Gege has made several writing choices to depict Geto as someone who was handsome and loved - arguably more than any other character in the series. Maybe Gege loves him the most - not complaining at all.
More under the cut - just a few visuals Iâve collected to demonstrate this. Iâm certainly not alone in noticing it and there may be others who show this much better, lol. Tag me in if you want to share!!
My post does end with a not-so brief analysis which you can skip if you wish.
Geto, despite being cursed at birth with the technique to absorb the ills of the world, the very skill that led him to fight alongside Gojo as part of the Strongest Duo - by design, each othersâ counterpart in so many ways - a twist of fate led them onto opposite paths, leading to complete imbalance, one that drove him into madness.
If Geto in some ways represented Love, it is truly the most twisted curse of all which played a part in his death.
Geto witnessed the most love confessions in the whole series - I found (and stole) it off twitter/now X:
The Japanese originals seem more compelling to me:
Riko says âdaisukiâ whereas Yuta uses a more traditional âAishiteruâ which, is quite embarrassing of a confession, and therefore almost hints at what could be Gojoâs last words to Geto, if it directly parallels Yuta & Rikaâs relationship. And that expression Geto wears when he sees Riko and Kuroi struggle with separating?
That does not look like a person who cannot sympathise and empathise with people. Geto was a person who cared too much, and in search for a way to protect those he cared for, needed an outlet and something (in this case, lesser being, the humans) to blame. He descended into a mania and much like shinobu sensui from yu yu hakusho, seemed to develop some kind of mental disorder due to being unable to carry the conflicting ideals together. The dissonance the world presented to him was just too cruel, and he himself became a weapon to defend his ideals.
Before his defection, Geto was liked by his peers:
Haibara
Mei Mei
Loved by his family for and despite his ideals:
Mimiko and Nanako
Shibuya crew liked/loved him and carried his will/beliefs even after his death, in their own ways, as family:
Miguel and Larue in the most recent chapter to date:
Translations (rough):
Larue: You and me alike, we just wanted Suguru-chan to be King.
Miguel: Yea, I followed just because it was Geto. After shibuya, I trained Okkotsu and I donât want anything to do with the country anymore. (Something along these lines; a little too complicated for my rudimentary Japanese)
Larue: You , me, Mimiko, Nanako, Manami, Toshihisa, everyone just really liked/loved Suguru-chan.
Canonically, he was known to be handsome and popular:
Takaba
Gegeâs character book:
JJK popularity poll:
I do not have screengrabs of how Manami and Larue joined, but it was said to be due to how handsome they thought he was.
Maybe he was like Rika, who did realise how she came across in her life, and manipulated people, lol. But thatâs a bit of a stretch to bring that parallel/similarity in. Geto was just quite a magnetic person, according to Gege.
And in the most roundabout way:
Gojo:
âmy one and onlyâ
âLove is the most twisted curse...â âcurse me a little at the end.â
âI donât need love to satisfy meâ ... âif you were there I mightâve have been satisfiedâ
While love surrounds Geto, the theme that follows Gojo appears to be âthe strongestâ cursed; he was admired, revered, feared, and disliked by many. It truly breaks my heart, to think of what he had to give up to carry the weight of this for his whole life, until the very end.
This looks like the most dizzyingly lonely picture of Gojo. It was indeed ironic to have it all but to embody what it means to have an unlimited void by being totally different.
He suffered so much for his power and to have carried this strength. The sorcerer world was practically on his shoulders. The balance was up to him; everyone relied on him. Every time he tried to protect his love (geto) it seemed to fail. It worsened each time, ending with his own demise. But of course thatâs just a dramatic interpretation - I donât really mean/believe that, but it is one way to see the tragedy between Gojo and Geto. Strength at the expense of love; it plays out with the strongest this far as those identifying with this title are plagued by loneliness and do not know love.
They met before things got twisted within themselves, between them. Even after Geto left, Gojo seemed to be looking and waiting for him - to prove his trust for him almost as if he saw through his illusions and lies. Geto was the shadow (Yin) and Gojo was the light (Yang). Only the light can see through the dark. Iâll leave the gojo characterisation for another time / to other better writers.
For now, Iâll just say that I felt that he had planned for the possibility of losing to Sukuna (with the various things we see him do between scheduling the 24th and the actual day) and if he won, heâd just carry on the plan to cremate Geto on top of saving everyone and being a good example as the strongest. Worst case scenario, he would weaken Sukuna and I guess just die on the same day as Geto - idk, maybe as a form of redemption for one of his most painful experiences in life. Who knows?
I headcanon he was relieved to pass on, doing his part to defend the world that relied on him so much, with a big bang - a really fun fight.
And Iâm glad they found each other at the end - the loved and the lost.
Back to Geto:
We donât get much insight into what Geto wanted or felt aside from a world that was better for sorcerers, those he cared about. Even at the afterlife scene, or in subsequent chapters, we only hear from others rather than Geto.
Call me biased and delusional; I believe he didnât kill the innocent despite saying he hated them all. He loved and hurt so strongly that he hated with almost equal force. He did want to force evolution and eventually extinguish all human kind, to him: the ignorant source of suffering, but Iâm glad he didnât manage to get Rika. I headcanon that he was aware he was losing himself by defying his own principles (to kill sorcerers) for his own gain. That, and Rika with a binding vow for a life, no less, was just too powerful.
In the official character book, Geto was described as someone who told himself that he hated humans a lot, like a reminder. He didnât kill people indiscriminately. Iâm sure he was well aware of how evil he had become but he had chosen, hadnât he? He expressed to Yuta, that self-affirmation was incredibly important in his view. And the more he interacted with the students, I think the more his humanity fought back - I mean, he was standing there crying from being so moved by what he saw. He also let Yuta heal his friends. How villainous? Or how incredibly loving in spite of himself?
Geto has been shown to lie to others too: jjk 0: described having lied to the school about the conditions for obtaining a cursed spirit, and after defecting: upon taking stage for the first time, stating that the looking the part (wearing gojokesa) was important (ie lying). At his deathâs door, he also prefaces with, no matter what anyone says - why would there be a need for that if he wasnât telling a half-truth? He sought to avenge Riko (first person at the cult he killed after calling him onto the stage + cue mic throw) and the village represented a bunch of people who he slaughtered out of rage and ignorance. Iâm definitely not defending him here - his actions are reprehensible. My headcanon view is that he didnât know how to live with himself after snapping and that was the only path laid before him, which he ardently committed to.
I just think that he held onto a form of love/humanity still- Gojo and Geto both did. Without it, Geto wouldâve become the Queen of curses due to Rika (uncaring about his family, or killing young sorcerors despite witnessing the studentsâ bond and yutaâs selfless power of love in jjk0) and Gojo may have focused on training at all cost without embracing Getoâs principles and becoming a teacher to change the jujutsu world - he couldâve become the next Sukuna and take the title of the King of curses instead - crowning them both King and Queen - instead of both the King and Queen contributing to their deaths. Anyway, I digress...
Geto appears very mother-coded in his protective and defensive relations to the girls, but also to Riko, Kuroi, and Gojo - especially after Toji had killed them. He was so fiercely trying to avenge and defend them, but failing that had a huge effect on him. Moreover, Haibara - innocent, glowingly positive - suffered an undeserved death. It weighed so heavily on Geto, that he didnât defend Gojo when Nanami vented about leaving things to Gojo who seemed to take it all in his stride, almost insinuating that Geto, too, had little autonomy but to carry on that cycle of curse consumption he began to loathe.
Yuki also underlined the meaninglessness of the death / sacrifice / relationship rupture / suffering. And like the novel implies: Geto was too sincere for this world. He just loved too deeply and wounds cut him too painfully. At just 17... what inner resources were they forced to develop?
He was disillusioned by the system, but respected that Gojo had a place there. This is also SatoSugu indulgent: He never once attempted to talk Gojo into joining him, despite it being the most logical choice, but Geto was the emotional and loving kind - he prioritised Gojo over his ideals / himself. This man was willing to die trying to pursue his ideals, but didnât want to try convincing his friend even if he know it might fail. What does that say about him? I think it says he loved Gojo. And Gojo loved him.
He masked like Gojo did : the infamous âyeah Iâd winâ and Getoâs âIâve made my choiceâ and his face fell as he had his back turned, stating that he just needed to do it to the best of his ability. This may be headcanon but it does seem plausible to me. He was under no illusions about what he had done. To love was to turn away too. To love was to let the other go. Sigh.
Backtracking a bit: When Geto encountered the twin girls, who knows what entered his mind, but there was something that emerged from being horrified, enraged, and it gave birth to new meaning. He would take control and save them - from humans and the institution that made child sorcerors die. According to Gege, he became Papa Geto. (Kenjaku is also mum-coded but the antithesis of motherly love, with the womb protrusion domain and actually bearing children.)
This is of course not limited to feminine energy, as parents, both male and female, have protective instincts. But Iâm not here to go into that discourse. Just stereotypically, and loosely speaking, Geto is very Yin energy. He is a big Mama Bear. With extreme maternal aggression. We see female counterparts do this in the wild more than males. And yes, of course both male and female are protective. Both geto and gojo were protective in their own unique ways. Thatâs for another post. Geto would rather die than have anyone come save him. In fact, the scripture behind him in the temple goes somewhere along the lines of âdeath to the weakâ. If he had failed, he deserved to die. His family should live.
Gojo cares for others differently. And yes we know he died whilst defending others too. He is inherently more individualistic due to what he is with his gifts and noble heritage. He is less emotional and more cerebral, the only time we saw him lose his composure was due to Geto.
He allows his students to take risks and would allow them to fight in his stead, like in jjk 0 where Toge and panda were sent to be defeated by Geto. Tough love, as Gojo admits. This is also very Dad-like in the modern sense of the word.
In my subjective experiencing of the world, itâs almost like a husband who is only really emotionally vulnerable with his wife, and is otherwise the successful businessman, dad, and whatever else he is. Geto is much like a mum that he would walk away from her husband (lol, Gojo in this case) in order to protect them in a way she deems is best. Maybe Iâm a little nuts, I donât know. (Actually I am a little eccentric, but thatâs by the by).
Now this is totally just satosugu indulgent: I headcanon that Gojo also âprotectedâ / was possessive of Geto by making a deal with Miguel since the latter said he would curse Geto if he died, lol. Especially in light of the latest chapter where Miguel said he was spared by Gojo. (And i reckon Gojo was respectful of Miguel being Getoâs family, so he spared him for that reason too). I mean, Gojo had to kill his best friend, but this was his burden to bear, you know? Itâs almost sickeningly intimate to allow someone to end your suffering, and be entrusted with that too. Ugh, ouch, my heartâŠ..
Edit: Iâm reminded of that scene where Shoko reflects on loving neither of them, like Gojo, Geto didnât want anyone to be alone anymore either. Geto said he didnât feel happy from the bottom of his heart. Gojo felt lonely (although he said it got better at the airport scene). They werenât alone, but probably felt it⊠because of the absence of their true/first love? Larue stating in the panels above that Geto wouldnât wish for them to fight seems like a nod to what Geto believed happened between him and Gojo. Gojo raised allies - be strong, donât be left behind. Geto a family - get along, donât fight. Just pointing out what my take is on the parallels Iâve observed.
That ends the brief analysis portion of what I wished to convey about what appears to surround Geto. He may not have been depicted much in the series, but his presence has been felt through the eyes of many. It made me wonder why did Gege do this?
This author deliberately wrote multiple people in the verse to love and follow him (and spare him a death sentence for 10 years) despite not agreeing to his ideals.
