Existence Without Essence: Satoru Gojo 

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.

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

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".

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Love this man good job

This was incredible bro great job 🙏🏽

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

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.

Great video man

Great video!! Love it

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!

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.

this is AMAZING

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!!

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

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

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

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

Lub you Dhruv keep up the great work

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.

I liked of you perspective on gojo identity being void

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

*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?

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

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

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

Great video Dhruv, maybe add some music though.

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?

noice

🤞🏼👍🏼

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

Drop another JJK vid

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

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

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

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

i disagree

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