Jujutsu Kaisen character mentions Malaysia's Kuantan beach, and there's now a landmark on Google Maps

Popular shonen anime Jujutsu Kaisen has aired its most recent episode, and Malaysian (and Singaporean) fans of the series might have noticed the mention of a familiar place in the region - Kuantan, the capital of the state of Pahang on Malaysia's east coast.

Considering that the namedrop came from one of the more beloved characters in the series, it should be no surprise that Kuantan started trending on the platform X formerly known as Twitter. There was even a landmark on Google Maps (at least, for the time being), related to the mention.

As the reasons surrounding Kuantan and its beach being talked about in the anime concern the plot of episode 42, consider this a spoiler warning for the rest of the article.

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Why was Malaysia's Kuantan mentioned in Jujutsu Kaisen's Kento Nanami?

Given the spoiler warning, it shouldn't be a surprise that the mention involved a major character's death.

For this beloved Jujutsu Kaisen character, who further captivated fans’ hearts with his thirsty display of aggression, his bittersweet and poignant farewell saw him dreaming of Kuantan's beach in Malaysia.

Kento Nanami meets his grisly end at the hand of his archrival (and one of the primary antagonists of the series) Mahito.

The latter has the ability to reshape people’s souls and has been known to create transfigured humans or explode their body from within. No prizes for guessing what he did to Nanami.

However, prior to his death, Nanami was already worn down after an attack severely wounded half his body, and he spends the last remnants of his energy cutting down a horde of transfigured humans.

In the anime scene, Nanami gingerly walks down a corridor while imagining himself walking on the sandy shore of a beach, breeze in his hair.

Then, he encounters the horde of creatures, lets out a soft sigh, and says, “Malaysia. That’s right, Malaysia. I should go to Kuantan. I’ll build a house on an empty beach… I’m tired. I’m really tired… I’ve done enough.”

As he cuts a path through the creatures, he imagines himself on the beach taking in the sound, and probably the scent, of the sea. After he wipes out the last of them, Mahito steps in to take his life.

Nanami’s death marks the first major departure of a main(ish) character in the series as he served as a secondary mentor to the main trio of students - Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, and Nobara Kugisaki.

Fan reaction and tributes

While Nanami’s death played out exactly the same way as it did in the manga - meaning that long-time fans would have seen it coming - it didn’t stop the fandom from catching feels.

Many fans posted on X to commemorate his death.

Some shared photos of the actual beach, many reposted clips of the scene while claiming it’s the best farewell scene in an anime, while others felt like Nanami deserved to have the peace and happiness he was searching for.

A cosplayer even went to the beach dressed as Nanami.

Someone went a step further to create a Kento Nanami Memorial Shrine landmark on Google Maps although it’s possible that it might have been created after his death came in the manga.

The landmark has received only 5-star reviews - 149 of them at publication time - since its inception, with Nanami fans saying their goodbyes in the reviews, which are all rather recent and were posted over the last couple hours.

While you might not be able to head to Kuantan just yet, the Anime Festival Asia 2023 is currently taking place in Singapore this weekend, with Jujutsu Kaisen and other anime taking centrestage.

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