Existence Without Essence: Satoru Gojo

In this video essay, I dive into Gojo and his psyche. Spoilers for JJK until the end of the Shibuya Arc. One of the most tragic characters in the JJK world, what's shown in the anime for Gojo is BARELY scratching the surface of what he has to offer as a character...
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Tags (Ignore):
#satorugojo, #whokilledsugurugeto?, #whoisgetoinjujutsu kaisen?, #satorugojovssugurugeto, #aregetoandgojofriends?, #yutaokkotsuvssuguru geto, #jujutsukaisenmanga, #jujutsukaisenbrain, #jujutsukaisenprequel, #jujutsukaisen0, #jujutsukaisenexplained, #sugurugeto, #jujutsukaisenmovie, #jujutsukaisen ,#sugurugetodeath, #yutaokkotsujujutsukaisen, #yutaokkotsu, #sukuna, #gojovsgeto, #gojoandgeto, #gojo, #megumi, #megumifushiguro

[@momomomo__]

one thing that i love about the geto gojo kfc breakup is how geto was the only person to ever call him satoru. his name. not his clan. and geto, in that moment asks him if there's anything more to gojo other than his strenght. the one person who's ever seen gojo as a person is now thinking of his as simply the strongest. so what's the point of even letting others know him, if they'll just see him as his strenght eventually? it's briliant writing, it's essentially the catalyst for his self imposed loneliness.

[@valeriyav2149]

It's also interesting how Gojo still clings to the only time he was close to happiness and feeling accepted as just Satoru, not the pinnacle of the Jujutsu world - since meeting Geto until that fateful mission. It's to the point of him avoiding killing Geto for 10 years after he went rogue despite being the only one able to execute him and only doing it after Geto basically didn't leave him a choice (and he couldn't bring himself to destroy his body). He still calls Geto "his one and only best friend" in the present tense even after Geto died. The only times we've seen him emotionally vulnerable were when Geto left and when he saw Kenjaku using his body. And it always led to dire consequences. It's like losing that one deep connection (him becoming the strongest being one of the reasons for that) hurt so much, he just shut off resigning himself to be lonely at the top. Yes, he tells his students to become stronger than him but it seems it's more for them to have each other's back in the future and not be lonely like him. He doesn't really open up to anyone as if he gave up on this idea for himself - either because he thinks it's impossible or he's afraid to get hurt again. It's not coincident that his theory is "love is the strongest curse of them all".

[@blue-eclipse9365]

Gojo is half of the ideal Honored One. Sukuna is the other half of the ideal honored one. What I mean is Gojo emobodies the teacher and collectivism that comes with the teachings of Buddhism Sukuna embodies freedom from Desire and Virtue. He does what he wants when he wants and thus exists above all cause he alone stands above it all while Gojo would prefer to stand by others

[@francescovella1273]

This was a great video :) I would like to add my own thoughts to Gojo's existence: been labled as "The Strongest" has not only caused him to be distanced from relationships, but also of real actual purpose in sorcery. As stated in the manga by Kenjaku, in a fight Gojo is in his element when he is alone, because any other sorcerer, however strong, will only get in his way.But that wasn't true at one point in time, as Sugeru Gets was his equal, they TOGETHER were "The Strongest". When Gojo has his awakening with reverse cursed technique, and becomes way stronger than Geto, it is only at that point that he starts going on missions on his own, because at that point he alone had become "The Strongest". But I believe once Geto changed (which also was because Gojo had distanced himself for the aforementioned reason), Gojo truly realised how alone he had become and that he could not change this situation, perhaps for only the second time in his life after what happened with Riko Amanai. He, "THE Strongest", could not bring his only friend back. He could not change the jujutsu society, which pushed Geto to his extremes until he snapped. And now he had no one who he could look eye to eye, to be able to rest knowing that there is another sorcerer like him who can relate to being at the very top. In the manga the curse users in Shibuya, who's names I cannot remember, said they stopped doing whatever they wanted because they knew that Satoru Gojo was there, so no point trying. And I can imagine the same thing happened with many high level spirits like the disaster curses, who perhaps chose to not ever manifest knowing that HE was there. So Gojo's immense power probably wasn't even put to use, because he was so strong that it would be stupid to do so. With all the power in the world, he couldn't even put it to use like he wanted to. Perhaps these were the reason why he became a teacher: to change the jujutsu society, because he could not change it with his strength alone, and to perhaps find someone his equal, perhaps even dare I say surpass him. I think that's why he speaks so highly of Yuuta and Hakari to Kenjaku, why he tells Fushiguro he could be on his level, why he lets Yuji become a student and teaches him to fight instead of just having him sitting around eating fingers. I think it's why he wants to believe everything will be fine when he's trapped inside the Prison Realm, because for the first time ever he hopes the world won't be looking at him as the only one who can fix everything. For him to no longer be "The Strongest". Indeed, it is lonely at the top.

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Amazing comment, I agree with a lot of what you said here. The isolation caused by his strength, and the fact that even though he is the strongest he still wasn’t able to save Nanami or Nobara is definitely going to be interesting once he’s released from his seal.

