#gojo satoru theory

[meiieiri]

Something about JJK 236 is bothering me

That fight...was awesome, but it could have gone better.

Other than the fact that I'm currently in mourning over our king's garish demise (don't get me wrong, I do want him to be happy in the afterlife and I'm slowly coming to terms with his death, it's just I can't really process all this yet), I'm still a bit confused how we got here so quickly.

I have countless questions and I know Gege will probably brush this off in the coming chapters and pull yet another meeska-mooska-Mickey Mouse Clubhouse move.

But there is one that lingers in my mind up to this day:

Remember during the Fearsome Womb Arc when Yuji and Sukuna deliberated with each other on the possible resurrection or re-animation of Itadori's body via a deathmatch?

Yeah. We all know Sukuna, the king of all curses, is a master at one-shotting his opponent. Just take a look at what he did to our best rose-colored boy who went from this:

To this, in a split second (lmao):

Yeah, yeah, I've read all the “copium” theories from other Gojo fans such as myself who are kinda on the fence when it comes to accepting Gojo's death as being final or not, but, let me bring this back real quick to the matter at hand.

Sukuna went for the head with Itadori. Of course, maybe he did that to shut him up sure, but what I'm getting at is, the head is the singlemost critical point to hit when it comes to sorcery dogfights.

He knows this.

And he probably knows that Gojo Satoru, the darling of the heavens, the uncontested gem of Jujutsu Society, is a reverse cursed technique user. Pretty obvious thing to catch since Satoru had been using RCT the entire showdown to heal his countless critical wounds.

So, Sukuna, in all his centuries of wreaking havoc on the world, should know that the only way to permanently kill a sorcerer who uses RCT is by targeting the head. There were so many instances in this entire deathmatch that we are completely blown away by Sukuna's prowess and overall mastery of Jujutsu.

Can you imagine the amount of practice he's had over the years with other "greatest sorcerer of their generation"s? He knows the ins and outs of Jujutsu like scripture, which is exactly what kept Gojo Satoru on his backfoot for some parts of their skirmish.

Now, here's the thing that's bothering me:

I liken Sukuna as something like a super computer. All that battle experience is readily available to him like some Jujutsu techniques data bank, not to mention, Mahoraga's adaptation clearly gave him yet another advantage in this fight for the title of the strongest.

He knows Satoru Gojo has been frying his brain using Reverse Cursed Technique this entire time, and he's probably seen his former opponents do the same as well. He knows that the only way to kill them is by dealing a devastating blow to the head via decapitation or complete obliteration of the body.

So, my question now is:

Why did he bother cutting Gojo in this particular manner? Why didn't he go straight for the head, since Mahoraga's adaptation blueprint can now allow Sukuna to cut through reality/space itself and therefore bypass Gojo’s infinity non-selectively?

Arrogance now that he's secured his definitive victory? Or the so-called warrior's high? Why leave room for obvious speculation when it could so easily be crushed into smithereens if he just went for the kill?

It's all very confusing. I'll point back to the time when Sukuna swiftly decapitated Itadori.

And I'm willing to bet that that move was deliberate since at the time, Itadori had already been in Jujutsu High for quite some time and Sukuna must have realized that under the tutelage of Gojo and other sorcerers, he must be learning a thing or two about RCT here and there which may have led him to end the fight quickly hence, the resurrection of Yuji Itadori.

Now before, ya'll attack me, I know what manga panel you're gonna throw at me to deconstruct this entire analysis and dismiss it as "copium". So, I'll put this here:

I know it may look like Gojo's entire head has been blown off at this point seeing the pool of blood he's currently lying on. But why is Gege or the editor making the effort to cover Gojo’s head with the text bubble when, logically speaking (and coldly at that), Gojo should be deader than dead? Which he…in theory based on the afterlife sequence, SHOULD be.

And with that whole North/South thing to cap it all off? Though, I wouldn't dwell on that. The wording in that bit was very vague and I’m not really into the habit of over-reading so hehe~

Anyway.

Could it be there's something else in store for Gojo Satoru? Is something else at play here?

Or is this simply a writer's failsafe, just in case Gege wishes to bring back Gojo Satoru so that he'll have a rational explanation as to how that came to be? No one knows. But I think this wasn't some on-the-fly decision by Gege or the editors.

Gege Akutami - though as a writer myself, I find his current choices for the story to be a little questionable with the many gray areas where plotholes could eventually arise - has been deliberate about this story since the beginning, having already mapped out the fate of Fushiguro Megumi.

This panel, the entire chapter, the circumstances we're now currently witnessing is deliberate. And maybe...we haven't seen the last of Satoru yet.

I'll leave this here for everyone to think about. This is all speculation, after all, so don't be mean about it, Jesus. In the meantime, I'll just admire my husband, Suguru, for now and will probably go back to writing my fics~ 💕

[s4turn-ly]

I'm so done with this

[jujutsusimp]

So I finally could look at the actual panels of chapter 261 (still lying on my own pool of tears don't mind me).

Yuta holding all of this on his shoulders just crushed my soul even more, even if I knew what was going to happen, seeing it was clearly something else.

A couple things on my mind:

1) YUTA'S BODY

I FEEL SO SICK HE LOST AN ARM SO HE IS APOLOGIZING TO RIKA BECAUSE ENGAGEMENT RING ARE TRADITIONALLY ON LEFT HAND AND NOT ON RIGHT HAND

OH GEGE, IF I CATCH YOU GEGE 😰

Also seeing the sorry state of Yuta's body, can he ever get back into it??? Like I imagine he can take it back if he uses Kenjaku techniques on himself (and it's a one time activation) but would the body be in a good enough state to be used............. I feel like Yuta is either doomed to die if Kenjaku is not a one time activation, or to be trapped in Gojo's body (or another dead body which is not his.) In any case it's going to be horrible and I am already suffering, Yuta clearly didn't deserve such a gruesome fate...

2) THE GRUESOME ROOM

I was wondering wtf this room was at first, it took me some time (and the English translation because the French one was weird) to understand it was the room where the higher ups are.

So............. Gojo's students were just standing behind the door while he was wiping them out to make sure they wouldn't try to come after them if he died like they did in Shibuya... I am so sick... (Also still surprised at how Gojo manages to trust Gakuganji so much after he killed Yaga...)

3) Gojo didn't want his body to be used

He didn't say yes. He didn't say no either.. He dismissed it saying it was impossible for him to lose (while he was on his way making sure that if he did they wouldn't get into trouble... So the possibility he lost really was in his mind at this moment.). Of course he would never say no, if it's the only way to save the world and his students how could he say no... but yeah, it fucks me up so much that he didn't agree to this. Like it makes the profanation even worse somehow... (This is not to blame Yuta at all, Yuta is the one suffering the most from all of this and has valid reasons too, it's just another layer of fucking tragedy.)

IN CONCLUSION

Any spark of joy has now left my body, I think I will take a SMAU break next week because I can't see myself doing fluff right now. I will just eat ice cream and watches the most heartwarming animes known to mankind (please send recs) to recover.

[linkspooky]

The Next Gojo Satoru

As you've probably guessed I have a lot to say about this chapter. However, right away I want to start out by pointing out once again that the fandom is taking a mostly gojo-centric view of this chapter. Which I understand it's Gojo's body that's being puppeteered around and dehumanized in the exact same way that Kenjaku one of the sickest and most inhuman characters used Geto's body.

However I think it shouldn't be understated how shocking it is to see Yuta betray all of his values like this. The most human character who represents love in the cast has given up on the cast and betrayed someone he loves. So let's talk about what this all means for Yuta under the cut.

GOJO GETS AN F IN TEACHING.

I understand why most of the focus is on Gojo, because yes Gojo's body is the one being violated here. He's not even allowed to rest in death after fighting on the front lines against Sukuna to the point where his brain was hemmoraging in the middle of battle and he was brutally cut in half.

Considering how much horror Gojo experienced when he saw Geto's body taken from him and made into Kenjaku's pupet. Cosidering the horrible pain that Nanako and Mimiko endured just seeing Geto's body still moving around denied a good death (Nanako and Mimiko were tellingly willing to let go and not try to take revenge against Gojo for killing Geto because of their friendship even though Geto was their whole world, but they'd never forgive Kenjaku for taking his body). Considering that Gojo even went out of his way to say he wanted to kill Kenjaku / Geto on Christmas Eve again in order to give him a proper burial it's understandable how horrifying this update is.

This is also a series where the two main antagonists are parasites who take the bodies, and steal away all bodily autonomy from characters like Yuji and Megumi and then force them to do horrible things they would never do and bear witness to it, such as the slaughter at Shibuya, or the murder of Tsumiki at Megkuna's hands.

It's understandable how people had such a visceral reaction to this chapter. However, I think the fandom has a tendency to paint Gojo like he's the central victim of all of Jujutsu Society when he's both victim and perpetrator.

Gojo is someone who has only been regarded as the strongest his entire life, and been used as a tool to keep Jujutsu Society stable his entire life. Gojo is also someone who never tried to be anything other than the strongest, never tried to empathize with anyone other than those who were just as strong as he is, and who raised all of his students to be tools too.

To illustrate my point here's an incredibly similiar character from Tokyo Ghoul: Arima Kishou. They are so similiar that they're both white haired mentor characters to the protagonist, they're both the strogest in their respective worlds, and Gege straight up copied this section of panels from the Tokyo Ghoul Manga.

Arima is a breeding project, who was bred by the Washuu Family who mxies blood between humans and ghouls through a series of controlled marriages for the purpose of creating hybrid ghoul human children. Arima isn't the ideal hybrid they were looking for, but he was so ungodly talented he quickly rose to being the most powerful and well-respected investigator in the CCG.

However, this is how Arima reacts to the fact that his entire purpose in life was just to be a weapon to kill ghouls.

