Get me some ice because I can't chill

Personal thoughts dump for stuff I'm into. First time reading JJK at the moment.

[harukazedoremi]

Me and my notes regarding JJK Vol. 0

Incoming posts:

0!Geto analysis

0!Gojo analysis

Gojo's censored words to Geto (comprehensive of what we know thanks to external sources like VA talking about them and the 0 Light Novel)

Gojo and Geto's relationship status based on the things they say to eachother in chapter 0.4

[harukazedoremi]

Liar! You have the face of a liar! // It's just that in this world I couldn't truly be happy from the bottom of my heart.

[harukazedoremi]

Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 0

Wellllll, we got to the end of volume 0 in a rather... Discombobulated way.

No questions, no doubts this time around.

But a million things to say.

[harukazedoremi]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 0.4

Yuta not only mastering RCT but managing to also use it to heal three people at the same time...

*Tries not to think about what Gojo had to go throught to achieve half of that

Like...

smh

Rika is growing on me, she's such a cute curse 😊

Reverse Cursed Technique actual namedrop this early?? We have not been given an explanation for regular CT in 0, so that's why I'm this surprised...

Suguru is such a lawful enemy with those he deems his equal, and a chaotic bastard with those he sees as beneath him... 🥺

. . . What is that. . . ? Did he... Just used Toge's technique creating a cursed megaphone out of nowhere... ? *Shakes violently How does he even know how to do that and that he can even do it????? *Breathes to calm down

Also, in other translations it's specified that Rika's cursed energy can be manipulated however one wants, that's what makes her such a powerful asset, it's not only that she is a bottomless pit of CE.

The girls casually hanging three assistants... Geto told them to look closely in chapter 78 when he took the reins of the cult by murdering one of the heads, and look closely they did apparently. 😬

Ijichi trying to reason with them... 🥺❤️

I was SO FUCKING SURPRISED to see teen!Geto featured in this omg!!! And I guess adding the detail that Geto was also from the country charged the meeting with the girls with extra meaning, and made it even more believable that that was his breaking point 🥺

Ok but him smiling kindly while his face is splattered in blood... Urghhhhh my heartttttt 😩

Gojo is super scary in this fight, more than in all the other fights I've seen until now... 😳

What looks like RED deployed just like that, like he's swatting away a bug...

Ijichi's face 🤣

So basically Yuta is in a post black flash state without summoning any... And what about what Todo teached Yuji back in chapter 48, that anger is good but is not something you should/can rely on and that can be detrimental, especially if it's overflowing?

Playful Cloud!! (Maki was skeptical and a bit uncomfortable at using it against Hanami because it was said that Geto beat her up with it, but he's not shown doing so... 🙁) Also it doesn't have the black clouds pattern here!

Geto still trying to make his point come across... *Puts a pin to this as well

Also I'm thinking, Playful Cloud + Geto's prowess has to be a super deadly combo... 🤯

The english version edulcorated what he says quite a lot, since all the others I've read say the same, very icky thing.

He doesn't want to become a god, he wants to choose the people who are worthy (and we know they are so in his eyes just because of genetics basically)... Yeah I'm not saying that word here because it makes me uncomfortable but you all know what this is a textbook definition of right? 😢

Teacher!Geto crumbs, wait, I need to get all of them!!

I'm so sure that if Satoru and Suguru got to be both teachers they wouldn't lose a single chance to disparage the other's teaching skills with their students LOL

Sorry Suguru, nobody can win against a plot-armored charac- *Gets gagged

And after being punched to hell and back, he still has the nerve to be genuinely impressed... I, I need- *Bites concrete

So Yuta giving Geto the benefit of the doubt regarding this matter is... In character I guess, he's also young so let's add that too, but why isn't anyone making the point that it's not a matter of normal people -> inherently bad and sorceres -> inherently good because they are, in some circumstances, the victims of abuses and have to stay hidden (because, as Geto says in chapter 65, it'a a matter of not alarming the masses that would be counterproductive because that much panic would create even more dangerous curses and not because sorcerers would be persecuted like say witches or the likes, although I admit that bigots would probably ostracise them even if their role was public) but it's wayyyyyy more nuanced and it's mainly about good people vs bad people? Why isn't anyone telling him this to see what he would answer? Hell, even curses can be good or bad in some cases, look at Rika here, who is on the side of a good character thus being used for the good and the Death Paintings brothers, especially Choso, who are loyal to their loved ones and capable of change and sacrifices? It's all grey man, please someone in this manga has to say this very obvious thing I'm begging you.

Yuta makes a very simplistic reasonment but Suguru just accepts it gracefully, even giving merit to it's intrinsically selfish nature *Doesn't have enough pins to keep up aaaaaah

4461 curses????????????? Minus the 2000 he deployed in Tokyo and Kyoto??? Are we nuts??? Is he nuts??? How how how did he managed to have so many of them??

I was absolutely sure Suguru was not able to use Uzumaki and only Kenjiaku showed this technique later on!!! 😲

I can't believe Yuta is winning by proposing a suicide to Rika I can'tttttt

He's pulling the Aishiteru card too??? Insane.

Please notice: Yuta is saying that, while Rika goes with 大すきだ よお "daisuki dayo"... Uuuuuhmhmhmhmh *Writes notes in an invisible notepad

"You womanizer!" even Geto is so done with these two 😅 He's actually thinking that he should have tried this move with Saturo to see what would have happened *coff coff

He's still heralding his cause as a matter of justice... 🥲

... Seeing him in the alley there made me realise that he eventually died at the school anyway, the same place he was a fan of, so much so that he was the first one to move in the dormitories when he enrolled, I need a moment 😭😭😭

Also, the fact that his main thought was "I won't have to collect curses one by one." -> I won't have to do the thing that I hate the most that causes me a lot of stress?? (Lowkey a fan of the idea that his cursed technique was the main cause of his downfall, like he was cursed from the very beginning inherently.)

