JJK

Megumi Almost Broke his Back!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Ep 11 Review

Megumi is a badass. Well, we already knew that he was a badass. After all, he is the son of the guy who came close to killing Gojo and was the boogeyman of the Jujutsu world. Even Sukuna has a vested interest in keeping him alive; given how Sukuna doesn’t care about anyone but himself, that speaks volumes about his potential. And the Culling Game is giving us yet another example of how much of a badass Megumi is, as he manages to win a contest of endurance and will against one of the deadliest opponents in the Game. All while almost breaking his back, to boot!

Megumi is a Badass!

When we last left off, Megumi had laid a trap for the Sorcerer Regie Star using his Domain Expansion. Since he hasn’t fully mastered it, he got around that problem by luring him into a closed gymnasium. Thanks to that, Megumi is able to turn the tables while Tengen narrates how his plan is supposed to be working. And as is the case for the entire season, the animation is superb.

Unfortunately, those receipts of Regie’s are super powerful, as is his mind. He was able to figure out that Megumi’s shadow has a finite carrying capacity. He needs to make room for himself or risk bearing the weight of everything in his shadow. So Regie uses his receipts to summon a trio of cars to get sucked into the domain, essentially threatening to crush him!

This fight then becomes a battle of attrition as the two throw the heaviest things they have at each other in an attempt to crush the other. And this is where we get a visible reminder of just how tough Jujutsu Sorcerers are compared to normal humans. The two of them are forced to endure several tons of weight on their backs that could cripple or kill a normal human being. And despite being pushed to their limits and risking internal damage, they are able to make it out alive. And one of those things is a house. An actual house. I don’t even know how Regie got a receipt for a house.

Thankfully, though, Megumi managed to pull a big brain move by cancelling his Domain, sending them down to the pool in the basement and ruining Regie’s receipts. Checkmate! And with that, Megumi takes another W and manages to all of Regie’s points before he dies.

The bad news is that Megumi ends up passing out right afterwards. The good news, though, is that he is attended to by the Angel girl that he and Yuji were looking for in the first place! Talk about a lucky break!

As for Takaba, we get to see the end of his fight with the exploding guy as the latter calls it quits and leaves. The narrator then explains everything that I already did in the last review about how his powers work. Like I said, it’s the rule of funny in jujutsu form.

Everything that we’ve seen, though, is nothing compared to what Yuta is facing.

Yuta is Just Built Different!

If you have seen JJK 0, then you should know just how much of a badass Yuta Okkotsu. Next to Gojo, he is the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer alive. And the strongest JuJutsu Sorcerer gets sent to the strongest battlefield in the Sendai Colony. The episode explicitly states that it is far deadlier than what we’ve seen in Tokyo, with multiple heavy-hitters caught in a stalemate due to their incredible power. Two are reincarnated sorcerers, another has crazy cursed energy, and the last one is a special-grade Curse! And Yuta manages to kill one of them right after he arrives.

This isn’t an ordinary Sorcerer, either. This was a reincarnated Sorcerer who was powerful enough to conquer all of Japan two thousand years ago. And Yuta killed him like he was nothing. Not even worth showing the fight!

I don’t know how many episodes are left in this part of the season, but if this next episode is the last, then I’m going to enjoy it. I knew that Yuta was holding back against Yuji, so I want to see what it’s like when he goes all out! This is going to be so cool, you guys!!!

I Give “Tokyo Colony No 1-Part 5” a 3/5

Takaba is Hilarious, and you Can’t Change my Mind!

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Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 10 Review

Okay, guys. I know I said that the last episode of JJK was my second favorite of the entire season. But I’m already calling it: this episode is my third favorite! While Yuji managed to get Higuruma to change the rules to help their plan, Megumi wound up getting jumped by a group of hostile sorcerers. And now, we get to see our sullen sorcerer in action. More importantly, though, we get to see my favorite character in the entire series in action. The god of comedy himself, Takaba!

Megumi is a Stone-Cold MOFO!

When we last saw Megumi Fushiguro, he was in the process of getting jumped by a bunch of Culling Game players, led by this guy named Regie Star whose outfit is the biggest amount of receipts I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if it’s mentioned here, but he’s one of those reincarnated sorcerers and thinks that Kenjaku has some secret plan to the Culling Game beyond merging with Tengen. So he’s trying to recruit people to help when the time comes. Naturally, Megumi doesn’t care beyond stopping Kenjaku and saving his sister, so he says no. And then we witness Megumi getting jumped by this entire posse.

And this is one of the moments where I think JJK’s power system really has a chance to show off.

I know that a few episodes ago I was complaining how about strange some of the powers in JJK can be, like Kirara’s was. But as long as it looks cool and can kick butt, I’m willing to roll with things. And Megumi’s fight with Regie’s group shows how dangerous sorcerers can be in the modern day. Like this one guy who can turn his body parts into explosives and regenerate them. It’s like a grosser version of what Bakugo from MHA can do! But the scariest threat is Regie himself. By burning those receipts he has, he can summon whatever they were used to buy. Like gasoline, a Vespa, or even an 8-wheeler truck. He can basically summon stuff and throw it at Megumi like weaponized garbage! That may sound dumb, but then you remember what would happen if one of those receipts was for something like an assault rifle.

Thankfully, Megumi is a badass with a bunch of shikigami to back him up. And unlike Yuji, he’s fully willing to kill opponents if that will help his goals, as shown when he actually kills one of Regie’s mooks. He almost gets overwhelmed early into the fight until someone unexpected shows up to interfere: Fumihiko Takaba, my favorite character.

TAKABA IS HILARIOUS AND YOU IMITATE EVERYTHING HE DOES

We already met Takaba before. He was that struggling comedian we saw at the end of a few episodes back, and now he’s participating in the Culling Game. And he’s doing it in a costume straight out of a tokusatsu that’s split right down the middle, leaving half his body exposed. And I do mean exposed. There are a few moments where the anime has to obscure his nether region from hanging out. And keep in mind that he’s a 35-year-old man whose running dressed like this. And if you thought that is cringey, then you hear his jokes! They are so bad that they lead to this hilariously overdrawn awkward beat that goes right into the eyecatcher that marks the halfway point of the episode.

I cannot lie to you guys: I love Takaba. I don’t know if it’s because I like goofy characters who act free and uninhibited. Or if it’s because his jokes are so bad, they’re good. But I just love Takaba so dang much. He was the character I was looking forward to seeing the most this season, and for good reason. After all, he’s one of the strongest characters in the entire series.

