The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 101, “The Shibuya Incident, Part 19” onwards by Gege Akutami, John Werry and Snir Aharon, available in English from Viz Media.
Jujutsu Kaisen portrays a long list of interesting developed characters, each with important roles to play within the narrative. Amid all of these characters, one lies in the very center of the series’ core themes: Choso. First introduced as a side character associated with the likes of Mahito, Jogo and Hanami, Choso seemed to be no more than an obstacle for the Jujutsu sorcerers to overcome, like many of the other generic cursed spirits.
Choso’s two brothers, Eso and Kechizu, were swiftly killed off by Nobara Kugisaki and protagonist Itadori Yuji after their introduction. Following this, the older brother’s natural path seemed predictable — a simple revenge plot against Itadori. However, the entire assumption of Choso’s character was flipped on its head when he finally had the opportunity for revenge, and his true nature was revealed.
Choso’s Original Alignments Shifted Completely in Jujutsu Kaisen’s “Shibuya” Arc
When Choso finally came head to head with Itadori in Shibuya, a shocking truth was revealed to him: Choso is in fact a distant blood relative of Yuji through their connection to Kenjaku. His innate cursed technique is blood connection, so upon being given the chance to finally kill Yuji after beating him in their fight, he decided to refuse as a result of his mind, body and soul sensing something wrong. After walking away from the fight completely, Choso realized the reason his body stopped him from getting his revenge.
Both Itadori and Choso are living proof of Kenjaku’s experimentation; upon piecing this together, Choso’s mind showed him a false memory of himself, Itadori, Ezo and Kechizu sharing a meal. After this, Choso shifted completely from allying with the cursed spirits attacking Shibuya to fighting not only alongside Itadori, but other sorcerers who were previously enemies. He even forgave Itadori entirely for killing his brothers, seeing that he was merely ignorant of the truth just as Choso himself had been.
Choso Cares for Others Despite His Own Past
The purpose of Choso’s character is to show that after the unfortunate circumstances of his existence as a human/curse hybrid born of malicious experiments, he had every right to lash out at the world yet still chooses to care for others. Choso understands both sides of the conflict within Jujutsu Kaisen better than anyone else, being the only character to have allied with each side. Despite being wronged by essentially everyone, the older brother bears no ill will against humans, curses or sorcerers. Unlike the group of curses Choso was previously aligned with, he had no interest in killing without personal investment.
Choso chooses to fight only against what threatens him and for causes he cares about, just like any other healthy-minded person. Despite his introduction as a background character who possesses an unremarkable level of power within the story’s context, Choso is one of the more spotlighted characters. He has been shown in several long and intense fights where he pushes himself to the limit time and time again to fight for the things he cares for, often surprising much stronger characters.
In this way, Choso parallels Itadori; both of them are consistently looked down on by the central antagonists Sukuna and Kenjaku, but each strives to grow stronger and prove their doubters wrong. They both fight for things they care about and have strong moral convictions. Choso, however, has mastered the difficult navigation of the corrupt Jujutsu world. With all of this amassed, he is undoubtedly the one cursed energy user others should strive to be.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s core themes revolve constantly around the moral battle between selfish or selfless decisions, and Choso is the one closest to achieving a balance between these two extremes. Kenjaku, who is representative of everything evil in Jujutsu society, somehow managed to create the perfect moral opposition for himself in Choso.
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