Also ALSO, him being like "Next time she'll be mine." when clearly there won't be one. . . . . . . . I think I need to stop dwelling on such thoughts but I can't help it, so I'll just suffer. But please, if with the combined forces of over 4400 curses he couldn't win, even if he managed to get out of the school grounds alive, how would he think of attacking again? I need to hug the delusions out of him. 😩

Nuances vary between the translations, but the english one just makes it sound like Suguru is embittered that his (ex) best friend is the one who will have to kill him. 😔

After he spares a thought for Satoru, he immediately asks about his family... *I don't even have words to describe what I'm feeling

Suguru: Yeah, unlike you, I'm a kind person. You sent those two here knowing I'd defeat them... Just so you could trigger Okkotsu's growth. Satoru: It's called trust. People with beliefs like yours won't kill a young sorcerer without reason.

Ok, I won't spend time talking about this passage here in this post, just know that I find this endlessly interesting and I'll probably end up musing and talking about it too much.

And I was (partially) wrong about my assumption that Gojo still trusted him not to kill his students, I thought it was an headcanon made by the fans, but nope, Gojo outright says it to him, that he still trusted him, his adeherence to his values, even after everything that happened. 🤧

My original point still stands, Gojo sent two students knowing Geto would go easy on them, and probably hoped Maki's enhanced physique could help her survive whtaever he trew at her.

Suguru: I didn't realize you still felt any connection with me.

*Pulls out another, bigger corkboard to pin this right in the center

They even had a small bickering moment like the good old days... 😭😭

Satoru's face when he asks him if he has any last words aaaaaaaah *I won't survive to the end of this chapter helpppp

He couldn't be truly happy in this world *Jumps off a cliff

Separate post to discuss about what Satoru's censored words are soon to a theater near you.

Loved the detail of Maki and Toge trying to stop Yuta by grabbing him. 💞💞💞

Another case of "With Gojo is sink or swim" aka he won't tell you shit and you'll have to figure everything out by yourself with him not giving hints nor vague indications...

If the none of the kids recognises him without bandages it means he never took them off in front of them for all this time? Also him defining himself good looking what a clown 💘

... Of course Yuta is descendant of a super powerful individual, and he's also a distant relative of the strongest sorcerer alive... *Starts laughing

This is such a by the book, classic OC introduction if I've evere seen one it's nuts people. How can I take him seriously now? Come on!!!

Ok Rika telling him she had been happier like that than when she was alive was unexpected and... Damn.

Satoru: You're not to blame for Geto. He would have attacked regardless.

You sure about that???

I mean, not that he had a choice either than dropping his big plan of a reformed world, but it's such a bitter and depressing thought that he would eventually go all out with no hope of winning. I'm sad 😟

The best friend line was so gratuitous, but kinda needed because it's the only hint that we get that he's mourning someone VERY important. And it's cute to think Gojo opened up about something so close to his heart to Yuta. 💕

Anyway....

WE FINALLY FINISHED VOLUME 0 AND I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF TO SAY ABOUT IT STILL!!! *Shakes fists

What the heck, I thought this would be a relatively quick one but NO, my brain refuses to shut up about the million details it picked up.

I'm also emotionally drained...

I can't even begin to say how many differences there where between translations in this volume, I feel like I've read four different variations of the same plot help help help

Scattered notes:

None of the members of the group apart from Miguel and the twins were even given names in this!! What

Geto has a special grade vengeful spirit meaning he had to go look for the most powerful ones, meaning he moved around the country and nobody noticed him???

And by using all the remaining curses we won't find out what could happen if he died with some still in his arsenal... ><

They said that only Yuta had to partecipate to the goodwill event because there weren't enough students, and guessing that Hakari and Hoshi were the only two in their year, it means that there had to be a bunch of students that are now four-years right? (Since they are never showed or really mentioned, some fans think that the classes above Akari and Hoshi were wiped out during the Demon Parade, but this would point to this not being true? I guess? Why am I even mentioning this???)

*Rereads the last two pages, fully realises that it's cold, and that Geto attacked the 24th of December Wait a minute!!!!!!!!! Gojo is going to die in exactly ONE YEAR!!!!! AAAAAAAAAUGHHHHHHHHH <- last straw for my mental stability

Gege said that he was inspired by the dynamic between Naruto and Kurama when creating Yuta and Rika (and also Yuji and Sukuna), it really, really shows.

Yuta I wanted to really like you and I do personality wise but like... Your powers are just so irritating aaaaaah (Yuji is a way better protagonist imo).

[harukazedoremi]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 0.3

Long chapter, even longer list of things to say! 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

We're starting strong with Suguru misspelling the woman's surname and refusing to be corrected 😬😬

The concept of him looking like a Buddha figure because he can pinpoint exactly what's afflicting the victim and then make it vanish is so cool, I love it (and I wish we had more time with him like this honestly).

That curse was hella disturbing 😧

Seeing Geto being all smarmy and as soon as they are gone he's insulting them harshly with immense disgust

Oh hey, here's the character that in most fics has the part of the bitchy rival! (We don't even get her name in this chapter lol)

And she knows his true self is a monkey-hating guy first and foremost, but doesn't bat an eye when he's all ecstatic because his group is finally reunited and wants to take a commemorative picture... >_> So... *Puts a pin to this

I always saw this moment as him being kinda of obsessive too on top of everything else when it's about monkeys, and knowing that OCD can manifest after traumatic events... Yeah...

Him smiling like that after ingesting the curse when we KNOW what they taste like... Either he's completely desensitized, or he has become really REALLY good at putting up a façade.

And then just... Killing the guy like that (in an awful way too omg), doesn't he think the police is going to come there to investigate...? ANYWAY

I don't know half of these people (the guy with the heart nipple covers and the guy with the spiky black hair, and I know Miguel by name only). 👍

I HAVE THE URGENT NEED TO KNOW WHAT WENT THROUGHT SATORU'S HEAD WHEN HE FOUND OUT SUGURU WAS INVOLVED PLS GEGE ehm... ù_u''

Also, the whole "We couldn't locate Geto" thing leaves me a bit confused... Does it implies that they didn't know where he was or what he was doing? For real? That they found out only now that he has become the cult leader of the same cult they had to deal in 2006? Nobody kept tabs on them after they created so many troubles to the whole jujutsu society? Didn't Satoru remembered what Geto said, that they would disband soon, and never found out they didn't and why? How could Geto just stay so much under their radar?

