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moonandblossoms · 3 years

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This is for the asks on why I ship FushiKugi.

Well, I started to become much closer to the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom for the past few months. You all know that every fandom has shippers and there are problems and beefs with other people around us. As a FushiKugi shipper, I have been asked for a handful of times on why I like the ship. Till date, I have not perfectly explained why I liked them. In this post I will tell why I actually like them. This is going to be quite long though.

Before I begin, I would just like to tell a few things which we all need to understand. We shippers are naturally biased (or may not) towards our favorite ships. We also have slight negative biases for the ones which we hate or don't like that much. Its hundred percent okay to have biases because they are quite natural. Maybe, I am a bit biased for FushiKugi and have some negative biases for its rival ships- Most of it being ItaKugi, NobaMaki and/or maybe even ItaFushi. Nevertheless, I stay a bit unbiased and appreciate its rival ships as well. Btw, I multi-ship Nobara with all the three but I am far more inclined for FushiKugi. Maybe because I am biased.

Well, its absolutely fine if you don't ship FushiKugi because they are not your cup of tea. Definitely okay, but what pisses me off at times is people questioning me about shipping FushiKugi. They don't really question when people ship Nobara with Maki because its quite a very popular ship in the fandom. Even ItaKugi for that matter, but they are like, "FushiKugi.... why you ship it?" or "I can't understand why people ship Nobara with Megumi" or "FushiKugi, is that even a ship?" or anything like this. Okay, you hate them, you hate them. That's not my problem, but can't you just give a second thought or accept that everyone are entitled to have their own opinions, choices and preferences?

Didn't Nobara have screentime and moments with Megumi too? Weren't there times they shared a good chemistry? Also weren't there times when they too had some notable moments? I can't understand why people tell that NobaMaki and/or ItaKugi made sense but not FushiKugi. There is a hypocrisy behind their opinion. Nobara almost shared equal chemistry with both Yuji and Megumi. The dynamics were just different, but they were more or less made equally sense.

In the love-triangle between Yuji, Nobara and Megumi, FushiKugi arguably gets the least attention or fan contributions from the fans because they think that Yuji is more of a shippable character than Megumi or Nobara because of Yuji’s affable and extroverted persona. That's why ItaFushi and ItaKugi are comparatively popular.

However.... just because Megumi is very introverted and anti-social, it doesn't mean he should not have any girl friend or should be shipped with any female character. Nobara is practically the only female character he has interacted with after Tsumiki, who is actually his step-sister. Anti-social guys can form a lot of potential building chemistry w/any girl. Anti-social guys can actually have more development than extroverted ones because they aren't like that. They will travel the road to become more socializing with people. They have more room to improve themselves. They'll learn to socialize well and that's a development for them. There is no such policy saying that guys like Megumi are better off-single than getting married. I have seen the same from Naruto fans who tell that for Sasuke. In this case, Megumi is also a shippable character and it wouldn't make sense for him to be shipped with any other character apart from Nobara if we talk 'bout hetero ships. Yuji still has an untapped potential w/his classmate Yuko Ozawa, whom Yuji acknowledged and respected her despite many of his class peers didn't care about her that much because of her being fat and kinda weird. Heck, he even says that he will pick her out of all the classmates in their class.

You might even tell that they are together because they are teammates. But, teammates are really potential to form an amazing chemistry because they are close! They are put as teammates for a reason. They not even need to be romantic.

Honestly speaking, Slash or femslash have the least probability to become the endgames in shounen as far as we have seen. Barely any BL or GL ship becomes canon. Its absolutely okay to still ship them because nobody forced you to ship canon ships. Heck, I am not sure if even FushiKugi will become canon but I still ship it. So we all are not yet sure which couples will become the endgame.

Thus it quite pisses me off when antis tell that FushiKugi never made sense. Ironically, even the skepticism about their hate is what really doesn't make sense. If we ship, we exactly don't need a reason. Sometimes we don't need a reason to like something, we just need a reason to hate something. Regardless, there are a lot of shippers who still have reasons to support them.

So finally.... I will tell why I love the ship so much.

