I should preface this review by stating that I am not someone who sang the praises of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 unequivocally. By some people’s standards I would even be deemed a “hater” of season 1. I felt that, while solid overall, it was flawed. If you would like more of my thoughts on the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen feel free to check out my review of the series. That being said, for anyone expecting me to bash on this season of Jujutsu Kaisen you will be very disappointed.
For the longest time I have heard the praise of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shibuya Incident Arc (every episode in season 2 beyond episode 7) and how it was one of the greatest battle shonen arcs of all time. I heard this so much that I ended up reading Jujutsu Kaisen after finishing season 1 of the anime. However, I intentionally did not read the Shibuya Incident Arc because I wanted my first experience with it to be through the anime.
I will also say that it is extremely important for someone who is going into season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen to understand that Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is split up into two separate arcs. The first arc, Gojo’s Past Arc, is the first 7 episodes of this season of Jujutsu Kaisen. The remaining 16 episodes of this season cover the Shibuya Incident Arc. It is important to make this distinction because the difference in quality between these arcs is very evident.
I like to think of myself as someone who can admit when they are wrong. In the case of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 I was extremely wrong. Many of the critiques I had for season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen are resolved in season 2. In this review I will be talking briefly about the Gojo’ Past Arc, the first 7 episodes of this season, but the vast majority of this review will be addressing the Shibuya Incident Arc. I will give each arc their own independent score and then averaging those two scores to give Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 a score as a whole. As with all of my reviews I will be keeping the review primarily spoiler free and when I do mention spoilers they will be marked accordingly. You will be able to read on without concern over whether or not you will be spoiled.
Gojo’s Past Arc:
Story:
Gojo’s Past Arc takes place prior to the introduction of Yuuji Itadori. The story is told with an emphasis on both Satoru Gojou and Suguru Getou and their mission to protect Riko Amanai from assassins. While simple in premise, the story of this arc does its job and delivers a very enjoyable 7 episodes to watch.
What I found to be enjoyable about this arc’s story was that it gives the viewer additional understanding of Gojo and Getou’s relationship to one another prior to the first season and prior to when Jujutsu Kaisen 0 takes place. You get to know more about these two characters and who they were prior to where we left off at the end of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1.
Characters:
That being said, this arc also introduced the antagonist who I believe to be the third best antagonist of the series, Touji Fushiguro. I will also say that if you read my previous review of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 you would know that I believe that Jujutsu Kaisen’s biggest weakness as a series by far is its antagonists. That being said, the three antagonists I found to be most impressive (Suguru Getou, Touji Fushiguro, and Sukuna) are dramatically better written and far more believable than the cast of antagonists from season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Posing a Question:
This arc also does a fantastic job posing the overarching question presented throughout this season of Jujutsu Kaisen. That question being, “When the existence of an individual becomes too impactful to the world they live in, what is the result?” Jujutsu Kaisen presents two answers to this question throughout the two arcs covered in season 2. In the case of the Gojo’s Past Arc, Riko Amanai is the target of countless assassination attempts and she is deemed someone who must be eliminated in order for the present hierarchy of jujutsu sorcerers to remain stable. In this way the Gojo’s Past Arc presents one of the two possible solutions to the question I previously mentioned. That solution being proposed by the Gojo’s Past Arc is to
Spoiler, click to view
remove the person of importance in order to maintain order and balance.Score for Gojo’s Past Arc:
This arc honestly delivers on nearly every level. It gives the viewer more information about existing characters while also introducing an antagonist who is leagues better than anything present in season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen. It also poses a very interesting question inside the world of Jujutsu Kaisen which is something that season 1 never even attempted to do. It does stray a bit from the strong cast of characters it has established but for good reason. Thus far, this is my third favorite arc of Jujutsu Kaisen that I have seen besides Jujutsu Kaisen 0 and the Shibuya Incident Arc. I give the Gojo’s Past Arc an 82/100.
