Jujutsu Kaisen (Season One)

Yuuji Itadori was thrust into the world of Jujutsu and curses the moment he swallowed one of the severed fingers of Sukuna. Against all odds, he survived and is now the vessel of Sukuna, but that also makes him a target!

What did you watch?

Now that I’m not covering seasonal anime as it airs, I sometimes feel like I might be missing out. This was one of those times. I’m a fan of shounen anime and when I saw how well Jujutsu Kaisen was being received I made certain to add it to my list of shows to cover. The other side of the coin is that I got to binge my way through the entire series in a couple of weeks. No waiting around for this guy. I laugh in the face of cliffhangers. Ha! Anyhow, let’s get on with the review. You can and should expect spoilers below…

Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 24 Itadori Black Flash

What happened?

Yuuji Itadori was an athletic kid with nigh on superhuman strength. However, he was a bit of a loner with his only friends being the other two members of the occult club and his grandfather who had raised him since his parents died. Before his grandfather died, he told him to help others so that he wouldn’t be alone when it was his time to die.

After saving his friends in the occult club from being eaten by cursed spirits, Itadori ended up eating the cursed object they were after – a severed finger from a dangerous cursed spirit known as Ryomen Sukuna. He did it to save a guy he had only just met, but when he survived it changed everything. Itadori became the vessel for Sukuna and that makes him incredibly dangerous. Luckily, a powerful Jujutsu sorcerer saw it as an opportunity and invited Itadori to attend a school where he would learn to fight curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 1 A curse trying to eat a cursed object and students

What did you think?

This series was every bit as good as the hype and then some. I’ll admit it took me a little to get fully invested. I was enjoying it from the beginning, but there was a point where I knew that I was going to love it. Some of the shounen aspects didn’t instantly gel with me and that was the more goofy aspects that accompanied the more comedic animation style. I absolutely preferred it when it was being serious. When it did that it was incredible and the last couple of arcs were insanely good. I cannot wait for another season.

What was your favourite moment?

I’m sure my favourite moment changed constantly as the season went on, but having finished it I can confidently say that the last episode was the absolute pinnacle of the season, as it should be. The way Itadori and Nobara fought against those two powerful cursed spirits was unbelievable. It started when Nobara realised that they had poisoned them with their blood, so she did what any normal person would do and started driving nails through her hand. Nobara is awesome. The whole episode was just a masterpiece of intense action and amazing animation.

What was your least favourite moment?

It’s going to be most of the goofy animation moments. There was one in particular that sticks in my mind and that was when Gojou was talking to Itadori about his limits. Itadori didn’t like what he heard and turned into a white blob as he rolled around on the floor. These moments really detracted from the rest of the show which was amazing. Admittedly, I did get more used to them as the season went on, but I would have preferred they had toned them down somewhat.

Of course, this is also just my way of dodging the truly painful moment when Yoshino’s mother was killed by cursed spirits after waking up to find one of Sukuna’s fingers sitting on the table. We’d only just got to know her and she seemed like a really cool mother. I still can’t believe they killed her. Just brutal!

Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 11 Cursed spirit finds Yoshino's mother

Who was your favourite character?

Honestly, there were so many amazing characters in this season that it’s going to be hard to narrow it down to just one. I absolutely loved Maki and Nobara. They had compelling stories of their own and could have easily been the star of their own shows. Gojou is brilliant in his own twisted way. I think I could just end up naming most of the characters, but I’m going to settle on one that I think could be quite polarising. He is Aoi Toudou and he’s crazy, but it’s hilarious. His bromance with Itadori was one of the highlights of the season. No doubt about it!

Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 15 Toudou attacks Itadori

Who was your least favourite character?

This is also a tough one, but I will have to say Mahito. I thought he was an interesting character and really brought the most out of Itadori, but I just can’t get over the way he used Yoshino to get to Itadori, especially killing his mother. Did I mention that I can’t believe they killed her? So sad!

Would you like some more?

I am itching for some more. We’ve got a movie on the way and there’s bound to be another season, especially after it won anime of the year. I’m sure there were some that were grumbling about another shounen series winning it, but I can’t find any reason to argue against it. Sure, it is a popularity contest rather than quality, but this series was quality. I think I’d even argue that it was more deserving than Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba!

Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 22 Itadori Fushiguru and Nobara entering the partial domain

What have you learnt?

One of the things that I liked about this series was that it gave us a fairly clear path to victory, but that it would also potentially lead to Itadori’s death. Gojou believed that if he consumed all of the fingers, and bear in mind that Sukuna had four arms, then he would become Sukuna in human form. This would mean that if he died, Sukuna would be vanquished forever. Itadori appreciated the stakes but still agreed to go through with it.

Now, I don’t for a second believe that Gojou has any intention of killing Itadori when it’s all done, but at least we now have a quest. We know what Itadori must do and given the nature of what we’ve seen so far, the potential is insane. Even knowing that Itadori needs to find and eat all the fingers, it doesn’t limit the season and it’s given us enough that there can be small victories and losses.

It’s kind of like Luffy wanting to get to the end of the Grand Line and becoming King of the Pirates. We have a goal, we don’t know how long it’ll take to get there, but we’re along for the ride. I think as we progress we’ll get to see more of the other characters goals as well much like Luffy’s crew. This series has the potential to be epic and with the dark nature of the show, I am here for it!

Jujutsu Kaisen (Season One)