#or jjk i hate how gege has left his story so bare

[kentuckyfriedmegumi]

my thoughts on chapter 270 and why it feels like a slap in the face to megumi's character

overall, i didn't HATE the chapter but there are so many elements in it that really had me jaded. i'm gonna yap and i can't guarantee that this will be a short post.

i've been saying ever since the series ending announcement came out that i would like to see a good, emotionally-driven conversation with the trio; specifically, between yuji and megumi. not because of itafushi or whatever, but because this final arc has been leading up to megumi's return and him and yuji being reunited. we get 266 and 268 and both of those are good for there relationship, but we should have gotten MORE.

opening up at tsumiki's grave was such a good opening for megumi. i've BEEN saying that his character deserves a good conclusion and a lot of people think that that's what 266 and 268 were, but i think that there should have been one more, final meg-centric focus for his story to really feel like it's ending. unfortunately, tsumiki's funeral is like one page and we immediately jump to CG side characters that i (frankly) do not care for.

we return to our trio characters with the megumi and hana scene which….. personal opinions and thoughts aside, i thought was fine???? like it just felt so out of place and like really a meghana joke… of all things?? i was never a fan of hana's character, which is sad bc i hesitate to say that she IS a character with the way that gege has written her to be a plot device. like what are her motivations? her ideas? her goals?? they are all megumi-centric and it just falls so flat. she likes the IDEA of megumi and she doesn't actually KNOW him, nor does she understand his life, his struggles, his beliefs, or his pain.

it's this very reason why i am SO GLAD that megumi rejects her and i am HOPING that gege doesn't shoehorn in a meghana or a itazawa relationship. not only does it feel cheap, but they don't actually KNOW each other. they've barely interacted, both girls just like yuji and megumi on a superficial level. if there was more time to develop them, have them together and interact, then i would be much less opposed, but at this point having them get together would just be throwing in a relationship for the sake of throwing in a relationship.

on a personal level though, i wrote a separate post on megumi's and yuji's parallels and i fully believe for that reason that they ARE soulmates, whether or not it's romantic, and they deserve a romantic interest that understands them on that kind of level.

anyway, back to it. the rest of the chapter is more setup for what's to come. it feels like there may be a jjk 2, or a spin off, or like an epilogue short series to come after the series ends. honestly, i'm not sure how i feel about that, and i will hold off until the last chapter before i state my final peace.

but overall, i think that this all could have been done sooner, i think that this chapter could have been 269, and i think that the characters should have been the focuse. the MAIN characters, not the random CG side cast that we haven't seen in like a year. this chapter was fine, just fine. was it bad? no. was it good? absolutely not. if i had to rate it, i would say it's like a 4… maybe a 5 out of 10. i think that this all COULD have been great, but with the time that we have left and with the way that series is going, i'm hesitant to say that this will be a good ending.

i really, really do not want any canon relationships in here for the sake of giving our main cast a love interest. please, gege, if you're going to do it, make it fucking meaningful.

yap over.

[exo-raskreia]

U being anti IH what if the same thing happens to gjhm and they become canon but don't have as much material as other ship?

I'm not sure if you're asking this with malicious intent or if it's a genuine question from a fellow shipper, but here we go.

(Oncoming lengthy response)

I've actually had this thought before. What if despite his different writing style, the general hate the Bleach ED got, & just how ridiculous it sounds, Gege pulled a Kubo? After all, he's a fanboy of the man (I wonder what he thinks of the Bleach ED? Is he aware of how it was received?).

I would be shocked, conflicted, & worried.

To start with, while neither ship should be compared due to how fundamentally different they are, I will say this. Despite several interactions, IH severely lacked chemistry, trust, & meaningful moments. Meanwhile, GojoHime with less on-screen interactions & a playful dynamic, have shown us a deep trust for each other & have worked together to achieve their shared goals. Despite being a minor side character, Utahime is one of the few people Gojo trusts & one of the three adults he calls by first name with no honorific. This already puts them leagues above IH, who were barely friends at best & acquaintances at worst.

So, I wouldn't want GjHm to somehow get the IH treatment in the end. I wouldn't wish that on any shipper, heck, I even feel sort of bad for the IH's, cuz despite becoming "canon" out of nowhere 7 years ago, they still. don't. have. content (especially from the author himself, who has shown no particular interest in his endgames. They don't even have a family sketch 🫢). Makes you wonder who really lost here (as IchiRuki has still gotten some content over the years post-ED...).

GjHm already gets enough hate for simply existing, despite it being a smaller ship with a smaller fanbase in the JJK fandom (the antis are threatened by the potential it has, not to mention it's the most popular JJK straight ship in Japan), so if Gege were to pull a Kubo, the hate would increase, especially towards Utahime, who of course would amass the most hate from this freakin' fandom that's obsessed with Gojo. It'd be a tough time for us fans of the ship & Utahime.