Perhaps it isnât Gegeâs focus, understandably, to give us a lot more insight from Getoâs pov, but there is certainly some kind of narrative he is pushing to depict how this man, cruel yet kind, is somehow one of the few he seems to portray in this way more than others within the sorcerer world at the very least. That his life was somehow a tragedy that he might not have really known the love at all? I wonder what Gojoâs last words were to incite such a heartfelt reaction - well done? Welcome home? You did well? I love you? My one and only best friend? Sigh, I guess itâs a secret between them.
There are others who have written metas on Gojo and maternal energy. If I find it Iâll link it! Otherwise, search through my reblogs! So many fantastic writers and thinkers out there!
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Seeing Geto talk to his mom on the phone is so painful. I always had a feeling that Geto didnât hate his parents. Maybe part of him resented them at some point, but killing them was just to show himself and the world his resolve at a point were he is already broken beyond repairing. You can tell in the way he talks about them in his farewell to Gojo. The way he behaved and talked in Hidden Inventory, kind and caring, shows he was someone who was raised with love.
He evidently felt misunderstood by his parents, though, because he was always looking for a found family. First in JJ Tech with Gojo, Shoko, Haibara and Nanami. Then with Nanako and Mimiko and the rest of his cult. He explicitly calls those two groups of people âfamilyâ for a reason. The way he also is able to understand Kuroiâs feelings for Amanai and validating them as âfamilyâ is also very telling of what family means to him.
Perhaps the most painful thing about this new lore drop is that it shows that Geto feeling misunderstood by his parents doesnât mean he hated them or that he was necessarily mistreated.
Were they good parents? We donât know. Did they know how to deal with his powers and comfort him? Probably not. Did they love him? Most likely, yes. His relationship with his parents was complex and makes his final decision of killing them so painful.
in honour of geto's birthday, i want to talk about the fandom discourse that paints him as a mother. he definitely has a degree in motherology (with a minor in babygirlism), but i also think itâs possible that gege is genuinely using his character to say something interesting about motherhood and maternity.
this post is inspired largely in part by @virgobingo's thoughtful meta on geto and monstrous femininity, which you can find here. i want to extrapolate from the trope of monstrous femininity and extend it to monstrous motherhood. (which @virgobingo also touches on; you should really check out their metaâ it's awesome!)
geto's character is immediately established in a protector capacity, which is intensely reminiscent of the tropes that mothers embody in media. his whole thing is that the strong must protect the weak; it's his core belief. his character is premised around this belief, much like the way mothers' constitutions in media are premised on the principle that they'll go to any length for their children.
we're repeatedly shown his caring side during hidden inventoryâ he cares for riko, he expresses concern for gojo, he even asks about kuroi after he finds out toji supposedly murdered his best friend. it's made very clear that he's an outwardly caring person with a strong sense of duty. in this way, he parallels the textual role of mothers, whose function is to care and provide above all else. the repeated emphasis on his caring nature is what directly likens him to maternity, whose characteristic trait is tender love and care.
he also houses curses in his body. he unleashes them from inside of him, almost like children leaving the womb. these curses obey him and operate according to his will in a very parent/child dynamic. they are powerful, but they can only do what he tells them to do. he uses them to fulfil his duty according to his core belief: to protect the weak.
when he defects, his ideology fundamentally does not changeâ it just inverts. instead of the strong protecting the weak (the weak necessitating their strength because they can't protect themselves), now the strong must be protected from the weak (because the weak leech the strength from the strong, therefore rendering them weak).
nothing really changes; he still cares âfiercelyâ it's just in the opposite direction. he takes the tropes associated with motherhood and inverts themâ he'll do anything to protect those under his care, including killing, because he wholeheartedly believes in fulfilling his duty as a protector (like a mother). his unwavering conviction and willingness to die for his beliefs (which are directly about those he's protecting) is the most flagrantly maternal thing about him.
toji's worm calls him "mommy" and it's not wrong. he takes in daughters and becomes the central figure of his "family"; his emphasis on family throughout the story (even as a youth) also speaks to his maternity, as mothers are often written as the binding emotional centres of familial structures.
after he dies, his body is taken over by someone who is Iiterally a mother. he embodies monstrous motherhood during life and after death, leading us to the question of what gege is trying to say about all of this. is caring too much a bad thing? does caring in one way open the door to caring in another? what happens when a mother's love, supposedly strong enough to lift fallen trees off their children, goes in the âwrongâ direction?
there's also the fact that geto is male. i think gege is also asking us to reckon with how the tropes of maternity have been confined to women, showing us that these intense convictions and the depth of care attributed to mothers can apply to anyone, even (especially) if they are distinctly masculine. in doing this, he's also expanding the conceptual definition of motherhood, suggesting that mothers can exist beyond their provident care and one-dimensional duty to their beloveds.
geto's monstrous motherhood is an explosive reclamation of agency in a trope where women have been historically limited by the categorical imposition of maternity. it seeks to disrupt not only who we consider to be mothers but also what we consider a mother to be. perhaps the monster is not the maternal figure whose love turns vicious or violent, but us, who monstrously imprisoned them in the fixed role of "mother".
ok wait so i know i've seen it thrown around that geto's cursed technique caused him to defect and everything. but like wasn't it just because things got too dark around him during his time at jujutsu high?
are there like two camps of thinking for this? like one being the reason for his defection was him being "eaten up" by the nature of his cursed technique vs him just falling into darkness because of the situation around him?
aka making sense of my very confused watch and thusly, my very confusing feelings
what i feel is JJK 2's biggest fault is a lack of a concrete voice, particularly in terms of tonal fluidity and character dynamics + characterization, which is what made JJK 1 so amazing to begin with. this really dampens the stakes, especially when, apart from mahito, the fight mechanics and raw physicality that JJK 1 & 0 so effortlessly captured seem to be absent. like yk you're fcking up when u have a shounen bro asking for less fight scenes.
i just feel as if, other than sotosugu, which geto is carrying on his hunching, scoliosis riddled back, i don't GET the dynamics. none of the characters made me care, they didn't connect with me beyond a superficial level, which is maybe a skill issue but ik its entirely possible when the show became #great-again and made me give 100% of a fawk about geto in TWO episodes. the tonal mastery on display there, the pacing, his sense of isolation, his deteriorating sense of self, its all conveyed so eloquently, like we are IN his head.
it also makes amanai's loss tangible, it gives us consequences and stakes and demonstrates the weight of that raw, human friendship.
it nuances geto in a way i felt was absent in the other characters and thusly made them feel flat and insignificant. â having written more now, i think what stands out to me is how filed down the characters feel, like i just realized yuuji doesnât feel RIGHT anymore, like iâm missing a sort of energy he used to bring to the table which made his softer moments feel more authentic yet pronounced, and i think thatâs whatâs plagued the new characters as well, a lack of concrete ENERGY.
long post!!
and jjk doesn't really do that sort of thing, its strength USED to lie in the compelling nature of its dynamics and character relations, but now that that's suffered under the transition of authorial voice, i think they've struck GOLD with the introspective storytelling method.
part of what made JJK 1 & 0 so great is it felt as if its light beats were ALSO in service of either narrative, plot or progression of the dynamics and we got to invest in and learn more abt the respective characters through every tonal beat we were taken through, what they got serious abt, what triggered them, how they relate to others. but with the first 3 or so episodes of JJK 2, which are very little in retrospect, but GLARING in an episode by episode watch approach, especially when contrasted again JJK 0, or JJK 1 (which, while cringe at first cause i watched downloaded eps and i used to have a shameful penchant for dub so obviously the cringe was threatening to disengage me, plus a few odd shots which had me like damn, amateur hour â which btw i STILL feel/felt that way abt s2. despite the animation being so amazing that upon teasers first dropping I was pretty much assured that it would be a sensory delight no matter what, but gorgeous moving pictures does not a good show make it seems. like you are NOT sam levinson my dudes, you donât convey the sheer SPECTACLE that makes that approach work â, but that feeling was dispelled within an episode and I was just as hyped as iâve always felt upon JJK rewatches), it has a timeless quality to it, its very sure in its direction and its characters and how they interlink. plus the fights are great and often used to convey smth abt the characters or their relationships.
while s2 has me like⊠ok so what happened in the first 3 episodes? everything felt like filler, everything felt inconsequential, everything felt shallow.
and thatâs in NO part bc of the new (sort of) cast of characters, i gaf abt JJK 0, like yuta wasnât bbg but i loved watching him form relationships with the other characters (especially inumaki, yuta x inumaki otp you heard it here first. like at first i didnât GET inumaki but upon a rewatch i started to catch onto his linguistic patterns and how soft of a character he REALLY is, like inumaki is so baby đ„ș, and the two connecting over being edgy soft boys had me SEATED.
especially when yuta got over his preconceptions abt inumaki borne of the fact that he doesnât communicate conventionally, and he had thusly fashioned a personality FOR inumaki that stemmed from him being different. but it didnât feel so extreme that i felt undercurrents of discrimination, poor boy is just traumatized and views ppl who are cold to him as antagonistic, so i get it, especially bc his reactions were more on the softer comedic side. but he then realizes that dude is just the nicest guy ever and not being able to speak doesnât mean youâre a scary or odd person), and while his whole thing with rika was kind of saccharine and had fbi ON speed dial, i came to really appreciate HOW he cursed rika and how her love for him was so pure, like it felt universal and unrestrained by any label and thatâs smth beautiful to me cause things couldâve gone ban from seven deadly sins REAL fast and they subverted that.
but i also donât feel that its coincidence that i felt more engaged by preestablished characters and their dynamics (the main trio and their reintroduction into the story). they have a shorthand, a familiarity that gojosquad lacked, and iâve come to realize as i write that thatâs intrinsic to always being the highest in the room (wink wink), but if thatâs the case then that needs to be tangibly demonstrated, give small tells that despite wanting or trying to, gojo lacks the capacity for intimate human bonds outside of one guy, heâs a product of jujutsu society, which will always distance him from conventionality and attachments. give it significance and intention within the story bc without it being written in, it makes the show feel tonally disjointed and unrefined.
give us personal moments between sugusoto, shorthands or glances or shifts in tone or whatever that capture the duration and depth of their bond, show us them caring abt each other in a way only two untouchable people can, how their eyes always find each other first, how even when with others gojo is always watching geto, like i need momentsâą (it doesnât have to be showboating and glamorized depictions of interactions ALL the time, the quiet moments matter too). like donât get me wrong i FAWKED with the aquarium scene but i think its telling how long it took me to recall it bc it was ONE moment, yk. like i want to FEEL how despite the loss or uncertainty of those around them they always have each other. THATâS whatâs missing. meggy and yu to the uji had that with their sukuna fight and megumi pledging to protect those he cares abt, in fact meggy came in swinging bc you had a strong sense of who he was and that he cared from day 1. i need their priorities and drives established, i need to know WHO they are. like yes the: who are you and what do you want scene from JJK 0 was ham-fisted and made retrieving my eyeballs from where theyâd lodged into the back of my skull quite difficult, but stuff like that is needed and CAN be done tactfully. like i feel this season is all abt subtlety and undercurrents so that when the sheer shitshow that is obviously going to burst forth comes about weâre #shook but its called balance, and its initially what made JJK so great.
and with 1/3rd of the characters i still feel have a strong presence (mahito, gojo, todo â u will ALWAYS be famous⊠and mei mei) allegedly, supposedly, apparently being taken out of the narrative which is TOTALLY something i am having a well-adjusted and normal reaction to, i am FINE! shut up shut up shut up HGRLSOPFHUJWVOBEFBUQUUI!!!?!? ARGGHHH! NBHQYIJHVQJH!!!!?!!! BANGS TABLE BITES WALLS SEETHES IN A VERY UNAFFECTED MANNER ROLLS AROUND THRASHING AND SWEATING fine i am, fine yes yes. FINE!
