Mei Mei vs. Smallpox

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 38 gave us the fight I was expecting to get in Episode 37. Mei Mei (and Ui Ui) faced off against the special-grade Smallpox curse within its domain. And, it was a bit of a letdown.

Let’s just remember that this is a special-grade curse and Mei Mei is a grade 1 sorcerer. That should put them on about the same level, as Inu explained in a comment on the Episode 36 review. But, Mei Mei defeated this curse pretty easily.

Shouldn’t a special-grade curse be a bit harder to kill? I get that it’s not sentient like some of the other special-grade curses in the series. But, it fell for the same trick she played on it multiple times. And then she took it down in a single blow.

Something else I didn’t like about this fight was the explanation of the curse’s technique. No, it’s not the fact that the technique was explained. That was fine in this case. Though, another technique explanation later on in the episode wasn’t. Instead, I didn’t like how Mei Mei instinctively knew how the technique worked.

First, the curse locks its target in a wooden coffin. Next, a giant tombstone crushes the coffin into the ground. And finally, if the victim doesn’t escape within 3 seconds, they die. Specifically, they contract smallpox and die immediately.

The first two parts of this technique make sense. After all, Mei Mei experienced them firsthand. But, how did she determine that she’d die after 3 seconds under the tombstone? It would have made sense if she determined that after sacrificing one of her crows. But, she explained how the technique worked before doing that.

Is having a curse timer common?

The Sakugabooru Sorcerer

Naobito Zen’in could have been a cool character. For a few moments, he was a cool character. And then, he went on a rant about upscaling animation to 60 fps and I cringed. Was he correct in what he said? Yes. But, that doesn’t make it any less cringe.

Okay, so he’s an animation elitist. If that was all there was to it, I might be able to forgive him. I could conveniently ignore that aspect of his personality as long as he’s cool in other ways. You know, like ignoring Jiraiya’s perviness because he’s cool other times in Naruto.

However, Naobito’s cursed technique also has to do with animation. And I can’t bring myself to ignore that. This guy is a One Piece character (derogatory). Wacky character abilities work in One Piece because the whole show is wacky. They don’t work very well in Jujutsu Kaisen.

So, how does Naobito’s technique work? He’s able to instantly plan out his next 24 frames of movement. And, somehow, that allows him to move at superhuman speeds. How exactly that works still doesn’t make sense to me. But, I’m not going to question it.

Why the 24 frames, though? It’s because anime is animated at 24 frames per second. That’s why he went on his rant about how upscaling animation to 60 fps ruins the quality.

If Naobito breaks the 24-frame path he laid out for himself, there’s a demerit. He gets stunned for 1 second in an animation frame.

Also, if Naobito touches someone with his technique activated, they’re bound by it too. If they don’t move in the way their next 24 frames are laid out, they get stunned. The problem for those touched by Naobito, however, is that they don’t know their next 24 frames.

Second Beach Episode of the Season

In case you forgot, the first beach episode of the season was Episode 27. That’s when Gojou, Getou, and Riko hung out in Okinawa. It feels like forever ago, at this point. But, we went back to the beach in Episode 38.

Importantly, this isn’t the same beach. We’re not in Okinawa — we’re in Dagon’s domain. However, something you might have noticed is that we’ve been here before. Back in Season 1, we saw all the main special-grade curses hanging out here. And, that might have actually been the first time we saw Getou.

Anyway, Dagon has been around for a while. I believe he was floating in the water the first time we were in his domain. But, he never seemed like much of a threat. I thought he was kept around as a sort of silly mascot curse for the main bad guys.

Apparently, that’s not the case. Dagon is a special-grade curse like the others. And, also like the others, he’s sentient. But, what I wasn’t expecting is how much he cares for his comrades. When Naobito calls him “curse,” Dagon gets angry. He tells Naobito that he has a name, as do the other curses.

In a sense, Dagon is much more “human” than someone like Naobito is. He respects his fellow curses as individuals and even mourns their deaths. And because of that, I’m hoping Dagon isn’t exorcised at the end of this fight.

Sympathetic antagonists like him make the series more interesting. Sure, Getou’s cool and all. But, he (the brain) seems to be evil for the sake of it and has no other personality. I much prefer Dagon, Jugou, Mahito, and Hanami (RIP) over Getou. As characters, they’re far more personable, entertaining, and complex.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 38? Were you surprised by how easily Mei Mei defeated the Smallpox curse? Do you think Naobito’s cursed technique is cool or cringe? And, which of the sentient special-grade curses is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 39 is available now.

