#yuji’s whole goal has always been to save megumi

[vesselmade-a]

“fushiguro…it’s not over yet” okay but like megumi hasn’t left yuji’s mind once oh my god they’re so in love

[linkspooky]

Spooky, I'm so tired of seeing people say that "Megumi has no development/is badly written/sucks", especially on reddit, and now I almost started to cry because you started your last answer-meta about Megumi with "Megumi's actually the most complicated and well-written character in the manga", and let me tell you that's a lot coming from someone who writes such great metas!

Then I continue reading and you describe him in the same way that I perceive him but it's also like I'm seeing Megumi for the first time? it's difficult to express this but it always happens to me ... Megumi is so complicated that every time I read an analysis/meta about him this happens and I love it.

Sorry, I'm terrible at expressing myself and everything I wrote might be confusing but I needed to tell you, and also, Thank you for writing and sharing your metas! 🖤

Thank you for sending the ask, anon! I'm just happy you're a fan of Megumi and enjoy his character as much as I do. My friend @theanimepsychologist did a much better post than I did, explaining why exactly the complexity of Megumi's character is hard to miss. I wish I could just copy paste that whole post here and steal it, but I have some brief thoughts on why Megumi is oftentimes overlooked and it has to do with the fact that his development throughout the entire manga is hidden in the shadows.

I say Megumi's development is hidden in shadows, because in typical shonen manga tradition his character development goes hand in hand with him learning to use the Ten Shadows ability. It's outlined for him twice by both Gojo and Sukuna that Megumi should really be a lot more powerful than he is right now.

Megumi is your typical genius kid who everything comes so naturally to him he never learns to study, and therefore when moving up from high school to college begins to fall apart because he didn't learn the skills that would lead to his further development.

If you look at Megumi's situation, he should really be more powerful than he is. Megumi has the ten shadows, which is the strongest technique in the Zen'in, and apparently even capable of defeating a limitless user with the six eyes. Not only that, but he was handpicked and tutored by Gojo Satoru since he was a child, and he's clearly the student that Gojo takes the most interest in teaching.

Gojo and Yuta who have similiar natural talent are already at the level of special class at Megumi's age, and Yuta himself has only been a sorcerer for a year, but Megumi lingers at grade two. Gojo and Megumi himself are frustrated by his own lack of progression and neither of them can understand why.

In typical Gojo fashion, Gojo who only understands the world through the lens of sorcery, just suggests that Megumi get stronger at developing his ten shadows technique and everything else will work out. However, the reason Megumi can't advance isn't because he's not strong enough or not working hard enough, but because he's emotionally weak.

He falls apart mentally rather than physically, and we learn the reason why in his flashbacks to Tsumiki.

Megumi has no emotional reason to want to be a sorcerer, he doesn't even feel an obligation to save people does the way Yuji does, he was just groomed into it by Gojo. However, the loss of Tsumiki at middle school age makes Megumi falter, because the one reason he had for going forward is that he could possibly make Tsumiki safe because doing his job as a sorcerer gave them money to live... but then Tsumiki is out of the picture and Megumi is trapped in a life he doesn't want for no reason.

The difference between Megumi and Gojo that Gojo fails to notice, is that Gojo has an incredibly strong sense of self, and Megumi has no sense of self (which further inhabits his development). He's never once doing things for himself, despite calling himself selfish and espousing a much more selfish philosophy that Yuji does, his goals all focus around providing some kind of service or protection to others.

This is where Megumi's development starts becoming difficult to keep track of, because Megumi is a character who both changes a lot throughout the manga, and doesn't actually change at all. Which is a statement that makes no sense but let me explain: Megumi develops his ten shadows technique and on the outside is developing into a stronger sorcerer, but he never does the internal work and self reflection required to become emotionally strong.

Once again, Gojo in his great genius can only offer this advice to Megumi: Become strong, become a better sorcerer. This is because Gojo misses out that emotional issues are what is holding Megumi back. Megumi's first two major fights in the manga are losses, he's not strong enough to kill the curse on his own in the first chapter so Yuji eats the finger to help, he's not strong enough to stop Sukuna's rampage in Yuji's body, so Yuji dies in front of him.

It's two situations where Megumi reflects, "If I was strong enough, I would have been able to do X, Y, and Z, therefore it's my fault that this bad thing happened."

So we see Megumi throughout the arcs, continually developing his ten shadows technique to be stronger, while at the same time avoiding personal development. The biggest moment of this is origin of obedience, where he unlocks his partial domain expansion and then a few chapters later just avoids an emotionally difficult conversation with Yuji because he's scared to talk with him.

Megumi's desire is to feel free and grow into a better version of himself, but he stops at every opportunity to develop emotionally because that's harder. Gojo suggests that Megumi just pursue strength, so Megumi just starts finding himself in violence. Which is why the progression we do see in his character is him getting stronger and better at using his technique, coupled with him being more openly violent and more like his father the shadow of violence who is always chasing after him. This is what turns Megumi into Mr. "I'll totally kill people in the Culling Games if I need to."

Would Megumi at the beginning of the manga been okay with slaughtering normal people to get points in a game, maybe yes maybe no but he does advocate for just leaving a prisoner to die to curses because they committed a crime once. If anything his development post shibuya is just exaggerating a side to him that was already there. Megumi in times of crisis falls back on violence for survival because that's what Gojo taught him.

Megumi grows more confident with his abilities, he uses them in more creative ways, he even starts demonstrating himself as a leader among the group basically coming up with the strategy for the culling games. He's also more emotionally open with Yuji than he was in the past. There's definite emotional progression.

Beginning of the manga Megumi is lacking in confidence -> Yuji dies in front of him, he realizes his need to get stronger and starts applying himself -> In the Kyoto battle arc despite training with the second years he still falls short in the battle against Hanami -> Gojo reveals to megumi part of the reason he has a mental block against getting stronger is because he's downplaying himself for the sake of others, and afterwards Megumi starts imagining a better version of himself for the first time -> Megumi shows his strength at cooperating in Shibuya, fighting with Yuji, and then later Maki and the rest against Dagon -> Megumi is the one who convinces Yuji to keep fighting showing his emotional development and comes up with the strength for the culling games -> Megumi uses his domain expansion again but much more confidently than he did in origin of obedience.

There's clear progression here on Megumi's part that I can even give a general summary and map out, but at the same time the fundamental problem has not been solved, that Megumi doesn't have a thoroughly developed sense of self and self destructs. Gojo even says as much that part of the reason he's so limited in using his abilities is because he thinks he has Mahoraga to fall back on.

He tries to use Mahoraga in the fight against Sukuna, tries to use it against Todo of all people, tries to use it against the special grade spirit in origin of obedience and this time stops himself (making progress) only to once again default to using Mahoraga in Shibuya when he's cornered. Megumi doesn't try to personally develop himself because he considers his own life worthless and that behavior never stops. It keeps persisting until we get all the way to Sukuna taking over his body, which happened because Megumi ignored every warning from Yuji that Sukuna was planning for something. Because in that case he just assumed Sukuna would kill him and Megumi doesn't care about that because he doesn't value his own life.

Which is where we get the great paradox that is Megumi, he's the most developed character in the manga with a great deal of the manga focused on both his slow progression as a character, but also revealing more parts of his personality that the audience would not notice at first. People who saw Megumi advocate for leaving prisoners behind to die in the first arc of the manga, probably wouldn't assume he'd go so far as killing people in the culling games to get point, because it's quicker that way and he can justify killing bad people, but that's the natural extreme of that behavior to begin with.

We see more and more of Megumi's repressed anger, and his abandonment issues with his sister and his parents, so his character is moving, but we also don't see a lot of progression on those issues because Megumi's not focusing on trying to be a better person just being a better sorcerer.

In typical shonen manga fashion, the focus is put on Megumi getting stronger and learning to develop his technique ore. In atypical shonen manga fashion, Megumi is actually punished by the narrative for only caring about getting stronger. Sukuna's possession of him, and his loss of Tsumiki are both things caused by Megumi being ignorant until the last moment and keeping himself hidden in the shadows too, if he'd valued himself more he'd have steered clear of Sukuna and Yuji because of the danger, if he'd paid more attention to his sister he'd notice Yorozu in his body.

Which is what makes Megumi so unique, but also a little hard to understand because he is in so many ways a typical shonen jump character, and in other ways he's nothing like them because he's just Megumi.

[psychewritesbs]

Hello any thoughts on the new jjk poster? People at X were confused whether the silhouette featured in the middle is Gojo or Megumi, although most conclude it's Gojo cause it does look like the panel from Shibuya when his reflection showed on the prison realm's eyes.

