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ellionwrites · 5 months

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If Geto and Gojo were so close, why didn't Geto try to convince Gojo to defect with him?

Because Geto knew that Gojo’s support would guarantee his success, but that success would come at the cost of hurting Gojo.

I believe that Geto cared more about protecting Gojo than he cared about building a better world.

Let me explain…

First, let’s talk about why it would’ve made sense for Geto to ask Gojo to join him:

(1) Gojo would’ve been Geto’s most important / most powerful ally

By the time of Geto’s defection, Gojo is already the strongest sorcerer in existence. He and Geto are two of only three special grade sorcerers. Having them both on the same side is essentially an automatic win.

(2) Gojo should’ve been (relatively) easy to persuade

Gojo had already told Geto that he didn't like having to save the weak and didn't care about the moral justifications for it…

…Geto has also seen that Gojo doesn’t always value / protect human life. He was ready to massacre the Time Vessel Association without reason, but ultimately he didn't, because he deferred to Geto's judgement…

…and, most importantly, they are best friends on a DEEP, unparalleled level. Geto is Gojo’s “one and only” best friend.

If Geto was truly dedicated to changing the world order, Gojo should’ve been the first and most important person that he tried to recruit to his insurgency / cult / mission.

BUT

Not only does Geto make zero effort to reach out to / recruit Gojo, he actively avoids him and pushes him away...

- - - - - Keep reading cut - - - - -

After he kills the 112 non-sorcerers, Geto runs into Shoko in Shinjuku. He happily approaches her and willingly answers her questions.

Look at his smiling face in their interactions:

But, when Shoko calls Gojo, Geto leaves before Gojo shows up. Gojo tracks him down anyway and demands an explanation. Geto still doesn’t want to talk about it (“You already heard it.”)

It's strange, right? Geto loves talking about his vision of a better world with everyone else.

Then, there is this confusing progression of dialog:

Geto is hurt/annoyed that Gojo doesn’t believe in him, so he points out that Gojo’s argument against his plan is invalid. The plan is possible (“You could do it”), therefore (according to Gojo’s own logic) it’s not “pointless.”

In a way, Geto is admitting that he knows it would make the most sense for Gojo to join him.

But before Gojo can respond, Geto pivots to saying something extremely hurtful. He's questioning who Gojo is / would be if he wasn't the strongest. Is there really anything more to him? (See more detail in my post here).

Then, in the very next panel Geto turns and starts walking away.

In summary: (1) Geto avoids Gojo, (2) Geto only argues in favor of his plan when Gojo forces/baits him, (3) Upon invalidating Gojo’s opposition to his plan, Geto immediately puts emotional distance between them, (4) Geto then puts physical distance between them.

Why is Geto trying so hard to make sure that Gojo won’t follow him?

Is he just being prideful about doing this on his own? Is he so angry at Gojo's arrogance that he'd jeopardize the success of his life's mission over it?

These arguments aren't in line with Geto's characterization / known motivations (see the end of this post, if you're interested in more on that.)

Geto's main motivation is (a twisted form of) compassion. He wants to end the suffering of sorcerers.

He is a thoughtful, contemplative person, and would've thought about the ramifications of recruiting Gojo.

What are the ramifications?

If Gojo joins the cause, Geto’s plan would succeed, but Gojo would suffer for it.

Like anyone who joins Geto's cult, Gojo would become a pariah / fugitive from Jujutsu society. He’d kill people. He’d kill other sorcerers.

But because Gojo has the singular level of strength/ability to kill non-sorcerers en masse, he would commit the vast majority (or all) of the murder / destruction. The legal, social, and mental impacts would be most severe on Gojo.

(Also, at this point, I think Geto may still question whether he’s made the right choice. It’s difficult to go from a hardline stance on protecting non-sorcerers to wanting to gen0c1de them, within the span of a year, without any lingering ethical qualms. So he may be worried about moral costs to Gojo as well.)

Let’s remember that Geto (canonically) deeply loves Gojo. Gojo is his one and only best friend. Geto worries about Gojo when he overworks himself protecting Riko. Geto is shocked when Toji kills Riko in front of him, but he only flies into a rage when he thinks Toji has killed Gojo. (Again, see my post here for more on how much Geto loves Gojo).

So, it makes sense that Geto is ready to make sacrifices to create a better world, but it’s a cost he’s willing to put on his own head. Not Gojo's.

Ultimately, Geto cares more about Gojo than he cares about achieving the mission he has dedicated his life to.

The last thing Geto says to him is this:

What he's really asking Gojo is: "Have you stopped loving me, now that I've committed myself to this dark path? Would you kill me to save them?"

If Gojo hates Geto enough that he’d kill him, then Geto never had a chance of recruiting Gojo in the first place.

Of course, Gojo can’t make himself hurt Geto. He still loves Geto too much.

Geto protected Gojo by pushing him away.

___

Addendum:

I'll also argue against two other possible explanations for Geto's behavior.

(1) Geto is jealous / prideful /wants to build his own legacy without Gojo stealing the spotlight

Geto has clear motivations for his goals and they’re not egotistical. He wants to end the suffering of sorcerers caused by non-sorcerers’ existence (e.g., Riko’s death, Mimiko & Nanako’s abuse).

Geto’s pride isn’t hurt when Gojo becomes the strongest. The only thing that bothers Geto is that they’re getting sent on separate missions.

After Gojo becomes stronger that him, Geto still has overt affection for Gojo (e.g., he asks Haibara to bring back sweets from his mission so he can share with Gojo).

Although Geto does believe in his superiority over non-sorcerers, he doesn't feel superior over other sorcerers and doesn't struggle with his 'inferiority' to Gojo.

Does Gojo’s lack of faith in Geto’s ability (calling his goal “impossible”), spur Geto to want to prove himself? Yes, probably. But Geto had already been avoiding Gojo before he said that. And I don’t believe that wanting to prove himself to Gojo would overshadow his stronger motivation to build a better world for sorcerers.

