Episode 40

Thunderclap (霹靂) is the fortieth episode of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime adaptation and the sixteenth episode of the second season.

Summary
Sukuna refuses to heed Jogo's advice after waking up, instead displaying his overwhelming strength against the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Meanwhile, Fushiguro faces off against the rampant Toji with neither being aware of the other's identity.

Plot Details
As Jogo falls from the sky in Shibuya, he contemplates something before Sukuna falls after him with a maniacal smile.

In the streets of Shibuya, a stressed Megumi is circled by a séanced Toji. Megumi notes that the man's superior speed despite having no cursed energy, likening him to a stronger version of Maki Zenin. Thanks to Toge Inumaki clearing the street of civilians and transfigured humans, Megumi concentrates on the opponent before him and tries to visualize winning as he prepares to summon Divine Dog: Totality. However, Toji's intimidating presence causes Megumi to jolt back in fear and summon Rabbit Escape instead. As the rabbits appear, both fighters notice Sukuna's presence suddenly appearing in Shibuya, much to Megumi's confusion. The torrent of rabbits subsequently surround Megumi and Toji. As Megumi runs through the endless rabbits and makes the hand sign for Toad, Toji instinctively charges into the swarm of rabbits and nearly stabs Megumi with the sharpened Playful Cloud. Megumi narrowly dodges the attack and runs away from Toji as the rabbits separate the two.

Megumi escapes into a warehouse with rabbits in tow but is quickly caught up by Toji. Noting that he does not have enough cursed energy left to use Domain Expansion again, Megumi resorts to close-quarters combat with Toji. Even with the help of his rabbits, Megumi is completely outclassed by Toji in hand-to-hand combat, who effortlessly blocks all his strikes while repelling the rabbits' attacks. After throwing Megumi away, the swarm of rabbits charge Toji, who throws the remaining piece of Playful Cloud into the air before stomping the ground hard enough to shatter it and launch all the rabbits into the air. Within the short timeframe before the staff falls back down, Toji rapidly launches the tiny pieces of debris that were kicked up as well into through the rabbits with his fingers, destroying them all instantly. As Toji catches the falling staff, Megumi is terrified.

Meanwhile, the Kusakabe Team aimlessly wanders around Shibuya. By 11:01 P.M., they're in front of Shibuya Stream. Panda struggles to exit a room while imploring his teacher to hurry and find Satoru Gojo since Toge relocated all the civilians to safety and confirmed that Satoru has been sealed. Panda breaks down the door he was stuck on and asks how they plan on heading to Fukutoshin Line Platform. Frustrated, Kusakabe angrily tells Panda that Satoru is not the only person who matters. He then comes up with an excuse to distract Panda. In reality, Kusakabe doesn't want to die fighting the group that managed to seal Gojo so he wants to keep buying time. Knowing that Panda would go to B5F alone if he knew its location and not wanting to be alone in Shibuya, Kusakabe orders Panda to continue carefully searching their environment while considering acting lost in the station.

The two then notice the appearance of two curse users: Manami Suda and Toshihisa Negi, who ask if they are sorcerers affiliated with Jujutsu High and demand their surrender since they don't want to kill other sorcerers. Panda informs Kusakabe that there are three more curse users hiding behind them. Kusakabe then tells the former commanders of Suguru Geto that he doesn't want to be killed, but doesn't want to surrender either. He then asks for the curse users' motivations and wants them to take as much time as they want, hoping to buy himself some time.

Meanwhile, Megumi struggles to flee from Toji as he is chased down and repeatedly struck into nearby vehicles. After narrowly dodging a truck kicked towards him by Toji, Megumi escapes up a building. As he runs across the roof, Toji throws several manhole covers at him before launching a truck up towards Megumi. The truck explodes, though Megumi safely avoids it by sliding off the roof. Toji then throws Playful Cloud at him, but Megumi barely dodges it as well. Megumi then summons Nue, which carries him away through the air. Realizing that dragging out the fight will only be disadvantageous for him, Megumi decides he needs to finish the battle as soon as possible since his sole advantage is that Shoko Ieiri is stationed somewhere in Shibuya.

Earlier, at 10:51 P.M., Shoko is seen smoking at a toll gate on the Metropolitan Expressway while being guarded by Principal Yaga and his cursed corpses. She tells him to join the fight but Yaga refuses, claiming that she's extremely crucial to the operation and would be targeted if the enemies discovered her location due to her ability to heal others with Reverse Cursed Technique, a skill that not even Satoru possesses. If not for her, both Ijichi and Ino would have died. Shoko retorts that Yaga's quick thinking played a crucial role as well, since she wouldn't have been able to save the two if she waited for Nanami's signal, thus freeing him up to help with the mission. Yaga then asks why Shoko is smoking, believing she quit a long time ago. Shoko puts out the cigarette and reveals that she's just feeling nostalgic about her student days.