Fans kind of agree that he was left alive because the only two sorcerers that could kill him where Yuki, who technically (in theory) partially agreed with him on the whole "humans are the root cause for curses" thing and said that forcing evolution wasn't a bad idea, but she wouldn't do it personally, so maybe she doesn't mind someone else trying, and the other one is Gojo, and we know he would never do anything unless Suguru really forced his hand. Nobody could probably force either of them to go and take care of him, but not even knowing what he was doing and where seems too much. None of the other sorceres ever bumped into him? Ever? Nah, this is stupid. And I also find it hard to believe that Satoru never looked for him.

(But I can maybe understand if he didn't because he's the kind of person that just cuts ties that are broken and never looks back, focusing on the present. He only thought of him when reminiscing the past, and he always left him there apparently.)

I love that principal Yaga swears in english in every version 😂

Suguru casually dropping by on a giant pellican curse... Sure. (I wonder if it's part of some specific legend or it's just... A giant pellican.)

"Still the same as ever." <- My same reaction when I went back to my old school 👀

Nanako's comment means she is surprised this isolated location is still in Tokyo's metropolitan area or that their home is in another city and she expected Tokyo to be all town? (Geto having his cult right there in Tokyo next to the school seems... Hazardous to say the least, but hiding in plain sight it's a good tactic, isn't it?)

Maki and Co. were being irreverent with Yuta one moment and the next they make him the centerpiece of the group 😂

"I think great power should be used for great endeavours." <- I remembered this differently... 🕷🕸

Ok but like, the way he starts with "don't you see anything wrong with the world", I guess most would say "yeah sure, a lot of things are not right", but then he immediately goes off the rails with his delulu vision of the world and like, if I were in Yuta's place I'd be so caught off guard that I would think he was joking or something.

So... Is this the first time fince the KFC break-up that they meet? Uhm? I need to know 🥲

THEY STILL CALL EACHOTHER BY THEIR FIRST NAMES!!! *BITES SOMETHING

"I heard about the excellent first-years... I see, so they're under your care."

Didn't he know Gojo was working as a teacher there??? Really?? I don't believe it for one second he hasn't kept tabs on the guy who could kill him in an instant... No way. THE FACT THAT NEITHER OF THEM KNEW WHAT THE OTHER WAS UP TO IS STRATEGICALLY STUPID. NOPE. (Not including the rest of the school staff and higher-ups that didn't have a strong connection to Geto that could get in the way of upholding the law, or trying to... What the heck?)

(This is a thing that came out before the main series, almost nothing was really planned, brain chill please *Me repeating this mantra constantly at this point) (A shitpost about how much Gojo and Geto parting ways was actually like a super nasty break-up that impacted EVERY ASPECT of jujutsu society emerges. 🙂‍↕️)

The Maki-Toji similarities ... 🫠 You can see here his true feelings rising up to the surface!! It's a sore spot still.

Yuta being like "I can excuse talks about genocide but I draw the line at insulting my friends." is hilarious 😂

Shinjuku is described as a crucible for curses... Why?

By the way, the fact that he said "Put your lives on the line" should have raised red flags immediately because he is the one who wouldn't want other sorceres to die like this... Also coming specifically at the school to tell everyone about these two attacks and even the day and hour they will happen... He didn't do anything flashy for ten years and now that Yuta and Rika are around, he casually comes out of his temple to tell all of the jujutsu world exactly when and where and even the number of curses he will deploy when he will launch his attack?

Sus much??

So, while we're talking about the crêpe shop, I've seen floating around a post (or was it a whisper?) that claimed that in the first JJK light novel (Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust) Gojo was featured eating a crêpe from the (probably) very same shop mentioned here, and I was like "Oh, cool!", but then when I got my hands on the LN and after reading this chapter, I noticed that the two places mentioned (in ch. 0.3 the crêpe shop mentioned by Geto is located on Takeshita street, while chapter 1 of the LN is set entirely in Akihabara) are nowhere near eachother. The first is in Harajuku, which is in the west part of Tokyo, between Shinjuku and Shibuya, while the second is in the north-east side of the metropolis, and they are approximately more than 9 kms apart from eachother. So, sorry to rain on the emotional SatoSugu moment, but the two crêpe shops are completely unrelated. 😕

Plus, cool detail from the fanbook: it's said that Geto strived to provide everything the girls needed without relying on non-sorceresr, but at the same time he never imposed them to avoid interacting with them. I'm in shambles. 😞

Yaga here is so determined that the comments he makes about Geto in the main series sound a little weird, but again, This is a thing that came out before the main series etc etc etc... 🙄

I've got to be honest, people reading this, the "muscle-headed principal" line was like a punch in the gut because I still have very fresh in my memory the other time he called him that

*Me seeing we're already shown the 24th of December in this chapter 😯 *Me remembering Vol. 0 has only four chapters and we're already in the third 🫠

Geto again showed casually killing what I assume are assistants of the school. *Yikes Also, like, how is he doing that??? 😳

By the way… << the “They still believe the bluff I made as a student” line didn’t make sense to me, because 1) he never bluffed, especially when he was a student, and 2) the goal he decided to dedicate his life to when he was seventeen is not a bluff at all either, so ??? In the french version he says “Cette bande de simples d'esprit se laisse toujours avoir par mon baratin”, meaning "That bunch of simpletons always falls for my spiel." referring to the Parade. My best guess is that in japanese it’s an idiomatic phrase and translators didn’t notice… 🙄

The mechanics of killing the master of the curse before he can absorb them was learned the hard way in the fight with Toji 🥲

Fourth-years mentioned!! 🎉🎉🎉

I love Maki’s bluntness so much!! ></"

And Yuta’s sincere admiration for her strong will and determination <333

Supportive boyfriend since the very beginning omgosh

And the fact that his words had an effect on her… />A</

Geto is here to remind that this is not a manga for romantic relationships but one with pain and desolation 😒

I wonder why Gojo can tell from a glance that Miguel is a problematic foe. (I have no idea what this character does, I only know his name). So curious!! ><

Even more curious to know what made Gojo jump to the conclusion that Geto’s actual plan was to get Yuta.