Don’t. Underestimate. The Fool

No, I am not joking. He may look like a fool, and he is, but don’t let that deceive you. He’s got one of the most broken, overpowered cursed techniques in the entire series. The kind that could potentially bring down the likes of Gojo! What is it, you may ask? In a nutshell, the jujutsu version of the rule of funny.

Have you ever seen the Looney Tunes or gag manga and anime? In those stories, the characters are able to regularly defy the laws of the universe, allowing to survive things that should kill them. Why? Because of the rule of funny: something is allowed to break the laws of reality if people find it funny. And Takaba’s technique, Comedian, allows him to do anything he wants so long as he thinks it’s funny.

I was not exaggerating when I said that Takaba could go toe-to-toe with Gojo. That man has the cursed energy equivalent of toon force, allowing him to survive fatal injuries and turn the tables on that guy with exploding body parts. And I don’t care if he’s meant to be cringey or not. I find him to be hilarious. Then again, I grew up on a diet of cartoons, so I might be biased. I just hope he appears again soon.

Sadly, our time with Takaba is short, as the main focus is the fight between Megumi and Regie. And Megumi is actually on the backfoot due to being unable to gain an advantage over his opponent due to how unpredictable his powers are. So Megumi has to pull out the big guns: his domain expansion. The bad news is that he hasn’t fully mastered it yet, forcing him to take the fight to an enclosed space where he can actually use it. But the good news? We’re gonna get to see Megumi’s domain expansion.

This was such a fun episode for me. I love characters that can make me laugh, and I want more of Takaba!

I Give “Tokyo Colony No. 1 – Part 4” a 4.5/5

Your Honor, My Client is Built Different!

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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Ep 9 Review

Your honor, my client is not guilty by virtue of being built different!

So, after Yuji got separated from Megumi, he managed to find the Culling Game player he was looking for, Higuruma the Defense Attorney. Unfortunately, Higuruma was in the middle of a crash out due to years of watching his clients get unfairly sentenced for crimes they didn’t commit, so he wasn’t in the mood to listen. If Yuji wants to make his group’s plan to stop the Game work, he’s going to have to fight this guy! Both in a fight itself, and in one of the most based courts of law that I have ever seen in fiction. Yuji is going on trial!

Higuruma is Such a Badass

If the last episode didn’t make it clear enough already, then this episode cements it: Higuruma is built different. He has only been a Jujutsu Sorcerer for a few weeks with no prior knowledge on cursed energy, Jujutsu sorcery, or anything that has to do with it whatsoever. And he’s already one of the top players in the Culling Game. That means that without anyone to teach him or any directions to guide him, he was able to figure all the mechanics by himself. He was even able to do something that only a handful of sorcerer’s can pull off: a Domain Expansion.

As was the case with the last episode, and most of the episodes of this season, the animation was incredible. It more than made the long wait fans must have had feel worth it to see Higuruma’s Doman, Deadly Sentencing, activate.

As for what Deadly Sentencing does, it puts Yuji on trial. An actual trial!

The rules are simple: Higuruma uses his Shikigami, Judgeman, to accuse his target of a crime. The defendant has one chance to defend himself, while he has to prove that they’re guilty. The defendant can remain silent or lie, but in exchange, Higuruma gets evidence only he gets to know about. And if he wins, Judgeman can penalize the defendant. Which leads to a rather humorous exchange where Yuji is held to task about gambling underage at a pachinko parlor. Which he did do, by the way; he’s guilty. The sentence: confiscation of his cursed energy.

This is followed up by the actual fight between Yuji and Higuruma, which is also spectacular. Higuruma is throwing his massive gavel around like he’s a male Harley Quinn, and Yuji’s running for his life and dodging or tanking hits left and right. And this is where we get to see an outsider’s perspective regarding how Yuji is built different. Most Jujutsu Sorcerer’s are as weak as normal humans without their cursed energy, so they should they be easy prey for Higuruma. Yuji, though, was already built tonka-tough before he became Sukuna’s vessel. It gets to the point where it looks the two of them are locked in a stalemate, with Yuji only breaking the deadlock by demanding a retrial.

And this is where the episode really shines as it shows the true character of both combatants as Yuji is put on trial for the crimes of mass murder in Shibuya. And Yuji? He pleads guilty.

The sentence: death.

Yuji is LEGALLY Innocent, people!

We already know by now that Yuji is still beating himself up over what happened during the Shibuya Incident. It’s likely that he’ll never stop feeling guilty about it. But we, as outside observers, can assert that what happened was not his fault. He was unconcious as he was basically drugged to let Sukuna out, and he proceeded to level the Shibuya district, not Yuji. But Yuji still blames himself and thinks he should be punished for it. And this shakes Higuruma to his core.

That bit about Higuruma learning some piece of evidence about the defendant? In this case, he learned everything about Sukuna: how he shares Yuji’s body, how he took control of him, and then proceeded to kill all those people. And he doesn’t understand why Yuji is willing to plead guilty about it. He knows that it wasn’t his fault, but he’s still willing to accept the blame! And this is enough to finally shake Higuruma out of his crash out, choosing to spare Yuji’s life.

This was an incredibly powerful scene for both characters. Higuruma dedicated his life to defending the innocent even when the whole world believes them to be guilty. Yuji considers himself guilty for something that wasn’t his fault, and he still thinks he should be punished for it. Both have had to kill people, either in self-defense or because they wanted to kill them. And both of them feel great guilt over what has happened. The difference is that, even if the public would want to see Yuji hang, he’s innocent of those crimes.

No, really. Higuruma cites the Japanese laws stating that, because he had no intention of killing anyone or any control over his actions, he cannot be held accountable for them. He was basically drugged without consent, possessed without consent, and not in control of his actions. He’s innocent in the eyes of the law.

One Step Closer

With the fight now over, Higuruma finally acquieses to Yuji’s request and adds the rule to share points between players. Their plan can now go forward. Sadly, Higuruma will not help them. He plans to wait everything out and then turn himself in for murder.

I feel bad for Higuruma. He is a good person at heart, and he was pushed to his limits to the point that he crashed out. But before we cast our stones, we need to ask ourselves this: if we were in his shoes, would we do what he did? You’d be surprised. All we can do it hope he finds peace.

This might be my new favorite episode of the entire series. Second favorite, at least. The next episode, though, is going be even crazier.