Arima loathes violence, he loathes being an investigator, he loathes himself most of all and designs his entire political revolution around him finally being killed by Kaneki - to punish himself and also to relieve himself of the burden of living a life where he was only meat to kill others.

Gojo on the other hand loves being the strongest, he lives for Jujutsu. Arima's death is tragic and nihilistic believing his life had no real worth because all he ever was was a weapon to hurt others, whereas Gojo died satisfied.

Arima's last battle against Kaneki is grim, silent, and tragic, he does everything he can to make Kaneki despise him, to force Kaneki to kill him by being the worst version of himself and when Kaneki still wants him to live he just slits his own throat because even if Kaneki forgives him he can't forgive himself. Gojo laughs his head off and has the time of his life fighting against Sukuna, and going out in a blaze of glory.

Gojo dies smiling, Arima dies finally breaking into tears after a life of pretedig to be cold and emotionless. Gojo's dying regret is 1) that Geto wasn't there to say goodbye to him, and 2) that he wasn't able to draw out all of Sukuna's strength. Arima's dying regret was all the pain and suffering he caused throughout his life and how he was never able to rise above his circumstances and be anything other than what he was born to be.

These two characters are incredibly similiar, they are both the strongest, and they were both made into tools by a dehumanizing system they were born into. However, their attitudes are entirely different. Gojo enjoys being strong, and yes part of it is that Gojo himself doesn't realize he's a victim or what society has groomed him into becoming, but the other part is just because it's an ego trip for him. Gojo doesn't see himself as the tragic victim his fandom makes him out to be.

If you were to transplant him into Tokyo Ghoul Gojo would be happily killing ghouls, and he would think killing ghouls is fun because he's the strongest and best at killing ghouls. This is the complexity that is Satoru Gojo, he has been dehumanized and put on a pedestal his ow life, but Gojo also enjoys being on that pedestal and won't ever step down from it willingly.

I'm not saying that Arima is a better person than Gojo. I think the fact that Gojo doesn't think of himself as a victim is tragic in its own right, because he lacks the self-awareness to actually grow and change as a person. In the end both Arima and Gojo believe they couldn't be anything better than what they were, and their only release is death which is just insanely sad to me because as long as the future exists people always have a chance to get better no matter who they are. To give up on the future, to see an early death as a good thing simply because you can't endure life any longer is one of the most hopeless things imaginable.

Gojo's not sad because he was born to be a tool exploited for society's benefit, he's sad because he was lonely. He doesn't even realize it's his own darn fault he's lonely, because not only has Shoko said that he's not alone she's always been right there, but this chapter we get a repeat of Gojo's students begging him to let them in and Gojo himself decided to draw that line between himself and others and thinking an enlightened, godlike being like himself can't possibly be understood.

All of this to say I think Gojo is the sole victim here, but he's the middle of a chain of of victimhood. I think ultimately the biggest victim here is Yuta, and yes I will not only play trauma olympics here I'm going to win.

If this chapter goes to show anything it's that Gojo has completely failed in his ideals of protecting the youth from the dehumanizing system of sorcerers that takes children and reduces them to cogs in a machine.

A lot of people criticize Jujutsu Kaisen for dropping basically all of its political elements and themes of reform in the second half after Shibuya, and while I understand the criticism I think Gege intentionally shifted away from politics because Gojo's political revolution was never going to succeed.

From the beginning Gojo's solution to reforming Jujutsu Society and it's habit of taking away the youth of children and raising them up instead as child soldiers is... to make stronger child soldiers.

This is Gojo's blindspot and it has always been Gojo's blindspot.

It's why Gojo is completely okay with someone like Mei Mei who at the best uses her brother as a human shield to get out of curse domains and has stolen his entire childhood away to make him own pet little shoulder, and at worst actively molests him.

It's why Gojo is stated in the databooks to have only taken an interest in Megumi and Yuta because they were strong.

Gojo understands that he's being exploited by Jujutsu Society, but doesn't understand you need to deconstruct unfair systems of power and exploitation in order to build something better. Gojo from the beginning only had one plan, and that was to replace the people at the top with his own allies who'd support his agenda. He just thought waiting for them to die out and the children to grow up was the more peaceful way of doing it.

Gojo's political revolution was doomed from the beginning and that's why we see him go back on his word this chapter and just slaughter everyone at the top. His choice of a new leader for Jujutsu Society is hardly better than the elders, the person who executed Gojo's teacher and tried to get all the children to kill Itadori early on. Good choice.

This is what Gojo said would happen though, if he just wiped everyone out at the top no real systemic change would occur because they'd just be replaced with someone who wasn't that differet. Gojo's just given up on the notion of lasting change out of pragmatism.

Which is why Gojo himself is not that different from the elders in the first place, not because he's a bad person but because he was shaped by that same society and he's the pinnacle of that society.

I think the thing is and this point often gets ignored - a lot of the choices the elders make are because of outdated traditions like choosing to oppress Maki and Toji just because they challenge the traditional notions of cursed energy.

However, some of the decisions they make are out of cold hard pragmatism. Gakuganji actually turned out to be right in his assassiation attempt against Yuji Itadori. If they had succesfully killed Yuji, then the massacre in Shibuya would have been prevented and likely Kenjaku's plans would have been pushed back. The elders didn't sentence Yuta to execution just to be cruel, or just because they're superstitious but because he's already had several incidents of nearly killing people because he can't control Rika.

It's easy to dismiss the Elders as evil because they're just faceless entities, but then we witness in this very same chapter the main characters making the same heartless decisions out of the same sense of pragmatism.

Gojo understands Jujutsu Society is flawed, but doesn't understand exactly why it's wrong. He doesn't raise his students to be independent free thinkers because then they might question him, he raises them to be very powerful because that's more pragmatic.

Here are the next generation of sorcerers who are going to bring about the change to Jujutsu Society that Gojo so desperately seeks.

Nobara Kugisaki: Dead

Hakari Kinji: His greatest ambition is to start a fight club

Yuji: Actively calls himself a mindless cog and just wants to kill whatever society points him at and tells him to kill.

Maki: Mass murderer.

Yuta: Just stole Gojo's body and said he had to become a monster i Gojo's place.

Megumi: Begging to be killed.

Inumaki: Tuna Mayo

Panda: Is a Panda

(Joke lovingly ripped off from @kaibutsushidousha)

I understand that fighting Sukuna takes precedence now, but do you think once the dust settles any of these characters are going to do anything to make lasting change?

Are we going to see anything for them at the end of the road other than a mountain of their fellow sorcerers corpses?

Gojo didn't nurture his students to grow into healthy adults, he raised them into stronger child soldiers and yes that's the pragmatic thing to do to help them survive in the Jujutsu World, but the elders make those decisions out of cold pragmatism as well.

MHA is also showing a story where the children are failing to learn from the previous generatio's mistakes, but it's far less frustrating to watch in JJK because it almost seems like that's the point?

Maki sacrificed Mai for the sake of becoming someone strong enough to reform the Zen'in Clan, only for her sister to die and Maki to slaughter the rest of her family failing in both her goals to reform her clan and protect Mai.

Yuji became the host of Sukuna in order to help others, because the total deaths of people in the world would go down if he ate all the fingers. Not only did that decision lead to the death of thousands in Shibuya, but he's even lost his role of being Sukuna's host to Megumi.

Yuta wanted to find a reason to live and a purpose in protecting his friends, and also wanted to pay back the man who saved him, not only is Yuta choosing to die in a way that breaks his friends heart he's also violating his beloved teacher's bodies.

There's a lot of arcs like this where characters fail in what they set out to accomplish, because like in most tragedies they don't try to grow as people they only care about getting stronger. It's the same choice over ad over again, a decision made of cold pragmatism that brings about their tragic ending.

I think it speaks to why systems like this perpetuate themselves, because it becomes so hard to hold onto your humanity that even trying gets you actively punished all the while people like Mei Mei crawl to the top. However, even if you throw your humanity away purely as an act of survival you're still helping perpetuate that system instead of fighting against it.

Anyway, that's enough hating on Gojo, onto the main event.

THE NEXT GOJO SATORU.

It's almost masterful how perfect the foreshadowing for this chapter's twist was. Yuta sharing a common ancestor in Sugawara with Gojo.

The irony that Kenjaku said out loud that someone like Yuta could never become Gojo, on top of the fact that Yuta's true power comes from detaining his loved ones soul. He's turning Gojo's body into a weapon the same way that he once used Rika's vengeful cursed spirit as one (he even channels her strength into a sword, the same way Maki uses the sword that Mai gave her life to create in battle).

The way that Yuji's first impression of Yuta from his powerful presence and cursed energy alone was calling him someone even creepier than Gojo.

The idea that Kenjaku has been trying to get his hands on the six-eyes for years, which is what led most of the fandom to theorize a possible Kenjaku return by stealing Gojo's corpse. The fact Tengen said the six eyes, himself and the star plasma vessel are all connected and one time Kenjaku killed the six-eyes from a child only for another one to appear right away.

Yuta being told he could never reach Sukuna's heights because he lacks the selfishness of a calamity.

Even Yuta trying to tell a nameless assassin Uro to be less selfish, only to be chastised by her for not understanding because it's impossible for someone as blessed as he is to know what it's like to not have a name, to not have a face, to not be someone important.

Now here Yuta is, not only is he making the selfish decision to use his teacher's body as a tool, he's also most likely in five minutes going to die in someone else's body, having sacrificed not only his name, and face, but also his personal values in order to become a monster.

This arc makes it seem like Yuta's gone against everything he's stood for, making his arc a complete circle from Jujutsu Kaisen Zero and that's kind of the point. Heck, even something as small as Yuta's decision to show mercy to Ishigori was rendered pointless because Sukuna immediately killed him soon after taking Megumi's body.

If Yuta's regressed in his character it's because Gojo's purpose was not to raise these children into healthy adults, but strong soldiers.