well, its made me very apprehensive abt how JJK could progress. bc while i think the reintroduction into modern day was done well, i also acknowledge the slippery slope of its shortcomings, and how eliminating such MAJOR players and flavors in the JJKverse can leave a void too wide to be filled. if they canât keep up the character dynamics and characterizations they have now the show, to me, is doomed, plain and simple.
bc on one hand you have the great mechamaru mahito fight, which actually works MORE bc it wasnât afraid to be a little camp and tropey and FUN, but then you have yuuji fighting that bug and its like ???? or the toji gojo fight where istg, no limbs touched, not one, no kicks, no weight, no fight mechanics, just hella blur and faith in the lord. like i should not have to wait until the end of the fight to see some IMPACT, some goÉŸe, some injury, some STAKES.
with the absolute feral levels i get at the intro song (their best one and one of the best iâve seen in anime tbh, in terms of visuals, aesthetics, music, it just- it makes me SO VIOL3NT, I LOVE IT HBWEVFHWJEFWKF) i want to see these obvious pools of potential realized, i donât want or even like JJK when its good, i like JJK bc at its core its GREAT, and if they play their cards right we could be looking at one of the best animes of, dare i say all time.
like the villains feel foreboding, they feel ALIVE, they carry weight and i want that for the mains too. so far iâm happy with their handling of the main trio, with the episode dedicated to yuujiâs old crush being genuinely emotional, paced proficiently and ACTUALLY funny, like iâm not saying that the first 3 eps werenât funny in their own way, but it wasnât GIVING jujutsu kaisen, at its inception it wasnât giving JJK with the way the season felt more like a thriller at first, but it was done so well that i wasnât mad at it, then the levity and relationships came in and were just so underwhelming man. it was literally like being hit by a train tbh.
anyway, iâve belaboured the point, all i have to say before talking abt the fÉscist in the room is that i was PHYSICALLLY and PERSONALLY pained by the diminishment of the fight scenes. ooooo going from todo yuuji, yuta geto, sukuna megumi, even gojo v that black dude (sorry idk his name and also justice for him that sht was a hate crime fr fr) honestly all the fights in the tournament between the jujutsu schools, to what we got in s2, that hurt me and me specifically and it is only grace from some celestial force that has kept me from doing smth drastic and unethical in retaliation.
anyways, what i feel couldâve capitalized on JJK 2âs strengths from the get go is centring get o (wink wink) and creating more tonal contrast or whiplash / a sense of bubbling foreboding which erupts at the climax of the season halfâs finale, it would make everything sm more pronounced and eerie and meaningful, just generally imbuing more nuance into their portrayal couldâve made it LEAGUES better but then geto would have lost all mobile functionality of his spine bc he wouldâve crashed under the weight of the show long before he crashed under the weight of his own mind. bro CARRIED.
to the point where heâs such a caricature of a fashie character now and i STILL have immense love for him, heâs like lightside eren jeager â if voldy and eren had a baby it would be geto (and part of the reason why geto works where eren doesnât is bc they make a point to villainize him and verbalize how fashie his rhetoric is, which HURTS bc i am black and hearing him call humans monkeys has me like i canât keep defending my maga bf like this, why is my taste in men so flagellatory???!! STAND đđżUP đđż! â only those of a certain hue are allowed to laugh @ that joke i am in ur walls) and while i wished they nuanced him more and factored in how he cared abt amanai into his descent, i also appreciate that that intimacy i was talking abt prior popped up. geto became who he thought he was supposed to be to carry out smth so incongruous to his former ideology and identity, he feels like a caricature bc he IS a caricature, but once the mask slips the softness and purity of his core personality is revealed and its ONLY for gojo, like JEQFBJHBFJQEJ
i donât even ship sugusoto (like that). theyâre both just so great that by brute force i intellectually recognize the excellence of their dynamic, like it just doesnât make SENSE to not give sugusoto their tens bc of how intertwined within each other they are. like sorry, did not give a singular FAWK abt them before (when i had no familiarity with their material/dynamic) and now they have me crying out of sheer respect no oneâs doing it like them.
and what makes empathizing with a character like geto so natural, and produces such a well crafted character in general is his NUANCE, i feel like, similar to eren jeager, you canât find him endearing or sympathetic in any capacity without first giving significance to, not only the nature of his moral decline, but the inherent complexities of his character. liking geto without acknowledging that he touts rÉce science and plans to genocıde ppl he sees as biologically inferior is a YIKES, you canât ignore that shite without seeming like a member of a third subsect yourself idk, like its not insignificant, and woobifying an active fÉscıst is existential horror if iâve ever seen it.
its why aot falls flat for many but JJK excels in that department, bc geto is condemned and for good reason, HOWEVER, i think there was a way we couldâve muddled even the lens through which heâs condemned / the immensity of empathy we feel for him, and thatâs bringing amanai into his ideological realignment.
amanai was the source of his moral turn and it feels like a missed opportunity to not have her be more core to its after effects, like HER dyıng is what gets geto so why wouldnât the weight of her legacy and the purity of her character weigh on him more. the star platinum followers were human yes, but so was amanai, and having geto hyperfocus on one part of the equation when the other is arguably just as significant is a HUGE missed opportunity to say the least. like given his new outlook how does geto FEEL abt someone like amanai now, has he condemned her, and if so, why didnât we see that more explicitly? like i feel its pretty inevitable that he has, since he sights human weakness and the sacrifice of jujutsu sorcerers for humans as his point of contention, which stems from him being unable to exercise justice against the religious group, but ALSO parallels gojo seemingly dyıng for amanai, someone who put them all in harms way through her ineptitude and the [to geto in retrospect, ultimately] false debt they felt towards her. like at first he idolizes THAT aspect of human innocence but as he sees its consequences does it not make sense that his turn would come from explicitly writing off its source?
OR even more powerfully, being plagued by knowing that good humans exist but valuing people like gojo, who he sees as the real unprotected and collateral of society, more than he values amanai. like in canon heâs so tired of fighting for ppl who underappreciate and can manifest such heinous forms of evil but it wouldâve been an elevation to add him being tired of fighting for a shred of goodness that ever since heâs only seen its dark side, he comes to realize is gone anyway, so WHY is he still fighting? the mental fracture that brings and his conveyance of guilt and buried pain could be SO good cause deep down geto could ultimately agree with gojo that human life is precious, but that he canât stop himself from HATING that, resenting that he canât see himself or anyone else around him as precious too.
like oooooh wouldâve made him best character of all time i fear. like caricature geto serves a purpose, but ANGSTY geto, the ppl were NOT ready! but regardless, i am MORE than happy with the geto we got. More than. i cant even fully articulate the depths i feel geto has and what we couldâve gotten out of him, like bro is the gift that KEEPS ON giving!
anyways, thatâs it from me i think. overall i think JJK needs to realize that what made s1 so iconic isnât bombastic shots or glamorous aesthetics, its all these masterfully conveyed moving parts coming together to create smth better than the sum of its parts. itâs the nitty gritty of character dynamics and characterization and meaningful fights and the mundanities of friendship, itâs the quiet moments which make the big moments so loud! itâs the dialectical nature of the show.
i WANT to trust JJK S2 to stick the landing, the gold is THERE, they just need to dig. and if a hyperfixation of mine goes to shite, well we can all pretend it was a fever dream and continue reading metas on the manga or smth, idk đ€·đżââïž will continue biting my nails till the very end.
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Wouldnât it be nice if he were judged by his intentions in the afterlife - wherever that was? He had suffered living with the love he had. We see through the eyes of those left behind, that the ill deeds didnât define him, as strange as that may be to us as readers in the real human world we live in. Getoâs influence and loving nature were far reaching; Gege certainly made him so treasured by many even after his death. If Gojo was touched by his caring influence, this was also Getoâs will he passed onto his students.
NOT spoiler-free as Iâll be referring to the recent chapter, 255.
I wrote this the other day:
The man surrounded by the theme of loveâŠ
Geto.
Gege has made several writing choices to depict Geto as someone who was handsome and loved
And honestly itâs long enough; hereâs part 2.
Is it obvious Iâm suffering from brainrot? All my drafts from jjk brainrot are rivalling my thesis/dissertation from way back (lol)
Here is more under the cut:
Iâm really moved by the reasons for why Miguel and Larue have decided to join in the risky fight against Sukuna.
Itâs very obvious that Miguel is reluctant at first. He says he heâd rather terrible curses arrive at his shores than to fight with Sukuna, adding that he doesnât see himself having any ties with Japan any longer.
We can deduce that this was part of Gojoâs plan for the possibility that he dies/loses, and I had a post about this saved in my drafts - but I guess I never got around to finishing it. Basically, in sum, he will achieve giving Geto a cremation (avenging him) and gets to show off to his students (which he does enjoy) by going all out (soo satisfying), and in the worst case scenario, he loses but gets to go all out, weakens Sukuna (for the rest to handle), and idk if he really is that romantic (so itâs really stsg headcanon fantasising) he will die on the same day as Geto.
The Opening theme is rather beautiful in that it interprets Gojo having the words, âweâll meet againâ stuck in his throat, which he doesnât say. But Iâm a bit weird and tend to separate anime from manga. But itâs worth noting that here.
I digress. Back to Miguel and Larue who have moved to speak privately without Yuta.
In a previous post I wondered aloud about what Yuta knew about Geto from others aside from being villainous and I guess this implies he doesnât know much, since he wasnât close to Miguel enough to sit around to chat with them. It makes sense.
Miguel and Larue both agree they followed Geto in jjk 0 because they wanted to see him become King. What does this even mean, really? Gege, youâre missing stuff out again!
Nevertheless, we understand how reluctant Miguel was. He enquires that Larue intends to do, clarifying: is it for revenge or to take Getoâs body back?
And it seems like their main motivation for putting their lives on the line... is to honour Getoâs memory. Like a traditional ritual one makes for the dead (customary in Japan on death anniversaries - not limited to the year, but also number of days).
Itâs incredibly moving how much they love him. This is actually what led Miguel to reconsider. We see him go silent as he thinks â...â before he reaches a moment of clarity/a decision.
Tbh I have issues with interpreting his statement in between the two panels (re: hell) in Japanese - it doesnât directly indicate if he is referring to the former part of the conversation (whether he thinks Geto is in hell), or the latter (he thinks the battle will be hell). The phrasing goes like this: âno matter how I think about it: itâs hell.â - Iâm not a native speaker so itâs difficult for me to be certain which is right. But the consensus is as translated above. Larue thinks Geto is in heaven, Miguel thinks itâs hell, and we see the airport scene where presumably Haibara and Riko with Kuroi have been there for over a decade. lol. Who knows!
So the bottom line is⊠regardless of where they think Geto ends up in the afterlife, Miguel is willing to give Geto a send off thatâll even reach hell. Or, despite it going to be hellish, he will do it. It also seems so heartwarming how they still emphasise family and friendship in wanting to fight together - perhaps things we can surmise had meant something to Geto.
They will fight Sukuna because it is for Geto. Geto was so loved that they would risk themselves - not for a title, not for revenge, but out of ⊠love. Again. Thatâs pretty damn loving. Can we imagine what Geto did and was to them, for them to experience such loyalty and reverence?
Sadly, it goes without saying that Getoâs body being used as a vessel and puppet by Kenjaku has possibly evoked an emotional response by those who cared for him - namely Mimiko and Nanako, and also Gojo. Arguably, even if it were a death without his body being hijacked, Gojo did refuse to cremate his body or have it processed âby the bookâ of jjk high through Shoko. If thatâs not out of a form of love (or âconsiderationâ as Kenjaku put it), I donât know what is.
