Anime 40748 Jujutsu Kaisen Reviews Filter Check 1

After the ridiculous success of Demon Slayer, the shounen industry is finally taking notes on how to make a successful adaption. There's so many things that can be said about JJK, that I'm confused where to start from.

Let me start by giving JJK's staff the appreciation they deserve. Being a huge AoT fan, I'm honestly a little bit salty. I'm not undermining AoT, it's just that my eyes have been spoiled from seeing a sakuga on every damn episode of JJK. It's honestly just so good.

So yes, I'm gonna first highlight the sector which totally carries JJK, the animation. JJK is a feast for your ... eyes. The animation is just so magnificent, starting from the beautiful landscapes to the sakuga on even the smallest fights. The fights are so well choreographed, the camera angles, the key frames. I don't have enough words to explain the greatness of the animation. You have to witness it for yourself. Just like how Demon Slayers impeccable animation by Ufotable carried it, in the same way JJK's animation by MAPPA definitely elevates the anime to another level. And without the elegant animation, I don't think JJK would be at where it's at right now. So MAPPA definitely needs credit where it's due, this is how you do a first season of an anime.

One other great thing about JJK is it's power system. If you're like me who absolutely loves a great power system, then you'll also fall in love with JJK's power system. JJK has a very concrete power system, which is cursed energy. Cursed energy kind of replicates Chakra from Naruto. Both needs a good amount of focus and training to achieve them. The only difference is that in Naruto, Chakra exists in all beings. However, in JJK, not everyone had cursed energy, like Maki, they use cursed tools instead which is also an interesting concept. The reason I love the power system is that it is not too complex neither is it too simple like, eat hair = I'm strong now. Yuuji imbues his hands with cursed energy, Nobara uses hammer and nails, Fushigoro summons cursed beasts, and Gojou can manipulate space at an atomic level. There's literally an old man who uses an electric guitar to fight, I fucking love this! This power system and the character's powers, all of them makes the anime even more amazing for me.

The characters are probably the second greatest part of the anime. Yuuji is such a good shounen protagonist, he isn't annoying and doesn't scream all the time, is quite care free. On the other hand, the other members of the MC trio are just so fun to watch, Fushigoro and Nobara both. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't remind me of Naruto a little bit. The fun little rivalry between Yuuji and Fushigoro, just like Naruto and Sasuke, except better. And isn't it a breath of fresh air, finally having a female MC that isn't annoying and absolutely useless. In episode 23, when Nobara was suddenly getting sucked into a gate, instead of screaming and crying for help, she just showed Fushigoro a thumbs up, saying that she'll be fine, like the badass she is! God I love the characters.
The character goals are really interesting, which also makes the characters, interesting. Yuuji isn't like other shounen nice guys who refuse to kill people like Deku, he has an actual reason to do that. He highly commends "the value of life". He also does good deeds because he wants to die peacefully and be remembered as a good person, quite a simple but respectable goal. Fushigoro is probably my second favourite character in JJK. He is very secretive and stoic, all while caring for his friends. In episode 23, we got to see a different side of him, and honestly he has so much depth to him. I normally hate female delinquent characters so much, I can't stand them as much as I can't stand Tsunderes. I hate how they go "Kimochi warui" after everything. But Nobara is different. She is very talkative during battles, verbally destroying the shit outta the opponent, all while being badass as fuck during all times. She also deeply cares about his friends, she is a great character. Not only this, but side characters like Panda, Maki, Inumaki. Every- again LITERALLY EVERY CHARACTER in this anime is so fucking good and interesting, even the antagonists like Sukuna and Mahito have a considerable amount of depth to them which everyone can comprehend, which makes them so good.
Let me tell you this, an entire paragraph isn't enough to explain how amazing and interesting the characters are.

The only part JJK is a bit lacking in is story. Since it's only season 1 and the story hasn't expanded much, but even still, the story is a bit generic. It feels like a typical monster of the week kind of story. Even the story is a bit average now, all other aspects carry this anime. And yes, the story switches tones really quick, it goes from a dark and gritty tone to a light hearted tone pretty fast. And the best part is that they perfectly execute it.
No one said that an anime must excel at all aspects. There was no boring moment in the entire anime, despite the story being typical, I always thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Juju Strolls are a perfect addition after the end of every episode, no matter how tense an episode is, the Juju Strolls are entertaining to watch.

