ATTENTION: For those who are not up to date with the manga, major SPOILERS are ahead!
Jujutsu Kaisen was not for the faint of heart from the second it began, however, those who are following up with the manga know that we’ve seen nothing yet.
Table of Contents
As the number of characters decreases in each chapter, Jujutsu Kaisen is taking an even darker turn towards the cruel and gruesome reality of Jujutsu Society. With deaths more shocking than the others there is one that we might not be able to accept.
She’s one of the main characters, a character that literally no one hates. She started off looking like the weak and burdensome one and through an amazing development, turned into a badass everyone looks up to. I believe you guessed who I’m talking about by now, the one and only, Kugisaki Nobara!
The last chapters of the manga hit us hard and ended on a cliffhanger. No one knows what Nobara’s fate will be but we are all hoping for the same outcome. Most of us don’t believe that the author would kill off such an astonishing character no matter the impact that it would give.
However, the facts are still there and they are not looking good. Nobara is hanging on to life by a thread or did she already let go? All we can do for now is speculate, so let’s review the events of the last chapters and come up with a suitable conclusion for the question: Is Nobara Kugisaki Dead?
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Table of Content
RECAP
Nobara Kugisaki just got out of an exhausting fight against Haruta Shigemo. She didn’t even have the time to catch her breath and she is already engaging in another battle alongside Yuji Itadori against the special grade cursed spirit, Mahito, during the Shibuya Incident.
Sukuna has been rampaging all over Shibuya, killing anything that moved using Itadori’s body. When Yuji reclaimed control, he was in a state of shock. He immediately regained his cold focus when he remembered that the fighting was still ongoing.
On another hand, inside Shibuya Station, Nanami gravely injured and longing for a relaxing break with a book in his hand is ambushed by transfigured humans forcing him into another fight.
Dealing with his enemies with tremendous speed and technique despite his horrible state, Nanami had bad luck when he ran into Mahito at that disadvantageous moment. The spirit had now made physical contact with the sorcerer.
Yuji arrives on the scene only to see his mentor draw his last breath as his torso was being obliterated by the monster. Enraged and feeling like his soul was cut in two, he dashes towards his enemy (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 120 p. 1-19).
THE BATTLE
While Yuji is currently facing the real Mahito, Nobara is up against a double, a clone of his creation. It was the first time Nobara laid eyes on him, she immediately identified him as the patch-face curse that’s been giving Itadori so much trouble.
As they are both preparing for battle, Nobara reminds herself to stay away from the spirit’s hands as he has the ability to reshape souls while she is trying to unleash Black Flash once more.
Nobara threw three nails at the spirit, he dodged but one of them pinned his hair. Following through her attack, she kicks a sigh at Mahito, pins two charged nails into it. As Mahito blocks the sign, it explodes, drawing blood from his forehead.
The arrogant curse praises her for not being as weak as he thought she would be and declares that he will bring her lifeless corpse to Yuji in order to crush what is left of his soul (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 122 (p. 1-19).
Nobara is taking extra precautions to avoid the curse’s touch, still thinking that double has the same abilities as the real one, which he doesn’t. The only soul he can transfigure is his own.
Mahito extends his arm as he is transforming it into a spike while aiming at Nobara who barely dodges the attack. The spike grazed her cheek and cut some of her hair then suddenly turned into a big ball full of spikes. She dodges by a hair one again.
Now, Mohito’s left arm turns into a gigantic claw clipping the sorcerer’s shoulder and ripping it open. At the same time, she lands a hit right in the middle of his face with her hammer.
Thanks to his astonishing recovery skills, he heals in no time, mocking the exorcist for her useless efforts. Brushing off his comment as if it was nothing, she throws two more nails aimed at the eyes of the curse, he catches them but loses sight of Nobara who is now above him.
She drops a bundle of nails at the spirit and activates Hairpin, but her attack didn’t affect his enemy one bit. Brimming with confidence, Mahito didn’t realize that the real purpose of the attack was to immobilize him with a second Hairpin rush once the nails landed in the appropriate position.
She mounts the curse who doesn’t even react as he still believes she is no threat to his life. That’s where he made a colossal error as the exorcist already found a way to hurt him with her abilities.
She inserts her nails directly into his forehead, activates Resonance, and therefore injures Mahito’s soul. Little did she know that she also helped Yuji as the damage dealt to the clone also affected the main body.
Now gravely injured, the double comes to the horrifying conclusion that Itadori isn’t the only fighter capable of hurting him, the girl was also a huge threat to his existence.
