Here’s a little guide on making it through MJ. I know this can kind of just sound like an “all bosses” guide but hopefully I can intersperse some tips that help with nerves.

Your loadout will slightly change throughout the run (I will mention as you change them) but starting off, it should look like this.

Tools (in this order) - Firecrackers, Loaded Spear, Shuriken
Quick items (in this order) - Healing gourd, pellets, snap seeds, Ako’s sugar, Divine Confetti
Combat art - Sakura dance
Ninjitsu - N/A
Other items to have - divine grass〄, rice〄, persimmon〄, bundled jizo statue, jinza’s jizo statue〄, mottled purple/”terror” gourd〄, Suzaku’s umbrella

〄=optional

In most fights, you want to “preload” divine confetti by having it selected in your quick items before moving onto the next boss and tapping the button as you load in, so you can get it applied ASAP. Some fights you yourself have to initiate, so you have time to apply anything. Furthermore, there are some fights where buffs aren’t worth it since the boss engages you so quickly.

If you get killed by a boss, run it in a reflection a couple times. And don’t lose morale/hope. If you’ve made it to this point, Mortal Journey is far from an insurmountable challenge. However, don’t burn yourself out. Depending on how far you make it, anything more than 2-4 runs per session might be pushing it; You want to be coming at it warmed up but also not exhausted.






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Gyoubu
Who starts/initiates the fight? - You
Time to apply divine confetti at the start? - Yes
Time to apply Ako’s sugar at the start? - Yes
You should prepare to use this prosthetic tool - N/A

Gyoubu is very simple, no guide should be needed.

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Lady Butterfly
Initiation - The boss
Time for DC? - Yes
Time for Ako? - No
Prepare to use - Shuriken

Just keep side-stepping her to get blows on her and make sure you use shurikens to take her out of the air. Reapply DC/Ako between phases and keep the pressure on in Phase 2 to avoid her summoning illusions. If she does, go to the middle of the arena and use a snap seed.
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Castle Genny
Initiation - Boss
DC - No
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Genny is pretty simple, just keep the pressure on and watch out for his thrusts for big Mikiri counter damage.
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Gape
Initiation - You
DC - Yes
Ako - Yes
Prepare - Loaded spear

Gape can feel a bit daunting in Phase 1 but it is just a DPS battle. When you eventually stagger him into that attack where he runs away and comes back for that diving roll, just mimic his movements and stay a good ways away from him until he’s mostly finished his roll, then give him a Sakura Dance in the back. After finishing Phase 1, reapply DC/Ako, take a swig of your terror gourd, and make sure you have your loaded spear equipped. Do a lot more deflecting here, and stay away from his scream. When he falls down from deflecting one of the big overheads, use R2 on the loaded spear at his head and R2 again to pull out the centipede for a good chunk of posture damage.
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False Monk
Initiation - You
DC - Yes
Ako - Yes
Prepare - N/A

Spam three snap seeds a couple seconds after she enters, then Sakura Dance. Let her do most of the talking, and make sure to Mikiri counter as much as you can while sneaking in a hit or two when appropriate.

When you’re done with this fight, swap your snap seeds to a jizo statue in your quick items.
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Shinobi Owl
Initiation - Boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Shinobi Owl has quite a couple moves (double shuriken+overhead pounce, Lloyd’s talisman) that can be exploited for a Dance on the back. Just be careful with the latter as the range for the talisman is a little funky and will most likely lead to getting downed. Otherwise, get in a good loop of hitting and deflecting. Reapply DC/Ako between phases, and try to avoid his poison attack entirely.

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Ape Duo
Initiation - You
DC - Yes
Ako - Yes
Prepare - Firecrackers, loaded spear

Phase 1 is just more Phase 2 Gape, use the same strategy. Reapply DC/Ako between phases, and lay as much pressure as possible with the aid of firecrackers on the second ape while being mindful of the original ape. As soon as you kill her, go back to the same routine. This is the worst fight in the game in terms of quality/fairness so just stay strong mentally.