Now about sound, it's amazing. The 2 opening sequences and ending sequences are all so amazing. Especially the amazing opening from Eve and the great ending from ALI. After that, there's the voice acting. Most people can't differentiate between good voice acting and bad voice acting, but I have noticed that a good amount of anime often fail at properly delivering dialogues. JJK's voice acting feels genuine and natural, so big props to the talented voice actors. Soundtrack is also quite lacking. It's not the best there is, but it works. Of course, I don't expect all anime to have Sawano level soundtracks.

Another thing that I need to separately mention are the eye catchers. If you don't know what eye catchers are, they are those intro type of clips that are often in the middle of an episode. JJK's eye catchers are so captivating, they have this horror-y feeling to it.


Now to sum it all up in one sentence: Jujutsu Kaisen is great.
JJK has to be one of the greatest new gen shounens. As for whether you should watch it or not- YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD. I don't always tell people so confidently to watch an anime. It is the start of a new era through Jujutsu Kaisen, and I'm damn interested to see where it's gonna go from here. See you all in the next season!

*Contains minor spoilers*

For me the Shōnen Genre differs in itself into two different categories. The distinct difference can be seen starting from the first episode. It involves the protagonist’s motive and the cause of his journey. Known classics such as HunterxHunter, Naruto and the newly added Black Clover have their characters simply wanting to become stronger and starts through “aspirations”. Gon wanting to be a hunter like his father, Naruto wanting to become the next hokage, Asta wanting to be the Wizard King.

In contrast, Jujutsu Kaisen derives from misfortune and not having a choice. Yuji Itadori consumes Sukuna’s curse and at that moment, he becomes ... the protagonist. Not through aspiration but as an outcome of his misfortune. One can possibly see the similarity between “Kimetsu no Yaiba” where the normal lives of the protagonists get disturbed and are left with no choice but to become a “jujutsu sorcerer” and “demon slayer” respectively.

If you are a fan of shonen in general and have liked Kimetsu no Yaiba, you are very likely to enjoy Jujutsu Kaisen as much.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Jujutsu Kaisen is a mixture of Shōnen and Seinen at this point. The dark theme of curses and the mangaka not being afraid to put the cast in danger with actual consequences is always welcome in my book.

It is very nice to see how Sukuna's curse works. The protagonist doesn't simply absorb the power of the curse in his case but he bears Sukuna. Seeing Sukuna fight and his interactions with the world and other curses carries the show to what it is. It mustn't be forgotten that Sukuna isn't an ally to the Jujutsu Sorcerers and Yuji. Sukuna is basically a double-edged weapon and in the first couple of episodes we see the consequences of overly relying on Sukuna and how problematic he can become for the protagonist ("The Cursed Wombs Earthly Existence" arc).

The cast overall compliments each other. There are comedic moments but it isn’t overdone. When the show is serious the mangaka doesn’t ruin it with very silly moments. It is very much enjoyable to see Yuji and Nobara having their moments of being fascinated by Tokyo every now and then. I’m sure that many of the viewers would actually relate and find it hilarious.

While it doesn't pose a problem for me, as a "Shōnen Jump" series, the characters are made through the typical archetypes that have been used in most of the successful series in this genre. For me, this is not a problem and I enjoy the formula itself. While the characters follow the same tropes as most shonen series, do not think that the characters in Jujutsu Kaisen will act immature and do silly things. The characters all feel very genuine and charming in their own ways. Yuji, the protagonist, gives off how mature he is compared to most other shonen protagonists. How he reflected on his grandfather's death and how he embraced that the only possible way of living for him was to become a jujutsu sorcerer after consuming Sukuna's curse.

