Jujutsu Kaisen: Does Toji Know Who Megumi Is?

The characters we’ve seen in Jujutsu Kaisen are diverse and come in all shapes and sizes. Some are more important, and some are less, but it is common knowledge that these characters are very intriguing, regardless of their role. One of these characters is Toji Foshiguro, a supporting villain from the anime series who appeared in two arcs of the manga, debuting in Gojo’s Past Arc, which is currently being adapted in the second season of the anime series. Toji Foshiguro is unique in many ways, but his relationship with his son, Megumi Fushiguro, is important for this article. Namely, in the second episode of the anime, Shiu Kong asked him how Megumi was doing, to which Toji simply asked – Who is Megumi? Does he really not know who Megumi is? Keep reading to find out!

Toji Fushiguro, of course, knows who Megumi is, as Megumi is his biological son. He was his first and only child, born in his first marriage to an unnamed girl whose last name was Fushiguro and whose family name he took in order to avoid being identified as a Zenin. He pretended not to know because he was like that, a true “father of the year,” but he definitely knew who Megumi was, and there was no doubt that his reply was just him acting dumb.

The rest of this article will focus on Toji Foshiguro and his relationship with his son, Megumi, which was briefly addressed in the most recent episode of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime. Toji Foshiguro might be a secondary character overall and in terms of his on-screen time, but his private life is nevertheless a very important aspect of the story (especially in relation to Megumi), which is why we will tell you everything you need to know. Be careful, though, as the article will be filled with spoilers.

Toji, of course, knew who Megumi was, but he simply acted as if he did not know

In the second episode of the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen, Shiu Kong once again met with Toji to discuss their plans, as Toji was gambling on boat races. During the conversation, Shiu Kong asked Toji how Megumi was, thus confirming the existence of a relationship between one of the series’ protagonists and the main villain of this arc. While it wasn’t specified what kind of relationship it is, we know that Megumi Fushiguro is actually Toji Fushiguro’s son.

Namely, Toji was born Toji Zenin and had Heavenly Restriction at birth, which made him unable to use cursed energy. In return, he has acquired superhuman physical prowess and highly heightened senses, allowing him to see and feel cursed spirits. When he was younger, he even met Gojo and was shocked that the sorcerer could recognize him because Toji was considered invisible. But the Zenin Clan felt that even that was insufficient and shunned him.

Rejected by his family for having this condition, he simply abandoned them one day. Many believe that his decision not to kill them was a fortunate happenstance for them because Toji could have easily done so.

He changed into a sorcerer assassin after departing. He met the young woman who would become his first wife during this time; her last name was Fushiguro. After they got married, Toji gave up his Zenin name and adopted hers, becoming Toji Fushiguro.

Megumi, the couple’s only child, had a high propensity to manifest cursed energy. During this period, he even met with Naobito Zenin to tell him that he would sell his son to the Zenin family if the boy’s cursed energy manifested itself.

We can presume that despite being a terrible father to him, he still cared at least a little because while he was eager to sell his kid to the Clan, he also informed Satoru that it would happen, knowing that the latter would stop it.

We don’t know whether he actually cared about his mother, though, even though Megumi seems to hold her in very high regard, and he seems to have been quite close to her. Be that as it may, Megumi’s mother died at one time when he was still a child, and Toji later married an unknown woman. But, while they did not have a child of their own, his second wife had already had a child, a daughter named Tsumiki, who thus became his stepdaughter and took the name Fushiguro, just like her mother.

Toji never had a proper relationship with his son; that much is clear. He never did anything a father does with his son, and it is debatable whether the two of them had any relationship at all since Toji left the family while Megumi was still a child; this is why Megumi actually had no recollection of his father, and when Toji was revived 12 years later, Megumi did not recognize him.

Now, going back to the scene from the beginning of our analysis, when Shiu Kong asked Toji how Megumi was, Toji initially kept silent. He observed his boats, and it seemed that he was either thinking something over or that he was simply going to ignore the question.