[@francescovella1273]

@@dhruvj97_anime Definitely! I also believe that his inevitable fight with Sukuna will be very interesting, as he seems to be the only character who scales to him in this moment, and I think Sukuna will probably be even stronger than him when they fight. This could mean maybe Gojo will have to count on help from his students to beat Sukuna, or perhaps he will watch some of them be slaughtered by Sukuna as he's not strong enough to stop him 😬😬... Who knows, but I think that fight will be the climax of Gojo's character arc, and we will see whether he manages to make the changes he wanted to see in the world happen, or if the world will come crumbling down and leave him with nothing. Excited to find out :)

[@perdly420]

@@francescovella1273oh god i would really hate to break it to you (though you probably already saw)

[@francescovella1273]

@@perdly420 Yeah, I've already seen it by now. To see what I had commented about be put on paper by Gege is so satisfying, and at the same time bittersweet. He did talk about the loneliness of being The Strongest, and he did end up losing to Sukuna (although I'm not going to go into the power scaling). It was very much the climax of his character and, had the story been different, he would have won and continued being The Strongest. In the end Gojo has to leave it all up to his students, the ones he knew could really make a difference in the world. And for that to happen, for the story to go ahead, he had to die. There was unfortunately no other way for the balance in the world to change, and it's also why I believe he won't come back in this fight or after. I do believe though that at the end of the story, in perhaps the last chapter, we might see the birth of a new Six Eyes and Limitless user, a reincarnation of sorts of Gojo. This time hopefully though he will live in a world where he is not The Strongest, but has teachers from this New Generation (and perhaps some friends along the way) who will make sure he never feels that sort of loneliness ever again.

[@imonoluv7250]

Ever since chapter 212 I'm seeing more gojo videos being uploaded as his return is near

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Need to see him back 👀

[@mercuryneous4713]

i'm surprised you don't have five times the amount of subscribers you do right now. this video essay was concise, thought-provoking, and brings something new to the overall discourse within the JJK community. you've earned a subscriber from this video; keep up the great work and i'm certain that your popularity will soon match your proficiency.

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Thank you so much! I appreciate it a lot 🙂. Just gotta keep grinding videos out

[@rajaryan4424]

@@dhruvj97_anime you deserve it man

[@TheVeron]

gojo is op done right in my opinion he has all the power in the world yet he cant proctect anything dear to him

[@Gantaipao]

There is more Gojo KZbin Videos coming out than Gojo name mentioned in Manga since 3 years 🤣 WAHAHAHAHA..

[@itshydraz]

Great video! Very well paced and informative 👍 Can't wait for season 2 to release so we can see Shibuya animated.

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Thank you so much! Yeah I'm so excited for Star Plasma and Shibuya to get animated.

[@joschee5203]

Really great video essay! It connected lots of thoughts I had about the character in a coherent way. I especially liked the contextualization of the buddhist subtext. Thank you so much for your hard work!

[@jakazelenik1142]

Love this man good job

[@R7dman]

This was incredible bro great job 🙏🏽

[@nuggyfresh6430]

I can’t wait for Gege to finally reveal what he said to Geto before killing him (the part that was intentionally left in, but censored). I feel strongly that we’ll get to hear what he said, possibly at the very end of the series.

[@EvilChibiIggyII]

he already revealed it though, Gojo said "You are my best friend, my one and only." Gege says in an interview that Gojo says it in the movie. Gojo tells Yuta what he said when he gives him back his student ID.

[@sageoverheaven]

"We'll meet again some day." It's in the lyrics of Ao no Sumika by Tatsuya Kitani, which is the OP to Hidden Inventory's anime adaptation.

[@M0RNINGSTAR888]

this was a great video and im always glad 2 c people discovering new layers to gojos character since he seems to be misunderstood, imma sub so u better keep up the good work

[@michaelbraxton137]

Great video man

[@paavani1499]

Great video!! Love it

[@f.s.e3166]

Hey amazing video I've always though that for how complex and well written a series jjk is there are not enough analysis videos like this out there great job. Something to note is that existenatilist Jean-Paul Sartre, shares alot of the eastern ideas you described in your video. He states that existance precedes essence hence as you described, Gojo's never really had a seperation between his essence and his existance as his existance is strength and others define his essence as his strength. Perhaps thats why he has such high hopes for his students as he's hoping that they can take the mantle of strongest and he can finally start looking for his true essence. Thanks for the video man hope you do more on JJK i think there's room for allot of disscussion on characters.

[@ernslvr]

this is AMAZING

[@blue-eclipse9365]

Perhaps within the Prison Realm, he like Buddha before him meditated and achieved enlightenment

[@jamaalharmon6305]

Jesus is the way.

[@Tuntum1804]

I liked this analysis a lot, you should talk about jjk more, make more videos in general!

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Thank you so much! I’ll definitely try to make more jjk stuff, and the next video should be out soon

[@Tuntum1804]

@@dhruvj97_anime good to hear!