While I may have said that the characters are through the typical archetypes, Jujutsu Kaisen has something very interesting that isn't necessarily made this good in other shonen series. It involves how the mangaka gradually develops the characters through events. The mangaka uses monologues and makes the characters reflect on their actions and where he reveals their true motives and who they truly are. Dialogues between characters and monologues strengthen the character which turns these one-dimensional characters into genuine characters that are actually well developed over the course of the show. While the first episode is a simple introduction to how Megumi and Yuji get to be involved with each other. In the next arcs, the characters naturally get to bond with each other. Megumi is a character that keeps his emotions to himself and doesn't show his true thoughts. By using monologues the mangaka manages to further give depth to Megumi's character. We get to see the character's ideals and how he came to these conclusions through the flashbacks provided. The mangaka manages to turn these superficial characters into well fledged out genuine people through the course of the show.

In episode 5, we see how Sukuna manages to take Yuji as a hostage. This unexpected turn of events is masterfully used by the mangaka where we can get to see how Megumin will act in this tough situation and what he truly thinks about his friends and Yuji which bears Sukuna's curse. He puts in dialogues that further develop and gradually improves the one-dimensional tropes of the characters. We get to see Sukuna and Megumi fight, while this happens we see flashbacks from Megumi's past life and not only that, the author connects Megumi's flashbacks with the actions he has taken so far in the show. The flashbacks strengthen Megumi's motives, he becomes much more believable for the viewers. We get to understand that Megumi isn't simply just a character that saves character cause he is a "shonen character". We get to see how deeply he cared for other people in his past life, and how he became a jujutsu sorcerer to save other people and this leads to us understand why he deeply cares about Yuji while they haven't known each other for a long time.

The fight between Sukuna and Megumi is truly a showcase of this. The fight between them is used as a catalyst to further develop the characters. As the mangaka manages to capture the emotions of Megumi with flashbacks of his life and give these flashbacks to show who Megumi really is and show the ideologies behind his character. The motives and actions of Megumi become justified, where we understand that he doesn't save people just because he is a character in a "shonen anime". The mangaka successfully manages to develop not only the protagonist but the rest of the supporting characters at the same time. One can say that without developing supporting characters the protagonist can't truly be developed as it would come off as superficial. The world-building and characters are introduced at a good pace where it isn't rushed. Each character gets to shine and be developed in a non rushed manner. The viewers start to bond with the characters as we learn the thoughts and motives behind the characters.

In short, the mangaka creates situations where characters get to make hard decisions and reflect on their past actions and become much more believable characters in the present. This at the same time connects the viewers with the characters. While the characters of Jujutsu Kaisen might be thought of as one-dimensional characters in the very beginning, even from the first arc, the mangaka manages to show us what he is capable of developing the story and characters through well-structured arcs. The arcs, similarly to HunterxHunter progress smoothly into one another. As the later on arcs get hinted by the previous ones and the later on arcs are caused by the ones becoming before them. In my humble opinion, compared to Kimetsu no Yaiba, the writing is actually done not in an as superficial way.

Production-wise, Mappa has done a very good job of animating the series so far and the fighting scenes are very well done. It doesn’t get much better than this. The pacing is done very well and the adaptation is going very smoothly so far. What caught me most off-guard is how well the scenes are directed. How the scenes meaningfully change the focal point to what's more important and change through the character's perspective becoming the first person of view in certain cases which makes scenes and scene transitioning spectacular.

If you are wanting to try out a shonen anime this is as good as it gets. The story will just get better as we haven't really seen the villains as of episode 5. Jujutsu Kaisen manages to use already existing archetypes and plot devices of the shounen genre and presents it in a highly realistic and enjoyable way with interesting twists and well-developed arcs and characters.


Story: 9
Art: 10
Sound: 9
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 10

Overall: 9

The thing about trends that a lot of people take for granted is that the more overstuffed a particular set of ideas are, the more likely it is to see either flipped on its head (see Shrek for fairy tale musicals) or given more offbeat renditions (see Joker or Into the Spider-Verse for superhero blockbusters). Genres being overstuffed, if anything, should encourage more experimentation and refinement.