Toji breaks through a window and enters an office workspace. Noticing a nearby chair move, he walks over and pulls the table aside, only to find a few rabbit shikigami. The sprinklers in the room then break, spraying water everywhere and confusing Toji. Nue suddenly appears next to the window and electrocutes the water in the room, causing a massive explosion. Megumi, who was nearby, then jumps down the building, cushioning his fall with a group of rabbits. As Toji jumps down after him, Megumi notes that he should bear the risk of battle rather than his shikigami, but must also must limit his injuries. Toji nearly stabs down on Megumi, though the latter is pulled into an alleyway by Toad's tongue, avoiding the attack.

By moving into the alleyway, Megumi is able to limit Toji's options to approach him. As Toji stands at the end of the alleyway, Megumi surmises that he has to predict his opponent's timing because of his speed and understands that any flaw in timing will surely result in death. Toji suddenly blitzes Megumi and is about to stab him, but his foot is suddenly submerged inside Megumi's shadow. This throws off Toji's balance, causing him to non-lethally stab through Megumi, who takes the advantage to grab him and draw a sword from his shadow that he attempts to stab Toji with. However, Toji disappears in an instant, avoiding it with incredible speed despite it being at point-blank range.

Toji suddenly recalls a past memory when he met and negotiated with Naobito to sell Megumi to the Zenin Family. Toji believed that Megumi would have potential and he could possibly make something of himself in the family. As Toji walks away and tries to convince himself that he doesn't care, he remembers his late wife's request for him to take care of Megumi. Back to the present, Toji suddenly asks Megumi what his name is, who answers "Fushiguro." Proud that his son chose Fushiguro over Zenin, Toji stabs himself in the head, killing his vessel in order to save his son. His body collapses, shocking Megumi.

Megumi runs over and kneels down to examine the body of his deceased opponent. He notices that his face changed back into Ogami's Grandson's and wonders about the identity of the man he fought. He then realizes his injury and decides he needs to go see Shoko Ieiri as soon as possible, but quickly changes his mind to check on Maki and her team first. Suddenly, Megumi is slashed from behind by the curse user Haruta Shigemo, who is excited to be back attacking people who can't defend themselves, admitting he's better suited for that type of combat.

In a flashback, Suguru Geto's commanders had a falling out, as Manami and Negi intended on helping Pseudo-Geto while Nanako and Mimiko wanted to kill him. As they were about to fight over the disagreement, Larue broke up the fight and stated that neither side was wrong. They all agreed to part ways, with Larue reminding them that they are family and the day will come when have a meal together again. Back to the present, Manami states that her group inherited Geto's will and asks if Kusakabe surrenders. Kusakabe is disappointed the story finished quickly, but is happy knowing that he can easily take on the group of curse users, which means he can use them to kill time while staying away from any real danger. Kusakabe activates New Shadow Style: Evening Moon Sword Drawing, which Negi takes that as his answer and raises his hand in response. Their fight is abruptly interrupted by all the lights in Shibuya turning off, followed by an explosion that detonates an entire building behind Negi, surprising all the sorcerers.

As lights flicker throughout Shibuya, Sukuna's maniacal laughter can be heard echoing through the city. Jumping through the air, Sukuna rapidly approaches an airborne Jogo while asking the cursed spirit if he has reached his limits. In response, Jogo prepares a fire attack by concentrating flames between his palms, but Sukuna uses his innate technique to slice Jogo's arms into pieces before appearing behind him and throwing a large rock at him, which crashes through a building. Sukuna watches as Jogo regenerates his arms while flying through the air using his Ember Insects before rapidly shooting fire blasts at the King of Curses. As Sukuna lands on a building unscathed, Jogo unleashes more fire after him, though he flips inside the building to evade.

Sukuna casually strolls through a hallway in the building before dodging to the side as fire quickly fills it. Jumping out of the building, Sukuna is approached by Jogo and the two engage in hand-to-hand combat. Sukuna easily blocks Jogo's strikes before grabbing his arms and severing them into pieces. Jogo then lowers his head and fires a concentrated beam of fire through the volcanic opening on his head. The beam burns through a building in its path but fails to hit Sukuna, who appears behind Jogo and throws him with so much force the cursed spirit ricochets off several structures before landing on the ground. Without giving Jogo a moment to recover, Sukuna smashes his head in with a violent hammer fist. The impact sends Jogo crashing through a few underground parking lots.

Laying on the floor, Jogo remembers Pseudo-Geto telling him that his strength is comparable to Sukuna with eight or nine fingers absorbed. On the surface, several manhole covers are blown into the air as he rises out of the ground on a piece of debris with a massive wave of magma below him. The magma engulfs Sukuna, who keeps it away from himself by slicing the streams of magma with his innate technique. Surfing on the magma, Jogo controls the magma to close in on Sukuna while firing more beams at him, though the King of Curses dodges all of the attacks.

Jumping onto the roof of a nearby building, Sukuna watches as the magma rises, sinking several buildings around him as streams of it pour out of skyscrapers near him. He then jumps away as magma erupts below him and destroys the building he was standing on. Swarms of Ember Insects follow him and bombard him with explosions, though he evades them and even slices some apart. Jogo then forms two giant hands out of magma to grab two skyscrapers to smash Sukuna with, though Sukuna slashes through the hands and buildings before disappearing.