The twins went against what Geto wanted for them (to carry out his will) to fight against immensely power beings in hopes they could bring him home. Those were their reasons to fight. Gojo scheduled 24th December - this was after he teleported to Kenjaku immediately upon unsealing so he could bury Geto. We saw Larue and Miguelâs. Toshihisa is alleged to be quite weak, and despite potentially being considered a son to Geto (if his life situation did mimic that of the twinsâ - source: jjk character book), he opts to follow the inherited will as prescribed by Geto.
Itâs all love. Geto was loved, Iâm telling you. I want to shout if off the rooftops because that man just looked so darned sad and deranged after he lost it.
So. Continuing where I left off: Everyone thus far has had a reason to go into battle with Sukuna. I wonder what / who will actually reach him? I hope itâs Yuji ... and that Megumi will react again at some point. They have their own themes relating to love and purpose. Iâll leave them to someone else more familiar with their characters to write about!
And now Iâm going offside quite a bit, but itâs still of relevance to Geto and the theme of love that seems to surround him. Way back to jjk 0 and Hidden inventory.
I wanted to just bring this into the picture as well now that Iâm already writing a post on that topic, but please feel free to stop if youâre bored now.
So. Jjk 0!
There were direct parallels with Yuta & Rika and Gojo & Geto. This was also confirmed by the director when discussing their vision for the movie. The light novel also drew a link between Geto and Yuta where they were described as being too sincere for this world.
There is a direct theme of love - the type, is open to interpretation.
Kenjaku also makes reference to this in the Shibuya arc. So to me, it remains relevant. Love in its many forms is somewhere in what Gege wishes to convey thematically.
Within jjk 0, Geto seemed to pursue power but this was also a symbolism where power = love. It is twisted. In light of recent events, we know that the pursuit of power leads to the dilution and even absence of love. Love that gives birth to power becomes cursed. So it seems.
As we know, Yuta bound his lover to himself to gain power.
If only he had Rika (metaphor for love: Gojo) he probably wouldnât have had to skulk around the shadows consuming curses which he hated doing. Geto was lamenting on the past in the above panels. He probably was determined to carry on, as he vouched to give it all he got (Haibaraâs last words to him echoing here).
A flashback to the past:
Geto doesnât do things in half-measures. To avoid hypocrisy, and I headcanon that it was a merciful killing to protect them from him, he kills his parents. To die by his hands than to be used as a pawn to get to him. For them to see the horrors their son could be capable of. It is so very wrong, and we can see the twisted nature of his love in this interpretation.
And Gojo delivers the ultimate blow that leads to Geto reflecting - depicted by the mysterious ellipses ââŠ..â (gege really likes the reader to work hard huh) - insinuating it is impossible for Geto, so donât even bother trying. The blossoming possibility of discourse was nipped, as the strength differential was implied - youâre the strongest now, whereas it used to be âweâ. There was no more place for Geto; it was probably a misunderstanding. Gojo was protecting everyone in his own way, and the only way he knew how.
For power, Gojo was a source - but Geto couldnât do that in Shinjuku, nor earlier in the arc, when Gojo himself was on the brink of insanity and deferred to Geto about annihilating humans as he held Rikoâs dead body. Geto in the scene above acknowledges their different paths they needed to take - Gojo had a place as part of the elite at the school - Geto was already facing an execution order.
And after hearing Gojoâs condescending tone in an emotionally-fuelled attempt to reach out to him. He turns away to protect his friend from himself, and himself from his friend. Anyway, I touched on this in my previous post. Geto feels they had fought and didnât deserve a place next to Gojo. But deep inside, even his body remembers the sound of Gojoâs voice, reacting to it when called despite his soul no longer being there.
sigh. Moving on... back to jjk 0:
After witnessing the bonds through willingness to sacrifice and the love between these students, Geto was really moved. Gojo trusted Geto retained his sense of humanity / love / idealism - even if it would lead to him sacrificing himself.
He was finding it difficult anyway:
He could always empathise with love. I suspect he tried his best, but the binding vow for Yutaâs life was also just the cherry on top to make Rika super saiyan.
Kenjaku knew Geto probably couldâve won though, had he been more selfish.
Geto conceded without a fight with Gojo. Maybe it was a matter of trust in that they both knew his living on borrowed time. As the light novel insinuated, this was the only way it could ever end. And Gojo would have to carry the curse that was Geto. This seems... so cruel.
He did his best. He perhaps always wanted the love but set it free.
He did so many things for others in spite of himself, in sacrificing himself, in staining himself with blood drenched hands.
Avenging Riko by killing Sonoda. Note how manipulative âhumansâ are by using Jujutsu rules against them.
He embraces a life of smoke and daggers. Living in lies and half truths in order to live, survive, and find justice in a wicked world.
Watch me closely, Iâll protect you, Iâll avenge you, this is how you protect yourself.
This is the path Iâve chosen.
Iâm not saying he was right or justifiable. His character is just tragic. The system had set him and others to fail.
The worm foreshadows Getoâs maternal nature. Calling him âokaasanâ. I mean, this very worm had a binding vow with Toji. And now it calls for a new owner? Iâm not sure if Gege had anything else in mind with this... is the womb protrusion domain Getoâs? But thatâs tied to a sorcererâs soulâŠ. Anyway, I digress again. (Sorry). Geto did have a martyr complex and was written captivatingly well by Gege. The extra touches where how he has been perceived by others and the effect he has (and continues to have) on those we see.
And I just want to leave this heartbreaking thing here:
Source from twitter/now X:
Wouldnât it be so sweet for Geto to get one (love declaration) at the end of his life, regardless of the way you perceive Gojo and Getoâs relationship?
Wouldnât it be nice for him if he could know that his family who he instructed to flee had all loved him, adored him, and would honour his sacrifice in differing ways...
Instead, a form of love meant his body was desecrated and used by Kenjaku. His girls were killed, and his full potential was not quite realised at all.
If only things were different.
Gojo should have kept him in his basement!
But at least, I think, Gege is giving Geto some love even after his death.
For that Iâm thankful.
And thanks for reading if you made it this far with my rambling!
If you want something more light hearted I have a fluffy fic up on AO3 (it isnât great but i enjoyed writing it to fantasise about what happens at the airport) and if you want more angst and pain, please browse my tags (lol).
Thoughts/Ponderings/Musings on ch 236. About Gojo reaching Sukuna, his death, his relationships, etc.
I know there are people who really dislike the characterisation here, expressing that Gojo is likely far more kind and caring for his students, etc.
Gege and his infinite wisdom over his creation seems to like encouraging headcanon kaisen, lol. He certainly keeps things quite true to life and allows the reader to make their own conclusions.
It is not my place as a casual reader to judge his writing, and I will defend it inasmuch as I also had hoped for more: Just because it isnât explicitly said, doesnât mean those things we have seen about Gojo arenât true. I agree that it is also a shame that more wasnât or couldnât be included in this chapter to either dispel or confirm, but thatâs masterful writing in itself, I guess.
I take small refuge in my interpretation that this is a glimpse of a conversation; as in real life, we ease into conversations. I enjoyed the dynamics and overall tone. I like to remember that each expression was a decision made, and these details can hold a lot of weight in meaning.
So we see that Gojo prefaces with something else and was responding rather specifically to Getoâs question regarding his fight, his end.
Geto, a natural conversationalist, who is said to be good at being at Gojoâs level, enquires about his fight - entering into neutral territory after Gojo expressed frustration and being stunned after his sudden arrival there.
Geto reads him / the atmosphere well and responds to tune the conversation to a level he can reach Gojo, despite possibly having a lot to say and catch up on himself. (Like, we never hear him talk about his family aside from confirming they escaped.)
He is showing respect for his friend. What do they have to rush for, anyway? I donât think there is a specific afterlife if they chose to go south. Time may be infinite?
â
A lot more under the cut. Feel free to skim and apologies in advance for tangents. I hope it makes sense overall. I tried to make it as cohesive as possible despite being lengthy.
:: Beware the Word Vomit, overall reaching, meta, interpretations, some satosugu shipping, and general weaving and stringing of themes. ::
Disclaimer: Iâm fully aware I may be wrong, as I am with many things, and youâre welcome to drop me any comments or thoughts.
One of the glaring issues was the âSukuna glazingâ as some fans called it. To see Gojo having regard for Sukunaâs strength doesnât take anything away from Gojo imho, but I get it. What was all this reaching that Gojo was expressing? Surely that doesnât that precedence? Of all things, is this what heâs regretting in what is possibly his last significant scene in the manga?
A part of me relates to this outrage, but then I try to bring myself down, because we are often kept out of what intimacies are exchanged between Gojo and significant ones (Geto, students, etc.) and we arenât / havenât been privy to many deep and elaborate reflections of Gojo or Geto. All we get are ellipses â...â and depictions of longing stares that donât quite betray their honest thoughts.
So, within the context of the above, Geto asks directly and Gojo describes. Of course heâd want to know how Gojo experienced it. Heâs always been the one who cared about how Gojo actually feels or experiences things. He might join in a bit of friendly ribbing, but Geto and Gojo communicate on another level with banter, etc. thereâs a reason theyâre each otherâs best friend.
I also see an interpretation where it cycles back to love is the most twisted curse: it can save people, but it may hold you back from being the strongest. Love has been a theme since the origin story in jjk 0. Gojoâs love for his students and Megumi may or may not have affected their chances of success, but he nevertheless cares and bets on the future (students).
Geto has always been shown to be Gojoâs significant person - a safe person, if you will. Thematically, their designs are two parts of a whole. Their fates intertwine in so many ways, only to be separated ultimately to death.
Since, heâs described not feeling lonely anymore, through love for this students (his legacy and will) and even more now (for himself) that he was wrong about dying alone. He had wanted to find a way to bring Geto home (to jujutsu high [Getoâs theme song âcome back homeâ given by Gege is all about this after all]) but despite all thatâs happened, he is with him at the airport, and Gojo is satisfied enough with that, but wonât waste time not bridging gaps any longer -
Gojo is so very forthcoming with Geto in his adult years. Given the opportunity in jjk 0, he not only asks for his last wishes, but conveys his as well. He then speaks his heart in his conversation with Geto; he is candid, yet serious.
Iâd like to think itâs infused with more emotion than he ever did in their early days. He confirms his feelings to Geto and confesses his desire to have had him there to send him off. More on this later.
In the original version of the manga, Gojo momentarily reverts back to the use of âoreâ just once, before it becomes âbokuâ again - a shift had taken place in him due to what Geto said in the past. To demonstrate that in a few short panels is quite something too. People change; we evolve through the influence of significant others.
Gojo knows loneliness as he has learnt about love in its different forms. To really know it is perchance what Sukuna doesnât, despite saying he does.
From this point of view, he says he is sorry for him, as heâs got empathy for Sukuna; that Sukuna couldnât learn what he had wanted to convey, but perhaps the emphasis was more of a pity for him than feeling disappointed.
In a typical Gojo fashion, he captures it clumsily and makes it about strength in his speech, as if punches and skills thrown at each other could convey that it doesnât have to be lonely and that they could understand each other - that having a peer would be interesting / satisfying - perhaps also seeking a sense of validation himself in Sukuna. Itâs possibly also what prompts people like Nanami to call him out on the extreme emphasis on strength. But maybe thatâs Gojoâs defence mechanism too, who knows. If Gojo had a love language, would it be fighting talk? Ha ha.
This reminds me of how Gojo was perhaps unintentionally condescending to Geto at the KFC breakup scene - it was the final nail in the coffin for Geto and he shut down completely, remarking the now infamous, âAre you Gojo Satoru because youâre the strongest or are you the strongest because you are Gojo Satoru?â But thatâs by the by I guess. It wasnât as if Sukuna was going in for therapy / love intervention with anyone, lol. Fighting was the conversation.
So moving on, what is Sukunaâs perspective and what could it be that Gojo wanted to convey, and presumably died trying? Looking at the next fight, he is asked directly about his perspective as the strongest in history who stands above the rest.