I Give “Tokyo Colony No. 1 – Part 3” a 4/5

The Legal Crash Out: Hiromi Higuruma

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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Ep 8 Review

Crash outs. Moments where people hit their rage-breaking point and proceed to commit acts that can be considered violent, reckless, or stupid. Jujutsu Kaisen has already given us a prime example of how dangerous a crash-out can be thanks to Maki’s purging of the Zenin Clan. Though in that case, it was justified by the fact that they were already planning to kill her on top of the years of abuse. However, Yuji and Megumi’s efforts to stop the Culling Game have led them to look for someone else who not only crashed out, but is in the middle of it: Hiromi Higuruma. And we get to see firsthand what happens when a good person hits their breaking point and proceeds to crash out.

No Bullying EVER!

Now, Yuji and Megumi have gotten separated after entering Tokyo Colony No. 1, but their ultimate goal remains the same: finding a Culling Game player with the points to add rules that will allow them to play without killing anyone or giving unwilling players the chance to tap out. Their first target is a guy named Higuruma, and while both find someone who claims to know where he is, Megumi is being led into a trap. That girl he met is bringing him back to this player whose powers I think have to do with receipts. Am I worried? No; it’s Megumi. He’s got his shikigami! It will work out!

Yuji, on the other hand, is being told the truth. The guy whose leading him is someone who knew him before he became a sorcerer. He was this guy who hung with bullies and did what they said because it was easier than making himself a target. One day, though, Yuji showed up and beat the bullies up, and this guy realized he had been a coward and decided to clean up his act.

This is why I love shonen protagonists so much. Whether it’s Goku, Luffy, Naruto, or Yuji, they have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to people abusing their power for evil. It doesn’t matter if they’re stronger than them, or higher in status, or even if they’re a god. If they catch you doing wrong, they’re gonna throw hands. And more often than not, they bring them to justice in one form or another.

What Happens when a Good Man Crashes Out

Justice, by the way, is something that needs to be mentioned. Because justice, or the lack of it, is what defines the man whom Yuji came to find: Hiromi Higuruma. And it’s why this man chose to crash out.

Interesting fact about the Japanese criminal justice system: it has a successful conviction rate of 99%. That’s not because it’s just that good, but because it only pursues cases that it already thinks will end in a guilty verdict. That might sound efficient, but there’s a flaw to this line of thinking: what if the defendant is innocent? Then the prosecution will look stupid and ruin their careers. Even worse, though, is being the defense attorney. How are you supposed to do your job when everyone else thinks it’s a waste of time since they already decided the person is guilty? That is not good for one’s mental health, and nowhere is this better shown than with Higuruma, Defense Attorney.

Higuruma is a man with an incredibly strong sense of justice. If he thinks that a client is innocent, then he will raise hell to prove it. He genuinely wants justice to be enacted, no matter what society thinks. But a society that’s already decided the defendant’s guilty will use everything it has to make sure it wins. And then when his clients are still found guilty, they blame him for giving them false hope. He knows that they’re only doing this because of how desperate they are, but it still hurts!

Case in point, there was latest client accused of murder. He didn’t do it, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and despite the mountain of evidence proving his innocence, the justice system wouldn’t take the L. So they appealed the verdict, and despite not finding any new evidence, they still convicted the man. And that was enough to make him finally crash out and awaken as a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

This has to be one of the coldest moments in the entire series, and for good reason. There are people online saying that Gege Akutami consulted with actual defense attorneys to make Higuruma as authentic as possible. If that is true, then he managed to write an absolutely scathing critique of his country’s justice system, because Higuruma is a man who has reached his limit with the law. And when the law fails a good person too many times, they may crash out and take matters into their own hands. In Higuruma’s case, he manifests a Shikigami and forces a retrial…but not for the defendant.

Spoiler alert: he ended up killing the judge and prosecutor. And by the time Yuji meets up with him, he’s still in the middle of a crash out, as he doesn’t care about helping Yuji. And when Yuji presses the issue, he hits back. Hard.

This is gonna be one Epic Fight!

This is one of the best moments of the entire season for me. Not only is the animation as smooth as butter, but it also shows just how powerful Higuruma is. He’s only been a Jujutsu Sorcerer for two weeks, and he’s already got a Domain Expansion. Do you know how insane that is? It’s so impressive, it’s actually scary! And now Yuji has to fight this guy in a courtroom-style fight. The next episode cannot get here soon enough, you guys!

If what I have seen with all the gifs and memes about Higuruma online are any indication, this is going to be a fan favorite episode. Higuruma is in the running for the crash out hall of fame, and I can’t wait to see his technique at work!

I Give “Tokyo Colony No. 1 – Part 2” a 4.5/5

Yuji and Megumi enter the Culling Game!

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Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 7 Review

It’s time, everyone. The Culling Game has been underway for a while now, and the longer it goes on, the easier it will be for Kenjaku’s insane plans to be fulfilled. With Yuji and the others having gathered their allies, they’re ready to enter the Game. Which, at this point, I’m basically considering to be the JuJutsu equivalent of Fortnite.

Ironically, Yuji, Gojo, Nobara and Megumi are already in Fortnite.

Hakari Wants in On the Future

So, after getting Hakari and Kirara to calm down and listen to them, the former has the same reaction as the latter when they learn Gojo was sealed. To be fair, though, hearing that their strongest has been sealed would make anyone react like that. But now that Hakari knows that there backs are up against the wall, he’s willing to help them out. But he’s not just doing this out of the goodness of his heart! He wants to make a deal!

The short version: now that the existence of Cursed Spirits is public and the leaders of Jujutsu society are gonna need to be purged, things are going to need to be reformed. And Hakari wants to make sure the new rules will benefit him and his money-making schemes. Megumi agrees to the terms, since he’s the head of the Zenin Clan now. Seeing Hakari start sucking up to Megumi after he hears that was pretty funny. What makes it even funnier, though, is that the next day, Maki wipes out the Zenin Clan, making it a moot point.

Even if Megumi can’t really flex that clan power anymore, though, I think Hakari has the right to be involved in rebuilding Jujutsu society. I didn’t mention it in my review of the last episode, but one reason he got ostracized is that his Cursed Technique is more modern and tech-based. And the jerks in charge are so old-fashioned that they look down on it. But no society can improve if it keeps the same old ways forever, and if its leaders resist that notion, get rid of them. And after what they have done since Shibuya, Jujutsu HQ is going to be burned to the ground once Gojo gets out.

