Shigaraki VS Mahito is the 194th episode of Death Battle, featuring Tomura Shigaraki from the My Hero Academia series and Mahito from the Jujutsu Kaisen series in a battle between physically and socially destructive hand-themed anime villains. Shigaraki was voiced by Tom Schalk and Mahito was voiced by Sean Chiplock.
Interlude
Ringmaster shouts...
The screen then statics into playing the Death Battle intro.
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Wiz & Boomstick by Brandon Yates  
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Boomstick: Shigaraki vs. Mahito.
Wiz: The symbol of fear vs. the human disaster curse.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Tomura Shigaraki
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Giusto Ciel In Tal Periglio
by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (arr. by Nicola Zara Kirsch) |
Wiz: Tenko Shimura was just a sweet, shy boy who loved superheroes.
Boomstick: But sometimes, the hand of fate can't abide sweet, shy boys.
Wiz: Ruthlessly beaten and abused by his hero-hating father, Tenko pushed beyond his emotional limits until he activated his inherent superpower, or Quirk.
Boomstick: It wasn't something cool like flight or super strength; in his terror, he accidentally killed his whole family! Well, except for dear old dad. That one WAS intentional.
Wiz: Tenko wandered the streets alone silently begging for someone, anyone to help him. If only a hero was there to save him. But instead, the only open hand he found belonged to the devil.
Boomstick: All For One, the greatest supervillain in history!
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Burn the World
by Lionel Schmitt |
Wiz: He took Tenko under his wing, feeding a hatred of everyone and everything, and grooming him to one day lead his League of Villains in destroying Hero Society.
Boomstick: With that came a new name, "Tomura Shigaraki", and an absolutely nightmarish Quirk: Decay. It does what it says on the tin: anything Shiggy touches with all five fingers turns to dust. The perfect power for someone who just wants to destroy. Pretty menacing, if not for that dorky-ass costume. I get it, hands are his thing, but come on! They just look so dumb and fake.
Wiz: Oh, those? Those aren't prosthetics; those are real hands... from his family... that he killed... attached to his face, and explicitly commanded to be left there by his mentor, so that he would never forget his rage...
Boomstick: ...OKAAAY.
Wiz: While his use of Decay started off relatively weak, it rapidly increased in power and range as Shigaraki came into his own.
Boomstick: Decay isn't even limited to whatever he's touching. Anything that touches something he's decaying also decays.
Wiz: Spreading like an all-consuming miasma that can wipe out anything, from an enormous tower, to an entire city.
Boomstick: If Decay reaches you, your only hope is to isolate the body part that is disintegrating before it gets to somethin' vital!
Wiz: After years of training with the greatest supervillain of all time, Shigaraki was finally put in charge of his own team with one mission; he must kill his master's rival, the Number One Hero: All Might.
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Exhilarating Danger
by Didier Lean Rachou |
Boomstick: Only to fall flat on his face.
Wiz: Shigaraki was a terrible leader; quick-tempered, short-sighted, and, well...
Boomstick: Cringe! Oh, he's just so cringe. He uses gamer lingo unironically! He whines like a baby when things don't go his way! He's the kind of guy who would say "normie" in real life. In front of normies!
Wiz: But they say defeat is the greatest teacher of all. Only through struggle could Shigaraki manifest his dark conviction.
Boomstick: Right as All Might's new protégé, Izuku Midoriya, was coming into his own as well.
Wiz: These two rivals, the inheritors of their masters' blood feud, would push themselves past their own limitations.
Boomstick: Especially when All Might and All For One double-KO'd each other, leaving Shigaraki to lead the League of Villains all by himself.
Wiz: And with the stakes higher than ever before, Shigaraki stepped up. He personally battled the monstrous Gigantomachia for a month and a half straight, and conquered other villain organizations to create the Paranormal Liberation Front, thousands of new soldiers for his personal army.
Boomstick: All to impress All For One's personal quack, Dr. Ujiko, who spent months upgrading Shigaraki's body to make it more like his sensei's. It might have been constant agony, but Shigaraki went from chud to chad.
Wiz: Ujiko's experimentation vastly increased Shigaraki's strength, speed, and durability, enough to match and surpass even All Might's absurd power.
Boomstick: Sharing All Might's power between them, Deku and Bakugo were able to punch an island-sized hole in a cloud that reached two dozen miles into the sky. We've calculated that before to be nearly 80 million megatons of TNT[1], almost as much as the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Wiz: And Shigaraki can now move fast enough that his body produces hypersonic shockwaves and can even catch laser beams.
Boomstick: And he's tough enough to survive Star and Stripes' Intercontinental Ballistic Cruise Punch! -- now the new name for mah penis, move over, "Gigantic Omega Storm." Anyway, it also made a blast so big it showed up against the curvature of the Earth.
Wiz: Though he might seem invincible, when Shigaraki's body is pushed hard enough, he will evolve into a state of uncontrollable power.
Boomstick: So Decay became- oh shit, more hands.
Wiz: Shigaraki can spontaneously generate flesh into existence, seemingly oceans of it in an instant whenever he wants. He can even use it as a type of armor to defend himself in close combat.