But, I kinda feel like Gege is being purposely deceptive here (cause that silhouette could really pass off as Megumi as well). For starters, the illustration feels like an overview of the entire Culling Games arc up until the current chap (esp. with Heian form Sukuna featured). And what's been at the forefront of the main cast's goal is to save Megumi (or at least that's how it is in Yuji's case). There's also the thing with Kenjaku's rule that everyone with the exception of Geto and Megumi must die for the CG to end. And feel free to correct me on this cause I may be misremembering/misinterpreting, but I've always thought the rule meant that 'Megumi and Geto must be the only ones left alive in order for the games to end'. So Megumi's survival is also to Kenjaku's best interest. And then we have Sukuna who is currently possessing Megumi, and Gojo and Yuji attempting to 'save' him. So like, the four main guys featured in the poster is involved with Megumi's current predicament one way or another.

Another reason why I think the silhouette isn't Gojo is because by chap 236 I believe he finally got an answer for Geto's question about who Gojo Satoru is, basically gaining enlightenment in death. And that scene of his reflection on the prison realm was moreso symbolic of his identity crisis right? So I think it's weird that a CG themed poster would backtrack on this despite the fact that the Gojo sealed in PR plotline was like how many chapters ago. The narrative and Gojo has moved on basically. And I also think it's redundant to feature Gojo twice in that illustration (esp. cause his unsealing is no longer the focus of the current events).

So I wonder, if the silhouette is indeed Megumi and this might be a hint on how he may come back, is the Prison Realm going to play a role in it?

Interestingly enough, there was a theory I came across before that one of the ways the main cast may go about sealing Sukuna is by using the Prison Realm. And if we're going full on with the symbolisms, and apply Gojo's confusion on his 'identity' being reflected on the PR's eyes, I think Megumi's current state may also mirror that very same concept. In the sense that, with Tsumiki (his moral compass) gone he has to reevaluate himself on a fundamental level. Basically rebuilding his identity from the ground up.

And idk I'm rambling now, I hope I'm making any sense cause I'm pretty shit at explaining my points. Anyways, maybe I'm just missing my boy but I sure do hope the center of that illustration is really Meg instead of Gojo.

I'm assuming you mean this one:

??

Let me overthink the hell out of it under the cut...

Ok so first thing's first, this is defo another mandala like the one from that jump giga issue with Yuji at the center.

What's relevant about the idea that it is a mandala, is that, in Buddhism they represent the universe and/or Buddhist teachings. I particularly like the idea that a "mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through layers" (Wikipedia).

Similarly, from a psych standpoint, Jung saw the mandala as a symbol of wholeness:

“I began to understand that the goal of psychic development is the self. There is no linear evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the self.”

circumambulation... what a word tho

“The mandala is an archetypal image [that]... signifies the wholeness of the Self. This circular image represents the wholeness of the psychic ground or, to put it in mythic terms, the divinity incarnate in man.”

I think I've talked about the Self in an ask before, where the Self (soul) (4) is the total sum of the holy trinity--mind is body is spirit (3).

ehem... you know the drill...

That said, I do agree with you that I don't think it's necessarily Gojo because, if we're talking about a mandala as a symbol of wholeness, it is redundant to show Gojo twice. Rather, it feels like Gojo is part of said wholeness.

Regarding the "eye" at the center, I do like the idea that it is an eye upon which someone can see themselves reflected the way it happened for Gojo.

Crack theory here, but what if this is actually about the reader seeing themselves reflected upon the manga--more specifically the four characters drawn on the mandala.

That's just a thought tho.

Regardless of who is meant to be reflected at the center, this particular poster is just loaded with symbolism.

It's kind of interesting you have two "good" guys and two "bad" guys represented in this drawing, so there is very clear yin/yang symbolism in it.

Each side (good and bad) has a character upside down, we also have the good guys not directly facing the audience, while the bad guys directly face the audience.

One of the things that feels very relevant about this particular positioning is that there is a circular motion happening, in other words, you can look at each character in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner. Why does this matter? Remember that word from Jung's quote? Circumambulation fuck this word is the ritualistic act of moving around a sacred object. In Buddhism in particular, circumambulation is done in a clock-wise manner.

Ok, next layer.

Another VERY prominent symbol is the number four. I already talked about the wholeness of the Self as represented by the number four, but you will also notice the number is repeated in the poster.

In Buddhism, the number four shows up in a lot of motifs... too many to address here. One representation of the number four is the Four Inverted Views, which represent inverted views of Buddhist ideals, but there's also the Four Noble Truths, of which, the 4th truth outlines the method through which we can overcome suffering--that is, following the eightfold path.

The number eight as a motif also shows up with Maho-chan, who belongs to the Eight Legions of divine beings, and whose eight-spoke wheel symbolizes dharma.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Maho's wheel is featured in the top left and bottom right hand corner of the poster.

ANYWAYS...

So this is the thing, right... going back to this idea that a character sees itself reflected in someone else's eyes and defines their identity based on that reflection, whomever is reflected in the eye at the center of the mandala is made whole by all 4 of the characters in the mandala.

What is interesting is that Gojo and Yuji are not looking directly at the audience, while Kenny and Sukuna are. And there's something so entrancing (mandalas are technically meant to put people in a meditative trance) about the way Sukuna and Kenny stare directly at the audience.

Ok, to put it all together though, it's almost like all of these characters make up a whole. To me, the circular motion of the mandala speaks to an exploration of identity through the eyes of these characters.

To bring it back to the idea that a mandala is also a map of spiritual evolution moving in a concentric manner from the outer edges and into the center, it feels like these characters and the themes they represent are but pit stops or stages of psychospiritual evolution on the way to "enlightenment town".

As for Mahoraga's wheel being represented, it speaks to Dharma or cosmic and moral order.

Is Maho's wheel an allusion to Megumi? idk, but I'm going to make a crazy leap of logic here and say that one of the themes at the core of Megumi's character is his gray morality and his dualistic thinking around good and evil.

With good and evil so clearly depicted by the characters represented, I kind of have to wonder because they are positioned in a cross-type shape. Esoterically, a cross can represent a union of opposites as well.

Anyways... these are my #thought and I rambled too, but hopefully this helps you with your own #thoughts. I feel like you could be on the right track with the idea that Megumi's identity is being rebuilt from the ground up if he is the character reflected at the center of the mandala.

Also, I miss Megumi too, anon... can't wait to see what the suffering he's experiencing makes of him.

Thanks for dropping by 🥲.

[lunestael]

Itafushi vs. Satosugu Analysis

Posed with this question on twitter which had me go like “yeah thats not gonna happen.”

“If Megumi and Yuji end up the same as Gojo and Geto... what are we going to do? “

disclaimer: just using their ship names in reference to the relationship dynamic between the characters in canon, not connotating a romantic relationship

I feel like satosugu and itafushi are specifically portrayed to be foils of each other, to compare the ways that itfs excels in what stsg failed at (honest communication and being sensitive to each other’s feelings, acceptance of each other despite differences in philosophy, etc)

Both itfs and stsg have pivotal philosophical debates on what their personal beliefs surrounding “saving people” entails, which narratively serves to establish each person’s character and goals as jujutsu sorcerers. however, despite being about a similar topic, they are approached completely differently.

fushiguro claims “selfish” reasons for saving people, saving those he personally believes deserved to be saved, because he isn’t some kind of righteous hero, hes just a jujutsu sorcerer, and he does not want to save someone who will just cause harm others in the future.

itadori, on the other hand, maintains the belief that all humans deserve to life a normal life and die a normal death, regardless of what they have done, or will do. If someone were in trouble, and you were the only one capable of saving them, itadori’s belief is that you should try your best to save them. 

Both of them acknowledge this difference in philosophy, but interestingly enough neither disagree with each other’s conviction either. They find the meaning and think about each other’s positions in life that made them come to their own separate conclusions, and respect it even if it doesn’t exactly align with their own, with itadori stating that even if their philosophies are different, doesn’t mean they can’t both be right.

itafushi consistently seek to understand each other’s perspective and put themselves in each other’s shoes. This makes them more empathetic and more willing to listen and understand those they care about. 

stsg have always struggled with this from the beginning. Gojo and Fushiguro have relatively the same philosophy, as do Itadori and Geto (i could do a whole other analysis comparing gojo vs megumi as well as itadori vs. geto goddd) regarding the concept of saving people, though Gojo is much more crass about it than Fushiguro was, most likely to bait Geto into a fight, which Geto easily falls for. Even though they’re close and inseparable friends and the self-named “strongest duo”, there are clear moral lines that divide the two that they use to push against each other. I mean, they literally escalate into a near physical duel over it in not even two pages. 

on another note, gojo has been noted by gege to have relied on geto as a moral compass. your own moral and ethical code being dictated by another person can be extremely unhealthy and become manipulative. gojo saw geto as the pinnacle of morality (which is ironic considering his moral decisions a year later) to the point where whether gojo would massacre an entire religious group all depended on geto’s response at that moment. 

meanwhile geto had his own inner idealization of gojo as the strongest alone, not in the way the rest of the world perceived him, but in his own way as the supposed other half of the strongest duo. you can feel a certain sense of...envy or resentment when geto wishes he were gojo so he could achieve the society he gave up everything for, even though he was supposed to be the strongest WITH gojo. thats how far he felt from gojo without gojo realizing he had felt that way.

satosugu overall have a lot of misconceptions about each other they accept as inherent truths though they never actually confirmed, some of which are realized too late, others never revealed at all.

megumi could almost immediately tell when yuji had gone through some trauma as soon as he saw him alive again, and immediately brought it up to make sure he was okay, which even though yuji was not okay, it was a huge gesture from megumi to stay emotionally in touch with yuji when he can see him struggling.

gojo, however, doesn’t notice when the same thing happens to suguru, though he does notice something is off with suguru. not to say that it was satoru’s responsibility to bring suguru from the brink of his mental break, but rather it shows how their wavelengths are no longer as in sync as they used to be. with satoru having suguru as his moral compass as well, satoru may also have some doubts that suguru would have his own moral struggles since he depends on him to always make the right and just choices (oh the tragic irony...)

