Discussion YMMV / JujutsuKaisen

About this entry

• Ass Pull: Chapter 236. The death of Gojo Satoru in his fight against Sukuna. During their fight, Sukuna had his summon, Mahoraga, adapt to Gojo's infinity progressively faster each time the sorcerer used it until the shikigami adapted to the technique. Sukuna, after seeing this, then copied Mahoraga's adapted technique himself and slashed all "existence" in front of him, cutting Gojo in half. This was after Gojo had unleashed a point-blank Hollow Purple that Sukuna apparently survived through sheer cursed energy reinforcement, and the killing slice occurred off-panel. Not helping any of this was sorcerer Kusakabe's declaration that “Gojo won” at the end of the previous chapter. Chapter 236 opens with Gojo in the afterlife before eventually showing an image of Gojo's severed body. Some have seen the entire fight as a microcosm of commonly purported issues with the manga, with various confusing, almost arbitrary, and seemingly contrived power sets being shown in rapid succession. The combination of all this over two chapters could be chalked up to a victory reversal for pure shock value.

I would like to table this for discussion since it was removed, despite it being wholly accepted as a massive asspull by the fanbase.

About this entry

• Ass Pull: Chapter 236. The death of Gojo Satoru in his fight against Sakuna. During their fight, apparently Sakuna had his summon, Mahoraga, adapt to Gojo's infinity progressively faster each time the sorcerer used his technique to the point it nullified "infinity" and slashed all "existence" in front of it, cutting Gojo in half. Note that this was after the sorcerer unleashed his strongest technique on the curses and the wordbox declaring him the winner, with the attack occuring off-panel and the panel suddenly jumping to Gojo's severed body. The entire fight is a microcosm of the issues of the manga with the overabundance of confusing, arbitrary and contrived powersets, and the story, progression and reader investment given up for shock value.

I actually agree with all of it, even the part at the end, but it does sound a bit complainy, probably should be reworded.

For anyone interested in doing so, I'd like to propose Woobie candidates for this show, and there are at least three.

1. Junpei Yoshino: This poor kid has only ever been looked down on, harassed and bullied, so the initial sympathy is right there. But it's taken up further with how things go down: Mahito, a Faux Affably Evil False Friend, teaches him about cursed technique and turns him into more and more of a misanthrope. Things seem to be going better for him when he finds a genuine friend in Yuji, but then Mahito begins to systematically destroy his life: first, he has Junpei's mother killed and frames the bullies that Junpei is angry with for the deed - this causes Junpei to cross the line and go on a killing spree. Only Yuji manages to talk him down and promises him a life with purpose and meaning, and then Mahito shows up and kills Junpei in the most hideous way imaginable.

2. Yuji Itadori (an Iron Woobie, to be precise): A kindhearted, friendly young man who wants to be a good aide to his people, undergoes tremendous suffering, despite his best efforts to resist it. Junpei's death and the Shibuya Incident really do a number on his psyche, and the worst part is being a host to a demon who will do anything at any possible turn to make Yuji's life a living Hell.

3. Mai Zen'in (a Jerkass Woobie): Mai may be a haughty, smug and incredibly opinionated girl, but there's more to her frustration with Maki than petty envy. She genuinely loved her sister back when they were young, and they promised to look out for one another and stick together. When Maki went off to become a Jujutsu sorcerer, their uncle put even more pressure on Mai to become better, and she saw Maki's deed as her going back on her promise, which made Mai resent her ever since. She's had a pretty sad lot, too.