This Aged Well

This aged well

EXCHANGE EVENT foreshadowing [manga spoiler warning further down, anime onlies ur safe for now] there are probably a million more that I didn't save, but at some point it just feels trivial and endless.

the shibuya arc:

Gojo got locked out of the barrier, everyone else could go in // Gojo getting sealed in the prison realm

Mahito gathering objects from the cursed warehouse for kenjaku // Mahito evolving into his final form, for kenjaku to absorb

Gojo walking over the ants but not crushing them bc infinity // walking over people in the station. You could even say Gakuganji telling Yaga to do something about Gojo // criminalizing any attempt to free him from the prison realm

Todo coming for Yuuji, then taking his side, getting false memories, calling him brother // same thing with Choso.

That was such a big clue he was working w Mahito tbh, BUT in the exchange event and shibuya arc, Mechamaru fell apart and had to be replaced with a machine. It was still helpful, but had to be utilized by the other sorcerers.

Nobara got hit the same way when she got the concussion, and Nishimiya's speech about having a scarred face is one of many reasons why I believe Nobara to still be alive.

Maki took Miwa's katana // Miwa lost her ability to weild one by the pact she made against Kenjaku.

Megumi summoning a shikigami that he could only use once

Even their injuries were very similar (though not everyone's), I see it most in Fushiguro and in the blood on Yuuji's face where he gets scars later, Panda's cores, and ofc Mechamaru.

things that happen after the shibuya arc (spoilers ahead if u don't read the manga)

After the veil went down, Gojo split the earth (hollow purple Hanami) // after the prison realm opened, Gojo caused a fucking earthquake

Noritoshi Kamo striking out bc he never swings the bat, he just stands there talking to Yuuji and doesn't even wear a helmet, though his head is covered in bandages // Noritoshi not getting involved against Sukuna, planning to flee with his family, but staying to teach Yuuji about blood manipulation CT.

Possibly a reach but Maki let Megumi use playful cloud // Toji took it from Maki

Also Maki losing her glasses against Hanami // no longer needing them

JJK 266 & Megumi's Childhood

i wanted to talk about megumi and his childhood for a bit, and how it ties into what happened in the most recent chapter, specifically the reasoning behind why yuuji's "i'm so lonely without you, fushiguro" was so moving for him.

i sincerely believe that everything about megumi and the way he acts can be traced back to being abandoned as a child, and i have a lot to say about this that doesn't pertain to this chapter, but that's for another post. for now, i want to talk about the logic megumi adopted to explain why he'd been left behind as a child, and how that carries through to 266.

the elephant in the room first: this is not a safe space to defend toji. you can say whatever you want about him "loving megumi," but it doesn't change the fact that he wasn't a good father, and he was never around for megumi. he gave megumi the first of many wounds, the one that megumi built his whole sense of self around.

what brought this up for me is this line that megumi shares to yuuji after yuuji has made contact with his soul in 266.

i've already talked a bit about how i don't think this should be taken literally (you can read my full thoughts here), but to paraphrase: megumi isn't saying they are literally walking side by side, rather that he holds them to the same level in his mind, and he wants to see them achieve peace and happiness. it's also implied by the "seeing off" part that he is standing back and watching this happen. he isn't a part of said peace

in that post, i touched on the way megumi is always willing to shoulder the burden of being a "bad" person when it comes to tsumiki and yuuji, and how that relates to this line, but for the sake of this post, i specifically want to draw the comparison between this line, and what megumi says to gojo in ch79 when talking about his dad.

he assumes that when toji and tsumiki's mom leave them behind, it's because they're going on to live a happier life without the kids. he adopts this mindset at a very young age, and with the previously mentioned line, we can see how it's carried through until now.

megumi has internalized the idea that he's nothing but burden that drags other people down. his young mind couldn't come up with any other explanation. he thinks he's the dead weight that's been cut in order for toji and tsumiki's mom to achieve happiness, so he believes that no one can be happy as long as he's around.

he also comes to accept that he will always inevitably be left behind. he assumes that everyone will outgrow him and move onto something better, so he lives in anticipation that he will be abandoned again eventually, hence, it is natural for him to envision the two people that matter the most to him needing to leave him behind to achieve happiness.

enter: yuuji.

he basically outright rejects the idea that he would be happier without megumi around. he tells megumi directly, "no, i'd be lonely without you." and he says this to child megumi, the one who only knew the feeling of being left behind and the idea that everyone else would be happier without him.

this is what pushes megumi to finally fight back, because he realizes his life actually is worth something to someone. he sees that him being gone won't make the people (or uh. singular remaining person) he cares about happy.