Chousou Is Actually Strong

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 37 was one, long fight scene. I wasn’t expecting that, at all. Of course, I expected we’d see some Itadori vs. Chousou action. But, this is a shounen battle series. I thought we’d be jumping around between multiple fights.

Remember how at the end of Episode 36 we saw Mei Mei going up against the Small Pox curse? I was sure we were going to get at least a little bit of that fight this week. But, nope. Episode 37 was fully dedicated to Chousou laying the smackdown on Itadori.

I guess I could have assumed Chousou was strong. After all, he was hanging out with a few special-grade curses. But, we didn’t see him doing all that much in the fight against Gojou. He attacked Gojou once and it failed. So, he spent the rest of the time killing civilians.

Based on that, I thought Itadori would be able to win this fight. It may have been a tough fight. But, I never expected Itadori to lose. And what makes it even crazier is that, apparently, Chousou had no combat experience. At least, according to the narrator.

I have to say, Chousou didn’t look like someone who was in his first real fight. He used his ability in a lot of versatile ways, which shows he knows what he’s doing. And, even when not using his ability, he was able to keep up with Itadori’s martial arts.

Either way, this fight was pretty good. It showed off Chousou’s ability well. And since Itadori didn’t defeat him here, we’ll get to see him use it more in the future. I wonder if we’re going to get a rematch between these two or if we’ll see Chousou fight someone else.

A Narrated Battle

Alright, now it’s time for me to complain about the episode. Yes, the fight was good. But, I still have issues to bring up — I always do. And, my first complaint is that the narrator existed. Why did this fight have a narrator?

As much as I hate when characters explain things during fights, this was somehow worse. Who was this old woman narrating the fight? Why did this fight have a narrator when none of the other fights did? And, did having a narrator power up Chousou’s ability?

That last question is unironically the most important. Why? Because in case you forgot, explaining your ability makes it stronger. Chousou didn’t explain how his ability worked. So, I have to assume he didn’t get the power boost. How much more would he have beaten Itadori if he had?

In my professional opinion, explaining his ability to Itadori would have been a bad idea. Yes, Chousou earned a pretty decisive victory. And yes, explaining his ability would make his ability stronger. But, he didn’t win because of a difference in strength. In terms of raw strength, Itadori comes out on top.

Chousou won because he was able to use his ability in unexpected ways. There were multiple times in the fight when he pulled off surprise attacks. And it was the summation of all those surprise attacks that eventually took Itadori down. Without the element of surprise, Chousou would likely lose.

So, why was there a narrator for this battle? To help the viewer understand what was going on. Chousou couldn’t explain his ability for the aforementioned reason. In order for us to understand all the ways he was using his ability, we needed a narrator. But, I’m still mad about it.

Blood Brothers

Just as I never expected Chousou to win the fight, I never expected how the fight ended. Right as he was about to finish Itadori off, Chousou began freaking out. And, the reason for this was that he had a vision of Itadori as one of his brothers.

But, what does that mean? Is Itadori Chousou’s brother? Or, was this the result of their blood mixing together on the floor? At this point, I’m not sure. It could go either way. And that’s also why I don’t know if we’ll get a rematch between them.

If they’re brothers, I don’t think they’ll fight each other again. If they’re not brothers, I do think they’ll fight each other again.

I want to say that them not being brothers makes the most sense. However, based on what we saw, it seems like they are brothers. So, again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that Itadori and Chousou being brothers would be weird. It would take what we know about Itadori and turn it on its head. It would mean that he’s actually from a prolific clan of sorcerers. And that’s weird because up until now, he was just some random kid.

The only reason Itadori is a sorcerer right now is that he ate one of Sukuna’s fingers. He didn’t grow up in a sorcerer family — as far as we know. And, actually, I’m not sure we know anything about Itadori’s family. Is he an orphan or something?

I guess that’s what we’re going to find out in the near future. But, shouldn’t that have been something established earlier on? It feels a bit late to pull the “oh and his parents were actually well-known sorcerers” card. I’m not sure how this is all going to work.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 37? Were you expecting Chousou to wipe the floor with Itadori? How do you feel about the use of a narrator in this fight? And, do you think Itadori and Chousou are actually brothers? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 38 is available now.

The Value of a Life

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 36 was a very good episode. This time, Nanami carried it, though. If you remove the Nanami content from the episode, it would only be a normal good episode. Aside from the Nanami content, it also included good Mei Mei and Touji content.

