The recently released Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film enriches the franchise in more ways than one. From clarifying the Jujutsu curse lore, to exploring events that will be crucial to the series later on, JJK 0 is the prequel we all needed and deserved.
The movie has quickly bonded anime and manga fans, not just because of the emotional portrayal between Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto, but because of the glimpses we see of Satoru Gojo’s past and his relationship with Suguru Geto.
JJK 0 is based on Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High, a 4-chapter limited manga written before the main JJK series. But the movie also includes parts of The Hidden Inventory/Gojo’s Past arc of the manga which follows Gojo and Geto’s time as students and the thick bond they shared despite their differences.
In this article, I will delve into the connection between the two strongest sorcerers, Gojo and Geto, the choppy journey of their friendship, and how it all came to an end.
1. How does Gojo meet Geto? How are they Different?
Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto meet in Tokyo Jujutsu High as second-year students, sometime during 2005-2006. They are introduced in the Gojo’s Past arc.
They were both born in the early Heisiei Period, to families distinctly different from one another.
Gojo came from a powerful sorcerer family, a descendant of the great Michizane Sugawara, one of the 3 Vengeful Spirits. He is the first in over 400 years to possess the cursed techniques, 6 Eyes and Limitless. He is so strong that his existence alters the balance of the entire world.
Equally powerful, is Geto, born to non-sorcerers but with the innate cursed techniques Cursed Spirit Manipulation and Uzumaki, that allowed him to absorb other curses and combine them into single powerful attacks.
The two are similar and yet completely different – having conflicting beliefs and ideals. While Gojo has a reckless attitude, Geto shows a strong moral compass, believing that the strong must protect the weak.
Despite their differences, the two quickly become the best of friends, the strongest duo of sorcerers in Jujutsu High.
2. Who was the third Friend of Geto and Gojo?
Geto and Gojo have a third friend named Shoko Ieiri, who is also a second-year student.
Their trio is similar to Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara. Like they are the only first-year students in their batch, Gojo, Geto, and Shoko, are the only 3 second-year Tokyo Jujutsu students in their class.
We first see Shoko in episode 5/chapter 10, when she comes as a doctor to dissect Yuji’s body. She can release reversed cursed energy on others to heal them.
Shoko Ieiri is the perfect counter to Geto and Gojo, bringing balance to their unstable duo. She is laid back and non-confrontational, in contrast to the explosive and free-spirited Gojo, and the unpredictable and principled Geto.
3. The Star Plasma Vessel Mission
In the Gojo’s Past arc, Gojo and Geto’s teacher, Masamichi Yaga, assigns them with the task of finding the Star Plasma Vessel for Master Tengen.
When Geto and Gojo are sent to fulfil this task as students, a lot actually happens that foreshadows the future of their relationship.
The Star Plasma Vessel is a girl called Riko Amanai, whom Geto and Gojo are supposed to protect and escort to Tengen so he can merge with her and refresh his immortality.
First of all, they are given this task only because they are the strongest students. They fight together, saving each other during various instances.
During the mission is also when the infamous Toji Fushiguro is introduced as the main antagonist. Toji, aware that Gojo is 6 Eyes, battles and immobilizes him, then comes to get Geto and Riko.
I’m mentioning Toji here, because were it not for him, Geto would probably not have begun his downward spiral.
Toji tells Geto that he had killed Gojo and this is the first blow on Geto’s stability. Toji goes on to kill Riko right before his eyes, which is the second blow. Geto blames himself for both these deaths, even though Gojo is later revealed to be alive.
An important thing to cover here, is that at the end of the failed mission, Geto stops Gojo from killing a whole bunch of Star Religious Group members. He says that a sorcerer must always have a reason to take a life.
Had Geto not stopped him, it would have been Gojo who became a mass murderer, and things would’ve been a whole lot different for Jujutsu Kaisen.
4. What leads to Geto’s Downfall from hero to Villain?
The death of the innocent girl, the selfish Jujutsu sorcerers, and non-sorcerers like Toji, begin to change Geto. Between 2006 and 2007, he begins to lose his faith in humanity.
When the duo returns after the mission, Gojo gets busy training his already-powerful techniques and surpasses his best friend in strength. Shoko and Geto help him master his Limitless technique, but Geto himself is descending into a state of gloom and despair.
Gojo gets sent on dangerous missions alone, while Geto gets increasingly more isolated, questioning his morals and ideals. Earlier, he believed that sorcerers have an obligation to protect non-sorcerers, but now he thinks they might not even be worthy of that protection.
