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doodles~

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warm ups slash art dump slash (idk)

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corvidae

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I feel like many people have a fundamental misconception of what unreliable narrator means. It's simply a narrative vehicle not a character flaw, a sign that the character is a bad person. There are also many different types of unreliable narrators in fiction. Being an unreliable narrator doesn't necessarily mean that the character is 'wrong', it definitely doesn't mean that they're wrong about everything even if some aspects in their story are inaccurate, and only some unreliable narrators actively and consciously lie. Stories that have unreliable narrators also tend to deal with perception and memory and they often don't even have one objective truth, just different versions. It reflects real life where we know human memory is highly unreliable and vague and people can interpret same events very differently

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He was a killer He did fishing What more can I say?

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PRINTS.

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hey, i was just wondering what are your thoughts on the final chapter of jjk…

The End

This is gonna be a little detailed. I am gonna first give a short answer and what I liked and disliked, then a little more detailed one. This is about ending as a whole.

I remember I did quite some research during my college time on post modernism and existentialism because i had to write an essay (it isn't about that) but I will be referring to what I researched here and there, when put forth my points.

Short answer- I am content with the ending. I am also surprised since this is the first time gege wrote a full manga for the first time, but he still managed to give an ending better than most. And any gripe that still remains, I will not hold it against the author cause the story and characters aren't real, Gege is.

Yuji, Sukuna, and Gojo's character have some of the best conclusions within the story (unpopular opinion probably 😮‍💨). The way they were written and the consistency with regards to their characterization was amazing.

As for what I am conflicted about, well, it's Megumi's character. I don't know how to say it, I liked it his conclusion, but I wish there was more introspection to how he reached there. But alternatively, I talked with a moot of mine, and they think the lack of introspection from Megumi is quite in-character. He decided to live for others once again (i.e., he didn't address his problems at all) and he is finding peace and comfort in the cage he is stuck at, it's such simple decision from his part, cause he is very clueless about his own psychology, and this is the beauty of it, that we as readers know what caused him to make that decision-according to my moot. I highlighted this one, cause this interpretation stood out the most. I also talked with other people, who seem to hold dislike for the lack of introspection from Megumi's end. While I am still conflicted, maybe I will address in some other posts or not at all, idk, but right now, I haven't formed my opinion on it. But I am satisfied, to say the least, conclusion itself isn't bad for me.

Detail:-

I like that it's more about evolving and coexistence rather than breaking the cycle or one conclusive solution. Regardless of Sukuna's or Yuji's existence, the curses will always continue to exist. It's humans' negative emotions that create curses in the first place. If the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses won't either. Jujutsu Kaisen in a way rejects the idea that life can just have a start, middle, and end, or that one single truth/solution can provide closure. Maybe things can get worse in the future, maybe things can get better, that's up to you to decide, in that particular sense, it's open-ended.

You may ask what was even the point then? Well, let me offer a perspective, although it's just my interpretation, you don't have to agree to it...

When characters within a story accept a belief, perspective, or solution as the only truth, it can lead to their failure, especially if that belief oversimplifies a complex reality. But, one character who comes to understand the complexity can find a way to coexist with the chaos or ambiguity, though not necessarily "fixing" things.

In narratives such as these, the answer isn’t just a rejection of truth but a recognition of multiplicity, the presence of multiple perspectives, interpretations, or meanings within a single work or the idea that one truth or solution cannot account for the full stretch of experience. The character who realises the absence of a single "fix" often ends up navigating the challenges in a more nuanced way. They may not succeed in traditional terms, but they endure by accepting life’s complexity.

Many characters within JJK try to find some single "fix" to the system or the problem of curses and cursed energy and each of them had very flawed solution which we see failing--Yuki/Kenjaku/Geto were all extremists in that sense, one of my friend mentioned this in twt, Yuki wanted to completely break away from CE but also she didn't have any concrete plan, and Kenjaku who wanted to optimise it, but never really knew what merger could do, himself. Even Geto knew that killing all non-sorcorers is not possible.

Sukuna/Gojo-- both their ideals were extremely flawed. Many people have written amazing analysis on this, so i won't go in detail. But we see in the story how strength was the reason for both their solitude and which led them to path of their own death. But Sukuna perfected what Gojo didn't, sukuna completely threw away his humanity and was content living as a curse. A hollow human, who only ever cares about strength, he deemed love worthless, like Gojo deemed love to be the most twisted curse. However, gojo still wanted connections at the end of the day, and this kept him a little more humane than sukuna, who became a monster who clung to life wanting to stay at the pinnacle.