(2) He thinks Gojo actually is too moral to join him

After Geto kills the 112 non-sorcerers, Gojo is shocked and upset by what’s happened, but not once does he insult Geto or imply that Geto has done something unforgivable. In fact, he’s practically begging Geto to explain himself because he wants to be able to justify his actions. And, again, Gojo’s argument against Geto’s plan is NOT that “it’s wrong,” it’s that “it’s impossible.”

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neonscandal · 2 months

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Manga With Me: JJK 0, A Coward's Goodbye

Because these thoughts haunt me while I do my dishes, you have to suffer them too. The brain rot is so insidious, it seeps its way into the mundanity of my life and I've apparently managed to convert a few of you so, in case you missed it, let's talk about the final scene between Gojo and Geto in the JJK 0 movie.

This is the face of a man who thinks he's won the breakup.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: JJK 0 movie

I feel like I don't have to wax poetic about the details of the JJK 0 movie at this point for everyone to be on the same page. Subsequently, we can all agree on the following:

Gojo realized Geto's plan. 10 years means nothing when you know someone, apparently.

Upon learning of Yuta's lineage and, subsequently, what limits he could potentially surpass, he made a calculated risk and sent Panda and Toge in rather than facing Geto himself. You know, for Yuta's character development.

At the close of their fight and upon the safe escape of Geto’s family, Gojo finds him in the alley. Suggests in equal measure that he could have gone to him at any time in the last 10 years the way he clearly has an AirTag on that ass (and the way he quickly located Riko Amanai post-Toji fight...).

Geto articulates that Gojo intentionally sent Toge and Panda in to trigger Yuta's power up (see above re: 10 years means nothing) to which Gojo isn't exactly forthright in intimating that "it's called trust. People with beliefs like yours won't kill a young sorcerer without reason." to which we get the below panels:

One, the exchange over Yuta's ID. Even in this instance and with ten years of distance between them, they're still so silly. But from Geto's retort, we see that, while Gojo seems to speak broadly, Geto knows Gojo's generalization is meant to be received rather specifically. This leads us to this last panel:

... COULD HE NOT JUST HAVE SAID

"I NEVER HATED YOU."

- Suguru Geto

We KNOW Geto assumed that his defection was the end of their friendship. He had to believe there was no going back in order to propel himself forward. But how incredibly sad that, even at the imminent close of his life, he couldn't be honest or direct about his guilt or his affection?

So he died. Too proud to reconcile properly with Gojo. Sheepishly thinking Gojo had hated him during those ten years, barring whatever his censored last words may have been. It's something we don't see resolved until much, much later and only in what I assume to be the inner machinations of Gojo's head. Is that not devastating? Does this realization deserve a place on THE LIST!? Of course it does.

Friendly reminder that Gojo gets jump scared by Geto’s corpse in Shibuya where they recognize same-sex unions.

#manga with me #manga with me jjk #satosugu #we are the strongest #gojo satoru #satoru gojo #suguru geto #geto suguru #satosugu brainrot #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #stsg #satosugu angst #jjk brainrot #jjk angst #meta #jjk meta #satosugu meta

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delphi333 · 6 months

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I was gonna say this is satosugu coded but hasn't gojo been in love for like WAYYYYY more than 3 years? lmao

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #satosugu #geto suguru #gojo satoru #satosugu meta #media parallels #poem #maybe this is from getos pov #CRIES

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swanchime · 7 months

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disorganized untitled thesis on satosugu and the rest of jjk part 1/?

while it is true i cannot clinically be Normal(TM) about satosugu for many reasons including the probable late adolescent involvement with a buddhist cult (Etcetc u can believe any wack shit i say or not or just take it for a Schizophrenic Comedy but you know you know), i am also overflowing with satosugu thoughts at any point in time.

HERE'S SOME DISORGANIZED THOUGHTS ABOUT SATOSUGU (and yuuji/sukuna)!

gojo is what in my internal world would be classified as a "nonpareil" which means he is peerless, there is no one that can match him, and it's Not a good thing. as the english translation loves to say, "are you the strongest because you're gojo satoru? or are you gojo satoru because you're the strongest?"

what this means to me is that the entire structure of gojo's identity is composed of "being the strongest," so there's no clear casuative relationship between if he is the strongest because that's the most important thing to being "gojo satoru" or if he is known as, reputed as, identified as "gojo satoru" because of an innate trait he already possessed.

it's unclear if he "became" the strongest Because he is "gojo satoru" or if he "became" "gojo satoru" because he is the strongest.

regardless, gojo satoru's identity is defined by being "the strongest," and that means no one can match him, he is a nonpareil, he is peerless.

because of that it is easy for him to become an object of envy even by his best friend, who calls him by his first name with no honorifics, which is an immense position of intimacy despite their rivalry, as can be indicated in the early episodes of jjk s2.

just like. geto's relationship to gojo is defined by the insurmountable abyss that opens between them when they stop becoming "the strongest duo" and when gojo simply becomes "the strongest," without geto, without needing him anymore, without geto being able to catch up.

geto deeply resents gojo for gojo's peerlessness, the arrogance that befits him, because young gojo is better than everyone and he knows it. geto is incredible, but he can't catch up.

like in the first episodes of jjk s1, the difference between two special grades can be immense and immeasurable. like sukuna and that special grade curse from eps 4-5. both special grade, but two entirely different classes of it.

i'm overflowing with thoughts about how like, geto loves and hates gojo in equal measure. gojo shines so fucking brightly, geto can't help but to love him, who couldn't love him, and in my opinion, gojo Needs geto, otherwise without him...who could tolerate gojo?

if geto can't love him, who could?

just...

without geto, gojo IS the strongest, but he is alone.

to be a nonpareil is to be alone.

no one can keep up with you, no one can match you, you are utterly isolated at the top of your field. without geto, gojo is just alone. what does it matter to be the strongest if you have no one to witness you, what does it matter if you are the strongest and untouchable, unloved, and desired, but only for your practical function, your usefulness in achieving others' ends.

it's hard to explain to someone who isn't fluent in japanese, but japanese is full of ambiguities, it is a language defined by ambiguities, whereas english is defined by its contrasts and strictures, its discrete categories as fundamental as classifying something as "good" or "evil," japanese culturally exists in the middle to the point of indecision and indifference but in the ambiguity there is truth in all its invariate complexity as well.

