Jujutsu Kaisen fans won’t forgive Gege Akutami for Nobara’s fate

Jujutsu Kaisen fans are unhappy with how Gege Akutami handled Nobara’s death and kept her fate unconfirmed.

Jujutsu Kaisen is notorious for being brutal to its characters. Unlike many shonen anime, the series doesn’t shy away from killing the major characters. Among the many Jujutsu Kaisen deaths, one fans think was handled among the worst was Nobara’s death.

Nobara Kugisaki, despite being one of the main characters, was seemingly killed during the Shibuya Incident Arc. In Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, she suffered a gruesome fate after fighting Mahito. Her apparent death has a huge impact on her classmates, particularly Yuji.

However, unlike other dead characters in Jujutsu Kaisen, Nobara was never confirmed to have passed on. While she appeared dead during the Shibuya Incident Arc, she wasn’t explicitly stated to be so. This caused major confusion in the fandom and left her fate in question.

After her fight against Mahito, the first time her death was addressed was between Yuji and Megumi. That conversation left more questions than answers. In Chapter 144, Yuji asked Megumi what happened to Nobara. Though Megumi didn’t answer, Yuji seemed to understand.

While Yuji understood, readers certainly didn’t. In fact, this moment made fans wonder if Nobara was truly dead. If she’d really died, keeping her fate unconfirmed like this would be pointless. However, Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t really bring back characters from the dead.

While the rumination on Nobara’s fate in Jujutsu Kaisen was going on, the story steadily progressed. Now as Sukuna is back to his true body and fighting Yuji after killing Gojo and possessing Megumi’s body, fans think confirming Nobara’s fate now would not add anything to the story.

In the latter part of the Shinjuku Showdown Arc, the enemy is too powerful for any of the sorcerers to handle. The only hope left is Yuji who, as the protagonist, has awakened many of his powers, including his cursed technique. 

At this point in the story, if Nobara is confirmed to be dead, it wouldn’t affect the plot in any way. It has been too long since her supposed death and the grief and shock values are long gone. Revealing her now to be dead would also make keeping her fate unconfirmed for so long absolutely pointless.

If Nobara comes back now, it also wouldn’t add much to the plot. Her revival would mean very little since she isn’t strong enough to fight or even assist in defeating Sukuna. This would also raise the question of where she’s been for so long and why she hasn’t joined her friends when they’ve been going through so much.

So, Gege Akutami is in a bind now. He’s waited too long to reveal Nobara’s fate in Jujutsu Kaisen, losing the perfect window for such a reveal. Now whatever he does about Nobara, fans are sure they’d end up either disappointed or unaffected.

“I mean… no one’s saying her death was written well. They’re just saying that at this point either she’s dead dead or she’ll come back and since the story’s already pretty much over there’s no point,” a user on Reddit wrote their view on the matter.

“I’m fairly certain that the reason why so many people are coping about a comeback is because of how sh*t her death was handled,” said another fan.

Jujutsu Kaisen still has time to reveal Nobara’s fate, whether it makes a difference or not. Still, it may be a long while. You can spend that time by checking out our explanations on Yuji Itadori’s family, Yuta’s Domain Expansion, and why Ui Ui can’t use soul-swapping on Sukuna.