Episode 3

**Girl of Steel** (鉄骨娘, *Tekkotsu Musume*?) is the third episode of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime adaptation.

## Summary

Gojo's class of first-years gets their third and final student introduced into the class. The fiery Girl of Steel, Nobara, is initially unimpressed with her peers until she's given a task where she must work together with Yuji to exorcise a number of curses. When faced with the life of another in her hands, Nobara looks back to her past.

## Plot Details

The third first-year set to attend Jujutsu Tech arrives in Tokyo, fulfilling a dream she shared with a friend named Saori. Outside the train station in Harujuku, Yuji and Megumi wait to meet with her. Yuji wonders why their class is so small and also inquires about believing he was the third first-year to arrive that the school. Megumi explains the new student's acceptance was granted a while ago and jujutsu students are pretty rare.

Gojo arrives and compliments Yuji on his new uniform, while also revealing that he custom ordered it with a hood. By the new girls request, they're set to meet in Harujuku. She notices a man scouting out models and angrily requests to be interviewed. Gojo calls out to her and she's freaked out by his strange blindfold. After putting her things in the coin locker she introduces herself as Nobara Kugisaki. She adds that the boys that are lucky to have her as the woman of their group.

Yuji and Megumi introduce themselves but Nobara is completely unimpressed by both of them. Gojo claims they'll be taking a tour of Tokyo since they're all together for the first time. Yuji and Nobara expect an extravagant tour of Roppongi but Gojo brings them to an abandoned building close to a cemetery where a curse has taken over. Megumi explains how associating fear with cemeteries is how curses can be brought about, but Nobara interrupts to ask how it is that a jujutsu student doesn't already know this. She learns that Yuji swallowed Sukuna's finger and is grossed out by it.

Gojo reveals this is a field test for Nobara and Yuji. Gojo gives Yuji a cursed tool, a knife called "Slaughter Demon", that has been imbued with cursed energy. He also restricts him from using Sukuna's power. Tasked with eliminating all the curses, Yuji and Nobara head inside the building together. Megumi wants to join but Gojo stops him and reveals that this test is for Nobara.

They begin searching together, but Nobara orders Yuji to search downstairs while she heads upstairs. Yuji disagrees but Nobara doesn't take no for an answer and storms off after kicking Yuji away. While he's left confused by her attitude, Yuji is suddenly ambushed from above by a cursed spirit. His reflexes allow him to act quickly and slice apart the curse with his cursed tool.

Gojo believes that Yuji is already plenty crazy. He has no hesitation fighting curses despite being a normal student before. In order to be an effective sorcerer a necessary amount of crazy is needed to deal with the grotesque nature of curses. This field test is meant to confirm how crazy Nobara is. Inside, she comes face to face with a cursed corpse who has taken the form of a possessed mannequin. Using her hammer and nails, Nobara pierces the mannequin's face, forcing the curse to reveal itself.

Nobara may have experience, but curses from the city are far stronger than those from the countryside. Their strength grows with the population since they are born from human emotions. The cursed corpse stands off with Nobara but its head is destroyed by her nails as cursed energy flows through them. Soon after, Nobara discovers a small child hiding.

Initially the child refuses to come out until Nobara notices that a curse is close by. The curse takes the boy hostage, showcasing its intelligence. Nobara knows that logically she should survive in order to exorcise the curse, but she surrenders to try and protect the boy. All seems hopeless when the curse threatens to kill the child despite Nobara's surrender, so she thinks of her friend Saori.

Suddenly, Yuji breaks in through the rear wall and cuts off the arm of the curse, freeing the boy. Yuji secures the hostage and the curse attempts to flee. Before it gets too far, Nobara uses her Straw Doll Technique on the severed arm. With her Resonance ability, Nobara exorcises the curse by piercing the arm and her Straw Doll with a nail.

In the past, Nobara's friend, Saori, was outcast by the people of her village simply because she came from Tokyo. To get back at those people, Nobara enrolled in Jujutsu Tech so she could come to Tokyo. Yuji is confused by her motivations but he accepts them. Nobara feels that if she stayed in the village any longer she'd be as good as dead. Instead, she's glad that she made it to Tokyo where she hopes to meet Saori again.

After berating him with questions over his uncanny strength, Yuji receives Nobara's thanks even if it is short-lived. The boy is returned home following the mission and Gojo offers to take them to dinner as a reward. Nobara remembers she needs to get her things from the coin locker in Harujuku and orders Yuji to do it. He refuses but Nobara argues that they won thanks to her cursed technique. Yuji replies that his strength helped but Nobara believes he got that from eating Sukuna's finger. When Yuji looks to Megumi for backup, the other first-year remains silent, busy on his phone. Gojo claims he's pouting because he had to sit out of the exercise.

Sometime during the next month, the three jujutsu student are called out to exorcise a cursed womb, but one dies in the said event.

### Juju Stroll

Yuji and Nobara play rock paper scissors to decide what they're getting for dinner. Nobara wins by throwing the opposite of what she claimed and decides they're going to eat sushi. Yuji tries to argue about where they should go but Nobara is stubborn as per usual. That is until he reveals a special kind of sushi restaurant where the food comes at you on a revolving belt faster than a bullet train!

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Yuji Itadori
* Megumi Fushiguro
* Satoru Gojo
* Nobara Kugisaki
* Sukuna (Mentioned)
* Saori (Flashback)
* Kiyotaka Ijichi (Voice Only)
* Tadashi Okazaki

## Locations

* Harajuku
* Roppongi

## Battles & Events

* Yuji Itadori & Nobara Kugisaki vs. Cursed Spirits

## Jujutsu

**Cursed Tools**

* Slaughter Demon
* Nobara's Hammer and Nails

**Nobara Kugisaki's Techniques**

* Straw Doll Technique
	+ Resonance

## Anime & Manga Differences

* The anime adds a short scene in the beginning where Nobara says "Saori-chan. I'm here. I'm in Tokyo!", this scene is partially reused later on.
* In the anime, Nobara physically stops the businessman, whereas in the manga, she simply kept talking to him.
* In the anime, Yuji wears sunglasses that say "ROOK", as opposed to the manga, where his sunglasses said "2018".
* The anime adds a scene where Nobara puts some of her things into a public locker during her introduction to the rest of the main cast.
	+ This is brought back later in the episode, when Nobara asks Yuji to get her things.
* The scene where Yuji and Nobara are overwhelmed with joy at Gojo wanting to do a "tour of Tokyo" has been extended.
* In the anime, Yuji responds to Gojo warning him not to let Sukuna out.
* The anime adds a short scene of Yuji quietly walking around in the abandoned building.
* Nobara kicking Yuji is slightly different in the anime compared to the manga.
* When Yuji strikes the receipt curse with his weapon in the anime, the attack is not named, unlike in the manga where it's called "Head-on Attack!"
* The anime adds a cyan aura to Nobara's nails whenever she uses her cursed technique.
* The anime adds a total of three minutes worth of visuals for Nobara's backstory, which was mostly done through text in the manga and in only three panels.
	+ The anime also shows how Saori looks in this episode, which is much earlier in the story than it was in the manga.
* The anime extends the scene in which the main cast discusses where to eat.
* In the anime, the report log is narrated by Kiyotaka Ijichi.
* During the report log at the end, the anime adds Tadashi Okazaki amongst the other inmates that notice the cursed womb in the sky.

## Trivia

* Starting from this episode, Nobara Kugisaki and Masamichi Yaga are added to the group shot near the end of the opening sequence.
* This is the first episode in the anime to feature the "Juju Stroll" post-credit segment.