#this is about Kenjaku specifically

[insecure-amphibian]

[karvakera]

drawing gojo every day as stupid pet memes until THE shibuya incident: day 34

just a heads up but tomorrow's meme will have minor spoilers! (a reference to a specific upcoming scene in shibuya) I'll make sure to tag every possible spoiler tag so if you dont want to see it, make sure you have spoiler tags blocked. sorry for the inconvenience and thank you.

[satoruxx]

it’s been a few hours and i’m still very angry and upset at this ending like wow ofc i’m mad about gojo not coming back but the overall downfall of this series has me baffled…

[justsomerandomplanet]

Uraume talking about how sorcerers of old disregarded their humanity....looks at tengen who has been called a "higher being" and sukuna who is a natural disaster, a calamity....kenjaku who's whole curse technique means to disregard the human body....

[dailykugisaki]

Day 182 | id in alt

There was gonna be more but then I decided to forget how to draw miwa so. I'll continue it tomorrow.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

:33 today i woke up well rested and happy . knowing my wife is safe .

[1sugnru]

two words: teacher geto

[lavenderjewels]

JJK s2 ep 10 preview

he’s sleepy

[epickiya722]

I had an idea for a poll pertaining to my AU since I was curious as to what the results of it would be but given past experiences and coming to the realization about some things I decided to not to.

[mobofficial]

ohhh one of these days . I must queue up some anemone talk posts about kenjaku + yuji (now that the manga has sort of split itself off from them completely) / prowl (SO many thoughts. big shoutout to ollie for the meteor that killed the dinosaurs with this guy) / the constructicons (I AM MAKING THEM MINE) / DELPHI ARC. SPECIFICALLY FIRST AID. AND PHARMA

[cursed-spirit-manipulation]

kenjaku is probably like. Genuinely super racist. 1 old as shit 2 doesn't really give a shit about other people at all and you might say "oh then they don't care about people Equally! So not racist" And no, not how that works when they're a fucked up opportunist, eg they're a misogynist for the cursed womb shit even if they didn't care abt the victim being a woman, they still took advantage of oppressive structures that target women (esp women who are victims and/or perceived as promiscuous bc. Like. How do you think they were able to abuse that woman? It was bc her family didn't care about her) so what I'm saying is they're racist

[bakugoushotwife]

in my opinion, gojo’s storyline has been handled so so poorly i can’t help but think it’s intentional. it is not bad writing to kill a character—even a beloved character. i know most people will dismiss my criticisms because gojo is so beloved to me and so many others. i’ve said before that i don’t mind if he died. does it hurt? of course, and i would still cry and be sad about it. but there is a beautiful way to do it. with respect and honor for his legacy—for what he has done for your manga, the characters in it, and audiences worldwide. but no…gege chose the path of horror and disrespect. at certain points i’d say to myself, well. this is a dark manga. but essentially gojo is the only character that receives this treatment. since the beginning—since suguru left him, he’s been wondering if he mattered because he was a person, or if he only mattered because he was powerful and useable. we certainly fucking answered that question. he is a weapon and nobody ever cared about him at all!!!

and we knew he was being used—he knew he was being used, but he is selfless. so he did it for his kids. for megumi and yuuji and yuuta—he wanted them to be safe. in these flashbacks it’s exceedingly clear that he knew he would die. again—that’s not my issue. gojo dying to sukuna makes plenty of sense and it would hurt to leave it there. but to give us an afterlife scene where he’s presented a choice—north and south—that concept lead nowhere, that’s truly fucked up. to leave all the subtle clues and hints for no reason but to keep people reading and theorizing his return is fucked up. to continue to use his imagery to promote your manga when you know he’s not even honored in your manga is fucked up. we don’t get a funeral or a grave for him. no one’s spoken about him in chapters despite him fighting for hours against sukuna and damaging him so much that yuuji could win, nothing. yuuta wearing him like a costume and no one is horrified about it. i thought his students WERE different. they weren’t jujutsu society yet. that’s why gojo was their teacher—shaping them into better human beings. how am i supposed to trust in their future when it seems they’re just as cold and heartless as everyone before them? no one has honored gojo in any way since the moment he died. and they’ve forgotten about him. he spent his entire life fighting and no one can even say thank you. gege intentionally used gojo to promote the end of his manga because he knows that gojo fans make up at least half of his fanbase so had we stopped reading when he died, he would have lost a lot of traction. he baited us intentionally, cruelly, and something that transcends storytelling. i’ve truly never seen a mangaka have this sort of vitriol for one of their characters and the people that love him.

