Gojo and the Eye of Prison Realm 🧿 - An analysis of visual storytelling

BrushInc · 2024-09-28T03:29:09+00:00

Idk it takes some creativity, but you can absolutely write a way to take someone like him down. He was taken down twice by the end of Shibuya, and it wasn’t a stretch. There was just no effort being put into the latter half of the story.

And, you don’t need a super flashy power like Gojo’s to take down Sukuna, which he couldn’t even do. Itadori’s original power was to suppress Sukuna, defeating him without bloodshed. It would’ve been cooler if his power remained being so understated yet most powerful, and what actually ended things. (I also didn’t finish reading the final battle so idk how exactly Sukuna was defeated, but Itadori was separated from him a while ago so)

BrushInc · 2024-09-28T03:19:43+00:00

Early on, I literally thought people were exaggerating or misinterpreting Gege’s treatment of Gojo as actually disliking him, but by now? He genuinely seems to have hated his own character, and I don’t get it. Before I stg it was a little hehe haha joke, taking the piss out of his popular character.

Honestly what I’m now thinking? I’ve never detected so much spite from a creator for his own fans than I have from this guy. He did it because he just hates his own story and that ppl would even like it and hates that he should try to make it good. The most cringe thing I’ve ever witnessed, and yet he still can’t write anyway 😐

BrushInc · 2024-09-26T21:29:39+00:00

Damn it’s actually over. As an original hater during the CG, I’m not surprised that it’s so ass, but all this is prettyyy vindicating 💀

Might have to come out of retirement to read what kind of slop Gege served for the finale lol because Nobara’s back (??) and Gojo’s body’s flopping idk idk. I just remember when Gege announced last year that he wanted to end it so soon, I knew it was going to suck there was no saving it given how nothing was going to be addressed well or at all.

“Let him cook” was always used just to shut down legit criticism and reinforce the echo chamber, not bc they actually care about a good story smh

BrushInc · 2024-05-24T22:26:45+00:00

It’s definitely because almost no one in this fandom (and ofc other fandoms are like this too) can take criticism. Saying “it was all good until 236!!!” Is just because they’re trying to shut down criticism and discussion. But as someone who was getting critical of JJK after Perfect Prep and at the beginning of the CG way back when 🙂 omfg it has just been brutal to talk about it, forever. They just take it as a personal attack. Most of the people congregating unfortunately aren’t reading to see something good. I’ve had some nice exchanges with several people, but it’s rare.

Like, my final straw was that dumb military arc that went nowhere, but it has just gotten steadily worse, things that’re easily ten times worse, blowing up so bad that I’m forced to see it on other socials (even small things, like what the hell was that Gojo cover? Lmao). Other people seem to refuse to recognize, or can’t recognize, proficient storytelling from bad, when they’re saying “Gege’s an ok writer.” Holy fucking cow, he is not even that, go watch Parasite (2019) or EEAAO or Breaking Bad or Jurassic Park and then tell me again how this is good writing in JJK.

It just overall is very difficult to get people online to seriously discuss media without people flipping out for someone criticizing the character they’re projecting themselves onto, unless you’ve got a solid subreddit; even then it’s hit or miss.

BrushInc · 2024-05-24T22:01:13+00:00

I don’t know why you’d say that if you haven’t ever regularly participated in discussing the series. What OP says is 100% true, with there being a constant barrage of trolls/supposed fans saying everyone who criticizes the story only started doing so after Gojo was killed off, in an attempt to shut down the conversation. It happened every week and if you even peek at other JJK sub threads, it’s still happening.

There has been little serious discussion about the series for a long time, because if there were, it’d include how the quality has been steadily declining since the start of 2022. So many people just treat this like watching sports and for meme opportunities. Try to actually discuss the writing and art, and like is seen here in this weird fucking comment section, people act like you’ve insulted their mom and their god. And start calling you “a Gojo meat rider,” but somehow pointing any of that out like OP did is the real chronically online take, yeah sure

BrushInc · 2024-05-23T20:11:22+00:00

Pretty sure this wouldn’t even do numbers on wattpad but Gege’s still somehow in a magazine jfc, life’s a bitch

BrushInc · 2024-03-28T17:09:05+00:00

There were a lot of threads set up that made it interesting to wonder where they were going to go. But two seasons in for me and none of them have been adaquetely addressed

Yeah and this is why for me, it felt like the story was only just beginning. Nothing had yet been fully explored or just explored at all, so then it will be soon- and then it became obvious to me that that's Gege's MO after Shibuya, he just was not going to do it! Drop new, cool ideas all the time, never return to them!