⚠ MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠

Believe it or not. Megumi is REALLY protective of Nobara. He prioritizes her safety and cares a lot for her. Whenever they both were fighting as a team, w/or w/o Yuji, Kugisaki is the one who gets attacked by cursed spirits first. Both Yuji and Megumi show a lot of concern for her, but Megumi is consistently shown prioritizing her safety more than Yuji does before Yuji gets into action. He acts more of a team leader for them because he is naturally more intelligent and matured than both of them. That automatically puts him to show more concern for Nobara.

Kugisaki is unarmed. I'd rather avoid confrontation.

Why does she have to get sucked away so often?

Prioritize Kugisaki first!

Even if Megumi could or couldn’t deal with the job which he said he want to do it by himself (because he felt it was very important), he took Nobara’s safety as the priority.

(Also I want to add a slight hint of showing Nobara and Megumi fighting alone w/o Yuji. They both were only shown together, Yuji was not in the frame till Nobara got sucked up).

Megumi was shown to be concerned for Nobara during the cursed womb arc, pre-good will event arc and death painting arcs. They have been clearly highlighted. Even in the death painting arc, Megumi was stubborn enough to protect Nobara. He was so desperate on saving her when she was getting sucked off.

In the anime.

Despite that, Nobara tells she will manage this by herself, which pinpoints a lot on how much she doesn’t want Megumi to stress himself out on her but instead focus on taking out the special grade spirit. This is not a sign of not wanting help that can be proven as an anti-hint for the ship, its to prove even how much Nobara is concerned for Megumi that she doesn’t want him to help her but take care of the cursed spirits.

But did it stop Megumi from taking any action for her? NO. He was insisting upon her safety a LOT on Yuji while they were confused on how to deal with the cursed spirits. The situation was so stake for them, but Megumi kept emphasizing a lot on saving Nobara. He’d let Nobara take Yuji's help instead of him taking Yuji's help, showing how much of concern he has for her. He was so aware that Nobara would need Yuji more than he needed.

Its not only Megumi who cares for her, Nobara does as well.

Of course the anime did shit with this scene where Nobara was going after Megumi when he was hit by Todo. Nobara was not made to react that much in the anime.

The signs of care and mutual respect was evident in their bond.

He devices the right strategies so that his teammates are always on the safe side. But lets be honest, Megumi has shown to be a lot more concerned for Nobara right? I mean, he EQUALLY cares for both his teammates but when it comes to safety, he is mostly shown (keyword: I said just shown, don’t overlook) that more for Nobara because he trusts Yuji's skills a lot and he knew that he is pretty strong. He doesn't underestimate Nobara, no! Not at all. He feels that she might need more help. What Megumi shows for her is care. Care is not equivalent to underestimating. They both are completely different.

He not only cares for Nobara during fights, battles, etc. When Nobara was shown sad about Yuji’s death, he gives a soft glance to her. He himself was worried for his friend but he was shown to be worried a bit for Nobara as well.

We can see something similar when Yuji reveals himself to be alive.

Everytime when Nobara cries a bit, we can see some pitiful glances from Megumi.

There was another similar hint being the bunt strike. Megumi intentionally went for a bunt so that Nobara could go to the next base even if it means that he couldn’t make it.

They actually have a funny dynamic too. Nobara teases Megumi a lot. She teases him more than she does to Yuji. Like, she calls him, "What a child", "Problem child".

And sometimes she annoyingly amuses the audience regarding him like, "That's a tall hurdle for an anti-social guy like him", "Not a bad answer, I'd have killed you if you had said big boobs" etc. etc.

In the manga, when he was asked about the type of girls he prefers, Nobara intervenes with some funny statements.

To all these, Megumi actually gets annoyed by her. Megumi clearly understands Nobara and does find her annoying at times, but he really doesn't express it like that. He doesn't get too angry with her remarks and teasing.

He just considers them for a while but gets moving on.

This funny teasing needn't be an anti-hint for the ship. They are a part of the funnier side in their dynamic. Even Megumi once kind of teases-"Kugisaki, go back" when Nobara couldn't take a run as Maki got out (in the baseball game).

Simply, for an anti-social (not exactly) person like Megumi, Nobara's statements should have made him feel annoyed but he never broods about it too much. He reflects his matured side on Nobara as well. He pretty much has a soft side for her.

