Nobara’s Jujutsu Kaisen Replacement Shuts the Door On Her Return

Summary

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• Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 211 reveals that instead of being resurrected, Nobara has been replaced by a newer character, Hana.
• Hana’s introduction is a reassuring sign for fans who wanted to see a return of the central trio, as she mirrors Nobara’s relationship with Yuji.
• With Hana effectively taking Nobara’s place as someone for Yuji to goof off with, the series has the potential to recapture the fun and humor of its earlier chapters.

Warning! Contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 211!Ever since Nobara died in the Shibuya Incident arc, Jujutsu Kaisen fans have anxiously speculated about her return, but one manga chapter shows that she has been replaced instead of being resurrected. This may come as a disappointment to many, as Nobara was an incredibly popular character whose interactions with Megumi and Yuji were a joy to read. But series author Gege Akutami has still managed to capture some of the fun of that relationship despite using a newer character.

In chapter 211, Megumi’s sister finally enters the Culling Game, as the rules have finally been added that can enable her to escape it. Megumi, being an awkward person in general, acts even more awkwardly around her, which gets Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji to make a snide comment to relative newcomer Hana Kurusu about how cute his behavior is. She, in turn, smirks with him about it similarly to how Nobara would. It’s a minor detail, but it’s a very reassuring one to fans who have wanted to see a return of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s central trio of characters after the focus the Culling Game had on the manga’s side characters.

Jujutsu Kaisen Replaces Nobara With Hana

Hana started out as one of these side characters, initially being the sorcerer that Yuji and Megumi sought out to help them unseal Gojo from his prison. After meeting up with her, the trio formed a tentative alliance, strained by the fact that Hana wants to seek out and destroy Sukuna, who resides within Yuji. Despite this, the trio gets along pretty well, to the point where Yuji worries about Hana replacing Nobara in Jujutsu Kaisen in their trio in chapter 210. He eventually dismisses this as a dumb thing to worry about, and this latest chapter shows that he basically treats Hana as he did Nobara.

This is a great sign for the series as after the Shibuya Incident the manga became much darker and lacked the humorous interactions that its earlier chapters contained. A big part of this was Gojo and Nobara being gone, as those two characters were pretty humorous in addition to being great fighters. But now with Hana effectively taking Nobara’s place as a person for Yuji to goof off with, the series will hopefully be able to recapture some of what made its earlier chapters so fun.

How Did Nobara Die in Jujutsu Kaisen?

Unfortunately, given the ambiguous nature of how Nobara died, some fans will likely never give up on the possibility of her being alive. Nobara died during the Shibuya Incident arc after encountering a clone of the Curse Mahito, who specialized in body manipulation. Nobara was actually able to harm the clone and by extension Mahito himself, which caused it to flee back to its original body. Nobara trailed it back to Mahito, at which point the Curse touched her, causing her eye to explode. Many fans presumed her to be dead at this point, but the series never technically confirmed her death, leaving fans with some hope.

While Hana’s introduction is likely a sign that Nobara will never return to life in Jujutsu Kaisen, her fans can at least be reassured of how well Hana mirrors her relationship with Yuji. And ultimately, despite her other awesome characteristics, this is what made her so fun to watch early on. So fans of Jujutsu Kaisen who stopped reading after Nobara‘s death should pick the manga back up again, as Hana has so far been a great replacement for her.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read from Viz Media.