we spent the entire last chapter talking about some random fucking mission when we have several unanswered questions and concerns. i thought gege said he wanted this ending to be shocking and something you didn’t see in shonen? tying everything up neatly where no one has any trauma or grief for what they’ve experienced, everyone comes back to life except the one character you hate specifically and choso, defying your own power structures and having everyone laughing into the sunset is exactly how shonen ends so what in the fuck is he talking about??

let me disclaim, this is not megumi hate at all. i love him very much and i am so happy he’s back with the group but like. he shouldn’t be able to even walk. he tanked unlimited void for over 6 minutes whenever that length caused irreversible damage to sukuna himself. not to mention the countless black flashes. so what the fuck? he doesn’t mention gojo at all?? the first time he laughs in this manga is after he reads a note written by his dead fucking caretaker about his dead fucking father? like i don’t believe. random open ended kenjaku/suguru mention just to piss me off, an absolutely no mention of gojos sacrifice or how they’ll miss him. i’m sick to my stomach. gege defiled his memory both in the story and outside of it. wow.

P.S. SUKUNA CARED MORE ABOUT GOJO THAN ANYONE ELSE (SUGURU IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS I MEAN HIS STUDENTS AND SOCIETY)

[cindol]

can I req jjk men as girl dad’s? Specifically nanami, toji, choso, or sukuna! :))

the jjk men as girl dads .

cw + — fluff, mamaguro!reader, heian era sukuna,

wc : 1307 words .

NANAMI KENTO .

the most girl dad ever. He’s lucky enough to get you pregnant and have three triplet daughters pop out.

He’s taught himself with YouTube and you how to do all of his daughters hair when you’re not available. If one of his daughter’s has trouble getting her hair done due to being whiney or something else he tries being negotiable.

“I know you hate it honey, but if you get through this I promise we can go to the park after with fuschia and yuki how about that hm?”

She’s whiney, but nods with a bratty look on face.“promise?”

“I promise.”

Nanami let’s his girls play with his face however much they please as long as it makes them happy and distracted. The thing that makes them stop is when you come through the front door with a gasp at your three daughters putting pastel chalk on his face.

“Girls! What are you doing to your poor daddy’s face?” you drop your bag rushing over while the girls are giggling with chalk in their hands while nanami sighs and chuckles at your worry.

Eventually they run off when you give a stern look while you use a napkin to clean up his face.“You really have such a hard time telling the girls no, baby.”

he has a soft smile on his face while you tend to his chalked up cheeks.“they’re my girls darling, I have to let them.”

CHOSO KAMO .

a better father than kenjaku could ever dream of. He knows what it’s like to have a father who looks at you like a bug, something less worthy so he treats his daughter Saiko the best he can with all his soul regardless of gender.

When she’s having trouble making friends in kindergarten he cheers her up with snacks and a goodnight bedtime.

He understands how emotions can be confusing for her too and in her late teens he’s fine with the mood swings and emo phase.

You just scoff when you’re taking her laundry basket after she slams the door. You’re walking down the stairs just baffled at your daughter’s recent behavior.“I never know with that girl I swear! It’s like your daughter just is in a permanent mood swing.”

choso chuckles.“give her a break baby. I think I remember you being like that when we were young don’t you?”

you hum, thinking about that time in your life with the laundry basket of jeans and white t’s on your hip.“guess you’re right there cho’. I use to be in a big phase of split dye as my hair color and you definitely couldn’t get enough of those pigtails.” you teased him at the end there making him nervously chuckle.