TLDR; itafushi tackle their differences and issues with each other with open arms and seeking to understand each other with honesty. they don’t apply a codependent attitude towards each other, being very close and understanding without idealizations of each other beyond reason. itafushi are just raw truths to each other from the beginning. satosugu...have a lot of internal issues they never bring to each other and just let fester until the dam breaks. they have preconceptions about each other and idealize each other without communicating them to each other, adopting both an unhealthy codependent relationship without proper communications. 

i think itafushi have a much better foundation of support to survive whatever ordeals they will undergo, and most likely be able to pull each other from their respective brinks when they come compared to satosugu’s tragic end.

[marierobert8168]

Jujutsu Kaisen: Everything to Know About Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event

Jujutsu Kaisen already made a ruckus in the anime world and proved its worth as one of the best anime shows of fall 2020.

The upcoming student exchange arc is set for some fearsome battles among the first-year students at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College and third-year students of Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College.

While the Kyoto sister school exchange event is approaching, the students' tension is flaring into some do-or-die battles. Although the event is supposed to be a friendly match between the two colleges, 3rd-year Toudou and 2nd year Mai are not here for a friendly talk.

 In the latest episode of Jujutsu Kaisen, Fushiguro and Kugisaki meet Toudou and Mai for the first time. The meetings turn into a bloodbath, ruining the day for both Fushiguro and Kugisaki.

The meeting between the two groups went down the drain where Mai's insensitive personality insults the late demise of Yuji Itadori, and she goes as far as calling it an optimistic event.

Furthermore, Toudou comes clear to the first-year students as the event will be a war, and they should be afraid of him. Toudou's personality is confusing as he judges people based on the type of women they like. To make the matter worse, Toudou asks the same question to Megumi about his interest in women.

 Unsatisfied with Megumi's response, Toudou takes him by the collar and roughs him a bit. As soon as Megumi tries to get back on his feet, Toudou descends on him, and the next thing you know, Megumi is bleeding from the head and barely stands up to Toudou.

While fighting, Toudo's violent behavior destroys Megumi's five first-grade curses and one special-grade curse only to find out that Megumi was holding back the whole time.

Upon hearing about the unfriendly meeting, Panda and Inumaki intervene between them with their brawn and Cursed Speech Techniques.

At this point, one thing is clear, Toudou and Mai are going to make a hell out of the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event, risking everyone's life for some cheap thrills.

 Gojou Confronts Kyoto's Principal Gakuganji

After a sour meeting, Kugisaki was saved by Maki Zenin from her sadistic twin-sister, and she explains her family condition. Maki, who uses specialized glasses to see curses, has always been looked down upon by her family members. In pursuit of achieving some level of greatness, she explains to Kugisaki her goal of being a high-level Jujutsu sorcerer.

 Meanwhile, Gakuganji, the principal of Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College, meets with Gojou Satoru, who confronts the old man for the perennial increase in special-grade Curses and the involvement of powerful Jujutsu students like the Toudou and the mysterious Okkotsu. He also confronts Gakuganji for his involvement in Yuji Itadori's death. According to Gojou, principle Gakuganji is somehow involved with Itadori's death and the rise of Sakuna.

 After giving a friendly warning to Gakuganji, Gojou leaves for the day. Meanwhile, another curse spirit kills three highschool students in a nearby movie theatre.

As a part of Itadori's new training routine, which requires him to watch movies without giving in to his emotions, Itadori has to fight powerful curses too. And this time, it's the special-grade curse- Mahito, who can talk like normal human beings.

Source url:- https://williamsblogpoint.wordpress.com/2020/11/30/jujutsu-kaisen-everything-to-know-about-kyoto-sister-school-exchange-event/

Ava Williams is a McAfee product expert and has been working in the technology industry since 2002. As a technical expert, Ava has written technical blogs, manuals, white papers, and reviews for many websites such as mcafee.com/activate

[psychewritesbs]

Okay so chapter 248 has fuelled my delusional brainrot and I have something I want to share...

Be prepared on some megum-centric delusions cause my head is just full of him right now-

Gege is cooking something with Megumi and I think it could be leading to a potential connection with Tengen.

Is this an orchestrated development or fate? Could be both? But Kenjaku's will being passed onto Fushiguro Megumi specifically is an intriguing choice for Gege.

I know it's technically Sukuna that Kenjaku was banking on, and this development have slightly closed the door for my suspicions regarding Kenjaku particularly targeting Megumi. But what if I was accusing the wrong person the whole time?

I'm still not convinced that Tsumiki being possessed is just a lucky stroke of luck for Sukuna. I fully believe that someone was orchestrating for a 10 shadows user to be involved in the Culling Games. And I think this certain someone has managed to trick even the mastermind, Kenjaku, as well. And that someone is none other than... GRANNY TENGEN!

Now Tengen has always been a suspicious entity to me. And though she's long been absorbed by Kenjaku I think she's still pretty much actively playing the game. Like don't you think it's suspicious that Toji was hired by the Time Vessel Association and that his involvement broke the chains of destiny and that the consequences have led to the current events?

Whether everything was premeditated or just coincidence we cannot deny that with Toji's interference, Megumi's fate got indirectly tied with the Six Eyes who is connected by fate to Tengen as well. And maybe that was the goal all along.

Toji clashing with Gojo was a ploy to tie Megumi's fate with the 6 eyes and Tengen

What if Toji was hired, to pit him against Gojo knowing full well he'd lose? And his loss would affect the future of his son as well (seems a bit of a reach but I wouldn't call this delusional brainrot when I'm not reaching far into a bottom of a barrel). After all, Tengen seems to be an all-seeing and all-knowing entity. One of the long-standing theories is that she uses cursed energy to gain insight to anything and everything so it's natural she would be privy of Megumi's existence. This also brings to mind the narrator's words back in Shibuya saying Megumi is one of those who cannot escape the curse of the Zenin clan whereas Toji is the one who broke away from that 'curse'. The curse, in this new context, would be that anyone born with cursed energy is bound to Tengen's whims. And someone like Toji who is unbound by that curse is an anomaly while his son is not.

Megumi being given the finger-retrieval mission was a ploy to tie his fate with Sukuna

Megumi met Yuji because of this mission. Him eventually choosing to save Yuji despite the dangers arguably led to all this disaster. But the most suspicious thing about this is that both of them just so happens to have the strength and capability to be a vessel. Yuji's involvement with Sukuna is orchestrated by Kenjaku. But what about Megumi? Is it really coincidence or is it planned as well? (of course this point is banking on the idea that the mission came from the higher ups and not from Gojo).

Yorozu possessing Tsumiki was a ploy to tie Megumi's fate to Kenjaku's plan which involves Tengen

It's undeniable that it was Tsumiki's loss that gave Sukuna the opportune moment to take over Megumi. It was her loss that kickstarted Megumi's downward spiral and Sukuna fully taking over his body. And what did that lead to?

Kenjaku has now passed on his will to Sukuna who is inhabiting Megumi's body. And Tengen's soul is inside Megumi's body. Now I'm just blindly reaching in the dark, but I wonder if Tengen's plan was to get close (I mean inhabiting the same body is as close as you get) to someone possessing the 10 shadows and merge with the user's soul?

For what reason? I don't know but I suspect it has something to do with the cursed realm. Cause I'm a believer that the 10S is heavily related to the cursed realm. Not to mention, Megumi in the Culling Games has expressed his distrust of Tengen and I don't think Reggie, who warned him about Tengen and seems to know stuff about her, being Megumi's opponent is just a random matchup. And there is Reggie's words to "let fate toy with you", well Tengen is often times related to fate and if she's really behind all of this then she's basically toying with Megumi here.

Also I'm quite curious what effect does having 3 conscious souls (heavy assumption on Tengen being conscious) inhabiting one body will have? Add Kenjaku's will into the list and Megumi's inner space must be hell of a sight. Here's to hoping we'll get some pov from him soon and that we'll see some interactions between him and Tengen inside.

