#gojo character arc

[insufferablelust]

ten. 10 meltdowns later and i have yet to be able to comprehend 261. the pain is just too much, like why? thats like 2 strong protagonist destroyed in one arc. all he ever wanted was not give in into jujutsu world, have freedom for himself and his students, friends, Suguru, people he loved.

If being a child is not a sin, then why does he need to end in such a devastating way, Gege? a bounty on his head when he was born. Treated like a prize rather than a human being. Hunted all his life. Never felt any affection from his family because they don’t value him, they value his six limitless eyes. Had to use infinity to seal his protection. Losing his friends through terrible circumstances. Watched as his only best friend, the only one who ever saw him for what he truly was, deteriorated right before his eyes. Had to end said best friend so the world will be at peace, had to do it himself, carry the burden himself. Losing a part of himself in the process.

Try to built a life on top of the tragedy, making sure his students will have the youth Suguru and himself would have deserved. Making sure his students will someday become stronger than he ever had. Take in the responsibility to train and take care of a pupil from another clan, one that doesn’t see him as human either. Having to exist in a lifetime where the king of curses thrived inside his own student’s body. Protecting him from being destroyed by the higher up because he seldom believed that the boy deserved to have a youth and that its a right not a choice.

Having to acknowledge that his high school friend had loss his life to protect the students, the most disciplined man he probably ever met, the perfect exact opposite of himself. Having to endure another devastating revelation that his person was used after his passing, brain sewed to reveal the antagonizing curse controlling Suguru. Having to endure life in a limitless prison cube, because he knew that was never Suguru that captured him. Having to face the king of curses alone, and many curses before that. Subsequently loses his own life in the most tragic painful circumstances imaginable.

After all that… all the suffering, maybe just maybe I thought he can finally rest easy. Maybe meet Suguru in a beach, talk about how nice it is to just rest, no curses, no humans, no sorcerers. Maybe hoping one day Shoko will join them so they can take a leisure time for eternity, just not too fast, since Shoko is the only one left.

But no… His body and power was used as a weapon after his passing, consented by him prior and controlled by the very student he saved. No it isn’t yuuta’s fault at all. It’s just unbearable to try and digest the fact that even after his passing, he was treated and used as a weapon not honored as a fallen sorcerer hero, or respected like a human being.

Six eyes was not a curse, its supposed to be a blessing but he was treated as the exact opposite. Limitless was not limited, its supposed to be freeing but it became the sole reason of his own demise. Infinity means forever, and he did not even reach 30.

Why?

His eyes is bright ocean blue, soul is free as wide galaxy spread, heart is big as Japanese archipelago, smile is soft as zunda kikufuku, personality is bright as the red sun, knowledge is broad as the moon surface.

Why does he have to end that way?

Isn’t he the honored one? through heaven and earth, isn’t he the only honored and strongest one?

[arctvros]

jujutsu high teachers flirting on the job (cursed child arc alternate ending)

[niinnyu]

Here's why I think jjk 261 is bad writing and wasted potential.

I've tried to separate more objective stuff and my opinions so I've made them into separate sections.

1. Jjk 260: I've already stated my issues with how jjk 260 ended and this applies tenfold now with this chapter. Buildup to sidestep to something completely different nullifies your buildup and is jarring to read. You also cannot blame villains in the story for undermining a character if you, as the author, keep doing it.

2. Okkotsu Yuuta's character: Yuuta's plan and willingness to use Gojo's body if he dies feels incredibly ooc and very uncompelling.

Yuuta is one of the few characters who's been able to see glimpses of the slightly more human side of Gojo "The Strongest" Satoru (he was my one and only/love is the most twisted curse of all). He has *just* seen the catastrophic consequences of a body used by someone else as a weapon. He was willing to go against a villain purely so that Gojo wouldn't have to.

You're telling me the same Yuuta was that ready to use his sensei's body and brought to anger when someone questioned the ethics of it?

Yuuta saying 'if no one else has the guts to then I will' means nothing becauseif his idea of becoming a monster includes using Gojo's body then he is the only one who can do it. All while implying cowardice of the others for "not having the guts to do so" (while being in Maki's presence and with Yuuji's absence, both of whom have been not self described as monsters).

