Choso

Who is Choso in JJK?

Choso is the eldest of the nine Death Paintings, cursed wombs that are half human and half cursed spirit. He's introduced as an enemy, spends Shibuya trying to kill Yuji, and ends up as Yuji's most devoted ally. Search "choso jjk" and most of what you'll find is fans arguing that he's the best big brother in anime. They have a case.

Personality

Choso is serious, intense and devoted to his family above everything. At first that means his brothers, Eso and Kechizu, and he goes after Yuji because Yuji killed them. Once he realises Yuji is also his brother, all of that devotion turns towards Yuji instead, completely and without hesitation. He's awkward about it, sometimes funny, and never less than sincere.

Appearance

Dark hair tied into two short bunches, a dark stripe across the bridge of his nose and tired-looking eyes. He usually wears a loose, light-coloured robe-like outfit.

Background: the Death Paintings

About 150 years before the story, during the Meiji era, a woman who could conceive children with cursed spirits was used in experiments by the sorcerer Noritoshi Kamo, infamous as the worst sorcerer in history. The nine resulting cursed wombs became the Death Paintings and were preserved as special grade cursed objects at Jujutsu High. In Season 1, curse users steal them during the Goodwill Event and Mahito's group gives three of them bodies: Choso, Eso and Kechizu.

Cursed technique: Blood Manipulation

Choso inherited the Kamo clan's Blood Manipulation. Because he's part curse, his blood can be turned into cursed energy, and he can produce far more of it than a human Kamo sorcerer like Noritoshi Kamo of Kyoto. That lets him fight at full power for longer. His main moves:

• Piercing Blood, a pressurised beam of blood fired at enormous speed.
• Convergence, compressing his blood before firing it.
• Supernova, which scatters compressed blood around him and detonates it.
• Flowing Red Scale, which boosts his body by controlling his blood flow.

His blood is also poisonous to humans, a trait inherited from his curse half.

Choso's fights by arc

Season 1: he only appears briefly, sensing the deaths of Eso and Kechizu at Yuji and Nobara's hands.

Why fans love Choso

Choso's arc is one of the series' best reversals. He spends his first real episodes as a terrifying enemy, nearly killing Yuji in the Shibuya Station bathroom. Then, in a single moment, he becomes Yuji's fiercest protector and stays that way for the rest of the story. It works because his loyalty is consistent. He was always devoted to his brothers. Yuji simply becomes one of them.

He's also funny in a way that sneaks up on you. His determination to be a good big brother leads to awkward, earnest moments that contrast sharply with the bleakness around him. Some of the warmest scenes in the Culling Game arc are just Choso hovering over Yuji, worrying.

Choso and Yuji

Yuji doesn't accept Choso as a brother easily. After Shibuya he's barely holding himself together, and Choso appearing to declare himself family is more confusing than comforting. Choso doesn't push. He just stays, fights and protects. Over the Culling Game and the Shinjuku showdown, Yuji slowly comes around. In Chapter 144 Yuji tells the others to think of Choso as his big brother, and Choso is visibly thrilled. It's a small line, but after everything, it means the world to him.

Choso and Kenjaku

Choso hates Kenjaku more than anyone, and for good reason. Kenjaku created him and his brothers as experiments and treated their mother as a tool. At the end of Shibuya, Choso is the one who calls out that "Geto" isn't Geto, and from then on Kenjaku is his target.

Choso's must-read chapters

Choso's character changes in the space of a few chapters, so it's worth knowing exactly where to look.

The Season 1 finale. He doesn't fight here, but you see him react to his brothers' deaths. That grief drives everything he does in Shibuya.

Shibuya, vs Yuji. His fight with Yuji in the station toilets is a showcase for Blood Manipulation: Piercing Blood, Supernova and Convergence. He wins, and is about to finish Yuji when he experiences memories of a family that never existed.

Chapter 144. Yuji asks the group to treat Choso as his big brother, and Choso's reaction is pure joy. It's one of the few lighthearted moments in that stretch of the story.

Chapter 259. Choso shields Yuji from Sukuna with a barrier of his own blood and dies doing it. Yuji's last word to him is "Aniki".

Choso is one of those characters who grows on you, so read his Culling Game scenes in a single sitting rather than skimming. His awkward attempts to be a good older sibling are the point.

Relationships

Yuji is the brother he chooses to protect. Eso and Kechizu are the brothers he loses. Kenjaku is his creator, and Choso hates him for it. Yuki Tsukumo is an ally late in the story.

Choso quick facts

• Japanese name: 脹相 (Chōsō)
• Classification: Death Painting (cursed womb), eldest of nine
• Technique: Blood Manipulation
• Debut: Season 1 (brief), major role in Season 2
• Voice actors: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)

Trivia

In the Modulo sequel, Yuji describes Choso as his brother, half human and half curse, when explaining his own past to the alien Maru, decades after Choso's death.

Is Choso dead?