Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 42 Review

The End of Kento Nanami

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 42 wasn’t as good as the previous two episodes. It didn’t have the same level of animation as those two. But, that was expected. Those episodes had insane animation and a lot of the animators got burnt out.

With that said, this wasn’t a bad episode by any means. Sure, the content did the heavy lifting this week. But, the animators really need better working conditions and I hope they receive them. That will benefit everyone in the long run — animators, fans, and the people behind the scenes who make all the money.

Anyway, this week’s episode was all about Mahito, one of the main special-grade curses. I think he was actually the first special-grade curse introduced into the series. And, of the special-grade curses we know of, he’s the one Itadori hates the most.

But, before we get to Itadori’s run-in with Mahito, we need to talk about Nanami’s. At the end of Episode 41, we saw that Nanami survived Jougo’s attack. He suffered major burns on half of his body, but he was alive. That’s, unfortunately, no longer the case. Mahito killed him in front of Itadori.

This is something I didn’t see coming. In an earlier review, I predicted that Gojou was going to be out of commission for at least a few arcs. That’s good for the series because it lets other characters shine more. And, I thought Nanami would be one of those other characters.

With Gojou out of the picture, I assumed Nanami would step in and work with Itadori, Fushiguro, and Nobara. You know, like how Yamato stepped in for Kakashi for a while in Naruto Shippūden. Well, that dream is dead, just like Nanami. At least he can finally rest.

Itadori vs. Mahito

The big fight of Episode 42 was Yuuji Itadori vs. Mahito. Naturally, after seeing Mahito kill Nanami, Itadori flew into a rage. Nanami wasn’t the first friend of Itadori’s Mahito killed. Remember Junpei Yoshino from the start of the series? His death is what cemented Mahito as Itadori’s personal antagonist.

Mahito isn’t the main antagonist of the series. At least, not as far as I can tell. That’s going to be the brain curse using Getou’s body. But, Mahito is to Itadori what the brain curse is to Gojou. These jujutsu sorcerers have personal connections with these curses.

Now, earlier in this season, I’m pretty sure I predicted that Mahito would die during this arc. I could be wrong about that. But, if I did, I now don’t believe that. There are a few indicators that Mahito is going to be sticking around for a while longer.

The first indicator is the fact that there aren’t many antagonists left. Dagon and Jougo are both dead now. And Chousou had a mental breakdown after his blood mixed with Itadori’s. That only leaves Mahito and the brain curse within Getou as antagonists. And the brain curse seems like the big antagonist.

If Mahito also dies, that leaves the series in an awkward position. Either, it means that it’s time to fight the final boss, which seems unlikely since the manga is still ongoing. Or, it means we’d have to introduce an entire new lineup of sub-antagonists.

Having Mahito carry over into at least the next arc makes more sense. But, also, Mahito mentioned that Itadori won’t be able to defeat him until he realizes they’re the same. To me, this implies that Itadori will have to learn to use Sukuna’s cursed energy. So, he won’t be killing Mahito here.

Nobara’s Time to Shine

At the end of Episode 42, Nobara runs into another Mahito. To speed up his search for Itadori, he split himself into two. So, while one of his bodies is fighting Itadori in the subway station, the other runs into Nobara on the surface.

Nobara has never encountered Mahito before and doesn’t seem to have a full grasp of his abilities. But, she’s heard about him and knows not to let him touch her. And with that knowledge, she believes this is her time to shine.

Well, I’m going to have to disagree with Nobara’s assessment of the situation.

I don’t think Nobara is going to come out of this fight in a winning position. Though, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s going to lose, either. What I find more likely is that Itadori puts Mahito in a position that forces him to retreat.

Now, there are a few other things that point to this situation not being favorable for Nobara. And the one I have to call out first is that she’s a woman in a shounen battle series. Female characters tend not to get the same attention as their male counterparts.

Nobara is no exception. She’s obviously the least favorite child between her, Itadori, and Fushiguro. And, I even had to look up her name before this review. She’s memorable in that I remember she exists. But, what has she actually done in the series? I couldn’t tell you.

The final thing that’s not great for Nobara is that Mahito plans to show her corpse to Itadori. As we saw with Nanami, even prominent supporting characters aren’t safe in this arc. So, what about Nobara? I doubt she’ll die here. But, she might be put out of commission for a while like I’m expecting from Gojou.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 42? Were you expecting Nanami to die so soon? Do you think Mahito is going to survive the arc? And, what’s your prediction for Nobara’s fight against Mahito? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 43 is available now.