start of the Culling Game for an even greater story. However, that wishful thinking soon transformed into disappointment. The problem is that the story is confusing, especially for newer fans, or fans who have not followed the small details concerning Kenjaku and his desire to bring about a new age of sorcery. Indeed, with the introduction of several new characters, the different locations where the action is taking place, the complex rules system, and creator Gege Akutami's way of telling the story in an asymmetrical timeline, it is understandable why some fans have become lost in the details.
To help the fanbase sort it all out, Jujutsu Kaisen fan @Alvin has posted a timeline of the Culling Game to Twitter. The timeline not only puts events in chronological order (which is an aspect of the story that Akutami ignores) but also explains ancillary events happening outside the "fields of battle" that are nonetheless important to what is happening in the game. There is also an explanatory commentary on how the dates and events play into the larger game itself. The timeline covers events through Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 191, which is the latest chapter to date.
In essence, the Culling Game is Kenjaku's plan to generate enough cursed energy to force Master Tengen to merge with a human host. This will thereby create a previously unknown being who would be able to usher in a new era of sorcery the likes of which the world has never experienced. To generate the energy needed for the merger, Kenjaku set up the Culling Game as a "battle royale" between two sets of players, namely people like Yuji Itadori who obtained the ability to manipulate cursed energy by consuming a cursed object, and people who have some ability with cursed energy but not enough to manipulate it. Initially, none of the members of Toyko or Kyoto's Jujutsu High Schools were slated to participate in the games. However, volunteers from both schools agreed to enter the games to save Megumi's sister and also find a sorcerer known as Angel, who should be able to release Satoru Goto from the Prison Realm.
The Culling Game is the most complicated story arc of the whole Jujutsu Kaisen series, however it's also one of the best, making it a huge shame for any fan to miss out due to the complexity of the narrative - fortunately, there are fans like @Alvin who are doing their best to keep the manga comprehensible.
Source: @Alvin
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