But then, after a couple of moments, he asked: “Who is Megumi?” Of course, Toji knew who Megumi was, despite being a character – as he would admit later – who was horrible with names, but due to the nature of his relationship with his son and his personality, he even managed to “forget” who he was at one point, although this was a ruse.

How do we know that? Well, when he was revived 12 years after his death, he recognized his son immediately and even sacrificed himself to save Megumi when he found out that Megumi had left the Zenin Clan, being happy because of that. So, in his own morbid way, he still did care, if only a bit, about his son.

The manga was never clear on whether Toji loved Megumi or not, but it seems that both answers could be true

Now, after seeing everything that happened to Toji in Gojo’s Past Arc, a lot of fans are still wondering whether Toji loved his son. Initially, the guy had no idea who Megumi was, and later in the arc, he genuinely had an epiphany where he remembered his son’s name, so you’d think he really did not care about him, especially because he actually did agree to sell him to the Zenin Clan, whom he despised because he himself ran away from them and wanted to get his revenge for what they did to him.

But, at the same time, the same Toji also had memories – as we’ve seen – of a younger version of himself holding a baby Megumi in his arms with great love, which seemed to be quite contradictory. Also, in his dying moments, he chose to reveal to Gojo that Megumi would be sold to the Zenin Clan in a couple of years’ time, smiling as he knew that Gojo, whatever he might have been like, would do everything in his power to stop that from happening, and he ultimately did, which is how and why Megumi became his pupil later on.

So, did Toji love his son or not? Well, this is a difficult question with two completely contradictory answers. Namely, the Toji we met in the Arc was not the same Toji that was present when Megumi was a little boy. Namely, after escaping the Zenin Clan, Toji became a gambler and an assassin, but all of that stopped when he met Megumi’s mother, whom he loved very much and while his relationship with her was blossoming, he was a wholly different person – caring, normal, not a criminal.

This Toji loved and cared for his son very much, and this is the Toji we saw holding a baby Megumi years ago.

But, at the same time, when Megumi’s mother died, Toji reverted back to his old vile self, and he ultimately stopped caring for his son. So, no, this version of Toji never loved or even liked Megumi in particular, but the memories of the old Toji were present enough for him to, well, at least stop Megumi from being sold to the Zenin Clan. This version was a horrible father, but he managed to redeem himself a bit by telling Gojo what he told him.

Megumi knew his dad, but he was unable to recognize him later in life

As far as Megumi’s relationship with his father is concerned, we have to state that Megumi knew that Toji was his dad, despite what some fans might think. It is a well-known fact that Toji abandoned Megumi and that later in life, Megumi had no practical idea about his father’s fate or his father’s whereabouts, but he did know who his father was, and there is, as we are about to explain, a very simple and logical reason for that. Namely – Megumi wasn’t really abandoned until later in his life.

As we’ve explained above, Toji had Megumi when he was a changed person, a better person. He had given up gambling and working as an assassin, and he did all of that because he seemed to genuinely love Megumi’s mother, which was strange, seeing that the Toji we’ve seen was a crappy father and a crappy person in general. But, the one memory we saw of him with a young Megumi showed him as being genuinely happy to hold his son, and from that, we actually did infer that Toji cared about his son at one point in his life.

Megumi was, seemingly, loved by Toji at that point, but since he was too small to actually remember that, and Toji abandoned him later, once he became more self-conscious, he actually harbored mostly negative emotions towards his father, which actually makes sense.

But, despite that, we cannot say that Megumi did not know who Toji was. Namely, when Gojo visited him, he immediately knew whom Gojo was talking about, but he simply said that he did not care for him and that he basically forgot what he looked like, because Toji was a crappy father who had abandoned him and his sister (actually step-sister) Tsumiko. Later, when a resurrected Toji appeared, Megumi did not recognize him, but that made sense; it’s been years, and Megumi had forgotten what Toji looked like back when he was still a child.

This is probably what prompted some fans to actually think that Megumi did not know who Toji was, but he simply wasn’t able to recognize him. He knew his father, he knew who he was, but due to his abandoning Megumi when he was still a child and a lot of time passing between that moment and their second encounter, Megumi was simply unable to recognize him but had Toji introduced himself, Megumi would have known who he was.