After some months of thought, it finally clicked with me why I was super duper lukewarm on this anime. Jigokuraku has potential indeed but it's the little details that build up by the end of the season and bog down into an anime that is not bad or good, just middling.

Story-
Credit where it's due, this anime does accomplish a lot in its first season. Like the characters are already introduced to the villains, the power systems, and the history of the setting and I feel like the anime would be perfectly paced if it wrapped up in season 2.
Jigokuraku has an amazing setting, an island full of plants, bugs, and weird kyojin people made where everything can kill you. One thing I love is how the island and its history are really shrouded in mystery and bits of information are revealed throughout. Unfortunately, this isn't made in Abyss or anything so the setting didn't play much of a role in the story as much as the characters did.

The best thing about Jigokuraku hands down, is the Villians, holy shit these villains are unhinged. The sense of mystery really built up hype for them and when they revealed their true powers it was insane, also I find it really creative how the mangaka used their genders and sexuality to tie into the Tao power system. Some of the best fights in the anime are because they are in it and their attacks feel very unpredictable leaving you on the edge of your seat at times. And by times I mean like a couple of times. They also have a level of uncanniness and trickster-like personalities that the heroes lack.

Speaking of which the power system of Tao is really creative, which is like this weird energy that strengthens by combining opposites, in other words, you can literally have strong powers by having sex which is a first in a shounen that isn't ecchi I guess. While the way the characters understand it feels a little rushed, their fighting prowess doesn't feel like an asspull or overpowered. I appreciate the characters having a history already as samurai instead of just being random ass-school kids who just conveniently happen to be kung fu masters.

Characters-
Feeling too nice now .Time to get to the main problem. Despite a crapton of people getting killed before arriving on the island and many killed right when they set foot on the island, the story still feels overcrowded with characters and their backstories. There are 11 people on the key visual for the anime and that's not even everyone lol. I mean a stacked cast like this is doable, but there is just something missing with them. Everyone more or less has a decent character arc but they still feel lacking of something to make me care, and thinking it over, I think that it is the lack of a character flaw or a desire of some sort. Humans are flawed and they desire things, but most of the characters have very ambiguous goals. I mean everyone for the most part just wants to get the elixir and the hell out of hells paradise, but the anime doesn't really convince me that they have something to look forward to if they leave, so I'm not really wanting to root for them, The few times that the show does convince me to root for a character is either right before they die, or if they are fighting one of the crazy ass villains of the anime.

Starting with Gabimaru, the “main character” I guess. Most of his character is shrouded in mystery so it was really hard for me to open up and connect to him like I did with Sagiri or Shion. Trust me, if Gabimaru died, I probably would have been like “Oh well I guess, I hope Sagiri is okay” but she probably wouldn't be okay since her main goal is making sure Gabimaru gets off that island and pardoned of his crimes. He has his moments, I mean who doesn't love a stone-cold ninja having his heart defrosted, but the problem with him being a part of such a large cast is that almost everyone has just as much development and characterization as him so he feels like a side character.

So I guess the true protagonist is Sagiri, which is fine because she is my favorite. Her arc is one that resonated with me the most because of her insecurities and struggles to prove herself in a patriarchal society. The speech she gave to one of her superiors was really quoteworthy, especially for this day and age. But she does get sidelined a great bit compared to the other battle-crazy characters. While she is responsible for the more down-to-earth moments in the anime, I'm still waiting for her huge Nobara moment where she can immediately prove herself and not get upset by someone.

Shion also had a descent arc along with Tenza, and both of them experience a level of trauma that gives them that vulnerability that makes me root for them. The same goes for Senta even if he was the quirky bookworm character for like three-quarters of the anime.

Yuzuriha provided some comedy/ cheeky fanservice but she does break out of her trope by providing smart tips and contributing to fights. Also, her ninja power is kinda gross ngl.

Nurugai has a decent backstory and I love her role as a student training under her persecutors, her joke of “Oh i look like a boy but I'm actually a girl” is kinda a cringe trope that lived and died back in 2010 when Hideyoshi Kinoshita owned it. This trope is also in a critically acclaimed isekai that I will not mention and it was stupid there too, so and it should stay dead honestly. But I look forward to her learning more in season 2.

