#I hope Kashimo dies in this same chapter

[k-martins]

Spoilers Chapter 237

Kashimo: You took everything from me! Sukuna: I don't even know who you are.

[jgnico]

maybe this is just my very hot take but I think people who want gojo to be relevant in jjk beyond what he has already done so far don't get the story. anyone who criticises yuuji as the mc doesn't understand jjk. it's confusing to me how gojo's entire goal is to prepare a new generation of sorcerers to be able to overthrow the system, seeing the young generation consolidate after his death even in such a disastrous situation and having such a big focus on the difference between gojo's generation and the kids and then having readers say stuff like "I want gojo to come back to defeat kenjaku". I swear it doesn't make sense to me how you read a story for over 200 chapters and still miss the point. yeah it's understandable to not get all the references or symbolism but the core of the story, really? the main message? I agree that there's criticism to be made about jjk and I'm one of the first to jump on the wagon when it comes to certain things but I really think gege receives an undeserved ammount of negative criticism for jjk. I also think gojo's death was obvious for a very long time but anyways. hope you have a good day, nico :)

Piping hot take, scalding even, but also one that I completely agree with.

I'd also like to point out that despite Gojo's position as the strongest of the modern era, and therefore someone that you would expect to have a large impact on the story by winning the fights that he's in, has never actually won a significant fight in the antagonists' favor.

The Jogo fight? Jogo and Hanami get away. The Goodwill Event? Hanami gets away and Mahito steals 3 death paintings + the school's supply of fingers. The first Toji fight? He loses and Riko dies. The second Toji fight? He wins, but it doesn't matter because killing Toji at this point wasn't necessary. The Shibuya fight? He gets sealed with the only major loss for the antagonists being Hanami and the transfigured humans in b5f. The Sukuna fight? He dies without dealing any lasting damage to Sukuna.

But it isn't just Gojo that isn't getting anything done for the older generation. Nanami dies to Mahito without killing a single antagonist in Shibuya. Mei Mei flees after almost dying to Kenjaku. Naobito flat out dies to Jogo after the Dagon fight.

As a matter of fact, the antagonists dealt more damage to themselves in Shibuya that anyone from the older generation of Sorcerers did. Choso quite literally takes himself out. Toji kills Dagon after Megumi makes it possible for him to get to him before taking himself out. Sukuna kills Jogo. Kenjaku exorcizes Mahito after Yuuji and Todo + Nobara nearly kill him.

Even more recently, you have Yuki dying to Kenjaku and Kashimo also dying to Sukuna.

All of this only reinforces the point that the story isn't about Gojo or any previous generation accomplishing anything. They're there to be an example; to show us, the audience, how jujutsu society operates and fails it's sorcerers, and to reinforce the themes of the story, but more importantly, to be an example for the students of what they need to surpass in order to achieve what no other generation could.

There are things that I absolutely will ctiticize Gege over - namely, his extremely limited use of his female characters that aren't Maki - but I agree that there's a lot of stuff that the fandom gives Gege shit over that they wouldn't if they understood/cared about the story more. Gege isn't a bad writer and JJK hasn't gone downhill as much as people like to say it has. Likewise, he isn't a bad writer for killing Gojo when everything in the story leading up to that point told us that Gojo would not and could not win that fight. And he won't be a bad writer if he never brings Gojo back when there isn't a single good reason for him to do so.

Which leads us inevitably back to the same question that I asked a while ago: For the people that fully believe that Gojo is going to come back; Why do you want that to happen and how would it benefit the story?

[aliensupersyn]

I Solved One of the Great Mysteries of the Heian Era

This reads as a sort of storybook. The pages here all describe Sukuna's rise to power as a divine force in jujutsu society, but it's scattered throughout different chapters. Here, I piece it together for your reading pleasure. I made this discovery while writing my Yuji cog analysis.

Sukuna vs. The Fujiwara Clan

Uro recounting her defeat by Sukuna's hand.

