Anime review: Jujutsu Kaisen
Warning: this post contains anime spoilers.
When Jujutsu Kaisen was first released on 3rd October 2020, it became instantly popular among fans. The twenty-four episode anime was animated by Mappa who also animated other shows such as Shingeki No Kyojin season 4, Terror In Resonance, The God Of High school and popular gambling anime, Kakegurui. Recently, Mappa has also announced a possible sneak peak of Chainsaw Man on its 10th anniversary event on June 27, 2021.
So what is Jujutsu Kaisen about? Jujutsu Kaisen, translated into English as "sorcery fight", follows our protagonist by the name of Itadori Yuji who got caught up in the jujutsu world after he decided to eat one of Sukuna's finger in an attempt to fight off the cursed spirits that were drawn to Sukuna's finger after it was unsealed.
Shortly after, Itadori was introduced to Gojo Satoru who more or less did not give Yuji any other choice then to choose his own death. But when Yuji was able to eat another of Sukuna's fingers and still have claim over his body, Gojo had the brilliant idea of bringing Yuji back to Jujutsu High.
Yuji informing Gojo that he ate Sukuna's finger
Prior to watching the first episode, I expected Jujutsu Kaisen to be a twelve episode anime where Yuji would travel around with Megumi and Nobara to exorcise cursed spirits and then having fun, but what was ahead was so much more unexpected and darker than I thought it would be. Instead of a wholesome high school anime, we're faced with Yuji and his friends going on missions and having to face powerful villains like Mahito, Jogo and Hinami. And while we follow Yuji as he faces the fact that he cannot save people who were turned into cursed spirits, it allows us to understand where Yuji is coming from and experience the feeling of helplessness when faced with the tough decision of having to exorcise them.
Apart from the intriguing plot and amazing animation that Mappa has provided, one thing that really struck me was the backstories of the characters and the fact that Gege Akutami, the mangaka, portrayed the female characters as strong and independent who can match up to their male counterparts, while still retaining their femininity, causing fans to compare Jujutsu Kaisen and Shingeki No Kyojin with each other in terms of having independent female characters in a show that is targeted mainly towards males. While the anime provided us with strong female characters who instantly became popular such as Nobara, Maki and Utahime, we were also given Miwa, a character who is typically seen as useless. However, Miwa's character was the one that never fails to amaze me. Even though she considers herself useless, she has proven herself to be considerate, hardworking, determined and although not as physically strong as the rest as seen when she battled against Zenin Maki in the Kyoto Goodwill event arc, she is strong in a way that she does not give up easily. Overall, I personally feel that Miwa is one of the more underrated characters alongside Shoko Ieiri, the doctor of Jujutsu High.
Nobara demonstrating her cursed technique
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