Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 267 Discussion

@Pakumen- It actually affected Mahito's soul though, there's only a few characters that can actually do it, and Nobara's technique is one of those, it didn't do more damage because he neutralized her quickly, but Mahito states Nobara is also his natural enemy. So, considering Sukuna's frail state in Megumi's body of course it would hurt him a lot.

Even if I'm kinda iffy on the fact there's only a few chapters left and almost no room for developing her character, I think, in her case, it mostly works because she always was a complete person. Since the beginning, we knew the reason why she killed curses, plus, the narrative doesn't really questions her ideals at all, we mostly see how Megumi and Itadori change her, but her ideals in of itself stay the same. For me, she's more of a representation of what happens when Jujutsu Sorcerers are dehumanized, I feel like, symbolically, she's sort of an extension of Haibara, but now, for our main characters. So, when she returns, is actually a result of Yuji finally finding value in life and breaking the vicious cycle Jujutsu society imposes, which is thematically interesting even if I wished Gege looked at her more as an actual character than a plot device/symbol to further emphasize the story's themes. However, all in all, I think it works. Now that the manga is almost over, it's clear to me this was always his intention, so at the end of the day it comes more to what I wish he would have done Vs. what he intended to do in the first place. So, in my opinion, it not only works thematically but also is in line with what he presented until now, which makes me kind of love this decision.

@buracoo

The whole "hitting the soul" is supposedly Yuji's power. In fact, since he put those demon arms (that we will never know how he got them probably) he has been able to "resonance" with Sukuna's soul, that was established when Higuruma and him dropped. Not only Mahito got killed by less than 5 black flashes (back when they meant something) but Itadori has fired at least 12 on Sukuna's soul. If a single pin from Nobara did all this damage then why wait until every character is dead to hit the finger?

Gege doesn't even know how to to shock value properly.

And this is mostly a personal complaint but I always felt Nobara's reason to become a sorcerer was extremely stupid. She wants to get out of town so she decided to fight curses that could kill her just to find a woman. Wow. And we got no time to develop her, so her death was fine at the time.

Finally I dont wanna break your argument about the "importance" of Nobara and all that stuff but Gege said he didn't bring her back before because he didn't know what to do with the character (this was back during the Culling Games). Her appearing at the very end where there is no chance to die and in a different location just means he did it to please his fans.

@Pakumen- Hitting the soul is not something exclusive to Itadori though, he's one of the few sorcerers who can perceive the soul, which isn't something that works solely on Sukuna, it also did a lot of damage to Mahito at the time, even Mechamaru found a way to damage Mahito using Simple Domain, that's just how Nobara's technique was established to work since Shibuya. Plus, I think you're overestimating Nobara's power, the pin was more something that threw Sukuna off and made him not able to use Domain Expansion than an actual finishing blow, Itadori then used the soul dismantle + Black flash.

I mean, about Nobara's reasoning being stupid, I don't think it matters really, she's closer to me to a Todo-type character than one like Ita or Fushiguro, which I like actually, but everyone's entitled to their opinion.

About Itadori's gauntlet, it was established during the reveal of his blood manipulation technique that it is a cursed tool tbat helps him use it, since he didn't really learnt it properly from Choso.

And, finally, about Gege not finding a place for Nobara, I think this chapter and the thematical relevance I talked about earlier are most definitely why he brought her back, he finally found a place for her in the story.

I get really sad when people aren't really into the aspects of a story I'm really passionate about 😭😭😭, so I hope you eventually come around to it.

@buracoo

It's not exclusive to Itadori but it was the sole reason he was useful during this fight and back in Shibuya. Nobara being able to damage Sukuna is absolutely ridiculous, no matter how damaged or weakened he is. Gege did some mental gimnastics so the guy could brush off 2 Jacob Ladders (a technique that literally was created to be used on Sukuna) and a Hollow Purple. He brushed off Maki literally piercing his heart too, and now he is critically damaged.

All that thematical references are a product of your imagination. Gege himself said during the past 2 years how he could not find a place for the character, or how Itadori as a character was an after thought while writing the story, and that's why he is so lackluster or lacking "Main character presence". He himself said that. Gege is just trying to make peoole happy without giving explanations as of how. Like many shonen writers do.