“Kenjaku would’ve had to drag me by the pigtails to get me to stop wearing them everyday. So give her sometime hm honey?”

You huffed, nodding.“ok but talk to her. She shares basically the same traits as you, she’ll listen better.”

Once it comes to it he takes Saiko mall shopping and gets to the route of the problem, boy troubles with her boyfriend.

“Boys are idiots sweetheart, take it from me and even ask your mother. There’s much fish in the sea in that highschool of yours.”

saiko sniffles but nods, choso wasn’t always the best when it came to girl advice but he made her smile and laugh.“Guess you’re right… He sniffs glue anyway.”

“I'm glad I haven’t met this ex of yours honey.”

TOJI FUSHIGURO .

He was glad when he had a male carbon copy of him and even happier to find out you were pregnant again for a third time.

This time he’d make sure he wouldn’t fuck it up and be there for his baby girl all the time. Even before she came into this world he was painting her room and decorating with you.

“Half and half toji?”

“Never know if she likes pink and blue baby, you can’t assume.”

He’s a protective dad in public grocery stores. He doesn’t just brush off some woman trying to touch his daughter Rina in her stroller just because she’s cute. He abruptly turns the stroller with a stank face making you nervously laugh but apologize to the poor lady.

“Toji! You can’t just be so rude to that poor lady for wanting to say hi.”

“Ain’t letting some random just touch my daughter. You’re crazy if you even think I would babe.”

It’s hard for him to be trustworthy to babysitters also. Even if your judgment is good he still chooses shiu to babysit his youngest daughter.

“Thought you wouldn’t even show.” he says it nonchalantly while handing shiu the giggling toddler.

“I’ve babysit two of your runts, I’m sure I can handle a third.” he makes a hiss when he feels rina tugging at one strand of his hair.“even someone as rough as this little girl so enjoy your night before she starts crying out for her papa.”

Toji’s brave enough when confronting another mother about her child’s bullying behavior towards Rina. He tries the passive route, a small “please teach your kid to be nice okay? Other kids are in the playground with me.”

When that doesn’t work and he’s met with an aggressive tone he matches the same energy.

“Ah great, nice to know where the damn kid learned to throw sand at someone. Nice speaking to ya”

toji doesn’t play about his daughter, at all.

GOJO SATORU .

He didn’t voice to the world about his daughter since he wanted her protected from the jujutsu world but megumi and you know exactly how much excitement was inside him from news of your pregnancy.

He’s glad when she doesn’t have any jujutsu powers or the six eyes, just a pretty face, her natural hair color with some white streaks in her hair.

When she’s a toddler he loved bonding time with her. Any free day he has off he’ll spend it with various mall shopping activities of getting lollipops and annoying nanami when he runs into him.

Seeing Megumi and her together also makes him grin. Be it that megumi is just watching tv and she happens to be on his lap but it still gets him happy.

Megumi just sighs at his sensei’s weird behavior while clicking through channels.“Jeez, you’re strange.”

SUKUNA RYOMEN .

The news that you were pregnant with his seed was good news. He didn’t show his excitement but a toothy grin with a hum was enough to know he was happy at the news.

Sukuna has never been one to care for labels. Any woman or man is just a meal on his platter when it comes down to it and any seed of his is automatically good.

Sukuna didn’t show it outside but he cares deeply for his daughter reira. He’ll let her crawl on his two available hands while his others are crossed, bite on his arms, anything that pleases her.

His favorite thing to do when it came to you and reira was have a small family outing with uraume coming along as preparation. He always picked a secluded area in a forest, sitting on the pink and white cloth with you and reira while uraume prepared wine and sandwiches to be splayed out for the three of you.

Sukuna doesn’t allow any disrespectful words about his daughter. Any maiden or butler whining or complaining near him makes him whip them into shape.

“If you really find caring for my offspring to be such an inconvenience perhaps I should have you removed.” and they all knew what he meant when he said removed in the tone he did.

