For 'Jujutsu Kaisen' fans, Christmas Eve is a day of mourning

Spoiler warning: This story discusses major Jujutsu Kaisen manga events, including character deaths that have not yet appeared in the anime ahead of its third season premiere on Jan. 8, 2026.

Every year on Christmas Eve, I brace myself before opening my apps.

Not because of an influx of schmaltzy holiday content, but because I’m a Jujutsu Kaisen fan, and Dec. 24 is a day of collective mourning. My feed knows it. My algorithm knows it. And judging by the endless stream of edits, fan art, and softly devastating posts, so does everyone else.

For Jujutsu Kaisen fans, Christmas Eve is a holy day of remembrance.

If you’re even loosely connected to the fandom, you’ve probably noticed it by now: the sudden return of best friends–turned–diametrically opposed soulmates, Geto Suguru and Satoru Gojo, to the timeline. Side-by-side edits. Manga screenshots. Subtle references that say everything without saying too much.

The reason is simple and painful. In the Jujutsu Kaisen timeline, the real Geto Suguru dies on Dec. 24. One year later, on that same date, Satoru Gojo meets his fate in the manga. And thus, the unofficial SatoSugu Day was born.

Geto's death is already well-known to anime viewers; it has been animated, discussed, dissected, and mourned openly for years. Gojo's death, however, remains one of the manga’s most devastating and closely guarded spoilers, especially with the anime's fast-approaching third season premiere in January. That's why scrolling through my feed feels like walking into a quiet wake.

Here are just a handful of the posts I've favorited today:

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(And a special shout-out to this heartbreaking edit, which I cannot embed due to copyright restrictions, but I will link to because it's that good.)

Geto and Gojo's cursed relationship sits at the emotional core of Jujutsu Kaisen. They’re not just powerful jujutsu sorcerers or fan favorites; they’re a tragedy in parallel motion. Former best friends. Ideological opposites. Two people shaped by the same world who responded to it in completely different ways. Their bond and its unraveling are what give the story its weight long before Yuji Itadori enters the frame.

So when Christmas Eve rolls around, fans don't just mourn two characters; they mourn what could have been. The friendship that fractured. The future that never arrived. The way fate, in Jujutsu Kaisen, feels both cruel and intentional.

What fascinates me most is how specifically the fandom marks this day. It exists entirely online, sustained by fans who recall the date and return to it every year, much like muscle memory.

And maybe that’s why it hits so hard. Dec. 24 is supposed to be comforting. Instead, for fans like me, it’s a reminder of how deeply a story can burrow into your emotional life. How fictional characters can leave real marks. How shared grief, even over something imagined, can feel real when thousands of people are feeling it at once.

With the anime's anticipated Culling Game arc set to arrive in January, this Christmas Eve feels especially charged. There's an awareness that soon, the mourning won’t be confined to manga readers anymore.