What happened to Yuta is a direct consequence of the way Gojo recruits these children, and the underhanded motivations he has behind those recruitments.

Yuta's decision to take Gojo's body is more tragic on Yuta's part then it is on Gojo's, because Yuta is a child, and Gojo is an adult.

It is sad that Gojo is all alone, that he's forced to become a tool to society, but Yuta shouldn't be the one who feels responsible for that. Gojo is supposed to protect Yuta, he's the adult, the teacher, the one with power and Yuta is the child. Yuta is not the one who should be making this speech because it is not Yuta's responsibility to do any of this - but Yuta thinks it is because he owes Gojo.

However, when Gojo recruits people it's with the unspoken implication that they now owe him. He wants them to feel indebted, because then they'll be easier to use as pieces in his intended political revolution. We see this blatantly with the way he recruited Megumi.

I'll make sure you and your sister don't starve but you owe me in the form of labor later on in your life.

Gojo saved Yuta because he thought Rika was powerful and the elders were foolish for executing a potentially powerful sorcerer for THE GREATER GOOD instead of teaching him to control his power out of fear. Gojo recruited Yuji, because someone with Sukuna's power and who could eat his fingers as a vessel had the makings to be an incredibly powerful sorcerer. Gojo didn't even think of Megumi until after Geto defected, and Gojo decided he needed to start making changes to Jujutsu Society.

While Gojo's pragmatism is understandable to a point it also poisons his more nobler intentions. Since Gojo expects payment in return when he sticks his neck out for people, because these children are assets first and children secod.

I think Gojo likes Yuta. I think he gets along with him well. Yuta clearly respects him as a mentor. He did in fact go to great lengths to save Yuta from execution. He was right that it was more ethical to teach Yuta to control his powers rather than execute him for the danger he might represet. He even gives Yuta emotional advice a couple of times.

However, if Yuta was just like a grade 4 sorcerer with no special talent I doubt Gojo would have blinked at his execution. He sees Yuta for his talent first, and his potential to become someone like him. If anythig there are clear comparisons to both Megumi and Yuta. They're both prodigies born with incredible techniques, but Yuta is a lot more receptive to Gojo's grooming than Megumi is who's too traumatized to function. Gojo's not just grooming Yuta into being a powerful sorcerer, but another version of himself.

So it's almost karmic that not only does Yuta basically turn his back on everything that makes Yuta himself (his love for people, his desire to live and be surrounded by others), he also does so by literally becoming Satoru Gojo and transplanting his brain into Gojo's body.

Because Yuta is despite possessing a similiar level of talent as far from Gojo as possible. Gojo is not well liked by his comrades, he's there because he's needed due to his power. Yuta on the other hand has everyone vehemently disagreeing with his backup plan in the event of Gojo's death because they don't want to lose him.

People need Gojo, they want Yuta because of the connections that Yuta has made with them and because they care about Yuta as a person. Gojo is someone who deliberately draws a line between himself and others because he believes the strongest can't be comprehended, Yuta only fights for the sake of being accepted by others because he needs their approval in order to live.

Yuta's now turned his back on those two things, his tendency to put his loved ones first, and his desire to live, both because he feels he owes Gojo.

This comes about because of two factors, number one Gojo helping him with the implication that this help means that Yuta owes him something which makes Yuta desperate to pay him back and therfore easy to mold, and number two Gojo's intentions to begin with to take Yuta and make another Gojo out of him. To make a successor who would carry on the same burdens that Gojo did.

Gojo succeeded one hundred percent in making his successor as opposed to Megumi who turned out to be too different from Gojo i the end. He took what make Yuta unique and ironed out all those wrinkles until he was left with someone willing to make the same inhumane, pragmatic decisions that Gojo was.

I think it's tragic that as much as Gojo wanted to make things better for the next generation, he basically led Yuta down the same road he did, to make the same choice to throw his humanity away along with all of his loved ones. Especially since Yuta started out in such a different place.

Yuta has learned to become selfish like Gojo, because selfishness is apparently now the only way to get by in this world. A cycle that has been started with the elders, and continued on with Gojo, remains unbroken as Yuta becomes just another link in the chain. Yuta's likely going to die in a stranger's body, leaving all of his friends behind to mourn him, but even if he lives what life will that be exactly?

It speaks to the arcs in Jujutsu Kaisen that they're all kind of circles at this point. We have this heartwarming goodbye of Rika telling Yuta to live, and Yuta's whole arc was to learn to try to live without Rika and make new friends, but it's now likely goig to end with Yuta dying a year after Rika finally moved on.

Choso was told to try living on as a human and Yuki even sacrificed her life to give him the opportuity to escape the fight, and he only lived a month longer to die right in front of Yuji's eyes.

Gojo put all of his hope in the next generation, but now not only did he put all the power in Gakuganji's hands but he ended up dying a year after Geto did just like Yuta will likely die a year after Rika.

I think these character arcs are turning out to be circles because the characters aren't actually doing anything to try to break the cycles that they're trapped inside of - they're only trying to get stronger. Which is why they end up resembling the actions of the villains, Yuji becoming more curselike, Yuta stealing Gojo's body the way Kenjaku did with Geto's.

It reminds me of a quote from Critical Role that I absolutely adore.

“I have just taken an audience with the Raven Queen who has snuffed any hope of my redemption, for which I am truly grateful. With new clarity, I can finally see my life as a series of compounding, poor choices.” Vax winces. “There was nothing I could’ve done to save my family, yet I still sold my soul in search of vengeance. Later I allowed Ripley to leave, knowing full well she was a greater threat to the world than the Briarwoods would ever be. I traded the world’s safety for the belief that I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back. And once this lie was shattered I scrambled to find asolution, to make a deal, to undo my mistakes and balance the scales. I nowunderstand that there are no scales, there is no redemption, and no ledger that judges me good or evil. I am free to simply be myself and live with the terrible mistakes I’ve made."

Especially this sentence: I believed I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back.

Maki is a character that I have not found all that interesting in a while because she committed such a huge mass murder, only for it to have no consequences in the narrative and never be mentioned again, but this chapter she suddenly became an interesting character again.

Maki who lost everything but gained strength, doesn't seem all that bothered by the loss. People compare Megumi's reaction to losing Tsumiki to Maki's reaction to losing Mai, but Megumi's reaction is much more interesting because it's always better to see a character be weak and fall apart then to be strong and power through things.

However, maybe the reason Maki hasn't experienced any grief at all towards Mai and has instead delighted in her newfound strength and independence is because of this, because she still had Yuta.

Maki is a character who's not really said anything other than exposition the past like twenty chapters, but now she's the most vocally against Yuta sacrificing himself for the greater good. Yet this is against Maki's own ideology of doing everything you can to be stronger, to win. Maki was always about individualism, not about friendship or the bonds between others, she severed her own bonds to be free. Yet, she can't stand to see Yuta do the same thing as her, to become more like her.

This might be the consequence of Maki's continued choice to value freedom and the power to achieve that freedom over all else. Now, the one time Yuta is trying to throw away the same things that she threw away she can't say anything meaningful or convince him to stop him.

Which reminds painfully of this chapter as well.

Mai killing herself in order to free Maki from cursed energy is an obvious parallel to Sukuna devouring his own twin in the womb, but the difference is in this situation Maki didn't want Mai to go, she begged her not to. However, just like with Yuta there was nothing Maki could ahve said or done by that point to convince Mai to stay. Maki has always chosen power over her sister, she's always abandoned Mai, so what exactly can she say to convince her that she cares more about Mai more? That her dream of defeating the Zen'in and having revenge against them isn't worth the price if it comes at the sacrifice of Mai?

Maki didn't want to abandon Mai, or for Mai to sacrifice herself, but tragically her every action indicated otherwise. It all comes down to this: I believed I could murder my way to peace; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my family back.

Maki seems to have achieved peace by murdering the Zen'in, but we see the same kind of circular arc that we have for Yuta.

Maki gave up on everything for strength, but Maki's not strong enough to finish Sukuna then and there, forcing Yuta to sacrifice himself the same way Mai did.

Maki can't talk Yuta out of making that sacrifice, or come up with any convincing argument with why he shouldn't because of all the choices she's made before this.

Maki chose to murder her way to peace, but it came at the cost of her humanity and growth and thus she's faced again with the exact same situation with Mai and she's forced to watch her heart be taken from her again.

It goes to show that we think these characters are getting stronger but they're actually sacrificing something vitally important.

These characters are just going to keep going around in circles and you have to wonder just when is it going to stop?

[lxmelle]

The man surrounded by the theme of love…

Geto.

Gege has made several writing choices to depict Geto as someone who was handsome and loved - arguably more than any other character in the series. Maybe Gege loves him the most - not complaining at all.

More under the cut - just a few visuals I’ve collected to demonstrate this. I’m certainly not alone in noticing it and there may be others who show this much better, lol. Tag me in if you want to share!!

My post does end with a not-so brief analysis which you can skip if you wish.

Geto, despite being cursed at birth with the technique to absorb the ills of the world, the very skill that led him to fight alongside Gojo as part of the Strongest Duo - by design, each others’ counterpart in so many ways - a twist of fate led them onto opposite paths, leading to complete imbalance, one that drove him into madness.

If Geto in some ways represented Love, it is truly the most twisted curse of all which played a part in his death.

Geto witnessed the most love confessions in the whole series - I found (and stole) it off twitter/now X:

The Japanese originals seem more compelling to me:

Riko says “daisuki” whereas Yuta uses a more traditional “Aishiteru” which, is quite embarrassing of a confession, and therefore almost hints at what could be Gojo’s last words to Geto, if it directly parallels Yuta & Rika’s relationship. And that expression Geto wears when he sees Riko and Kuroi struggle with separating?

