What's wrong with JJK fans? Now I know why y'all are thirsty for reader x character shameless smut. You guys got a lot of wounds but let me essay for a minute on how FUCKED UP the death of your characters are.
Bit of a backstory here, I am a big Naruto fan and for a long while it was one of the 3 few animes I had watched in my whole life 'till recently I decided to challenge myself and, per request of my friend, try a new anime. I was like "okay, so what is the one you want me to watch?" and they were like "Jujutsu Kaisen". I obviously DO NOT live under a rock so I had heard of it, especially since I'm from Naruto fandom, so of course I had bumped into Team 7 x Nobara, Megumi and Yuuji crossover a few times already. In the end I was like "okay" and in a few days I had made my way through half of season one. A bit confused and definitely lost on how somehow everyone is related at some point - since most of those backstories are only mentioned or weirdly hinted at but the anime never does more than superficially explained them - but I kept persevering and now am on season 2, episode 41.
[Crunchyroll couting]
For disclaimer reasons I must say there will be spoilers from here on since I will be doing a quick recap and calling back some later mentioned facts of JJK 0 as well as 2 season episodes. But your choice to proceed, of course.
For the sake of brevity I will be approaching characters death as topics! Also ther deaths mentioned here are the ones on Shibuya Arc that were more shocking to me.
As Naruto is one of the only base for anime I had (the others I watched were SK8 and Castelvania) I will be using it as a comparison item to illustrate my complete disbelief on how impersonal JJK deaths are. Keep in mind I have yet to finish the anime, but already had a good insight on how the author treat their character's.
Normally, not counting flashbacks, OVA and slice-of-life fillers, a Naruto character can takes from 2 to 4 episodes to be completely dead, not taking into consideration the time the other characters will grieve them, making the character appear in several flashbacks, including some that are exclusive from each one of the main characters with the dead!character. The character will - and I will be using Haku as an example - be presented to us under a mysterious light few episodes before becoming important or endorsed on the main drama, giving us time to wonder why the character was initially there to then connect the dots when it's time.
I have no complaints on how JJK presents their characters to us - which is mainly a batch of characters every other episode - because I think it fits the anime's pace, that keeps us interested on the gang first and then the individuals. Not to mention that Naruto first aired in Air TV on 2003 while JJK is a 2020 anime displayed on screens & streams, setting the former on a display format where episodes had to be cut to fit the small screen time it had between lager shows or other cartoons on TV. It was set to play only on a specific day of the week, this way all episodes ought to have some sort of cliffhanger to make people turn on their tube- I mean, square (pfff who has a tube TV, am I right?) TV's on the next week.
Maki Zen'in.
The problem with presenting a batch of characters each episode to me is that we get a superficial dip into all of their stories in a funny or quirky side-quest that isn't completely relevant - which is great! I love side quests and sparks of crack on a more serious anime - and when the side-quest ends we keep wondering when we will see more about the characters and if they will get to their ambitions, face their past, and face faces from the past; it has us on the edge of our sits before the narrative changes to another individual abruptly.
"Oh, that's great! Keeps the story interesting for later! It will be so cool when Maki-san returns to the Zenin clan with her sister and-"
No, it won't. Maki dies. She is burnt alive minutes before Jogo, her killer, dies too. And her sister? I can't even remember the last time I saw her. To be honest I briefly saw her on JJK 0 which, fair enough, but I don't record seeing her on Shibuya Arc. Is she even important after all that has happened?
"Oh, but it is an interesting point to see how she will react to her sister's death-" Why? And I might just be taking "critical thinking" a little too serious but I haven't seen anything that looks remotely like a possibility for reconciliation between them.
The only family drama Maki-related scene we have is when the Zenin old man shows up to help and then he ends up dying right after her. I wish they had talked about something. A "hey, remember that time when you were a child?" right after he saved her ass maybe. A uhhh, what Naruto fans call "talk-no-jutsu" which is consistently a moment where everything stops so we can have backstory reminiscing from both parts - as the villain casually waits them to finish, of course 💅🏻. Again, I understand that this is not the pace of the anime! But I did miss an episode dedicated to Zenin family history & dirty laundry BEFORE the fights happen.
Honestly can't stress this enough.
