Summary
- Nobara might form a love triangle with Yuji and Yuko Ozawa.
- A romance subplot could add sympathetic depth to Nobara's character.
- However, a potential romance must not reduce Nobara to a token love interest.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a "Dark Trio" anime that focuses on narratives such as hunting monsters, a supernatural "school life" theme, body horror, and the never-ending battle against the villainous Mahito and his curse allies. The characters' own arcs tend to build upon these themes as well, such as Yuji befriending Aoi Todo and Maki Zenin's ideological battle against her traditionalist family. There's not much room for fluff like obligatory romance subplots, but Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 found a way to include it anyway.
With the Satoru Gojo flashback arc over, Jujutsu Kaisen is now focusing on its main trio and their goofy antics once again, and Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi have plenty to think about in between missions. For example, a charming girl named Yuko Ozawa recently arrived, and her interest in Yuji challenged Nobara Kugisaki to rethink her potential love life and what Yuji really means to her. The key is to have fun with this subplot without sabotaging Nobara's theme as a strong, independent shonen girl who isn't just a token love interest.
The Hints of Nobara's & Yuji's Love Lives Unfolding
Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 30 had some fascinating developments concerning Mechamaru, Mahito, and Suguru Geto in its second half, but before things got serious and dramatic, the anime had some fun with its main trio during their downtime. Nobara Kugisaki met a girl her age named Yuko Ozawa, who had a clear interest in protagonist Yuji Itadori right away. Nobara and Yuko soon talked it out and befriended one another in a casual diner and commenced one of Jujutsu Kaisen's rare instances of ordinary girl talk. Nobara had meaningful conversations with other girls back in Season 1, but those were heavy, thematic talks concerning the girls' rough position in the traditionalist jujutsu world. In Episode 30, Nobara finally talks about innocent matters of the heart, and it reveals much about her.
Being her usual tsundere self, Nobara aggressively denied it when Yuko Ozawa asked if Nobara had any romantic interest in Yuji Itadori. Yuko was innocently checking to see if she had any competition for Yuji's heart, while Nobara was waging a mental battle against herself, not with her new friend Yuko. The moment Nobara denied any interest in Yuji, she felt her heart actually skip a beat, and she wasn't sure what to make of that. It felt like a charming shojo anime moment, a great way to reinforce the main characters' likability and emotional depth before the Shibuya story arc was set into full motion to dominate the narrative.
Another hint of Nobara's interest in Yuji arrived after Ozawa departed. Nobara and Megumi brought up the topic of Ozawa; Nobara was happy to befriend Yuko and exchange phone numbers with her, but Nobara also felt defensive because she didn't like the idea of Yuji getting a girlfriend before Nobara could find a boyfriend for herself. On the face of it, that just meant Nobara felt competitive and took her own love life seriously, and her first boyfriend could potentially be anyone. In this episode's context, though, it's hinted that Yuji himself would be Nobara's first serious boyfriend. That would mean Yuji wouldn't find a romantic partner before Nobara since they'd get together at the same time. For now, Jujutsu Kaisen is content to merely tease all this and provide no solid answers about who loves whom, but it's an intriguing possibility for one of shonen's best girls — if it's handled well.
Nobara Kugisaki's Romance Must Not Define Her Entire Character
On the one hand, Jujutsu Kaisen's anime is smart to take this opportunity to explore the relatable humanity and emotional depth of its main characters before the fighting resumes. Characters like Yuji and Nobara aren't just vehicles for action scenes — they are well-rounded people with vibrant personal lives, which is part of what makes Jujutsu Kaisen such a great anime to watch. That includes the possibility of romance, which many Jujutsu Kaisen fans are sure to welcome in this narrative, but the story must still exercise caution, most of all with Nobara herself.
Tsundere or not, Nobara must not be entirely defined by her relationship with Yuji and her personal quest to find a boyfriend. Seeking romance is only a part of what makes Nobara who she is, a way to round out her character and add another dimension to her character arc. Even if Jujutsu Kaisen is not a romance anime and finding true love isn't any character's main goal, plenty of shonen anime are known to make their token female characters overly reliant on such things. Token love interests are all over the place, with these minor female characters being mainly defined by their relationship with someone else, usually a boy. Such was the case for Lemon Irvine in Mashle: Magic and Muscles, for example, which prevented her from being Best Girl. It's unrealistic to have a character who exists entirely for someone else's sake, and so far, Jujutsu Kaisen has done well to avoid that.
Nobara is good friends with Yuji, and she even cried when she thought Yuji had died back in Season 1. Ever since Yuji returned, he and Nobara have had a fun dynamic as fellow pranksters teasing Megumi Fushiguro and spending quality time together as friends, with no hint of romance between them. For that matter, there's no hint of them loving anyone in particular, outside of Yuji's amusing celebrity crush on Jennifer Lawrence. That leaves room for either or both of them to find true love and thus have more emotional depth and new personal stakes to fight for. That would work especially well in Jujutsu Kaisen's combat system, where strong negative emotions are key, and seeing a lover's life in peril is sure to strengthen someone's sorcery.
Still, if Jujutsu Kaisen goes in that direction or even just hints at it again in future episodes, it's important not to reduce Nobara's role to being Yuji's love interest. Yuji, as the main character, isn't at risk of being reduced to one role for someone else's sake, but based on shonen anime's history, Nobara faces that risk. The solution is to put Nobara's strong, independent ways first and allow her to be a complete, happy person all on her own and make any romance with Yuji or any other boy simply one more good thing she can enjoy in her daily life. It won't be a good look if a forward-thinking shonen anime girl like Nobara gets into petty catfights with Yuko Ozawa over Yuji or starts pining for him at the expense of pursuing her own arc. But if Nobara's possible romance makes her more sympathetic and likable without interfering with her primary arc, then Jujutsu Kaisen can make its Best Girl that much better.