speaking japanese to children (who are simple, and straightforward, and direct, who speak casually and plainly on a linguistic level) versus speaking children to adults (who politely obscure through layers of courtesy and keigo) is two different worlds, and speaking to teenagers is navigating that ambiguity of "how much do I obscure? and how much do i reveal?"

and the SHEER INTIMACY of geto and gojo calling each other by their first names despite the friction between them, geto deeply resenting gojo's arrogance but also being drawn in irrevably by his magnitude...

it's immense.

geto and gojo calling each other by their first names means that they are each other's most precious person. as intimate as you can ever get with another human being. it's not just a "cute party trick" or a "fun fiction trope for couples" it's like, an extremely intimate way of defining their relationship (and subtextually defining it as one of deep, severe love that surpasses 'bromance' or however else you want to superficially and non homosexually categorize it) it just...

geto and gojo calling each other by their first names shows the viewer how much they love each other and are in love.

i'll talk about it another time, but jujutsu kaisen is a deeply encoded series about decrypting the cipher of "symbols" and various other coded messages, particularly queer ones, that are so deeply encrypted that shounen jump doesn't register it as "actually really fucking homosexual / transgender"

but just. i can't express to you how painful watching...geto's resentment, his desire to be as special and necessary and desirable and wanted instead of swallowing vomit stained rags and viscera and vermin, and feeling dirty because of it. and hating the world. and feeling deeply and intimately that you are an unnecessary existence, annihilated by the shining bright light of your best friend who you are deeply in love with but who without even blinking an eye outshines you, outclasses you, doesn't ever and may have never needed you at all.

these things...these deep held vulnerabilities and open wound of insecurities, this fundamental lack of security in the necessity of his own existence, imo calls back to okkotsu's themes of wishing to have the permission to live (i want to feel as though it is okay to live).

these things make geto vulnerable to cult tactics. who will convince you that you're special, necessary, more necessary than anyone, the way cults build a "family" out of it is too true, so true, too much, the way geto financially exploits his followers as well as manipulating advantage out of them (swallowing curses) while presenting himself as a buddha....

the way geto sincerely loves his family, so so much, he cares about them so deeply...but like gojo says love is the most perverse curse of all, and geto's love for them...who can say what it is, other than love.

the perversion of love is love, too.

the thing about "families" like geto's is that they are sincere, and real, and true, but you can't leave, you can never leave once you get in there, they won't let you leave alive, and that is the shape of geto's love, it requires absolute devotion to him and his curse, those girls he saved, mimiko and nanako, his daughters, say that "if geto-sama says black is white and white is black, then it is" because he saved them...

but geto requires complete and absolute conviction in himself and in his cause, and anything less will result in execution.

in such "factions," there is more loyalty than you will ever see in the world. but more blood, too. to be loved utterly and completely in a way that requires absolute devotion and conviction with no room for even a sliver of doubt. to be loved like that is a perversion, but to be loved like that is to be loved absolutely.

i have been loved like that, and i will never love or be loved like that again.

geto: won't you curse me a little, at the end?

gojo: love is the most perverse curse of all.

they love each other at the end, they still love each other, and in jjk0 when gojo is talking to yaga, he still calls geto "suguru," because gojo still loves him, and gojo says suguru is "his only best friend," it's so...it's so incredibly vivid, and painful, and damning.

gojo without suguru is absolutely alone. there is no one to match him, and there is no one to stay with him, be with him, there is no one to celebrate his successes or criticize his failures or play with him and let him be silly and coquettish, there is no one to be with him at all. gojo is LITERALLY untouchable, and the same is true on an emotional/metaphorical level too.

no one can touch gojo. no one.

this makes gojo...more isolated than any could know.

(laughing) it's lonely at the top.

suguru's era where he is a cultrunner is where kenjaku, who has been described to me as 'the ancient curse spirit of guanyin' i think begins to coalesce inside him.

suguru's entire thing with the stitches on his forehead and that image of him revealing the curse in his brain. that's literally just DID of kenjaku taking over the person that used to be geto. but i think kenjaku was there before, nascent. growing.

jjk in many facets is a DID narrative. this is just the plain and simple truth regardless of if your belief follows mine or not. it is my truth, but i believe it is a textual truth as well. rika is okkotsu's alter; she protects okkotsu severely to the point she won't even let him commit suicide, she stops him, okkotsu created her, he is terrified of her but she protects him at all costs. okkotsu is a severe child on child violence victim.

and so in junpei, who dies because (imo) she can't form an alter, so she represents the child on child abuse victim who is groomed until death. my thesis on trans junpei and trans megumi coming later.

and ofc yuuji and sukuna. yuuji who after eating sukuna's finger knocks on his head and says "yeah, but he's kind of annoying. i can hear his voice," and the implications that no one else can see sukuna's tattoos except the reader.

if gojo, the strongest, with six eyes, can't tell the difference between a clearly inked out curse marked sukuna and yuuji who doesn't have any such thing, if he has to ask, then i think there's no stronger indicator of their difference other than visually, for the reader.

not to mention that sukuna even in his mind palace looks identical to yuuji. if this were a typical "possession" narrative then why would he, in his literal "mind palace" (ryouiki tenkai / that space inside himself where he speaks to yuuji), like why would he independently of yuuji where he could look like anyone in the world. choose to look like slobbering ouppy dog boy silly yuuji.

sukuna IS yuuji, or who yuuji could be. or who exists, so yuuji can exist independently as he is, in all his naivete and instinctual dependence rather than on his mind (sukuna possesses all the cunning).

and sukuna even makes that deal in one of the early episodes where he can have five minutes to do what he wants / take over for five minutes, and then makes yuuji forget it, to the point gojo asks him what he talks about with sukuna, and yuuji says he forgot / can't remember.