Sukuna sees himself as a divine arbiter who bestows judgement on humans, who he deems to be beings below him. As a divine figure, he condemns humans to misery by his hands. Sukuna's title as the "disgraced one/the fallen," and his talent to forgo a barrier for his domain expansion reflect his defiled divinity. Gege describes Sukuna's domain expansion as a truly divine technique, which adds even more grandeur to his role as the strongest sorcerer in history. Sukuna's undefeated reign of terror ultimately defines his status as a divine sovereign of jujutsu sorcery.

Sukuna's rule of might defines strength as a destructive force. Comparing yourself to and relying on others only makes you weak, according to Sukuna.

Sukuna figuratively acts as a curse; he will never stop spreading misery upon humanity for as long as he lives. He sees his destruction as a divine and just cause. His strength acts as proof for his righteousness.

As the symbol of the greatest force in the history of sorcery, Sukuna enforces a schism within jujutsu society. In the Heian era, and now in the modern era, Sukuna spurs the rule of might. By threatening carnage, he forces sorcerers to come and meet him in battle to test their strength and knowledge against his own. To avoid the calamity Sukuna threatens, sorcerers must either kneel to him or hope to defeat him. In the Heian era, most of the sorcerers likely chose the former after failing to succeed at the latter. After armies of sorcerers died against him, jujutsu society was forced to praise him as their divine sovereign.

This panel revealed that Uro led the Sun, Moon, and Stars squad.

Here, Kashimo reflects on Sukuna's slaughter of Uro's squad. It's also suggested that Sukuna has weathered an army of Angels. Imagine them stacking Jacob's Ladders on him. No wonder he was able to tank Yuta's with no effort.

Here, you can see the outcome of the calamitous battle that Kashimo was reflecting over in the above page. After their defeat, sorcerers began worshipping Sukuna as a God and praying to him for good fortune. His strength had earned him a divine status among the most powerful of the golden era of sorcery. You can also see that they thought of Sukuna as a monster, which resembles another member of the current cast.

The Yorozu panel reveals that Uro once led the Sun, Moon, and Stars squad that Sukuna slaughtered. The second and third pages above describe Uro's squad as powerful sorcerers who challenged Sukuna and died. Yorozu also once challenged the Fujiwara clan and they made her one of their nobles*. Uro detested the very same Fujiwara clan who apparently subjugated her.

Even in a new life, it's not Sukuna that bothers Uro, it's the Fujiwara clan for killing her.

After her squad's defeat, presumably, the leader of the Fujiwara clan used Uro as a scapegoat to appease Sukuna. Her execution would signal to Sukuna that she acted against his wishes and on her own. These events would explain why in Yorozu's reflections and flashbacks, the Fujiwara clan still remains as a supreme power. Sukuna likely accepted Uro's execution as penance for them challenging him.

Yorozu was supposed to be preparing for the harvest festival being held in Sukuna's honor. There, they would pray to him as a God; Yorozu effectively fell in love with a monstrous deity figure. Given her insect theme, there's grounds for a connection between Yorozu, Sukuna, Mothra, and Godzilla.

After he annihilated Uro's squads, Sukuna became the supreme divine sovereign of jujutsu society in the Heian era and sorcerers were forced to worship him to avoid his ire. To stress his divinity, sorcerers prayed to him for a good harvest as if he were a God. The Fujiwara clan likely executed Uro, a leader of some of the forces that challenged Sukuna, to appease their new divine sovereign. The fealty that was pledged to him likely made Sukuna extremely bored. He wished to spread misery, but his opponents had all lost the will to challenge him and instead begged and worshipped at his feet.

