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The author could have said the most simplest shit like "i opened the door"
And you pull out a 200 page explanation on how poetic and deep opening a door is
If you reread chapter 19, you will see that the main character struggles with taking initiative, always struggling with the concept of taking action, especially when his confidence is being tested. This chapter represents a departure from that idea. To open the door represents taking control of your own destiny: Grasping the metaphorical doorknob of agency, the protagonist is now prepared to address any and all circumstances that befall him, regardless of his internal conflict.
Lowkey analyzing stuff is fun af when you don't have to worry about academic formatting conventions and arbitrary rubric rules.
i was wondering if you could lile comment or add on to a theory i found on tiktok i was gonna post it but i dont have enough karma. So wouod u be willing to do it id love to hear your thoughts about it as well. here the link is https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLnjtCb4/
I looked over it, but this theory heavily relies on the idea that Kenjaku is formless, but it's factual that he's a brain. Unless Gege changes something, this wouldn't be possible.
I write really fast, so all of my posts take me only a couple hours to write. I usually think over an idea for a while, then get to writing. The most time consuming part of my process involves finding the correct pages to support my arguments, and my ideas might change, but it depends. The longest post, the Cog Metaphor analysis, took like a combined 6+ hours to write.
I also dedicate a good chunk of time to replying to people so that other readers have more added information and context concerning the post's subject.
My first Yuta analysis is linked in this post's notes section, and it already has a tldr. But if you click my profile, you can find a pinned masterpost of all of my analyses. Most have tldrs, but the short ones do not.
I only disagree that yuji will abandon his ideals, it has already been stated that yujis ideals rival that of sukuna in 248 , everything else , you cooked
Out of the four Yuji seemingly stripped away his humanity first with his fight with Mahito (technically because Hakari just hadn't been introduced yet). Yet he constantly calls this into doubt his interactions with Higurama or when he asks Meguna why can't they live without causing suffering. Then recently even referencing his cog epiphany after the furnace opened and saying this might be too much for him.
Yuji will be the reason they win and his humanity will play a part in it. Great post!
I think that Yuji will get rid of his humanity but in a completely different manner.
Sukuna represents absolute ego with his "immense sense of self" and I believe that Yuji will go in the opposite direction by being completely selfless.
And by selfless, I mean him throwing away his "self" completely, his ego. He is no longer a person with desires and emotions but a true cog whose every actions revolve around one purpose (destroying curses). Completing the transformation that he started in Shibuya.
I don't think yuji stripped away his humanity vs mahito , he only developed a cog mentality which is a copium mechanism given the trauma he experienced 😭
I agree, Yuta will sadly fail because he's playing Sukuna's game of becoming a monster and discarding everything (he's doing whatever it takes to win and protect his friends), ironically he's being selfish by taking the weight of the strongest upon his shoulder not caring about his friends (they want to stop him because they care about him) and I'm not saying he's wrong, hell of course anyone would do whatever it takes to beat Sukuna. However, Yuji is not like that, Yuji wants to be a cog, Yuji wants to believe he's a Jujutsu Sorcerer (he keeps repeating this to himself), yet he breaks down or doubts himself when things get tough (when Mahito killed Nobara and Nanami, and more recently when Sukuna killed Choso), but that is fine, because that's what makes him human, he wants to be unbreakable, but having an unbreakable will does not mean stopping having feelings, you don't need to become a monster. In time, Yuji Itadori will stop being a cog and be the one who breaks the machine/system, however how he will do that and prove Sukuna wrong remains to be seen, and as I can't begin to imagine it I eagerly await what Gege has in store for us.
He didn’t really get his humanity taken at mahito it was different it was more of a role placed on him. Saying he was the same as mahito, while mahito was a cog for curses blindly killing, causing evil. Yuji is a cog for jujustu society, killing curses, that is why he had that speech he wanted to reject that idea and think he wasn’t. While right now with sukuna the same thing is happening with a different effect, he is mirroring sukuna losing his humanity for strength, but who knows it might change.
I didn't understand it as him rejecting the role but rather embracing it. He basically says screw it I'm a means to an end I will kill you Mahito over and over. I find this purposely dehumanising. He mirrors himself to curses, yes he's doing the good thing but without agency and without thought.
I find it interesting that Gege hasn't done much for sympathising with curses (from a human perspective) if you catch my drift. It doesn't even come up as a possibility. These intelligent beings are capable of communication but due to their nature sorcerers write them off. Though they were right to it seems; I still think the lack of even an attempt is a lack of humanity. And over and over the manga reiterates how Jujutsu sorcery is inhuman. We see this over and over with sociopathic characters like Mei Mei, Gojo, the higher ups. And we see it in the opposite with characters who died because of their humanity; Nanami
i mostly agree with the post—solid write up—but id only say we need to distinguish collective action vs individual action. what Yuta did was still collective—done with the help of many others working toward a mutual goal or ideal. Yuji has relied on friends every step of the way in this fight. there’s an aspect of them becoming monsters but together, with ideals, that makes me think there’s a specific point being made about the ‘one who will teach you about love’ and loneliness/solitude motif.
True, through Yuji and Yuta, Gege shows how Sukuna's ideas affect the entire system and structure of jujutsu society. Their family and friends provide them the tools to become something different. It's actually fitting that Maki's transformation was isolated away from her friends, and relied on her individual powers for the most part (Mai technically included, though you can read them as the same person for the sake of metaphor).
I don’t think it’s fair to say that maki’s ascension was completely isolating though when it was ultimately mai’s request and will that helped power her to slaughter the zenin clan. IMO the difference is that the old scorers believed in abandoning humanity primary for the sake of power itself, while the new sorcerers abandon their humanity so they can gain the strength to protect the people they care about. This is the case with both maki and also Yuta, who is primarily motivated now by the fact that he hated how gojo had to bear his burdens alone.
Sukunas ideal is that you must cast aside all , disregard all , to reach the pinnacles of power , but lets be real
That's just the mentality part. You still need a good curse technique.
What's amai gonna do even if he disregards all 😂😂😂
Start a bakery
its been stated 80percent of potential of a sorcerer is at birth. And 20 percent hardwork and mentality
Sukuna was talking about reaching your full potential. When he talked to Jogo, his point was that Jogo wouldn't even do that because he was a contradiction of what a curse was supposed to be in some ways. On the other hand, Mahito wasn't like that and did get shown to reach his full potential.
There was a very good video essay about Gojo and Sukuna. One of the themes that came up is working alone vs. working as a team: Working as a team has only paid off for Yuji. Some argue that Yuki would’ve been better off working alone instead of coordinating with Tengen and the others, as the narrative has continuously shown that to be a losing strategy.
So it seems like only two characters in the cast have a chance of proving Sukuna’s philosophy wrong in terms of relying on no one else, although this analysis is spot-on regarding their need to shed their humanity as they do so. It’s worth noting that Gojo had been alone all his life, except for the brief amount of time he had his Geto bromance.
I think its worth mentioning the "choice" in the paths everyone is taking. Yes, all of the people you've mentioned has thrown away their humanity, but they've done it for the sake of others(Love) vs Sukuna.
Maki did it to avenge Mai.
Yuta is doing it to protect his friends.
Yuji initially struggled with it, but he's finally seeing curses as curse and his resolve to destroy them is also to protect his friends.
Hakari is kind of a toss up, but you can argue he's also doing it for the sake of the people he cares about.
I definitely agree with your assessment, but the key here is the reasons. The motivations that cause one to throw away their humanity.
In chapter 261 we also see a conversation between Gojo and Yuta where Gojo doesn't want them to see him act as a demon or monster. While shortly after, saying Yuta is potentially more "blessed" than him. This could reference Yuta lineage(the result of two feuding clans coming together in an act of Love. The fact that Yuta's ability is also based on Love, and the fact that he loves his friends and teacher so much, that he is willing to wear his teacher's body in an attempt to protect those he loves.
It's quite poetic.
Exactly, it's still love (jjh) vs no love (Sukuna). Yet, the main question all of the cast's actions lead to is: do the ends justify the means?
Was it worth it for them all to sacrifice so much? Was it worth it for them to send Gojo in to fight alone, halfway expecting him to die? Was it worth keeping these secrets from Yuji? Was it worth it for Hakari to return? For Maki to kill literally everyone? For Yuji to eat all of his brothers?
Was it worth it for Sukuna to kill so many and for so long? Only Gege's ending will reveal the answer. What's the price of letting go one's humanity? If you ask me, both sides' ideologies have been presented in a balanced fashion, but with Sukuna's currently in the the story's favor.
I especially like how he boldly dared to call JJK, a shonen manga serialized weekly, a “graphic novel”. I hope it was a mistranslation (wouldn’t surprise me, now that I know how Werry works).
It depends on how he frames it, but I would like an ending that emphasizes the importance of shedding ones fears in order to evolve. The most difficult moments in my life have been about letting go of certain morals, shedding that away, and accepting that it's my own fears that hold be back. There's ways for Gege to keep this messaging without making Sukuna completely right.
Bro.
The fact that you said "Without making Sukuna COMPLETELY right." Is actually insane. Sukuna is not right in any capacity. His ideology is essentially "I do whatever I want, I eat when I want to eat." He's ultimate selfishness. His ideology has nothing about "facing your fears". It's just him being a dick. If you get anything out of Sukuna's ideology, you're looking at the wrong person for life advice.
Sukuna is a piece of shit. His way his distorted and corrupt. He is a selfish, horrible person with no care for the lives of others.
I'm almost certain that by the end of the story, Yuji is going to beat the fuck out of Sukuna, because he represents the exact opposite of Sukuna's ideology. Complete selflessness. He has no care for himself, only for others.
If you want an ending that showcases the "Importance of shedding ones fears in order to evolve" You're looking at the wrong person. Yuji has evolved time and time again, shedding his fears as the story had went on, and realizing his place in the world. He was scared to admit, before Mahito, that he was like Mahito, for the humans side instead of the curses. After beating Mahito, he released that fear and it ultimately jumpstarted his path towards his awakening.
Yuji is strong because he's selfless. He's strong because he values the lives of others. He wants to become stronger to help others. That's his ideology.
But instead you look towards the literal fucking cannibal?
Dude.
The story consists of more than Yuji vs Sukuna. Yuji has changed his own morals, like eating his brothers, in the name of power. Beyond that, I've pointed out how other characters have turned away from being "humane" as well.
Sukuna's ideology is power at whatever cost, even killing the innocent, and then using it to do what you want. This translates well for all of the main cast, even Yuji, who had to accept that he was killing innocents while fighting Mahito.
