bbytarantula

[bbytarantula]

The theory about ‘Sukuna’s going to eat (or try to eat) Megumi’ has a high probability to come true

This theory is cross-posted on posted on reddit. Contains spoilers for non-manga readers.

I know that (some) people are sick of this, but I’d like to point out something I’ve noticed from u/bushwarblerssong's post about the urban legend that inspired Gege to create Sukuna, which I think supports the ‘Sukuna will (try to) eat Megumi’ theory.

Gege said he created Sukuna based on an urban legend thread that was posted on 2chan.

The summary of this urban legend thread;

> A construction worker found a 2 meter wooden box with ‘Ryoman Sukuna ??? is sealed’ written on it at the old temple his company was demolishing. Fyi he was the one who posted the thread, so I’ll refer to him as 2chan guy just like bushwarblerssong did on their post.

> 2chan guy called the former priest of the temple & told him about the box.

> The priest told 2chan guy to not open the box.

> Two of 2chan guy’s coworkers opened the box for fun, then they became sick (mute + dazed) & hospitalized (few days later one of them died due to heart attack while the other became mentally unstable).

> That box contained a mummy of two conjoined twins.

> 2chan guy called the priest again. The priest came with his son and took the box. 2chan guy asked the priest’s son about the mummy.

> Priest’s son confirmed the mummy was indeed a pair of conjoined twins. The twins were purchased by Mononobe who was a leader of a religious sect & then the twins got locked inside a secret chamber with other prisoners who also had deformities. They all cannibalized each other there.

> Mononobe was interested in the twins & wanted the twins to become the sole survivor, so he stabbed other prisoners before he threw the twins there.

> The twins survived & Mononobe turned them into a mummy while they were still alive (by starving them). Then he named them Ryomen (Two Faces) Sukuna.

And here’s the interesting part, quoting bushwarblerssong;

To increase the mummy’s power, Mononobe filled Ryomen Sukuna’s stomach with a fine powder made from the crushed bones of ancient “traitorous clans” (like the Emishi or Tsuchigumo) eradicated by the Imperial Court.

Doesn’t the Zen’in kinda fit this label? Since they are in the process of getting removed from the three great families.

ch 152

Maki and Megumi are also deemed as traitors by the Zen’in clan, and perhaps by the Jujutsu Society/higher ups as well. Because they’re currently trying to free Gojo. Plus Megumi is on Yuji’s side and the higher ups clearly see Yuji as evil/dangerous and they want Yuji (Sukuna) dead.

ch 148

Anyway, Sukuna has a mouth on his stomach so it matches the urban legend. I’m guessing Mononobe cut open the stomach of the Urband Legend Sukuna so he could stuff it with the bone powder, thus creating the second mouth.

cover for ch 117

A huge mouth also exists in Sukuna’s domain expansion.

ch 8

ch 119

His domain expansion is called Fukumamizushi (伏魔御廚子) in Japanese. Fukuma (伏魔) means a place where demons hide while Mizushi (御廚子) means the place inside the palace where the emperor eats or the kitchen.

The name of Sukuna’s DE can be taken as “Sukuna’s kitchen” or “Emperor Sukuna’s dining place.”

“The kitchen of all deaths is here!!”

His innate domain also looks like the inside of a stomach.

So far Sukuna’s innate techniques are all related to cooking (Knives; dismantle and cleaves/filleting*, and Fire; flames |*the kanji hachi 捌 also means filleting fish) and we’ve seen him talking about his enemies in cooking term. He even 'employs' Uraume because of Uraume’s cooking skill.

Q: How long has Uraume known Sukuna?

A: Uraume has known Sukuna for 1000 years. Uraume is a human who’s allowed to stand next to Sukuna because Uraume could make delicious food. Uraume is also a sorcerer.

Q: Is Uraume a chef?

A: Sukuna likes to eat people, but it’s difficult to cook them, or rather only few people have the experience, but Uraume is excellent at this.

This character introduction implies that the reason why Sukuna allows Uraume to become his (only) follower is because of Uraume’s cooking skill. Weren't Uraume a good cook, Sukuna most likely wouldn't keep Uraume around.

Also, let’s not forget that it’s also mentioned in the official fanbook that Sukuna finds the most pleasure in eating.

三枚おろし is a culinary term for filleting a fish (into three slices).

味見 means tasting. The fight is a literal taste test for him.

“A delicious death begins with a careful preparation.”