[justsomerandomplanet]

Personal hc for kenjaku that initially their head scar was a small one, not too obvious but still there, just right above their left brow/eye. Then as they realised their abilities the scar fully manifests (bloody and gross too, of course heh)

[linkspooky]

Are You Satisfied?

As you might have heard chapter 236 of Jujutsu Kaisen ends with the death of Gojo Satoru. The fandom is making a pretty big deal about it. As someone who predicted from the beginning that Gojo was going to lose against Sukuna, the reaction is fascinating to me. This is perhaps the most controversial chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen I've ever seen. So I've decided to throw my hat into the ring.

The central theme of Jujutsu Kaisen is death, so the death of one of the main characters isn't too surprising, but what does Gojo's death mean for the story? What does it say about his character?

As I said above I am a little bit shocked by the extreme controversy over Gojo's death. Gojo was never going to win the fight in the first place, because Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and the story would be over if he defeated Sukuna. He'd easily be able to take care of Kenjaku afterwards and the main conflcit would be resolved. Would it really be an interesting story if Gojo one shotted the villains while the kids just wathced on Television?

The story is also not about Gojo, it's about the students. Gojo may think he's the protagonist of reality but he's not the protagonist of the story.

Once again, Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and stories have themes. We may grow personally attached to characters, but characters are just narrative tools to convey the themes of a story, no different from prose, dialogue, and art. Characters are a tool to be used well or used poorly, and sometimes yes that means killing them. Whether Gojo's death was naratively satisfying though isn't the purpose of this post though we're only asking what does it mean?

Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen is not only a fictional story, it's specifically a tragedy. Full disclosure, it's a manga about death.

The Protagonist of a Tragedy

So, number one shout out to me for making this post 4 months ago where I called the way Gojo would end the fight.

Excuse me while I fist pump for calling it!

The question on everyone's minds is why does one of the most powerful characters in the manga die offscreen in a pretty humiliating way, cut in half and helpless on the ground just like Kaneki. The reason Gojo didn't get a more heroic (or cooler) death is because we're not reading My Hero Academia, this is not a story about heroes or even a typical Shonen manga it is a tragedy.

In poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as:

"an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (51).

To paraphrase a tragedy is about human action, actions characters make in a tragedy often have dire consequences. One of the most common consequences if the reversal of a hero's fortune, a hero of a tragedy usually starts out on top and ends up on the bottom because of the bad choices they make. If in normal shonen manga characters overcome their flaws through effort and persistence, in Jujutsu Kaisen we see characters more often than not lose to their flaws.

The reason I posted that Kaneki panel specifically is because it was a brilliant moment of narrative punishment for Kaneki's central character flaw. Kaneki the hero's main flaw is that he always fights alone, and he constantly makes that same choice over and over again to fight alone. One of the characters helpfully explains it as well.

Stories are primarily about change. If a character doesn't change they're not serving the plot, unless that specifically is the point. People have pointed out how abrupt it is for Gojo to get sealed in Shibuya, get let out, and then immediately die afterwards but that's kind of the point. Gojo made more or less the exact same choice (he asked for Utahime's help for a buff but otherwise fought the entire battle himself). The definition of insanity and what not, why would doing the same thing over and over again net him a different result?

Not only did Gojo choose to fight alone, but as I've been hammering on and on about in previous meta the entire fight Gojo cared more about fighting a strong opponent then he did saving Megumi, the child he was responsible for.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not a typical shonen manga where everything is resolved by beating a strong villain in a fight. That's specifically why I used the Tokyo Ghoul reference, because the reason Kaneki is defeated offscreen like that is because he thought the world worked like a shonen manga. He has a fantasy sequence where he's fighting Juzo in a shonen battle tournament like this is Yu Yu Hakusho right before it snaps back to reality and he's limbless on the ground.

