Who is Naobito Zenin and what is his Projection Sorcery technique in Jujutsu Kaisen?

Warning: Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, episode 14

For most of the first half of the Shibuya Incident Arc, Naobito Zenin, who is introduced in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, episode 7 – disregarding any prior flashback appearances – seems like a procrastinating, snooty, alcohol-loving old man who’s not that likable.

True, he might still be all these things, but seven episodes after his introduction, people’s perspectives on him tend to shift, even if slightly, upon seeing the special first-grade sorcerer in action. Season 2, episode 14, reveals that when he’s not sitting down, brazenly asking for more booze, and being idle while others work, Naobito can actually pull his weight and even pose a bigger threat to enemies than everyone’s favorite salaryman, Nanami.

Naobito and his place in the Zenin clan

It is possible that one could get to the chaotically bizarre family reunion at the end of episode 14 and still not fully grasp how all of these Zenin relate to one another.

Naobito is not just any other Zenin, he’s the head of the family, hence why we see him prior to season 2 in Maki’s flashback when she boldly announces that she’s leaving the clan. She’s also his niece, as is Mai, who are both daughters of his younger sibling, Ogi Zenin. Toji is also his nephew, which makes Megumi his grandnephew. Naobito also has a son, Naoya, who has yet to be introduced in the anime.

Naobito’s inherited jujutsu technique

Projection Sorcery, Naobito’s innate technique, is showcased for the first time in the fight against one of the disaster curses, Dagon. Before even Nanami and Maki can react, Naobito already has Dagon in a freeze frame and deals the first blow. Soon thereafter we find out Naobito is not just fast, he’s, according to the narrator, the fastest sorcerer except for Satoru Gojo.

If miscommunication, or rather, unwillingness to communicate was a scene, it would be the non-conversation between Naobito and Dagon, in which the two are talking at each other about things that don’t have anything remotely to do with one another. In fact, when Naobito first starts ranting about frame rates in animation and his disdain for frame interpolation, it almost seems like a 4th wall wink to the audience from MAPPA, as it is a topic that comes out of the blue. However, we soon understand that it has everything to do with Naobito’s technique.

Summarizing it in simple terms, Projection Sorcery allows the user to pre-program his action in a one-second span in the form of 24 unique frames. In essence, Naobito, and those who possess this technique, have the ability to move at 24 fps, which is fast enough that regular human eyes would have a terribly hard time tracking the movement. That being said, Projection Sorcery does not allow the user to break the laws of physics, and if the user fails to execute the actions they preprogrammed, due to something like an otherwise unavoidable incoming attack, they’ll be stuck inside a frame for a second.

While Naobito can avoid being stuck due to what I assume to be arduous training, anyone who hasn’t experienced the technique will have difficulty dividing a single second into 24 separate but consecutive steps. When touching an opponent, Naobito can activate his technique on them, forcing them to quickly premeditate their steps as well, which most, like Dagon, would reasonably fail at doing. Therefore, it best works in the Projection Sorcery user’s favor when the opponent does not understand the technique. So, for this one, it would be counterproductive to go on a tirade about how the power works in typical Jujutsu Kaisen fashion.

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