#gojo believed he was capable of surpassing him one day and THIS IS A MOMENT AS TO WHY

[epickiya722]

Can we talk about it because oh my gosh...

When Megumi told Yuuji he is adept, he was not just saying that because this part is another moment that shows just how quickly Yuuji learns.

First off, look at how wide that curse's mouth is. Mind you, this happens once. Yuuji is shocked and thrown off by this.

However, before the second time it happens, he backtracks. And then runs at Kenjaku who then releases the catfish curses again. However, just before Yuuji would "fall" he jumps and could have made the distance had not Kenjaku sent those centipede curses.

He had this attack happen to him once and it lasted just a couple of moments. And Yuuji figured out how to work around it.

"Sukuna's vessel is tough." And much more!

[linkspooky]

Gojo and Sukuna: The Strongest vs The Strongest

Gojou and Sukuna are both pictured lounging on top of a pile of skulls: the people they’ve climbed over to reach the top of their respective worlds. Gojou is the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, and Sukuna is the strongest cursed spirit. As they both carry the title of the strongest they actually have a lot in common, and are destined to duke it out one day - more details UNDER THE CUT.

1. Individualism

Gojo and Sukuna are both characters who base their entire identity around their individual strength. Their number one priority is the development of themselves. They need to stand out. They need to stand out on top. That’s why they share the phrase: “Throughout the heaven and earth, he alone is the honored one.”

Selfish and self-centered is a personality trait that typically has negative connotations, but being a selfish person is not necessarily a good or bad thing. All it means is you prioritize yourself first, your own thoughts, your own world view, your own sense of self. 

“I alone am the honored one” is actually a phrase of self enlightenment. It’s said that after the Budha Sakayuni was born he took seven steps from his mother and said that while pointing to the heaven and earth [x]. 

Gege has confirmed in his author comments he uses it to confirm the arrogance of the characters, and in doing so he portrays both the good and the bad of having such a sense of arrogance. See, selfishness is considered a bad quality, but what about self-confidence? Self-esteem? Believing in yourself can lead you to good things. Doubting yourself may seem humble, but it can lead you to making mistakes, or even lashing out at others. These aren’t necessarily good or bad they’re just qualities that people have. Personal enlightenment means becoming the best version of yourself that you can possibly be (if I’m WAYYY SIMPLIFYING). Gojou and Sukuna know themselves, and what they desire better than any other characters in the series. 

Gojo and Sukuna have such high confidence in themselves that they believe they can do pretty much anything, and usually they can. In their world view if you have the strength to do it, then anything is possible. 

Gojo calls this philosophy swinging for the fences. They are both like star players on the team, who do everything they can to stand out and be the best. Their are two competing needs in the story, the individual good, and the collective good. Gojo insists you don’t have to sacrifice yourself and put yourself down for the good of others, which is why he tries to assert his individual will on the world. He wants to make the world better how he sees fit. He generally thinks he’s right, and more right than others. Sukuna is the same way to a more extreme extent. 

The flaw of this thinking is that eventually they both tend to see themselves as above other people. When they stop seeing other people and cut themselves off like this, they start to believe they have to do every single thing alone. Instead of asserting their own will over others, it becomes more and more like their own will, their own ideas, their own thoughts and feelings become all that exists to them. That’s when their thinking starts becoming warped. 

Collectivism and Individualism are ideas that seem to contradict each other but that’s wrong, they’re actually complementary ideas that coexist. People are individuals. People are a collective group. Both of these ideas exist at the same time. 

Gojo’s self confidence, his selfless fighting for others always using his strength for the sake of others, trying to make a better world as he sees fit are all good things, but the fact that he believes no matter how strong he becomes no matter how hard he fights he’ll always die alone because it’s not worth becoming close to others in the Jujutsu World is just... sad. It means ever since Geto left, Gojo has trouble accepting other people and becoming close to them. Whereas Sukuna just doesn’t care. The flaw of doing everything alone is exactly that, you’re eventually alone, you become the only person on earth. 

