Anime Review: Jujutsu Kaisen

Very Average Joe
May 26
6 min read

Updated: May 28

English Title: Jujutsu Kaisen

Japanese Title: 呪術廻戦 [lit. sorcery ongoing war/battle]

Director(s): Park Sung-hoo, Goshozono Shota

Screenwriter(s): Seko Hiroshi

Studio: MAPPA

Released: 2020–2023

Season 1 Runtime: 24 episodes, ~24m each.

Film Runtime: 1h 45m

Season 2 Runtime: 23 episodes, ~24m each.

Starring: Enoki Junya, Nakamura Yuuichi, Uchida Yuuma, Seto Asami, Sakurai Takahiro, Suwabe Junichi, Ogata Megumi

Based on the manga of the same name by Akutami Gege, the setting is present-day Japan and the premise revolves around the “cursed energy” of living things that can manifest as entities (basically monsters). This energy can also be used as raw energy or manipulated using “techniques”, whether for good or evil.

The plot follows Itadori Yuji who has extraordinary physical strength but is otherwise a seemingly ordinary high school student. One night, his friends break the protective seal of a finger talisman, thus attracting a curse (monster). The lesson is don’t mess with the occult.

In the mayhem, Itadori swallows the finger, thus gaining superpowers and saving the day, including saving student-sorcerer Fushiguro Megumi who is there to retrieve the finger. Fushiguro then drags Itadori back to the Tokyo Jujutsu High School to face his teacher, Satoru Gojo.

The finger Itadori swallowed belongs to the ancient sorcerer Ryomen Sukuna. This guy is such bad news that this finger is to be “exorcised” which in this case means executing Itadori. However, Itadori is somehow able to maintain control, thus presenting a rare opportunity: instead of executing Itadori and getting rid of merely one finger, execute him after he has swallowed all twenty digits and train him as a sorcerer in the meantime.

Itadori, of course, takes the deal. The premise is simpler than what is described above. The narrative wisely doesn’t get bogged down in Itadori’s training. He is trained as he participates in missions with fellow students Fushiguro and Kugisaki Nobara. It is also part of the humor as Gojo is seemingly casual in the way he treats almost everything, including throwing his new students into the deep end.

The series also avoids exclusively adopting the episodic structure of “monster of the week”. Although there is a variety of curses, it takes a balanced approach: some are isolated occurrences, others are part of the main arc. The latter group are conspiring with “curse-users”, basically evil sorcerers, led by Geto Suguru to do something big. Their plan factors in Itadori as Sukuna’s vessel and Gojo as one of the most powerful sorcerers.

The curses and the techniques vary according to the individual. Whilst the series avoids clumsily explaining everyone, it arguably doesn’t explain enough. One has to infer a little too much, sometimes coming across as “making it up as it goes”.

Later in the first season, like many high school manga and anime, there is the school competition in which Tokyo students compete with those from the Kyoto campus. This is a convenient method to introduce more characters and their abilities, although this arc’s structure is somewhat crude as the episodes basically focus on one student facing off against another student. Of course, things go wrong when other parties interrupt the competition to progress the primary conflict.

The characters are modelled on the usual templates but it is done with good effect because either they are likable or they are amusing due to their idiosyncrasies. Itadori is mostly the “innocent bystander” dragged into a bigger world. He is a positive and likable guy. Gojo is the “cool and charismatic teacher” who is cavalier. To counter that, Fushiguro and Kugisaki are more serious-minded; the former is the cool, reticent type whilst Kugisaki is more ill-tempered.

There is also a giant panda, aptly named Panda, an obvious variation of the large teddy bear. Inumaki Toge has to restrict himself to speaking in onigiri ingredients because his speech is his curse technique. Zenin Maki is the “no-nonsense chick” who has a chip on her shoulder due to family issues. I mention these three second-year Tokyo students because they play a bigger role as the series progresses.