Then there are the others, Gankatetsu is a big meaty crackhead who just likes to fight all the time, and his samurai buddy Fuchi is this weird evil genius character, I don't even remember if the show talked about his past. Choubei is also another big crackhead who likes to fight all the time, When I see characters like this, all I see are a bunch of Astas running around, and the fact that the only things they think about are just dominating everything they see is comical so there is not much to get out of those two. Touma is probably the weakest written character because it feels like he is only there to support his crackhead brother. If this anime was made like 20 years ago, I bet you, he would be a hot and sexy female side character.
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Animation-
Okay, MAPPA, we need to have a talk. This is by far what really bogs down the anime. And looking at the show compared to MAPPA’s other recent works, you should understand how underwhelming the visuals are. I don’t know what Makita Kaori was going for stylistically but it's just not working out too well. This isn’t a dumb manga vs anime conversation, I’ve had enough of those, especially in 2023. The show just feels weird sometimes. the character designs are great but I give credit to Yuji Kaku for that. The anime style doesn't do them much justice. Despite the colorful and trippy vibe of the setting, the characters look muted and super washed out, and the shading is minimal, it looks like some shit from Shinsekai Yori.

The animation feels really odd. This is insanely weird for MAPPA, a studio that seems to set, raise, and lower the bar of animation basically every single year. Despite the source material being really popular, the anime is about on the same level as that Netflix show Yasuke, except Yasuke had remarkable sakuga moments that kinda cover up the wonkiness, and Jigokuraku does not have nearly as many sakuga moments. Maybe Jigokuraku was in the same situation Yasuke had where animators were barely underpaid, overworked, and exploited. But that's another conversation for another day. If that was the case, though………………..well it shows.Not only in the animation but in the editing which makes the animation look worse than it is.

I wasn’t expecting the editing to be the worst thing about the show but here we are. There are multiple POVs since there are a shitton of characters but sometimes the editors jumble up the scenes of them together. Sometimes one character would spout exposition while another scene is going on involving a completely different group and location that has nothing to do with what the character is talking about. Sometimes there would be these weird nanosecond cuts of a whole new scene but it cuts back to the previous scene. Like nothing happens. It feels haphazard like the editor was throwing clips into the timeline without looking over it to make sure it makes sense. Hell, it might be intentional and the director was fine with it. Well if that's the case. Yikes. As I mentioned before, it's the little details, once you notice it, you won’t unnotice it. I surprisingly haven't seen anything recently with such noticeably messy editing. It feels like a rush job which is unsurprising for an “ENERGETIC” studio like MAPPA.
Now, there are some good things, a few good directing moments, also appreciate the anime refraining from turning everything into 3D. While it seems like I'm dunking on Makita, I did appreciate his work on Banana Fish and I appreciate some of it here. There are some brilliant scenes, but they are really few, really short, and really far in-between moments. It felt like this director saw the backlash that the Chainsaw Man director got for his creative liberties with the anime and just played it straight, doing the bare minimum when it comes to an adaptation, while there are some creative things here and there it is just not enough for me to say that Jigokuraku looks spectacular. It's fine, but it doesn't feel like Mappa, it feels like Studio 8bit on a good day.

Sound-
I guess the soundtrack was decent, It was really minimalistic at some points, sounding like run-of-the-mill traditional Japanese music, other times it sounded like something from a Harry Potter PS2 game, which isn't too much of a roast because Harry Potter PS2 music kinda slaps, but those games came out in the early 2000s and this anime is something from 2023, so it doesn't help make the anime look less dated.

-One huge complaint I have sound-wise is the opening by Millennium Parade and Sheena Ringo. Don’t get me wrong it's a bombastic song with a lot of trumpets and guitar. But when I heard the opening, it did not fit the style of Jigokuraku at all. It feels like an anime opening for something like Tokyo Revengers. When I listen to it, I don’t get an Edo period story about samurai on a mysterious island vibes, I get boys on motorbikes fighting in Tokyo city vibes.

And for now, I feel like this pie is just a sample size, I know I shouldn't expect a lot for a show with only one season, but JJK oops I mean Jigokuraku compared to other shounen after their season 1’s(like aot,mob psycho etc) didn't really leave too much of an impression on me, I feel a lot of the elements about this show leaving my mind, and when I wake up tomorrow, the only thing I will remember is the villains, the setting, and really wonky ass editing in parts. I know it looks like I'm shitting on this anime, but it's far from being bad. It's just that the good things about it are things that literally everyone has praised at this point and the other things I'm just kinda meh on.

The best thing visually about Jigokuraku is the background art, which is expected because the setting is what the whole story of Jigokuraku centers around.

I guess that definition would put it in the average category. I dislike the internet stigma where if something is average that means it's mid which means it's forgettable which means it's worse than bad for some reason. But the way I categorize its averageness is the good kinda average, that doesn't blow your socks off but it does the job. Jigokuraku does have the potential to be a solid series. Just a nice little clean up of all the technical things and just a tad more creative vision, and season 2 will be a fun time. I don't need a new genre-defying masterpiece, I already have Chainsaw Man for that lol.