SUKUNA GOES NORTH! JUJUTSU KAISEN CHAPTER 271 SPOILERS!

The final chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen is here.

In the previous chapter, we see the Jujutsu world rebuild after the Culling Game and the main trio heading for their final mission. What will happen from here and will this be a fitting end for Jujutsu Kaisen?

Here are Jujutsu Kaisen spoilers courtesy of Myth

Chapter 271, the FINAL chapter, is titled, “From Here On Out”

The chapter has 19 pages.

The final color spread features the main cast in a yellow background, which seems to resemble the Gojo sendoff panel of Chapter 222.

Geto (not Kenjaku) makes a peace sign next to Gojo, suggesting that the two made peace as of Chapter 236 (or by the time the real Geto died).

One little detail that does bring a smile to anyone’s faces is that Miwa sees Mechamaru’s real face for the first time.

The Curse User

The chapter begins with the trio debating about the nature of what happened to Mr. Fukuzawa from last chapter, where his face was transformed into that of a hideous big-eyed monster.

Nobara says there is no cursed seal or any marking around the girlfriend and wonders where the culprit could be, given that they had to be nearby to cause this curse.

The source of the technique could be the apartment or girlfriend, as established last chapter.

Megumi thinks that the technique is suited for stealth or is skilled enough to use cursed energy undetected.

Nobara asks when the boyfriend would come back to the apartment but the woman csays she is not sure.

Megumi wonders if the diameter of the technique is 50 meters but so far the technique has not caused actual harm, so the diameter could be 100 meters.

Yuji notes that they are all within the commercial district, so the search will be difficult given the amount of people around.

Nobara wonders if they can detect the culprit if they have reactivated their technique through a certain unobstructed distance. 

Yuji suggests that they take the fiance out on an open field with no one around but Megumi thinks that the culprit is smarter than that, implying of course that Yuji’s idea was pretty dumb.

Nobara thinks that Yuji is fast enough to take the woman away from the 100 meter range but Megumi also think this is a dumb idea for the same reason, also implying that Nobara shares one braincell with Yuji.

Nobara revises her idea, suggesting that the pair go on a trip and while Megumi thinks it is a fine idea, they would still need to see the culprit for themselves.

If the culprit doesn’t follow the couple on the trip, Yuji thinks they could catch the culprit once the couple do return and the technique is reactivated.

Megumi thinks it could work but that would depend on the timing of the culprit, which makes Yuji annoyed that Megumi is always playing devil’s advocate while Nobara thinks it is too off to assume that the culprit is smart of almost all-knowing.

Megumi plans to have everyone vacate the area naturally, without arousing the suspicion of the culprit.

Ijichi will keep an eye out for the entrance while maintaining a Window.

The couple will leave for a while to visit a friend’s place and then come back to ride the elevator all the way to the top floor.

So far there are no microphones around that would let the culprit eavesdrop on them, so they can still proceed with the plan.

When they put the plan into action, the woman is surprised to see Fukuzawa’s face turn back to normal.

The trio look around and Nobara jumps down to catch the culprit.

Yuji joins up but the pair begin to have their faces morph.

That is until Megumi jumps on the curse user and stop him from escaping with his Divine Dog.

This confirms that Megumi still has the Ten Shadows by the end of the series at least.

Yuji Itadori Therapy Session

When they bring the captured culprit to the girlfriend, the woman tells the sorcerers that she does not know him.

Upset with hearing this, the man points out that he was the one who bought her the bag.

As it turns out, the curse user used to be one of the woman’s customers when she was a hostess and that he spent a million yen on her.

Yuji has no idea what the woman actually does or is just won over by the money she got.

The sorcerers bring the man in on the car and Yuji tries to cheer him up, telling him that he will not get executed.

Coming from the boy who was to be executed in Chapter 2, that is something.

The man is more reflective, having cooled down.

It seems he used his cursed technique, which he might have discovered after waking up from the Culling Game, to prank the woman who ignored him.

While the man was obsessive, as Megumi pointed out early in the chapter, it seemed that he did not mean any harm.

Fukuzawa had not been harmed and has barely noticed any trouble until his fiance was troubled by it.

But if the man was left alone for too long, he would be isolated, living with his own curse, if you will.

