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I've been struggling to describe Mahoraga's placement and role in Jujutsu Kaisen because this shikigami is more than just a puppet of a character but that doesn't make Maho a fully realised character itself. It's a half-sentient weapon with enormous weight inside the story who doesn't possess free will but it feels like it does because it attacks it's own wielder during its first summoning. Sometimes it also feels like Maho has a (bloodthirsty, loves fighting and winning) personality but that can't be really true. Or could it?

And then in the sequel a guy more or less falls in love with Mahoraga, too, which muddies the waters of kind of character or plot device it is.

But it came to me recently: Mahoraga is basically the Avatar State; it occupies the same role as that.

Not Aang, not the other avatars; the Avatar State as this unbelievably powerful weapon with enormous weight in the story which has to be "tamed" to be controlled fully, otherwise it can harm the "wielder" and those around them.

But putting Mahoraga and the Avatar State side-by-side like that made it finally click for me on what Maho has been lacking as a character/plot element this entire time: meaningful connections to the other characters, plot and themes.

Aang, the Avatar State and the previous avatars are deeply connected. The Avatar State is one part of a whole. Megumi, Mahoraga and Sukuna are not meaningfully connected to each other. For Aang, the AS is an achievement that nonetheless reflected his fears back at him from time to time. For Megumi, Maho is nothing more than a promise for mutual destruction against an enemy. He doesn't achieve anything with Mahoraga, Maho isn't a point of fear or a reflection of his inner self to him, and the only time where he had character development in conjunction with Maho was when he decided not to use it.

Sukuna has more to do with Mahoraga, but him enjoying Maho's presence and happily fighting alongside it is the most that comes from that connection. And because Sukuna was possessing Megumi's body to use Maho, that connection is fraught with this sense of having "stolen" Mahoraga and so we're back to this shikigami being a weapon disguised as something that pretends to be a character.

And Megumi's and Sukuna's connection feels like something that has stopped half-way through, so Mahoraga and the Ten Shadows Technique as a whole can't bring anything new to their relationship and themes, either.

The AS doesn't try to be its own character while it's meaningfully connected to Aang and the story and themes. Mahoraga isn't meaningfully connected to Megumi and the story and themes, while failing to be its own character and no amount of heart eyes that Dabura makes at Maho will change that.

cooked as usual. I will say in regards to this:

For Megumi, Maho is nothing more than a promise for mutual destruction against an enemy. He doesn't achieve anything with Mahoraga, Maho isn't a point of fear or a reflection of his inner self to him, and the only time where he had character development in conjunction with Maho was when he decided not to use it.

In the beginning, Mahoraga, the 10ST and his domain were a central part of Megumi's character. Maho was something like the ceiling and his legacy he needed to conquer and the fight Maho had against Sukuna could've been something with more weight for Megumi.

But somehow that fight didn't even register for Megumi and while we had a brief glimpse at the progression of Megumi's abilities against Reggie, all of that was snuffed out when Sukuna took over.

Body stolen, CT stolen, other central part of Megumi's character (Tsumiki) killed, and then Maho basically became Sukuna's pet while Megumi was never even close to taming it. I still wished that Gege would've developed Megumi's and Sukuna's relationship during this part of the story, that would've rounded up everything between them and especially for Megumi and his character.

I have not read the leaks but I've seen the spoilers left and right :D

Without knowing the proper context with good translation, I'll postpone my judgement. But because I've said this a year ago when JJK ended and because I was right back then about a sequel (even if it took another form), I'll repeat what I've talked about a few times since then and after Modulo was announced:

Jujutsu Kaisen 2. With Megumi as the protagonist.

The mathematical modulo symbol ≡ is the younger brother of the kanji 三 meaning 3. Gege started writing Modulo with the humbled opinion that it could crash and burn in less than 10 chapters. The ending of JJK was so stressful for him, that the man didn't even draw his own sequel manga and only wrote a short story for it.

And he gave that short story a name that resembles the number 3. He didn't commit to it, but he delicately put ≡ out there in case this sequel would be successful. And if it were successful, the door for 2 would be open. (Reminder: JJK 0 - Yuta; JJK [1] - Yuji; ????; JJK ≡ - Maru)

With this in mind, I can see Megumi's absence in Modulo as a setup. Not that I see a potential plot being set up, but after the post canon shorts about Sukuna, Panda etc came out, I hadn't seen a plot for a sequel back then either. But Gege can create whatever he wants, which in this case meant aliens.

That could mean death, but more importantly it means opportunity for Gege to do with Megumi whatever else he wants to do with him if he goes back to JJK.

I can't emphasise enough how much Modulo is the product of a man who suffered physically and mentally through the stress of weekly manga serialisation. He loves his work but was burned by the process, so he got help from another artist and created a short sequel extremely removed from the finished story of JJK, after reading a book about Afghanistan, without fanfare, and with the fear it could implode after a few chapters.

Modulo is a transition product. One where he tentatively puts out a finished and coherent work that ties up some loose ends of JJK, while also throwing new ideas and story opportunities into the mix. It's Gege's call now to decide what to do with it.

