Hanami

Hanami is an antagonist in the Jujutsu Kaisen series. He was a special grade cursed spirit aligned with Mahito's faction.

Appearance
Hanami is a large tan cursed spirit with black lines running across his entire body. Hanami has a helmet like head that doesn't cover his teeth, branches for where the eyes are supposed to be, and two black lines that zig zag down his face. Underneath the cloth that Hanami wears, Hanami's left arm is entirely black but the fingers are white while his right fingers are black. Hanami also has a larger flower on his left shoulder.

Hanami wears black baggy pants that is held up with a white sash, and a white cloth that covers his left arm.

Personality
Hanami is the type of spirit who cares for the planet that the humans have been abusing for thousands of years. He wishes only to kill humans in order to sacrifice them so they can be sages to a cleaner world controlled by cursed spirits that will respect the earth. Hanami believes in Jogo's ideals along with Dagon, as they want to replace humanity with cursed spirits because they feel curses are the true humans.

In contrast to Hanami's peaceful convictions, Mahito has encouraged him to embrace his savagery as a spirit. In the heat of battle, Hanami learned to embrace his instincts and began to enjoy the thrill of the fight, allowing it to drive him forward beyond his limits.

Hanami has a close kinship with his allies, willing to go out of his way and briefly challenge Satoru Gojo in order to rescue Jogo from being exorcised. He follows Mahito and ultimately sacrifices himself for their group's ultimate plan in Shibuya.

Cursed Training Arc
Hanami attends a meeting with Geto, along with Jogo and Dagon. During the meeting, Hanami listens as Geto explains how the cursed spirits need Sukuna on their side and seal Gojo before they can defeat the sorcerers.

Later, Hanami watches Jogo fight against Gojo. When Jogo is pushed into a corner, Hanami comes to Jogo's rescue and brings him back to Geto and Mahito.

Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc
Later Hanami meets with his allies, where they discuss how they will invade Jujutsu High to retrieve Sukuna's fingers that are being held there along with three of the Death Painting Wombs.

During the Kyoto Goodwill Event, Hanami invades the college along with Mahito, Juzo Kumiya, and another curse user. Hanami heads over to where the students are fighting and encounters Toge. Hanami then fights Toge until they come across Megumi and Noritoshi. Hanami goes to try and attack the three but Toge restrains him using cursed speech. Noritoshi and Megumi attack Hanami, but it does nothing. Hanami tells the three that he wants to protect the earth by killing all the humans.

Hanami then chances the three, but Toge manages to stop Hanami from attacking them. The three manage to find out that the branches on Hanami's head are his weak point. When Toge's throat gives out, Hanami takes this chance to wound Noritoshi, but can't finish him off before Megumi rescues him. Hanami is then sent flying when Toge uses the last of his strength, but doesn't get sent far.

When Maki shows up, Hanami fights against her and Megumi. Hanami continues to battle them, leading to Maki and Megumi managing to harm him. Hanami manages to plant a seed that feeds on a sorcerers power, and continues to battle Maki. As Hanami manages to pin them both down, Yuji and Aoi show up and rescue the two. Hanami then fights Yuji, which during the fight Hanami is harmed when Yuji lands a Black Flash on him. After being harmed, Hanami heals himself and removes the restraint that is on his left arm. Hanami continues his fight against Yuji and Aoi. During the fight, Hanami remembers how Mahito told him that he should enjoy his fight more. Hanami continues to fight and thinks about how he is truly enjoying this fight. When Aoi starts using Boogie Woogie, Hanami is repeatedly harmed by Aoi and Yuji attacks. Hanami is pushed into a corner and steals the life energy from near by plants and prepares to attack, but stops when Gojo destroys the screen. Hanami is then hit by Gojo's Hollow Technique: Purple technique and is heavily wounded, however he's able to escape, barely clinging to his life. Hanami is then helped by Mahito in order to leave the site.

Shibuya Incident Arc
Before the October 31, Hanami is playing with Mahito and Dagon while Geto and Jogo talk about their plan to fight Gojo. Later Hanami is playing mahjong with Mahito, Jogo, and Geto, where Geto explains how the Prison Gate's Boundary works.

On October 31, Hanami is with Jogo and Choso in the curtain at Shibuya. When Gojo arrives at their location, Hanami prepares to fight him along with the others. Hanami then blocks Gojo's exit, which Gojo says that he is not planning to run away. They then surround Gojo with people. Choso distracts Gojo by attacking, allowing Hanami and Jogo to attack Gojo with Hanami's Domain Amplification technique but Gojo manages to escape. Gojo takes off the blindfold around his eyes and says that he will take Hanami down first since he has not learned after facing him two times before.

