Jujutsu Kaisen: Why Did Megumi and Toji Fight & What Exactly Happened?

The relationship between Toji and Megumi Fushiguro has been one of the most interesting aspects of the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen, both during Gojo’s Past Arc and the Shibuya Incident Arc. The fact that Toji is one of the most interesting characters in the series and, while he is a villain, very popular further increases the need to clarify his relationship with Megumi. We know that they are father and son and that they had a strained, complex relationship – but they ended up fighting in Shibuya, not long after Toji killed Dagon. Why did they fight, and what happened there? Keep reading to find out!

Toji and Megumi fought because Toji was a mindless beast

Long story short – Toji was revived by Ogami to be used as a footsoldier, but she could not control him, so he killed her and searched for strong opponents. He then found Dagon’s Domain and entered through the opening Megumi created, killing Dagon quite soon. He was then faced with the four sorceresses, who observed what he would do next.

Toji was only focused on Megumi, but the four of them watched him as the Domain crumbled, unsure whether to view him as an ally or an enemy. Then he pulled him away, and a furious brawl broke out between them. Megumi gave it everything he had, but he quickly concluded that there was nothing he could do to stop his father (although, at that moment, he did not know that he was fighting his father). Megumi couldn’t hope to overcome Toji because he was too strong for him. Because of this, all of his attacks served as a means of keeping Toji at bay, and in the end, he was successful in that section.

The fact that he could keep Toji from killing proved crucial because, at the time, Toji was a mindless puppet unable to control his consciousness. He had also not spoken a word since entering Dagon’s Domain, not even to Megumi. But then something clicked in his memory. He reminisced about his meeting with Naobito Zenin years prior to selling Megumi to him. He was unaware of his son’s fate because he passed away before Megumi attained the necessary level of maturity as a sorcerer. Still, he would not have approved if his son had turned into a Zenin.

When he eventually came to again, Toji asked him what his son’s name was while he was looking at him. He congratulated his kid when Megumi revealed that it was Fushiguro and not Zenin, and then he seized the Playful Cloud and stabbed himself with it. So, by sparing Megumi, Toji atoned for a portion of his misdeeds. He then passed away alongside the vessel he had been in, at which point his body transformed into Ogami’s “grandson,” as Toji had vanished entirely from it.

Could Megumi defeat Toji? Would Toji have killed him?

We now know what happened, as we have explained the story per se. We know how they fought, why, and what happened between them in the end. But while Megumi technically won, it was not a proper win. Could Megumi have won? Is he strong enough to defeat Toji? No. The answer is quite simple – there is no way that Megumi could defeat his father, which is also a fact that Megumi himself admitted.

As for Toji’s motives, before regaining his humanity, Toji was a mindless puppet. He became a being of pure instinct and all he wanted to do was defeat and kill strong opponents. He had no control over his actions, and whether he was fully conscious is debatable. So, yes, he viewed Megumi as someone important, but he was also ready to kill him and had Toji not taken over, Toji would have killed Megumi without a doubt. Megumi was skilled enough to prolong it, but had Toji gotten the chance, he would have certainly killed Megumi.

Why did Toji spare Megumi?

Having concluded that Toji would have killed Megumi had he gotten the chance, why did he spare him? We know that Toji did not lose to Megumi – he willingly committed suicide and spared Megumi’s life. Why? Well, however ironic this might sound, knowing Toji, he did it because he was Megumi’s father.

Okay, sure, we know that he was not the father of the year – heck, he abandoned his son and even wanted to sell him to Naobito – but at the moment he realized that Megumi did not become a Zenin and that he had remained a Fushiguro, he was actually proud of him.

His parental instincts seemingly activated at that point, and seeing that his son did not become a member of the family he detested, he was proud. He decided to atone for his mistakes, partially at least, so he killed himself and thus saved his son’s life, which was quite a noble thing to do, especially since Toji’s story is quite well-known.

Did Toji atone by sparing Megumi? Was this his redemption arc?

Now that we have also solved this issue, we can analyze Toji’s actions and tell you whether this move atoned his past sins. He did a noble and fatherly thing, but was that enough? We know that Toji Fushiguro did some horrible things – he abandoned his son, he was an assassin and a gambler, he killed Riko most brutally, he thought he had killed Gojo and wanted to kill Geto as well, he abandoned his step-daughter and was a lousy parent – and these are just those that we know of. We imagine that someone with such a rich past has done a lot more than just the things we’ve listed.

So, is this enough? Well, he did spare his son’s life, and that was a very noble, if not natural, thing to do. The issue here is that such natural instincts cannot be applied to Toji, so his acting like a normal parent is a good thing for him, and it means that he has become a better person.

This is far from a redemption arc, we can say that, as it isn’t really an arc at all – it is more likely just an attempt at a redemption act, although we’re not quite sure that Toji would have wanted us to forgive him because he spared Megumi. So, no, we don’t think that Toji got a proper redemption arc with this, but he did atone… somewhat. Not fully, not properly, but he did make things a bit better with this act, and we cannot ignore that face when we are talking about him.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!