Jjk Analysis - Tumblr Posts

exactlyyyy and it goes a step further: the clothing shift represents a shift in mentality. traditional clothing = traditional idea of people as a 'cog in a machine', individual suffering is justified for the sake of social harmony. this is the main evil in the jjk society, the same reason they keep sending kids to fight the vilest curses of humanity, the same reason the wheel keeps turning regardless of who dies (haibara, amanai etc.) the same thing that pushed geto into finding a way out, the same mentality that yuuji starts with.

modern (daresay western) clothing = rejection of this traditional idea. the people who've broken off with tradition now live for themselves, be that maki or toji after they left the zenins, kamo after the he was ousted, gojo etc. this isn't a selfish idea, its more like self-prioritisation and self love.

that's the point of the series, that each individual is worthy and exists beyond their traditionally thought of "value"

idk if anyone's ever mentioned this, but it's interesting how clothing is used in jjk, especially the clans.

roughly, you can divide clan members as traditional if they wear only traditional outfits and radical if they wear casuals.

take the zenins, for example. naobito, naoya and the rest of the household are never seen not wearing traditional. on the other hand, you have toji, maki and megumi - people who rejected the zenins - wearing casuals. mai is more complicated in that she sees herself more as bound in servitude to the zenins than as part of the family.

noritoshi kamo wears traditional, probably because he sees himself as a member and wants his mother to be accepted as a member.

for me, gojo is the most remarkable here. we only see him once wearing traditional: as a toddler in his household.

around the age of 12, he has already switched to casuals. he understood pretty early that the jujutsu society's traditions are pretty fucked up.

from there on, we have never seen the man in traditionals. he knows well that jujutsu society needs an upheaval, and it starts with the youth.

Now I'm more fucking confused than ever

I THINK ch. 270 gave us more hints about Momotaro?

Momotaro is mentioned when Gojo speaks to Suguru in the hidden inventory arc. It also appears during Takaba's fight with Kenjaku.

Different translations of the same page - at first, I thought this was saying that Geto is a bit different from Kenjaku - that Takaba used his CT to revive Geto in attempt to have a comedy partner (rip Kenjaku's brain, but it's better to leave him in the afterlife).

In the later translation, it seems they're discussing the difference between jokes. I'm not fluent in Japanese but I wouldn't be surprised if this could be read with multiple meanings.

Why is momotaro only mentioned with Geto - or Kenjaku, in his body? I know that Kenjaku was more interested in playing video games than knowing what CT had occurred in awakened players in the culling games.

There's the satosugu ship, and there's the chemistry between Kenjaku and Takaba.

There's the joke about Momotaro's conception - eating a magic peach and bumping uglies.

Idk the significance yet...

At this point maybe I should watch gameplay of momotaro? Or beg the internet to add anything they know.

I just cannot believe this is a coincidence bc gege wrote this, you know? So what does it meeaannnnnnn.....

Whalefall💫🩸

I saw this post and haven't known peace since

Baby Megumi whose mom died at a young age, whose father abandoned him and sold him to the Zenins, whose step-mother ran away with the money they got from the Zenin clan. I wholeheartedly believe that kid would have grown up with serious abandonment issues. That little boy who only wanted the best for his step-sister because in the end she didn’t abandon him like the rest of his family so that’s why he has to protect her, her kindness, he has to become a jujutsu sorcerer so he can be strong enough to save her. That kid meeting another kid who is kind, compassionate, silly enough to eat a curse object, but he loves that kid now and that means he needs to save him too. This boy who only wants to save his sister and this new kid he befriended but ends up harming them both, killing his elder sister with his own technique and unable to do anything as the curse residing in his body harms the pink-hair boy he loved and wanted to save while his soul sinks deeper and deeper. So…he gives up…he gives up fighting because who else is left, there is no one, no body that wants him around anymore.

That little kid hearing the words “it’ll be lonely without you around”….i can only imagine the feeling of being wanted, being needed that would have rushed into him after hearing that. The feeling of ‘I am not alone’, ‘there is someone that wants me for me’ coming from that one boy that he needed from the most.

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?

something something yuji couldn't understand his granddad's suffering and his choices in dealing with it for a long time because he himself was strong enough to bear the pain but once he got it, he could show empathy towards megumi and that was what megumi needed to be able to fight again. something something gojo very crucially couldn't understand suguru's suffering and choices in dealing with it because he himself was strong enough to bear the pain dot dot dot fill in the blanks

it's established that gojo's blindfold is a hallmark of his character. it's understood that the blindfold keeps things out; however, i also think there's something to be said about how it also keeps things in. despite the fact that there's already a lot of discourse regarding his blindfold, i think there's more to it than meets the eye (or doesn't, in the case of gojo).

this is going to be somewhat of a long post, but i promise that if you stick around, the end will make the journey worth it.

(this analysis is the lovechild of mine and @chiarrara, whose sexy big brain sponsored this whole thing).

as a character, gojo is unknowable without his eyes. it's very much proposed that gojo is his eyes; he's even repeatedly referred to as "the six-eyes brat". he's the strongest, and his eyes embody that status/symbol/role in the narrative. his eyes and his character are so intertwined that they almost become the same thing.

we are repeatedly reminded of his eyes throughout the story; they are perhaps his most distinct and identifiable feature. when we're shown the progression of gojo's life from birth to adolescence, we only see his eyes.

during this scene when toji is remebering him, he repeatedly refers to him as the "six-eyes brat". he is his eyes, and nothing else. that's the only thing that toji knows about him because to the jujutsu world, that's all he is.

however, when he's a teenager, although his eyes are more present than we've ever seen them throughout the series, they're noticeably un-glorified. they're undeniably present but they're unremarkable.

they're less symbols of his power and more what they are, which are just eyes. we see glimpses of his eyes so often that we almost forget that they're special, until he steps into his role as the strongest and reminds us of them.

it's important to note that what sets the depiction of his eyes apart here (versus when he's an adult) is the presence of geto. if you comb through every single scene with geto in hidden inventory, you will find that gojo's eyes are not the focal point of his character. they're backgrounded features; his eyes are either half-hidden or entirely obscured by his shades, and they rarely glow.

his eyes make themselves known when geto is absent, like during gojo's fight with toji. in these moments, he is the strongest, invariably leaving room for nothing else. the only exception to this rule is when he's carrying riko's body, in which his eyes glow when he toes the line between human nature and godlike power. if we understand his eyes to be conduits of his power, then their noticeable downplaying can be understood as gojo leaving behind his title as the strongest and stepping into his humanity.

when geto breaks up with gojo, his eyes are not only uncovered, they're un-emphasized. they're perhaps the dullest we've ever seen them, and their distinct, eye-catching blue is swallowed by the whites surrounding his irises. his strength and power don't matter in this moment, and his eyes reflect that. when he's losing geto, he is not the strongest; he is purely gojo satoru.

the emphasis on his eyes in his youth makes their absence in his adulthood even more stark. we rarely see his eyes now, and it's only in the direst of circumstances.

everyone is familiar with the dictum '"the eyes are the window to the soul", which is true: eyes let people see into us. however, they function both ways; like a two-way mirror, they also let us see the world. eyes let people look in, but they also let their beholder look out.

there's a reason gojo only put on the blindfold after geto left. why didn't he wear it from the start? why did he start wearing it at all? all the credit to @hijinks-n-lowjinks for their masterful analysis that inspired this idea, which is as follows:

"....Gojo wants nothing more than to leave the memory of Geto unscathed....There's still a part of Geto's memory that's untarnished if he keeps it private instead of exposing the depth of Geto's crimes to the students, and I think that's what he's clinging onto."

gojo wears the blindfold for two reasons: one, to keep people out, and two, to keep geto in.

in donning the blindfold, gojo seals geto in his mind and simultaneously seals himself off from the world. he holds geto inside of himself, rendering him (or gojo's construction of him) untouchable by anyone else. in order to achieve this, however, the practice necessitates that gojo keeps everyone else out, because they belong to a world without geto that gojo literally and figuratively refuses to see. the wall functions like eyes: twofold, both keeping in and keeping out.

geto can be understood as gojo's blindfold: he is the reason it exists and why gojo put it on the first place. the blindfold is an intractable element in how he (doesn't) navigate the world without geto, because geto's departure from his life catalyzed his withdrawal from the world, which is symbolized through the blindfold.

when geto was in his life, gojo let the world in because it had geto in it. after geto left, he wasn't there for gojo's eyes to find. the permanent blindfold operates like schrödinger's cat— instead of seeing a world without geto, gojo simply chooses to stop seeing.

it's worth noting that the literal barrier pairs with the figurative barrier gojo puts up, which is in his disposition.

there's a reason that gojo's cocky, lighthearted persona comes out when he's wearing the blindfold. it's a figurative barrier that matches the literal one. like i said before, we only see his eyes in the direst of circumstances, and his goofy, cocksure demeanour is notably absent from these instances. i'm not saying it's fake, but the persona is a front, designed to keep people at a distance. he plays it up, and it feels even more distant because we can't see his eyes.

however, gojo isn't the only person with a barrier.

after the breakup, we never see geto wear casual clothes. we always see him in his cult leader outfit, which is distinct and elaborate. geto knows it's a costume, evidenced by the way he even says it himself when someone asks why he's wearing the cult getup:

we also see a notable shift in his persona, to a crazed and almost manic disposition that contrasts starkly with the gentle, kind nature he had in his youth. geto's literal barrier is found in his cult outfit, whereas his figurative one is in his disposition. although they present differently, gojo and geto's literal and figurative barriers mechanize the same modes of expression that seem to be at odds with one another.

gojo’s disposition is designed to counteract the loneliness that shapes his character (a loneliness that geto abetted in being his companion) and geto’s disposition is designed to push people away, because he decided no one could understand him (a role which was previously fulfilled by gojo).

gojo can read geto in a way that no one else can, and geto is gojo's counterpart in a way that no one else can be— they’re missing something only the other can provide and compensating with two dispositions at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.

when geto is dying, gojo drops the literal and figurative mask. he's almost unrecognizable; he's not laughing, he's not smiling, and he's not wearing the blindfold, because he doesn't need it anymore. the only person he wants to see, the only person he's ever wanted to see, is in front of him now.

however, once again, he's not only one whose walls have come down.

geto drops the manic persona (although he retains the ideals) and he gently smiles in a way that's reminiscent of his youth. his cult leader outfit is also falling off, exposing him in more ways than one. he admits that he never had any hate for anyone at jujutsu tech, and in doing so, materializes the version of himself that lived in gojo's mind for a decade. that's why gojo doesn't bother with the blindfold; the geto in his mind and the geto in front of him are congruous and he's looking at the person he's been seeing inside his head all along.

it's been established that we don't know what gojo says to geto. however, it is also absolutely key that we don't see gojo's eyes in this deeply intimate moment. his eyes, which are inextricably linked to his strength and his role. his eyes, which are the medium through which he limits his engagement with the world. his eyes, which he sealed after geto left and only brings out when he's tasked with fulfilling his role.

in this moment, he considers the question geto asked him during the breakup. "are you gojo satoru because you're the strongest? or are you the strongest because you're gojo satoru?"

and in shielding his eyes from us, gojo answers him.

"i'm gojo satoru because of you, suguru."

his eyes, as the windows to the soul and witnesses to the world, are looking at geto suguru not as the strongest but as gojo satoru, and they are meant for geto alone. yes, the eyes are the windows to the soul but they're also two-way mirror— gojo opens his eyes for geto to look into his soul because the material manifestation of his soul is dying in front of him right now. in baring his eyes, he bares his soul.

before geto dies, we see him the same way gojo does. he seems bashful, almost shy, even mirthful; all traits that are antithetical to the crazed front he put up earlier. conversely, gojo is the most solemn we've ever seen him. in this moment, we see them both for who they really are, because they literally and figuratively only reveal themselves to each other.

after they part ways in shinjuku, geto and gojo embody the same barriers through identical mechanisms: fabric and persona. these barriers function to do the same thing, which is to keep people at a distance in order to leave space for the one person noticeably absent from their lives. it's very fitting that their walls come down as they meet for the last time, because the only people who could've torn them down are the same people for whom they put them up in the first place— nobody else but each other.

Gojo, flowers and Hanami. Hana - 花 - flower. A brief blurb about what can be derived from that scene in Shibuya.

It is already well-known that Gojo felt there was a line between him and others; as a “creature”. He likened people (I don’t think it’s specifically just his students) to flowers, thinking that they would find it difficult to understand him.

To an extent, it is true. The gap in strength (and lived experience too) was just so vast, it’d be comparing a human to a flower.

You cannot expect someone to truly understand that something is if they don’t know it or haven’t experienced it. Empathy is difficult as it is amongst equal beings. How would someone know what it would be like to be restrained all the time because of how much power they wield? Or the taste of the intimate ugliness of humanity? Or what grief is if they do not know what love or loss is? Or the feeling of immense responsibility upon their shoulders?

Back to the topic on hand:

Hanami is one of the few beings we got to witness Gojo actually killing. He didn’t kill without a strong meaning, as per Geto’s parting words at Shinjuku. Hanami was not a human, no, but unlike Jogo, he was killed outright.

Gojo was excited. Something clicked in him. We saw that scene and - phew, I got goosebumps. Yeah, on one level it is amazing animation. The otaku/fangirl in me was like 😱🤩 Gojo is so strong! We finally get to see him being a little animalistic, another side to him - it’s intriguing, interesting, almost sexy.

And, we saw how manic and monstrous Gojo was when killing him - mercilessly. Even when knowing Jogo was trying to distract him to save Hanami (in the character book, the seiyuu/voice actor mentioned that Jogo had feelings for Hanami). So we understand Gojo had it in him - just like what he demonstrated 10 years ago in front of Toji the second time - earning him the comment, “you’re a monster!”

Let’s look at Hanami as a character. Hanami was loved by her allies. It is supposed to be an earth spirit - wanting to rid humans to save nature.

Sounds a bit like themes from studio ghibli. But I digress.

Hanami as a character has a name that is made out of the kanji: 花御 - literally the honourable/noble/elegant flower.

Hana. Flower.

This brings me to my point… there is something subtly deliberate in why this scene was depicted as it was by Gege. Why, out of the many others, he made Gojo kill Hanami, with that name, in that monstrous way, with his infinity.

The thing that separates him from others.

If Gojo had not learned how to connect to others beneath him and nuture flowers...

…he could have the capacity to crush them all. Gege showed us a possible scenario: if infinity between Gojo and others (Hana/flowers) was so vast, it’d be disastrous.

Like a monster. A monstrous being describe as a calamity like Sukuna ate humans.

Gojo would have trampled on them like ants.

The jjk world was truly lucky he didn’t turn out like that, right?

Why the hell is JJK 270 called Dream's End?