DID amnesia.

and at the very last episode in the hallway where yuuji is talking to sukuna alone as though they have spoken together a thousand times. yuuji telling sukuna he can't tell megumi about the truth regarding the curses. that scene's framing just...suggests that yuuji has a lot of off-screen conversations with sukuna. that yuuji uncharacteristically somber and serious. collaborating with sukuna. as a part of him.

and that mahito arc, with mahito commenting on the way that yuuji and sukuna are two souls.

jujutsu kaisen is everything to me. i see it in some ways as a recounting / prediction of places have been in my mind / and places i will be. because i see it as a history so similar to mine, i see my own future in it. is this crazy? OF COURSE IT IS. but it is one of the most precious and sacred things to me.

but, believe me or not, these things and thoughts remain true regardless of the silence that awakens in the absence of belief, these thoughts are mine and the truth i see / seek in jujutsu kaisen...is my own path, my own journey, for me.

but i did want to share any thoughts...about the things i see/seek in jjk. just for myself. but if anyone wants to see, so be it, too. maybe it'll make you think regardless of if you agree.

i love jujutsu kaisen. i think in many ways...it saved my life. it still is saving my life.

i hope i can see it to its end.

#jjk #satosugu #jjk meta #jjk analysis #geto suguru #satosugu meta #gojo satoru #itadori yuuji #ryomen sukuna

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ziieanna12 · 4 months

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SatoSugu is not "until death do us apart" but "even until until death, nothing can keep us apart"

#satosugu brainrot #satosugu angst #satosugu meta #satosugu

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ultfreakme · 3 months

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"Are you the strongest because you are gojo satoru or are you gojo saturo because you are the strongest?" I never understood why geto said that to gojo, can you explain to me? Did he want to give gojo a reality check?

Somewhat yeah! Geto wanted to give him a reality check. The "are you strongest?" question is accompanied by another thing where Geto tells Gojo that his goal of killing all non-sorcerers would be very possible if he had Gojo's power.

So the question serves multiple functions.

He's telling Gojo that the impossible is within Gojo's reach. He's also telling Gojo that he wouldn't understand Geto's goals and motives, or his frustrations because Gojo is potentially defined entirely by his power and position as 'the strongest'. In that moment, I think Geto saw that Gojo was speaking about his goals through the lens of power rather than from empathy.

I'll explain;

Gojo says Geto can't kill all non-sorcerers, an impossible goal.

If Gojo's judgement is guided solely by the ability to achieve the goal, then he'd look at it in terms of practicality. He can hollow purple or whatever his way to Geto's dream world, but Geto himself cannot. So in this case it seems like he's judging Geto based on power scaling.

If Gojo's judgement is guided not by power, but by his identity as a fellow human, as his friend, then he'd be looking it at in terms of WHY Geto's doing this in the first place. He'd be questioning Geto's motivation, what led him to this, he'd try to understand him on a personal level. Then letting Geto genocide people is impossible because it's morally and personally a bad thing that's going to drive them apart.

Gojo does both in the confrontation, but it quickly devolves into the threat of a physical fight.

Up until this point, Gojo and Geto had always related to each other in the perspective of the latter; as people, before being fellow special grades. They understood each other. Now though? Now the distance between their powers has grown too far, their ideologies have grown apart. The reason Gojo always says Geto's the only person who gets him is because of their equivalence in strength. Geto didn't see him as "the strongest". He was his friend.

But in that confrontation, for Geto at least, Gojo must have looked like the sorcerer sent to hunt down the curse user. It was all about who is the strongest, who will emerge victorious from that fight?

So he's asking Gojo, I think, "are you going to speak to me as a friend, as Gojo Satoru, will you define your strength on your own and take ownership of it, and not let the higher-ups point you wherever they want? Or are you going to let your strength and position as the strongest define who you are and thus your relationship with me?"

That's my interpretation of it. And Gojo basically chooses an answer; he is the strongest because he is Gojo Satoru, HE controls his powers. He chooses to let go of Hollow Purple, of Geto, for 10 years.

I hope that explains some things??? Or gives more insight which you can use to better understand the scene. Thanks for the ask anon and I hope you have a nice day!

#riki asks #satosugu #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #satosugu meta

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imaginarylungfish · 8 months

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also was geto just killing people left and right in the 10 years he was still alive after he defected? like tbh how come he was alive for so long after? why didn't jujutsu society catch him and kill him?

cause of how gojo felt? like that's queer, my guy. give me the straight explanation lol cause i can't see it

#satosugu meta #satosugu #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk season 2 #jjk gojo #gojo satoru #satoru gojo #suguru getou #geto suguru

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linkspooky · 7 months

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Are You Satisfied?

As you might have heard chapter 236 of Jujutsu Kaisen ends with the death of Gojo Satoru. The fandom is making a pretty big deal about it. As someone who predicted from the beginning that Gojo was going to lose against Sukuna, the reaction is fascinating to me. This is perhaps the most controversial chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen I've ever seen. So I've decided to throw my hat into the ring.

The central theme of Jujutsu Kaisen is death, so the death of one of the main characters isn't too surprising, but what does Gojo's death mean for the story? What does it say about his character?

As I said above I am a little bit shocked by the extreme controversy over Gojo's death. Gojo was never going to win the fight in the first place, because Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and the story would be over if he defeated Sukuna. He'd easily be able to take care of Kenjaku afterwards and the main conflcit would be resolved. Would it really be an interesting story if Gojo one shotted the villains while the kids just wathced on Television?

The story is also not about Gojo, it's about the students. Gojo may think he's the protagonist of reality but he's not the protagonist of the story.

Once again, Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and stories have themes. We may grow personally attached to characters, but characters are just narrative tools to convey the themes of a story, no different from prose, dialogue, and art. Characters are a tool to be used well or used poorly, and sometimes yes that means killing them. Whether Gojo's death was naratively satisfying though isn't the purpose of this post though we're only asking what does it mean?

Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen is not only a fictional story, it's specifically a tragedy. Full disclosure, it's a manga about death.

The Protagonist of a Tragedy

So, number one shout out to me for making this post 4 months ago where I called the way Gojo would end the fight.

Excuse me while I fist pump for calling it!