I liked that in the end Gojo realised that Yuji and other should follow their own path rather than just following his goals (although he would've like that) and I am glad they didn't follow his footsteps.

This conversation between sukuna and mahito just added so much to their characters.

Sukuna is the man who perfected his ego. He discarded his humanity till his last breath. Sukuna says he was an unwanted child (maybe cause he ate his twin in his mothers womb, someone on twt pointed out that this is similar to biological condition called "fetus in fetu") and he internalised this all and lived his whole life as a curse, only ever caring about his pleasures and displeasure and being the pinnacle. But even a perfected ego gets humbled in death, and the same happened with him. He acknowledges that he could have taken a different route, and if there is a next time, it would be nice to walk on a different path. Beautiful, honestly.

Now, Mahito is the literal manifestation of humans' hatred for others. He is a true curse, and he wasn't able to reconcile with his humanity after death because, unlike sukuna, he has none, he is not human. He is the manifestation of the same cycle of human hatred, he didn't change, he is the only one left sulking like a child. As I mentioned before, if the negative emotions of humans can't cease to exist, then curses like mahito won't either.

You could then say - well, then nothing changed?

I mean, is it really nothing? Tengen is no more, and this is the curse user Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara caught, and what happened to him?

Earlier, he probably would have been executed, but now Yuji offered him a chance to change.

Yuji turns out to be the person who learns to coexist. He is, for me, the best written character within the story with the best conclusion.

Now, let's just say that doesn't mean anything, nothing changed at all, there was no point...

However, the idea that "nothing changed" often misses the deeper layers of such narratives, which are less about external change and more about internal realizations, the acceptance of ambiguity and even the rejection of simplistic resolutions.

The "point" is not necessarily achieving change or a clear resolution, but rather witnessing the struggle itself. How characters navigate or accept a chaotic/indifferent universe.

There are two examples I can think of, first one being, Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", Sisyphus endlessly pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down, its completely futile, yet the "point" is his perseverance. The second one is "Waiting for Godot" by Beckett, nothing really appears to happen in the story, and characters seem stuck in a cycle of waiting for this supposed person calles Gadot. However, the "point" is in the waiting itself. It's a reflection on the human condition, the search for meaning, and how we deal with uncertainty and the passage of time.

Thus, the point of such narratives is not in "what changed" but how we live with things not changing, how we adapt, or re-contextualise meaning of things when the world resists easy solutions or "fix its". It's reflectimg on the messiness of real life, where change is often slow, subtle, or non-existent, and simple answers are rarely seen.

So it's up to you to decide what you wanna make of this ending. Personally, I am very, very content.

(Again, this is my interpretation, I could be completely off charts, and I don't mind, maybe I will change my mind after thinking about it again, or maybe not, but one thing remains, that I throughly enjoyed all 4 years I was reading this manga. Peace✌️)

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thank you noritoshi

very cool!

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he just wants some friends...

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On Kurapika's Self-Imposed Isolation

While I recognize that probably everything I'm about to say is going to be super obvious, I just wanted to briefly touch on Kurapika's self-isolation, and the reason behind his not picking up his phone or exchanging anything more than clipped words and business after Yorknew.

I think the obvious answer is that Kurapika doesn't want his friends in harms way, or to be used as a bargaining tool against him. This is an understandable and probably accurate conclusion. After all, Gon and Killua did get taken hostage, and Kurapika was forced to negotiate an exchange. Chrollo picked up on Kurapika's "weakness" right away - that he values his friends' safety before his revenge. Fortunately for Kurapika in this situation, Pakunoda was a whole lot more similar to him than he would've cared to admit, as she placed a value on Chrollo's life even though everyone in the Spider was intended to be replaceable. So, now that he's been through Gon and Killua having potentially gotten killed or seriously hurt, and Chrollo knows that he has a soft spot for them, it does make sense that he would try to push them away for their safety and for the sake of not having an exploitable "weakness" in future. He may also not want to burden them more when they have their own lives to live - he does slip off without telling Gon and Killua for the sake of not distracting them from Nen training, after all.

Except that he already tried all this earlier in Yorknew arc. He tried to tell them they shouldn't get involved, and they all agreed that the risks were massive - but his friends agreed to undergo the risks anyways to help him. Kurapika was even grateful for it - "I have been blessed with good friends."