This is quite a familiar theme for Jujutsu Kaisen: loneliness.

However, I am also reminded of how Gege Akutami’s close mangaka friend, Kohei Horikoshi, ended My Hero Academia.

Thankfully, My Hero Academia had an epilogue arc but the same ideas are featured here.

To prevent the proliferation of curses, instead of exterminating the “weak society” that perpetuates suffering as we know it, as Shigaraki’s revolt was for, we have to address the source: loneliness.

The grandma who started the story by being frightened of a young Shigaraki ends up helping a boy who would have gone down the same path.

In Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuji fulfills his new role, not as a sacrificial cog for the peace and noble death of others but so that no one has to suffer loneliness.

And we see where this drive is inspired from: Satoru Gojo.

Gojo’s Dream Inherited

As Yuji talks to the curse user, he remembers Gojo’s words before he left for his final battle with Sukuna.

Yuji brought up this conversation back in Chapter 268, so in a way this was Yuji’s letter from Gojo and it is fitting that we end the series right here to what Gojo wanted to impart to Yuji.

Yuji wanted to do switch training with Gojo after learning Simple Domain through Kusakabe.

However, Gojo brings up a rather unexpected tangent.

“Haven’t we had enough Satoru Gojo?”

This is quite surprising but also somewhat meta.

Besides Akutami’s infamous hatred for Gojo, this is at the same time in line with who Gojo is.

For most of the story, Gojo did not seem to mind the praise and attention people have given him.

However, ever since the Shibuya Incident, Gojo did go through a bit of change.

He was a lot more depressed, likely the guilt of letting society fall into chaos but above all, the burden of loneliness weighing him down.

This is precisely why Gojo wanted to fight Sukuna when the latter was at full strength.

Of course they had to hide the last finger, otherwise Gojo would lose his precious students and world.

Nonetheless, Gojo found someone he could fully reveal his soul to, specifically his frustration as the Strongest.

To all his friends, Gojo was dependable, even if irresponsible and somewhat of a jerk but he was the pillar of Jujutsu Society and that role weighed down on him.

This was the person Yuji wanted to be, a cog that could keep the machine going.

Now Gojo was being straightforward with Yuji, asking if there was a point

Now Gojo is asking his student to think about the future, rather than dwell in a present that Gojo maintains.

Gojo wants Yuji and everyone to consider the possibility that he will no longer be around.

However, Gojo hopes that Yuji and his friends will surpass Gojo and learn more. 

I feel that one regret Gojo has is that as much as he has cultivated allies, he is still dwelling in his loneliness.

The trauma of losing Geto will never fade but when he saw Geto turn away, he had a choice.

Would he fight, even kill Geto, to assert his ego and sense of right over Geto’s path or would let Geto go and choose his path?

The choice to spare Geto was made out of love, a painful love, since words would never reach a man so consumed by loneliness.

But rather than let the same darkness destroy him, Gojo decided to fill that vacuum with new friends.

Still, this was not enough and Gojo felt that he had not yet fully matured past that point.

Gojo keeps repeating how he will be forgotten while Yuji, representing the audience, promises not to forget about him.

Yet he does want the idea of “the Strongest” to disappear, so that it is the generation of Sorcerers who will have the confidence and power to live through the current age instead of the legend.

Gojo is the counterpart of the King of Curses, the Strongest in the modern age, and he knows such a reputation carries a misconception about how Jujutsu Sorcerers should live.

Yuji notes this somber side seems out of character for Gojo, again a meta reference as the audience would be thinking the same way.

However, Gojo expresses confidence that the people around him are ready to move on without him.

This also explains why he was at peace in Chapter 236.

Sensing that he has already passed away, Gojo does not panic or mull over his regrets.

Instead, he tells Geto, the past friends he failed to protect, that he had fun with the life he had.

Like a Messiah prepared to die for his friends, on the day before his death, Gojo reveals his dream to Yuji, which Gojo did say in Chapter 11: “A Dream” but that was when Yuji was technically dead.

In that chapter, Gojo expressed this dream in a mix of anger, regret, and hope. 

He is angry at the world for still being the same repressive state, hence why he starts it off by saying he wants to kill the Jujutsu Elders.

