How does Gojo survive Toji in ‘Jujutsu Kaisen?’

The following article contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen season 2.

The highly awaited season two of Jujutsu Kaisen finally reached our screens at the start of the month. The first few episodes of the season are focusing on Gojo’s Past arc, introducing the trio that profoundly impacted Jujutsu High – Geto, Gojo, and Shoko. These three new episodes reveal a unique friendship between Gojo and Geto, whom we’ve known as an antagonist in Jujutsu Kaisen and the one individual who almost managed to take Gojo’s life.

While Gojo is widely regarded as the most powerful character in the Jujutsu world, there was one unlikely opponent that nearly ended the future professor’s life – Toji, Megumi’s father. Despite not possessing any cursed energy due to his heavenly restriction, Toji stands out as one of the most formidable foes ever seen in the anime. His attack would have been fatal for anyone else, and indeed, it was. However, Gojo isn’t an ordinary Jujutsu sorcerer, and this is how he managed to survive the assault in the third episode.

How did Gojo survive after Toji’s attack?

Bearing the name ‘Sorcerer Killer,’ Toji set his sights on taking down the most powerful known sorcerer, Gojo. Proudly, he faced his opponent with a three-step plan to exhaust the green sorcerer. Toji’s superhuman speed posed a challenge for even Gojo, who struggled to keep up with his movements from the very start of their altercation. Exploiting Gojo’s false sense of victory after taking his terrain advantage, Toji created a distraction using flies, momentarily diverting Gojo’s attention and allowing Toji to approach him.

Swiftly, Toji used the Inverted Spear of Heaven to counter Gojo’s Jujutsu technique, delivering a fatal stab. Ultimately, Gojo was still young and lacked experience, which became the fatal combination of factors that ultimately led to his near-death encounter. Despite Toji violently stabbing Gojo time and time again – even going so far as to split his body in half – Gojo miraculously survived.

Despite being at death’s door, Gojo’s abilities, though not fully developed, were the reason why he stayed alive in the first place. Upon being stabbed, he channeled all his energy into using the Reverse Cursed Technique to heal himself, a technique he had never tried before. At this moment, Toji, however, noticed he made one fatal mistake – he failed to fully cut Gojo’s head from his body.

In the end, had he cut off Gojo’s head entirely, the Six-Eyed sorcerer would’ve definitely survived. However, still able to maintain his wits, Gojo proved capable of healing himself and even learned how to use the Six Eyes without any temporal restrictions. Ultimately, Toji, knowing he was far weaker than Gojo, had no chance to escape the grasp of the young sorcerer, who promptly incapacitated him with a single decisive strike after healing his brain and body, awakening Gojo’s full potential.

As a teenager, after this intense battle, Gojo rightfully earned the title of the most powerful sorcerer in the world. However, this victory came at the expense of a fan-favorite character, and Gojo owes his position as a professor today to the pivotal role Toji played in his journey.

Jujutsu Kaisen airs every Thursday on Crunchyroll.