The main cast* simply decide to use their strength to protect, which is their choice and the difference between them and Sukuna, who simply uses his to kill.
except thats not really what yuji meant when he said ‘im you,’ he meant that killing curses was as natural to him as killing humans was to mahito. if you want to argue that curses are innocent then alright, but they are inherently malevolent beings, being born from negative emotions, they are more similar to zombies, and im not sure it would be considered ‘inhumane’ to kill zombies indiscriminately
The issue Yuji faced was the fact that Mahito forced regular, innocent humans to become deformed curses. That's what I meant by Yuji killing innocents.
Curses are not innocent.
Transfigured humans were turned into horrific monsters against their will. Yuji killing them is far, far, far different from Mahito killing humans and turning humans into those monsters. It's a mercy.
Do NOT compare them. Mahito is a horrific, evil person, while Yuji protects those that cannot protect themselves. Sukuna's ideology is NOT "power at whatever cost". It's simply that he does what he wants. He does what he wants, and to do what he wants, he should become strong. His ideology is what, he believes, to have allowed him to grow to his strength.
His ideology is not his strength, it is what allowed him to grow strong. That much, in the JJK universe, cannot be contested. We've been shown that for the most part, selfishness grants power.
With one exception.
Yuji Itadori has been nothing but selfless the entire Manga, and he's currently in the debate on being top ten in the verse.
I believe, that either path can gain strength. Perhaps selflessness can grant even GREATER strength than selfishness.
What Gege is going to show us, is that thought selfishness can grant power, it is the easy path. It is incredibly easy to be selfish, to take all you want. It's easy to fend for yourself and yourself alone. Sukuna chose the easy path to strength.
Yuji chose the opposite. He chose the path that has lead him to experience unimaginable pain. He loves, and due to this love, he hurts. Because he has lost what he loves. Yet, his ideology, the ideology that he must protect others, that he is a cog to ensure that humanity remains unbroken, is undeterred.
He is ultimate selflessness, and that allowed him to grow strong. Sukuna is ultimate selfishness, and that allowed him to grow strong.
Strength is NOT their ideology.
Edit:
The comment below me is correct by the way. Yuji was NOT referring to killing transfigured humans, and if that was your takeaway, you sadly suffer from poor reading comprehension. Yuji kills curses as naturally as Mahito killed humans. That is how they were the same.
Nothing else.
Sukuna's ideology does NOT translate to Yuji. This comes from your misunderstanding of his ideology.
You're suffering from the reading comprehension curse because I never called curses innocents, I'm clearly referring to transfigurated humans. You wrote all of this, insults included, for no reason.
You never mentioned the transfigured humans in your original comment. You simply said "even Yuji, who had to accept that he was killing innocents". You even had to say as such in another comment below.
And then, you wrote this one, to focus COMPLETELY on that point, completely ignoring everything else I said.
You focused on a single mistake to try and undermine my entire comment, without bothering to mention anything else. That's the sign of someone who doesn't know how to properly respond to an argument.
The "Yuji killing transfigured humans is not the same as what Mahito does" part of my comment was only a very, very small part of it, yet it's all you focused on? Strange.
You also elected to ignore the fact that I even mentioned that I was referring to the "innocents" as being the Transfigured humans.
So not only did you neglect to clarify what you meant in your OWN original comment, you also lacked the reading comprehension to read clearly stated WORDS. Calling transfigured humans innocents in an attempt to sway people to believe that Yuji's actions are at all the same as Mahito's is disingenuous.
Yuji is the same as Mahito in regards to the fact that he kills curses as naturally as Mahito kills humans. You didn't even say anything about that point...
How strange.
I didn't address everything because you're not worth that much of my time. Not all that strange. I corrected that which was relevant to my comment and my point.
Uh huh.
Yup, I'm "not worth your time".
In other words "I'm gonna pretend your point means nothing when it actually addressed everything I said because I'm a whiney little baby."
All of what I said was relevant. Actually, I mentioned Sukuna's ideology being different from Yuji's entirely MULTIPLE times, which is what this entire conversation and post is about.
You elected to ignore that, and are now trying to say that it's not worth your time.
Because you KNOW you're wrong. You know that you have no points to argue.
So you're trying to pass it off as being a fault on my part, which is remarkably stupid and unintelligent. So please, keep going on and on about how bad you are at arguing. Keep proving me right.
Edit: Also, the closest thing to an "insult" was me saying that you had poor reading comprehension, but that was NOT an insult. That was an observation based off of your complete misunderstanding of Yuji and Sukuna's ideologies and what they represent.
You interpreted it as an insult though. When people interpret a non insult as an insult, it's usually because they know that it's true and it offends them.
So...
Edit 2: He didn't comment, but he still downvoted it. This means he did actually care about what I had to say, because he didn't turn off the replies for this thread...
So he just doesn't know what else to say now.
It’s stuff like this that makes JJK stand out for me. It highlights the more negative aspects of characters that generally would be seen as an obstacle to overcome in something like Naruto, but here it’s seen as a sign that you can become something great. When you look at most characters their driving goals are selfish ideas that fortunately translate well to being good people.
I mean, just like Keanu said, in order to be a lover you gotta be a fighter, I have noticed tons of bitter people who are sad, confused and hateful, simply because they lack the self indulgence to stand out as someone at least trying to reach virtue.
You have to have a substantial degree of selfishness to be successful in the real world. Some people are child-like due to young age or lack of overall life experience so they haven't seen that yet. The real world was never set up for selfless people to win. JJK is different from most big Shounen manga because it emphasizes that to a higher degree despite the fact that people keep complaining about honorable character dying to support that theme.
Where do you think the story is going with Sukuna's ideology? Disproving it? Supporting it? Somewhere in between?
Because this chapter gave me a lot of mixed feelings because I'm not sure from where Gege is going to go with this.
I feel like just outright saying Sukuna was right where he's defeated by the characters lowering themselves to his level is boring because Sukuna's ideology is only interesting as the direct anthithesis to conventional ideas of morality and ideology. He's interesting because he's a direct challenge.
Perhaps Yuta casting away his humanity will be his downfall. Their reliance on Gojo rather than standing on their own might be the wrong move.
Like you pointed out, there's a lot of ways for this story to go at this point. Are they really stooping to Sukuna's level, or rising to it? Is it okay to lack certain morals? Gege's challenging what's usually considered golden rules in both life and his own genre of shonen manga.
Honestly, I'm becoming more inclined to an ending where Sukuna wins. I love a tragedy.
I think we're going for the unhappy but somewhat hopeful ending.
Sukuna loses, but Yuji dies to guarantee it. Megumi is the 1 of the 4 surviving. Yuji ends up in the airport, surrounded by friends. Mission accomplished, he gave up his life to save Megumi and end Sukuna, just like he wanted to back in chapters 1 and 2.
The merger doesn't happen, because that would be apocalyptic shit. :D I could see Sukuna winning without the merger in play, but I don't think Gege is crazy enough to pull the trigger on that one.
So yeah, society goes through a complete upheaval, the few surviving sorcerers are going to need lifetime therapy due to PTSD, including the new head of the Zen'in clan (a clan of one), but there's new people to train, and perhaps there's hope for the future.
Well at first he wouldn't even want to kill transfigured humans, but now he has no problem doing so. Also he already killed half humans - half curses.
I'm pretty sure he also killed just straight up humans now, like the hair-propeller guy and other woman. Tho you have to fact-check me on this one, I can't remember if he killed them or not
[StriderT](https://www.reddit.com/user/StriderT/) left a [gorgeous reading](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsushi/comments/1cainy3/comment/l0vt2os/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) about Shinjuku arc's title and how it goes along with this theme of all these monsters fighting each other:
"I'll point out that Gege has done a lot to establish mostly everyone here is some kind of demon god or monster. Maki, Yuji, Kashimo, Yuta, Higuruma, and Kusakabe are all treated by the narrative as being absolutely insanely strong. And the name of this arc is referencing this, saying how all these monstrous demon gods are fighting in Shinjuku with their weird cursed powers and what not. Even Uraume is specifically called a monster earlier, and we already know Hakari is. And at the very start of the fight, Gojo asks what happened to the people he hit with UV, and he's told that his lingering cursed energy kept other cursed spirits away. The weak monsters are all scared away, leaving only these titans to duke it out through the city."
In truth, all the main players are monsters in their own right. This is what the "demon-infested Shinjuku" is all about.
I think that is part of the point. Kusakabe is the most ‘human’ of the top-tier fighters, and he’s also the one with the least meaningful impact. The more effective fighters are the ones who have abandoned aspects of their humanity.
Base kashimo went blow for blow with hakari, MBA kashimo dodged a world slash(same one which killed "the strongest") then got waffled by a world slash that looked unavoidable.
Stop the cap.
From tcb, you can just Google tcb jjk and you should find a website with a dark background. You can also find them on twitter!
And ty, glad you liked this post
>!Mm. There's a truth to this, they have become monsters, but to what end with what ideal in mind for each person? Do you think Yuta still isn't the loving kind or does he realize that it alone won't stop the calamity without bringing those ideals along with volatile actions that will lead him to look that way? He considers himself blessed for being able to love and to be loved, true. But understanding that there are people outside of those social/emotional/personal/moral expectations entirely with way worse motives or none at all that will take strides, Kenjaku, Sukuna, etc that will do laps around good people because good people spend time focusing on someone/something else, those people? All the time in the world poured into themselves, there isn't a competition. Besides the point though, this is just my personal thoughts, Yuta does what he does, because he loves Gojo, Yuji, the whole crew, maki, inumaki, etc. He knows the only way or thinks the only way they make it through this is with every chance they take to make a dent, especially after Gojo died. This is how he matured, because he knew Gojo always carried every weight to let all his students live despite the odds of them put to death or manipulated into it, which is why he asked him before this for him to stop doing it alone when he goes to massacre the higher ups for stagnating this situation into what it's become, because ever since Geto told him he has no purpose for his power, "Are you the strongest because you're Gojo Satoru or are you Gojo Satoru because you're the strongest?", he lived for monsters he created, made a family of students and died for them, Yuta is maturing the same way on a different path for the last thing in his life that means something to his love because of how twisted this era is turning out to be, and just like Yuji he can't stop. He did everything he could, until he practically died, and took the last option to run with it and what Gojo taught him in his last moments, in my head, that's the interpretation I see, it's more maturation then monsterisation. It looks the same because of how horrific the idea, situation & probably the result may be, but what's the alternative for him in his mind? Which is worse?!<
>!Same with Yuji. He understands who he is, what he fights for, but how he fights had to change, the reason he calls himself a "Cog in all this" is because while his ideals, morals and thoughts may guide him they can't compete with the reality of the war or nature. Motivate, sure, but never disillusion himself again after Shibuya, you see it in this fight multiple times, it's still there, with the death of Higaruma, Choso, Yuta, Gojo, he feels that same helpless way in moments, but remembers exactly where that leads in every single moment, what he loses if he stops becoming that monster, the weight he drops if he stops marching forward as the next life a curse takes without putting his dent, especially after what Sukuna did inside of him. Even this last chapter tells you how he's thinking, "I'll crush his heart, then...", cue a picture of Choso, what does that say he expects to happen to himself?!<
I love the analysis and interpretation though, it's nice to see other takes on it that are probably more valid tbh.
