I honestly do think that the opening episodes and arcs of Jujutsu Kaisen is pretty interesting. If I had one complaint, it perhaps would be that I really would've liked at least one or two more scenes of Yuji interacting with Megumi and Nobara before his 'death' because I really did feel like things moved a bit too fast for them to really feel like they have an unbreakable bond that gets resolved here. I wonder if the fake-out death wasn't planned originally until the author wanted to focus a bit more on Yuji personally? It's not that evident in the manga, I don't think, but I really do feel like the anime's more rapid pacing does make this pacing problem a bit more evident.
We get a new opening and ending, but I really rarely comment on those. They sure are nice visuals, and I do really like the title 'VIVID VICE' if nothing else.
Episode 14:
- Okay, there is a shot in the opening of a feral-looking Panda standing on a rooftop and beating his chest like he's goddamn King Kong or something. That's cool.
- I do like the shot of Jogo just chilling in the hot springs, smoking a pipe that's screaming because it's either a transformed human or a lesser curse. That's hilarious.
- And also we've got buck-ass nude Mahito jumping into the pool.
- I also like the brief bit where Mahito gives some explanations as to why they didn't do certain things during the Mahito arc -- they can't take hostages because the Binding Vows must be done willingly; and Sukuna's also a complete uncooperative lunatic that they must always assume he's not going to cooperate willingly out of spite. They're right!
- Foreshadowing something that'll happen in the future, I do like that they note that their ultimate goal supersedes the very likely fact that Sukuna might just go crazy when he gets his full power and wipe them all out.
- I like Gojo's acknowledgement that this wasn't what he had in mind when he said 'missions are for training', and they're not even telling Yuji about the fact that a Sukuna finger was what killed Junpei's mother.
- ...which goes straight into a pretty in-character banter as Nanami turned the finger into the higher-ups offscreen, not wanting Gojo to feed it to Yuji. Ha!
- And... a good chunk of this episode is taken up by the reunion scene and the meet-up between the Tokyo and Kyoto students. We've seen Aoi, Mai and (a little bit) Kasumi before, and it's nice to immediately toss the visually-distinct Mechamaru (he's a wood robot!) and the final members of the Kyoto students, Momo (short witch girl) and Noritoshi (eyes-closed cool guy). A neat way to drip-feed these characters.
- Love the fact that Nobara just straight-up demands souvenirs as the first thing she says upon encountering the Kyoto students.
- I just 100% forgot Noritoshi existed. I tend to vaguely remember the existence if not the names of a majority of the student characters, but I genuinely forgot Noritoshi.
- I've always found the reunion scene as Yuji pops out of that box to be rather... what's the word the kids nowadays use? "Cringe"? But it's clearly meant to be cringe-y, and Gojo Satoru just doesn't give a shit. On one hand, I do appreciate that after the end of the Mahito focus arc the reunion isn't played up for drama or 'you betrayed me', and Megumi and Nobara just gets pissed off while holding back tears at the same time. It's not my favourite scene in the series, but it's okay.
- I do like that while the students' reaction are played up for comedy, Principal Gakuganji's reaction is definitely not and this will subsequently set the tone for the early parts of the Tokyo/Kyoto Friendship Match.
- Megumi is also revealed to be a member of the Zen'in family, which I don't think we knew before this episode.
- We also get the debut of the scar-faced lady Utahime, a teacher that's clearly pretty damn close to Gojo but is constantly frustrated by him. He teases her a lot.
- I also like that Yuji is absolutely bamboozled by the existence of the more colourful characters. Mechamaru is a robot, Panda is a panda and Toge speaks in food names. We get the reasoning of Toge's quirk here -- his word-magic power forces him to restrict the words that he can say.
- I also like the little nod to 'Slaughter Demon', the cursed knife that Yuji used for a couple of fights before it was broken by the Special Grade. Of course he blames Gojo.
- Gakuganji, meanwhile, is absolutely pissed off at Yuji's survival. He's clearly someone we need to root against because he's demanding the literal assassination of a young man, but I do kind of sympathize with him and his students, particularly the latter -- who are following orders. Even the most unsympathetic jackass among them, Noritoshi, at least seems to just subscribe to what his teacher and boss is telling him -- that Yuji is to be considered a curse.
- Todo Aoi, meanwhile, just punches his way out of the meeting room, being absolutely pissed off at having all of this nonsense thrown at him when all he wants is a good, manly fight. I think this is a trope that I've seen a couple of times in anime (most vividly that wind guy from another school in My Hero Academia); a powerful, brutal brute and a not-quite-antagonist that's ultimately good-natured despite technically being on a rival organization.
- Momo and Kasumi already raise doubts about killing Yuji, and while we've seen that Mai's a Grade-A bitch, I do like that her concern seems to be revolving around Todo more than Gakuganji's orders.
- I am surprised that neither Noritoshi nor Gakuganji stop Todo from going off to his idol meet. Noritoshi tries, bless him, but Todo just fucking shuts him up. Pussy!