But enough of that: it’s time to enter the Culling Game, especially Yuji.

Let the Culling Game begin!

So, it was previously established that entering one of the colonies of the Culling Game makes someone a player by default. Since the group hadn’t entered yet, they thought they had time to prepare. However, they overlooked one possibility: that Sukuna might have agreed to take part in the Game in the past. Thanks to that, Yuji is already a player and can’t put off entering any longer. Thus, the group heads to the Tokyo Colonies.

Their plan is simple. To ensure that Megumi’s sister can get out of the Culling Game, they want to find players who already the points needed to add more rules. They figure that if they persuade them, they can add two new rules: one to allow points to transfer between players, and another that lets players tag someone else in to take their place. This way, they can make it through the Game without killing anyone. Yuji and Megumi go into one colony to find a player who has the points, while Hakari and Panda take the other to find Angel, the only one who can unseal Gojo. However, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and this is no exception.

Firstly, the second Yuji and Megumi enter the colony, they find themselves separated. This was a rule that the barriers added so players would spawn in at different points without any control over it. It’s like PUBg or Fortnite in that regard. And unfortunately for Yuji and Megumi, the game already has players pulling off toxic gamer moves, like spawnpoint camping.

As a gamer with years of experience in online multiplayer, it disgusts me to see people using spawnpoint camping to earn points. That being said, I can’t help but find it funny seeing Yuji get jumped by two random newbies and turning the tables on them. They shouldn’t have messed with the main protagonist. And as it so happens, their third member is someone Yuji used to go to school with and knows where to find one of the hundred-point players…or so they say.

Someone is Sus

Meanwhile, Megumi runs into this woman who’s trying way too hard to play up the weak and helpless damsel routine, which sparks plenty of red flags in my head. She also claims to know where this player they’re looking for is, but she gives him a different location. Which means one of them is being lied to, and will thus be getting an ass-whooping later. Sadly, we will have to wait at least two weeks to find out. The anime is going to be on break.

I don’t really care that much that the anime will be on break. Months of One Piece going on break for recap episodes have gotten me used to the idea. Plus, the next episode is going to be absolute fire, I just know it! In the meantime, what I’m more interested in is Hakari’s English voice actor. I assumed that it would go to Chris Sabat, but Yuri Lowenthal was not someone I was expecting! People from my generation are probably already saying how he’s delinquent Sasuke. To be fair, though, Sasuke was a delinquent for half the series.

I Give “Tokyo No. 1 Colony, Part 1” a 4.5/5

Why are Cursed Techniques so Confusing at Times?

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JuJutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 6 Review

Well, that didn’t take long. Yuji, Megumi, and Panda infiltrated the underground fight club run by their jujutsu senpai’s, Hakari and Kirara, to recruit them for the Culling Games. Unfortunately, they’ve been made! Now, since they’re not going to do this the easy way, they’re gonna have to do this the hard way. Which is fine by me, because it gives us a chance to see how our protagonists measure up against their senpai’s. That, and we got confirmation that Megumi is ripped as they come!

I Don’t Get Kirara’s Power

So, while Yuji was upstairs talking to Hakari, Megumi and Panda were trying to sneak into the fight club in case things went south. Unfortunately, they were spotted by Kirara (who we will use they/them pronouns for). They think the two are working for Jujutsu High’s higher-ups (who are toxic conservatives), so they alert Hakari. That leads into Hakari throwing hands with Yuji as we saw at the end of the last episode, and now things have to be done the hard way.

To Kirara’s credit, Megumi and Panda are from Jujutsu High, but are just choosing not to follow the higher-ups orders. And even when the two tell them that they sought their help because Gojo was sealed, they don’t buy it. If we hadn’t seen it for ourselves, I doubt the viewers would believe it, either! But the only reason that this happens is so that the story can show off what Kirara can do with their cursed techniques. And it’s…pretty complex.

I love the shonen genre; I’ve always loved it. However, one thing that’s always bugged me is how some series have power systems that can be downright confusing to understand. The biggest offender is JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, especially in the later parts, but JJK can be just as hard to understand at times. Case in point, I had a hard time wrapping my head around Kirara’s Cursed Technique. The basic idea is that it marks people and items based on the stars in the Southern Cross constellation. You have to approach each mark based on its order in the constellation, I think. And if you don’t approach in the correct order, you get repelled like being Force pushed.

I’m sorry, but that kind of power just doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. It’s too confusing to wrap my head around and I think that saying Kirara could repel things they touch would be simpler. It’s only thanks to the show’s superb animation that I was able to maintain my interest. It doesn’t really matter, though, because Megumi and Panda win and convince Kirara to hear them out.

Hakari, on the other hand…is too fired up to listen as he and Yuji come out of the monitor room in a fist fight.

I Respect Hakari’s Love for Passion

Here’s the thing about Yuji as of this moment: he’s not in the best mental headspace. He was talked into coming back with his friends and half-brother, but what happened in Shibuya is not something he can get over. He already put little value on his own life, but after Sukuna’s rampage and what Mahito did, it’s devolved to the point where he sees himself as a cog in a never-ending war. His only purpose is to kill Cursed Spirits and help his friends, and nothing else. As much as I like seeing people act selflessly, though, there’s a point where it becomes detrimental to one’s well-being. And it’s this way of thinking that gets on Hakari’s nerves the most.

Unlike Yuji, who’s entire reason for living is to help others, Hakari embodies the concept of putting one’s own interests above all else. He’s passionate about what he loves, and likes seeing that kind of passion in other people. It sounds selfish and greedy at first glance, but when you think about it, everyone wants something more than anything in life, even if it’s something selfless. He wants to see a world where people are free to do what they love the most, which is why he initially can’t stand seeing Yuji think so little of his own existence. To put it bluntly, it pisses him off.

Ironically, it’s this very mindset of Yuji that gets Hakari to finally hear him out. Yuji Itadori’s so determined to stop the Culling Game that he tanks every one of Hakari’s punches, which just makes him angrier. It gets to the point where Kirara calls out how riled up Yuji’s resolve has gotten him. By his own logic, Yuji has passion.

The timing couldn’t be better. A new rule has been added to the Culling Game by one of the players: players can see the status and location of all other players. This rule was added not by them or any of their allies, but by one of the players who’s already at work. To make it worse, it’s one of the Sorcerers who was brought back by possessing someone else. Their name is Hajime Kashimo, and judging by what he says in his first appearance, he’s a real blood knight. The whole reason he added that rule was so that he could track down and fight Sukuna.