The motif of eating and cooking is heavily emphasized on Sukuna. Even the way he gains control of Yuji’s body began with eating (Yuji ate Sukuna’s finger). Moreover Yuji is also a good cook, he taught Megumi to make meatballs.

(FYI in Gifu prefecture, there’s a giant dish called "Sukuna nabe" or Sukuna stew. Apparently this dish can serve approximately 2500 people. Gifu prefecture was the Hida province back then. It’s said that people of Hida liked Sukuna & considered him as a hero because he defeated a poisonous dragon and a demon called Shichina)

These are the reasons why I believe Sukuna will eat someone later, or at least try to. I’m willing to bet a huge amount of money on this. That mouth on his stomach isn’t there just for decorating, it’s for eating.

And since his interest is solely on Megumi, it’s logical to assume Megumi will become his prey in the future.

I mean, who else fits this position beside Megumi? The other person Sukuna acknowledges is Gojo (so far only Gojo and Megumi are referred to with their full names by Sukuna) but that acknowledgement doesn’t seem to go beyond killing—revenge against Gojo for humiliating him in ch 2/ep 3.

IMO if Sukuna does end up eating humans again later, the very first person he eats would be someone whom he considers special, like a fine grade-A ingredient. Basically the human version of wagyu beef or bluefin tuna.

He wouldn't eat just anybody, at least not at first, because it's stated in the fanbook that "it's difficult to cook them (humans)." So I don't think he would reserve such meticulous preparation for random nobodies. Besides it'd be his first meal after a thousand years of being sealed, so it's gotta be special.

And for what reason? Why would he want to eat Megumi? And why not now? Why wait?

Like many others I believe he wants to absorb Megumi’s power or ability once Megumi reaches his full potential, similar to what Getwo/Kenjaku did with Mahito to cast Maximum Uzumaki in order to create his ideal world, and also similar to the Urband Legend Sukuna ("to increase power").

u/Astral_M explained this in their post about the body is equal to the soul, thus consuming the body is equal to consuming the soul. Quoting them;

Because Sukuna's fingers (part of his body == soul) were preserved, his core of cursed energy is preserved. And Yuji is evidence of a very important concept: Consuming someone's body counts as consuming their cursed core, inheriting their technique!

source: WAYA - Anime Explanation (min 5:01)

I’ve seen multiple versions of translation/interpretations of this, the most common one is “Sukuna wants to create his ideal world with Megumi” I’m not trying to be nitpicking here but this version contains a different meaning from the one I screenshot, because it implies Sukuna wants Megumi to work together with him...... and I doubt that's exactly what Sukuna has in mind. I'm assuming the one I screenshot is the correct (more accurate) version because WAYA is a native Japanese speaker.

Also I think it's worth to note that it's not Gege who said this, it’s the interviewer. Gege’s answer/respond to it was fully censored, so we don’t know whether he actually agreed with this notion or not.

The interviewer then said this (in response to Gege's bleeped out answer);

Another translation;

source: _zanzou_ 

I don’t think Megumi is going to die (or get eaten) early. It’d happen in or near the final arc.

Megumi either dies in Sukuna/Yuji’s hands (depends if they manage to separate, I'm betting Sukuna's going to merge with Yuji though, because it fits the theme; conjoined twins + two faces), or he lives, because clearly Sukuna wouldn’t allow others to kill him.

Thanks for reading!

TL;DR Sukuna will definitely (try to) eat someone later and that someone is most likely going to be Megumi.

[bbytarantula]

Megumi’s name and how it relates to Gojo’s

This theory is cross-posted on posted on reddit. Contains spoilers for non-manga readers.

Recently I encountered this theory about Megumi’s name by Yonkonkaroo.

Basically the theory says that Toji named Megumi; ‘Megumi,’ because he genuinely wished Megumi would be born as a girl, or at least without a curse ability so Megumi wouldn’t have to be associated with the Zen’in.  

This theory sounds plausible, considering the kanji 恵 can also be read as Kei which is a masculine name. As long as the kanji 恵 is used, the meaning of the name won’t change, which means that Toji insisted for his son to be referred to as Megumi; a feminine name.

Though, Toji’s dialogue in the Hidden Inventory arc makes me reluctant to believe this theory.

(JJK chapter 73)

“But you guys, with all of your blessings, lost to a monkey like me who can’t even use jujutsu.”

This line indicates that he considers cursed abilities as blessings, so doesn’t this mean that he really did want his child to be born with ‘the potential’? If he didn’t, then why bother choosing the name that means blessing?