Yes this is him stepping up to the task of being the strongest. But it doesn't feel like the big sacrifice of his humanity he says he doesn't care it being, if he's okay with it the moment the possibility of having to do so comes into light.

It just comes off as cocky and inhumane. And if that *is* Yuuta's character now, show me reason to believe this shift in personality in him specifically.

Also if Yuuta gets so mad at Gojo for being the "monster alone", why is his solution to do exactly that.

The easiest way to have the same events play out, but keep characters intact and have it be much more compelling would be:

Yuuta is presented with the plan of using Gojo's body. Have Meimei or Kusakabe, who've never really interacted with Gojo in any meaningful way to see him as more than his power, bring it up. Or maybe while brainstorming with everyone he comes to theconclusion himself with a lot of dread.

Yuuta immediately rejects the plan because he wouldn't do that to his sensei. Him having to throw his humanity away isn't his issue. He won't allow something like this happen again. And especially not to Gojo whom this was used against firsthand. He plans to kill Kenjaku himself.

Yuuta is reminded that if push comes to shove they still might have to if Sukuna continues to pose a large threat, but since he's the only one who can, it'll finally be only his decision. A panel of internal dialogue shows that Yuuta knows this is true.

Yuuta gets the formality "permission" from Gojo. Gojo says "who cares what happens to my body once I'm dead" and Yuuta *then* gets angry because Gojo of all people knows that he should care. Yuuta notices how Gojo also sees himself only as a weapon for others and calls him out on taking the burden all by himself (being a monster alone).

Fast forward to when Yuuta is dying and being kept alive by Shoko, Nitta, and Amai, Yuuta knows that Sukuna is still going strong and he has no choice but to use Kenjaku's CT against all his hopes because he knows he needs to.

Not only does this align with Yuuta's character a bit more, as someone who cares a lot for the people in his life including Gojo, and abides by his concern people at large, it also gives us a moment to see how heavy an ask it is of Yuuta, and forces the reader to be much more sympathetic of the choice he's had to make. How he'd rather not have done this and only went through because he's desperate.

3. Gojo's influence: This chapter essentially disregards any influence Gojo has had thoughout the story outside of having physical.

The main reason he'd not killed the higher ups waaay before now was because he knew the people who'd take their place would continue to pull the same shit.

Gojo ideology and the reason he went into teaching was to bring about a new generation of sorcerors who would know better. To dismantle the system that doesn't see sorcerors as more than dispensable tools for their power balance purposes, from the inside out.

I've seen people talk about how this ending for Gojo is significant because he isn't an exception to the cruel jujutsu system. Yes! True! He's been facing that his whole life! And that is exactly what he'd hoped to change through his students!

Yuuta using Gojo's body for his power feels like something the higher ups would not think twice about ordering. This was the perfect opportunity to show that the kids Gojo brought up *despite* this system are better than what the higher ups were.

And although throughout his life he too was not exempt as a jujutsu sorceror of being seen as solely his power (he'd also never allow anyone to see him otherwise). He sees, right at the end, these kids that he's helped train, and grow, and keep alive, know just a little better. Know *of* the human behind the power even if they don't *know* him.

OR! If you wanna stay grim about it, show that Gojo failed in this endevour. That the system still continues. Yuuta has made himself a weapon that is used because of his CT and Rika. That Yuuji has only ever been seen as a vessel, he'l he was created solely as one. That Yuuta goes to great lengths to keep his friends safe and Yuuji does so because he's already (kinda) lost them. Show that *they* still hold onto the parts that make them more than tools even if the system still doesn't.

And acknowledge the failure that it is on his part.

Because with this chapter Gojo, even just narratively, continues to be just a weapon.

Below the cut are my pretty coloured opinions about the chapter.

1. Payoff followed by setup and why Shibuya is still some of Gege's best writing: (ended up being long and not specific to this chapter so I'll make it it's own post lol)

2. Okkotsu Yuuta: I am frankly tired by the amount of importance Yuuta has been getting since the culling games ended. The only real narrative significance he has is being a student of and related to Gojo and the previous protagonist. He has no arc, no narrative weight, no personal stakes that other don't have.

He was an interesting character back when he was first reintroduced into the main story. As an unbiased executioner who would be there to kill Yuuji if Sukuna took over, both a threat but also an ally until then. The framing also made him more of a threat against Yuuji than a threat against Sukuna. Interesting!