How I feel about JJK characters

× Gojo - I could fix him

× Geto - he could fix me

× Sukuna - he would understand me

× Uraume - also relatable

× Choso - i used to want him but then I realized that I am him and now I just feel weird

× Hanami - was totally redeemable, and likely felt so awful about humans bc of their exposure to Mahito as a curse born of humans, gave us a bad reputation. Hanami didn't even align ethically with the curses - and might have been in that group to prevent Jogo from burning down the forests. (I have to read the light novels still)

(anime-only friendly post)

I'll have to reread JJK0 to rly have a stance on this but

At this point I feel like Geto did nothing wrong, even if the worm curse was not drugging him like banana fish (explained here).

Geto was misunderstood. He didn't declare that he was planning to kill all non-sorcerers. Gojo said that. Geto called him ignorant for it and walked away for not being listened to. To have a world of sorcerers could take a gradual path by teaching, by finding those like Nanako and Mimiko (one of the guys in their family was in a similar position, I forget his name rn). Geto traveled far for a family of sorcerers and to remove cursed spirits.

I think his parents weren't killed for being non-sorcerers, but for being a part of that cycle of violence toward them. Geto might have given them a second chance, taking the twins to his parents house, when they got violent. We don't know exactly what went down with them.

Gojo continues to have negative rizz (this analysis contains manga spoilers. Tldr, Gojo misunderstands another lover, potentially) so it feels like a pattern to me.

We've often pointed out that Sukuna's love language would be violence, that using his stronger techniques is a sign of respect toward his opponent.

But I'm realizing now, Gojo is the same way - it shows that a partner can keep up with them. We know that Geto and Gojo used to get into fights at school (and Geto even used his curse manipulation technique without notifying the staff first, like he usually would because of the unregistered cursed energy). Geto said fuck the rules, I'm on your level (by your side).

BUT AT THE KFC, Geto didn't pull out a curse. He didn't fight (for) Gojo - not even when he pulled out the hollow purple hand. Geto just told him to choose his own path, there would be meaning in that. That he's no longer by his side. Geto said there would be a point to killing him, but I think it was to follow the order of his execution, to feed into the oppressive system on jujutsu sorcerers. Geto decided to be the one who diverges from the rules of jujutsu society, to decide that some non-sorcerers have so much power that they are as dangerous as curse users, even if they have no cursed techniques.

Geto had come to terms with the separation - they'd been sent on missions alone too often, and he felt left behind by Gojo's growth (along with how different he was since the fight with Toji - they didn't grow closer from that traumatic event, but became distant from there).

I would love to see someone who's fluent in Japanese break down their conversation - to me it reads like Geto is telling Gojo, I have a family now. I have to look after them. And if my parents were just like the group that killed Riko, or the village that beat up and locked kids in a cage for having abilities... Then it's irresponsible of me to let the cycle of hate continue there, just because they are my parents.

Anyway, Geto killed people. He targeted those in power, those with money, those who exploit the weak for their own greed, those who scapegoat innocent children and criminalize sorcerers for the curses' atracks (when the curses are only born from the non-sorcerers in the first place).

First, the village with Nanako and Mimiko.

Then his own parents (which I'm going to assume were the same way, I have my own headcanon that he left his family early for a monastery and then went to jujutsu high but I'm not rly sure what's up).

And the cult - he specifically calls to the stage and kills the man who hired Toji to kill Riko. And had Shiu gather to that meeting the members in positions of power and money.

There's also the deal with Geto calling non-sorcerers monkeys, which carries a gross and racist feeling (at least through a western lense, I've seen so many jokes about him being racist and planning a genocide, but I don't think that's really accurate). We can say that it was sleep learning from Toji. I think it stuck with him for a very simple reason.

Yuki Tsukumo gave Geto an existential crisis by telling him that curses only exist because of non-sorcerers (except for when a sorcerer dies and becomes the curse). Geto knows what curses taste like. Think about going to the zoo - you can smell the monkey area already, can't you? It's very distinct and memorable. It stays with you. The curses that Geto swallows are like that, but even worse. I posted here about the smell lingering in his sinuses and that's why he uses sanitizing spray after seeing Mrs. Sa(i)to and her daughter.

So just like monkeys live and poop and are associated with the stench, non-sorcerers get emotional and leak cursed energy. Others might see and hear curses, and occasionally they might smell (sorry Eiso I know you're insecure about having a musty back but I can't think of another example, maybe this doesn't happen with cursed spirits), but Geto is alone in knowing the taste and making this connection.

Anyway, Geto still clearly believes that the strong should protect the weak, whether they're sorcerers or not, that's what he spends his life doing.

And when he died saying that he still hates those monkeys - hate is different than genocide. He's been basically eating their vomit for the majority of his life. Not to mention the curses that killed his friends.