Now that she had the upper hand while recapitulating the fight, she realized that he could’ve transfigured her during the battle. She comes to the conclusion that this Mahito is not the real one, a fact that he confirms with a disgusting sadistic smile on his disfigured face (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 123 p. 1-19).
The clone decides to make a run for it. Nobara goes after her enemy in order to end him and then head towards the Fukutoshin Line Platform.
Blindly chasing after the clone, Nobara fell into the spirits trap as the double and the real one managed to exchange positions without letting her realize. Only Yuji understood the ruse and was trying to warn his friend.
Nobara’s guard was down, Mahito’s hand made its way to the girl’s face while his clone was being killed by Itadori. He backed off to see if she was going to resist his touch as Nanami did when Yuji rushed to her side (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 124 p. 1-17).
She touched her face and as she was feeling that it was the end she started to reminisce about her childhood. She remembered that she believed that crazy people were only here to ruin normal people’s lives until crazy sorcerers filled hers and completely changed her mind.
She removed her hand from her face, turned towards her worried friend while she was transfiguring. She tries to comfort him when her left side breaks apart and cracks open.
Her blood splashed all over her friend. She collapses leaving Yuji filled with an indescribable rush of emotions as he is gazing down on what looked like the dead body of his nakama (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 124 p. 14-19).
Yuji mentally breaks down and was about to be offed by the curse when Todo Aoi makes his entrance and saves him.
He is accompanied by Arata Nitta who immediately tries to heal Nobara with his ability, injury reduction technique, but he looks at Aoi and tells him that he has very little hope for her (Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 126 p. 15-19).
THEORIES
The first theory indicating that Nobara is still alive is the fact that even after the incident, no one specifically announced her death. If the author wanted her story to end there, he would’ve made it crystal clear for all the readers, just like he did when Nanami’s time came.
The second theory is based on the existence of reverse cursed techniques, techniques that can also shape the soul. When Junpei died early in the manga, Yuji begged Sukuna to heal him offering his own body as payment, a deal that Sukuna refused.
However, Mahito himself confirmed that those techniques can reverse his transfiguration and Nobara should be aware of that fact. The only problem with this theory is that Nobara is no prodigy.
It might be easy for Gojo Satoru to do it but for Noabara and on such short notice, it might be nothing short of a miracle if she managed to pull it off. She has been feeding her core for a while, growing and developing her cursed energy, adding her determination to the lot and the possibility is maybe not as slim as we might think.
It was confirmed that her heart and pulse stopped due to the shock of the attack but it was also said that reverse cursed techniques can literally bring someone back to life if it’s applied directly after the time of death.
The third theory is about the difference in power between the three main characters. While Megumi and Yuji are said to be equals, Nobara still has a long way to go. Her death and revival, her possible mastery of reverse cursed techniques might be the way to decrease the gap and give her a major level up.
REFERENCES
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 120 (p. 1-19)
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 122 (p. 1-19)
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 123 (p. 1-19)
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 124 (p. 1-17)
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 124 (p. 14-19)
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 126 (p. 15-19)
Conclusion
Now you know the full story. As you can see none of us can say for sure if Nobara will survive at this point. All we can do from this point on is speculate and give theories. Cliffhangers are really cruel!
True, Nobara doesn’t have an overpowered spirit inhabiting her body that can fix her instantly like a certain someone who came back to life but she has something else! Her will to live, her stubbornness, her resilience, her strength, and so much more…
Yes, looking at the state of her body she might be done for. Yes, from the point of view of a down-to-earth doctor, she might be far gone. However, as long as the chances are not zero, I believe she will fight and struggle and win against all odds.
She might not wake up as the same Kugisaki Nobara that we know and love (her face was everything to her after all). She might bear unbelievable psychological scars but as long as she stands back on her feet, all is acceptable.
In the end, she is one of the most well-written anime characters of all time and I’m sure none of us got enough of her. I really wish they wouldn’t take her away so easily and that’s my personal opinion but I’m sure they won’t.
It’s not the end of that magnificent badass warrior, heed my words, she’ll be back stronger than ever and ready to kick some butt. Her revenge against Mahito will surely be a moment that will mark the history of anime IF I’m right and she’s, in fact, not dead yet.
I really hate those people who said that she’s dead, eventhough they still don’t know it… And I hope that gege will prove them wrong.
Thank you for fighting the fact that nobara is still alive, I also believed that she will survive. Because she’s a strong woman who won’t die easily!