The Jujutsu Kaisen fan base has only grown to multitudes over the past few years. Despite the controversial work practices at studio MAPPA, fans continue to support and nurture the IP—with good reason. The artwork and storytelling keep slapping, from the first season to this second one. While there may have been a major gap between seasons because of the film Jujutsu Kaisen 0, it was well worth the wait.
Season 2 started with the Hidden Inventory arc (aka Gojo’s Past arc), which was covered in the first five episodes. Then, the next 18 episodes covered the Shibuya Incident arc. As someone who is up to date on the manga as well as watching the series, it has been a ride to see some of the fights and gut-wrenching moments on-screen versus the pages and panels.
Shōta Goshozono took over the directing from Jujutsu Kaisen, director of last season and the film Sunghoo Park. Goshozono worked on some first-season episodes and the other MAPPA-produced series, Chainsaw Man. He brought numerous dynamic camera angles, and the animation was to die for!
Hidden Inventory/Premature Death Arc
The unique aspect about Jujutsu Kaisen (both the manga and anime) is how its storylines and arcs never shied away from weaving timelines. It is a common manga/anime trope to do backstories, but I felt like having the Hidden Inventory/Premature Death arc post-season one was perfect. It really worked well because it was another instance of showing the bond between Satoru Gojo and Seguru Geto, and where Geto strayed from the path of the jujutsu society. It also expanded on the ideological conversation clash between Gojo and Geto.
“This season truly felt like peak, modern shonen anime and proved it in every episode.”
This five-episode arc was tight and served fans with some great moments between Gojo and Geto, some bonding, and happy scenes. It also ramped up the tension of how they drifted from this mission. This arc also helped to explain exactly what made Gojo so special and clearly outline how his powers work.
Their mission was to protect the next Star Plasma Vessel for Tengen, the master at Jujutsu High. They had to escort the girl whose body Tengen would inhabit and “erase her.” Sort of like overwriting a save with a save from another playtime or over your sibling’s account.
Essentially, Tengen has the power of immortality and barrier amplification but always needs to update his body at a certain point of wear-and-tear. Without his ability to amplify barriers, the protective barriers across all jujutsu high schools would be at risk. To spice up the story more, a powerful assassin named Toji Fushiguro (Megumi Fushiguro’s dad) stands in the way of Gojo and Geto’s mission. Toji attempts to kill the next Star Plasma Vessel.
All of these past storylines were not fillers, though, like they are in other major Shonen series such as Naruto, Bleach or One Piece. In fact, it furthered the moral quandaries of the world of jujutsu sorcerers because it showed how scummy the sorcerer society is compared to non-jujutsu society (aka regular human society). It also served as a great introduction to Megumi’s father Toji, and displayed where Megumi got his physical prowess (despite having a deadbeat dad).
Upon comparison to the manga of this small five-episode arc of Gojo’s past, I thought they kept it tight and clean. Honestly speaking, they could have just made this into a short film prior to the Shibuya Incident arc for season 2, and I would have been okay with this! However, I would take a one-month gap between arcs versus another year! Overall, I felt like they did a cool job with this backstory arc.
Not sure which did the sound editing better for the internal struggles: Suguru Geto or Robert J. Oppenheimer? By the end of the arc, there is a scene with clapping, which becomes a constant, dulling sound for Geto’s mind. The show even kept it a running theme, like in the following episode when it was raining and Geto was talking to one of his seniors.
It was just as impactful as the way they used it in Oppenheimer, and both the anime and feature film premiered around the same time! The fights with Gojo and Geto versus Toji were super cool to see animated, and fans should not skip this arc to get to the Shibuya Incident arc faster. To put it simply, Gojo is able to make the impossible possible with cursed energy, and Toji is able to make the impossible possible as a human being with raw physical brute strength.
The intro-outro songs were fairly chill and more hopeful music than its more upbeat tone. However, there is one scene that used the outro really well and then quickly fades for dramatic effect—a smart way to use music!
Shibuya Incident Arc
Taking place about 10-11 years after the Hidden Inventory/Premature Death arc, the Shibuya Incident arc kicked off with a bang! While it started lightheartedly with a comedic first episode, it also teased some jujutsu espionage going on. The fight with Mechamaru and Mahito was a jolting start to the season, dropping some exposition for what was to come in the season and some good old Gundam fighting. This was a nice return to what fans could expect from the main story, with sorcerers/cursed spirits like Geto, Jogo, Mahito, Haruta, and Hanami up to no good.
“The fights in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 were meaningful and pushed the story along, with fun and heartfelt dialogue mixed in.”
On October 31, 2018, the villain crew created a plan to set a veil over the Shibuya area that trapped humans within it. This was to draw out Gojo in an attempt to bait and trap him—unbeknownst to him. Yuji and hand-selected classmates and teachers waited on standby to deal with any other threats while Gojo dealt with the main threat, and they acted as support to protect the innocent humans.
This arc also introduced a new cursed spirit, Choso, who is teased from King Gnu’s new, hype intro song “Specialz” (Ranking of Kings, Banana Fish). Choso was the older brother of Eso and Kechizu, the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings that Yuji and Nobara Kugisaki exorcised at the end of season one.
A standout character for me that stood out more from the manga and onto the screen was Choso because his powers were so versatile. His Piercing Blood blood beam went so crazy in the fight with Yuji—from the first-person POV shots to the ability to cut through lines of the environment. And while he was not the best close-range fighter, he displayed his ability to adapt really well.
The choreography of the fight was even something out of a kung-fu/action film like John Wick! It was well-paced, with moments for the audience to breathe and for the characters to analyze and think of other next strategies mid-fight. I found the ability to push for both long-range and close-quarter fights between them was smart, allowing for a more thought-out fight sequence. The narration on top of the fights easily explained to the audience what was happening, too, which was super helpful for viewers to comprehend what some of the fighters could not.
But none of the fights in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 ever felt too dragged out like in Dragon Ball, or one card match lasting almost a whole season in Yu-Gi-Oh. The fights were meaningful and pushed the story along, with fun and heartfelt dialogue mixed in. The colouring and choices for camera angles drew out the pivotal moments in every episode. The changing aspect ratios in cinematic moments made the show feel like I was in a movie theatre with so many story beats but did not change in any jarring way.
I believe if Jujutsu Kaisen Season One and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 were like Star Wars: A New Hope, season two is more like The Empire Strikes Back! The villainous cursed spirits brought the biggest conniving schemes and techniques possible. The number of deaths on the jujutsu sorcerers’ side was tremendous and detrimental to their plans to handle the Shibuya incident.
I really found the theme of season two to be both ideological and philosophical in the sense of measuring the life of a jujutsu sorcerer’s life. Many of the dialogues between various characters talk about the meaning of life or their purpose to keep doing what they do. The ideological aspect really poured across the arcs and really pushed the concepts that maybe the so-called villains may have some good talking points to make both societies better.
Despite the change in directors and slight changes in animation, MAPPA and its animators have once again proved that the Jujutsu Kaisen is here to stay! It pushed the boundaries from the page-to-screen format. This season truly felt like peak, modern shonen anime and proved it in every episode. I cannot think of any other anime competing with this one for 2023, and this year had the series finale of Attack on Titan and the release of the third season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