Apart from JJK 2 as a possible story in the past of Modulo like I explained above, Gege could also do a detour to a Sukuna-centric Heian story (which would be the safest option), or he could go into the future which this last chapter talked about (either sci-fi or apocalypse), or he'll stick with these characters and create Modulo Part 2 like he kinda implied with the last scene.

In one of Gege's author comments during Modulo sometime in the first month, he says that he read a certain book that started the story. I tried finding the comment but the fanscan sites don't have them. This is from Myamura's Twitter: The English title of the book is: Providence was with us.

After last chapter and during my review, too I've been thinking about how Maki and Megumi reacted differently to their sisters' deaths. They went through similar things but their paths diverged significantly afterwards and there are a few reasons for that.

The first one that's often overlooked especially when Megumi's pain is compared to Yuji's in Shibuya, is that Megumi has been left completely alone with his suffering for 1 month, while Yuji had Nobara's presence with him to deal with Nanami's death and then he had Todo's help to deal with Nobara's death about 5 minutes after it happened.

Megumi went through a 3-part process (Tsumiki's first death, the Bath, Tsumiki's second death) to be completely submerged and suppressed by Sukuna where he only had help from his friends during the first part of it; the fight against Sukuna after he initially took over. (That's also the first time Megumi actively fought against Sukuna's control.)

There was no one by his side while he was bathed in pure CE and no one intervened to stop Tsumiki's second death or comfort/help him up afterwards. Gojo was the only person who came even close to be a postive influence to Megumi's suffering but he decided after a small squrimish with Sukuna to postpone his rescue for more than a month.

During all of this, Megumi was unable to act in any way. He was a prisoner. He could only take everything in and deal (or not deal) with his suffering on his own.

The second reason why Maki and Megumi have such diverging reactions is that Maki's way of life always centred herself first before Mai came in second place. Megumi on the other hand, centred Tsumiki (and Yuji) before himself. Yes, they both wanted to create a place where their sisters could live in peace and flourish.

But Maki wanted to become one of the strongest as a service for herself and her own ambitions, and as a positive side-effect of that she could help Mai afterwards. For this she abandoned Mai first.

Megumi though, wanted to become someone strong primarily to help and protect Tsumiki and people like her. Even in chapter 266, he talks about the mundane things in life he sees as his ultimate happiness but he's in the background providing those things to Tsumiki. When he imagines Yuji and Tsumiki shoulder on shoulder, he isn't in the picture at all. He only watches them from the back.

While Maki and Mai are hand in hand.

So when Tsumiki is ripped away from him, Megumi doesn't have his main drive to fall back on like Maki. He has nothing to fight for anymore because he didn't do things for himself, he did things for Tsumiki and that since he met Gojo for the first time.

What he also doesn't have is a last conversation with his sister. There was no heartfelt conversation with Tsumiki to right any problems they had growing up (even the fake conversations with Yorozu weren't deep in any way) and no last wish from Tsumiki that Megumi should follow like Mai's "destroy everything".

So it's really brilliant how Yuji recognizes all of this at least in some form and realizes where Megumi's pain truly lies. Maybe Yuji hadn't thought this far during the timeskip but right after he made contact with Megumi for the first time, he had to have known.

And Yuji acknowledges Megumi's feelings wholeheartedly and says yes, that is enough, you don't need to go on anymore. It's all right.

Yuji doesn't try to convince Megumi to fight on because they need to defeat Sukuna or how the end of the world is around the corner, he just fully accepts Megumi, his feelings and everything he has gone through. The only other thing that Yuji acknowledges in that moment are his own feelings and that's how he would truly miss Megumi.

It took 50+ chapters to come to this point and we're not even finished while Maki's journey was significantly shorter but we want things to be different like that. Reading Maki's and Mai's chapters was impactful but ch266 after waiting for such a long time is just so stunning and elevates the manga and the characters.

He already mastered it 👇

The problem is that he doesn't realise its potential. He thinks his domain is incomplete because a proper domain has to have properly closed barriers that compress space around it. If you don't go through this strict formula, then what you have is half a failure.

That's why Megumi goes out of his way to find compensation for his lack of barrier mastery. Of course in this case it was warranted, but that just goes back to how he doesn't understand the kind of power he has and how to use it.

To hammer it home: Megumi could've expanded his domain in the open street. He's capable of doing that, just like the King of Curses and a 1000 year body hopper. But unlike Sukuna and Kenjaku, he has no idea what to do with an open barrier domain; he still thinks its a mishap what he's producing there.

Just like in the beginning of the story, Megumi's mindset regarding these things is what holds him back. Who says he can't make that kind of domain expansion work for him in the open street? Sukuna annihilated Shibuya with it by using binding vows to expand his range because it was open. And who says Megumi can't create his sure-hit with that arrangement? You don't need a closed barrier for the sure-hit.