He also has no personal conflict with the villains. The closest he got was wanting to kill Kenjaku because 'he won't let his sensei kill his Best Friend again', which is personal once removed since it's more for Gojo. Which was also a nullified sentiment because Gojo died before facing Kenjaku anyway.

He is just an overpowered character with no developmental backing. I still won't believe that Yuuta using Gojo's body is stronger than Gojo, because it is still Gojo who had had to condition and train his body to be able to handle the power he wielded. Yuuta has had a lot of groundwork already done for him in Gojo's body so even if he's able to do more damage than Gojo, it's still only because he's standing on Gojo's shoulders. People talking about "are you Gojo Satoru because you're the strongest or you the the strongest because you're Gojo Satoru" will be answered here need to remember this.

And since when has either of them cared about the Gojo clan looking bad to mention this lmaao what?

3. Kenjaku's relevance: Yuuta copying Kenjaku's CT being such a flippant discussion made me so mad lol. Your telling me they were seeing killing Kenjaku as a minor stepping stone to a bigger plan. When Kenjaku has been alive for yeaaarrrs on end pulling who knows what all shit that got all these balls rolling in the first place?

I know it easy to do in retrospect with Kenjaku already dead in current time and Sukuna being the current threat. But that's just undermining the threat Kenjaku posed and the "victory" that killing them was (even as anticlimactic as it was).

Seems like Gege had to do his best to brush off Kenjaku since they was proving to be a much more interesting villain than the Big Bad Sukuna, but man way to make your own rather well written character feel lame.

4. Gojo killing the higher ups: While the panels of Gojo wanting to shield his students from the bloodshed he was about to cause was sweet, I still wish the second years had siccesfully forced themselves in and joined him. It's another place where they could've shown Gojo fostering a generation that follows through with his ideology and plans because they get how messed up the system is.

When the higher ups were initially shown to be killed before Gojo vs Sukuna, the chapter had Inumaki and Yuuta talking in the hallways of the higher ups' hq. The implication that they'd also done it in the month of preparation made it feel like everyone was joining in and getting shit done. Yes it's satisfying knowing that Gojo got to go through with something he's wanted to do for a long time, but almost everyone has the same beef with the higher ups. Give everyone or a representation of everyone a slice of the action.

5: Shoko hate: Completely unfounded. People expecting her to suddenly have so much more agency than Gege has ever given her just because they're sad about their fav is stupid. And if you need to be angry direct it at Gege's writing that chose to use her opinion for comedic purposes.

Also question why you care about her ability to do something only when it comes to your fav male characters are facing difficult situations. Remind yourself she's the only overworked bloody doctor/ healer assisted by only a 15/16 yo underskilled underprepared child (Nitta) in a society that is still facing the effects of Shibuya. Also go away stop pretending you care.

I have more issues but whatever. Jjk fans who's favs are dead and never mentioned again be glad!! They're safe!!

[randomyuu]

so hold my hand (consign me not to darkness) [1/4]

Ah, yes. The fic that made me realise I’m in desperate need of Cursed Spirit Gojou in my ever-growing favourite GoYuu tropes.

Content Warning!

Major Character Death. Other characters are disrespectful to the corpse.

I highly suggest you read the fic first, or just the fic, since I don’t think I was properly able to adapt it into drawings. While I managed to use roughly two weeks of on-and-off planning, researching, and storyboarding, I only had a full week to finish it. You can read more of my thoughts below the comic if you’re curious.

Title: so hold my hand (consign me not to darkness)

Author: qalb_al_louz

It’s ongoing, and as of this drawing, the fic is in its third chapter. While this is (sexually) SFW, always be mindful of the tags! Please keep yourself safe and sound.

Please read from right to left, and enjoy!

You can only upload 30 images in one post, huh Damn, I gotta divide it into parts

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Alrighty, I'll put my watered down unhinged thoughts below. No extra drawings down there if you're curious haha (unless you want to see the storyboard and the characters' full body character sheet, lemme know). You can skip the stuff underneath the Keep Reading for all parts.