Sukuna. The pinnacle; the epitome of strength, solitude, and one who has cast away everything - seemingly peacefully - in favour of being formidable at the top. Revered and feared in equal measure.
He is so strong yet he doesnât need anything the others facing off with him seem to yearn. The all want to reach him for their own reasons. Maybe like disciples chasing the Buddha. What is his message? Can I understand him, and he, me? And then, ourselves?
This fight was supposedly for himself too - but what was he yearning? Gojo at first glance appears to wish to defend himself, everyone, and save megumi. Mourn Geto too. From what we understand, he's been lonely, despite this improving over the past year (through his admission to Geto later on in the airport scene).
The mark of The Strongest has been left: As soon as Gojo became strong, Geto left. Geto didnât love him for his strength - he had to leave; in part, because feeling out of place and left behind in the a shadow of a person who is now living by âthe strongest, aloneâ hurt, making the ills of the world unbearable, as it tipped the balance greatly for him. He could not see beyond Gojoâs apparent selfless selfishness, and he did the same with his own version of it. He had to pave his own way and build another family & world - even if it was a shell of what he had with Gojo.
But I digress. Gojo had strength but it wasnât enough to reach Geto. He has been using his Strength as a teacher to foster a new generation, allies, in a bid to change the Jujutsu world in a different way to Geto. Yes, they shared a dream. (I hope this comes back into the picture with Geto's side fighting Sukuna too.)
He sees this curse taking shape - first with Yuji and then Megumi. I canât imagine the outrage, and how itâs internalised by Gojo. He possibly dissociates to some degree, as one wouldnât be able to function if they carried the weight of the world (in information and in sensation overload) all the time. Heâs trained himself to be selective. So, nevertheless, there is a call to defend his title; he is also bored, wants to be a good example, and plays his part to assist with defeating Sukuna - tries to reach him but maybe it just wasnât his message to relay. Gojoâs job was done here. He got what he wanted - a satisfying fight. More on this later.
We see the futility this far in reaching Sukuna across chapters. Responding to âloveâ⊠Harming those along the way carelessly, as he wanders simply proving his existence, as if that alone is enough to justify and bring it purpose. As a calamity or curse, he doesnât need to consider what he is.
This is the extreme of what strength is - of what Gojo could have become. Perhaps if he wasn't so deeply touched by having someone complete him, so he could be a brat in his youth and actually trust someone to fall back on. And had he not suffered loss through Geto leaving, would've meant he never had to question himself or experience doubt or longing in his life, as he was gifted, was he not? Or was it actually a curse?
Is it meaningful to be the only one at the top of the mountain where nobody can even reach? What good does the embodiment of strength bring, if there is nobody to recognise that it is, no one to yield the power for to give it meaning, and no use for the sheer magnitude of what you can do to give it purpose?
Sukuna says he knows love and cast it away, finding it worthless, that he responds to othersâ strength with love through besting them in a fight. He gets his âkicksâ like Gojo did to some degree like in the theme song for Gojo by Aviccii:
(Oh, my, my) That's what I get for lovin' you
(Lie, lie, lie) You know I can't live without you
(Why, why, why?) And all the things you put me through
(Cry, cry, cry) 'Cause I'll get my kicks without you
Life must be pretty monochromatic as The Strongest. Rinse repeat until no one is left.
Following the loss of love, Gojo tried to find meaning and pass the time in ways befitting of him too. Everyone has to find a way to move on, right? But it doesnât mean everyone feels fulfilled or healed. He drilled skills into his tempered body throughout the years of his existence; he wanted to showcase it all to Sukuna - the reason he fought and battled and trained and developed his incredible sense - his spirit that does so for himself (yes he does get kicks from it) but also for others - because Gojo is an evolved form of The Strongest. Maybe The Strongest 2.0 and Yuta is version 3.0. You get my drift.
Gojo is representing the sorcerers of the modern world. Whilst Gege likes to poke fun and say he is devoid of a personality; Iâd say that isnât it quite natural when your role in life has already been partially determined for you at birth? Further, as a âvictimâ of circumstance due to the setting, trauma and heavy reliance on Gojo to fulfil all sorcerer duties from a young age (esp after Geto left) can certainly leave you in a state of emotional arrested development.
To reiterate, Gojo, unlike Sukuna, DOES find meaning and purpose in his students. He wised up and found the sense in what he and Geto discussed, learning from the past and adopting certain philosophies that suited him.
But still, as the strongest, Gojo was lonely with the line drawn - as a human being (self/identity) hiding behind a living creature (of strength/facade); Gojo seemed to be saying through the blooming lotuses (flowers growing out of literal muddy waters - rich in religious and cultural sumbolism) that he loves everyone but despite that they couldnât understand him, and him, them. This is the main interpretation that makes sense as Gojo is talking about himself, his allies (esp Megumi), even possibly Geto, but he is also talking about reaching Sukuna.
Considering the possible interpretations for who the lotuses symbolise... he less common one from my readings thus far would be Sukuna; but it kinda makes sense: Sukuna, who was born to unfavourable circumstances, and similar to Hakari who described the strong looking down at others as if they were dirt. And achieving so much like a rising from the ashes. We also see him glorified as the strongest of all time now.
And it reinforces the âunreachabilityâ (made up a word here) and how it was an impossible task in the first place.
The message being: How can Gojo reach someone who does not want to be reached? This cycles back to what he said to Yaga when Geto left. He cannot save anyone who does not want to be saved by others.
If Sukuna was the lotus, and was a beautiful flower in strength that defied odds to bloom in the murky depths of dirt - he certainly isnât pure as the flower symbolises, but he certainly is some kind of divinity. But I really donât want to glorify Sukuna.
I prefer the interpretation of the lotus being Gojo or those around him, but narratively, it is simply possible he is describing several peopleâs parallels here with how solitude accompanies being strong. Sukuna is like the unreachable Enlightened One. Yet, he strangely doesnât seem to have a solid sense of identity - there is no âI am the strongestâ that Gojo embraces, not that this is anything to hinge oneâs identity upon, as it is part of Gojoâs problem.
And yet this still brings us to what Gojo wanted to reach Sukuna with aside from a demonstration of his skills. Does Yuta have anything to add to this, as the next Gojo Satoru?
Yuta, if we can appeal to his character for parallels in messages, and if we can consider him The Strongest 3.0 asked Uro - donât you have a lover or friends? Implying that if one fights so desperately for their own sake, it reaches a dead end fairly quickly. Just WHO are you fighting for, and doesnât fighting for yourself get a little old after decades?
Even Toji (without his soul when ressurected) instinctively ended his rampage at the sight of what his reason for living was, his son, albeit he cared for Megumi in a very dodgy roundabout way, fearing his closeness would ruin / stain his son. Iâm reminded here of how Getoâs body reacted to Gojoâs voice; momentarily seizing Kenjaku by the throat.
Somehow the bond between Gojo and Geto is marking its significance again, isnât it? They all had reasons they fought for, and through the many evidences of these, we are allowed insight into recurring ones that may hold more significance than others. You know, like: my students are watching, letâs schedule it on the 24th of December.
These are important things to gojo, he is also showing Sukuna what he doesnât have. He didnât need to live like a cursed object for decades, etc and his significance doesnât die when he does. Yes, a big part of Gojo had craved this âall outâ but as he lives his life and engages in the battle, all the pieces of WHY, WHO, and WHAT he is wielding power for start to surface.
As the reader we are finding these Easter eggs along with him, because the narrator and Gojo donât disclose this openly. Gojo has people modelling this for him throughout his short life, and he seems to be quick on the uptake, despite preaching about strength. Maybe he isnât terribly aware, but he knows more than he lets on - Gojo had a persona.
We probably can say the same about the âIâd winâ scene that pretty much foreshadowed his defeat. That kind of a Champion enters the ring without fighting talk?
The scene depicting him reflecting upon his first ever defeat showed him to be chasing a âhighâ of satisfaction from going all out and fulfilling the itch of Boredom and Loneliness that plagues the unimaginably strong. Pursuing and honing his skill, getting stronger and stronger, drew him further and further away from anything meaningful - ending up in a state where he never really gets the satisfying release he craves.
Like a runner who is only allowed to run at 5kmph for a short distance; an artist who isnât able to paint their desired masterpiece; a singer whose voice can only whispered to an audience; the strongest weightlifter who can only utilise 20% of his max strength... How terribly dissatisfying.
How stifling it is to have such a limitation. And yes, his skill is limitless. How ironic indeed - the repression, the impotence strength imposes.
And while we are on skill/technique names, others have pointed out before - unlimited void? What a perfect description of what felt meaninglessness / existential emptiness is.
The underside of this however was how it also alluded to the possibility that he was going to experience another enlightenment - but of a final kind of his physical form. It implies he was tired from his isolation or that there was at least no remedy for it, and therefore his present sense of fulfilment was to engage in battle and enjoy it - although he recognised signs of defeat - it would be satisfying as he could go all out or die trying.
It would fulfill the purpose of his existence as The Strongest contender anyway. He, could be the victor, or the pawn, who plays his part in the universe. His reigning time as the champion needed to be defended with dignity anyway. It reminds me of his conversation with Megumi about death and being selfish.
I mean, that's just imbued with meaning there. A whole post needs to be dedicated to It, and I'm not the subject matter expert by a long mile. Gojoâs bottom line was that strength did define him; he was born with it.
Watching Megumi possibly minimise his worth and clip his wings without pursuing / living up to his potential may be a waste, as a person who inherited the skills that took their ancestors down. However, the selfish path may not be for everyone.
Other writersâ meta Iâve read seem to touch on this too - that Gojo unwittingly became a form of the old Jujutsu world himself due to being a product of it himself, but he did do his best by his students to inspire change. This, to me, speaks volumes about him entrusting them to live out their paths upon his passing - what could he do in death, anyway? He taught them the importance of accountability and his own version of the truth - that power and strength - living to your potential is certainly one way of living, and they can expect to die alone, so make the most of their youth!
We witnessed Gojo making preparations for the match, following setting the date on 24th December. How romantic of Geto, to try and either seek Rika in jjk 0 or die to Gojoâs hand - and then now, Gojo, who may mourn Geto again, or die trying on the same day. It begs the question: was he also secretly at peace with the possibility of dying to Sukuna? At not being the strongest? It seems that him being a pragmatist (or âresignation manâ as Gege apparently once put it) he would find some peace, especially since he was Geto in the afterlife and could see that his soul wasnât trapped in his physical body or something - their corpses could be left to the living and Shoko, which seems to be the faithful stance they both take in trusting the living to âcarry onâ their respective teachings.
Nevertheless, Gojo is trying to reach Megumi here. But as the incredibly gifted, talented, and strongest - albeit as cursed as it is to be afflicted with it all, Gojo may not empathise with the struggles of the weaker. It is reminiscent of how he approaches the battle with Sukuna in the first place. He was challenged and he accepted.
A sport. That's not to say he lost sight of the bigger picture - we saw Gojo making preparations for a possible reality where he does not return.
Unfortunately, his skills also lend towards fighting alone, unless they were back-to-back with him. (I still hold onto the belief he and Geto could be a dynamic duo). Which Sukuna also used against him in their match in order to not get hit. Gojo has never learnt what it would be like to fight with others and it's old-fashioned egoist rules about matches when viewing it as a sport rather than of survival. But, Gojo had changed enough to feel he could reach Sukuna and had desired to impart something - maybe to have significance or be regarded by an equal - once again - for this would be of utmost satisfaction for him to receive.
He had learnt a whole lot about things in his short life. He did well. In a final battle of 3 vs 1? Against Sukuna in the body of Megumi and the 10 shadows that his ancestors had died to? Thatâs already unprecedented. But strength aside, Gojo had reached many people and itâs time for him to pass on the baton and be where he wants to be, in the version of himself where he is the happiest.