I repeat, this reincarnated Sorcerer actually wants to fight Sukuna. And he’s not Gojo! You have to be next-level crazy to want to do that!!

If this is the kind of enemy that’s in the Culling Game, then Yuji and the others are gonna need all the help they can get. They need Hakari!

Next episode, we’re finally joining in on the Culling Game, and it looks like we’re starting off on the best foot possible.

I Give “Cog” a 4/5

Hakari the Gangster Sorcerer Joins the Story

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JuJutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 5 Review

The preparation for the Culling Game continues. Maki may not have gotten the cursed tools of the Zenin Clan and lost her sister, but she did wipe them all out. No more of their toxic influence and Game of Thrones scheming. Meanwhile, Yuji and Megumi have to go and convince a senpai on bad terms with the authority figures to help them in the Game. And this guy is a real rebel who believes in following one’s passion to the fullest!

Which is fine by me, as I like people who want to follow their dreams even if they’re crazy. And anyone on bad terms with the leaders of the Jujutsu world gets bonus points in my book. Plus, it helps that their seiyuu is the guy who plays Roronoa Zoro!

Those Old Geezers at JJ HQ are on my Hate List

If it hasn’t been made clear by my reviews of JJK, or some of my other writings, I hate toxic conservatism. By which I mean I hate dogmatic people who insist on maintaining things the way they are, even when changing with the times would benefit them. And the leaders of Jujutsu society that aren’t named Satoru Gojo all qualify as such. Not only did they try to kill Yuji and make it a crime for Gojo to be unsealed, but this episode opens with one of their most heinous crimes: the murder of Principal Yaga.

Yaga was the one who created Panda, the first self-sustaining Cursed Corpse. HQ wanted that secret technique to create their own army of puppets to enforce their rules, but Yaga refused. And he made sure that before he died, he only told his fellow Principal Gakuganji the secret because he saw that knowledge as a curse. And this actually manages to get to the old man! Even more so when Panda comes along only moments after Yaga died and says that he’s not mad at him for following orders.

This entire thing was genuinely heartbreaking for me to watch. This is the equivalent of Pinocchio coming home to find Geppetto dead because some jerk ordered a hit on him. It’s downright tragic to watch, and even Gakuganji is shaken by his fellow educator’s death. When Gojo is unsealed, those higher-ups shouldn’t even bother praying, because they already signed their own death warrants.

I Like Hakari Already

While all of this is happening, Yuji and Megumi are on their own mission: to find and recruit their senpai, Hakari Kinji. He’s a third year at Tokyo Jujutsu High, but he’s been suspended by the higher-ups for being a good-for-nothing, headstrong rebel. As the two first-years see for themselves, that’s not an unwarranted opinion; he’s running a fight club for Sorcerers.

Even before we meet him, it’s clear why the conservatives running Jujutsu society hate Hakari. They’re rigid traditionalists who hate any concept of changing with the times, while Hakari is the new blood chafing under authority and longing to break free. He’s the kind of guy who encourages people to indulge in what they love and find passion in, because without that, what is life even about? Hence, his main reason for clashing with the higher ups is because wants encourage everyone in Japan to follow their passions. And for him, that means wanting to legalize his fight club and gambling in Jujutsu society.

I have to admit, I was pretty sold on Hakari before we even got a chance to meet him. Firstly, it’s because HQ hates him. Secondly, while I dont exactly approve of a fight club, I respect the hustle. Thirdly, he’s voiced by Zoro’s seiyuu, which gives him bonus points for aura. And once Yuji meets him, his aura only manages to get even better.

The entire meeting between Yuji and Hakari has to be one of the best scenes in the entire anime. It’s just one continuous shot with no change in perspective, camera angles, or anything. It’s impressive, crazy, and somehow manages to work. Then again, chaos seems to be what this series is about to run on, so I’m not surprised.

Overall, this episode was big on both the tearjerking moments as well as the exciting ones, as something tells me that I’m gonna like Hakari. A lot.

I Give “Passion” a 4.5/5

The Uchiha Clan Massacre 2.0, Brought to you by Maki

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 4 Review

The Uchiha Clan Massacre, one of the defining moments in the backstory of the Naruto series. In a single night, one lone ninja proceeded to slaughter almost the entirety of his powerful clan, save for himself, the guy who helped him, and his little brother. And he did it all under the orders of a man who had no authority to make him do that. It was a tragedy that could’ve been prevented, and in the long run, it caused more harm than good for everyone involved. Why am I bringing this up now when we’re talking about Jujutsu Kaisen? Because the anime just gave the Uchiha Clan Massacre 2.0. Except this time, it’s entirely justified, the one doing the killing is in the right, and the clan in question deserves everything happening to them. Maki did what she had to do.

F the Zenin Clan

So, after spending the last episode focusing entirely on exposition as Tengen, Yuji, and all their allies prepare to stop Kenjaku’s plans, this one is focused on the actual preparation. Their first order of business is to retrieve all the weapons and gear the Zenin Clan has locked in their storehouses. So Maki heads to their compound with the authority of her cousin Megumi, who is now the clan head, remember, to do just that. The Zenin Clan, though, has no intention of playing ball whatsoever.

Let me remind you what I said in my review for the preview movie: the Zenin Clan sucks. They are one of the three biggest and oldest clans of Jujutsu sorcerers in Japan, and a family of backwards thinking, ultra-conservative, sexist jerks. Not to mention how they’re convinced that they’re in a story like Game of Thrones where it’s all the intrigue and scheming. Because even though they are facing the existential threat Kenjaku is bringing to Japan, all they care about is their own power. They have no intention of letting Megumi be clan head, with their leaders using those dumb orders banning Gojo from being unsealed as an excuse to try and off him. And when Maki comes back, all they do is look down on her for having zero cursed energy and being a woman. Naoya even says she’s worthless now that she’s got all those scars on her. But that’s only the start, as Maki goes to the vault, and all she finds there is her deadbeat dad and her mortally wounded twin sister, Mai. And then her dad almost kills Maki and leaves them both for dead.