This fic had me grinning from ear to ear every time I read this. The atmosphere, how it goes from POV to POV—of pure fear and panic—and the peak excitement I got when Yuuji properly meets Gojou, like brooooo 😭

Gosh I cannot emphasise how much I love this fic. I’ve always been wanting to make a whole comic out of it, especially since it was 2 chapters and it doesn’t look like the author will update it, but it just… kind of forgotten ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

But then the author posted a new chapter and I told myself this is a sign I should really start.

also goddamn I was so naive to think I can tackle 2 chapters as comic—no I was in fact cannot

The moment I laid my eyes on the first paragraph, things were portrayed very vividly in my mind. The panel, the angle, Gojou's head rolling down... I was like, hell yeah. Then I continued reading and I finally succumbed to my desire to draw this out.

At first I want to adapt this into a vertical format like those manhwas. However the longer I try to learn and storyboard it... I am simply not yet comfortable with it, especially for such a big project. Even the 1st storyboard starts vaguely vertical before the panels quickly crammed into that B4-B5 format lol. The first sketch estimated 69 (heh) pages for 90% of chapter 1. I said "no" for my own sanity and fully focused on the usual manga format and it was narrowed down to 60. Still a lot though, quantity and time-wise. So with a heavy heart, I can only do the majority of chapter 1 :”) I really really want to draw Sukuna talks back to Gojou—do you have any idea how good that scene was??? Gojou tried so hard to restrain himself, he’s so other I love him 😭

Due to the sheer length of this comic (I'm still in disbelief), I have limit lots of things, and that includes the drawing. If you've seen my other JJK fanarts, they are more rendered than this one. Well, this one is purely sketched with the help of the eraser to tidy up some lines. This is also the first fanart that I did purely on Photoshop, so I can control the typesets and drawings in one place. Usually, I use Photoshop for panels and typesetting and Krita for drawing.

I don't really like Photoshop's brush, but it did really well in curbing my perfectionist tendencies, so that's good.

It's also been quite a while since I draw in general (sobs) so... yeah, you might find differences, or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

I know setting is important, but maaan I genuinely won't miss rereading chapter 83-93 with a heavy focus on background and character locations. I just want to read the action and dialogue😭 However continuity is really important. But my spatial intelligence is almost non-existent even GPS sometimes can't help me. All I'm saying is that if you find some silly drawing mistakes, do forgive me ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿I only drew all this in a week because otherwise I won't have another chance to complete this.

Well, lots of things I won't miss from this project, but haha let's talk about the characters instead because holy shit what was I thinking, starting this year drawing this many characters in the same project??? I have never drawn anyone here except for Yuuji, Gojou, Nanami and Megumi. I don't think I've ever drawn older Getou before. I already forgot how to draw my boy Yuuji and I gotta draw all these people???

This is what you call making a bad decision, kids. Don't do your "drawing warmup" after months of not drawing and tackling a project of a scale way bigger than you've ever tackled before.

Thank you for reading this far! I hope you find my complaint entertaining! But make no mistake, I genuinely still love the fic. Drawing this, even with all the headaches it gave me, only makes me adore this fic even more.

Thank you very much to each one of you who follows and leaves comments and tags on my silly art—it never failed to make my day :D And I sincerely wish this one also made your day or even made your minute! I'll see you in the next part!

[cowboypoisons]

okay i KNOW toji is a deadbeat dad and i am not defending his decision to sell off his fucking kid 😭😭 HOWEVER! there is a lot more to his character, that decision, and his second death than that…

(i Rlly like psychoanalyzing characters if we haven’t noticed)

okay SO!

his last LAST words r to his son, asking what his (last) name is. megumi says fushiguro and toji is RELIEVED BRO bc it meant megumi didn’t go to the clan.