So, for him to push them away solely for this reason after the fact, knowing that this was very much a likely situation to happen, is a little odd to me. Kurapika knows full well that Leorio would be frustrated, Killua would be offended and Gon would worry. So, I think there's a little more to it than that, and I actually would venture to say that "keeping his friends out of danger" is more a secondary reason for his actions - one that would come across as more of a reasonable excuse to others.

The primary reason is likely a lot more selfish than that. Kurapika has to ensure his mission comes first. And unfortunately, he is fully aware that his path and choice in abilities is deeply self-destructive.

Kurapika needs to make sure that he doesn't have exploitable weaknesses, sure, but he also just as much needs to purposefully worsen his headspace - and he can't do that with those three around.

Think back, what are the happiest moments we see from Kurapika in the series? The one that comes to mind first, and the one I'm sure most of us will think of immediately, is this:

[ID: A screenshot from the 2011 anime adaptation. Kurapika smiles - he looks at ease. End ID.]

It's one of the sweetest scenes of the series imo, right before the whole group is reunited for the first time since the Zoldyck Family arc, and it's even more notable because it comes immediately on the tail end of this...

[ID: Three panels from HxH Chapter 101. Kurapika removes his contacts over the sink. His expression is distant. End ID.]

...and this...

[ID: A panel from HxH Chapter 101. A close up of Kurapika's vacant and furious expression, his eyes wide and dangerous as he says "It might as well be you." Though the art is in black and white, it's apparent his eyes have gone scarlet. End ID.]

...and this.

[ID: A panel from HxH Chapter 101. A distant Kurapika speaks on the phone on a rooftop at night, the cityscape of Yorknew around him dark, but speckled with lights and stars. He says "The Spiders are dead." His face is not visible to the reader. End ID.]

This is, up to this point in the series, Kurapika at his lowest. In contrast to Gon, who is happy to hear that the Spiders are dead already because now Kurapika can focus solely on finding his peoples' eyes, Kurapika... is clearly not happy - and that's because killing the Spiders himself isn't just revenge. It's penance. It's survivor's guilt. Kurapika's powers, which Izunavi even comments sound much like he is chaining himself in the process of chaining his enemies, are oh-so-beautifully prophecied to destroy him - and Kurapika was aware of this from the moment he set off down this path of revenge.

(As a side note, this is why I'm really hoping we see Gon and Kurapika interact again after the Chimera Ant arc - while Gon has always been pretty attentive to Kurapika's emotional state, in Yorknew, he lacks a true understanding of why Kurapika would go so far... but as of now, he understands rage fueled by guilt and grief all too well. I know we're all rooting for Leorio to reach Kurapika, but barring that, I really think Gon could get through to him - after all, they are similar in several ways, and I find it fairly apparent that Gon reminds Kurapika of Pairo.)

But back to the main point here - I do suspect Kurapika expects (if not wants) his revenge mission to destroy him. I think a lot of times, we forget just how young Kurapika is, and how much his character is dictated by honour, and the abandonment of it.

Certainly, he can and will go against his principles for the sake of his mission... yet, almost paradoxically, he's bound to his promise to his fallen clan; a promise to avenge them made in anger.

But Kurapika... doesn't come across as a naturally angry person to me at all.

He seems like the stoic, vengeful type on his initial introduction... and then we get his panic at Gon's recklessness

[ID: A panel from HxH Chapter 2. Kurapika and Leorio wear matching expressions of panic in front of Gon, calling him out for his recklessness. End ID.]

...and his near-immediate forgiveness of Leorio after getting the first inkling of his character - of someone who cares just as fiercely as he does.

And after that point? Almost all through the Hunter Exam? Kurapika smiles so readily at them. He's sharp and funny. He mediates at times, but is stubbornly prideful in others. He's very amused by his friends' antics, and it really does seem like he starts to enjoy himself, with them. And, more than that, he counters Leorio's initial impression of him as an independent loner - on several occasions. He decides to follow Gon because Gon intrigues him. Asides from Gon, it is Kurapika who is the most unwilling to fight each other at the bottom of Trick Tower. Kurapika who makes the first move to team up with Leorio, even though that arrangement benefits Leorio much more than it does him. Kurapika who refuses to abandon Leorio to his fate in the cave, and who checks on Gon after noticing his bad mood. Who was furious enough watching him get beat down by Hanzo that his eyes went scarlet for the first and only instance outside of Spider mentions and Emperor Time. Who quite readily detoured to help rescue Killua.