That does not look like a person who cannot sympathise and empathise with people. Geto was a person who cared too much, and in search for a way to protect those he cared for, needed an outlet and something (in this case, lesser being, the humans) to blame. He descended into a mania and much like shinobu sensui from yu yu hakusho, seemed to develop some kind of mental disorder due to being unable to carry the conflicting ideals together. The dissonance the world presented to him was just too cruel, and he himself became a weapon to defend his ideals.

Before his defection, Geto was liked by his peers:

Haibara

Mei Mei

Loved by his family for and despite his ideals:

Mimiko and Nanako

Shibuya crew liked/loved him and carried his will/beliefs even after his death, in their own ways, as family:

Miguel and Larue in the most recent chapter to date:

Translations (rough):

Larue: You and me alike, we just wanted Suguru-chan to be King.

Miguel: Yea, I followed just because it was Geto. After shibuya, I trained Okkotsu and I don’t want anything to do with the country anymore. (Something along these lines; a little too complicated for my rudimentary Japanese)

Larue: You , me, Mimiko, Nanako, Manami, Toshihisa, everyone just really liked/loved Suguru-chan.

Canonically, he was known to be handsome and popular:

Takaba

Gege’s character book:

JJK popularity poll:

I do not have screengrabs of how Manami and Larue joined, but it was said to be due to how handsome they thought he was.

Maybe he was like Rika, who did realise how she came across in her life, and manipulated people, lol. But that’s a bit of a stretch to bring that parallel/similarity in. Geto was just quite a magnetic person, according to Gege.

And in the most roundabout way:

Gojo:

“my one and only”

“Love is the most twisted curse...” “curse me a little at the end.”

“I don’t need love to satisfy me” ... “if you were there I might’ve have been satisfied”

While love surrounds Geto, the theme that follows Gojo appears to be “the strongest” cursed; he was admired, revered, feared, and disliked by many. It truly breaks my heart, to think of what he had to give up to carry the weight of this for his whole life, until the very end.

This looks like the most dizzyingly lonely picture of Gojo. It was indeed ironic to have it all but to embody what it means to have an unlimited void by being totally different.

He suffered so much for his power and to have carried this strength. The sorcerer world was practically on his shoulders. The balance was up to him; everyone relied on him. Every time he tried to protect his love (geto) it seemed to fail. It worsened each time, ending with his own demise. But of course that’s just a dramatic interpretation - I don’t really mean/believe that, but it is one way to see the tragedy between Gojo and Geto. Strength at the expense of love; it plays out with the strongest this far as those identifying with this title are plagued by loneliness and do not know love.

They met before things got twisted within themselves, between them. Even after Geto left, Gojo seemed to be looking and waiting for him - to prove his trust for him almost as if he saw through his illusions and lies. Geto was the shadow (Yin) and Gojo was the light (Yang). Only the light can see through the dark. I’ll leave the gojo characterisation for another time / to other better writers.

For now, I’ll just say that I felt that he had planned for the possibility of losing to Sukuna (with the various things we see him do between scheduling the 24th and the actual day) and if he won, he’d just carry on the plan to cremate Geto on top of saving everyone and being a good example as the strongest. Worst case scenario, he would weaken Sukuna and I guess just die on the same day as Geto - idk, maybe as a form of redemption for one of his most painful experiences in life. Who knows?

I headcanon he was relieved to pass on, doing his part to defend the world that relied on him so much, with a big bang - a really fun fight.

And I’m glad they found each other at the end - the loved and the lost.

Back to Geto:

We don’t get much insight into what Geto wanted or felt aside from a world that was better for sorcerers, those he cared about. Even at the afterlife scene, or in subsequent chapters, we only hear from others rather than Geto.

Call me biased and delusional; I believe he didn’t kill the innocent despite saying he hated them all. He loved and hurt so strongly that he hated with almost equal force. He did want to force evolution and eventually extinguish all human kind, to him: the ignorant source of suffering, but I’m glad he didn’t manage to get Rika. I headcanon that he was aware he was losing himself by defying his own principles (to kill sorcerers) for his own gain. That, and Rika with a binding vow for a life, no less, was just too powerful.

In the official character book, Geto was described as someone who told himself that he hated humans a lot, like a reminder. He didn’t kill people indiscriminately. I’m sure he was well aware of how evil he had become but he had chosen, hadn’t he? He expressed to Yuta, that self-affirmation was incredibly important in his view. And the more he interacted with the students, I think the more his humanity fought back - I mean, he was standing there crying from being so moved by what he saw. He also let Yuta heal his friends. How villainous? Or how incredibly loving in spite of himself?

Geto has been shown to lie to others too: jjk 0: described having lied to the school about the conditions for obtaining a cursed spirit, and after defecting: upon taking stage for the first time, stating that the looking the part (wearing gojokesa) was important (ie lying). At his death’s door, he also prefaces with, no matter what anyone says - why would there be a need for that if he wasn’t telling a half-truth? He sought to avenge Riko (first person at the cult he killed after calling him onto the stage + cue mic throw) and the village represented a bunch of people who he slaughtered out of rage and ignorance. I’m definitely not defending him here - his actions are reprehensible. My headcanon view is that he didn’t know how to live with himself after snapping and that was the only path laid before him, which he ardently committed to.

I just think that he held onto a form of love/humanity still- Gojo and Geto both did. Without it, Geto would’ve become the Queen of curses due to Rika (uncaring about his family, or killing young sorcerors despite witnessing the students’ bond and yuta’s selfless power of love in jjk0) and Gojo may have focused on training at all cost without embracing Geto’s principles and becoming a teacher to change the jujutsu world - he could’ve become the next Sukuna and take the title of the King of curses instead - crowning them both King and Queen - instead of both the King and Queen contributing to their deaths. Anyway, I digress...

Geto appears very mother-coded in his protective and defensive relations to the girls, but also to Riko, Kuroi, and Gojo - especially after Toji had killed them. He was so fiercely trying to avenge and defend them, but failing that had a huge effect on him. Moreover, Haibara - innocent, glowingly positive - suffered an undeserved death. It weighed so heavily on Geto, that he didn’t defend Gojo when Nanami vented about leaving things to Gojo who seemed to take it all in his stride, almost insinuating that Geto, too, had little autonomy but to carry on that cycle of curse consumption he began to loathe.

Yuki also underlined the meaninglessness of the death / sacrifice / relationship rupture / suffering. And like the novel implies: Geto was too sincere for this world. He just loved too deeply and wounds cut him too painfully. At just 17... what inner resources were they forced to develop?

He was disillusioned by the system, but respected that Gojo had a place there. This is also SatoSugu indulgent: He never once attempted to talk Gojo into joining him, despite it being the most logical choice, but Geto was the emotional and loving kind - he prioritised Gojo over his ideals / himself. This man was willing to die trying to pursue his ideals, but didn’t want to try convincing his friend even if he know it might fail. What does that say about him? I think it says he loved Gojo. And Gojo loved him.

He masked like Gojo did : the infamous “yeah I’d win” and Geto’s “I’ve made my choice” and his face fell as he had his back turned, stating that he just needed to do it to the best of his ability. This may be headcanon but it does seem plausible to me. He was under no illusions about what he had done. To love was to turn away too. To love was to let the other go. Sigh.

Backtracking a bit: When Geto encountered the twin girls, who knows what entered his mind, but there was something that emerged from being horrified, enraged, and it gave birth to new meaning. He would take control and save them - from humans and the institution that made child sorcerors die. According to Gege, he became Papa Geto. (Kenjaku is also mum-coded but the antithesis of motherly love, with the womb protrusion domain and actually bearing children.)

This is of course not limited to feminine energy, as parents, both male and female, have protective instincts. But I’m not here to go into that discourse. Just stereotypically, and loosely speaking, Geto is very Yin energy. He is a big Mama Bear. With extreme maternal aggression. We see female counterparts do this in the wild more than males. And yes, of course both male and female are protective. Both geto and gojo were protective in their own unique ways. That’s for another post. Geto would rather die than have anyone come save him. In fact, the scripture behind him in the temple goes somewhere along the lines of “death to the weak”. If he had failed, he deserved to die. His family should live.

Gojo cares for others differently. And yes we know he died whilst defending others too. He is inherently more individualistic due to what he is with his gifts and noble heritage. He is less emotional and more cerebral, the only time we saw him lose his composure was due to Geto.

He allows his students to take risks and would allow them to fight in his stead, like in jjk 0 where Toge and panda were sent to be defeated by Geto. Tough love, as Gojo admits. This is also very Dad-like in the modern sense of the word.

In my subjective experiencing of the world, it’s almost like a husband who is only really emotionally vulnerable with his wife, and is otherwise the successful businessman, dad, and whatever else he is. Geto is much like a mum that he would walk away from her husband (lol, Gojo in this case) in order to protect them in a way she deems is best. Maybe I’m a little nuts, I don’t know. (Actually I am a little eccentric, but that’s by the by).

Now this is totally just satosugu indulgent: I headcanon that Gojo also “protected” / was possessive of Geto by making a deal with Miguel since the latter said he would curse Geto if he died, lol. Especially in light of the latest chapter where Miguel said he was spared by Gojo. (And i reckon Gojo was respectful of Miguel being Geto’s family, so he spared him for that reason too). I mean, Gojo had to kill his best friend, but this was his burden to bear, you know? It’s almost sickeningly intimate to allow someone to end your suffering, and be entrusted with that too. Ugh, ouch, my heart…..

Edit: I’m reminded of that scene where Shoko reflects on loving neither of them, like Gojo, Geto didn’t want anyone to be alone anymore either. Geto said he didn’t feel happy from the bottom of his heart. Gojo felt lonely (although he said it got better at the airport scene). They weren’t alone, but probably felt it… because of the absence of their true/first love? Larue stating in the panels above that Geto wouldn’t wish for them to fight seems like a nod to what Geto believed happened between him and Gojo. Gojo raised allies - be strong, don’t be left behind. Geto a family - get along, don’t fight. Just pointing out what my take is on the parallels I’ve observed.

