#jujuts kaisen meta

[linkspooky]

I do wonder if Nobara do return— And that’s a big if since it’s been a hot while we last heard about her— What would be her role?

Or not necessarily role, since she does have a unique ability to damage the soul. But more like… character arc I suppose?

Like some people would theorize that Nobara could possibly help Maki from spiraling. However, I personally believe it makes much more narrative sense that it would be Yuta that does it.

I must think that Nobara would possibly go through her own arc. But my question is how?

Since I thought her arc is to be less judgmental with her black and white thinking and expand her world view. But the only person that I can think would challenge Nobara on this is Mai. Since Nobara judged Mai harshly despite the fact that she too was a victim like Maki.

But then like… Mai died so… now what?

Okay, so all the reasons Nobara might come back, and some of the reasons she might not. 

Let’s start with why she might not. By the way I’m not arguing whether or not she’ll come back, because in my mind it’s a very strong “...Maaaaaaaaybe?” so it’s just easier to list arguments in support or against. 

This is definitely the biggest reason why it would be hard to reintroduce Nobara back into the story. Part of this is Gege’s fumbling his handling of female characters, simply put Mai and Miwa are characters who are better written with way less screentime because they both have obvious character flaws, a character arc is built around a flaw the character has that they either have to work on or face the consequences. 

In comparison to Noara, Megumi and Yuji have clear flaws. Megumi is at times borderline suicidal, he’s really emotoinally unhealthy, he picks and chooses between the people he saves and he lets die. He has a lot of connection to bigger plotlines in the Jujutsu World, the Zenin Clan, his legacy as Toji’s son. 

Yuji also has a major flaw of being self sacrificing and has little self worth, he prioritizes other people far above himself, he has a character conflict around finding a way to die, being a little too willing to die, acting like he has little agency or that he’s individually worthless and much preferring to be a cog in society, he’s also continually dealing with Sukuna’s machinations from inside his own body. 

They have clear flaws and they’re connected to the world around them, in comparison Nobara seems a little tacked onto the trio as an afterthought to the point where it is hard to even speculate on where she would fit in post shibuya. We get one flashback to her home village and it’s not even about her life as a jujutsu sorcerer in the country side, just a childhood friend she had. That childhood friend is apparently just fine in the city, so that character motivation and plotline is resolved for the most part. Everything we know about why Nobara became a sorcerer is shoved into a databook (her grandmother), Saori just seems to be a normal person so I don’t even think there was a mystery about her home town. 

You could say her flaw is both her naivete and egotism, she ends up kind of repeating misogyny against Mai when Momo tries to explain what misogyny is like in the Jujutsu World because she views Mai as a bad victim. Solidarity is solidarity with all women and victims, not just the people you personally like. Nobara’s belief that she can simply overcome all adversity with her strong willpower could also be seen as a flaw.

This is a mistranslation it’s more like ...

⇒ “How to put it… The seats in my life? I don’t want people who’re not sitting there to affect my mind in that way or another.”

⇒ “(…) Well, I guess there are people like you who just come bringing their own chairs and sit [with me], too”

which is Nobara saying she only cares about a select group of people, which in a way reflects Megumi’s flaw of just picking and choosing who she saves. 

Nobara’s flaw could be seen as her hypocrisy, she’s one of those loud, crazy people who can easily step on other people’s lives. If they’re not in her small circle of friends she doesn’t really care, she feels little remorse over killing Choso’s brothers. If she comes back that could potentially lead to a conflict with Choso, as unlike Yuji who Choso can forgive because they are brothers, not only is nobara also a murderer, but she doesn’t really feel sorry about it. 

Her naivete and hypocrisy are things that could come to have consequences for her upon her return, for instance you mention Yuta seems more appropriate for the role of supporting Maki and saving her from her spiral than Nobara does. If you look at it from that angle, Nobara could try to help Maki and fail, number one because she does not actually understand all that much about what happened in the Zenin clan she was just making judgements as an outsider and number two because she never liked Mai and that’s the person that Maki is grieving. Mai in general just represents a part of Maki that Nobara doesn’t understand in her amdiration of her. 