Boomstick: But that's nothing compared to Ujiko's greatest gift. Shigaraki wanted to be the new All For One, so what better way than the old man's Quirk?
Wiz: All For One's quirk, All For One, allows its user to steal and store Quirks with just a touch.
Boomstick: And All For One has hundreds of them stored up, collected over the years.
Wiz: Each Quirk is connected to a memory of its user's essence in the form of a spirit, a vestige.
Boomstick: Kinda like a piece of their soul. They exist in a sort of spirit world in Shigaraki's body, and can even act as a spiritual defense should it be invaded.
Wiz: And with those vestiges came Quirks like super-fast healing, air blasts, radio waves, flight, telekinesis, teleportation of others, and the ability to track foes.
Boomstick: He can even combine multiple Quirks together, like in this big-ass electric Kamehameha.
Wiz: However, any vestige stolen or destroyed will also remove that Quirk from Shigaraki's repertoire. They're also sentient, and some can even fight for control.
Boomstick: Which is when the second shoe finally dropped, because Shigaraki also got All For One's vestige. That means All For One was now in possession of a shiny new body that he'd spent the last 15 years molding for him to take over.
Wiz: Shigaraki's entire existence was planned from the beginning. Why? Because All Might's previous mentor... was Nana Shimura, Tenko's grandmother.
Boomstick: All that to mess with All Might. That is some next-level hatin' right there.
Wiz: He manipulated Shigaraki's entire life, all for one purpose; to create a soul so corrupted, it would grind away at All Might's perfect world, allowing All For One to take full control.
Boomstick: But All For One's possession wasn't complete, and Shiggy managed to fight his way back to the top, literally decaying his way through vestiges in the process, all to fight his rival Deku one last time.
Wiz: Despite Izuku's best efforts to save him, Shigaraki was too far gone, his spirit decayed by years of venomous hatred.
Boomstick: And the new symbol of hope defeated the new symbol of fear, burying All For One's grudge for good.
Wiz: All that Shigaraki asked was to be remembered as the heartless destroyer he was raised to be and not the broken, angry, crying little boy he really was deep inside.
Boomstick: For just that one moment, though, Shiggy got in Deku the only thing that he'd been denied his whole life -- the one thing his lifelong nihilistic tantrum was really all about. He got a hero who tried to save him.
Mahito
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Terrible Twos
by Audio Radium |
Wiz: Ever since Cain slew his brother, Abel, and wetted his fields with his blood, man's greatest fear has been his fellow man.
Boomstick: But what if this fear took on a life of its own?
Wiz: What if all that negative emotion humans felt for one another spilled from their bodies and... congealed? Forming, over time, a living being fueled by malice, which believes in nothing but the law of the jungle?
Boomstick: Well, then you'd have the Special Grade Curse with a patch face: Mahito.
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Black Widow
by Daniel Law Heath |
Boomstick: Oh, I've had people tell me I'd become a Human Disaster Curse when I've had too many mojitos.
Wiz: Mahito is one of the deadliest beings to ever afflict mankind. He's no mere mortal though, but a Cursed Spirit. Innumerable spirits exist, weaker or stronger depending on the amount of anxieties, jealousies, hatreds, and fears humans feel about them.
Boomstick: Like the fear of locusts — kind of weak, or the fear of smallpox — getting stronger, or the fear of fire — ooh, goodbye Tokyo!
Wiz: So it follows that mankind's fear of itself would be extremely powerful. Those negative emotions manifest as Mahito, a being composed of Cursed Energy.
Boomstick: It's basically like evil ki. Cursed Energy can be used to make spirits way stronger, faster, and tougher than any normal human, and it's invisible, making curses like Mahito impossible for the untrained eye to see. Only a life-or-death situation can galvanize a normal person to see a Cursed Spirit.
Wiz: That also makes Cursed Spirits virtually immune to physical damage. They may be physically present in space, but can only be harmed by attacks that embody spirit matter like Cursed Energy.
Boomstick: Which makes Curses insanely hard to get rid of, like ghost cockroaches, or my ex.
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Dark Sky Ignite
by Edward M Pszeniczka |
Boomstick: That's why you need a Jujutsu Sorcerer to come in and Kaisen the shit out of them! They call it "exorcism", but I like the way I said it better.
Wiz: Curses and Sorcerers have battled each other for millennia, waging an endless war over the fate of humanity. Almost exclusively in Japan, though, for some reason.
Boomstick: But Mahito was special. You see, most Curses are basically dumb animals, but Mahito has so much Cursed Energy that it gave him sentience.
Wiz: So he was recruited by Kenjaku alongside other Special Grade Disaster Curses to wreak havoc upon the world. In fact, they made Mahito their leader.
Boomstick: And even more frightening than intelligence and bloodlust, Mahito possessed... philosophy!
Wiz: Perhaps informed by the tragic meaninglessness of interhuman conflict, Mahito is an existential nihilist, believing in nothing but his own will to power. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and Mahito is the wolf.
Boomstick: Which also makes him kind of a goofball. If nothing matters, why not have fun with the slaughter? Really get your steps in. He loves to dick around and toy with your emotions like a cartoon character before slitting your throat.
Wiz: An appropriate analogy considering his Cursed Technique: Idle Transfiguration.
