Nobara Kugisaki (釘崎 野薔薇 くぎさき のばら) is charming, and might be the feistiest girl in the world. When I started reading Jujutsu Kaisen, I didn’t like her much because she tried to pick a fight everywhere. But now, I love her so much because she is such a brave and nice girl! Today, I’m going to write what’s so good about her.
Name: Nobara Kugisaki (釘崎 野薔薇 くぎさき のばら)
Birthday: August 7th
Height: A little bit less than 160cm (5’2”)
Weight: ?
Occupation/Jujutsu class: Student (Sophomore in the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical School/ The 2nd-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer (under assessment for the 1st grade)
Jujutsu Technique: The Straw Doll Technique (芻霊呪法 すうれいじゅほう Surei Juho)
Favorite things to do: shopping
Favorite food: food on trend, watermelon
Stresses: dry air
More info: She has her hair dyed.
Background and Ability
Grew up in the sticks
She was born and grew up in a small village where it takes 4 hours to Morioka, the prefectural capital of Iwate Prefecture by train. When She was in the first grade in elementary school, a girl named Saori (沙織 さおり) moved into her village from Tokyo and they became friends. But Saori moved out of the village soon because some people in village assumed that the outsiders (Saori’s family) were snobbish and harassed them to make them leave. Since then, Nobara hates the provincial maliciousness and she decided to become a Jujutsu sorcerer to get out of her village.
Inherited cursed energy and techniques from her grandmother
Nobara didn’t decide to be a Jujutsu sorcerer out of nowhere; her grandmother is a Jujutsu sorcerer and uses the Straw Doll Technique as well. Nobara’s grandmother taught Nobara the technique but wanted her granddaughter to stay home. However, Nobara insisted to enter the Jujutsu technical school in Tokyo, then she almost ran away from her home. I think Nobara’s grandma wanted Nobara to stay because she knew how hard and dangerous it would be to be in the Jujutsu tech.
Personality
Dauntless and competitive
Nobara is incredibly competitive, quarrelsome, and has a sharp tongue. I think it’s because it was the best way for her to keep her identity in the closed place like her home village. At the first mission with Yuji Itadori (虎杖 悠仁 いたどり ゆうじ), as they enter the building where the cursed spirit stayed, Yuji told her that they should be careful and Nobara didn’t like it. She got pissed and said that she didn’t want to be told “Be careful.” by the one who was a non-sorcerer until recently. Also, she provoked the students in the Kyoto Jujutsu tech at the exchange event and made Momo Nishimiya (西宮 桃 にしみや もも) seriously mad. By the way, “Steel Girl” I mentioned in the title of this article is the title of episode 4 Comic 1 (Nobara first appeared in the episode). It describes her perfectly!
Loves shopping and dressing up
Even though she talks like a boy, she loves what a typical girl likes to do. According to the author Gege Akutami sensei, she goes around Tokyo and enjoys shopping during the classes and missions. When she met Yuko Ozawa, who was Yuji’s classmate in middle school, she had a shopping bag and a tapioca drink in her hand (Tapioca drink was on trend in Japan that time).
Care for friends
She tries to pick a fight everywhere. She is so fierce. But she got warm heart and cares about her friends at the same time. When Yuji died once (Sukuna Ryomen (両面 宿儺 りょうめん すくな) took his heart out of body), Nobara didn’t show her face but she seemed she was crying. She tried to fight for Maki Zenin (禪院 真希 ぜんいん まき) at the exchange event since Miki’s family didn’t admit her and kept her from promotion.
Does she have a special feeling towards Yuji?
You might often see if Nobara has any love interest towards Yuji on the internet. Is it true? So, I considered it. I think the reason people talk about it because,
- She let Yuji carry her when they ran away from the curse user Eso (懐相 えそう). (p157, comic no.7)
- She said to Yuji “The chairs…in my life. I don’t want people who are not sitting there to do anything to my heart. Do you think I’m cold? Well, some people like you just brought the chairs by themselves and are sitting there.” (p30 comic no.8)
- She said “So, we are accomplices.” to Yuji when he was shocked about killing the curse users (p33 comic no.8) →For more detail, see the quotes blow.
