Warning: Spoilers are unmarked on these pages. You Have Been Warned.
“Thank you for reminding me...that I'm not alone!”.
Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the darkest series in the Shounen Jump catalogue, but the story always stresses the irreplaceable value of human life, and shows that there are people out there who will stop at nothing to defend it.
Introduction Arc
- Yuji's grandpa telling his grandson to have a proper death, surrounded by people. Yuji takes this to heart as he decides to help as many people as he can.
- Yuji staying loyal to his friends in the Occult Club, despite getting multiple offers for various sports clubs. Ordinary students might have done it for the glory to compete in the nationals, but Yuji didn't want to abandon his only friends to do so.
- Fushiguro shoving out Sasaki and Iguchi while attempting to exorcise the curse attacking them.
- After seeing his friends dying at the hands of the curse, Yuji decides to intake Sukuna's fingers to save them, not caring if anything happens to him in the process.
- Satoru Gojo successfully stalling Yuji's execution by proposing to let him eat all of Sukuna's fingers, with persuasion from Megumi.
- Yuji declaring his convictions to live the way he likes so that he doesn't die with any regrets, which includes upholding his promise to his grandpa to the very end. Principal Yaga is suitably impressed with him and allows him to join Tokyo Jujutsu Academy.
- All of Nobara's interactions with Saori.
- Gojo accepting Yuji and Nobara to his tutelage by admitting that they're indeed crazy enough for him.
- When a curse is holding a child hostage, Nobara rationalizes that if she dies, the kid is doomed, but if the boy dies, her chances of survival won't be affected. She tells herself to be rational, but the next page has her showing the curse that she's unarmed.
Cursed Womb Arc
- Yuji promising Tadashi's mother to save her son.
- Yuji attempting to bring Tadashi's body to his mother, but is stopped by Fushiguro.
- After getting refused from returning Tadashi to his mother, Yuji asks why he was saved if he was going to hurt people as well, with the implication that Megumi has come to see Yuji as a friend.
- Megumi risking his life to save Nobara from the Curses.
- Yuji successfully stalls Sukuna from coming out before Megumi was out of range. Sukuna lampshades in frustration how cunning Yuji is.
- Sukuna genuinely complements Megumi's strength and wants to fight him at his peak. Knowing how much contempt Sukuna has for humans as well as other curses, this is indeed high praise from him.
- Yuji getting moved by Megumi's "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight to wrest his body from Sukuna, despite missing a heart.
Cursed Training Arc
- Megumi and Nobara promising to get stronger to avenge Itadori.
- Satoru's Tranquil Fury upon seeing Yuji's dead body, lamenting the higher ups' plans to undermine Gojo by allowing his students to die fighting unpreparedly, while swearing revenge upon them. Quickly becomes funny after Sukuna repairs Yuji's heart and he comes back to life, at which point Satoru happily welcomes his student back to the land of the living.
- Megumi informing Tadashi's mother about her son's death and his failure to save him, despite dismissing him as a low-life earlier. She forgives him after seeing how crushed he is.
- Yuji agreeing to undergo special training by Satoru in order to protect his friends without taking any help from Sukuna.
- Hanami jumps in to save Jogo from getting killed by Gojo, while he states that as 'pure humans' they have a responsibility towards their allies.
- Satoru meeting Kyoto School's principal and tells him that his rebellious students will absolutely tear down the conservative Jujutsu world for the better.
Vs Mahito Arc
- Mahito, in his own way, assuring Junpei he's free to take whatever path he wishes to without bothering about society's constraints.
- Yuji manages to stop Junpei from falling deeper into misanthropy by relating to Commonality Connection of them both being cinema buffs. Junpei takes a moment to reflect his ongoing fall into darkness and tries to work against it.
- Junpei's mother being the sole Morality Pet to her son, as him thinking what his mother will think about hurting people is what causes him to (temporarily) be at peace. Too bad Mahito wanted to corrupt Junpei...
- Yuji fighting Junpei to stop harming other students, despite a now-embittered Junpei viciously trying to kill him.
- Yuji manages to calm Junpei down and gives him the offer to join Jujutsu High, which Junpei considers. If only Mahito picked some other time to interrupt...
