howlites on AO3, obsessed with Geto Suguru, fan of the SatoSugu vers and switch agenda, can't stop writing emotional smut... did I mention my feelings on Suguru?
Allow me, to the tips of your fingers and the ends of your feet
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Oh, Karaage
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I'm what's left of when we swam under the moon
They'll never know how I'd stared at the dark in that room
Just as two laurels often have one root
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Can I hide there too? Hide in the hair of him
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I want your things in my room
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Fortuna: Redux
i will wade out till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
Explicit | series | 18,084 words | Not Complete
Cute, Kawaii, Hentaii Boobies, That Excites Me
Let Me Suck on the Stems of Flowers
You're My Baby, Say it to Me
I'm a fountain of blood, You're the bird on the brim
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Satoru and the Imperceptible Hubris of the Strongest
One of my favorite things about GGs writing is the way he explores broad and universal themes through his character writing. He always goes beneath the surface layer in his exploration imo, and it doesn't feel heavy handed or preachy.
I've been thinking a lot lately about Satoru and how he is used to explore what it does and doesn't mean to be strong. Not just strength itself. But what it means to be strong. Satoru is the strongest, and so, of course, what must come with this exploration is - hubris. Any superlative has a connection to hubris imo. It is embedded in the very nature of the superlative. To be the -est. The most. The very. The singular. For positive or negative.
And when I think of Satoru's hubris, I first think of defining it by what it is not.
Satoru knows he is the strongest. Even from a young age, he understands this. He also likes being strong. He genuinely enjoys being able to fight at such a high level.
But although he's always had pride in his strength, as we see whenever he declares, "We're/I'm the strongest" unwaveringly, and although he teases others about his strength in comparison to them, as we see when he calls Utahime weak and tells Ijichi to stop trying to be a sorcerer and get a driver's license or else he'll smack Ijichi, he doesn't take glee in it. It might amuse him, but it doesn't satisfy him to be "above" others. He is satisfied and pleased with his strength in and of itself. Not about having strength over others.
This is in direct contrast to Sukuna. A perfect example of this contrast is during the Shibuya Incident when Sukuna tells Kusakabe, Panda, Suda, and Negi not to move as Jogo's Maximum Meteor is coming down on them. He knows they need to flee in order not to die. He knows he has no interest in whether they live or die. He knows he has no interest in fighting them. But he also knows that he is strong and they are weak.
If he tells them not to move or else he'll kill them, they will freeze and not move. Because they want to live. And they cannot stop Sukuna from killing them if he so chooses. And yet... They are standing still as death in the form of a meteor inches closer and closer by the second. They freeze and ignore their human instinct to run away because they know they have a higher chance of survival even if they run at the last second than they do against Sukuna. So they desperately wait for his permission to move.
But why does Sukuna do this? What purpose does this serve Sukuna?
None. Absolutely none. He does it simply because he can.
He is the boy who holds the magnifying glass over the ants on a sunny day.
I'm strong, you're weak. And that brings me glee.
Satoru does not do things like this. He gets no satisfaction or enjoyment from such a thing. So who he is to his strength is a matter of pride. Not arrogance. The difference between being proud or being arrogant is how you use what it is you have on others. Satoru uses his strength to defend, to help, to protect, to achieve a better world. He may not do it solely from a place of altruism, he may weigh the benefits of his choices between the individual and the whole, the immediate and the future, and he may make choices that are morally grey, but he uses his strength for others.
Sukuna uses his strength for himself. He uses his strength to oppress and subjugate others. That is arrogance.
But when we look at how Satoru perceives and understands the impact of his strength? That is where his hubris lies. And we see it over and over again.
This is why I call it "imperceptible" hubris. It is not something Satoru ever sees in himself. We know this because he never corrects himself. Never does anything to stop the hubris from making him complacent. It is also not something others usually see in him because Satoru's strength is a protector, a defender, a mentor for them. They don't see that being the strongest doesn't mean complete control. In their minds, if Satoru is handling it, then all will be handled.
As soon as GG introduces Satoru, he shows us what he intends with this character. He shows us Satoru's hubris by first showing us how Satoru expects things to happen when he decides to act, and then he shows us how things can happen outside of Satoru's expectation even when he does act.
Satoru has good reason to have his expectations. He is the strongest. I've stated this before, but if Satoru chooses to act, his will will be done. Just like Sukuna with the meteor example. Who can stop him? Who can go against him? Who can overpower him? Who even wants to attempt that? Satoru is well aware of his power. Of his physical strength and his political might. He is a Gojo. He is a Gojo who has the Six Eyes and Limitless. He is a Gojo who has the Six Eyes and Limitless and meets the prophecy of what that means in the jujutsu world. He is The Honored One.
There is a reason that as a teen, he easily considers letting Amanai choose not to merge with Tengen. Even knowing that that could mean fighting against Tengen herself, he suggests this to Suguru. There is a reason that as a teen he is flippant and at ease during the majority of that mission. There is a reason that even when Toji catches him off guard and stabs him through the back, he lifts his hand and dismisses Suguru to continue on ahead. Says he'll catch up. He'll handle Toji alone.
It's because Satoru knows that if he chooses to act, his will will be done. Because he is just that strong. But this is only true on the surface. True in what Satoru can control. While Satoru is just that strong, he is not a god. He cannot control everything. He cannot be everywhere at once. He cannot be privy to all information. He cannot overcome reality. So what develops in response to this overwhelming strength is an insidious complacency.
I believe the Star Plasma Vessel mission and its fallout was the first time in Satoru's life when things did not go as he expected even though he took action. He whisks Amanai away from the city. He overexerts himself by using Limitless constantly day and night so no one can dare get close. Even when Toji attacks, Satoru attacks back, using his strongest ability at the time - Maximum Output: Blue. But what happens?
Amanai is killed. The mission is a failure. Tengen doesn't merge with her. The seed of disillusionment is planted in Suguru.
Why? Why does this happen when Satoru is the strongest?
Now, for us readers, we see Satoru for the first time after he has already experienced that moment in his youth. We don't yet know about it. We don't yet know that Satoru has experienced this failure. We see him as an adult first, handling the unexpected issue of the King of Curses appearing in a random boy.
Satoru sent Megumi on the mission to deal with Sukuna's finger. Clearly, he deemed Megumi capable of handling it, or, at the very least, wanted to see how well Megumi would do before he intervened. When Satoru does intervene, this is the first time we see Satoru's strength. It is striking how concerned Megumi is about what Sukuna can do because Satoru behaves as if Megumi's concern is a silly thing. There is no cause for concern. Of course Satoru won't be hurt by Sukuna. Of course this mission isn't out of control. Of course whatever is happening can be easily solved.
Because Satoru has decided to act.
Satoru tests out Yuji's ability to control Sukuna and has a little fun slapping Sukuna around while doing it. He knows he can deal with whatever this is. No problem. Satoru can deal with anything. So we, the reader, believe this too.
This is further cemented when we're informed that Satoru has gotten the Higher Ups to agree to let Yuji live. The highest power in jujutsu society, a body of sorcerers from the Three Big Families who work in tandem with the Prime Minister of Japan, a group comprised of members who are older and more experienced than Satoru agree to listen to Satoru and completely change their decision/ruling. Satoru comes in and waves his hand at them:
No. Postpone the boy's execution.
And they do. Because Satoru said so. Again, Satoru chose to act, and so his will was done.
But... This is where GG shows us his hand.
Because the Higher Ups don't actually agree. They agree to Satoru's face. And then they turn around and create a plot to have Yuji killed anyway while Satoru is away.
Now, the logical and sensible thing that we all know to be true is that not everything goes your way. That you cannot control other people. That people will try to accomplish their goals regardless of you trying to stop them. That even if they're met with an immovable wall, people will just find the tiniest opening to slip through. This is reality. Satoru is subject to this same reality, regardless of his strength. And Satoru knows that.
... Doesn't he?
Let's look at Satoru's response to the Higher Ups attempting to kill Yuji. His anger in the morgue with Ijichi and Shoko is twofold. That Yuji, a kid that he's already incorporated into his plan for the future, is suddenly dead. But another part of this anger is that his action with the Higher Ups didn't prevent it.
Look at what he says at the beginning of this scene about stopping Yuji's execution:
"I did the impossible..."
He is well aware that his ability to get the Higher Ups to agree to indefinitely postponing Yuji's execution was unprecedented. But of course, as Gojo Satoru, he was able to accomplish it.
And then, "Shall I go ahead and kill all those guys at the top?"
This isn't a response of vengeance. This isn't a response of morality. This is the response of Satoru seeing that the Higher Ups have circumvented Satoru's will when he already acted to exert it, and so they will absolutely do it again. ...Unless they're dead. Then they can't. But, of course, Satoru does not do such a thing. Because he knows something very important about lasting change. He knows that the only way to make true change, to make the change last, and not be like what happened here with Yuji and the Higher Ups is for it to be a choice. He wants others to choose change for jujutsu society because they believe, just like him, that it's the right/best choice.