Oh and a brainrot regarding the Merger:

Remember the theories about Taira no Masakado's daughter, Takiyasha-hime, being the first 10 shadows user/is the reference for the 10S? She's known for her shadow familiars with the 2 main ones being a toad and a giant skeleton called the Gashadokuro. All along theories suggested that the Gashadokuro might have been the 9th or an extra shikigami but the Gojo vs Sukuna fight proved it invalid now. Some others theorized that Megumi's domain might develop into a Gashadokuro after seeing that vertebrae-looking thing during his fight with Reggie. But recent developments could be hinting that the merger monster (that looks like a skeletal centipede) is going to eventually be Megumi's Gashadokuro. And y'know what I quite like the idea of Megumi, a blessing, becoming the master of humanity's curse.

OOOOOH ANON. I'm loving the brain rot. Thanks for sharing. I was screaming in my head while reading lol.

Recently I caught onto the fact that the skeleton growing in Megumi's domain resembles the one in Sukuna's. Like what is going on sir?

And Granny Tenny? Yeah she's defo sus. Why does she look like Sukuna too?

Thanks for sending the fun brain rot! I am looking to getting answers and seeing how these ideas unfold because you said some good stuff here.

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 200: Direct Negotiations

Uh... it’s no longer Sunday but I am assuming there was a Tumblr party and Tumblr ran out of digital Kleenex because everyone wiped tears off their face because of the two idiots above.

I mean... they’re just... amazing... 

Anyways. No sign of intelligence beneath the cut. 

Mostly incoherent babbling...

Let me just go ahead and gush about how beautiful the art has been lately real quick...

The art has been incredibly beautiful lately.

Ok, moving on.

Yuji and Megumi

Ok but listen.

This moment tho...

Like...

Are you fudging kidding me?

This was absolute GOLD! 

Also, I know an anon just totally said that I’m one of the few places where  shipping isn’t the focus... and it’s not that I’m about to write about itafushi and I haven't necessarily started shipping them all of a sudden but...

Holly Molly!

Gege managed to create one of the most beautiful dynamics in Shonen that I have ever seen/read.

I was so moved, as I’m sure everyone reading the chapter was, by the way Gege showed their dynamic in this chapter.

I also loved seeing Megumi’s mind-reading abilities in action once again.

Yuji as an individual

This kid is still one of my absolute fave MCs in the Shonen genre.

The other one is Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

I was talking to @justafrenchlondoner​ about how I love Yuji is basically always up to something good and wholesome (compared to daddy Sukuna) and she brought up a good point... this is what makes them both so compelling. 

I have to agree. Yuji’s highly endearing personality is very interesting given Sukuna’s complete lack of regard for others.

They really are the two opposing sides of the same coin.

But, what I loved most this chapter was seeing Yuji’s inner dialogue about Sukuna.

Someone please... stab me. NOW! No jk don’t stab me.

OH.MY.GAWD!

I have no words. 

Me. THE mental gymnastics, word vomiter extraordinaire, has no words about Yuji's beautiful resolve. 

I am simply speechless because of Yuji this chapter. 

He’s already sacrificed himself for Megumi once before. Now that Megumi has asked Yuji to save him, God knows what lengths Yuji will go through for him.

GAWD! Gege has not killed anyone we care about during the Culling Game but he sure as hell is building up the angst for us masochists.

Also... this whole interaction and the implications behind Sukuna being The one who fell from the stairs Disgraced One low-key reminded me of this...

Probably doesn’t have anything to do with it... but I couldn’t help but be reminded of it.

Sukuna tho...

Yes this exactly.

Why did Sukuna go through the trouble to warn Yuji?

Finally some plot progression and things are only getting juicier!

Ritual incoming

What’s the date? November 14th? 5 days until the deadline for Tsumiki to join the Culling Game--I suspect the ritual might take place on or around November 19th.

I present to you: the Generic American villain

He’s always focused on some sort of egocentric goal. 

Totally reminds me of that one bad guy from the movie Avatar. 

You know... just cliché af character with evil motivations because if villain bad then why not?

I don’t even know how to elaborate on how and why he’s cliché. He just is.

And... as a pseudo-American who grew up south of the border and therefore has an outsider perspective of how imperialistic the United States is, I kind of love it?

I love how Gege is portraying this villain in such a cliché way because clichés have some degree of truth to them.

And the US is a military state focused on consumption and conquest. The only ones who can’t really see this fact are US born citizens because we have our noses so far up our asses that we have completely bought into the propaganda machine that the US media is.

Anyways, Frenchie was saying that Chainsaw Man also had American intervention as part of the themes in the story. For me, I was reminded of Zankyou no Terror and how the Americans are portrayed as the villains who are capable of pulling political strings in Japan.

I’m looking forward to seeing where Gege takes Mr. Generic American Villain.

KOKICHI!!!! NOOOOOOO!

This is always my reaction anytime I see Kokichi.

Just a friendly reminder to ask yourself: if Gege gets me to like a character I didn’t like before, does that mean that he’s going to kill them soon?

I would have loved to see Gege’s interpretation of Donald Trump

I’m sure it would have been hi-la-rious! But I doubt Shonen Jump would have given him the green light on something like that.

Japan’s monopoly on sorcerers

Callback to chapter 136! We still have to see how the Middle East is going to react.

But I’ve found it very interesting for some time now how much Japanese media addresses esoteric topics such as psychic battles compared to Western media.

Think there’s some truth to it?

ANYWAYS!

Happy it’s no longer Sunday JJK-Sunday! If you’re read this far, I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did.

[psychewritesbs]

Jujutsu Kaisen 157: Megumi needs and Yuji is needed + the power of friendship trope

I decided that, while I cannot avoid sharing manga spoilers (mostly because I don’t want to since I am keeping up with the manga), I would avoid sharing leaks. So I’ve been holding back on posting about chapter 157 until today wondering what I wanted to say about the subject. 

First, chapter 157 has got to be one of the saddest chapters in JJK so far and it hit me in the gut almost as hard as the chapter when Mechamaru says goodbye to Miwa (I honestly didn't know I was a Mechamaru x Miwa fan until that chapter).

Second, as a Megumi fan, my favorite panel in chapter 157 was, of course, when he bows down and asks Kirara to listen to what they have to say. It felt so earnest and painful at the same time.

The reason Megumi doing a dogeza bow is a big deal is because this level of bowing is loaded with symbolism.

From what I understand, dogeza is equated to “begging”, thus denoting a certain level of desperation. 

But dogeza also sends the message that the person bowing is both ashamed to ask for help, AND, being aware of that shame, are still choosing to bow as a way to tell the other person that they do not care about their self-image as long as the act of bowing accomplishes the bower’s intention.

Truly an act out of desperation.

Now, I could be missing some cultural nuances here, but that’s my understanding of dogeza. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if I’m missing some important detail about dogeza.

Looking back, this panel actually reminded me of Yashiro from Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai doing dogeza on behalf of his love interest, Kageyama.

Yoneda Kou, like Gege Akutami, is a very talented artist in their ability to portray emotion through their art. 

But back to JJK.

This whole interaction between Kirara and Megumi struck me because it clearly depicts both Megumi’s desperation and conviction to save Tsumiki.

Let’s not forget that Megumi wasn’t one to ask for help just prior to the Shibuya arc and would always choose to rely on himself for the most part. Which makes his emotional and psychological growth all the more impressive. 

Despite the growth he achieved in terms of his power up, how incredibly smart he is, and manifesting a Domain Expansion, by bowing, he is basically telling Kirara “even though I easily defeated you, I am not strong without you. I need your strength.”

Megumi’s true growth is thus his ability to put aside his trust issues in favor of his greater goal: Saving Tsumiki. 

In other words, he needs others to save his beloved sister.

WHICH brings us to Yuji’s growth. 

Third, Yuji went from typical Shonen Protagonist's larger than life aspirations, to a humbling down as a result of everything that took place during the Shibuya Arc. 

But what I loved most about this change in Yuji is that he sees himself as part of something bigger. He is now needed as opposed to him fulfilling his own needs by saving others.

It’s like before he had a grandiose idea of what saving others would do for him, instead of taking into consideration what saving others would do for them. 

Now that he has done quite the opposite of saving people thanks to Sukuna’s rampage, he’s come back down to the real world and realized that saving other people has nothing to do with him. To put it in “spiritual” terms, Yuji recognized he’s a “channel” for the greater good, not the executioner of the greater good.

Seriously, Gege Akutami loves breaking down Yuji’s ego through really cruel and painful experiences. But it is precisely because Yuji is so naive that he needs this kind of Psychological growth.

Yes, it’s heartbreaking Yuji sees himself only as a “cog” (it feels as though he only sees his worth as utilitarian), and yet, this change in perspective shows just how much he’s matured. 

So where Megumi desperately needs help and is not ashamed to admit it, Yuji is desperately needed and is proud of the fact-to the point that he would challenge Hakari by asking him about his place in the machinery.

This is, quite arguably, the best play on the “power of friendship” trope that I’ve seen and I’m here for it. Although not a pairing I personally ship, I can see why the fandom loves Megumi x Yuji x Megumi. 

Megumi and Yuji have an incredible bond bordering on bromance that many of us wish we had in our lives. Relationships like that are not easy to come by and are always to be cherished, especially if you are a victim of trauma the way many of the characters in JJK are.

