Summary
This article contains spoilers from Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 267.
Nobara Kugisaki is the biggest talking point among fans right now, and that is because this incredibly exciting character has just made a return to the story. Nabara is the heroine ofJJK, and a beloved character who has amassed quite a lot of fans over the years. Unfortunately, Nobara was not involved in the story for quite a while, that is because most fans believed that shehad been killed off in the Shibuya Incident Arc, as watchers and readers would be well aware.
However, the recent turn of events in the manga has seen to it that Nobara returns, against all odds. Now, it has been confirmed that Nobara is well and truly alive and that she is going to be playing an extremely important role in the Shinjuku Showdown arc finale. Of course, regardless of how exciting the return is, everything boils down to whether this is a good writing decision from the author or if the execution of this return was handled poorly.
How Nobara “Died” In Jujutsu Kaisen In the Shibuya Arc
The death of Nobara Kugisakicame in the Shibuya Incident Arc. Up until this point in the story, Nobara was quite exciting and it is safe to say that she was somewhat involved in just about every major plot point inJujutsu Kaisen. She was seen fighting against the Special Grade Curses and finger bearers that fans were introduced to at the beginning, and later down the line, she even fought against the Death Paintings. Nobara showed that she was strong enough to carve out a great future for herself and become one of the strongest sorcerers.
However, whatever potential she had was absolutely destroyed by the author in the Shibuya Incident Arc, all for the sake of shock value. In her battle against Mahito, Nobara faced an incredibly difficult situation, where her enemy utilized Idle Transfiguration on her. A part of her face was completely blown to bits, 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 Nobara wasn’t officially dead at that point.
Hey Itadori! Tell everyone that it wasn’t so bad! – Nobara
The author had the character of Nitta point out that while the chances of her survival were not great, they were also not zero. This essentially meant that Nobara could be brought back to life and that Yuji did not have to lose hope. It was this message that allowed Yuji to fight back against Mahito, and eventually, defeat him. After the events of the Shibuya Incident Arc, Yuji confronted Megumi, and spoke of Nobara. The young member of the Zenin Family was quick to feign silence, and Yuji got the message that Nobara had essentially died. This simply means that the author wanted to paint the picture of Nobara having been cut out of the story and elude the fans so he could do a death fake-out.
Nobara Kugisaki’s Return In Shinjuku Showdown
In the Shinjuku Showdown ArcofJujutsu Kaisen,fans saw many old characters return. For instance, Todo managed to come back in this arc and he delivered quite an emphatic performance against the King of Curses. Now, in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 267, Nobara has officially returned as well, which has shocked all the readers of the story. In JJK chapter 267, Sukuna’s finger was seen in some sort of a Shrine. There, it was hung by a couple of strings, which implied that some sort of ritual was going to be performed on it.
Meanwhile, in the main battle in Shinjuku, Sukuna finally saw Yuji’s fingers, and he realized that the finger that Rika ate was not his own, but that of Yuji.Given that Rika doesn’t necessarily need Sukuna’s body partto access his technique, this method paid off. Eating Yuji’s fingers and possibly making a Binding Vow allowed Yuta to access Sukuna’s technique, thanks to Rika, and, meanwhile, Sukuna was fully led to believe that his finger had been consumed already.
Meanwhile, this finger was kept as an advantage against Sukuna, and thankfully, that is precisely what Nobara is here to do. Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 267 saw Nobara finally wake 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. Even though Sukuna’s fingers are indestructible, that doesn’t mean that damage can’t be dealt to Sukuna using Resonance. Since Resonance deals sole damage, and a Binding Vow was used, Nobara was able to hurt Sukuna directly with her Resonance technique and the fact that he was seen reeling meant that Nobara has leveled up in terms of skill greatly.
Now, Kugisaki Nobara is officially back, and she is going to team up with Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro in an attempt to fight off the King of Curses and defeat him for good. Things are going to be incredibly exciting from here onwards, and fans cannot wait to see more of Nobara. However, while fans are certainly very excited about the conclusion of the story, the question remains as to whether Nobara’s return was handled well or not.
Was Nobara’s Return A Good Writing Decision?
Nobara Definitely Deserved To Return To Jujutsu Kaisen
The question of whether Nobara’s return was handled well or not is quite a complicated one. Fans need to divide this question into two parts. Firstly, one needs to understand that Nobara needed to return to the story in order for it to make sense. Had Gege simply kept her dead and then given false hope to the fans in Shibuya, and at the same time, kept her fate in limbo without actually ever giving them a confirmation only to do nothing about it, then, it would have been a terrible writing decision from the author. By giving fans hope about her return, Gege essentially said that Nobara was going to be important at some point later down the line. In that sense, Nobara’s return is a good writing decision. However, it is the execution of this decision that fails the seriesand the character of Nobaracompletely.
This is the girl’s cursed technique! This is bad! I cannot open my domain! – Sukuna
Of course, fans who love fighting and don’t look at the story beyond that will be absolutely delighted by this and will simply consume this as yet another spectacular event that happened in this story. However, Nobara being completely cut off from the vast majority of the story, only to be introduced four chapters before it wraps up is the problem. To any sensible reader, it simply comes off as the author not having any ideas for this character, cutting her out of the entire story, and bringing her back at the very end, when he would just need to put in the least possible effort to make her story a half decent. Overall, Nobara might 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 justice to the plotline set up, she should have been reintroduced in the story long ago, possibly aroundthe beginning of either Shinjuku Showdown, or during the Culling Game.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 268, is set to be July 05, 2025.
