#'why do i believe you are more capable than YOU believe you are? 😢' bc you don't experience being me firsthand. hope this helps

[mecharose]

if one more person tries to tell me I just need to "believe in myself 🥰" when i explain it's really hard for me to do things without clear instructions im going to start tearing them apart with my teeth

[psychewritesbs]

A huge factor into why I'm interested in megumi is quite literally seeing him grow with his ct, and seeing him accomplishing his domain, etc is very satisfying, but I think it's pretty much inevitable that sukuna will cast the completed chimera shadow domain (don't like that idea at all), and yeah, we don't know this for a fact and I'm very much jumping the gun, but the silver lining I see is sukuna once again acting as a unintentional or intentional mentor for megumi yk. I'm like 96.4% sure megumi is not dead (could be wrong idk anymore 😭).

I sound very much as though I don't care for character arcs, and solely care for power feats, but I promise I do care for the character development!! I regularly read and watch all sorts of series from different demographics, but im just specific with jjk for this ask. I just enjoy the ways in which authors can create power systems within its own world and seeing how characters respond to those rules, etc.

I'm wondering if gege will revisit the concept of being a good/bad person through megumi/yuji and if hana will play a role in that. I like how hana and megumi share the same "putting someone on a pedestal" thing and wonder if we'll see their relationship develop too (of she survives ofc haha 😢). Hana doesn't know megumi whatsoever, but I think she has more of an obsession with him than just a crush, and I do think her very rough childhood played into that, but only gege knows where this is going, so I guess we'll see hehe. They were both in a sense tricked by that someone (tsumiki, etc). Also, I don't know if it's intentional on gege's part, but is there a reason megumi was not able to deduce that tsumiki wasn't the same or is their dynamic truly a bit stunted where they don't know each other as well. I thought megumi would apologize too like he said, but I can't tell if it's intentional and it will lead to something more, or gege just wants to move the plot and won't explore those things anymore. Tsumiki did really feel as just a plot device, but I still hoped she wouldn't as I wanted to know her feelings on the situation and about her brother and her mom, etc, but I don't know how she would have survived now... but hope is always there I guess! No problem with that. I guess I say this bc I'm interested in knowing how megumi will overcome this need to ignore his own goodness to uplift those worthy individuals (tsumiki and yuji) and I always thought that seeing tsumiki as an actual person capable of good and bad would have challenged him, so I'm curious if that's still what we'll be exploring with megumi or if it doesn't matter anymore and he just died like a fool.

This is definitely the fight obsessed part of me, but ever since we knew that no ten shadows user in history has tamed mahoraga, the thought of megumi being the first is always on my mind, but I may have to settle for mahoraga being tamed by sukuna even if just for a short while. I'm jumping the gun again, but on a happier note 😊 I've been having a ball seeing sukuna mess around again with the mcs 😭 he's so fun to watch, so I'm not completely negative just conflicted lol.

I love the "save me/you" concept that we've seen in yuji and megumi, so I think yuji will play a role in saving him so to speak or playing a big role in megumi saving himself. OR since gege is using the titles to parallel the first few chapters of the series, we may get megumi dying in front of yuji after taking some control back and waha its sad again !! (Don't know how to feel about this theory either) It's fun thinking of ways this could go and gege has clearly thought of these moments in the story as he's clearly expressed what sukuna would do to megumi. I wonder what that interviewer thought when he heard gege speak lmao and if what happened in 212 and beyond is what he told him a while ago 🤔

What do believe to be a fulfilling character arc for megumi? I don't mind him dying or living, but not in this very moment hehe 😃

Sorry for the big ask again, but thanks again for reading!!

HOLA!

Oh my! Thanks for reaching out and sharing your #thoughts with me! I love all the #thoughts. There was so much juiciness to brainrot about!

My own #thoughts in response to your #thoughts under the cut!

A huge factor into why I'm interested in megumi is quite literally seeing him grow with his ct, and seeing him accomplishing his domain, etc is very satisfying,

Ugh! I KNOW! Satisfying is exactly the right word for it.

Honestly, Megumi is beautifully written.

I think it's pretty much inevitable that sukuna will cast the completed chimera shadow domain (don't like that idea at all), and yeah, we don't know this for a fact and I'm very much jumping the gun, but the silver lining I see is sukuna once again acting as a unintentional or intentional mentor for megumi yk

Yeah I have to agree with you on this. Something interesting is happening because Sukuna is clearly better able to use or make the most out of Megumi's Cursed Technique.

What I am not sure is whether this is due to Megumi's mentality still limiting what he can do or whether this is Sukuna simply being more powerful.

Thoughts?

Like in my head, Megumi should be able to accomplish the same, he just doesn't know that he doesn't know that he can do it. That said, Sukuna has been a catalyst for realizations like that in the past, so as you say, Megumi might grow because of Sukuna.

Which is also kind of interesting because Sukuna is equally impressed by Megumi...

Also... about Megumi's domain... gosh... yeah I must admit I am not a fan of Megumi not being the one who maximizes his own potential.

I have mixed thoughts on what exactly Sukuna is and isn't because of the whole mind = body = soul relationship and how he's just body-hopping and overriding other people's mind's information to merge with the soul and body.