Time for a quick tangent, by the way. Gege, you are an absolute master of the art of making characters whose existence people can loathe with their entire being. Naoya was already a arrogant, sexist jerk that deserves a punch to the face. But the girl’s dad? All he does is whine about how he’s not the clan head and blaming it all on his daughters’ existence. He even says that “children shouldn’t hold back their parents,” with a straight face. This is the definition of a deadbeat parent, and while there are a lot of things I hate, there’s nothing worse than a bad parent.

Which only makes what happens next all the more satisifying.

All my Homies Hate the Zenin Clan

There’s a reason why Maki has no cursed energy whatsoever. The rules of Jujutsu treat twins as the same person. So when twins are born, they get restricted. In the girl’s case, Mai got all the cursed energy, while Maki should have gotten a superhuman body like Toji did to compensate. So long as one lives, the other can’t reach their full potential. Which is why Mai, who never wanted to be a sorcerer, chooses to let herself die so that her sister can unlock her full potential.

This is an absolute tragedy, and even though I wish that the anime could’ve spent an entire episode on just this, I think it manages to hammer that aspect home. All Maki wanted was to change the Zenin Clan so that it could accept her and Mai and give them the home they wanted. But the Zenin Clan was so rigid in their beliefs that they refused to let that happen, even when it would’ve benefitted them in the long run. Thanks to everyone’s stubbornness, Mai has died, and Maki has lost everything.

But thanks to their arrogance, the Zenin Clan didn’t kill the twins when they had the chance. Because now, it’s time for their own Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Toji Could’ve gone Full Kratos on the Zenin Clan if he Wanted

Fans of JJK know who Toji Fushiguro is. Born to the Zenin Clan with no cursed energy, he bailed on them and discarded his last name due to them treating him like dirt. They shouldn’t have, because the universe chose to compensate him for his lack of cursed energy by giving him a body as strong as steel, with superhuman senses and strength to go with it. That meant that he could kill Jujutsu sorcerers with hardly a scratch, and made him their absolute worst nightmare. He could’ve killed his entire clan for treating him like garbage, but chose to take the high road on it.

Maki, on the other hand? Let’s review everything all the crimes the Zenin Clan has committed against her:

  • A lifetime of emotional and physical abuse
  • Disobeying a direct order from the head of their clan
  • Murder of her sister
  • Multiple accounts of attempted murder

The verdict is guilty, the sentence is death, and the executioner is Maki, courtesy of the sword Mai made her before she died.

The Massacre Straight out of Kill Bill

What happens next isn’t just the Uchiha Clan Massacre for a new generation. It’s the Uchiha Clan Massacre fused with Kratos’ rampage against the Olympian Gods. And it is as close to perfect as possible…at least if you’re from the West.

It’s common to find anime fans from the West disagreeing with their Japanese counterparts, but there’s something special about how our reactions to this episode of JJK. Everyone I’ve seen stateside has been calling the best episode of the series. They’re looking at the scene of Maki wasting those mooks and are saying how it’s just like the Bride killing the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill. I looked up a clip of the scene on YouTube, and everyone’s commenting just that!

And the part where Maki tanks the hits from the Hei unit! That one guy dies thinking that he helped kill Maki, but she just walks away with the head of another Hei member and throws it into a pond!

And that fight with Naoya! Even if he gave us one of the first memes of the year, everyone agrees Naoya deserves to get his face caved in! And the anime didn’t disappoint as Maki absolutely embarrasses him! They repeated the clip of her breaking his skull four times, and it’s still satisfying! And her carnage didn’t stop at the compound! She hunted down any Zen’in clan members who weren’t there and killed them all! Is it any wonder why those with Maki stock are taking a victory lap?

So why are the Japanese hating on this? From what I’ve heard, cultural differences.

Japan Didn’t See this the Way Americans Did

According to what I’ve heard, a big issue they have with the episode is how it portrays the massacre. They don’t like the upbeat and energetic music and pacing. To them, this event is supposed to be a somber tragedy because of what happens to Maki and Mai. And I do agree with them on that part. What happened to Maki and Mai is indeed a tragedy brought about by Maki and her clan’s mutual stubbornness. Had Maki not tried to spite the family that didn’t deserve her and just walked away with her sister, Mai wouldn’t have had to die. And I do think that the anime could’ve made this entire thing more menacing to respect Mai. Remember, despite thinking it had to be done, Itachi hated himself for having to kill his clan and wanted to face justice for it, even if others might not see it that way. But while what happens is a tragedy, Westerners don’t see it like that.

We often consider getting revenge to be a costly, self-destructive act. At the same time, though, if we find the ones who are the targets of said revenge to be utterly reprehensible, we’re willing to justify it. And, admittedly, there’s something satisfying on a primal level in seeing the hero beat the snot out of a villain who greatly wronged them. Ergo, while we may mourn Mai’s death, I couldn’t help but smirk as I saw Maki bury the backwards, sexist, backstabbing Zen’in clan six feet under. Even more satisfying is seeing Naoya go out like a chump at the hands of Maki’s dying mother.

So, despite what the Japanese have to say about it, and despite me wanting an entire episode dedicated to Maki’s killing spree, I still loved this. I have been wanting to see this animated for a while now, and while it wasn’t quite what I expected, it’s already one of my favorite anime moments of the year. Maki, you have effectively solidified your place as THAT girl! All hail the Queen of Jujutsu Kaisen, Maki!!

I Give Perfect Preparation a 4.8/5

LET THE CULLING GAME BEGIN!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 3 Review

My fellow Jujutsu sorcerers, Jujutsu Kaisen is back! Well, it’s been back for about a week by the time I’m writing this, but I didn’t write about the first two episodes. There was no need to, since I had already covered them in my review of the compilation movie. But now that they’re out, I’m free to cover everything going forward as we get into the Culling Games. I’m going into this basically blind, but from what I’ve heard, and based on how crazy the new OP is, this is going to be absolute chaos!

What is the Culling Game?

So, where were we when we last left off? Yuji was a fugitive from the corrupt Jujutsu heads alongside his half-human, half-cursed spirit half-brother. Nagoya “Dbag” Zen’in tried to kill Yuji. Yuta showed up like an absolute CHAD and helped Yuji fake his death. And now all the good guys reunite at Tokyo Jujutsu High to meet Tengen, the immortal responsible for the barriers protecting the high schools in Tokyo and Kyoto. This brings us to this episode, which is more or less dedicated to exposition dumping on what the heck is about to happen.

Which is good, because I’ve always had a hard time understanding the power system in JJK, and I’ve had an even harder time trying to understand what the end goal of the antagonist’s is for the Culling Games.