The question on everyone's minds is why does one of the most powerful characters in the manga die offscreen in a pretty humiliating way, cut in half and helpless on the ground just like Kaneki. The reason Gojo didn't get a more heroic (or cooler) death is because we're not reading My Hero Academia, this is not a story about heroes or even a typical Shonen manga it is a tragedy.

In poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as:

"an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (51).

To paraphrase a tragedy is about human action, actions characters make in a tragedy often have dire consequences. One of the most common consequences if the reversal of a hero's fortune, a hero of a tragedy usually starts out on top and ends up on the bottom because of the bad choices they make. If in normal shonen manga characters overcome their flaws through effort and persistence, in Jujutsu Kaisen we see characters more often than not lose to their flaws.

The reason I posted that Kaneki panel specifically is because it was a brilliant moment of narrative punishment for Kaneki's central character flaw. Kaneki the hero's main flaw is that he always fights alone, and he constantly makes that same choice over and over again to fight alone. One of the characters helpfully explains it as well.

Stories are primarily about change. If a character doesn't change they're not serving the plot, unless that specifically is the point. People have pointed out how abrupt it is for Gojo to get sealed in Shibuya, get let out, and then immediately die afterwards but that's kind of the point. Gojo made more or less the exact same choice (he asked for Utahime's help for a buff but otherwise fought the entire battle himself). The definition of insanity and what not, why would doing the same thing over and over again net him a different result?

Not only did Gojo choose to fight alone, but as I've been hammering on and on about in previous meta the entire fight Gojo cared more about fighting a strong opponent then he did saving Megumi, the child he was responsible for.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not a typical shonen manga where everything is resolved by beating a strong villain in a fight. That's specifically why I used the Tokyo Ghoul reference, because the reason Kaneki is defeated offscreen like that is because he thought the world worked like a shonen manga. He has a fantasy sequence where he's fighting Juzo in a shonen battle tournament like this is Yu Yu Hakusho right before it snaps back to reality and he's limbless on the ground.

Gojo is a major character in the manga Jujutsu Kaisen, literally "Sorcery Fight" and he is the best sorcerer in the whole world. His entire identity revolves around being a sorcerer. Since he is so good and beloved at what he does, he thinks that everything is resolved by exorcising a curse or defeating a strong opponent. He has basically no identity outside of that. Which is why when he's fighting the possessed body of his student, a person he's been mentoring since childhood his priority is not to save Megumi but to beat a strong opponent. Gojo is a sorcerer, before a human being. That's who he is, that's who he always has been since day one.

I think part of the negative fan reaction comes from fans being really attached to this scene in the manga and deciding Gojo's entire character revolves around being a good mentor figure to children.

Which is just incorrect, Gojo's entire character revolves around being the strongest. On top of that though, Gojo can care about children and also care about being the strongest he can care about multiple things at once and have those things contradict each other because humans are complicated. I'd point out even in this panel where he's stating motivation he's not trying to raise these kids up into being healthy adults, he wants them to be strong Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even when he's raising kids, his intention is to turn them into Jujutsu Sorcerers because everything in Gojo's mind revolves around Jujutsu Sorcery. Gojo does not exist outside of the world of sorcerers. Gojo may be the chosen one but he'd never be able to hold down a job at Mcdonalds.

I think in general readers put more investment in the things characters say out loud, rather than their actions. You can say one thing and do another. I can say "I should never eat sweets again I'm going to improve my diet", and then go and eat ice cream five hours later. Gojo can state out loud his intention to foster children and protect their youths, but then fail to properly do that in the story. Characters are not always what they say they are, that's why they're interesting to interpret. This isn't me calling the readers stupid, just pointing out that Gojo is made up of contradictions. He wants to get rid of the old guard and replace them with something new, but Gojo IS THE OLD GUARD.

If the culling games arc has shown us one thing, it's that ancient sorcerers brought to the modern age do not care that much about human life on an individual level, they are all of them egoists. There's a reason Gojo resembles someone like Sukuna more than he does any other character in the manga. I'm not saying Gojo is exactly like Sukuna, he's far more altruistic and uses his genuinely noble ideals but at the same time Sukuna is a shadow archetype to Gojo he represents Gojo's flaws. The flaws that Gojo succumbs to in tragic fashion.

Which if you believe that Gojo genuinely does love his students, and the ideal he's fighting for is to raise up a better generation and allow them to live out their youths, then Gojo throughout the entire Sukuna fight is acting against those ideals. He cares far more about fighting Sukuna then he does saving Megumi, it's shown over and over again in the battle, Megumi is an afterthought to him. If Gojo care moredefeating the big bad and saving the world is more important than helping a child that Gojo is responsible for then Gojo is acting against his stated principles. Why should Gojo win the fight when he's fighting for all the wrong reasons?

Tragedies are like visual novels, if you make the wrong choice the novel will give you a red flag. If you ignore the red flag then you get locked into the route with the bad ending. Gojo always fights alone. Gojo only ever fights for himself, even if he's using that selfishness in support of a more noble ideal like creating a better generation of sorcerers. If Gojo consecutively makes the same changes then in a tragedy he's not going to be rewarded for it.

Gojo wants the old generation out and the new generation in, but Gojo resembles the old generation too much. Old sorcerers like Hajime and Sukuna respect him, Hajime argues that Gojo being able to fight for his pride is far more important than him living to the end of the battle when Yuta wanted to interfere and help him.

Gojo's death isn't a surprise curve ball that Gege is throwing us for shock value, it's a result of his choices throughout the manga. A manga about change, and the change between generations is not going to punish a character for remaining roughly the same. Of course you might find it disappointing that Gege didn't give Gojo the chance to grow and change and experience a character arc like Megumi or Yuji, but Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, and the way Gojo's arc ended is consistent with what Gege wrote.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not just a tragedy though, it's a manga about death. The manga begins with Yuji's grandfather warning him not to die alone the way that he did. His grandfather's dying words are what motivate Yuji throughout the beginning of the manga as he's searching for a "proper" death.

