It was inevitable folks. Jujutsu Kaisen has been consistently pretty good up until now, so it was bound to misstep eventually. And while its not terrible, there was still some good here, this episode was that episode. Curious? Well lets jump right into it then.
Starting off, the camera work in Kento and Mahito’s fight was… it was something. It seems as if director Seong-Hu Park is finally making himself known just like he did with last seasons God of High School. The camera has gained a mind of its own and begun to float and fly around the scene in ways that are… not necessarily the best. Don’t get me wrong, the animation in these scenes were fine to good. I’m not criticizing the animators work. More that the camera undercut a lot of it and made it either difficult or undesirable to follow. The constant heavy movement made it so much of the fight didn’t really stick, or lost weight in the movements. This wasn’t every shot of course, and Mahito still came out better for it and I will talk about him later. But overall it felt like to much.
Speaking of a bit to much, that bullying eh? I get it Jujutsu Kaisen, Yoshino’s had a pretty shit time of it. You established that last episode when he got a cigarettes’ in his face, beaten half to death and otherwise humiliated. I understand you want to continue to establish his trials, but don’t you think this was a bit much? My main complaint here is that by doing this so much, last episode along with this episodes opening and the flashback, it starts to be… comical? They start to become cartoonishly evil villains. This has a number of effects, such as taking away a lot of the complexity for Yoshino’s character. Its not really a moral dilemma, nor do we the viewer find it that horrifying, when the characters who are murdered barely seem human to us. I understand what you are doing Jujutsu Kaisen, but tone it down.
What’s annoying about it is that it still actually works in places. Were it not so overt and in your face about it, Jujutsu Kaisen could make it work. His descent into depravity with Mahito, the fat teacher pushing him deeper with his assumptions and ignorance, Itadori trying to pull him out. It could make for an interesting character struggle were it not played so cartoonishly straight. Similarly, I found Mahito’s conversation with him about the “heart” vs the “soul” to be… odd? I am unsure how much of it is simple translation errors, words or concepts that don’t exist in English, and how much of it is simple armchair philosophy. Regardless, despite the fact that I understood where it was going by the end, the whole conversation felt rather silly to me. Maybe this is just a consequence of the subject matter of the series not lining up well.
On the opposite end of the tonal spectrum we have Itadori’s first fateful meeting with Yoshino. On the surface, it was a nice scene. Itadori is a friendly guy, he is outgoing, non-judgemental and defended him. Of course he would make fast friends with the often abused Yoshino. My only issue with the scene though is that I am not sure Itadori would actually act this way. Pantsing a stranger in public when all they were doing was talking? Running away with them and embarrassing them? That’s some petty delinquency right there that doesn’t seem to fit his otherwise upstanding character. It made for some good lines and to get Yoshino and him on the same page, it just doesn’t feel right though. Still I am hopeful for their relationship and I look forward to when Mahito inevitably ruins it.
As for Mahito himself, his fight was pretty cool! I criticized the camera movements before, but as far as actual powers and such go? It was creepy and rad! Keeping compressed people to use as weapons, transforming his own body, all on top of trying to touch Kento? It made the fight a lot more interesting than I was expecting. I figured it would just be one of those “One touch and you are dead” fights, but he has so much more potential now. And for Kento it was nice to once again see his ability in action and how Mahito can counter it. How it works against his blocks or how the transforming/shifting limbs/bodies change where the 7/3 line is, thus making it difficult to strike. There was some nice counterplay between the two abilities and I think Jujutsu Kaisen is doing a good job there.
On top of that, Mahito was very expressive during this fight. Kento hit the nail on the head when he compared him to Gojo, with the playful energy. He seems to be having a lot of fun with it, with a wide range of facial expressions and expressive body language. The guy is a treat! Narratively, I also enjoyed Kento over the fight. He comes off as very silent and unexpressive, but his line about “personal feelings” contrasted with wiping the tear from Mahito’s weapon/victim was really nice. Beneath that cold exterior is a man who cares, showing that this stuff can get to him. And now that he is on “overtime” I imagine he can let his personal feelings bleed in a bit. No idea what that does to his power, or the context with his tie, but it looks cool!
All in all, this episode of Jujutsu Kaisen was a bit rough around the edges. Yoshino’s story got hammered a bit to hard and Park went a bit to crazy with camera. Outside of those though, however big they may be, Jujutsu Kaisen did pretty well. It’s fights are maintaining a good level of quality for how many of them we are getting and none of the characters have really pulled anything out of their ass yet. No last minute random power ups, nothing that doesn’t come with consequences or that wasn’t properly setup. It continues to be a rather solid Shonen experience. All I can ask is that it cuts back a bit next week now that Yoshino is good and established. Do that, slow down with the camera a bit, and Jujutsu Kaisen and I will continue to have a grand old time beating up curses.
The opening was an anime original and while it was based on one of the author’s note in the Tankobon, I still don’t think it was neccesary. The dialogue about soul and body will become important later on.
Ah interesting to hear. It’s nice hearing about some of the differences, since I haven’t read the manga myself. I didn’t want to spoil anything. I might pick it up once this season is over though if it keeps up like it has been going!
I actually really liked this episode and the camera work myself. But I guess everything is subjective.
Oh for sure. There are things I like that I know plenty don’t, like I love a lot of Yuasa’s designs and animations which tend to be very… lets say lenient about keeping on model.
For me, Park is a bit to wild if that makes sense. It makes it difficult to follow and keep a clear idea as to where everything is in the scene in relation to each other. The actual animation was good! I think the camera just made it flip around to much.