JJK 270 being titled Dream’s End is so fudging ominous. That’s some Umineko type beat. I’m not sure if I should even judge this chapter as presented because of this. In fact, I'm holding off on posting the other analysis I had for today since I no longer am certain of what JJK 268–270 are.

There's two lines of thought I have:

1) Gege suffering from burnout and bad working conditions plus rushing has caused the writing to decline.

2) Gege still has a hidden ace saved for the final chapter and the weird writing is deliberate.

I'm going to humor Option 2, but only because the title of this chapter is called Dream's End.

(The most 'hear me out' discussion under the cut. Using TCB scans and leaks. Click images for captions/citations.)

Preface

"Without love it cannot be seen."

This is a phrase and philosophy I have borrowed from Umineko since I've started these JJK yapfests. It essentially boils down to 'discard your negative biases and try to examine things in good faith.'

JJK 268 & 269 have fudging tested that for me. I've been giving Gege and the characters a pretty hard time with the caveat of knowing how exploitative the manga industry is. I initially rejected the idea that these chapters were to be taken at anything other than face-value because of this. In fact, I cited the JJK 268 chapter title of Finale as a reason I've accepted things as is.

And with that same logic, I'm now doing the opposite... So hear me out! I've got some pretty good reasons to be doing this.

What's wrong with JJK 268–270?

There's a lot of things in these chapters that are fundamentally inconsistent with what's been established in throughout the manga. If we use Option 1 to explain these contradictions, these are last second retcons because Gege forgor.

Option 2? We're about to have the rug pulled the hell out from under us because the last 3 chapters have been delusions.

What first tipped me off to something possibly being wrong on purpose was the fate of the incarnated culling game players in JJK 270. Not too long ago it was established that the souls of non-sorcerers in vessels were unsavable.

The souls are suppressed in a way that distorts them permanently or their consciousness is outright destroyed. They were gambling on Megumi's survival due to him being a sorcerer and Sukuna's incarnation method being unique. 99% of them will die and those who survive will likely be vegetables, so why is there a sudden gamble on their survival in JJK 270?

It's such a neat and fine bow to tie this mess up that goes directly against existing lore. It's so ideal that it has me suspicious.

Brain damage from sorcery on non-sorcerers has been established as extremely taxing. I think about Gojo's Unlimited Void (UV) the most when it comes to this. Non-sorcerers were hit by it for 0.2 seconds and required medical intervention for 2 months to fully heal from it. Sukuna, the absolute strongest, tanked some of it and it affected him for the rest of the battle. ...And then we have Megumi who was under it for about 6 minutes and seems to have very little problems from it.

This is bizarre. Someone who underwent the month long bath and UV without Reverse Curse Technique (RCT) should be struggling to even stand after waking up. Sukuna had RCT and the Gojo brain damage still took him out. This screams of inconsistent writing unless...this is a deliberate hint that something is amiss.

I want to draw attention to the panel Megumi's UV damage is addressed. Just about everyone has been seemingly waiting around in the same spot for him to wake up. It's a bit weird given that sorcerers don't usually do that. They usually get a move on asap. And after the destruction of Shinjuku and the Culling Game Players still running about, why would they take a breather to discuss their plans that worked?

But that's not what started bothering me about that panel after reading JJK 270. It's that characters who aren't in the room, start appearing without warning. Look who is behind Maki and to the left. It's Kusakabe. And to her and Yuta's right? Inumaki. So why is it that Hakari, Kiara, and Ino are in Kusakabe's place while Todo spawns where Inumaki is? (And Yuta is facing the wrong direction too.)

That's pretty fudging weird right? You can chalk it up to Gege forgor but it doesn't stop there. Higuruma enters the discussion in a way that causes Yuji to pause.

Why is Yuji surprised to see him? (And where the fudge did he come from?) Shouldn't he know of his survival by now? And why is he in a cast? Higuruma had learned RCT and fully restored his arms before leaving the battlefield. If he's conscious, then he should be able to heal himself fully no problems.

And that got me thinking... Why is Yuji still missing his fingers?

It was established that he kept his fingers unhealed to help with Yuta's plan. This means that if he won, he has no need to keep them missing. Yuji has fully regenerated missing chunks of his face, including his eye, and stomach. He has RCT just like Higuruma. But it doesn't end there either. Yuji's number of fingers on his left hand keeps changing.

4 fingers, 3 fingers, dubious amount of fingers, 5 fingers. Once again, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but JJK 270 came out and the same problem started happening with Megumi's scars.

The same mistake is made within the same set of panels and very big page. That's weird.

ONCE AGAIN, you can chalk it up to Gege forgor, but when these errors occur, like with Yuta mistakenly having his ring on in JJK 251, Gege will note the mistake outright. Gege has made no such comments for Yuji's fingers or the scars. This many “errors” in row when Gege has otherwise been careful with these features could indicate it really is on purpose. (Kind of like Sukuna's everchanging mask. The thing was just moving around and pulsing. That was deliberate not inconsistency.)

What does this mean?

I think it means what we are seeing isn't reality. After all, the most common way to tell if you're dreaming is being unable to count the number of fingers on your hands. Another way to tell is the distortion of faces.

Readers have noticed that something is wrong. The weird timeskips, the lack of lasting consequences, design inconsistencies, characters behaving like similes of themselves, death and pain being glossed over like it's nothing. It all feels so off. But it's still close enough to the original to be somewhat believable. ...Is that not what it's like to dream and not know you are dreaming?

Why is it that the chapter titled Dream's End ends with the hunt for a curse user whose ability is to distort the perception of reality?

Dreams and Delusions in JJK

We already know Gege weaves Buddhist symbolism and ideas heavily into JJK. I'm not an expert in Buddhism at all, so there's a lot of it that goes over my head. I decided to look into if dreams are significant in Buddhism and boy howdy are they. Quoted directly from the source:

"Dreams can be a message from a Bodhisattva, an ancestor, or a god, The intent of the dream may be to test the dreamer’s resolve: is he non-retreating (avaivartika) from Bodhi (enlightenment) even when sleeping? The purpose of the dream visit may be to communicate information vital to the dreamer’s well-being. The Buddha himself had five dreams of catastrophes, falling stars and worlds in collision just before his enlightenment. The dreams were sent to him not by a benevolent Dharma-protector, but by an malevolent sorcerer, intent on disrupting the Buddha’s samadhi and preventing his awakening."

In summary, (correct me if I'm wrong) dreams appear to be seen as another state of being just as valuable and impermanent as reality.

There's also this other bit I'll quote directly.

"The most common use of dreams in the literature of the Mahayana, or “Northern School” of Buddhism in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam is to see dreams as a simile for sunyata, (emptiness) the hollow core at the heart of all component dharmas (things). For example, in the well-known Vajra (Diamond) Sutra, the Buddha taught that:

“All conditioned dharmas, are like a dream, like an illusion, like a bubble, like a shadow, like a dewdrop, like a lightening flash; you should contemplate them thus.”"

That's starting to sound like what Yuji's Domain does, right? He projects memories that did happen and mixes them with delusions and dreams. Sukuna and Megumi both experience this in full.

It's incredibly suspicious that it hasn't been named yet. Yuji is the son of Kenjaku who has a domain based on the Womb Sutra/Realm...which is paired with the aforementioned Diamond Realm to encompass the entire Dharma. It's very likely this is what Yuji's domain is—a realm of dreams and reality combined as one.