Gojo asking sorry to his students for putting them in such a situation... 🥹🥹🥹

Gojo's power of teleporting people never to be used again (I think)?

The fact that Nanako and Mimiko got sent on the frontlines among the curses means that Suguru must have been absolutely sure that they were well protected… Ok, this makes me melt a bit, his children were safe among his monsters… 😭😭😭 Ok, I’m sorry, where were we?

I'm so glad that Panda and Toge managed to surprise him with their tactics, even if it was just two brief moments.

It also makes me so proud that Suguru is an excellent martial artist, like… It was his hobby, and didn’t stop practicing it just because his technique could make up for that. 🥲

I can’t understand from the manga alone how he manged to avoid Toge’s attack… Some sort of curse-double? Reinforced the body with CE? Maybe it will be clearer in the movie…

… Let’s ignore his monologue for now, yeah? When ever did he got the impression sorcerers were not trying to help eachother btw? Am I missing something?

Now, the fact that Maki isn’t dead… Doylist reason: it would have been cruel and a waste to kill the only prominet female character who is also bonding very nicely with the protagonist off-screen like that. Watsonian reason: maybe he wanted to torture her and don’t give her a swift death?

I don’t particularly agree with the take I’ve seen online were people think he spared them all because they are still students, because if in here he is a distilled version of his ideals that completely consumed him and his mind, he would spare two actual sorcerers (in his eyes), and NOT spare a student who can’t even see curses (like the two characters at the beginning of the chapter) with the added malus that she might remind him of Toji… Nope. Let’s go with “he hit non-vital parts very hard and left her for dead or close to it because he doesn’t really see any worth in losing time with her.” Or maybe he has a conscience after all and killing minors is going to far no matter their monkey status? This character gives me lovely headaches I swear. 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

Toge’s technique losing it's power but he still tried to make Yuta run away from there with it… 🥹

Loved the parallel between Yuji and Yuta losing it big time like this <333

Footnotes:

Btw, there were lots of translation errors in this, I’ve read four different versions and at times they all had a different interpretation of the same phrase… ^^’’ pretty wild (and confusing)

*Me 2/3 of the times Geto opened his mouth in this chapter

[harukazedoremi]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 0.2

First time his name is mentioned EVER.

"No excuses… Satoru Gojo." "Well, to be honest… I wasn't planning on making any."

✨LOL✨

We are seeing the higher-ups °^° Love the atmosphere in the scene!!

First time his eyes are shown EVER.

Ok I'll stop being such a fangirl <- Lying

He's never going to be old aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah çAAAç

Him wanting to protect kid's youth is a trait that goes back to the very begginning… 🥹

Ooooh so he recieves the katana early, and it's supposed to be a tool to contain Rika's power and gradually master it… Nice!!

Panda says it's been three months since Yuta arrived, and Gojo and the higher-ups had a talk about Rika just now?? … Ok.

Panda no. 1 YutaMaki shipper 😂

Yay for more Toge!!! 🍙

⬆️ This made me realise that, so far, it was never mentioned that he was SOMEONE important in Jujutsu Society, nor that he was super duper strong… He's being a dramatic ass here just for the lolz. ♥

Ijichi!!! 🤩 The "Also a chaffeur" kills me 🤣

*Insert That Smile That Damned Smile MEME here*

No but seriously. 😤

I can't believe the first ever panel of Geto is THIS CREPPY ASS SMILE.

MY BABY!!! *Sobs holding a deranged murderer like it's a soaking wet kitten*

The curse getting mad because of Rika 😂

Always thought Toge was a sweet kid, and his technique is sooo cool 💕💕💕

Ok, can we talk about: 1- The fact that Toji's curse was introduced in vol. 0 (probably way before Toji was even thought of), and then seamlessly inserted in the main story in Gojo's Past Arc as a super cool callback that ties everything together

2- How Gege decided to draw it so skinny and malnourished here and then as clearly well cared for in the prequel arc (as a sign that Geto despises curses and doesn't care about them while Toji, having spent time and efforts training it and probably also considered it a very useful asset, treated it better?)

This sort of "bond", or better, camaraderie that seems to exist between special grades is interesting (remember Yuki telling Geto that since they were all special grades, including Satoru, she hoped to get along well with them?). Imagine having all four special grades in one room. What would they talk about? "Yeah it's so cool that we can level a city with no effort whatsoever ahah! Do you guys want some cake?" LOL

"He's been thinking of how to help you since you got here." *Sob Also, it must've been awful cursing people close to him inadvertently. And to make sure this didn't happen again he started expressing himself in an extremely limitied way... I would have gone insane after two days!! (My love for this character just grew stronger 💖)

Gege REALLY wanted Suguru to look like a grade 1 creep in here uh?

[harukazedoremi]

Shirahama sensei depicts him like this and in the exact next panel...

...he's Olly the snowman. ⛄️⛄️⛄️

Find a character that works perfectly either way ✨✨

[harukazedoremi]

[harukazedoremi]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 0.1

Love that the beginning is very similar to Yuji's, a teen being locked in a room full of talismans and people talking of secret executions... Uuuuh.

Love love LOVE to see the second-years (here first-years) class together, I love them individually and I love being able to see them in action as a group!

I have to ask... WHAT is he wearing??? 😭

Why the long ass jacket, why??