Of course in part, Megumi's problem is that he just doesn't know things like that are possible. From history he has no idea, and the strongest sorcerer he knows can't do something like that either. Megumi also has no idea what Sukuna did in Shibuya; these boys have not exchanged information on that in any way.

the part in the street where Megumi thinks of expanding his domain does not exist in the minds of many, many people

people confuse Megumi not being able to close his barrier, which is what he means about having an incomplete domain, with an inability to expand an open domain

Megumi can do one but not the other; his closed domain is incomplete, his open domain is complete except for the sure-hit but with the domain construct

people bring up the discussion between Maki and Kusakabe in Shinjuku, not realising that those two have outdated information on Megumi's proficiency in DEs

no one was there to see Megumi's better domain inside the gymnasium and he didn't talk with anyone about contemplating expanding his domain in the street before he was possessed

people use backwards logic to dismiss what literally happened in this episode; instead of taking what Megumi said here into their understanding of how domains and barriers work, they find some twisted logic that starts with "Megumi can't" and work their way into denial of facts from there

one person tried to tell me that Megumi can't use barriers at all

Just so you know, my insistence on Modulo being JJK 3 with JJK 2 not having been drawn yet, isn't just a fringe assumption from some nobody on the internet. The allusion of the modulo symbol to the kanji for 3 is obvious. The question is: what would JJK 2 be about?

Modulo didn't set up some grand conflict that happened in the last 70 years. Most of the characters from JJK died of old age, too, if they're even dead. Latte had a short answer to this Marshmellow ask:

Ui Ui's comment mentioned that from the main story to Mojuro, there was "mediocre, flimsy peace" continuing, so it doesn't seem like anything particularly noteworthy happened.

So if Gege decided to go for JJK 2, what would he even be writing about? Simple.

Megumi.

Gege made sure that we have nothing on Megumi from Modulo. Even his status of being alive or dead is ambiguous. This opens up possibilities for Gege to write whatever he wants with Megumi without restrictions or us knowing how his fate would turn out. The only concrete things we know of what happened in-between JJK and Modulo are that there was a long period of peace and that nearly no one died young. But:

Long period of peace can be the last 60 and not the full 68 years, giving us time right after Shinjuku where tumultuous things could've happened

we still have some characters where we don't actually know if they died old or not

the lack of death of known characters doesn't take away a story's stakes

Again, if JJK 2 is about Megumi, then we have all the elements for a gripping story with an unknown ending. But what exactly would JKK 2 be about in concrete terms? My guess:

Megumi dealing with the aftermath of Sukuna's possession and how he wants to live his life

Sukuna himself + a disaster curse as an antagonist

Megumi mastering his abilities as a sorcerer

the question about Megumi's ultimate fate

Some people think that Megumi's shadows on the ground are his domain. But that's only his amped up cursed technique. You can't have a domain that's flat on the ground. Megumi's incomplete domain hangs (invisibly) onto the barrier of the finger bearer's domain, so everything you see in this screenshot is part of Chimera Shadow Garden.

This is what Kusakabe talked about right before Gojo and Sukuna expanded their domains in the Shinjuku fight: Megumi used an existing structure, either walls or an already closed barrier, as his clutch to compensate for his inability to close barriers on his own.

This ability, hanging your domain onto something that isn't yours, is exceptional. And it isn't a stretch to think that Megumi's next step on his learning curve is expanding his domain without that clutch, which is exactly what he talked about in the street where there were no walls or barriers.

Many people try and fail to create their own domain. Even Reggie who is an incarnated sorcerer couldn't do it. Nanami couldn't, just like Todo. None of them managed to compensate that failure. It's only Megumi who did something like that.

Hanging your domain onto something that isn't yours is an achievement.

ONCE MORE, I THINK I'LL LIVE FOR OTHERS

So of all the characters in Jujutsu Kaisen Megumi has turned out to be one of the most controversial and hotly debated characters. There's nothing the internet hates more than a boy with trauma, I guess. Jujutsu Kaisen is a controversial work in general so it's not surprising that the ending wasn't super well received by the fans, especially in the way it decided to conclude Megumi's character arc.

There are many people accusing Gege of giving Megumi no character development. Of Megumi just choosing to replace Tsumiki with Yuji. Lots of complaints about Megumi never finishing his domain expansion among other things. Of Megumi being nothing more than a damsel for Yuji to rescue in the end. I'm here to say I think Megumi does have a complete character arc even if it didn't end the way I would have liked, and under the cut I'll be giving my thoughts for Megumi's ending and JJK's ending in general.

Maki and Mai, as identical twins (also called maternal and monozygotic twins), share their cursed technique and cursed energy. As Mai says here, they share even more than that, as Maki's ambitions in life would always fail because Mai doesn't desire the same thing.

When you look at the picture of them from before they were born, we can see that Mai and Maki not only share the same placenta, as is normal with identical twins, but also the same amniotic sack, which isn't. Monoamniotic twins only happen in 1-2% of maternal twin pregnancies.

This is symbolic because we're not only told that Maki and Mai are "the same person" but we're also shown it with a picture where those two, not even during their pregnancy, are ever separated.

This is reinforced later again when Mai hands Maki a feather in their dream world, which then turns into the Split Soul Katana.

In the first and fourth panel, Maki is holding the feather and the sword (you can see a little bit of Maki's burns on her wirst in the fourth panel). In the real world though, it's Mai who is holding the sword in that position. While Maki is shown holding it with her right hand, Mai is holding it in her left.

They're one being. (Taking Sukuna and Weisuke into consideration here, they still have two souls though.)

What does this mean for their CT and CE?