That ends the brief analysis portion of what I wished to convey about what appears to surround Geto. He may not have been depicted much in the series, but his presence has been felt through the eyes of many. It made me wonder why did Gege do this?

This author deliberately wrote multiple people in the verse to love and follow him (and spare him a death sentence for 10 years) despite not agreeing to his ideals.

Perhaps it isn’t Gege’s focus, understandably, to give us a lot more insight from Geto’s pov, but there is certainly some kind of narrative he is pushing to depict how this man, cruel yet kind, is somehow one of the few he seems to portray in this way more than others within the sorcerer world at the very least. That his life was somehow a tragedy that he might not have really known the love at all? I wonder what Gojo’s last words were to incite such a heartfelt reaction - well done? Welcome home? You did well? I love you? My one and only best friend? Sigh, I guess it’s a secret between them.

There are others who have written metas on Gojo and maternal energy. If I find it I’ll link it! Otherwise, search through my reblogs! So many fantastic writers and thinkers out there!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

[literaila]

just thinking about the letter gojo would've written for reader and making myself cry 😃😃 part of me thinks he'd write the most gut wrenching confession or something dumb like megumis was

i actually remain firm in my stance that if everything went down in the atf universe none of them would’ve gotten hurt. you are the sole point of reason and relief and solve basically everything just by being there

but, sure, you were taking a nap or something. and the rest happened, etc.

honestly after thinking about it i can’t imagine satoru writing you anything super sappy… first, because why would he do that? second, he doesn’t really want to make you cry.

so i think it was something simple.

you’re standing a ways from the kids. you don’t want to interrupt their success, don’t want to feel… bitter about a victory.

you shouldn’t feel so upset now that megumi is here. there shouldn’t be that point of pain in your throat, the emptiness in your body.

but there still is.

and, just for a moment, you think that there might always be.

you weren’t going to open this letter until he was okay, though, and—he is. megumi is fine, and if he’s not then at least he’s alive.

he’s alive.

you unfold the paper, the end of an end coming, and you dread the anticipation, dread the moment that it all comes to rest.

you open it anyway.

and it’s nothing long, like you thought about. only a couple of words, etched on the page very carefully—like he wanted to make sure you could read it.

you were always stronger than me, it says.

and you can’t help but laugh as you read it. it’s not funny, really. it’s basically nothing.

but you and satoru never said i love you very easily. it was never about the words.

you laugh because he always thought so, and because you’re not sure if it’s true anymore.

if you can even be strong without him.

[lilacxquartz]

JJK × READER I Asking them to peel you some fruit

asking them how they’d peel you fruits of various sorts :)

