When Gege Akutami introduced defense attorney Hiromi Higuruma during the Culling Game arc, the series traded raw kinetic brawling for procedural legal combat. The clash between Higuruma and Yuji Itadori quickly became one of the most dissected confrontations in modern shonen manga. With the sequence arriving on screen in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, interest in the legal battle has surged across online communities, prompting extensive breakdowns of how modern Japanese statutory law intertwines with jujutsu sorcery. Media critics have noted the inventive shift in tone, with analysis from a Comic Book Resources Report examining how Season 3 pairs psychological narrative experiments alongside peak action animation.

The sequence stands apart because it abandons the traditional "sure-kill" mechanics that dominate high-tier domain expansions. Instead of an unavoidable offensive strike, Higuruma manifests a functioning modern courtroom overseen by an eerie, scale-wielding shikigami named Judgeman. Physical violence is strictly prohibited under the domain’s vow. What follows is a battle waged through evidentiary arguments, statutory interpretations, and moral cross-examinations, culminating in a devastating guilty verdict that permanently reshapes Yuji Itadori's arc.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Domain Classification: Deadly Sentencing operates as an old-style, non-lethal domain where a binding vow bans all direct physical violence inside the barrier.
• Shikigami Adjudication: Judgeman possesses absolute knowledge of the defendant's acts, shares selected evidence with Higuruma, and renders independent verdicts based on Japanese criminal code.
• The Penalty Spectrum: Penalties range from basic Cursed Technique Confiscation to the Executioner's Sword, which guarantees instant death upon a single strike.

The Disillusioned Public Defender Behind Deadly Sentencing

Hiromi Higuruma did not begin his adult life as a sorcerer. He was a 36-year-old defense attorney handling criminal cases within Japan’s notorious justice system, which maintains a conviction rate above 99%. Higuruma spent his career attempting to shield the vulnerable from institutional indifference. The turning point came during the retrial of an innocent young man accused of a double murder. Despite glaring reasonable doubt, public pressure and prosecutorial inertia produced a guilty verdict. That systemic failure shattered Higuruma's faith in institutional justice.

When Kenjaku activated idle transfiguration across Japan to jumpstart the Culling Game, Higuruma's latent brain structure altered, unlocking his innate technique. His cursed energy immediately reverse-engineered itself from his domain expansion. Because he understood the precise logical structure of his modern legal trade, Higuruma grasped advanced barrier techniques in just 12 days of awakening, a rate of prodigal mastery that sorcery observers directly compared to Satoru Gojo.

Non-Lethal Domain Rules and Judgeman Shikigami Mechanics

Modern domain expansions like Ryomen Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine or Satoru Gojo’s Unlimited Void prioritize an instant, lethal hit. Higuruma’s domain, Deadly Sentencing, belongs to the older era of jujutsu. By trading away the capacity to inflict direct physical injury inside the barrier, the domain imposes absolute non-violence on both parties. Neither combatant can deploy offensive cursed energy strikes while court remains in session.

At the center of Deadly Sentencing hangs Judgeman, a towering, blindfolded shikigami suspended on balance scales. Judgeman acts as judge and jury. It knows every factual detail of the defendant’s past, drawing charges directly from the Japanese Penal Code. However, Judgeman does not hand this total omniscience to Higuruma. Instead, Higuruma receives an evidence packet sealed inside an envelope, which he must review on the spot to mount his prosecution. The defendant receives three explicit choices during their turn: confess, deny the accusation, or present an affirmative defense.

Inside the Courtroom: Penalties, Evidence, and Legal Procedures

The mechanics of Deadly Sentencing mirror actual Japanese courtroom procedure, complete with opening statements, rebuttal arguments, and formal sentencing. The severity of the penalty directly reflects the statute violated.

Once a guilty verdict issues, the domain collapses and the penalties manifest in real-time combat. Higuruma's primary weapon is his cursed tool gavel, which can dynamically adjust its scale, mass, and shape from a pocket-sized hammer to a massive battering ram. If the court hands down a death sentence, the gavel sheds its blunt edges and transforms into the Executioner's Sword. The blade possesses a single, absolute rule: any creature touched by its edge suffers instantaneous death, without exception.

The Shibuya Confession: Yuji Itadori's Moral Reckoning

The core dramatic tension of the scene erupts during Yuji's retrial. Judgeman reads out an indictment charging Yuji with mass murder in Shibuya on October 31, 2018. Legally and factually, Ryomen Sukuna took control of Yuji's body by force-feeding him fingers, executing the devastating Malevolent Shrine that flattened entire city blocks. Yuji had no conscious agency in the slaughter.

Higuruma’s evidence packet explicitly documented Sukuna's unilateral possession, meaning a simple plea of non-involvement or involuntary intoxication would have resulted in an immediate acquittal under Penal Code Section 39. Instead, Yuji looks directly at Judgeman and simply states: "I did it. I'm not lying."

The response shocks Higuruma. In his entire legal career, Higuruma watched guilty men lie to protect themselves while innocent clients were crushed by an indifferent judicial system. Yuji takes total moral responsibility for a massacre he could not physically prevent. Judgeman immediately hands down the ultimate sentence: Guilty. Death Penalty. Confiscation.

Why Higuruma Lowered the Executioner's Sword

The ensuing physical battle pits a cursed-energy-deprived Yuji against a fully armed Higuruma wielding an instant-death blade. Despite having no sorcery, Yuji’s superhuman physical resilience allows him to dodge consecutive strikes. Yet as the fight nears its lethal end, Higuruma abruptly dismisses the Executioner’s Sword and lets Yuji strike him.

Higuruma recognized that while the black-and-white statutes of Judgeman demanded an execution, the human reality was profoundly different. Yuji's willingness to accept capital punishment arose from crushing remorse, not malice. Higuruma saw in Yuji the exact opposite of the callous, self-serving society that drove him out of the legal profession. Confronted by a teenager carrying an impossible burden of guilt, Higuruma remembered why he became a public defender in the first place, prompting him to voluntarily deactivate his technique and transfer 100 points to help Yuji's squad manage the Culling Game rules.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Why did Judgeman confiscate Yuji's cursed energy instead of a cursed technique?
Deadly Sentencing is designed to strip the defendant’s innate cursed technique first. Because Yuji did not possess his own innate technique at that point in the story, Judgeman's penalty defaulted to sealing his basic pool of cursed energy, forcing him to rely entirely on his natural physical strength.

Q2: Can someone refuse to participate in Higuruma's trial?
No. The non-violence rule is an intrinsic condition of Deadly Sentencing’s barrier. Any attempt to attack or interrupt the proceedings is physically suppressed by the domain’s binding rules until Judgeman reads the formal verdict.

Q3: Does the Executioner's Sword work on characters with reverse cursed technique?
Yes. The Executioner's Sword functions on an absolute death rule rather than conventional physical trauma. If the blade cuts a target, death occurs immediately, bypassing the cellular regeneration offered by reverse cursed technique.

The Lasting Impact of Higuruma's Judicial Battle

The courtroom clash between Hiromi Higuruma and Yuji Itadori remains one of the sharpest subversions in modern battle manga. Rather than escalating raw power scaling, the scene interrogates the burden of guilt, institutional failure, and personal accountability. Higuruma’s legal sorcery proved that domain expansions could function as narrative instruments for deep moral reckoning, cementing the lawyer's trial as a standout moment in the entire jujutsu mythos.