[ID: Three screenshots from the 2011 adaptation Hunter Exam arc. In the first, Kurapika smiles at a sleeping Leorio. In the second, Kurapika stifles laughter as he pretends he's asleep. In the third, Kurapika has an open-mouthed smile as he acquires the airship tickets for them, Leorio and Gon standing behind him. End ID.]

Look at him! He's so bright! So happy!

...too happy. Too happy to do what he promised himself he would do. And that's his biggest fear, isn't it. Without his rage... what is he left with?

[ID: A panel from HxH chapter 2. A close up of Kurapika's eye as he says "I do not fear death. What I fear is that my rage will one day fade away." End ID.]

Kurapika is far, far less mired in anger when he's with his friends. I actually dare to say that at certain points, he was able to go for lengths of time without thinking much about it - alternating between almost forgetting in one instance and being hit like a sledgehammer on exposure to a reminder in the next. This violent swing is... actually the beginnings of the natural process of healing from loss and trauma. But to Kurapika, who's made a promise to his people's memories, this is not a relief. This is betrayal.

I think that actually scares him, that he can almost picture it. A life beyond his guilt. That he, too, could learn to be happy, even after unimaginable loss.

And so, as Kurapika continues his mission offscreen, finding more and more gruesome reminders of the cruelty inflicted on his people and losing more and more pieces of himself in the process (in his own words, no less), he prioritizes his responsibility to them, and pushes away his distractions. He cannot be a soul at peace until his work is done; he must be in turmoil. He pushes people away who he cares for, and binds himself, and keeps his people's eyes on him, quite literally, because respite, for him, is unacceptable. Perhaps that guilty part of him even hopes, by the end of this, that his soul will be so unrecognizable as to be fundamentally unsalvageable. But the truth of the matter is, or at least what comes across to me, is that Kurapika cares much more fiercely than he hates. He knows what matters most. And for as long as he does, he still hasn't truly lost himself.

[ID: A panel from HxH chapter 350. Kurapika looks down at baby Woble with a gentle, yet complicated expression. The inking is somewhat softer. End ID.]

Kurapika's soul is kind, really. And it wants to heal - but for the sake of his mission, he needs it damaged and bleeding. And so, he forces himself to exist in that pain. All alone.

[ID: A panel from HxH Chapter 344. Kurapika, dressed in a black suit, sits with his back to the reader, looking down at a photo in his hand. He is slumped a little before the church vigil he has prepared, all his clan's eyes lined up in their jars and honoured with flowers and candles. He thinks to himself "There is no home for me to return to... and nobody to welcome me back. I have nothing left." End ID.]

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Thinking about the Freecss family and losing my mind. A lineage of selfishness, a family of people who leave and are left behind.

Ging's father disappeared at sea, Mito's parents left the island only to die unexpectedly, Ging's famous abandonment, even further then that Don Freecs disappeared on the same quest Ging did 300 years ago. A 300 year old legacy.

Ging is who we see clearly abandon others, hides from friends and family alike and chases what he wants selfishly, but it's not just him.

Mito playing on the island as a kid, hiding away as Abe describes it "like she didn't want to be found,". Mito lies to Gon first about his parents' death, then again saying that Ging wanted to abandon Gon. She selfishly tries to steer Gon away, limit and box him so he can't abandon her too.

Mito abandoned Ging in a way too, didn't she? She'd been hurt from him leaving, so she tells him to never come back. She took what was supposed to be her babysitting Gon until Ging returns and tells Ging no, I'm not letting you abandon us again, I'm cutting you off first. She gets custody of Gon and tells Ging to never come back. The cycle of the abandoned becoming the abandoner.

Gon, of course, is the fresh blood in this cycle. He is abandoned by Ging, then abandons his home. His selfishness grows on his journey and hits a tipping point with Kite. He left Kite to die, so he should die too. Tunnel vision blocks out the fact that his death would mean abandoning Mito. Abandoning Killua.

"He's my son after all." Ging said and it must make you wonder, did Ging think the same of his father? Is that the weight the name Freeccs carries for its holders?

"Maybe I wasn't made to be a son" Gon said after returning to Whale island. It feels like a way of answering that question with no, to be a Freeccs does not mean you have to abandon and be selfish. Gon was not made to be Ging's son, after all, he came home didn't he?