Again, I stopped taking this seriously a while ago, but it just baffles me how this was regarded as a shonen with logic and "dark" when we know have the same clichés that the most generic stories love to use.

everyone bitching and moaning at the fact nobara is back are the same losers that wouldn’t bat an eye if gojo returned. it was inevitable, the most certain comeback within the series by far hell todo practically solidified her status. each appearance has meant something during shinjuku showdown and everyone has had some sort of trump card this was just the best moment for her to shine.
an entrance thats befitting to her absolute masterclass gege has done everything possible on setting up her return and now readers wanna act dumb.

imo this just proves why GEGE is the GOAT. Oda could never write half as good as this, all he's good at is showing donuts.

I don’t even know why people love Nobara

I guess being an “otaku” really is a mental/social illness as viewed by Japanese

It makes people worship bad/useless characters (and any character in general) and view them as wifes/husbands which is so sad

People stopped looking for quality of story

One of the weakest characters did this to Sukuna while Gojo and the rest got raped by him

Now fans will come and say “but he is already weakened by all these fights” lol the bs excuse

And after all the things Yuji said to Sukuna that he can kill him … if they already planned then why did we get all these fights to begin with? This is literally the definition of below average shonen.

Now Gojo will return in Yuuta’s body

@UaEfAlCoN83 I mean nobara showed promise, promise to not fall into the useless female main character category but Gege fumbled and put her in that category with how he left her out of the series, I always thought she would have a domain expansion atp but dreams of that is nonexistent anymore

@Youbamii It is funny that people love Nobara while hate sakura and call her useless when she literally saved 99% of the population while Nobara holds a hammer thinking it is a fancy weapon

@UaEfAlCoN83 i agree with you sakura did more than nobara did for her series, my cousin hates sakura mainly for the sake of his ideal ship didnt sail which was naruto and sakura not being a thing lol can you imagine that but people will still defend nobara and call her queen tho i dunno what type of queen they seeing eh a queen that got side-lined for 4 years lol

I've seen some people questioning why Gege brought Nobara back after "so long," but what people need to remember is that it's only been a couple months in-universe. Sure, it's been a few years and nearly 150 chapters since we the readers last saw Nobara, but Shibuya took place on Halloween, and this is Christmas Eve. So she's technically only been gone for 2 months.

But wow, it really happened. I had made peace long ago that Nobara was dead, but holy shit, the copers actually won. They were annoying as fuck, literally chapter after chapter "Nobara is coming back, she's making her return, this is the chapter," and the delusion finally paid off lol. Crazy that she "died" in chapter 125, fucked off for almost 150 chapters, and shows up with 5 chapters left to deliver a significant blow to help in finishing off Sukuna.

Personally, I'm iffy on this and would have liked it if Gege stood on business in keeping her dead like it was implied a few times, but it is what it is. Still a hype chapter all things considered.

I would like to formally apologize to Nobara Kugisaki and her faithful believers for my unfortunate words, declaring it was clear she was dead and that there was no way she would come back. Gege Akutami lied to me and I believed him, and for that I am truly sorry.
I'm so glad you're back and rocking a cool eyepatch girl. (Now I only wish she was in the Culling Game 'cause she would've been great there but oh well. Can we talk about how good she looks in Gege's current artstyle tho?)
Now Gojo's coming back next right? Right?

So Gege really took inspo from the fan theory that Nobara will make the final hit....
So many amazing and strong characters dying just for her out of all people coming back and being able to damage Sukuna.

I am so glad I stopped taking this manga seriously over a year ago. Otherwise I would be baffled that "Somehow, Nobara returned".
I also expect a good explanation because if there isnt one then this is even worse than Bakugo reviving just because the fanbase wouldn't stop bitching.

Now that's one thing, the other is how funny it is that Resonance is somehow able to do major damage to Sukuna, considering all that it did to Mahito was some cough and blood back in Shibuya.

Anyways, 4 more to go. I am glad this is almost over because at this point a 6/10 is a bit generous in my book.