I want to return to Satoru's youth one more time. Because it is here where Satoru learns this lesson about the futility of exerting his will on others to achieve the lasting change he desires.
He learns this lesson because of Suguru's defection.
When Suguru becomes disillusioned after the SPV mission, it is a horrific shock to Satoru. He is stunned by Suguru's massacre of the village and his own parents. He is in denial about it even as Yaga tells him that Suguru's residuals were obvious at the scene. He even goes to Shinjuku to meet with Suguru to talk it out.
Satoru does not go to Shinjuku with the intent to apprehend or kill Suguru. He goes there to get Suguru to explain. He goes there to tell Suguru how stupid he's being and that he needs to stop. Satoru speaks to Suguru in Shinjuku as if Satoru has the ability to bring Suguru back into the fold.
But this is not true.
No matter what Satoru did in that moment, it wouldn't have made any difference. Suguru was gone from him. However, Satoru didn't accept that.
Satoru's response to Suguru during this brief conversation is initially one of confusion. He doesn't understand what Suguru is saying, what he's implying. It's as if Suguru is speaking riddles to him. Only once Suguru draws a line in the sand between them by asking that infamous question and turning his back does Satoru raise his hand to kill Suguru. And the way Gege draws Satoru's expression is so significant.
It's quite similar to the face he made when Toji stabbed him with the Inverted Spear of Heaven and he almost died.
Shock. Disbelief. Fear. Refusal to accept.
I don't think Satoru ever made a conscious decision to kill Suguru in Shinjuku. I think he held his hands up out of desperation. A fear response of, 'I need to make this stop' because the conversation spun out of Satoru's control. Out of Satoru's ability to fix. And although we know it was never in Satoru's control, he did not know that.
Satoru is used to his strength being the deciding factor if he chooses to step in. He can change whatever is happening in that moment just by deciding to exert his strength. To me, Satoru's raised hands here are like scrabbling at the edge of the cliff as you start to fall. Not even a real conscious thought. A startle response. A panic response.
But he doesn't release the attack. Why? Because he knows that what he wants is for Suguru to always stand beside him. If he exerts his strength onto Suguru, his will will be done. He can overpower Suguru. He can capture him. Kill him. But Satoru will not get what he wants. That lasting change of having Suguru back by his side forever? He cannot make that happen by exerting his strength on Suguru. Suguru has decided to leave, and only Suguru can choose to stay.
This is why Satoru intervenes so rarely as an adult. Because of Suguru's defection he has learned that it is best to use his strength for others instead of on others. He doesn't want to force others with his strength because it is only temporary. He wants this new generation of jujutsu to be built from everyone choosing a better future. That's his dream. His ideal. The one that was born from Suguru's defection.
"I can only save those who are already prepared to be saved by others."
What is accomplished if he forces others into a changed position with his strength? Nothing. Nothing truly changes. Not systemically. It only "changes" so long as Satoru exerts that force. Once he stops, it reverts. So he realizes he must be selective with when he chooses to act.
This is a great thing. It is an amazing thing for someone like Satoru to realize and understand. As we've already done, if we compare this aspect of Satoru to Sukuna, we clearly see the difference between Sukuna's arrogance and Satoru's pride.
The interesting part with Satoru is when he does choose to act and it doesn't go his way.
"Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments, or capabilities." I'm quoting the wonderful person who put this in the Wikipedia article about hubris because I think it's perfect.
The reality is that the Higher Ups went behind Satoru's back to kill Yuji. The reality is that Toji waited Satoru out and attacked him, overwhelmed him, and killed Amanai. The reality is that Suguru wasn't okay and lost himself more and more over the following year until he broke.
Satoru believed that he did everything to prevent these things/stop these things from happening.
I am not blaming Satoru for these things happening. That is not what this about. My point is exactly the opposite. That Satoru cannot control these things. He cannot control the Higher Ups plotting. He cannot control someone's else's ability to attack him. He cannot control his friend's emotional wellbeing.
But he has acted as if he can. In each situation, he actively chose to behave as if he had solved the problem and nothing further could happen.
This is his hubris. The complacency. The knowledge and understanding within himself that he is so strong, so powerful, so capable of altering the very balance of the world he was born into just by deciding to act, that he does not ever believe that his action will fail or be successfully challenged.
This is his "loss of contact with reality." Reality is that no one, not even the strongest, can control all things. But Satoru overestimates the impact of his strength when he chooses to exert it. So he often misses opportunities to act.
I do not think Satoru is ever aware of this hubris in himself. I wonder if it's even something he could gain awareness of. Is it the natural weakness of being the strongest? Because if it is all so easy for you, you begin to expect that it will all be so easy for you. How can you not? Maybe it's an inevitability? Perhaps a paradox? Satoru is so strong that his confidence in his ability is merited, but that exact same confidence is what leads him to becoming blind to the possibility of something happening regardless. I believe this is what GG chose to explore with Satoru.
As I stated, JJK repeats this pattern with Satoru throughout the entire manga. We are shown again and again how Satoru can choose to step in and alter the course of what's happening with the ease of lifting one finger.
Look at his first fight with Jogo. He toys with Jogo. He runs off to grab Yuji and bring him to the fight as a spectator so he can learn through observation. Look at the Goodwill Exchange arc. When the cursed spirits put up the curtain to block Satoru and attack the students, everyone, including Gakuganji and Utahime, are fighting hard. Satoru, on the other hand, enters calmly and attacks who he wants to with ease while the other enemies flee because of his entrance.
GG makes a conscious effort to draw Satoru's expressions and movements as calm and minimal even while he attacks. Everyone else is incredibly dynamic, facial expressions dramatic, poses and scratch lines indicating their quick and harsh movements. It gives them the impression of intense exertion in comparison to Satoru. Where Satoru can walk and lift a hand to attack, they must thrust their entire body into it.
Even look at how he initially navigates the Shibuya Incident. No matter what they throw at him, no matter how much pressure they put on him, no matter how thoroughly they try to target him specifically, Satoru is able to overcome it all and best them. I want to stress that even here, Satoru is not breaking a sweat.
He overwhelms Hanami and Jogo easily. It is not close. They are barely making him work. Even when Mahito joins, it's not Mahito that proves challenging. The challenge comes from Satoru having to navigate what to do about the large volume of non-sorcerers in the way/getting slaughtered. Even then, he just chooses to exert a heightened burst of strength to put an end to it all within seconds. He makes it stop because he chooses to make it stop.
But then, GG will turn around and show us something that Satoru could not control. That a potentially preventable issue has turned into a horrifying, monumental issue even though Satoru was certain that his decision to act ensured that it would not be an issue.
Yuji died that day during the Cursed Womb mission. Satoru made the Higher Ups postpone Yuji's execution, so Satoru thought Yuji would not be killed. And yet...he was. This then leads to Sukuna being able to gain access to Megumi during the Culling Games.
Satoru was overwhelmed by Toji during the SPV mission. As discussed above, Satoru takes Amanai to Okinawa, constantly uses Limitless, and attacks Toji with all his might. He believes he can handle it all. And yet...he fails. This then leads to Toji killing Amanai, the merge with Tengen never happening, and Suguru becoming so disillusioned that he becomes the worst curse user in history.
The biggest example of this, of course, is what happens with Suguru's body.
We are never given the full picture of what Satoru does with Suguru's body after he kills him. We only know that he does not cremate the body, he does not give the body to Shoko, and he must leave the body somewhere it can be found and accessed.
We know Satoru is the one who last had access to Suguru's body upon his death because Satoru is the one who killed him. No one else was even around. When Satoru meets up with his students after, where is Suguru's body at this point? We don't know. But Satoru must've placed it somewhere. Why was Suguru not cremated upon his death? It could make sense for it not to happen immediately if Shoko was "making use" of Suguru's body. This is what Satoru told Shoko to do with Yuji when he died. To "make use" of Yuji's body by examining it through dissection. Why did the same not happen with Suguru's body?
So this must mean that Suguru's body was stored somewhere. Why? For what purpose? Satoru didn't return to it, or else it was stored in a way that he couldn't look at it directly if he did return because he would've realized when Kenjaku took it. Kenjaku had to have taken Suguru's body quickly after death in order to get it before decomposition made it unusable for his purposes. Plus, we know that Suguru was killed Christmas 2017, and by July 2018, Kenjaku is already in cahoots with Jogo, Hanami, and Mahito.
Now, I don't say any of this to blame Satoru for Kenjaku's actions. Just as I mentioned with the Higher Ups trying to kill Yuji, it is a universal truth that things don't always happen the way we want them to, even when we take action to make them happen the way we want. Satoru didn't know about Kenjaku's existence or Cursed Technique. It's not like he intentionally left Suguru's body available while knowing that there was a curse user capable of doing such a thing.
He wasn't thinking about the possibility of someone being able to use Suguru's body in this way. But...that's precisely it. He wasn't thinking about anything happening to Suguru's body because he already acted to keep Suguru's body where/how he wanted it. Satoru chose not to cremate Suguru. Chose not to give Suguru's body to Shoko. If Suguru had been killed by any other sorcerer, they would have done that.