Gojo is a major character in the manga Jujutsu Kaisen, literally "Sorcery Fight" and he is the best sorcerer in the whole world. His entire identity revolves around being a sorcerer. Since he is so good and beloved at what he does, he thinks that everything is resolved by exorcising a curse or defeating a strong opponent. He has basically no identity outside of that. Which is why when he's fighting the possessed body of his student, a person he's been mentoring since childhood his priority is not to save Megumi but to beat a strong opponent. Gojo is a sorcerer, before a human being. That's who he is, that's who he always has been since day one.

I think part of the negative fan reaction comes from fans being really attached to this scene in the manga and deciding Gojo's entire character revolves around being a good mentor figure to children.

Which is just incorrect, Gojo's entire character revolves around being the strongest. On top of that though, Gojo can care about children and also care about being the strongest he can care about multiple things at once and have those things contradict each other because humans are complicated. I'd point out even in this panel where he's stating motivation he's not trying to raise these kids up into being healthy adults, he wants them to be strong Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even when he's raising kids, his intention is to turn them into Jujutsu Sorcerers because everything in Gojo's mind revolves around Jujutsu Sorcery. Gojo does not exist outside of the world of sorcerers. Gojo may be the chosen one but he'd never be able to hold down a job at Mcdonalds.

I think in general readers put more investment in the things characters say out loud, rather than their actions. You can say one thing and do another. I can say "I should never eat sweets again I'm going to improve my diet", and then go and eat ice cream five hours later. Gojo can state out loud his intention to foster children and protect their youths, but then fail to properly do that in the story. Characters are not always what they say they are, that's why they're interesting to interpret. This isn't me calling the readers stupid, just pointing out that Gojo is made up of contradictions. He wants to get rid of the old guard and replace them with something new, but Gojo IS THE OLD GUARD.

If the culling games arc has shown us one thing, it's that ancient sorcerers brought to the modern age do not care that much about human life on an individual level, they are all of them egoists. There's a reason Gojo resembles someone like Sukuna more than he does any other character in the manga. I'm not saying Gojo is exactly like Sukuna, he's far more altruistic and uses his genuinely noble ideals but at the same time Sukuna is a shadow archetype to Gojo he represents Gojo's flaws. The flaws that Gojo succumbs to in tragic fashion.

Which if you believe that Gojo genuinely does love his students, and the ideal he's fighting for is to raise up a better generation and allow them to live out their youths, then Gojo throughout the entire Sukuna fight is acting against those ideals. He cares far more about fighting Sukuna then he does saving Megumi, it's shown over and over again in the battle, Megumi is an afterthought to him. If Gojo care moredefeating the big bad and saving the world is more important than helping a child that Gojo is responsible for then Gojo is acting against his stated principles. Why should Gojo win the fight when he's fighting for all the wrong reasons?

Tragedies are like visual novels, if you make the wrong choice the novel will give you a red flag. If you ignore the red flag then you get locked into the route with the bad ending. Gojo always fights alone. Gojo only ever fights for himself, even if he's using that selfishness in support of a more noble ideal like creating a better generation of sorcerers. If Gojo consecutively makes the same changes then in a tragedy he's not going to be rewarded for it.

Gojo wants the old generation out and the new generation in, but Gojo resembles the old generation too much. Old sorcerers like Hajime and Sukuna respect him, Hajime argues that Gojo being able to fight for his pride is far more important than him living to the end of the battle when Yuta wanted to interfere and help him.

Gojo's death isn't a surprise curve ball that Gege is throwing us for shock value, it's a result of his choices throughout the manga. A manga about change, and the change between generations is not going to punish a character for remaining roughly the same. Of course you might find it disappointing that Gege didn't give Gojo the chance to grow and change and experience a character arc like Megumi or Yuji, but Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, and the way Gojo's arc ended is consistent with what Gege wrote.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not just a tragedy though, it's a manga about death. The manga begins with Yuji's grandfather warning him not to die alone the way that he did. His grandfather's dying words are what motivate Yuji throughout the beginning of the manga as he's searching for a "proper" death.