They had a lot of development. When Megumi met Nobara for the first time, he did show a sort of an ignorant expression (but he wasn't like, "Aah, I am not going to care for this woman"). As the series went on, he started to care a lot for her (mentioned earlier). There was a huge difference on his perspective on Nobara as a comrade ever since she joined their team. There is a great uphill in the development of their bond.

When Yuji was presumed dead, there were high chances that Megumi and Nobara would have come to know each other well. They were often shown together and high likely, this period would have given them the opportunity to know well about each other. They even had the driving force to win in the goodwill event for their dead friend (Yuji obviously wasn’t dead hahahahaa).

Megumi and Nobara understand each other very much. They adjust with each other's personas as they are polar opposites (they are also opposites in terms of preferences- Megumi like rice whereas Nobara prefers bread, and Megumi is a dog person whereas Nobara likes cats). Nobara was also quite well adapted to Megumi's introverted trait and Megumi can adjust with Nobara's brash attribute.

They have another hint in the cursed womb arc. When Nobara got sucked in, Megumi went for her rescue. When she was saved by Megumi’s Gamma, she says that she hates frogs. Now here comes how she actually adjusts with her. We’d expect Megumi to actually be angry with telling such thing during a very serious situation, but instead he APOLOGIZED.

They both pretty much gelled well with each other, if not right away. They both haven’t been teammates for that long, thus its really great that they gelled a lot quickly. Nobara gelling with Yuji was fine because he is funny and cheerful like Nobara, but Megumi is not like that. Its really a great thing for him factoring his personality.

In the second ending (Give it back), we can see Nobara and Megumi being with each other. This was actually one of the major reasons to trigger me to ship the couple.

Also both of them going for shopping (seeing a young boy and a young girl going for shopping is really romantic).

And them having some nice chat before the beach.

Look how she is staring at Megumi here >////< (Idk if she is really staring at him but its cute hehehee)

They were frequently shown together in the second ending.

Out of the last few scenes in season 1, we can see Megumi telling Nobara that Sukuna’s reincarnation triggered the Yasohachi Bridge curse. He tells Nobara to not tell Yuji about it because Yuji will be greatly shocked. He ate Sukuna’s finger for the first time to save Megumi, but that explanation would surely not satisfy him at all.

We can see how much Megumi trusts Nobara on this matter. She tells “Don’t underestimate a lady’s consideration.”

These panels shows Megumi’s concern for Yuji and his trust for Nobara. We can see how Megumi started to become more comfortable with her which made him build trust on her (as Yuji and Nobara told him during their mission that they can trust him and to also tell about himself).

There is another slight hint shown when Nobara and Megumi meet Yuko Ozawa who was Yuji’s classmate and seemed to have feelings for Yuji. Megumi orders black coffee and Nobara tells that he drinks in order to look cool in front of girls (but however Megumi tells that he generally likes drinking black coffee). I guess even subtle hints are often used to tease the ship a bit.

Also in the first light novel of Jujutsu Kaisen, Nobara gets angry w/Megumi for visiting Angel Maid Café (not w/Yuji).

By looking at the illustration from the novel (not sure its from the novel but more or less seems like it), we can see both of them might would have had some nice time with the maids there. Nobara would have been jealous of those maids spending time w/him and thus she voices her displeasure to it.

Bonus take: This was only in the anime but I would still love showing it.

Megumi says that he loves girls who have an unshakable character (However do note that he said something different in the manga). Nobara has an unshakable character.

So I have explained most of the hints for FushiKugi and my thoughts on them. Honestly speaking, no ship is romantic except for MechaMiwa (Mechamaru and Miwa) because Gege Akutami himself said that Miwa is the only female character to have a romance in the story. But the other ships are platonic at the least and FushiKugi is definitely one of them. I am not actually shipping them only for the reasons above, I majorly ship them because of the potential romantic dynamic they can have.

Yuji and Nobara also equally made sense. I quite like them too but they mostly stroke to me as best friends/Nakama type bond. They share more of an informal bond which is capable of making them as thicker friends than romantic lovers since they both are extroverted. Having an introvert paired with an extrovert is something very interesting and filled with a lot of potential, because both the partners can try to tone themselves to being normal by correcting each other’s flaws. Say, like Megumi is too grumpy at times. Nobara can make him feel a bit normal. Sometimes Nobara can be brash. Megumi can make her to be to cool down a bit. This is an advantage of opposite people being paired up with each other.