So in a sense this is still Megumi but it isn't Megumi? Because in the end, this is Megumi's body and soul.

Regardless... I'm sure Sukuna will do something big with Megumi's domain and I do hope that, as you say, Megumi will learn from Sukuna because of it.

"I'm like 96.4% sure megumi is not dead"

That deserved to be made a title because of how specific you are about it lol. Don't hesitate to send in your theories. I'm collecting "the mental gymnastics Megumi fans will do to convince themselves he's still alive".

I do hope you're right tho and will light some prayer candles just to make sure your theory manifests.

I've made peace with Megumi not coming back but I'll still be disappointed if he doesn't which means I have not made peace with it at all.

Also... I am super curious about the other 3.6%...?

I sound very much as though I don't care for character arcs, and solely care for power feats, but I promise I do care for the character development!!... I just enjoy the ways in which authors can create power systems within its own world and seeing how characters respond to those rules, etc.

I'd say you get it. In JJK power = character development and psychological wholeness. It's a nice twist on the trope and Gege has done a good job with it.

In retrospect, I really do think the Culling Game arc has been about showing that relationship between power and the power system in JJK, how it relates to the sorcerer's personality, how the characters respond to those rules, and how they grow and get stronger as a result.

Like... don't get me wrong, I've been consuming Shonen for yeeeeears and while I appreciate Goku powering up because he was like...

"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

I also really like how Gege pushes his characters to grow outside of long drawn out screaming.

I'm wondering if gege will revisit the concept of being a good/bad person through megumi/yuji and if hana will play a role in that.

Personally, I hope and think so.

How deeply he'll elaborate and/or how he executes is what is unsure. He might hide the struggle in the symbols.

Actually, as a symbol, Hana's Cursed Technique is a massive rabbit hole that gets at the core of good vs. evil. I'm working on writing this super nerdy meta about it. Stay tuned!

What I will say about Hana right now is that she sort of symbolizes light.

So it's an interesting symbol to bring in for a dynamic with a character like Megumi who represents the shadow.

If you think about it, dark is in need of light.

I'd say there's something there worth exploring.

I like how hana and megumi share the same "putting someone on a pedestal"... Hana doesn't know megumi whatsoever, but I think she has more of an obsession with him than just a crush, and I do think her very rough childhood played into that

Yes! Such a good point! I noticed the same thing about her. Going back to the idea of light, think of how light also make shadows all the more obvious and pronounced. So to me, from a psychological perspective, Hana's obsession is a sort of balance to her "light".

When you look at it like that, the Hana/Megumi parallels are interesting and I also wonder where Gege will go with them given Sukumi just betrayed Hana the way Yorozu betrayed Megumi.

is there a reason megumi was not able to deduce that tsumiki wasn't the same or is their dynamic truly a bit stunted where they don't know each other as well

Ah so, while I can see why people think this is the case, I personally don't interpret like this.

So for one, I do think that the relational dynamic is stunted and that it carries Pygmalion and the Princess and her Knight undertones. This involves how much Megumi idolizes Tsumiki as this epitome of goodness because it appears as though to Megumi, Tsumiki doesn't have a will of her own. Rather, she's an object upon whom he can project his emotional world and everything that is good about himself.

As an object that carries a projection of his emotional world, Tsumiki is also a Sleeping Beauty. Which can be taken as a metaphor for the status of Megumi's own emotional self--cursed to sleep for a hundred years.

Maybe I should expand upon this symbol in more detail. But for the sake of time what I'll say is that Sleeping Beauty is about awakening the feminine principle in order to achieve inner-balance between mind and heart/soul.

In JJK, Megumi's feminine principle has awakened, literalized by Tsumiki waking up, but the twist is that this carrier of Megumi's emotional world is now a cursed existence.

So it's almost like the Sleeping Beauty has turned against Megumi's immature perception of her. She has a will of her own and is not afraid to do as her sense of self is pleased.

I like that Gege has given us this twist to this dynamic because it gives us another look at Megumi's immature perception of the world and where he needs to grow.

JJK is a true tragedy in that its character's flaws are what ushers their ultimate downfall, and the way Gege is executing is very Jungian to boot.

Not sure if Megumi will grow from this experience because of that 3.6% possibility that he is dead, but the thing about the Princess and her Knight trope is that the Knight in question might eventually learn to see the real heart under the projections he casted upon her.

Twelve from Terror in Resonance is a favorite example of this trope's execution where, after dragging his Fair Lady into trouble, Twelve eventually sees her for who she is. In other words, the Sleeping Beauty comes to life in her own right and the Knight recognizes her true essence and achieves wholeness within himself.

So there's A LOT of possible character development in store for Megumi if he's 96.4% alive given all of the symbolism surrounding Jacob's Ladder and even Kon as the alchemical principle of antimony which unifies opposites.

All of this said, I've read quite a bit of discourse about how Megumi should have known this wasn't Tsumiki that I personally don't agree with.

First, I don't think that because Megumi idealized her that he didn't know her. I find that to be a massive leap of faith in logic because Yorozu was acting based on information she had about Megumi. In a sense, she always had the upper hand.