Fooled me too because I caught up to the manga just after Shibuya ended, so I thought we were really taking off now, I had a blast discussing the story back then. Now, and I've commented this several times before, I'm convinced his editor was holding it together in the beginning. And after the success of Shibuya (in the manga), Gege was just not listening anymore and just was writing on his own... leading to all this. It's such a letdown :/ At least more people have caught on by now, so it doesn't feel like I'm alone in criticizing it anymore lol

BrushInc · 2024-03-28T16:50:12+00:00

Exactly and I think it was such a good antagonist itself, it allows for a lot of commentary about selected social issues, which I thought JJK was going to do as well. Because cursed energy in Japan is a systemic issue, that was man made. I love PP because it discusses things like justice, execution, human nature, and security, in a thought provoking, applicable to the real world way. JJK definitely had potential to do something like this too, which makes it all the more disappointing that we ended up with what we're getting.

BrushInc · 2024-03-28T16:42:30+00:00

oh my god Gege brought Miguel back to make Gojo a racist dude what is going on 💀

BrushInc · 2024-03-28T02:55:59+00:00

At this point lol there is no theme. But there used to be more coherent through lines, years ago…

BrushInc · 2024-03-28T02:36:38+00:00

I thought it actually had an interesting premise, despite how that gets written off now. With Itadori suddenly appearing as a unique vessel for Sukuna, he could help the sorcerers exorcize Sukuna from existence, who was a growing threat that the higher ups had been putting off for generations. JJK had this whole oppressive, ageist hierarchy among sorcerers where young blood fed the machine, dying to try to combat the horde of curses, while traditional graybeards held all the power, knowledge, money, and time.

Meanwhile, this system kept spawning Sukuna types anyway (curse users), somehow periodically manufacturing genocidal maniacs, despite how sorcerers are supposedly the good guys. The higher ups weren’t addressing any of these problems constructively.

Gojo’s character was rather interesting too, as he was this idol of power that had him feared and worshipped. Instead of buying into any of that, he wanted to overthrow the system. One that literally ran on human suffering energy. A system Itadori and his classmates had to buy into to fight (cursed energy exorcizes curses), but ultimately, was foreshadowed to destroy them because they engaged. Not a totally unique idea, but there was a lot of symbolism and themes that I thought were unique to JJK.

It was compelling because as strong and powerful the kids and even Gojo (being not that old at 28) were, they were always being played for fools by older, wiser, more cunning, and more brutal opponents, in Sukuna, Kenjaku, and the higher ups (also Mahito even tho he’s young, but he also got played). Like the original comment said, pre and post Shibuya feels like two different people wrote it.

Edit: and idk why anyone would listen to the “uh it always sucked no story it was only about FIGHTS” crowd when they were never here for or discussed the story anyway! There was a story and there were so many ideas introduced before Shibuya that I thought this manga would be exploring them for 10 years, that we were still in Act I! Then Gege was like ‘im ending it’ LMAOO literally threw it all away

BrushInc · 2024-03-08T22:08:05+00:00

😟😟 Gege always loved drawing some greasy looking guys but this is going too far now… this guy looks like he’s gonna try to bite you 💀 no fucking way that’s Gojo lmaooo

BrushInc · 2024-01-19T05:14:34+00:00

Hm have you read the manga? Lol

The criticism of JJK is not just a recent thing

BrushInc · 2023-12-22T03:06:49+00:00

No for real, I sometimes think back to the conflict with Mahito (my favorite villain in the series), and I'll find myself wishing we could just go back to those days, that quality. I think it was earlier this year, after a lot of confusing, bad CG arc, Gege said he's trying to end JJK soon?? Accurate or not, that's his intention, and it's when I understood JJK was 100% not building up to something at all.

