Highlights
- Simple Domain is a versatile technique in Jujutsu Kaisen that forms around the user, creating a hole in the enemy's domain's barrier.
- The technique was taught by sorcerer Sadatsuna Ashiya during the Heian Era and was meant to protect against curses and those who use them.
- While Simple Domain is often used as a support technique or safety net, Atsuya Kusakabe demonstrates its full potential by mastering it and becoming a formidable sorcerer.
Throughout Jujutsu Kaisen’s two seasons, many cursed techniques are explored within the text, the most popular of which tend to be unique and tailored to a particular user. However, there are just as many fundamental techniques shared among the cast, such as Simple Domain, and though its name suggests something elementary, a basic solution can be quite effective.
New Shadow Style: Simple Domain was introduced back in Episode 15 of Jujutsu Kaisen when Kasumi Miwa attempted to cut down leading man Itadori Yuji during the Sister School Goodwill Event arc. Since that debut, Simple Domain has been employed by several characters - and even cursed spirits - marking it as one of the more widespread yet versatile techniques in the series.
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What is a Simple Domain?
A Simple Domain could be constituted both as a barrier technique and an anti-domain technique. Because the power of a domain expansion lies in its guaranteed-hit attacks, the Simple Domain forms around the user, effectively opening a hole in the enemy domain’s barrier. Depending on the domain, the person doing this technique may not escape unscathed, but it’s better than nothing and there are more applications for it than merely countering domains.
Despite its early debut and frequent presence throughout the story, the anime doesn’t fully put the technique into perspective until Episode 31. Amid Kokichi’s glorious battle against Mahito, when the latter activates their domain expansion, seemingly assuring victory, Kokichi miraculously does not fall victim to Idle Transfiguration. Instead, he uses Simple Domain, but not before offering some historical context.
During the Heian Era, sorcerer Sadatsuna Ashiya taught his followers Simple Domain to protect them from curses and those who would wield them, calling it a “domain for the weak.” In the same episode, Kokichi adds that binding vows prevented sorcerers from intentionally teaching this technique to others. The official fanbook from 2021 expands upon this point, revealing a flaw in this attempt to prevent others from learning it.
People might not have been able to teach Simple Domain, but they could observe it and try to replicate it for themselves, circumventing the vow’s restrictions. As such, the technique persists in the modern day, never constrained to just one family line, and the New Shadow Style - as it exists within Jujutsu Kaisen - is practically inseparable from the application of Simple Domain.
How the Technique is Used
Early on, fans become intimately familiar with the technique through Miwa’s repeated demonstrations, both successful and not. After generating her Simple Domain, she builds up cursed energy around the blade within the sheath, then once a target enters her domain, she’ll automatically draw her blade and attack. It’s a marriage between the technique itself and good swordsmanship, leaning heavily on the latter to make it effective.
Other instances of the Simple Domain do lean less heavily on the swordsmanship aspect, however. In Episode 28, one of Geto’s cursed spirits employs a Simple Domain against Toji that forces a pact of non-conflict until certain requirements are met. Later, Mei Mei’s brother, Ui Ui, is revealed to specialize in it purely in a support capacity to counter domains so that his sister can properly deal with the curses themselves.
Simple Domain’s prevalence alone speaks to its utility, but one could be forgiven for considering it merely as one small tool within an arsenal and not reliable as a primary technique. Miwa helps to convey the simplest understanding of how it works and its practicality, but unfortunately, her success record in fights is disheartening, to say the least.
By the end of Season 2, the total applications of Simple Domain portray it most prominently as a useful support technique and safety net in tight situations. Toji just barely survives Mahito’s domain thanks to it in Episode 45, and while Kokichi gets great use out of it, it doesn’t ultimately secure his victory. However, there is a strong argument to be made for Simple Domain, and his name is Atsuya Kusakabe.
How the Technique is Used Well
It’s no wonder that fans of Kusakabe consider him an underrated character. Not only is he pretty funny, but he is arguably the strongest embodiment of what Simple Domain was created for. Kusakabe possesses a good deal of cursed energy but, unlike every other sorcerer at his rank, he doesn’t have an innate technique.
Instead, he has mastered the New Shadow Style and Simple Domain such that he can stand tall with his peers (not that he’ll be all that enthusiastic about being there). His unconventional claim to fame is quite fitting given his personality. Despite his composed exterior, he’s very aware of his limits and often tries to avoid battles he knows he might lose. At the same time, he is remarkably skilled and has been shown to step in when it is imperative.
If Simple Domain is a “domain for the weak”, then Kusakabe demonstrates what a “weak” man can accomplish given the proper training and dedication. If Occam’s razor is to be believed, sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one, and a reliable tool - when honed well - can be the difference between victory and defeat. While only a small part of Jujutsu Kaisen’s assortment of tricks, it’s one of the more interesting upon closer inspection.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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