[@sultanfalah9240]

Thanks for analyzing the guy that looks like me appreciate it mate 👍

[@terrellthegoat5919]

Hey complete side bar comment. 7:57 now I know why the SCP team called Samsara is called that. Your definition matched them perfectly and I always wondered what the team name meant. Thank you!!

[@blue-eclipse9365]

Great video btw. As a story teller who’s fond of Buddhism, great philosophy based video

[@inoreviews1]

Lub you Dhruv keep up the great work

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Appreciate you brotha

[@James_baxte.r]

Whats a dhruv

[@romulorafael5563]

Amazing video man, I don't think thou that the Gojo enlightenment was fake, in jjk be strongest is to be alone, this is the price that you pay, not caring with the others neither with your identity, so Gojo enlightenment wasn't fake, he just realize that being strongest isn't sufficient

[@Chessheromusic]

It's likely that kenjaku was setting geto up To take Tons of negative thoughts and energy Exercising tons of them

[@romulorafael5563]

I liked of you perspective on gojo identity being void

[@semekiizuio]

I like what you mention of his false enlightenment through drunken by CE power, viewed only by his title going forward and the soltude it brought. How unfortunate he never saw his students see him more than "the strongest" but as their mentor teacher and to Yuuta and Yuuji much more than that. To Megumi a complex but nonetheless acknowledgement of their relationship. In the anime I didnt like that the eye wasnt a void but at least the animation was well done. Still sad this mini arc of him wasnt really fullfilled, instead it was fulfilled by removing him the title of "the strongest" through Sukuna but not because of the people around him. Just for once not being alone, now with the people who he can stand besides with and recognize as equals in some ways.

[@CultivateAwareness]

Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall his return.

[@Dstryrr]

Post 236 spoilers: It really pissed me off how people said Gojo's final moments "assassinated his character" when it did not at all. It built Gojo's true character more than anything. Gojo uses his confident self as a mask around his students and other people. His power seperated himself from others which he himself says in his dying moments. Fighting against Sukuna tore off the mask Gojo wore and allowed him to actually show off his true personality. He's not enlightened, he's human. He gets off to using his power, he loves it, he's just like Sukuna and Kashimo. It's only when he is killed that he is able to admit this fact. I think this is even paralleled by Toji's death where Toji only thought of Megumi and Megumi's mother. Even a man who had purposefully pushed himself away from everyone in his life, someone as close to complete loneliness still thought of the only two people he loved as he died. Gojo, who had pushed himself to a similar kind of loneliness by his own admission, he thought of those he was closest to in life as his final moments went by

[@lusonatuga5741]

This leads me to wonder, how does Gojo see other people? The same way they see him? For their potential and power? Does he also put labels on people?

[@ss-wv4xv]

*MANGA SPOILERS* Really great video, especially with 236 in retrospect, I would love to hear your thoughts on that chapter. I think there's still so many different ways for Gojo's character to go, whether in posthumous characterization from the people left behind to carry out his legacy, or if he chooses to "go north" or "go south". He died lonely, tragic, unenlightened, and ultimately deeply human, with the burden of strength shaping his attachments and entanglements with his identity and the world. Will he ever achieve true enlightenment?

[@decadesyearoldthingsreview6595]

Okuyasu Nijimura from Jojo part four if he would not be a dummy

[@WhiskeyJackRake]

🤞🏼👍🏼

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Appreciate you brotha

[@gindokusei4712]

Great video Dhruv, maybe add some music though.

[@gindokusei4712]

That’s just my personal preference

[@st-oy3mz]

noice

[@lucasroman6510]

0:45 "gojo within the manga...." Gojo within most of the manga: 📦

[@maisthatsdenzel]

Drop another JJK vid

[@tasiashiraori]

I always thought Gojo acting like an idiot to make everyone around him, especially his friends and students, didn't feel intimidated. He desperately try to make everyone see him as Gojo Satoru, not The Strongest Sorcerer

[@lindsfreey9080]

This same video concept already made a dozen times over, and a dozen times better 😷 kinda just rehashing what's already been said at reduced quality

[@wyvrix5421]

bros tryna be aleczandxr so bad 😭 but fr add some ost to your videos i think it’ll make ‘em better

[@zerowhq2384]

i disagree

[@dhruvj97_anime]

Same

[@ridwanabdi7503]

Can we be honest he is not the strongest jujutsu in the history he the strongest modern era

[@Truly.Quincho]

No, Gege has stated multiple times that Gojo is the strongest, narratively there is no one above him Gege has also said himself his reasoning for even hating Gojo is because he made him the “perfect human.”

[@ArcDeity]

You right its takaba

[@vladraduandrei5227]

@@ArcDeity -=))))) no

[@vladraduandrei5227]

who said that ? where is that said ? gojo s only rival is sukuna, none of these old great sorcerers that we see in the culling games are even close to gojo. You re just deluded and a hater/ sukuna fanboy most likely. Gojo is THE STRONGEST.

[@enitsirkgemps6266]

it was stated by the mangakantaht he was the strongest if im not mistaken and so far in the manga,it was said the he only use a small percent of his power .so asidr from his DE and six eyes . for sure he stillnhas something under his sleeves