- Yuji attempting to volunteer everything if it meant Junpei goes back to his original self, despite spending rest of the manga up to that point avoiding Sukuna as much as he could. It doesn't work, but props to Yuji for trying.
- Nanami pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment as Mahito decides to kill Yuji to draw out Sukuna.
- Nanami's backstory, in which he was touched by a bakery owner's sincere dedication to her work. Nanami hated making money for himself and his higher-ups, but notices how the bakery owner has a far more crucial role to play for society than his company. He then decides to join Gojo to hunt down the Curses.
- Yuji bashing in to save Nanami from Mahito's Domain, irrespective of what happens to him. It works.
- In the extras, the Tokyo Group silently mourn for Yuji, where Megumi explains his dish was taught to him by Yuji. On the other side, Yuji misses his classmates and hopes to see them again.
Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc
- Itadori agreeing to surprise his friends that he's alive, despite it going poorly.
- On the other side, Nobara and Megumi are clearly happy to see him alive, but keep it under efforts of rage to punish him for letting them believe he was dead.
- Todo refuses to take part in Itadori's assassination, due to not wanting to harm an ally.
- Despite Kyoto team being the antagonists, they are shown to care for each other if even it meant Itadori slips away in the distraction.
- And once Geto's group invades the event, both sides are quick to assist each other.
- Mechamaru's true goal being to stand with classmates with his healthy body. Panda recognizes this and advises him to be more caring towards others and not be limited to his physical weaknesses.
- Todo helping Itadori realize his true potential with his Cursed technique.
- Noritoshi helping Inumaki and Megumi escape Hanami, and Inumaki risking his life to stop the Curse.
- The baseball event has several moments. It is a nice, calm event that the Tokyo and Kyoto students are able to have fun, and it more or less acts as a Breather Episode following the previous event.
- Despite Kamo taking part in an attempt to kill Itadori in previous event, the two have an affable conversation in regards to Itadori's intentions and goals to which Kamo seems moved by what Itadori wishes to accomplish.
- When Maki nails Todo in the face with a ball, it is played for laughs when everyone compliments Maki on a good pitch. However, it is rather heartwarming that Itadori shows genuine concern regarding Todo's wellbeing after his is hurt.
- Principal Yaga and Principal Gakuganji come to an agreement that Itadori isn't a bad kid, despite being Sukuna's vessel, and that they shouldn't be so quick to pass their judgements. This is especially powerful for Gakuganji because he ordered an impromptu execution on Yuji right before the first event.
Death Painting Arc
- Megumi opening up to reveal some of his past to his friends.
- Despite being a vicious Bully Hunter, he is still pretty well-regarded by his school's staff and his former friends there.
- Yuji and Nobara quietly deciding to exorcise the spirit under Yasohachi Bridge to help Tsumiki wake up from her Curse, without Megumi asking them to.
- Megumi, Yuji and Nobara cross the bridge together to deal with the Bridge Curse.
- Megumi ordering Yuji to help Nobara instead of helping him, showing his confidence.
- Despite being the Arc Villains, Eso and Kechizu are brotherly to each other.
- When Kechizu and Yuji accidentally see Eso's back, triggering his Berserk Button, Eso quickly forgives Kechizu.
- Nobara hurting his brother is enough for Eso to unconsciously undo the Curse upon them. Although it becomes a fatal decision later on, it shows the brothers are definitely not The Heartless unlike the trio's previous enemies.
- Eso berating himself that he's fleeing instead of properly mourning his brother once Nobara killed Kechizu.
- In the end, Eso and Kechizu are kept together, implying they are Together in Death.
- Nobara and Yuji trusting each other to sync themselves according to the Death Painting brothers' tactics.
- While playing with Geto and Mahito, Choso senses his brothers' deaths and crushes the game piece in fury. Seeing the Curses making light of his brothers' passing silently enrages him further, showing his human side.
Cursed Child Arc
- Similarly to what Gojo will offer to Itadori a year later, he gives a chance to Yuta in order to control and exorcise Rika Orimoto, not wanting to see a young boy get executed.
- When Yuta realizes his fault in trapping Rika Orimoto and turning her into a Cursed spirit, Yuta is immensely remorseful and asks Rika to kill him if she can't forgive him. Thankfully, Rika quickly forgives him and informs him the time she spent as a Spirit with her was her best moments.