- Todo is a super-fan. He's going to arrive in person, and rewatch the recording.
- Speaking of My Hero Academia comparisons, Gojo and Utahime gather together to briefly discuss the potential of a traitor leaking information to the sentient curses. It devolves into Gojo being a dork pretty quickly, but I do like this scene.
- We end this episode with a bro-talk between Yuji and Megumi. Megumi could tell that Yuji isn't himself and Yuji admits that he lost someone, but they get over it and refuse to lose to the Kyoto students. We get a badass pose... before Maki kicks Yuji aside, annoyed that he's taking center stage when she's supposed to be team leader.
Episode 15:
- The rules of the event -- hunting down curses, including a high-point one, in a jungle -- seems pretty basic anime brutal-game stuff, but it really does take a massive sideline to the chaos happening with the students fighting each other. I do like the acknowledgements and strategy done by the Tokyo students that the Kyoto students are only able to 'legally' kill Yuji if the game is still going on, keeping the game relevant even if it's not the primary focus of the arc.
- Of course, good ol' Todo Aoi shows up, all brutal warrior and stuff, intent on taking on the entire Tokyo team all by himself. We get a very smooth sequence as Yuji just knees him in the face without any hesitation while the rest of his allies disperse, and we cut to a brief flashback of Maki telling Yuji that he needs to be the distraction since he's the one wild-card among them that the rest of them haven't practiced training with. Do love Yuji's dumb-anime-protagonist response of 'if I gotta fight, I plan to win!'
- We get a pretty cool angle as Todo punches and breaks through a random lesser curse before his fists hit Yuji and sends him tumbling off into the distance.
- "You idiot, what if you make me even dumber than I already am!"
- Todo claims it's okay, because Takada-chan likes dumb boys, and Yuji lets slip that he knows that Takada is an idol, which is kinda funny.
- And then we get the 'what's your type of girl' personality testing from Todo, and turns out that Yuji also likes tall girls with big butts. Hilariously, despite how much this anime adaptation trims a lot of the extraneous dialogue in the manga, this leads to a gloriously extended fantasy sequence of Yuji, Todo and the idol Takada in the same school and this 'Yuji' being such a good friend that he's helping Todo get over a rejection failure. It's... it's so over the top, it's stupid, but I love this scene.
- Todo insists that this has forged a connection (and without the extended flashback, this would've felt super-random) between them and constantly calls Yuji his best friend. Like, in English, so Todo spends a chunk of this episode calling him besuto furendo. It's gloriously charming.
- Which, of course, leads to the rest of the Kyoto squadron charging in to murder Yuji, and the first thing that Yuji has to dodge is Mai straight-up blasting him in the head with a handgun. Cold!
- Todo activates his own technique, which swaps the places of everyone in the area, which is a cool little twist on a boring 'teleportation' ability. While Yuji dodges her, we also get to see that Kasumi's jujutsu skills revolve around her sword.
- Todo and Noritoshi have a bit of a confrontation, and manages to convince Noritoshi to leave with the other Kyoto students with the condition that Todo actually do kill Yuji... and Todo is such an earnest goon that he says that he never holds back, not even to his (brand new) best friend.
- Momo, the little witch girl, watches everything from the sky and then surprise Nue attack! I love this. I love that the good guys actually do have an offensive plan and isn't just reacting to the antagonists.
- We get the Tokyo squadron picking off the Kyoto minions one by one, leading to the customary shonen anime 1v1 fights, but I love that this is a nice little subversion from the Kyoto guys ganging up on Yuji. Noritoshi and Kasumi basically get forced into 1v1 fights against Megumi and Maki.
- We get a bit more of Noritoshi's personality, and that he's your typical magic-user-clan classist that really hates Sukuna's vessel, although we don't get exactly what his specific beef is beyond that.
- I also like Kasumi actually apologizing for her class's behaviour, but she needs to do what she needs to do. Because of MONEY, and I have never related to a character quite as much as I do her at this moment.
- Great reaction shot from Maki, too, who just looks bamboozled.
- We get a nice little flashback to slightly before when Megumi, Panda and Maki realize that they're being played, and that the Kyoto team are ganging around Yuji instead of going for the game. That's cool, and seeing them quickly make a strategy -- including keeping Toge focused on winning the game -- in response.
- Nobara and Panda mock Momo, who's stuck in a tree after being attacked by Megumi's Nue, and what shit-eating grins Nobara and Panda have on their faces.
- Todo and Yuji, meanwhile, has a pretty great little fighting as they basically do a manly fight against each other, punching and punching and stuff. Todo is impressed with Yuji's skills and instincts as he bounces around the environment and trees, but gets so pissed off at his best friend's Divergent Fist... because "it's all wrong!"
- And I love that this screaming is so loud that the entire battlefield just stops to gawk at the yell.
- Anyway, the episode ends with Yuji and Todo facing off against each other, and it does seem like Todo's going to help 'train' Yuji in the pretenses of his insane manly-man fight. That's fun.
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