Unreality Runs in the Family

When Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" as the Culling Games begin, Kenjaku explains her situation with this:

What follows is a sequence that cannot be described as a dream. It seems to be a blend of reality and hallucinations. But that's not anything strange, Sukuna does it too with Kashimo in reverse.

As you can see, both the positions of the characters and even the backgrounds change suddenly from reality to ??? and from sequence to sequence. It's all incredibly dream like.

Another strange thing about this space is Kenjaku creating it as a part of an escape route Binding Vow. You know, the kind Sukuna uses for Malevolent Shrine.

What I want to draw attention to here is this reality-dream state somewhat requires consent (in the loosest possible definition) to appear. The person entering this state has to desire it themself. We see this with Jogo and Gojo who are mutually interested in having a relationship of somekind with Sukuna. (Same with Kashimo.)

(It's also very hard to tell if they are dead or still in the process of dying during this.)

This is where the delusions Yuji projects differ. They are forced onto others when he is near death or severely injured, seemingly as a defense mechanism.

And would you look at that...the syntax is identical for Todo and Choso's Brother Yuji Delusions. "At that moment, a memory was born inside X's brain...of a past event that never happened." It's kind of like how Yuji replaces Gojo in Megumi's memory to reach him. It's also very strange that Sukuna, Choso, and Jogo go "What is this?" to this in-between space.

My point here is that Yuji having access to this space has been hinted at since the start of this manga and that it was inherited it by blood. (Totally Not Kenjaku showing up with Takaba Mr. Reality Warping CT in JJK 270 supports my case too I think.)

What does this mean for JJK 268–270?

The battle ended in JJK 268. Of that I'm certain. What I no longer know is if anyone survived.

A common complaint about Sukuna's death is his lack of an afterlife scene. Everything ended so abruptly. And then Megumi wakes up.

It's so jarring in out of place. ...But that's how all scenes involving the space between dreams and reality begin. Sasaki Setsuko "wakes up" once and then again. Most of us have experienced those kind of dreams right? (They made a whole movie about it called Inception which is based on the movie Paprika.)

There's one other thing I need to draw attention to. Yuji's Domain shattered after Sukuna cast Domain Expansion (DE).

When a sorcerer withdraws their domain voluntarily, it does not shatter. Gojo has demonstrated this for us in quite clearly.

When a domain is broken by force, it will shatter and shards will scatter. When a domain is withdrawn, no shards are left behind. Yuta uses these facts as a part of his plan. In JJK 252, it's revealed by Kusakabe that Yuta shatters his own domain on purpose to trick Sukuna into thinking he won.

What this means is that some kind of violent action needs to be taken to shatter a domain. Yuji's domain is massive and his attacks only targeted Sukuna. What could've shattered his domain all at once? He's not had the time to practice shattering parts of it like Yuta.

Gojo has shown us what a uniform domain shattering looks like—it happens when Malevolent Shrine activates. (Please note that the sfx used for Sukuna breaking Gojo's domain is カシャア. It's the same one used for Yuji's domain shattering.)

I'm proposing that we've been in unreality since the end of JJK 266. Sukuna and Yuji are both severely injured, on the verge of death, and have a connection with each other. These are all conditions that trigger the space between dreams and reality.

And I must remind you that Yuji first triggers this event with Todo after a severe head injury. Right before Sukuna casts his domain, they do this to each other.

Everything that has come after has been perfect for Yuji to a unbelievable degree. Everyone whose death was uncertain is alive and the living are getting exactly what they wanted. The effort behind it and the logistics are all missing. And yes a rushed ending can explain that, but that too can be part of the ruse.

Another massive complaint is that mourning has not occurred. Not for Gojo or Choso despite how much Yuji cherished them. It's like they're being willfully forgotten by the cast despite being crucial to their success in Shinjuku. It feels out of character, especially since Yuji is of the few that showed concern for them no matter what.

But if this is a delusion on the brink of death designed to bring happiness, why would Yuji think of the dead? He's always been so avoidant with it. When his grandpa is dying and trying to talk about his parents, Yuji tells him to shut up. When Nanami dies, he thinks of him then and then never again directly leading up to his talk with Sukuna. When Megumi tries to discuss Nobara's fate, Yuji ends the conversation as quickly as possible.

The only people in this world are the ones who may or may not be dead. He saw Yuta in Gojo's corpse. The only way that can happen is if Gojo is dead. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. Choso burned away before his eyes. Yuji has no choice but to believe it. He went through some of Megumi's memories and saw Tsumiki's corpse. Yuji has no choice but to believe it.

And since Tsumiki is the only person Yuji wasn't close with, she's the only death that has been outright acknowledged. But not for too long! That would make Megumi sad.

Another complaint is that Sukuna really didn't kill anyone in the final battle outside of those two and Kashimo. The dudebros call it Disney Kaisen. But the fairytale-like idea that everyone is ok? Todo was the one who put that idea in Yuji's head.

And Yuji has always been one to fall to story-like logic when things look like they're finally wrapping up.

"And then everything will be just fine." (Yuji before the worst possible outcome for both him and Megumi happens.)

This is similar to the line Gakuganji uses in JJK 270. "Everything is fine." This line is the whole reason I sat down and wrote this all out without stopping. I know Gakuganji. He'd never say that. This man has been in a state of worry over Jujutsu Society since his first appearance. He doesn't even fully believe in Gojo's cause as someone who values tradition. He's a stickler for details and will do everything in his power to ensure stability. For him to toss Sukuna and Tengen's remains in a shrine and call it a day? Who is that? He's changed but not that much.

And so I compared the raws.

It is very much the same 大丈夫 (Daijoubu). These are Yuji's words.

What I'm proposing is that JJK 267–270 are Yuji's delusions of the happiest possible ending. It's a picture perfect little end where all the trauma and death has no effect on the living and people move on like nothing happened. I don't know if this means he's dead or if Megumi's dead or if they're all dead. But what I'm seeing now? I don't think it's real.

Reexamining JJK 269

CW: Brief discussion of suicide.

Even if this turns out to be a part of the smokescreen, I'm always going to hate JJK 269. But I do want to give it some grace under the assumption this chapter titled Examination (which can also be translated as Reflection) is about Yuji's guilt. Both him and Megumi's tbh. I think their feelings for each other and their situations are driving these delusions. That's one thing about this space that's real—the feelings behind them.

Yuji has a lot of guilt surrounding his existence after ingesting Sukuna, Megumi does too. Straight up Yuji has been seeking death over it since JJK 9.

He struggles to forgive himself for being the centerpiece to violence he had little to no control over. The only thing that upsets him more than that is knowing that his death will break Megumi's heart. He doesn't want Megumi to feel any guilt for it whatsoever.

The kicker is, Megumi already knows Yuji is planning to die. And he wants to do everything to rid him of that guilt. Up until they connect inside of Yuji's domain, they were unaware they shared the same goal for each other.

And that's what JJK 269 is. It's a very cold and harsh breakdown that allows them to forgive themselves. Blame is passed around and ultimately pinned on a combination of Gojo and Kenjaku. (It's really weird Sukuna isn't blamed either, but that's not the point of this for now.)

Kusakabe's comment is especially harsh. Telling Yuji point blank he should've died and that both sides on the issue were valid? He may have believed that to an extent, but he made a point of not telling it to his face. Why have a whole chapter discussing how kind he is only to turn around and do this?

If this is all a delusion, a manifestation of Yuji's guilt and trying to absolve himself of it for Megumi's sake, that makes sense. This version of Kusakabe is what Yuji feels guilt over the most—Everyone's lives being better if he died.