Japan has the highest cremation rate in the world. 99.9% of people who die are cremated. Not only is this due to space limitations preventing burial from being logistically possible, but it is also a deeply ingrained cultural practice.
Satoru killed Suguru in isolation and secretly took his body somewhere. He made that choice. It wasn't negligence, it was a purposeful decision.
Because he never believed that anything could happen because he exerted his will to keep Suguru's body.
This decision has large reaching ramifications, as we know. Arguably, this one has the biggest ripple effect. I would say it's the one that illustrates Satoru's hubris the best.
For 10 years, Satoru chose to do nothing about Suguru. Satoru was the only one capable of killing Suguru during this time. Even Yuta didn't kill Suguru with Pure Love. Severely wounded him, yes, but didn't kill him. Suguru was able to get away and was muttering about what he'd do "next time." Granted, that could have been delusional, but we have no reason to believe he was on death's door after his fight with Yuta. He could no longer fight and needed to retreat and heal, but he wasn't taking his last breath. Otherwise, why would Satoru need to step in and take him out?
So Satoru chose to finally take action and kill Suguru. Killing Suguru meant that his body was then capable of being used by Kenjaku. Kenjaku was unable to use Suguru while he was still alive. Kenjaku did not have the strength to kill Suguru, or else he would've done it. He needed Suguru to die somehow, and Satoru killed him.
And then Satoru used his strength to do something else. He kept Suguru's body.
The greatest curse user in history attacks all of jujutsu society in 2 cities simultaneously. All sorcerers are on alert and involved in defending against the attack. Thousands of curses are released. The sorcerers even meet in advance to come up with a plan of defense. And yet... they all just take Satoru's word for it that Suguru's been killed? Yes, they have no reason to believe Satoru would lie or protect a curse user, but did no one question what he did with the body?
The impact of this is cataclysmic.
Kenjaku gains access to Suguru's CT. Satoru is sealed in the Prison Realm. This then leads to the Culling Games.
I want to be clear once more that I do not do this analysis to blame Satoru or claim that he could have prevented any of these things we've examined from happening and becoming issues. This analysis is only for one purpose. It is to cast a spotlight on what I believe GG wanted to convey:
To show how human Satoru is.
The strongest has the exact same weakness as everyone else. He is human.
I believe that is the purpose of Satoru's hubris. You can be the -est, but you are still human. Satoru is the strongest, so he should be able to do anything, to make anything happen. But he doesn't. He can't. And it's not because he isn't truly the strongest.
It is simply because he is human.
Why did Satoru not do better due diligence with Yuji after he convinced the Higher Ups not the execute him? He knows the Higher Ups. He's butted heads with them for years at this point. He knows the jujutsu world. He, himself, calls them cowards because they want to kill Yuji because they're afraid of Sukuna. Why did he not keep a better eye on Yuji or put better safety measures in place to protect Yuji when he went on his business trip?
Why did Satoru suggest spending an extra day in Okinawa to make Amanai happy when he knew it was exhausting him? Why did he dismiss Suguru to keep going ahead with Amanai rather than letting Suguru fight Toji alongside him?
Why did Satoru stop at merely asking Suguru if he'd lost weight? Why didn't he question his best friend further?
Why did Satoru take his time with Jogo the first time they fought rather than taking him out then and there since he was clearly a curse much stronger than any they had ever encountered before?
Why didn't Satoru cremate Suguru's body?
Because he didn't think he needed to.
That's it. It's that simple. He didn't think he needed to. That's hubris. That's complacency. That's the overestimation of the impact of his strength. That's the loss of contact with reality.
Because the reality is - Satoru is not all-powerful. Satoru is not a god. He is a man. So his one action may not be enough to prevent an issue.
This is what I mean by Satoru missing opportunities to take action.
He could have done more. He has the ability, the opportunity, and the knowledge to do more. It may not have changed any of these events...but it might have. It might have changed it a little. Again, this is not blame. These things didn't happen because Satoru did or didn't do something. They happened because they happened. But Satoru had opportunity to do something more, and yet we see him choose not to again and again because he believes he has already handled it.
And this is exactly why Satoru dies. It's why GG knew from the very beginning that he was going to have Satoru die. Because he knew that he was creating a character who would be the strongest and that a significant part of his thematic exploration of that would be about the humanness that still exists even in such strength.
Satoru's imperceptible hubris is the sole reason why he dies.
He does not believe that he will die. He does not believe he will lose to Sukuna. So he acts as if he's already won before the fight is over.
An official Jujutsu Kaisen exhibition was held in Osaka and Tokyo in 2025. It featured behind-the-scenes material, GG's commentary, and both exhibitions also included Q & A sessions.
GG said:
"The slash that hit Gojo happened right after he said âThis is Gojoâs win.â I think he let his guard down after defeating Mahoraga. At that point, he believed Sukuna had no way to counter Limitless anymore."
Thoughts about what it means to write in-character
Sometimes, I have thoughts about what it means to write a character "in-character" in a fic. Mainly, is it possible to write anything and it still be "in-character?" Or, to ask another way, at what point does a plot point, or even general premise of a fic, no longer make sense for that particular character?
I'm not talking about whether something should or should not be written. This isn't an admonishment of others, but just curiosity for my own sake. I like to write "in-character." For me, a big part of the enjoyment of my writing fanfiction is to analyze that character based off canon and explore that analysis through my writing. So, while I am creating non-canon events based on non-canon decisions, I like to believe that those events and decisions are within the realm of possibility for that character, based on who I believe them to be from the source material.
For example, if I believe jujutsu sorcerery to be an integral part of Satoru's sense of identity, if I believe that his desire for and enjoyment of jujutsu, his dutiful resignation to being a necessary part of jujutsu, his internalization of being raised to understand that jujutsu is life/the world and there is no other life/world, then how could I ever write a fic where Satoru defects with Suguru from jujutsu society?
How would I rationalize that choice for Satoru, as Satoru, through my words? How would I write that action in Satoru's voice? And further, how can I make the reader accept that rationalization as true to Satoru.
This is what I mean.
When it comes to fanfic...which comes first in significance? The characters' identities or the plot points/tropes? Which informs the other? Do I choose a scenario and simply mold Satoru and Suguru to fit within it? Or do I choose Satoru and Suguru and then mold a scenario to fit through the lens of the POV I believe them to have?
It's clear for me to say that I choose the latter when I write.
Occasionally, I'll think of a premise that might be interesting to explore.
What if, when Satoru finds Suguru after his fight with Yuta, he doesn't kill Suguru? He whisks Suguru away, and they run away together?
What if Suguru sees Satoru after 10 years when he goes to make his war proclamation at the school, and his resolve crumbles just from seeing and speaking to Satoru again?
What if Satoru refuses to let Suguru leave in Shinjuku, and he holds Suguru captive against his will?
But when I think of how it would happen...What it would look like...Where it would go... It falls apart in my mind. Because it directly contradicts my understanding of them as characters. And I feel as if I wouldn't be writing fanfic of Satoru and Suguru anymore. I'd just be using their faces for characters I made up.
So in some ways... I'm limiting myself and what I think I can write. Because it's just fanfiction. There are no "supposed tos" on how to write it. I can write anything I want. But I don't feel that I am limiting myself. I feel that I am being a good writer, a strong writer, by adhering to the behavioral expectations of these characters that I acknowledged/accepted/understood from engaging with the source material.
Obviously the concept of "in-character" when it comes to writing is not unique to fanfiction. What is unique in the case of fanfic, the start and some of the development of the character was made by someone else. So we have to analyze and write from that point. Not write immediately from a point of creation.
Let's go to the movies, I will hum you a song about nothing at all
Satoru liked watching Suguru eat.
Suguru usually ate well. There were times when he ate a little less because his stomach was upset. Satoru wasnât sure if it was because of consuming curses or if it was because Suguru worried too much. But he usually ate. Not as much as Satoru, but thenâŚno one ever eats as much as Satoru.
Satoru liked when they went out to restaurants or ate together in the dorm kitchen. When he got to sit across from Suguru and watch him directly. Suguruâs eyes softened as he ate, eyelids lowered, but eyebrows slightly raised. His bangs tickled his cheek as he chewed, and his face flushed with the warmth of the meal. Sometimes, in the summer, when it was particularly humid, heâd even sweat a little. He leaned forward at the waist, shoulders rounded in a way they never were when he was standing, and his lips curled around his chopsticks or his spoon. His lips moved so neatly, even when he was pushing a large bundle of noodles into his mouth.
And sometimesâŚsometimes, heâd look up at Satoru right in that moment of putting a bite into his mouth.
His violet eyes would gleam brightly with the pleasure of the taste, his thin eyebrows elegantly arched. His cheeks would bulge a little, his tanned skin protruding adorably around his mouth, and his soft lips pursed faintly.