Shibuya Incident Arc:
Animation and Soundtrack:
The Gojo’s Past Arc and the Shibuya Incident Arc are both riddled with fantastic animation, fight scenes, and soundtracks just like season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen! I will say that the Shibuya Incident Arc also makes some very unique artistic choices throughout the season as well that I actually really appreciated as well! That being said, that was never an issue or concern I had with Jujutsu Kaisen so it isn’t really something that I am going to go on at length about in this review. All of those elements of Jujutsu Kaisen are fantastic and I fully anticipate they will remain fantastic throughout the duration of Jujutsu Kaisen. I will say that the Shibuya Incident Arc also makes some very unique artistic choices throughout the season as well that I actually really appreciated as well!
Characters:
This was by far Jujutsu Kaisen’s greatest strength during season 1 of the anime. The cast of characters are all unique and likable. Furthermore, they each get their moment to shine. That being said, my three largest issues with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 stemmed from its characters as well.
Those three issues were as follows:
- The cast of antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen are not realistic threats to the cast of protagonists and as a result they are not believable or interesting.
- Yuuji Itadori is an overall pedestrian main protagonist without any real character traits or moments that make him someone I want to cheer for.
- While Satoru Gojou is extremely cool, he is so extremely overpowered and strong in comparison to everything else inside the Jujutsu Kaisen universe that any threat against the cast of protagonists feels unrealistic and completely unconcerning.
I’m going to talk about how the Shibuya Incident Arc completely rectifies all three of these issues I had with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1. There will be spoilers related to these three points so please do not click on spoilers if you do not want these changes spoiled.
Starting with the first point, “The cast of antagonists in Jujutsu Kaisen are not realistic threats to the cast of protagonists and as a result they are not believable or interesting.” Put quite simply, the cast of antagonists have not changed from season 1. You are probably asking, “So how does this point change?” There are three reasons that the antagonists become more believable this season.
Spoiler, click to view
The first reason is that the antagonists capture Gojo early in this arc. This completely removes his influence from the remainder of the arc, in turn making each of the antagonists a more viable threat to the remaining casts of protagonists. The second reason is that Yuji Itadori loses control over Sukuna because he is forced to eat two of Sukuna’s fingers during this arc. This causes Sukuna’s power to become too much for Yuji to contain given his present abilities as a jujutsu sorcerer. Right off the bat, we see that Sukuna’s level of power is far greater than any other antagonist we have seen thus far in the series and his impact is felt in a very real way. He may not collaborate with the other antagonists but his power is so great that it honestly doesn’t matter! Third and finally, Touji Fushiguro returns in the later portion of this arc. I have already touched upon how he is my third favorite antagonist in the series but the difference in believability between him and the fourth best antagonist in the series, Mahito, is honestly so dramatic it’s hard to put into words. Having him around makes the threat to the protagonists that much more believable.Now onto the second point, “Yuuji Itadori is an overall pedestrian main protagonist without any real character traits or moments that make him someone I want to cheer for.” Looking back on my review of season 1 of Jujitsu Kaisen I really didn’t hit home hard enough on this point. Yuji really is generic in every sense of the word in season 1. He does nothing to stick out at all and honestly just feels as though he is along for the ride. In the Shibuya Incident Arc that could not be further from the truth. One of my biggest issues with Yuji’s character in season 1 was that there was no way that Yuji, a brand new jujutsu sorcerer, would have the power necessary to withhold an all-powerful being like Sukuna. It made Sukuna look weaker as an antagonist and it made the idea that Yuji had to be killed once he ate all of Sukuna’s fingers seem outlandish.