Boomstick: Using his Cursed Energy, Mahito can control anyone's soul with just a touch, including his own! In fact, he's so good at manipulating his own soul that you can't even kill the bastard without directly targeting it.
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Antigua
by Mikel Ross Giffin |
Wiz: In Jujutsu Kaisen, the soul and the body share an immutable connection. Whatever happens to the former affects the latter.
Boomstick: This lets Mahito squash, stretch, and shapeshift his body into literally anything he wants, like Play-Doh. He can turn his limbs into blades or clubs, grow wings like a bird or fins like a fish, reform his body around injuries, or even create clones.
Wiz: Curse users are naturally unharmed by their own ability. Should he touch a human, though, his alterations to their body are instantly fatal.
Boomstick: And since he's attacking your soul, those physical wounds are gonna be impossible to heal.
Wiz: Even if his alteration isn't directly fatal, the human body won't last more than a few moments in a transfigured state.
Boomstick: All of that with one touch! God, I thought herpes was bad...
Wiz: His powers mean Mahito treats humans as effectively disposable dolls that he can gleefully experiment on. The more casualties, the better! Especially if he gets to break your spirit first and watch you suffer.
Boomstick: Even more twisted is when he combines two transfigured humans together for soul multiplicity, essentially a giant torrent of body horror flesh that he repels at an opponent. Eugh...
Wiz: Mahito is unbelievably creative with his application of Idle Transfiguration, and despite being a newborn curse, consistently keeps experienced sorcerers on the back foot.
Boomstick: It helps that he's a quick study who has picked up a number of different curse techniques, like the Black Flash.
Wiz: By applying cursed energy within one microsecond of impact with an enemy, space itself will distort, exponentially amplifying its force by a factor of 2.5.
Boomstick: Not only does this hurt like a mother, it also restores your Cursed Technique and gets you fully in the zone.
Wiz: And it would require reflexes moving nearly a thousand times the speed of sound. It's no surprise then that Mahito unlocked the pinnacle of sorcerer techniques; the Domain Expansion.
Boomstick: Ohoho shit, more hands! A domain is like a barrier of cursed energy, but if you're caught inside, Mahito can use Idle Transfiguration instantly, without even needing to touch you.
Wiz: It's called the Self-Embodiment of Perfection -- the ultimate expression of Mahito's absolute control over his victim's body and soul. The only time it ever failed was against the student sorcerer and Mahito's arch-enemy, Yuji Itadori.
Boomstick: Because not only was Yuji a barf-inducing goody-two-shoes who believed in the inalienable rights of all living things, blah blah blah, he also had a curse inside him!
Wiz: The King of Curses, Sukuna.
Boomstick: Which meant Mahito's ability affected both souls in Yuji's body. Sukuna didn't like that, no surprise, and kicked Mahito's ass, forcing Patchface to fight with a handicap whenever facing his pink-haired menace.
Wiz: Yuji's belief in the value of human life flew directly in the face of the world that Mahito knew to be cruel and meaningless, so he made it his mission to crush Yuji's spirit before killing him. Murdering his friends, defiling their corpses, and brutally battering him before going in for the kill.
Boomstick: And he's got the strength to do it. Mahito is one of the most powerful curses in the world, and his growth is exponential.
Wiz: Fellow Disaster Curse Jogo was able to summon a massive meteor capable of reducing the city of Shibuya to ash.
Boomstick: That've taken energy of over 800 kilotons of TNT.
Wiz: And Mahito can take as good as he can give, especially when in the throws of struggle against Yuji, he evolved, unlocking a vastly more powerful form: the Instant Body of Distorted Killing.
Boomstick: Complete with an armored exoskeleton and armed blades. This was a taste of the almighty curse Mahito was growing into -- a true blight on all mankind.
Wiz: It wouldn't last. In a bitter battle of resolve, Yuji won out. In a dog-eat-dog world, there was now a bigger wolf.
Boomstick: So he tucked tail and ran away, like a bitch! What do you know? Life suddenly became a whole lot more meaningful the second it looked like it was about to end.
Wiz: All that gleeful nihilism just to bitter hypocrisy in the end.
Boomstick: For him maybe, but Mahito found a convert in his arch-enemy. After a battle that wiped out thousands of innocent people, Yuji's youthful spirit was gone. The only thing left that mattered was exorcising this curse.
Wiz: In a way, that was Mahito's final victory -- the destruction of another human being's soul. He may not have been around to see it, but the curse Mahito inflicted on the world would bring it to its knees.
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. We've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Death Battle
In a Japanese train station, a crowd of people are seen presumably waiting for a train until suddenly, out of nowhere...
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Skin Deep by Therewolf Media (Feat. Brandon Yates)
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...a man gets his head blown up. The crowd screams in fear as a nearby woman watches in panic before her head explodes next. As a few people run, another man's head blows up while a hooded Shigaraki watches. As another civilian desperately runs away toward Shigaraki, he also turns into chunks of gore before a bolt of yellow light streaks across the screen as Shigaraki's Danger Sense Quirk activates, allowing him to react by generating a hand to shield his face from his demise at an invisible hand while the Quirk's Vestige disappears.
