Did you used to spend hours after school watching Goku and his friends engage in massive scale muscle filled, ki blasting battles to defend the earth in Dragon Ball Z? Maybe you preferred keeping up with Naruto and his leaf village peers as they took on missions and trained to develop new killer jutsu techniques? Perhaps Bleach was more your style and seeing Ichigo using his Shinigami powers to cut down hollows and guide spirits to rest got you amped up? Well, if any of this was your thing back in the day then boy have MAPPA Studios got the anime for you!
That’s right, the team behind Yuri!!! on Ice, Banana Fish, and the final season of Attack on Titan are bringing back battle anime with a bang with their adaption of Gege Akutami’s supernatural Shonen, Jujutsu Kaisen.
Debuting in September 2020, Jujutsu Kaisen chronicles the adventures of Yuji Itadori, an unnaturally athletic 16-year-old who, despite his abilities, forgoes his school track team to instead join the Occult Research Club and enjoys the relaxing atmosphere and takes advantage of the meetings early endings to visit his grandfather in hospital. After his grandfather’s death, Yuji’s life takes a turn when he meets a young sorcerer, Megumi Fushiguro, who claims that the Occult Club has encountered a cursed object, which, when investigated by Yuji’s friends, is revealed to be a rotting finger that attracts a dangerous curse to the school grounds
The pair soon rush to the high school to confront the curse, but Yuji’s efforts remain fruitless due to his lack of magical competence. Unable to inflict any real damage in combat, he instead opts to swallow the rotting finger, and in doing so becomes host to Sukuna – an extremely powerful curse. These events result in Fushiguro’s mentor, Satoru Gojo, capturing Yuji with the initial intention of killing him – and by extension – Sukuna. However, after seeing how Yuji can maintain control of his body, he strikes up a deal with his superiors – Yuji’s death sentence is postponed until he consumes the rest of Sukuna’s fingers. With the conditions set, Gojo then takes Yuji to the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College to begin his jujutsu training – mastering the art of fighting curses.
From here on out, Yuji and his new peers are tasked with eliminating curses under the direction of Gojo. The premise is executed in a traditional ‘monster of the week’ fashion with an ongoing central conflict slowly being revealed. It’s a slow burn in the first dozen or so episodes, then Jujutsu Keisen’s power system is brought to light. Yuji is taught in the real-time, swift lulls during battle, and making these discoveries during otherwise action-packed moments become extremely enticing for the viewer. While the power system here doesn’t do anything especially unique, the way in which an individual’s ‘cursed energy’ can be honed adds a brilliant sense of flavour to the series. A prime example of this is when Yuji is first introduced to the concept of his energy and Gojo instructs him to watch a marathon of movies while maintaining his focus to develop his power, which is a a striking contrast to all the rigorous physical training we’re so used to seeing the Shonen protagonist go through.
These small, clever nuances, coupled with the fluid and fantastically animated combat (seriously, this is work reminiscent of Mob Psycho 100 and Demon Slayer) manages to pull Jujutsu Kaisen up to the level of its competitors and make it a great watch.
In all honestly, this isn’t a ground-breaking show. This is a show that wears its influences very clearly on its sleeve. It feels like a true love letter to the battle Shonen genre and while it’s nothing you haven’t already seen before, it’s still damn entertaining. If nothing else, Jujutsu Kaisen is simply concrete proof that you don’t always have to break the mould to create something brilliant, and that’s exactly why you should give it a chance.