Other honorable mentions: 

This chapter really cemented the fact that I like Kirara as a character. Gege Akutami is very good at bringing characters to life, even seemingly minor ones

As with everything JJK, it’s all about the character dynamics, and I am really loving Kirara and Hakari’s dynamic

Ah! Feels good to get all of this off my chest.

So what did YOU think?!!!! 

I love chatting with others about JJK, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.

[linkspooky]

Hi! This might be a stupid ask, but do you know why Choso looks sad in the last page of the latest Jujutsu Kaisen chapter?

He’s sad because Yuji won’t call him Onii-chan <3, obviously! Just kidding anon,  your ask is really good actually because it allowed me to think about a deeper point made by this chapter, Choso and Yuji are foils, brothers, but they’re not really getting along despite teaming up. They’re facing opposite directions. More under the cut. 

1. The Cursed Children

Yuji and Choso are foils. They are both curse / human hybrids but they are completely opposite in origin. To clarify Yuji is a curse / human hybrid, by eating the cursed object “Sukuna’s Finger” he gained the properties of a curse and became a vessel for Sukuna’s cursed energy. Yuji isn’t a natural sorcerer, he has no innate technique of his own. 

Getwo gives a pretty good explanation of what Yuji is. There’s three types of beings and they can all channel cursed energy. 

Non-sorcerers / Regular humans create cursed energy with their thoughts but it leaks out. Sorcerers are humans capable of chanelling cursed energy. Cursed spirits are beings made of pure cursed energy. 

Yuji started out (as far as we know) in category one, a person unable to see cursed energy or channel it. Humans that can channel cursed energy from a young age like Miwa or Megumi are category. The divide between Miwa and Megumi is that Miwa is a sorcerer born with the ability to channel cursed energy, but without an innate technique hence why she’s a simple domain user which is a cursed energy usage that doesn’t require an innate technique you’re born with. Megumi was born with the innate technique of ten shadows, so he can use that on top of channeling cursed energy. 

Thirdly, is cursed spirits like Mahito and Jogo, they’re bodies are made out of pure cursed energy, and they can channel it because they were formed from the cursed energy that leaks out of non-sorcerers slash regular humans. 

When Getwo says he wants to create a new kind of sorcerers he divides them into two categories. 

Yuji ingested a cursed object, and became a vessel for that cursed object’s energy. Therefore he is a human, but his whole body is a vessel for Sukuna’s cursed energy. He comes off looking half and half, a hybrid between category one and category three.

The second type is peple like Junpei. They were born with innate technique and the ability to see cursed energy making them like Megumi, but for some reasons their brains aren’t wired to be able to use their technique so their brains needed to be modified. Even in that case, Junpei became more like a sorcerer, able to channel cursed energy, and use his innate technique of the poisoned jellyfish. He became more like Megumi. Whereas Yuji is a vessel for Sukuna’s cursed energy, he becomes more like Sukuna. 

This is all just thoery but I think we’re supposed to take from Geto’s explanation is he’s trying to create two new kinds of sorceers. 

1) Non-Sorcerers with innate technique converted into sorcerers by programming their brains to be able to use the cursed technique they were already born with.

2) Non-Sorcerers with no innate technique, who gained cursed energy by consuming a cursed object. Therefore, he strengthens their body to make them strong enough to hold that cursed energy. 

If we define cursed spirits as a body made of cursed energy, who is also able to use cursed techniques, then the second type resembles cursed spirits yes? Yuji ever since he ate the finger is no longer simply human, he has become the hybrid of both Sukuna and Yuji. He is a hybrid half between normal human, and the curse known as Sukuna. 

Choso is the result of Kamo Noritoshi’s previous attempt to create a hybrid of a “cursed spirit” a being made of pure energy and also “a sorcerer” born with an innate technique. Choso is both a cursed spirit, but also, someone who is carrying the genetically inate technique of the Kamo Clan. Just like Yuji he’s ambiguously both a curse and a human. Howevver his creation process was in reverse. 

Choso started out as a cursed object. 

His fetus as a cursed object was then ingested by a human who was a non-sorcerer with no potential. At that point, Choso began to possess the body of the human, using the human as a host and a vessel. However, it’s flipped around. 

Yuji is the dominant personality even though he is the vessel to Sukuna’s cursed energy. In Choso’s case, Choso becomes the dominant personality even though he’s the cursed object but not the personality of the vessel. The result is, unlike other cursed spirits they’re given physical bodies that don’t disappear when they die. 

I think it’s really ambiguous about whether or not the original personality of the vessel is kept in tact. Kechizu hid the face on his back which was crying out in pain, which might have been the original owner of the body. Choso however seems to have complete control. He doesn’t fight over control with two people in one body like Sukuna and Yuji. 

So, anyway opposites. Yuji decided to eat a cursed object of his own free will and became a hybrid that way.

Choso, Kechizu and Eso had no control. They didn’t choose both how they were born, or how they were force fed into humans. Yuji chose to become Sukuna’s vessel, Choso literally didn’t have a choice. The plot even goes to point out that they don’t really have a paritcular hatred for sorcerer’s or humans. 

They were in essence unborn children before this. 

Kechizu and Eso wake up, and the first thing the people who claim they “rescued them” tell them to do is go on a delivery mission for Sukuna’s fingers. They are suspicious but decide to comply because they “owe them” and because they think the world that the cursed spirits and Geto would make would be more “livable” for them.

So their goal isn’t even specifically to hurt innocent people. It’s to live, and make sure all their brothers can live, and also, it’s to be free. In order to achieve that goal, however, they decided they were okay with hurting innocent people at first. 

It is fair to say that Choso did kill people upon waking up, and he’s responsible for that even if he was only being used by Geto. It’s also fair to say Yuji has every right to feel alienated from Choso because he decided to kill people, especially since that’s the opposite of Yuji’s goal.

Choso’s goal is to choose how to live from now on, and Yuji’s goal is to choose how he’s going to die. However, their goal is kind of the same as well, because Choso’s goal is to be surrounded  family, and Yuji’s goal is to be surrounded by others. 

However, despite the fact that Choso wants to work together now with Yuji after considering him a brother. Yuji finds Choso offputting, which to be fair, he has killed people even unknowingly. On the other side though, I don’t think Yuji’s particularly upset with Choso, he’s just upset that Choso reminds him of hismelf. Choso is a cursed / human hybrid that unknowingly killed people. Yuji is a cursed / human hybrid that was manipulated by others (Sukuna) in order to kill people. 

Yuji is having trouble coping with that. The reality that he hurt people. He can’t accept either of Choso’s feelings, first his sudden loyalty towards him as a brother, or his forgiveness for having unknowingly killed two other brothers. Yuji continues to hold these things against him and push Choso and his attemps to help away because he can’t forgive himself. He also, can’t look at himself.

Yuji’s face is drawn to highlight the unscarred side of his face this chapter. The scars he has were inflcited on him by a curse. Yuji’s face is now almost drawn in half, the unscarred side, andthe scarred side. By, showing only the unscarred side the author is using visual language to tell that Yuji is ignoring his own scars, and also ignoring the parts of him that are more like a curse because he’s so desperate to be seen as human. THat’s why he tunes Choso out. Choso who is a curse. But also he tunes Choso out because Choso is concerned for him and Yuji can’t accept Choso’s positive feelings when he feels so negatively about himself.

Yuji and Choso are drawn as facing away from each other the whole chapter despite being left alone to each other, and talking to one another. I think Choso is sad, because he can sense this distance between them. Not only will his brother not look at him, but Yuji isn’t really ready or in a healthy place to accept his feelings. Which means that Choso can’t help his brother or comfort him the way he wants to. Nor can he get Yuji to understand his feelings, or understand what Yuji’s going through.

I think Choso feels lonely because he expected them to get along as well as him, and Eso and Kechizu did, but Yuji’s more complicated than that and he doesn’t know what to do besides hover around him and be there for him. Choso and Yuji are also reflections in that sense, Choso cares about his brothers above everything else, and prioritizes his brothers over the world. Yuji will always prioritize the whole world over himself, he is always thinking about saving strangers instead. Hence why, they have a hard time understanding each other even if they want to work together.  

[linkspooky]

mechamiwa got me feeling like T_____________T

Mechamiwa is such a well-written tragedy. It’s rare that in a shonen manga such a flawed love story gets to be told. How the characters feel about each other is so clear, and also why they can’t be together is just as clear. Just to make you cry anon, an analysis of MechaMiwa under the cut. 

1. Strong and Weak

Mechamaru and Miwa both embody one of the central themes of the series, there’s strength in weakness, and there’s weakness in strength. 

Mechamaru is most likely the strongest Kyoto student, not only that but he has a measure of control because of his puppetry technique, he can doctor records, manipulate people, and is smart enough to play double agent for awhile to further his own goals. 