Being considered as one sorcerer by jujutsu (btw, I would've loved to have the original Japanese panels; the unofficial english translation seems a bit fishy here and there) means they share their CE 50:50, which makes Mai have only enough energy to (comfortably!) create one bullet per day. Maki's 50% share is reduced to normal humans levels of CE by Heavenly Restriction.

How they share their CT isn't talked about further because Maki can't access her part of it. Maybe their technique could've ended up split as well, eg. by giving Mai one application and Maki another. Construction only has one application as far as we know, so imagine if Nobara had an identical twin and one could use Resonance and the other Hairpin.

When Mai dies, she makes the concious decision to take her part of their CT and CE with her, artificially reducing Maki's CE to zero and perfecting her HR in the process. It's not said outright, but Mai most likely did this with the expectation of making Maki into the next Toji. Not only does she copy Toji's sword (the SSK), she would also have knowm that the Zenin feared Toji the most.

What would've happened if she didn't take her CT and CE? Maki would've gotten all of it just for it to be reduced back to normal human levels. Maki was physically weaker than Yuji, so if we assume for a moment that Yuji also has HR but with the starting point of a normal sorcerer, than Maki most likely would've gained similar physical strength to Yuji.

But Yuji is no Toji and Maki doesn't have sorcerer-levels CE infused inside of her through an ancient King. What Mai did was the best outcome for her.

But what would've happened if Maki died instead of Mai? Mai would've gained access to 100% of her CE, and in case her CT was also restricted, 100% on that as well. But in Mai's case that wouldn't have amounted to much. She never wanted to become a sorcerer, and her strengths in battle don't lie in jujutsu but in human shooting weapons. If she had trained her body in CE reinforcement and efficiancy like Todo and Mei Mei, then an increase in CE would've empowered her immensely. But that wasn't the case.

If Maki had died in that pit, than Mai would've just died there with her, without ever taking erevenge on the Zenin.

Dissecting the name of all domain expansions that we have seen in the series.

Gojo Satoru : 無量空処 (Muryoukuusho)

Gojo's domain has the most straightforward name out of all. 無量 (muryou) means immeasurable 空処 (kuusho) means an open empty space, void

Ryomen Sukuna : 伏魔御厨子 (Fukuma mizushi)

伏魔 (fukuma), most likely comes from 伏魔殿 (fukuma-den), which means a palace where demons lurk. 御厨子 (mizushi) have several possible meanings; first, it means the tools to enshrine Buddha statue second, it maybe comes from 御厨子所 (mizushi-dokoro) which is a place in the temple used to prepare meals for the emperor, festival, or as offering third, it is a word to say 厨子 (zushi) (meaning kitchen) in honored form, as 御 (mi-) can mean prefix "honorable"

Jogo : 蓋棺鉄囲山 (Gaikan tecchisen)

蓋棺 (gaikan) means to put the lid of the casket of a person who has died. 鉄囲山 (tecchizen) comes from the sacred mountain legend originated in India, which also shared by Buddhism and Hinduism. It is said that in the heart of the world, there's a sacred mountain named Mount Sumeru (also called Meru or 須弥山 ; shumisen). Mount Sumeru is surrounded by nine mountains and eight oceans. One of the outermost mountains is made of iron and called 鉄囲山 (tecchizen).

Mahito : 自閉円頓裹 (Jihei endonka)

自閉 (jihei) means a state where someone withdraws into their self and reject or ignore any stimulus from the outside world. 円頓 (endon) is a Buddhist term from Tendai sect which means to be prepared for everything and reach enlightenment immediately. 裹 (ka) means to wrap or conceal. It can also mean (tsutsumu, kugutsu) a basket or bag made from weaving bamboo or straw.

Fushiguro Megumi : 嵌合暗翳庭 (Kangou an'eitei)

嵌合 (kangou) means fitting, for example to say in a machine where various parts fit together. 暗翳 (an'ei) means dark shadow. 庭 (tei, niwa) means garden or courtyard.

Dagon : 蕩蘊平線 (Tau'un heisen)

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This chapter confirmed one more time what I thought. That Gojou was kinda delusional about his fight with Sukuna. 

He shows the same attitude towards dying as Sukuna had in his fight against Yorozu. 

The difference is that Sukuna knows Yorozu and her powers, he has an idea as to how to handle her. More than that, he’s there specifically to test out on her some ideas he has for the Ten Shadows Technique. Sukuna’s arrogance makes him an asshole, not a fool.

Gojou, on the other hand, knows that a person with Megumi’s technique is capable of killing someone with Gojou’s technique. And apart from knowing a bit about Cleave, Dismantle and Malevolent Shrine, he can’t estimate the extent of Sukuna’s own powers. And as the fight between them shows he went into it without any plan, he was just winging it.

And again we are shown that he didn’t participate in any planning efforts with the rest of them. He was so certain about his idea to go in first and handle it alone. And so dismissive about their worry.

And everyone else seemed to have considered that he was being delusional because they made actual plans for the plans.

I didn’t think I could dislike Yuuta more but after chapter 261, I actually do.

So let’s look at Yuuta’s absolutely inane plan here. There are two conditions to it:

1. Gojou dies, despite having an overpowered combination of abilities that he’d honed for years.

2. Yuuta is on the brink of death despite his overpowered status due to being so “naturally gifted” and “blessed” by an extra powerful lineage on both sides. 

