This is one of the most badass female characters in Shounen of all time.
Kugisaki Nobara has a violent fighting style, is extremely expressive with her emotions
and awesomely demonstrates that as a girl you can be both, beautiful and strong at the
same time. As the only female first year in a team with two guys, it's anything but a
surprise that many people have compared Kugisaki with the character, that she shares quite
a lot of these characteristics with, Sakura from Naruto.
However, while Sakura in many ways failed to become the strong female role model that
many wanted her to be, with Nobara Akutami managed to create an awesome female character,
that firmly stands side by side with Itadori and Megumi, is incredibly strong-willed and
is not merely reduced to being a love interest, but in contrary is probably the most hard-boiled
member of the trio. In other words, Kugisaki is what Sakura was supposed to be. A strong
female character that stands on equal ground with the two male leads.
This is accentuated by the fact, that Kugisaki, just like Gojo is extremely self-centered
and power-oriented. She actually shares a quite similar character arc to her sensei.
So, what exactly is Nobara's role in the story? How strong is she really? Why do Maki and
Mai have such an impact on her? And what is her major flaw as a character?
This is the story of Kugisaki Nobara.
Kugisaki, despite being part of the main trio in the story, has not really been assigned
a proper purpose in the story yet. Something, that Akutami does surprisingly often with
characters he introduces. In many cases, their role in the story only becomes clear much
later, or in some cases, in true Togashi fashion, the character simply remains a malleable wild
card. Since this is an anime only analysis, I won't give any examples, but the manga readers
will know what I mean.
Long story short, Nobara's role in the story, both in the manga and the anime is quite unclear.
She has escaped the pitiful fate of being a mere love interest to the main character,
and as Fushiguro and Itadori have a unusually positive relationship, also doesn't have to
play the role of moderator. She’s not someone with a grand goal that we can follow like
Maki, or someone driven by intense emotions like Yuji or Megumi. In other words, Akutami
still keeps Kugisaki's deeper role in the story hidden, that as part of the main trio
she will without any doubt get at some point, while at the same time giving her an absolutely
fantastic character arc and more and more moments in the story to shine. So, first,
you know what's up, let's take a closer look at her character arc and powers.
I would argue that Kugisaki, just like Fushiguro, is actually already plenty strong even in
the beginning of the story. And just like Fushiguro and Itadori, Nobara also has a very
interesting relation to death. Itadori is scared of death, but is more than prepared
to die to save someone else. Fushiguro generally seems a bit to eager to sacrifice himself
whenever he gets the chance. And Nobora, definitely doesn't want to die either, but also isn't
particularly scared of death. -
She doesn't mind injuring herself, or even dying, as long as she can pay her opponent
back for it enough. Fittingly, her cursed technique allows her to use nails and a straw
doll to attack the opponent from distance, inflicting pain and damage. She can also shoot
the nails from a distance and thus influence the environment around her.
As a very self-righteous person, Nobara doesn’t like it when good people get hurt, same as
Yuji, same as Megumi, but when she sees herself in the right she has no problem at all punishing
what she calls a “bad” person.
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The very first thing that becomes very obvious to anyone who encounters Nobara for the first
time, is her incredibly strong and straightforward personality. Quite in the manner of many MALE
Shounen characters, she wears her feelings and thoughts right on her sleeve. When she
is pissed, she says so. When she thinks something is cute, she says so. When she is grateful,
she says so. This straight-forwardness is both a strength and a weakness. And the best
scene to illustrate this central trait of her character, is this one here.
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You see, the irony here is not only that Nobara has an attack called sympathy, where she inflicts
pain on herself and her opponent, it's that she has close to no sympathy or empathy in
the first place. Which in a pretty messed up way is absolutely hilarious. While both
Itadori and Megumi suffer under the deep feelings of empathy they have for others, it's the
girl of the group that suffers from not having enough of it. What a nice twist. To spell
it out really quickly here, basically whenever Kugisaki ends up in a situation that requires
her to understand and relate to the feelings of another person, she wildly and often violently
rejects them. -
To understand why, lets look at how nobara approaches the central moral question of the
story. What makes a good life worth living? While both Itadori and Fushiguro make this
about others, Kugisaki, much like Gojo makes it mostly about herself. For her, living a
good life means being able to express herself freely, do what she likes and spend time with
the few people she sees as worthy. -
As always, I'm not saying that one is better or more appropriate than the other. JuJutsu
Kaisen kind of makes it a point, that most of these characters have valid and understandable
approaches to life. And for Nobara, escaping the village she grew up in and moving to Tokyo
ended up being her big goal, which was the reason she became a sorcerer in the first
place. Thus, Other than Yuji or Megumi she has already reached her goal. As a result,
her desire has now shifted from getting to Tokyo, to preserving the live she has wished
for and now gained.