In the same breath Kusakabe tells them to solely blame the adults. It's very reminiscent of Nanami telling Yuji that being a child is not a sin.

It should also be noted that every single time Megumi tries to apologize for being possessed, he's stopped. Maki tears into Yuta without checking in on him, but she asks if Megumi is ok and tells him to not blame himself. JJK 270 is full of this too. He tries to apologize to Tsumiki at her grave and Shoko tells him not to sweat it. He tries to apologize to Hana and she hits on him instead.

This delusion is crafted out of love. It allows Megumi to live in a world where he can move on from the guilt surrounding his possession and saving Yuji. It's all Yuji has ever wanted for him. And now that Yuji knows Megumi wants him to forgive himself, he has no choice but to do that too.

It's a perfect ending for Megumi that's too good to be true.

It must be a dream...

There's another thing I can't reconcile about JJK 269 unless it's a delusion—Todo's explanation for Yuta's plan. It's another one of those glaring contradictions.

In JJK 269 Todo claims Boogie Woogie can't target Maki. But in JJK 259? Todo makes plans with Mei Mei knowing that it works with her.

Either Todo lied...or Yuji never fully knew the plan and that Boogie Woogie could target Maki. Otherwise she would be dead. Her surviving Sukuna's flames would be impossible.

I've already talked about how Yuji believing those who may or may not be dead are alive is Todo's doing. He's always been the one to save Yuji from his breakdowns. But let's talk about his speech in Shibuya.

"Looking for meaning or logic in death...can at times defile the memories of those we've lost!"

Everyone who has read these past 3 chapters has really felt the defiling of Gojo's memory. And it was all in service to a strange logic that helped them cope with all this death. Acknowledging how massive Gojo's sacrifice was would riddle both Yuji and Megumi with immense guilt, so it's best to ignore it for Megumi's sake. (And perhaps that's why Yuji replaces Gojo in that memory.)

"What have you been entrusted with? You don't need to answer right now. However... Until you find your answer, never stop moving."

In a way, JJK 269 is an answer to the question Todo proposed. Yuji was entrusted with saving Megumi. Saving Megumi requires Megumi and Yuji forgiving themselves. And Yuji won't stop moving until it's done. All these time jumps and rushed developments are Yuji moving Megumi forward. He's getting that happy ending even if it's to the detriment of everything else.

What about Sukuna?

When Sukuna respects his opponents and they have a connection, he gives others these dreams before they pass. He's been very impressed by Megumi since JJK 9. It's not out of the ballpark for him to allow Megumi to die satisfied in the way Gojo did. Yuji also seems to understand that Sukuna was manipulated by others just as much as he was. I think that's why Sukuna is spared of the blame for the most part.

I don't think Sukuna won. He's probably dead. But he did warn Yuji not to underestimate him. I think the worst absolute last fudge you to Yuji he could give is this happy ending dream before ripping it all away as he dies.

In Conclusion...

I'm not sure that we're going to get that happy ending. Reggie Star warned us not too long ago.

"...it all comes down to a sorcerer's lies."

Reggie is a lot like Sukuna here, outwitted by modern sorcerers and dying to someone he loathes. Sukuna is good at tricking people. He let Gojo think he won before tearing it all away. Yuta did the exact same thing to him. Or did he?

"Can you do me a favor? After all, you've killed me. Let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die."

If the last 3 chapters are delusions...Megumi will be playing the part of a clown.

Gege said the manga would end with either 1/4 or 3/4 of Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo surviving. This of course, could be changed throughout its development, but Gege said the manga is ending in its original vision. There's a real chance that it's only Yuji or Nobara surviving.

Remember, Gege is a troll first and foremost. Somehow Gojo was revived, but in the worst way possible (Yujo). Somehow Gojo did tell Megumi about Toji, but in the worst way possible (dead man's final letter).

Gege also said this about the final chapter:

"I am working hard to create a final chapter that will (hopefully) satisfy as many people as possible who have supported Jujutsu Kaisen. So everyone, please bear with me!"

I can't think of a better way to appease everyone than by making the last 3 chapters nothing more than dream.

It always feels a bit ridiculous when I see people characterise Gojo as someone who, just like Geto, sees non shamans as only the reason curses exist and as a bad thing

Like listen i love feral Gojo. I write him feral myself.

But a very interesting part of his personality to me is the fact that he’s not kind. Inherently and due to his upbringing, Gojo is the last person you would call kind or considerate. The special and beautiful thing about him is that he chooses to be kind. He chose to teach kids despite having no social skills and no knowledge of how to teach. He knowingly chose the thing he’s the worst at because he wants to help the next generation, when he could have just stick to his job or clan

He’s annoying and childish but he tries to be kind so badly. He helps lost kids, carries bags for old ladies. Part of it is probably the moral compass Geto instilled in him (who, as ive said before, is kind. They’re a good dichotomy of nature vs will. Geto is kind and chooses to be cruel)

But a lot of it is also just consequences of him trying and trying and failing and still trying to be kind. Is he the best parent for Fushiguros? Probably not. Is he the best teacher? Up for debate but maybe

But no one else wanted the Fushiguro siblings. There are no other teachers at Jujutsu High.

While i get the appeal of edgy cruel Gojo, idk. It just feels so wrong to write him as cruel and petty when he’s anything but. He sucks at being kind, he sucks at being a good friend or a parent. But he’s trying, he actively goes against all that he’s been taught, against his nature, to care for others. That feels important, that feels meaningful. This is the most important part. He doesn’t want a reward or recognition he wants for the kids to have a better future at the expense of his own. Idk what to tell you i can’t in good conscience undermine all his effort in being kind. He’s a walking tragedy but he has been swimming against the current for as long as he lived

hes not the strongest. the strongest would’ve been able to kill suguru geto the moment he laid eyes on him. he is satoru gojo and satoru gojo is only human.

‘But you know, one day everyone will grow up and leave me behind’ Gojo who was taken from his parents at a young age to train to be the strongest, Gojo who’s best friend left him and chose to fight directly against him, Gojo who lost the two juniors he was close with, Gojo who was always ‘the strongest’ first and foremost and never just a human being, Gojo who lost his son to the king of curses. All he has even known is loneliness, and despite this all he still reached out for someone to be there for him, he still had love and dreams, he still put his all into protecting his students and wouldn’t even let his body rest in peace because he wanted to help those he cared about even after he was gone. He was doomed to this fate from the start and in the end he made sure no one was left to doom his students in the same way.

Water represents the world of jujutsu / curses, I think.

It rains when they're up against something unprecedented, something too strong, often before someone dies (not a proper death).

Opening scene - flooded train car, water on Yuuji's fingers, not in the palm of his hand. Up to his knees. He wakes up in it, looking innocent, naive, optimistic. Like he doesn't know where the train is going but he isn't worried about it.

Juvenile center (rain, then Sukuna rips out Yuuji's heart).

Sukuna's innate domain (it isn't deep but Yuuji is pinned face down in it)

Jogo ankles deep when he uses his domain expansion - Yuuji hadn't been touching the water bc gojo is sharing his infinity and protecting him

Dagon’s domain (the special grades & kenjaku hang out there, and later in Shibuya they couldn't defeat Dagon without the ghost of Toji, who was like oil against the water of the jujutsu world, untouchable).

Nanami and Yuuji fight the first transfigured humans - rain, for the first time they saw people contorted like that, it wasn't to mourn a sorcerers death but they were shaken emotionally. I think this rain was to show that Mahito was stronger than them, like the special grade at the detention center was.

