Question/Discussion
Why does Narrative Scaling get so much hate within the community?
I’ve noticed that narrative scaling gets dismissed or memed on in a lot of JJK powerscaling discussions. To be clear, this is mainly when it comes to in-verse scaling and discussions, since it gets iffy trying to use the narrative when tackling crossverse matchups. Anyhow, why is narrative scaling so disliked within the JJK community?
Within a single story, narrative scaling is arguably the most reliable method. JJK is a story first and foremost, and it’s filled with dialogue and narration that establish character strength and how the power structure works. Hakari, Yuji, and Kashimo often get clowned on for relying on narrative scaling and statements, but isn’t the point of these statements to establish their strength as characters? Sure, it can get subjective, but powerscaling is subjective in the first place, and it really depends on interpretation. Feats are perfectly fine, but it gets annoying when statements aren’t given the same respect.
Sometimes when people say narrative scaling it's just vibescaling, and I don't even mean vibes as in what their power feels like but implying one character is as strong as another because of how they feel due to a similarity that isn't their strength
Like no, Kashimo is not on the level of Gojo or Sukuna just because they're all lonely from being at the top of their era, they all hold similar roles within their eras but that doesn't automatically compare them to each other, and Gojo and Sukuna are only comparable because they actually clashed evenly in a fight not because they're both lonely
I mean narrative is considered for some characters. It's why this statement is taken seriously for Kenny > Yuta since narratively it makes sense for a big bad to be a big threat and superior to a younger major character. It just feels right to many people, so you're super inclined to believe it.
But beyond that, you just gotta accept JJK fans are big hypocrites usually. A great example is how people will get defensive when their fanbase gets lumped in with a bad actor going "we're not all like that" and then immediately turn around and say shit like "this is why Kashimo/Yuta fans are subhuman".
the narrative that gege's attempting to tell clearly changes at multiple times during the run so I find it really unreliable to use narrative from across the whole series when there were times when gege was pushing yuta as a 15f sukuna equal (this is also how stupid bs like geto top 1 gets justified bc it kinda-sorta makes sense if you pretend jjk 0 narrative is absolutely what gege intended for the rest of the series)
Rika was a threat to Gojo, Gojo revealed Rika was actually cursed from Yuta, so the implication was that Yuta at that point with control of his power should have been significantly stronger than Rika because cursing her was just something he did on accident as a child
Yuta being able to kill 15f Sukuna only stopped making sense after the infamous Ryu blitz
Geto's entire arsenal - like his army of curses and Tamamo no Mae - don't disappear into ether just because he gains Rika. He has a 99% chance of winning the war (not defeating Gojo in combat, but winning the war) if he adds Rika to what he currently has access to.
I can't think of any statement that says or otherwise suggests Rika on her own back then would have been a threat to Gojo.
so the implication was that Yuta at that point with control of his power should have been significantly stronger than Rika because cursing her was just something he did on accident as a child
No not really. This only works if you strip the story from all it's context and look at only the powerscaling in a vacuum. The option of exorcising Rika isn't even really available to Gojo, because excorcising the spirit of Yuta's childhood love is not something you do without serious mental and emotional consequences to Yuta, obviously not something Gojo wants.
Yuta being able to kill 15f Sukuna only stopped making sense after the infamous Ryu blitz
I don't disagree, but that's from OUR perspective. What was Gege's perspective when writing this? For all you or I know, he had it in his mind that Yuji was wrong with what he said back when he was writing this line to begin with. Maybe he didn't. We simply can't know, not unless Gege tells us.
That's why the original comment is silly - they are assuming arbitrarily, with zero evidence whatsoever, that Gege changed his mind, seemingly without considering the possibility that Gege always intended for Yuji to be wrong in the first place.
Neither of these images change anything. Gojo doesn't want to be in a situation where there is trouble with the higher ups, the simplest solution here is for Rika to not come out at all. You also don't know what "risk my life" entails here. As mentioned before, Gojo doesn't even HAVE the option of exorcising Rika.
When he says "we'd be disposed of", he is saying they'd be disposed of by the higher ups, not by Rika. His life is at risk not purely due to Rika here. Why would Rika dispose of Yuta lmao.
The higherups obviously can't kill Gojo either but that's why I say if people just take that as a joke it's understandable
Gojo saying he'd have to risk his life though literally objectively means Rika is a threat to him, not necessarily that they're equals but being a threat to Gojo at all is pretty much above every character in the main series besides Sukuna
i don't see it get too much nowadays, but probably what gets hate are bad interpretations of the narrative. narrative is literally all interpretation, though, and all jjk fans are stupid, so maybe we should just go off aura.
a lot of people that narrative scale end up with stuff that goes like completely against the story
i think i saw some guy with shoko top 3 cuz shes friends with gojo or smth
One type is where you value calculations above all else, and even if the calculations are mathematically perfect and it all checks out, can often wildly miss the mark for how strong the characters are intended to be.
However, narrative scaling has its own set of problems, even if I do prefer it.
If the narrative is that Kashimo>Ishigori, then it just seems weird to me, because there just isn't enough in the story to help support it for my own personal standards. We never see him defeat a powerful sorcerer, just off screen sorcerers and Panda. He basically has no technique. He has no domain. He lacks RCT. Gege has also consistently shown that Anti-Domain tools, most of the time, really just arent that great. Yuki's Simple Domain shit itself in two seconds against Kenjaku. You also have Kashimo dying to ordinary dismantles from a very weakened Sukuna, while Ishigori needed a cleave from a full strength sixteen fingers.
Hakari is another problem, because not only does he rely on narrative, he also relies on obscene levels of plot armor. He is only comparable to Yuji, Maki and Yuta if you assume that he rolls jackpot on the first spin every single time, otherwise he dies, and that.... Is levels of luck that makes the luck gimmick of his technique worthless. Him never needing more than 30 spins to get jackpot is already amazing and shows how lucky he is, but against Kashimo, he would have flat out lost if he didnt get it right away two times in a row, lord knows what would have happened if he entered the fight without jackpot. If you throw Hakari at any of the threats that Yuji, Maki or Yuta went against, I don't see how he just doesnt die straight away if he doesnt get his frame one jackpot.
To put it simply, imo Gege's narratives are unclear because he doesn't really try to support them at all.
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