Satoru never let anyone else sit across from Suguru. Initially, when Shoko or Haibara tried, Satoru would refuse to sit down until they moved so he could take that seat. Shoko rolled her eyes and quickly adapted, moving to sit beside Suguru automatically any time they ate together. But Haibara often forgot, and would always look perplexed as to why Satoru was still standing. Once, when they were all out at a restaurant, Nanami said something.
âYouâre in Satoru-samaâs seat, Haibara,â he pointed out, lip curled.
Haibara blinked. âDo you prefer to sit by the window, Gojo-san?â Of course, he misunderstood.
But before Satoru could respond, Shoko smirked a little.
âI think he and Geto play footsie while they eat,â she said.
Suguru stiffened in his chair next to her and frowned down at the table.
âItâs just habit,â Suguru interjected. âWe always sit across from each other.â Then he looked up at Satoru. âIs it okay if you just sit next to Haibara this time, Satoru?â
Satoruâs food tasted like dirt that afternoon.
-
Read the rest:
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Hi, anon! No, I am not. I'm also not fluent in Japanese, either.
I love research, and I've engaged in it regularly for university and my job for many years. It helps me when it comes to writing my fics, analyzing my interests, and digging into sources that are in any language I'm not fluent in. But it can, of course, only go so far since I don't have the personal cultural understanding.
I've been thinking, I feel like the original Japanese lyrics of Chikai by Hikaru Utada make me think of Suguru's perspective in the second half of "I'm a fountain of blood, You're the bird on the brim" and Don't Think Twice kind of makes me think of Satoru's perspective. I dunno, what do you think?
Yes, yes, yes. Yes!
Most of my fics (and chapters) are titled after song lyrics. The two biggest artist inspirations for me when writing my fics are BjĂśrk and Utada Hikaru.
Not only the lyrics of these artists' songs, but also the soundscapes of the songs fit Satoru and Suguru so well for me. It probably also helps that I first discovered these artists and listened to them a lot in the early to mid 2000s. Satoru, Suguru, and I share the same generation/age, so I personally understand what it was like being a teen/young adult during the same time they were teens/young adults.
If you've read my fic, Stay Gold, you'll see how every title is from a Hiki song. It's funny, so many people think I'm referencing, "Stay Gold, Ponyboy," from the Outsiders. I am not. The title is a reference to Hiki's song, "Stay Gold:"
English translation here:
Because I love you so much
You don't have to worry about anything
My darling, stay gold
Please laugh innocently foreverâŚ
The young boy hidden deep within your eyes
Continues to entice my instincts
Aah somehow, let it continue, good luck
There will most likely continue to be
Sad things ahead of us
My darling, stay gold
Because even getting hurt is important
Like...? I'm sorry, is that not perfectly Satoru's POV of Suguru? I linked a live version above. Please listen to it. It's gorgeous. Doesn't it just sound like Satoru and Suguru are outside in the Spring, the wind is blowing, just a faint coolness, but the sun is bright and warm, their arms leaning on a railing, and Satoru is looking discreetly at Suguru out of the corner of his eye? Suguru is looking off into the distance, his bangs moving in the wind, a faint smile on his lips, but it's tinged with a little sadness, both of them holding water bottles from the vending machine that are wet with condensation dripping down. And Satoru just thinks of being beside Suguru forever. And he aches because he wants to take that sadness away from Suguru?
THIS IS WHY I USE THESE SONGS.
Okay, but back to your actual question!
Yes! I used "Don't Think Twice" as the title for chapter 5 of Stay Gold actually. Because it is a great song for Satoru's POV imo. And that entire fic was of Satoru understanding that he loves Suguru, and that he must actively do something about it in order for it to thrive. Love alone is not enough. You can have the feeling of love for someone always and forever, and you still need to actively choose to love them. The verb.
When I write Satoru, which I find quite difficult!, I always like to write his feelings for Suguru as just there. He doesn't think about them/through them in the way that I write Suguru with his own feelings. Just like how our blood pumps through our veins and we don't need to do anything or think about it, Satoru loves Suguru. It just exists within him. And sometimes, when he's a teen, I'll even write that he doesn't consciously understand that he loves Suguru. Because it's constant and it exists within him without need for him to do anything about it.
But that's just his internal feelings. It doesn't impact his relationship with Suguru if he doesn't do anything about it. And, unfortunately, this means that Satoru is complacent and takes for granted the idea that Suguru is beside him. He doesn't even consider that Suguru could go anywhere. Until it's too late. This is actually a broader aspect of Satoru's character for me that I might write an analysis about. His arrogance due to his strength in the way that he often doesn't see that he's taking something for granted because things are so easy for him.
But, in chapter 5 of Stay Gold, they've graduated, they've grown up, and Satoru has matured. He understands now that he has to actively love Suguru for Suguru to feel loved. The exact same thing is true for Satoru in I'm a fountain of blood, You're the bird on the brim. Suguru has returned to him, and Satoru is going to ensure that Suguru stays with him this time. And further, that Suguru will be in his arms, not just beside him.
Lyrics for "Don't Think Twice:"
How did I live in a kingdom of thieves
And people who say things they don't really mean, really mean
You're only everything I ever dreamed
Ever dreamed of, ever dreamed of
You must be kidding me
Did you really think I could say no?
I want you for a lifetime
So if you're gonna think twice
Baby, I don't wanna know
Baby, I don't wanna know
Everything is just right
But if you're gonna think twice
Baby, I don't wanna know
Baby, I don't wanna know
I really don't get what everyone else believes
So why do I say things I don't really mean, really mean
I'm only crying 'cause I never dreamed
It'd take this long
Don't think twice
Baby, don't think twice
If you wanna take it to an even higher level
All you gotta do is say the word, you know I'll follow
If you wanna take it to an even higher level
I don't, I don't mind
If you wanna make it happen, nothing's impossible
All you gotta do is say the word and walls will crumble
If you wanna make it happen, nothing's impossible
Kiss me once
Kiss me twice
Kiss me three times
Cross the line
Don't think twice
Baby, don't think twice
Kiss me once (If you wanna take it to an even higher level)
Kiss me twice (All you gotta do is say the word, you know I'll follow)
Kiss me three times (If you wanna take it to an even higher level)
Cross the line
Kiss me once (If you wanna make it happen, nothing's impossible)
Kiss me twice (All you gotta do is say the word and walls will crumble)
Kiss me three times (If you wanna make it happen, nothing's impossible)
Be mine (I don't, I don't mind)
Don't think twice
Baby, don't think twice
I really love this,
"You must be kidding me
Did you really think I could say no?"
for I'm a fountain because Suguru truly doubts and hesitates for so long. He isn't sure of Satoru's feelings for him, but Satoru has never had any hesitation or doubt. And he's holding his hand out, desperate for Suguru to finally take it.
And this?
"I'm only crying 'cause I never dreamed
It'd take this long"
Please. I'm not crying, you're crying. Satoru was horrifically shocked by Suguru's defection. Not because he killed a village, not because he killed his parents, and not because he left the school. Yes, obviously those things shocked him and confused him because, to him, that's not Suguru. That's not the kind of person Suguru is, so it doesn't make sense for him to do. He can't even come up with an argument as to what would make Suguru do that. But he's not shocked morally. He's not thinking, "Suguru is evil and has done an evil thing!"
He's shocked that Suguru isn't standing by his side anymore. In Satoru's mind, such a thing was impossible to ever happen. The Suguru he knows wouldn't kill non-sorcerers, wouldn't kill his parents, and wouldn't leave school. So the shocking part is that the Suguru who is always supposed to be beside him, the Suguru that he always knows and understands, isn't there anymore. Truthfully, never actually existed.
And that is what I meant earlier by Satoru's arrogance. That he believed that Suguru would always be beside him. That he believed he would always know and understand Suguru. But that's not real. That's not what it means to be human. And Satoru, if he wants Suguru beside him, and wants to know and understand Suguru, has to actively work to do that/have that. Because humans are constantly in motion. Life is constantly in motion. Nothing just stays and never changes.
But once Suguru defected, it was a mountain for Satoru to climb to have Suguru again. And, as you know from the shower scene in chapter 11, Satoru cries once he reaches the summit.
Now, what I love so much about your ask, is that "Don't Think Twice" and "Chikai" are actually the same song. "Don't Think Twice" is the English version and "Chikai" the Japanese version. So the lyrics are completely different, but the instrumentation is the same. Which is SO PERFECT for Satoru and Suguru!
So they are sharing an experience together, getting back in each other's orbits, relearning familiar parts of each other and learning the new bits, but their thoughts are different because they are coming from different POVs.
SO SO SO good!
English translation for Chikai:
I don't know about fate
But I've got no choice
But to accept its existence now
Am I really good enough like this?
Hey, am I good enough?