“but like toji sold megumi To the clan? why would he be relieved?” bc deep down he RLLY didn’t want his son to grow up in that environment.

in the scene where he’s talking to naobito abt the proposition, toji’s wife/megumi’s mom has died. he’s in MOURNING and grieving and ppl do some fucked up things while grieving. not all of them morally right.

but mamaguro, as we like to call her, was his anchor. the love of his life and she was gone. it wasn’t necessarily that he Hated baby megumi, but when someone who managed to drag u out of darkness suddenly leaves, it’s no surprise when u go BACK to that darkness.

so he’s all alone here with a baby. a baby that is half zenin. a baby that can Very well be a sorcerer and possess cursed energy. so he calls up his good ol’ uncle naobito

again, i do Not agree with that proposition at ALL like it’s crazy to sell off ur kid especially soon after ur wife died 😭😭😭 but generally speaking from toji’s perspective, it makes SENSE.

in toji’s eyes, if megumi has cursed energy, he needs to be around those who ALSO have it. he’d have a wayyyyyy better life without him there and the zenin clan would treat him much better than they treated him. sure, they’re the reason he has that scar, but he was a non curse user. it made sense to punish him.

but ALSO isn’t it crazy he told gojo abt that sell to the zenin clan in his final moments?? like u usually don’t say smth like that unless there’s a REASON…i’m not saying anything but! there was a reason…there’s always a reason…

also also he literally killed himself in that dude’s body so he wouldn’t hurt megumi guys CMON!!!

tldr; very very Very flawed character, but did deep down care for megumi. in his own way . at his own time .

[sasukeless]

for every time someone compares sasuke to geto an angel loses their wings

[thefigureresource]

Nendoroid Satoru Gojo : Tokyo Jujutsu High School ver [Jujutsu Kaisen 2nd Season] from Good Smile Company will be re-released October 2024.

[goddess-mixmi]

Mirah Sekar & Marisa Nakamura and their sweet children 🥀 🩸

Both ladies are ex’s of Suguru Geto but also mothers to his children. Both met one day and decided to form their own little support system together. From there on they set up playdates for their children Melati, Shinichirou and Imani. It warms their hearts knowing how well their children bond together and see each other as family despite the bizarre circumstances. Both ladies came to an agreement that their father definitely deserves an ass whoopin for secretly meeting his kids behind their backs. Geto fumbled bad for choosing to make a cult over these two lovely ladies.

Gift to my moot who is not just a Geto enjoyer but an Apothecary Diaries fan too which is the screenshots I used here🤭

Mirah Sekar & Melati Geto belong to @/ohseaaah on instagram

Marisa Nakumura, Shinichirou & Imani Geto belong to me✨

Bonus of the ladies jumping his ass for luring the kids way thinking there will be no repercussions.

[eternalera]

okay but like. i kinda love how in jjk you literally cant become a sorcerer without questioning every aspect of your reason to be one as 'protecting the weak' just isn't enough. because why are you protecting them? why are you willing to die so young to protect people who you dont even know and will never know? whats wrong with letting the curses kill them? sure you have the power to stop it but anyone can become a police officer and catch criminals and they dont fill guilt when someone random gets killed.

the concept of protecting the weak works for law enforcement in the terms of wanting to do good for others but not for sorcerers because of a simple reason.

theyre creating their own problems, why should i have to fix it for them? let alone risk my own life for them?

its unfair, especially when the non-sorcerers aren't always gonna be the kindest towards sorcerers. sorcerers have to deal with the pain that comes from the people that they protect and yeah, it fucking sucks. which is why protecting the weak isn't a good enough reason.

its not your problem. its theirs. so why become a sorcerer? lets look at a few.

Mei Mei is obviously in it for the money

Megumi is only a sorcerer to protect him and his step sister so that they can support each other and live

Gojo wants to change the sorcerer society because he doesnt like the way thats its ran, constantly taking stuff from the youth (i mean technically he was most likely forced to but this is the main reason that he stayed in it as hes the strongest so like... who's gonna say 'no you gotta stay' to him right?)

Yuuji feels like consuming Sukuna is something only he can do so it makes him special, so fuck it. why not?

Nobara just wanted to live in Tokyo.

Now i'm not saying that all of these mean that they don't want to protect others, but thats not their motivation for becoming a sorcerer. while with Geto its pretty clear (from my pov) that he only wanted to become a sorcerer to help the weak.

but while he got born with a strong cursed technique it has a downside... it kinda sucks. it sucks in the form of he's consuming everyones emotions and taking on their burden for them in a much more twisted and literal sense.

he literally embodies the struggles of a sorcerer in a sense and yeah. it breaks him because he's doing it for the weak right? but with every curse that he swallows it gets harder and harder because which each curse he wants to stop. he wants to quit being a sorcerer because of this burden being too great and his reason not being strong enough to carry it as its completely selfless.

he gets practically nothing out of protecting them besides a horrendous taste in his mouth and some cash which isn't the reason why he's doing this in the first place.

im gonna stop it there because its getting more into a geto analysis not but you get the point-

imma do one of those later. BYYEEEE!!