And the way she approaches it, is the same as Gojo, strength. When you are strong, you
can shape the world around you, do what you want and keep those save that matter. Nobara
thus constantly balances two personas, her girly, feminine side, that is incredibly important
to her, as well as being a strong sorcerer and woman. This is wonderfully symbolized
by her weapon, a hammer with a pink heart on it. This duality of her character, that
I personally find incredibly cool and well-executed, is explored in great detail during her fight
with momo.
Momo holds the position that women in the Jujutsu world have to be perfect in order
to have a place in society. Perfect of Course in the most conservative and rigid sense of
the term. Now, I think you'll agree that Kugisaki standing up against this idea, is a very important
and impressive move. Yes, woman can be both, strong and beautiful and you shouldn't let
your life be determined by what society says. Life is not a job and you should be able to
be who you are.
The thing that Nobara doesn't consider however is, why Momo thinks so in the first place.
Momo has experienced all the unfairness and harsh expectations that her and the women
around her have faced in the Jujutsu society. She didn't come up with that view by herself,
it's the conclusion she has drawn from the suffering and struggle associated with being
a female sorcerer. But Nobara doesn't get it. No, not only does 't she get it, she doesn't
want to get it. When Momo tries to explain her thoughts, this is her reaction. - Not
having any empathy is the major flaw of her character.
Just like Gojo, Kugisaki is extremely convinced of herself and her worldview. While most other
characters, like Itadori or Nanami for instance don't have a lot of self-worth and are constantly
doubtful about their own actions and decisions, she sees herself as 100% righteous and 100%
correct.
And that is extremely ironic, because we know that Nobara hates nothing more than people
being judgey and full of predjudice, as happened with her childhood friend Saori. And yet,
there is almost no other character in JuJutsu Kaisen that is as closed-minded as her. The
very first time we meet her, the first thing she does is impose herself on a modeling recruiter,
which is especially funny because they are seen as pretty creepy and pushy in Tokyo.
So, Nobara immeaditley leaves a strong impression by creeping out the creep, establishing her
power and presence. Then, she proceeds to judge both Megumi and Yuji within the first
10 seconds of them meeting. - And she does that with everyone. Even though she really
wants to understand people she doesn't want to actually listen to what people have to
say and learn who they are.
This becomes especially clear in her relationship with Maki and Mai. Just like us viewers, the
first impression Nobara gets is that Maki is cool, confident and reliable, while Mai
seems to be cold, manipulative and hateful. In her own view, Maki is the good twin, and
Mai is the evil twin. Kugisaki respects Maki for her appearance as a strong woman, taking
her as a role model. Mai meanwhile is evil for taunting her sister for not having any
powers. And once again, she thinks she’s absolutely in the right because she’s defending
her friend Maki that she likes against a person she dislikes.
Again she fails to understand that both Maki and Mai are their own individual people with
their own problems. Mai never wanted to become a sorcerer, but simply wanted to have her
sister, the only real family she had, by her side. And that sister left her behind to defy
their family. As we learn, Mai simply wants attention from Maki. Maki of course has her
own struggles and chose her own path, but in the end she was the one who hurt Mai, not
the other way around. - Someone else tries to explain it to Nobara, but she tells Momo
to shut up. And so, in the end, while she is in the right when it comes to being a woman
and thus wins against momo, she fails to emphasize with Mai and ultimately looses the battle.
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Why is that? Now, Even in the Manga, we know surprisingly little about Nobara's past and
how she grew up. We do know however, that she always had a tendency to close herself
off to others, no doubt to shield herself.
Saying that Nobara doesn't feel empathy, does not mean that she can't, but that she actively
won't, since it makes her vulnerable. I think she is very well aware of her own emotions.
At her core, Nobara, just like Gojo really really cares. So much in fact, that in the
world of Jujutsu, where friends can be killed any moment, she tries to to protect herself
from experiencing that pain. We saw how she reacted to Saori leaving town, almost as if
she had passed away. The twist on her relationship with Saori was basically
that she was just a normal girl, that Nobara had a close relationship with and thus put
up on a pedestal. Similarly we know that both her and Megumi were in fact deeply hurt by
Itadori apparently passing away.
So her egocentric and un-empathetic approach to life aren't that surprising. But over the
course of her character arc, Kugisaki has to learn to What Nobara needs to learn is
to let her barriers down and just be more open around other people, listen to what they
have to say, and trusting that they’re not going to just stomp all over her. She can
remain a strong independent woman while at the same time forming real relationships.
And you can already see this happening as well. Compare how Nobara acts in her first
mission with Yuji, where she tires to do a solo run, with the cursed womb arc, where
she absolutely seamlessly fights in tandem with Itadori. Character development. This
is just an absolute exciting and fun female character, and I can't wait to see what role
she will play in the future of the story.
While Kugisaki is defined by speaking her mind, this guy here is known for speaking
his favorite onigiri ingredients. -
And yet, he is one of the most interesting and popular characters in the story, with
one of the most fascinating powers. So, Make sure to watch Inumaki's video ba clicking
right here. Thanks for watching. Peace.