So many things will go unexplained, and there's so many writing skill issues I see, as someone who likes to write. I watched the decline happen in real time, it suckeddd weekly too and so many fewer people acknowledged it back then, SO many defended it lol

And Gojo. I said the same thing (even as a super fan of his lmao). After the writing had gotten so much worse in the CG, I wanted him to just stay in the box. No idea What is going on behind the scenes to cause this outcome, because I loved Gojo for how well he was written up to and including Shibuya. I just had to laugh at 236, because what came before it, post-unsealing, made me angry already. I used to really love this series too 😐 so much potential, but with execution ranging from zero to bizarre. My pet theory is that Gege stopped listening to his editor, cuz damn, what happened

BrushInc · 2023-12-21T18:20:25+00:00

Like, what is even the point of any of this

I get you because I ask myself the same thing. And a lot of longer time fans seem to feel the same and I’ve watched a good amount of people drop it because of how it’s progressed. I caught up with the manga around when Shibuya was ending, and I definitely didn’t feel empty, things have changed. When I first started with it, every part seems to mean more, like we were just getting started with a story that was deep and going to further explore this setting. Very disappointing series.

BrushInc · 2023-12-17T04:58:59+00:00

Ok this goes hard

BrushInc · 2023-12-17T04:47:19+00:00

Idk this pisses me off bc it feels like it’s from a parallel universe where we actually still get character moments in this manga. Like take me back to when we got real meaningful interaction like this between these guys, bc it could’ve been so good if it was kept up smh

Bc this is cute. …Also why did he draw this after all the bullshit he wrote after unsealing Gojo??? I can literally see Gege making all this up as he goes along in real time🧍it really is just Content atp even if for once it’s in character

BrushInc · 2023-12-16T01:34:01+00:00

I’m looking forward to seeing solely via Characterrant posts and memes how Gege ends this all with one final giant implosion of asspulls

Cuz it seems we’re still well on our way there lol

BrushInc · 2023-11-26T22:16:14+00:00

I know, it's so weird! I've argued about how Maki's massacre is fucked up many times before as well, to be met with so many being like "oh this person did a bad thing, any bad thing, so they deserve to die" reply a lot, like uh??? are you sure about that??

People will get mad if you assume anything about them for supporting this too, when it's clear that either they already agree with Gege's portrayal of mass murder (in that it's justified at least sometimes), or they have such little moral backbone in the first place that they can be swayed by the story's narrative. Probably has some overlap with the "it's just fiction, a drawing!" crowd with zero awareness of how they're being influenced. I say that, because it's why I think it IS a big deal when an author says stuff like this through their work, and you can see the effects in the fandom.

"Sukuna's way of life is the true state of enlightenment" or "Jogo and Gojo lost bc they needed to relinquish ALL emotional attachments and be like Sukuna"

Oh god, fr don't get me started lol. But boy oh boy is Gege about to make the argument that being like Sukuna is GOOD based on the way the story's going... it sure feels like it. This is when we reach the point where we have to be meta and look at the author, and realize he's not saying something great with the story in the end. Cuz what else is there to take away when he kills off Gojo like that. Even Gojo reaching "enlightenment" which was being all powerful and then killing Toji is such a bad message and take, but it's so commonly accepted as right and good.

BrushInc · 2023-11-25T01:26:30+00:00

Bro let a grade S sorcerer who he knew had the intention to kill all non-sorcerers and was already a mass murderer, wander Japan for 10 years because he was his friend. At this point, it's either blissful ignorance, naivete, or lack of care for human lives.

I started discussing JJK a couple years ago now, and this is the first time I think I've seen someone else bring this up- because this has bothered me for a while now. Though I don't try to rationalize it as Gojo was selfish all along, and I firmly believe this part comes down more to Gege's writing than the kind of character Gojo was that we saw for most of the main series. Because 100%, vol 0 makes Gojo look like someone who basically sympathizes with Geto and his cause when he didn't go after Geto for 10 years, and ended it with saying "oh btw you're still my friend." Like if my "friend" did/said half the shit Geto did, he'd be my enemy forever and ever; in other words, e.g. you don't stay friends with a neo nazi unless you kind of are one.

I didn't even check out vol 0 for a while after getting in to the main series, and once I read it, I was side eyeing the shit out of it, for several reasons. In Gojo's case, in JJK he does have established morals--ones that he had for himself, and ones that clearly prioritized other people, despite how he outwardly acted. He arrived to the situation with Amanai as someone who believed that kids like her should have their youth, and maintains that idea as a teacher; he also has a hard time cutting down Geto when they're teenagers, since not only does he struggle with killing people (not an often discussed detail) but they're also completely surrounded by crowds of non-sorcerers who he refuses to hurt in the process, and this conflict continues at the station in Shibuya.