One of the major themes of Yuji's character is a contemplation of death. He accepts that death is inevitable, so he wants to save them from the gruesome deaths they'd experience if they became victims to curses and allow them to have a more satisfying death. Yuji's grandpa died an unsatisfying death because he died alone in a hospital room. Yuji even tries to make his own death a satisfying one because he believes by dying to seal away Sukuna he'll reduce the total number of casualties to curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen keeps investigating the theme of death and what exactly would make for a satisfying death. At one point it's all but stated that death is the mirror that makes humans analyze their lives.

When Yuji fails to save Junpei from the "unnatural death" it calls into question whether or not his goal of saving people from unsatisfying deaths and the gruesome deaths caused by curses is even feasible. Nanami even says that Yuji might not be able to accomplish his goal and warns him away from the path.

We see repeated unsatifying deaths in the manga, each time someone reflecting on their deaths that they weren't able to get what they wanted out of life. This list comes via @kaibutsushidousha by the way I'm quoting them.

Nanami's a character who chose to work as a sorcerer because he didn't want to evade the responsibility of doing all you can to help people, he wanted to believe he's somewhere where he's needed. He never runs away from responsibility like Mei Mei does so he quite literally works himself to death, living and dying as a sorcerer. Nanami or Gojo's dying hallucination of Nanami even says as much, his death is the result of him choosing to go south and returning to be a sorcerer.

Maki chose revenge against the Zen'in over her sister, and as a result Mai is dead. Maki has all the power in the world now, her revenge complete but she's left with a sense of "now what?" She's as strong as Toji now but she failed to protect her sister, and it's the result of the choices she made. Maki's reflection isn't triumph, it's "I should have chosen to die with her."

Even Yuji himself is robbed of his narrative purpose. The manga began with Yuji saying he wants to choose how he's going to die and he'll die taking out Sukuna with him so he can reduce the number of people killed by curses in the world. Both of those things are thrown in Sukuna's face. Number one the amount of people Yuji can save by permanently killing Sukuna is now a moot point because he let Sukuna rampage in Shibuya.

Number two, Sukuna isn't even in Yuji anymore. To build on what Comun said though, this repeated tragedy has a purpose to it and understanding requires understanding that Jujutsu Kaisen is an existentialist manga. Existentialism is basically a school of philosophy centered around the question of "Why do I exist?"

There's nothing about the invetability of death to make you question why you're alive in the first place. In the myth of Sispyhus, Albert Camus boils down all of philosophy to one question.

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. "

All of philosophy is should I shoot myself in the head or should I keep living? Everything comes after that question, which is why in Jujutsu Kaisen a lot of the characters motivations revolve around them contemplating death. Sorcerers exist in a world where they can die any moment, and as Gojo says most of them die alone. It might be the nature of sorcery itself that causes so many people to die, not only are they dying because they are trapped in an uncaring system, but the characters themselves aren't really attempting to live outside of it. They live and die as sorcerers, replaceable cogs in the machine.

All of these unsatisfying deaths may just be the result of all these characters making one choice, to live as sorcerers rather than people. Because to exist means to live in the world.

Even in Mechamaru's case, his goal is deeply existentialist by what I defined, all he wants to do is live in the world with everyone else rather than be stuck in his hospital room but his actions contradict that goal. Instead of letting his friends come and visit he's obsessed with the idea of getting a normal body because he feels that's the only way he can exist with everyone else, he makes a deal with the devil, he lies and goes behind their backs. He wasn't living with everyone else in the world and he could have chosen to, he chose wrong and his death is the result of that choice.

Jujutsu Sorcerers aren't living in the world. They're living in a little snowglobe far removed from the world with its own rules, most of them regressive and disconnected from the rest of society. If you define existentialism as just "living in the world' then a lot of these characters aren't, because they only exist in the world of sorcery.

