Y’all know the drill by now, it’s time for another week of Jujutsu Kaisen! This week see’s the conclusion of Mahito’s fight, Yoshino making a new friend and Itadori getting caught up in it all. So without further ado, lets dive in!
Production wise, I think this week looked good. Park’s camera angles were still there in the Mahito fight but they were more contained this week. Easier to follow, if that makes sense. Last week he kept switching sides or doing 360 degree spins around characters/scenes. It made the space and the characters positions within said space difficult and annoying to follow. This week though he manages to rein it in a bit, not breaking the 180 degree rule, etc. All the while keeping the wilder and expressive character animation. All in all, I think this episode was a success production wise and I’m looking forward to seeing more from Park in the future! Obligatory production talk out of the way, lets get into what y’all really care about, narrative!
First up, I want to talk about Itadori and Yoshino, because this was just wholesome. I really like their friendship, I like how they bond over movies and Itadori just being a positive guy. From what we have seen, Itadori is exactly what Yoshino needs in his life. His previous “friends” from the film club up and abandoned him when he was getting bullied and really only shared an interest. Yet here Itadori is chatting and laughing and having fun, and we’ve already seen him stand up for Yoshino where the old friends would run away. In particular though I love how the previous training episode feeds into and makes this relationship possible. It may seem like a small thing, the movies being relevant now. But I love it when minor events, minor details, have ripple effects far after they happen in a series.
Speaking of relationships, it was also nice to see how supportive his mother was. I was fully expecting a terrible home life, or some other kind of tragedy. Something to really shove Yoshino further and further into that broody character hole. So to his mother alive, happy and supportive of his decision not to go to school? Understanding that something was going on and being there for her son? Inviting his friend over so they could have fun? It was a nice surprise. About the only criticism I have for it is how quickly Jujutsu Kaisen killed her off for dramatic effect. I would have liked a bit more time with her to really let their relationship sink in. Over all though, I think she’s a big positive for Yoshino and really leveled out his broodiness before this climax.
On the other side of this relationship though we have Mahito and Getou. This episode did a good job of explaining why exactly Mahito took an interest in Yoshino, and what their plans for him actually are. You see, I had forgotten that they needed Itadori/Sukuna on their side until now. I figured that wouldn’t happen for awhile. But it becomes clear this episode that they plan to get to Itadori through Yoshino. Hence telling him to be friends with people from Jujutsu schools, getting him into Jujutsu in general. I expected them to go a different route than they are though. I figured they would try to set Yoshino up, to get the Jujutsu schools to take him out. Then use that to turn Itadori against the Jujutsu schools and thus get him on their side. The route Jujutsu Kaisen went though is… well its still in progress.
Where my idea was about appealing to Itadori, Jujutsu Kaisen appears to have them appealing to Sukuna. They are trying to force Itadori into a scenario where the only way to survive is to make a pact with Sukuna, giving him dominance. Little do they know though that such a pact has already been made. I’m curious to see how this pans out, and there are ways Jujutsu Kaisen can make it work. I just think it’s a tad less exciting than the alternative. Still, the fallout could be interesting. Itadori is now in a position where its either Yoshino or the lives of a bunch of innocent people and there are a lot of possible outcomes here. The only one I hope Jujutsu Kaisen avoids is both escaping safely with the power of friendship. What we have seen so far though, I don’t expect it to pick that one.
Lastly I want to talk about Kento. This guy has grown on me these last two episodes, in powerset and personality. Power wise, I like how creatively Jujutsu Kaisen uses it. Applying the 7:3 rule on structures to cause a collapse, applying to any individual body part, etc. It’s a much more interesting power than I originally thought. As for his personality, Kento is a lot more sincere than I expected. I figured we’d get the cold-hearted salaryman approach with a few blunt jokes here and there. Instead we have got that, but its tempered with parental concern. This is his job and he does take it seriously and logically. But he also takes his responsibilities seriously, such as protecting innocents and not wanting to put a child through the tough life of a Jujutsu Sorcerer. As he cleanly put it, “Being a child is not a sin”.
