Welcome back to Jujutsu Kaisen everyone! We had a pretty sizeable break after a pretty emotional arc and its time to see what’s in store for us next. So without further ado, lets dive in!
Starting off I want to talk about what’s new this week, the OP and ED. Both were always going to be difficult to follow up, with the ED especially being one of if not the best of 2020. Rather than fight a losing battle with style thought, MAPPA has gone for something more heartwarming and it works. I like the use of the vertical camera and phone recording to really immerse us in Itadori’s perspective. Meanwhile the actual shots themselves are lit and animated beautifully, with Nobara’s reaction on the beach especially standing out. As for the OP, it once again has some stunning lighting and water effects. Its not as great as the first, with the song especially not doing much for me. But all in all I think it’s a perfectly fine OP for a new cour. But enough about that you want to talk spoilers.
The big event this week should be pretty obvious: Itadori’s return, and I’m very mixed on it. On one hand, I liked a lot of the gallows humor surrounding it. The deadpan reactions to his return and the almost satirical way Gojo handled it had me chuckling at times. I especially enjoyed the darker jokes such as forcing Itadori to pose with a funeral frame, that was really clever. But on the other hand I think this flippant treatment of grief is at odds with the rest of Jujutsu Kaisen. Up until now it has treated death with a respect not often found in anime. You need look no further than the grandfather in the first episode, or Fushiguro’s response to Itadori’s. So to see it treating Fushiguro and Nobara’s grief like this feels rather rude to me.
As cliché as it would be, I can’t help but think that a more dramatic resolution would have been better. Something with more weight for what has been, even in the very last arc, a very weighty topic. There is still hope for Jujutsu Kaisen to give it that respect of course, but comes down to how it handles Nobara and Fushiguro moving forward. If they simply brush it off with a few dark jokes and move on, then its a flop for me. After all, if they can move on past his return like it never happened, then did it truly mean anything to them? But if Jujutsu Kaisen can handle their pain, the understandable feelings of betrayal that would come with his return? Then it could definitely work. It all comes down to how they interact in this arc and react to the plot to kill him again.
Speaking of the tournament arc, its finally here! I kept guessing when it would appear and Jujutsu Kaisen kept surprising me, but not this time! So far the arc doesn’t appear to be that exciting. Jujutsu Kaisen tries to give it some stakes by introducing the plot to kill Itadori again, but removing Toudou from that steals a lot of its threat. This is the only guy on the Kyoto team that has any meaningful threat or character so far. So by removing him and letting him do his own thing, while you set him up to become an ally later, you remove his raw power from the “kill Itadori” mission. Especially when he rejects the sneaky plans as strongly as he did. I expect we will still get some hype fights, but I don’t really feel any tension. Not this early at least.
The second half of the arc might be a different story entirely though, as our villains gear up. Between the OP’s fight scenes and the opening check in with them, I’m excited for their return. I imagine the raid is going to break up the tournament, probably in the middle of some climactic battle forcing them to unite. But I don’t have a problem with clichés when they are done well. Most likely the Kyoto president will die in the raid, or perhaps Itadori will prove himself in it, thus ending the internal politics at least for a bit. All in all, I’m not really expecting any grand narratives from this tournament arc. I don’t think it will be able to match up to the last one in that way. But I am looking forward to some hype fights if MAPPA can pull them off.
So, how was Jujutsu Kaisen’s first returning episode of the new year? I would say… not half bad. It served as a good reintroduction to the characters, such as with Gojo’s consistent trolling, and it setup all the conflicts I expect this cour to cover. Only time will tell if Itadori’s reintroduction was done well or not, so overall a decent return. My major concern, outside Itadori, has to be whether or not MAPPA can keep the same level of quality. They are notorious for screwing up the 2nd half of their shows and having production melt downs. Between Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan, one of these is probably going to fall apart production wise. The only question is: Which? And between you me… I like Jujutsu Kaisen more.
I also felt that Itadori’s return didn’t work very well, but I believe it’s possible the author intended for it not work that well, and it was just meant to showcase Gojo’s tendency to troll and not give a damn rather than it being somewhat disrespectful in its approach to treating death. Having said that though, I do agree that we need to see more about how Fushiguro and Nobara feel about Itadori’s return moving forward.