This is also the part where I start quoting other people, because I ferociously googled other people’s posts on how they think Nobara might come back due to this being a weak point for me. This post, brings up the fact that if you look at the losses Nobara has suffered so far, they could be the result of Nobara being arrogant and naive to the world and therefore her loss at Shibuya could be a low part in her arc that she has to recover from. 

Jujutsu Kaisen is nothing if not rigidly efficient in how it tells this massive story. I believe every instance of Nobara actually leads us to see a low point in her character arc in Shibuya and a possible return in the Culling Games.

The major foreshadowing to her return is during the Kyoto exchange arc. Her fight against Momo clearly has her ignorant of the plight of women in the JJK universe in Chapters 40 and 41.

This seems to return with Mai dead, Maki scarred and Nobara seriously injured. There's some that claim her not being dead would lower stakes when it's obvious Mahito still would have irreversibly destroyed her youth and beauty that she was proud of all the way back in her introduction in Chapter 4 believing she should be a model.

If being beautiful and dressing up is part of what makes Nobara Kugisaki, Nobara Kugisaki then what is she with half of her face deformed or missing completely?

If Nobara’s main strength is the power of her ego and self confidence, then introducing her back with a severely bruised ego with all the losses she has endured then that could represent a new struggle her character has to deal with. 

The second part of the post brings up that Nobara’s power is currently under-explored, as I said of Yuji and Megumi she seems to be the least connected to the Jujutsu World around her, but Gojo himself said that all of his students are supposed to have remaining potential. Nobara is referred to having come close to feeling the core to cursed energy, which is why she dealt a bigger blow to Mahito than Mahito expected having written her off as weak. 

As several people have pointed out before me, Nobara is the only one of the students to feel the core of cursed energy, which is mentioned s Gojo’s feat that allowed him to come back and defeat Toji. Nobara like Gojo, suffered a near fatal wound that put her on the brink of death, but Nitta went into painstaking detail to point out that there wasn’t a zero percent chance of her coming back due to his cursed technique preventing her body from getting any worse. Just like Gojo, her head wasn’t cut off and she wasn’t finished off. 

There’s two possible theories I’ve seen to explain what could lead to Nobara coming back, number one her unlocking reversed curse technique similiar to Gojo. Number one the clear parallel to Nobara in the past trio is Shoko. While Megumi is parallled to Gojo and Geto to Yuji. Gojo even says that reversed cursed technique is impossible to expain and has to be figured out intuitively. 

Nobara’s technique also has a couple of techniques that closely resemble reverse cursed technique. Resonance connects her to her opponent, she can even use her own body and connect her with her opponent to share their pain together. Considering she connects herself to the opponent’s soul directly to inflict damage on them (how she attacked Mahito’s soul directly), then either using reversed curse technique to heal isn’t that far of a stretch because she is already fighting y directly applying her cursed eenrgy to someone else, she just inflicts negative harm. Gojo explains reverse cursed technique is quite literally just reversing in order to heal. 

Or, there’s the theory my linked post posited that Nobara herself is going to be shown to be an expert of the soul. This is where I bring alchemy into the equation. 

This, is the alchemy triangle. 

I’ve explained the significance of the man and woman, small and large circles, square and triangle at some length.  For a story, we need to focus on the triangle.  In spiritual alchemy, the triangle represents soul, spirit, and body.  Heinrich Khunrath helpfully labeled the sides of the triangle in this emblem.  In red capital letters you have Anima (soul), Spiritus (spirit), and Corpus (body).  

It is ambiguous where cursed energy comes and cursed technique comes from, but we are given multiple references for soul, body and mind. Extremely early on it’s mentioned that cursed energy may come from the brain, later on Mahito is able to change Junpei’s brain around in order to awaken his potential for cursed technique. Much, much later Kenjaku does this en masse to awaken a bunch of potential sorcerers. 