After dealing with the aftermath of the Naruto Shipping Wars as a soldier in the NaruHina army lol (don't even get me started on why NH is NOT like IH, plus we actually have content 🤪), & then witnessing the disastrous Bleach ED & the general hate it got, I do NOT wish to go thru this again. Whether you win or lose, if it isn't done properly, you'll still deal with criticism left & right... (why can't more battle shounens be like Fairy Tail when it comes to slowly developing the ships throughout the story? There'd be less drama...)

Gege keeps saying the manga will end soon, so that means if he wants to make anyone canon by the end, he'll have to start now. JJK is a battle shounen with no romance, but if despite this, GjHm are to be canon, then their moments leading up to it will have to be quality > quantity. Is there enough room/time to develop them the way we would wish? Doubt it, so we'll need at least a couple flashbacks to further justify them (and boy, we're still waiting for their flashback after Gojo's unsealing, if that ever comes...).

Basically, even if it's a few moments, they need to be impactful enough to make even the casual readers/viewers think, "I could see them ending up together." Subtlety & slow burn are usually the best fit for battle shounens, after all, &/or maybe a little further (once again, like Fairy Tail). With that said, out of all the potential ships in the series, I personally view YutaMaki as the most likely to become canon by the end; their moments, far & few in between, are enough to convince me that they could be endgame (that is, if the capricious Gege so wished 😓).

So far, we've seen nothing of what Gojo & Utahime truly think of each other. To reiterate, they have a silly dynamic but have shown to trust each other implicitly. Why this is, we can only guess. I mean, Utahime has risked her life for Gojo twice already (investigating the mole & buffing him against Sukuna). Where is this supposed "hate" she holds for him? It's stated in the databook that she hates him most of the time, so how does she feel at other times? 🤔 And Gojo, despite his teasing, has shown he cares for her, saved her, & obviously trusted her with the aforementioned important & risky tasks.

Just what is going on with these two? Is it really so impossible that there could be something more here? Whether now or later? Gege would just need to give us a little more... Though at this point, there's only so much we can hope for, considering his writing style & how things have been seemingly going... Gotta keep our expectations low...

(What if—delulu plot twist—GjHm are already together, either secretly this whole time—like some ppl have wondered, as this could further explain the immense trust in each other—or got together during the timeskip, & all we need now is the big reveal with a/some proper flashback(s) to explain it? LOL. Just a silly idea 😜).

Anyway, in general, I wouldn't want GjHm becoming canon at the cost of its beautiful potential. We'd need some more moments to justify it, or else I'd have to put back on my old "army uniform" to defend my ship if need be. So, despite how unlikely it would be, I can only hope Gege does NOT pull a Kubo (well, he's more likely to kill everyone off or something like that 🙄).

I'd rather he pulled a Sorachi (author of Gintama) & left things open-ended, keeping the fandom from turning into utter chaos...

(Maybe only that side might lose it, tho, lol. They get bothered by anything that doesn't adhere to their ship despite them being down here with us in Delulu Land, oop-).

[psychewritesbs]

How do you feel about Gege's overall writing style?

Am I wrong to think that sometimes he introduces stuff, interesting stuff that could be further explored but just drops/brushes past it?

Cause ngl I'm genuinely fearing for Megumi right now. The way Gege had handled the Zenins before, the politics, the clans, the higher ups - all intriguing plot points that led to nothing of notable consequence, makes me think he's fully capable of ditching a proper closure for Megumi despite all the build up. I'm also quite disheartened that, for a shonen manga that has enough awareness to question the idea of 'child soldiers', it doesn't seem that eager to delve deeper into the root cause - which is the jujutsu society and how it affects generation upon generation of sorcerers.

The Zenins are my biggest gripe with regards to this. I know not a lot in the fandom care for them but tbh I found Naobito, Mai and Naoya pretty interesting, esp. Naobito. I find him pretty reasonable and that bit of exchange wherein he tells Maki he'll put her under trials befitting her goal of becoming the Zenin clan head, made me think he had potential to be more nuanced than just a misogynistic prick. But, then he dies and gone he is along any possible character arc.