As Gojo gets close to him and Jogo, Hanami and Jogo go to attack Gojo but Gojo easily dodges the attacks. As Jogo tries to get some distance but Gojo swiftly chances after him, Hanami thinks about what Gojo is planning but notices that Gojo has deactivated his cursed power. Hanami goes to use his cursed power, but Jogo tells Hanami to not deactivate his amplification. Suddenly, Gojo grabs a hold of the branches on Hanami's head and pulls them out. Choso manages to distract Gojo for a second, which allows Hanami and Jogo go to attack. Gojo uses this chance to activate his technique and crush a weakened Hanami against a wall.

Later when Jogo is killed by Sukuna, Hanami meets with Jogo along with Dagon. Hanami talks with Jogo about how they still have Mahito and that they will one day be reborn as different beings.

Abilities and Powers
Overall Skill: Hanami is a special grade cursed spirit with an incredibly durable body, an Innate Technique that can control plants, and an uncanny ability to hide his presence. He was able to take Gojo by surprise and momentarily take advantage of Yuji's vulnerability using his Flower Field and a wooden monster in order to rescue Jogo. This was achievable due a combination of Hanami's high intellect as a curse as well as his escaping abilities and hidden presence. Gojo himself commends Hanami's ability to run away, able to evade the Six Eyes strong perception and even claims to find Hanami far more threatening than the straightforward Jogo.

Hanami was able to pass through the barriers of Jujutsu High due to his unique nature and was the cornerstone of his groups assault on Jujutsu High. The special grade curse was able to take on six of the school's most elite jujutsu students, rendering the majority of them unable to fight after encountering him. Additionally, Hanami was able to survive Gojo's Hollow Technique: Purple after reaching his limit fighting Yuji and Aoi, although barely clinging to life.

In Hanami's final battle with Gojo, he was targeted due to his previous two encounters with the strongest sorcerer. While Hanami showed the capacity to follow Geto's plan to corner Gojo and was vital to his eventual sealing, he would not survive to see it through. He made a crucial mistake switching between different types of cursed techniques that Gojo was able to exploit. Hanami's eye branches are the only vulnerable points on his body, but they are incredibly vulnerable. When the branches were fully pulled out of his hard shell, Hanami's abilities drop dramatically making him incapable of withstanding another assault from Gojo.

Immense Durability: Hanami possesses an incredibly hard shell on his body, capable of shattering Kasumi Miwa's sword upon impact. He was also effortlessly able to brush off Noritoshi Kamo's Slicing Exorcism attack despite it hitting the side of his head. A clean slash to Hanami's leg from Megumi's sword also dealt zero damage. Even after being hit directly in his blocking arm by Maki using the special grade cursed tool: Playful Cloud, he was sent flying away but only suffered minimal damage as a result.

After being hit multiple times by Maki and Megumi on his weak points, Hanami was still able to withstands their attacks, recover quickly, and ultimately subdue them with ease. The most the majority of the students could hope to achieve was stall Hanami in time for more backup to arrive. Only Yuji and Aoi together were able to injure Hanami enough to make him use his full power.

(It has been noted by Gege Akutami himself that while Jogo possesses more cursed energy and has an elemental advantage over Hanami, he could not have survived Yuji's Black Flash assault followed by a blow from Playful Cloud wielded by Aoi Todo like Hanami was able to.)

Enhanced Strength: Hanami has a high degree of physical strength and can easily brutalize a human sorcerer in close range combat. Once Hanami finally closed the distance between he and Noritoshi, it only took a few strikes to incapacitate the sorcerer. On the defensive, Hanami was also able hold off Nue as the giant bird-like shikigami divebombed him with its wing.

Enhanced Speed: Hanami was fast enough to swiftly escape with Jogo's head after a brief distraction. He was also able to completely blitz past Megumi and Noritoshi, taking them both off guard since Hanami was a great distance away before that moment.

Hidden Presence: Gojo has stated that Hanami has the peculiar presence of a regular spirit despite definitely being a curse. Additionally, he can move through plants and erase its presence completely, making Hanami difficult to pin down. Hanami is able to move underground using the plants to escape quickly and move through barriers, avoiding exorcism from the aforementioned sorcerer twice. He also took Toge Inumaki, a semi-grade 1 sorcerer, completely by surprise after killing off another curse that the student had just noticed.

Battles & Events
Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc
 * Megumi Fushiguro, Toge Inumaki & Noritoshi Kamo vs. Hanami
 * Megumi Fushiguro & Maki Zenin vs. Hanami
 * Yuji Itadori & Aoi Todo vs. Hanami

Shibuya Incident Arc
 * Satoru Gojo vs. Jogo, Hanami, Choso & Mahito

Trivia

 * Hanami ranked 32nd place in the manga's 1st Character Popularity Poll with 407 votes.
 * In the anime, Hanami speaks in Japanese, but it's played backwards.
 * The hole in Hanami's left hand was referenced in the juju stroll of Episode 18.