Deaths in shonen anime are usually saved only for a few major characters throughout a season’s run. Oftentimes, no major character dies at all. This makes sense, provided the target demographic is teen boys being taught the power of friendship, morals, and not giving up. However, Jujutsu Kaisen’s author, Gege Akutami, almost finds pleasure in killing off his characters.
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With a series that doesn’t shy away from killing off its cast, certain deaths are bound to be more impactful than others. From characters that no one expected to die, to characters that did have death flags, but died in a way that left fans agape, here are the most memorable and shocking deaths in Jujutsu Kaisen.
Needless to say: spoilers ahead!
8
Nanami Kento
Nanami’s death might not be the most shocking on the list, but it certainly was one of the saddest. He didn’t want to continue being a sorcerer, but abandoned his desires to a sense of responsibility. During his last moments, he was too exhausted to even think straight, instead fantasizing about taking a vacation in Malaysia.
The death hastened Yuji’s mental degradation, and such a fan-favorite of many dying set a standard for just how serious the Culling Games arc was going to be.
7
Ryomen Sukuna
Sukuna dying itself wasn’t shocking at all. Being the main antagonist, him dying at the hands of Yuji was more a question of when than if. Still, the actual death came as a surprise due to how it was handled. This was mainly because the damage being done to Sukuna was not fully visible, instead targeting the connection between his and Megumi’s souls.
Where other bosses get progressively bloodier and weaker visually, it seemed like Sukuna went straight from holding his own to being reduced to a puddle. Sukuna’s last statement about ruining everything Yuji holds dear also made his sorry state just a single chapter later much weaker. There was never a single moment where you could feel like Yuji may lose.
A few more chapters may have let Akutami flesh the climax better, but Sukuna’s bodyless state at the end is still a shockingly pathetic display of the greatest sorcerer of all time, being a very fitting end to someone as hedonistic as the King of Curses.
6
Junpei
Jujutsu Kaisen was always a dark manga, but it being a shonen made fans believe character deaths weren’t gonna be a big part of the series. While Junpei originally seemed like a good person driven to commit evil acts when he asked Mahito to take revenge on his bullies, it still seemed like he would eventually join our main cast as a powerful sorcerer. However, Mahito killed him on a whim in front of Yuji.
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There were many red herrings that made you think Junpei would be a recurring character. Everything from him having his own cursed technique to the Jujutsu Kaisen opening showing Junpei walking with our cast in the Jujutsu High uniform was deliberately done to make his eventual death hit hard. Junpei was the first person Yuji failed to save after becoming a sorcerer, and his death served to be the start of many of JJK’s integral themes.
5
Nobara Kugisaki
Nobara isn’t exactly dead, we saw her come back in all her glory in the series finale. However, she did still die for the most part, shocking not only Yuji, but also Jujutsu Kaisen fans all over. Mahito killed her right in front of Yuji after already having the latter witness Nanami’s death, driving Yuji into a deeply troubled state until he recovered because of Todo’s help.
What makes Nobara’s death hit so hard is that no one expects someone belonging to the main trio of protagonists to die before the final battle. She didn’t even have a full battle with Mahito, with him diverting his attention between Nobara and Yuji. Nobara’s death was one of the saddest and most well-executed ones in JJK and worked amazingly to make you hate Mahito even more, just like Yuji.
4
Tsumiki Fushigoro
The reason Megumi, one of the protagonistic trio that the story follows, considered being a sorcerer was for the sake of his sickly sister. This driving force for his character was one of the plot points fans looked most forward to being resolved.
Tsumiki’s body was still alive after Yorozu possessed her, but she died alongside Yorozu during her battle with Sukuna.
However, the resolution came very abruptly, and it was the opposite of what was expected. Instead of Tsumiki reuniting with Megumi in a heartfelt moment or showing her own cursed technique, it was revealed that her body had been overtaken by the reincarnated sorcerer and Sukuna’s admirer, Yorozu. While anticlimactic to some, this death escalated Megumi’s mental downfall, leading to him eventually being taken over by Sukuna.
3
Yuki
This is where the deaths start becoming more controversial. Where the previous entries were all well-received, the ones from here on out were shocking partially due to how disappointing they were. While they still are well-written, some of the character resolutions seem like Gege just got done with them and didn’t want to explore their ideas further.
It took Yuki’s entire will and concentration and the full force of Tengen’s barrier to stop Yuki’s ability from consuming the entire world.
Yuki is one such character. Despite being a special grade like Gojo and Kenjaku, she only got introduced properly very later on. Even then, despite her being hyped up as one of the strongest alive, she only had a single fight before she got killed. What adds to injury is that she has an ability stronger than even Gojo’s Hollow Purple, with her Black Hole being stated to have the capacity to destroy the entire world if Yuki so wished.
Furthermore, Kenjaku surviving against such a strong ability purely because he just happened to have the perfect counter to it makes her loss even harder to accept.
2
Kenjaku
While Sukuna held the title of the main antagonist of the series due to his sheer power, Kenjaku was technically the mastermind behind every misfortune the cast experienced in the show. From cultivating Mahito to banding the Disaster Curses together for a plan, and even taking hundreds of years to organize the Culling Games, not to mention creating Yuji as a vessel for Sukuna, it’s not a stretch to say the series wouldn’t have existed without him.
Many were expecting him to eventually betray Sukuna and end up as the final villain the cast has to defeat, but that never came. Kenjaku didn’t even survive as long as Sukuna, nor did he get any proper fights against the main cast. He was killed by a sneak attack made by Yuta, and his literary character was massacred along with his in-universe body, leaving fans shocked and even disappointed.
1
Gojo
Gojo against Sukuna, the fight between the strongest sorcerer of today against the strongest sorcerer of the past. This was the most high-stakes fight in all of Jujutsu Kaisen, making even those not aware of the series keep up with each new chapter release.
Despite being mostly evenly matched, Gojo held a clear advantage. He recovered all the damage he took, got his healing back, and could even cast his Domain Expansion after hitting a Black Flash, where Sukuna was on his last legs. The fight seemed like it was over, with Gojo a clear victor. The narrator even said Gojo had won.
Sukuna killed Gojo by using a binding vow that let him target the world itself with his cursed technique, negating Gojo’s Infinity.
And then Gojo got cut in half. Whether the surprise was welcome or not is another debate entirely, but none can disagree that it was one of the most shocking moments in all of anime. The strongest may lose, and they may even die in other series, but Gojo’s death being off-screen after being declared the winner will forever be Gege’s most controversial decision.
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