This process of innate rage, a dream and hope for the future are a similar process ot Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan because of how he looked for a target for this rage, from the Walls that caged him since birth to the Titans that killed his mother to the Marleyan Empire that stole away hope for the future.

The rage Gojo felt was holding him back.

When he faced the Star Religious Group in Chapter 76, he was quite filled with rage, willing to exact an easy win by killing the weak, pathetic non-sorcerers who cheered for the death of an innocent girl whose future was stolen from her.

Yuji dying to Sukuna reminded him of that.

But then his tone changes when he thinks about how their deaths will only leave a vacancy for similar, unchanging people to fill up.

And he looks to his own experiences and recalls why he focused so much on education instead of a revolt against a system he could easily topple.

Rather than be called the new King of Curses, Gojo wanted to leave behind a world that can take care of itself, a Jujutsu reset.

It seems that Yuji has now taken on the role of Satoru Gojo but instead of the strongest, Yuji has become the living saint that he has become to Sukuna, preventing loneliness from consuming sorcerers and turning them into living curses.

In the present, Yuji tells the curse user that at least the man has acknowledged his mistakes and given his powers, Yuji would have to get his helps, expecting great things from him.

Yuji’s smile shines like the sun for someone as lonely as the curse user, who might end up a great sorcerer.

This would be what Yuji will do with his life, build new lives that can be strong on their own or together with the wider Jujutsu community.

Megumi and Nobara ask Yuji what happened to “that thing”, which we will learn about soon.

Going North

In a dark place, Sukuna and Mahito reunite.

We have not seen Mahito since he was absorbed by Kenjaku in Chapter 135, though he was mentioned sometimes, such as in Chapter 258 when discussing Ui Ui’s Spatial Transference being able to switch people’s souls akin to someone switching the contents inside the box without actually opening the box.

This plane of existence does evoke Kenjaku’s words from Chapter 160, as I explore in the Clock Theory article.

The realm between dreams and reality is Jujutsu, a spell akin to a Domain.

The creation of a “Domain of Curses” was hinted at when Jogo spoke with Hanami and Dagon and how they entrusted the future to Mahito.

Interestingly, Dagon is still seen in his immature form, likely because Jogo has not see nthe matured Dagon, given that Dagon activated his Domain Expansion by that point while Jogo was far away.

Alternatively, this could really be the “curse realm” that Kenjaku seems to use when visiting people’s dream.

As the second master of barrier techniques, Kenjaku had a greater understanding of the world of people’s Domains such that he is able to reach the “in-between” realm of Domains that fans dub “the curse realm”.

Through Mahito, we get direct confirmation that the realm exists since he is the master of souls, the one who knows their true shape.

However, as a liminal space, the cursed realm seems to function like limbo, a waiting point before souls transition to a different life.

Considering Mahito’s wording, this also confirms that the cycle of Samsara is at play and thus the logic of Buddhism aligns with Jujutsu, which makes sense given that Tengen, the Founder of Jujutsu herself, spread Buddhism in the Jujutsu Kaisen’s version of the Nara Period.

MAHITO has noticed that Sukuna was lying this whole time about his way of life, both to himself and others.

This is in reference to Mahito’s first encounter with Sukuna within Yuji’s soul in Chapter 30: “Selfishness”, where Sukuna mentally expresses how he does not care what happens to anyone, except for Megumi, albeit without naming him.

The chapter is also quite aptly named too as it does talk about Sukuna’s selfishness being resolute, yet now we see that the cracks that appeared in the Shinjuku Showdown were real and have been festering throughout the arc.

MAHITO’s questioning also ties to Sukuna’s first moment of self-doubt in Chapter 248, where he questions why Yuji in particular bothers him.

This makes the idea of Yuji being Sukuna’s saint and antithesis less of a logical problem and more of a reminder of the vulnerable human self that Sukuna has always avoided thinking about.

Here is a shocker. 

In his human life, Sukuna’s focus was to get revenge on those who persecuted “that cursed, unwanted little wretch”.

Sukuna counters, saying that he has always been consistent, living life the only way he knew how.

However, Sukuna admits he had different paths to walk on, two to be precise.

From behind are two figures.

To the left is a woman with a braid, resembling a miko or priestess.