Mahito refers to the soul and the body afterwards, completing the triangle. Mahito’s cursed technique specifically manipulates the soul to transform the shape of his body around it. In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, the soul is definitely something that exists and has form. 

Todo even explicitly names the triangle later on when counselling Yuji, people exists in this world mind, body, and soul and sorcerers are at their strongest when they draw strength with all three are in harmony. Whereas Todo explains that the three of them being seperate and in disharmony makes cursed technique weaker.

So the goal of the triangle, and alchemy at large is to find the harmony between the alchemy triangle, or the three main characters that represent mind, body, soul (or sometimes, mind, body and heart). The Wizard of Oz is the most obvious example of three characters having to find harmony with each other in order to accomplish their goals by the end of the story. 

In the Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum used the heart/mind/body triangle in a completely different way.  Rather than marking his protagonist, Dorothy, as heart, as you would expect, Baum assigns heart, mind, and body characteristics to her three companions.  The Tin Man is in search of a heart, the Scarecrow in search of a brain, and the Cowardly Lion in search of “some nerve,” in other words the courage that Body characters typically lack.  

If you were to divide mind, body and soul then you can center the goal of each character of the main trio. Megumi has to find mind, he’s the most cerebral of the trio as the strategist, his entire arc revolves around his ideals (he hypocritically only chooses to save the people he wants too), his biggest flaw is also being inside his own head and refusing to connect with people. 

Yuji is obviously body, he shares his body with an intruder Sukuna, he is also out of harmony with Sukuna because Sukuna constantly possesses him to cause harm to the others around him. He only became a sorcerer in the first place because his body was modified the moment he ate the finger. He was also purposefully birthed for the sake of becoming a vessel, which means he was literally created to be a body for Sukuna to inhabit. Body characters are defined by their hunger and desires, Sukuna’s cursed technique literally revolves around cooking, his true form has a giant mouth on his stomach, Yuji has to eat fingers to grow stronger. 

That would leave Nobara as the soul, which is where I am going to reference the other post again. 

We never seen Gojo referring to Nobara's potential and so it's assumed it's because she's sidelined but there's no reason to say that it's not because her talents might be a major spoiler to whatever True Jujutsu and the Core of Cursed Energy is.

we already know that the power of the soul is something that goes beyond CE. Mahito even remarks all the way back in Chapter 31 that Sukuna should have less CE than Jogo yet his soul is simply on another level. It may be a completely separate power system and part of how Toji and Maki function so well with 0 CE. Their bodies after all can defeat souls.

, In fact, the separation of Sukuna's fingers into 20 is never explained as it's not a requirement seen for any other Special Grade Cursed Object capable of reincarnating like the Death Paintings (they are also mostly human but 1/3(?) curse). We don't actually know why he is different.

The influence souls have on cursed technique are unknown and unexplored too. The necromancer transfigures her grandsons bodies but specifically doesn’t summon the soul, but because Toji has a special body he comes back. 

Kenjaku even theorizes that the soul is the body, and the body is the soul therefore their connection influences one another both ways. Which is like... yet another way that Nobara can come back, if the body conforms to the soul and the soul conforms to the body, Nobara being able to manipulate her soul because her CT targets the soul directly could make her change her body enough to come back.

To make an argument with alchemy though, alchemy works by seperating the individual members of the triangle, and then eventually reuniting them. That’s a brief, brief summary of how alchemy works in a story, but basically for the story to be complete the alchemy triangle has to come together. For example, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are a similiar alchemy triangle, they spend most of the story seperated and developing on their own, but the story cannot end until the three of them reunite again. 

“The triangle symbolizes the tendency of the universe to converge towards the point of unity.” 

“Some philosophers maintain the quadrangle is to be reduced to a triangle, that is to body, spirit and soul. These three appear in three colors which precede the redness: the body, or earth, in saturnine blackness; the psirit in lunar whiteness, like water; and the soul or air, in solar yellow. Then the triangle will be perfect, but in its turn it must change into a circle (that is uncharangeable redness). 