To sum it up as best as I can understand it, it’s like the Infinite Tsukuyomi from Naruto meets Fortnite.

No, really. The ultimate plan of Kenjaku, the sorcerer who has possessed Geto’s corpse, is to force humanity to evolve by giving everyone access to cursed energy. His plan is to have humanity fuse with Tengen, who has evolved to become less a human and more an abstract entity, granting them all curse energy. To do that, he needs a massive amount of cursed energy be unleashed, hence why he’s been working behind the scenes for a thousand years trying to make the Culling Games happen. He made pacts with ancient sorcerers to have them participate in exchange for bringing them back in new bodies, which he did by feeding people cursed objects containing their souls. He also found people with cursed techniques who couldn’t use them and modified their brains so that they could, using the disaster curses and others to accomplish this. And since users of the Six Eyes like Gojo kept foiling him in the past, he made sure to seal Gojo so the technique wouldn’t pass on to someone else. All of this culiminated at Shibuya, where Kenjaku used everything to awaken thousands of sorcerers, both ancient and modern-day, and unleashed countless cursed spirits across Japan.

Da Rules

So, there a boatload of sorcerers who appeared out of nowhere, hordes of cursed spirits that have formed colonies across Japan, and Kenjaku is forcing them all to fight in the Jujutsu equivalent to Fortnite. All so he can merge humanity for the sake of transcending their current limitations. And to make matters worse, joining the Culling Games is non-negotiable for those picked. There are rules that even say so!

  1. Anyone who gets a cursed technique has to join nineteen days after awakening said technique by entering one of the colonies.
  2. Refusal to join will lead to players deaths by removal of cursed technique.
  3. Non-players who enter colonies become players by default.
  4. Points are gained by killing players and non-players
  5. Point values are determined by game master
  6. Players who gain 100 points can ask game master to add a new rule to the game. No takebacks!
  7. The game master must agree to new rule as long as it doesn’t mess with the game.
  8. Players whose scores haven’t changed after 19 days will die.

And to make sure that the game can’t end if he dies, Kenjaku made it so he isn’t the game master. This Shinigami thing called a kogane is!

Credit where credit is due; as someone who enjoys games myself, Kenjaku really thought this out. A pity that he’s doing this for the sake of evil. And with Gojo sealed in the Prison Realm, and the tools needed to free him destroyed or out of energy, there’s no way for him to stop Kenjaku.

Or is there?

One Chance

As fate would have it, one of those reawakened sorcerers, Angel, has a technique that can nullify other cursed techniques. Which means that she’s able to open the back door to the Prison Realm and let Gojo out. So, if they want to stop this madness, then they’re going to have to find Angel. But since this episode already gave us plenty of exposition, the anime decided to cut us some slack and give us this video explaining the good guy’s plans.

Everyone has their marching orders now, and so everyone must get ready to play the deadliest game of their lives.

Now, some people are no doubt asking why Kenjaku decided to make the rules as they are, let alone give players the chance to alter them or provide an out. That seems counterproductive to his evil plans for forced assimilation. The thing is, he probably doesn’t care if he ends up failing. His only goal is to force humanity to evolve, and conflict has always been a surefire way of seeing this happen. Think of how many leaps and bounds in technology have been made thanks to war making them a necessity. Even if he fails and even if the game falls apart, that won’t change the fact that he’s shaken Jujustu society to its core. They have to change now.

Great Exposition

Personally, I liked this episode. It might have to do with growing up watching Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I enjoy hearing exposition so I can better understand what’s going on. And judging by the comments on that Crunchyroll video, there are plenty who are having a hard time understanding how this whole thing will work. But what I think is my favorite part of this episode has to be the ending as we get our first look at one of those awakened sorcerers. I read about him on TV Tropes, and from the sounds of it (and how he is in the OP), he’s going to be pretty funny. Heaven knows we need that considering what’s about to happen.

I Give “About the Culling Game” a 4/5

All Jujutsu Sorcerers, Prepare for the Culling Games

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Blogging , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Attention, Jujutsu Sorcerers! The Culling Games shall commence in approximately one month! So if you could make your way to your nearest theater to see JJK: Execution, you may receive your briefing on what’s happened as well as what comes next.

Two years ago, Jujutsu Kaisen gave us one of the absolute coldest arcs in Shonen History, the Shibuya Arc. Or as I like to call it, the worst night of Yuji Itadori’s life. One mentor was sealed away, another died, many of his friends and comrades were killed or maimed, and worst of all, Sukuna was let off the leash. Needless to say, any lightheartedness that the series had was gone as Yuji had become a fugitive. After that, fans had to wait for season three to come out, and while we still have a month to go, Shonen Jump’s got us covered. I went to see the compilation film Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, and not only does it recap the Shibuya Incident, it gives us a sneak preview of Season Three. And, boy, are we going to be in for a show come January!

You are my SpecialZ

Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution can be split up into primarily two parts: the first part is recapping the events of the last season, namely in Shibuya. Normally, I would gloss over everything to get to the previews for the new season. However, I want to make an exception in this case because the recap is just so good! It starts off with what is arguably the most important moment of the series: the capture and sealing of Satoru Gojo. Until that point, Gojo was basically the series’ nuclear deterrent, allowing the main characters to relax a little since they had Gojo to look after him. He was so overpowered that they had to write him out of the story for the foreseeable future just so the stakes could be raised enough for us to worry. And the second he went inside the Prison Realm, all hell begins to break loose.

From there, we are treated to a greatest hits montage as we see the biggest moments of the first half of the Shibuya Arc take place, all to the song “SpecialZ.” It’s awesome, you guys. All of the fighting, pain, and suffering rolled into a single montage, all building up to the moment when Sukuna is let off the leash. We then get another montage showing his subsequent rampage, leading up to the moment when Yuji awakens to the sight of the black hole that was once Shibuya. I chose to see it in dub, and I have to say, Adam McArthur sells it when showing just how traumatized Yuji is. And then he has to see Nanami die and Nobara get half of her face blown off at the hands of Mahito. I almost forgot just how much of an insufferable jerk that Curse is. Of course, it only makes his defeat and death all the more cathartic. It’s not much comfort, though, considering how Kenjaku escapes with the Prison Realm and having unleashed an army of Curses on Tokyo. And then we learn that not only is Yuji marked for death by the corrupt higher-ups, but that his executioner is none other than Yuta Okkotsu, AKA one of the other GOATs of Jujutsu Kaisen.