“school is just a tiny aquarium, swim where you want to” JUNPEI'S MOM SAID THAT and his life ended in that tiny aquarium bc he brought jujutsu there and died. If he didn't to to school, if he'd called Yuuji to verify Mahito’s narrative, he might have gone to jujutsu high instead. Also his shikigami is a jellyfish. With poison. (Also this scene w junpei in the jellyfish feeds my theory that kagewani inspired jjk but I digress).

Mahito grooming junpei, and how he was often outside with water in sight.

That outro song with the beach. No one went into the water. They were alive.

Fighting Hanami ankles-deep in the exchange event. It was rough but they survived. Also interesting that Hanami was so close to using domain expansion.

The pool at rikos school, overgrown and unkempt, gojo's foot touches it while he's on the phone with yaga.

Riko is first seen in a bathtub. Contained, kept clean and safe to combine with Tengen. Her inner world is at the bottom of the ocean. All her life, it was - the wreckage of her parents car is there, she always knew she was different, kept apart. Things change for her in Okinawa. She sees the jujutsu world from the outside world. Playing in the shallow ocean at first, but then Gojo pushes for another day. They ride in canoes over the water. They visit an aquarium - we don't see Kuroi there at all. Gojo and Geto keep watch from a distance, but the focus is on Riko looking into those tanks from the outside. She has a new perspective. She wants to stay alive outside of the ocean.

The intro for the hidden inventory arc with the beta fish, fish that are kept in separate bowls. So similar and torn apart, in the same world but not.

Yuki asks geto if he hates nonsorcerers (and it rains. Not on them bc they're inside, but her words seep in eventually).

Going to see mechamaru (this rain covers the whole shibuya arc imo, bc it begins there and he doesn't make it out).

Sukuna vs Mahoraga. When mahoraga was pinned underwater, that was a sign.

Also Dagon using water outside of his domain, bad sign.

IK this isn't everything, but I felt too insane to keep updating the list.

I'm rereading the manga again rn so maybeeeeee I can post a part 2 for things not yet animated? Though at this point the symbolism is evident enough that idk if it's worth doing.

(anyway @cyrus-solaris u for pulling this out from where it was rotting!)

does anyone know why jjk seems to have this whole ocean theme going on?? i’m on my second watch and i still can’t seem to figure it out :/

(no, i don’t read the manga)

You know what else Kenjaku inherited? This.

It looks just like what Gojo is always wearing... But it has a hood, so I kept gaslighting myself out of this thought BUT Gege said that Gojo and Geto encountered each other in those 10 years.

And I think that he went through more than one outfit change. Going back to my ramble about the blindfold - - I think he started out by adding a hood, when the sunglasses weren't enough. Also the bulk, weight and pressure of a hood is a good stim. Not to mention that it would keep him hidden, less noticeable.

I want to see Gojo in this outfit so bad.

Do you think he was almost caught staying with Geto? And left that outfit there, wore Geto's old sweater home?

Also the way that Geto's memories, manner of speech etc infiltrated into Kenjaku and I'm sure he could have worn something else - he couldn't risk being seen at Junpei's school(windows would quickly report the veil) so he left. Bro could have stayed but he was so cozy in that jacket jajxjchaksmxk

You know how Mahito shows junpei a button with a swirl on it?

I'd been wondering where it was taken from.

I think that Geto kept his school uniform, and Kenjaku took the bottom from it.

Sorry to bring this back again but this page along with Mahito saying "after all, I was born of humans" just. Belongs here.

Edit to add: here's an elaborated post with more context and details that I'd missed

It makes me feel not insane for thinking that Sukuna's eyes look glassy and out of character for him during the scenes with Mahito (where Sukuna is in his innate domain. This is shown in the manga and the anime).

Edit 2: Mahito's domain - it resembles so strongly this picture that I cannot find (but I saw it somewhere 10 years ago I swear) of how it feels for survivors of csa - the ugly emotional flashbacks like hands are all over you (it's hard to explian, I'll link the source if I come across it, this stuff is draining to read about).

I think this feeling comes across in the manga better, with the hands stretching over the panels, breaking the fourth wall. It's so creepy and unsettling. The hands layered over each other in the top panel remind me of that picture - the hands were overlaid like that, almost like a... Idk fashion words, but like a sequin dress maybe? Only the layers are made with hands instrad of pieces of fabric or decoration.

Additionally, we could dissect the expression that Mahito makes while opening his domain. But I really don't want to go there. My skin is crawling too much. Take from this what you will.

Edit 3: I hate it here

So tbh I have not seen the human centipede, but I heard that it was created as a punishment for predators. Is that... The form that Mahito is taking here? Was it really hidden in plain sight?

Content warning for topic of SA

And how I think it's represented through a character in jujutsu kaisen.

I think he was very well written and that this was intentional.

He's on level with curses from the earth, forest and ocean (which are so big with so much negative energy directed at them that the curses gained consciousness without form) but Mahito is from humans.

He mutilates bodies and souls without consent. The transfigured humans beg for help, they beg for relief, even if it means death, to be put out of their misery, whenever they can manage to say anything coherent that's all that it is.

And these victims are seen as monsters themselves. Less than human, their consciousness tampered with, they die of asphyxiation.

All of these effects come from SA. the damaged body, brain, nervous system, feeling like air doesn't exist, like you're no longer breathing, that the state you've been left in is worse than death.

And in the end, when Mahito faces judgement and begs for mercy, it's easy to feel sorry for him. To want to give him another chance. And that might be the sickest part of all.

It's so real and such a good representation without actually showing SA on screen.

And the relationship that he had with Junpei was grooming. I could elaborate on that but honestly. I don't have it in me rn. Just, the intellectual conversations, the it's easy to talk to you, the manipulation and coercion and pushing boundaries with corpses and his mother and transfiguring him in the end.

Mahito is such a creep and I hate him but it isn't exactly triggering to watch, either. I got triggered by the night beyond the tricornered window, though - which I put on after hearing that it influenced jjk. And I do see where gege got the domains and pacts from, the art style was rly cool, but I could not keep paying attention to it omg. It wasn't even graphic, but a sort of spiritual rape, and the dynamics there were...

What I'm trying to say is that I think both jjk and this anime did a good job of showing SA without there being SA. (though tbf I didn't get through the other one, or like I did eventually bc I liked the art style so much but I could only glance up to it occasionally bc at that point I knew better).

Also I believe that elfen lied and banana fish inspired jjk, and those series are heavily about autonomy and sexual assault and the effects of abuse.

JJK is going to look different again since seeing Yuuji, Sukuna and Kenjaku (Gojo too ig) in this light so strongly [spoilers if you're anime only ig, no chapter leak spoilers tho]

Sukuna hates Yuuji (and is uncomfortable around Kenjaku) bc his body is a cage. Kenjaku designed Yuuji that way. I wonder if he spent generations experimenting (his grandpa telling Jin that he'd die, around whoever his dead wife was and the way Yuuji was born w Sukuna's finger in him - but it was sealed, so Sukuna didn't possess Yuuji or have awareness of this until he hate more, unsealed fingies).