As he gets knocked back, Shigaraki uses his Search Quirk to find the one responsible for the deaths: Mahito, who becomes visible to the camera as he lets out a giggle.
Shigaraki: I'd heard of a powerful villain stalking these parts. My organization is going to tear this putrid world down around us. We could use a freak of your talents.
Mahito: Little ol' me? Do I wanna be king of the social rejects? How about I bring them your head instead?
Mahito turns one of his arms into a blade, challenging Shigaraki. Shigaraki, however, is unfazed by his threats.
Shigaraki: Fine by me. Let's call this... your audition.
Shigaraki pulls out his phone and snaps his fingers, causing two portals show up behind Mahito, who's face changes to that of confusion.
Shigaraki: Sic 'em!
Two Nomus rush through the portals, one letting out a loud roar as they attack Mahito out of instinct. After dodging one of the Nomus' punches, Mahito tosses the other over his head and toward Shigaraki, who slightly and nonchalantly dodges his head out of the way as he continues staring at his phone screen.
As the Nomu lands, they circle back and lunge at Mahito, who dodges again as he transforms his other arm into a blade. He then uses his blade arms to slash at the two Nomus with ease, even outmaneuvering one of them before making another slash and dodging a slam from the other.
Afterward, the Nomu turns around and throws another punch at Mahito, who ducks, revealing the other Nomu was also throwing a punch at him before their punches hit the other's head. Mahito then uses Idle Transfiguration to deform them before firing Soul Multiplicity at Shigaraki, who takes notice and defends himself by launching his Quirk Singularity at Mahito with one hand as he charges up his next attack, gathering energy in the other hand.
Shigaraki: Game over.
Shigaraki fires out his Heavy Payload Quirk, ending the beam clash as Mahito lets out a scream of pain upon being engulfed by it. As the smoke clears, Shigaraki lets out a laugh as Mahito's body is seen reduced to a husk... until Mahito's eye, the other having been vaporized, stares his opponent down.
Mahito: Did you actually just say that?
As Shigaraki's smile fades, Mahito casually regenerates from the damage as he spits out a few Transfigured Humans and turns them into a giant wormlike creature that he fires at Shigaraki.
Mahito: God, how lame!
From the Transfigured Human's mouth, Mahito rushes forward and, oddly, puckers his lips for a "kiss", stretching them out at him. Shigaraki, disgusted by this, dodges before Mahito can try anything funny and throws a fist directly at his face, sending him flying into the wall of the subway tunnel before Mahito kicks him from behind, revealing the "Mahito" that emerged from the worm to be a clone.
Shigaraki growls as he recovers, but the two Mahitos gang up on him, destroying more and more Vestiges as Shigaraki uses Heavy Payload again to defend himself all while Mahito keeps chuckling. Mahito slashes him across the back, drawing blood, but Shigaraki pushes him away using Heavy Payload and turns around to attack the clone, grabbing the clone's face and angrily disintegrating him with Decay before turning to the real Mahito, pulling his cloak over his shoulder.
Shigaraki: Audition over.
The camera cuts to Mahito licking blood off his blade arm as a subway train approaches the two combatants.
Mahito: Did I get the part?
Shigaraki then rushes towards Mahito with a quirk to boost himself forward...
Mahito: Oh!
...who jumps back in time as the two forcefully enter the train, causing an explosion as they continue their fight.
Shigaraki: Decay!
Mahito dodges Shigaraki's touch, kicking up dust that obscures him. Shigaraki then notices multiple elongated hands approaching him from behind. He briefly moves out of the way of them before destroying the hands with Rivet Stab. However, a circular opening within the ensuing dust cloud reveals Mahito charging up a Black Flash that he promptly hits Shigaraki in the face with, dealing a immense amount of damage, drawing blood and sending him flying back as more Vestiges get spiritually destroyed and he lets out a grunt.
Mahito: What a rush!!
Exhilarated with this feeling of ecstasy, Mahito morphs his body to the Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing, while Shigaraki, angered and bleeding goes into his Absolute Defense Form in response as he rushes towards Mahito. The two then clash once more as Mahito dodges Shigaraki's strikes, severing his arm with his arm blade and sweeping him under the leg before hitting Shigaraki with another Black Flash, destroying his other arm. Shigaraki, however, manages to immediately grow another arm as he grabs Mahito's smiling face, decaying the faceplate of the Instant Spirit Body.
Mahito, now taking the threat more seriously, throws two more Black Flashes, the first being a punch and the second being a dropkick, the latter of which knocks Shigaraki back to the other end of the subway car. Mahito then blitzes behind Shigaraki and charges another Black Flash, but Shigaraki manages to react in time and throws his stump of an arm at Mahito's fist before it grows and wraps around his entire arm, causing it to decay.
Shigaraki: That all you got?
As Decay spreads towards Mahito's body, he pulls out his trump card, using his mouth to perform the hand symbols needed for...
Mahito: Domain Expansion.
Suddenly, the world around them changes rapidly as a dark barrier encloses them and numerous arms start sprouting up, with Shigaraki dodging several of them and using his Quirk Singularity to generate two giant arms to hold back two more. However, as they clash with Mahito's Domain Expansion, they start to give in as Vestiges clinging onto them get destroyed, all while Mahito begins to taunt Shigaraki.