w.c: each piece is under 500 words

themes: reader insert, fluff, slight plot

included: satoru gojo, suguru geto, choso kamo & kenjaku for some chaos

mdni • ao3 link

~~~

Satoru Gojo:

Satoru was still fast asleep while you were up and about, roaming your shared apartment with a new thought in mind. When he finally came to, he jolted slightly back at the sight of a tangerine being held before him.

“Huh?” he sleepily murmured, rubbing his eyes.

“How would you peel this?” you asked, offering absolutely zero context otherwise.

“Baby, it’s five in the morning,” he said as his eyes scrolled over to the alarm, “can’t you come back to bed?”

“Not until you settle this for me,” you relented, “Shoko did this for her girlfriend and she needs the sleep more than you do.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, I need my beauty sleep,” he smiled as reeled you in, causing you to drop the tangerine as it rolled onto the bed.

“Please?” you asked again.

“This one of those silly tests again?” he asked as he watched you straddle his body, not a bad sight all things considered.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” you sulked in response, wanting him to finally comply, “I just want you to peel the tangerine.”

Satoru stared at you for a moment and laughed softly to himself while shaking his head, this was absolutely a test of some sort but he decided to play dumb just to settle your strange curiosity.

With a look of complete determination, he took the tangerine and pushed his thumb into the centre of the fruit and peeled the tangerine all in one go before taking a segment and propping it into his mouth, pulling you down into a kiss to take a bite of the same piece.

You were caught a little off guard as he did so, only expecting him to peel it and not much else.

Swallowing your half of the bite, you blinked multiple times as he repeated the same thing again.

“You’re so silly,” he teased you as you kept giving into such a thing without protest nor question, “this satisfy your question?”

You nodded and you hummed, feeling pretty damn happy the longer it all continued. The taste of fresh citrus invading your lips only to be secured with a kiss again and again.

Suguru Geto:

Breakfast was an important time of the day for both Suguru and the girls because it meant having a dedicated time slot for just pure quality time for the day.

This was one of those traditions that you easily adapted to because it allowed for you to not only ease yourself into their daily routine but also to normalise your presence around the girls.

It was tough at first, awkward even, but you as the time passed you all by, breakfast wasn’t the same anymore if you weren’t sat at the table.

While you were in the middle of eating, you plucked an apple from the fruit bowl and chucked it at Suguru with a thought in mind.

“Can you cut up the apple for me?” you requested.

Suguru just barely had time to react to the sudden projectile launched into his face, albeit catching it smoothly.

“Can’t do it yourself?” he teased despite leaning back and reaching for a paring knife, starting to cut the fruit into evenly sliced wedges.

“I like it when you do things for me,” you commented, knowing he would do anything for you without questioning it too much.

He hummed as he continued to finish up slicing the fruit for you, going as far to flay the peel slightly while fashioning some sort of intricate pattern before handing you the first slice.

Tweezing it between your fingers, your eyes narrowed with amusement, “Sugu, is this a bunny?”

“Yes,” he replied fully seriously while decorating another slice before giving one to Nanako and the other to Mimiko, “I used to do this all the time when they were a bit younger.”

“That’s… so sweet?” you smiled, feeling yourself fall in love even more.

“Is that so surprising?” he huffed a little, taking a bite of a slice for himself.

“Not at all actually,” you replied, smiling as he did so. In fact, it all actually made perfect sense to you.

Choso Kamo:

You frowned a little as you stared at the kiwis ripening a little too well in the fruit basket, wanting to eat a couple while not wanting to deal nor touch with the fuzzy fruit. Something about it made your skin crawl.

Choso noticed this as he couldn’t ever stray too far away from you, catching up to you the moment you left the bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a polite tone, noticing your intense expression. He didn’t like it when anything was bothering you at all and he wanted to help right away.

“I am,” you replied, momentarily breaking away from what must have been suspicious focus, “just mostly confused why I ended up getting these things even though I always end up throwing them away.”

He redirected his sights towards the kiwis and titled his head, “T-the kiwis?”

“Yeah, I don’t like those fuzzy things,” you sighed.

“But do you like them otherwise?” Choso asked, his tone carrying slight confusion.

“…Yes, just don’t like the peeling process,” you admitted.

“Then I can peel them for you every time you want one, I don’t mind,” he offered, “do you want one right now?”

You nodded while continuing to stare at the fruit, “Yes, w-would you really do that for me every time?”

“Of course,” he said, grabbing a peeler from the kitchen drawer, “it’s never a bother if it’s something that makes you happy.”

You nodded once again while feeling a blush form in your cheeks, staring at the death painting with such love. It was a bit of a messy experience as the fruit juice covered his hand, but he didn’t complain for a single second.

Watching him as he continued to cut up the fruit and arrange the slices nearly over a side plate, you took his offering from him as he watched you happily snack on the kiwi.

While you were thinking just how lucky you were, he was thinking the exact same.

Kenjaku:

Walking up to Kenjaku while he was tinkering around with something on a work table, you presented him with some fruit. A clementine to be precise. You placed the piece of citrus right in front of him, pushing it so that he would let go of whatever he was doing and hold onto it instead.

“Peel it,” you requested.

“You know, most people say please to these sorts of things,” he half heartedly replied with a snort, but reluctantly taking the fruit with a narrowed stare.

With a resigned tone, you added a hint of politeness to your request, “…Please?”

Kenjaku took a scalpel of some kind and began to slice open the peel, carefully removing the orangey flesh and then began to tweeze the pith away from each and every segment and discarding it as such.

“Hold on, I asked for you to peel it, not perform surgery on it,” you added.

He shushed you, seeming to enjoy your building discomfort as he went over the top with peeling the clementine, going as far to meticulously pluck out each and every single pearl of the clementine’s vesicles, neatly arranging all parts of the citrus onto a tray before handing it back to you.

In a resigned sigh, you supposed that you should have been thankful that he did this for you at all and didn’t try to poison you for fun, so you resigned with your extremely dissected clementine and slinked back to the room instead.

“Thanks, I guess…” you mumbled on your way out, wondering just how on earth to eat such a thing.

[grassintheclouds]

Part 2

[lev1hei1chou]

Why i believe Gojo could come back

This chapter left us in a devastated state and was absolutely uncalled for, but I personally believe this isnt the end of the strongest sorcerer. There are several reasons as to why (These are just opinions, I could be wrong in certain areas AND personal feelings might make an occassional appearance.)

LEAKS:

This whole panel was obviously made for a reason. And we dont see gojo making a decision. Considering the fact that this is literally THE Gojo Satoru, he's more likely to choose north since there's numerous things left as plot holes. We'll get to that.

Here in this page, he mentions that Toji should've cut his head off to actually kill him. In the leaks, whats cut off is his upper body but not the head! I still can't quite wrap my head around RCT but lets say he's not able to heal himself. You know who can and who would? Yuta and Shoko

Now moving on

"Gojo then bids farewell to everyone." If hes truly gone then why would he be bidding farewell to the fallen comrades? If he's dead then isn't he supposed to stay in the afterlife with them?

Pretty self explanatory

What if Kashimo is going in to distract Sukuna while Shoko and Yuta can heal Gojo?

Now think about this. Gojo is gone, Shoko doesnt fight and who are all left? A bunch of sorcerers who are literally under 20, need guidance and we havent really seen any panel where they actually plan how they're going to go about in the whole battle. Gojo isnt a want, hes a NEED, a NECESSITY.

Remember, Toji who was dead long ago pretty much appeared out of nowhere in Shibuya Arc LMAO so- yes

WHAT IS THIS EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN

Theres no way Gojo would be left sealed for 3 whole years, brought him back just to kill him off in the most disrespectful way possible.

Besides, things that Gojo wanted to do haven't happened yet.

He wanted to tell megumi about his father

He wanted to see his students surpass the strongest sorcerer, aka him

He wanted to get rid of the higher ups

He wanted to properly mourn suguru (for which kenjaku has to be defeated but oh well)

He wanted to save Megumi

How'd we know what Gojo said here.

On to the other aspects of why killing off Gojo was a bad idea. We barely ever saw what happened to him, and an off screen death to the so called strongest sorcerer is just senseless. Gojo is a fan favourite. People started watching the show for Gojo (myself included) and there's a high possibility of multiple people dropping the manga since he isn't even there anymore.

The ending could take a turn for the worse considering the fact that Sukuna is just overpowered and Kenjaku hasn't done anything as of now. Unless there's some heavy plot armor I dont think the students even stand a chance against Sukuna and Kenjaku. Both outcomes- the students and others emerging as victors or sukuna emerging as a victor could make the ending absolutely terrible and this might as well top AOT for being the manga with the most disliked ending.

Gojo Satoru is the mentor for multiple; for Yuji, Nobara, Megumi, Yuta, Maki, Panda, Toge and the third years and its necessary for them to have someone to teach them. It is one of Satoru's wishes to see his students surpass him, which can happen only when he's there since there's nobody else who is actually capable of teaching them and leading them into the world as actual graduated sorcerers.

So Gojo dying will make the manga take a turn for the worse. Killing him off in the middle makes absolutely no sense and is just plain bad writing. People are prolly gonna kill me for this but lets admit the truth. Hyping this battle, building up tension just to finish him off screen is NOT good writing.

Anyways. There is factual proof of Gojo potentially making a return. Maybe at a cost, like him losing his power, losing his "strongest" title or anything else. He may not even be the same anymore but honestly as long as he's back, I'm fine.

It happened previously, and could happen again.

Satoru Gojo may not be the strongest and the honoured one, but may be reborn as a newer version of himself after getting humbled. Lotuses, as mentioned above symbolise rebirth, which is why i believe this is not the end.

A small bit of advice for gojo fans: Go watch haikyuu or highschool babysitters as a form of self care <3

[hashtagloveloses]

a lot of people are saying that narratively it would be anticlimactic if it isn’t gojo who defeats kenjaku, bc kenny is in geto’s body. but gojo’s sealing scene airing in the anime this week reminded me of something - as far we know, kenny STILL doesn’t know much about yuta as a sorcerer. he hasn’t learned more during the culling games (as far as i remember?), so he doesn’t know (bc geto didn’t know) that yuta is a special grade on his own, and cursed rika, not the other way around.

which means when gojo before being sealed says that yuta will beat kenny, while kenny laughs it off in shibuya, i think in the end gojo will be right. obviously the final fight has to be yuji vs sukuna. and specifically yuji and megumi’s soul vs sukuna, to parallel and tie up megumi vs sukuna and yuji’s soul. but just like this story has multiple protagonists, it also has multiple villains - the person who it makes the most sense to be the final face off for kenjaku is YUTA.

1) yuta has defeated geto’s cursed techniques before.

2) narratively it would be full circle if gojo’s student and teachings defeats the ancient curse user who stole gojo’s beloved’s body. especially if gojo died before he could properly mourn geto’s body like he said he wanted. there’s also a theory that with gojo dead, yuta could copy the six eyes + limitless, but even without that, it would work.

3) the main theme of jjk is BREAKING LITERAL GENERATIONAL CURSES. if the only special grade sorcerer left alive (Yuta), trained by Gojo who mentored a new gen to operate differently and care about each other and change jujutsu society, defeats one of the most powerful curse user’s of ancient times (Kenjaku), it will be a symbolic defeat of the cycle, and of the new finally exorcising the bad of the old.

[ilovelovewithallmyheart]

The red string of fate.

It tied around your finger and led you to where your soulmate was. Regardless of who you were, everyone had one.

The strings were indicative of what the relationship would be like if the soulmates ever met.

For some, it was frayed and coming apart. For a minority, it was tangled with knots. For the majority, it was thin and barely even there.

But for God’s chosen select spirits, it was smooth and thick, gleaming with a glassy sheen and basically indestructible.

And, Gojo added with distaste as he stared at his ring finger, tied in a little neat bow.

It was no secret that Gojo was God’s favourite. His looks, his inherited curse technique…but having a perfect soulmate story? Really?

Due to his six eyes, he could see the string all the time. He wasn’t like other people, who could make it appear and disappear as they pleased. It was always there. Eating? It was there. Sleeping? It was there.

It could filter through walls and lead you to the direction your soulmate was, the other end of the string being tied to your soulmate’s hands. It could stretch and-

“ow!” Y/n gasped.

-if you tried to cut it, it would send a searing pain to both parties’ hearts.

“He tried to cut it again?” Y/n’s best friend Ichigo sighed. Her head rested on her left hand while her right hand held a giant mug of coffee. “Mhm,” Y/n responded. She was browsing the web for job opportunities at the local cafe. “Ooh! There’s this job offer at a nearby bank.” Y/n turned her laptop so Ichigo could see. Y/n was used to the pain now. At least once a month her soulmate tried to cut their string, to no avail. Y/n learned to be indifferent to this. She could still find love - not everyone ends up with their soulmate.

