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In Jujutsu Kaisen's episode 15 "Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event—Group Battle 1—" (Transcription: Kyōto Shimai-kō Kōryū-kai—Dantai-sen ①—; Japanese: 京都姉 妹校交流会—団体戦①—), when the Goodwill Event between the Tokyo and Kyoto schools is being kicked off, Gojo Satoru invites Utahime Iori from the Kyoto school to say a few words. She fumbles due to being put on the spot so suddenly, and then Gojo cuts her off anyway by saying that they are out of time, and that the Goodwill Event is now begun. Before the mic cuts off completely, we can hear Utahime exclaiming in frustration at Gojo's antics.

The scene then cuts to the trio—Itadori Yuji, Fushiguro Megumi, and Kugisaki Nobara—sprinting together in the woods. At this point, Yuji looks at the other two and asks, "Was that Ichiro?" to which Nobara replies, "Idiot."

Presumably, Nobara is referring to Gojo here, as it seems to be a common way of referring to him informally among themselves. For instance, when the Kyoto and Tokyo students meet for the first time as a group in the previous episode, Gojo (who is not present there) is referred to as "that idiot", and Megumi even points this out explicitly.

However, what does Yuji mean here by asking, "Was that Ichiro?" As far as I can tell, no character by this name has been introduced so far, and neither does the name Ichiro appear anytime later. Is something being lost in translation? From what I can make out, the dialogue in the Japanese dub goes as follows:

Yuji: Ichiro?
Nobara: Aho-ku-sa...

Of course, I could be hearing something incorrectly, but there is definitely not much going on here that could be mistranslated.

Question: What does Yuji mean by his question, "Was that Ichiro?" to Nobara and Megumi? Who is Ichiro?

Namaskaram
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    I did a quick Google search: [*Who is Ichiro in Jujutsu Kaisen?*](https://www.google.com/search?q=Who+is+Ichiro+in+Jujutsu+Kaisen%3F&rlz=1CAQIMT_enUS936&oq=Who+is+Ichiro+in+Jujutsu+Kaisen%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390l2.8559j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on) And from what I can tell, people are saying its likely a reference to [*Furutachi Ichiro*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichiro_Furutachi), who runs a TV show called "*Sasuke*". This isn't supported by much facts, just a Google search I did, so I doubt I can make an answer regarding this comment. – ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟッ Oct 07 '21 at 13:34
  • @ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟ I suspected it might be an out-of-universe joke, considering that Jujutsu Kaisen has plenty of those :) Do you think you could flesh it out into an answer when you get time, and if there's enough substance to it? – Namaskaram Oct 07 '21 at 13:36
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    If I have time, sure, but I'm doing something rn. I can try to find more additional sources rather than just a Google search, so I'll try answering later :) – ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟッ Oct 07 '21 at 13:38
  • @ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟ That would be great. No hurry! :) – Namaskaram Oct 07 '21 at 13:45
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    According to [this](https://jumpmatome2ch.net/archives/42018.html) (see no 23-24), it is based on what [イチロー](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%81%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC) said in the party celebrating Japan's win at WBC2009. I'm following neither the manga nor the anime, and cannot tell if it is changed in the anime version. – sundowner Oct 07 '21 at 14:01
  • @sundowner Oh! So, it's connected to what Utahime says before the mic cuts off, namely "Respect your seniors!", something apparently said by [the baseball star Ichiro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichiro_Suzuki). Definitely possible, would be great if someone could confirm it. Thanks for the lead! :) – Namaskaram Oct 07 '21 at 14:08

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That is in reference to what Utahime said: 先輩を敬え!(Respect your senpai!)

This comes from the interview of baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, after Japan's championship in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. (Note that the article in the comments incorrectly points to the 2009 interview.) He yells this to his teammates at they shower him in champagne as he tries to be interviewed (note that he's not actually angry).

You can see the interview here at the 5 second mark.

Namaskaram
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Jimmy
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  • It's quite a long time from the 2006 WBC to the release of *Jujutsu Kaisen*, which apparently started in 2018. It must have been quite a memorable quote in context :) Interesting to know about this, thanks for answering! – Namaskaram Oct 09 '21 at 15:00
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    @Namaskaram Several Ichiro quotes have become a bit of a meme. Itadori would be about 5 or 6 years old at the time, so it doesn't make that much sense in-manga. Along with other time-stamp jokes, they are definitely more a reflection of the author than the characters. – Jimmy Oct 10 '21 at 00:55