‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ is a recent anime that has been getting increasingly popular, as well as with a growing fanbase. The anime itself is certainly something to watch, but the question is: is it good?

PLOT

In ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, all living beings emanate an energy called Cursed Energy, which arises from negative emotions that naturally flow throughout the body. Normal people cannot control this flow in their bodies. As a result, they continually lose Cursed Energy, resulting in the birth of Curses, a race of spiritual beings whose primary desire is to bring harm to humanity.

Jujutsu Sorcerers are people who control the flow of Cursed Energy in their bodies, allowing them to use it as they please and also to reduce its release. High-ranking Sorcerers and Curses can refine this energy and use it to perform Cursed Techniques, which tends to be unique to the user or their family. An advanced form of Cursed Technique is Domain Expansion through which the user can use their Cursed Energy to build a pocket dimension that covers the surrounding area within which all attacks will be stronger.

Yuji Itadori is an unnaturally fit high school student living in Sendai with his grandfather. He regularly avoids the track team due to the time commitment required for it, despite his innate talent for the sport. Instead, he chooses to join the Occult Research Club; due to the freedom it allows him in attending, he goes to visit his dying grandfather in the hospital every day. On his deathbed, his grandfather instills two powerful messages within Yuji: “always help people” and “die surrounded by people”. These two ideas seemingly stem from his grandfather’s own regrets. After his grandfather’s death, Yuji interprets these messages as one statement: everyone deserves “a proper death”. He is then confronted by Megumi Fushiguro, a sorcerer who informs him of a high-grade cursed charm talisman at his school that Yuji recently made contact with. His friends at the Occult Club unsealed the talisman, a rotting finger, which attracted Curses to the school, creatures that are brought about through negative emotions and are strengthened by consuming magical powers present in sorcerers or such charms. Unable to defeat the Curses due to his lack of magical powers, Yuji swallows the finger to protect Megumi and his friends and becomes the host of Ryomen Sukuna, a powerful Curse. Due to Sukuna’s evil nature, all sorcerers are required to exorcise him (and by extension, Yuji) immediately. However, despite being possessed, Yuji is still able to retain control over his body for the most part. Seeing this, Satoru Gojo, Megumi’s teacher, decides to take him to the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School to propose a plan to his superiors: postpone Yuji’s death sentence until he consumes all of Sukuna’s fingers, allowing them to kill Sukuna once and for all.

HIDDEN DETAILS

Apart from its enticing plot, amazing characters, and intense fight scenes, there are so many details that not many might even notice within the show. First – the openings. Usually when we binge on a new show, we tend to skip the opening (or intro) because to some it can be seen as irrelevant. However, in anime – there is so much effort and time that goes into both the openings and endings, and it is all worth it.

Throughout the season there are two different openings (which change halfway through the show), but the art and animation behind them make them just beautiful to watch. From lighting, to the small details whether in design or in animation, it is just beautiful.

Then there are the ending credits. Ending credits are usually something that everyone skips and doesn’t think twice about. However, the ending credits can be relaxing and fun to watch and vibe to. In ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, the ending credits are the same the openings – with two different ones that change halfway through the season. The first ending credit we see through the first half is very colorful and upbeat, with an abstract art style. The end credits during the second half of the season, show a tranquil setting with a collage of videos that look like they are being recorded through a phone. The message that lies there is that as Itadori acknowledges he will be executed soon as Sukuna’s vessel, he is recording everything to keep as memories until the very end.

SALES – MANGA

The ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ manga had 600,000 copies in circulation as of December 2018, 770,000 copies in circulation as of February 1, 2019, 1.1 million copies in circulation as of February 2019, 2 million copies in circulation as of June 2019, 2.5 million copies in circulation as of November 2019, 4.5 million copies in circulation as of May 2020, 6.8 million copies in circulation as of September 2020, and over 10 million copies in circulation (including digital copies) as of October 2020, having grown 400% in one year, and about 230% in a half year. As of December 2020, the series had 15 million copies in circulation (including digital copies). By January 13, 2021, the series had over 20 million copies in circulation (including digital copies) and increased to 25 million copies in circulation by January 26. As of February 2021, the manga had over 30 million copies in circulation (including digital copies). By the start of March 2021, the series had over 36 million copies in circulation (including digital copies), and by the end of the month, the manga recorded over 40 million copies in circulation. ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ was the 5th best-selling manga series in 2020 (from the period between November 2019 to November 2020), with 6,702,736 copies sold. In January 2021, ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’s’ first fifteen volumes at the time (including volume 0) took 15 of top 16 spots of Oricon’s weekly manga ranking (week of January 11–17), being only surpassed by ‘Attack on Titan’s’ 33rd volume, which topped the list.

Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin gave the first volume a score of 8.5 /10. Douresseaux praised the series for its characters, plots, settings, and internal mythology, and described it as a “combination battle manga and horror comic book”.

Shawn Hacaga of The Fandom Post, in his review of the first volume, compared the series to early ‘Bleach’ and praised it for its world, lore, characters and artwork, concluding that it is a “solid first volume”.

Hannah Collins of CBR found parallels between Yuji and Sukuna and Marvel Comics characters Eddie Brock and Venom. She also noted similarities to ‘Bleach’, ‘Blue Exorcist’ and ‘Tokyo Ghoul’. Collins commended the manga and regarding its then recently announced anime adaptation concluded that ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ is a “darkly enjoyable action series that’s sure to be one to watch out for in 2020”.

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network ranked the first volume as a C. Silverman praised the series’ use of Japanese folklore and yōkai elements, comparing this and Akutami’s art style to Shigeru Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitarō, but criticized the story for being “very generic”. She concluded; “It has the potential to be more as Akutami gets more comfortable with the serialization process and figures out precisely where the story is going, so it may be worth a second book to be certain. But as of this one, it’s just okay, making it the kind of series that gets damned with faint praise”.

SALES – ANIME

The ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ anime was awarded “Anime of the Year” at the 2021 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, while Ryomen Sukuna won the “Best Antagonist” category and “Lost in Paradise feat. AKLO” by ALI won the “Best Ending Sequence” category. In January 2021, it was revealed that the anime series was the second most-watched anime series on Crunchyroll in 2020, only second to ‘Black Clover’, being watched in 71 countries and territories, including North America, South and Central America, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The official music video of the series’ first opening, “Kaikai Kitan” by Eve, reached 100 million views on YouTube in April 2021, being one of the fastest anime openings to hit such number of views.

Micah Peters of The Ringer said that while the series’ “focused execution” of shōnen tropes makes it “infinitely watchable”, is its “specificity, its personality, its ultra-slick stylishness” what make the show special. He added: “Like with Park’s previous work, there is a sumptuous amount of splashy, expensive, mo-cap-enabled animation, delivering on the action promised by the comics”. Paul Thomas Chapman of Otaku USA wrote that the series has “all of the right elements for an action-adventure anime: dynamic action scenes, slapstick comedy, and a cast of lovable weirdos with big, broad personality”. He called it a “prime example of average material elevated by excellent execution”, stating that ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’s’ setting, and premise are similar to those from other series like ‘Bleach’ and ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’. Chapman commented that Sunghoo Park “really puts the “beatdown” in narrative beats”, adding that he is able to “segue from goofy comedy to chilling horror in an instant”. He concluded: “Changing tones at a break-neck pace can result in story where the motivations seem muddled and the plot feels directionless, but Park and the crew at MAPPA make this narrative mutability seem effortless”.

Ana Diaz of Polygon highlighted the series’ 17th episode “Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event – Group Battle 3 -“, praising the series treatment of its female characters in comparison to other shōnen series. Diaz wrote: “’Jujutsu Kaisen’ goes a step further than avoiding gender tropes by presenting a variety of female perspectives. It’s not like there’s any right way for these young women to deal with the unique pressures they face. The story lets them disagree, and fight for their perspectives and their place”. She concluded: “The show’s widespread success signals that audiences aren’t just ready for change, they’re actively craving it. Now, every other creator has the green light to write all kinds of women into their shows”.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The series is incredible and filled with so much action and emotion, it never fails to keep me in suspense. Between the funny retorts, the fight scenes, the deep heart wrenching moments, and the incredible artwork, this is definitely a binge-worthy show. I would watch this again or anytime I am not busy. The characters are all relatable and all have their own issues and obstacles that they end up overcoming. There is so much personality within the characters, it makes it appear as though they are real.

RATING: 5/5