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this is why gojo and nobara barely interact

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team sukuna if they were jujutsu sorcerers? :0

& my ice monarch #rip

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I hate when a character in a piece of media I’ve loved for so,so long just gets reduced to “UWU WHO SHOULD I SHIP THEM WITH?!?! OwO SHIP SHIP SHIP” and people forget just how great of a character they are and you can’t find anything about them except people arguing about who they should kiss. They never get appreciated for being who they are.

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Gojo Satoru and Iori Utahime/ contrast

This is not particularly a ship post, I don’t mind the ship either. (I just want to analyze them outside of romance). It's just that I was rereading Jujutsu Kaisen manga and had some drafts of characters that struck out to me, Utahime being one of them, Goodwill event reread made me appreciate so many characters even more, because this is the arc where all students and their stories are fleshed out. These characters really develop from what we have seen till now in the manga.

Utahime stood out me as a character the moment she was introduced during the first read itself (and nah, it was not her scar), this time around I decided to investigate her character more, if it was any other series I probably wouldn’t have, but it’s Gege Akutami, his minor characters are written beautifully with unique roles.

As I mentioned before, she stood out, because we literally didn’t know any other teacher except Gojo in the story, the first teacher to be introduced in the story after Gojo was her.

From her reactions to Gojo clearly showed she was not his fan. That was like pretty standard reaction to Gojo in vicinity, pretty much what we saw from other characters initial intro as well, Megumi finds him idiotic, Nanami doesn’t respect him, Gakuganji hates him, Shoko is apathetic, Ichiji is scared of him and called him lazy (Gege really made sure to tell the readers how annoying Gojo is lol). But since she was a fellow teacher, I wanted to know whether she aligns with Gojo or the likes of Gakuganji, is she with the Higher ups or much like Shoko, doesn’t care about politics all together. Her shrine maiden outfit was interesting as well (it’s like Kikyo/Kagome from Inuyasha), that was also interesting to say the least.

Utahime, from her posture and speech patterns appears to be a very elegant woman. Her worry regarding Miwa, prioritizing safety of the students, being genuinely happy that they are safe, gave us the conclusion that she is a very responsible and good teacher to her students.

Her alignment with Gojo was quickly answered as well since Gojo trusted her enough with a very important task and information. Gankuganji didn’t include her when he gave the task to Kyoto students to kill Itadori, I believe it was because either she wouldn’t agree to it, or convince her students not to follow him.

Her interactions with Gojo also stood out, since there are many characters who don’t respect Gojo but trust him, she is one of them. However, no one really went “out of the way” like her and threw a cup of tea at him. Nanami thinks work is shit in general, he has same kind of distaste for Gojo that he had for his boss, Shoko doesn’t overtly react to anything, Ijichi in general has low self-esteem. All these characters don’t break out of their usual character patterns while interacting with Gojo. Whereas Utahime, who is more like a responsible teacher and calm headed individual, breaks from her usual character with Gojo. Her dislike of Gojo is very genuine. I think that for a no-nonsense individual person like Utahime, she does not appreciate Gojo’s personality and mightier than thou behaviour. Utahime wants respect as fellow sorcerer and senior, she does not behave insecure, she doesn’t even hide her scar with mask or makeup shows how unbothered she is about it, I like that about her.

From what we know about the past Arc of Gojo, Utahime is the only confirmed senior of Gojo, Getou, and Shoko. Mei Mei is most likely older than Utahime (mei calls Utahime by her given name, but uta addresses her as ‘Mei-san’, I think she is at least 3-4 years or even more older than Utahime, personally). Kasukabe was not even mentioned in that arc so he is ruled out as well. Utahime has probably studied in the same school as them, and that’s why she is pretty close with Shoko. I think it's also the reason Gojo trusts her so much, since he has known her from the days of his youth.

Gojo however doesn’t trust Mei Mei, its was quite clear in goodwill arc, but for some reason he does acknowledge Mei, and calls her with honorific ‘mei-san’. Mei is a woman who grooms her brother and uses him as part of her technique, she is apparently more respected by Gojo than a genuinely good human like Utahime. Thats probably because Gojo puts strength on pedestal. Mei was ready to do anything to become strong (so that she can earn more money lol), I think Gojo respects that, whereas I don’t think Utahime prioritises strength over the connections she has, which can be considered, at least in Gojo’s eyes (cause he cant really relate to normal human experience), as weak which stuns her individual growth as sorcerer. Utahime isn't selfish or someone with ego, she is one of the very few adults we have seen that actually care about students on personal level.

