Jujutsu Kaisen (Volume 3) - Young Fish and Reverse Punishment

Yuji is still believed to be dead which is how Gojo wants it. That way he can prepare him for the Goodwill Event between Tokyo and Kyoto Jujutsu High Schools. He’s got to learn fast though!

Jujutsu Kaisen (Volume 3) – Young Fish and Reverse Punishment

What happened?

Megumi and Nobara find themselves facing off against Aoi Todou and Mai Zenin from Kyoto. To make things even more confusing, Todou asked Megumi what kind of women he likes and isn’t prepared to be ignored. Megumi decides to answer in a way that is completely non-commital and that infuriates Todou who launches into a barrage of attacks. Mai takes the time to get to know Nobara as well and not in a friendly manner. The fights are stopped by Panda, Toge Inumaki, and Maki Zenin, which is just as well because they need to save themselves for the inter-school Goodwill Event.

Meanwhile, Gojo has left Yuji with Kento Nanami, a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer who plays things his way. They are investigating a strange incident in a movie theatre where three high school boys were left dead and hideously disfigured. There was one witness – Junpei Yoshino. He goes to the same high school as them, but he doesn’t seem to be using cursed energy. Either way, he might know something so they go to track him down.

On the way there, they come across a couple of cursed spirits and go about defeating them. However, Nanami realises that they are actually humans that have had their bodies altered. He follows the residuals to the sewers and finds another special-grade cursed spirit similar to the two Gojo recently fought. Meanwhile, Yuji makes friends with Junpei and hits it off with his mother too. After Yuji had gone home, Junpei’s mother woke up to find one of Sukuna’s fingers on the table in front of her and a cursed spirit behind her!

Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 3 Junpei sees Mahito killing people

What did you think?

This was a much slower volume with lots of conversations between Nanami and Yuji, Mahito and Junpei, and Yuji and Junpei. It was far from boring, but the action was a little more subdued compared to the first two volumes. I also feel like the anime handled the death of Junpei’s mother better. It felt more emotional and more shocking. Maybe that’s because I saw the anime first, although I also feel the anime spent a little more time showing us how cool she was. Only the good parents get killed off!

Otherwise, it felt like the anime did a really good job of adapting the manga. And just like in the anime, Nanami and Mahito were excellent characters who offer lots of mystery and wonderful dialogue. They both have quite commanding presences too which made their little fight that much more entertaining. I also enjoyed seeing Gojo messing with Gakuganji by arranging for him to show up for a meeting two hours late so that he could threaten him and then wonder off, leaving him with nothing to do for two hours. Gojo is hilarious.