Moving on...
Nanami Kento
So you killed a possible parental figure to the protagonist, you think you smart, huh? 👀 JK, totally get it.
The shocking part of his death comes more or less from the same way Maki's death made me feel, HOWEVER, he was stated in numerous times how lvl 1 sorcerers are powerful, but I think I can see the point of his death since he didn't have as much backstory as Gojo, Utahime and other "grown ups" from the anime.
The point being: even powerful people can have meaningless, "normal" (with that I mean quick) deaths.
It was all it was for me, but the fact he didn't get a chance on hitting Jogo is clearly something to be taken in consideration and make us reflect on how Jogo's tricks didn't make Gojo tickle, once again establishing how strong Gojo is and how he has been keeping the world's balance in the sorcerers favour all this time.
Regardless, it was a death, to me, that fortify the before mentioned causes inside the world of JJK.
Jogo
Now, this man, THIS MAN, didn't go down without pulling a good show! Definitely showed all he was capable of! HE WAS INCREDIBLE and we could see his philosophy and how his wish was to have the humans position on society and how much he cared to his fellow cursed and- all this on the last 20 minutes before he died.
I'm gonna be honest, I will probably rewatch the anime so I can truly understand why Jogo wanted Sukuna to come back, but from what I have gathered now its because he sees it as only chance on humans dying or at least curses living in society or supre of sorts. I will be honest and say I am on the thin line of confusing Jogo's beliefs with Fake Getou | Kenjaku's beliefs, I need to search a little more on this.
But Jogo as a character was sentient, felt and talked and- let's say it without a scandal, he was almost human-like in his feelings. Gore-y and psychotic? Yes, because he still a curse, but it was there, the human traits. And don't humans also have a "kill!" instinct too? From time to time?
Jogo and Dagon - which I won't be mentioning for I know little about him & didn't get THAT interested about - are characters I could see to be attached to the weird terrorist family they created# they thrived - even if for a moment - on avenging said family and I think we should have seen more of them on beach or fighting together to get the sense of dysfunctional family. I would have liked that.
Now...
A valid and extremely well defended point - that I can agreed with - was pointed by a friend of mine; they said the objective of the author is to make death I the anime looks as frivolous, ephemeral and unceremonious as in real life, and I totally respect this! Death in real life often takes time to be noticed or even felt and this is a good work & comparison to be brought up nowadays, specially with social media making everything, every information so quick and fast paced our brain almost don't register what's being said a moment later!
I think - and I haven't gotten to the last episode yet - all the grief shall come crashing down on Yuuji, since he is the protagonist, once Sukuna leaves command of his body.
I am a great fan of resurrection but even missing more work on these character and so many others that die on Shibuya Arc I don't think bringing anyone back would be a good idea. The shock is sinking in and I think it makes me think on how big of a plot point it can be if all the people that died stay dead (or in Jogo and Hanami's case come back 100 years later in a different form) for character development of the ones who will suffer the effects of this annihilation.
When I finish watching I might have more solidified opinions, for now this is it.
I am not hating on anything here! I am just telling you all my reactions! Don't kill me!
The front half of this episode had some fun riffs and bits (Matt has been on fire the last couple of episodes). But it's the back half that got me most excitedd.
(Just realized that they didn't call the newest episode a part 2. Am I missing something from the reference in the previous title?)
Seeing Ron again was a joy and Rogue's natural 20 was a blend of ridiculous and hilarious. I also really enjoyed heaven as a setting. I think we lucked out that Hermie found Ron so quickly.
I am super excited to see the grandparents again. Getting Glenn and Jodie earlier in the season was fun, and seeing Ron this episode was great. But I'm ready to see Darryl and Henry and also see the dads interact again. Also curious to see their reactions to what their sons have done. And their grandchildren have done.
I also am trying to remember that Willy could show up and fuck up everything whenever he wants to.
I'm really glad that the show has a clear direction and we can see where this story is headed. Now whether it gets there or not is up to the dice. And I'm excited to see how it shakes out.
(Also, I've been really curious to know if Bill and Barry are still alive. It already seemed like Bill had died prior to the realms, so is he still around? And they didn't kill Barry... I don't think I need or really care if they show up. Just curious).
