Warning: This Article Contains Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen

In Jujutsu Kaisen, one character’s apparent death is, for some reason, kept absurdly vague. Nobara Kugisaki met her alleged end in the Shibuya Incident, after Mahito used Idle Transfiguration to mutilate her face and rip an eye out. However, there’s never been an explicit statement that Nobara is in fact dead. She is almost certainly dead, given how much of the manga there is left for her to appear in, but Gege Akutami just refuses to give closure to her.

It’s become one of the most frustrating plot points of the series, especially as it heads towards a finale. Despite starting the series as one of the ‘main trio’ alongside main protagonist Yuji Itadori and their fellow sorcerer in training Megumi Fushiguro, her unclear death seems to be completely blown off after the fight that immediately ensues afterward. She does get some brief mentions, but is largely brushed off.

Why Gege Akutami would do this is unclear. Perhaps they had intended for her to return at some point, but time is running out for Nobara to do such a thing. Even if she were to return now, it may be a case of too little too late.

Evidence that Nobara Is Not Actually Dead

Some Fans Cling to Hope Yet

As mentioned, Nobara was never actually said to be dead. Immediately before Yuji and Todo go to fight Mahito and avenge Nobara, another training sorcerer named Arata Nitta is there too. Arata has a weak sort of reverse curse technique that doesn’t patch wounds, but stops them from getting worse. He explicitly tells Yuji that she might not be dead, but to not get his hopes up. To a reader, this will read ninety-nine percent of the time that a character is in fact not dead and will likely recover.

Nobara was the second victim of Mahito in the Shibuya Incident – the first being Kento Nanami, who was completely destroyed by the curse. In comparison, her injuries are not really too terrible. Characters losing eyes is also a fairly common occurrence in all kinds of media, so thinking she’d still return was not as overly hopeful as one would think. However, when Yuji meets up with Megumi following the Shibuya Incident, he asks about Kugisaki, only to get a sad glance downwards from his friend in response. Nobara doesn’t ever appear again. She is also barely ever mentioned again.

Gege Akutami Still Has to Follow Up

Kugisaki Goes Forgotten in the Rest of Jujutsu Kaisen

Bizarrely, Nobara is almost completely neglected to be as much as mentioned after Yuji asks about her. Now this may seem obvious – if a character is dead, after all, characters aren’t going to sit around moping over it, especially in a manga as fast-paced as Jujutsu Kaisen. However, the characters who should be discussing her death just don’t talk about it. The most egregious case of all is when Satoru Gojo is finally freed from the Prison Realm.

Gojo had been Nobara’s teacher, and while they didn’t have a deep relationship, it’d be expected that Gojo would say something about her death. Gojo does speak of the death of Nanami. But Nobara goes unmentioned. Given Nanami had a fairly informal relationship with Gojo, being friends but not really interacting at length, it’s outright bizarre that his student’s death is brushed off in lieu of Nanami. Unless, of course, Nobara isn’t dead, but for all intents and purposes, she may as well be.

The One Time Nobara Is Actually Mentioned

Kugisaki Gets a Single Reference

To Gege Akutami’s credit, they did give one mention to Nobara later in to the manga. It’s in comparison to another character, Hana Kurusu, who is the host of the ‘Angel’ the protagonists had been looking for since the Culling Games began. Yuji mentions he was worried that she would replace Nobara in their ‘trio.’ This is thus far the last reference to Nobara in Jujutsu Kaisen. Perhaps Hana’s lack of relevance following the Culling Games is what Yuji was referring to, as both she and Nobara are contributing about the same to the plot right now.

Hana doesn’t even really get a chance to replace Nobara. She’s introduced alongside a slew of other sorcerers whipped up into the Culling Games, and doesn’t get much development otherwise. Megumi helped her when they were both younger, but that aside, there’s very little given about her or the ‘Angel.’ While it unfortunately makes sense that Hana is intended to replace Nobara in the trio, this is never built on. The plot quickly removes Megumi from the picture afterward, dashing any hope of a new trio forming properly.

Nanami Gets a Legacy, Nobara Does Not

Nanami’s Death Was More Consequential than Nobara’s

Nanami’s death, however, is followed up on. As mentioned, Gojo pays his respects to the Sorcerer, but more important is the fact his cursed technique and tool were combined. The iconic cloth-wrapped blade was imbued with his ‘weak spot’ technique, and was entrusted to Nanami’s close associate Takuma Ino. This is a satisfying follow-up and delivery to his death, so even though he had been obliterated by Mahito, Nanami was still helping out in some way from beyond the grave.

Nobara, as the header above states, did not receive such an honor. Despite her Straw Doll technique being unique and interesting in its own right, the hammer-wielding sorcerer goes forgotten. Given Itadori received a number of other power ups prior to the ongoing final battle, such as Blood Manipulation, Yuji getting a Straw Doll that replicates Nobara’s technique could’ve been a perfect way to show how he will carry on her legacy. But no such tool was given to Yuji, adding another question mark to her status.

Another Sorcerer’s Reappearance Could Implicate an Imminent Return

Nobara Could Still Come Back

While a long shot, Jujutsu Kaisen did very recently bring back one character who had been gone almost as long as Nobara, Aoi Todo. Todo had been grievously wounded in his fight with Yuji against Mahito, losing a hand and scorching his remaining one. As Todo needs to clap to activate his technique, his career as a sorcerer should’ve been over. But he returned with a new way to activate his technique in Chapter 260, mentioning “resonance”, which is also the name of Nobara’s cursed technique. Todo’s return could then be a tease of Nobara’s surprise comeback.

However, Jujutsu Kaisen is coming very close to its conclusion. With so little left to go, fans might see her return being contrived. Todo had already proven to be an adept sorcerer, but Nobara only showed promise comparatively, so for her to keep up she’d have to grow stronger offscreen. That’d be a very unsatisfying way to make her relevant again. As it stands, Nobara‘s death and the utter ambiguity and the consistent refusal to follow up on it from Gege Akutami have culminated into a frustrating plot point that will possibly never be resolved satisfyingly before Jujutsu Kaisen ends.