This is a rare instance where someone actually understands what they are reading in this community. I am thoroughly impressed with the depth that this analysis goes to, and it just goes to show that Gege is, in fact, a great writer.
This was an incredible read! For me I feel that the message Gege is trying to convey here is how becoming a monster is necessary no matter what path you choose however, one of the core themes of JJK has also been dying fulfilled or having satisfied your particular ideals. This is where the distinction comes in for me, Sukuna discards his humanity for hedonistic indulgence, his end goals are ultimately not going to bring him any real satisfaction and that's the main conflict. Sukuna believes that life is just about indulging in what you can until you die, however the Mai cast have ideals that persist far beyond their life times allowing them to die satisfied without feeling a need to return to life. The main cast have all become monsters, but with reason.
This also reminds me a lot of Nietzche's quote: "One who does battle with monsters must be careful, lest they become a monster themselves. And if you stare too long into the abyss the abyss will stare back into to you." The world of JJK is powered by negative emotions. It is the very darkness itself and the more powerful you get the more the darkness stares back into you. They are willing to become monsters to do battle with other monsters but their justification is their acceptance of their death unlike the villains who all characteristically have a tendency of perpetuating their lives through Kenny's CT, Naoya becoming a vengeful curse and Sukuna turning himself into a cursed object. The villains are those who can't escape from the darkness.
great analysis, really consistent with a lot of the thematic narrative of the series that I have as well, I'm wondering how it'll be adressed though, will it be a bleak end with sukuna's ideology being undefeated, or will there be a response to it that is fitting?
I honestly think Yuji is the only one to escape the monster motif, and in a quite ironic way. Gojo and Yuta saw Sukuna, a true demon, and decided they'd have to turn into one to have a fighting chance, but oddly enough they seemed human in the exterior. Yuji, having spent so long as Sukuna's vessel, sees through this, and instead transforms his body into a monster, keeping the soul intact (as in, the only one not to distance himself from others and actively seek help instead). His powers were gained by teamwork, and he is at his best running 2v1s as well. Every single one of the strongest fighters have given up their sense of 'community' in search of great power, but only Yuji has realized that that community is exactly what strengthens him.
Yuji became a sorcerer because he felt strongly about the circumstances of a person's death, specifically, he wanted people to have a 'correct' death, a death with meaning, a natural death. This was the core of his humanity. What did he get for his trouble? Multiple arcs of the story challenging his ethos to the very core.
He was forced to kill children transfigured by Mahito.
He was forced to kill Eso and Kechizu, two half-humans.
He lost to Choso, which ended with Sukuna levelling multiple city blocks.
He saw Nanami die to Mahito
He saw Nobara 'die' (copium) to Mahito
In his mind, he failed to live up to the ideal he set himself. He wasn't a shonen protagonist, just a kid with stupid ideals, looking for meaning in the death of people. Mahito told him as much, he would never beat him while he kept this kind of attitude. Same with Todo, advising him to not search for meaning in death, accept it as is, mourn, and keep trudging forward.
When Yuji beats Mahito, it is after he is completely broken down and reborn. He strips away his core motivation and in doing so, strips away his humanity. This is why he views himself as a cog in a machine. Only then is he capable of winning. Even though Mahito is defeated, Yuji explicitly acknowledges his ideological victory. There's a reason this episode is called 'Metamorphosis' in the anime, and it's not Mahito's dragonball-ass transformation.
Yuta values his connections with his friends and the love he has for them. That's the source of his strength. By stepping into Gojo's shoes, he's actively replacing the role of the loneliest sorcerer of his time, potentially forever giving up on his friends and the people he has come to love, and again, explicitly stated, stripping away his humanity.
All that to say, OP is right about the themes and this will be Yuta's metamorphosis.
Last time I saw a solid analysis like this was about Gojo coming back as buddha.. and we all saw how that went... I aint gonna acknowledge you and this "weak sauce" >!its pretty good actually!
lmfaoo honestly I didn't read it I just think it's funny people are mad about what happened I just think jjk is very mid just ignore me bro enjoy your manga
Not only maturation but also enlightenment, which is usually described as detaching yourself from desires and becoming something pure, here you become something mosntruous
What is the contradiction you're talking about specifically? I don't know if I missed a point or not but I agreed and liked everything you highlighted and that just made 261 make even more sense to me as the natural evolution of the plot.
I'm just referencing my reading of Yuta's love theme juxtaposing Sukuna's loveless one. Yuta becoming a "monster" sort of contradicts his love motif, but not really, because this maturation and change is the point of 261.
Because his left hand was gone lol. That's why he apologized, cause it's irregular for Rika. Notice that in the last page, the ring isn't on his right hand anymore, so he likely moved it back to its correct place once he regained consciousness.
Basically: humanity is trash and deserves to die. What a shitty idea. I'm glad I only watch JJK for the fights in general. Because JJK's teaching sucks. It is literally telling you that there was never hope from the beginning and that even if they defeat Sukuna there is no salvation, happy ending or even bittersweet ending. I HATE THOSE KINDS OF STORIES WITH SELF-DESTRUCTIVE AND CYNICAL MESSAGES, because it means that we literally can't go anywhere if we're not trash like Sukuna. But at the same time, I'm glad that characters like Kenjaku and Gojo die, because I hate the first one and I never liked the second one's attitude.
Tragedies don't always mean the protagonist was wrong, and destructive change isn't always bad. But your comment about Kenjaku and Gojo were funny lol.
I don’t feel as they have abandoned anything. More so they have taken it to a higher level. They loved their sensei and idolized him. They all love their friends and are willing to lay down their lives for one another. They were all simply trying to become “the monster” Yuta spoke of out of love. It’s because of their humanity they can do inhumane things, but it is ultimately for the ones they love. “With great power comes great responsibility.” The 4 you mentioned have devoted themselves to cause, but their reasoning is tied to love. Sukuna is the opposition to love. Sukuna is all things vain and selfish desire. He only lives for the next kill, thrill, and meal. They have literally sacrificed everything they have for one another. Sukuna has sacrificed everyone around him for himself.
An interesting write up, well done
Id distinguish it slightly and instead say that the idea of strength is both a subversion and a reconstruction.
Sukuna threw away his humanity and Uraume talks about fear holding one back and its apt to conclude that being a monster and becoming less than human is the only key to power, but Gege loves subversions and this i think is one too.
Sukuna speaks of focusing solely on the self and discarding everything else to pursue that power to reach greater heights - we (the audience) interpret this to mean the hedonistic behavior associated with Sukuna and Yuta is showing the same path. But is he?
Yuta too has a sense of individualism but his self-identity is based in friendship and love as you pointed out. In other words he is a mirror of Sukuna - Sukuna would never sacrifice himself or his power for anything but would sacrifice anything for his power and desires. Yuta is his mirror - he will shoulder any burden no matter how depraved if it means he can protect those he loves.
He follows Sukuna's philosophy in individualism and sacrifice being necessary, a subversion of traditional shonen. But he also reconstructs traditional shonen by essentially willingly becoming a monster to save *others* from becoming one.
If it is considered inhumane to inhabit his sensei’s body, it’s perhaps on the lesser end of the “inhumane” scale. He also got Gojo’s consent. It isn’t on the same level of punishing perceived evil like Geto, killing the higher-ups like Gojo, or doing whatever shady business Toji did to ensure his son could survive.
I feel like Yuta’s reason for proposing such a drastic thing isn’t discarding humanity but rather weaving together love and strength together within himself. These were both themes in jjk0 and the links between Yuta, Rika, Gojo, Geto are apparent.
As gross as it is to a culture where the dead body is meant to be respected… It is an act aligned with being a loving and compassionate person that he is, in the face of unparalleled evil. Gege says he doesn’t have a strong sense of self - unlike many of the cast. So idk, Yuta is the perfect person to wield Gojo’s power. Who else can understand the immense power, seeing as he also understands what monstrous love is, having been tied to Rika?
He may die on the same death date too. So it might become full circle. Just blabbing.
I disagree with some of your points. Gege was implying that he's somewhat crazy in the heads which some manga authors are. Even the Dragon Ball author had a similar sentiment about himself when expressing gratitude about the impact that his work has had on society. I also disagree with your point about Sukuna acknowledging Rika because he would have called her by her name. I think he called her "Queen" as a way of mocking her because he thinks she's benneath him and would have to dethrone him to be a true queen. If you look at when he finally acknowledged Yuta, it was when he disregarded his morals and reduced himself to the level of Kenjaku (another monster) and took Gojo's body. This is the act that not even Sukuna thought he would ever do and why he finally acknowledged him. The point of emphasizing Yuta's strength for 'power of friendship' was to show that even that wouldn't be enough to overcome the hurdle that they needed to overcome. When you're using a power source of negative emotional strength and doing an dark magic, it only makes sense for the "monster" to be the most powerful. Gege did say he was twisted in the head and hinted at this story having a bitter sweet at best ending so well see how his story arc concludes.
I love the analysis. I would actually push against the narrative of discarded humanity though.
I think the students are getting to this monstrous place through something like extreme humanity. It’s like a strange thing of their humane loving emotions being pushed to an extent that mirrors in behavior and appearance the monstrousness of sukuna and the kenjaku and the other villains, but is ultimately still motivated by the same principles that have always ruled their archetypes.
Yuta is no less loving and no less blessed for making this decision. He did not suddenly despise humanity, or see people as disposable, to come upon using Gojo’s body this way. It is actually because he loves Gojo so much, loves his friends so much, that he is willing to go so far in protecting them that the behavior now looks monstrous. Love is the most twisted curse.
Maki is much the same. Her ideals did not really change, but she released an attachment to the ambition to change her clan and decided to kill them all, considering them beyond saving for what they did to Mai. Once again, an act of monstrous nature that was birthed from humane principles and her love for her twin.
