JUJUTSU KAISEN
a review by Joshuapigeon
a review by Joshuapigeon
Spoliers ahead! Warning!
.
.
.
.
.
This introductory season to Jujutsu Kaisen felt very much like a normal sort of shonen, just with a special twist.
.
.
.
.
.
Fearsome Womb:
In the first episode, Yuji felt like he was meant to be the protagonist, he was athletic and gifted, no sort of hardships or training, he was just naturally gifted, which actually doesn’t make him very likeable to be honest. Although they are also shown to ground him a bit too. His parents aren’t around and instead he is with his grandfather, who passes away, and this acts as a simple sort of motivation, to save other people. This motive to save his friends also led to him following Fushiguro, when his friends were being threatened by a curse. This motivation also further led to Yuji eating Sukuna’s finger, which was really the spark for this series. The first little fight was teased between Gojo and Sukuna, however, it was short lived. This also went about to show to Yuji that he was actually motivated and wouldn’t be pleased in living a dormant life.
.
.
.The next character to be introduced is Nobara, she provided some silly moments in her episode, although this leads us into feeling a bit like the series isn’t being taken seriously at this moment. Yuji’s first mission was good to see too, however, the focus was on Nobara for the most part, which does well in introducing her, however, we haven’t really seen much of Yuji yet either, so I don’t think it was right to put so much focus on her so early on.
format(webp)).
.
.
Yuji got even more motivation, when he saw a mother wanting their child to be saved, however, this hit him with a brutal introduction to what being a Jujutsu sorcerer is like, as he found the dead body, and Fushiguro gave him a lecture and told him, that what if someone he saved, ends up killing someone else. I think this was an important message to give and was overall pretty important in the development of Yuji’s character. Sukuna himself is also let loose for the first time, his power is really exaggerated, his domain expansion is also shown, which gives a bit of insight into what they are, and how powerful they are too. Although I feel at this point, Sukuna is being presented more as a power which Yuji can use, which we later find out, isn’t the case. Although despite this, Sukuna was shown to fight with Fushiguro, it had some crazy over the top fight effects which I did enjoy, and this does seem to be a theme in the fight animation for this series. Fushiguro also had his backstory touched on too, it’s good for them to put some personality into the other sorcerers too, it’s especially important at this early stage.
.
.
.
Yuji coming back to life, and giving a bit of power to Sukuna seemed pretty important, however, it didn’t really cause the amount of chaos I thought it would, although, it is way too early in the story to be doing anything crazy, so I was kind of happy about this. After Yuji’s resurrection, Gojo takes him on as a student to train him, while hiding his death, this made a good dynamic between the two and also led to a more personal relationship being formed between Gojo and Yuji. I would love to have seen Gojo be all serious when fighting Jojo, but this wasn’t really the case. It does make sense, knowing Gojo is just that powerful, but it’s still a shame. The assortment of villains (disaster curses) shown at this point set out the next rounds of fights that the sorcerers would have to take. I felt like this episode helped to familiarise us with them a bit more.
.
.
.
The Kyoto students are introduced for the next event. These are necessary moments, but aren’t as exciting. The hints at Maki’s past showed to me that they were actually trying to put some development into all of the characters and the series will benefit from this greatly in the long run.
.
.
.
.
.
Vs Mahito:
Back to Yuji, him and Nanami, a sorcerer who hated being a sorcerer, but who also hated being a worker too, went out on a investigatory mission to find out what happened to the people in the cinema, the transfigured humans. The serious nature of Nanami is what this series has been missing so far, I think his character is an amazing inclusion. The fight him and Yuji went through in this episode was only against some weak curses, however, the environment was used in a way which made the fight unique and engaging. The discovery they found from this event, that the curses were people, also helps to push the story along. Mahito’s monologues were a tad boring for me, I feel his sole purpose is to be an enemy who is clearly a bit wrong in the head, and all of what he says feels a bit nonsensical, due to him being a curse. His fight with Nanami also takes a while to pick up and is broken up by Yuji and Junpei developing a friendship between each other. The link to Yuji watching movies in his training, while also being able to talk about movies to Junpei was a really fun dynamic and I think this was pretty smart in the way it was done and these little details add personality to the characters. Although it is a shame, as Yuji and Junpei will have to end their dynamic as Mahito will pit them up against each other, his manipulation allowed him to convince Junpei to use Jujutsu to do bad, which is the opposite of what Yuji stands for.
.
.
.