The choice between challenging Sukuna and worshipping him pervades even the modern era. The Jujutsu High political leaders feared Sukuna and his fingers. Even without a real body, Sukuna's cursed energy alone enforced fear and awe into jujutsu society. All sorcerers understood that his return would mean another schism; they would be required to either join him or foolishly challenge as a powerless upstart. Throughout history, sorcerers made binding vows with Kenjaku in order to one day challenge Sukuna, as Uro's squad once did. Others knew better and instead attempted to create a jujutsu society that worked to contain Sukuna in his cursed object form.

Notes:

The manga isn't very specific about what Yorozu's status was, just that she was some type of noble in the Heian capital.

Yorozu and Sukuna being Gege's Godzilla fanfiction is adorable and makes me like her so much more.

Uro's horror in these two pages suddenly make much more sense. Sukuna slaughtered all of her comrades.

Regarding the Kashimo page: I'm simply taking Kashimo's comments "to have achieved so much!" as some form of reaction to the narrator. It could be a metatextual reaction, or he could have learned about this war somehow.

Short post, but I didn't see anything else outlining this little story, so here it is.

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 237 (spoilers)

(First, read the fan translation from this site)

We get right into the battle with immediate interference from Uraume who comes down on an ice block, but then another person makes another interferes and traps Uraume in a DE. Hakari talks about a promise there and I think that was about ensuring that Kashimo can fight Sukuna unhindered.

Out of that block of ice, Sukuna brings out a cursed weapon but not any cursed weapon: it's the gift Yorozu had made him with her life in exchange. It's in the image of Sukuna's old weapon and it's ability seems to be about generating lightning.

This weapon is one of the failsafes that Sukuna had kept back in his fight against Gojo in anticipation of the heavy hitters from the good side attacking him next. Kashimo isn't really on the good side and I wonder how much Kenjaku and Sukuna had planned for him appearing here.

(Favourite theory on that Kamutoke is that Tsumiki mixed her own soul into the creation of it (like Mai) and with that she'll be able to communicate with Megumi later on as long as Sukuna uses that weapon)

Kashimo has a resistance to Kamutoke's lighting ability due to his cursed energy trait. The theme of being lonely at the top comes back, this time with Kashimo who tries to relate to Sukuna on some level. And for the first time, we get a glimpse at Sukuna's past.

He says he was a scorned/unwanted child and that he doesn't know if he always was the strongest or not. Fascinating past. Was he already born strange with the predisposition to become the strongest (like Gojo) or was he an average child that became the strongest through will power and gear? (I'm hoping for the latter.)

Without much waiting, Kashimo activates his CT, which lets him transform his entire body into all phenomena relating to electricity. Sonic boom and electromagnetic waves among others. At some point this CT will destroy his body completely and he's most likely on a timer right now because of it.

Presumably Kashimo had never activated his CT before. That he knows what it is is probably thanks to family members that died because of it. Honestly, I hope that he survives somehow because Kashimo is quite the funny character if you ask me.

Another failsafe that Sukuna had in store for the others, was his transformation into his original self. This transformation automatically heals all of his wounds (I counted 24 panels, the entire chapter, where Sukuna hadn't been able to heal his eye and left hand before this). The brain damage he received from Gojo is probably healed now as well, meaning that Kashimo will have to face Sukuna's DE.

But will that DE be effective against Kashimo? Right now his body is in flux and can you cut lightning? Even with the evolved form of Dismantle I don't think that Sukuna will have an easy time cutting Kashimo at all. Also, as long as Sukuna's CE reserves didn't get a boom with that transformation, he'll still be extremely low on that front.

But now to the Gojo question. I see this chapter as one that sets up some things:

Kashimo/Sukuna fight

Hakari/Uraume fight

First interference from outside forces

The continuation of the Shinjuku Showdown

Kashimo's CT

Sukuna's original form

B-plot that might play parallel to the Sukuna fight

All of these don't leave much room for anything else but still it's extremely telling that we didn't get a single panel of anyone else mourning or being shocked about Gojo's apparent death. Not even Kenjaku. And not even another panel with Gojo.

