#now I'm more suspicious about what happened before this scene 🧐

[existingingrey]

백공죽 Expanded Version.

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 270 (spoilers)

Before I write my thoughts down, I have to confess that they've been tainted by a post I read I after reading the chapter. I decided to write the first part of my review as I had initially wanted to but the second part will discuss the things I read afterwards.

We start the chapter with a beautiful scene of a grave belonging to Tsumiki but my first thought was... what about Tsumiki's soul that had prevented Megumi from killing a girl?

If this is what Tsumiki's end and Megumi's final reaction to that would be, why did Gege bother including her soul as an active character into the story?

I also tried to find the raws to see what exactly was written on her grave. Only her surname? And was it also in English?

After that we get to Tengen and what happened to her and it was exactly here where my thoughts of this chapter went a big 🤨😵🧐🤬🤪

So Yuji just punched her out? And nothing more happened to her? The Culling Games are over? How did that happen? And through which remains would she stay stable? There was nothing left of Sukuna, at least nothing that had gone through Kenjaku's ritual. The only place she would be stable would still be inside Megumi. Her barriers are magically stable as well.

What a... neat ending to all those plot threads...

Then we come to Maki finding her past helpers and telling them that all the reincarnated sorcerers would be separated from their hosts by Yuji soon and...

That's against established canon. We already had the discussion that the souls of the host's can't be saved because they've been pushed down to complete darkness. Choso couldn't feel the soul of his host anymore and that was how the narrative absolved him from any wrongdoing because now he didn't have to give his body back for ethical reasons and he hadn't made an unethical deal to be reincarnated either.

Only Megumi was said to have a chance of being saved and no one else.

So now I'm here and scretching my head thinking... was Gege so desperate or time constipated to end the manga that he threw that point out? Or is sth else going on here...

We get Takaba back and he has a suspicious looking partner now, with whom he can do more comedy.

Now I don't think that's the real Kenjaku there. It's more likely that Takaba simply imposed that hairstyle on his new partner because he's missing his short time best friend.

For an actual Kenjaku comeback, he wouldn't have Geto's body anymore. Imo, Kenjaku did have spare bodies lying around he could've fled to at the last second though.

We get more loose ends being tied up and for Higuruma it's clemency. This is another point in the "everything turns out perfectly good for the good guys" part we have been bombarded with in this chapter.

I'm like, Gege, isn't this too much? Wasn't JJK darker than this? Even Shoko gave up her smokes. The military plot is just "we'll deal with them" and there's no mention of JJ societal instability with the clans falling apart.

Either he really wanted to wrap every loose end up... or

Gege forgets Megumi's scar on a pretty big panel and we get an anime love complication with one chapter remaining. It was funny though.

Then we come to the end where we're set up to believe that life of the first year trio will go on as it should've been without those major Shibuya/Shinjuku complications.

Just going on missions and living life like that.

Now, one could accept that kind of ending (why isn't that in chapter 271 though?) But it comes off as so... lackluster and mended with fire after big chunks of the plot were cut off.

After I had finished the chapter, I was the most disappointed at everything that had to do with Tengen and the CG. So Gege sets up that the sorcerer life will continue afterwards. Even without wanting a Part 2, just ending the CG and Tengen's story like that is... unnecessarily boring and wasted space for nearly everything that came before that.

But then I read @thepersonperson post on how the last 3 chapters of JJK could possibly have been an induced dream sequence this whole time.

Induced by Yuji through his ability of creating fake memories right before defeat/death. His own DE is an application of this and Sukuna's strangely similar ability of talking with freshly deceased people in a dreamscape.

When Yuji had first expanded his domain, I went on such a ramble at the time about these strange abilities of them both. What I said back then was that Yuji wasnt an active/aware participant of them but by now he had acquired Sukuna's CT and again a DE.

This could mean that his induced dream sequences could've evolved enough that he became aware of them instead of only pushing them into someone else. In other words:

Yuji is dreaming of his best happy ending.

And here truly experiences that but he can't tell until now that it's a dream. He might very well be lying on the ground now about to die.

The post I linked adds more details to this theory like inconsistent character placements and "mistakes" like Megumi's scar suddenly missing, which would be commonplace in a dream.

That last picture up there with the guy who's supposed to be cursed but it was actually his girlfriend who had her perception of reality altered as well as the name of this chapter, would be the final hints about the last few chapters having been another glitch in perception.

Now only one week is left then we'll get our final answers to JJK. If this dream theory is true, then Gege will establish himself as the biggest troll, either with a JJK 2 or with a tragic ending.

(And if this really comes true, then I don't think I'll manage to escape the spoilers)

But whatever might come and even though I'm meh about the end (as it's presented to us right now) I still love JJK and immensely enjoyed reading, watching and engaging with it 😄

[canonicallyobserving911]

Midseason Finale Expectations: Episode 8x8 "Wannabes"

My expectations for episode 8x8 are below the ground and they're more than 6 feet under. The reason for that is because based on the setup for it at the end of episode 8x7, I have an idea of what might happen with Bobby's and Athena's arcs. Therefore, if the storylines play out the way the narrative for that specific episode illustrated, then it won't be good and I'm not happy about it.

It involves the "Hotshots" and the LAPD rookie and it's likely going to include even more of the BS that happened last week. I rewatched 8x7 in an effort to try and figure out why those two off the cuff stories that were centered around guest stars were included and I noticed a common theme between Athena's and Bobby's storylines that have specifically to do with a rookie cop and a fake firefighter. I've already posted my review (linked here) and needless to say, after rewatching it, I still don't like that episode.

When I watched live, I noticed Chimney wasn't in the last scene at the firehouse with Buck, Hen and Eddie while they were talking to Bobby about his confrontation with Brad at the restaurant. And when I rewatched it, I noticed he wasn't in another firehouse scene with Buck, Eddie, Hen and Bobby either when Eddie was playing keep away with Buck's phone. Chimney NOT being present in either of those firehouse scenes made me even more suspicious 🧐 and it adds credence to my theory. If the midseason finale will end the way I'm thinking, then IMO it won't be anything worth writing home about. When the first half of seasons 3, 5 and 6 ended, there was one main character with a cliffhanger storyline. In season 3 it was Michael's recently diagnosed brain tumor; in season 5 it was Eddie quitting the 118 and in season 6 it was Bobby starting the investigation into Wendell's death (reminder Wendell was made up specifically for Bobby's arc. Prior to that season, he was never introduced or mentioned 🫤). And the setup for this midseason finale is giving season 6 vibes and it was a big nothing burger with no meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese or pickles.

Reminder, these are Bathena's storylines and whatever happens with them will be centered around them. Since they haven't mentioned their house in several episodes, it's unlikely their home will be finished. Furthermore, the culmination of that seems more like a season finale storyline anyway.

I wish they would have ended the "Hotshots" storyline back at the end of 8x4 when the Ortiz storyline was wrapped but for some reason, TM (showrunner) is set on keeping Brad and Gerrard around longer. IMO, there's only one logical explanation for these things that happened in CANON and when they're added to TM's interview quotes that he said in his 55 thousand post-mortem interviews, it all leads to one thing.

Instead of posting what I believe it is now, I'm going to wait and post my theory Thursday before the episode airs.