And with his death we got to the Megumi becomes the Zenin head plotline which - didn't lead to anything meaningful in the overarching narrative (at least so far, but I don't really see Gege backtracking and picking this subplot again). All of this gone to waste just so Maki could get a power up. Even Naoya seemed like he was just written to be a punching bag for one character. And while I know loads in the jjk fandom loved this mini arc, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Now, I'm not a Maki hater. I liked her before, but after her power up she just became bland to me. And I hate how so much subplot was wasted just for her. Megumi didn't even benefit from any of this. We didn't even get to explore his dynamic with the rest of the Zenin which is just criminal. We could have delved into generational trauma. We could have had Megumi finding out more about Toji which could lead to an emotional conclusion if he ever gets told the truth about Toji's death. As it stands, I don't get why finding out would even matter to Megumi atp, since he doesn't have any emotional attachment to Toji and the story doesn't seem inclined to rectify that even just a bit. Like, we could have explored more of Megumi's character and other relationships. Cause contrary to popular opinion, and while I may seem like I'm being contradictory just for the sake of it, but his relationship with Yuji and Tsumiki is the least interesting thing about him for me.

I know that Yuji and Megumi's bond has more bearing to the overall narrative of the manga (and basically even to Megumi's character as well), but I feel like while Yuji gets to be explored in the lenses and relationships he build with other characters (like Junpei, Nanami, Todo, Choso, even Gojo just to name a few), Gege doesn't seem all that interested in doing the same with Megumi. We barely get scraps of interactions between him and other characters. And it feels like Gege is purposely limiting him to just Yuji, and Tsumiki, although we know how this particular one turned out. Once again another possible character relationship introspection gone to waste. Tsumiki being treated like a plot device felt like an insult to Megumi tbh. That's one of the only 2 developed relationships he had but, again, it gets brushed off.

Now I'm probably just overreacting, but I'm highly pessimistic with Gege's writing and execution of Megumi's character. Not to say he's not well-written, the reason why I'm this pissed is because he is the exact opposite and I think there's so much more to him that could be expanded upon beyond his relationship with the MC.

Hola! Welcome back to our regular programming with JJK confessions Sunday! Not on a Sunday.

Ok so you ask two specific questions:

How do I feel about Gege's overall writing style? I love it. Although I'm looking at writing style from the perspective of how Gege conveys his vision and not necessarily the technicalities. This kind of requires that I am in tune with that vision. While I do feel like the technicalities have room for improvement, I'm so focused on the vision that I am not concerned with the technical bits. I also see Gege as a an amateur writer who is having his first major commercial success and who is doing a really good job for how long he's been writing. I often talk about CLAMP, right? And I by no means want to make it seem like their first commercial success (Tokyo Babylon) was bad. I LOVE tb and it is well-written. But there is a marked improvement in storytelling and writing that you can follow along throughout CLAMP's career. So I kind of see Gege in the same light as someone who is going to improve his craft.

Am I wrong to think that sometimes he introduces stuff, interesting stuff that could be further explored but just drops/brushes past it? No, you aren't necessarily wrong.

Let's taco'bout it under the cut.

I was actually having a similar conversation with a moot about this because I don't necessarily think that Gege is leaving loose ends, I see it more as two things happening:

First, patience grasshopper! In a couple of interviews with the cursed cat that have surfaced lately where he talks about his writing, he makes reference to writing as a craft. When I read those interviews, the way he talks about how he writes feels like he's very intentional about how he chooses to plot, develop characters, etc.

Problem is sometimes we don't see a payoff for some time. i.e. I don't remember the actual chapter number, but the enchain clue was dropped as early as somewhere around chapter 12, but we didn't get a payoff for another 200 chapters.

We also learned about Gojo becoming "The Strongest" as early as chapter 70something, but we don't learn how that identity hindered him for [insert maths here] chapters.

The other thing I see happening (and I can't necessarily back this up take a shot for every time I use the word necessarily in my answer) is that Gege is a metaphorical thinker.

Regarding this, someone in an ask before said something that made sense to me: Gege might not be grounding his vision into the page in a way that is concrete and understandable to everyone--I agree.

As a highly metaphorical thinker myself, I struggle with communication because the way I use language to convey meaning is too flexible, ambiguous, and dependent on people picking up on the mental images I associate with the words I use when I speak. And... unfortunately for my infantile desire to be understood in my own terms, communication doesn't necessarily work like that.

All that said, from reading you, I have the feeling you are a natural meta-thinker, and that you have a very good imagination that is very expansive.

So it's only fair and understandable that you'd like to see Gege expand upon the themes you mention. After all, they ARE good and interesting plot points and you can see the untapped potential.

The part where I'd disagree (although I am not necessarily disagreeing), is that, while these themes are touched upon, they aren't necessarily the sole focus that Gege might have in mind for the vision he wants to convey. Exploring these themes in depth would also necessitate a much longer manga, and it seems Gege has an end in mind that he's trying to reach.

I swear if I say necessarily one more time.

