Category: Finished Series: Action

Jujutsu Kaisen – 7 [Assault]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

This week on Jujutsu Kaisen we get punches, kicks, explooooooosions galore! That’s right its a low-narrative, high-hype week as Goto defeats a curse spirit with the power of theoretical math. Without further ado, lets dive in!

As I said, this week was pretty light on the story content. The whole thing was basically one big fight with a dash of narrative relevance at the end. I’m not complaining of course! I love hype fights, I’m self-proclaimed Shonen trash. It just means this weeks post is going to be a bit shorter since I can only gush about animation for so long. As for the narrative we did get, it’s mostly setup for the arc to come. We meet a new villain named Mahito, who many will recognize from the OP. Meanwhile Gojo gives us a hands on lecture on jujutsu domains, how they work, and just how powerful they can be. All in all it isn’t anything to incredible, but Jujutsu Kaisen did a fine job working it into/around the set piece fight for the week. So enough piddling around lets talk about that!

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 6 [After Rain]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen is a lot of things, but this week what it is, is disappointing. Because for all that the villains step up to the plate, for all that the animation is on point, Jujutsu Kaisen did one thing wrong: It went back back on its cliffhanger. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Clickbait doom and gloom opening aside, Jujutsu Kaisen did a lot of things right this week. And first and foremost amongst those has to be the animation. Seriously, just click into the full article below to see a clip of it, but Jujutsu Kaisen looked good. Between the burning effects, the facial expressions and the body movements, the whole café scene worked really well. I will talk more about what it did for the villains in detail later. From purely a production standpoint though, I thought it was a great. Jujutsu Kaisen didn’t stop there though, it was very expressive and creative with some of its scenes. One of my favorites being the paper-craft Itadori scene we see later on, fluttering in the wind. It’s a small thing, but it was really cute and I liked it. It’s those kinds of inventive animations I want to see more of.

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Akudama Drive – 05 [Dead Man Walking]

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Currently Watching:

It’s still too early to say if we’ll ever return to the sustained mayhem of Akudama Drive’s earliest offerings, but breathers like this episode aren’t so bad. Sure, the visuals might not be delivering in every single scene, but in terms of transitioning us into the show’s midgame, it did a fine job. There’s a departure and a new rivalry within the Akudama camp, and the Executioners are strengthening efforts to bring them in, putting the recently suspended Master and Pupil in a tough spot. Was there enough room for the show to say something meaningful about its characters during all this repositioning? I’d say no, but that’s certainly not for a lack of trying.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 5 [Curse Womb Must Die -II-]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Alright Jujutsu Kaisen, you win this round. For all that I expected it, Jujutsu Kaisen managed to actually keep it’s promise from 2 episodes ago. However long or short it may last, someone has died. So how about we jump right in and talk about that?

Starting off with the non-spoilers, action! Animation! Production! Boring technical stuff, but I like getting animators names out there. Jujutsu Kaisen actually did an alright job here this week. The close quarters combat wasn’t as impressive as the first episode with Gojo, not even close. It often felt a bit… floaty, in that characters where static in movement as the background spun. An attempt to give motion without much actual animation, and it shows. But that doesn’t stop Norimoto Tokura and Shota Goshozono from giving us some pretty great effects work like in this clip here. I love the animation on the snake twisting through the air, or how it explodes into particles down it’s length. It was easily the most stunning shot of the episode and one I hope we see more of. I can only hope that this slow shift isn’t a sign of MAPPA’s production curse starting.

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Akudama Drive – 04 [Speed]

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Currently Watching:

Here’s a curious case of an episode that’s just as action-packed as the first two, yet fails to bring the thrills of those earlier installments. The whole time I was watching the ‘Courier vs Kouhai’ and ‘Brawler vs Executioner’ fights, I was wondering when the show would do something new. It might have revealed some characters’ hidden abilities, or used its unique setting (aboard the Shinkansen) to give one combatant a surprise advantage over another. That didn’t happen, though, at least not to my satisfaction. I’ve got a couple theories about how that dissatisfied stew came to occupy my brain, but that’ll probably be it for this week. Speculating about the history of the Kanto vs. Kansai conflict would be fruitless, given our limited knowledge on the matter, and the main cast themselves are so static they might as well be Virgil Hawkins. So, let’s talk about what makes some anime fights better than others.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 4 [Curse Womb Must Die]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome to week 4 of Jujutsu Kaisen! Last weeks cliffhanger promised us some death, but it looks like that will have to wait until next week. In the meantime we do get some dismemberment, some curses and a whole load of pretty colors. So without further ado, lets jump right in!