I don't want you to get my hopes up too much
This very day's without lies and falsehoods
It's an ideal day for an eternal oath
I don't need pretty flowers or witnesses
Let's wear rings with the same colors
I can't help but be annoyed
It's so lame, but I wanna sleep
Clinging to you every day
I won't make promises any more
Those are for making others happy
What I say now isn't second-hand
It's not a promise, but an oath
I can't return to when I was a liar
Let's go with rings with colors of the morning sun
Let's dance, our heartbeats becoming one
Let's celebrate being alive in this moment
At times I can't hold back my tears
But there's no deep meaning or anything special in them
It's just that suddenly I recall the past (aah, I wanna cry)
Light flows in from the opened door
I want to stay by your side forever after this too
There's been no other choice for me since long ago
This very day's without past or precedence
It's an ideal day for our oath
I don't need pretty flowers or witnesses
Let's wear rings with the same colors
Kiss me once, kiss me twice
Just once isn't enough
Kiss me once, kiss me twice
Please give me you
Kiss me once, kiss me twice
Kiss me three times
Please
Kiss me once, kiss me twice
Please give me you
Let's listen to the sound of the rising sun, shoulder-to-shoulder
Let's make an oath to live together
As I briefly mentioned above, I write Suguru's POV of his love for Satoru very differently than I write Satoru's. For me, Suguru is an overthinking. An anxious thinker. He is thinking through his feelings for Satoru in detail. He is thinking through what's possible and what isn't possible, what he can do with Satoru, and how he can stay close to Satoru. I believe that in second year, before the Star Plasma Vessel, he'd slipped a little into Satoru's hubris and was letting himself believe that he didn't have to think about it. The softly proud and unquestioning way Suguru smiles when he tells Amanai that he and Satoru are the strongest gives me that impression.
After a full year by Satoru's side, getting comfortable at school, feeling the euphoria of being the strongest with Satoru, Suguru was buying into Satoru's belief that they could just exist like that forever without much thought. But Toji's gunshot ripped right through that delusion. And Suguru plummets after that. It's a slow plummet as it takes a full year, but he never stops falling after that gunshot.
In the beginning of I'm a fountain, Suguru is set in his belief that he will start his war and Satoru will fight against him. He's also set in the belief that Satoru has no desire for him on any level. Friendship or otherwise. He believes he burned that bridge completely. So when Satoru comes to his church, kisses him, touches him, keeps showing up, asks to keep meeting, Suguru is genuinely confused. He doesn't understand Satoru's motive for it, but he feels that he, himself, is too desperate and greedy to say no.
By the halfway point of the fic,
"But I've got no choice
But to accept its existence now"
Suguru is starting to see it all differently now. He has no choice but to start to believe and accept Satoru's love for him. How can he disregard all of the evidence in front of him? But he's still scared. There was only one brief moment in the beginning of second year when he truly believed in the possibility of forever with Satoru. And that was immediately and violently dispelled in front of him.
"Am I really good enough like this?
Hey, am I good enough?
I don't want you to get my hopes up too much"
He's an anxious thinker, so, of course, there's the thought, what if I'm just seeing what I want to see? Especially after everything, how could Satoru truly want this? Want me?
Because I believe Suguru thought he destroyed any future of his relationship with Satoru that day on the sidewalk in Shinjuku. We know why Satoru was looking for Suguru after the village massacre. To talk to him. To understand. To get an explanation. To correct it and bring Suguru back.
But why did Suguru choose to see Satoru one last time?
He'd already fled and had Nanako and Mimiko with him safely. There was no reason for him to meet Satoru again. In fact, it was safer not to. What if Satoru did what he was "supposed" to do by jujutsu law and killed Suguru right then and there? So why did Suguru meet with him?
I think it was to cut the cord that bound them together. Suguru needed Satoru to know that Suguru was leaving and he wasn't coming back. He was choosing that. So Satoru wouldn't ever think there was a future where they would still be standing side by side. So...if Suguru believes he accomplished that, wouldn't it make sense that he worries now, all these years later about it? To him, he's holding the end of a cord that used to be connected to Satoru, and it's been severed by his own hand.
He doesn't initially understand that Satoru never let that cord be cut back then. It takes two to sever a bond. Satoru has always still let himself be bound to Suguru.
Thankfully, he eventually comes to understand it.
"Let's listen to the sound of the rising sun, shoulder-to-shoulder
Let's make an oath to live together"
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In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.
I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!
From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!
I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.
Edit: Yes, this also works on mobile!
The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.
(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)
If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.
The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.
insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box
add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box
delete -> self explanatory
on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic
The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.
Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.
because i have whimsy and love in my life??? because i have a sparkle in my eye and a pep in my step??? because i have a wide smile and a sunny disposition???
Suguru's leg twitches against his, and he lowers his can of Sprite from his lips. His head turns sharply so he can look directly at Satoru. Satoru had already been staring at the side of Suguruâs face, watching the way his bangs tickled his cheek in the breeze, watching his slow, cat-like blinks, watching the long line of his neck as he drank his soda, watching him lick his lips after each swallow. Their eyes meet.
Suguru's eyes narrow. âWhat do I think?â
Satoru nods. âAbout boobs.â His own can of soda is sitting next to his hip on the bench, empty. His hands are gripping his knees, holding tight over the fabric of his uniform pants. His palms are sweating. He can feel the prickle of it in his skin and the dampness through his pants. He peers over his glasses, looking right into Suguru's eyes.
âI thinkâŚthey're boobsâŚâ Suguru says haltingly, starting to frown.
Satoru wrinkles his nose slightly.
âCâmon, Suguru. There are small boobs, large boobs, round boobs, teardrop shaped boobs, hanging boobs, boobs with pink nipââ
âOkay.â Suguru's nostrils flare the way they always do when he finds Satoru to be ridiculous. At least, that's what Satoru thinks. He's never actually asked Suguru what he's feeling when his nostrils start to twitch. Heâs worried that if he asks, Suguru will stop doing it.
Suguru looks away from him now, looking down at his soda in his lap, and he fiddles with the canâs tab.
âDon't you thinkâŚthat's pretty personal?â Suguru asks carefully.
âEveryone has boobs, Suguru,â Satoru points out. He barely blinks, watching the furrow of Suguruâs brow fade as his frown unfurls bit by bit.
Those words seem to relax something in Suguru, and he smiles, lifting his head to look back at Satoru again.
âYeah? Everyone?â The sunlight catches in the violet of Suguruâs gaze.
Satoru nods, rubbing his palms against his knees for a moment. Then he reaches out and grabs a handful of Suguru's pecs over his jacket, giving a light squeeze.
âYeah. You've got big boobs and brown nipples.â
Suguru laughs, and Satoru can feel it under his hand, deep in Suguruâs chest. At least he can until Suguru stands up, moving out from under Satoru's touch.
âAlright. Let's head back to campus, Mr. Pink Nipples,â Suguru says.
Satoru jumps up, flinging his empty soda into the trash can without looking, and throws his arm over Suguru's shoulders.
âYou been looking?â Satoru grins, a quivering warmth in his belly. He adjusts his shades, pushing them higher up on the bridge of his nose with his knuckles. He always wishes he could ask Suguru to touch that quiver inside of him. He imagines it'd feel really nice. He only ever feels it around Suguru after all. He just doesn't know how to reach it since heâs not sure where it comes from.
Suguru's smile is easy as they walk. His shoulders broad under Satoru's arm. His body warm and solid against Satoruâs side.
âEveryone has eyes, Satoru.â
âAnd yours have been looking at my nipples?â Satoru pushes.
Suguru grabs him suddenly, throwing his arms around his waist and yanking him down and sideways. They grapple, turning in toward each other to try to grab the other in a headlock. But Suguru always seems to best him when it comes to wrestling. He manages to get Satoru in front of him, twisted sideways, with Satoruâs lower back pressed to his belly. Satoruâs left hand smacks at the outside of Suguruâs thigh while his right reaches up and back to scrabble at his shoulder. He can hear Suguru laugh behind him, breathy and hot in the afternoon heat. Satoru squirms, feet starting to lift off the ground as Suguru leans back and pulls him.
He wonders if he could convince Suguru to slide his hand up from his waist. To reach up and touch his chest instead.
That brief thought is all it takes for Suguru to finish him off. He picks Satoru up completely, carrying him bodily like heâs a toddler whoâs throwing a temper tantrum and needs to be carried out of the park. Satoru laughs too, his glasses jostling on his face.
âYou should not be able to pick me up this easily!â Satoru howls. âIâm bigger than you!â
Suguru grunts as Satoru tries to jerk himself free.
âYeah? Maybe itâs because Iâve got bigger boobs than you, Satoru,â Suguru pants.
Satoru sucks in a sharp breath, his dick surging to sudden attention in his pants. He tenses, eyes wide with shock. But before he can even consider what to do about his sudden boner, Suguru yanks him upright and shoves him to his feet, releasing him. Satoru stumbles on the ground, disoriented, heart pounding, mouth dry like he swallowed cotton, and glancesâŚ
Suguru is bowing politely to an elderly couple. Theyâre walking along the path in the park, and Suguru and Satoru have just been blocking the way as they wrestled. The old woman is smiling faintly, but the old man is staring at them as if heâs never been so scandalized in his life. Satoru opens his mouth to snark, foolishly about to ask the geezer, What? Youâve never popped a chub for your bro before?