There are now multiple strong theories out there for why Gojo will survive and I'm still of the same opinion especially with the setup of this chapter. But we'll still need time to tell.

Further notes on Sukuna and his true form:

What does this mean for Megumi? It's not like Megumi is dead, he's still in the abyss, maybe mourning his hand at killing his teacher or still recovering from Unlimited Void. But for his future?

A long time ago, I made the theory that Megumi can activate his DE through short control of Sukuna's arms and that he can clone himself into Chimera Shadow Garden through his shadows. That scenario just gained some points in coming true at this point.

But there is also my theory that Megumi will turn into a curse and, if we're going with good scenarios, that he or someone else (like Angel's Jacob's Ladder attack) will reverse the transformation and give him his body back.

About the transformation, Kashimo too can probably heal himself one last time before dying 🤔

Poll results: half of you believe that Gojo will survive.

[lavenderjewels]

Spoilers and thoughts for JJK 232

Throwing all my thoughts here (for the fan translation).

The chapter was fight heavy, so nothing too mind blowing or game changing yet. It feels like a transition into another element of the fight, with Mahoraga officially adapting to Gojo and Sukuna momentarily knocked out by Gojo’s black flash JJK 0 Geto style.

The fighting looked great!! Gojo’s expressions with his huge blue eyes and smile, and the use of his techniques after seeing them in the anime was fun. Not much else to say on that but more of a cool shonen fight. Lots of orbs!

Yuuji questioning how much longer it’ll be until Mahoraga adapts because we don’t know if it’s through time increments or experience, then Kashimo replying with “who gives a shit, it doesn’t matter” was the best possible response. At least he’s enjoying the fight!

Look okay I know nearly every corner of the internet with JJK fans is mocking Sukuna for taking hit after hit and using Mahoraga, but I don’t think it’s actually that severe. The atmosphere for this fight is fairly light still and they’re both having fun being able to go at each other. If Sukuna was using all his powers at his disposal, I’d be harsher, but they’re like children at a playground. As for using Megumi’s technique, I honestly have no idea what his end goals are for possessing Megumi in particular, but why not use Mahoraga if it successfully ended a six eyes user in the past.

Anyways the Sukuna stuff seems to mostly be jokes, but it doesn’t devalue him for me, mostly since I guessed they’d be close to equals from how they’ve both been built up. The fight is uncannily close to Hakari and Kashimo’s, down to Kashimo (Sukuna in this case) having powers theyre refraining to use.

We still don’t know anything about Sukuna’s fire powers that were “opened” in Shibuya that cursed spirits wouldn’t know about, Yorozu’s last gift to him, where the last finger is, or his actual agenda. The agenda part could be debated to just want to rule as the king of curses in a new era of sorcery, but his reasoning behind possessing megumi and staying in the body is vague enough that I’m expecting more. I want his original form back, but I might be unreasonably hopeful.

There’s no way Gojo can keep evading constant near death experiences, but I don’t think this cliffhanger ending is actually his end. At least not yet. But it’ll hopefully change up the fight to be more dire and unpredictable.

I can’t really see Gojo dying either until something severe happens to Sukuna. If he died and Sukuna could carry on as usual, there’d be nothing anyone could do. And if the team right now watching DID have something that could stop Sukuna, they’d be in the fight already to help Gojo.

This fight’s been surprising in that the main group watching keeps acting like their plan is just “let gojo fight and see what happens I guess”. I need more answers to what they were doing over the time skip or anything about backup plans if Gojo dies. This is me basically saying I still think there’s an overall plan in mind they’re sticking to, and that it probably is about saving Megumi. But we’ll see what unfolds. The mysteries of this manga are at an all time high.

The only thing that baffles me is why not a single person is concerned about Kenjaku. The Culling Games is still in progress and Kenjaku can do the merge whenever it’s ready—which is probably this same day since they agreed on this date for a fight. Despite my intense confusion over this, I’m waiting for the fight to play out more.

I miss Kenjaku