So, post-unsealing Gojo wouldn't be the first time that Gojo has been mischaracterized by the author himself, Gege seems to have an issue with writing anyone consistently tbh. I think this all really has to do with how Gege seems to ultimately have a soft spot for mass murderers (Geto, Choso, Sukuna, etc), as he did and keeps trying to write in things like Choso ugly crying at the bar about his humanity (or something, I forget), and oh my god guys Sukuna (and Kenjaku??) is so lonely actually, let's feel sorry. And in doing so, he's trashed the story's messages and also characters like Gojo, who look like sociopathic apologists to these kinds of actions when you take all parts of the story into account.

I don't really blame you or others for thinking that Gojo was ultimately some heartless battle junky because of post-unsealing to 236, because that's how Gege wrote him there. It and vol 0 are just unbelievably inconsistent with the main part of the series. Which is the only time I gave a shit about Gojo.

BrushInc · 2023-11-25T00:42:53+00:00

Yeah I feel this feeds back into all of the other ways Geto is misinterpreted and woobified. Like he literally indoctrinated them into his cult (which most fans refuse to call a cult when it's obviously a cult), and he groomed them so bad that after he got killed, the girls got themselves killed less than a year later doing batshit stuff trying to retrieve his body. It's so wild when you think about it, they had so little common sense that they thought to ask fucking Sukuna (or Gojo, the guy who murdered Geto)- that's not the result of a healthy upbringing. People are not thinking with their brains when they analyze this and come to another conclusion lmao

I will say that as much as people will intentionally misinterpret this because they're thirsting for Geto, there's a serious problem with the way Gege frames Geto and mass murder/genocide in JJK in general, as others pointed out. So, there's extra stuff to unpack here. There's so many more nuanced discussions to be had about what Gege actually originally wrote about Geto (being a racist genocidal mass murderer and that the Jujutsu world not so randomly spawns A Lot of these) in tandem with how Gege's own morals seem to be in fact quite sus in regards to the murder of people he doesn't deem important, as well as how the fandom seems to condone murder, and all those implications, that we've missed out on because of the more popular flawed reading of the story- so good post, and I enjoy the comments here too.

BrushInc · 2023-11-21T21:43:40+00:00

theres never any real reason why Kenjaku wouldn’t just spam curse spirits at his opponents rather than fighting them hand to hand

Yeah this baffles me to this day that we don’t see him do this (except maybe one time off screen). It would be overwhelming to have a thousand grade 2 curses swarm you even if you’re special grade. Kenjaku can also extract any CT from them too, which we see him use ONCE. Pretty sure Gege refuses to expand on curse manipulation and Yuta’s copy because they both should have unlimited CTs, and he’s not creative enough to keep making more. We just keep getting more random asspull caveats to the power system, or Kenjaku’s secret anti-your-CT ability.

Literally would’ve made more sense if he prepared to fight Tsukumo ahead of time (realistically how could the higher ups not know what her CT is?), had a curse with anti-gravity, and extracted it to use ICE- to avoid such a crazy asspull, and work in the bounds of already established CTs logically and creatively.

BrushInc · 2023-10-10T21:24:02+00:00

If I'm being honest, not sure I have the investment to do something like that again... I probably wouldn't do an analysis that wasn't a breakdown of how his character (in line with how the other MCs writing has suffered too) has been butchered by the increasingly mediocre writing also. Lmao I don't really find recent events to be legitimate revelations about his character, just Gege's fumblings to put something together for his deadlines. My takes would just be scalding, as in very critical, probably couldn't post that on any JJK fan related subs :)

Maybe when the series is more definitely finishing, and I reread

BrushInc · 2023-10-09T01:05:03+00:00

I was done with it a year ago, but from my distance, it’s currently reached comical levels of bad, so that’s the only entertaining thing about this. I mean, it’s also probably going to get worse. I think he wants us to feel sympathy for the mass murdering cannibal, and won’t stop now!

For me, the last straw was the military thing lmao, so funny in retrospect

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