Junpei’s part in this story was ended in an amazing way too, for the little time he was in the show, he had a big impact. It was the first time Yuji hadn’t been abler to save someone close to him. Junpei’s ability was actually pretty interesting, although it wasn’t used for long, I can appreciate the fact that these abilities are well developed, even if they aren’t that important. The moment in which Junpei is transfigured goes to show that Sukuna probably isn’t a power that Yuji can use, as when Yuji wants to save his friend, Sukuna simply laughs at him, along with Mahito, proving that he really is just a curse. The fight coming after this against Mahito was also pretty high stakes though, as Nanami seems pretty vulnerable while Yuji doesn’t as much, due to Sukuna protecting him from Idle Transfiguration. It almost tricks me for a moment in this fight, as it shows Nanami’s story, as if they were going to kill him off, however, it simply just adds to his context and also shows how he would want to die without regret, which was previously mentioned to be something which was not possible for sorcerers. Junpei’s story came to a conclusion, as the school he had went to addressed his death, and said that punishments would be issued for those who troubled him, I think this was a pretty good conclusion for him, and one I was satisfied with too. Mahito getting away at this point does make me question how interesting they can make another fight with him too.
.
.
.
.
.
Kyoto Goodwill Event:
Yuji’s reintroduction to Jujutsu high was pretty funny, as it was in such an unhinged way, as Gojo kind of is as a person anyway. The Kyoto school also wants to kill Yuji, I think this is interesting as it does makes the stakes higher for the exchange event, but also is a very straightforward motive.
.
.
.Todo is the first Kyoto student to be properly touched upon, he seems like a character who prioritises his personal values, although his character is a bit flawed, as he was convinced so easily by Yuji saying they had the same type in women. His role as a mentor was pretty good though as he acted really well in teaching Yuji and helped his development progress sharply in this time. Miwa is seen next, her motive comes down to being poor, and wanting to make money, this makes her character likeable, but also a bit flat as there isn’t really an interesting motivation behind her.
.
.
.Mechamaru fought Panda next, we haven’t seen much of Panda yet either, so this episode does well to introduce how he fights, and Mechamaru acted as a good dynamic for this fight. It made me more confident that the Kyoto students would actually be able to be interesting characters. Panda also recognising Mechamaru’s hardships made him really likeable and reminded us that they were on the same side in the fight against curses. After Mechamaru, the next Kyoto student was Nishimya, who made a speech about Mai’s struggles as a woman, this made me feel that they were trying to show Nobara as just being “strong woman”, however this speech came more into play in the fight against Mai and Maki, which wasn’t on this topic at all and instead touched upon not being able to meet expectations in their family, and the doubts that others had. It shows how Mai was content with being at the bottom, while Maki didn’t accept the judgement and went to form her own path. This serves to highlight Maki’s motivation as a Jujutsu sorcerer.
.
.
.
The final Kyoto student shown was Kamo, his fight wasn’t overly captivating, especially compared to the other fights, but he provides an insight into what life in another clan is like. After Fushiguro and Kamo’s short interaction, it starts to get serious. Gojo acts all lax, while everyone is in danger. The special grade curse which saved Jogo before begins to attack the students. This special grade was shown to be really strong, beating out all the students who fought it, but then Yuji and Todo took it on much more easily, Todo even made Yuji go at it alone, solidifying his role as a sort of mentor to him. Yuji and Todo have so much chemistry, and on top of this, Hanami also has some depth added to him, making him seem a bit more like an in-depth villain rather than just an opening boss. Todo’s technique was also really fun to see, it was easy to understand, allowing us to focus more on what Yuji himself was doing, he hit consecutive black flashes, showing his overwhelming talent, although this hype was cut off by a quick interlude, and the fight resumed as if this hadn’t happened. It took the momentum away from the fight, what ruined the fight even further was Gojo just using his Hollow Purple ability to end it, while it does make sense, it is a bit poor writing wise, as it wasn’t really satisfying to just end that fight with an unrelated attack.
.
.
.
The next round of the school exchange was a baseball match, this wasn’t really important beyond antagonising Gojo to the other higher ups of Jujutsu high.
.
.
.
.
.
Death Painting:
Megumi is explored a bit more in the arc after this, they go to his school, and even go to a bridge he had a relation to in his past. His domain helped to back up his character really well too and also highlights that it is totally possible to learn a domain. Learning about Megumi’s sister more also gives a bit of context behind his motives. Nobara and Yuji fight the final fight of this season, this fight looks really cool, and their dynamic was fun to watch, but the idea of humanising curses wasn’t sold all too well, Choso also felt a bit thrust in, and they should’ve waited to a bit later to do so. It did leave a positive way to be excited for the next season though.
.
.
.
.
.
Best Episodes:
.
.
.
Best Characters:
.
.
.
Overall, this first season was strong in introducing Yuji and Megumi’s motives. It didn’t touch on the curses themselves as much though. It excelled in its fight animation although the fights sometimes would conclude in pretty unsatisfying ways, this lead to fights with the same enemies at times, which felt a tad repetitive, but not all too much, as the choreography was pretty well done. The overall themes of the show as well as its setting are introduced pretty well. This leaves me satisfied enough with the first season.
18.5 out of 21 users liked this review