But, thankfully, Suguru viciously elbows him in the side, and they both scuttle out of the way, so the couple can pass. Satoruâs dick starts to flag in the face of his realization that he almost gave himself away. He would've admitted to getting hard for Suguru in front of Suguru if Suguru hadnât stopped him. He eyes Suguru, and Suguru blinks at him, reaching up a hand to flick Satoru in the middle of his forehead.
âYeah, I could tell you were about to say something stupid,â Suguru says, starting to walk towards the parkâs exit again. âYou always get this particular look on your face, Satoru. Iâve seen it for the past 4 years, so I know what it means.â
Satoru gapes and chases after him, rubbing at the spot where Suguru flicked.
âWhat look?â he demands.
Suguru raises his brows and starts to tick each thing he says off on his fingers.
âYou frown quite intensely. I can see the way your eyebrows bunch together right over the bridge of your glasses. Then your mouth gets all pinched. And then your lips poke out a little. Kind of like you just ate a Shigekix.â
âHeh! As if I would even make a face when eating sour candy! Iâve got a cast-iron mouth, Suguru.â
Suguru abruptly looks at him. Satoru stares back. They both start to grin and take off running towards the exit of the park so they can find a convenience store and buy the candy.
âWe have to get the Level 5 ones! Those are the most sour.â
âOh, so you definitely want to lose?â
âI bet I can stick five Level 5âs in my mouth at the same time!â
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Getou Suguru Was Never Gojou Satoru's Moral Compass: A Hidden Inventory Arc Character Analysis
Let me be clear from the outset: this is a formal, loud disagreement with a pervasive misreading of Getou Suguru's character during the Hidden Inventory Arc. There's a subset of the Jujutsu Kaisen Fandom that insists Getou was always "better" than Gojou during their teenage yearsâmorally superior, more responsible, Gojou's guiding light and ethical anchor. This interpretation fundamentally misunderstands both characters and, more importantly, contradicts what Gege Akutami himself has stated: it was only in that singular moment, when retrieving Amanai Riko's body, that Gojou trusted Getou's "unshakable" judgement because Gojou himself was too compromised to make a clear decision with his newfound power.
Not before, not consistently throughout the arc. That specific moment.
As a fanfic writer, it's always funâand necessaryâto take a deep dive into characters' heads to try and understand them better. Not just their surface-level actions, but the underlying motivations, the quiet insecurities, and the small moments that reveal who they really are beneath the roles they perform.
Rewatching Jujutsu Kaisen from the very beginningâallowing three years for the series to marinate in my mind since Season 2's release and the manga's official conclusionâproved to be an entirely different experience.
Having the full context of subsequent events, understanding the causality chains and their devastating conseqences, transforms that rewatch into something far more gruesome and painful to digest. You see the cracks before they shatter, you see the warning signs that were always there. You understand, with painful clarity, exactly where things went wrong.
However, one element struck me with particular force during the recontextualized viewing of the Hidden Inventory Arc. How drastically my perception of both Gojou Satoru and Getou Suguru had evolved from my first watch to this recent binge.
I'd always carried that firm, almost unquestioned impression that Getou was "the responsible one"âthe kind of person who takes a principled stance, believes in it with apparent conviction, and does everything in their power to make sure it happens.
That assessment can still hold a kernel of truth, but knowing the depths of his eventual fall after Riko's death, and then seeing him before that tragedy, illuminated aspects of his character I'd completely missed the first time around. Aspects that weren't limited to the narrow role the fandom had collectively painted him into.
The fandom's construction of Getou as Gojou's moral compass, his ethical superior, his stabilizing force, is a comfortable narrative. It's clean. It makes intuitive sense when you're watching two teenagers where one is a cocky prodigy and the other seems more measured and thoughtful.
But comfort and truth are not synonyms, and this narrative crumbles under scrutiny when you actually track their actions and decision-making patterns throughout the arc.
Throughout the Hidden Inventory Arc, Getou is consistently the one who conforms to jujutsu society's traditionalist convictions. Protect the weak. Suppress the strong. Sacrifice for the greater good. These aren't just beliefs he holdsâthey're the framework he's built his entire identity around. And that's important, because it suggests that Getou's philosophy isn't born from deep personal conviction, but from a desperate need to justify his place in a world that has always felt isolating and alienating to him.
Gojou challenges that philosophy openly, even mockingly. He doesn't just question Getou's beliefsâhe dismisses them, almost getting into a physical fight over their fundamental disagreement about what it means to be strong and what obligations the strong have to the weak. Gojou's position is more anarchic, more questioning of the status quo. He doesn't accept the jujutsu society's rules as inherently righteous just because they exist. And that friction between them is critical to understanding their dynamic.
Both their positions are affirmed later during their briefing with Principal Yaga. Getou demonstrates a far deeper understanding of jujutsu society's inner workings than Gojou, despite the fact that Gojou was born into one of the Three Great Families and should, theoretically, know this world better than anyone.
Getou explains Master Tengen's situation, the mechanics of the Star Plasma Vessel merger, the political and spiritual stakesâall with the ease of someone who has studied this world meticulously. Meanwhile, Gojou seems almost disinterested, flippant, as though he's hearing some of this for the first time.
Was Gojou faking his ignorance? I don't think so.
Gojou has a well-documented tendency to show off anything he has confidence in understanding. We see this later when he faces off against the hired mercenary from Q, mocking him for not understanding the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoiseâa clear display of intellectual superiority. Gojou enjoys demonstrating his knowledge. He doesn't hide it. So if he's acting like he doesn't know or doesn't care about jujutsu society's internal politics and history, it's because he genuinely doesn't prioritize that knowledge. It doesn't interest him. It doesn't serve his goals.
So how did Getou acquire this information advantage over someone who should have been raised on these very traditions? The answer reveals something crucial about Getou's psychology: he studied. He immersed himself deliberately and thoroughly in jujutsu society's history, protocols, and belief systems. He made himself an expert on the very tradition he was born outside of.
Why? Because knowledge was the one area where he could potentially equal or surpass Gojou Satoru. Because understanding the system inside and out was how he could prove his belonging, his worth, his right to stand beside the strongest. This wasn't casual learningâthis was compensatory, driven by a need to validate his place in a world that could have easily dismissed him as an outsider.
On their way to meet the Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai, Getou urges Satoru to correct his laid-back attitude because it might disrespect Master Tengen when they meet her. On the surface, this seems like simple courtesy, the kind of reminder a more socially aware friend might give to someone less concerned with propriety. But look deeper: Getou was already considering the hierarchical implications, instinctively appealing to higher authority, positioning himself in alignment with the mission's stated objectiveâto assimilate Amanai Riko with Master Tengen.
This deference to authority and mission parameters becomes a defining pattern. Getou believes in the system. Or at least, he convinces himself he does.
When Kuroi, Riko's caretaker, is kidnapped, Getou immediately attempts to take responsibility for the oversightâhe was the one with her, so he failed to protect her. It's a noble impulse, but it's also telling. Getou is quick to shoulder blame, to internalize failure, to see himself as the one who should have done better. Meanwhile, Gojou's response is more pragmatic: he focuses on the mission as a whole, on what they need to do next, rather than dwelling on who's at fault. It's not that Gojou doesn't careâhe absolutely doesâbut his approach is solution-oriented rather than guilt-driven.
This is the first moment both Getou and Gojou seriously consider bringing Amanai back to Jujutsu Tech immediately, regardless of Master Tengen's orders to grant any of Amanai's wishes, because the situation is escalating and becoming genuinely dangerous. The risks are mounting. And for a brief moment, both of them are united in the pragmatic understanding that Riko's safety might require cutting her last days of freedom short.
But then Amanai insists she wants to come with them to rescue Kuroi. And Gojou puts a firm foot down: she can't. He's blunt about it. He explains the risks, the dangers, the likelihood that the kidnappers are setting a trap specifically to lure her out. He's not being cruelâhe's being honest. He's prioritizing Amanai's safety, but he's not disregarding Kuroi's either. He's weighing the tactical reality of the situation and making the call he thinks is best.
Riko eventually convinces him to let her come. And we see the exact moment Gojou weighs his options, considers the variables, and makes his decision. He speaks bluntly, making sure Amanai understands the stakes. He tells her plainly that if she falls behind, if she slows them down, it's not his responsibility to pick her back up. The line delivery is cold. It's intimidating. And it's a stark departure from the careless, loudmouthed teenager we've seen up until now. This is Gojou Satoru making a calculated risk and ensuring that everyone involved knows the terms.
It's a moment that reveals something crucial about Gojou's character: he does care about the people around him. Deeply. But he refuses to lie to them or coddle them about the reality of their situation. He gives them the truth, and then he lets them choose.