“Out of man and woman make a round circle and extract the quadrangle from this and from the quadrangle the triangle. Make a round circle and you will have the philosopher’s stone.” 

The goal of alchemy is to form the philosopher’s stone, or essentially reach the endpoint of the story. The “man and woman” angle is also important. Remember, Nobara and Yuji have been depicted fighting together three times, the first time they were in disharmony because they just met, the second time they were in harmony after developing their bond as sorcerers and took on the death painting sibs together, the third time they were in disharmony again and they even seperated with Nobara’s “Death”. Alchemy would require the man and the woman coming together again at the end of the story (this doesn’t even specifically have to be romantic, just as symbols, Nobara and Yuji black flashed together they have a lot of potential for harmony). 

Whether or not you ship Sasuke and Sakura (PLEASE THIS iSN’T SHIpS I DONT EVEN SHIP THEM), the story also follows the formula of alchemy, Sasuke and Sakura are seperated for the majority of the story developing on their own and reforging themselves but the story cannot end until man and woman are brought together in a round circle. 

Therefore if Jujutsu Kaisen is an alchemical story, of mind, body and soul and cursed technique is at it’s strongest when these three elements are in harmony with each other, then the story can’t end unless the trio is repaired and Megumi (Mind), Yuji (Body) and Nobara (soul) are brought together once more. 

[hawks-lightbulb]

I’ve often found that the funniest people tend to be the saddest. With that in mind, Gojou Satoru,

[linkspooky]

mechamiwa got me feeling like T_____________T

Mechamiwa is such a well-written tragedy. It’s rare that in a shonen manga such a flawed love story gets to be told. How the characters feel about each other is so clear, and also why they can’t be together is just as clear. Just to make you cry anon, an analysis of MechaMiwa under the cut. 

1. Strong and Weak

Mechamaru and Miwa both embody one of the central themes of the series, there’s strength in weakness, and there’s weakness in strength. 

Mechamaru is most likely the strongest Kyoto student, not only that but he has a measure of control because of his puppetry technique, he can doctor records, manipulate people, and is smart enough to play double agent for awhile to further his own goals. 

Mechamaru is very strong as an individual. He’s very selfish as an individual As a person he’s weak, however. Not because of his disability, but rather his inability to handle his own emotions. Of course, Mechamaru has a right to resetnment, he even has a right to hate the whole Jujutsu System, but the way he chooses to handle his emotions by lashing out is not healthy for him ultimately. 

Mechamaru hates himself, and hates his own weakness. Rather than trying to live with his own weakness, or be open about it, he hides behind his strength. Which is why rather than accepting other people’s help, he tends to be secretive, keep his distance, and he prefers attacking them rather than opening up to them. 

Mechamaru has this assumption that other people are going to look down on him, dislike him if they meet the real him, and that’s why he’s so defensive. That’s why he goes on the attack right away when he meets Panda. To stop others from looking down on him, he looks down on them first. 

Mechamaru is a strong person who can’t bear his own weakness, and can’t bear to see himself as weak. 

He has his reasons for this of course, but his primary strategy of keeping distance from others so they never have to meet the real, weak him gets in the way of what he wants. 

Miwa wanted to see Mechamaru as he was, in person. He didn’t need to be strong for her. The only ones who told him Mechamaru couldn’t be with his friends were Mechamaru himself, and the society around him, but his friends were always willing to accept him for who he was. Mechamaru can’t accept himself because he interanlized too much of what the Jujutsu Society taught him about weakness and it became a part of his own self loathing. 

Mechamaru wanted nothing more than to stand with his friends, but he did everything, manipulate them, betray them, protect them from afar, instead of taking the first step out himself to go see them. 

All because of his fear of being weak, and being seen as weak. 

Then, there’s Miwa who while not a fully developed character is a change of pace from a lot of the Jujutsu Kaisen characters because she accepts how weak she is. 