“Hey, What’s that?” Ichigo pointed a carefully manicured finger at a job proposal on the side of the screen. “Holy crap! It says Jujutsu tech!” 

“NO!” Y/n gasped, disbelief written across her face. She snatched the laptop out of Ichigo’s hands and her eyes traced back and forth the words of the job advertisement.

*Manager Job applications open* Right next to the advertisement was a funny little badge.

And Y/n knew exactly what that badge meant.

This was a job application for Jujutsu Sorcerors.

Unfortunately for Y/n, not everyone with cursed energy was cut out to be a Jujutsu sorceror. But Y/n had experience in corporate workplaces. She would definitely snag this job. 

She would 100% be a manager.

“Hopefully I’m not the manager of some bratty kids.” Y/n sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Wouldn’t it be worse if you were the manager for some snotty Special Grade?”

Y/n’s eyes widened. “God, that would be so terrible. Imagine being at the beck and call of a stuck up prick!”

Little did Y/n know, she wouldn’t have to imagine it for long.

(part 2 here)

[hermitw]

It didn't rly fit into my Suguru Geto did nothing wrong theory post, but hear me outtt

or tell me if this super obvious and I just didn't notice until now??

Geto's CT tastes rly, rly bad. The years he's spent swallowing curses has made him associate that taste with non-sorcerers (bc they create the curses). Since taste and smell go hand in hand, it would linger in his senses.

No one else can smell it, of course, it's only in Geto's sinuses. So they're like...?? Ok dude, whatever.

It's also interesting that Gojo and Geto's techniques involved a sort of sensory hell, and were mentally draining.

Gojo was able to overcome this by covering his eyes and using RCT. But Geto had no relief. As long as he was absorbing curses and breathing, he could taste them.

Edit to add:

Monkey makes sense as a descriptor - I can't think of any other fitting metaphor (though the idea was born from Toji's words in the first place).

Even the non-violent sorcerers like Mrs. Sa(ito) and her daughter, who seek out help and benefit from Geto's services, are in the animal realm - at the mercy of whatever happens to them, of how sorcerers and curses treat them. They can't see or understand or control these things themselves.

And the non-sorcerers calling for ignorant violence are like monkeys wielding knives (which is why I have this fear of monkeys. Stop stealing knives!! No other animal does this. Respect your hand privileges).

Additionally - I've been searching my own memories with monkeys. And I cannot remember actually seeing them - but the first, the main flashback I always get about the zoo, is the monkey smell.

And Geto having to endure that stench left from the non-sorcerers' leaking cursed energy... Monkey just fits.

[niinnyu]

Bodies and Souls - part 1/2

Part 2

[linkspooky]

Are You Satisfied?

As you might have heard chapter 236 of Jujutsu Kaisen ends with the death of Gojo Satoru. The fandom is making a pretty big deal about it. As someone who predicted from the beginning that Gojo was going to lose against Sukuna, the reaction is fascinating to me. This is perhaps the most controversial chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen I've ever seen. So I've decided to throw my hat into the ring.

The central theme of Jujutsu Kaisen is death, so the death of one of the main characters isn't too surprising, but what does Gojo's death mean for the story? What does it say about his character?

As I said above I am a little bit shocked by the extreme controversy over Gojo's death. Gojo was never going to win the fight in the first place, because Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and the story would be over if he defeated Sukuna. He'd easily be able to take care of Kenjaku afterwards and the main conflcit would be resolved. Would it really be an interesting story if Gojo one shotted the villains while the kids just wathced on Television?

The story is also not about Gojo, it's about the students. Gojo may think he's the protagonist of reality but he's not the protagonist of the story.

Once again, Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and stories have themes. We may grow personally attached to characters, but characters are just narrative tools to convey the themes of a story, no different from prose, dialogue, and art. Characters are a tool to be used well or used poorly, and sometimes yes that means killing them. Whether Gojo's death was naratively satisfying though isn't the purpose of this post though we're only asking what does it mean?

Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen is not only a fictional story, it's specifically a tragedy. Full disclosure, it's a manga about death.

The Protagonist of a Tragedy

So, number one shout out to me for making this post 4 months ago where I called the way Gojo would end the fight.

Excuse me while I fist pump for calling it!

The question on everyone's minds is why does one of the most powerful characters in the manga die offscreen in a pretty humiliating way, cut in half and helpless on the ground just like Kaneki. The reason Gojo didn't get a more heroic (or cooler) death is because we're not reading My Hero Academia, this is not a story about heroes or even a typical Shonen manga it is a tragedy.

In poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as:

"an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (51).

To paraphrase a tragedy is about human action, actions characters make in a tragedy often have dire consequences. One of the most common consequences if the reversal of a hero's fortune, a hero of a tragedy usually starts out on top and ends up on the bottom because of the bad choices they make. If in normal shonen manga characters overcome their flaws through effort and persistence, in Jujutsu Kaisen we see characters more often than not lose to their flaws.

The reason I posted that Kaneki panel specifically is because it was a brilliant moment of narrative punishment for Kaneki's central character flaw. Kaneki the hero's main flaw is that he always fights alone, and he constantly makes that same choice over and over again to fight alone. One of the characters helpfully explains it as well.

Stories are primarily about change. If a character doesn't change they're not serving the plot, unless that specifically is the point. People have pointed out how abrupt it is for Gojo to get sealed in Shibuya, get let out, and then immediately die afterwards but that's kind of the point. Gojo made more or less the exact same choice (he asked for Utahime's help for a buff but otherwise fought the entire battle himself). The definition of insanity and what not, why would doing the same thing over and over again net him a different result?

Not only did Gojo choose to fight alone, but as I've been hammering on and on about in previous meta the entire fight Gojo cared more about fighting a strong opponent then he did saving Megumi, the child he was responsible for.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not a typical shonen manga where everything is resolved by beating a strong villain in a fight. That's specifically why I used the Tokyo Ghoul reference, because the reason Kaneki is defeated offscreen like that is because he thought the world worked like a shonen manga. He has a fantasy sequence where he's fighting Juzo in a shonen battle tournament like this is Yu Yu Hakusho right before it snaps back to reality and he's limbless on the ground.

Gojo is a major character in the manga Jujutsu Kaisen, literally "Sorcery Fight" and he is the best sorcerer in the whole world. His entire identity revolves around being a sorcerer. Since he is so good and beloved at what he does, he thinks that everything is resolved by exorcising a curse or defeating a strong opponent. He has basically no identity outside of that. Which is why when he's fighting the possessed body of his student, a person he's been mentoring since childhood his priority is not to save Megumi but to beat a strong opponent. Gojo is a sorcerer, before a human being. That's who he is, that's who he always has been since day one.

I think part of the negative fan reaction comes from fans being really attached to this scene in the manga and deciding Gojo's entire character revolves around being a good mentor figure to children.

Which is just incorrect, Gojo's entire character revolves around being the strongest. On top of that though, Gojo can care about children and also care about being the strongest he can care about multiple things at once and have those things contradict each other because humans are complicated. I'd point out even in this panel where he's stating motivation he's not trying to raise these kids up into being healthy adults, he wants them to be strong Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even when he's raising kids, his intention is to turn them into Jujutsu Sorcerers because everything in Gojo's mind revolves around Jujutsu Sorcery. Gojo does not exist outside of the world of sorcerers. Gojo may be the chosen one but he'd never be able to hold down a job at Mcdonalds.

I think in general readers put more investment in the things characters say out loud, rather than their actions. You can say one thing and do another. I can say "I should never eat sweets again I'm going to improve my diet", and then go and eat ice cream five hours later. Gojo can state out loud his intention to foster children and protect their youths, but then fail to properly do that in the story. Characters are not always what they say they are, that's why they're interesting to interpret. This isn't me calling the readers stupid, just pointing out that Gojo is made up of contradictions. He wants to get rid of the old guard and replace them with something new, but Gojo IS THE OLD GUARD.

If the culling games arc has shown us one thing, it's that ancient sorcerers brought to the modern age do not care that much about human life on an individual level, they are all of them egoists. There's a reason Gojo resembles someone like Sukuna more than he does any other character in the manga. I'm not saying Gojo is exactly like Sukuna, he's far more altruistic and uses his genuinely noble ideals but at the same time Sukuna is a shadow archetype to Gojo he represents Gojo's flaws. The flaws that Gojo succumbs to in tragic fashion.

Which if you believe that Gojo genuinely does love his students, and the ideal he's fighting for is to raise up a better generation and allow them to live out their youths, then Gojo throughout the entire Sukuna fight is acting against those ideals. He cares far more about fighting Sukuna then he does saving Megumi, it's shown over and over again in the battle, Megumi is an afterthought to him. If Gojo care moredefeating the big bad and saving the world is more important than helping a child that Gojo is responsible for then Gojo is acting against his stated principles. Why should Gojo win the fight when he's fighting for all the wrong reasons?

Tragedies are like visual novels, if you make the wrong choice the novel will give you a red flag. If you ignore the red flag then you get locked into the route with the bad ending. Gojo always fights alone. Gojo only ever fights for himself, even if he's using that selfishness in support of a more noble ideal like creating a better generation of sorcerers. If Gojo consecutively makes the same changes then in a tragedy he's not going to be rewarded for it.

Gojo wants the old generation out and the new generation in, but Gojo resembles the old generation too much. Old sorcerers like Hajime and Sukuna respect him, Hajime argues that Gojo being able to fight for his pride is far more important than him living to the end of the battle when Yuta wanted to interfere and help him.

Gojo's death isn't a surprise curve ball that Gege is throwing us for shock value, it's a result of his choices throughout the manga. A manga about change, and the change between generations is not going to punish a character for remaining roughly the same. Of course you might find it disappointing that Gege didn't give Gojo the chance to grow and change and experience a character arc like Megumi or Yuji, but Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, and the way Gojo's arc ended is consistent with what Gege wrote.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not just a tragedy though, it's a manga about death. The manga begins with Yuji's grandfather warning him not to die alone the way that he did. His grandfather's dying words are what motivate Yuji throughout the beginning of the manga as he's searching for a "proper" death.

One of the major themes of Yuji's character is a contemplation of death. He accepts that death is inevitable, so he wants to save them from the gruesome deaths they'd experience if they became victims to curses and allow them to have a more satisfying death. Yuji's grandpa died an unsatisfying death because he died alone in a hospital room. Yuji even tries to make his own death a satisfying one because he believes by dying to seal away Sukuna he'll reduce the total number of casualties to curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen keeps investigating the theme of death and what exactly would make for a satisfying death. At one point it's all but stated that death is the mirror that makes humans analyze their lives.

When Yuji fails to save Junpei from the "unnatural death" it calls into question whether or not his goal of saving people from unsatisfying deaths and the gruesome deaths caused by curses is even feasible. Nanami even says that Yuji might not be able to accomplish his goal and warns him away from the path.

We see repeated unsatifying deaths in the manga, each time someone reflecting on their deaths that they weren't able to get what they wanted out of life. This list comes via @kaibutsushidousha by the way I'm quoting them.

Nanami's a character who chose to work as a sorcerer because he didn't want to evade the responsibility of doing all you can to help people, he wanted to believe he's somewhere where he's needed. He never runs away from responsibility like Mei Mei does so he quite literally works himself to death, living and dying as a sorcerer. Nanami or Gojo's dying hallucination of Nanami even says as much, his death is the result of him choosing to go south and returning to be a sorcerer.

Maki chose revenge against the Zen'in over her sister, and as a result Mai is dead. Maki has all the power in the world now, her revenge complete but she's left with a sense of "now what?" She's as strong as Toji now but she failed to protect her sister, and it's the result of the choices she made. Maki's reflection isn't triumph, it's "I should have chosen to die with her."

