Apparently, some fans think Gojo Satoru is “the anime fandoms princess diana.” And the title seems to fit now that people have built a sprawling public shrine in his honor.
Gojo is a leading character in the manga and anime Jujutsu Kaisen. In the series, he’s a slightly immature and cocky but well-intentioned mentor who leads the series’ main posse of three youngsters. He looks like your typical anime pretty boy and has a lanky build and icy blue eyes. In the fictional world of the show, he’s famous for being one of the most — if not the most — powerful Jujutsu sorcerer. But like all the best anime characters, Gojo has become a real-world icon in his own right.
Even if you don’t care about anime, manga, or the latest obsession with a fictional character, it’s highly possible you’ve bumped into him digitally. Whether it’s social media trends using an augmented reality filter with him in it, memes that turn pets and landmarks into him, or audio clips using his lines from the show, Gojo has become a regular fixture of internet culture. The tag for his name has over 21 billion views on TikTok alone.
The character became notable once again when leakers shared images of chapter 236 of the manga in September. The contents — which we won’t get into now for spoiler purposes — prompted a massive show of support for the character. Now, love for the character has poured over from TikTok and other social media feeds and onto the streets of Santiago, Chile as fans convened to build the character a shrine to celebrate him.
[Ed note: Spoilers ahead for the content of the leaks, including major spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.]
Last week, leaks of the manga showed that Gojo Satoru died in the mainline series. The fan response has been intense, to say the least. While some fans have been content to make memes and share art of the character, others have sent death threats to Jujutsu Kaisen creator Gege Akutami. On a much more positive note, Chilean fans in Santiago responded to the news by building shrines for the character.
According to Fernanda, a fan who visited the shrines and spoke to Polygon for this article, fans have built two main shrines in Santiago located in subway stops running Crunchyroll and Jujutsu Kaisen ads. The ads feature Gojo, so the walls made the perfect canvas for fans to express their love and the sense of loss that came with the character’s death. Over the past week, viewers have flocked to the ads and have decorated the subway walls with hundreds of pieces of fan art, notes, and candles dedicated to the character. Fernanda shared images of the shrine with Polygon below.
Notes contained messages like, “the strongest forever,” which connects to Gojo’s catchphrase that he’s the strongest. Fernanda left a sign that said, “my six eyes tell me you are dead but my soul won’t believe it,” which references the power behind Gojo’s eyes.
Fernanda told Polygon that Gojo’s death isn’t just about loving a character, but also honoring the deeper meaning his character and story brings fans.
“I love the character, his way of seeing life, and always smiles. Also his loneliness despite everything he went through. He’s so important to a lot of people that is suffering but they try to smile despite everything that is going on in their life.”