Nobara’s fate in Jujutsu Kaisen explained: Is she dead?

Despite being one of the main characters of Jujutsu Kaisen, Nobara’s fate was left ambiguous for a long time, making fans wonder if she was dead.

Nobara Kugisaki was introduced pretty early in Jujutsu Kaisen as a first-year student. She came from a jujutsu family and was a classmate of Yuji and Megumi. She’s also one of the few sorcerers to have experienced a Black Flash.

However, her role in the series is pretty limited, only until the Shibuya Incident Arc. During this arc, Nobara came to Shibuya with other sorcerers and eventually faced Mahito. After being defeated by the curse, her status stayed unconfirmed for a long time.

Nobara’s mysterious circumstance makes her unique in Jujutsu Kaisen, as the manga never shies away from revealing major character deaths. The ambiguity has sparked countless theories about her return until her fate is finally confirmed in Chapter 267.

Is Nobara dead in Jujutsu Kaisen?

Nobara is alive in Jujutsu Kaisen.

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Nobara’s status has remained one of the biggest mysteries in Jujutsu Kaisen. After her fatal encounter with Mahito, she disappeared from the story, even though there was no confirmation of her death. However, after Chapter 265, fans were convinced she didn’t survive her wounds in Shibuya.

This is revealed to be just the perception of Yuji in Chapter 267. In the chapter, we see the sorcerers’ final contingency plan against Sukuna. They’ve hidden the ancient sorcerer’s last finger as the final chip.

When Sukuna was weakened enough after multiple battles, we bring out Nobara to use her Resonance on the last finger. Thanks to this, the villain receives a huge blow, allowing Yuji to attack with his delayed punch and ultimately defeat him with Black Flash.

The chapter also features a heartwarming moment between Yuji and Nobara. After she reveals herself to be alive, she uses the same word Yuji used when he revealed himself not dead during the Kyoto Goodwill Event: “OPP”. It’s an adorable callback to their early days of friendship.

Nobara’s supposed death is a lesson for Yuji

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While Nobara appears for a short while in Jujutsu Kaisen, her supposed death serves as an important lesson for Yuji. Before everything happened, he thought he’d have a good death if he fulfilled his role in life and saved as many people as possible.

However, after what happened to Nobara, he had to change his view. She was as old as him and didn’t live enough to fulfill her ‘role’ (that was what he thought before he found her alive). Yet, that doesn’t diminish the life she led and how precious it was.

Her fate also motivates his pursuit of eradicating the world of curses. His rage and bloodlust for Mahito were also influenced by this. But more than anything, losing her has made him more determined to save Megumi at all costs.

That’s why Yuji offers to spare Sukuna’s life and even become his vessel just to get the ancient sorcerer out of Megumi’s body, despite knowing that Sukuna is a mass murderer and pure evil. 

Though Nobara comes back from the dead, it’s divided the fandom in two. While many are happy to have their favorite character back, a lot of readers are also complaining about how clichéd this twist is.

Bringing her back so late and have her play such a big role in Sukuna’s defeat when she wasn’t even very strong is decision that’ll face controversies for some time.

For more, find out everything about the Jujutsu Kaisen manga ending and the strongest modern-era sorcerers. You can also learn more about the Shinjuku Showdown Arc.