Miwa is the opposite of Mechamaru, a weak person, who doesn’t see her own strength, and doesn’t try as hard as she could to be strong. 

Miwa isn’t motivated to fight for herself, but her siblings she’s currently trying to take care of, so she lacks Maki and Nobara’s complete self possession. She’s not obsessed with the world of Jujutsu and treats it more like a dayjob, so she’s not motivated by saving others like Yuji or Megumi are either. 

However, in the Jujutsu World there’s someone a common sentiment that if you get stronger you’ll never have to lose anything. Characters believe everything is decided on strength alone, and an individually strong person will never have to face any loss. You can fight your feelings somehow. You can punch your feelings in the face, and you’ll never have to be sad again.

When losing Yuji for the first time, Megumi and Nobara’s response is to hide their feelings, and then try to fight the loss. If they get stronger they’ll never have to lose again. The motivation to get stronger isn’t wrong per se, but even the absolute strongest Satoru Gojo could not save his best friend. 

Miwa desires to get closer to others in a way most Jujutsu sorcerers just don’t. She’s a bit of a parallel for Utahime, who unlike Gojo was able to become someone who tethered Shoko and kept her connected to others. This is in part because Utahime is someone much more open with her weakness. 

Miwa tries to get close to Mechamaru anyway, despite knowing she might lose him, and the end result is she does. When she loses him, she feels weak, useless, she cries over it. It’s also the most emotionally open I’ve seen a character be with their grief in this manga.

There’s an emotional strength in being able to process sadness, and grief and yet still want to get close to others, instead of keeping your distance to shield yourself from those negative emotions. That was Miwa’s strength, but also Miwa didn’t push hard enough. Miwa sees herself as weak and because of that she’s desperately lacking in the ambition Nobara, and Maki ust have naturally. 

Miwa also could have been fighting by Mechamaru’s side. She could have pushed harder, she could have confronted him and challenged him more, but she was ultimately too passive until it was too late. 

Mechamaru was unwilling to give up his control, Miwa was unwilling to take his control. Mechamaru and Miwa both saw themselves as too weak individually, to stand by each other’s side, which is why they couldn’t be together. No matter how much both of them wanted it. 

Mechamaru and Miwa could have lended each other that strength: we see this in the fight against Mahito. Mechamaru uses Miwa’s techniques, his main motivation to fight is Miwa’s words to him.

Simple Domain is a pwoerful technique, especially when cooperating with others. There’s a first grade who uses simple domain. Mei Mei uses simple domain as a part of her ultimate attack. It seems really well suited towards cooperation, which is also Miwa’s strongest character trait her desire to connect with others in spite of the pain.

However, Miwa didn’t assert herself. 

The last symbol of Mechamaru and Miwa’s relationship is the distance between them. mechamaru can’t be there for her in person, in any way, emotionally or physically. They are two people who love each other deeply, but couldn’t be together because of their individual flaws. 

It’s because they both avoided each other in a sense. Miwa doesn’t think she’s strong enough to fight with others. Mechamaru is so afraid of being weak, just naturally assumes people will project her, that he preferred to protect MIwa from afar the whole time instead of being close to her. 

While it is a failed relationship, I think Mechamaru’s love for her was very real, and if Miwa processes the grief from this she has potential to grow as a character. There is set up for MIwa, her parallels to Utahime, the fact that there’s a simple domain user who’s a first grade right now who uses shadow style the same as her. 

What I hope is this will be the push Miwa needs to get stronger, not so she can fight as an individual, but so she can drop the “Miwa the Useless” attitude and fight together with the others. 

There’s something to be gained even by loss, which is why I think it’s better for characters not to lose fearing this loss. I don’t think Miwa regretted opening up to Mechamaru, or loving him, even if in the end he died, and all it did was hurt her, because she can still carry on his wish and that is their way of being together. Accepting loss also means accepting the people you’ve lost, and being able to struggle together with them even though they’re no longer there.

Yuji can take on Nanami’s suffering, Miwa can take on both Kokichi’s suffering and the happiness he wished to give her.