I know I am late for this review as always, but I love going into extensive detail.

This entire series was probably one of the higher end shonen series I have ever read/watched. I originally put off watching all of it because I was displeased by all the hyper-weirdo toe lickers that surrounded the series. But I had my expectations absolutely gutted. The melancholic rage from JJK:0 to the current apocalyptic state at the end of JJK:S2, this series weaponizes trauma like a cursed technique.

TL;DR : Jujutsu Kaisen redefines shonen completely by weaponizing trauma, deconstructing that stupid heroism trope, and forcing characters to win by simply surviving, not conquering. Season one tricks you with the flashy lights before gutting tropes. JJK:0 is a tragic masterpiece where love is a curse in itself. Season two escalates into pure chaos. Pure apocalyptic chaos in Shibuya by sealing Gojo, and shattering hope in all the other characters. As if they lost their one and only high-end tank.

Starting off with season one, on the surface, season one tricks you. Yuji Itadori eats the overpowered finger from a cursed grandpa, and Gojo Satoru was more or less a modernized Kakashi but more lore accurate. From the very second you start watching, you already understand that there are power dynamics that actually matter and not just "Hey, I'm the MC. I win everything!". You immediately learn that cursed energy isn't just sparkles that form because the characters wanted them to, it's trauma reincarnated as powers. Yuji's "hero complex" isn't rewarded, it's punished. Nobara isn't "waifu bait", she's a manual nail-gun psycho. Megumi is a walking existential crisis with spawnable trauma animals. I found almost no episode to be truly just filler. Every episode seemed to have a reason to be there. Each one teaching someone something. Even the moments with Todo weren't filler or comedy, it's character surgery. By episode 24, you realize it isn't Naruto on roids, it's pure cinema.

JJK:0 on the other hand, was an absolute emotional nuke. Yuta Okkotsu isn't a Yuji clone, he's a grief-stricken ghost magnet with Rika--the cursed girlfriend--as a stand with separation anxiety. While season one juggles the worldbuilding, JJK:0 puts a concentrated laser focusing solely on pain. Geto's descent isn't rushed, it's a slow fall with tragedy. A perfect blueprint for the villain in him to be released. The thesis of the movie was summarized into a single quote: "Are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo, or are you Satoru Gojo because you are the strongest?". Then there's Yuta's arc. Learning love isn't a cage hits harder than a Hollow Purple to the cranium. And no one can argue against me when I say Rika deserved better. Best girl in the entire series based purely on character writing.

Then lastly, Season Two. Season one got you hooked, JJK:0 grabbed you where the sun don't shine, and Season two just ruins you as if you were Mahito in the scene where he got absolutely ganked. Ep1-5 isn't just a flashback. It's a horror film showcasing the brotherhood between teen Gojo and Geto. It's like watching a slow-motion car crash. You already know that Geto becomes a maniacal genocidal cult leader, but watching it happen? Brutal. Toji isn't just a villain either. It's as if he himself was Mahoraga humanized. An absolute force of nature that seemed unstoppable and shattered the god complex that Gojo had. Then there's the Shibuya Incident which takes up the rest of the season. It dropped harder than the meteor that Jogo dropped on Sukuna. No filler. No breathing room. No rest. Just straight pounding of sorcerers vs. curses in a subway graveyard. Mahito's Idle Transfiguration isn't just scary, it in itself is a philosophy. "The soul comes first" isn't just some quirky quip. It's Gege mocking shonen's obsessions with "body over mind." Sukuna's domain expansion isn't cool, it's a genocide livestream being played out to anyone within it's radius. Nanami's death isn't just sad either. It's as if Gege was whispering, "Nobody is safe." By the time Gojo gets sealed in the Prison Realm, you're numb. Senseless. Senile. This isn't just absolute cinema. It's pure agony.

I would have continued on if I had decided to read the manga in it's entirety, but I chose not to since season 3 was announced and I don't want to put spoilers on that. Jujutsu Kiasen isn't about good vs evil like all the other boring shonens. It's a battle of who's trauma is worse than the other. All in a world where power corrupts absolutely everything. From Yuji's survivors guilt, to Gojo's lonely godhood. Every character is a casualty of a broken system. The ruthlessness of the series with how Sukuna isn't redeemed, heroes are punished, and strength is a prison, just encapsulates you. Forces you into a rush of emotions that cannot be described. Jujutsu sorcery is a cursed cycle that no one is able to escape or get rid of.