Category: Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all, to another episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! This is a rough week I’m afraid. The melt is setting in, and as compelling as Nanami is as a character he can’t carry the episode on his back when he’s only around at the end. Curious what I mean? Well lets dive in and talk about it!

Like I said in the intro, this week was rough for Jujutsu Kaisen visually. Don’t get me wrong, it still had some good moments. Shunsuke Okubo, making his directorial debut, did the best they could with a failing production. From cool angles to a heavy focus on character faces, expression and heavy shading, he made some scenes pop. Just look at basically every scene Nanami was in for examples of that. On top of that, a lot of the VA work was top tier. But outside of those the way the actual characters moved was rough. They were choppy, static, felt like there was a lot of trouble keeping them on model and actually looking like the characters. In most shows, were this their consistent level of animation, it wouldn’t be a huge knock against them. But with Jujutsu Kaisen, which started very very strongly, this continual decline, along with news from behind the scenes, paints a grim picture of the future.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 12 [Dull Knife]” →

Welcome all, to another late episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! Apologies for that, seasonal premiers are taking a lot of my writing time. I haven’t even started the Undead Murder Farce review yet! God damnit… Getting back to Jujutsu Kaisen, this week kicks off a few fights, lets a senpai show off and sees the return of one of our greatest villains. Is it any good? Lets dive in and find out!

First up, lets talk production. While Jujutsu Kaisen is still generally solid, this week some cracks have started to appear. From ridiculous close ups designed to obscure the action to some choppy movement, this was one rougher than most episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen. Combine that with MAPPA forcing animators to sign confidentiality agreements and looking for animators on twitter and the signs that production is falling apart are there. While we’re still getting some banger shots for now, seriously I don’t want to underplay how good things like Toji or Itadori’s spiderman shots were, I would not be surprised if Jujutsu Kaisen started to melt in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, I think MAPPA has generally done a good job elevating Gege’s original work. But we can’t just ignore what’s going on in the industry I’m afraid.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 11 [Seance]” →

Welcome all, to a late episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! Sorry about that, new season is starting and I have a lot of things to write, this sort of just fell through the cracks. Going to see if I can squeeze it in here before the wave that comes on Saturday. So without further ado, lets dive into the episode!

So production wise this was a decent episode. Some nice shots, good animation, nice composition, etc etc. In particular I really liked the body horror and existential dread that comes up anytime Mahito uses his power. The facial expressions of some characters and transfigured humans were great, as usual. The only issue I can see is less on the visual side and more behind the scenes. More and more this past week I’ve been reading about terrible conditions at MAPPA, of how absolutely horrid this production is. While I won’t get into any moral grandstanding about treating your employees like people, that should be a given, I will wonder about how this will end up affecting the final product we get down the line. Will Jujutsu Kaisen hold together until the end? Or is a collapse somewhere on the horizon? I dunno, but it’s something to think about moving forward.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 10 [Pandemonium]” →

Welcome all, to another week of Jujutsu Kaisen! This week is the climax of Gojo’s fight. We all know how this ends, so the real question is: How hype was it? Lets dive in and find out!

Starting off, lets give some praise for Jujutsu Kaisen’s animation team this week because that was great. Gojo got to go hard and show off exactly why he’s the fan favorite. Whether it be running around at the speed of sound killing some monsters or schooling some spirits in hand-to-hand, it was a great time. It’s a damn shame about the dimming though. I get it, it’s required by law, Porygon’s existence continues to affect anime to this day. Doesn’t change the fact that it made a couple of scenes look worse than they otherwise would have though. Still, at least fans have something to look forward to when the blu-rays come out. And it’s not like it ruined every scene either. To bring it back around to positivity, Jujutsu Kaisen’s focus on facial expressions this week was great. From Jogo to Geto to Gojo, I loved them all.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 9 [Shibuya Incident – Gate, Open]” →

Welcome all, to another episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! This week sees the villains show up, gives us our first fight of the arc, and lets Itadori show off a bit. Plenty to talk about, so lets jump right in!

Starting off, production wise this week wasn’t anything to great. It wasn’t bad, but it’s obvious Jujutsu Kaisen is saving the big stuff for later. Instead this week was mostly a rather standard display of Gojo’s power and a weird hallway CGI scene with Itadori. As awkward as it was at times though, I would still call it an improvement from Season 1’s poorly composited sewers and forests. Part of that is probably that the environment was a lot less ambitious, really just being two rectangular hallways side-by-side. But I think they’ve also just legitimately improved at it, full stop. The textures were better, they slowed the camera down and let the animation do most of the work. If anything the complexity of the Curse’s design was what held them back the most. Hopefully it continues to improve as we get further and further into the arc.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 8 [The Shibuya Incident]” →

Welcome back to Jujutsu Kaisen everyone! After almost a months break the premier shounen of the series returns! After that absolutely fantastic first arc, I’m excited to see what Jujutsu Kaisen has up its sleeve. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Right away I want to say that Jujutsu Kaisen looked great this week, unsurprising considering that first arc. Everything was just so… snappy. From character reactions and the way they transitioned between faces/poses/scenes to just the energy within the scenes themselves. Everything just felt so… good. And I don’t just mean the animation, though that was obviously great. I also mean the direction, scenes like the Toudo v Mei ping pong and the way ball often became our point of view, or the shots of Nobara pouring herself a cup of soda right after the OP. Even if the actual content ended up being boring, and trust me it wasn’t, the way it was communicated visually was interesting. I really hope Jujutsu Kaisen can keep it up, because so far it’s 6 for 6 on visually engaging episodes.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 6 [It’s Like That]” →

Welcome all, the the finale of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Hidden Inventory arc! We’ve been talking about what makes Suguru become a villain for a month now, and it’s finally time to see what Jujutsu Kaisen comes up with. Here’s a hint: It’s pretty damn good. So let’s jump in!

Now in case it wasn’t obvious, as an end of an arc I really liked this episode. I think Jujutsu Kaisen wrapped everything up really well, tying up most of the loose threads. There was even a small bit at the end to tie us back into the present-day story, which I appreciated. The production especially was fantastic, with some really evocative shots. I’m not talking about incredible sakuga or anything, I mean that the episode was well shot and well framed. The way Jujutsu Kaisen communicated just how exhausted Suguru is was fantastic. From his tired eyes, posture and unkempt hair to that one scene in the showers. Even before he broke, before that final moment, you could tell how much all of this was weighing on him, driving him closer and closer to that edge. Honestly, just like the rest of the arc, it looked great.

Continue reading “Jujutsu Kaisen S2 – 5 [Premature Death]” →