And the way they both attack Sukuna is just targeting him with raw power, typical jujutsu moves despite Sukuna being a fucking expert on that, not trying to get to the bottom of what makes Sukuna tick.

So Yuuta’s idea is, well if they both fail in those attempts, he could combine his ability with Gojou’s and try again. Because surely the third time's the charm. Well, the definition of stupidity and so on, I guess.

Now let’s compare this to how Yuuji approaches the fight. The plan he made with Higuruma had very reasonable grounds, and was based on analysing techniques. It didn’t pan out because they didn’t know Higuruma’s technique well enough, but it wasn’t based on “let’s wing it”. And the rest of the plan is based on attacking Sukuna’s soul directly using Yuuji’s power’s and Mai’s legacy wielded by Maki. The plan is to separate Megumi’s soul from Sukuna’s and reach Megumi, save him. And it’s been working.

And neither Gojou’s approach, nor Yuuta’s, even considers Megumi in all of this. I’m not sure Megumi is paying any attention to the fight anymore, but if he is, I’m not sure seeing what Yuuta did is making him want to fight to come out. It could honestly go both ways, and if Megumi feels even slightly guilty about Gojou’s death (even though he shouldn’t but psychology just isn’t that simple), seeing Gojou’s corpse used like that might make his guilt worse. 

Gojou always bought into the individualistic strength based approach to jujutsu, the foundation that upheld the corrupt system he participated in. And he indoctrinated Yuuta into that completely. Yuuta still kinda cares about Gojou, but Gojou doesn't even consider what Yuuta's plan would mean for Yuuta.

If you compare it to the conversation Higuruma and Yuuji had, both characters who unsettle Sukuna due to their humanity, it really shows how little threat Gojou and Yuuta've been to Sukuna.

Seeing this contrast, makes the martyrdom complex Gojou and Yuuta display in this chapter really sickening to me, so unwarranted but the fandom is just lapping it all up thoughtlessly. 

Gojou by wanting to go on the murder spree alone to protect the kids he had failed to protect before and who he would fail to protect again by taking on Sukuna alone. 

Yuuta by wanting to take over the mantle of Gojou, regardless of what the objective reality is, regardless whether there is even a need for that. The fight with Sukuna, once Yuuji got involved, actually started to go somewhere, actual progress was being made. And Yuuta’s like, well in need to butt in on that.

I see that like this: a better Bleach.

After Aizen's defeat, Tite Kubo decided to make a genre change for his manga including cutting half the main and most secondary characters out, changes that did not go over well with the readers until he went back to the battle shonen genre and all the old characters for his last arc.

Bleach and Kubo are the main inspirations for Gege and JJK and I like to think that Gege would've learned from those structural problems Kubo suffered from while writing his story. So what would a formal cut off in the manga accomplish?

Making genre, theme and character changes easy and digestible

A change of main protagonist from Yuji (whose arc is finished) to Megumi (whose arc has been on hold, or is only in the midway point) would be acceptable

JJK is already a manga that is a 2-Part story with JJK 0. That prequel also had different themes and a different protagonist

A cut off would also give Gege, you know, free time to make a vacation and to get inspired, while a normal continuous story wouldn't give him that.

A story ending creates hype. A finished story can also reach a new audience.

Also let's not forget money and fame as a reason to continue a story

(Btw, JJK's story is not like Demon Slayer's. In DS there was nothing more to tell at the end, it's a far simpler story than JJK. So wanting more JJK makes sense with all the setup that exists in the story.)

When One Piece reached its midpoint with a timeskip, Eiichiro Oda went on a month long hiatus. And pre and post timeskip One Piece does have structural changes in its story telling that some people don't like so much. Still the story is neatly cut into those parts. They're just not named officially as Part 1 and Part 2.

What other plot points could be addressed thoughtfully and with adequate pacing, if the trio's comeback, antagonist death, and main heros power escalation in the final arc, did not get the pacing it deserved?

It'll mostly likely wrap up in the next two chapters, with the last one serving as an Epilogue.

Thanks for this question! I'm going to cheat a little by copy/pasting a previous post of mine about everything that's still open ended in JJK, most likely will not get a proper conclusion in the last 3 chapters, and could serve as the groundwork for a potential JJK 2.

First, though, your questions seems a little misaligned. JJK is going to end in three chapters and there is no pacing issue there. Maybe it's a bad word choice or you've seen others talk about it like that, but chapter 271 is going to be a rounded end for the story that, in my opinion (08.09.2024), will lead into a JJK Part 2 because of these:

The Culling Games have not Ended

They still go on because players like Yuji and Hakari are still alive

We didn't even come close to the Merger

We have so much setup including pregnant Sukuna who left baby Tengen (probably) with Megumi now.

When as a writer you introduce world ending stakes, you better deliver on them even if only for the good guys to win against them.

Those stakes were never even reached though

The foreign invasion of Japan was introduced but then forgotten about

There are now militaries in Japan who abduct sorcerers for resources, giving Gege vast storytelling potential for the future

But Gojo could've dealt with them off screen and Yuta might continue to protect Japan in his stead now. This plot thread can be dealt with in the last 3 chapters but you would still ask: Why was it here at all?