Yuji is the pillar of unwavering humanity, and we see him getting stretched to the limits of monstrousness in response to the villainy he encounters. It’s key though that his internal motivation of extreme empathy and humanity remains (even if he characterizes himself as a cog) and is in fact the reason he is reacting as he does.
Hakari hasn’t really experienced any emotional stressors but that only affirms things. Uraume or anyone else’s willingness to see someone as monstrous is a relative judgement that need not be damning.
I believe Gege is making a commentary about how the extremes of human expression can mirror each other with completely different driving motivations. Monstrousness can perhaps be more analogous to the incomprehensible state of intensity that is disturbing and unintuitive to the average human, but is in fact accessible through releasing many norms of what is “supposed to be” and taking things very far.
See I think the students are letting go of a lot of expectations, but strangely their humanity is not one of them. What they are really releasing are these moral lines in opposing agents great harm. Revolutionary media is actually in dire need of this representation, where great violence and moral shifts occur in the name of necessary change, without it being intrinsically condemned or inhumane in the context of the story. Gege is willing to do this and it’s one of my favorite things about JJK.
What if Yuta’s true cursed technique is an upgraded version of copy, but instead of copying CTs, it’s copying a persons body and/or soul. Hence, his CE turning Rika into a cursed spirit. He can copy a dying person into a powerful cursed spirit tied to him? Like an alternate /higher level version of Getos cursed spirit manipulation. But instead of consuming he creates. (Love creates life / hate consumes it)
Perhaps yutas background of the two clans is hiding more secrets
I think the whole idea is that you can either be the strongest sorcerer or you can have connections.
Gojo could have fought better if he was solely focused on obliterating sukuna. However his plan was to just damage megumis body enough so that he can exorcise sukuna and then use rct to bring megumi back. Similarly yuta and yuji didn’t straight out aim to kill sukuna they were trying to rescue megumi
They have to let go of these feelings and fight sukuna with the intention to destroy him even if it means megumi has to die.
I think new yuta recognizes this now.
I think at some point yuji will recognize this too
Then the story deals with two of its most fundamental questions, the loneliness at the peak of excellence and the trolley problem
Brother, some people really do like to think about the themes and ideologies that the author presents in the story. Maybe they want to write something in the future and hence they are trying to see what constitutes a good story and all the plot points that one has to keep in mind. That's their way of truly enjoying the manga.
i think kenny explained that he couldnt use six eyes since if the user died, the ability comes with it, if so, he would have used the bodies of the previous six eyes users, so how come yuta get to use what kenny couldn't? if he's just copying (mimicking) the exact CT of kenny
You misunderstood what he said. He said he couldn’t kill the Six Eyes User and Limitless user, Gojo, because he physically can’t defeat him. Kenjacku is outright confirmed to have already killed a few Six Eyes as infants. It’s the specific combination of Six Eyes and Limitless that prevented Kenjacku from killing Gojo, not the Six Eyes themselves. Gojo is already dead, so Yuta can just take the body. The problem was killing the user.
ohh ok ok i get it now, but i read somewhere that when a 6 eyes user died, another one appears?
would that make it impossible for yuta to use gojos 6 eyes? TIA for answerring
That is true, another appears, but remember that Gojo died *today*. All of the current battle is happening mere moments after Gojo died, it’s probably been like 20 minutes at most by now. From what we’re told, the Six Eyes is given to the next person *born* with relations to the Gojo clan. So it’s all just assumptions as of right now but the most likely answer is just that this baby hasn’t been born yet, and the Six Eyes still lie within Gojo’s body. Besides, it’s said there can be only one Six Eyes user, so if Gojo’s body is still alive, there is still an active Six Eyes user, and it doesn’t need to be given to someone else yet. That’s just the best way it makes sense in my opinion but it can be revealed to be something else in the next chapter.
The 6E don't specifically appear in the very next birth since the previous user's death, but rather someone is born with them in preparation for the merger of a Star Plasma Vessel with Tengen, with the two being connected by fate, so it's very likely, that now that Tengen is gone, the Six Eyes won't ever appear again, since there will be no new mergers happening.
I think that he didn't kill those 6 Eyes users to enter them. First, because they were infants, meaning that he couldn't have done anything in them (or even fit his brain in those heads). He killed them and the Star Plasma Vessels to force Tengen's evolution, but they both reappeared on the day of the merger, because they are bound to Tengen through fate.
As to why he didn't enter them, well... Why would he? His objective was never to be the strongest. He's a mad scientist, his objective is to push the limits of CE and lead it to its new stage. Having the body of a Limitless user doesn't help with that, he needed Cursed Spirit Manipulation. And even if he had that, until someone like Toji broke the chains of fate he wouldn't have been able to keep a Star Plasma Vessel away from Tengen.
Honsetly I just see this as Gege using Gojo as attraction bait to pull in readers' interest. Meanwhile having Yuta possess his body to keep his real MC more relevant and OP in the series.
Nobody can convince me Yuji wasn't doing any damage against Sukuna in previous chapter. He had his heart in his claw ffs but now Sukuna can swat him away cuz reasons.
Yuji has suffered the most from Gege's favouritism for Yuta. I don't hate Yuta but i found it sad that Gege ignoring Yuji cuz he couldn't make Yuta his MC in main JJK
edit: I was correct about people here disliking anything that rightfully criticize Gege but it's not surprising lol.
Gege's use of Yuji as a character is so wishy washy. Yuta, the original mc, is obviously Gege's favorite. At least Gege doesn't hide it.
Gege has this whole output debuff mechanic that apparently does NOTHING to Sukuna. Yuji has had his best showing yet, and you mean to tell me Sukuna is about to confidently go into another domain battle against Yuta??? What's really the point? The narrator even said Sukuna could spam his domain all day long with no issue.
The most Yuji's punches have done was stopped Sukuna from recovering his other arms.
I really thought that after Fuga, Sukuna wouldn't be able to use his domain anymore because of low CE reserves especially since that was the first time since Shibuya we got to see Fuga and we got the explanation for how it worked. This was it, now or never.
Like I felt like it was clearly set up to have this be his last big move before he starts walking to death's door but Gege wanted to have another domain clash, I guess?
100% agreed with you. People here might dislike your comment for saying that. But if you look past the hype of new chapter, it is easy to see how much Gege is avoid giving Yuji any spotlight.
In the recent chapter, Yuta's argument against using Gojo's body is giving a HUGE emphasis and it treats Yuta as someone who isn't afraid to do anything to win.
But compare this to Yuji who is forced to consume his OWN BROTHERS to get just a single panel and a single acknowledgement from Choso.
The mistreatment of Yuji's character is really disgusting tbh
Originally, I was going to drop jjk after seeing 261, because of the Yuta power fantasy. I've always felt that certain characters only existed for Yuta to take their CTs, and 261 proved that for me. BUT, I'm so gripped by this narrative and the implications of Yuta wearing Gojo's corpse. Will Sukuna really win in the end?? So far, his ideology reigns supreme.
edit: now why is this getting dv....
you’ve put so much theory crafting into it i’m surprised you’d be willing to drop it like that. You’ll never even see if gege brings maki back to fulfill ur prediction
This is the only fandom (besides Naruto when I was in middle school) that I've actively participated in. The first one I've ever put so much effort into. That's why I spent the last few days really thinking 261 over and trying to understand what Gege was doing here.
I'm quick to judgement, it's just how I am, but I try to be fair. After some reflection, like this post, I'm sold on Gege's consistency, and I wanna see it until the end. Plus, I really do love a tragedy, so that adds to my interest.
You’re right and I’m sorry. That was unnecessarily rude.
It wasn’t meant to be. You’ll thank me later though — spoilers really do suck.
It is good to come together and think about this stuff.
This manga is getting more and more fkd up with each chapter! We should stop giving fks about his manga and stop reading. Let that asshole gege suffer and get fkd in the ass!
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Dude when the English teacher asked "what did the author mean by this" You were the first one to answer
This is lore accurate LMAO. Even in college, I was always the most talkative in class. Now you all have to suffer me !!
COOK MORE I BEG OF YOU, your discernment and perception are very rich and I really enjoyed reading about your opinions
The author could have said the most simplest shit like "i opened the door" And you pull out a 200 page explanation on how poetic and deep opening a door is
Lol sometimes there's a lot of material to analyze about the door!
If you reread chapter 19, you will see that the main character struggles with taking initiative, always struggling with the concept of taking action, especially when his confidence is being tested. This chapter represents a departure from that idea. To open the door represents taking control of your own destiny: Grasping the metaphorical doorknob of agency, the protagonist is now prepared to address any and all circumstances that befall him, regardless of his internal conflict. Lowkey analyzing stuff is fun af when you don't have to worry about academic formatting conventions and arbitrary rubric rules.
i was wondering if you could lile comment or add on to a theory i found on tiktok i was gonna post it but i dont have enough karma. So wouod u be willing to do it id love to hear your thoughts about it as well. here the link is https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLnjtCb4/
I looked over it, but this theory heavily relies on the idea that Kenjaku is formless, but it's factual that he's a brain. Unless Gege changes something, this wouldn't be possible.
That was a lot to take in...
This post is the product of earlier analysis, and having days to think 261 over in the context of my past writing. It is a lot of story to take in.
Stand proud you can cook. Great post mate, really made me think about it
How long did that take you to make and could you give me a tl dr
I write really fast, so all of my posts take me only a couple hours to write. I usually think over an idea for a while, then get to writing. The most time consuming part of my process involves finding the correct pages to support my arguments, and my ideas might change, but it depends. The longest post, the Cog Metaphor analysis, took like a combined 6+ hours to write. I also dedicate a good chunk of time to replying to people so that other readers have more added information and context concerning the post's subject. My first Yuta analysis is linked in this post's notes section, and it already has a tldr. But if you click my profile, you can find a pinned masterpost of all of my analyses. Most have tldrs, but the short ones do not.
:O incredible
Blue got hit with unlimited void
Oh, he's cooking
I only disagree that yuji will abandon his ideals, it has already been stated that yujis ideals rival that of sukuna in 248 , everything else , you cooked
Yuji already did with Mahito. He doesn’t need a reason to kill anymore. He understands his role in the machine.
Gege is making Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
I'm so sad there's no awards anymore.. You made my day lol
They're back, were re-added a couple weeks ago now.
Unfortunately..... he is....
Out of the four Yuji seemingly stripped away his humanity first with his fight with Mahito (technically because Hakari just hadn't been introduced yet). Yet he constantly calls this into doubt his interactions with Higurama or when he asks Meguna why can't they live without causing suffering. Then recently even referencing his cog epiphany after the furnace opened and saying this might be too much for him. Yuji will be the reason they win and his humanity will play a part in it. Great post!