Gojo admits to being wrong about dying alone, further listening to how Nanami and Haibara reflected on the former's death betting on the future seemed to solidify some kind of understanding for him.
That he didnât have regrets either. He, too, fought for a purpose beyond seeing satisfaction of being strong; it just became evident as it surfaced to his awareness. With his six eyes, he couldnât see everything. With limitless, he couldnât reach it all either. Even if you have everything, you canât do anything. It is not enough to just be strong. And Gojo wasnât just strong in the end.
He may or may not have reached Sukuna, but maybe, just maybe, in being wrong about dying alone, the necessity for everyone to be both selfless and selfish, was enough for Gojo. To reach and arrive at: Acceptance.
Seems pretty good to me, to be at peace.
â
âThe absolute strongest, the loneliness that follows, the one who will teach you about love is... â
Yorozuâs haunting words.
Gojo is not the strongest anymore
Gojo didnât feel lonely anymore
The one who will teach has taught him about love is...
You, Geto Suguru. It started with you, and it ends with you.
â
Yes, sound the alarm! It's satosugu brainrot headcanon.
Gojo seems to be saying, and Iâll phrase this as if he were speaking to Geto in his mindâs voice:
Yes, I was undeniably the strongest; until I wasn't. It was a fun fight. My students are my legacy; I trust them to take it from here too. They know they have the permission to be selfish. I trust that they have their own wisdom to know the difference; it is up to them now. I did my best to change the world that let us down in our youth; and fostered and shielded those under my care as best as I could with what I had. I think they had some good memories; I sought to give them a flavour of what we had, preserving the treasure that it was for us. I was never the teacher type, but I wanted to do something and clung onto a dream you and I shared.
I responded to others who loved me and surrounded me for my strength (living creature); but for me as a human, I am undeniably greedy and longed, pined for you (the only one who saw me: Satoru). You held the space as my one and only. I let you go back then in Shinjuku, and couldnât let your body go when you died, and you came back as a puppet... I didnât get to mourn you, but here we are: dying on the same date a year apart. Others still donât quite get me (like Nanami and Haibara) but they understand the creature that is a part of me. They accept me; in itself, itâs enough, for a part of it is true.
As for the rest of me: you complete me with your understanding of me; parts of me that I donât see or have forgotten. Just as unchanging as it was before, Iâve only ever needed you to satisfy me (and ease my solitude) ; no matter who filled the space around me, your absence spoke the loudest, because your presence alone would have been the most profound - Iâd have felt satisfied / complete.
And yes, I am 100% romanticising here. Unashamedly!
â
A more pragmatic take would be:
He could be quite simply implying that he carried a guilt for the longest time and the one thing he couldn't achieve was to bring his best friend back home to Jujutsu High. I mean I adore Teacher AU and I'm totally open to this more shonen interpretation too.
The finale was as he entered the other land, in a dreamlike state, he sees Geto, remembers heâs tasked Shoko to tell Megumi, demonstrating he has infinite faith in the next generation to survive, and itâs sufficient, it seems, to have a death without regret.
We see Sukuna offering recognition of his skill and existence after he is slashed, laying on the floor, as it begins to snow. A small smirk appears that seems to also mirror the same on his expression in the cover of volume 26. Satisfaction. Gojo mightâve been a worthy opponent and reached Sukuna in that regard after all; maybe love was not his lesson to teach Sukuna. He has died a noble death befitting of a warrior to be surrounded by camellias.
Gojo Satoru passes onto the afterlife and heads south.
â
Itâs controversial somehow; it is both enough, and leaves me wanting more. Hereâs to hoping itâs not the last of Gojo (or Geto).
Maybe I did just want to dream a little. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. My tapestries tend to get quite complicated, and I wouldnât blame anyone if they bailed!
Itâs an understatement to say that the links and concepts between these are complicated / complex within the jjk world.
Iâm just going to write about what I understand so far, and if anyone else has theories or a deeper understanding of it, please drop me a comment or reblog with your own thoughts. Iâm open to discourse!
The rest is just largely focused on Gojo and Geto - exploring how their subconscious, soul and body may have been affected by their relationship.
What was meant to be short has gone into theorising territory as I attempt to make sense of things. I am Satosugu / SuguSato indulgent.
(Ps: I donât discriminate over who tops/bottoms or if they even do it at all. Soulmates donât necessarily need to copulate as far as I'm concerned).
Be warned and afraid.
Itâs a real whopper of an essay by the way. If thatâs not your thing, please just skim or pass - or stay for the parts you want to read and do it in multiple sittings if it gets too much.
Can you imagine what itâs like living in my brain? Ha! Itâs too much for me too, hence, the info dump.
Sharing here, as I think some people enjoy reading about them too.
NOT spoiler-free. More under the cut (o^^o)
In my brainrot, the cogs start turning and sometimes 2 becomes what looks like 4 and I just have to get it out - you know the drill. Word vomit. If youâve clicked, welcome and I hope you enjoy your stay with my obsessive brainrot, tangents, love for Gojo and Geto.
A bit on the Soul, the Body, Sub/Consciousness, and Cursed Techniques - skip this part if itâs boring:
So, based on what we have been told, Mahito believes he can see the soul, and that the body & soul are separate. For humans, souls can linger after death but upon rebirth, curses and humans alike will not know one another nor will they retain memories.
âLingering after deathâ might be relevant to ânorth and southâ too, but we donât know with certainty what the afterlife in jjk looks like. North seems to mean rebirth - to become âsomeone newâ - that is assuming Mei Mei is right.
Being sealed in an object (like Sukuna) is different to being in another body (Kenjaku and Tengen), and being in a binding vow/curse also changes depending on the nature of the contract, and being reborn is largely different to the rest because it seems to denote that the soul resets its memories at the very least.
Worth noting that Iâm not clear on whether the spirit is different to the soul as well. They could be synonymous to some degree, but I think a spirit has the essence of a soul (indicating consciousness), and I define something with a soul to be at least a creature (with a physical body) or entity (metaphorical form).
In Tojiâs resurrection case, his body is so strong from Heavenly Restriction, that it overpowers the soul of the host - Toji thus kills granny. His soul information wasnât brought back, but some information mustâve been carved into it for it to retain⊠something. This something included parts where his body recognised Megumi as someone significant enough and attacked itself. (One has to ask if this is a parallel with Geto in no less than fewer than 10 chapters earlier, where his hand moved - more on this later.) Based on this, the body is separate to the soul but information can be written into it. And like the soul, a body can also be brought back through cursed technique.
OR, another interpretation is like as Kenjaku hypothesised - the body and soul are one. And if grannyâs cursed technique is just summoning information, and when the soul and body are very linked like in Tojiâs case, they both manifest - as in the body is so strong it pulls his soul along with it. Iâm speculating. It could equally be soul information carved into the body (Iâm leaning more to this interpretation).
Where curse techniques are concerned⊠For Yaga, he can extract the soul from the body - insinuating they are also not one and the same. And itâs not just information because the soul exists within what becomes a special grade cursed object. Multiple souls in pandaâs case.
And cursed techniques themselves seem to be bound to the body for some - as in Getoâs case where Kenjaku can utilise his as well as his own techniques (along with those of his previous vessels)... however, with Sukuna and his vessels? Soul. Yuta with his copy technique - these are existing without the body or soul as this is his curse technique I guess. Reincarnated sorcerers bring their skills along with their souls too. And domains are supposedly tied to the soul. Geto was not shown to have one (but jjk 0 was created at a time where domains never existed) and if he did, Kenjaku did not have access to to it, unless the theory that the Womb Profusion is real.
Yuji could meet with Megumi's soul buried deep in his own body shared with Sukuna, that was now sunken in due to the bath of evil and killing of his sister. He also has the ability to shake a person's soul through his punches. So the soul seems to be something that can reside within a vessel and be touched through powers / ability.
Gojo was shown to be able to âseeâ something akin to Megumiâs soul, but this wasnât depicted for when he saw pseudoGeto, despite the light novel saying he was constantly âstaring at the shape of his soulâ as he flew off on his pelican spirit. His physicality (six eyes) all but confirmed it was Geto. It was his soul that said otherwise - and it was enough to refute his six eyes. And Kenjaku believes the body & soul are one and the same, thus, confirming Gojoâs six eyes.
Or maybe Gojo canât quite see souls? We havenât been explicitly told. Did he see souls everywhere in that case? A part of me suspects Gege retconned this âseeing of the soulâ for his fight with Sukuna, but I might be wrong. We saw the same blurry image as a representation of the soul with his six eyes, but this theory doesnât hold up when we consider how he met with Geto at the airport.
The afterlife scene in ch236 shows their souls / consciousness somewhere at an airport (it is not known if they are merely greeting Gojo or have been there awaiting his arrival). This shows us also that they are separate. The soul has gone somewhere: Cursed realm or an Afterlife are the possibilities presented to us... because they havenât reincarnated. Going nowhere doesnât seem likely in the jjk world as they talk incessantly about souls and how they can be resurrected in one form or another.
For the sorcerer Geto fought with his Shiba doggy in HI - it was a fantasy of sorts - and is similar to the space between âcurse and realityâ that Kenjaku talked about with Sasaki. So it could be a cursed realm. And then Gojo smirking when Sukuna was giving his after-battle âsend offâ⊠did that indicate the body and soul could be one & the same? Is the afterlife a fantasy? It was a death dream? (Ah, idk how I feel about this, but again, the jjk world believes in souls).
It is so confusing. I know Gege likes the whole âthere is no ultimate truthâ but making this topic âup to individual interpretationâ is really mind-boggling.
But Mahito and Kenjaku end up agreeing that they must be different based on technique. Maybe this is Gegeâs retcon lol. Like how he created limitless and then got some people with the knowledge of physics to explain it retroactively?
I guess the manga readers needed a bit more real-world explanation once it got traction, which is understandable. But equally, some things may just need to exist as they are in fiction and unexplainable based on earthly morals or boundaries by the laws of physics and biology as we understand it.
It is possible that itâs just all dependent on curse technique, which makes Yutaâs copy possible without the body, the creation of Sukuna fingers allowing the transcendence of skills and soul without the body, Kenjaku to access soul-information (like memories) without the brain (as well as utilise the cursed technique), and for exceptions to occur, like Megumi and Yuji both accommodating the soul of another entity in their body. How some entities (sorcerer and cursed spirit alike) can touch souls - or even for cursed spirits to take on more human-like existences - implying they, too, can evolve and become a soul. Like humans evolving to become sorcerers (if they can).
We know those like Naoya can become cursed spirits, and Rikaâs soul can ascend into somewhere leaving a shikigami spirit behind, so this tells us there are various levels of existence and consciousness - like a hierarchy of sorts with the soul being the most pure / transcendent. It makes sense based on my Buddhist understanding too, but who knows what exists in the jjk world. Iâm just trying to make sense of it all...
And of course as I write this, ch.257 just dropped and Kenjaku bloody managed to create Yuji in a completely different era after somehow accurately discovering the reincarnated soul of Sukunaâs twin that was absorbed by him in the womb?!? đ€Ż Gets pregnant as Kaori and manages to birth Yuji who could have been by luck or by design, inherited his fatherâs old soulâs Cursed Technique? So since Cursed Technique can manifest despite completely different DNA, itâs possible for one to assume that the Cursed Technique may be bound to the soul rather than the body⊠or at least for Kenjakuâs technique, he can create it within the body. or the soul?
What. The. Actual. Heck. And what happened to papa Yuji?
My brain starts to go bananas.