Let’s start off with Mei Mei since she’s the one the episode started with. Mei Mei’s content at the beginning of the episode wasn’t particularly good. There was no fight. But, we got to learn a bit more about who she is and how she fights.

As we already know, her ability lets her control crows. And, more than that, she can sync up her vision with that of the crows under her control. But, that’s not a very strong ability in combat. So, how does Mei Mei fight? She fights the old-fashioned way — with a battle axe.

We’ve seen Mei Mei’s axe before. Well, at least we’ve seen it in the OP. I don’t actually remember if we’ve seen her use it in combat earlier in the series. However, I assumed that she used some kind of technique to fight with it. That’s not the case.

She doesn’t have a secondary ability that makes it easier to wield this massive weapon. Instead, she specifically trained her body to make up for her lack of offensive ability. Nanami’s insane strength comes from a cursed technique. Mei Mei, on the other hand, is just a muscle mommy.

At the end of Episode 36, we see Mei Mei going up against a special-grade curse unleashed by Getou. It’s the smallpox disease curse. And, as Mei Mei says, this is the first time in a while that she’s fought something that could kill her. I’m looking forward to that fight.

Touji Fushiguro Lives Again

Well, I was technically correct in my prediction about Touji Fushiguro. I predicted that he wasn’t revived, but rather that his body and abilities were being borrowed. Technically, that was the case — for all of about 5 minutes. Then, Touji did come back to life.

Alright, so what’s going on here? First, we need to look at the old woman’s ability. She’s able to channel the dead into a person of her choosing. She did this twice in Episode 35. In one instance, she channeled a teen’s body and used it herself to perform an assassination.

The second instance involved channeling Touji’s body for her grandson to use in combat against Ino. In both cases, she only channeled the body, not the soul. Though, it should be noted that she can channel the soul, as well. However, she says that she doesn’t channel the soul for the exact reason we see here.

If she channels both the body and soul — or even just the soul — the channeled soul might take over. But, how did this work with Touji? We know she didn’t channel his soul. So, how was he able to take over?

As Touji explains it, his body isn’t normal. And, we can assume that this has to do with some of the stuff we already know about him. First, he doesn’t have any cursed energy, which is weird. And second, he has something called a blessing. This gives him superhuman physical abilities.

There’s one more thing I want to mention, though. Touji’s revival could tie back into the soul vs. body debate Getou and Mahito had when sealing Gojou. Mahito theorized that which is the more important part could be relative. Touji’s physical prowess could be the deciding factor.

What’s the Number and Locations of Your Allies?

Obviously, the best part of the episode was Nanami beating the cursed technique out of Haruta. I actually forgot what Nanami’s ability was before this fight. But, from what I’m remembering, it has to do with critical hits.

We saw this for a moment when he struck Haruta for the first time. However, I feel like he also has some other abilities going on. For example, he got very jacked during this fight. He also uses his tie as a weapon somehow. And, I recall something about him getting stronger during overtime.

Based on what we saw of Nanami in Episode 36, I’m amazed that he’s only a Grade 1 sorcerer. That looked like special-grade power, to me. Like, even Getou’s not surviving one of those punches. But, we should also keep in mind who Nanami’s opponent was.

I don’t remember anything about Haruta. I know he appeared earlier in the series. However, I have no idea how much was revealed about him and his abilities. So, everything I’m going to say here is based on what I saw in this episode.

The first thing is that Haruta doesn’t seem to be a curse — he’s a human. More specifically, he’s a cursed technique and cursed tool user. His cursed tool is pretty clear to see. It’s a sword that can move on its own. And, I guess it’s connected to Haruta somehow because he knew when it cut Nitta.

What’s a bit less clear is Haruta’s cursed technique. He even says he doesn’t get how it works. But, from what we saw, it gives him extra lives. He claimed he would have died from Nanami’s first hit without it. And, we see the markings disappear from his face with every hit from Nanami.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 36? Did you think Mei Mei had some other ability she used when fighting? Were you expecting Touji to be revived completely? And, should Nanami be considered a special-grade sorcerer? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 37 is available now.

Barrier Lore

Some of my favorite things in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 are the dumb explanations we get for things. And, in that regard, Episode 35 didn’t disappoint. This week, we got some barrier lore that makes very little sense beyond “plot convenience.”

