Key findings

• Nobara Kugisaki returns in JJK Chapter 267, shocking fans and joining the fight against Sukuna with a powerful resonance technique.
• Nobara’s previous “death” in the Shibuya Incident Arc was a fake, setting the stage for her comeback in the Shinjuku Showdown.
• While Nobara’s return was necessary for the story, its implementation raises questions about the author’s decision-making and character development.

This article contains spoilers from Jujutsu Kaisen, Chapter 267.

Nobara Kugisaki is currently the biggest topic of conversation among fans, and that is because this incredibly exciting character has just returned to the story. Nabara is the heroine of JJKand a popular character who has gained many fans over the years. Unfortunately, Nobara was not involved in the story for quite a while as most fans believed she was killed in the Shibuya Incident Arc, which viewers and readers may well be aware of.

However, the recent turn of events in the manga has ensured that Nobara returns against all odds. Now it has been confirmed that Nobara is indeed alive and that she will play an extremely important role in the finale of the Shinjuku Showdown arc. Of course, regardless of how exciting the return is, it all boils down to whether this is a good writing decision by the author or whether the implementation of this return was poorly handled.

How Nobara “died” in Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shibuya arc

The death of Nobara Kugisaki occurred in the Shibuya Incident arc. Up until this point in the story, Nobara was pretty exciting and it’s safe to say that she was involved in pretty much every major plot point Jujutsu Kaisen. She fought against the special curses and finger wielders that were introduced to fans in the beginning, and later she even fought against the death images. Nobara showed that she was strong enough to build a great future for herself and become one of the strongest sorceresses.

Whatever potential she had, however, was completely destroyed by the author in the Shibuya Incident Arc, all for shock value. In her fight against Mahito, Nobara faced an incredibly difficult situation where her enemy used Idle Transfiguration on her. Part of her face was completely blown to pieces, leaving her doomed. Most fans believed that Nobara had essentially died and would never return to the story. However, the author was quite clever to point out that Nobara was not officially dead at this point.

Hey Itadori! Tell everyone it wasn’t that bad! – Nobara

The author had the character Nitta point out that while her chances of survival weren’t great, they weren’t zero either. This essentially meant that Nobara could be brought back to life and that Yuji didn’t have to give up hope. This message allowed Yuji to fight back against Mahito and eventually defeat him. After the events of the Shibuya Incident arc, Yuji confronted Megumi and talked about Nobara. The young member of the Zenin family quickly feigned silence, and Yuji took the message that Nobara had essentially died. This simply means that the author wanted to paint the picture that Nobara had been cut out of the story and missed by fans so he could fake a fake death.

Nobara Kugisaki’s return in the Shinjuku Showdown

• Nobara returned in JJK 267
• Nobara joins the fight against Sukuna

In the Shinjuku Showdown Arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, Fans saw many old characters return. For example, Todo managed to come back in this story arc and he delivered a pretty impressive performance against the King of Curses. Now, in Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 267, Nobara has also officially returned, which has shocked all the readers of the story. In JJK Chapter 267, Sukuna’s finger was seen in some kind of shrine. There, it was hanging from some strings, suggesting that some kind of ritual was about to be performed on it.

Meanwhile, in the main battle in Shinjuku, Sukuna finally saw Yuji’s finger and realized that the finger Rika had eaten was not his own, but Yuji’s. Since Rika doesn’t necessarily need Sukuna’s body part to access his technique, this method paid off. By eating Yuji’s finger and possibly making a vow of bonding, Yuta was able to access Sukuna’s technique thanks to Rika, and Sukuna was completely convinced in the meantime that his finger had already been consumed.

This finger was kept as an advantage over Sukuna in the meantime, and luckily Nobara is here for just that. In chapter 267 of Jujutsu Kaisen, Nobara finally awoke from her long sleep. It is said that just a few minutes after waking up, Nobara decided to go to the battlefield and look at Sukuna’s fingers. Even though Sukuna’s fingers are indestructible, that doesn’t mean Sukuna can’t be harmed with Resonance. Since Resonance only deals damage and a binding oath was used, Nobara was able to directly hurt Sukuna with her Resonance technique, and the fact that he staggered means Nobara has greatly improved his skills.

Now Kugisaki Nobara is officially back and will be teaming up with Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro to fight the King of Curses and defeat him for good. Things are going to get incredibly exciting from here on out and fans can’t wait to see more of Nobara. While fans are certainly very excited to see the conclusion of the story, the question remains whether Nobara’s return was handled well or not.

Was Nobara’s return a good literary decision?

Nobara definitely deserves to return to Jujutsu Kaisen

The question of whether or not Nobara’s return was handled well is quite complicated. Fans need to break this question down into two parts. First, one must understand that Nobara had to return in the story for it to make sense. If Gege had simply left her dead and given fans false hope in Shibuya while keeping her fate in limbo without ever giving them any confirmation, only to do nothing about it, then that would have been a terrible decision on the part of the author. By giving fans hope for her return, Gege was essentially saying that Nobara would be important at some point down the line. In that sense, Nobara’s return is a good decision on the part of the author. However, it is the execution of this decision that makes the series and the character of Nobara completely fail.

This is the girl’s cursed technique! This is bad! I can’t open my domain! – Sukuna

Of course, fans who love fighting and don’t watch the story any further will absolutely love this and just consume this as another spectacular event in this story. The problem, however, is that Nobara is completely cut out of the majority of the story and is only introduced four chapters before its end. To any reasonable reader, it just seems like the author had no ideas for this character, cut her out of the entire story and brought her back at the very end when he only needed to put in as little effort as possible to make her story halfway decent. Overall, Nobara may be a popular character, but her story was completely botched by the author and the decision to bring her back at this point is just beside the point.

If the author wanted to make Nobara’s character rich and special and do justice to the plot, he should have reintroduced her into the story a long time ago, perhaps near the beginning of the Shinjuku Showdown or during the Culling Game.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read officially and for free by fans on Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 268, is set for September 1, 2024.