Tbh Gojo's pep talk here seems very... Human... And I just don't see current timeline Gojo saying those things like that... Also the thing he tells Yuta about love at the end of the chapter... He seems softer in a way? 🤔

What an amazing meet cute 🥰

Him being a really lousy professor is one of the things I like the most about him btw. <3

Seeing your friend and technical future wife killed like that and moments later having her curse version grabbing your feet saying those things... Yeah I get why Yuta looks hella stressed. 😬💦

Maki being super blunt... And Yuta saying that it's fine because she's right... 🤧

Satoru is also accompanying students to take care of curses AND lifting a curtain??? This is not the Gojo we are used to!!!!

Curses hiding because of Rika's presence 🤣

"I want to believe that it's okay to keep living." Very Atsushi Nakajima of him. So we have another kid that doesn't want to be lonely... I see a clear pattern here. 🔍

Really realy liked this moment, having Maki shaking him with her strenght and strong will and him opening up and listening, managing to get a bit closer to being better. Aaaaah 💞💞💞

"I personally believe... That love is the most twisted curse of all."

💔💔💔💔💔

Footnotes:

Apart from seeing Geto, I also want to finally understand if my initial impression of Yuta I got from seeing bits and pieces around on the internet is true or not (spoiler: for now I have the impression he is too OP for the story's own good plus technically being a shonen protagonist that got sidelined in favour of another guy but still retained all the usual qualities/favoritisms a protagonist has. So, not a very good idea :/ I'm SO ready to change my mind about him!!!)

Also very curious to know when he actually gets his katana!

Also also... <v< You Know That Gege said that the thing Gojo says to Suguru that is "censored" has been said somewhere else in volume 0? And that in english it's a three word sentence? I want to try and make a list of possible candidates. (Even though I really have the strong impression he is just trolling us hard here...)

Obsessed by him and his bandages.

[harukazedoremi]

Satoru and Suguru’s Double Moment (a.k.a. their different reactions to what happened to them in the Hidden Inventory/Premature arc)

Let’s start with Satoru.

He thought he had everything under control (after all, he’s been treated since birth as a prodigy and already believes himself to be one of the strongest around), especially because he stretched his limit (and exhausted himself) for two days by keeping his technique active non-stop, to then get ambushed in the exact moment he finally lowered his guard. Even after this, he was still confident he could manage Toji and whatever he could throw at him.

But his opponent had read him very well, understanding precisely what his weakness was and used a super amazing and useful weapon that neutralised Infinity, allowing him to kill Satoru (almost).

Only the latter's resilience in focusing deeply on finally mastering RCT managed to pull him back from death’s door. When Suguru started to take the blame for what happened, he said “No, *I* messed up.”, taking full responsibility for the tragic outcome the mission had.

His automatic response, which was very pragmatical imo, was becoming stronger, because this way he could do it all by himself: attacking, protecting, and, most importantly, no one could ever take him again by surprise.

He got ultra defensive, with him deciding to keep Infinity on almost all the time, a thing that would be deleterious for anyone, so much so that he learned to keep his reversed cursed technique on as well, healing the damage this practice could do to his brain. A response to that event often overlooked but in my opinion very extreme.

We also know that he sleeps 3-4 hours a day presently, so here’s the thing: if he didn’t have a very good control of his cursed energy and hadn’t learned RCT he would have not been able to keep this up at all. He has been wearing himself out constantly since he was 17, patching himself up just to get consumed all over again in an endless cycle, and covering this up with his upbeat a silly attitude (which I think is not really him playing dumb, he really is like that).

Now let’s talk about Suguru.

He saw Riko, an innocent that was placed under his protection, get killed in front of him, in the exact moment she had decided that she wanted to keep living with the people she loved no less.

He couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening, then got defeated pretty easily and spared because his opponent didn’t want to take a chance with his peculiar technique that made him (maybe) a “safety hazard” (the idea that he was given a different treatment just because he’s deemed “unsafe” makes my head spin gotta be honest), and, according to Gege, he “absorbed” the notion of non-sorcerer=monkey from what Toji said after defeating him. So maybe he also linked his condition (his cursed technique) that put him in a position he doesn’t like (his main cause of stress is absorbing curses) being given to him by his parents (Toji says to him “Be sure to thank your parents [for giving you your blessings].” while having just stated that he’s too afraid of killing him because he might be dangerous… Not really what I imagine a blessing doing).

But the key thing in all of this mess is one though: the fact that he witnessed a 13-years-old getting shot in the head by a (technically) non-sorcerer, and then also seeing an entire crowd of normal people clapping and rejoicing about it…

That alone was what put him in an uncomfortable position where he constantly questioned his role as a protector of the weak, since said weak proved to be unworthy of compassion and help.

Then came Yuki, casually telling him that sorcerers don’t produce curses and instead of shutting off his suggestion to kill them all to avoid spreading more curses, she said "Yeah, that could work."

Then seeing a bright-eyed and kind kid getting killed, and ultimately witnessing another group of non-sorcerers mistreating two innocent girls finally made him take a stance. Since the twins could see curses, it made them part of the sorcerers faction in his mind, and solidified an “us and them” idea of society that consumed him 'till his last moments (and was the reason he got killed by his friend).

With him it was like a jenga tower of awful things adding on top of each other plus not having an outlet to lay his doubts out properly because he was too ashamed of his growing hatred towards non-sorcerers and possibly feeling an insuperable gap between him and Gojo. (Maybe he knew that he would not agree with him and would give him hell after he preached the whole “sorcerers are supposed to look out for the weak and stop the strong” thing to him.)

They had in common one thing: they didn’t talk with each other.

We don’t know if Satoru did with anyone else, but we know that the two times Geto did try to open up were with Haibara, a guy younger than him, who clearly looked up specifically to him and someone Suguru probably saw as harmless enough to not fear his judgment (and he still asked him a very safe question) and Yuki, who probably was not the best person to talk about what was really troubling him. (Or maybe she was because she was 1) a stranger and 2) super chill with his out-of-pocket statement about killing all non-sorcerers, thus giving him some neutral space to reflect on these things.)