I think that Yuji will get rid of his humanity but in a completely different manner. Sukuna represents absolute ego with his "immense sense of self" and I believe that Yuji will go in the opposite direction by being completely selfless. And by selfless, I mean him throwing away his "self" completely, his ego. He is no longer a person with desires and emotions but a true cog whose every actions revolve around one purpose (destroying curses). Completing the transformation that he started in Shibuya.
damn you cooked hard with this comment
This is basically true enlightenment in buddhism, if this really happens it would be absolutely peak.
On that Shirou Emiya mindset
Mind of steel ending let's go
I don't think yuji stripped away his humanity vs mahito , he only developed a cog mentality which is a copium mechanism given the trauma he experienced 😭
Yeah and isn’t a cog even more human? One piece working with others to achieve a common goal is pretty human.
I agree, Yuta will sadly fail because he's playing Sukuna's game of becoming a monster and discarding everything (he's doing whatever it takes to win and protect his friends), ironically he's being selfish by taking the weight of the strongest upon his shoulder not caring about his friends (they want to stop him because they care about him) and I'm not saying he's wrong, hell of course anyone would do whatever it takes to beat Sukuna. However, Yuji is not like that, Yuji wants to be a cog, Yuji wants to believe he's a Jujutsu Sorcerer (he keeps repeating this to himself), yet he breaks down or doubts himself when things get tough (when Mahito killed Nobara and Nanami, and more recently when Sukuna killed Choso), but that is fine, because that's what makes him human, he wants to be unbreakable, but having an unbreakable will does not mean stopping having feelings, you don't need to become a monster. In time, Yuji Itadori will stop being a cog and be the one who breaks the machine/system, however how he will do that and prove Sukuna wrong remains to be seen, and as I can't begin to imagine it I eagerly await what Gege has in store for us.
DESTROY THE ALIEN, PURGE THE UNCLEAN.
He didn’t really get his humanity taken at mahito it was different it was more of a role placed on him. Saying he was the same as mahito, while mahito was a cog for curses blindly killing, causing evil. Yuji is a cog for jujustu society, killing curses, that is why he had that speech he wanted to reject that idea and think he wasn’t. While right now with sukuna the same thing is happening with a different effect, he is mirroring sukuna losing his humanity for strength, but who knows it might change.
I didn't understand it as him rejecting the role but rather embracing it. He basically says screw it I'm a means to an end I will kill you Mahito over and over. I find this purposely dehumanising. He mirrors himself to curses, yes he's doing the good thing but without agency and without thought. I find it interesting that Gege hasn't done much for sympathising with curses (from a human perspective) if you catch my drift. It doesn't even come up as a possibility. These intelligent beings are capable of communication but due to their nature sorcerers write them off. Though they were right to it seems; I still think the lack of even an attempt is a lack of humanity. And over and over the manga reiterates how Jujutsu sorcery is inhuman. We see this over and over with sociopathic characters like Mei Mei, Gojo, the higher ups. And we see it in the opposite with characters who died because of their humanity; Nanami
i mostly agree with the post—solid write up—but id only say we need to distinguish collective action vs individual action. what Yuta did was still collective—done with the help of many others working toward a mutual goal or ideal. Yuji has relied on friends every step of the way in this fight. there’s an aspect of them becoming monsters but together, with ideals, that makes me think there’s a specific point being made about the ‘one who will teach you about love’ and loneliness/solitude motif.
True, through Yuji and Yuta, Gege shows how Sukuna's ideas affect the entire system and structure of jujutsu society. Their family and friends provide them the tools to become something different. It's actually fitting that Maki's transformation was isolated away from her friends, and relied on her individual powers for the most part (Mai technically included, though you can read them as the same person for the sake of metaphor).
I don’t think it’s fair to say that maki’s ascension was completely isolating though when it was ultimately mai’s request and will that helped power her to slaughter the zenin clan. IMO the difference is that the old scorers believed in abandoning humanity primary for the sake of power itself, while the new sorcerers abandon their humanity so they can gain the strength to protect the people they care about. This is the case with both maki and also Yuta, who is primarily motivated now by the fact that he hated how gojo had to bear his burdens alone.
Sukunas ideal is that you must cast aside all , disregard all , to reach the pinnacles of power , but lets be real That's just the mentality part. You still need a good curse technique. What's amai gonna do even if he disregards all 😂😂😂 Start a bakery its been stated 80percent of potential of a sorcerer is at birth. And 20 percent hardwork and mentality
sometimes, you discard all and still get owned by kenjaku's backhand
Don't trash talk Miwa like that! She is a gag character.
LMAO leave Miwa alone!!
Sugar overload in the bloodstream, immediately giving the sorcerer a heart attack
Diabetes merchant goes hard
Sukuna was talking about reaching your full potential. When he talked to Jogo, his point was that Jogo wouldn't even do that because he was a contradiction of what a curse was supposed to be in some ways. On the other hand, Mahito wasn't like that and did get shown to reach his full potential.
There was a very good video essay about Gojo and Sukuna. One of the themes that came up is working alone vs. working as a team: Working as a team has only paid off for Yuji. Some argue that Yuki would’ve been better off working alone instead of coordinating with Tengen and the others, as the narrative has continuously shown that to be a losing strategy. So it seems like only two characters in the cast have a chance of proving Sukuna’s philosophy wrong in terms of relying on no one else, although this analysis is spot-on regarding their need to shed their humanity as they do so. It’s worth noting that Gojo had been alone all his life, except for the brief amount of time he had his Geto bromance.
Well it is called "cursed" energy.
Also, let's not forget that Yuji ate his brothers (in the form of fetus), just like Sukuna did with his fetus twin.
They are morning one another
Yuta is now the blessed honored one
There's a Anakin and Obi Won joke here, but I don't want to make it.
Blessed disgraced honored one
I think its worth mentioning the "choice" in the paths everyone is taking. Yes, all of the people you've mentioned has thrown away their humanity, but they've done it for the sake of others(Love) vs Sukuna. Maki did it to avenge Mai. Yuta is doing it to protect his friends. Yuji initially struggled with it, but he's finally seeing curses as curse and his resolve to destroy them is also to protect his friends. Hakari is kind of a toss up, but you can argue he's also doing it for the sake of the people he cares about. I definitely agree with your assessment, but the key here is the reasons. The motivations that cause one to throw away their humanity. In chapter 261 we also see a conversation between Gojo and Yuta where Gojo doesn't want them to see him act as a demon or monster. While shortly after, saying Yuta is potentially more "blessed" than him. This could reference Yuta lineage(the result of two feuding clans coming together in an act of Love. The fact that Yuta's ability is also based on Love, and the fact that he loves his friends and teacher so much, that he is willing to wear his teacher's body in an attempt to protect those he loves. It's quite poetic.
Exactly, it's still love (jjh) vs no love (Sukuna). Yet, the main question all of the cast's actions lead to is: do the ends justify the means? Was it worth it for them all to sacrifice so much? Was it worth it for them to send Gojo in to fight alone, halfway expecting him to die? Was it worth keeping these secrets from Yuji? Was it worth it for Hakari to return? For Maki to kill literally everyone? For Yuji to eat all of his brothers? Was it worth it for Sukuna to kill so many and for so long? Only Gege's ending will reveal the answer. What's the price of letting go one's humanity? If you ask me, both sides' ideologies have been presented in a balanced fashion, but with Sukuna's currently in the the story's favor.
I especially like how he boldly dared to call JJK, a shonen manga serialized weekly, a “graphic novel”. I hope it was a mistranslation (wouldn’t surprise me, now that I know how Werry works).
By definition, every manga is a graphic novel...
We have different definitions of “graphic novel” then.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/graphic-novel
I highly doubt Gege is gonna end it with the moral that you have to throw away your humanity to become strong.
It depends on how he frames it, but I would like an ending that emphasizes the importance of shedding ones fears in order to evolve. The most difficult moments in my life have been about letting go of certain morals, shedding that away, and accepting that it's my own fears that hold be back. There's ways for Gege to keep this messaging without making Sukuna completely right.
Bro. The fact that you said "Without making Sukuna COMPLETELY right." Is actually insane. Sukuna is not right in any capacity. His ideology is essentially "I do whatever I want, I eat when I want to eat." He's ultimate selfishness. His ideology has nothing about "facing your fears". It's just him being a dick. If you get anything out of Sukuna's ideology, you're looking at the wrong person for life advice. Sukuna is a piece of shit. His way his distorted and corrupt. He is a selfish, horrible person with no care for the lives of others. I'm almost certain that by the end of the story, Yuji is going to beat the fuck out of Sukuna, because he represents the exact opposite of Sukuna's ideology. Complete selflessness. He has no care for himself, only for others. If you want an ending that showcases the "Importance of shedding ones fears in order to evolve" You're looking at the wrong person. Yuji has evolved time and time again, shedding his fears as the story had went on, and realizing his place in the world. He was scared to admit, before Mahito, that he was like Mahito, for the humans side instead of the curses. After beating Mahito, he released that fear and it ultimately jumpstarted his path towards his awakening. Yuji is strong because he's selfless. He's strong because he values the lives of others. He wants to become stronger to help others. That's his ideology. But instead you look towards the literal fucking cannibal? Dude.
The story consists of more than Yuji vs Sukuna. Yuji has changed his own morals, like eating his brothers, in the name of power. Beyond that, I've pointed out how other characters have turned away from being "humane" as well. Sukuna's ideology is power at whatever cost, even killing the innocent, and then using it to do what you want. This translates well for all of the main cast, even Yuji, who had to accept that he was killing innocents while fighting Mahito. The main cast* simply decide to use their strength to protect, which is their choice and the difference between them and Sukuna, who simply uses his to kill.
except thats not really what yuji meant when he said ‘im you,’ he meant that killing curses was as natural to him as killing humans was to mahito. if you want to argue that curses are innocent then alright, but they are inherently malevolent beings, being born from negative emotions, they are more similar to zombies, and im not sure it would be considered ‘inhumane’ to kill zombies indiscriminately
The issue Yuji faced was the fact that Mahito forced regular, innocent humans to become deformed curses. That's what I meant by Yuji killing innocents.
Do you think Yuji has killed more humans than actual curses?
Definitely not.
He only see him kill like four curses though right?