Sukuna and Yuuji were both robbed of their autonomy by Kenjaku, in almost the same way. This gives them something very unique and personal to relate to each other with, but they don't try to find common ground. The closest thing is Yuuji saying "I know you don't want to die, too" but he never asks Sukuna for his motives. Everyone seems to assume that it's about power and killing everyone without reason. The only times when Yuuji interacts with Sukuna are to get something from him. I think that Yuuji trying to bribe him into healing Junpei felt awful - imagine being trapped in a kid's body, who has total control, and then he tries to manipulate you. Sukuna hates being touched so being thrust into this state must have been hell.

Uraume seems like the only one who respects Sukuna's boundaries.

Yuuji matches everyone's energy, and usually comes around to understand them. Megumi's reason for saving people, Nobara's reason for becoming a sorcerer etc, Junpei's reaction to his mother's death.

But he's never tried to understand Sukuna - at first, he told Gojo that he kept hearing Sukuna's voice, that he was annoying. Which means that Sukuna was trying to initiate conversation. Yuuji just ignores Sukuna, never giving him a consideration of humanity. The only way of connection Sukuna is ever granted seems to be through violence.

In the first hour of knowing about, seeing cursed spirits, Yuuji was told that Sukuna is a curse, a monster. Gojo said that Sukuna was once a real person. But Yuuji never tried to connect with any humanity that might there.

I think it has to hurt on some subconscious level, at least, that Yuuji gives anyone else some compassion, some empathy, but doesn't bother to have a conversation with someone who is forced into sharing his body, but not able to control it.

I believe that Sukuna went through the process of mummification while still alive because it was a way to prevent Kenjaku from using his body, (it might have also been a way for him to see more about consciousness, without any peers in his era. It might have been convenient since there was a famine at some point - he mentioned that his mother might have been starving and that's why he ate his twin in the womb. Idk) to reclaim it as his own.

I'm starting to wonder if Sukuna's motive for everything is to regain some autonomy, to have a body of his own again. And maybe he had to become a monster to do that, by transferring into Megumi.

And Sukuna doesn't seem to consider himself human, either, but did in the past. He's only considered human by others when it comes to calling him a cannibal. Despite that there were likely circumstances leading to this - a famine, a sign of respect to the sorcerers who challenged him to the death.

But he's so isolated from the world, from being called a child that should have never been born, to not fitting into clothes etc. bc the world wasn't built for him, and the loneliness that comes from being aro/ace, from being an object of fear or a deity to use in rituals that might prevent natural disasters.

Sukuna has no peers until it comes to Gojo, but they communicate in different styles, and remain isolated by misunderstanding.

A sukugo parallel I think deserves attention - they both had to become the monster. Thrust into this position by birth (held responsible for the shift of the world), and by the reactions of the people and powers around them.

The difference is that Gojo became the monster by letting someone else take over his body.

Sukuna became the monster by intentionally taking someone else's.

Sukuna never attacks without reason, I was rly mad at him for Mimiko and Nanako but I think he had a trauma response and felt gross like they were trying to manipulate him the way Kenjaku had.

But when he kills, it's fast and merciful. It's an instant death.

The exception to this would be during his fight w Mahoraga (and maybe Jogo I forget rn) but they were caught in it by chance, by accident. Sukuna limited his range to spare Megumi, but he wasn't in a position to be aware of every person's location and keep them out of the crossfire. He wasn't intentionally hurting them, he wasn't finding joy in their suffering, he wasn't standing around to watch.

It's my opinion that when Sukuna first appeared and said it'll be a massacre, he was hinting at the merger. I can't think of a single time when he went after anyone who did not approach him first.

To make things even worse:

We can look at Sukuna and Kenjaku's relationships with Mahito.

Kenjaku gets along with Mahito - though he is just using him for his CT and to manipulate things in his own game. He still called him over when Geto's body fought back. "hey, Mahito, look at this," like he wanted to share a joke w a friend, and listen to his interpretation of the phenomenon. It was so friendly, that interaction always weirds me out.

Sukuna does not like to be touched. He seemed to get along with Mahito at first, when Yuuji called him out - but generally he prefers to be away from that in his innate domain. I think that Sukuna was creeped out by Mahito, once he became aware of the situation - actually, I think the only one who wasn't disturbed by Mahito was Kenjaku.

Kenjaku and Mahito constantly cross boundaries, manipulating bodies and souls without their consent, and it is fun for them. I'm not sure whether Kenjaku enjoys to watch people suffer, but he loves games and seems to see everything as a part of one, and doesn't hesitate to hurt anyone - unless it interferes with his plans.

Sukuna doesn't hurt anyone unprovoked, but Kenjaku and Mahito don't save anyone without reason.

More thoughts about Kenjaku (less disturbing this time)

Anime-only friendly post [mild potential spoilers in brackets, I guess.]

-Kenjaku had to craft a cage (Yuuji) that would eat Sukuna's fingies willingly. If he'd force them, like with the Death Paintings, then Sukuna might have empathized with the host.

So Yuuji had to have the ability and the desire to suppress Sukuna. His life could not be relatable to Sukuna's. [THAT explains why he thanked Yuuji's friend from the occult club for being good to his son. Kenjaku needed Yuuji to grow up with a carefree life.]

-he could be thousands of years old. 1,000 years ago he was planning for the future - you know how as a kid, one hour feels like a lifetime? And as an adult, 10 years ago feels like last week? He already seemed old in the manga flashbacks.

-at the end of the Shibuya incident, Kenjaku said that the pacts he made with sorcerers have been nullified since he changed bodies.

[In the culling games, it seems like these sorcerers are in an uncomfortable, even coerced position. Like they had regrets, an unfulfilled life, and are taking their second chance - but they seem to fear or resent him. (tbh I need to reread this part of the manga more seriously). It's like no one knows these pacts have been nullified, except for Kenjaku himself.]

It makes me wonder if Kenjaku's karma is also reset when he gets a new body. If he was careful not to directly involve himself, until it was time to use the prison realm, because of a pact or karma-conscious approach.

My other thought on this is that Kenjaku didn't involve himself bc it was more fun to manipulate other people and curses. It was less predictable that way, more interesting, and everything is a game to him.

I wonder if Kenjaku's playfulness was intentional, concerning the idea that the universe favors play.

Ok it's time to post about Megumi lmao this was in my drafts for a month

I feel like he connects w Yuuji and Nobara so well bc everyone else expects things of him. Yuuji is quick to praise his peers, and Nobara will throw out judgement. Neither of which is based on his cursed technique.

It's kind of ironic how Toji was punished for having no cursed energy, and his son is doomed by having the ten shadows. Megumi seems to exist for leisure like Sukuna or Nanami - he doesn't look forward to becoming a sorcerer. He couldn't care less. He just wants to be left alone, and he really has no other choice. With no parents, all that remains is the choice between the Zenin clan or Gojo.

I think that their relationship never became a father-son closeness, because Megumi dreaded and resented that Gojo expected Megumi to catch up to him, to be strong. He never asked to be strong, but everyone expects that of Megumi without rly getting to know him. "my precious student" and Megumi threatening to punch Gojo is kind of funny, but kind of sad. Idk. (to be fair I have not read the light novels, I know that Gojo would take Megumi to theme parks or something like that, so he was maybe like an annoying but caring older brother.) I think that Gojo's loneliness drove him to tell his students to catch up, to become stronger than him. Of course he also wanted a strong, understanding generation, capable of restructuring jujutsu society into something that wasn't so destructive toward them.

I think that Sukuna and Megumi can relate to each other a good bit. Abandoned by their parents, deified and put into a separate category from something beyond their control or desires. Despite all their strength, being placed into powerless positions, forced to work for a system that doesn't give a damn about them. They both value personal space, literature, and are constantly challenged and thrust into battle when they aren't in the mood to fight.