Mahito: I can read your soul... you're just a scared little boy whose daddy was mean... and wants to make it everyone else's problem.
Shigaraki can only watch angrily, being pinned, as Mahito mocks him.
Mahito: Grow up.
Mahito lets out a cackle at Shigaraki's impending demise in his hands, but once he actually finally accesses Shigaraki's soul, Mahito suddenly finds himself in Shigaraki's Mental World, where he looks up to see a certain villain sitting on a throne, displeased with his actions.
All For One: Hands off... my masterpiece.
All for One's Vestige fires a blast at Mahito, stripping him of his Instant Spirit Body as Shigaraki uses Decay to destroy both Mahito's Domain and the subway car itself, derailing it and causing an explosion. After the smoke clears, Shigaraki is seen standing in the middle of the track, done playing games as he starts taunting Mahito himself.
Shigaraki: I felt your soul, too. You only hate humanity because you were born that way. Totally random. I hate them for a reason.
As he says this, Shigaraki uses Decay on the subway tunnel, with Mahito looking on in fear before he makes a run for it. The resulting crumbling reaches Mahito's foot, causing it and the rest of his body to start decaying as a whimpering Mahito generates wings in hopes of flying away, but to no avail. In response, he detaches his head and generates tiny arms and legs to continue running.
Ultimately, a terrified Mahito is caught by a hand before being pulled up to Shigaraki's face, clutched by the sides with massive arms as Shigaraki talks him down with pure rage in his voice.
Shigaraki: YOU GROW UP!!!
With one final scream, Mahito's head is crushed and destroyed by Decay, ending him once and for all and leaving Shigaraki alone in the burning underground railroad.
Results
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Skin Deep by Therewolf Media (Feat. Brandon Yates)
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Boomstick: What did I say, Wiz? Like a bitch!
Wiz: With their complex powersets, this match was a puzzle to figure out, which is why we're breaking it down to three categories: physical stats, survivability, and their powers.
Boomstick: But first, let's address one thing: Could Shigaraki even see Mahito? He's an invisible curse, after all.
Wiz: Cursed energy and Quirks are notably different, and Shigaraki wouldn't be able to see curses normally. However, even regular humans can spontaneously develop the ability to see curses in life-and-death scenarios, and with the Search Quirk, Shigaraki would have had no problem tracking him.
Boomstick: So seeing Mahito wouldn't have been an issue. With that out of the way, we can jump into their stats.
Wiz: This was no contest. Despite the Disaster Curses being able to destroy entire cities with their cursed energy, Shigaraki scaling to Deku and Bakugo meant he was calculably millions of times stronger.
Boomstick: He was faster too, considering he could react to light beams while Mahito's Black Flash capped out at nearly a thousand times the speed of sound. Nothin' to scoff at, but Shiggy was thousands of times faster. Shigaraki takes stats.
Wiz: But survivability was a little trickier to figure out.
Boomstick: Yup. In terms of raw durability, Shigaraki was a lot tougher, and his ability to generate new flesh meant that he could heal any wounds he might receive super easy.
Wiz: However, Mahito is a curse, and is immune to the kind of overwhelming physical damage Shigaraki could dish out. Not only that, Mahito's regenerative ability via Idle Transfiguration meant that he'd come back from anything short of spiritual damage.
Boomstick: Considering Mahito's unique curse body, he should actually get the edge in survivability!
Wiz: Which presents a crucial question: Could Shigaraki even kill a curse like Mahito in the first place?
Boomstick: Or would Mahito's unkillability give him the time he needed to eventually put Shiggy down with Idle Transfiguration?
Wiz: It all comes down to their powers.
Boomstick: Shigaraki had a lot more variety with all of the crazy Quirks All For One had collected over all the years, but none that we know of could properly kill a curse. That didn't mean Idle Transfiguration was a surefire bet either, though.
Wiz: Of all things, Shigaraki's Vestiges served as a spiritual shield from the effects of Idle Transfiguration. The fact that Mahito could not avoid targeting Sukuna while attacking Yuji meant that he couldn't target specific souls inside a person.
Boomstick: And Shiggy has hundreds of soul-like entities inside of him! Sure, each one down means he loses a Quirk, but that's more than enough time to land a single hit with Decay, especially considering how much faster Shiggy is.
Wiz: And Mahito has no way to defend against Shigaraki's primary Quirk. Decay has affected spiritual beings in the past. Again, Vestiges. In fact, he was able to damage Deku's Vestige and have that damage transferred to the Deku in the real world.
Boomstick: Mahito may be made of spirit energy, but he still has a physical form. In fact, sorcerers that couldn't naturally target the soul were able to fight him on even footing. No reason to think Shiggy wouldn't decay him like everyone else.
Wiz: Giving Shigaraki the third and final edge. It was a unique duel to the death, but Shigaraki's overwhelming might, unstoppable powers, and deadly Decay spelt the end for the Disaster Curse.
Boomstick: Nothing else to say. You really got to hand it to Shigaraki.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Tomura Shigaraki.
Comparison
Shigaraki
- + Far stronger
- + Larger arsenal & array of powers
- + Vestiges protects from Idle Transfiguration...