Ultimately, though, we don't get to see anyone Kenjaku uses as a vessel live their own life except for Geto. And I don't believe that the worm would have been necessary for most victims - but Geto and his best friend were 2 of the strongest sorcerers. Whoever Kenjaku was living as at the time had to be calculating and careful.

I don't know when Toji got the worm, but I think that Kenjaku needed to use it on Toji himself, and not only as a mediator to pass it onto Geto.

Idk much about Toji's life, but it seems like he was healing with his wife, and maybe he was still taking out curse users (though I want to use that term lightly bc ultimately it's the higher ups who decide who is a sorcerer vs a curse user), but I'm not sure he would have gone after Gojo or Geto or the star plasma vessel without the sudden grief or the worm.

Kenjaku likely was the founder of the time vessel association (which makes me laugh when Toji says thank you founder and shiu is like, ugh he is not the founder dumbass), which is from the Nara era. At the least we know that he was trying to destabilize Tengen. He needed someone to kill Riko. He needed Toji to lose his sense of reality, responsibility. (kenjaku was probably either in that group or sending them messages that they believed were like a sign from god)

So i feel more confident now in believing that Kenjaku did cause Megumi's mother's death. It seemed to happen by the time of Gojo and Geto's first year in jujutsu high.

In the end, love wasn't the greatest curse of all. It was the failure to understand Geto -

And Geto decided that he didn't need anyone to understand. He was giving up on Gojo, and on the rules.

It seems like Yuki Tsukumo and Geto kept in touch, judging by the end of the Shibuya incident. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their goals was to teach more people to become sorcerers or at least control their cursed energy, even if they can't see spirits.

Even if Geto were now curse user witn a death sentence, he still used his technique to absorb curses, a way to remove them from non-sorcerer victims without the stress or violence of exorcism (he didn't have to keep swallowing curses, instead of manipulating the ones he already had. But most people don't have resistance to curses, so he prioritized making things easier for the weak).

I imagine that some of these people got hyped about it, asking to learn, and were able to join a class that might focus on breathing techniques, visualization, etc (even if they could just control emotions better, that would help}. Larue's ability would make him a good teacher, and we really don't know what role he would have played otherwise.

I had someone in my patreon comments say Sukuna probably has a Hello kitty onesy, so I had to make it

Hii, I've read your Sukuna analysis alongwith @thepersonperson's analysis and I have to say I like everyone knew he had a very rough past that made him what he is today but the SA part i didn't even think about it with him but it makes so much sense in the nuanced context. And considering he has been with Kenjaku too for god knows at what age and how long it makes me dread at the possibility.

Regardless I'm not so good with words and just wanted to say that your analysis really gave a different and a deeper perspective on his character and really makes me think what if instead of a 15 year old boy he had someone more mature like Nanami (perceptive and a great listener) with him. Could he ever change (ik Sukuna's redemption is the most hated take in the fandom but my simp mind can't help but wonder the what if...)

Also what are your prediction on how his arc and jjk is going to end because i refuse to believe Yuji's last black flash is taking him down(coping)

I'm so glad you got something out of them! Yeah, I'm both dying to know what Kenjaku's past relationship with Sukuna (and the other reincarnated sorcerers) was and dreading it. (Gege has to fill us in on more Heian lore, right? I'm begging).

Anon, you have some great questions, and my tldr JJK ending / Sukuna hope post just came out of the queue, so I'll go more in depth here (and apologize for such a long reply - I tried to keep this short, but apparently have many thoughts).

I think we've had enough irredeemable villains with the curses and curse users like Kenjaku (I really don't see him being given some tragic backstory that makes us understand him, but maybe Kenjaku was so evil without cause that he became like a curse. Same with Haruta and the older ones in Shibuya - they all preyed on the weak, unprovoked). I think that Geto and Sukuna have been misunderstood because we see through the lense that jujutsu society taught us, and I like that. Sukuna deserves his redemption arc, I believe, I want it so bad.

Tbh I've never thought "what if Nanami was the vessel"? I don't think I'm the best person to explore that possibility, nor can I imagine him eating Sukuna's finger (but it would be funny and I'd be down to read someone else's thoughts).

But you have a great point - I'm going to explore this route with Yaga, instead. While I don't know Yaga's past, he is mature and similar to Sukuna in that they put on this cold shell of character, but are very observant and artistic individuals (the quiet creativity of literature and doll-making??). Hell, Sukuna's hobby being eating and Yaga's compulsion to make dolls could both easily stem from loneliness.

I forget whether I've given Yaga his own analysis post, he's super compassionate - from the design of Panda to the use of his cursed corpses in the manga, to help someone overcome by grief (though it's against the rules and he could be in trouble for it), I also feel like the conservative higher ups take issue with visibly queer students, so Yaga admits them to the Tokyo school, pretends not to notice, he makes sure that they're becoming sorcerers for themselves, etc. He's a great listener and you don't even have to say anything.

