It’s here everyone, Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shibuya is beginning. The event that’s going to be talked about for the rest of the year, and will inevitably get me yelled at. Before we dive into that though we need to finish up with Mechamaru. Does he survive his meeting with Mahito? Or is he the first victim of this coming war? Let’s jump in and find out!
Starting off, at it’s core this episode looked good. We had a nice fight in the first half, filled with Evangelion references, an Itano Circus and lots of just really cool moments. It’s a shame about the dimming though. And the after-images that almost ruined a number of scenes, like Mahito running through the trees in various forms. I get it, the anti-seizure law is important and exists for a reason. But part of me wishes these studios would animate within the confines they know they will be able to air, so that edits after the fact don’t ruin it. Another part though doesn’t want to restrict them, so we can get the wildest shit imaginable. Either way though, I know one thing for sure: The Jujutsu Kaisen Blu-ray is going to be well worth it when it comes out. Get rid of aaaall that dimming.
Getting into the actual episode, the first half was basically one big fight. And it was cool! Sure, the giant robot doesn’t really fit the setting, I can see that taking some people out of it. But personally? I just ignored the implications of an Evangelion-style mecha in Jujutsu Kaisen and had a good time. Lazer hands, lazer fingers, lazer chest. Mahito pulling out his domain expansion again, still looking absolutely amazing, I cannot get enough of those hands. This idea of a “Simple Domain”, a technique you can seal inside an object to either become immune to someone else;s domain or strike them while within one. Even a nice quite moment with Miwa sitting beside Mechamaru, unaware he was already dead. It was… beautifully tragic. I cared more for her than Mechamaru, sure. But it still got a reaction, and I call that a success.
Meanwhile the second half was mostly setup for the upcoming 18-episode long Shibuya arc. That’s right, 18 episodes. The rest of this cour, as well as all of the next, are going to be this arc. Is that a good thing? Probably, there’s plenty of content for it, even some room to move things around and add some anime-only or side-manga stuff. That said, I’ve always found the beginning of this arc to be… awkward. We just smash-cut 10 days into the future, to Halloween night. What happened between now and Mechamaru’s fight? Nothing important apparently! No one found the giant mech, no one react to it, didn’t get to see Miwa find out. We just sort of… skip it, getting right to the next bit of action. Maybe that works for some, but for me I always found it incredibly awkward.
After that though things level out a bit. We get some nice shots of Shibuya, absolutely filled with people partying like there’s no tomorrow. Lots of establishing shots for the location and the sheet amount of hostages/normal people involved. There’s clearly no attempt at keeping this secret. Hell Geto and co actively go out of their way to make their demands public, even the normal people know they want Gojo here. And his entrance? It was cool, in a subdued way. Just walking in while all the people are starting to panic, not worried in the slightest. Meanwhile everyone else is prepping at various locations, lots of new/mentioned characters popping up like the Zen’in clan head. Jujutsu Kaisen is gearing up for a big cast here, which should be cool.
Still, that was really it for the episode. We got a cool fight, a giant robot, Halloween arrived, and not much else. The real meat of the episode was in the first half. That’s fine of course, we’re about to have 16 episodes of non-stop action, Jujutsu Kaisen is smart to take a break while it can and just set things up. It just means that this is probably going to be the most relaxed/weakest episode we get for a while. At least I hope so anyway. While I don’t want the production to collapse, knowing just how many fights happen in this upcoming arc it’s a distinct possibility. Hopefully that month break will do them some good yeah?
