Welcome back to another episode of Jujutsu Kaisen! I hope you’re ready to boogie woogie till the sun goes down, because this week danced right back into my good graces. Toudou proves why he’s the best character in this entire arc, Gojo goes ham on a forest and Itadori sets a record. So without further ado lets dive in!
Right off the bat I think this episode worked much better than the last. Everything about the production, from the music to the animation to the sheer fun of it, is just better. It feels like there was a clear vision on how to present Toudou and his ability. Especially when compared to the inconsistencies in Hanami’s branches last week and my general dislike for Park’s style. This week definitely wasn’t perfect of course. Some of the early cuts, particularly the first Boogie Woogie, felt… slow and oddly paced. As if they were animated on 4’s instead of 2’s or 1’s. The composition of these shots worked but I don’t think the animation was able to keep up. After that though the episode just improved as it went. Things sped up, Toudou took control of the scenes and Jujutsu Kaisen just became a blast to watch. Gimme more of this.
As for Toudou himself, consider me sold. I am on the Toudou train now. I was iffy on him when he was first introduced. I thought Jujutsu Kaisen would give us a surface level dudebro character. But the more Toudou we get the more we see that he is a living embodiment of “Bro”. Everything he did this week oozed style, fun and chill energy. From impact frames and poses on the claps timed to the music to the school headspace, I loved it. This character is just so much fun and I can’t help but think some of that is due to his VA Subaru Kimura. I shouldn’t be surprised. The man played Tendou in Haikyu and Hoodlum in Akudama Drive, this might just be a state of being for him. But whatever it is Toudou and his Boogie Woogie carried this episode hard.
Speaking of the Boogie Woogie, credit to Jujutsu Kaisen for another simple power set done well. The idea of switching places isn’t anything new but its presented with a lot of layers. I loved the misdirection of Toudou explaining his power set, like you do in Shounen, only for him to reveal a lie of omission. How the clapping is a requirement for, but not necessarily a commitment to, switching places. This vocalized fakeout was used really well, along with his initial statement that he can only switch with his enemies. Little by little we are shown how much he didn’t tell us and how useful it can be. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. The one thing Jujutsu Kaisen has consistently gotten right is clever power usage. From Mahito’s condensed humans to Namami cutting walls to Inumaki’s cursed speech. I look forward to every power now.
On a similar not, it was nice to see Gojo flex his muscles again but I can’t help feeling disappointed. Not in Gojo’s sequence, the man’s ability looked great, as always. But it felt like he stole Itadori’s victory this week, a victory he rightfully earned with those consecutive Black Flashes. Hanami was on the ropes, Toudou and Itadori were taking her down. I don’t understand why we needed Gojo to come in and nuke her from across the map. What does this add? We already know Gojo is a literal god, all this does is make it even harder to build tension when he’s involved. Gojo really needs an opponent closer to his level. Someone to hold him back, if only for a moment, so other characters can shine. Because right now he’s a sun, overpowering everyone else’s big moments, despite how cool those moments are.
This brings me to my one big negative for the episode: Unnecessary scenes. I don’t understand why the Nobara or guitar scenes had to exist. The Nobara scene added nothing. It’s another random, nameless jujutsu sorcerer who didn’t even get a fun fight. He simply ran away at the first sign of trouble and that was that. Why bother including this scene? What does it add, why couldn’t we cut this and get a few more minutes of Gojo or Toudou/Itadori? It’s the same with the Old Man’s guitar, nothing happened here before Gojo showed up. He didn’t get to flex and show off, he just pushed the coat rack dude back and that was it. This scene was built up for some rad guitar jujutsu but we got nothing and I don’t understand it. You can’t just give grandpa a guitar and not let grandpa shred with it!
Finally lets talk about what we can expect coming up. Obviously with only 4 episodes there won’t be anything big. But we have 2 major possibilities. The first is that we chase after/explore Mahito a bit. He stole the fingers, just like was the plan, so what are they going to do with him? If we go down this route than I expect Jujutsu Kaisen will end on some kind of cliffhanger, which always sucks. The alternative though: Baseball. Why baseball? Well I’ll admit I’m basing this entirely off of the OP. There’s no way they include the baseball segment without actually doing anything with it so the question becomes, why? Some sort of interschool team building? Or maybe this will replace the tournament that got ruined by the cursed spirits? Whatever the case its hard to fuck up a baseball arc, so I’m looking forward to it.
All in all I think this was a pretty good episode. Certainly an improvement from the last where the composite was rough and Park’s camera angles felt overpowering at times. Toudou’s Boogie Woogie also had a lot more style to it than Hanami’s branches, as far as combat goes at least. I hope that Jujutsu Kaisen can keep this up for for the last few episodes, I want it to end on a high note. Right now there’s the risk that it ends the whole season off on a cliffhanger and I’m just not into that. I get it, odds are its getting a 2nd season. But this one needs to be able to stand on its own and if it goes the baseball route it should be able to do that.
What did you though? Did you boogie to the woogie with Toudou or was it to silly for your taste? Its definitely a weird power to have in whats generally a darker, more mature type of story. It fits with Toudou so well though that I can’t help but admire it. Let me know what you think down below and I will see you next week!
P.S. It has come to my attention that the baseball is clearly shown in the next episode preview. This is what I get for not watching the previews. Ever since Ashita no Joe spoiled me on the next episode’s biggest reveal, I just can’t risk it anymore.
I love Toudou’s Boogie Woogie. It’s such a good power to have when you have a reliable partner like Yuuji, and it has so many uses despite being such a simple ability. I thought Toudou was just a stupid musclehead at first, but despite his quirks, he fights intelligently and cares a lot about those he deems to be kindred spirits like Yuuji. I actually buy into them being best buds despite them only spending a short time with each other.
Aside, but hearing that Gege trolled his audience in his public interview yesterday (while dressed up as Mechamaru) is pure comedy gold. Search it up lmao. Gege may or may not have revealed his entire game plan in that interview.
I think there’s room to set up and then cover the entire Death Painting arc in 3 more episodes following the baseball game next week.
Boogie Woogie felt like Hisoka’s (HxH) powers – super simple, but so powerful. I dig it.