Before I get into the barrier discussion, though, let’s revisit technique explanations. Maybe you forgot about this, but I didn’t. Back in the first arc of this season, Suguru Getou fought Touji Fushiguro. And, during that fight, we learned how you can scale up your power level. All you have to do is explain your abilities to your opponent.

If your opponent knows all about your abilities, you’ve lost the element of surprise. And, I guess all jujutsu sorcerers get stronger in a pinch. So, if you want to force yourself into that situation, you can divulge how your abilities work.

Apparently, barriers work in a similar way. They get stronger the riskier the position the one casting them is in. If you’re within the barrier, it’s going to be relatively weak. And, you know, that doesn’t make much sense. Most of the time, you’d want to use a barrier defensively.

If you’re outside of your own barrier, though, it’s going to be stronger. And, the more obvious the spot you’re in, the stronger it’s going to be. So, standing on top of a building near the barrier is going to make it stronger than if you’re hiding far away.

We saw this in action in this episode. The sorcerers tasked with keeping the barrier up were on the tallest building in Shibuya. But, isn’t there a riskier spot they could have chosen? Why not sit right in front of the barrier? Isn’t that the most obvious, and therefore the strongest, spot?

The Seance of Touji

We learned the techniques of two of the sorcerers protecting the barrier in this episode. I guess the third guy wasn’t a sorcerer. Or, at the very least, he didn’t matter, as I’ll get to in a bit. But, we also learned the technique of Ino, Nanami’s apprentice.

When Ino covers his face, he can use the powers of the Four Auspicious Beasts. Why does he need to cover his face? I have no idea but I’m sure there’s a reason for it. And what are the Four Auspicious Beasts? They’re from a Chinese legend.

Each of the Beasts represents one of the cardinal directions, North, East, South, and West. There’s the Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, and White Tiger, respectively. Though, in Ino’s case, the Beasts are a little different. The Black Tortoise is there. There’s a dragon that’s not azure. And then there are two other creatures.

Anyway, back to the sorcerers protecting the barrier. The old woman’s technique allows her to summon the dead, in a way. She can perform a seance to summon the spirit of the dead. Then, she can channel that spirit into herself or someone else.

When someone serves as a host for one of these spirits, they physically turn into the spirit. So, when the woman channels the spirit of Touji Fushiguro in this episode, the man with her becomes him. Though, I’m pretty sure the man is still himself; he’s not literally Touji now.

But, I could be wrong about that. And if I am, things might get even more interesting. Gojou killed Touji when Megumi was a young child. And even before that, Touji was estranged from his son. So, I’m curious to see what will happen if the two of them meet.

Cursed Technique: Inverse

The guy who was fighting Megumi and Itadori is the other one whose ability we learned. He has a somewhat interesting cursed technique. Though, it doesn’t seem all that good at the end of the day. It’s kind of like a bad Pokémon ability.

So, basically, his technique inverses the damage attacks do to him. If he’s hit with a strong attack, it doesn’t hurt him. But, if he’s hit with a weak attack, it does a lot of damage. As long as nobody figures out his technique, he can take no damage and win the fight.

But, that whole part about taking a lot of damage from weak attacks seems like a pretty major downside. How does he live his day-to-day life like that? Well, there are two ways he gets around this downside. And, the most important for his survival is that he can turn his ability off.

When this guy is walking down the street and not in a fight, his technique isn’t active. Someone walking by and bumping into him isn’t going to kill him. The technique is only active when he uses his cursed energy to activate it.

The second way he gets around the downside of his technique is that it has a lower bound. There’s a lower threshold below which he takes a normal amount of damage. This is necessary so a random gust of wind doesn’t obliterate him.

Unfortunately for this guy, Megumi is a bit smarter than Itadori. Itadori would have kept slugging away to no avail. But, Megumi realizes that something’s not right. And, he uses his various curse summons to see what kinds of attacks work. In the end, he figured out that they were dealing with the Inverse cursed technique.

Final Thoughts

What do you think about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 35? Do you think the whole barrier strength thing was only included for plot convenience? Has Touji Fushiguro actually been revived? And, what rating out of 10 would you give the Inverse cursed technique? I’d probably give it a 5. It’s fine.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 36 is available now.

Satoru Gojou Has Been Sealed

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 34 is the episode in which Satoru Gojou is officially sealed. But, before Gojou gets locked away, something interesting happens. He asks Getou how long he plans to let the brain curse use his body.

Under normal circumstances, that question wouldn’t lead to anything. But, since this is Jujutsu Kaisen, it does. Getou’s body reacts to Gojou’s words and begins to strangle itself. His body is trying to kill itself along with the curse that’s controlling it.

Of course, this doesn’t make much sense. Getou’s brain is gone. It’s not in his body anymore. So, how is his body reacting to Gojou’s words? The brain curse has a theory that this proves that the body is what makes a person who they are. Even after Getou’s dead and his brain is gone, his body remembers who he is.

The brain curse’s theory goes against Mahito’s theory about the soul, though. Mahito believes that the soul is what makes someone who they are. And his proof for this is in how his cursed technique works. He manipulates the bodies of humans through corrupting their souls.

But, why does any of this matter? It matters because of the conclusion that Mahito comes to. This is that the rules of the world may differ depending on a person’s (or curse’s) cursed technique. One thing may be true for Getou while an entirely different thing is true for Mahito.

That sets up for some interesting developments to happen down the line. For example, it could be used to explain how Getou might come back to life in the future. If the sorcerers can exorcise the brain curse, Getou might be able to regain control of his body.

A World Without Gojou

After Gojou’s sealed we learn a little more about why this is such a big deal. With Gojou out of the picture, it should be far easier for the curses to win their war against humanity. Gojou was so strong that he was keeping humanity on top.

Without Gojou to stop them, the curses should also now have a far easier time reviving Sukuna. But, Getou points out that with Gojou gone, there’s not really a need to bring Sukuna back. Reviving Sukuna and sealing Gojou were two strategies to achieve the same result.

Sealing Gojou weakens humanity’s strength enough for the curses to win. And reviving Sukuna strengthens the curse’s side enough for them to win. So, the curses only needed to do one or the other. And, in fact, reviving Sukuna was actually the backup plan in case they couldn’t seal Gojou.

The curses being able to take over isn’t the only problem with Gojou being gone, though. There are also a lot of politics within the sorcerer ranks. Now that Gojou isn’t around, who’s the strongest sorcerer? And, more importantly, which faction of sorcerers is going to gain power?

As Gojou was easily the strongest sorcerer, few other sorcerers tried to stand up against him. This meant that whatever faction Gojou supported ended up being the dominant faction. But, at the end of Episode 34, we see what appears to be another faction take notice of his sealing.

It seems pretty obvious that this other faction isn’t going to succeed. I’m sure Itadori, Megumi, and Ino will take them out. But, that doesn’t mean a different faction won’t rise to power while Gojou’s gone. It will be interesting to see if that happens and how that will affect things if it does.

Gojou Rescue Mission

Because Gojou is Gojou, he doesn’t get sealed that easily. Even after he’s trapped in the Prison Realm, he can still use his techniques. And one technique he used increased the gravity of the Prison Realm. This made it so Getou could no longer carry it away.

Eventually, the seal will be complete and Gojou’s powers won’t be seeping out anymore. But, until then, Getou has to stay in the subway station and protect the Prison Realm from the sorcerers. And so, the battle over Gojou begins in Shibuya.

I’m pretty sure that Getou’s going to escape with Gojou still sealed. If he doesn’t, then the series is going to go back to business as usual. That’s not very exciting. So, that’s why it makes the most sense for Gojou to remain sealed. To break the status quo, Gojo needs to stay in the Prison Realm.

With that said, I’m also pretty sure things won’t go so well for all of the special-grade curses. In particular, I’m predicting Mahito is going to meet his end here at the hands of Itadori. Itadori already has a personal vendetta against Mahito. And now we know that Mahito did, in fact, kill Mechamaru.

We can also get a potential hint pointing toward this from the OP. In it, we see Itadori going up against Mahito. And, before that, we see Sukuna taking over Itadori’s body. So, that’s likely how Itadori is going to be able to beat Mahito.

Remember, the special-grade curses are actually a bit worried about Sukuna. Yes, reviving him would be great in the war against humanity. But, he’s also not necessarily the ally of the other special-grade curses. It’s very possible he’d kill them the same as he’d kill any human.

Conclusion

What do you think of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 34? Do you think reviving Getou might be possible? Are you expecting a new faction to take over the sorcerers? And, how many of the special-grade curses do you think will make it out of Shibuya? Let me know in the comments.

At this point, reviving Getou seems possible. But, I don’t want it to happen because that’s lame. I also think a new faction is going to take over. However, I don’t know what that faction is at this point. And, I’m expecting Jougo, Chouso, and Getou to escape, but not Mahito.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 35 is available now.