[epickiya722]

What's funny to me about the "Gojo is the main character" bull is that Gojo made sure to remind the audience that Yuji is the main character.

How?

By making sure that his uniform had color because if you look at the uniforms ain't no other students attending Jujutsu Tech (including Past Arc) got matching shoes and a hoodie that are colored bright like that.

And the color Gojo chose was red.

That is the classic color of a main character!!

Even funnier that while, Gojo made Yuji stand out, when he customized his school uniform he got the same jacket as Geto.

[thequeenofsarcaasm]

Satoru lost his top twice 😔 first Suguru and now this

[cursedvibes]

I've read the chapter a couple of times now and I seriously don't understand why people want Gojo revive after that. He's content, at peace, together with the people he likes and says right at the end that he hopes this moment won't end and just be his imagination. There's a resolution to his character (he was able to connect with someone who's the same as him) and he liked the way he died. Even the whole Geto thing got tied up.

I can understand not liking where his character ended up (he doesn't really want change or help people, just try to lift them to his level to be able to relate to others), but it seemed that's what Gege had in mind for him. This more self-centred mindset that makes most of his students not a concern to him anymore is frustrating, but I think that was the plan, just terribly executed. Gojo left some of his care for others in the Prison Realm. He had so much time to think that he became entirely focused on the past and is so sick of imprisonment that he'll even take Sukuna to finally feel something.

Yuuji & Hana's worry about him forgetting Megumi was well-founded. Gojo's biggest concern about him is explaining Toji and he left that to Shoko. It's character development and resolution, just in a negative way. The problem is also that since his unsealing we barely got any focus on Gojo's mindset and experiences in the Prison Realm, so there's almost no foreshadowing. He comes across more detached and uncaring/disinterested with what is and was happening, but that's it. We don't even know if he was concerned about Nobara's limbo state - probably not - or if he ever had any bigger plan when facing Sukuna. Other characters like Shoko noticing a change in him could've prepared the reader better for what happened during the fight. Nanami and Geto call Gojo out for not caring about the current goals of the protagonists and just seeking a connection with Sukuna and finding pleasure in that instead, but it's the last chapter and Gojo's death scene, so it's a little late.

Either way, Gojo seems entirely satisfied with where he ended up. He is finally less alone, even if the comradery of strength he sought was found in Sukuna, and Sukuna also acknowledges that. There's a focus on Gojo's mouth when Sukuna says "You did well. I will never forget you", implying he's happy about that. While the setup and execution was very shaky, we have reached an end and bringing Gojo back would not only feel unsatisfying, but also go against the wishes we see Gojo express here.

[chuluoyi]

unpopular opinion: i think several fan-favorite deaths in jjk are... justifiable :')

[niinnyu]

Gege's payoff followed by setup problem, and why Shibuya Arc is still their finest writing.

Gege's writing structure has become so reliant on catching the readers by surprise that they just won't tell anything to the reader. Going into Gojo vs sukuna and the fight fest it's been since, readers have no clue of if there was any strategic/tactical planning happening (outside of Yuuji training with Kusakabe which is sloowwly coming back to the limelight).

The current buildup by adding emphasis to Sukuna and Yuuji and their dynamic, Yuuji's rage and loneliness and loss, only to bring in a Gojo-Yuuta vs Sukuna part 2 electric boogaloo. Which imo is another fight that has no interesting overarching commentary/themes outside of being the promised shounen strong vs strong fight, in a power system already criticised by both sides for being flawed.

It feels like Gege uses shock value and people eating absolutely anything up if it's about their fav, to bypass any meaningful setup.

The reason why Shibuya had the effect of absolute gutwrenching loss and defeat, is because it was setup so deliciously done. We'd seen the villains literally experiment their ideas with the veils on our heroes with the sister-school event, we've seen them talk about their plan with a lot of details, and how eventually they tweaked it to work better with their new knowledge.