- She had some “foggy feeling” when Yuko Ozawa, Yuji’s old classmate told her that she liked Yuji (p58 comic no.8)
Does Nobara love Yuji? My answer is “NO” at this point. I don’t see any specific hints that she likes him so far.
She could have said “Don’t touch me!” when Yuji carried her, but she knew a danger was impending and there was no choice. And about “foggy feeling", she explained to Megumi Fushiguro (伏黒 恵 ふしぐろ めぐみ) that she didn’t like it if Yuji got a girlfriend before she gets one.” Yes, of course. She is competitive. There might be a chance that she hasn’t realize her feeling but I don’t think so. When Mahito (真人 まひと) blew the left side of her head in the Shibuya incident, she must have known that she was going to die and thought about the people sitting on the chairs in her life. It didn’t seem that Yuji was special to her in her mind that time. I think I would think of someone I love before I die. Well, we don’t even know if Nobara is alive or not for now. I hope she is alive and comes back soon!
Jujutsu Techniques
The Straw Doll Technique (芻霊呪法 すうれいじゅほう Surei Juho)
Hair pin (簪 かんざし Kanzashi) You use a hammer and nails and pour your cursed energy into the nails knocked into an opponent.
Resonance (共鳴り ともなり Tomonari) You put a part of opponent into a straw doll and pour your cursed energy by nailing the doll to attack the opponent’s main body. The part could be anything: a piece of hair, blood, an arm, etc.…She took a piece of bloom Momo Nishimiya was riding on and attacked her in the exchange event. This technique is effective for ranged attack by its nature.
Quotes
I can (risk my life).
It means being true to myself after all.掛 (か) けられるわ
私 (わたし) が私 (わたし)であるためだものKakeraeru wa
source: Gege Akutami 『Jujutsu Kaisen』vol.1
Watashi ga watashi de aru tame damono.
The first time Yuji met Nobara, he asked why she chose to attend the Jujutsu tech and she answered she wanted to move into Tokyo. Yuji got surprised and, again, asked if she could risk he life over that. She hates her small villages where the people are insular and full of prejudice, and she wouldn’t be able to have self-esteem if she stayed there. In terms of having self-esteem, I think many sorcerers including Yuji, Kent Nanami (七海 健人 ななみ けんと), Maki Zenin (禪院 真希 ぜんいん まき) got similar reasons, too. So, Nobara’s reason might be quite decent.
Are you not sleeping enough? You’ve got open pores.
寝不足 (ねぶそく) か？毛穴 (けあな) 開 (ひら) いてんぞ
Nebuzoku ka? Keana hiraitenzo.
source: Gege Akutami 『Jujutsu Kaisen』vol. 3
The word Nobara said to Maki’s twin sister, Mai Zenin (禪院 真依 ぜんいん まい). She was openly hostile by her own style towards Mai who was mean to the students in Tokyo. She got a sense of insulting people!
I am Nobara Kugisaki!
私 (わたし) は釘崎野薔薇 (くぎさきのばら) なんだよ！
source: Gege Akutami 『Jujutsu Kaisen』vol. 5
Watashi wa Kugisaki Nobara nandayo!
In the exchange event, Mono Nishimiya told how it would be hard for female sorcerers to keep their positions to Nobara who insulted Momo’s friend Mai Zenin. Nobara dismissed what Momo said and claimed “The gender doesn’t matter to me! I’m Nobara Kugisaki!” Cool!
じゃあ共犯 (きょうはん) ね 私達 (わたしたち)
Ja kyohan ne. watashi tachi.
source: Gege Akutami 『Jujutsu Kaisen』vol.8
So, we are accomplices.
At the battle in the Yasohachi bridge, the cursed spirits Nobara and Yuji thought they had exorcised were not spirits but human. Yuji got shocked that they ended up killing people. Nobara persuaded him that they had no time to confirm if they were spirits or cursed users and had no choice either. Yuji understood that, but still, he was being anxious. Then Nobara told him that they were accomplices. She didn’t let him feel guilty alone and it must have made Yuji feel so much better.