All in all, this was a good episode of Jujutsu Kaisen. I certainly enjoyed it more than the last. As while the last had a hype fight scene, I thought the camera was a bit much, and while it had Itadori meeting Yoshino not much else happened. This week though really expanded on Yoshino’s character and living situation and his relationship with Itadori is so wholesome. Jujutsu Kaisen did a good job preparing us for their conflict next week. Meanwhile Kento continued to have a fun fight, Mahito became a tad more ominous and we got some nice quotes out of it. So yeah, solid episode, looking forward for more.
Man, its really hard to look pompous and critical when it’s just gushing over a show huh? No one wants to read about something solid you enjoy, they want to hot takes! They want the criticism and the fighting! Well to bad, I like Jujutsu Kaisen, its a good show. Now go be happy, its almost Christmas!
Credit to them for it but I kinda think that JJK tricked us with the opening and that Yuji and Yoshino do not end up as the friends that both would have liked. We’ll find out soon enough but that would be some clever misdirection.
I also think its safe to say that JJK is going to be pretty much the darkest Shonen ever and by some margin. The horror elements and dark storylines are not letting up and this is going to be very fun to watch.
Chainsawman: Hold my beer
See that was the only one I thought might outdo JJK in the future but I haven’t read it. But i have been hoping for some anime adaptation and it looks like we’re getting it.
I would agree on both counts. On the friendship I am expecting some sort of “This is for the best” rivalry, Itadori trying to stop him, assuming Mahito doesn’t kill him.
For the second, I wanted to disagree but realized I couldn’t think of many series that are darker. MHA has shifted that way a bit recently but still retains its general atmosphere, Soul Eater had incredibly creepy moments involving Kishin but also some very light hearted ones. It would be an interesting thing to look into!
lenlo, I don’t know whether my speculation is correct, but I think those dots on Yoshino’s head are there because Mahito manipulated Yoshino’s body so that he’d be able to use cursed energy. I don’t think those dots naturally manifested because of the death of his mother. Also, I do not believe that Itadori has entered a pact with Sukuna dominating with his previous revival. All Sukuna got out of that was 1-minute of free time that Itadori cannot do anything about, but I believe Getou intends for a much more favourable pact for Sukuna to surface with the current developments that he and Mahito have orchestrated. I think it’s very likely that this part of Getou’s plan involves giving Sukuna more dominance to increase Sukuna’s chances of helping Getou’s group when the time comes to seal Gojou, so Sukuna will likely take control for a significant period of time during that event.
See, I assumed the dots on Yoshino’s forehead were the cigarette burns from his years of being bullied. We saw in the flashback that they would press them into his face, I assume he grew his hair out this way specifically to cover them.
Yup, its burn marks from the cigarette. It was made very clear in the manga
Right. Cigarette burns left by his absolutely, unrealistically insane bullies at school. Am I nuts for still thinking that the whole extreme bullying premise is cheap? Maybe this little bit of Japan has been enclosed in one of the dark forcefields the whole time. I mean, that kid may as well be stuck in Rikers for all the cruel and extreme abuse he received.
Anyway…
It may be because I’m older, but I feel this entire series has moved too quickly. Introducing characters without giving them time to breathe and grow on us. Moving us to the next plot point without letting us recover and comprehend the last one.
I keep coming back for the atmosphere, monster designs and overall good quality animation, but it’s honestly a pretty hard-to-follow show.
Nah, you aren’t insane. I think JJK overdid the bullying this episode when it had already sold it last week.
As for pacing… I can see that. We have had a lot of characters in 11 episodes. Itadori, Fushiguro, Gojo and Nobara in our core squad. The two Kyoto school students, the 4 villains and Yoshino. Not to mention side monsters, Sukuna, the Principles, etc.
So yeah, feeling overwhelmed by that is totally reasonable. For me, I tend to prefer a faster pace, like Akudama Drive this season, at least for action series. There are some, like Twelve Kingdoms I am watching now, which is much slower paced and I can appreciate that. But it also doesn’t bill itself as “punchy punchy” action.