Jujutsu Kaisen fans are wrong about the biggest issue with Nobara's return

Modified Jan 23, 2025 14:30 GMT

Jujutsu Kaisen made a fatal mistake with Nobara's return (Image via MAPPA)

Jujutsu Kaisen is a series that has received a lot of criticism since its conclusion and perhaps one of the most controversial decisions was the return of Nobara Kugisaki.

A portion of the readership felt that the character was brought back too late into the story, and wasn't given the right amount of time to shine, but there is a major aspect of her return that wasn't criticized— and that is not having her meet her friend Saori.

When Nobara was apparently taken out by Mahito during the Shibuya Incident arc, there was a flashback of her childhood and becoming friends with Saori, with the latter eventually moving from their hometown to Tokyo where the sorcerer would eventually go in the manga.

The Jujutsu Kaisen ending could have given them a reunion instead of having Nobara meet her mother, which, didn't really add anything to the story.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a publication.

Nobara's friend Saori should have reunited with her in the Jujutsu Kaisen ending

Saori as seen in the second season of the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Nobara Kugisaki didn't have a lot of characterization in the series, with her backstory— moments before being taken out by Mahito— working as the sole scene focused totally on her and her motivations. It gives context to her friendship with Saori and how Nobara decided to live her life, but author Gege Akutami never gave them a chance to reunite despite the two of them living in Tokyo.

Within the context of Nobara's apparent death against Mahito in Shibuya, this scene worked as a tragedy where Saori would never meet her friend again, but when considering that the sorcerer does return at the tail end of the Shinjuku Showdown arc, it seems like a wasted opportunity.

That is more notorious when considering that Akutami dedicated a few pages of the epilogue to Nobara meeting her mother.

Nobara's encounter with her mother doesn't add anything to her character or the story because the latter was, for all intents and purposes, a non-factor in the series. While the sorcerer meeting Saori wouldn't fix how neglected she was by Akutami, it would at least provide an emotional moment that would end her short story in the series, and give something more meaningful to fans of her character.

The many failures of Nobara's character

Nobara as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

Even though Nobara Kugisaki was introduced as part of the main Jujutsu Kaisen trio, alongside Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro, she was grossly misused and wasted throughout the vast majority of the story. Not only because she wasn't connected to any major storyline in the manga, but also due to her being removed from most of the series.

A lot of fans theorized that she wasn't killed by Mahito and was going to return to fight Ryomen Sukuna in the final arc, which ultimately proved to be the case, but it begs the question of whether that was the right way to go or not. Nobara simply doesn't do much in the story and her return didn't elevate her character in any shape or form. because there wasn't any time left in the manga. Some felt she was better off dead.

Final thoughts

Nobara reuniting with Saori in the Jujutsu Kaisen ending would have probably been a tender moment and something that would have made her return a bit more enjoyable for fans of the character. However, it was a wasted opportunity, which adds to the disappointment of this series' conclusion.

Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay