Spoilers for Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen, for what that’s worth.
I have thoroughly enjoyed Gege Akutami’s ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ since the first season of the anime came out. I had friends tell me that ‘shit gets crazy at Shibuya,’ and shit indeed did go crazy when I began to read the manga. Since the release of its second season, a lot has been criticized about Gege’s writing ability, and handling around character deaths. Nobara’s death especially spawning in a new wave of complaints that, in my opinion, miss the point.
These complaints are nothing new, they existed the second she was killed in the manga, jokes of misogyny on Gege’s part, and claims that he uses death as a writing crutch or for shock value. There are clearly many people who were emotionally affected by the abruptness of her death, not to mention the sheer brutality of it, even compared to others in the series. Nobara’s death clearly makes people feel uncomfortable, after all, how could such a strong sorcerer, one who the reader has invested so much into just die. People are right to feel like its unfair, or that its untimely, that she didn’t deserve it, and that is all true. But that is true of most death in the real world as well. Death is just that, death, it does not need a reason to happen, and most of human history is how we can come to terms with that fact.
I am of the opinion that in a show so entangled with the themes of death, primarily seen in Yuji’s core desire to give people so called ‘good deaths’. That it is fascinating to explore the irrational nature of death in this way, and I feel that so many of the criticisms are reactionary in principal. People choosing to get mad at the media itself for creating such emotions in them, instead of trying to figure out what Gege might be trying to say by doing that. I have seen debates around the 2019 art piece ‘Comedian’, more notoriously known as the banana taped to a wall, and I think it is so fascinating how similar the reactions to these pieces are. Something that is so evocative that years later, they are still discussed. Which in my mind illustrates at least that it was a bit more effective, and a lot more intentional than a lot of their respective detractors would imply.
Furthermore, I think it’s truly fascinating how in these discussions about how Nobara was robbed of more screen time or better character development. They tend to ignore Nobara’s words in exactly the same way that Yuji does. I especially adore how the anime chose to translate this scene, after reminiscing on her life and her friends, she says “I’ve had a good life”. You’d think that statement would make Yuji happy, even as she knows she is dying, she reflects on her life in the most positive manner, pleased with what she accomplished. And yet, Yuji breaks down that Mahito has killed not only his mentor, but one of his best friends now as well. And yet, readers will complain that it is bad writing. Does this not speak to how inherently selfish debates about death and dying can be? In real life as well, when we discuss the suicidal, rarely is the conversation actually about the individual. Often, it is about who will be hurt most by their absence, “what about your parents, what about the people that love you.” While I don’t think that these things are necessarily wrong, I think it is an important aspect of death that we need to reckon with, the dead don’t care, we do. And the fact that one moment from over 4 years ago can create such discussion is worthy of praise and further investigation.
P.S: a quick side about Megumi
I am also deathly bored of the jokes about Megumi trying to summon Mahoraga at every turn. That is the point. He is suicidal. He is trying to kill himself. Constantly. At every turn until he meets his friends. I do not understand how people cannot get this.