He gets really existential, questioning the point of it all, his purpose in life, the pointlessness of him endlessly ingesting and exorcising curses. His faith and resolve in himself, in sorcerers, and in non-sorcerer’s crumbles completely.
This is only accelerated when he meets the Special Grade Curse User, Yuki Tsukumo. She says that she wants to rid the world of cursed spirits by eliminating the root cause: non-sorcerers. Their negative energy turns into cursed energy that makes cursed spirits.
It is because of Yuki that Suguru Geto begins to ruminate about his true feelings – his disgust for non-sorcerers and his perceived duty as a sorcerer.
When his junior, Yu Haibara dies in a mission, the darkness almost consumes him fully.
But the final tipping point is when he goes on a solo mission to a village that blames two little girls for the actions of a curse. Geto massacres the villagers, killing 112 people – everyone besides the two little sorcerers, Nanako and Mimiko.
He compares non-sorcerers to monkeys, a tie-in to Toji, during the Star Plasma Vessel mission. He had mocked them by saying that two strong sorcerers like Gojo and Geto couldn’t even defeat a monkey like him.
After committing genocide, Geto says:
I don’t like monkeys. That’s the truth I chose.
Geto
This is when Geto becomes a curse user, and turns into a full-on antagonist.
He reveals to Shoko later that:
Humanity needs to review its survival strategy […] I wanna kill every non-Jujutsu sorcerer, and make a world with only Jujutsu sorcerers […]
5. Gojo and Geto in Shinjuku
Shoko arranges for Gojo to meet Geto in Shinjuku. During the confrontation, Geto tells Gojo of his plan to murder all non-sorcerers, even his own parents.
Gojo tries to remind him about his own principle of sorcerers never killing without a purpose, but Geto tells him that there is indeed a purpose.
As Geto walks away, he also says that Gojo was free to kill him, but Gojo can’t get himself to murder his best friend.
6. What happens between Gojo and Geto during JJK 0?
JJK 0 covers the Cursed Child arc, which happens almost 10 years later. Geto’s aforementioned plan continues, but gets more convoluted and ambitious as things progress.
He arrives at Jujutsu High and lectures Gojo’s students about his ideology of killing non-sorcerers, mainly targeting Yuta Okkotsu, who he knew possessed the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Rika.
In the Night Parade of December 24, 2017, Geto wished to release 1000 cursed spirits all over Japan but his main objective was to use his cursed technique to kill Yuta and absorb Rika to be come more powerful.
Geto’s plan is foiled by Yuta, and he becomes badly injured after Yuta blasts him with Rika’s full power. After the battle, Gojo finds his former friend in an alley and confronts Geto one last time.
7. What does Gojo whisper to Geto before he dies?
Gojo admits to Geto that he still had some trust in him, which is why he was sure that he wouldn’t kill any of the students. Geto returns Yuta’s student ID card to Gojo. The two share one last laugh. Gojo whispers something inaudible to him, after which Geto replies:
At least curse me a little at the very end.
When asked about the inaudible dialogue in an interview, mangaka Gege Akutami said that in the movie Gojo tells Geto the same thing he told him in volume 0.
Looking at the manga, when Yuta asks Gojo whether it was him that found his ID card, Gojo replies:
My best friend did. The only one I have.
Gojo
The use of the present tense indicates that Gojo still considers Geto his best friend, despite his betrayal and transformation into a psychopathic manic. Even though Gojo kills Geto in the end, he will always remain his best friend.
The friendship was so potent that it still shapes Gojo and his life.
In chapter 90, when pseudo-Geto confronts him, Gojo is immediately able to tell that although the body belongs to his best friend, it is not Geto who stands before him.
My six eyes tell me you’re Suguru Geto. But my soul knows otherwise!
Later, during the Shibuya incident, the spirits of the two girls Geto had rescued, Mimiko and Nanako, confront pseudo-Geto and command him to return Geto’s body.
In chapter 112, they say:
Satoru Gojo is Master Geto’s one and only best friend, after all.
The connection and bond that Gojo and Geto share – yes, share and not shared, is immortal.
8. About Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisen, also known as Sorcery Fight, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 2018.
An anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA premiered in October 2020.
The story revolves around Yuuji Itadori, a high-school student who, despite hating athletics, is insanely fit. Yuuji gets involved in the world of sorcery when he swallows a powerful talisman to protect his friends from its curse.
On observing that Yuuji wasn’t affected much even when inflicted with this curse, Satoru decides to send Yuuji on a quest to save the world.
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