To the right is a young person with pure white bob cut and a monk’s robes.

The person to the right could be Uraume and there could be a lot to read from as to why they were persecuted, whether it was from their non-conforming to gender roles or curse abilities as the Frozen Star.

A lot of people have assumed that the priestess-esque figure to the left was Yorozu but it makes more sense that this figure was the original Kenjaku (or at least one of his bodies).

This would fit since Kenjaku’s primary body through Jujutsu Kaisen belonged to Suguru Geto, who wore monk’s robes as part of his new role among the monkeys.

It could also be Tengen or his mother but the point is that Sukuna had two choices:

To live on as a curse, rejecting the weakness of humanity that he hid behind the King of Curses persona or to live with someone, in spite of the pitiful weakness of being human.

However, Sukuna had one great fear: that the great curse inside him, his loneliness, would burn him from within.

Sukuna could not help but “spit out curses” stirring within his guts, which sounds quite metaphorical for the corruption within as a person, especially considering that he was born with a unique, grotesque body formed as a result of consuming his twin brother to stay alive.

The use of viscera or his intestines, as visualized in the panel, and “immolate” suggest that this is the origin for Shrine’s abilities to cut through any living thing via Dismantle and Cleave and the Divine Flame that burns slowly.

The original slow burning effect of the Divine Flame might be the true shape of Sukuna’s curse, which is why expelling it seems to take a toll on Sukuna’s body, both in Shibuya and Shinjuku.

Now, Sukuna reflects on how, if there was a next time, he would walk another path, choosing the smaller person of Uraume instead of the other path, which led him to become the King of Curses in the Heian and modern eras.

Mahito mocks Sukuna for “going soft” yet Sukuna admits he decided to walk the other path because “he lost”.

This is also a familiar line to me as this is what Sasuke said to Naruto at the end of their final battle.

It just seemed to Sasuke that because Naruto won, his ideals, his loneliness failed.

They do seem to share similar paths, that if Sasuke was left alone in darkness, he would forget humanity, “eat the ashes” as he said before the battle, and live as the strongest shadow.

Now Mahito expresses frustration that he is now left alone, sulking like a child.

It seems Mahito looks embarrassed at how Sukuna got something from this experience of death while Mahito remains stuck, without anyone, almost comically abandoned and at the whim of Gege Akutami or the audience that hates him.

Funny as it is, this might be Mahito’s hell.

At the final moments of the series, Mahito, arguably the most hated and despicable villain of Jujutsu Kaisen and once again we reaffirm how pathetic he is in the end.

In spite of his wisdom about the soul and insight about other people, he lacks personal awareness and remains South for eternity.

But by choosing Uraume and seemingly accepting a different way of living as Yuji suggested, Sukuna heads North to reincarnate as a human being.

Perhaps in another lifetime, he can do laundry and taxes with Uraume.

The Middle Finger

And we see Yuji looking up, as if he sensed the presence of these curses

This leads into the penultimate page of three generations of the strongest that Gojo had raised, from Hakari and Kirari, to Yuta, Maki, Panda and Toge, to the main trio themselves.

The final page of Jujutsu Kaisen features a familiar-looking box outside and at the very last panel is the Sukuna finger from Chapter 266 stored there.

I gotta say this is quite a fitting final page to end on.

Chapter 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen, “Ryomen Sukuna” began with a similar small outdoor thermometer box that resembles a small shrine.

Shrine is Sukuna and Yuji’s cursed technique yet the same buildings enshrine the cursed relics that start the series.

There is only one Sukuna finger left and Yuji noted in Chapter 267 that Sukuna can no longer reincarnate.

The cursed object that started the story can no longer curse the world.

Much like Attack on Titan’s ending, people think that anyone who goes to the Giant Tree or the Sukuna finger will restart the vicious cycle of evil but both endings make it clear that the curse has ended.

The power (and the soul) behind the evil of the series is gone, only a relic and reminder that it existed in a different time, a world of loneliness.

If anything that one panel seals the deal for Jujutsu Kaisen.

Editor’s note: “Thank you so much for reading these past six years! Please look forward to Gege Akutami’s next work! Volumes 29 and 30 will be released together on December 25th!”

The end.

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