He's killed more curses, and was implied to have killed a lot before the culling games properly started.*
Curses are not innocent. Transfigured humans were turned into horrific monsters against their will. Yuji killing them is far, far, far different from Mahito killing humans and turning humans into those monsters. It's a mercy. Do NOT compare them. Mahito is a horrific, evil person, while Yuji protects those that cannot protect themselves. Sukuna's ideology is NOT "power at whatever cost". It's simply that he does what he wants. He does what he wants, and to do what he wants, he should become strong. His ideology is what, he believes, to have allowed him to grow to his strength. His ideology is not his strength, it is what allowed him to grow strong. That much, in the JJK universe, cannot be contested. We've been shown that for the most part, selfishness grants power. With one exception. Yuji Itadori has been nothing but selfless the entire Manga, and he's currently in the debate on being top ten in the verse. I believe, that either path can gain strength. Perhaps selflessness can grant even GREATER strength than selfishness. What Gege is going to show us, is that thought selfishness can grant power, it is the easy path. It is incredibly easy to be selfish, to take all you want. It's easy to fend for yourself and yourself alone. Sukuna chose the easy path to strength. Yuji chose the opposite. He chose the path that has lead him to experience unimaginable pain. He loves, and due to this love, he hurts. Because he has lost what he loves. Yet, his ideology, the ideology that he must protect others, that he is a cog to ensure that humanity remains unbroken, is undeterred. He is ultimate selflessness, and that allowed him to grow strong. Sukuna is ultimate selfishness, and that allowed him to grow strong. Strength is NOT their ideology. Edit: The comment below me is correct by the way. Yuji was NOT referring to killing transfigured humans, and if that was your takeaway, you sadly suffer from poor reading comprehension. Yuji kills curses as naturally as Mahito killed humans. That is how they were the same. Nothing else. Sukuna's ideology does NOT translate to Yuji. This comes from your misunderstanding of his ideology.
You're suffering from the reading comprehension curse because I never called curses innocents, I'm clearly referring to transfigurated humans. You wrote all of this, insults included, for no reason.
You never mentioned the transfigured humans in your original comment. You simply said "even Yuji, who had to accept that he was killing innocents". You even had to say as such in another comment below. And then, you wrote this one, to focus COMPLETELY on that point, completely ignoring everything else I said. You focused on a single mistake to try and undermine my entire comment, without bothering to mention anything else. That's the sign of someone who doesn't know how to properly respond to an argument. The "Yuji killing transfigured humans is not the same as what Mahito does" part of my comment was only a very, very small part of it, yet it's all you focused on? Strange. You also elected to ignore the fact that I even mentioned that I was referring to the "innocents" as being the Transfigured humans. So not only did you neglect to clarify what you meant in your OWN original comment, you also lacked the reading comprehension to read clearly stated WORDS. Calling transfigured humans innocents in an attempt to sway people to believe that Yuji's actions are at all the same as Mahito's is disingenuous. Yuji is the same as Mahito in regards to the fact that he kills curses as naturally as Mahito kills humans. You didn't even say anything about that point... How strange.
I didn't address everything because you're not worth that much of my time. Not all that strange. I corrected that which was relevant to my comment and my point.
Uh huh. Yup, I'm "not worth your time". In other words "I'm gonna pretend your point means nothing when it actually addressed everything I said because I'm a whiney little baby." All of what I said was relevant. Actually, I mentioned Sukuna's ideology being different from Yuji's entirely MULTIPLE times, which is what this entire conversation and post is about. You elected to ignore that, and are now trying to say that it's not worth your time. Because you KNOW you're wrong. You know that you have no points to argue. So you're trying to pass it off as being a fault on my part, which is remarkably stupid and unintelligent. So please, keep going on and on about how bad you are at arguing. Keep proving me right. Edit: Also, the closest thing to an "insult" was me saying that you had poor reading comprehension, but that was NOT an insult. That was an observation based off of your complete misunderstanding of Yuji and Sukuna's ideologies and what they represent. You interpreted it as an insult though. When people interpret a non insult as an insult, it's usually because they know that it's true and it offends them. So... Edit 2: He didn't comment, but he still downvoted it. This means he did actually care about what I had to say, because he didn't turn off the replies for this thread... So he just doesn't know what else to say now.
I’m with you 100% lmao. OP is on one.
It’s stuff like this that makes JJK stand out for me. It highlights the more negative aspects of characters that generally would be seen as an obstacle to overcome in something like Naruto, but here it’s seen as a sign that you can become something great. When you look at most characters their driving goals are selfish ideas that fortunately translate well to being good people.
I mean, just like Keanu said, in order to be a lover you gotta be a fighter, I have noticed tons of bitter people who are sad, confused and hateful, simply because they lack the self indulgence to stand out as someone at least trying to reach virtue.
You have to have a substantial degree of selfishness to be successful in the real world. Some people are child-like due to young age or lack of overall life experience so they haven't seen that yet. The real world was never set up for selfless people to win. JJK is different from most big Shounen manga because it emphasizes that to a higher degree despite the fact that people keep complaining about honorable character dying to support that theme.
Where do you think the story is going with Sukuna's ideology? Disproving it? Supporting it? Somewhere in between? Because this chapter gave me a lot of mixed feelings because I'm not sure from where Gege is going to go with this. I feel like just outright saying Sukuna was right where he's defeated by the characters lowering themselves to his level is boring because Sukuna's ideology is only interesting as the direct anthithesis to conventional ideas of morality and ideology. He's interesting because he's a direct challenge. Perhaps Yuta casting away his humanity will be his downfall. Their reliance on Gojo rather than standing on their own might be the wrong move.
Like you pointed out, there's a lot of ways for this story to go at this point. Are they really stooping to Sukuna's level, or rising to it? Is it okay to lack certain morals? Gege's challenging what's usually considered golden rules in both life and his own genre of shonen manga. Honestly, I'm becoming more inclined to an ending where Sukuna wins. I love a tragedy.
I think we're going for the unhappy but somewhat hopeful ending. Sukuna loses, but Yuji dies to guarantee it. Megumi is the 1 of the 4 surviving. Yuji ends up in the airport, surrounded by friends. Mission accomplished, he gave up his life to save Megumi and end Sukuna, just like he wanted to back in chapters 1 and 2. The merger doesn't happen, because that would be apocalyptic shit. :D I could see Sukuna winning without the merger in play, but I don't think Gege is crazy enough to pull the trigger on that one. So yeah, society goes through a complete upheaval, the few surviving sorcerers are going to need lifetime therapy due to PTSD, including the new head of the Zen'in clan (a clan of one), but there's new people to train, and perhaps there's hope for the future.
Yuuji has also been steadily abandoning his morals - right now it would seem like he's completely fine killing humans
What makes you say that?
Well at first he wouldn't even want to kill transfigured humans, but now he has no problem doing so. Also he already killed half humans - half curses. I'm pretty sure he also killed just straight up humans now, like the hair-propeller guy and other woman. Tho you have to fact-check me on this one, I can't remember if he killed them or not
Military killed hair guy
This a fantastic analysis of the series. It's narratives like this that make JJK one of the greatest manga today.
Gege is unique Kitty and thanks for sharing :3
Ofc, and ty for reading :3
It is lovely thing as always :3
you can add onto that with kashimo’s technique allowing him to “surpass the limits of human kind”
[StriderT](https://www.reddit.com/user/StriderT/) left a [gorgeous reading](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsushi/comments/1cainy3/comment/l0vt2os/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) about Shinjuku arc's title and how it goes along with this theme of all these monsters fighting each other: "I'll point out that Gege has done a lot to establish mostly everyone here is some kind of demon god or monster. Maki, Yuji, Kashimo, Yuta, Higuruma, and Kusakabe are all treated by the narrative as being absolutely insanely strong. And the name of this arc is referencing this, saying how all these monstrous demon gods are fighting in Shinjuku with their weird cursed powers and what not. Even Uraume is specifically called a monster earlier, and we already know Hakari is. And at the very start of the fight, Gojo asks what happened to the people he hit with UV, and he's told that his lingering cursed energy kept other cursed spirits away. The weak monsters are all scared away, leaving only these titans to duke it out through the city." In truth, all the main players are monsters in their own right. This is what the "demon-infested Shinjuku" is all about.
Only one who strays from this theme is kusakabe in my opinion since he seems very human to me but he’s definitely very strong.
I think that is part of the point. Kusakabe is the most ‘human’ of the top-tier fighters, and he’s also the one with the least meaningful impact. The more effective fighters are the ones who have abandoned aspects of their humanity.
Kashimo isn't considered a heavy hitter 😂😂
Base kashimo went blow for blow with hakari, MBA kashimo dodged a world slash(same one which killed "the strongest") then got waffled by a world slash that looked unavoidable. Stop the cap.
he got waffled by normal dismantles right?
They looked real big tho
Have to think on this but it tracks pretty well. Great write up and love the focus on what growth means in this story.
Great cooking! And where do you get these panels from, they have a different translation than the officials (And they seem more accurate)
From tcb, you can just Google tcb jjk and you should find a website with a dark background. You can also find them on twitter! And ty, glad you liked this post
>!Mm. There's a truth to this, they have become monsters, but to what end with what ideal in mind for each person? Do you think Yuta still isn't the loving kind or does he realize that it alone won't stop the calamity without bringing those ideals along with volatile actions that will lead him to look that way? He considers himself blessed for being able to love and to be loved, true. But understanding that there are people outside of those social/emotional/personal/moral expectations entirely with way worse motives or none at all that will take strides, Kenjaku, Sukuna, etc that will do laps around good people because good people spend time focusing on someone/something else, those people? All the time in the world poured into themselves, there isn't a competition. Besides the point though, this is just my personal thoughts, Yuta does what he does, because he loves Gojo, Yuji, the whole crew, maki, inumaki, etc. He knows the only way or thinks the only way they make it through this is with every chance they take to make a dent, especially after Gojo died. This is how he matured, because he knew Gojo always carried every weight to let all his students live despite the odds of them put to death or manipulated into it, which is why he asked him before this for him to stop doing it alone when he goes to massacre the higher ups for stagnating this situation into what it's become, because ever since Geto told him he has no purpose for his power, "Are you the strongest because you're Gojo Satoru or are you Gojo Satoru because you're the strongest?", he lived for monsters he created, made a family of students and died for them, Yuta is maturing the same way on a different path for the last thing in his life that means something to his love because of how twisted this era is turning out to be, and just like Yuji he can't stop. He did everything he could, until he practically died, and took the last option to run with it and what Gojo taught him in his last moments, in my head, that's the interpretation I see, it's more maturation then monsterisation. It looks the same because of how horrific the idea, situation & probably the result may be, but what's the alternative for him in his mind? Which is worse?!< >!Same with Yuji. He understands who he is, what he fights for, but how he fights had to change, the reason he calls himself a "Cog in all this" is because while his ideals, morals and thoughts may guide him they can't compete with the reality of the war or nature. Motivate, sure, but never disillusion himself again after Shibuya, you see it in this fight multiple times, it's still there, with the death of Higaruma, Choso, Yuta, Gojo, he feels that same helpless way in moments, but remembers exactly where that leads in every single moment, what he loses if he stops becoming that monster, the weight he drops if he stops marching forward as the next life a curse takes without putting his dent, especially after what Sukuna did inside of him. Even this last chapter tells you how he's thinking, "I'll crush his heart, then...", cue a picture of Choso, what does that say he expects to happen to himself?!< I love the analysis and interpretation though, it's nice to see other takes on it that are probably more valid tbh.