To keep the narrative fresh, the conflict is not merely good sorcerers versus evil sorcerers. By having multiple campuses with the respective students and teachers, the first season introduces the politics within Jujutsu High School as well as some of the rivalries. It also hints at the history and politics of the controlling clans, obviously the cause of said present-day politics.

The other attraction is that the work does not always take itself seriously. The curses are a real threat and one can emotionally invest in the characters, but there is the regular but measured use of flash cuts to a comical reaction to the situation. Gojo, given his character, is usually the driving factor but others are used too.

Released after Season 1 is the anime film Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021) which, as the title indicates, is a prequel. This original manga of four chapters was released in 2017 before the main series.

Throughout Season 1, references are made to certain recent events as well as someone named Okkotsu Yuta who the second-year Tokyo students love and respect. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is set about one year before the main series when Yuta was first introduced to the abovementioned second-year Tokyo students (who were first-years at the time).

Yuta has a powerful curse attached to him. This curse is the spirit of his childhood friend Orimoto Rika who died in a car accident. She protects him with devastating results. Gojo managed to suspend Yuta’s execution, instead wanting to help him resolve the curse, or control it and use it if he cannot.

Meanwhile, curse-user Geto is understandably interested in such power and this predictably leads to a major conflict.

It is apparent that this served as a basis for the main series with Yuta and Yuji using a similar character template. Given the involvement of a dead childhood friend and his timid character, the pathos is stronger with Yuta.

Although predictable, the structure is tight with good pacing so it still works. The film follows the manga closely with a few scenes more fleshed out for the sake of dramatic action as well as adding to the background and worldbuilding. Even though the story is about Yuta and Rika, the work provides a little more padding about Zenin Maki, Inumaki Toge, Panda, Gojo and Geto.

All this serves as a foundation and a springboard to Season 2.

The first 5 episodes form the “Hidden Inventory/Premature Death” arc, basically a flashback to when Gojo and Geto were high school students and how the latter went to the dark side. This provides more background to these characters and worldbuilding since, as mentioned earlier, much is not explained.

The next 18 episodes form the action-packed “Shibuya Incident” arc. On Halloween, Geto and his proxies drop multiple veils over Shibuya to lure in Gojo, amongst other things. This arc is basically Geto’s offensive operation spanning a few hours in that one night. Deploying barriers over a portion of the city at night is an intriguing premise but the narrative could better take advantage of the creepiness.

The narrative follows multiple characters and some of these events are simultaneous. The location and time are superimposed on the screen and it is necessary to pay attention to these details.

The pacing is fast and switching between characters keeps the plot fresh in what is in essence multiple fight scenes each spanning two or three episodes.

Visually, there is a noticeable improvement over the first season. The environment, both interior and exterior, is excellent. The linework and colors mostly come across as more solid, not that there were any big problems previously. There is also more apparent use of tracking shots and different camera angles.

There are a few shots in which it adapts a more rigorous style which doesn’t really work and some of the fight scenes can be less hectic. But overall, it looks good.

As before, since the characters have different techniques, there is a little “making it up as it goes” feel to it and there is voiceover narration explaining some of these. It is a little crude but necessary and as well contributes to a more serious tone.

On a related note, given the nature of this arc, there is less humor. Indeed, in some episodes, the civilian death toll is high even if they are brushed aside in other episodes, presumably because they are simply not at that location or have been evacuated. That could be clearer. What is clear is the immense destruction of infrastructure, although I am not sure if there are even that many buildings in Shibuya.

The voice acting is solid across the board for all that has been released so far. Sakurai Takahiro as Geto is probably the most recognizable voice, almost always conveying that cool and calculated threat. It doesn’t go as far as Makishima in Psycho-Pass but the threat is there.

As already mentioned, the pacing is fast. Nothing is dragged out. This includes characters getting seriously injured or dying earlier and the destruction and its implications more serious than what some perhaps predict. It is clearly intended to set up and move on to the next arc. So far, it is not a bad series if one is into this kind of dark fantasy. If nothing else, it is plot-driven and the pacing keeps it interesting.