Plus, with his cursed corpses, Yaga wouldn't even have to eat Sukuna's fingies - he could feed them to a doll. Then Sukuna can have his own body (while I'm not sure whether he could take his true form this way, he told us that he is more comfortable in Megumi's body than his own - he gets to look like any other person, he fits better with clothing, furniture, the way everything is built... Sukuna could design a vessel to look the way he wants to).

If Sukuna were able to incarnate with his own body at first, then he wouldn't have to continue the cycle by repressing another soul (and then feeling gross about it), he would be able to chill and discuss poetry. I think he would still be full of rage at times, and have a lot of emotions and shadow work to process through, but Yaga would listen to Sukuna and find a solution to free him from Kenjaku's plot. (even if Sukuna is under a pact to not discuss certain things, Yaga might be able to figure out what he needs to know).

Or if Yaga had eaten a finger at first, then he wouldn't have just ignored Sukuna - maybe he wouldn't say much, but he would listen. At least have conversations when they were alone. Maybe teach him to make his own cursed corpse and provide it with the fingers they'd find together (I like this AU... Thanks for the idea).

But I have thought that if Megumi were the original vessel, they might have a symbiotic relationship like Hana and Angel. Megumi and Sukuna were both abandoned children, seen first for their differences, their strength, put into a separate category against their will. It was their birthright and they never asked for it.

I rly believe that Kenjaku made sure Yuuji would be the perfect cage psychologically as well - it was important for him to have no emotional understanding of Sukuna, to not be able to relate at all.

Ultimately I hope that Sukuna gets to have his own body, I think that could solve a lot, though he does have a lot to work through and recover from.

I do have fear in my heart from the recent chapter, where there's a frame of Sukuna with white eyes from being hit by Yuuji - it reminds me too much of Mahito in Shibuya, and that better mean nothing. (or maybe it means that we get to see Sukuna's final form, which is fine. Uraume said he's been holding back, after all.)

Something drastic has to happen if there are 4 chapters left and gege mentioned the ending would be satisfying for most people.

So my predictions for JJK ending...

I have 2 routes of predictions, but they could both happen, I guess. A few things listed have already come true. But almost every time I've been right, Gege throws in something unpredictable. I'm trying to finish my 3rd manga read by the next chapter so I can look for clues about the future.

I still can't let go of my cryogenic domain theory (it's not Chosover), or the possibility of time travel - whether to prevent things from happening, or to understand the present better, I can't rule it out.

Oh, and it's not Gojover either. He's the honored one throughout heaven and earth. But especially - the ability to create sugar? That guy Yuuji went to school with... His CT is so random. But who was always eating sugar? Gojo. It always felt like such a massive hint, along with the recent artwork of Gojo, Yuuji and Megumi - all three of them have taken on traits of the one possessing their body. That's why Gojo looks like that, I swear. His brain is just recovering right now. He might show up with Rika, in Yuuta's body.

I'm not confident in predicting these things, but I'd like for them to happen...

Shiu Kong hasn't been seen in a long time. Not since Geto took over the cult. We know very little about Shiu, but he was Toji's friend for 10 years, knew Megumi when he was little, used to be a detective, and is a Korean citizen. So whether he moved to Korea, or awakened some CT, or decided to figure out what was going on in Japan... I don't know, I just think it would be neat to see what he's doing, to have him be the one to tell Megumi about his father. He knew Toji the best, and Gege liked his character.

Gege did say that the end is satisfying, and I forgot about Mei, so if anyone has to die then I really hope she's the one. I don't see how this would happen, unless by Geto's hands.

Geto could return - Gojo said he would have been satisfied if Geto were there with him. Gojo is coming back, and bringing him along. I've been long hoping for Geto's return - Sukuna grew Yuuji a new heart, so maybe Geto's brain can return as well. Then he might have access to Kenjaku's memories, and a thousand years of jujutsu knowledge would be good for them (I was so stressed at finding out Yuuta did not make a pact with and revive Kenjaku for this reason). I also thought that Yuuta was the type to bring Geto's body back, especially when Gojo wanted to mourn it. Since we know he can basically teleport those who he's copied, it seems even more likely. I'm of the belief that the airport is not Gojo's hallucination - how would he know Haibara visited Nanami? (unless they were so close that it was obvious this would happen...)

I'll end with some hope for us Sukuna simps - the first episode was called Ryomen Sukuna, not Yuuji Itadori. Details like that had rumors going that Sukuna is really the main character of Jujutsu Kaisen, so... Maybe... (I hope it really is all about him).

Edit to add: Gojo will become Sukuna's vessel