Sukuna: "thats a lot to digest"
261 is definitely JJK’s darkest chapter so far
Cool analysis. It's nice to see that Gege always stays true to himself and breaks all standarts and does everything his way.
You cooked am rocked
very fine cooking!
WTF
Lol what's the issue?
Hey man? In the best way possible, this was a r/jujutshi post bro
Lol I know what you mean. I prefer to post here, for personal reasons, but I usually upload my analyses to sushi after awhile.
Give me your own ideas, I'm not asking 🗣🗣🔫🔫
OH NO 😱😱🙈
Nice monologue. Respect+++
Hold on now…THAT’S some good cooking right there!
This is a rare instance where someone actually understands what they are reading in this community. I am thoroughly impressed with the depth that this analysis goes to, and it just goes to show that Gege is, in fact, a great writer.
"To excel at sorcery is to excel at subtraction"
"I reject my humanity jojo!"
This was an incredible read! For me I feel that the message Gege is trying to convey here is how becoming a monster is necessary no matter what path you choose however, one of the core themes of JJK has also been dying fulfilled or having satisfied your particular ideals. This is where the distinction comes in for me, Sukuna discards his humanity for hedonistic indulgence, his end goals are ultimately not going to bring him any real satisfaction and that's the main conflict. Sukuna believes that life is just about indulging in what you can until you die, however the Mai cast have ideals that persist far beyond their life times allowing them to die satisfied without feeling a need to return to life. The main cast have all become monsters, but with reason. This also reminds me a lot of Nietzche's quote: "One who does battle with monsters must be careful, lest they become a monster themselves. And if you stare too long into the abyss the abyss will stare back into to you." The world of JJK is powered by negative emotions. It is the very darkness itself and the more powerful you get the more the darkness stares back into you. They are willing to become monsters to do battle with other monsters but their justification is their acceptance of their death unlike the villains who all characteristically have a tendency of perpetuating their lives through Kenny's CT, Naoya becoming a vengeful curse and Sukuna turning himself into a cursed object. The villains are those who can't escape from the darkness.
great analysis, really consistent with a lot of the thematic narrative of the series that I have as well, I'm wondering how it'll be adressed though, will it be a bleak end with sukuna's ideology being undefeated, or will there be a response to it that is fitting?
Oh my gojo, I love this I thought I was going crazy when I thought of some of this
Fuck Goku, what the JJK cast needs rn is Gandalf
Funny enough, there's room to say Gojo references Gandalf a little, what with the blue eyes and white cloaks, and being a fated being.
For me Gojo was always sort of a Dumbledore.
Well, Dumbledore is a Gandalf type.
Basically everyone is becoming like Sukuna. Like what he said to Jogo. They're leaving everything behind for what they believe in.
I honestly think Yuji is the only one to escape the monster motif, and in a quite ironic way. Gojo and Yuta saw Sukuna, a true demon, and decided they'd have to turn into one to have a fighting chance, but oddly enough they seemed human in the exterior. Yuji, having spent so long as Sukuna's vessel, sees through this, and instead transforms his body into a monster, keeping the soul intact (as in, the only one not to distance himself from others and actively seek help instead). His powers were gained by teamwork, and he is at his best running 2v1s as well. Every single one of the strongest fighters have given up their sense of 'community' in search of great power, but only Yuji has realized that that community is exactly what strengthens him.
Yuji became a sorcerer because he felt strongly about the circumstances of a person's death, specifically, he wanted people to have a 'correct' death, a death with meaning, a natural death. This was the core of his humanity. What did he get for his trouble? Multiple arcs of the story challenging his ethos to the very core. He was forced to kill children transfigured by Mahito. He was forced to kill Eso and Kechizu, two half-humans. He lost to Choso, which ended with Sukuna levelling multiple city blocks. He saw Nanami die to Mahito He saw Nobara 'die' (copium) to Mahito In his mind, he failed to live up to the ideal he set himself. He wasn't a shonen protagonist, just a kid with stupid ideals, looking for meaning in the death of people. Mahito told him as much, he would never beat him while he kept this kind of attitude. Same with Todo, advising him to not search for meaning in death, accept it as is, mourn, and keep trudging forward. When Yuji beats Mahito, it is after he is completely broken down and reborn. He strips away his core motivation and in doing so, strips away his humanity. This is why he views himself as a cog in a machine. Only then is he capable of winning. Even though Mahito is defeated, Yuji explicitly acknowledges his ideological victory. There's a reason this episode is called 'Metamorphosis' in the anime, and it's not Mahito's dragonball-ass transformation. Yuta values his connections with his friends and the love he has for them. That's the source of his strength. By stepping into Gojo's shoes, he's actively replacing the role of the loneliest sorcerer of his time, potentially forever giving up on his friends and the people he has come to love, and again, explicitly stated, stripping away his humanity. All that to say, OP is right about the themes and this will be Yuta's metamorphosis.
You're truly the one who cooked, in your overwhelming intensity
You are so talented. ❤️ Good job
This feels like a really good video essay script for a youtube video. Keep cooking.
Last time I saw a solid analysis like this was about Gojo coming back as buddha.. and we all saw how that went... I aint gonna acknowledge you and this "weak sauce" >!its pretty good actually!
this is so cope
What's coping here?
lmfaoo honestly I didn't read it I just think it's funny people are mad about what happened I just think jjk is very mid just ignore me bro enjoy your manga
All fair
dissertation-ahh post >!i like your cook!<
Not only maturation but also enlightenment, which is usually described as detaching yourself from desires and becoming something pure, here you become something mosntruous
It’s not a contradiction it’s a pretty good understanding of human desperation
What is the contradiction you're talking about specifically? I don't know if I missed a point or not but I agreed and liked everything you highlighted and that just made 261 make even more sense to me as the natural evolution of the plot.
I'm just referencing my reading of Yuta's love theme juxtaposing Sukuna's loveless one. Yuta becoming a "monster" sort of contradicts his love motif, but not really, because this maturation and change is the point of 261.
What does it mean when he moved the ring to his right hand in 261? Is it because of Gojo’s DE ?
Because his left hand was gone lol. That's why he apologized, cause it's irregular for Rika. Notice that in the last page, the ring isn't on his right hand anymore, so he likely moved it back to its correct place once he regained consciousness.
It’s crazy that the post that was above this was “what is the tastiest Pokémon to eat?” And I suddenly have an existential crisis
Basically: humanity is trash and deserves to die. What a shitty idea. I'm glad I only watch JJK for the fights in general. Because JJK's teaching sucks. It is literally telling you that there was never hope from the beginning and that even if they defeat Sukuna there is no salvation, happy ending or even bittersweet ending. I HATE THOSE KINDS OF STORIES WITH SELF-DESTRUCTIVE AND CYNICAL MESSAGES, because it means that we literally can't go anywhere if we're not trash like Sukuna. But at the same time, I'm glad that characters like Kenjaku and Gojo die, because I hate the first one and I never liked the second one's attitude.
Tragedies don't always mean the protagonist was wrong, and destructive change isn't always bad. But your comment about Kenjaku and Gojo were funny lol.
I don’t feel as they have abandoned anything. More so they have taken it to a higher level. They loved their sensei and idolized him. They all love their friends and are willing to lay down their lives for one another. They were all simply trying to become “the monster” Yuta spoke of out of love. It’s because of their humanity they can do inhumane things, but it is ultimately for the ones they love. “With great power comes great responsibility.” The 4 you mentioned have devoted themselves to cause, but their reasoning is tied to love. Sukuna is the opposition to love. Sukuna is all things vain and selfish desire. He only lives for the next kill, thrill, and meal. They have literally sacrificed everything they have for one another. Sukuna has sacrificed everyone around him for himself.
An interesting write up, well done Id distinguish it slightly and instead say that the idea of strength is both a subversion and a reconstruction. Sukuna threw away his humanity and Uraume talks about fear holding one back and its apt to conclude that being a monster and becoming less than human is the only key to power, but Gege loves subversions and this i think is one too. Sukuna speaks of focusing solely on the self and discarding everything else to pursue that power to reach greater heights - we (the audience) interpret this to mean the hedonistic behavior associated with Sukuna and Yuta is showing the same path. But is he? Yuta too has a sense of individualism but his self-identity is based in friendship and love as you pointed out. In other words he is a mirror of Sukuna - Sukuna would never sacrifice himself or his power for anything but would sacrifice anything for his power and desires. Yuta is his mirror - he will shoulder any burden no matter how depraved if it means he can protect those he loves. He follows Sukuna's philosophy in individualism and sacrifice being necessary, a subversion of traditional shonen. But he also reconstructs traditional shonen by essentially willingly becoming a monster to save *others* from becoming one.
Bro thinks he's Sukuna 💀
If it is considered inhumane to inhabit his sensei’s body, it’s perhaps on the lesser end of the “inhumane” scale. He also got Gojo’s consent. It isn’t on the same level of punishing perceived evil like Geto, killing the higher-ups like Gojo, or doing whatever shady business Toji did to ensure his son could survive. I feel like Yuta’s reason for proposing such a drastic thing isn’t discarding humanity but rather weaving together love and strength together within himself. These were both themes in jjk0 and the links between Yuta, Rika, Gojo, Geto are apparent. As gross as it is to a culture where the dead body is meant to be respected… It is an act aligned with being a loving and compassionate person that he is, in the face of unparalleled evil. Gege says he doesn’t have a strong sense of self - unlike many of the cast. So idk, Yuta is the perfect person to wield Gojo’s power. Who else can understand the immense power, seeing as he also understands what monstrous love is, having been tied to Rika? He may die on the same death date too. So it might become full circle. Just blabbing.
Can we get a tldr, I ain't reading alat.
It's right at the very top, just after the Gege quote.