We've seen that the mastermind might be someone from Gojo's past since they talk about how they cant be seen by Gojo, then you have jjk0 which shows the rift and the death of that someone (intrugue! Theyre still alive?? They're still on the bad side with that ending??) , following which you have Hidden Inventory where you see the bond and what caused the rift.

And ONLY THEN do you have everything fall into place when Kenjaku appears and Gojo is tricked because you were tricked alongside Gojo even tho as the reader almost everything was right in plain sight with just the lack of some context. Even the inconsistencies between Suguru's and now revealed Kenjaku's behaviour makes sense.

Althought the setup happened rather non-linearly, all of it was still always before the payoff. And boy, does it pay off.

And when things didn't go according to the villains' well thought out plans, it was still just such a seen yet unforeseen turn of events. We didn't know Yuuji would be fed so many of Sukuna's fingers that Sukuna would take over, but Sukuna taking over was an underlying threat that has been constant throughout the story and it just so happened to take place then).

Everything since the culling games has felt like things just happening one after the other. Short term goals that our protagonists had to complete since no one knew what was even happening. An entire year's worth of chapters of not seeing our protagonists and following new people who didn't/haven't yet done anything to truly warrant that much undivided paneltime. Anyone remember the US gov subplot? Did i dream that?

The last genuinely set up but still pretty shocking event was Sukuna using their binding vow and taking over Yuuji's body only to then take over Megumi's. We knew he wanted Megumi's power and the binding vow was another underlying threat since Yuuji's first death that was waiting to happen. Abrupt? Yes. But it was something hinted happening.

By no means am I saying that the reader should be told everything, that's not how writing works, but have enough at least fall into place when things are revealed instead of showing the puzzle completed then picking out puzzle pieces to show it individually and putting them back. A couple of panels where a character says something vague where you as the reader don't even know if it's something to take into account is NOT good set up.

[bxriles]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I said this months ago and I’ll say it again.

JJK 236 spoilers below.

I knew he would die. Between the Geto parallels, and the whole narrative of Gojo wanting his students to surpass him and make a better jujutsu world or whatever, and Gege’s straight up hatred of the character, and the juxtaposition of a super uplifting scene (him winning) with an impending black moment—I get it. I knew he would die. The signs were all there.

But just like I said a few months ago, I think this is boring.

The whole manga hypes up how strong Gojo is and talks about how his birth literally changed the world. Then this hyped up character gets sealed for like 100+ chapters. Then he gets out, is still hyped up, fights, and then… dies.

Like I’m a lil bored? Or maybe I’m just not being hit with a heavy emotional punch from this?

I mean, what the actual hell is the point of having a character THAT important/powerful just to off them? I know he’s just beaten an unbeatable enemy but idk. I feel like I’m missing an important emotional moment. (Which is entirely possible because these are just leaks and I haven’t read the full chapter)

For example, Gojo never has an emotional struggle with fighting Sukuna despite him wearing Megumi’s body. There doesn’t seem to be a moment of the mentor passing the torch to the student the way there was one with Nanami and Yuji. Jesus, he doesn’t even get to confront the monster who is in Geto’s body one final time.

I stand by my original idea. Instead of just killing him for the sake of getting rid of him, why not do something more meaningful? Why not take his eyes? Take away the only thing that makes Satoru Gojo special and make him be just like everybody else. Make him live in a world where he is essentially nobody, where he’s unimportant. Make him grapple with that.

And if you’re going to kill him then why not make it more interesting and have him completely fail? Why not make him fail so spectacularly that in his dying breath he realizes that being the strongest meant nothing because he couldn’t protect his students or anyone else he cared about?

I just hate seeing such interesting characters wasted like that. Of course, I’m sure there are people who will disagree SO HARD with me that I’ll get pissed off DMs about it. But that’s how I feel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Or maybe I’m totally wrong and when I read the full chapter I’ll be blown away by the emotional payoff (assuming it isn’t just through a fucking flashback). Maybe I’ll read the full chapter and love the death.

I fucking doubt it tho lmao.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

i still haven’t written out my 261 metapost but i can’t stop thinking about the stsg subtext in that chapter . the parallels between geto slaughtering the village and gojo slaughtering the higher ups…. the fact that gojo does it right after declaring that he has to “catch up” to geto