Mechamaru is very strong as an individual. He’s very selfish as an individual As a person he’s weak, however. Not because of his disability, but rather his inability to handle his own emotions. Of course, Mechamaru has a right to resetnment, he even has a right to hate the whole Jujutsu System, but the way he chooses to handle his emotions by lashing out is not healthy for him ultimately. 

Mechamaru hates himself, and hates his own weakness. Rather than trying to live with his own weakness, or be open about it, he hides behind his strength. Which is why rather than accepting other people’s help, he tends to be secretive, keep his distance, and he prefers attacking them rather than opening up to them. 

Mechamaru has this assumption that other people are going to look down on him, dislike him if they meet the real him, and that’s why he’s so defensive. That’s why he goes on the attack right away when he meets Panda. To stop others from looking down on him, he looks down on them first. 

Mechamaru is a strong person who can’t bear his own weakness, and can’t bear to see himself as weak. 

He has his reasons for this of course, but his primary strategy of keeping distance from others so they never have to meet the real, weak him gets in the way of what he wants. 

Miwa wanted to see Mechamaru as he was, in person. He didn’t need to be strong for her. The only ones who told him Mechamaru couldn’t be with his friends were Mechamaru himself, and the society around him, but his friends were always willing to accept him for who he was. Mechamaru can’t accept himself because he interanlized too much of what the Jujutsu Society taught him about weakness and it became a part of his own self loathing. 

Mechamaru wanted nothing more than to stand with his friends, but he did everything, manipulate them, betray them, protect them from afar, instead of taking the first step out himself to go see them. 

All because of his fear of being weak, and being seen as weak. 

Then, there’s Miwa who while not a fully developed character is a change of pace from a lot of the Jujutsu Kaisen characters because she accepts how weak she is. 

Miwa is the opposite of Mechamaru, a weak person, who doesn’t see her own strength, and doesn’t try as hard as she could to be strong. 

Miwa isn’t motivated to fight for herself, but her siblings she’s currently trying to take care of, so she lacks Maki and Nobara’s complete self possession. She’s not obsessed with the world of Jujutsu and treats it more like a dayjob, so she’s not motivated by saving others like Yuji or Megumi are either. 

However, in the Jujutsu World there’s someone a common sentiment that if you get stronger you’ll never have to lose anything. Characters believe everything is decided on strength alone, and an individually strong person will never have to face any loss. You can fight your feelings somehow. You can punch your feelings in the face, and you’ll never have to be sad again.

When losing Yuji for the first time, Megumi and Nobara’s response is to hide their feelings, and then try to fight the loss. If they get stronger they’ll never have to lose again. The motivation to get stronger isn’t wrong per se, but even the absolute strongest Satoru Gojo could not save his best friend. 

Miwa desires to get closer to others in a way most Jujutsu sorcerers just don’t. She’s a bit of a parallel for Utahime, who unlike Gojo was able to become someone who tethered Shoko and kept her connected to others. This is in part because Utahime is someone much more open with her weakness. 

Miwa tries to get close to Mechamaru anyway, despite knowing she might lose him, and the end result is she does. When she loses him, she feels weak, useless, she cries over it. It’s also the most emotionally open I’ve seen a character be with their grief in this manga.

There’s an emotional strength in being able to process sadness, and grief and yet still want to get close to others, instead of keeping your distance to shield yourself from those negative emotions. That was Miwa’s strength, but also Miwa didn’t push hard enough. Miwa sees herself as weak and because of that she’s desperately lacking in the ambition Nobara, and Maki ust have naturally. 

Miwa also could have been fighting by Mechamaru’s side. She could have pushed harder, she could have confronted him and challenged him more, but she was ultimately too passive until it was too late. 

Mechamaru was unwilling to give up his control, Miwa was unwilling to take his control. Mechamaru and Miwa both saw themselves as too weak individually, to stand by each other’s side, which is why they couldn’t be together. No matter how much both of them wanted it. 

Mechamaru and Miwa could have lended each other that strength: we see this in the fight against Mahito. Mechamaru uses Miwa’s techniques, his main motivation to fight is Miwa’s words to him.

Simple Domain is a pwoerful technique, especially when cooperating with others. There’s a first grade who uses simple domain. Mei Mei uses simple domain as a part of her ultimate attack. It seems really well suited towards cooperation, which is also Miwa’s strongest character trait her desire to connect with others in spite of the pain.

However, Miwa didn’t assert herself. 

The last symbol of Mechamaru and Miwa’s relationship is the distance between them. mechamaru can’t be there for her in person, in any way, emotionally or physically. They are two people who love each other deeply, but couldn’t be together because of their individual flaws. 

It’s because they both avoided each other in a sense. Miwa doesn’t think she’s strong enough to fight with others. Mechamaru is so afraid of being weak, just naturally assumes people will project her, that he preferred to protect MIwa from afar the whole time instead of being close to her. 

While it is a failed relationship, I think Mechamaru’s love for her was very real, and if Miwa processes the grief from this she has potential to grow as a character. There is set up for MIwa, her parallels to Utahime, the fact that there’s a simple domain user who’s a first grade right now who uses shadow style the same as her. 

What I hope is this will be the push Miwa needs to get stronger, not so she can fight as an individual, but so she can drop the “Miwa the Useless” attitude and fight together with the others. 

There’s something to be gained even by loss, which is why I think it’s better for characters not to lose fearing this loss. I don’t think Miwa regretted opening up to Mechamaru, or loving him, even if in the end he died, and all it did was hurt her, because she can still carry on his wish and that is their way of being together. Accepting loss also means accepting the people you’ve lost, and being able to struggle together with them even though they’re no longer there.

Yuji can take on Nanami’s suffering, Miwa can take on both Kokichi’s suffering and the happiness he wished to give her. 

[linkspooky]

Maki and Megumi pt. 2

Maki and Megumi are distant cousins and two characters connected by their shared blood in the Zenin family, but usually they’re almost polar opposites. I discuss this in my previous post about the two. However, despite their differences or maybe because of them they work rather well together as complementary personalities. Here’s an analysis on Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 108 and why it was Megumi who showed up to fight with Maki. 

All of the fights in Jujutsu Kaisen aren’t just there fore the sake of showing off cool patterns, every fight and fight matchup has thematic meaning. That means there’s something the author has to say in comparing and contrasting whoever participates in a fight in Jujutsu Kaisen. 

We see Maki and Megumi fighting together again like they did in the Sister School Event, because they both have something to learn from this fight. The Shibuya Incident Arc is such an excellently planned out arc that there are several parallels already going into this fight.

1. NobaMaki Parallels

Ever since Gojou got boxed the theme of this arc so far has been that while individual strength is important, it’s not everything, and simply being stronger is never going to win you every fight. This is why we see characters who are strong individualists getting hit hard this arc. 

Maki’s entire current goal revolves around the idea of her own individual strength. The way she sees it, in order to fight for her place in the world, and prove her family wrong about her she has to get stronger than even the toughest Jujutsu Sorcery user in her family all on her own. 

This is something we see Maki has sacrificed several personal relationships for, including any kind of healthy relationship with her own twin sister who she was much closer to when she was younger. Now Maki’s bad relationship with Mai isn’t her individual fault, it’s the family situation that created the tension between them, and both Maki and Mai are bad at reaching out to each other or understanding one another. However, Maki even says as much to Mai that she has to prioritize herself. 

In Maki’s mind, rising up to the top alone is more important than anything else, even being together with her twin sister. Maki’s not wrong for thinking that way she’s just an individualist, she’s very strong and singleminded. However, an individualist mindset does not win the fight in every situation. Which is why her parallels with Nobara come into play this arc. Nobara, Maki and Gojou are all characters that strongly parallel one another they all seem to believe they can accomplish anything with their own individual strength. They are, highly motivated and confident individuals, and most of the time this attitude works for them but not always. 

Nobara is also someone who uniquely sympathizes with Maki’s situation. You can see her sympathy arises for two reasons, one Nobara’s always attuned to people who get judged by unfair standards (she hated the people in her small town for judging her only friend instead of getting to know her), and two because Maki fought back against that unfairness. 

Nobara tends to like people who fight back against their circumstances with everything they have. She tends to dislike people who succumb to their circumstances and lash out. She has almost no pity for them. (Just a reminder you don’t... have to sympathize with someone going out of their way to hurt your friend because they don’t know how to communicate their abandonment issues in a healthy way). This is the entire point of setting up the Maki / Mai parallel where Nobara sympathizes with one of them, and doesn’t sympathize with the other even though they’re both reacting to the exact same situation. 

It’s because the way Maki copes really really alligns with Nobara’s world view, which is that with self confidence and strength she should be able to overcome everything. Whereas, Mai who is part of the Kyoto school who tends instead cling to connections of other people around her. (To Mai, her connection with Maki was what was more important than being a Jujutsu sorcerer, hence why she feels abandoned. Mai’s so close to her Kyoto friends one of them literally tries to explain the situation to Nobara.) The Kyoto kids are in general known to be much closer and more trusting than the Tokyo Kids who all fight side by side, but tend to be distant. 