Satoru saw his personal failings as a sorcerer, as one of the strongest, and his choice to pursue raw strength had the collateral effect of creating even more distance between him and others. Being all alone at the metaphorical top was probably not his intention, but he also seems to not have considered the consequences of getting so far away from his friends, especially Geto, in terms of level-of-strength and abilities and “socially” (as I already mentioned, he showed his classmates his impressive progress a full year later with them being completely surprised by it, meaning he was not keeping them informed on what he was doing and as confirmed by Suguru, was going on missions by himself).

Suguru instead saw the ugliness and unfairness in the world, because he had objectively very little to blame himself for, since he honestly could have not managed to beat Toji, given the fact that not even Satoru succeeded (the first time) and this is even reiterated to him by Yuki when they meet. So, since his only way of getting better and stronger was gaining more curses to use and thus could not go through a straightforward training regime like Satoru did (and could have not managed to keep up with him anyway), while exorcising and ingesting them all by himself because his friend was busy elsewhere (again, their horrible taste being a source of anguish for him), all he could do was focus on merging all non-sorcerers to a group of people that did not deserve to be saved instead of rationalising what happened as an isolated exception.

To summarise, probably because of their different personalities and sensibilities, Satoru focused inward, on himself and his shortcomings, working to create what he thought he already was, the strongest sorcerer alive, while Suguru focused outwardly, on how what he experienced in the real world didn’t match with his strongly held beliefs and ideals, and failed to reconcile the two opposing sides of him, the old one and the one born from trauma, ultimately choosing the latter and succumbing under the weight of those events.

Let’s note that, in addiction to their contrasting characters, Satoru, probably still affected by his near-death experience he just had and because he was in a sort of afterglow, didn’t get a lasting impression on the clapping crowd, even though he was the one who suggested to kill them all, while Suguru shut down that idea, believing that killing them was useless, stressing the notion that a sorcerer has to have a valid reason to kill someone, but then that scenario kept haunting him, and it propelled him towards who he became later, finding out that killing normal people was not so useless after all.

[harukazedoremi]

[harukazedoremi]

Hidden Inventory/Premature Death // 懐玉 ⋅ 玉折 (Kaigyoku/Gyokusetsu)'s Origins, Meaning and Adaptations in Different Languages

What started as a fun side post on the ways different countries adapted the titles of volumes 8 and 9 became a gargantuan research that took way more time and effort than I imagined.

I kinda wanted to get this off my chest and lay it somewhere out of my enclosure. My not-so-veiled disdain for the choice they made in the english version was already mentioned here, so now it's time to explain why I don't vibe with it.

Let's start from the original manga titles:

Volume 8 is titled 壊玉, while Volume 9 is titled 玉折.

As you may have noticed, these titles have a kanji in common, 玉 to be precise. This kanji in these two cases means jade.

✧ 懐玉 (kaigyoku) on it's own indicates a gifted individual. It most likely originates from 被褐懐玉 (hikatsu kaigyoku), a quote contained in Laozi’s Tao Te Ching. The literal translation of this expression is "Wearing Rags, Bearing/Harbouring Jades", and indicates an inconspicuous individual with a great but hidden talent or potential.

I've seen 懐玉有罪 (kaigyoku yuzai) also listed as a possible source for 懐玉. The literal translation is "Owning Jade Is A Crime/Makes You Guilty" and it’s a saying that appears in a passage contained in The Commentary of Zuo. It probably originally meant that common people could not own something as precious as a jade stone because it was implicit that the only way they could have gotten in possession of such valuable object was through thievery, thus unquestionably making them guilty of a crime. It later became a synonym for "Reaching beyond your status/limits invites misfortune". One source listed it's meaning as "Having something precious or a great talent will attract people's envy, thus getting troubles". The latter is a less "popular" interpretation than the other, but I thought it was an interesting take in this context.

(I tend to believe the former is the idiom from which the title for Vol. 8 originates.)

✧ 玉折 (gyokusetsu) comes from the yojijukugo (four-character idioms) 蘭摧玉折 (ransai gyokusetsu).

The literal translation is something akin to "Plucked Orchid, Shattered Jade", and is an idiom that indicates the premature death of a bright and promising person. It can also mean the death of someone that died without giving up their moral integrity, or just simply the death of a good person. The original quote is contained in A New Account of the Tales of the World, in which the person speaking declares: "I would prefer to be a plucked orchid or a shattered jade, that’s better than becoming a weed and flourishing like one", meaning "It's more desirable to die with dignity than living without a purpose and good qualities".

Gege only used the "jade parts" of these two (possibly three) idioms, so we have "Harbouring Jade" and "Shattered Jade", jade indicating something precious, in these two cases a the talent a person has.

Let's talk some international stuff now, shall we?

🇫🇷 ✦ In the French version they (sort of) kept the original meaning of each chapter, while not preserving the fact that they have a term (kanji) in common.

Trésor Caché & Mort Prématurée = Hidden Treasure & Premature Death

I said sort of because trésor doesn't have among it's meanings talent. Talent or don it's what we're looking for, so we're close, but not quite.

The anime episodes are named in the same way and so is the movie containing said arc's episodes that was released in 2025.

🇮🇹 ✦ In the Italian one they kept the original "symmetry" but gyokusetsu lost it's original meaning of a budding talent dying prematurely.

Dote nascosta & Dote sprecata = Hidden talent & Wasted/Squandered talent

Note: if you try to just g***** translate this, it will tell you that the translation for "dote" is "gift". In fact saying "Lui è una persona dotata." can be translated both with "He's a gifted person." or "He's a talented person." Dote and talento are synonyms in italian just as much gift and talent are in english. In this specific case though gift is open to possible misinterpretations in my opinion, so to avoid any confusion, I prefer to use the term talent.

The first four anime episodes of this arc share the chapter's title they originate from, while the last one got changed to "Talento Sprecato".

