Summary
Naoya Zenin was one of themost gifted Jujutsu sorcerersof his generation in theJujutsu Kaisenworld. As the youngest son of Naobito Zenin and head of the elite Hei unit, Naoya was a Special Grade 1 sorcerer, placing him among the most powerful fighters in all of Tokyo. His genius was apparent from a young age, and Naoya excelled in both his intellect and martial prowess.
Naoya’s deadliest ability was thecursed technique he inheritedfrom his father: projection sorcery. This unique technique granted Naoya seemingly superhuman speed, allowing him to blitz even the mightiest of opponents. However, there were more secrets behind Naoya’s technique than immediately met the eye.
Naoya Zenin’s background
Naoya Zenin was born into the prestigious Zenin family, one of theThree Great Jujutsu Clans.He was a gifted sorcerer who rose through the ranks to become the head of the Zenin clan’s elite unit, known as the Hei, at a young age. Naoya mastered his innate cursed technique of projection sorcery, which granted him immense speed in combat.
However, Naoya allowed his talents to inflate his ego to astronomical levels. He truly believed he was destined to surpass his father, Naobito, as the clan head and looked down on others as inferior. Naoya especially disrespected his cousinsMaki and Mai Zenin. His arrogance and refusal to acknowledge stronger opponents like Maki would ultimately lead to his demise.
As head of the Hei, Naoya favored hand-to-hand combat augmented by his projection sorcery. He strategically analyzed opponents to gain an advantage in battle. However, Naoya’s narcissism clouded his judgment at times. During their fights, he failed torecognize Maki’s growthin power and adaptability until it was too late. Naoya met his end at her hands due to his inability to see past his own inflated self-image.
The projection sorcery technique
Projection Sorcery is an inherited technique passed down in the ZeninClan from Naobito Zeninto his youngest son, Naoya Zenin. It traces movement at twenty-four frames per second and traps anyone who disobeys that rule inside a frame for one second. Naobito and Naoya were the two most recent members shown to possess this ability.
At its core, projection sorcery divides one second into twenty-four frames of animation using the user’s field of view as the projection angle of view. The user can trace a predetermined set of movements into those twenty-four frames and execute them in that single second.While the technique isactive, anything touched by the user’s palm must also abide by the “24 FPS” rule while moving. Failure to do so results in the subject getting immobilized and frozen in an animation frame for one second.
This immobilization effect is what grants Projection Sorcery such devastating offensive prowess in combat. By executing movements across twenty-four frames per second, the user can attack from strange angles that seem impossible to the naked eye and land successive blows before an opponent can even register they are under assault. At full power, Naoya states he can throw hundreds of punches in a single second, battering opponents with a flurry of assaults too quick for normal human senses to follow.
Frames per Second: The 24FPS Rule
Projection Sorcery divides one second of movement into twenty-four frames of animation using the user’s field of view. Anything that moves outside of these preset 24 frames per second will be frozen inside a single frame for a full second, leaving it vulnerable to attack. This allows the user to trace very quick movements that appear too fast for observers to follow normally. By freezing opponents in animation frames, the user can gain an advantage in combat through precisely timed hits on immobilized targets.
The restriction of the 24FPS rule provides both benefits and drawbacks to the user. On one hand, it allows for movements and speeds that appear invisible even to highly perceptive eyes. However, the preset course cannot be altered, and disregarding the laws of physics within the frames can likewise trap the user. Great precision is needed to both leverage the enhanced motion and avoid its immobilizing effects. Mastering control of one’s own and the opponent’s actions at this frame-by-frame level demands tremendous training and innate aptitude from those who wield projection sorcery.
Naoya’s Domain Expansion
NaoyaZenin’s Domain Expansionof Time Cell Moon Palace utilizes his unique projection sorcery technique. When activated, it creates a black, empty area, save for a few floating particles. The primary stage is a straight path of flesh that leads to a large eye behind Naoya. Anyone who enters the domain must obey the “24FPS rule” of projection sorcery, or they will receive numerous bloody injuries with every movement. If targets move in a way that exceeds 24 frames of movement per second, they suffer small cuts and gashes all over their body from the embedded animation frames into their neck. This completely immobilizes the target and forces their movements within the limitations of the technique.
The domain allows Naoya to target opponents on an individual cellular level with high precision. He can selectively freeze certain cells, disrupting them and causing countless small cuts and gashes to appear all over the body, immobilizing the target. Forcing movement beyond this frozen state can cause severed limbs. Naoya first activated thisdomain against Maki Zenin, Hagane Daido, and Rokujushi Miyo when pushed to his limits in battle. It proved highly effective at immobilizing Daido and Miyo, though Maki could move freely within due to a lack of cursed energy for the technique to interact with. In the end, it made Naoya a formidable opponent but could not prevent his death at Maki’s hands.