Two different ways to react to a situation. However neither one of them is wrong, and neither one will work for every situation. Which is why Nobara loses her first major fight in the Shibuya Arc so far, because her go to strategy was to use herself as a decoy and charge in alone. As a result she was taken by surprise. She was stronger than her opponent but strength was not enough. 

Now paralleling that situation we have had several comments in the last three chapters on how Maki is completely out of her depth. Yes, Maki is strong, however she’s still not quite there yet. 

Maki’s worldview is that strength is everything, so what can she do when she’s just not strong enough to contribute to the situation? Maki isn’t going to be as strong as two much older sorcerers when she is still pretty much just a kid. It’s impossible to become that strong that fast no matter how hard you push yourself. 

So, what Maki experiences is the frustration of reaching her limit. She’s strong, but not strong enough, and therefore she’s just getting in the way in this situation, and even had to be protected by a man she hates. 

Maki is getting picked on so relentlessly by characters here in order to put a crack in her world view. There are situations where her strength will not be enough. Even if she was the strongest person on earth (Gojou) she would still be caught in those situations. The solution isn’t to get stronger, the solution is to open yourself up to different possibilities and be flexible rather than try to solve every problem in one way. 

Maki even admits it. This was her mistake 1) refusing to listen to Nanami when he told her she probably should not be here, and 2) not going to meet up with Megumi because she wanted to prove herself. (Though in that dialogue she’s kind of also in denial about it, she says her real mistake is that she didn’t take it out fast enough but... the fact that Megumi saves her this chapter indicates that her mistake was indeed leaving Megumi). 

Maki’s mistake would have cost her her life, if Megumi had not shown up. Her narrative punishment is that one she’s put in a situation where despite being crazy strong, she’s just a burden to the others around her, and two isn’t able to overcome the situation with guts and her brash attitude alone and has to sit back and be saved. 

2. MegumiYuji Parallels

Megumi and Yuji are also strong narrative foils to the extent Nobara and Maki are. It’s no coincidence that literally right after we see Yuji lose a battle, Megumi comes in the clutch. What’s really interesting about this arc is that it’s a deconstruction of the piece of advice Gojou once gave Megumi. 

Gojou tells Megumi that he needs to stop downplaying himself for the sake of others, and instead learn to swing for the fences the way he and Yuji do. While this is good advice, once again it’s not entirely right. It’s also advice steeped in Gojou’s world view. 

Remember Gojou is someone traumatized by the fact that his only friend Getou went rogue and betrayed him. He once believed that as long as him and Getou were together as the strongest duo they could accomplish anything, only to be struck with his own powerlessness when Getou left and he could do nothing to save him, or make him stay. Gojou is someone who ever since then had a habit of taking everything on his own shoulders. Gojou’s advice is good to break Megumi out of his self sacrificial habits, but it also comes from a place of Gojou assuming that you’ll always die alone because nobody could ever fight alongside him after Getou left. 

Gojou’s decision to go alone into the subway system is the mistake that starts this whole arc up. When characters decide to cooperate together in this arc they’re rewarded, when they try to run ahead alone they’re punished. There’s a reason both Yuji and Megumi fought together before splitting off to fight on their own. 

This fight established that cooperating with another person is often harder than fighting alone, but also something ultimately worth it because strength would not have won Yuji this fight. The reason Yuji won is because Megumi’s strategy, and Megumi needed Yuji’s cooperation with him to overwhelm the enemy. 

Megumi, after unlocking Chimera Shadow Garden has developed into more of an individualist. He’s followed Gojou’s advice. The most important part of Gojou’s advice however isn’t that Megumi had to stop cooperating with other people and become more like Gojou, but rather the problem is Megumi’s way of cooperating with people is a tendency to sacrifice himself, and belittle himself for the sake of others. Megumi as a person is someone who is very repressed. 

There’s a reason Megumi was a delinquint in middle school, but is a very distant and quiet boy now. Megumi is someone who is always deeply angry, but instead of trying to deal with those feelings he represses them. He feels a deep hurt for being abandoned by his father, but insists to Gojou he doesn’t care. He feels deep protective feelings for his sister, but distances himself from her as much as possible. Megumi’s tendency to sacrifice arises from this, because he’s repressing himself. He thinks the only way he can help others is to sacrifice himself. However, true cooperation is what he did with Yuuji, it’s butting your heads together and both sticking up for what you believe in and finding a compromise between that. Getting along with people can often mean fighting with them too, and Megumi tends to be a very conflict avoidant person. 

In the current arc it’s Megumi whose grown in this particular aspect, and Yuji who hasn’t. The manga makes it clear that Yuji and Choso are pretty much neck and neck, the fight could have gone to either person. So, what is it exactly that loses Yuji the fight? 

This moment right here where Yuji decides that helping other people means sacrificing himself. He becomes more like Megumi, but is taking on a negative aspect of him rather than a positive one. This is also a flaw that’s been present within Yuji’s character from the start, he’s borderline suicidal sometimes in how willing he is to throw himself into danger and rather than focusing on survival he’s always trying to make peace with his death and find a good death. Yuji is someone who accepts his death far too easily, because he views himself as someone expendable. 

Yuji makes a decision midfight to keep fighting even if it means dying, instead of trying to live to the next day even though he promised Megumi this before the fight. 

That’s the flaw in Yuji’s logic. Him deciding to pull a heroic death in the middle of a subway tunnel isn’t helping anyone, whereas he could have made the decision to fall back and wait for help. Maki only got saved because Megumi was there to help him. In this situation mirroring Maki, Yuji was only saved because Getou’s surrogate family was there to help him. 

Yuji despite sacrificing himself for others is still really only thinking with an individualist mindset here. He’s making decisions without really thinking about how it will affect the people around him. Whereas, Megumi who has been the most cooperative character this arc, and also directly faced his tendency to take a dive so other people can succeed gets to show up in Maki’s fight. 

3. Future Predictions

There are several parallels between Maki and Megumi. Just to summarize, they’re both connnected to the Zenin clan. But while Maki’s entire life is dominated by the Zenin clan, Megumi doesn’t really care about his connection to the family. They both have sisters who are incredibly important to them. They also both chose to distance themselves from their sisters at one time, Megumi lost his sister to a curse and wants nothing more than to go back and apologize. Maki’s sister is still alive but she’s too prideful to apologize. They are both people who were taken in and helped by Gojou, Maki reflects Gojou’s ideology whereas Megumi is ideologically the exact opposite of Gojou and a much more cooperative person. 

They are set up as characters who have several similiarties, but almost always make opposite choices. Even from their family situations, Megumi was born outside of the clan but has a powerful Jujutsu Sorcery, Maki was born inside of the clan but was born with no Jujutsu Sorcery technique. 

The point of having such similiar but opposite characters together is so they can work together. They both have a lot to learn from each other, Maki has to learn how to more effectively fight in a team because there are going to be situations where her strength can’t solve everything. Megumi has to learn not to repress himself. Which is Maki’s greatest strength she never represses anything, because to her the absolute worst thing is the death of the self and having to let go of her pride. 

However, more than that Megumi and Maki being brought together now is likely because they are going to face an even bigger opponent than Dagan. Dagan is cute and all, but he’s not exactly someone who would bring about character development from them other than being a hard opponent to fight again.

However, one last similarity with Megumi and Maki is that they both heavily parallel Toji. Who just... happens to be running around right now. 

Maki and Megumi both share several flaws with Toji. He serves as a shadow archetype for both of them. 

The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings.

A shadow archetype is a character meant to highlight the repressed flaws of other characters. Toji is made up of Megumi and Maki’s flaws, but rather than being a work in progress as a person, Toji let those flaws utterly ruin him. 

For Maki - Toji parallels her in two aspects, one her desire to prove herself stronger than everyone else despite not having a Jujutsu Sorcery technique through her own strength alone, and two her choice to abandon her family members. 

Toji represents the extreme consequences of Maki’s choice. Maki is much more sympathetic than Toji, but she still displays unhealthy behavior that’s not going to be good for her in the wrong run. The thing about Maki is that she can have both, she can have both her connection with her sister, and also want to become strong enough to prove her family wrong about her. She just refused to compromise. Toji is someone who followed his own selfish desire to the end and regretted it. 

He thought the only important thing was being stronger than his opponents, and because he only lived for that strength, he abandoned everything else in his life, including his moral and his own son. Toji is a bad future if Maki continues to make that choice. 

For Megumi - Toji is Megumi’s father (obviously), and while he never raised Megumi they are similiar personality wise. They both repress themselves to an extreme amount. 

It’s not that Toji didn’t feel guilty for abandoning Megumi and killing people, it’s just no matter what he did he always repressed it and refused to face his actions. He was so good at denying his own feelings that he didn’t realize how much he regretted abandoning his son until he was literally at the brink of his own death and it was too late to change it. 

Megumi is also someone who tends to seriously regret things. He regrets the way he interacted with his sister, because now she’s gone he can’t apologize to her. Megumi and Toji are both bad at handling their own emotions, and especially their traumas. Megumi’s reaction to Toji’s decision to abandon him is to put a lid on all feelings related to his father and pretend he doesn’t care. 

