nanami death is the death of Kento Nanami in the Shibuya Incident, where Jogo burns him badly, he staggers through Shibuya Station fighting transfigured humans, and Mahito kills him in front of Yuji. Kento Nanami dies in the Shibuya Incident. Jogo burns him badly, he staggers through Shibuya Station fighting transfigured humans, and then Mahito kills him in front of Yuji. Just before the end he sees his dead friend Haibara, and his last words go to Yuji (Dexerto).
*Spoilers for Season 2 through episode 18 (manga chapter 120), with brief Season 1 and Hidden Inventory context, and one manga-only detail inside a marked reveal.* This post belongs to the Shibuya arc of our Jujutsu Kaisen story guide.
Pick your path: the episode, the chapter, his last words, or why he was killed off.
Want to put yourself inside Jujutsu Kaisen? YourCrush.AI turns this post's original character recipe, Greta Hollund, into someone you can talk to.
How did Nanami die?
Jogo burns him, and Mahito kills him. Those are two different moments on the same night, and most of the confusion about the nanami death comes from blending them into one.
Kento Nanami is a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer in Jujutsu Kaisen, a former office worker in his late twenties who left the work, came back to it, and fights beside Yuji Itadori against the curse Mahito (Wikipedia's character list). His thread through the story starts eleven years before Shibuya, with a death that was not his.
2007: the classmate
Nanami is a student at Tokyo Jujutsu High in 2007, one of two in his year.
Spoiler: the classmate Nanami lost
Yu Haibara, Nanami's only classmate, is killed on a mission in 2007 (Wikipedia, Season 2). Nanami later leaves jujutsu society after Haibara's death and takes a corporate job (Wikipedia's character list). It is the same year Geto leaves jujutsu society too, a story told in why Geto turned on the sorcerers.
He does not stay away. As a salaryman he feels his work helps no one. Then he exorcises a curse from the shoulder of a girl at a bakery he visits, and her thanks show him what the work is worth, so he returns (Game Rant).
The Mahito case
By Season 1 he is a Grade 1 sorcerer, and the case he is given comes with a fifteen-year-old attached. He and Yuji fight Mahito together across Season 1 episodes 9 to 13, the arc in which Mahito transfigures the bullied student Junpei (Wikipedia, Season 1).
Our imagining of Nanami in that case, in his voice, not a line from the show: "You are a child. I am an adult. That means the dangerous part is my job, and your job is to stay behind me."
Dagon's domain
Shibuya, October 31, 2018. Nanami is one of the sorcerers trapped and struggling inside the domain of the curse Dagon, with Maki, Megumi and Naobito, until Toji Fushiguro, brought back from the dead, takes Maki's cursed tool and exorcises Dagon (Wikipedia, Season 2). That return is its own story, in how Toji died twice. It happens on the night Gojo is sealed, which is where the Shibuya Incident story begins.
Burned
Nanami's last walk happens after Sukuna has burned through Shibuya. The full night is in what Sukuna did in Shibuya.
Spoiler: what Jogo did to Nanami
Right after Toji kills Dagon, the curse Jogo burns Naobito, Nanami and Maki. Nanami and Maki survive the fire. Naobito does not (Dexerto). This is chapter 111 of the manga (The Mary Sue) and Season 2 episode 15, "Fluctuations, Part 2", aired November 2, 2023 (Wikipedia, Season 2).
He keeps walking. Badly burned, he moves through Shibuya Station fighting the transfigured humans Mahito has made (Dexerto).
Our imagining, Nanami to himself on the stairs: "Still standing. Then the work is not finished."
The beach
Spoiler: what Nanami thinks about, and who he sees at the end
In his last moments Nanami pictures the quiet life he wanted, relaxing on a beach in Malaysia, and asks himself once more why he came back to jujutsu (CBR). Then he sees his dead friend Haibara (Dexerto).
Mahito, and Yuji
Yuji arrives. Mahito is already there.
Spoiler: Nanami's last words to Yuji
Mahito kills Nanami in front of Yuji. His last words are to Yuji: "You've got it from here." (chapter 120; Season 2 episode 18) (Dexerto).
Spoiler: what happens to Mahito after
Yuji goes on to beat Mahito later that night, with Aoi Todo's help, in Season 2 episode 21 (Wikipedia, Season 2).
How YourCrush.AI lets you build the steady mentor the story took away
YourCrush.AI gives Greta a past through the backstory field, so the colleague she lost is part of every conversation from the first message. YourCrush.AI keeps the partnership's history in pinned memories, which means the building you cleared last week and the rule she broke for you stay on the record. YourCrush.AI sends voice messages, so her two o'clock rule can arrive in a flat, unhurried voice. YourCrush.AI also runs story branches, so you can play the night she walks into the building alone and the night you go in with her, side by side.
It is free to join and 18+ only, and conversations are not sold to third parties.
What episode does Nanami die?
The Nanami death happens in Season 2 episode 18, which is episode 42 overall, titled "Right and Wrong". It aired on November 23, 2023 (Wikipedia, Season 2).
