#this entire chapter is a flashback

[degenerateshinji]

tragic backstory when fujimoto

[the-way-astray]

keefe you idiot

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hi i've read some posts of you about Tsats and it seems like you didn't like the book.

Honestly i'm with you in this 'cause i find it problematic on so many levels (characterizations, inconsistencies, ableism) but apparently there's gonna be a sequel???? What do you think about it?

i think i can pretty concisely summarize my thoughts about the sequel with:

Longer version: It just feels wholly unnecessary. There's no continuation to use for a sequel, really. The first TSATS was unnecessary to begin with but it was so focused on leaving no stone unturned that it functionally left no loose ends to tie up. There's just nowhere to go with it unless they do even MORE retconning and warping characters OOC to string some kind of plot out of, but even that wouldn't reasonably give them enough to make a full novel's worth of plot out of anyways, which means if this sequel is novel-length like the last then it will drag on SO. MUCH. TSATS1 already had horrible pacing problems. There's no way this won't be worse.

[nyaagolor]

Knowing now that Krauss was on a business trip from the time Natsuhi was given Lion until after Lion's "death" and has No Idea about Lion makes the entire situation uproariously funny to me because it implies one of three things:

Everyone assumed Krauss was so obedient to / scared of Kinzo that he would accept the situation without question, so they just didn't bother telling him because they didn't want to deal with him until he got back

Kinzo and Genji had so little faith in Krauss' intelligence that they figured they could just convince him that Lion was his Actual Biological Child and that Natsuhi had just been hiding a hidden pregnancy for the past 9 months

Genji and the other servants were so busy dealing with Kinzo's grief and Everything Else that they just Forgot

[kara-knuckles]

I'm honestly baffled by how many people seem to get "Manfred is freethinker, Ascalon is sheeple" from Babel and "Manfred outsmarted Hoederer" from 14. I can at least begrudgingly understand the former, because the narrative goes out of its way to invalidate Ascalon's every decision so you need to be invested enough to take a step back and see it's actually bullshit, but with the latter W outright mocks Manfred for acting exactly like Hoederer predicted, and this is despite Ulsulah's advanced warnings about the situation on Lifebone. Hell, the fact that Hoederer doesn't even try to fight (presumably because he is acting as a bait and this minimizes his potential injuries) and complete lack of reaction from everyone else suggest that everything was still proceeding according to plan B (separate Manfred from his men so you don't fight them at the same time), even if plan A (intercept him) got Damazti'd.

[everyryuujisuguro]

[omg-ame-chan]

i read mizu5.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[eruhamster]

hua cheng is insane. imagine you have a gay awakening at 10 years old where you nearly die and get saved by a guy a few years older than you who's so hot and fancy and magical-looking it makes you decide to worship him and not just your entire life, but your entire afterlife is spent trying to be as perfect as possible so you can marry the guy one day. 800 years of looksmaxxing and perfecting your life until you get the chance. insane levels of commitment

[ruinreads]

sorry hot take or smth but this's a man who has been looking for clues of his friend's death for a decade and holding a grudge and dragging around living corpses of at least 2 former order members for that purpose, he is just barely hiding that he's not normal, like i feel he wouldn't just nonchalantly accept this? like where did all the intensity and gravitas go? point no. 46339 of why trios just don't sit right w me. some1 is always shafted in some way.

[grayintogreen]

Oh thank the almighty cod the chapter after next is Stolitz’s triumphant return to the narrative. I’ve been WAITING.

[unma]

Just saw an anime edit of Sylpha from reincarnated as the 7th prince and it feels insane to see now. Excuse me? It feels surreal to see anime adaptation of manga I love now. I still remember being an anime only and being told to read the manga to see what happens next. Sheesh.

[the-way-astray]

god i hate the way kotlc's epic foreshadowing oftentimes builds to . . . absolutely nothing. in the scene where gisela kidnaps tam, she's hinting so much toward the fact that there's . . . something that's genuinely compelling about the neverseen, something that could truly sway tam to their side once he realizes that it's a solution that could work. and yet, legacy is such a disappointment because none of this foreshadowing ever comes to fruition. gisela continues to be a shitty cartoon villain that's incredibly boring and has no motivation, and no such solution or conflict is ever presented

[organizechaoss]

the hardest part about a writing flashback sequence is figuring out where tf it’s supposed to go 😤

[sophiethewitch1]

what did you read/watch to get into the batfam? my only knowledge about them is from you and other fics

i mean i sorta just picked through most of the rebirth stuff at my leisure, but id definitely recommend reading/watching death in the family because its pretty crucial to the characters and their dynamics

[toastedsmoreo]

I gotta be less terminally online bc every time I think about jjk’s ending I get annoyed