Nobara Kugisaki Guide

Nobara Kugisaki Guide

Jujutsu Kaisen is arguably one of the greatest manga and anime series to pop up in recent memory. It hit off worldwide nearly instantly, and for a good reason.

It defies much of the expectations and tropes surrounding the shounen and dark fantasy genres. One of the best examples of this will be seen in this Nobara Kugisaki guide. This guide is all about the lead female character in the series and a fan favorite in the community.

Admittedly, I should note beforehand that I am not the biggest fan of Nobara Kugisaki, mainly due to her harsh personality. Still, there is no denying that she breaks many of the tropes that surround the female lead in a series like this one.

I hope to shed some light on just what this is in the Nobara Kugisaki guide, including details about her fascinating quirk ability and the current status of her in the manga at this time.

Bottom Line Up Front

Nobara Kugisaki is the third lead of the popular manga and anime series Jujutsu Kaisen. In the series, she is the main female character and the third of the first-year students at Tokyo Jujutsu High School alongside Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushigoro.

She breaks many trends by being a strong leader who is not cutesy like other similar characters and wants to become powerful to protect the people she cares about. It is hinted that she has a tragic past that has affected her enrollment in Tokyo Jujutsu High.

She uses a unique cursed energy fighting style by employing the use of straw dolls and a voodoo-like technique. She grows in strength across the series, becoming one of the most potent young Jujutsu sorcerers in Japan.

Who is Nobara Kugisaki?

Nobara Kugisaki

Nobara Kugisaki is one of the main characters of the top-rated Jujutsu Kaisen series. Introduced early in the manga and anime series, she is the third protagonist in Jujutsu Kaisen, behind only Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushigoro. Alongside those two, she is also one of the only three first-year students at Tokyo Jujutsu High School.

She enrolls as a student at the high school after a seemingly dark past that happened before the series that greatly affected her. She discovered her cursed energy powers and has a lot of latent talent within her. Her abilities are unique, primarily using the straw doll and hammer that she carries around.

With this cursed energy ability, she can connect to her enemy and cause damage to them through the power of her enchanted hammer. She has a unique combat ability that starts slowly at the beginning of the series but allows her to grow into one of the most impressive sorcerers in the current state of the series.

Nobara Kugisaki is one of the unique shounen protagonists, too, in the fact that she is not at all like most female leads in manga and anime series, which I think is quite refreshing.

She is a strong lead character who does not care about what others think and is not distracted from her goals in life. This has led to her being one of the most popular characters in the community and appearances beyond just the manga and anime series.

Appearance

For the most part, Nobara Kugisaki retains the same general appearance throughout the manga and anime from the start to the current moment in the series. This appearance is based on the Tokyo Jujutus High School uniform that she wears most days. Even in the battles and missions she partakes in, she usually wears this outfit.

School Uniform

The school uniform that Nobara Kugisaki wears in the Jujutsu Kaisen series is not that different from the other main characters in the series. She wears a dark blue skirt on the bottom that goes down to just about her knees. She wears pantyhose on her legs that cover the rest.

She wears brown loafers on her feet. Nobara wears a matching navy blue long-sleeve button-up school shirt on the top half of her body. It matches her skirt, and the shirt is tucked in nicely. She wears a wide black belt that ties the two pieces together well.

We can see from the edges of her sleeves that she is also likely wearing a white undershirt most of the time. There are moments in battle (such as is the case with the featured image of her on this guide) where she unbuttons her blue shirt, and we can see the undershirt underneath.

She carries around various equipment parts of her appearance, like her straw doll, hammer, and nails. Her face is pretty serious most of the time, featuring her cold and sometimes uncaring personality.

Her hair is a light brown, somewhat dirty blonde color and is cut into a well-shaped bob that does not even go all the way down to her shoulders. This hair color is iconic for her, but this is not her natural hair. Her natural hair color is black, but she dyes her hair often. Overall, she has a relatively simple appearance but is fitting for this series.

Personality

Nobara Kugisaki

The personality that Nobara Kugisaki has is a pretty harsh one. She is cold towards almost everyone and does not seem to care all that much about others, including her fellow protagonists and classmates. She is mostly there to get the job done and does not care too much about connecting with other people.

She is a very driven person who cares about her goals and does whatever it takes to make them happen. While she is not friendly towards others, she is emotional at times, especially in battle, where she will become passionate, and this will significantly affect her powers. She is pretty hard to deal with, sometimes reflecting the classic tsundere personality.

Key Relationships

As one of the main characters of Jujutsu Kaisen, there are a few relationships that are core to her character. The first of these has to do with her fellow protagonists and classmates. Yuji Itadori, the lead character in the manga and anime series, is a friend of Nobara’s that became somewhat close to her early on.