One of the major themes of Yuji's character is a contemplation of death. He accepts that death is inevitable, so he wants to save them from the gruesome deaths they'd experience if they became victims to curses and allow them to have a more satisfying death. Yuji's grandpa died an unsatisfying death because he died alone in a hospital room. Yuji even tries to make his own death a satisfying one because he believes by dying to seal away Sukuna he'll reduce the total number of casualties to curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen keeps investigating the theme of death and what exactly would make for a satisfying death. At one point it's all but stated that death is the mirror that makes humans analyze their lives.

When Yuji fails to save Junpei from the "unnatural death" it calls into question whether or not his goal of saving people from unsatisfying deaths and the gruesome deaths caused by curses is even feasible. Nanami even says that Yuji might not be able to accomplish his goal and warns him away from the path.

We see repeated unsatifying deaths in the manga, each time someone reflecting on their deaths that they weren't able to get what they wanted out of life. This list comes via @kaibutsushidousha by the way I'm quoting them.

Nanami's a character who chose to work as a sorcerer because he didn't want to evade the responsibility of doing all you can to help people, he wanted to believe he's somewhere where he's needed. He never runs away from responsibility like Mei Mei does so he quite literally works himself to death, living and dying as a sorcerer. Nanami or Gojo's dying hallucination of Nanami even says as much, his death is the result of him choosing to go south and returning to be a sorcerer.

Maki chose revenge against the Zen'in over her sister, and as a result Mai is dead. Maki has all the power in the world now, her revenge complete but she's left with a sense of "now what?" She's as strong as Toji now but she failed to protect her sister, and it's the result of the choices she made. Maki's reflection isn't triumph, it's "I should have chosen to die with her."

Even Yuji himself is robbed of his narrative purpose. The manga began with Yuji saying he wants to choose how he's going to die and he'll die taking out Sukuna with him so he can reduce the number of people killed by curses in the world. Both of those things are thrown in Sukuna's face. Number one the amount of people Yuji can save by permanently killing Sukuna is now a moot point because he let Sukuna rampage in Shibuya.

Number two, Sukuna isn't even in Yuji anymore. To build on what Comun said though, this repeated tragedy has a purpose to it and understanding requires understanding that Jujutsu Kaisen is an existentialist manga. Existentialism is basically a school of philosophy centered around the question of "Why do I exist?"

There's nothing about the invetability of death to make you question why you're alive in the first place. In the myth of Sispyhus, Albert Camus boils down all of philosophy to one question.

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. "

All of philosophy is should I shoot myself in the head or should I keep living? Everything comes after that question, which is why in Jujutsu Kaisen a lot of the characters motivations revolve around them contemplating death. Sorcerers exist in a world where they can die any moment, and as Gojo says most of them die alone. It might be the nature of sorcery itself that causes so many people to die, not only are they dying because they are trapped in an uncaring system, but the characters themselves aren't really attempting to live outside of it. They live and die as sorcerers, replaceable cogs in the machine.

All of these unsatisfying deaths may just be the result of all these characters making one choice, to live as sorcerers rather than people. Because to exist means to live in the world.

Even in Mechamaru's case, his goal is deeply existentialist by what I defined, all he wants to do is live in the world with everyone else rather than be stuck in his hospital room but his actions contradict that goal. Instead of letting his friends come and visit he's obsessed with the idea of getting a normal body because he feels that's the only way he can exist with everyone else, he makes a deal with the devil, he lies and goes behind their backs. He wasn't living with everyone else in the world and he could have chosen to, he chose wrong and his death is the result of that choice.

Jujutsu Sorcerers aren't living in the world. They're living in a little snowglobe far removed from the world with its own rules, most of them regressive and disconnected from the rest of society. If you define existentialism as just "living in the world' then a lot of these characters aren't, because they only exist in the world of sorcery.

INVISIBLE BUFFY: What are you talking ab- SPIKE: The only reason you're here, is that you're not here. (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: Right. Of course, as usual there's something wrong with Buffy. She came back all wrong. (moving around on the bed) You know, I didn't ask for this to happen to me. SPIKE: Not too put off by it though, are you? (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: No! Maybe because for the first time since ... I'm free. She tosses the sheet aside. Spike looks around, trying to figure out where she's going. INVISIBLE BUFFY: Free of rules and reports ... free of this life. SPIKE: Free of life? Got another name for that. Dead.

Not living in the world with everyone else is the same as being dead.

A lot of these characters either make the choice to act alone, or be a jujutsu sorcerer rather than a person and because of that they die as sorcerers, b/c sorcerers die that's what they do. Mai didn't want to keep living as a hindrance to Maki so she kills herself. Maki didn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, so her little sister dies and she's not a big sister anymore. Nanami chose to leave his job behind and become a sorcerer again, he dies as one.

Of course I don't think the manga is punishing characters for being too egotistical, but rather too unbalanced. If anything Mai is too selfless and that is why she died, she didn't want to live for herself and chooses self sacrifice for her sister. An unbalance between selfishness or selflessness results in an underdeveloped ego. Jujutsu Kaisen doesn't punish individualism per se, moreso if you're not a fully developed individual you won't last long. Because it's also a manga about growing up in the world, and a person who doesn't have a healthy, mature, well-balanced sense of self is not a grown up.

This twitter user det_critics points out that Gojo (and also Yuki + Yuji's) failures in the manga can be attributed to the fact they don't have real senses of self.

Gojo has an identity crisis as outlined by Geto, "are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest, or are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo?"

It's a challenge for him to find some reason to live outside of being the strongest, and in tragic fashion Gojo just doesn't find it in time. Gojo lived for fighting others, and proving to himself that he's the strongest, and that's how he dies.

There's something I like to say about narrative punishment in stories. There are two ways to punish a character, you either don't give them what they want, or you give them exactly what they want. This is the latter, Gojo wanted to find someone stronger than him because deep down he believed that nobody could understand him unless they were on his level. He wanted to be surpassed, and that's why he focused on creating stronger young sorcerers, but he never shook himself of the belief that only someone as strong or even stronger than he was could ever be emotionally attached to him so he made a deliberate choice to draw a line between himself and others.

Gojo's essentially gotten what he wanted from that choice in the worst way possible. The student he picked to succeed him Megumi, has his body stolen and kills him. Gojo is surpassed, but it's not by one of his own students it's by an enemy that's not only trying to kill Gojo but is going to massacre his students afterwards.