Later on, in Okinawa, Getou noticed that Gojou was overdoing his cursed technique, keeping Limitless active continuouslyâan exhausting feat even for someone of Gojou's caliberâand asked Gojou if it was really alright not to retreat to Jujutsu Tech immediately for everyone's safety. Again, the instinct toward established safety, toward the known fortress, toward risk avoidance.
Gojou took only a moment to answer, affirming that they're both the strongest and they can handle whatever comes at them, pushing himself to physical extremes just to grant Amanai those last moments of youth and normalcy before her assimilationâbefore her effective death as an individual. He was making a sacrifice, consciously and deliberately, to give this girl something precious: time, freedom, the experience of being a teenager instead of a sacred vessel.
Getou followed his lead and they spent the rest of their remaining time in Okinawa having fun, sightseeing, touring aroundâbut note the dynamic. Getou needed reassurance before committing. Gojou decided, and Getou followed. And critically, following that decision meant Gojou had to bear even more of the protective burden, maintaining Limitless for even longer, exhausting himself even further.
When they finally arrive back at Jujutsu TechâGojou letting down Infinity for the first time since they began guarding Amanaiâhe predictably complains. He's exhausted. He's been running on fumes. And he grumbles about not wanting to babysit any more brats.
It's a throwaway line, but it's also revealing. Because for all his complaints, Gojou chose this. He chose to protect Riko. He chose to give her those last few days. He chose to shoulder that burden, even when it cost him.
And then, of course, everything goes wrong.
We all know what happens next. Fushiguro Toji infiltrates Jujutsu Tech, stabs Gojou through the chest, and Getou is sent away to escort Amanai and Kuroi to Master Tengen's Tomb of the Star Corridor while Gojou stays behind to face the Sorcerer Killer.
The pattern throughout this arc is consistent and it's important:
Gojou makes decisions that directly contradict traditional jujutsu principles specifically to help the weak he superficially "mocks." He exercises his power not to dominate but to protect, creating space for others to have choices, to have agency, to have their humanity honored even when the system has already written them off as expendable.
Getou, conversely, prefers following the rules and structures provided for them to avoid troubleâeven when that trouble, that deviation from protocol, would directly benefit the weak he philosophically preaches to "protect."
Because protection isn't merely physical. Real protection is watching over those incapable of defending themselves while simultaneously giving them optionsâthe freedom to choose and decide their own path for their own sake, shielding them from immediate consequences while still respecting their autonomy. It's holding the umbrella while they walk their own road, not carrying them down a path you've decided is best.
Getou, by contrast, operates within a framework where the weak need his guidance. They need his protection. They need him to make decisions for them, because they can't be trusted to navigate danger on their own. It's paternalistic. And while it's well-intentioned, it's also fundamentally about controlâabout Getou affirming his own purpose by positioning himself as the protector of those who cannot protect themselves.
Getou's philosophy centered on protecting the weak, but his actions consistently prioritized systemic stability, mission parameters, and avoiding conflict with authority. When those two values came into tensionâprotecting an individual versus following the missionâwe see which one actually governed his choices.
Does recognizing this pattern invalidate Getou's good side? Absolutely not. He is demonstrably a good person capable of taking significant risks for other people's benefit. His concern for Kuroi was genuine. His desire to protect Riko was real. But to insist that he consistently took moral initiative, that he was the driving ethical force guiding their partnershipâthat's simply not supported by their actual decision-making patterns. It's a disservice to how beautifully human and flawed his character actually is.
The first time I watched this arc, I admired Getou's composure and felt irritated by how seemingly carefree Gojou appeared. The second time I watched these episodes, armed with context and paying closer attention to actions rather than aesthetics, I observed nuances I'd completely missed during my initial viewing.
Getou's philosophy, I realized, is fundamentally unstable. His entire belief system depends on finding his purpose through viewing those different from himânon-sorcerers, "monkeys" as he'll later call themâas a separate group that needs his guidance and his shield. I have reasonable evidence, as detailed above, to believe this stems from internal insecurities he either hadn't yet recognized or was actively suppressing.
I think Getou knew he was weaker than Gojou, even before Gojou's enlightenment and awakening against Toji.
This knowledge wasn't necessarily consciousâit might have lived in that uncomfortable space of things we know but refuse to articulate even to ourselves. But I believe it shaped his every action, his every choice, his entire approach to being a jujutsu sorcerer.
Throughout this mission, Gojou was consistently the one to step forward and decideâfor himself and for othersâto exercise his overwhelming power for protection. He faces imminent threats head-on, with Getou's support (which is undeniable and valuable), but you cannot claim their contributions were perfectly equal or that their decision-making authority was genuinely shared 50/50.
They both eventually face Fushiguro Toji separately, but Gojou tackles him first to buy Getou time to escape with Riko and Kuroi. Here's an uncomfortable question: Would it have been such a terrible strategy if Getou had stayed back to face Toji instead of Gojou?
Think about it. Gojou was exhausted, completely drained from maintaining Limitless continuously for days, too depleted to reliably face someone like Tojiâan unknown variable who'd already managed to stab him through the chest, piercing what should have been impenetrable defense.
Could he have taken Toji? Maybe not in a straight fight, Toji is a monster after all. But could he have delayed him?
I genuinely believe he could have. With his vast inventory of curses, his demonstrated physical capabilities, and how much more rest and energy he possessed compared to Gojou at that moment. Getou could have done something to disrupt Toji's plans if he'd simply stayed back and let Gojou take Amanai and Kuroi to safety.
For plot purposes, we understand why this wasn't the choice madeâGojou needed his near-death awakening, the narrative required that specific crucible. But my statement remains true nonetheless, as demonstrated by canon: Gojou was accustomed to making sacrifices while Getou fell behind.
Not because Getou was weakâhe wasn't. But because when it came to that moment of decision, that instant where someone had to stay and someone had to go, the calculus ran through established patterns. Gojou fights, Getou retreats with the mission objective.
Getou overcompensated through study, through immersing himself completely in jujutsu society's traditions and knowledge, precisely because he was born to a non-sorcerer family. He needed to prove he deserved to stand on even ground with someone as inherently revered as Gojou Satoru, whose very birth shifted the balance of the world.
Imagine the isolation. Imagine being Getou Suguruâhaving the ability to not only see the monsters that haunt people around you, monsters that your own family can't perceive, but also having to absorb them yourself, to take their vileness into your body, to taste their corruption, just to make them disappear.
The whiplash he must have felt upon realizing that you can make cursed spirits vanish by exorcizing themâsimply destroying themârather than consuming them must have been devastating. Meeting Gojou in his first year, witnessing how effortlessly Gojou could solve the rot all around them, and then experiencing that sinking feeling in his gut the moment he understood that with his specific technique and his specific power, that kind of clean elimination was simply not possible for someone like him.
His technique demanded something more visceral, more intimate, more violating. Every curse he swallowed was proof of the fundamental difference between him and Gojou. Gojou could obliterate curses with overwhelming force, keeping them at arm's length even as he destroyed them. Getou had to take them inside himself, had to know them in the most invasive way possible.
Still, I imagine the comfort of being in an environment that understood what he was experiencingâwhere others could see what he saw, where his abilities had value and purposeâwas enough to make leaving his non-sorcerer family feel justified, even necessary.
And then Gojou, his overly powerful and enthusiastic classmate, recognizes Getou's potential and proclaims them both "the strongest" together. A duo. Partners. Equals.
Except the pedestal was always unbalanced.
Getou is undoubtedly strongâhis cursed technique is remarkably versatile, his physical capabilities are exceptional, and his general temperament makes him a prodigy genuinely worthy of standing beside Gojou Satoru in terms of skill and talent.
But "beside" isn't the same as "equal to," and I think Getou understood this even if he couldn't admit it.
He could have been like Gojouâcould have disregarded the value the weak held for him, could have adopted that same irreverent attitude toward non-sorcerers. But that would mean denying his family, his community, the people he still held dearly to his heart despite having left them behind to join this strange, dangerous world of jujutsu sorcery.
I imagine leaving his family was an agonizing decision. Gege himself has confirmed that Getou clearly treasured his family deeply. So to leave them behind, Getou needed to latch onto a reason powerful enough to justify that abandonment, and that reason became his philosophy: he was leaving to protect them. He was placing himself in a position of responsibility that he couldn't deny, that he needed to fulfill. His absence became purposeful rather than selfish.
That fragile mentality, combined with the undeniable psychological side effects of constantly absorbing cursed spirits and their accumulated negativityâthe hatred, fear, malice, and despair that comprise cursesâis precisely why I believe Getou never truly felt confident in being "the strongest" alongside Gojou Satoru.
He claims the title because Gojou gave it to him, because it defines their partnership, because accepting it means accepting that he belongs here, that he matters, that his suffering has meaning.
But he doesn't feel it. Not in the bone-deep, unshakable way Gojou seems to inhabit his own power.