2. Collectivism

Gojo and Sukuna both have an individual mindset, but where they differ is how they use their massive strength. Gojo believes in himself above all else but, he uses his strength for the collective good of the jujutsu world, whereas Sukuna only ever uses it for himself. Gojo parallels Yuji’s grandfather’s advice at the beginning of the manga pretty much exactly. He’s strong, so he’s obligated to help people. 

Gojo and Sukuna believes their strength makes them capable of anything, but Sukuna takes that one step further. Sukuna’s strength means he can do whatever he wants to others. Whereas, Gojo holds himself back. It’s why Sukuna is the king of curses, but Gojo isn’t the king of sorcerers. 

Gojo is at least capable of acknowledging other people in a way that Sukuna isn’t. Sukuna believes that the world should be run on strength alone. Gojo acknowledges that he’s perfectly capble of slaughtering everyone at the top and declaring himself king, but that he doesn’t really think that will change things ultimately. 

The thing is other people exist, even if Sukuna wants to ignore this inconvenient reality. No man is an island, yadda yadda. More importantly though, other people play a big role in individual identity too. If you were a person who never interacted with other people in your life, you’d just be insane. You’d be feral like an animal. You wouldn’t even have a sense of individuality. The individual ego is shaped just as much by our interactions with other people, seeing how we’re similiar and different to others than it is by how we view ourselves. Gojo and Sukuna both grapple with this idea. One thing they have in common is they both have awful peresonalities.

They’re not even lousy, they’re childish. They play games with other people. Gojo makes constant references to video games and pop culture like he’s a really hip teenager. Sukuna makes every fight into a game where he viciously mocks his opponent because he’s just so bored. The reason is because as individuals they’re also stunted, specifically because they have such trouble acknowledging other people and other people have such an influence on our peresonalities. Gojo doesn’t really need to grow up because he’s always been stronger and smarter than all the adults. Sukuna is a thousand year old spirit who acts like he’s thirteen. 

This longing to understand other people exists in both of them. Sukuna’s one redeeming feature is that when people are strong he will acknowledge them. He reaches out and connects to Jogo before his death. The problem is if you don’t meet his own personal definition of strength, then by his rules you’re basically nothing. 

Gojo seems much more aware of the fact that he’s not good enough to change things alone. What he wants is allies who are just as strong as he is, people he can rely on, people he can stand together and fight with. 

Sukuna genuinely doesn’t care about others. In fact, he views the desire to have companions, equals as a weakness. If you accept other people in any other regard, it weakens you and your individual will + desires as a person. 

But as I said, acknowledging other people is just as formative in your identity in ackonwledging yourself. Sukuna is just flat out wrong here. He’s the extreme result of Gojo’s tendency to do everything himself. For Sukuna other people just straight up don’t exist. The only people he acknowledges are the ones who meet his standards, his servants like Ura-Ume, and the one he plans on using like Megumi and that itself is a weakness. An oversight. 

3. Gojou vs. Sukuna

Sukuna has been planning, since literally the introduction chapters and the very first arc of the manga how he’s going to take Gojo down when he eventually claims Yuji’s body as his own. 

However, even if Sukuna were at full strength in Yuji’s body, Gojo would still win. I don’t think Gojo’s being cocky here it’s a genuine assessment of his strength. Which is why Sukuna has gotten crafty. We saw a long, long time ago he took an interest in Megumi the moment he learned he was a shikigami user. 

Sukuna notices that Megumi a shadow based shikigami user should have been easily able to beat a one finger curse, and asks why he didn’t. It’s after this point he takes a special interest in Megumi. He sees much more potential in Megumi, then Megumi even sees in himself. 

He places his bets in the personal development of Megumi Fushigoro. Over time, we’re reminded again and again the itnerest Sukuna has only in Megumi, and it’s slowly revealed why piece by piece. 

We learn two things about Megumi over time, that he intentionally holds himself back all the time, even though among the first years he’s the closest so far to developing a domain expansion. Number two is what we’ve learned in the last chapter.

Megumi actually has an insanely strong Jujutsu ability that he was born with. Among the Zen’in family it’s the only one that could ever possibly equal the six eyes. In the past it was a six-eyes user and a ten shadows user who fought to the death as equals. Megumi is someone who has had the capability to surpass Gojo all along, he just doesn’t believe himself capable and inententionally holds himself back. 

