Jujutsu Kaisen: How did Yu Haibara die?

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 features Nanami envisioning his deceased friend Yu Haibara. However, the series never fully explores what exactly happened to him.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 introduces Yu Haibara, Nanami’s friend whose death had a major impact on him. The last episode of the flashback arc primarily focuses on Geto’s downfall as he is consumed by darkness after the tragedy of Riko’s death. Even a year later, when things seem normal on the surface, Geto struggles to keep his sanity.

The echoes of people clapping over Riko’s death still haunt him. Meanwhile, seeing Gojo’s steady growth makes Geto realize the massive gap between their powers. He talks with his lively junior, Yu Haibara, and special-grade Sorcerer Yuki Tsukumo.

Geto’s situation becomes worse when he sees Yu’s corpse and realizes that at the end of the road, all that’s waiting for him is the death of his friends. That gives him the final push he needs before he turns to evil and aims to kill non-sorcerers. However, although the death of Yu Haibara plays a significant role in Geto’s backstory, Jujutsu Kaisen never properly explores what really happened to him.

How Yu Haibara died in Jujutsu Kaisen

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It’s not a secret among Jujutsu Kaisen fans that the higher-ups are extremely inconsiderate people who wouldn’t even bat an eye over the death of some young sorcerer. All they care about is maintaining the status quo, and they don’t care who dies in the process. Despite that, they are highly respected in the Jujutsu society. Satoru Gojo is the only one who openly expresses his abhorrence toward them. 

As for Yu Haibara and Kento Nanami, they were ranked sorcerers. Therefore, despite being students, it’s only natural for them to take on missions every once in a while. They were assigned to deal with a Grade 2 curse, which should’ve been an easy task for the two of them. However, due to the higher-ups’ negligence, there was a miscommunication about the true powers of the curse. 

It was a deity of that area, meaning it was strong enough to be a Grade 1. Nanami may be one of the strongest characters in the series now, but at that time, he didn’t have the skills required to deal with a Grade 1. And Yu Haibara was even weaker than Nanami. 

Therefore, Yu Haibara died a gruesome death in Jujutsu Kaisen, impacting Geto in the worst way imaginable. Sadly, his death was inconsequential in the higher-ups’ eyes. Yu Haibara’s death was only an example. Cases like these weren’t rare in the Jujutsu world, which is why Geto decided to become evil to save those he held dear.