- - ...Though this would remove one of his quirks
- - Inferior regeneration
Mahito
- + Regeneration made him nearly impossible to kill...
- - ...Though Decay could target his soul and kill him
- - Far slower & weaker
- - Couldn't individually target Shigaraki's soul
Original Track
Composition
The track for this fight is "Skin Deep" by Therewolf Media featuring Brandon Yates. It is a heavy grunge styled track that plays off of the combatants' villainous natures, with Japanese lyrics that homage the fact that both combatants' series are set in Japan, as well as their origins in anime and manga.
Title
The title refers to how both the combatants' signature powers only require mere skin-to-skin contact to activate. It also refers to how Mahito's motivations are shallow (or "skin-deep") compared to Shigaraki's, as highlighted in the fight's ending.
Cover Art
The cover art depicts multiple pale hands from Mahito's Domain Expansion surrounding and grasping the Death Battle logo, with the frontmost hand causing it to slowly crack in reference to Shigaraki's Decay.
Lyrics
GORE,
GORE、
GORE, |
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Shigaraki and Mahito are that they are both blue-haired anime villains with the ability to affect a person's body through their touch (Decay and Idle Transfiguration, respectively), making a single touch from them fatal, and can summon a multitude of hands as part of their powers (Quirk Singularity and Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection, respectively); as a result, both have a hand aesthetic. Both are proud members of their series' main antagonistic group (Villains and Cursed Spirits, respectively) which seek to upturn the standards of society by defeating their series' main protagonist group dedicated to taking them down (Heroes and Jujutsu Sorcerers, respectively). In addition:
- Both were born from humanity's neglect and negativity (Tomura Shigaraki was born from his society ignoring Tenko Shimura after he accidentally killed his family, and Mahito is a cursed spirit born from humanity's hatred for each other).
- Both are arch-enemies to their series' main protagonist (Izuku Midoriya and Yuji Itadori, respectively), who both have powerful spiritual beings inside of them (One For All's past wielders and Ryomen Sukuna) that they want to take for themselves. They both despise their nemeses heroic personalities and are cruel and torturous toward them, having beaten them both physically and mentally while also questioning the difference between their opposing factions. They have also taken their mentors (Grand Torino and Nanami, respectively) out of the fight in front of them and nearly killed their close friends (Bakugo and Nobara, respectively).
- Both were chosen to lead special teams of villains due to their potential and cunning nature (the League of Villains and Paranormal Liberation Front for Shigaraki and Unregistered Special Grade Curses for Mahito).
- In addition to generating flesh, both of their powers consist of evolving and adapting over time, making them deadlier with every encounter (Shigaraki's body constantly mutates due to his body modifications, and Mahito constantly grows in power and knowledge of jujutsu) and allowing them to easily use new abilities that are otherwise exclusive to others (Quirks and Cursed Techniques, respectively). Their evolutionary abilities eventually manifested as defensive forms used when they were pushed to their limit (Shigaraki's optimal defense form and Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing, respectively).
- Despite their nihilistic philosophies about the soul and heroism, both are actually rather childish.
- That said, Shigaraki manages to largely grow out of his childish personality once he becomes a functional leader to the League of Villains until the end of his life which he faces gracefully at the hands of Izuku Midoriya, while Mahito remains as a childish individual until his undignified end at the hands of Kenjaku, dying while pathetically begging for his life.
- Both served under a higher power who was actually just using them to further their own powers (All For One and Kenjaku, respectively), and ended up being betrayed and having their body/powers taken by them (All For One secretly planned on taking over Shigaraki's body, which he ultimately did after Shigaraki had inherited the latter's Quirk, while Kenjaku absorbed Mahito after he was critically injured following his failed attempt on defeating Yuji during the Shibuya incident).
- Both use horribly mutilated humans-turned-monsters as minions (Nomus and Transfigured Humans, respectively).
- Both were likely inspired by body horror featured in famous and heavily influential manga series from the 1980s (Shigaraki's mutated form is very likely inspired by Tetsuo Shima's famous mutation in Akira, while Mahito's shapeshifting has been regularly compared to the titular monsters seen in Parasyte by fans).
- Kohei Horikoshi, the mangaka of My Hero Academia, has admitted Mahito is his favorite character from Jujutsu Kaisen.
- Gege Akutami, the mangaka of Jujutsu Kaisen, had stated that they and Horikoshi have known each other for a long time, and has even stated themselves as a fan of Horikoshi, showcasing that both Akutami and Horikoshi are friends outside of their manga work, which Gege even stated in their tributes following the end of My Hero Academia’s final chapters.
- This episode was confirmed during the Save Death Battle Kickstarter, having been the $300,000 stretch goal reward alongside another unrevealed episode.
- In the Kickstarter, this episode was originally titled Mahito VS Shigaraki, though the order of the combatants' names was later reversed during its announcement in the Next Time trailer at the end of Ghost Rider VS Spawn, presumably for SEO reasons.
