Was Nobara’s return a good writing decision?

How Nobara “Died” in Jujutsu Kaisen in the Shibuya Arc

Nobara Kugisaki’s death occurred in the Shibuya Incident Arc. Up until this point in the story, Ella Nobara was pretty exciting and it’s safe to say that she was somewhat involved in almost every major plot point. Jujutsu Kaisen. She was seen fighting against the Special Grade Curses and the finger wielders that fans met at the beginning, and later on, she even fought against the Death Paintings. Nobara showed that she was strong enough to make a great future for herself and become one of the strongest sorceresses.

However, whatever potential it had was absolutely destroyed by the author in the Shibuya Incident Arc, all for shock value. In her battle against Mahito, Nobara faced an incredibly difficult situation, where his enemy used Idle Transfiguration on her. A part of her face was completely destroyed, leaving her for dead. Most fans believed that Nobara had essentially died and that she would never return to the story. However, the author was quite smart to point out that she Nobara was not officially dead at that time.

The author had Nitta’s character point out that while the chances of survival weren’t great, they weren’t zero either. Basically, this meant that Nobara could come back to life and that Yuji didn’t have to lose hope. It was this message that allowed Yuji to fight Mahito and ultimately defeat him. After the events of the Shibuya Incident Arc, Yuji confronted Megumi and talked about Nobara. The young Zenin family member was quick to feign silence, and Yuji received the message that Nobara had essentially died. This simply means that the author wanted to paint the picture of Nobara having been written out of the story and elude fans so he could fake a death.

The return of Nobara Kugisaki in Shinjuku Showdown

• Nobara returned in JJK 267

• Nobara joins the fight against Sukuna

In the Shinjuku confrontation arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, Fans saw many old characters return. For example, Todo managed to return in this arc and put on a pretty emphatic performance against the King of Curses. Now, in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 267, Nobara has also officially returned, which has surprised all readers of the story. In JJK chapter 267, Sukuna’s finger was seen in some kind of shrine. There he was hanging from a pair of ropes, which implied that some type of ritual was going to be performed on him.

Meanwhile, in the main battle in Shinjuku, Sukuna finally saw Yuji’s fingers and realized that the finger Rika ate was not his, but Yuji’s. Since Rika doesn’t necessarily need Sukuna’s body part to access his technique, this method was worth it. Eating Yuji’s fingers and possibly making a binding vow allowed Yuta to access Sukuna’s technique, thanks to Rika, and in the meantime, Sukuna was led to believe that his finger had already been consumed.

Meanwhile, this finger remained an advantage against Sukuna, and fortunately, that’s precisely what Nobara is here to do. Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 267 saw Nobara finally waking up from her long sleep. It was said that just a few minutes after waking up, Nobara decided to head to the battlefield and look at Sukuna’s finger. Although Sukuna’s fingers are indestructible, that does not mean that Sukuna cannot be harmed using Resonance. Since Resonance deals exclusive damage and a Binding Vow was used, Nobara was able to hurt Sukuna directly with his Resonance technique and the fact that he was seen staggering meant that Nobara had leveled up a lot in terms of skill.

Now, Kugisaki Nobara has officially returned and will team up with Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro in an attempt to fight the King of Curses and defeat him for good. Things are going to be incredibly exciting from now on and fans are eager to see more of Nobara. However, while fans are certainly very excited about the story’s conclusion, the question remains whether or not Nobara’s return was handled well.

Was Nobara’s return a good writing decision?

Nobara definitely deserved to return to Jujutsu Kaisen

The question of whether or not Nobara’s return was handled well is quite complicated. Fans should split this question into two parts. First of all, you have to understand that Nobara needed to go back to the story for it to make sense. If Gege had simply kept her dead and then given false hope to the fans in Shibuya, and at the same time, she had kept her fate in limbo without giving them confirmation only to do nothing about it, then, it would have been terrible. written decision of the author. By giving fans hope about her return, Gege essentially said that Nobara was going to be important at some point down the line. In that sense, Nobara’s return is a good literary decision. However, it is the execution of this decision that completely fails the series and Nobara’s character.

Of course, fans who love the fights and don’t look past the story will be absolutely delighted with this and will simply consume it as another spectacular event that happened in this story. The problem, however, is that Nobara is completely isolated from the vast majority of the story, only to be introduced four chapters before it concludes. To any sensible reader, it just seems like the author has no idea for this character, excludes her from the entire story, and brings her back at the end, when she would only need to put in as little effort as possible to make her story half-decent. Overall, Nobara may be a beloved character, but her story was completely butchered by the author and the decision to bring her back at this point is simply one that doesn’t matter.

If the author wanted to make Nobara’s character rich and special and do the plot justice, she should have been reintroduced into the story a long time ago, possibly at the beginning of Shinjuku Showdown or during the Culling Game.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read through Viz Media. Fans can read the series officially and for free on the Shonen Jump app and Manga Plus. The release date of JJK’s next chapter, Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 268, will be September 1, 2024.