The movie release used the english titles.

🇩🇪 ✦ In the Dutch version they did an interesting half-and-half 50/50 thing between the french and the italian, meaning they didn't kept the shared terms (kanji) but they also didn't stick with the original meaning of premature death.

Wahre Schätze & Vergeudung = True Treasures & Waste/Squander

The five anime episodes all have different titles, no mention of treasures or talents in the first four, and the last one is just listed as "Premature Death", in english.

Interstingly for the movie release they didn't applied use any these titles nor kept the english ones, but actually "rebranded" them like this:

Der versteckte Schatz / Der verdorbene Schatz = The Hidden Treasure / The Corrupted/Spoiled Treasure

🇪🇸 ✦ The Spanish version is an exact translation of the english one.

Inventario Oculto & Muerte Prematura = Hidden Inventory & Premature Death

They changed them in the anime adaptation, in which the first four episodes are renamed as "El tesoro escondido" (The hidden treasure) and the fifth as " El tesoro perdido" (The lost treasure).

The english titles were used for the movie release.

🇵🇹 ✦ The Portuguese version is also an exact translation of the english one:

Inventário Oculto & Morte Prematura = Hidden Inventory & Premature Death

These match with the corresponding episodes.

The movie release used the english titles.

I'll admit that I am a fan of the italian one, so for the english version I would have picked something similar to that, I just love the fact that the matching idioms are adapted, it's really satisfying to me. Overall, I think I would go with hidden talent/wasted talent, or hidden talent/premature death. The inventory thing just ain't it chief.

I hope this was interesting to you as it was to me!!

There are of course lots of other adaptations, but I'm not confident with other languages. If you'd like to share how they adapted it in your country, please do!! I'd love to have a wider set of examples!

If you read all of this and spot something that it's not quite right, please let me know! I'm only human and even with all the modern resources, mistakes can still happen. :)

Also, since we live in dark times, I feel the need to say that this whole thing was assembled by me using my own knowledge of the mentioned languages and by scouring external sources (a.k.a. dictionaries specifically for yojijukugo) for the original idioms that I personally searched and checked. No 🅰️ℹ️ help was needed nor used to gain the translations and meanings of the phrases (so if there are mistakes, they all belong to me too). I honestly had too much fun doing this research, I learned a lot of cool things!

And lastly, translating and adapting is not a perfect science, they are very personal things, and sometimes marketability also determines which route is chosen, so no shade to any of the translators (no, not even the english ones... 😒).

[harukazedoremi]

Bonus: Toji’s Age (this is just for fun since we have very little to work with)

Let’s start speculating a little more wildly and let’s try to guess Toji’s date of birth.

For reference, here are the known dates of birth of the character mentioned here:

Toji: December 31 ???? Megumi: December 22 2002 Satoru: December 7 1989

I’ve seen that most people seem to think he’s in his 30’s, a few say early 40’s. He always gave me the impression of being a 30-something in HI/PD. He couldn’t imo have been younger than 20 nor older than 29 in the brief flashback featured in chapter 71 when he meets kid Gojo.

When does this meeting take place? Gojo looks older than six-years-old Megumi in chapter 78 to me, but he’s still a kid, so I’d say he’s between 7 and 10 years old. Being born in 1989, this means it’s a moment between 1996 to 1999. So, let’s take the earliest year we just obtained and pair it with the youngest Toji could have been, a.k.a. 20 years old.

1996 -> 20 years old = born in 1976

Now let’s take the second year we’ve got and let’s pair that with the youngest Toji could have been:

1999 -> 20 years old = born in 1979

Now let’s do the pairings but with the oldest he could have been, 29 years old.

1996 -> 29 years old = born in 1967

1999 -> 29 years old = born in 1970

We have a very wide but hopefully sturdy enough base to determine Toji’s age.

Going by the earliest to the latest, we have:

If he was born in 1967: 29 + 1996 (the oldest he could have possibly been according to these calculations)

He would have a 22-year age gap with Gojo (meaning he could have totally been his father😶‍🌫️), he would have been almost 35 in 2002 when his son was born and he would have been 38 going on 39 in 2006 when he died.

If he was born in 1970: 29 + 1999

He would have a 19-year age gap with Gojo, he would have been almost 32 in 2002 when his son was born and he would have been 35 going on 36 in 2006 when he died.

If he was born in 1976: 20 + 1996

He would have a 13-year age gap with Gojo (the same the latter has with Megumi!), he would have been almost 26 in 2002 when his son was born and he would have been 29 going on 30 in 2006 when he died.

If he was born in 1979: 20 + 1999 (the youngest he could have been according to these calculations)

He would have a 10-year age gap with Gojo, he would have been almost 23 in 2002 when his son was born and he would have been 26 going on 27 in 2006 when he died.

🎉🎉🎉 Let's hear it for old man Toji!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I’ll leave here my headcanon too since we’re at it:

I always tought of Toji as 34 years old in HI/PD (since he is born in December, he would have been 34 going on 35 when he died): this means he would have been born in 1971, making him almost 31 in December 2002 when Megumi was born. Gojo looks 8 years old to me in the flashback, meaning it could have been late 1997 or first half of 1998. Toji would have been almost 26 to 26 going on 27 back then, and have an 18-year age gap with Satoru.