INVISIBLE BUFFY: What are you talking ab- SPIKE: The only reason you're here, is that you're not here. (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: Right. Of course, as usual there's something wrong with Buffy. She came back all wrong. (moving around on the bed) You know, I didn't ask for this to happen to me. SPIKE: Not too put off by it though, are you? (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: No! Maybe because for the first time since ... I'm free. She tosses the sheet aside. Spike looks around, trying to figure out where she's going. INVISIBLE BUFFY: Free of rules and reports ... free of this life. SPIKE: Free of life? Got another name for that. Dead.

Not living in the world with everyone else is the same as being dead.

A lot of these characters either make the choice to act alone, or be a jujutsu sorcerer rather than a person and because of that they die as sorcerers, b/c sorcerers die that's what they do. Mai didn't want to keep living as a hindrance to Maki so she kills herself. Maki didn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, so her little sister dies and she's not a big sister anymore. Nanami chose to leave his job behind and become a sorcerer again, he dies as one.

Of course I don't think the manga is punishing characters for being too egotistical, but rather too unbalanced. If anything Mai is too selfless and that is why she died, she didn't want to live for herself and chooses self sacrifice for her sister. An unbalance between selfishness or selflessness results in an underdeveloped ego. Jujutsu Kaisen doesn't punish individualism per se, moreso if you're not a fully developed individual you won't last long. Because it's also a manga about growing up in the world, and a person who doesn't have a healthy, mature, well-balanced sense of self is not a grown up.

This twitter user det_critics points out that Gojo (and also Yuki + Yuji's) failures in the manga can be attributed to the fact they don't have real senses of self.

Gojo has an identity crisis as outlined by Geto, "are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest, or are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo?"

It's a challenge for him to find some reason to live outside of being the strongest, and in tragic fashion Gojo just doesn't find it in time. Gojo lived for fighting others, and proving to himself that he's the strongest, and that's how he dies.

There's something I like to say about narrative punishment in stories. There are two ways to punish a character, you either don't give them what they want, or you give them exactly what they want. This is the latter, Gojo wanted to find someone stronger than him because deep down he believed that nobody could understand him unless they were on his level. He wanted to be surpassed, and that's why he focused on creating stronger young sorcerers, but he never shook himself of the belief that only someone as strong or even stronger than he was could ever be emotionally attached to him so he made a deliberate choice to draw a line between himself and others.

Gojo's essentially gotten what he wanted from that choice in the worst way possible. The student he picked to succeed him Megumi, has his body stolen and kills him. Gojo is surpassed, but it's not by one of his own students it's by an enemy that's not only trying to kill Gojo but is going to massacre his students afterwards.

Gojo's spent his entire life believing that because he's more powerful that makes him inherently different and above others, and being lonely because he himself believed he couldn't relate to ordinary people and he dies like an ordinary person, an unsatisfying death where he wasn't able to bring out Sukuna's best, where he gets unceremoniously cut in half offscreen but yay he's no longer the strongest. He's gotten exactly what he wanted. Megumi is still not saved, Sukuna's probably going to kill more people because Gojo failed to stop him here, but hey at least he stopped to compliment Gojo.

It's empty, but it's empty because of the choices Gojo made in life to just not bother connecting to people or develop any kind of identity besides being a sorcerer. Gojo lives and dies as a sorcerer, and his dying dream is returning to a teenager being surrounded by everyone he was with during his school days, because that's the happiest time in his life. Ironically he was happier before he became the strongest, because that was the only time in his life that he allowed himself to connect to people.

However in the eyes of others, he is someone who has it all. That's why he is always alone. There was no one who could hold the same sentiments and mutually understand him. Geto was the only one who could understand what he was trying to say, and the only one who could communicate well with him.

It's no coincidence Gojo and Geto die exactly a year apart on the same day, if anything I'd say the reasons they die are similiar to at least thematically. They both die because they don't want to live in the world. Geto thinks the world is too corrupt and GOjo doesn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, both of them fail to adapt.