- After Bowser VS Eggman was released, MORØ revealed that he had just finished a meeting concerning the script of the next episode he would animate and was waiting for the script and storyboards.[2][3] Specifically, he was given one of four options and chose the one he was the most familiar with,[4] eventually revealing it to be this episode close to its release date.[5]
- In the episode's trailer, one of Tomura's lines was "Now... decay!" In the final episode, this was changed to simply "Decay!"[6]
- This episode was originally slated to release on March 30th, but it was pushed up a day earlier to March 29th to test how a Saturday release would affect an episode's performance compared to a Sunday release.
- This would be further elaborated on by Chad James and in the 412th episode of DEATH BATTLE Cast; in it, he revealed that the team briefly uploaded the episode as an unlisted video by accident, and while it was quickly taken down, someone still managed to screen record it while it was still up and save it to a playlist on YouTube before its intended premiere date. Because of this, the team decided to release the episode earlier to prevent it from leaking as much as possible, with this incident also providing them the opportunity to test the aforementioned release day performance.[7]
- This is the first time since Trunks VS Silver to have a previously discussed feat calling back to the previous episode it was featured in, in this case, Deku VS Asta.
- Due to Skin Deep's use of Japanese lyrics, this is the third episode to have its official track primarily use non-English lyrics throughout the song, after Hulk VS Broly and Kratos VS Asura.
- MORØ's sister Iku Aldena helped design the background characters that appear at the start of the fight before it begins proper. Notably, he asked her to make her art pale in comparison to his because he wanted his own art to stand out for his second anime-themed Death Battle.
- The storyboards by John Mitchell reveal several minor differences compared to the final episode. In order, they are as follows:
- When Mahito tricks the two Nomus into attacking each other, he leapt up to touch their heads and transfigure them. In the final episode, Mahito instead ducks and touches their flanks afterwards.
- Shigaraki's laugh after incinerating Mahito with Heavy Payload is somewhat more maniacal, as he places his right hand on his forehead and his left on his hip while jeering at Mahito's supposed death. Mahito is also in better shape in the boards compared to the final episode, grinning at Shigaraki to indicate that he's still alive instead of just looking toward him.
- During Mahito and his clone's beatdown on Shigaraki, the latter only loses one Vestige after the real Mahito lands a punch to his face. In the final episode, Shigaraki loses a Vestige first when the clone Mahito kicks him in the jaw and another after the real Mahito delivers a punch. Additionally, Shigaraki decays the Mahito clone by grabbing his neck instead of his face.
- In the boards, there's no clear indication of which Quirk Shigaraki uses to propel himself toward the train, with board notes suggesting to use either Springlike Limbs or Heavy Payload, the latter of which was ultimately used in the episode. Shigaraki also tackled Mahito into the subway car, while in the final episode, both combatants jump into it.
- After both entered the subway car, Shigaraki originally shouted "Now... decay!" as he prepares to finish off Mahito, only for the latter to immediately counter with a Black Flash. In the final episode, Mahito instead dodges Shigaraki's attack and summons several hands through Idle Transfiguration, only for them to immediately be obliterated by Shigaraki's Rivet Stab, with Mahito following up afterwards with a Black Flash.
- After Mahito unleashed his Domain Expansion, Shigaraki seems to struggle more with holding back the two hands aiming for him in the boards. Mahito's taunt is also slightly extended in the boards, as he also called Shigaraki someone "who killed everything he loved", which was removed in the final episode.
- When Mahito entered Shigaraki's Mental World in the boards, he originally saw All For One sitting on a throne of multiple hands instead of just a floating throne. All For One's "Hands off my masterpiece" line was also absent.
- After Shigaraki shatters Mahito's Domain and the subway car, the scene briefly shifts to show Mahito on his knees, recovering from the explosion. Like with Mahito's taunt, Shigaraki's is also slightly extended in the boards, as he additionally told Mahito that he's "just a freak of nature" after saying he had a reason to hate humanity, with said line also being absent in the final episode.
- When Mahito tries to escape Decay, Shigaraki instead caught his head by tossing him toward himself instead of grabbing him with his mutated back arm. His "YOU GROW UP!!!" line was also considerably calmer compared to the final episode, and the screen was originally destroyed by Decay afterward to close out the fight.
Easter Eggs
- One of the thumbnails used for Mahito's analysis preview references Satoru Gojo's infamous "Nah, I'd win" line (with the "win" covered by a censored stamp) that he stated before his final fight with Sukuna, which became a popular meme.
- When Boomstick brings up Shigaraki's use of gamer lingo in his analysis, the "My life is like a video game" meme (which originated from "Game Over" by Falling in Reverse) can be seen playing in the background behind Shigaraki.
- Boomstick saying that Star and Stripes' intercontinental ballistic cruise punch is "now the new name for [his] penis, move over, "Gigantic Omegastorm"" is a call-back to when he said Broly's Gigantic Omegastorm attack was the new name for his penis in Hulk VS Broly.
- The setting of the fight being an underground subway station is a reference to the setting of the Shibuya Incident Arc in Jujutsu Kaisen, with the lighting being directly based off of the anime.
- One of the silhouettes seen in the subway station at the beginning of the fight is that of Edwin Murray from the infamous "Jackie's Box" music video by XTRATUNA, which has become a popular meme.
- The Japanese text on the blue advertisement poster seen on the subway station's wall roughly translates to the following:
- Black station sign: "Forest Avenue Station
- Blue advertising poster: "Are you translating this?"