[harukazedoremi]

The Timeline in Years

Year M&G's ages*☆

2002 0 13 Megumi is born (December 22) 2003 1 14 2004 2 15 2005 3 16 Gojo, Geto and Shoko enroll at Jujutsu Tech (April) 2006 4 17 Beginning of SaShiSu's the second year (April), Nanami and Haibara enroll at Jujutsu Tech (April), Escort mission starts - trip to Okinawa - Toji's death (April 11-13/May 11-13/June 9-11) 2007 5 18 Beginning of SaShiSu's third year (April), Geto meets Yuki, Haibara's death, Geto's rampage (September), Geto's last meeting with Shoko and Gojo (September-October) 2008 6 19 *According to the wrong line in chapter 257, Gojo and Shoko graduate from Jujutsu High (March), Beginning of SaShi's fourth year (April) 2009 7 20 Gojo and Shoko graduate from Jujutsu Tech (March) <- According to the correction made to chapter 257 , Megumi starts elementary school (April), *According to Megumi's recollection in chapter 59, Toji marries Tsumiki's mother and they disappear shortly after, Meeting between Megumi and Gojo (May-September) 2010 8 21 *According to an old interview often quoted that I could not find, Gojo and Shoko graduate from Jujutsu Tech (March) 2011 9 22 2012 10 23 2013 11 24 2014 12 25 2015 13 26 2016 14 27 Megumi begins his second year at East Urami Junior High (April) 2017 15 28 Tsumiki gets cursed (April-July) 2018 16 29 Megumi enrolls at Jujutsu Tech (April), Beginning of the main story in June

*☆ Please note that since both of them are born at the end of the year, they spend the majority of it being a year younger (for most of 2018 Gojo has been 28 and Megumi 15) so since lots of these events happen in spring/summer/fall, you need to subtract a year to have their exact age at that time.

[harukazedoremi]

Addendum: The Fushiguro Surname

I was absolutely convinced that Fushiguro was Megumimama's surname, but, as someone made me notice, it would make way more sense that it actually belonged to Tsumiki's mother, since in chapter 66 Shiu, who is said to have known Toji for over ten years in the fanbook,

Q: For how long has he known Toji? A: For a long time. Over 10 years?

calls him Zenin and gets corrected by his partner in crime like so:

So, the change in surname is a very recent thing, more recent than Megumi's birth, because Gege said, again in the fanbook, that Shiu knew Megumi because he had visited Toji at his place when he had to take care of his infant son. If Toji had married by then and changed his last name, I guess he would have told him so at the time.

Q: He seems to know who Megumi is, but does Megumi remember him? A: He doesn’t remember. He only met him when he was very little. It was after Megumi’s mother died, when Toji had to take care of baby Megumi and Shiu visited them.

It still doesn't sound right, that he put distance from his clan to marry with the love of his life and didn't took her surname but then he did so with someone else. Still, apparently Gege never called Megumi's mother Mamaguro, but Megumimama, another indication that Fushiguro is not her last name. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[harukazedoremi]

Comparison Between Chapter 59 and 79

To date this meeting, we'll use the confirmation that Megumi is attending the first year of elementary school in chapter 79,

and start from that.

Children in Japan start to attend elementary school when they are six years old. Since Megumi is born on December 22, and since school years start in April, he would have turned six in December 2008, and started first grade in April 2009 till the end of March 2010. We can narrow down the timing for this meeting quite a bit because he is wearing summer clothes, so a large estimate would be end of May 2009 and September 2009.

As we're about to see, things match pretty well (except for Gojo's glasses shape which was defenitely oval in ch. 59 and in ch. 79 it's depicted both as round and oval depending on the panel :p).

Ch. 59 ⬆️⬇️ Ch. 79

Ch. 59 ⬆️⬇️ Ch. 79

Ch. 59 ⬆️⬇️ Ch. 79

The only thing that doesn’t add up and kinda breaks everything is this panel right here from chapter 59:

when confronted with what we were shown in the prequel arc and specifically what he says in chapter 79:

As we've seen, Toji died three years before Megumi started elementary school, and also the timing in which the parents vanished gets changed a bit with the mom seemingly sticking with the kids a bit longer that Toji did.

I can't find a watsonian reason for why Megumi would have claimed his father was still around three years after he died. I saw someone, probably on reddit, chalking it up to Megumi being an unrelaible narrator, either due to his age at the time or in general, but that seems like a big stretch. To say that he would misremember being together with Tsumiki for 3 years vs less than a year… That's a huge difference that even a child would not confuse, especially a sharp and grounded kid like Megumi.

So, between December 2002 and June 2006, these things must have happened, most likely in this order: Megumi's mother died, Toji sold Megumi to the Zenin's, he met and married with Tsumiki's mother (or viceversa) and finally left this new family to do his questionable businesses that lead him to die by Gojo's hand. After that, and before Megumi and Satoru's meeting, Tsumiki's mother took off as well leaving the kids with some money.

The last possible time Megumi could have seen his dad is right before Hidden Inventory starts, so spring of 2006, BUT. Toji is shown to us not remembering who Megumi is, so I'd say he didn't exactly saw him the day before, right? Probably he hasn't seen him in months, most likely a year, so when Megumi was really young (which makes me wonder if he really remembres seeing him at all or he's been told by someone else, maybe his step-mother, that his dad was around and thus he has met him but he doesn't remember because he would have been between one and three years old. 🤔) Still, Megumi claims here he doesn't remember his father's appearence, which I guess is an important detail to keep in mind for future reference.

So, no way of making this "my dad did something when I was 6 years old" thing work. Unless Tsumiki's mother actually got married with someone else but told the kids it was with Megumi's father and then took off with this new guy? But even this doesn't work because Toji and the kids got her surname, so nope, she had to be married with Toji before 2009, so she could not claim she was marrying him again in 2009 right? Help. 😵‍💫 That's it, I'm throwing in the towel on this topic. It's a retcon. Bye.

But then, we have another small incongruence going on here.

Gojo is wearing the school uniform in both chapter 79 and Megumi's recollection from chapter 59.

The "problem" is that Gojo should have already graduated in March 2009, so he should no longer be wearing his school uniform. It only fits if he was still attending his fifth year, but Shoko's line in chapter 257 kinda rules out that option, and also would retcon the alleged comment made in that old interview. I guess that maybe, since he decided to stick around and become a teacher and thus be affiliated with the school, he decided to keep wearing the uniform for a little longer, but who knows at this point.

So, all of this brings us to the hopefully definitive timeline for this part of the manga.

[harukazedoremi]

I'm in the middle of the Qifrey-Olly flashback part and...

😭😭 At least they have each other 😭😭