That’s never healthy and it’s likely the lid is going to come off when he faces Toji again. Here’s my prediction for the arc, Toji is going to show up and it will be Maki and Megumi who fight together against them, because he’s a shadow archetype for the flaws that both of them need to overcome. 

[linkspooky]

Blood is Thicker

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 102 Shibuya Incident, Part 20 Analysis Jujutsu Kaisen is a manga that balances character development and thesmes with the fights. There are sometimes entire chapters built around one idea. Last week’s chapter was one such chapter as both fights that between Choso and Yuji, and Mei Mei and Getou centered around the theme of sibling relationships. 

Choso and Mei Mei are the literal definition of opposites. One male, one female. One is a curse human hybrid, the other a Jujutsu Sorcerer who exercises curses. One inherited a powerful curse technique from the Kamo Bloodline (blood manipulation) the other had to become strong through creative use of her traditionally weak curse technique. However, what makes them the most different is the way they approach their relationships with their siblings. 

Choso is genuinely saddened and vengeful over the death of his brothers, reacting to it the way any human might.While Mei Mei does the complete opposite, she tells her brother to die for her sake in the same chapter. Choso’s entire existence is dedicated to finding the rest of his brothers, and Mei Mei uses her brother as live bait to win against an enemy. There’s a lot we can learn from these two characters just from the way they treat their brothers. 

1. Choso the Human Curse

At the end of the Origin of Obedience Arc, Yuji and Nobara have a moral debate on whether they should feel any different about needing to kill the hybrids as opposed to exercising a curse. As despite the fact that they had to defend themselves and didn’t have much of a choice, they still killed something capable of crying for his brother who died in front of him the same way any human would. 

Curses are born from negative human emotions, but Choso and his brothers quite literally were born into this world with a mother the same way most humans were. Hanami was born out of a desire to save nature from human pollution. Mahito was born of the fear of other humans. However, during the origin of obedience arcs it’s not specified just what negative grudge gave rise to the curse spirits of the three brothers.

However there is important symbolism with them. One, they are represented by aborted fetuses (because that’s what they literally are) so symbolically they are children who were never given the chance to be born. Or even children who should never have been born. They were born into this world from a mother, and yet because they’re just the creation of some mad sorcerer’s whims they were never meant to exist. 

The only tangible thing the brothers have known for hundreds of years is each other. Which means the only motivation they really have is the connection they share with one another. 

Choso even says so outright. They don’t really believe the same thing that Jogo, Mahito and the rest of the curses believe that curses have the right to exist as the true humans, but a world where curses are in control without jujutsu sorcerers is a world where they’re allowed to exist. They don’t have to be sealed away as fetsuses whose only awareness is a psychic link with one another. 

So if you think about it that way, the goal of all three of the curse wombs is to be born. While their relationship mirrors that of human siblings, because all they’ve ever really had is contact with one another their relationship is closer than human siblings to ever are. They consider themselves three parts of the same body. Each member of the siblings would do anything for other two, because all of them are three equals, three parts of the same whole. They don’t even see each other as separate people, not really. 

These insane levels of devotion are why instead of retreating to live another day, both brothers fight until they die for the sake of completing the objective Choso gave them. They don’t really distinguish themselves as individuals so even if both of them died, and Choso lived on, then Choso would be living on for the both of them. 

 The irony of the three curse womb brothers is that despite them being freaks of nature, half human hybrid, they have the most human and relatable motivations of the curses so far. So much so it even gives Yuuji pause. Choso is trying to avenge his brothers, and then free the rest of his remaining six brothers from their seal so they can live. 

Choso’s entire character is designed around family ties and connection. The Kyoto student he foils and shares the exact same jujutsu technique and association with the Kamo clan with, also has a motivation that revolves around his attachment to his mothers. Choso manipualtes blood, blood ties are the symbol for family. 

Choso generally acts stoic and aloof compared to the other curses, and yet he’s also the curse to display the most raw human emotion so far. 

Choso is represented by ties, connections, restrictions and most of all the loyalty he feels towards his family. Choso is also the most powerful of the three and sees it as his job to protect / avenge them above all else. His duty is always towards his family. 

2. Mei Mei

Mei Mei is not a character we know a lot about yet, but there are two interesting facts established about her right from her introduction. If Choso is someone too connected to his own siblings, then Mei Mei lives disconnected from anyone around her. She even says herself she doesn’t understand any connections that aren’t based on money. 

The second hints at how ruthless she is. She seems to have noticed what was going on in Kyoto High School’s attempt to kill Yuji, but when confonted by Gojou she plays clueless and refuses to take either side. 

Mei Mei is then someone established to be always on her own side. That doesn’t mean she’s necessarily a bad person. Gojou himself is a character who has very selfish motivations, but he’s also an extremely moral person who always uses his tremendous strength for others rather than for himself. Her neutrality is in fact good in some ways, because she doesn’t seem to be alligned with the corrupt side of the Jujutsu world obsessed with family ties and tradition. The second thing to notice about Mei Mei is that she seems to value strength the same way that Gojou does. She doesn’t care about the Zenin family’s politics and only sees Maki for her strength. 

In Hidden Inventory, Gojou also identifies Mei Mei as someone strong who would never cry unlike Utahime. So, regardless of where Mei Mei’s loyalties lie she has a mindset very similiar to Gojou’s. She prioritizes herself and her own strength above everything else. However, she does get along with Utahime just fine, so it’s not like she’s incapable of making friends or caring about them as far as we’ve seen. 

Mei Mei is introduced in the Shibuya arc with her younger brother, Ui Ui. This is where her foiling becomes clear, Ui Ui says quite frnakly that Ui Ui doesn’t really love her family, that she cares more about work than anything else. The two of them are opposites, if Choso will always choose his brothers over everything else, then Mei Mei will always choose himself. 

Mei Mei’s fights later in the arc have been slowly revealing more about her character. That unlike Choso who was born with an incredibly strong and violent cursed technique, Mei Mei was born with one that you’d consider to be weak at first brush. 

Mei Mei’s Gojou-like fixation on strength most likely comes from having to survive in the world of Jujutsu Sorcery with a traditionally weak technique, especially since a lot of sorcerers value having a strong technique over everything else. 

Mei Mei also refers to herself as having almost given up after being crushed by her failure to improve herself after that, and is claims she herself had to go back and try something different in order to become a strong as she did today. 

At that point Mei Mei’s relationship with her brother becomes incredibly suspicious. Remember, Nanami said just a few chapters ago that it’s dangerous to drag children into combat. Ui Ui looks barely older than thirteen if that, and yet he’s acting like a miniature adult. Not only that but Ui Ui is completely obsessed with his sister. 

His entire sense of self worth is modeled around being useful to her. This is just speculation at this point entirely, but there’s a case for family members being used and abused in the Jujutsu World before this. Toji was going to sell his own son to the Zenin clan for money. Mechamaru’s parents kept their incredibly ill son in a tank and forced him to become a jujutsu sorcerer because his potential was so high. 

In the same chapter that Choso is mourning the deaths of his siblings, Mei Mei callously asks Ui Ui to die for her. She uses her own brother and his loyalty to her as the second half of her cursed technique, to use simple domains to cancel out domains. 

Once again this is just speculation but, considering Ui Ui’s unnatural devotion to his sister, the fact that he’s so young, and also the fact that Mei Mei once fell into despair over her inability to advance her own jujutsu technique could Mei Mei have purposefully raised her own younger brother as a weapon to be a part of her technique? Almost everything we’ve been shown so far indicates a really unhealthy and one sided relationship between the two siblings at least. 

It could be that Mei Mei is so convinced of her own strength that she doesn’t really see herself as putting her brother’s life at risk. Gojou pulls a similiar move in volume zero. He sends his students specifically into life threatening danger without supervision as a part of his plan. He didn’t necessarily intend any harm, he was just so confident in the fact that he was right he didn’t really see it as needlessly risking the live’s of children the same way Nanami would.

Nanami’s viewpoint that children shouldn’t be actively exposed to danger that’s out of their depth is being shown, more and more often to be a rarity in the jujutsu world. This is of course the same world that gave Yuji, Megumi and Nobara an incredibly dangerous mission just for the sake of killing Yuji not caring that there would be two other casualties. 

So even if Mei Mei doesn’t really specifically mean any harm to Ui Ui, she’s still being reckless with his life, in a way that contrasts how protective Choso and his brothers were of each other. In both cases the siblings are unnaturally close, but Choso considered him and the others all a part of the same person, all of them were equal, while Ui Ui seems to exist as an accessory to Mei Mei. 

That’s the contrast presented for us this chapter. An inhuman freak of nature curse spirit like Choso genuinely valued the life of his younger brothers in a really human way. While the human Jujutsu Sorcerer is cold and detached, using her younger brother as some kind of tool to benefit her. Choso who can’t get over the deaths of his two brothers, and Mei Mei who risks the life of her younger brother like it’s nothing to save herself.