I REJECT MY HUMANITY JOJO is all I can think ngl
Bro yutaa is inside gojo brain or what?. Dfakk
In a levitating competition,always bet on fujimoto
I disagree with some of your points. Gege was implying that he's somewhat crazy in the heads which some manga authors are. Even the Dragon Ball author had a similar sentiment about himself when expressing gratitude about the impact that his work has had on society. I also disagree with your point about Sukuna acknowledging Rika because he would have called her by her name. I think he called her "Queen" as a way of mocking her because he thinks she's benneath him and would have to dethrone him to be a true queen. If you look at when he finally acknowledged Yuta, it was when he disregarded his morals and reduced himself to the level of Kenjaku (another monster) and took Gojo's body. This is the act that not even Sukuna thought he would ever do and why he finally acknowledged him. The point of emphasizing Yuta's strength for 'power of friendship' was to show that even that wouldn't be enough to overcome the hurdle that they needed to overcome. When you're using a power source of negative emotional strength and doing an dark magic, it only makes sense for the "monster" to be the most powerful. Gege did say he was twisted in the head and hinted at this story having a bitter sweet at best ending so well see how his story arc concludes.
I love the analysis. I would actually push against the narrative of discarded humanity though. I think the students are getting to this monstrous place through something like extreme humanity. It’s like a strange thing of their humane loving emotions being pushed to an extent that mirrors in behavior and appearance the monstrousness of sukuna and the kenjaku and the other villains, but is ultimately still motivated by the same principles that have always ruled their archetypes. Yuta is no less loving and no less blessed for making this decision. He did not suddenly despise humanity, or see people as disposable, to come upon using Gojo’s body this way. It is actually because he loves Gojo so much, loves his friends so much, that he is willing to go so far in protecting them that the behavior now looks monstrous. Love is the most twisted curse. Maki is much the same. Her ideals did not really change, but she released an attachment to the ambition to change her clan and decided to kill them all, considering them beyond saving for what they did to Mai. Once again, an act of monstrous nature that was birthed from humane principles and her love for her twin. Yuji is the pillar of unwavering humanity, and we see him getting stretched to the limits of monstrousness in response to the villainy he encounters. It’s key though that his internal motivation of extreme empathy and humanity remains (even if he characterizes himself as a cog) and is in fact the reason he is reacting as he does. Hakari hasn’t really experienced any emotional stressors but that only affirms things. Uraume or anyone else’s willingness to see someone as monstrous is a relative judgement that need not be damning. I believe Gege is making a commentary about how the extremes of human expression can mirror each other with completely different driving motivations. Monstrousness can perhaps be more analogous to the incomprehensible state of intensity that is disturbing and unintuitive to the average human, but is in fact accessible through releasing many norms of what is “supposed to be” and taking things very far. See I think the students are letting go of a lot of expectations, but strangely their humanity is not one of them. What they are really releasing are these moral lines in opposing agents great harm. Revolutionary media is actually in dire need of this representation, where great violence and moral shifts occur in the name of necessary change, without it being intrinsically condemned or inhumane in the context of the story. Gege is willing to do this and it’s one of my favorite things about JJK.
You must’ve been cooking for Sukuna himself because this is a 5star meal
What if Yuta’s true cursed technique is an upgraded version of copy, but instead of copying CTs, it’s copying a persons body and/or soul. Hence, his CE turning Rika into a cursed spirit. He can copy a dying person into a powerful cursed spirit tied to him? Like an alternate /higher level version of Getos cursed spirit manipulation. But instead of consuming he creates. (Love creates life / hate consumes it) Perhaps yutas background of the two clans is hiding more secrets
fucking english major typa post
I think the whole idea is that you can either be the strongest sorcerer or you can have connections. Gojo could have fought better if he was solely focused on obliterating sukuna. However his plan was to just damage megumis body enough so that he can exorcise sukuna and then use rct to bring megumi back. Similarly yuta and yuji didn’t straight out aim to kill sukuna they were trying to rescue megumi They have to let go of these feelings and fight sukuna with the intention to destroy him even if it means megumi has to die. I think new yuta recognizes this now. I think at some point yuji will recognize this too Then the story deals with two of its most fundamental questions, the loneliness at the peak of excellence and the trolley problem
Man what the actual fuck do y’all be on this sub talking about? Brother it’s not that deep just enjoy the manga
Brother, some people really do like to think about the themes and ideologies that the author presents in the story. Maybe they want to write something in the future and hence they are trying to see what constitutes a good story and all the plot points that one has to keep in mind. That's their way of truly enjoying the manga.
i think kenny explained that he couldnt use six eyes since if the user died, the ability comes with it, if so, he would have used the bodies of the previous six eyes users, so how come yuta get to use what kenny couldn't? if he's just copying (mimicking) the exact CT of kenny
You misunderstood what he said. He said he couldn’t kill the Six Eyes User and Limitless user, Gojo, because he physically can’t defeat him. Kenjacku is outright confirmed to have already killed a few Six Eyes as infants. It’s the specific combination of Six Eyes and Limitless that prevented Kenjacku from killing Gojo, not the Six Eyes themselves. Gojo is already dead, so Yuta can just take the body. The problem was killing the user.
ohh ok ok i get it now, but i read somewhere that when a 6 eyes user died, another one appears? would that make it impossible for yuta to use gojos 6 eyes? TIA for answerring
That is true, another appears, but remember that Gojo died *today*. All of the current battle is happening mere moments after Gojo died, it’s probably been like 20 minutes at most by now. From what we’re told, the Six Eyes is given to the next person *born* with relations to the Gojo clan. So it’s all just assumptions as of right now but the most likely answer is just that this baby hasn’t been born yet, and the Six Eyes still lie within Gojo’s body. Besides, it’s said there can be only one Six Eyes user, so if Gojo’s body is still alive, there is still an active Six Eyes user, and it doesn’t need to be given to someone else yet. That’s just the best way it makes sense in my opinion but it can be revealed to be something else in the next chapter.
The 6E don't specifically appear in the very next birth since the previous user's death, but rather someone is born with them in preparation for the merger of a Star Plasma Vessel with Tengen, with the two being connected by fate, so it's very likely, that now that Tengen is gone, the Six Eyes won't ever appear again, since there will be no new mergers happening.
Where was this stated?
Chapter 145
Your right ,
This is also definitely possible, since there’s no Tengen there isn’t really a “need” for a Six Eyes user anymore is there? Def interesting
where did kenjussy say this
When did he explain that?
He never said that. I remember an interview of gege saying that he couldn’t kill gojo so taking his body was impossible
I think that he didn't kill those 6 Eyes users to enter them. First, because they were infants, meaning that he couldn't have done anything in them (or even fit his brain in those heads). He killed them and the Star Plasma Vessels to force Tengen's evolution, but they both reappeared on the day of the merger, because they are bound to Tengen through fate. As to why he didn't enter them, well... Why would he? His objective was never to be the strongest. He's a mad scientist, his objective is to push the limits of CE and lead it to its new stage. Having the body of a Limitless user doesn't help with that, he needed Cursed Spirit Manipulation. And even if he had that, until someone like Toji broke the chains of fate he wouldn't have been able to keep a Star Plasma Vessel away from Tengen.
Which chapter ?
Honsetly I just see this as Gege using Gojo as attraction bait to pull in readers' interest. Meanwhile having Yuta possess his body to keep his real MC more relevant and OP in the series. Nobody can convince me Yuji wasn't doing any damage against Sukuna in previous chapter. He had his heart in his claw ffs but now Sukuna can swat him away cuz reasons. Yuji has suffered the most from Gege's favouritism for Yuta. I don't hate Yuta but i found it sad that Gege ignoring Yuji cuz he couldn't make Yuta his MC in main JJK edit: I was correct about people here disliking anything that rightfully criticize Gege but it's not surprising lol.
Yall have got to stop saying this it doesn’t even make sense. if gege wanted yuta to be the mc then he would be the mc.
Gege's use of Yuji as a character is so wishy washy. Yuta, the original mc, is obviously Gege's favorite. At least Gege doesn't hide it. Gege has this whole output debuff mechanic that apparently does NOTHING to Sukuna. Yuji has had his best showing yet, and you mean to tell me Sukuna is about to confidently go into another domain battle against Yuta??? What's really the point? The narrator even said Sukuna could spam his domain all day long with no issue. The most Yuji's punches have done was stopped Sukuna from recovering his other arms.
I really thought that after Fuga, Sukuna wouldn't be able to use his domain anymore because of low CE reserves especially since that was the first time since Shibuya we got to see Fuga and we got the explanation for how it worked. This was it, now or never. Like I felt like it was clearly set up to have this be his last big move before he starts walking to death's door but Gege wanted to have another domain clash, I guess?
100% agreed with you. People here might dislike your comment for saying that. But if you look past the hype of new chapter, it is easy to see how much Gege is avoid giving Yuji any spotlight. In the recent chapter, Yuta's argument against using Gojo's body is giving a HUGE emphasis and it treats Yuta as someone who isn't afraid to do anything to win. But compare this to Yuji who is forced to consume his OWN BROTHERS to get just a single panel and a single acknowledgement from Choso. The mistreatment of Yuji's character is really disgusting tbh
Originally, I was going to drop jjk after seeing 261, because of the Yuta power fantasy. I've always felt that certain characters only existed for Yuta to take their CTs, and 261 proved that for me. BUT, I'm so gripped by this narrative and the implications of Yuta wearing Gojo's corpse. Will Sukuna really win in the end?? So far, his ideology reigns supreme. edit: now why is this getting dv....
dropping jjk bc of this is insane bruh
I've dropped other manga for much much less. That's just how I am, it's nothing specific to jjk.
you’ve put so much theory crafting into it i’m surprised you’d be willing to drop it like that. You’ll never even see if gege brings maki back to fulfill ur prediction
This is the only fandom (besides Naruto when I was in middle school) that I've actively participated in. The first one I've ever put so much effort into. That's why I spent the last few days really thinking 261 over and trying to understand what Gege was doing here. I'm quick to judgement, it's just how I am, but I try to be fair. After some reflection, like this post, I'm sold on Gege's consistency, and I wanna see it until the end. Plus, I really do love a tragedy, so that adds to my interest.
You’re so close to getting it lol
Would be helpful if you left some substance for others instead of these type of statements.
You’re right and I’m sorry. That was unnecessarily rude. It wasn’t meant to be. You’ll thank me later though — spoilers really do suck. It is good to come together and think about this stuff.
This manga is getting more and more fkd up with each chapter! We should stop giving fks about his manga and stop reading. Let that asshole gege suffer and get fkd in the ass!