Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 253 - Spoilers & Discussion

[kingRoXaS]

Lol nah, JJK is the antithesis of FT. Ain’t nothing like each other

True but I guess he meant the story going towards the end, how the story was treated, dragging

 

[Uriel]

The writing of JJK has been mid throughout. Both the heroes and the villains lack any motivation or pathos that resonates strongly with the audience.

They do not lack motivation. You may not like their motivations, but there they are. Curses are, by definition, motivated by their existence. We had plenty of flashbacks for each character (In a trope-reversal, usually when they are close to death) and what motivates them.

Sukuna, on the other hand, does not need motivation. He's at the summit. The rest is "pulled" towards him. So He's reactionary rather than anything else. You could argue that resurrection is his goal but I wouldn't say that.

True but I guess he meant the story going towards the end, how the story was treated, dragging

I feel it's rushing if anything else

 

[Franz]

Quite interesting, I don't think Maki has been taken out yet.

I think this is obvious.

 

[Uriel]

I think this is obvious.

Maybe. It's Sukuna and it was a black flash.

 

[Franz]

Maybe. It's Sukuna and it was a black flash.

I think we would have seen if it was a kill shot.

 

[Zehahaha]

As of now Maki and Yuta are alive, although Yuta in a much worse shape based on Maki’s words

 

[lexx]

They do not lack motivation. You may not like their motivations, but there they are. Curses are, by definition, motivated by their existence. We had plenty of flashbacks for each character (In a trope-reversal, usually when they are close to death) and what motivates them.

Sukuna, on the other hand, does not need motivation. He's at the summit. The rest is "pulled" towards him. So He's reactionary rather than anything else. You could argue that resurrection is his goal but I wouldn't say that.



I feel it's rushing if anything else

I didn't say they lack motivation. I said they lack motivations that resonate with the audience (aka the reader). That introvert kid that Mahito turned into a sorceror, then corrupted and Yuji failed to rehabilitate was the (only?) attempt in this whole title by the author to write a character that the readers can relate to.

Sukuna's motivation: "I am the king of the jungle. I eat, sleep, kill, and basically do whatever I want, whenever I want, and don't really understand connection to others because I need no connection to others, being completetly self-sufficient." I get that readers might be attracted to that in a sense of wish fulfillment.

Gojo's motivation: "I'm so awesome that once I hit age 18 I basically became bored, phoning it in all the time and mostly living for the lulz. I'm kinda lonely too, it'd be nice to find someone I could relate to." Again - how is that relatable to ANYONE?

Yuji's motivation: "I'm a normal guy, wracked with unimaginable guilt as though I try to do good in this world, I keep failing and being at least partially responsible for mass murder. oh and because of me the world's going to end". Again HOW THE HELL IS THAT RELATABLE?

Maybe, just maybe, for a few chapters we felt a little bit like we could relate to Fushigoro Megumi's motivation to save his sister in this culling games. You know, the sister that had next to zero on-screen time, zero interactions or character development. Who was "fridged" from the start of the story, brought out of the fridge to serve as a reason to fight, and then immediately thrown in the dumpster permanently in order to create a pathos and grudge.

Name one character whose motivation is relatable in this series. The whole "everyone here is nuts and their craziness only grows with their cursed energy" thing created this idea of gameifying mental illness by turning it into a source of magical strength, but kind of abandoned that idea and just left everyone with a "unrelatable" motivation.

Incidentally, motivation can truly make or break a series. Bleach, for example, peaked in readership with the Soul Society Arc. You know, the one where young people are literally fighting against society's rules to save the life of their friend. It then tanked when that fight became all the characters you hated until now are on the same team and they're fighting motivationless flunkies until they faced the big bad who was...literally a near-god-like character whose big master plan was to become...more god-like. Then later on Bleach became a fight against MAGIC NAZIs, and again just a pissing match between god-like powers with no greater conflict than an old grudge. And everyone stopped bothering to read and it was canceled.

 

[Uriel]

I didn't say they lack motivation. I said they lack motivations that resonate with the audience (aka the reader). That introvert kid that Mahito turned into a sorceror, then corrupted and Yuji failed to rehabilitate was the (only?) attempt in this whole title by the author to write a character that the readers can relate to.

Sukuna's motivation: "I am the king of the jungle. I eat, sleep, kill, and basically do whatever I want, whenever I want, and don't really understand connection to others because I need no connection to others, being completetly self-sufficient." I get that readers might be attracted to that in a sense of wish fulfillment.

Gojo's motivation: "I'm so awesome that once I hit age 18 I basically became bored, phoning it in all the time and mostly living for the lulz. I'm kinda lonely too, it'd be nice to find someone I could relate to." Again - how is that relatable to ANYONE?

Yuji's motivation: "I'm a normal guy, wracked with unimaginable guilt as though I try to do good in this world, I keep failing and being at least partially responsible for mass murder. oh and because of me the world's going to end". Again HOW THE HELL IS THAT RELATABLE?

Maybe, just maybe, for a few chapters we felt a little bit like we could relate to Fushigoro Megumi's motivation to save his sister in this culling games. You know, the sister that had next to zero on-screen time, zero interactions or character development. Who was "fridged" from the start of the story, brought out of the fridge to serve as a reason to fight, and then immediately thrown in the dumpster permanently in order to create a pathos and grudge.

Name one character whose motivation is relatable in this series.

Nobara: Connecting to others (BTW also reflected on her CT).
Yuji: Atonement, Self-Deprecation, and I would also take into consideration how He feels personally responsible for stopping Curses. It reminds me a bit of Buffy in that regard, She did it because She was the one able to do it.
Megumi: Besides how he feels towards injustice, his feelings evolve to ascertain himself are interesting as motivations (And relatable ones). Curiously, Gege chose him to be the final vessel of Sukuna, since he was the one who let others break his spirit quite easily and had a poor sense of self-preservation and He was overcoming it before his possession. His motivation right now should be to live, but I would go further as to say that it's to _be_ which is probably what I relate to the most.

Gojo and Sukuna are at the summit, so they don't need motivations to move the story and it's the rest of the characters that move both to the plot.

I think you expect a different kind of manga... Not a shounen.

 

[kingRoXaS]

Motivations to resonate with are kinda tough to find in fantasy settings, even books, manga, TV shows, games or movies

But yeah, there will always be motivations
Even if the motivation of the characters is to be greatest of all time or just exact revenge upon the people that killed my entire clan

That's why I most look into the story and personality of the characters and maybe powers if the work has person's with powers or abilities