Nobara is a newer student at the school, just like Yuji, so they have a good bit in common in this regard. They also have some rough circumstances that eventually lead to them joining the Tokyo Jujutsu High School. I would say that Yuji is a bit closer to Nobara than some of the other characters, especially since their fighting styles mesh well with one another. They are in sync when they fight alongside each other in battle.

On the other hand, the relationship that Nobara has with her fellow first-year, Megumi Fushigoro, is odd. I think that their relationship is not that close at all, despite them fighting together in battle. They do not seem to like one another all that much, and their connection is purely academic and business-like, honestly.

Outside of her two classmates, she has little to do with anyone else at her school and the rival Kyoto Jujutsu High School. Even her teacher, Gojo-sensei, only has a minor connection to her. That said, she is a harsh person, so she has an intense rivalry with many characters, especially those from the rival school in Kyoto.

Beyond that, though, there is little that she has in terms of relationships with the other main characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. This is likely an indication of her closed-off personality due to the events in the past. There are people that she cares about from her home, but they are not that heavily featured in the actual story, at least at first.

Voice Actor

Nobara Kugisaki

In the recent anime adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen, we finally got to hear the voice of Nobara Kugisaki. On the Japanese side, the voice actor for the protagonist is Asami Seto. She is a well-known and highly talented voice actor who has had some notable roles in the past.

I admit that I’m obviously not the biggest Nobara fan around, but this is honestly one of the lesser roles for Asami Seto. She has some fantastic work she’s done in the past, and Nobara does not give her the chance to show that off.

For instance, she nailed the role of the best girl in a few other series. Raphtalia is the best girl anytime she is around in The Rising of the Shield Hero, which is unlikely to change in the near future.

There is also her iconic role as Mai Sakurajima, also known as Bunny Girl Senpai herself, in Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. There are other excellent roles, too, like Chihaya in Chihayafuru, Akira in Tokyo Ghoul, and Fena in Fena: Pirate Princess.

When you switch to the English dub side of Jujutsu Kaisen, the voice for Nobara is Anne Yatco. I’m honestly not too familiar with Yatco’s work so far, but she has had some impressive roles in the last couple of years, such as Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact and Memempu in Sakugan.

Abilities

As one of the main characters in Jujutsu Kaisen, Nobara Kugisaki has a few different abilities that are up to her sleeve. They all revolve around how she is able to use the cursed energy that she controls in battle. I think that she has one of the most refreshing and unique fighting styles in manga and anime history, certainly feeling different from the usual tropes.

Cursed Energy

Starting with the cursed energy powers that Nobara has, it comes down to a few enchanted items that she uses in combat. These items allow her to channel her cursed energy and take out enemies with them. This is also helpful since she is not strong outside of her cursed energy.

Though she does train later in the series to better her human physical attributes, she relies heavily on her cursed energy abilities. Thankfully, she is pretty powerful in commanding cursed energy. The first of the items that she uses is the nails that she carries around.

She is able to enchant them with her cursed energy, allowing her to hammer them in with her hammer to deal damage to an enemy from afar. This is done using the straw doll effigy that she has. She can use the doll as a replacement for the person she is attacking, applying damage to the doll that will then turn around and be dealt with by the same person.

For example, she can target a limb, and that limb on the enemy will also be dealt damage in the process. She also has special techniques that she can use, like exploding parts of an enemy’s body or using spikes to attack a person from long range.

In all honesty, her abilities are limited since she has to use her equipment most of the time, but her ceiling for cursed energy manipulation is much higher than most other sorcerers in high school.

History

Nobara Kugisaki

Nobara Kugisaki is introduced in the Jujutsu Kaisen series early on, playing a vital role as one of the three main characters. As such, it is tough for me to talk about her life in the story without spoiling some of the essential details from the manga and anime so far.

This is your spoiler warning, especially if you are an anime-only fan, since I m going to go over some huge events that happen later in the story.

Attending Tokyo Jujutsu High School

At the start of the Jujutsu Kaisen series, Nobara joins the Tokyo Jujutsu High School soon after Yuji Itadori does. Rounding out the group as the third first-year student, she begins to study under Satoru Gojo’s exceptional leadership. Right after joining, she also has her chance to go on her first mission.

In the mission to take out the cursed spirit, she butts heads with Yuji quite a lot, but they are able to defeat the enemy in the end, in large part due to her strength when it comes to cursed energy manipulation. She trains after this, trying to recover from the Detention Center mission and its tragic conclusion.

This leads to the Tokyo and Kyoto Goodwill Event, where the two rival high schools compete against one another in friendly competition. She quickly finds a few rivals at the Kyoto school and ends up losing in the end. That said, she plays a vital part in the crazy events that follow when Mahito’s people attack.

