Why didn’t Choso kill Yuji in ‘Jujutsu Kaisen?’ Choso’s fake memory, explained

Warning: Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen on the nature of Yuji and Choso’s connection.

If you are an anime-only and watched Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, episode 13, there are likely two main takeaways you got out of it: One, you’ve witnessed what is probably the best fight in the series (at least so far) or even of any anime of 2023 so far; Two, you were completely bewildered by the weird turn the episode took at the end.

You’re not alone, rest assured. Going over reactions and reviews of the episode on YouTube, most people who have not read Gege Akutami’s manga cannot fathom what happened at the end of the episode and why Choso failed to deal the finishing blow to the series’ main character, Yuji Itadori. Some believed it was Sukuna’s doing. However, this is wrong for more than one reason: For one, Sukuna does not care if Yuji lives or dies, he even mocks him for losing to the Blood Manipulation user. Secondly, even Sukuna, the strongest sorcerer of over a thousand years ago, appears to not have expected the turn of events that baffled most viewers.

So why did Choso fail to kill one of the two people he resented the most for having killed his younger brothers, Kechizu and Eso? And what was up with that “memories that didn’t exist” Alice in Wonderland-esque flashback sequence?

Blood is thicker than water

So, it was not Sukuna who sent Choso into a mental breakdown. It was in Choso’s own nature to react in this manner under these particular circumstances.

In season 1, episode 24, after Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki kill Kechizu and Eso, we cut to the villains, pseudo-Geto, Mahito, and Choso, playing a board game. Choso reacts by breaking the tiny game piece he was holding and revealing that he knows his brothers have been killed. That’s because the half-human, half-curse, can tell when any of his brothers are dead or close to dying.

Well, that’s what happens with Yuji. That’s right, you’ve read that correctly. The pattern drawn in blood Choso sees before his uncharacteristic freakout, signals the blood link that connects the two – upon seeing it animated, I thought it was the Kamo clan’s crest, but I cannot seem to confirm nor deny this. Like at the end of season 1, Choso feels the same sensation at Yuji’s impending demise that he did when his brothers passed.

Unlike his brothers, however, Yuji’s mortally injured state triggers the most baffling fake flashback in the history of Jujutsu Kaisen – at least ever since Aoi Todo’s imaginary school bromance in season 1. Choso did not need fake memories with Kechizu and Eso to feel brotherly love for them, it was already there. With Yuji, however, the “memories that didn’t exist” serve to show us what motivates Choso’s heart to change: the sudden, deep-seated awareness that Yuji, as the brother he didn’t know he had, is to be beloved by him in the same way as the other Death Paintings.

As to how Yuji and Choso are brothers – more like half-brothers, but it’s somewhat complex – that’s a question for another time. For now, tune in to the rest of the Shibuya Arc to see how this enemies-to-brothers relationship develops.