Which is why we learn this chapter, the insanely strong spirits that Megumi can summon with his ability we finally get a clue as to why Sukuna has taken an interset in him. Even if everything goes swimmingly and he takes over Yuji’s body, he still has to fight Gojo. 

Sukuna is keeping Megumi alive because from the beginning, being a thousand years old he knows this ancient history between the Zen’in and the Gojo families, and he knows that Megumi being a ten shadows user has the potential to be an equal, or even stronger than Gojo. 

The Gojo and Sukuna fight is going to happen eventually in the manga and when it does, Sukuna’s planning on using Megumi as a tool against Gojo. That’s what we’ve been building to all this time. That’s Sukuna’s plans for Megumi. 

[movedkagen]

hey so before i get to working on replies again i do want to analyze gojo  ( what’s new )  and discuss some aspects of his healing process.     tbh i could never properly analyze the stages of thinking that gojo underwent during geto’s defection and afterwards in one post,   but i ranted about it a bit on discord and I’m hoping to get it to make sense here.

what namely sparked this analysis was me finding two different translations of the same panel,   which is a flashback from when gojo approaches megumi and takes him in.     at one point, megumi asks if he’ll have to become a sorcerer  ( in order to keep tsumiki happy ), and gojo said yes,   but the translation is wildly different depending on which you read.

GIGANTIC  ANALYSIS  OF  GOJO’S  GRIEF  POST  STAR  VESSEL  ARC / GETO’S  DEFECTION  UNDER  THE  CUT.

the first is close to the gojo we've been seeing all throughout this past arc,   the gojo that doesn't really care for people weaker than him:   it continues to frame gojo as this unreachable glass sealing,   this limitless individual who believes only the strongest will survive.

however,   the second has a far  different  meaning,   and is closer to the gojo we met initially:

the second is close to the gojo we see now,   who is faithful and even  hopeful  in the next generation's ability to surpass him.      the second translation is also really important not just to how gojo in general is characterized,   but also in the way that i perceive gojo's healing process and what him seeking out megumi meant to his character.

in order to take that apart,   i first have to address how i view the famous kfc breakup scene:   i  don’t  think  it  was  the  moment  gojo  and  geto  realized  they  had  opposing  ideals.      i  think,   purely  because  geto  didn’t  clue  him  into  why  he  felt  the  way  he  did,   gojo  was  forced  to  get  ideals  of  his  own.

gojo was in ethical limbo after geto left.     geto was,   according to gege,   gojo's moral compass.   and geto just walked off a ledge that he himself pulled gojo back from just the year before.   in essence,   it's not an opposition of ideals at all,   because honestly,   at that point, gojo doesn't  have  any ideals of his own.      call it coping,   call it neurodivergency,   call it the fact that this is the only type of life he ever expected to live having come from a powerful sorcerer clan,   but gojo never seemed to  care  much about the purpose in his work or what it meant to himself or others.     it was just something he did because he had the ability to,    and because at that point in time it was simply what sorcerers like him  did.

there's a BIT of delinquency before the star vessel arc,   but it's more in him wanting to do things HIS way because he's been under his family's control all his life before coming to tokyo tech.   however,   at the end of the day,   gojo completes his jobs and his tasks without much second thought to it.     he doesn’t question why he does jobs,   and almost treats them like a game to show his own strength.     geto even tries to convince him there's purpose in what they do and gojo laughs it off and says that sort of philosophy is for the weak and that he thinks it’s a load of self - righteous  crap.

fast forward to when geto leaves.     he's been following either the school or geto's lead in terms of  intent  for years now and he's been comfortable that way.   so when geto leaves,   gojo can’t understand why.   he says things like "you can't" and "that's crazy talk" but he has no other reasoning to support that:

he just says it because what geto is doing is so  outside  of what the normal duties are,   which is why geto pretty easily argues against it and gojo has no rebuttal.   geto very easily turns that entire argument upside down,   and shakes gojo’s  entire  sense  of  self  with  a  single  counter:

and gojo can’t understand it.     he can’t argue it.     gojo is less arguing because he opposes his ideals and more arguing that he can't break away from the system because  he's  never  thought  to  himself.     it's like a child refusing to accept something simply because they don't understand it,    like if they deny it entirely then it isn't real and can't bother them.