Remy survived

Remy was the girl who tricked Megumi and who Megumi wanted to kill afterwards. Tsumiki's soul intervened on Remy's behalf and saved her, just for Remy to be abducted later. She's one of those characters Gege could've killed but instead we have a scenario where Megumi is poised to save her now while also getting into contact with Tsumiki's soul that hasn't happened yet

Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel and the Six Eyes are connected by Fate

Multiple SPVs can exist simultaniously but not the 6E. After Gojo's death this minor detail mentioned by Tengen became obsolete for the story.

But then Yuta took over Gojo's body and now the 6E are back for this particular fate to happen again especially with Tengen's life in the strange state it is

Gege had come up with the story of the 3 Kugisaki women at the beginning of the manga

But instead of discarding it at the end of it, becasue it had no relevance or plot attention at all, Gege decided to open that thread and let it hang there, promising things to come like the bastard that he is with regards to the Kugisaki family.

Megumi's incomplete Domain

This is basic story telling especially in battle shonen: when you show the audience an incomplete ability, then by the end that ability has to be mastered barring a tragic end to the character.

Gege could throw us a curve ball about his domain with the last chapters but with Sukuna defeated now all tension of him accomplishing it is out.

But if this is Megumi's midpoint of his character arc and development, then everything regarding him, his domain and even his relationship with Sukuna can come to a proper end in JJK2

Sukuna's and Megumi's relationship and interactions were lacking in the end

But with Gege deliberately leaving behind 1 Finger, the option of Sukuna coming back as a curse, the remains of his first body most likely being permanent parts of Megumi, and not to forget the psycological and physical scars that Megumi has from him now, the potential for deep future interactions is there.

Sukuna's story has only been told to us from the perspectives of others

Sure, that does not have to change. Gege can leave it like that and he could or could not give us a Sukuna flashback in the last 3 chapters.

But he can go further than that and delve into that villain from more angles outside of mainly the narrator's and Yuji's.

He could eg go into the difference between Sukuna's relatiosnhip with Yuji and his relationship with Megumi to dive deeper into his personality

Kenjaku/Kaori, Jin and Yuji - none of that is resolved in any way

Just like how Kenjaku's true motives for creating the perfect vessel, who was in the end the perfect cage for Sukuna, was never explained.

So, yeah, I think JJK 2 is a real possibility with everything that hasn't been done and talked about, which was why I titled my original post with all of these points: "Gege kills off unneeded characters, why didn't he kill this?".

And I can see multiple reasons for why he would go the hard cut with the middle point of the series.

It's easier to structure narratively

he can make genre, theme and protagonist changes

he can get a break that can be longer than just a few weeks

it creates hype for the ending

keeping the story going makes him and his characters a cultural icon and him and SJ rich

So many thoughts. So many...

Sukuna and Megumi finally come face to face and talk with each other but as far as emotional connections and resolutions between them are concerned there isn't much and I will have to say that in that point Gege fumbled the story telling.

He should've put the spotlight on Sukuna and Megumi at multiple points in the story after the possession but he chose to put Megumi to the side which makes his appearance here at this moment less impactfull

But more on that later...

What's really interesting about Sukuna in these first two pages, is him appearing calm and collected in his first panel but then his game is up and we see that through Megumi talking to him

It's really good imagery. Sukuna the shapeless monster that devours everything but then gets reduced to nothing inside the domain between him and Megumi.

I'm certain that Megumi's new will to live actively pushed Sukuna into that state where Yuji was able to punch those two apart.

Again for emphasis:

Megumi pushing Sukuna away is visualized by his words shrinking Sukuna's black soul. If Megumi had completely lost his will to live instead of wanting to fight on for Yuji, Sukuna would've most likely eaten and sank Megumi's soul completely into darkness at that point, leaving Yuji's last soul punch without effect.

Without Megumi fighting back, Yuji wouldn't have been able to separate Sukuna from Megumi's body.

The double page spread was breathtaking and invoked the horror part of this story again.

Sukuna's... remaining form lying on the ground, first looking forward to Megumi and then looking up at Yuji... So striking

Yuji then still talking to Sukuna because he wants to save him after he realized that they had similar beginnings but Sukuna didn't have a grandpa to help turns this moment quite sad

Sukuna backstory when??

And finally Sukuna calls Yuji by his full name while he rejects his offer again, fading into nothing. But he says that he should'n't be underestimated because he's a curse and I made an entire post once about Sukuna ascending into one.

Right now though we have a huge question that needs to be answered: from what did Sukuna die right now? Because when the answer isn't from a CE attack, then he will return as a proper curse.

Uraume meanwhile dies in panels that are strategically placed to not completely answer the question of her (their) gender.

Megumi wakes up and he's scarred. Those scars are not from the battles though. The ones over his right side are from Sukuna's mask and the one under his left eye is from his second eye. Symbolism.

Those are physical representations of the torture he went through under Sukuna's presence and the mark he left on him. Only the torture that was shown... has less impact than I had hoped. Gojo's attack on Megumi e.g. left him suffering UV effect for 1700 years and that's not a factor in any of this apparently.