Hidden Inventory Arc
- Geto offering Riko a chance to live her life and not merge with Tengen. Although it's rather tragic to see how far he would fall into the darkness after this, it's quite touching to see just how kind Geto used to be. Not to mention even Gojo agreed. This was when Gojo was still apathetic to the weak, displaying that even back then, Gojo is still a good man who cherished people close to him.
- Pretty much nearly everything about Satoru. Although the ending may have been a Bittersweet Ending, we finally see exactly just how Satoru became the truly kind and wise, if not snarky, teacher that he was. He once started as an arrogant jerk, but when he finally grew to care for a normal person, his heart was changed not by any kind of strength-related epiphany, but rather because he truly and genuinely valued Riko and it was her death that finally teaches him the most important lesson that just because he is the strongest doesn't mean everything is about him. Although it's quite sad that she wasn't able to live long enough and see the fruit of her friendship with Satoru, the fact that at the very least, her death wasn't as in vain as she believed it would be had she not merged with Tengen in that she created the Big Good of the series is still quite a good legacy, meaning her life changed Satoru Gojo himself, so at least she will be able to rest in the afterlife in peace knowing she did achieve something great. And even though there was a bit of a negative legacy in that her death eventually twisted Suguru into the disillusioned embittered man, in the end, despite the Trauma Conga Line the entire arc was for him, the positive legacy persisted in that Satoru still remained dedicated to changing the world for the better.
- Even more so by how the arc ends. His students wake him up, revealing everything was just Satoru remembering his past in his dream while asleep. We first see him looking subdued and solemn, clearly reflecting on his failures... But then he looks on as his students happily banter at one another and smiles sincerely, showing that despite everything, Riko's memory lives on in Satoru.
Shibuya Incident Arc
- When Jogo tells Mahito that Hanami has passed away, he's clearly hurt by it. Despite the two being vicious, murderous Disaster Curses, they nonetheless clearly had a genuine camaraderie, something sadly contrasted by Mahito's Lack of Empathy about it.
- When Gojo is confronted with the Kenjaku-possessed Geto, he asks Geto how long he plans to let himself be manipulated, prompting one of Geto's hands to come up in an attempt to strangle himself. To clarify, Geto has been dead and his body possessed by Kenjaku for over a year at this point, but the words of his greatest friend still manages to compel him to one last act of defiance.
- Choso is seconds away from killing Itadori, but decides not to when he senses their bond. He then immediately turns on Geto for pitting him against his brother and decides to protect and aid Yuji at all costs.
- The twins sheer love and devotion to Suguru Geto has them put themselves at risk by trying to force Kenjaku to honor their agreement and give back their master's body. Although it ends poorly for all involved (Save Kenjaku) it is heartwarming in it's own way to see that Geto still had loved ones in the end.
- On a minor note, Nanako's love for her sister as well. When Sukuna commanded for them and Jogo to bow, she immediately wrapped her arm around Mimiko and bowed down in time to avoid his slash, still holding onto her. Additionally, when Sukuna killed Mimiko in cold blood, Nanako, who seconds earlier was extremely afraid of Sukuna and feared that just breathing near him could be a death sentence, completely tried to avenge her sister and attack Sukuna (it doesn't go well of course...but it's the thought that counts)
- Sukuna of all people gets this twice:
- Despite having utterly defeated Jougo, he still found Jougo's performance to be impressive and worthy of praise and even admits so.
- Later on, he meets Uraume and with Word of God confirming Uraume was the only person he had back then, he treats Uraume like a true accomplice. He even goes as far as to say they'll meet again, displaying that the psycopathic King of Curses may still have just enough humanity to recognize and care for Uraume's feelings of loyalty for him.
- Just when it seems like his murder of Nobara has finally let Mahito break Yuji's resolve and he'll secure an easy win, Todo shows up, trounces the Curse and gives Itadori all the encouragement he needs to get back in the fight. Even if it's Played for Laughs, it's more than clear that Todo really does consider Yuji a brother.