「 'It's just. . .' It's just that it was what Geto had to do. [...] To someone like him, the reality that the world of sorcerers presented to him was just too cruel. '. . .that in a world like this, I couldn't truly be happy from the bottom of my heart.'」

They can't be happy in a world like this from the bottom of their hearts, so narratively they both die. The things they chose to live for at the end of their life they fail to accomplish, Gojo is no longer the stronget, Geto fails to wipe out mankind or make major changes to the world and they die as normal people unsatisfied because they weren't trying to live in the world and make connections to others. They die almost karmically a year apart because their main connection for both of them, the thing which made them feel connected to the world and other people was each other.

Which is why this panel breaks my heart and is so narratively satisfying because of how unsatisfying it is...

"If you were among those patting my back... then I might've been satisfied."

Gojo reflects that he's not satisfied dying against Sukuna, not because he failed to give him a good enough challenge but because Geto wasn't there to pat him on the back. The one thing that would have satisfied him he couldn't have, because he didn't live to connect to people he lived to be the strongest and he died alone as the strongest. There's just something deeply upsetting about Gojo's dying dream fantasy just him being there talking with all of his dead friends who he never appreciated or connected to properly when he was alive. Knowing that if something had just gone a little differently, that even if he had to die no matter what he could have died happier if Geto was among the people saying goodbye to him because that connection with Geto is what gave his life meaning.

Dazai Osamu: "A life with someone you can say good-bye to is a good life, especially when it hurts so much to say it to them. Am I wrong?" -Bungou Stray Dogs Beast

[gingeralecranberry]

“ I’M INTO GIRLS LIKE JENNIFER LAWRENCE; PLEASED TO MEET YOU ! “

“ SENSEI , SENSEI ! “

yandere! jjk men x older! m! teacher reader

AT THE FOOT OF THE BED

" (surname)-sensei! "

...

how long had it been since someone called you that? did you still deserve the title?

your presence seemed to be a curse on the very building, but foolishly--selfishly--you returned a second time.

you only returned as a favor, you told yourself. as much as you loved teaching, you had to stay away from it, for everyone's sake.

you couldn't free yourself from the wisps of guilt that clung to you after you quit, tickling your eardrums as they whispered it was all your fault.

you did this.

you could've prevented it all.

" sensei? "

you blinked, finally looking over your shoulder to find the source of the noise.

...

that's right, you didn't have time to worry about that kind of stuff.

your students needed you.

" i'm on my way, itadori, you don't need to worry about your sensei this time. "

KNOCKING DOOR TO DOOR

☺︎pairings:

satoru gojo x male reader, sukuna x male reader, geto x male reader, kenjaku x male reader, (?) mahito x male reader, choso x male reader, uraume x male reader (ish?)

EYES SO PUFFED UP AND RED

☺︎warnings/tags

older! male reader, teacher! reader, yandere behavior (and all that comes with it, specific warnings will be included at the beginning of the chapters obvs), canon typical violence, somewhat op male reader? he's a special grade lolol, slowburn/edging u on the romance and yandere content, yaga as adoptive family, gay gay homosexual gay, unrequited feelings, reader is kind of like an oc, no physical features established aside from being tall but they have a personality, technique, backstory, etc, do with that what you will, probably will be somewhat ooc cause this is a yandere romance book and i fear jjk is a shounen, liberal use of the word sensei (you've been warned), all characters mentioned as love interests should get their own warnings except maybe choso and suguru

AND MY BODY'S SORE

☺︎ current taglist:

@angelkazusstuff @ahoeindeedinneed @wutap @mysouleaten @ilovebattinson @satansdaughter123 @http-l-o-k-i @rinaizha

𝟐-𝟎 ; 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 " 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 " ☓

𝟐-𝟏 ; 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝗼𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ☓

𝟐-𝟐 ; 𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝗼𝗺𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝗺𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 ☓

𝟐-𝟑 ; 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝗼𝐫 ☓

𝟑-𝟎 ; 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 " 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 " ☓

𝟑-𝟏 ; " 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐮𝐤𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 ! " ☓

𝟑-𝟐 ; " 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 , 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 " ☓

𝟑-𝟑 ; " 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ? " ☓

JAZMIN BEAN : FAVORITE TOY