Starting off, everyone’s favorite section, production! Animation wise what stood out to me the most were the ragdoll physics. Watching Itadori get knocked around or Sukuna jump around was a treat. I really enjoyed how the limbs flew around or bodies bounced off the ground, etc. There was also a 3D hallway scene similar to the first episode, but whether it be lighting or the environment, it didn’t look as good this time around. That said, Jujutsu Kaisen continues to be very colorful, using a lot of bright blues, purples and greens to keep things interesting. It was really nice how ever scene had its own color palette to differentiate it. From the dark blue with the curse to the bright red of their initial entry to the green’s of the waterway. Not only did it make it easy to tell locations apart, but it simply looked good.

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Akudama Drive – 03 [Mission: Impossible]

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Currently Watching:

This episode was a far cry from the spectacle of the first two. There were no dust-ups with the Execution Department, no direct assaults on massive buildings or organizations, and no interpersonal conflicts within the main cast. It consisted mostly of planning a heist, then quietly executing the first half of it (as quietly as a show like Akudama Drive can manage, anyway). Perhaps some viewers needed a breather after two straight weeks of madness, but personally, I was hoping for twelve. Still, a relatively subdued affair like this one gave the production team a chance to relax their weary pencil/mouse hands, and let the characters themselves carry the burden of bringing the show to life. Were they up to the task? Eh, sort of.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 3 [Girl of Steel]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

3 weeks, 3 good episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen! This week we meet the final member of our trio, get some THICC shots and end on a cliffhanger I can’t believe is real. All that and more in this weeks episode! So lets dive right in.

As always, we start with production, because this way I can put all my spoilers after the break. For only being 3 episodes in, Jujutsu Kaisen has had some pretty fantastic cuts. Whether it be running down a hallway or a dynamic camera following a fight, its looked good. This week though we see Jujutsu Kaisen slow it down a bit. Nothing bad, there isn’t a serious drop in quality or anything. Its just clear that MAPPA is in this for the long haul, saving the big animation for the big moments. As while it looks fine, there are no big standout “wow” scenes. We did at least get some cute little chibi reactions to fit with the lighter mood, and I like those a lot! They are very expressive. No, the only noticeable issue this week were some inconsistent backgrounds at the station but that gets left behind quickly.

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Akudama Drive – 02 [Reservoir Dogs]

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Currently Watching:

It’s often said that TV anime dump a disproportionate amount of time and talent into their first episodes, leading to a noticeable drop-off in episode 2. As a piece of conventional wisdom, it makes sense – producers want to hook as wide an audience as possible, as early as possible, so the extra effort would be warranted. And yet, we’re seeing a bunch of exceptions to this rule of thumb in the fall 2020 season alone. Jujutsu Kaisen had a terrific second outing that convinced me to follow the show week to week, while Dragon Quest’s employment of 3DCG animation in episode 2 was a massive improvement on the first. And sure enough, here comes Akudama Drive with a follow-up that’s just as unhinged and action-packed as its premiere. It didn’t manage to top itself (that would have been an absurd feat), but these twenty minutes surely delivered on the promise I saw last week. If you consider realism to be an optional component of your anime intake, this may be the show for you.

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 2 [For Myself]

by Lenlo, posted in Jujutsu Kaisen

Welcome all to the Fall 2020 Season, I am Lenlo and this is my first new show, Jujutsu Kaisen! I had no idea what this was before this season, didn’t even know it existed. Boy am I glad for that, because I don’t think I would be enjoying it as much as I am if I knew what was coming. Without further ado lets dive into the episode!

Right off the bat, lets talk some animation, because Keiichiro Watanabe went a little bit crazy this episode. Just like his work in Mob Psycho 100 and God of Highschool, Watanabe is all about the action scenes. Saying screw the model, screw physics, lets just have a good time. Combine that with the crazy camera of Seong-Hu Park, Director of last seasons God of Highschool, and you have a recipe for some insane cuts. From the opening fight on the roof to the expressive dolls in the second half, Jujutsu Kaisen looked great this week. I have absolutely no idea if MAPPA can keep this up of course. They are working on Taiso Samurai and Attack on Titan this season well. Combine that with the MAPPA curse and things look sketchy. For now at least though, I am hype. Gimme my action Watanabe! I need it my fix!

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