Getou has toconstantly remind himself of his philosophy or else everything falls apartâthe justification for leaving his family, the meaning of his suffering, the purpose of his existence within jujutsu society. He has to prove himself to this community because he doesn't fit anywhere else, and no one alive would understand the specific burden he carries as someone intimately familiar with the taste of curses, with the texture of vileness sliding down his throat, with the knowledge that this is what he must do, over and over, forever.
Getou reads to me as a character of extreme decisions and binary thinking. There is no gray area in his worldview. It's black or white, and you must take a side. There must be reason, clear purpose, or else nothing matters and the suffering becomes unbearable.
This is precisely why he was the worst possible person for Gojou Satoru to ask that question to.
Picture the scene: retrieving Amanai Riko's body from the Star Vessel Association, both of them facing Gojou who was clearly, obviously differentâwho had dragged himself back from the dead through sheer force of will and spite, who had fought and won against impossible odds, who was visibly high from his enlightenment and newly awakened power.
For once in their entire dynamic, Gojou is deferring to Getou's judgement.
"Should we kill them all?"
This request represented something that likely never happened before in their partnership: Gojou, uncertain of his own judgment, turning to Getou to be his ethical anchor in a moment of emotional compromise. Something Getou had followed in Gojou countless timesâlooking to him for decisive action, for direction, for the confidence to move forwardâwas suddenly, finally reversed.
Though I doubt Gojou was fully aware of the weight of this dynamic shift, of how much Getou had quietly relied on Gojou's decisiveness as a framework for his own choices.
Gojou holds deep, genuine respect for Getou as both a friend and a sorcerer. The facade Getou constructed to cover his doubts and insecurities worked so effectively that he'd built an image of himself as reliable, steady, unshakably goodâsomeone whose moral compass could be trusted even when your own was spinning wildly.
But Getou was going through perhaps the worst moment of his entire life at that exact instant. He'd spent hours believing his best friend was dead. Their most important mission had failed catastrophically. Two innocent lives had been wastedâRiko dead, Kuroi's purpose destroyedâbecause he wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough, wasn't good enough.
And suddenly, his best friend, a titan of jujutsu sorcery who'd just transcended his previous limitations entirely, comes to him asking if they should massacre everyone in the building. If they should use this godlike power for revenge, for justice, for something that would at least make the suffering feel purposeful.
Getou says no, of course. The "good" answer, the "right" answer, the answer that aligns with his philosophy of protecting the weak.
But it's crystal clear in both manga and anime depictions that his conviction was wavering in that momentâa visible affirmation of the insecurity I've been tracking throughout this analysis. He was desperately, frantically holding onto his good ideals for his best friend's sake, but you can see the cracks forming in real-time. You can see him struggling to be the moral authority Gojou suddenly needed him to be, when his own foundation was already crumbling.
The weight of that momentâbeing asked to be someone's moral compass when you're barely holding your own courseâmust have been crushing.
And as we've seen later in the timeline, it all does come crashing down on him. He develops profound disdain for those weaker than him, for the non-sorcerers, for the "monkeys" whose curses he swallowed, whose negativity he absorbed, whose existence demanded his suffering. The very people he'd constructed his entire identity around protecting became the enemy, the source of curses, the root problem that needed to be eliminated.
I think this represents a fascinating, tragic exploration of Getou Suguru's character. I've never been able to fully believe in his "perfect goodness" because I've always been skeptical of people who preach their beliefs as though they need to prove them to themselves rather than simply living them naturally. There's something performative about it, something unstable.
When someone constantly articulates their principles, when they need to regularly remind themselves and others of what they stand for, it often suggests those principles are aspirational rather than intrinsicâa framework they're trying to inhabit rather than a natural expression of who they fundamentally are.
It's frankly unbelievable that an environment as corrupt, as morally compromised, as demonstrably broken as jujutsu society would produce such a "perfectly good person" within their ranks. Systems don't generate their oppositesâthey replicate themselves. The fact that Getou seemed like such an idealistic outlier should have been the first warning sign.
There are countless factors to consider when analyzing why Getou became what he eventually became, and that multiplicity is precisely what makes his character so rich, so human, so devastatingly tragic. Claiming he was fully good while denying the flaws, insecurities, and fundamental instability in his character is not only inaccurateâit's profoundly less interesting than the truth.
Characters are most compelling when we can trace the logic of their deterioration, when we can see how someone with genuine good intentions and real care for others can be twisted by circumstances, by psychological vulnerabilities, by the accumulated weight of their specific suffering into something monstrous.
Getou's fall isn't a betrayal of his characterâit's the inevitable conclusion of trajectories that were always present. The seeds were always there; we just weren't looking closely enough to see them taking root.
This is my personal take and formal disagreement against everyone who infantilizes Getou during the Hidden Inventory Arc while simultaneously finding ways to make Gojou look more negative, more careless, more morally compromisedâjust to make Getou look better by contrast.
They were both kids. Both teenagers thrust into an impossible situation with insufficient support and contradictory guidance. Both traumatized by what happened, though they processed that trauma in dramatically different ways.
Trying to flatten their dynamic into "good one" and "bad one," trying to make Getou into Gojou's consistent moral superior, trying to rewrite the actual pattern of their decisions to fit a more comfortable narrativeâall of this does a disservice to both characters.
Beautiful! As I've said before, I think Suguru's relationship with "meaning" stems a lot from his CT. It's unpleasant, so he ascribes meaning to it in order to endure it. He must do it because he's the protector. He suffers for the greater good.
And Suguru, to me, is a character that shows both sides of ĺ. The positive and negative aspects of it. Social harmony through conformity. He follows the rules. Even when the rules harm him and those he cares about. Because he believes it is "right" to do so. What we see and attribute to Suguru as maturity and respect and politeness is true and all there. It's the positive aspects of ĺ.
But as this analysis perfectly points out, Suguru's rigidity and conformity to it showed the negative aspects.
Heâd always believed in a future where he and Suguru spent Christmases together. If he could go back, heâd believe in a future where he and Suguru spent their lives together. He wished for too little, and now heâs paying the price.Â
Like every year on Christmas Eve, Satoru leaves campus in the dead of night, walking in the bitter cold of winter. He needs to teleport himself there part of the way since there arenât any trains that run this late, but he prefers to walk where he can. For some reason, it seems to mean something to him that he shows up shivering, chilled to the bone, and thaws in the embrace of stolen warmth. He doesnât look too closely at what, exactly, it means. If you look too closely at something, you have to name it.Â
His knock on the door is quiet, barely more than a muted thud. He knows he doesnât need to announce his presence. How can you miss what youâre waiting for?
And each year when the door drifts open, pulled inward as gently as a whisper, Satoruâs heart aches. It feels like his very heart could eat itself alive as Suguru gazes out at him, slender fingers reaching out past the threshold to grip Satoruâs chill bitten ones. Satoru slips in, and their feet ghost across the sleepy floorboards together. Suguru takes Satoru to his room and lets Satoru enter his body.
As they fuck, Satoru attempts to entomb himself in Suguru. He thrusts himself inside, he presses his tongue in deep, he begs Suguru to clutch at him, to dig his fingers into the muscle, he wraps Suguruâs hair around his neck, coils it around his throat like an ebony necklace. He attempts to twine them together, to dig into the soil of Suguru and find the root of him. If he can abrade it enough, can they become one? Like two trees in a dense forest.Â
Suguru always lets him stay inside after heâs come. He rests inside Suguru while Suguru holds him. Suguruâs arms are around his shoulders and his legs around his waist, heels digging into his low spine, while he crushes Suguru down into the mattress beneath him and mouths at his lips, wet and sloppy, slow and sedate. Itâs warm in Suguru, and he smells like soap and tea leaves.Â
âThis is the last year, Satoru.â
Satoru pauses, the words barely more than breath across his lips. He opens his eyes and looks down into Suguru. Suguruâs face is sweetly flushed, and his sweat has dampened the fine hairs along his hairline. He gazes back up at Satoru with insurmountable conviction.Â
He should probably find it shameful that his first thought is to ask, why canât I be enough for you?
âWhy?â he asks instead, voice raspy with resigned anger.
âItâs been long enough. Itâs time for me to fight.â
Satoru isnât able to yell the way he did when they were children. Not that it did him any good back then. All he can do now is frown and plead, pressing himself further into Suguru.Â
âWhat about Christmas?â His hands hold Suguruâs skull, fingers sliding through the tresses of his hair, cradling his head in his palms.Â
Suguru breathes out softly, the violet of his gaze falling on Satoru like a shadow.
âThenâŚâ he murmurs, âLetâs fight on Christmas Eve.â
When Satoru kills Suguru, he lays his body down in the alley and holds him. They lie together, and Satoru wraps Suguruâs hair around them both, he pulls Suguru into his arms and looks at the delicate black of his lashes. The smell of blood is too strong to smell Suguruâs soap and the always present scent of tea on his skin.Â
Satoruâs voice is like dust, like ashes, that drift away from him.
âIfâŚIf I keep you hereâŚwith meâŚcanât we meet next Christmas too?â