Again... Reggie cursed Megumi to die a fool.

What's more foolish than looking down on Remi for having failed to recognize Reggie was no longer who she thought he was, and then dying because of it?

So to me, its more of a question of Megumi failing to recognize this was not Tsumiki's soul / temperament.

There's a couple of characters that are favorites of mine who fool others because they walk a fine line between who they pretend to be and who they are at their core.

People can say and behave in one way, but temperament is an entirely different thing.

In Tokyo Babylon, Seishiro acts a certain way, and even though Subaru seems to be aware of it, he ignores his intuition about it because Subaru enjoyed Seishiro's temperament.

The way I see it, by the mere fact that they grew up together, Megumi is familiar with Tsumiki's idiosyncrasies and/or temperament. You know, the small things that make her Tsumiki.

Like what she might say in any given moment.

Or how she might behave in specific circumstances.

I personally see these panels as Megumi noticing that something was off but that he ignored his intuition because Yorozu is pretty much an optical illusion. Again, she is someone with access to Tsumiki's mind's information.

But that's how I see it at least.

If I'm honest, this all makes me wonder why Yorozu played coy. Why not just beat him to a pulp and enter the Culling Game? Was she enjoying humoring Megumi?

Or is this simply a plot hole for the sake of shock value?

ANYWAYS. I hope that I didn't go on an unrelated tangent as per usual. Moving on!

I thought megumi would apologize too like he said, but I can't tell if it's intentional and it will lead to something more, or gege just wants to move the plot and won't explore those things anymore.

Ah I feel the same way!

There's so many little details that feel like might be left unresolved. So far it looks like Gege is paying off on his promises so I wonder if he's going to deliver some angsty moment where Megumi apologizes because Sukuna killed her. Perhaps not that precisely but I wouldn't put it past the cursed cat.

I always thought that seeing tsumiki as an actual person capable of good and bad would have challenged him, so I'm curious if that's still what we'll be exploring with megumi or if it doesn't matter anymore and he just died like a fool.

Oh this is GOOD stuff. Not the part about Megumi dying like a fool but... y'know.

Again, "go back to sleep Tsumiki. I am busy protecting you."

Honestly, I am not sure what I like the most about how things unfolded... that Megumi's soul broke because Tsumiki might be dead, or that Megumi's soul broke because she has a will of her own when she never did before lol.

Again. I am eager to see how Gege executes on the trope.

on a happier note 😊 I've been having a ball seeing sukuna mess around again with the mcs 😭 he's so fun to watch

Yeessssss... sort of... not really... but still... yeeeeeeessss...

I love Sukuna and I love that every time Sukuna shows up he just has this overbearing and amazing sense of self that comes through the page in such a beautiful way.

I kind of just wish he want back to Yuji's body for that lol.

But ok, FINE! Go forth Sukumi! I'm looking forward to seeing what shenanigans he gets into this time.

Sort of... not really... ok maybe.

I love the "save me/you" concept that we've seen in yuji and megumi, so I think yuji will play a role in saving him so to speak or playing a big role in megumi saving himself. OR since gege is using the titles to parallel the first few chapters of the series, we may get megumi dying in front of yuji after taking some control back and waha its sad again !!

OMG YES!

Wait... jk, noooooooooooo!

This is interesting because Jacob's Ladder also gets at the core of the idea of the human heart. OMG what is Gege planning?!!!

CURSED CAT!

ok I personally think it's a bit too predictable for Megumi to do a reverse uno from chapter 9, but it is also very likely to happen. Sad indeed.

Gege did drop possible foreshadowing about Megumi's death, but it could also very well be a red herring.

The reference to Patrasche is very tragic. You can read about A Dog of Flanders in Wikipedia, which has a quick summary of the story and mentions a couple of anime adaptations of the story.

In a nutshell, A Dog of Flanders is about a boy (who happens to be an orphan like a certain someone) with a very tragic life and his very tragic death.

Anyways, thanks for sharing this theory. I loved the continuity that Gege brought in from chapter 9 but I never thought to explore the end of the arc.

What do believe to be a fulfilling character arc for megumi? I don't mind him dying or living, but not in this very moment hehe 😃

Shoot. I have no clue!!! I'm really focused on taking each chapter at a time and not getting my hopes up about Megumi coming back. This is my own personal way of not getting hurt heh. I just don't want to be disappointed because Gege is unpredictable af sometimes.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY I AM TOTALLY SPECULATING ON WHAT COULD HAPPEN.

So... I keep referring to Jacob's Ladder because as a symbol it represents the upward mobility of the soul. There's a clear theme of corruption and redemption of the self. So I feel like a fulfilling arc would be Megumi doing the whole union of opposites thing (remember the Sleeping Beauty references?) and re-awakening and overpowering Sukuna's sense of self.

After all, Gege already made it a point to make a distinction between how some people can be a vessels and others can be cages. I think it might be a theme of overcoming evil within oneself.

Thanks for reaching out again!!!

It's always good to brainrot and chat with others about JJK so thank you for sending in your thoughts. Keep them coming if you wish :)

Apologies on the delayed answer as well.