The burns come three episodes earlier, in episode 15 ("Fluctuations, Part 2", November 2, 2023). Stop watching there and you've seen him hurt, not killed. The death scene itself lands in episode 18, and it's the last thing he does in the anime.
What chapter does Nanami die in the manga?
Nanami dies in chapter 120, inside the Shibuya Incident arc. That chapter falls within the stretch Season 2 adapted, so if you only watch the anime, you've already seen it play out (Dexerto).
Jogo's attack lands in chapter 111 (The Mary Sue), which gives him nine chapters between the fire and the end. The Shibuya arc itself runs from chapter 79 to 136 (Wikipedia, chapter list).
What were Nanami's last words?
Nanami's last words to Yuji are "You've got it from here," spoken in chapter 120 and Season 2 episode 18. He says them to the student who had fought beside him since the Mahito case (Dexerto).
Translations differ slightly. CBR renders the line as "You take it from here" (CBR). Either way, it's a handover, a working adult passing the job to the person who has to keep doing it. He doesn't say goodbye.
Why was Nanami killed off?
Gege Akutami said the death was needed for "the development of the characters" (Dexerto). On the page, it lands on Yuji, who watches it happen and is handed the job in Nanami's last line.
What follows is our reading, not anything Akutami has said. Nanami's thread runs from Haibara's death, which drove him out of jujutsu, to Haibara appearing to him at the end. Read that way, the vision is his grief finally catching up with him, eleven years late, on the one night he had no time for it. The beach he pictures is the life he quit to have and quit again to come back from.
The last line points the other way, at Yuji, a fifteen-year-old who is already carrying the guilt of what Sukuna did with his body that night (Wikipedia, Yuji Itadori). Our reading again: the death is built to push Yuji forward, which fits Akutami's comment about character development. It is also the reason so many readers name this as the death that hurt most. Gojo is sealed, Nanami is gone, and the adult who was supposed to make the dangerous part his job has just given it to a child.
How old is Nanami?
Nanami is 28 when he dies on October 31, 2018. He was born on July 3, 1990, so he's 27 when he's introduced and turns 28 a few months before Shibuya (Game Rant, ComingSoon via Yahoo).
That's why profiles disagree. One gives the age he enters the story at, the other the age he dies at. In the 2007 flashback he's a teenage student, which is why this post gives him no lines from that year.
Build a calm, tired professional of your own
There is no Nanami character page on YourCrush.AI, so here is an original adult built on the same idea: the professional who left, came back, and keeps working. Paste these fields into build a calm, tired professional of your own.
| Field | What to paste |
|---|---|
| Name | Greta Hollund |
| Category | Human |
| Behaviour mode | natural |
| Traits | Calm, Honest, Protective, Patient, Sarcastic |
| Speaking style | dry, precise, unhurried, plain |
| Description | Greta Hollund is thirty-four, a former insurance claims adjuster who now clears hauntings for a small contracting firm in a rainy port city. She wears the same grey coat to every job, carries a folding ruler and a thermos, and assesses a haunted building the way she once assessed water damage: calmly, in writing, with a number at the end. She is protective of new hires and blunt with clients. She does not do heroics; she does the job and goes home. |
| Backstory | She quit the work once, after a colleague she trained with died on a job she had signed off on. She spent four years in an office. She came back because the office was worse. You are her new partner, on your first week, and tonight's building is the one she has been avoiding. |
| Greeting | You're early. Good. Hold this torch and do not touch the banister on the third floor. I have a rule on jobs like this: we leave by two, whatever is or isn't finished. Tell me what you see on the stairs, exactly, and don't guess. |
Frequently asked questions
Who killed Nanami?
Mahito killed Nanami, at Shibuya Station, in front of Yuji, in chapter 120 and Season 2 episode 18 (Dexerto).
Did Jogo kill Nanami?
No. Jogo burned him badly earlier in the night (chapter 111, Season 2 episode 15), but Mahito struck the killing blow.
Is Nanami dead?
Yes. Mahito kills him in chapter 120, Season 2 episode 18, and he is never revived.
Manga-only spoiler: where Nanami appears once more
In chapter 236, after Gojo's own death, Gojo finds himself in an airport-like limbo and meets the already-dead Nanami, Haibara and Principal Yaga there, along with Geto (ComicBook). It is an afterlife scene, not a return.
Who is Haibara?
Yu Haibara was Nanami's only classmate at Tokyo Jujutsu High, killed on a mission in 2007 (Wikipedia, Season 2).
Why did Nanami quit being a sorcerer?
He left after Haibara's death and took a corporate job, then returned when a girl at a bakery thanked him for removing a curse from her shoulder, which showed him the work mattered (Game Rant).
What season does Nanami die in?
Season 2, during the Shibuya Incident, which ran from episode 6 to episode 23 of that season (Wikipedia, Season 2).
More from Shibuya Incident
- Read the full story: What is the Shibuya Incident? The night Gojo was sealed, told in scenes
- Start here: What is Jujutsu Kaisen about? The whole story in order, starting with Season 1
- Also on YourCrush: Male anime characters: 20 adult icons, grouped by archetype
- Also on YourCrush: Anime AI chat: twelve canon adults sorted by how they talk, and how to build your own