hugbin

bean ☽ she/her 30s • my art (ic&header by @bearhaviour ♥️)

[stsgbigbang2025]

Here's your bedtime story schedule 📖

Take a look at the wild and wonderful adventures that await you inside the Tale as Old as Time GoGe Big Bang collection, featuring over 30 collaborative works by 70 artists and writers!

Is there a particular title that catches your eye? 👀 Bookmark the collection on AO3 to make sure you don't miss a single story over the course of the posting period!

👉 To the AO3 collection

[stsgbigbang2025]

Posting begins on July 18!

Things have been quiet around here, but true love's kiss has awoken the princess at last 👸

Posting for Tale as Old as Time starts on July 18! Get ready for a fairytale feast of GoGe works created by our amazing writers and artists 📚 Posting schedule to follow over the coming week, ahead of the first fanwork next Saturday! We hope you're as excited as we are!

[utatane-piko-official]

Sits on your dash

[trycijacks]

husband come home the kids miss you

[zrqinn]

Fate

[fushiglow]

Music as narrative device in Jujutsu Kaisen

What the quiet transformation of Megumi's leitmotif in "Strong and Intelligent Allies" reveals about his relationship with Gojo

A leitmotif is a recurring melodic motif associated with a particular person, place, or idea. In music for film and TV, composers use leitmotifs as an audio cue to evoke the thematic subject whenever e.g. a character appears on screen or is referenced in the narrative.

We first hear Megumi's in episode 4 when he faces down Sukuna. Our introduction to his theme is "An Unfair Reality Granted to All Equally", played as he reflects on his approach to saving people. It's then showcased in full in "Jujutsu Sorcerer, Fushiguro Megumi" as he prepares to summon Mahoraga.

Meanwhile, "Strong and Intelligent Allies" plays over a key scene in episode 5 where Gojo tells Ijichi about his dream for the future, then again much later in episode 23 when Megumi narrates the events that led him to become a jujutsu sorcerer, including how he met Gojo. Importantly, in the latter half of the piece, the composers interpolate the electric guitar riff from "Jujutsu Sorcerer, Fushiguro Megumi" in a syncopated ostinato played on strings beneath the main melody, as demonstrated in the video at the start of this post.

It's very subtle, which is almost certainly deliberate and all the more interesting for it. I would bet that very few people without musical training have ever even noticed it, and that's precisely why it captured my attention.

The use of Megumi's leitmotif in "Strong and Intelligent Allies" establishes a connection between Megumi and Gojo, and suggests that Megumi is an integral part of Gojo's dream. It's an auditory symbol that identifies Megumi as the first "strong and intelligent ally" Gojo sought out. This is later confirmed at the end of Premature Death when we recount the first meeting between the characters from Gojo's POV, immediately before Megumi wakes him from his dream.

Megumi and Gojo are currently the only characters with prominent leitmotifs throughout the series. Gojo's "Limitless Cursed Technique" theme is littered all over the second season, including in "You Better Get Strong" which plays over his meeting with Megumi, bridging the past with the present day. The composers have given each of these characters a strong musical identity and they've clearly gone to great pains to connect the two of them in the score for Jujutsu Kaisen.

Here's the interesting thing, though. A leitmotif is one of the few ways a composer can influence the narrative explicitly. Usually, they want viewers to hear those cues and make those connections — think Darth Vader's iconic theme — so what does it say that the composers chose to tuck Megumi away in the audio representation of Gojo's dream? What does it suggest about the characters and their relationship to each other?

I think this is very clever, very lovely writing on their behalf. To me, the final section of "Strong and Intelligent Allies" speaks to the distance Gojo maintains between him and Megumi, but also the genuine feeling there if you look closely enough — much like their relationship in the text.

Played staccato, Megumi's leitmotif sounds almost tentative, as though it isn't sure it belongs. However, rather than standing out among the legato piano and strings around it, the other instruments act like a soft cushion. That's why its integral place in the accompaniment goes largely unnoticed.