There is also a common shounen formula used (kindly note that a few animes are prone to contradict some). There are rarely any chances for the main female lead to end up with the main male lead. In this case, its Yuji and Nobara. Despite the number of hints dropped, there are chances that they might not end up as well. The female lead is more inclined to end up with the second lead male or any other relevant male characters. Say, did Rukia end up with Ichigo? No, it was Renji despite Rukia shared a lot of moments with him. Did Sakura end up with Naruto? No, it was Sasuke. When the female MC is a Tsundere, she is more inclined to end up with the second lead male who is mostly an emo-type (not exactly) or someone who is not very extroverted or energetic. To be precise, a Kuudere. From this shounen formula/pattern, I estimate that Megumi and Nobara might have chances of ending up with each other. Kuudere/Tsundere combination is pretty famous in Japan.

But however, shouldn’t the MC be given the priority to end up with a girl? Yeah, agreed. But doesn’t Yuji have any other girl apart from Nobara?

Let’s stop sleeping on this character.

This girl might have made a very minor appearance and she is much irrelevant to the plot. But also according to the general shounen formula, the main lead male is inclined to end up with a soft and shy girl, who is generally a dandere. Yuko is a perfect example of a dandere. In this case, Yuji has chances of ending up with Yuko as well.

Yuji expressed his respect for Yuko when he was asked about who he liked in the class, he says that he likes Yuko. Yuko started liking him back. Yuji even recognizes her immediately despite she heavily changed in looks.

The main lead is more inclined to end up with danderes, who watch their love interests from a distance.

So, this is how the shounen formula goes in short:

Main male lead, who is a Deredere (sweet and energetic): Paired w/Dandere female character who is generally not the female lead, but a side character.

Second lead male who is generally a Kuudere: Paired w/Tsundere who is the main female lead.

To be more short, this is how it goes.

Deredere/Dandere

Kuudere/Tsundere

This is the usual pattern which shounen follows while making ships canon. However, we are still not sure whether Jujutsu Kaisen will also follow this but this is the usual pattern followed. So I feel that the show might possibly follow this because of the circumstances given. I mean circumstances similar to animes having the combo ships mentioned above.

I mean, its fine that Nobara and Yuji had a lot more moments than Yuji and Yuko had on-screen. Its not even close but that’s what every male lead and female lead have with each other. Even if they have so much, they don’t usually end up with each other. Its just like how Naruto and Sakura had a lot more moments and scenes than Naruto and Hinata had, but Naruto did end up with the latter. Because, also according to shounen formula the main male lead and the female lead are too close that they don’t even need to be canon. They are so close that they are more like thick friends than lovers. However, there might be a few exceptions because few animes are quite different and break some shounen rules. But when considering the general formula, Megumi and Nobara have the most chances to end up with each other.

Also, lets not forget that Zenin clan members use tools. Nobara freaking uses tools and of course, she is quite strong!

I even said that even anti-social guys can also be potential love interests but they are prone to romantically gel better with the girls they were close with and in this case, its Nobara. Just like how Sasuke ended up w/Sakura (the girl w/whom he was the closest to), Megumi can end with Nobara. Considering that the most obvious females don’t generally end up with the male MCs, this can possibly apply for ItaKugi. Don’t mistake me for hating them. I am absolutely a huge fan of Nobara and Yuji’s dynamic. Its just I love them as Nakamas. I like even FushiKugi as a Nakama type but wanted to see some romantic growth in them because of the Kuudere and Tsundere dynamic.

Nobara’s status is still unknown. She might be alive or dead, but who cares? I still love them.

I see a lot of potential in them. They made sense at least for Jujutsu Kaisen standards. I like their match, That’s why I love FushiKugi.

Apologies at the earliest if there is anything factually incorrect.

Official art, not by me.

Thanks for reading!

#fushikugi #oops sorry for the long post!#megumi fushiguro #nobara kugisaki #kugifushi #fushisaki #megubara #megunoba #megumi x nobara #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk manga spoilers #long post

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