As Jogo hurriedly searches for Sukuna, he is suddenly struck by Sukuna and sent flying into a building. Running after him, Sukuna then kicks him up and launches him through the building's roof. Jogo contemplates to himself that he didn't expect the difference in their strength to be this great. Sukuna then smashes his face directly into the top of a tall building before crashing through all its floors, severely injuring the cursed spirit. As Jogo struggles to regenerate his jaw, Sukuna mocks him by saying the bright moonlight shining through the floors makes it easier to see how pathetic he is. Sukuna then grabs and lifts Jogo by his scarf while sarcastically encouraging him to try harder.

Noticing the battle, Kusakabe attempts to flee but is stopped by the curse users hiding behind him. Before he can warn the curse users, flames erupt out of a building nearby. As Kusakabe warns everyone about the fighting special grades by comparing them to elephants tap-dancing among ants, the destroyed building and its flames quickly gather to form a meteor in the sky. As the meteor flies through the sky, its gravitational pull attracts countless debris and cars towards it. It is revealed that the meteor is created by Jogo, who intends to attack Sukuna with it as the latter gleefully slides away on an expressway.

Using New Shadow Style: Batto Sword Drawing, Kusakabe cuts down the curse users in his way and tries to escape with Panda. However, Sukuna appears next to Kusakabe in an instant and declares that all humans in his vicinity aren't allowed to move until he says so, or else he will kill them. All the horrified sorcerers are forced to remain still as the meteor follows Sukuna and draws closer to killing them all. A few moments later, Sukuna finally lets them all run, clapping with a playful smile as the signal. Maximum: Meteor crashes into Shibuya, decimating the area with its impact. A tired Jogo stands atop the meteor and assumes that the attack must have injured Sukuna. However, Sukuna tells Jogo that it would have if it hit, revealing that he is unharmed and sitting behind him.

Sukuna asks Jogo why he won't use his Domain Expansion. Jogo admits that he knows he would lose in a domain struggle between them and Sukuna believes his lack of confidence stems from losing to Satoru Gojo. Excited, Sukuna stands up and decides to fight Jogo using his specialty. He then commands "■" to open, allowing him to generate and manipulate flames from his hand. Jogo is confused by the new ability, and Sukuna realizes that a cursed spirit wouldn't know about the technique. Sukuna assures Jogo that he won't cheat by revealing his technique and tells him to get ready for a fire-power battle. Standing atop the flaming remains of Maximum: Meteor, Sukuna creates an arrow of flames from his palms and takes aim while Jogo swirls his flames into a small fireball.

Jogo enters a fantasy and reunites with his deceased allies Hanami and Dagon, apologizing to them. Hanami reassures him that Mahito is still alive and will continue to grow stronger since death is something humans fear but acts as a mirror for them, with Mahito being that mirror, which is why Jogo made him the leader. Jogo expresses his desire to reunite with them someday after they are reborn as new entities. Sticking to his ideology to the end, Jogo says that the cursed spirits are the true humans. Sukuna abruptly enters the fantasy and asks Jogo if he wanted to become human.

Before Jogo can retort, Sukuna clarifies that he knows Jogo meant he wants curses to take the place of humans but he believes this is foolish. Sukuna believes that the curses' flock mentality caused them to grow weaker, and Jogo should have burned everything without a second thought to reach heights of Satoru Gojo, but Jogo lacked the hunger to take hold of such desires. But even so, the battle still entertained him. Sukuna admits that compared to everyone he has fought over the last millennia, Jogo isn't bad. He commends Jogo, telling him to stand proud because he's strong. Acknowledged for his strength, Jogo sheds a tear and asks what's going on, though Sukuna claims he doesn't know either. Back in reality, Sukuna looks at Jogo's smoldering corpse as a building collapses behind him. He then questions the identity of the curse user behind him, revealed to be Uraume who has come to greet Sukuna. Sukuna is surprised to see Uraume, recognizing them.

At 11:07 P.M. on Dogenzaka, an unknown creature walks towards Shigemo, who curses an unconscious and bloodied Megumi and demands he wake up.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Jogo
 * Sukuna
 * Megumi Fushiguro
 * Toji Fushiguro (Seánced)
 * Maki Zenin (Mentioned)
 * Toge Inumaki (Mentioned)
 * Panda
 * Atsuya Kusakabe
 * Satoru Gojo (Mentioned)
 * Manami Suda
 * Toshihisa Negi
 * Shoko Ieiri
 * Masamichi Yaga
 * Kiyotaka Ijichi (Mentioned)
 * Takuma Ino (Mentioned)
 * Naobito Zenin (Flashback)
 * Ogami's Grandson
 * Haruta Shigemo
 * Mimiko Hasaba (Flashback)
 * Nanako Hasaba (Flashback)
 * Larue (Flashback)
 * Pseudo-Geto (Mentioned)
 * Hanami (Fantasy)
 * Dagon (Fantasy)
 * Mahito (Fantasy)
 * Uraume

Locations

 * Shibuya
 * Bunkamura Way, Dogenzaka
 * Metropolitan Expressway, Route No. 3: Shibuya Line

Battles & Events

 * The Shibuya Incident
 * Megumi Fushiguro vs. Toji Fushiguro
 * Sukuna vs. Jogo