- Choso proving just how strong his brotherly instincts are by forgiving Yuji's murder of "their" other brothers without hesitation or any remaining anger and sticking with him to the end even against overwhelming odds. He even goes as far as to ask Yuji to go back to his friends calmly, showing how Choso valued his brother's happiness to where he would even associate with those who had a hand in killing his brothers.
- Then Yuji finally returning the sentiment and calling Choso his big brother and telling him to stay safe.
- Yuta saving Yuji by pretending to execute him and then comforting him that what happened was not his fault. All just because Gojo asked him and Yuta's friends cared for him.
- Even though Hakari displayed jerkish behavior and a single-minded attitude to accomplish his goals, he still ultimately proved to be a good man at heart who was just disillusioned with the higher ups. Not only was he willing to listen when Yuji proved he had the spirit needed to be a good partner for Hakari, but when he learned that Yaga and Gojo was out of the picture, he decided to help the others because he felt indebted to those two for their good treatment of him.
- Higuruma assuring Itadori that he had nothing to do with the Shibuya massacre, and advises him to stop blaming himself for things beyond his control.
- Yuta's fight against Ryu Ishigori ends with the normally stoic and practical Yuta choosing to indulge Ishigori's unfulfilled desire for battle that uses up Ishigori's last drop of strength.
Narrator: Though he'd probably never find meaning in fighting... Ishigori's gaze melted Yuta Okkotsu's heart.
Yuta, smiling: Just this once.
- Despite Sukuna orchestrating everything to make Megumi his vessel, he still fights back enough to prevent Sukuna from killing his friends.
Inhuman Makyo Shinjuku Showdown Arc
- Satoru forgiving Gakuganji for executing Yaga as he realizes Yaga told Gakuganji about how he created Panda because he wanted to give Gakuganji a chance to prove himself worth living and Satoru, while more than happy to exterminate all the higher-ups for what they had done, spares Gakuganji, accepting responsibility for not being there to protect his mentor and honoring his wish. He even allows Gakuganji to help in his preparation against Sukuna!
- Despite Ijichi's repeated doubt in his abilities to fulfill Satoru's expectations, Satoru affirms his trust in the man he used to order around, and Ijichi is so touched by the fact that the strongest person in the world trusts him above anyone else to do his role that he's willing to risk his life to answer Satoru's expectations.
- When Satoru is about to fight Sukuna, he looks deadly serious, even intimidating Yuta, Maki, and Panda... But when Yuji asks to clap him in the shoulder and that his cursed technique is in the way, Satoru's response is to smile warmly at his students and happily accept all of their encouragement.
- Rather than mocking Sukuna too much after it turns out that he too suffered just as much brain damage as Satoru did, Satoru instead simply states that he's going to keep going and remain cool for the sake of his students, cue all of them being shown smiling in relief at their teacher going strong.
- Although Satoru's defeat and death at Sukuna was quite shocking and sad, in it's own way, the fact that Satoru died at the hands of someone stronger than of old age/sickness is still a surprisingly happy ending for him, as he was able to face a truly satisfying death. What makes it happier was that he even spent his last moments being welcomed to the afterlife by his lost friends and ultimately asserted that, seeing all his loved ones waiting for him in the afterlife, he was able to say he died without regrets.
- If you thought Sukuna was being nice to Jogo and Yorozu by complimenting their strengths, he actually tops all that here with Gojo. He not only praises Satoru Gojo as magnificent, but also vows to remember him forever. He respects Gojo enough that he is displeased when Kashimo Hajime showed up to interrupt his paying respects.
Idiot Survivor Arc
- The fight between Kenjaku and Takaba is… bizarrely wholesome. Between all of their cartoony, off-the-wall attacks against each other, the two of them are absolutely having the time of their lives. What Takaba truly wanted throughout his entire life was a comedy partner who he could make laugh and genuinely connect with. Kenjaku, likewise, wanted a new, novel phenomenon that could capture his attention and provide him with fulfilling mental stimulation. For just a few fleeting moments, the two of them complete each other and provide the other with what they've always wanted. As their fight draws to a close and they return to reality, there's a palpable camaraderie between them. In the last moments of their battle, Takaba thanks Kenjaku for giving him his dream performance. Kenjaku responds by telling Takaba what he's always wanted to hear—that he cracked him up.