Gojo's spent his entire life believing that because he's more powerful that makes him inherently different and above others, and being lonely because he himself believed he couldn't relate to ordinary people and he dies like an ordinary person, an unsatisfying death where he wasn't able to bring out Sukuna's best, where he gets unceremoniously cut in half offscreen but yay he's no longer the strongest. He's gotten exactly what he wanted. Megumi is still not saved, Sukuna's probably going to kill more people because Gojo failed to stop him here, but hey at least he stopped to compliment Gojo.

It's empty, but it's empty because of the choices Gojo made in life to just not bother connecting to people or develop any kind of identity besides being a sorcerer. Gojo lives and dies as a sorcerer, and his dying dream is returning to a teenager being surrounded by everyone he was with during his school days, because that's the happiest time in his life. Ironically he was happier before he became the strongest, because that was the only time in his life that he allowed himself to connect to people.

However in the eyes of others, he is someone who has it all. That's why he is always alone. There was no one who could hold the same sentiments and mutually understand him. Geto was the only one who could understand what he was trying to say, and the only one who could communicate well with him.

It's no coincidence Gojo and Geto die exactly a year apart on the same day, if anything I'd say the reasons they die are similiar to at least thematically. They both die because they don't want to live in the world. Geto thinks the world is too corrupt and GOjo doesn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, both of them fail to adapt.

「 'It's just. . .' It's just that it was what Geto had to do. [...] To someone like him, the reality that the world of sorcerers presented to him was just too cruel. '. . .that in a world like this, I couldn't truly be happy from the bottom of my heart.'」

They can't be happy in a world like this from the bottom of their hearts, so narratively they both die. The things they chose to live for at the end of their life they fail to accomplish, Gojo is no longer the stronget, Geto fails to wipe out mankind or make major changes to the world and they die as normal people unsatisfied because they weren't trying to live in the world and make connections to others. They die almost karmically a year apart because their main connection for both of them, the thing which made them feel connected to the world and other people was each other.

Which is why this panel breaks my heart and is so narratively satisfying because of how unsatisfying it is...

"If you were among those patting my back... then I might've been satisfied."

Gojo reflects that he's not satisfied dying against Sukuna, not because he failed to give him a good enough challenge but because Geto wasn't there to pat him on the back. The one thing that would have satisfied him he couldn't have, because he didn't live to connect to people he lived to be the strongest and he died alone as the strongest. There's just something deeply upsetting about Gojo's dying dream fantasy just him being there talking with all of his dead friends who he never appreciated or connected to properly when he was alive. Knowing that if something had just gone a little differently, that even if he had to die no matter what he could have died happier if Geto was among the people saying goodbye to him because that connection with Geto is what gave his life meaning.

Dazai Osamu: "A life with someone you can say good-bye to is a good life, especially when it hurts so much to say it to them. Am I wrong?" -Bungou Stray Dogs Beast

#gojo satoru #jjk spoilers #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen 236 spoilers #jjk 236 #jujutsu kaisen 236 #jjk 236 spoilers #jujutsu kaisen #jujustu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen theory #jujutsu kaisen manga #satoru gojo #geto suguru #suguru geto #satosugu

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bliss-in-the-void · 7 months

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No bc Satoru has this whole hallucination-dream-limbo sequence where he’s talking to Suguru about how he wanted to give Sukuna his all to get through to him and show him how he understood his loneliness only to have Suguru go “…you’re making me jealous.”

As an author, what Gege did here is genius because that is such a loaded statement to make in response to Satoru processing his fight with Sukuna. It can mean so many different things and we, the audience, are free to interpret exactly how Suguru meant it.

On one hand, you can say he said he was jealous because he wanted to be the one Satoru fought with all his might. He wanted to be as strong as Satoru, to match him in prowess, and hearing that Sukuna was the one to do it instead made him jealous.

On the other hand, you can say that he said he was jealous because Satoru recognized that Sukuna was lonely and wanted to get through to him, something that he was too late to recognize in Suguru when he was descending into madness, and that in turn made Suguru jealous because it was as if Satoru was saying “I recognized the loneliness in him and wanted to do something about it” when he failed to do that same thing with Suguru.

I personally interpret it the second way more (the first one is very valid, but I just see things the second way), because of the next lines.

He made Suguru cry. While laughing. Once again, holy shit is that such a loaded scene. What did Suguru’s tears mean? We have never seen him cry before. Not when Riko died, not at any point when he was losing his mind, not even when he died by Satoru’s hand. So why, when Satoru said he wished Suguru was there to wish him luck before he fought, did he finally get brought to such strong emotion that he cried?

Was it because he was happy to hear that Satoru still thought of him, even in his final moments?

Was it because after all these years, Satoru never thought ill of him and pictured him there beside him, and he was relieved?

Was it because he regretted making the choices he did that led to him not being there by Satoru’s side?

Or, in a very indirect way, was it an admission of love from Satoru that made Suguru happy?

I wonder that, because of these panels from Chapter 238:

Kashimo asked Sukuna, “if you’re so satisfied being alone, why did you refuse to die and turn yourself into cursed fingers?”

Sukuna’s response is, “Love is worthless. I’ve never needed anyone to satisfy me.”

Which is a directly opposing statement to the one that Satoru had just made to Suguru.

Sukuna: I only have to worry about myself and I get to do as I please. I am satisfied by myself. I don’t need love.

Satoru: I worried about everyone else my entire life and I was controlled by the society. I was not satisfied, but I would have been if you had been there with me, Suguru.

That. Is. Powerful. Those panels imply that love is what made Satoru weak. He did not feel complete because he didn’t have Suguru. He had all of the power in the world, he had status, he had students that depended on him, other friends even, and he still was not satisfied because Suguru wasn’t there.

Sukuna on the other hand recognized how detrimental love was because of what it did to people, how it made them weak, and he decided he didn’t need it.

Those panels were such an indirect-direct conversation between Satoru and Suguru.