So souls can be split into twins if the egg splits into two (Maki & Mai and Sukuna & his twin (reincarnated into papa Yuji), and can reincarnate. But are considered one. But one can reincarnate separately. đ€Ż
And on reincarnation: Was the previous six eyes & limitless user Gojo before reincarnation, and does that mean that there wonât be another six eyes + limitless user since Gojo chose to go South? Especially since only one can exist in the world at any given time. Did Mai's spirit join up with Maki, or did she reincarnate?
It would make sense if the series is leading us to a conclusion whereby there is a new world where sorcerers don't exist anymore and all these OP beings like Sukuna, Kenjaku, and skills like the six eyes and limitless, cursed spirit manipulation, cursed speech, or copy aren't being reincarnated in the jjk world as it is now - by choice of the users. If Gojo and others all decide to stay in wherever they wish in the afterlife (pockets of reality wherever they may be), then the human world and the sorcerer world and the cursed spirit world will all exist separately.
But I honestly don't know if that's a good ending. It wouldn't make for very good storytelling? And all it would take was for a soul to get bored and wish to be reincarnated. So too many loopholes.
I mean, I could go deeper into speculating, but I really just wanna focus on the impact on Gojo and Geto for now...
More within the Satosugu / Sugusato context. Read here for it, or skip if itâs boring:
It seems romantic for those who have enjoyed the meme... âwould we know each other in another life?â
Especially if these two were made to be counterparts. Anyway, moving on to what we see in the jjk world.
Those who like this pairing probably know these scenes:
Take it how you will. Itâs rather evocative and indicative of a strong bond. If youâve read some of my other analyses, youâll know I feel that in the jjk world: To love is to recognise / know the other, even if they presented themselves differently. To love is to long for them, and to yield - something - whether it is a power or a sacrifice, for another.
Love shapes and forms a reason. Meaning. Purpose. It does something to the subconscious. It affects and alters a person and their soul. And even without the subconscious or the soul, oneâs body can react.
Some of this will be my personal interpretation but it remains canon that Gojoâs soul recognised it wasnât Geto with Kenjaku inhabiting him. Gojo didnât want to kill Geto but he did in the end partly because Geto wanted him to. Maybe a part of him always wanted Gojo to, which is why it/he was a curse only Gojo could bear - the responsibility to kill him was always Gojoâs.
Gojo always had Geto in the palm of his hand. Neither acted to tip the strange unspoken balance they had where no lines were crossed until Geto declared war. Geto didnât want to pull Gojo into his broken-down world in an attempt to attack the roots of the problems in the curse-filled world. Gojo attempted to reform the jujutsu world for a long time whilst holding it up within the institution as he knew it, hoping to make room for Geto should he wish to be saved. Yeah we know he really didnât want saving in that way... he was too busy trying to save the ones he deemed worthy by eradicating the sinners, evolve those with potential and annihilate the weak. If he was weak he deserved to be killed.
Both longed for the other but could never quite be honest with one another. I headcanon that the words, âif I could be youâ were thought about more than once by each of them. Thatâs why Geto said it and tried to be strong, and Gojo wanted to reform the world through eduction. They swapped fortes because they lost the other on the paths they walked on. They needed each other but fate had a different plan.
They didnât know how to bridge the gap that had formed between them until many years later. Ultimately, despite their differences, they shared the same ideals and were designed to be counterparts. There was always a space for the other in their hearts.
In those two scenes, I wondered for a while: what was Gegeâs point of depicting Gojo switching back to âoreâ (in reference to himself - a nuance that cannot be translated into English from its original context within the Japanese culture) for two brief moments. What does it imply about their connection? How do we understand the levels of their âcounterpart-nessâ? Soulmatism. Romanticism. Whatever you want to call it.
And even pseudoGetoâs body reacting to Gojoâs voice calling out to Suguru. Nothing much ever came from it, and the conversation Mahito and Kenjaku had about the soul hasnât been expanded on since (to my knowledge). So what was Gege getting at? What are we meant to understand? Back then, it maybe served as an unresolved issue - that Geto may need to have been rescued if his soul was trapped. But now that we saw him at the airport... we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief - unless it was just a death dream. Then we can collectively cry.
So letâs go back to their connection. We know that Gojo and Geto were practically bonded and changed by being each othersâ âone and onlyâ. However you interpret their love is up to you, but it is undeniable that there is something unique and irreplaceable shared between them.
It was Mimiko and Nanako who recollected that Gojo was Getoâs One and Only ăăăŁăäžäșșăźèŠȘćă.
This is undeniably canon. Geto mustnât have mentioned him only once, or at least they learned through observation, that Gojo was important to him despite having his cult family. Itâs possible that Geto might not have seen the other cult leaders much, if they were operating from different places. So this precious space was never filled after they âarguedâ. Geto was probably lonely / alone too after becoming PapaGeto.
And as a parent: you love your kids but they arenât replacements for your life partner / soulmate. The same can be said for Gojo and his students. Even after death, there is a placeholder for that person. Even between partners, some people are more significant than others.
I wanted to note that this happened after the Toji incident:
Geto is actually holding an eraser, and Shoko, the pencil. It appears switched in the anime. So maybe it is not as important as it could be: by that, I mean, if Geto chose an eraser because he doesnât like the idea of harming Gojo. So this is my headcannon.
But I theorise that itâs possible. Geto doesnât like harm to come to those he loves - like arguing. With his cult family, this was one of the philosophies they continued after his death. Geto interpreting the kfc breakup as an âargumentâ also speaks volumes, imho.
The eraser goes further than the pencil, probably because it is considered less dangerous than a pencil, which Gojo elaborates in the next panels.
We also know that Gojo knows Geto - the ins and outs. He knows what he smells like (residuals, scent or whatever you want to call it) and can predict what he might do based on how well he knows him. This is reciprocal as Geto, too, knows how Gojo thinks. Kenjaku of course exploits this.
Itâs not too much of a stretch to think that Gojo has a tendency to let his guard down around Geto. Hence his switching to âoreâ ăäżșă and his mask âof proper decorum and speaking politelyâ slips when he sees pseudoGeto (whom he thinks is Geto momentarily) and also Geto at the airport. He reverts to âbokuâ after that. (If youâre not already aware, Gojo used âoreâ throughout the Hidden Inventory arc but changed to âbokuâ after Geto left - likely as a result of maturing and adopting his friendâs advice to be more polite.)
For context:
Gege himself says he sometimes switches to usage of âoreâ when he is excited - taken from the hared interview with Tite Kubo in the jjk character book.
So itâs really not imagining things when we see Gojo depicted specifically to be reacting like this to Geto alone. It seems like Gege is showing us something about Gojoâs subconscious / psyche. They are largely authentic with each other. There is a cultural difference in Japan about context of the inner (honne) and outer voice (tatemae). âOreâ and âBokuâ represent that for Gojo respectively, I gather.
Their friendship, the rupture (and the intermittent anguish over 10 years), and having to kill his best friend - are all precisely why he gets sealed. His subconscious seems to know that Geto wouldnât hurt him. He also trusts that Getoâs subconscious wouldnât hurt him either. He believed Geto wouldnât kill young sorcerers - and true to form, this cost him his life.
So there is trust for the personâs mind, there is knowing/identifying of the soul, there is familiarity of the bodyâŠ
Which is interesting because all that is there is the body. Getoâs subconscious isnât there anymore with his brain not physically present in pseudoGeto/Kenjakuâs body - but then his arm reacts to Gojo.
It even continues reacting for some time. Look at those veins along his arm in the panel below:
This is significant in the reciprocal nature of Gojo and Geto - Gojoâs speech changed for a moment and he is hit with all the memories from 3 of the best years of his life - his â3 years of Aoi Haruâ/3ćčŽăźéăæ„ like being smacked with his own unlimited void. Getoâs body reacts involuntaril and tries to retaliate, (just like Toji did several chapters later to stop himself from hurting Megumi/ending his massacre).
They reached for each other, yâall đ
Again my brain just goes places, and it made me wonder about the soul & body thing. I hope that Getoâs soul is really at the airport, but that there is information carved into the body (like his memories) - if theyâre important enough to become instinctual.
It is also, by extension, then possible that... Kenjaku experiences something outside of just thoughts /memories when inside his host...
Just as we see here - yes he does need to keep an eye on the cube, but his expression / reaction to knowing that the girlsâ presence are there... addressing them only after the curses have left, and what he says to them, as well as admitting he doesnât remember what regret feels like -
âŠand cue an tighter shot of the prison realm (with Gojoâs eyes in the anime depiction) (and interestingly the back of the realm has stitches like Kenjakuâs forehead).
Gege likes to foreshadow and follow up with something significant. So similarly to the above where he sees the girls and acts like he doesnât give a toss, but is depicted to seem contrary to what he says. Could it also be that it Gojoâs eyes staring that incited the involuntary movement, and the reemphasis of Kenjaku saying he was enjoying the view of seeing Gojo captured - a similar pattern? This old man is just a brain who forgot how to feel?
It begs the question for me: If there was something imprinted within the body that Gojo could call out, what was there?
It remains possible that Kenjaku was simply detached / in denial / ignoring any emotion that arose within from Getoâs body.
Arguably, it is possibly quite characteristic of Kenjaku who was a âmotherâ and had some motherly instincts remaining, or it could also be seen as an emergence of some sympathy or sadness for the girls that may have come from Getoâs body. I mean, he led Yujiâs friend (Sasaki) out of the culling games, acting like a parent / guardian...
HmmâŠ
We do not see a physical reaction to any children though; and I guess a situation like that (with the Hasaba girls) in comparison to one that may be filled with adrenaline like a trapped Gojo speaking in that low baritone to him, is inherently different. But regret though? Was it actually a knowing smirk Gege showed us of Kenjaku in front of the prison realm - as if to say he had bested Gojo and Geto? He got his way with the girls too, despite knowing Getoâs feelings?
Or did he simply not recognise it, and it was truly a first for Kenjaku because there normally isnât something there, but with Getoâs body - something actually stirred / retaliated... because it was Gojo?
I mean, from a neutral perspective, it would seem like the author is shipping them, lol. But Iâm not going to lie - we donât get much honest feedback from Geto about Gojo, so nuggets like those are quite affirming that the connection felt between them was very mutual.
Because if we see how it all began, and note that all Geto wanted to do was to protect those who needed it (even if it was at his personal expense). First it was humans, then Gojo, then sorcerers and then his family too.
And this was born out of the fracture from being unable to be relied upon to kill Toji (avenge Gojo & Rikoâs death) or to fight Toji with Gojo, since leaving him alone resulted in getting him killed - which he mustâve believed happened until the point he saw him alive again carrying Rikoâs lifeless body...
His connection with Gojo was so strong that (as Gege described it) his body reacted like a dragonfly whose head has been cut off. Something imprinted so deeply in their friendship that it became instinctual - carved into the body - and may not be related to the mind (therefore my avoidance of using the term âsubconsciousâ with pseudoGeto, as it would be Kenjakuâs consciousness).
Moreover, if we take Tojiâs resurrection as an example, even in the absence of a soul, the body can still remember and react. In a Getoâs case, where there is a different mind controlling it, for the body is react as separate entity is rather remarkable. I guess by saying this, Iâm postulating that I believe body & soul are separate - because, if Iâm honest, I want to believe Getoâs soul is with Gojo post-chapter 236.
But. We know there are all of Getoâs memories within the body still after Kenjaku inhabit it. In the absence of the hostâs brain. It doesnât make a lot of sense, Gege - but here we are. And maybe. Emotions too. Or memories of them at the very least. Not that it matters to Kenjaku.
This greatly disturbs me. Itâs a level of injustice that also feeds into why I have been avoiding doing metas in Gojo - because his suffering and level of unfairness thrust upon him for simply being âblessedâ and resilient just ⊠hurts so bad. I canât face it just yet.