From her limited manga panels and Databook information, we can make out a few things.

• She IS smart and doesn’t believe in what is told to her outright. When Gojo pointed out about the possibility of mole, she didn't believe him immediately, rather when the attack in the event happened it was then she acknowledged Gojo’s theory to hold weight. She doesn’t react without enough information, as shown from the past arc with her mission with Mei Mei. I would conclude that her specialty is her level-headed thinking.

• She genuinely cares about the well-being of people around her on a more personal human level, as shown with her she interacts with her students and how she wants Shoko to quit smoking. Unlike many jujutsu sorcerers, she is not selfish or possess ego. Her kindness is also returned as every single one of her students loves her.

Weak Utahime?

I personally dont even think her it's relevant to her characterization, but maybe that's just me. I think her character shines when it's contrasted with Gojo's, but fighting or not fighting doesn't matter much to me, being stronger doesn't make you good character. But a simple answer to her being weak would be no. From this statement of Gege alone.

If she had no offence at all, she would probably be grade-less like Shoko/Ijichi. Well, she is not. That means she fights. She has quick reflexes from what we have seen with her encounter with the dude with luck CT. Also, she was quick enough to react during the attack from Kenjaku.

She is working in Kyoto, the capital of the jujutsu world, and she is directly under the noses of higher-ups. The fact that she is a head teacher in Kyoto is itself commendation because it’s not a position just anyone not worthy enough would have been appointed to. Higherups love traditional techniques, as mentioned by Panda during encounter with Haraki and Kirara.

I believe Utahime’s technique is one that higher-ups would love. They would not put someone with less knowledge or capability as in charge at all. She is not just a mere high school teacher. Her position is the same as Gojo, but in Kyoto, she supervises sorcerers.

Her not being grade one is irrelevant to me as well, many sorcerers in jjk don't seem like their grades plus their is a lot of politics surrounding grade system itself, so those rankings are probably not even correct markers of strength or strength areas. She has survived till date is impressive enough, haibara died early (both him and nanami were unable to deal with a grade 1 curse back in the day, that’s how fast sorcerers die) She is a full fledge sorcerer. She takes missions as well if we go by this panel from 0.5.

Gojo and Utahime contrast.

• Gojo’s relationship with his students is well, decent. He goes out of his way to teach and save strong ones (I can’t imagine him being a good teacher to, say, Momo or Miwa). He also literally sent Inumaki and Panda to get their asses completely destroyed by Geto cause he knew it would piss off Yuta and give him his powerup, not so great move for a teacher. He recognises their struggles but at the same time doesn’t seem to understand them. Save Yuuji and Yuuta, no one really respects him. Whereas Utahime’s students adore and protect her, they solve their problems together. They genuinely want the system to change and let their intent know about this during all the vs battels in Goodwill arc. Kyoto kids were really trying Tokyo kids to understand the problems in the system, but all of their common remarks were ‘I don’t care’.

(Gojo is a nuanced character, he ain't this perfect human people make him out to be, while he does care about people around him, he does NOT understand them well, this comes from the solitude he lives in. While he does not want to be alone, he also doesn't understand anyone who is not as strong as him, which furthers the gap between him and others, his entire character is quite tragic honestly.)

• Utahime’s CURSED TECHNIQUE was a delight. It can boost anyone within a zone, including herself. How it contrasts with Gojo, you might ask. Gojo is the strongest when he fights alone. Everyone else just drags him down, it is spelt out to us multiple times in the story. Whereas Utahime can help even someone like Ichiji cast a powerful barrier, at the same time give Gojo a great boost. Gojo’s technique literally separates him from the world, but Utahime brings them within her zone.

(Utahime technique was brilliant! Its honestly like literal manifestation of how she is as a human herself. She values connections, and her technique is probably THE best support technique in jjk. It makes others strong, including the caster. She is dragging no one down, and no one is left behind. Its almost like people feel weaker with Gojo around, and they get stronger with Utahime around, lmao.)

• This brings another contrast, individual/isolation and collective/connection. Utahime asks her students to get along, they even fight together, have each other’s back, and are even emotionally more connected to each other. While Gojo tells Megumi that everyone dies alone, and jujutsu is an individual sport, he is teaching his students to value individual strengths more.