Even Yuji himself is robbed of his narrative purpose. The manga began with Yuji saying he wants to choose how he's going to die and he'll die taking out Sukuna with him so he can reduce the number of people killed by curses in the world. Both of those things are thrown in Sukuna's face. Number one the amount of people Yuji can save by permanently killing Sukuna is now a moot point because he let Sukuna rampage in Shibuya.

Number two, Sukuna isn't even in Yuji anymore. To build on what Comun said though, this repeated tragedy has a purpose to it and understanding requires understanding that Jujutsu Kaisen is an existentialist manga. Existentialism is basically a school of philosophy centered around the question of "Why do I exist?"

There's nothing about the invetability of death to make you question why you're alive in the first place. In the myth of Sispyhus, Albert Camus boils down all of philosophy to one question.

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. "

All of philosophy is should I shoot myself in the head or should I keep living? Everything comes after that question, which is why in Jujutsu Kaisen a lot of the characters motivations revolve around them contemplating death. Sorcerers exist in a world where they can die any moment, and as Gojo says most of them die alone. It might be the nature of sorcery itself that causes so many people to die, not only are they dying because they are trapped in an uncaring system, but the characters themselves aren't really attempting to live outside of it. They live and die as sorcerers, replaceable cogs in the machine.

All of these unsatisfying deaths may just be the result of all these characters making one choice, to live as sorcerers rather than people. Because to exist means to live in the world.

Even in Mechamaru's case, his goal is deeply existentialist by what I defined, all he wants to do is live in the world with everyone else rather than be stuck in his hospital room but his actions contradict that goal. Instead of letting his friends come and visit he's obsessed with the idea of getting a normal body because he feels that's the only way he can exist with everyone else, he makes a deal with the devil, he lies and goes behind their backs. He wasn't living with everyone else in the world and he could have chosen to, he chose wrong and his death is the result of that choice.

Jujutsu Sorcerers aren't living in the world. They're living in a little snowglobe far removed from the world with its own rules, most of them regressive and disconnected from the rest of society. If you define existentialism as just "living in the world' then a lot of these characters aren't, because they only exist in the world of sorcery.

INVISIBLE BUFFY: What are you talking ab- SPIKE: The only reason you're here, is that you're not here. (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: Right. Of course, as usual there's something wrong with Buffy. She came back all wrong. (moving around on the bed) You know, I didn't ask for this to happen to me. SPIKE: Not too put off by it though, are you? (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: No! Maybe because for the first time since ... I'm free. She tosses the sheet aside. Spike looks around, trying to figure out where she's going. INVISIBLE BUFFY: Free of rules and reports ... free of this life. SPIKE: Free of life? Got another name for that. Dead.

Not living in the world with everyone else is the same as being dead.

A lot of these characters either make the choice to act alone, or be a jujutsu sorcerer rather than a person and because of that they die as sorcerers, b/c sorcerers die that's what they do. Mai didn't want to keep living as a hindrance to Maki so she kills herself. Maki didn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, so her little sister dies and she's not a big sister anymore. Nanami chose to leave his job behind and become a sorcerer again, he dies as one.

Of course I don't think the manga is punishing characters for being too egotistical, but rather too unbalanced. If anything Mai is too selfless and that is why she died, she didn't want to live for herself and chooses self sacrifice for her sister. An unbalance between selfishness or selflessness results in an underdeveloped ego. Jujutsu Kaisen doesn't punish individualism per se, moreso if you're not a fully developed individual you won't last long. Because it's also a manga about growing up in the world, and a person who doesn't have a healthy, mature, well-balanced sense of self is not a grown up.

This twitter user det_critics points out that Gojo (and also Yuki + Yuji's) failures in the manga can be attributed to the fact they don't have real senses of self.

Gojo has an identity crisis as outlined by Geto, "are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest, or are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo?"

It's a challenge for him to find some reason to live outside of being the strongest, and in tragic fashion Gojo just doesn't find it in time. Gojo lived for fighting others, and proving to himself that he's the strongest, and that's how he dies.

There's something I like to say about narrative punishment in stories. There are two ways to punish a character, you either don't give them what they want, or you give them exactly what they want. This is the latter, Gojo wanted to find someone stronger than him because deep down he believed that nobody could understand him unless they were on his level. He wanted to be surpassed, and that's why he focused on creating stronger young sorcerers, but he never shook himself of the belief that only someone as strong or even stronger than he was could ever be emotionally attached to him so he made a deliberate choice to draw a line between himself and others.

Gojo's essentially gotten what he wanted from that choice in the worst way possible. The student he picked to succeed him Megumi, has his body stolen and kills him. Gojo is surpassed, but it's not by one of his own students it's by an enemy that's not only trying to kill Gojo but is going to massacre his students afterwards.

Gojo's spent his entire life believing that because he's more powerful that makes him inherently different and above others, and being lonely because he himself believed he couldn't relate to ordinary people and he dies like an ordinary person, an unsatisfying death where he wasn't able to bring out Sukuna's best, where he gets unceremoniously cut in half offscreen but yay he's no longer the strongest. He's gotten exactly what he wanted. Megumi is still not saved, Sukuna's probably going to kill more people because Gojo failed to stop him here, but hey at least he stopped to compliment Gojo.

It's empty, but it's empty because of the choices Gojo made in life to just not bother connecting to people or develop any kind of identity besides being a sorcerer. Gojo lives and dies as a sorcerer, and his dying dream is returning to a teenager being surrounded by everyone he was with during his school days, because that's the happiest time in his life. Ironically he was happier before he became the strongest, because that was the only time in his life that he allowed himself to connect to people.

However in the eyes of others, he is someone who has it all. That's why he is always alone. There was no one who could hold the same sentiments and mutually understand him. Geto was the only one who could understand what he was trying to say, and the only one who could communicate well with him.

It's no coincidence Gojo and Geto die exactly a year apart on the same day, if anything I'd say the reasons they die are similiar to at least thematically. They both die because they don't want to live in the world. Geto thinks the world is too corrupt and GOjo doesn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, both of them fail to adapt.

「 'It's just. . .' It's just that it was what Geto had to do. [...] To someone like him, the reality that the world of sorcerers presented to him was just too cruel. '. . .that in a world like this, I couldn't truly be happy from the bottom of my heart.'」

They can't be happy in a world like this from the bottom of their hearts, so narratively they both die. The things they chose to live for at the end of their life they fail to accomplish, Gojo is no longer the stronget, Geto fails to wipe out mankind or make major changes to the world and they die as normal people unsatisfied because they weren't trying to live in the world and make connections to others. They die almost karmically a year apart because their main connection for both of them, the thing which made them feel connected to the world and other people was each other.

Which is why this panel breaks my heart and is so narratively satisfying because of how unsatisfying it is...

"If you were among those patting my back... then I might've been satisfied."

Gojo reflects that he's not satisfied dying against Sukuna, not because he failed to give him a good enough challenge but because Geto wasn't there to pat him on the back. The one thing that would have satisfied him he couldn't have, because he didn't live to connect to people he lived to be the strongest and he died alone as the strongest. There's just something deeply upsetting about Gojo's dying dream fantasy just him being there talking with all of his dead friends who he never appreciated or connected to properly when he was alive. Knowing that if something had just gone a little differently, that even if he had to die no matter what he could have died happier if Geto was among the people saying goodbye to him because that connection with Geto is what gave his life meaning.

Dazai Osamu: "A life with someone you can say good-bye to is a good life, especially when it hurts so much to say it to them. Am I wrong?" -Bungou Stray Dogs Beast

[lxmelle]

Pure Love.

Geto loved Satoru more than he loved himself. “Don’t follow me to hell; Don’t let yourself be used.”

Gojo loved Suguru more than he loved himself. “I came all the way to mourn Suguru; Who cares what happens to my corpse.”

I’m even more convinced their love for each other was perfect.

Although Geto thought Gojo’s regard would change after what he did (cuz he projected his own self-loathing/inability to forgive himself onto Gojo), he was able to feel his unchanging love at the end. It touched him.

Geto was the kind who could tell Yuta he was a “womaniser” for healing Maki and then vowing himself to Rika. Can we imagine his unwavering feelings for Gojo whose name was tied to what he wore daily for 10 years?

Gojo was the kind who respected Geto’s wishes, even if he didn’t agree with it. Gojo’s unwavering & unchanging love can be seen as something that took Geto by surprise.

Geto thought after they fought that Gojo’s love would’ve changed. I think it in fact it had intensified due to regret & grief. Gojo realised what he felt was love.

Geto was someone who had become very disillusioned by the harsh world, especially as a sorcerer with good intentions & his innate desire to heal.

His “heart window” was very big but his “scope of influence” wasn’t that big. So his efforts could be like a drop in the ocean. He had to try very hard to make big ripples. Someone very pure & caring came to feel that the world was unreliable and couldn’t protect him or others.

Therefore he took it in his own hands.

Gojo, who had power in his hands also took it in his own hands but his view of the world was not as tainted, as his “heart window” (he was by nature selective) wasn’t as large, so his scope was smaller but his “scope of influence” was huge-

His one drop could make a huge ripples or even a tsunami, so his approach had to be very different by being withheld all the time.

It’s just an analogy to describe how we have to recognise they are very different people.

In terms of love, Geto was so disillusioned that white could be black & black could be white - as miminana said in 0.

I think deep inside he wanted to believe in the goodness of the world - that white could be white, & black, black. But it wasn’t the world he was shown.

He tried to create it in a twisted way.

Gojo had always seemed to be a rather honest person. Before Geto defected, he seemed rather cold because he hadn’t yet learned how to connect to others. There were no facades with him until later on… where when it came to protecting his students - he put on a front - but with his peers, he said things as they are. I describe him as very pure and clear. Pragmatic and stoic.

Geto perceived the world in a more complex way that Gojo did. They balanced each other out until Riko died and they both “died/lost” to Toji resulting in Gojo becoming the strongest.

It became convoluted with his disillusionment, grief, and then there was no turning back. I think it was hell for 10 years to be on his own doing expeditions and swallowing multiple curses a day to amass the numbers that he did in 0. It’d make anyone crazy?

In the end… The only person in a dark and dim world who showed Geto that purity / straightforwardness was Satoru Gojo. The man who didn’t begrudge people who do evil. He would ask a villain for their last words. Even wish to save / reach out to someone like Sukuna. He was the symbol of white is white & black is black.

So I think his love purified Geto in many ways.

That’s why I think Gojo saw him off (as he wished) and then Geto picked him up at the airport (because Gojo wanted him there) - they completed each other... they were perfect for each other.

Geto showed Gojo compassion & love and his soul was salvaged.

Gojo showed him purity and his soul was salvaged.

They saved each other...

They understood each other’s Pure Love in the end right!??? It was so preciously preserved for each other only.

[spook-roingus]

Unpopular opinion, I'm actually really not that mad about Disney Kaisen. Like, ending a story is really hard. And from what I have heard, Gege has been overworked and hoping to end the series for a *minute*, so I forgive him hastily wrapping up plot points that probably sounded exciting to explore 113 ch. ago and not giving us all the hard-hitting, emotional character moments in the ending that the series gave us earlier on.

Not to sound all hippy-dippy but JJK was much more about the journey. It was never flawless, but it was a hell of a ride, and I had a ton of fun.

A lackluster final 4-5 chapters are not going to change my opinion of the series, characters, or Gege. It really is what it is.

THAT SAID I HAVE DONNED THE TINFOIL HAT AND HERE IT IS: My Definitive List of Extremely Serious and Clearly Plausible JJK Finale Theories

1. Gege was actually sweating about what would happen when we catch him

2. This is all actually just Gojo’s prison realm hallucination

3. Blowing past all the character deaths is the most poignant way to drive home the cog mentality/oppressive systems themes, actually, and Gege is a nihilist genius and master of irony

4. Shonen Jump made JJK and CSM fight to decide which one gets to be the genre subversion, dark battle manga (and JJK lost and had to retcon)