Death Painting Arc Review

(Spoilers for Ep22-24 of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime)

This is what I wanted out of Jujutsu Kaisen, our three main protagonists bonding over solving curse mysteries. That is not to say this is the perfect block, but this feels more like what the show should be now that it has gotten all of the jump-the-gun world building out of the way. 

The mission brings Megumi back to his old middle school so we start to get some of his back story and find out who the mysterious girl is that he’s always thinking about. This leads to a bridge that these kids are bungee jumping off of, which is undoubtedly cursed.

The action in this arc isn’t really up to snuff with the rest of the season so far, but that does not mean it is bad. Same goes for the curse designs, they aren’t the strongest in the show by any means, specifically the whack a mole, diglett looking curse. 

While the action may not be the best of the season, it does lead to some great character moments. Megumi using a half cooked domain expansion was fun to watch, showing growth while still showing room for improvement. 

Yuji finding out the curses he killed where human is another great moment as he learns this path he is on to protect people will come at a great cost. 

Strongest of all, is Nobara. In one of the most epic moments on the show, she uses herself as a straw doll, driving nails into her own arm to do damage to the curse she is fighting. This may have been an arc digging into Megumi’s past but I walked away from this block of episodes with a new appreciation for Nobara. 

The reason this wasn’t the perfect arc though is less about the action and more about the clunky story telling. For instance, we learn that the “Death Paintings” are half human half curse in some weird throw away exposition dump. This information is important though because it is what leads to a big Yuji moment afterwards. It just seemed like there could have been a more organic way to tell us the backstory of the death paintings. 

Overall this is a solid arc that has a few issues with balancing storytelling and action. It is satisfying to end the season seeing our heroes grow to the point that they are all able to beat special grade curses and I look forward to more adventures in curse killing for these three.