It feels very much like Megumi's character to me. He won't "be greedy", but instead puts himself in a support role. He hides in the shadows. He speaks of his relationship with Gojo only in terms of the debt he owes (恩人: benefactor, saviour), overlooking his inherent value as a person.

On the other side of things, Megumi's quiet yet critical presence in the music speaks to the hands off way Gojo cares for people — loving them from afar, never letting them into his inner world — such that they never even realise how much they feature in the soundtrack to his life.

I'm often frustrated when people downplay Megumi and Gojo's relationship. Their unique connection is woven throughout this story, from the first chapter all the way through to chapter 270, "End of the Dream". It's even present in the music, and I expect more on that front before the anime ends.

If you know how to interpret it, music can really enrich your understanding of a character or a story through the hidden depths it reveals. Unfortunately, musical literacy is a profound privilege, which is why I'm always sad about how many thoughtful details get lost in translation for most viewers. For this very reason, I've been wanting to share some music analysis for Jujutsu Kaisen for the longest time. There's so much to talk about, but it's hard to judge the audience. If you don't take the time to untangle the terminology required to analyse music, there's a really high barrier to entry.

Sadly, I have a full time job and a much more accessible way to connect with people through writing 😭 Someone pay me to analyse the Jujutsu Kaisen OST! I'll make videos! First up, all instances of Gojo's leitmotif and its narrative significance in season two! Until then, I really hope you enjoyed this 🎶

[fushiglow]

In His Light

What kind of monster was a man who sat back and let someone use his own hands — his own shadows — to murder the people dearest to him? All these long years Megumi had hidden in the darkness, making a home for himself among all his monsters while refusing to look the real monster in the eye. Sooner or later, however, the truth always came to light. He was starting to understand that now. Asking a beast to deny its true nature was a unique kind of cruelty. If Megumi had to confront his monster in the end, he’d at least prefer to confront it on his own terms. ‘Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden.’

Years after the strongest sorcerer carved a scar into Shinjuku, Megumi finally completes his Domain Expansion.

A post-canon character study on grief and growing up, written as a companion piece to In His Shadow for @jjkpostcanonzine — read on AO3 ♥

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[exhuastedpigeon]

The first rule of fandom is have fun. The second rule of fandom is find an enabler and become an enabler. Yes you should write that fic. What if it was even hornier? What if it was angstier? What if you wrote it just for me?

[hunnismokah]

felt like i could do gojo better than my previous spread and by that i mean make it hornier

turns out taking breaks actually helps?? weird new revelation in the studio today

[fushiglow]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

From the Cutting Room Floor | Chapter 7

Carefully, Satoru dipped two long fingers into the box, fishing out the little figure tucked inside. Suguru had already seen Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, and Pochacco cast off, so it would have been a lie to say he wasn’t curious to discover what could possibly have got Satoru this excited. When he finally presented Suguru with his tiny trophy, his hand was actually shaking a little. Bizarre when Suguru didn’t even recognise the little character sitting on his palm. ‘Look,’ Satoru whispered, voice trembling with the thrill of it all. He pointed at where the unfamiliar creature’s towel was slipping down past his little yellow backside, an entirely different colour from the rest of him. ‘Look, Suguru, he’s showing hole. It’s you!’ Mouth falling open in disbelief, Suguru squinted at the straw hat perched atop the little dog’s head in place of a brown beret — and suddenly his tiny yellow tush made a lot more sense.

When Satoru goes for a lucky dip, he leaves nothing to chance.

Imagine if I could write the actual fic this fast? Enjoy 1500 weird and wonderful words dedicated to @14th-lulullaby. Consider it extra special thanks for bringing this stupidly perfect Sugupom(hole) to my attention, Lulu — read on AO3 ♥

[bearhaviour]

🐶

[runabout-river]

Season 4 Teaser.

[levitonin]

Freak

[getdiagnosed]

More OTT!Gojo

I forgot how to draw so i m going down memory lane and it hurts...

[bvinhster]

request #4

[14th-lulullaby]

Heracles gojito

[zrqinn]

Bad behavior