The Jujutsu Kaisen series has introduced us to the world of sorcery and to the life of the characters within it. The fights and clashes between the main characters and villains had us hooked from the start, but it cannot be denied that we also love seeing how these characters interact with one another in their day-to-day lives. Almost all the characters in the Jujutsu Kaisen series have us questioning “Who is this character? What are their abilities?”, but there is one character that seems like a mystery to many anime-onlys, and that is Takuma Ino. Today, we will answer the question, Who is Takuma Ino in Jujutsu Kaisen and why does he admire Kento Nanami?
Who is Takuma Ino?
A young man with scruffy brown hair and is known for wearing his ski mask most of the time — Takuma Ino is an alumnus of Tokyo Jujutsu High and is currently a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer. As we see in the anime, Ino wears a black sweatshirt with wide collars paired with black pants which he usually tucks inside his high sneakers.
We first saw Ino in episode 12 of season 1 where he and Kento Nanami were standing in the sewers of the city, surrounded by transfigured humans. When Yuji Itadori calls Nanami saying he will be heading to Satozakura High School where Mahito is, Nanami asks Ino to deal with the transfigured humans at the sewers because he needs to back up Yuji at the school. Not fond of the idea at first, Ino told Nanami there were a lot of them, plus he didn’t want to do it because they were basically human. To that, Kento Nanami replied that he would recommend Takuma Ino as a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. Roaring with cheerfulness, Ino immediately wanted to get the job done.
Personality-wise, Ino is known to be cheerful and sincere. Unlike many Jujutsu Sorcerers, Ino has a more positive outlook on life despite the dark and dangerous world of Jujutsu. When it comes to his abilities, although he is a second-grade sorcerer, it doesn’t really reflect the true level of his skills. Ino is a skillful combatant with a powerful cursed technique the Auspicious Beasts Summon. Even Nanami knows this, and he thinks Ino could easily be a semi-grade 1 sorcerer if he wanted, but Ino chooses not to, unless it’s Nanami who would be recommending him. Later, we will know the reasons why Takuma Ino really respects Kento Nanami, but let us head to his cursed technique first.
The Auspicious Beasts Summon
Aside from his high levels of cursed energy which he can manipulate, Ino also has an innate cursed technique known as the Auspicious Beasts Summon. By using his mask to hide his face, he becomes a spiritual medium for the four auspicious beasts: Kaichi, Reiki, Kirin, and Ryu. He can then use their abilities as long as he wears the mask. Kaichi, the auspicious beast number one, is a horn with spiral patterns on it and is coated with cursed energy. When released, the horn will not stop until the target is hit. The second auspicious beast, Reiki, covers Ino’s body in water which can protect him from danger and even escalates his movements. We already got the chance to see Ino using the abilities of the two beasts in the anime, while the other two are still a mystery both to anime watchers and manga readers.
Why does Takuma Ino admire Kento Nanami?
Now to what most people want to know — why does Ino admire Nanami? As it is shown in the anime, Ino respects the first-grade sorcerer A LOT. Despite looking like someone who loathes being told what to do because of the cool, swaggy vibes he’s giving off, Ino proves to us that someone’s appearance doesn’t automatically reflect their personality. Like I wrote earlier, Ino is the type of individual who’s sincere and positive. To him, it is important to do things the right way — to live a life led by righteousness, especially since a Jujutsu Sorcerer’s job involves doing dirty work. With this information, we can already see that he and Nanami are somehow alike. We’ve known Kento Nanami as a realistic and rational individual throughout the series and we also saw how mature and serious he was even back in his high school days. That is why we can’t blame the protégé, Takuma Ino, for his great respect towards Nanami. Ino looks up to Nanami so much that at times when he finds himself in a rather challenging position, he asks himself first, “What would Nanami do?”
Ino doesn’t see himself as the brightest or smartest person in the room, but if he thinks about the decisions Nanami would make in a certain situation, then he considers it as the only right way. A huge part of Ino’s honor code is his respect for his mentor, and for that reason, if it isn’t Nanami’s approval that will make him advance to Grade 1, then he would keep refusing the recommendations because it just wouldn’t feel right.
Ino always wants to show off when his mentor is present, and he also gets the most thrilled when Nanami entrusts him with a task. When alone with his juniors, Ino would take the lead on Nanami’s behalf, and he would do it with optimism and seriousness, which made us admire him even more. Since he’s older than the first years, we see Ino in the anime being the reliable senior that they need, although he faced an unexpected obstacle in the latest episode. If there’s something we can expect from Ino, it would be that he will continue taking the road Nanami takes, following his footsteps, and always using Nanami’s decisions as his guide (assuming we haven’t seen the last of him yet *fingers crossed*).
We hope we have fed your curiosity regarding who Takuma Ino is and why he admires Kento Nanami. Now that we know, indeed, we can say that Ino really is Nanami’s number one fan (with Yuji being second, of course). With the immense admiration and respect that he has for Nanami, we can only hope he gets out of Shibuya and eventually gets the promotion he deserves.
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Gege Akutami/Shueisha/JUJUTSU KAISEN Project