Following this, during the Death Painting Arc, Nobara and Yuji get to team up to fight against Eso and Kechizu. This fight is one of the most terrific in the series and certainly one of the best for Nobara. She can show how far she’s come, both as a sorcerer and in her trust in Yuji.

The Shibuya Incident

This all leads to the monumental Shibuya Incident Arc, one of the lengthiest parts of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. This has not been adapted yet into the anime form, so spoilers are going to be present from here on. Nobara plays a vital role in this fight, having two significant moments in the arc.

The first of these is against Haruta Shigemo, where she teams up with Kento Nanami for an unexpected pairing. It is a dramatic and hard-fought battle where we see Nobara shine as a curse user. In the end, it leads to another fight towards the end of the arc.

Once more, Nobara teams up with Yuji to fight against the main antagonist of the Jujutsu Kaisen series, Mahito. This is the most challenging fight for Nobara yet, and it ends, ultimately, in tragedy. Nobara is not able to finish the battle as Mahito’s powers strike her down, and her head is blasted open in a horrific fashion.

During this moment, she does get her little monologue and classic anime death moment, hinting that she is gone for good. That said, there are other hints that she did not entirely die here and that she will return someday in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga to assist her teammates again.

But, as of right now, her status is still unknown at the time of writing this. Personally, I think she will make a return in the future, for sure, much like Yuji did. However, I think she will be pretty different from the person we previously knew her as when she does. There could even be a situation where she has a different persona or even be a villain of sorts.

Fun Facts about Nobara Kugisaki

Nobara Kugisaki

Here are some fun facts about Nobara Kugisaki that you may not have known about previously:

  • Despite being one of the three lead characters, it took some time for the Jujutsu Kaisen community to warm up to her abrasive personality. In the first official popularity poll for the manga series, she placed only sixth in it.
  • In the end, though, the community has warmed up considerably to Nobara, likely due to the anime version. During the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in the United States, she won the award for Best Girl, cementing her claim as the most impactful female lead in recent memory.
  • It may not be immediately obvious in the manga or anime, but Nobara Kugisaki is a bit shorter than Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushigoro. She does not seem too short, but she is actually around 159 centimeters tall (or 5’3”).
  • It has also been since revealed that the hair color that Nobara has is not her natural look. She naturally has black hair, but she colors it to the iconic look that we know of her due to personal preference.
  • Speaking of preferences, she is quite the big spender and will spend a lot of time in places like Shibuya in Tokyo, buying plenty of clothes and food. The first ending song for the anime’s first season even hints at this fact.
  • She is all about trending clothing and items as well, as seen in the fact that her favorite food is watermelon and whatever is trending right now.
  • There are several meanings to the Japanese kanji characters that are in Nobara’s name, but the one that I would like to point out is that “Kugi” in her last name, Kugisaki, can mean nail. This directly references the nails that she uses in the battles against enemies.

FAQs

Question: Who does Nobara Kugisaki Like?

Answer: The reality is that there is no one that Nobara Kugisaki seems to like in a romantic way. The relationship between her and Yuji starts off quite heated but becomes warmer over time as they team up with one another.
That said, I do not think that either one likes the other in that way, and I have no doubt that there is not going to be a relationship between them. It is possible that Nobara will not end up with anyone in the series, which is quite refreshing, in my opinion.

Question: Is it Nobara Kugisaki or Kugisaki Nobara?

Answer: It is Kugisaki Nobara officially in the Japanese. This is because the traditional way of handling names in Japanese is to have the family name first and then the given name. When there is an English translation, though, it is switched to Nobara Kugisaki.
This is because it is the opposite in English, with the given name first and the family name last. Since this guide is in English, I’m opting to use the Nobara Kugisaki style.

Question: Is Nobara Kugisaki Alive?

Answer: This is a question that will obviously constitute spoilers, regardless of the status of her character, so turn away now if you want no spoilers. This is especially true for anime fans. At this time, it is currently unknown if she is alive.
After the battle with Mahito recently, she is in a very bad position, and it appears that she died during the battle in a gruesome way. But it is likely that she will live, in my opinion, but she will not be the same exact person, that’s for sure.

Nobara Kugisaki Guide: Conclusion

Nobara Kugisaki might not be my personal favorite character in the Jujutsu Kaisen series. Still, there is no doubting that she is among the more compelling and trope-breaking main characters. She is certainly different from the damsel in distress or the character who fawns over the protagonist all the time as the possible love interest, which is welcome.

That said, there are some other Jujutsu Kaisen characters that I really like and recommend you to check out. For instance, there is the lead guy of the entire series, Yuji Itadori. He is the main character of the manga and anime series and one of the best characters. You can find out more about him right here.

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