(JJK chapter 113)

Regardless of what Toji’s reason might be, I’m sure that Gege naming his deuteragonist with a feminine name (despite its masculine counterpart; Kei, actually exists) is intentional.  

Fandom, particularly the Japanese one, refers to Megumi as the true heroine, mainly because he's constantly saved by other male characters; Gojo in the beginning, Yuji/Sukuna at the reform school, Inumaki and then Yuji + Todo at the school exchange event, Toji (from Dagon & himself) and Sukuna (from Mahoraga) in Shibuya. Megumi also asked Yuji to save him in chapter 143. There's also Sukuna who's 'interested' in him (I'm holding onto that theory about Sukuna's planning to eat Megumi once Megumi reaches his full potential, like Kenjaku did to Mahito). I feel like this fandom joke actually holds a little bit of truth? The host interview said Nobara is "The heroine! At least position wise. But it feels like she’s more of a hero than anyone else" which Gege didn’t deny.

(*A bit unrelated, Gege has also said he won't make Yuji and Megumi clash/fight each other again, the one they had at reform school is the last one, the reason why is because Gege thinks it'd make Megumi's character fall flat. Gege also said he finds the rivalry dynamic like Naruto and Sasuke boring/will make the story boring. Which means the 'deuteragonist-rival' role doesn't exist for Megumi to fill in. Unless Gege changes his mind later. I doubt he will because he's said he has already planned Yuji's and Megumi's endings. While Sukuna's is still up in the air - or was at that time of the interview)

Though, I believe the main reason why Gege chose the name Megumi is because he is making a reference to Christianity. The word Megumi regularly occurs in Japanese-language Christian texts, as it's used to refer to Grace in Christianity and appears in the Japanese translation of the hymn Amazing Grace. In the Japanese version of the song, 恵 is pronounced as Megumi. This would leave Gege no choice but to use Megumi instead of Kei, even though both can be written using the same kanji.

Fyi the Japanese lyrics are slightly different from the English/Original version, and the song is also called as My Chains Are Gone.

(Amazing Grace Japanese Version - English Translation)

Looking at the lyrics, will Megumi be the one who set Yuji free from Sukuna? Will Gojo become blind? Since his power is related to his eyes and he wears blindfold lol jk.

Anyway, how does Megumi’s name relate to Gojo's?

恵 means blessing and grace (these two are the closest translations of the kanji), kindness, wise, and fortunate, but as a noun it also means enlightenment (in relation to Buddhism), which what Gojo’s given name; 悟 Satoru means. Satoru also means understanding/to understand. The definition fits his all-seeing and all-knowing ability.

This tidbit about their names also reminds me of the official art KEY ANIMATON vol 2 (made by Tadashi Hiramatsu; JJK Anime Character Designer)

They resemble the yin and yang symbol in this picture, and if we turn Megumi (who looks like he’s ready to fight Gojo) upside down, he actually faces the same direction as Gojo. It gives off ‘they look different but they’re actually the same’ kind of vibe. The statement can be applied to the kanji characters of their names, because 恵 is synonymous to 悟.

Another thing that’s probably (not) worth mentioning is that Gojo came back to life right after Toji mentioned Megumi’s name.

(JJK chapter 73)

I find it interesting that Gege drew the panels in that particular order: Toji talks to himself about blessings & the meaning of Megumi’s name, then Gojo’s pinky finger twitches (back to life). I guess it’s sort of a hint that Megumi would be passed on to Gojo two chapters later (chapter 75)?

Not sure if I should add this here, but since this post is about names... Megumi was born on 22th December; the shortest day and the longest night of the year, which is called 冬至 Touji in Japanese. I think this is sort of a pun, because Touji and Toji sound very similar. Toji’s son; Megumi, was born on Touji lol.

Fyi only 夏至 Geshi (the day with the longest day and shortest night of the year; June 21st) and 大暑 Taisho (the hottest time of the year; July 23rd) are still empty, no character is revealed to be born on either of these days. I’m betting on Sukuna being born on Taisho though, since it’d contrast Gojo who was born on 大雪 Taisetsu (when the snow begins to fall heavily and the real cold weather arrives; December 7th).

You can find the rest of the JJK casts’ birthdays and how they relate to seasons here.

TL;DR Megumi is named Megumi because Gege wants to make a reference to Christianity, particularly the Amazing Grace hymn. The meaning of Megumi’s name is synonymous to Satoru’s since both 恵 and 悟 can mean enlightenment.

Thank you for reading!