Welcome back everyone, to another season of Jujutsu Kaisen! This shouldn’t come as a surprise, we all knew it was coming and you all know I like to try and cover sequels when I can. What is a surprise though is just how positive I am on it, as I ended Season 1 with some concerns. Why am I so positive on it? Well let’s jump right in and talk about that!
Starting with the production, it should come as no surprise that Jujutsu Kaisen looks pretty good, on basically every level. The animation is fun, whether it be character expressions or battle sequences, the direction feels nice with good use of visual metaphors, such as basically any scene with Fushiguro in it. We haven’t gotten anything particularly incredible yet, nothing that breaks the bank or makes you go “Wow”, but overall I think it’s solid. Definitely above your average “Shot-reverse-shot” anime production. If I’m being honest though, I’m not really all that concerned about this? Jujutsu Kaisen is MAPPA’s Golden Goose, they aren’t going to leave it out to dry. We will get some fantastically animated action scenes. We will also, probably, get some questionable composites and schedule crunch just like we did with Season 1. Will that stop me from enjoying the right though? Not really. And here’s why.
Simply put, so far this arc is the most fun I’ve ever had with Jujutsu Kaisen. Sure some action sequences like Itadori vs Mahito or Nobara and Itadori vs the Curse Siblings were hype and looked great. But those all lived and died by their action. Meanwhile I’m loving this arc for its characters. The way Gojo and Suguru interact with the world and each other is just great. Whether it be cracking jokes and messing with their client, Riko, an entire organization/plot point shutting down in episode 2 or just Gojo being a cocky bastard. I mean… Just look at the sequence in the chapel with the school girls/teacher. This is a Gojo that is just as arrogant as the older, current version, but lacks any of the wisdom and has yet to really mellow out. He has the youthful energy of a teenager, and it’s great!
Then we have the villain of the arc, Fushiguro, who is clearly Megumi’s father. This guy has yet to really do anything, hasn’t fought a single person, and yet he feels legitimately threatening! He’s a villain who takes Gojo seriously, knowing just how strong he is and making plans to mitigate that. Deciding to wear him down with constant fodder lured in with money, not allowing him to rest so that he can strike when Gojo is at his weakest. Fushiguro has this air of confidence about him that on most anyone else would feel misplaced. But with how seriously he’s taking Gojo, plus the fact that his win-con doesn’t even involve beating Gojo, you feel like he actually has a shot. Like our villain could win. And that’s a nice feeling to have in a battle-shounen. One that Jujutsu Kaisen had kinda lost by the end of Season 1.
Speaking of win-con, lets talk about Riko (Rika? Rikai? Going with Riko) for a moment. I quite like what Jujutsu Kaisen is doing here. Gojo and Suguru’s win-con is to keep her safe and get her to the Tengen, effectively the leader of Jujutsu society, so that she can be assimilated and used to extend his life. It is, for all intents and purposes, ritual sacrifice. And that’s not something most people view as “good”. And Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t try to sell it to us as that either. In fact it goes out of it’s way to frame this whole thing as a sort of tragedy, like this is Riko’s last day on earth before she dies of a terminal disease and they want her to have some happy final memories. It makes it so that, even if Gojo and Suguru win, as a viewer it won’t feel… good.
Helping this is also the fact that Riko appears to be unaware of this. In her mind, this is actually a good thing. They told her that she’s not being sacrificed, she’s being “Merged”. That she will become Tengen and that the Tengen will become her, a sort of… after life or greater purpose, if you will. To us, the viewer, that’s clearly bullshit fed to her to make her want to go along with it. But she seems to really believe it, making it all the more tragic. And if she doesn’t? If this is all a front, put up by her to put others around her at ease so they more easily accept it? Well then that’s pretty fucking sad to. Simply put, there is no “good” outcome to this arc. Either Fushiguro kills a child, or that same child is ritually sacrificed. Both kinda suck, morally at least.
As for what’s actually happening in the episode and what is to come? Jujutsu Kaisen is moving at a fast pace here, and I appreciate that. 47 hours to go on Fushiguro’s bounty, the maid gets kidnapped, Suguru who was with her has disappeared. The arc is moving at a nice click, things are happening, and that’s nice. I’m actually curious just how long this arc will be in fact. I believe it’s scheduled for 5 episodes, a recap of Season 1, and then we jump right into the Shibuya arc but I could be wrong there. If that’s the case though, I think that’s a great length for this opening story. Enough time to have some fun but not so long that we start to wonder where the hell Itadori and co are.
So yeah, all in all I think Jujutsu Kaisen is starting off really strong. There’s a lot to love here. And while many might miss our original cast of Itadori/Megumi/Nobara, and trust me I miss my hammer wife too, I think the cast we have right now is just as, if not more, fun. I’m certainly enjoying it, though maybe that’s just because it’s been 2 years since the first season. Whatever the case, Jujutsu Kaisen has been a pleasant surprise. I remember reading this section of the manga and not being particularly enthralled by it. I don’t know if the production is just improving it that much or if MAPPA is adding more content and filling the series out, or a mixture of both. But what I do know is that I’m having fun. And that’s nice.
