~Koe no ouji-sama~

1. A Lesson for the Teacher

A character arc usually starts with a character holding an incorrect belief. Gojo’s first action is forgetting to put up the barrier, because he doesn’t want to take repsonsibility of looking out for the weak. Gojo has power, but he doesn’t want to take responsibility for any of that power, especially in regards to weak people.

Whereas, Geto believes in society’s rules, that society should hold them back from doing whatever they want with their power. However, even though Gojo doesn’t want to respect weak people he doesn’t just stomp all over people.

He’s willing to respect those he acknowledges as strong. He listens to Mei Mei. He shows concern for Geto. He’s willing to debate things with Geto as well. Gojo clearly doesn’t subscribe to “Might makes right” to the same extent that someone like say, Sukuna does. He cooperates with Yaga’s requests for the most part.

Rather, I would say like a child Gojo’s views of the world are too black and white. He’s the strongest, so therefore he assumes things will naturally go his way. He’s the strongest, so he should be able to act without worrying about what others might think or feel. The only person Gojo really listens to is Geto’s viewpoint of things, and even then it’s pretty dismissively. Gojo is egocentric. He decides everything based on his personal viewpoint, and his personal viewpoint trumps others views because he’s the strongest.

However, they come across Riko who is a weak person and in need of her protection, and yet unlike all the other weak people that Gojo dismisses he experiences her desire to live. When he acknowledges her willpower, he looks her in the eye for the first time. 

Eyes are an importnt sign with Gojo. Because he has the six eyes, usually he’s so far away from everyone else that he has a hard time seeing individuals. Especially the immature Geto who doesn’t want to acknowledge anybody besides those he already sees as strong. 

Gojo who has been the strongest all his life, suddenly gets a taste of weakness when he protects Riko. Gojo who usually succeeds at everything he sets out to do, fails at something. Riko dies, because he failed to stop Toji. Not only that but, Toji is also a foil for Gojo. 

Toji is a negative foil to Gojo. He threw away everything, his connection to his family, his morals, even his own son in order to become the strongest. They’re both the pinnacle of their respective worlds, Gojo the strongest of the Jujutsu World, and Toji the strongest a human without Jujutsu could possibly become. However, Toji became that at the cost of throwing away everything else. He even stays and fights, and dies against Gojo because he wanted to try to be stronger than the pinnacle of the Jujutsu World. 

When Riko dies, Gojo even experiences this feeling of being detached from everything, free from everything like Toji. He’s tempted to untether himself from all emotion.

However, two things happen immediately afterwards. First he witnesses Toji’s regrets about dying and leaving a son behind. He witnesses Toji’s connection to his son. 

Geto also tethers him, because he realizes that there needs to be a reason behind his actions. Especially if he wants his actions to be understood by others. Geto, acts as GOjo’s tether in this moment bringing him back. He can’t just do whatever he want just because he’s strong, he has to act with reason and responsibility. As Geto starts to break down and doubt his reasons and responsibilities, Gojo gains more and more of them.

The last failure that teaches him is Gojo’s failure to get through to Geto. I think the most important part about that scene is Geto walked away, and Gojo couldn’t think of a single reason to amke him stay. He couldn’t make Geto follow him. He was stronger than Geto, but that didn’t mean anything. All that meant was he could kill Geto to stop him if he wanted to. 

These consecutive failures made Gojo realize the inadequacy in himself. He couldn’t accomplish everything alone with strength. He couldn’t save anyone. He couldn’t save Geto, or Riko even though he was the strongest. It made him rethink his position on everything. He needed a new strategy. 

What he’s learned by the time that he’s a teacher is a way to correct these. If Gojo can’t do anything on his own, he needs comrades, he needs people to follow him. 

Geto taught him that Gojo needed ideals that people would follow.  Riko taught him that he had to be responsible for other people.  He cannot solve every situation by simply being the strongest, and he cannot solve everything on his own - and so a year after Toji dies Gojo goes to find Megumi. 

The fact that he didn’t go right away tells me that Gojo didn’t help Megumi out of the goodness of his heart. I’m thinking that he was slowly, starting to change his strategy for the future. 

Gojo didn’t really adopt Megumi, he scouted him as a future potential student. He helped him because he saw that potential in him to become one of the strong allies in the future. However, at the same time I don’t think that Gojo feels nothing at all for Megumi. He feels the way a teacher should for his student. 

Gojo was unable to stop Riko from dying. Afterwards, he lost his best and only friend when they were both still teenagers. You could see that their youth was destroyed.