So what exactly made their connection so profound?
I theorise that Geto interpreted Gojo as wanting to fight alone. That he was in his best element doing so. Kenjaku says this about Gojo too, knowing Getoâs memories.
Short sidenote: Whilst it is true that his technique lends itself better to soloing, I wonder how they mightâve fought together had the Toji incident not occurred. How would they overcome Unlimited Void aside from being back/to-back? Could Geto obtain a curse of his own to swallow him up as protection? No doubt, as a team, Getoâs progression couldâve been exponentially increased due to the number and level of curses available to him with assistance from Gojo. And would Gojo be different and enjoy fighting together had it not occurred? I donât know, but they do seem to have wanted a connection with one another.
He saw Shoko being asked for help with teleportation. Once upon a time, might it have been him? There was no longer any âweâ that he could sense. He didnât feel there was a use when he had âfailedâ in so many ways after the failure of the mission and also believing that Gojo died that day and he was unable to avenge him.
The conversation with Yuki all but reinforced his feelings of irrelevance and perceived waste of their sacrifice when tengen was allegedly stable again. Subsequent conversations with Haibara and Nanami seals his skewed belief that he wasnât needed there. Nanamiâs choice of words is very interesting in the original text, implying that âitâs enough for him (Gojo) alone, isnât it?â. Ref post by @nanami-says who has a nice selection of pieces about translations.
Gojo alone could do it. He could train and ascend all without him; untainted and untethered. His downfall was that he didnât speak to Gojo. Gojo alone was left out. I mean, just because it suited him doesnât mean he should be left to do it all...
This is so sad.
He left his heart (Gojo) alone. He also left his own heart alone (never happy from the bottom of his heart). In his descent, he was busy rationalising everything else except getting sad that he felt heâd lost his best friend. Arguably, the most important thing, because it is the scariest things and the things that hurt the most often have the most power / potential to heal.
It is possible he was actively avoiding it. Because, if it was purely about chasing an ideal he could have been drawn to look obsessed with it. Instead he has a sorrowful âI love you so much imma break up with youâ face.
Gojo could have been the strength he was seeking if he did indeed want to just eliminate all humans, but he didnât seek that out because (I theorise) he didnât want to be outwardly rejected by Gojo.
And thus, he left instead (ugh! you foolish brave coward!) after snapping, and Gojo was left alone to pick up the pieces all by himself in a place haunted with memories of them together.
Just bloody tragic.
And thatâs why it was carved into their souls.
In the depths of despair that he was in, could it be that he believed Gojo was better off without him , and in wanting to cradle whatever pride he had left, he sought to build his own temple where he could live in the void of his own making without facing that he had lost everyday?
Gojo could be free to grow and grow and be the strongest and embrace whatever belief system he now held - whether it was borrowed from him or not.
He even goads Gojo into killing him off since there would be meaning to it.
Because caring for others comes second nature to Geto. How many times have we seen him make that forlorn face?
Even with the souvenir he requested from Haibara, in the original he phrases it in such a way he implies he isnât even sure if heâll see him. âSatoru too; I donât know if heâll have some, but I guess, something sweet?â But. He yields to his preference.
There is limited space in his heart, and all he can do is exclude some in order to vehemently love those he can (or deems worthy enough based on his moral system). He didnât know any other way to exist. Monstrous love. Iâm pretty sure someone wrote about it. If I can find it Iâll link it! I call it maternal rage, but itâs a similar concept.
If he had wished to leave without staining Gojo, the absence of a confession of his love at any point also makes sense - like Nanami, he chose his final words carefully - that he hated monkeys (why preface with âno matter what anyone saysâ) and in a roundabout way, that he djdnt have hate for anyone at the school (canât he just say he was happiest in those few years?). He wasnât happy in the world (you can just kill me).
When he saw and felt Gojoâs love - unwavered and unchanged, seeing him having blossomed into someone still so pure - effortlessly righteous, strong, and proud with his army of students who loved each other... did he dare feel absolved? Did he feel like it was worth his defection? Yielded to others? Unable to be selfish? As sad as he was for himself and that his family would be without him and his dream unrealised; Gojo turned out ok.
Suddenly it gave meaning to his perceived sacrifice. It parallels with Toji and seeing Megumi who wasnât a zenin.
Ah, this makes me mad somehow, but if it helped him pass and have a good death, what can I say? We all need something different at the end of our lives. And itâs important in the Shinto perspective to have a death free of regret in order to live in the space between nowhere/rebirth and earth. I posted about this in another piece too.
And I think thatâs also why it was all carved into his body - enough to react to Gojo calling out to him, âSuguruâ, despite being inhabited by Kenjaku. And carved into his soul thatâs why he waited in the afterlife for Gojo. To be the first to greet him. I want to believe the body and soul are separate. The subconscious may have acted as a bridge between the two, transferring information from the mind / soul into the body.
But of course as a reader we wished it couldâve been a kinder fate for them. But I guess sometimes people have to pay for their sins as well as the sins of others? Life isnât fair after allâŠ
And arguably, Gojo needed a way to truly sympathise with the weak and how else through loving and losing someone to shape a personâs soul? It was just rather Geto-shaped, as I elaborated on in my other post.
I highly suspect Gojo may have wanted something different - as being born the strongest, he was always going to be the strongest anyway. This came with a burden. Noblesse Oblige. Being the strongest was written into his entire being - mind, body, soul.
And I think this was something they had both respected. I doubt Geto ever thought of himself as a power equal to Gojo, but they had both valued their friendship. Geto was someone who saw Gojo for a person, before the strongest. Thatâs why when Mimiko and Nanako asked, he was considered thus âmy best friendâ, and not the latter. Gojo recognised that for what it was, and felt the tender words that showed Care. Consideration. Love.
Gojo may have wanted Geto to lean on him a little. To let himself take the fall. They both didnât like burdening the other, and after Toji it might just magnified. He wasnât the type to overthink his role, but wanting to be the strongest (seeing how far he can go) and taking on all the blame was one of the ways Gojo was extremely loving. It was just something he accepted.
I feel like Gojo wanted to be relied upon to do his part; be his best friend, someone he could still love and do the mental and emotional load for him, spoil him a little in return so he could just do his thing as the strongest and train. He needed his other half to help him to do the things he doesnât like or isnât good at doing.
I think that as they experienced their bafflingly complementary and reciprocal friendship ⊠before he knew it, all these experiences and emotions shaped him so much that his soul made room for Geto - as the one person who represented fulfilment outside of being the strongest.
Never once did he think heâd lose Geto like he did. He never wanted to be at it alone. Like a lonely army tank whose comrades had left him on the battefield to fight it out on his own.
Ugh, it hurts so bad. He didnât think Geto was slipping down. Maybe because it wasnât something he could understand- even more so after the enlightenment incident where a chasm emerged between him and others. Maybe nobody was ever important enough for him to worry or miss if they left.
He nevertheless never deserved to be met with such loneliness and misfortune. He carried the weight of it all, all by himself. I know they both did in their own way, but there is some tragedy to Gojo where he probably wanted or could have had more to fill his life and soul but there was always a chasm or a void that could not be filled because he could not feel understood by anyone since Geto.
How awful it must feel to have to kill someone you treasure.
We have no idea without much insight into his life growing up. Nevertheless, Gojo consistently shielded those he cares about from self-blame even from the beginning where he mustâve known Geto had such inclinations to be stuck in his own head and he tried his best to absolve it and take it upon himself. The priorities of those he cared about became his, provided if he could do it. He protected the students and made light of situations so they could experience their youth. Something he can remember treasuring well into his adult life. His blue spring / best years of his life were deeply etched into his subconscious and soul. It was what he wanted to give his students and reason for reforming the jujutsu world.
But being shielded at that time wasnât enough for Geto who was experiencing the worst spiral in his life yet. He needed to feel the weight of his responsibility had meaning and a role. In his trauma, grief and denial, he shatters and reaches a point from which he cannot return. He also knows how Gojo defines the weak - tiresome, âlowerâ, etc. and that could have been another factor that led to his avoidance of him.
I want to really emphasise how I donât blame any of them. They are not inherently responsible for the other. Arguably, Gojo needed to learn about that pain in order to know what love is. And Geto needed to realise how flawed and unloving his path actually was.
If only they couldâve both had a compassionate mentor who guided them onto the Teacher AU path đ
In the absence of such a connection etched into his soul, what might Gojo have become? Another Sukuna? I theorised that Geto helped Gojo connect with those âbeneathâ him in a recent post. Iâm not going to repeat that here, but it makes a lot of sense to me that Gojo learned a lot about love through Geto and his own hard work following the numerous hardships he faced as the loneliest strongest of the modern era.
He faced so much in his short life. Being blessed with the six eyes and limitless was a curse in itself. He spent years paying the price for losing his friend, and even had to kill him. How profoundly tragic. He faced loneliness and criticism for finding joy in the only thing that he practically had: jujutsu (yes that kept him one-dimensional, but similar to MeiMei chasing money and several others pursuing strength alone) it was a hefty price to pay. But he was a sorcerer. After all, the only thing he really wanted was to treasure his blue spring and the person associated with it - Geto.
It is poetic that when Gojo died, his soul found its counterpart. He opened his eyes to the person whose presence had etched itself so deeply that he knew Geto in body, mind, soul. Geto was there to greet him with a heartfelt smile (and pout!).
One meeting him at the point of death, and the other, upon death.
Their exchange is really reciprocal here too, with Geto admitting he was envious and Gojo responding in a way where he implies reassurance akin to âI needed you thereâ. Link to a post on this:
Agreed đŻ that Gojo never really had to think about stuff like that, and the mental & emotional burden was seen to be carried primarily by Ge
Getoâs little tear in his eye in not one, but two panels as well.
Anyway⊠then appearing at the airport reminds me of their exchange many years ago âyouâre late Suguru - no youâre early.â And âyouâre late, Satoru.â
Well, theyâre on time now... better not be late for your flight, kids.
And as Kenjaku said to Gojo before sealing him - ăæ°ăăäžçă§ăŸăäŒăăă
âletâs meet again in the new world.â
âââââââââ
Sorry, itâs a whopper from me again.
Just some words in an attempt to close this off:
For someone whose emotions guided and drove his rationale, it was ironic how Getoâs body became a puppet for someone like Kenjaku, who was so cerebral (devoid of empathy) befitting of his curse technique to brain-hop. It fits with the jjk theme of being strong in the absence of love, I guess?
Seems fitting that Kenjaku was bested after slipping up when having that good of a time with Takaba. Ironic isnât it? All those years scheming, only to lose himself for a moment as he indulged in something novel, and he lost to a scheme himself.
And to be killed by Gojo v3.0 (Yuta) who already defeated him once, also as foreshadowed by Gojo before being sealed, on the date he scheduled 24th November.
The parallels donât end there either, where somehow mahito who stood beside Kenjaku was created to parallel Gojo in some way too (I havenât quite pondered on this much yet, but I reckon there is something about the thrill in growing exponentially / fighting sense that they share - it might just be that alone or possibly also the juxtaposition of one being human and one a curse? Their reasons for seeking strength?
I dunno - i gather Yuji who also developed exponentially fast and as an anomaly himself may have similarities. And again, as ch 257 leaked, it makes sense and I look forward to finding out whatâll happen to them (seeing as Yuji is kind of sukunaâs son đ€Ż if the jjk world considers twin souls to be one soul - papa Yuji is Sukunaâs twin after all) and also Megumi of course.
Just going to wrap up here now, and please feel free to link me up to a post that can enlighten me or drop a comment with any thoughts?
Sorry for a rambling post. I hope it made sense.
For real, real. Thanks for reading my brainrot â°(*Ž`*)âŻâĄ