So yeah... I can see why you feel like he's brushing past these themes, but to me Gege is simply exploring "depth" in a way that is perhaps not aligned with what you'd like to see.

For example, you might disagree and I could be wrong, but I see the whole "child soldier" theme and looking for "the root cause - which is the jujutsu society and how it affects generation upon generation of sorcerers" theme playing out through Kenny's desire to push the evolution of mankind. There's something here about how Kenny's goals are a sort of continuation of Geto's will.

As for Megumi lacking some sort of emotional connection to Toji, you have to remember that Megumi says one thing and feels differently sometimes. Saying "I don't care" is a conscious defense mechanism for wanting to suppress "caring too much". Again, I could be wrong, but from a psychological perspective, we are inevitably emotionally bound to our biological parents. So we have yet to see how this plays out. Clearly Gege has something in mind.

Sticking to Megumi--I want to write more about this, because I used to agree with you about Tsumiki. I don't know how to explain in concrete language yet, but the more I think about it, the audience was never meant to see the real Tsumiki, and that was the whole point. Tsumiki existing in Megumi's imagination is the whole shebang because she represents his anima, which he has to integrate into consciousness as part of his psychological development.

The way I see it, what Gege did with Tsumiki, is both 100% shameless plot device and masterful Analytical Psychology and Psychology of Fairy Tales in action.

As for your grievances about execution. Here's where I join you 😂. God did I hate the Sakurajima arc! I l liked things about it, ofc. But Naoya coming back and getting his ass kicked again just made me want to move to Alaska and lock myself up in a cabin and become a recluse.

I can see the arc's role in retrospect (reading people's meta about it really helped with it), I acknowledge it, and I still didn't like it. 'Tis what 'tis.

I think every manga has that one arc you are just not going to vibe with.

Love your comments about Naobito and Naoya being interesting characters too! Mai also strikes me as a well-executed example of Gundam Seed's Flay Alster.

So anyways, you might disagree with what I say but, in writing this, goal is to invite you to think differently about what you mentioned if you feel inclined to do so.

Thanks for stopping by anon and here's to hoping Gege doesn't drop the Megumi storyline.

[frost-felon]

@ my anonymous asker: Your initial ask got eaten by Tumblr, so I'll be posting this as a separate post. You had two asks, so I'll address them both here, which works well, as I started ranting about the femme rep, lmao.

absolutely, like, 100% agree with you on everything you've said about the horrific lack of development with the interpersonal relationships between all the characters in jjk. the unexplained timeskip before the gojo vs sukuna fight made me SO MAD !!!!!!!! seeing it mentioned offhandedly. did such a massive disservice to gojo's character having his reactions to multiple deaths simply written out and missed so many opportunities for a more fulfilling narrative.

in general i feel that the relationships between characters in jjk are so... flimsily written. i have whole essays about how completely unexplored yuji and kenjaku are and how all the characters post-culling-game have suffered in favor of dishing out cool fights with fake-feeling emotional stakes. gege please start writing fights in a meaningful way... more than that please explore character dynamics outside of a purely tactical/background info way... is this the same man who wrote hidden inventory

Second ask:

my god don't even get me started on yorozu. atp the 'gege hates women' jokes can't even be dismissed that lightly I saw tsumiki's reawakening in the last jjk episode and literally said out loud don't piss me off again

Ah, thank you. I've been a bit worried about the in-universe time in JJK. If I'm not mistaken, the story starts at some point in June, and for the Juvenile Detention Center Arc/Super Happy Fun Killing Yuji Time, some point in July. Of course, Shibuya happens on the day/night of October 31st, and likely the wee hours of November 1st. The entirety of the Culling Games Arc takes place in about two weeks of November, as I recall; actually, maybe less, since the very start indicates that Yuji was on the run for a week. So many short timeskips happened early on, and had negative effects on developing characterization and worldbuilding, both of which I've thought were weak since the beginning. Worldbuilding moreso, but characterization issues were especially apparent with the second-years of Tokyo JJH and all of the Kyoto cast. This caused quite a crunch on Culling Games, since so much needed to happen over a short period of time, leading to a jumbled, molasses pace.

It's actually really interesting to me that Sukuna would agree to postpone the fight to nearly the end of December, and this would have given us more time to explore the newer characters and solidify the older ones; we really needed more interactions between Yuji and others that weren't full of misery. Or seeing Gojo adapting to life back outside the Prison Realm, especially given that so much has changed; for a character that values reforming society and raising a self-assured, powerful new generation, losing that society should lead to a re-evaluation of his priorities. Or like...develop Ieri! Hana! Miwa! And kill off Mei Mei or actually address her position within the cast.