Essentially, they were saying:

Suguru: You fought with all of your might and I wish that you recognized my loneliness so that I could have been there with you

Satoru: I was at the peak of my power and I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, and I was allowed to go all-out to fight yet I just wanted you to be there with me

It’s just. Ugh. They’re saying they want each other in the most infuriatingly roundabout way.

#ive been wanting to talk abt this for a minute #just. the language.#satisfaction relative to love #it’s all related #satoru was not satisfied because he didnt have the person he loved #sukuna has abandoned all need for satisfaction and love because they are weaknesses #satosugu #jjk meta #satosugu meta #stsg #sgst #sugusato #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #geto suguru #suguru geto #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers

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justrustandstardust · 2 months

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my favourite thing about gojo and geto’s relationship is how it’s so breathtakingly intimate. it goes deeper than their matching names, the yin/yang symbolism, the dichotomous light/dark ideologies. it’s woven into the very fabric of their characters.

when you watch them together, there’s a pervasive sense that we, the viewer, are almost intruding. they’re always laughing at a joke we don’t understand, riling each other up in the way only they can, sharing the same frequency and making decisions without even needing to speak. we, as the audience, consistently have the feeling that we’re walking in on something that’s meant to be shared by two people alone.

it’s in how they refer to each other by their first name without honorifics, even after all these years. it’s the way geto and gojo are having one conversation with their mouths and another with their eyes when geto shows up to declare war. it’s the way geto can read gojo even when he’s blindfolded.

it’s the way we see gojo’s truest self around geto. it’s in how gojo knows how geto’s mind works after a decade. it’s in gojo’s demeanour completely changing around geto, dropping the lighthearted mask he maintains for everyone else.

there is no act more intimate than taking a life. there is no one else other than gojo that could’ve done it because there is no one else that shares the closeness begot by the act. gojo’s last words to geto are for him alone; not even the audience gets to know what transpired between them in geto’s final moments.

their connection is for them and them alone. and it is achingly beautiful.

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ellionwrites · 4 months

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Sometimes I feel like a silly weirdo for shipping Satosugu so hard, but then I hear a clip of “my heart and my soul know otherwise” and I remember that I am not at fault here.

#my actual honest opinion is that Gege/MAPPA are trying to have their cake and eat it too #please the shippers and the no-homo anime bros #and my theory is that Gege wants it to be canon but maybe it’s just not feasible as a shounen manga #but there is no way that Satosugu is not at least intentionally ambiguous #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #satosugu #stsg #satosugu meta #Gojo x Geto

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neonscandal · 1 month

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Manga with Me: Sad SatoSugu Edition (Because That's Literally the Only Flavor There Is) Pt 2

Because I realized reblogging my initial post to keep the list going was super dumb if I want to keep gratuitously adding to it so... if you've already seen part 2, no you haven't. Especially since I had to add at least one other thing to the mix.

Part 1 | Part 2

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: JJK 0 movie + season 2 though things may get out of chronological order as I just keep thinking in circles.

Buckle up:

How positively fucked it was that Kenjaku knew the ins and outs of Geto’s thoughts about Gojo upon his possession… and knew how Geto was the one thing that could trip Gojo up… but those idiots were completely unaware.

The fact that they were always cast at odds, cursed technique wise, nature vs nurture, attitude, ideology, etc. But they still found the common ground to respect and care for one another.

I kept saying how Geto only loses his cool when harm comes to Gojo but… the crux of it is the fact that Geto is the only person who loses his cool when harm comes to Gojo because no one else could fathom the possibility (until Yuta and Yuji came along). Gojo’s power damns him to be an infallible weapon just as much as it damns Geto to be a casualty.

In fact, Geto thanked him for his hard work during the Star Plasma Vessel mission. As if Gojo had a choice. But still, Geto expressed appreciation for what most everyone else probably took for granted.

How Geto was the one person who truly challenged and undid Gojo’s godlike power all because Gojo cared for him. *insert River Song’s tirade about the Doctor loving a mere human.*

youtube

The fact that Riko’s death and their subsequent failure is what catapulted Gojo back into the need to refine and perfect his godlike strength which brought him out of touch with Geto. The isolation which Gojo knew all too well is what destroyed Geto.

Not enough emphasis was given to the fact that Geto was actively spiraling, probably couldn’t bring a spoon to his own mouth BUT STILL WANTED TO TREAT GOJO.

Geto didn’t know the power he held over Gojo or, more likely, he never chose to use it because, if Gojo would just follow him, how would that not be just as bad as the position he was already forced into by the elders? Even so, Gojo was frenzied and showed such elevated emotion when Geto defected, when he confronted him. He was undone.

After Geto, we never have the same level of insight or clarity into Gojo either. So, in addition to no longer being vulnerable to threats, he’s no longer vulnerable to us, the readers, either.

This isn’t strictly a SatoSugu observation but.. the fact that Gojo’s strength damned him to face off against a person he cares most about not once… but twice?

Gojo cultivated a life surrounded by people who he protected, who he guided, who were indebted to him, even, and he still felt like Geto was his one and only, even after everything. Even as his dream came into fruition with his team of strong students, it was all for Geto and all for naught without him.

This face when Geto realizes what we’ve known all along. Gojo’s love was unconditional but unfathomable to Geto. Please, I’m sick about it.

During the events of the JJK 0 movie, after 10 years apart, Gojo could still piece together Geto's plan just as well as Geto could figure out that Gojo sent Panda and Toge into battle to trigger Yuta's power up.

When Gojo retorts that “it’s called trust. People with beliefs like yours won’t kill a young sorcerer without reason.” having been figured out by Geto.

Even so, Geto receives that as personally as Gojo probably meant it, surprised to find that "[he] didn't realize [Gojo] still felt any connection with [him]."

When you consider that, even at the close of his life, couldn't be forthright and honest and simply tell Gojo that he never hated him.

Even when Gojo was the source of his most genuine smiles. Even bloody in an alley, death staring him in the face, claiming to not be able to smile with his whole heart and yet

Points aggressively at the board. 👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾

Stay tuned for when I inevitably circle back to light novels, OP's, EP's and literally anything else that pops into my head as this dynamic continues to haunt me. ✨

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