If you haven’t seen the movie Jujutsu Kaisen: 0, then I recommend you go watch on Crunchyroll. However, here’s the short version about Yuta. He’s a second-year at Jujutsu High, and next to Gojo, he’s the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer alive. He’s so strong, in fact, that when his best friend Rika, got killed by a car, she accidentally turned her into a curse that haunted him for the next ten years. And he was also the one who beat Suguru Geto. And now, he’s come back from abroad to hunt down Yuji…or has he?

With everything now in place, we get to the start of the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen with what I believe are the first two episodes. Spoilers are ahead, in case you wanted to wait until January.

Itadori: Fugitive!

The first episode opens on a moment that I thought was very surreal as we see Yuji trying to wash his hands clean of blood. I loved the symbolism behind this, as it demonstrates the guilt that Yuji is feeling. He thinks the blood of everyone that Sukuna killed is on his hands, and I get why he would think that, since Sukuna was using his body. However, I don’t see what happened as his fault; he wasn’t in control of his actions, so he shouldn’t be held accountable. That was all Sukuna’s doing, and he did it to hurt Yuji because of how much of a good person he is. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Jujutsu HQ has reinstated his death sentence now that Gojo was gone, so he’s now a fugitive. He’s continued to take down Curses running rampant throughout Tokyo, but he won’t risk going back to Jujutsu High. The only good thing about all this is that he’s not alone. He has his older brother.

During the Shibuya Incident, Yuji met and fought Choso the Death Painting, one of these nine Human-Cursed Spirits hybrids Kenjaku created in an experiment in one of his previous hosts. Furthermore, a flashback to Yuji’s infancy revealed that his mother, Kaori, had the same stitch marks that Geto now has as Kenjaku’s host. In other words, Kenjaku is technically Yuji’s mother, meaning that the Death Paintings are his half-siblings. Yuji and his friends had killed two of the Death Paintings before the Shibuya Incident, but after Choso learned they were technically related, he dropped all intention of killing him in favor of protecting him.

Admittedly, Choso is a bit of a creepy character, and I can understand why Yuji would be a little uncomfortable with him repeatedly calling himself Yuji’s older brother. However, I could tell that he’s a good person at heart, something that he demonstrates by constantly looking after Yuji’s well-being like any good older sibling would do. He also acts as an anchor for Yuji, keeping him from going over the edge into madness over the guilt of what happened. If he weren’t around, I don’t think Yuji would have survived on his own.

This especially becomes apparent when Yuta and someone else come after Yuji. That someone else being one of the most vile, disgusting, and detestable characters in the series: Naoya Zen’in.

The Zen’in Clan Sucks!

It’s backstory time: the Zen’in Clan are one of the three strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer clans in Japan, and the clan that Toji, Megumi, Maki, and Mai belong to by blood. Like a lot of the leaders of Jujutsu society who aren’t named Satoru Gojo, though, they’re also a clan of backwards-thinking, toxic conservatives who measure one’s worth by their skill as Sorcerers, not to mention being unbearably sexist. No joke, when we see Naoya at the Zen’in Clan’s mansion, he’s making the twins mom walk behind him in silence while also hoping that his dad, mortally wounded at Shibuya, dies so he can become Clan Head. And then he calls Maki worthless now because of her ruined looks since he thinks the only things she had going for her were her pretty face and body. It’s disgusting. No wonder Toji took his wife’s last name after they banished him!

At any rate, the death of the clan head means that there’s a succession crisis. According to the Naobito Zen’in, Naoya will be named the next clan…is what would have happened! Secretly, Naobito had made a deal with Toji before they died about his son, Megumi. If Gojo were incapacitated when Naobito died, not only would Megumi be brought into the clan, but he would be made the next head. Needless to say, this pissed Naoya off beyond belief. So much so that he decides to flat-out kill Megumi, leading him to hunt down Yuji in the hopes of using him as bait.

See what I mean? Naoya is a piece of trash. The Zen’in are trash outside of the people I mentioned. And to further prove that point, Naoya doesn’t even come close to taking down Yuji. Instead, he gets bodied by Choso, who can’t understand why Naoya would hate his own brothers so much. Extra points for the fact that Choso says how an older sibling’s role is to show the younger what to be and what not to be.

The real highlight, though, has to be the fight between Yuji and Yuta. Both of them are powerful sorcerers, each of them has main character energy (Yuta was the original protagonist of JJK: 0). The fight is short, but epic…and it ends with Yuta seemingly killing Yuji.

Except he didn’t.

PSYCH!!

Like Yuji before him, Yuta had once been sentenced to death thanks to Rika being the strongest Curse ever, but Gojo stepped in and saved him. There was no way that Yuta was going to let HQ pull the same thing with Yuji, which is why Gojo secretly asked him to look after his junior if anything happened to him. He conned HQ into thinking Yuji was dead (again) by stopping then restarting his heart at the same time. A true Batman gambit if there ever was one. It won’t fool HQ for long, but it buys the good guys some time to think of a plan. More importantly, it gives Yuji a chance to reunite with Megumi. And despite still feeling guilty about what Sukuna, Megumi is able to talk him into coming back to Jujutsu High because the entire country has been plunged into complete anarchy thanks to Kenjaku.

Here’s where things stand right now. Thanks to the Shibuya Incident, Kenjaku has managed to awaken hundreds of new Jujutsu Sorcerers across Japan. He’s unleashed tens of millions of Cursed Spirits that are wreaking havoc on Tokyo. And there are a bunch of barriers that have created sealed off sections of the country to fight something that Kenjaku calls the Culling Game. Think of it as like PubG or Fortnite for Jujutsu sorcerers. Not to mention that they need to find Gojo and free him in case Sukuna gets off the leash again.

The film ends with Yuji, Choso, and Megumi regrouping at Jujutsu High with their remaining allies to figure out a plan, and that leads them to meet with the one keeping the Jujutsu world together: Master Tengen.

Let the Culling Game Begin

I don’t know the specifics of what happens next in the story beyond a few things. What I do know, though, is plenty of people were upset with the way the series originally ended, so maybe the anime hopes to fix that. Beyond that, I only know one other thing: this season is going to be crazy. And I’m looking forward to covering it in 2026.

Also, this is a PSA to all Jujutsu Sorcerers: you don’t have to follow orders from HQ when they’re acting like jerks. Fight the system!

I Give “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution” a 5/5