Yeah, one of my biggest problems from the get-go was feeling that Megumi & Nobara was a dynamic that had been left to the wayside, even during early Kyoto Goodwill Arc. And those had been characters that were meant to interact regularly...literally what attachment did Higuruma have to anyone that wasn't Yuji?¹ I adore Yuji's relationships, but he's barely been allowed to have any after Shibuya. How is Choso doing, now that the only people (Yuki & Tengen) not related to him are dead or robbed of agency?

Speaking of...hoo boy, Tengen is a hell of a topic to untangle. And most femme characters really don't get to do anything. Nobara is fun, but suffered since day one with a lack of plot presence, and literally being removed from battlefields/character conflicts, lmao. Ieri straight-up doesn't matter, especially as the manga goes on--but even in Hidden Inventory, which I do think is likely the peak of JJK, she has no real impact. You could basically replace her with a medpack, and little would change. Mai gets a very good conflict with Maki, but just about nothing between then and her death. Maki has given up her niche and much of what made her engaging to become...a serial killer on the good side, suspiciously Toji-shaped. I really didn't like Perfect Preparation, and I dread re-reading it.

But "Gege hates women" was less of a joke to me, and more a hyperbolic version of a statement that I do believe in: "Gege shows a clear apathy and disregard for his femme characters." I noticed very early on in my initial read-through (to the end of 145) that many of the femme characters were simply treated differently than much of the male cast, and often given less to do. One time that I was truly disgusted, though, was how Remi (the lady with hair like a scorpion's tail, and a dependent personality) was handled, even before her ultimate fate in Culling Games. So much of that simply rubbed me the wrong way, and felt genuinely offensive, both in regards to women and to dependent personality-type individuals. And what happened to her later...man, those panels gross me the fuck out with how much they sexualize a woman who's about to get trafficked. I definitely have a lot to say on that, but I want to make sure I can actually post this before Tumblr fucks me over again.

As a note, I don't use materials outside of the story to gauge the effectiveness of the writing (and it's also because I'm a Naruto fan, so I know the Hell of databooks, nevermind some of the other art I enjoy), but I may be missing some things. Feel free to continue to make asks or to reach out to me via DMs. I do enjoy discussing JJK, whether it be for things it does well, things it does poorly, or for other reasons.

¹We did get some Higuruma & Kusakabe, but this came in late, and then Higuruma died, lmao.

[seoafin]

I think Akutami is just going for a tragic end. Like, it's obvious he hates Gojo, and ending the series with Gojo being the last standing would add even more to the "Throughout the Heaves and earth, he alone is the strongest."

Which SUCKS bc even gojo wanted the kids to get strong!!! He wanted strong allies so he WONT be alone!!! Akutami could have kept him in there longer, and have the kids actually do something, since they couldn't fall back on gojo anymore. I wish Yuji had that win against Mahito, instead of Kenjaku just absorbing him like a Pokémon. Or better yet, NOBARA. LET HER GET A WIN. SHE COULDVE WON, AND SHE SHOULDVE. Killing off Yuki, for what? Sidelining shoko and miwa and every other female character except Maki?

And what was the point of the culling games? Bringung in military forces? If Gege has a plan and is somehow able to tie this all together I'll be impressed. But only if he finally utilizes his female characters the way they should have always been, like he did for Maki. He did SO good with her, what happened to the rest?

Sorry I'm still ranting, but to add on to Akutami's misuse of his female characters-- Shouldn't women in the jjk universe have an advantage?

Momo was talking about how woman in jjk need to be perfect, just to be accepted. Disobedient woman in the zenin clan can have their mouths sewed shut. Adding in the general woes of being a woman, wouldn't that lend for greater storage or a more unique type of cursed energy?

Add THAT onto what our female characters have faced. Miwa lost Mechamaru, and she even tried to go up against Kenjaku even when he warned against it. And he almost used that Uzumaki cursed thing (i believe) on her. Her brother is in one of the colonies. (Honestly I feel she's one of the most underutilized characters). Nobara isn't from a great clan like Megumi or freakishly fast and strong like Yuji, even if we haven't seen I'm sure she has some problems with feeling left behind, that little girl in her still searching for a grand escape, her Saori. Momo already has spoken of the troubles of women sorcerers, so I'm sure she's been battling this image and ideal for a while. Do I even need to mention Maki and Mai?

NO BUT I DO NEED TO MENTION SHOKO.

"I was there too you bastards." Like??? She was in the generation with the two greatest sorcerers! She bore witness to it all!! What about Riko??? The Star plasma vessel, who im sure wouldve completed the trio of the strongest sorceres had she lived, and then there's Shoko, again.

