Jujutsu Kaisen: Nobara’s return is one of the worst plot twists ever

Jujutsu Kaisen has confirmed that Nobara is still alive, but it’s one of the worst plot twists ever – here’s why.

Chapter 267 of Jujutsu Kaisen brings back Nobara Kugisaki to land the final blow against the King of Curses. In case you’ve forgotten (and we don’t blame you if you have) Nobara was one of the first years at Jujutsu Tech High who lost her fight against the sadistic Mahito during the Shibuya Incident Arc.

Since that battle, Nobara’s status has remained a mystery, and the manga rarely ever mentioned her. Even when we did get a brief mention of her, we grew more certain of her death.

Surprisingly, though, she returns and plays a major role in the final fight against the King of Curses. Even so, her death remains one of the worst JJK plot twists ever.

What happened to Nobara in Shibuya?

Gege Akutami/MAPPA

Nobara, despite being warned by Nanami, an experienced first-grade sorcerer, stays on the battlefield and fights Mahito. Unfortunately, after receiving Mahito’s attack, Nobara realizes she won’t survive.

Arata says, “It’s not a zero percent chance, okay? But please don’t get your hopes up.” This means there was always a possibility for her to survive. He takes her to emergency treatment, most likely to Shoko, the best Reverse Cursed Technique user in the series.

Jujutsu Kaisen rarely focused on Nobara after Shibuya

Crunchyroll

Even if she was “supposedly” dead, Nobara was reduced to an insignificant character after Shibuya despite being part of the main trio. In the following four years, she was mentioned just three times in the story.

In Chapter 144, Yuji asks Megumi about Nobara, but the latter remains silent. Yuji assumes Nobara is dead and is genuinely upset. Then, in Chapter 211, Yuji behaves rudely towards Hana Kurusu. When Megumi asks about it, Yuji says he fears Hana taking Nobara’s place.

We see a panel of Nobara smiling, but that’s about it. The second time we see her is in Chapter 265 when Yuji remembers her alongside Gojo, Junpei, Choso, Nanami, and his grandfather. Even if Gege Akutami wanted to bring her back at the end of the story, her absence all this time is frustrating, considering how important she was to the main characters. 

Nobara’s return this late in Jujutsu Kaisen is underwhelming

Shueisha

Nobara’s return would’ve been exciting if she had returned a little sooner. The manga ends with Chapter 271, and she returns in 267. It barely gives her any time to do anything except to use one move against the villain as a plot device. At this point, the plot already developed to the point where she wasn’t necessary.

In Chapter 265, Yuji is confident he can kill Sukuna all by himself. The villain is almost at his limit and he barely has any strength left. But even then, Yuji still received help from Megumi and Nobara. There was no need for him to guarantee he could kill the villain. 

Yuji gained a lot of strength before the final battle, even to the point of using a Domain Expansion, the pinnacle of Jujutsu sorcery. All of Yuji’s development becomes disappointing when he can’t live up to his words.

Not to mention, a character returns from the “dead” only to land the final blow. After all, Nobara’s Resonance is the reason why Yuji was able to land continuous blows in Chapter 267.

Nobara returning early would be a better choice

Gege Akutami/MAPPA

Characters coming back from supposed death aren’t entirely new in Shonen manga, especially when her death wasn’t officially confirmed. However, she woke up 30 minutes before she used Resonance. If Gege had decided to bring her back earlier, the fight wouldn’t have been this long.

While it is understandable that Gojo wanted to fight Sukuna in a one-on-one battle, the others also sacrificed to defeat the King of Curses. Higuruma and Choso died, while Yuta barely survived after using  Kenjaku’s technique. It’s still unclear what will happen to him.

Hence, having her join the fight earlier would’ve been helpful but the fight lasted longer than necessary. For over a year, Jujutsu Kaisen only showed the fight without any story in between. Gege decided to bring her back this late just to use one attack and nothing more.

Ordinarily, she wouldn’t stand a chance against the King of Curses. But by fooling him through combined effort and using Resonance on his finger using a Binding Vow appears to be a good writing choice.

But it just means that as a character, she had no purpose to serve after Shibuya and only had one use after she returned. While her return isn’t a bad decision, the execution leaves no room for Nobara’s character development.

The Jujutsu Kaisen manga will be ending in a few weeks, so find out the final chapter’s release date. For more from dark sorcery, have a look at the unsatisfying JJK ending and our list of the 10 strongest modern-era sorcerers.