(Needless to say that both things are quite important, but Gojo’s conversation with Megumi was quite interesting because, ironically, Gojo died because of the very same reason, he fought sukuna all alone, not that anyone could have helped him without dragging him. Also funny cause the reason students and others were able to defeat sukuna was because they worked together. Yuji came out of that cog mentality, where he was trying to discard his humanity to become a curse killing machine, to become more human/more himself once again, and flipped the game which was being played on sukuna's rules, where superior ego/strength wins, and made it about humanity, where yuji saved megumi and defeated Sukuna, love yuji my boy.)

• Their CONNECTIONS with other people are also something to look at. Gojo’s character central theme is his isolation/solitude. Many ppl say how he was used and never saw as humam in the story, well its not incorrect, but it's not completely accurate either. Most of the people he trusts didn't see him that way, including his students, they might not be as close to him or even might not respect him, but they always saw him as human, their whole frustration was that he HIMSELF didn't see as one, he behaved mightier than thou, thats why canonically Utahime and Nanami really dislike his company. He is the cause of his own solitude, shoko literally says, "What do you mean alone? I was there," shows us that much. He draws that line by himself. In chapter 236, he even acknowledges that, despite loving people around him, he didn’t understand them, and wasn't understood by them. He saw others as "different" than him, him and geto were "strong" according to him, means they were like "same" species, to him others were different species, he can love them and be loved by them, but there is no deep understanding. There was a reason he longed for a bond like once he had with geto, where they were equally strong. That's why he tries to reach out to sukuna, he projected his own isolation on sukuna, while sukuna doesn’t feel that way, sukuna has entirely accepted his solitude, he has completely discarded his humanity, he just wants to be the pinnacle. Gojo isn't much different from sukuna, he is quite self-centered and egoistic himself, it's just that, if Sukuna is "perfected ego" then Gojo’s ego is not perfect, he didn’t entirely disregard his humanity, he did crave connections, that's why in that battle, sukuna won. In a battle of strength and ego, a perfected ego always wins.

I can say for sure Shoko is canonically closer to Utahime than Gojo. She got so worried Utahime didn’t call for two days, Utahime sends her parcels to Shoko, she stopped smoking cause Utahime insisted. Utahime probably bonds with her on a more personal and human level. Unlike gojo, Utahime is very very human, she doesn’t possess that kind of ego, Shoko and Utahime’s friendship last more than a decade but Gojo couldn't even keep that one bond (Geto) he created with someone else, because what initially brought Gojo and Geto together was strength, but what keeps Uta and Sho together is human connection. Utahime is genuinely more loved and is closer to people. Gojo is well, he is alone and on top above everyone else.

(Again, not to say Gojo and Shoko are not close at all, Shoko is also one of the people Gojo trusts, but she is definitely much more closer to Utahime.)

Utahime is everything Gojo is not and vice-versa. Gojo can do a lot of things others can, but if there is one thing that he absolutely can’t do, is what Utahime can (making others stronger).

The problem with these two is that, even though they have aligned goals, shared values, same path, and a lot of trust in each other. They DON'T really respect each other's way of life. Utahime can't respect Gojo’s self-centered behavior that he seems unaware about (lol) and the way he is unable to understand others more personally by deluding himself in his head that strength is needed to form connections, neither can Gojo respect Utahime who doesn’t seem to care much about strength in first place.

On paper/in theory, their team is great if they work together. They complement each other, but Gojo is still stuck in his own head about his isolation. Granted, Utahime can not provide him the satisfaction of equal fight and equal strength, but why does she need to? Her beauty is that she isn't like Gojo. She values bonds, she knew her students so well that she was able to find out about mole through the process of elimination. Watching Gojo and Utahime working together was a delight. The 200% hollow purple technique was amazing.

The problem with Gojo is that all his relations will end up in tragedy, because his entire character is tragic itself. He couldn't even maintain one bond he formed in his life and also couldn't even be the absolute strongest and pinnacle. He couldn't even discard his humanity entirely to become like Sukuna, but he couldn't even fully accept it to become weaker and more humane, he wanted to die fighting someone stronger, he loved his powers and strength. So he did end up tragic, but as he himself said, he was satisfied with it, so who am I to take that away from him.

I am pretty sure Utahime will live in the end or at least I want her to live, but it's Gege's story (a beautiful one as well) so it's his wish. I do wish some more interactions with her and students.

Peace out ✌️

Again, be respectful people. I am a jjk fan, and I sometimes like to write analysis. I like to stay far, far away from discourse, so please don't do that here.