Megumi has the physical scars but the story behind it is lacking because we didn't see Sukuna and Megumi interacting.

Megumi and Yuji just go back to how things were and that leaves the emotional impact hanging again. Yes, we can explain their psyches on that but in storytelling some things are just more impactfull than others.

Nobara and Yuji wanting to prank Megumi was peak and the last letters from Gojo were also funny but again the emotions surrounding that were a little funky imo

Look at the three they're all scarred now.

Something else I would probably criticize Gege's story structure for is that Nobara's scars have barely any relation to Mahito and that Megumi's scars have no impact from his underdeveloped relationship with Sukuna.

Yuji carries the emotional and structural beats of the manga and that's okay, he's the protagonist after all but that makes the scars on the others look more like paint... Again, in my opinion.

The last panels are about Yuta and whatever he has going on with Gojo's body. We'll see in the last three chapters...

And that brings me to a point I can't stop thinking about.

Is this the actual end of JJK, or is there a Part 2?

Because there are so many different plot points left, things that could easily make an entire 200 chapter story arc. And then comes Gege and adds another new plot in the point of Nobara's mother to the mix.

We have not seen Megumi's completed domain expansion.

I’m so mixed. I really hope there’s a part 2, and I feel like if there is all my concerns are assuaged. Gege is not an idiot, and I’m 100% certain that he realizes how lacking these chapters are after how brilliantly he has developed things over the course of the manga. The thing I’m questioning is whether or not he is laughing at us because we don’t know there’s a sequel or if he’s angry that either his health is not up to the task or he is being interferes with by editorial.

As for the chapter, I think Megumi may have some effects of Sukuna’s possession that we don’t exactly know about in full yet. He was able to deduce Sukuna’s worries about his finger, and also knew of the process to turn yourself into a cursed object and that the connection, soul-wise, would not be strong enough. Megumi has always been a bit of an intellectual genius, but this suggests to me that he did at the least glean some of Sukuna’s memories. There’s also that joke line by Nobara about being promoted to special grade, which could be about how Sukuna’s possession changed his body like it did Yuji, and Megumi was directly possessed and with a greater amount of Sukuna’s power than Yuji was. Shrine, mastery of techniques, RCT, vast reserves, etc.

Megumi’s character has also still not advanced at all. If anything he has just regressed back to what he was before the bath, and I can’t imagine Gege does not realize this with those two lines from Megumi. Instead of living for Tsumiki, he’s now living for Yuji. We also haven’t gotten what exactly that thing was with Tsumiki in his shadow when he was trying to murder that girl.

I also really really really disliked Sukuna’s end. I think the ending itself with him going out with a whimper, and cursing Yuji to the end not giving up on his ideals is perfect, but I just don’t really feel strongly about resonance plus black flash being the one to get him. I also thought it was ridiculous that divergent fist caught him off guard, that reeked of editor interference to me personally.

And yes!!! Where is chimera shadow garden!!!

I can’t imagine the last three chapters are slice of life or whatever, that isn’t Gege’s style.

I think this is a conversation that fandom needs to have in general.

When you encounter something that makes you uncomfortable while you’re playing a video game, reading something on AO3, browsing Twitter, or scrolling through Tumblr, you have the power to remove yourself. You can stop reading, you can hit the back button, you can block/mute, you can turn the device off entirely.

“Consent” has a very specific meaning. When you’re consuming a piece of media that a creator has posted on their own personal account, you are in their space. That is a one-sided interaction. They’re not at all involved, they can’t reach through the screen to hit the back button for you. They’re not “violating your consent” or “pushing your boundaries”, because you are the one in control.

In this usage, "consent" usually refers to boundaries around acts of physical or emotional intimacy, the violation of which is frequently assault, harassment, or abuse. It's serious and it means something specific.

Encountering something you don't like or even something triggering in media is not a violation of "consent." It's a frankly gross bastardization of language to act as if that's the case.

If we're going to look at consuming media through this lens of "consent," then… you consented when you started playing and you can revoke that consent at any time by turning it off?? Why would you act as if you've been violated here? It's gross!

Dude with all due respect ao3 was literally created because other fanfiction sites kept deleting and censoring stories with rape, noncon/dubcon, incest, etc porn as well as LGBT ship fics. The site does have a required ratings and warnings systems and tags so that you can exclude works that have themes or content within them that you don’t want to see.

The above tagger has subjects they dislike; they need to learn to navigate around them so they don’t need to interact. That’s why tagging is so important: allowing the work to be found or avoided as needed.

The problem with ‘a little censorship’ is…endless. You want to control what other people are doing: how do you not see how that’s fucked to begin with?

You want to remove the ‘gross’ or the ‘inappropriate’ subjects, like that isn’t wholly subjective. Incest bothers you? Don’t read incest.

I can’t typically do fics with cheating, but I am not about to go tell the folks who write it that they can’t, purely to make me feel better. My eldest hates unhappy endings, they don’t get to dig up sad ending fics and yell at the author. My middle kid likes a different ship than I do in pretty much all of our common media. I don’t get to tell him he can’t read it anymore.

