i’ve seen some people say that if gojo didn’t meet geto, he would’ve turned out like naoya. and as open as i am to different interpretations, this is just…plain wrong.
naoya always felt like he had something to prove, despite the overconfidence he typically exhibited. he was born as a prospective successor to the zenin clan (the “true heir,” according to him), but toji was obviously more powerful than he was despite having no CE, and even in the rival clan, gojo was regarded as the newborn who tipped the balance of the world. naoya had this huge inferiority complex and that lended to his misogynistic tendencies, resulting in him trying to exert his dominance to show that he can live up to his aspirations and be on par with toji and gojo. also, gege made it a point to show how power-hungry the zenin clan was—always keep in mind that naoya grew up in a culture that valued superiority over everything.
gojo, on the other hand, simply is. he’s everything naoya is not—undeniably powerful and full of infinite potential. unlike how the zenin clan was portrayed, we don’t know much about the gojo clan and i think that was done with purpose. the zenin clan had to be introduced because we needed exposition for maki, mai, naoya, and toji (and megumi); we needed to understand how and why they turned out the way they did. gojo is the only gojo clan member we know, implying that we as readers have nothing substantial to learn from the introduction of the gojo clan (at least nothing substantial relating to the plot of the story just yet, nor would it add anything substantial to gojo’s characterization—he can stand as his own character without family background exposition).
naoya and gojo have always been different from the start. naoya looks down on people because of his insecurities disguised as arrogance, while gojo understands he’s treated the way he is because he was born the pinnacle of jujutsu. if gojo “looks down” on people, it’s not out of entitlement, but simply because he is that powerful.
(if anything, for him to put aside his sheer power to yearn for human connection, to want to close the gap between him and his allies—it’s all a testament to how painfully human he is.)
i’m not sure why people think gojo meeting geto prevented him from becoming misogynistic (actually, i do know why they think this way), but i think it’s unfair to dismiss the fact that geto was just as much of a little shit as gojo was. are we forgetting how they were both introduced in the hidden inventory arc? they both dunked on utahime! yea, sure they did it in different ways (gojo being straightforward and snotty, and geto going the roundabout backhanded route), but they were both just as bad as the other, both incredibly insufferable.
i wouldn’t say that it came from a place of insecurity (like naoya); it’s more like they both genuinely thought they were better than other people in general, regardless of circumstance. and they weren’t wrong about that—remember, they were two 16 year old teenage boys who were already classified as special grade sorcerers. of course, they’d be insufferable and annoying! they could’ve literally taken on the whole world together!
yes, geto was a monumental figure in gojo’s life—the memories linger and everything he does afterwards is tinged in geto’s absence, but that doesn’t mean his connection to geto is the only thing that characterizes him. he’s his own person now and he can live without him, despite their history. yes, he carries that grief for life, but since when did grief define you as a person?