Why is it that even when Akutami uses his female cast they always end up as some sort of character growth or regression or stepping stool for the male cast? Yuki and choso. Riko and gojo/geto. Kenjaku and Tengen (who I think is female). Angel and Megumi. TSUMIKI and Megumi. Nobara and Yuji. Like????

no i agree it just doesn't make sense. like is the whole point of jjk not gojo ushering a new age with strong allies??? why would akutami bring him back when the students have barely begun to actually do anything without gojo's help. AND NOBARA'S STILL NOT BACK???? ig this is confirmation that she's never coming back ugh. akutami killing off characters when he has no more use for them is so detrimental to the narrative. i truly believe nanami should've survived. but oh well :/

i just feel like his unboxing reiterates how dependent everything is around gojo! it's to the extent that other characters begin to become static because of how much everything revolves around gojo's strength. i was really looking forward to the students getting more of a spotlight.

the thing about akutami is that im pretty sure it's not even as intentional as other mangakas. akutami follows a pretty perfunctory story structure and when it comes to utilizing his characters he seeks to have his characters perform a single purpose and then when he doesn't need them they're gone. instead of dynamic characters we get flat characters or they just die before they ever really get a chance to shine (nanami). it sucks all around tbh but i do think gojo is going to die. akutami's kinda sick like that so. i'd also rather gojo die than any students LOL

[kissesandsuch]

It just doesn’t make ANY SENSE. NONE AT ALL. Gojo was absolutely slaughtering Sukuna. There is absolutely no reason why Sukuna would still be “underestimating him” and “holding back” like 20 chapters into the Damn fight. SUKUNA pulled out his entire fucking catalog he was throwing Pokémon at my king and was STILL LOSING. There is genuinely no way this fucking happened. Not only did Gege ruin the most hyped up fight in the show with only like 5 panels, but he ruined Gojos arc and story. This genuinely RUINS the story. I’m saying this as a JJK fan, not a Gojo fan. He couldn’t even have the decency to think of a way for SUKUNA to have a comeback, HE LITERALLY JUST APPARENTLY HEALED EVERYTHING AND BECAME A POWERHOUSE OFF SCREEN AND CUT GOJO IN HALF?? Now that I’ve seen the whole chapter I see how fucking terrible and rushed it is. He said that he learned to cut through space and time so infinity doesn’t matter???? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN???? And Gojo could’ve def beaten him without infinity too. My gears are actually fucking grinding rn. They gave my king a fucking off screen death and HUMILIATED HIM by making him say sukuna was always stronger than him. Idk what Gege is on but I need some of it because no fucking way he actually thought this was a good idea. Gojo and Getos reunion was BARELT ANYTHING. Are you meaning to tell me after Gojo spent his whole life loving him got betrayed by him killed hik had to bury him had his body used against him to seal him in another dimension he would’ve just been like “oh hey Geto” NOOOOOO!!!!! He literally fucking started to smile when he saw Kenjaku using Getos body for a second because he thought it was Geto. You’re meaning to tell me his team reaction to seeing Geto again was just FUCKING NOTHING???? GOJO WOULDVE LITERALLY BROKEN DOWN AND AFTER THAT LONG HARD ASS FIGHT WE DONT WVEN GET TO SEE GOJO CRY???? FOR ALL HES BEEN THROUGH????? HE COULDNT JUST SAY HE LOVED GETO AND HE WISHED HE COULD TAKE IT ALL BACK??? He said he didn’t have any regrets. ITS SO FUCKING OUT OF CHARACTER??????? He regretted EVERRYYYTTHHIIINNGGG!!!!! His life was literally ass. It’s been confirmed like 20 times over that Gojos biggest regret was not following Geto when he left. Did he not regret having to hurt Megumi? Did he not regret not saving Riko? Did he not regret not being able to save Itadori? Did he not regret having to die infront of all his students? Does he not regret not being there to save Nanami? He doesn’t regret not trying to live his life for himself? HE DOESNT REGRET ANYTHHIIINNNGGG?????? Oh so we’re lying now. I’m so fucking mad I’m FUMING. And now we have Kamishido fighting SUKUNA??? IF THE STRONGEST CANR BEAT HIM WHO THE FUCK CAN???? It’s not even a situation where it’s like it was neck and neck the whole time but Gojo eventually lost barely so now someone else has to finish Sukuna off. Because now apparently Sukuna is FUCKING ALL POWERFUL????? His death was barely even focused on HIS FEELINGS. All we got was that he regrets nothing (wrong) and that Highschool was the best part of his life (which we already knew). I’m not over his lack luster reaction to seeing Geto. Gojo literally froze for a full fucking minute when he saw Kenjaku, so when he sees the real Geto he’s just like “aw man this sucks!!😝😝” SHUT THE FUCK UP I HSTE YOU GEGE I HATE YOU. I’ve been genuinely mourning him. I can’t even look at his sexy edits anymore without wanting to bawl my eyes out again. I’ve never felt so much sadness for the death of a character. Fuck you Sukuna fuck you Toji fuck you Kenjaku and fuck anyone who’s not dick riding my king. I refuse to see him off like this. FUCK YOU GEGE WHEN I FIND YOU DONT JUST LOCK YOUR DOORS BLOCK ALL YOUR PIPES BECAUSE I WILL PULL AN OCTOPUS AND CRAWL THROUGH YOUR PIPES LIKE A LIQIUD