When you’re done with this fight, swap your loaded spear to Suzaku’s umbrella.
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Emma
Initiation - Boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Probably the most erratic fight in the game, this is one where you just want to get good at it in the reflections first. Be mindful of her surprise thrusts when healing and also her awful, awful grab attack, from which you want to just run away from due to its insanely unfair hitbox.
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Old Isshin
Initiation - Boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - Firecrackers

Honestly one of the more simple fights in the game. You should already have a good handle on the hit-hit-deflect pattern needed in his first phase, just watch for his perilous thrusts and swipes. You want to circle-strafe the Ichimonji and hit him with a Dance in the back after the second strike, and the same goes for the sword-swiping-up-shooting fire attack in Phase 2. Reapply JUST DC between phases, and look for his very literal “wind-up” for One Mind, and firecracker to cancel the whole attack.
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True Monk
Initiation - You
DC - Yes
Ako - Yes
Prepare - N/A

Run in and prepare to deflect her landing in Phase 1, then hit her with a Dance. Do mostly deflects in Phase 1 while sneaking in a hit/SD whenever she does one of those attacks with longer finishing idle animations. When Phase 2 starts, zip up to the highest branch near the Fountainhead entrance and jump down for an instant deathblow while she’s crouched in the middle, then start prepping for Phase 3. Instantly reapply DC/Ako, and swig your terror gourd. This is usually the same from Phase 1, but be careful asf for her terror attack and be mindful when you can sneak in a SD, but instantly follow it up with a deflect. One of the harder fights (phases) for sure.
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Father Owl
Initiation - Boss
DC - Yes
Ako -  No
Prepare - N/A

One that highly relies on muscle memory and attack knowledge to get through. Just some things to remember:

-As always, reapply DC/Ako between phases, unless you need to heal first.

-Whenever he does his threefer swipe followed up with firecrackers in Phase 1, move to your right/his left and sneak in a Dance. Same goes for whenever he does that perilous swipe mixed with the long overhead windup; get one hit on the windup, then sidestep as he’s coming down (not before, he will change the attack and you will probably get hit), then Dance. However, just do a regular hit whenever he does these in Phase 2, as he loves to transition them into disappearing, and you’ll waste a Dance.

-Stay as far away as you can when he gets into his owl form, then sneak in a Dance when he lands.

-Don’t bother trying to Mikiri counter him unless you know you can get it, the range is just really weird with him.

-Stay away from the walls.
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Hatred Demon
Initiation - The boss (which is weird, since you initiate it in the main game)
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - Suzaku’s Lotus Umbrella

A fight that I increasingly underestimated the better I got at it and the more I forgot the muscle memory for as I took a break with MJ. The biggest battle with DOH is proximity; you want to stay as close as you can to him while he does his best to put distance between you, and that’s where he can be at his most dangerous. Wail on him if you can stagger him. If he’s about to do his double fireball, just hope you’re close enough to dodge it, but if not, whip out the umbrella and hide. A lot of it is just dodging and hitting Bloodborne tactics, but deflecting can also help a lot if you can get the timing down. As always, reapply DC/Ako between phases.
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Field Genny
Initiation - The boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Not much to be said, honestly. Just don’t get discouraged if he downs you, because he has downed me several times.
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Sword Saint
Initiation - The boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - Firecrackers

Once again, not much to be said if you’ve beaten the game. Make sure you’re firecrackering if he’s about to do any of his huge wind swipes, it makes the fight a lot less painful. You can reapply DC/Ako before Phase 2, but probably not before Phase 3.
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Inner Genny
Initiation - The boss
DC - No
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Inner Genny will probably run through a lot of your resources, so it’s important to make sure you’re applying as much pressure as you can, and of course, being mindful of his lightning reversal-reversal.
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Inner Father
Initiation - The boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - N/A

Not a ton much new to be said if you made it through OG Father, but be less aggressive during this fight and don’t hit him more than 2-3 times in a burst. The mist raven is a huge punisher for over-aggression; You also want to be mindful of the mist raven overhead that he loves to open Phase 1 with if you apply DC. In phase 2, if he drops out of the owl form and just bumrushes you without an attack, get ready for one of the mist raven wombo-combos.

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Inner Isshin
Initiation - The boss
DC - Yes
Ako - No
Prepare - Firecrackers

90% same tactics as Sword Saint, just don’t let the nerves get to you. Keep an eye for which of the new attacks you can do a Mikiri counter on.

Good luck.