Spoiler, click to view
That all completely changed once Yuji consumed two more of Sukuna’s fingers. Sukuna immediately takes control of Yuji’s body and completely destroys Shibuya along with countless lives, both human and cursed spirits alike. Yuji only finally once again gains control of his body after the entirety of Shibuya has been completely devastated. In this moment of gaining back control of his body is when Yuji’s character actually becomes one where the viewer can cheer for him. Yuji is finally faced with the gravity of what his continuing to live means in regards to the safety of the rest of the world. So long as Yuji lives Sukuna could take control at any moment and the world simply is not safe when Sukuna is alive in it. The despair Yuji feels in this moment was the kind of moment I was waiting for to give me a reason to root for Yuji.Finally I want to address my third point, “While Satoru Gojou is extremely cool, he is so extremely overpowered and strong in comparison to everything else inside the Jujutsu Kaisen universe that any threat against the cast of protagonists feels unrealistic and not even remotely concerning.” To grossly oversimply this point, Jujutsu Kaisen had a Gojo problem. Damned if you do address him as a major plot hole because you would piss off the massive fanbase who loved Gojo as a character. Damned if you don't address him as a major plot hole because then no one was a realistic threat to our cast of protagonists! I will say in some ways this does get addressed and in other ways it does not get addressed.
Spoiler, click to view
The manner in which Gojo gets sealed by the cast of antagonists does not seem very realistic at all. I have a hard time believing that a person who acts as logically as Gojo does during fights would put his guard down in order to protect some people when he knows that if he falls nobody in the world would be safe. That being said, once Gojo is sealed, the threat of every antagonist in the series becomes far more realistic and felt. In a sense, despite being one of the series’ most beloved characters, Jujutsu Kaisen could never truly excel until Gojo was removed from the series (not that he is actually dead).In solving those three issues I had with the series, the cast of characters in Jujutsu Kaisen really get their chance to fully shine and Yuji becomes a protagonist worth cheering for.
Increased Stakes:
One of my most common criticisms for shonen anime, especially battle shonen anime, is that the stakes in these anime are never really felt. Sure, you can say a mission is life or death in an anime is life or death but until I see some actual death the stakes aren’t believable to me as a viewer. I won’t go in depth about who in the series dies or why they die but the stakes in this arc of Jujutsu Kaisen are very real. No character is safe in this arc and the lives of countless civilians are lost. In series like battle shonen anime, you must give the viewer a reason to care about battles or else they lose a large portion of their impact. It is for this exact reason that many of the fights, which were already brilliantly animated and choreographed in season 1, in the Shibuya Incident Arc hold far more gravity and hit that much harder!
Posing a Question:
If Gojo’s Past Arc did a good job addressing the question, “When the existence of an individual becomes too impactful to the world they live in, what is the result” then the Shibuya Incident Arc did a brilliant job addressing it!
Spoiler, click to view
For the longest time in Jujutsu Kaisen the viewer is left asking questions like, “Just how powerful is Sukuna actually?”, “Why is it so important that Sukuna be killed?”, and “Does Yuji actually have to die or is this whole thing being overblown?” What the Shibuya Incident Arc does perfectly to address these questions and the overarching question of this season is to show you the answer rather than tell you the answer to these questions. We get to see what happens when Sukuna goes unchecked. We get to see why Yuji must die in order to prevent Sukuna from coming back to life.Score for the Shibuya Incident Arc:
This is without a shadow of a doubt the best arc in Jujutsu Kaisen. What makes this arc difficult for me to rate is that it's impossible to know whether or not the results of this arc are felt throughout the remainder of the series. If what happened in the Shibuya Incident Arc has a lasting effect on the remainder of Jujitsu Kaisen then this is absolutely one of the greatest battle shonen arcs of all time. However, if what happened in the arc is immediately rectified then the arc loses its staying power and overall impact on the series as a whole. It is for this reason that I can not give the Shibuya Incident Arc a 100/100 but I will without hesitation give it, as a standalone arc, a 92/100.
Overall Thoughts:
For the longest time I have not been the biggest fan of Jujutsu Kaisen. I felt as though many of the praises and awards the series received were undeserved. While I still do feel that season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen is given too much praise, season 2 is absolutely worthy of praise. Many of my complaints for season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen have been corrected in season 2 and I can genuinely say I am looking forward to watching season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen when it does come out! If you liked season 1 then you will love season 2 and if you didn’t particularly care for season 1 like me then I would implore you to give season 2 a try!