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Omg megumi and Yuta are my favs after Inumaki LMAO (I’m Lowk salty that we did not get ANY lore exploration of Inumaki but maybe it’s better that way so he stays alive atp)

No the hating mainstream things to be “unique” is so eugh honestly like just because somethings mainstream doesn’t mean it’s basic…but exactly I’ve definitely lost the spark with jjk I think it just got too confusing? And I was losing the essence of the story and idk I know geges said before that that they’ve wanted to end jjk earlier but something about the editor saying no…? I feel like sometimes the lack of motivation kinda peeks through with how the story was done….which I get because writers block/art block and just burn out in general is so real I just wish circumstances were different lmao…

Also yeah the “jjk has the best female characters” ideation…hmm..it’s def better than the blatantly sexualized ones but at this point it kinda feels like a bare minimum/low standard thing that they ARENT sexualized like in most shounen content that makes people say this (i agree like wtf happened with yuki we barely saw her honestly?? Don’t get me started on tsumiki i was expecting them to take a route where maybe she’d actually wake up and play a more conscious role but what the hell was that)

NO LITERALLY im all for analysis and leaving some things open ended but idk in jjk it was just excessive that it turned into confusion like…the constant guessing and insane analysis that needed to be done to clarify things or try to parse things together is not my favorite…agreed that the story should not have to rely on deep level analysis to be understood!

Yeah I’ve definitely lost my emotional ties with jjk its just like well I got this far i might as well see how it ends

LMAO WIGGLY that made me think of a worm on a string but I see what you mean! One track soccer mind doesn’t give much room to explore lolll but it was executed very well hehe

LMAOO it’s the pipeline of shitting on side characters to loving them but I can’t with his hair cut…also don’t think he’s ugly like I guess he’s objectively relatively good looking? But yeah I never fully saw the appeal (it’s funny because I know a good amount of people who prefer him to Rin when I’m the opposite lol) and the Gojo aura LOL

THE ACCURACY IS INSANE the way I would have never known if you didn’t mention it (I don’t think I would’ve even noticed if I wrote it) the fact checking goes crazy LMAO but I love it honestly the research def gives the story more depth and feel to it rather than just a one shot/story that kinda just floats in the void of the universe or something…gives it ties to reality and an actual grounding in the world! (This was worded so badly lmao)

It’s always Karasu….I think it’s partially also because some manga scenes of him are a little goofy because they give him that smile that almost cuts across his entire face to give him that kinda evil looking smirk….and the anime style kinda striking that awkward balance of maintaining those features but not putting enough detail to go full asshole def makes it a little goofy LOL (but in art they put more effort into like the S2 trailer/teaser visual he looks great with all the shading)

And LMAOO IKR!!! I always think back to that I’m like KURONA WAS 4??? Bro wasn’t even on the field in the u20 match so I was Lowk a bit shocked haha, iirc Kiyora was also 5?? Like the discrepancy makes me laugh ik people probably developed during the second selection but the drastic change always gets me

Your tag with the arrow has me feeling idk why I found that so funny LOL

Also SHSHS drowsy allergy medicine is the worst…I hope you weren’t having a severe reaction or anything and also that you feel better soon!!!

-Karasu anon

there’s def a lot of areas where there could be more lore (rika’s character page is so odd??) just because of how many characters there are i think!! but i do feel like the story is wrapping up so some things might just be left as questions. or not, who knows!!

yeah there’s def a cycle of like thing gets popular -> everyone loves it -> it becomes so over saturated that people start hating on it to be different -> it becomes overhated -> in a few years everyone realizes it wasn’t that bad. the biggest problem w the “hating as a trend” is that it takes away from legitimate criticisms of the work, as fans will lump it into general hating for no reason.

besides just analyses being so important for even basic comprehension of the plot, i’ve noticed a lot of the storyline is dependent on random interviews gege has done. like nobara’s death only being confirmed because of an interview years after it was written is RIDICULOUS to me (even though i already thought she was dead tbh but there was enough speculation in the fandom that it obviously wasn’t clear enough in-story). things like interviews and character pages should give you fun additional information that can help you expand on a character (oh rin likes horror games!! karasu is scared of the water!! etc etc) but it shouldn’t be the MAIN source of KEY info on a character. idk i think a lot of people love what jjk could be at this point and not necessarily what it is.

