The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen up to Chapter 143 by Gege Akutami, John Werry and Snir Aharon, available now in English from Viz Media.

Few stories have taken the anime and manga community by storm the way Jujutsu Kaisen has. With an ongoing manga, the anime's second season on the way and a movie under its belt, there are many ways for the franchise to attract new fans. With a rich story and complex characters, it won't be very hard either.

One of those characters is Nobara Kugisaki, the series' primary female protagonist. Introduced in Jujutsu Kaisen's first few chapters, Nobara quickly won over the audience with her cool soul/voodoo-style Cursed Technique and charming personality. On many occasions she even bucked the standard shonen trope by being a useful and powerful teammate instead of the overdone damsel-in-distress. This was made especially true during one of the manga's more recent arcs.

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What Happened to Nobara Kugisaki in Jujutsu Kaisen?

Nobara Kugisaki in Jujutsu Kaisen.

During the "Shibuya Incident" arc, Nobara found herself face-to-face against Mahito, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit known for manipulating the souls of others. As one of the strongest Curses alive, Mahito's powers are immense. By touching a person's very soul, he's able to change their body, painfully mutating them to match the soul's new shape or even "fix" certain disabilities by remolding the soul without them. He can turn his powers onto himself as well, allowing him to shift his body any way he desires -- or even split himself into multiple bodies with little effort.

While Yuji Itadori was facing off against Mahito, Nobara was all alone against a double of Mahito. Thankfully, due to one of her Cursed Technique's abilities being able to attack her enemies' souls through severed body parts, Nobara actually held the advantage. The fact that the Mahito double was only able to perform its soul transforming technique, Idle Transfiguration, on itself and not others definitely helped too.

During their fight, Nobara managed to surprise the Mahito double with her Cursed Technique. Due to it essentially being a sentient "severed limb," every time Nobara's attacks hit the double, both it and the real Mahito experienced the pain. This left an opening for Itadori to get multiple strikes in against the Curse, which was also felt by both Mahitos. This forced the sinister duo to regroup in order to beat the two Sorcerers.

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They soon switched places with the real Mahito going after Nobara and the double clashing with Itadori. While Itadori manages to kill the double, the real Mahito takes advantage of Nobara's confusion and touches her. Due to Idle Transfiguration, Nobara's face blasts open and she loses one of her eyes. She apparently does not die, according to another Jujutsu Sorcerer who performs his own technique to save her.

The sorcerer claimed Nobara's survival chances were now "non-zero" but that she wasn't out of the woods. While this moment of brutality turns into fuel for Itadori's Cursed Energy that he then directs at Mahito, Nobara's ultimate fate is left a mystery. It's been more than a year since then, with new Jujutsu Kaisen chapters releasing but no word as to her condition.

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What Nobara's Possible Return Could Mean for Jujutsu Kaisen

Nobara and Yuji perform the Black Flash in Jujutsu Kaisen

While Jujutsu Kaisen has proved it isn't afraid of killing off characters -- especially during the "Shibuya Incident" arc -- Nobara is probably still alive. Most of the characters who were part of that arc have had their fates revealed one way or another, but hers has conveniently been left a mystery since fans last saw her. This could mean the series is trying to bring her back in a way that will surprise the audience, which would be especially effective given how long it's been since her last appearance.

It would also be rather strange for Jujutsu Kaisen to kill off Nobara; most of the other student characters survived while Nobara had just recently received a power-up. Not long before, Nobara had managed to perform a Black Flash, one of the hardest techniques to pull off. According to the story, after doing so, all sorcerers gain a better understanding of Cursed Energy and their own abilities, further increasing their growth potential. This might partly explain how Nobara was able to handle herself against the Mahito double. To kill her off so soon after finding out how strong she could potentially be would definitely be shocking and a subversion of the standard shonen trope, but also a little disappointing.

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Another reason her return seems rather imminent comes with the reveal of the series' true villain, Kenjaku. Kenjaku is a being with the ability to possess individuals' bodies and gain all their powers by transplanting his brain in them. This has allowed him to live for centuries and set up his current experiment, the Culling Game, that is currently underway in the manga.

Given how Kenjaku is essentially a foreign soul taking over people's bodies, it's quite possible that soul-based attacks would be effective against him. With Mahito's powers seemingly stolen by Kenjaku as well, even if she isn't the secret weapon against him, her Cursed Technique will almost definitely come in handy at some point.

While it has been awhile since fans have seen Nobara, there's a pretty decent chance the character is still out there waiting to return. Not only is she a fan favorite, but Nobara is an integral part of the main group. With so many sad events in Jujutsu Kaisen so far, it would be nice if there was at least one happy moment -- especially if it turns out she's one of the keys to beating Kenjaku. With the series seemingly in its final half, there isn't much time left for Nobara to return, but hopefully it happens and soon.