this is  also  why i think he made the motion to attack him;   he was never  going  to fight him,   it was more about doing whatever was possible / in his power to try and force geto to stay because he didn't want to accept he was leaving.   and if geto  had  stayed, gojo would have found a way to absolve him of his crimes because at the end of the day,   it  wasn't  that  he  was  opposed  to  geto's  mindset.      he  was  opposed  to  geto  leaving.

geto was the single person who  ever  made him think about his motives and stopped him from doing things he knew he was capable of.     with geto gone,    gojo is totally lost and he is not coping effectively.      he wouldn't empty out geto's room at all because that would mean he really left,   so he didn't. not for weeks, or months, or even a  year  after it happened.     he refused to do it and he threw a tantrum if anyone else tried to go near the room at all.     there was a surplus of rooms,   so that room was left alone almost like a grave for a long time.

during that intermediate period,   gojo wasn't even sure where he stood anymore.     he really questioned if he even  wanted  to be a sorcerer because if geto didn't do it anymore,   why  should  he?     he's never had compassion for non - shamans like geto did.     what was he doing it for at all,    then?    

gojo was at a crossroads where he was between being a weapon for the higher ups that he didn't even like to begin with or following someone he  did  care about and respect,   down a path that he knew to be wrong but realized he'd never once asked himself why.     

gojo was moody.     sometimes he'd be too reckless on jobs,   and other times he would rebel and outright refuse to go on missions because he was lashing out at the control he let them have over him.     he was a loose cannon and while he had yet to start actively being an enemy to the higher ups  ( at this time i hc he never really threatened them or demanded to know their every move ),   he was still powerful enough where they knew if they  couldn’t  get him under their control, they might lose everything  ------  and frankly, if geto  and  gojo defected,   they'd never be able to recover from that.   at that point if they had a way to kill him, i truly believe they would have and i'm sure there was at least an attempt,   which i have a separate headcanon for.

but healing has to start somewhere.     he clearly  does  have a shift in mentality where he  does  care about protecting those weaker than him,   and that's the first step.     it's gojo accepting he can't go geto's route because he doesn't hate the world like geto does.     he hates the people who oppress it.     the next step is accepting geto left,   which is hard.   after about 2 years he and shouko clean out geto's room and it's really hard on him,   it's a very emotional event and it's a very delayed acceptance that he is gone.

the final step in his decision to heal   ( heal being a strong word since the man never gets therapy and is clearly still traumatized )   is investigating those final words toji left him with,   that  "do what you want"  regarding his child.

i have said that i don't hc he went there to get megumi,   but he just went there to see him and see what the big deal was.      but then he found out about the deal and something compelled him to go and investigate,    and when he met megumi,    he didn't find toji's  "trump card"  or some secret weapon.     he found a child.     a child that was abandoned and destined to turn out like himself or geto or toji and he  very  impulsively decided to take him and tsumiki in and stop the deal entirely.

that  was the first time he opposed the higher ups for real.     that  was the first time he said  "i'm getting in the way of this and if you try and stop me i WILL attack you and kill you all"  and while he's an outsider with seemingly  nothing  to gain from that,   they have no choice but to let him because no one can stop him.    

that second translation of  "become strong enough to leave me behind"  speaks volumes about the way i perceive gojo's shift in perception over one of the hardest segments of his life ... how i view the process in which he went from not caring about the weak at all to becoming a man who "won't forgive anyone who takes another person's youth",    which would have happened to megumi and tsumiki if toji's deal went through.   

maybe he didn't understand protecting the weak out of a sense of nobility,   but protecting one's youth?     one's right to be happy?     he DOES get that.     and that is what guides him towards compassion.     it's a really good line in what i saw as the  "final step"  in him moving on from the events of the star vessel arc and moving towards becoming the person and teacher he is now, and of course his road there is neither linear nor perfect,   but this is his turning point.