YESS i honestly was not super pleased by the female characters in jjk!! they are cool, and they COULD be well written, but they aren’t. i think in terms of its contemporaries, demon slayer does female characters better than jjk (again, not saying they’re perfect because they aren’t, but, say, shinobu is a stronger character to me than even maki).

jjk is a sunk cost fallacy for me HAHA i’ve been into it for over 2.5 years now so i have to see how it ends but i don’t really care atp what happens 😭 i’m like an unbiased outsider…idk it’s sad i wish i could’ve stayed invested but i only even know leaks are dropping because my social media blows up whenever they do.

OMG i also think rin is better looking than sae but i find sae easier to write for some reason?? idk why 😫 like sae is canonically only interested in soccer at least rin likes horror stuff but honestly between the two of them it feels easier to separate sae from soccer than rin?? if only marginally so hahaha. sae occasionally expresses regret at only knowing abt soccer so i feel like he’d be more willing to open himself to new experiences if sufficiently prodded whereas rin is SO invested in soccer (because soccer = his relationship w his brother) that he doesn’t even seem like he could have a proper friendship w someone let alone an actual relationship 😔

it really is always karasu…i do think manga can get away w exaggerating certain features (ex karasu’s smirk) that anime can’t so they have to figure out a way to balance it — maybe it’s the static nature of manga vs the motion of anime?? although karasu hasn’t been smirking much in pxg vs bm 😕 give my boy his swag otoya back!! HAHA but i also think he was such a background character in that one scene of season one that they just didn’t gaf abt him. he’s looked really good in all of the s2 promotional material so i have faith he will be done well!!

KURONA AND KIYORA MY RANDOM AHH KINGS 🙏🏻 they came outta nowhere but they’re slaying atm…ig the hundred goal thing only tested a very specific aspect of playing soccer?? like shooting without anyone on you which doesn’t really translate to an actual game 🤔 like in bllk vs u20 they needed defenders and midfielders who wouldn’t necessarily score but were integral to the game 👆🏻 plus they didn’t all go in at the same time so better players like tabieitaken and shidou were ranked lower than randoms like tokimitsu probably just because they entered later 🤷🏻‍♀️

it wasn’t that bad!! i just got like overwhelmingly sleepy because i haven’t taken any in forever so i just crashed instead of staying up longer like i usually so haha. but i’m hoping to get the one shot out soon!! it’s pretty dumb but more karasu content is more karasu content 🤩

[mrskurono]

I feel lile Fire Force isn't as popular as other because 1) there's so many actual adult characters in it, 2) it isn't a highschool setting nor are any of the characters we see actually in school, 3) even though it's fantasy it leans more towards the surreal, Lovecraftian side (like the author's other work Soul Eater), and 4) there's like no romance or very minimal romance that isn't even plot relevent.

I'm also a big Soul Eater fan and I read a lot of fanfics for it and I've noticed that so many good fics get ignored because they feature stuff like the above while the generic romance stuff, especially for the Soul/Maka ship, gets sooo many responses. Like! There's an author who does a lot of Lovecraftian type stuff and another who writes really good AU fics specifically featuring Asura and they're both amazing authors with incredible characterization, awesome settings and descriptions, unique stories, and some insanely creepy ideas and yet! There's not much attention.

Soul Eater itself got moderately popular but it didn't entirely hit that and I feel like it was the lack of a major romance arc and the vague, Lovecraftian lore that had a hand in that. Cause those are often the complaints I hear about the canon material.

As someone whose poured literal months if not years into fics that are huge on lore and intricate storylines that play on each other even 100k words later in one fic. Just for it to get ignored but 500 words about a penis blows up. This is so painfully true.

All the time I've spent watching anime and reading manga all of these are true of any unknown series. And it's so sad bc the authors that I love even now and follow their works decades after they started, never had the big hype that a lot of series get. Be it lack of romance (which sucks bc some of don't like romance genres and avidly avoid them) or being "too involved" for people to follow.

Fire Force is so wonderful bc that mans work is built on so much real world lore and I just salivate for nerdiness that relies on real world themes (be it church related or gods/goddesses or supernatural and so on) And it's such a shame people throw that kinda hard work away from ships or something 😩

As a hole I've never understood the obsession with setting things in high school (even when I was in high school) I always found the older backstories to older characters so much more interesting to act storylines and it sucks 😩 I want a show I can nerd out on and hypothesize on and shit.