You remember when Megumi curled up w Sukuna's finger after defeating the special grade? And Sukuna was like, 'Good, that's very good.' why?

I think Sukuna was glad to see Megumi's domain. Sukuna knows how uncomfortable it feels to be repressed in Yuuji's body, and he gets through it by retreating to his innate domain most of the time, unaware of whatever is happening outside of it.

I might have posted before about how someone like Megumi could have been a symbiotic vessel for sukuna, like angel and Hana, so that's why it was so important for Yuuji to have a carefree life.

ch.265 rly confirmed this - we see that even when Yuuji tries to connect with Sukuna, he has no idea how. He doesn't recognize the signs of emotional scarring from Sukuna's past. Kenjaku made sure of this, I wonder at times if he told Wasuke to give Yuuji a carefree life - when he said "tch, you've had it too easy" that struck me as weird bc bro, you raised him!

I can't think of any time kenjaku thanked someone except for the occult club student, for being kind to his son... It was important for kenjaku's mission. Yuuji was carefully crafted into a perfect cage for sukuna - not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.

I wonder if he had an idea that Kenjaku would step in, when he passed away.

Yap part II got me thinking about more things uwu (I'm going to assume you've caught up on the reading linked however it will probably make sense if you didn't?

Content warning for SA topics

Cursed energy

Choso

Sukuna

((alternative methods to reduce cursed energy))

In reference to the SA statistics mentioned above (how it affects far more people than natural disasters, etc)

Reducing cursed energy doesn't mean eliminating non-sorcerers. A lot of curses could be avoided just by focusing on sex ed, consent, preventing these crimes from happening in the first place.

In addition to the weird, gropey curses, there were others from overworked employees, stressed students, and insecure children repeat things like "bento box" and "what time is it" and "no fair" etc.

But God, if cursed energy is from negative emotions, then why not address the causes of negative emotions?

Losing sleep and working to death for companies - I think Nanami's time as a salaryman taught him that jobs in general, not just as a sorcerer, are going to prey on the emoloyees' bodies. We all joke about how he looks 45 years old and is younger than Gojo, still in his 20s - the dude doesn't have RCT and the stress of work made him look like that, I swear. If Gojo weren't constantly running RCT, he'd look just as bad I think, maybe even worse.

The problems with jujutsu society in general are that they don't treat the cause, but only address the symptoms as a problem. And that they benefit the most, those who exploit others, often children.

If everyone has a better quality of life, safer environment, then curses would become fewer and weaker. But no one in power would push for that idea.

I want to elaborate a bit on Choso.

He accused Kenjaku of toying with his mother - with such anger - it felt like he was there, aware, watching it happen from his test tube.

And @thepersonperson mentioned Choso's guilt over the way he involuntarily repressed the original soul when he incarnated into some random guy's body. Choso gained knowledge of the modern world through that, but he isn't aware of anything about him, or his memories. It's like his soul is no longer there at all.

Choso is sensitive. He's very compassionate, emotional, and he is not afraid to change his mind, to admit that he was wrong, or to cry (he had tear stains immediately, like that's an integral part of his being). He holds himself responsible for his mistakes (even if he couldn't have known better).

Choso feels the need to justify his own existence (much like Yuuji after the shibuya incident) because his life is a product of rape - from both kenjaku and the curse that assaulted his mother.

People in his situation suffer from that awareness. It's easy to feel dirty, disgusting, unworthy of human decency or any kind of love. Not to mention that Choso's dad, half of him, is a curse. We all say that Kenjaku is Choso's father, and that's kind of true, but all he did was mix his blood in. Another layer of fucked up when you wonder what the real Noritoshi Kamo would feel about this. I believe that Kenjaku sought out his body specifically to run these abortion experiments. He needed to use blood manipulation for this to work (I'm assuming it also played a role in keeping Choso's mother alive through all of this, because abortions were more dangerous than childbirth with the methods used back then - though maybe it's different with a curse involved).

Still, Kenjaku is considered their parent - no one ever says "🤓 Um, actually" about this. He is granted the role of parenthood despite doing nothing to earn it, except for committing horrid acts of violence for his own curiosity.

It seemed weird, but he is responsible for their existence - the death painting wombs are only there because of what he's done.

It's less weird when I realize this is what certain rape victims have to live with - their abuser being accepted by society, by their family, as the parent. As a title that assumes responsibility, love and care. How sickening.

Yet, the death painting wombs were all locked away in the cursed warehouse - assumed to carry the evil of their father, these objects were feared and placed under a pact. They hadn't even incarnated yet, but were already demonized by the sins of their father. (this phenomenon is seen in real life as well, I don't have the heart to elaborate)

And Choso felt guilt for not only the way he was conceived and incarnated, but for allying with the curses and killing Yuuji. Though he forgives his brothers easily, he doesn't seem to ever forgive himself, like he's afraid that (albeit accidental) tragedy and violence are biologically placed in his fingertips, because his father and kenjaku live on in him.

As much as we want Choso to accept his right to live, he feels most at peace when he's able to sacrifice himself for his brothers (which is kind of ironic bc they're in the same situation, yet Choso doesn't see them as dirty or obscene). He seems to feel that he is alive to pay for his fathers' crimes.

Sukuna

This quote ^ got me thinking that, yeah, when he first appeared it was ugly. He made a horrible first impression. Sukuna came out craving violence, he wanted to lash out, he had anger to release.

Also I read through the lyrics of s(aint), the song Gege chose for Sukuna. It makes a lot more sense now than it did before I had caught up on the manga. It's also interesting that Marilyn Manson was a victim of csa from his neighbor, an older kid who liked to play "prison" (as in, he played this off as a game). This guy went on to kill his dog (that had heterochromia) with poison (sukuna's immunity to poisons). I read his autobiography when I was 15. It was disturbing and I don't recommend it. I doubt any other similarities between mm and sukuna are worth mentioning. The book is called the long hard road out of hell, and Sukuna was inspired by a deity of hell. Both of them are victims of abuse who continue its cycle. I think it also mentioned finding human bones in a graveyard, grinding them and smoking it, just to see what would happen which feels Kenjaku-coded.

I THINK ch. 270 gave us more hints about Momotaro?

Momotaro is mentioned when Gojo speaks to Suguru in the hidden inventory arc. It also appears during Takaba's fight with Kenjaku.

Different translations of the same page - at first, I thought this was saying that Geto is a bit different from Kenjaku - that Takaba used his CT to revive Geto in attempt to have a comedy partner (rip Kenjaku's brain, but it's better to leave him in the afterlife).

In the later translation, it seems they're discussing the difference between jokes. I'm not fluent in Japanese but I wouldn't be surprised if this could be read with multiple meanings.

Why is momotaro only mentioned with Geto - or Kenjaku, in his body? I know that Kenjaku was more interested in playing video games than knowing what CT had occurred in awakened players in the culling games.

There's the satosugu ship, and there's the chemistry between Kenjaku and Takaba.

There's the joke about Momotaro's conception - eating a magic peach and bumping uglies.

Idk the significance yet...

At this point maybe I should watch gameplay of momotaro? Or beg the internet to add anything they know.

I just cannot believe this is a coincidence bc gege wrote this, you know? So what does it meeaannnnnnn.....

Latest update here:

Momotaro (from the game) seems to resemble the way our latest curse victim sees her fiancé...?

Momotaro from folklore seems to resemble Yuuji.