- Pink advertising poster: "No, die."
- Throughout the fight, most of Shigaraki's Vestiges are portrayed as non-descript silhouettes. The only exceptions being at the very start, with the Danger Sense Vestige having the scar of its original wielder, and at the end, with All For One.
- Shigaraki's phone case in the fight is seen to bear the abbreviation of "GDDTR", a reference to the phrase "Gamers Don't Die, They Respawn".
- After the initial carnage, one of the dead bodies in the subway station can be seen lying in the Family Guy death pose, most clearly to the right behind Mahito when he uses Soul Multiplicity on the Nomus.
- This is the fourth episode to reference the death pose, after Deku VS Asta, Phoenix VS Raven, and Among Us VS Fall Guys.
- Mahito's death is extremely similar to that of Homelander in Omni-Man VS Homelander, as once Mahito's Domain Expansion fails and is reduced to his normal form, Shigaraki proceeds to systematically dismantle Mahito's body while talking him down before grabbing his head and delivering a final line before crushing Mahito's screaming head between his hands, much like how Omni-Man rips Homelander's jaw after he threatens Mark's life during his furious tirade before ripping his heart out, reminding him of what he promised to him, and ramming the heart into Homelander's mutilated mouth before commanding him to swallow and crushing his head to paste between his hands.
- Coincidentally, both Shigaraki and Omni-Man share the same voice actor.
- Several moments in the episode are references to events that have occurred in Jujutsu Kaisen:
- Mahito extending his lips to kiss Shigaraki is a reference to him attempting to do the same to Yuji in their second fight, albeit there, he shaped his lips into a knife.
- The brief beatdown that Mahito and his clone inflict on Shigaraki on the subway tracks is a reference to the memetic beatdown he received from Yuji and Nanami during their fight.
- The left eye covering of Mahito's Instant Spirit Body form being broken off is a reference to how the same thing happened in Mahito's second clash with Yuji.
- The pose All For One's Vestige is seen sitting in on his throne is a mirrored version of Sukuna's own sitting pose on his throne within Malevolent Shrine, with the scene of Mahito seeing him in Shigaraki's Mental World as a whole being a reference to his first and second confrontations with Sukuna.
- The way Mahito starts running away from Shigaraki in terror once the latter starts using Decay is a reference to him doing the same thing after being defeated by Yuji.
- Mahito growing limbs from his disembodied head as he runs away is a reference to him doing the same thing in his fight against Yuji and Todo.
Errors
- Mahito's head being flipped in the episode's current thumbnail means his two different colored eyes and the stitching on his face are on the wrong sides.
- The Nomus that Shigaraki summons to test Mahito are both the U.S.J. Nomu, who is a unique individual Nomu without any copies.
- The front of the subway car that Mahito and Shigaraki enter is shown to be completely intact despite the two exploding their way into it.
- When Shigaraki adopts his Absolute Defense Form, his bare feet are revealed due to growing large enough to rip his shoes, but upon breaking Mahito's domain barrier and returning to normal, his shoes are seen to be inexplicably repaired.
- After Shigaraki decays and destroys Mahito's domain barrier, his mutated arms are seen on his back, but in the next shot where he decays the train, the arms have disappeared, only to reappear after the train explodes.
Other
- This is the 20th Anime-themed episode, after Zoro VS Erza, Natsu VS Ace, Lucario VS Renamon, Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Sanji VS Rock Lee, DIO VS Alucard, Madara VS Aizen, Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Killua VS Misaka, and Gojo VS Makima, and with the next one being Ash VS Yugi.
- This is the 13th Hitotsubashi-themed episode, after Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, Sanji VS Rock Lee, Madara VS Aizen, Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, and Gojo VS Makima.
- This is the eighth episode to have Brandon Yates and Therewolf Media collaborate on its track, after All Might VS Might Guy, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Shadow VS Ryuko, Saitama VS Popeye, Excalibur VS Raiden, Galactus VS Unicron, and Joker VS Giorno.
- This is the 12th episode to be animated in a hand-drawn style, after Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog, Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai, Mario VS Sonic (2018), Deadpool VS Mask, Genos VS War Machine, Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man, Saitama VS Popeye, Omni-Man VS Homelander, Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the second episode to be animated by MORØ, after Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the fifth hand-drawn episode to use a 3D background, after Saitama VS Popeye, Scooby-Doo VS Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, and Bowser VS Eggman.
- This is the eighth episode where a combatant attempts to escape a battle, after Eggman VS Wily, Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, Black Widow VS Widowmaker, Sabrewulf VS Jon Talbain, Martian Manhunter VS Silver Surfer, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, and Bowser VS Eggman.
- ↑ As determined in Deku VS Asta.
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1865147148121071638
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1860788376955187567
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1860857233086480640
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1902835065731609028
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1904617287287472141
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=239&v=9D4Tyzsir1E&feature=youtu.be
- ↑ https://x.com/Iku_Aldena/status/1907867478425763984
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/deathbattle/comments/1jqq93s/her_name_is_akane/
- ↑ https://x.com/moro_production/status/1907646883096371385
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/live/Uhodo7h_Odc?t=93s