Fancy, emotionally charged buzzwords don’t change the fact that yeah, all of those are the same concept. You don’t like it, someone else is writing it, others are reading it, and that bothers you. That’s on you, my dear.

You will never have the right to tell someone else they cannot read or write it purely because you dislike it.

Learn to block, learn to filter, learn to accept that the real world has people who like things you do not.

This is the donut/diet argument all over again: you can’t have or dislike donuts, so you want to make sure no one else can have it either. Hard no, my friend. You have control only over yourself, and you need to remember that.

‘But those are bad things, I’m trying to get rid of the bad things only!’ No. They make you uncomfortable. There is a difference. Just as there is difference between reality and fiction. Just like what you think is bad may not, and probably will not, line up with someone else.

Fiction is not promoting rape, incest, whatever else. Kids aren’t going to go out and recreate things they’ve read for shits and giggles anymore than playing grand theft auto is going to make them join the fucking mafia or whatever it is. Sims players don’t suddenly rip their clothes off and drown in the pool, reading about Vash banging his brother a la Flowers in the Attic is hardly going to make someone knock on their actual brother’s door, etc etc etc ad nauseum.

More importantly: there is no end to ‘a little censorship’. Someone else gets to decide what I’m allowed to read and write, and the organizations with that aim have proven over and over and o v e r to be insane. Anything remotely queer is banned for being Bad or Sexualized (because these people have learned that PROTECT THE KIDS is the easiest way to rally the ignorant masses into believing that the rainbow is somehow preying on children… and thus need to be Controlled…)

You don’t want incest, you don’t want no con, someone else doesn’t want any form of kink, a third busybody can’t stand that boys kiss boys, a fourth can’t handle trans characters, another carves out the ace spectrum, yet more go after the stories exploring gender dynamics in the ABO verse.

That’s not even getting into politics, where it turns into now no one can post stories that explore changes in government, that are anti war, that are hopepunk and show all the ways society could be better. Or, on the opposite spectrum, things akin to the anarchist’s cookbook: how to make weaponry to forcibly make things change.

Oh, can’t have books that talk about different religions, either. Can’t have books that let girls know they should be treated equally, that they can do whatever they please, that they’re more than a walking baby factory. can’t have stories with magic, that’ll lead to evil thoughts. Can’t have stories with explicitly consensual anything, gotta keep the population pure and filled with shame about their desires. (There is a reason so many romance novels have a bit of unsavory shenanigans: the thrill of being wanted so overwhelmingly in a world where feeling that want means you are Not a Good Girl)

We’re living this, right now, again.

This is why knowing your history is so important.

Look at books have that been banned, burned. I’m going to oversimplify but: Picture books (and tango makes 3) because two male penguins adopted a baby, and we can’t let our kids know that’s acceptable, never mind that I, a child of a lesbian, literally bawled my eyes out upon finding that book in my twenties. I would read it every day to my own toddlers, because look! They’re like Awa and Gramma! 1984, because the entire point is how burning books is Bad. Animal Farm, the new government is just as bad as the old and we the people deserve better. Gone With the Wind, for being about the American south and not only making it seem like maybe slavery is kinda meh but also hinting at a woman having a sexuality. The scandal. Harry Potter. Not because JK turned out to be transphobic trash, but because it’ll turn kids into satanists, y’know, because of all the magic. A thing that is totally real and possible to recreate. Are you there god, it’s me, Margaret. Because it talked about menstrual cycles.

As an American, seeing headlines where kids are banned from the library because of policies like this is terrifying. Kids in Florida have zero books in the classroom. They have to be screened to be considered ‘appropriate’. And that means whitewashed, bland, and unchallenging of the norms the neo nazis are pushing. Can’t have anything about the struggles of the non white populace, can’t have anything at all about the queers, can’t have anything that paints the south in a bad light.

There is a bill currently attempting to pass into law, KOSA: kids online safety act. Under the guise of ‘protect the kids’ the government here is literally attempting to sanitize and censor the entire internet, for everyone. AO3 will be on the list of places they’re going to try and nuke. Yeah, even your cute vanilla super straight happy ever afters. All in the name of making sure imaginary little Johnny doesn’t think kissing boys, wearing pink, becoming friends with the Mexican kid down the street, or opposing genocide is acceptable behavior.

Censorship is not about protecting you, me, the mythical children, or anyone at all. It never has been.

Censorship is purely about control.

Censorship is about controlling your awareness, your intelligence, your ability to realize you are living in the worst timeline, and your ability to organize and fight back. Censorship is division. Censorship is deliberate cruelty meant to cripple you and make you malleable.

After all, you’ve given up your ability to explore new ideas, to think outside the box they’ve put you in. You are tamed, declawed, and too stupid to notice now. Don’t worry your pretty little blonde haired and blue eyed head about it now, Julie, the government will tell you want you need to know. Oh, what happened to your neighbor? Sweetie, what neighbor? No one was ever there. Repeat after me, no one was ever there.

AO3 is protecting my ability to read and write whatever the fuck I want, while giving me the search capabilities to NOT run into shit I dislike. AO3 is giving my teens a safe place to read and explore their own sexualities and interests, to engage in uncomfortable situations in a controlled way. AO3 is giving my teens a place to practice being human.

Censorship is always the bad guy.