Over the years the Shonen genre has gone through a number of these phases. From past its formative years with Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, you’ve gotten shows using the mold for massive tapestries (One Piece), those attempting to ... rewrite the genre rulebook (see Fullmetal Alchemist), shows trying to test Shonen’s capacity for being applicable in distinct scenarios (see HxH), long-form parodies of the genre, and many that wallow in it without doing anything interesting. Jujutsu Kaisen is interesting in this regard because on paper, it doesn’t seem that different from the standard genre mold, but in practice, it truly understands the appeal of the genre and what audiences want to get from it.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s first season served as a phenomenal introductory section into the story it wants to tell, presenting its plot, characters, action and tone in a way that’s easy to digest, but is simultaneously a very smart setup that stands out by committing to multiple angles. The show feels like natural selection, where Gege Akutami realizes the elements that people have grown to like in the genre and downplays those that haven’t held up as well.

It can be seen immediately with the protagonist, Yuuji Itadori. While yes, he is a teenage protagonist with the goal to protect others and become better at some special skill, a lot of the more in-your-face elements of this are downplayed. He’s not an overly hyperactive idiot, an insecure nerd or a miserable angsty sad sack, but has a good balance of characteristics, being a risk-taker at important moments, more down to earth yet still very passionate about his interests should the subject arise. Character design helps with this as he, alongside the other members of the hero cast, have taller designs that fit the “cool rebellious teen” look a la Bleach, more than the short, childish look of many Shonen heroes. The uniforms convey style during day and night with their reflective black and blue surfaces, but Yuuji still sets himself apart with the red hood adding that degree of cheeriness to the rest of the outfit. Yuuji doesn’t just feel like an archetype; he feels like a character, one given an early sense of consequence, as well as an interesting comparison to be made with the final boss tier opponent in his body as far as power ceiling goes. The idea of this “manifest double” is played up more in the first half of the show than the second, but as Yuuji grows personally, it promises to be a unique recurring element.

Jujutsu Kaisen wants to mix shonen power action, comedy, and horror ideas together into one distinct package, and all things considered it’s really cohesive.

The first half of the show is primarily dedicated to showing the ropes of the world to Yuuji, but even this basic setup is handled in some pretty fun ways. By Episode 3, they already have the main three characters banter together in an enjoyable dynamic that thankfully never turns into love triangle bollocks. A later episode has to explain how the show’s power system works, but it doesn’t have Yuuji sit in a classroom to learn about it through exposition dumps, or even white-haired mentor character Gojou talking to him about it one on one. No, Gojou’s an incredibly wholesome gadfly, so he pulls Yuuji out of movie-induced focus to actively demonstrate how Cursed Domains work against a monster who actively reacts to its use. This felt like a much more natural way to convey exposition, and even the more whiteboard exposition like the danger grade levels is conveyed with a pretty breezy, sardonic sense of humor.

It also introduces the villains in a way that, while not outstanding, worked well in pushing Yuuji to his physical and emotional limit right before the second half started. The only weird structural issue I had with the first half was some backstory for Kento Nanami. It’s spliced right in the middle of a serious fight, where the circumstances leading to it and the consequences following it were far more pertinent than this one guy’s backstory. By the end of the season, he was one of the characters who left the least impression on me.

The second half of the show makes the focus of the first half even more reasonable, whilst honing in on the aspect that grew my attention the most early on; the many students from their setting’s magic school, all wearing the same swag as hell reflective uniform. The exchange event team battle serves as a great way to introduce a lot of these characters, their powers, unique designs, and their respective dilemmas without cheating shit later as story ramps up. Almost a third of the run is spent on this, but it’s infinitely more interesting than having a tournament arc in small arena cutting to stills of audience reaction since it gets out a lot more fun character moments. Akutami understands that we, as the excitable audience, want to see some coolass superpowers from a Shonen, and he happily delivers a ton of those that get to shine in this arc, from characters like:

-Nobara, the main female girl in the series that, much like Yuuji, doesn’t feel tied to an archetype, appreciating fashion and fangirling over exciting scenes, yet not taking taunts lightly, being protective of her friends, and having a coolass power of fabricating voodoo dolls with specially sized hammers.
-A guy who can only speak normally in ramen ingredients, but has incredible word power with increasingly higher personal costs against opponents
-An incredibly wholesome talking panda with very versatile fighting stances
-A bratty, yet at times comically deadpan witch girl with vantage via flight
-A cool-looking bloodbender that currently gets by throwing packets but’ll inevitably have to use his own as deadly consequence.
-The adorableness incarnate that is Miwa; a super earnest girl with a simple dream and appropriately simple power that is easy to see as being friendly with others, possible reflection for the audience too.
-Two sisters, Mai and Maki, with a quick but strong burst of emotional tension established between them. They each have some sort of limit, Maki being an incredibly resolute fighter but with a weakness to not see curses without glasses, and Mai being unable to use curses without an object but being driven by heaps of vindictive spite.
-A talking Iron Man suit with a twist that pleasantly caught me off guard
-Toudou, a muscleman who’s incredibly self-centered until struck at personal interest, in which case he becomes an increasingly earnest partner with a sickass skill.

Not everyone may like all of these characters, but with their fun powers, interesting power limiters and/or distinct personalities, they nail the appeal of a shonen ensemble. The initial presentation of these abilities in a lower stakes scenario makes their introduction less intrusive on a wider plot. Plus, the majority of these personalities play well for whenever the goofier moments roll around, particularly in the post episode stingers, and episodes like #21. I’m glad the author thought beyond the overly standard elemental stuff to make the ensemble leave an impression. Only hero characters of note I didn’t go more extensively on are Megumi and Gojou. Admittedly, Megumi doesn’t leave quite as much an impression as the others, but he still has a pretty cool power over familiars and got more interesting near the end as his persona began to unravel. And Gojou is such a fun rendition of the typical mentor character, with an excellent design that’s fitting to both sides of his character, constantly holding back yet being comically curious.

Comedy doesn’t only exist for its own sake, but often as a way for Yuuji to bond with other characters in the cast, such as Nobara or Toudou. It’s given a lot of creative expressions, and for characters like Miwa, where their design presentation is intentionally at odds with their character, it feels fitting and adorable. Even Gojou’s comical overpowerdness doesn’t purely exist to be a joke by itself fitting his troll mentor personality, or an excuse for the animators to flex to a stunning degree, but an element actually considered by the show’s antagonists. Some jokes don’t land, but there’s enough characterful personality and expressiveness to them for them to not feel out of place, separate from more serious points to come.

As for the horror elements, Jujutsu Kaisen’s animation does a great job conveying the darker atmosphere when need be in the early/mid-section of the show. It really gets that a major part of horror presentation is fear of the other, and more specifically, body horror of not-quite humans, with some excellent creature design animated in off kilter ways. As Gojou states, everyone at Jujutsu Academy is a little crazy, so it makes the major characters in the show lean into these crazier designs when channeling immense power, fitting for a series around handling curses. Thus, the show has its main villain, Mahito, use body horror to startling effect when creating his monster army. While I wouldn’t call the guy particularly deep so far, the show does present a playfully devilish personality and show his capacity to manipulate others in a reasonable sense. His powers to twist the composition of both himself and those he gets close to in uncanny, distorted shapes play into the show’s theme about curse power perfectly. The show isn’t that scary, but it adds an additionally unique element for itself with these fitting and well-animated leans to body horror.

Speaking of animation, that’s most definitely a major draw into the series. Director Seong-Hu Park and his incredibly talented team of animators making bursts of exciting, visually active battle scenes when showing off the characters and their various powers. Almost every episode has a scuffle in it, several of which have some exciting camerawork to make leadups to individual actions consistently dynamic. Yes, comparing fights definitely shows that some look better than others (the sewer fights stood out the least to me), but relative to the sheer quantity of fights illustrated in the source, as well as the shonen anime landscape at large, it’s incredibly impressive and that the action was this consistent over the run. A lot of the common issues with anime fight scenes (placeholder backgrounds, motion tweens to cover up lack of movement, butt ugly CGI, long periods of chat in between blows) didn’t come up for me during the production, which really speaks to the work (or possible overwork) involved in the passion. Cursed Domains in particular get excellent scene-setting animation, and the unique way aura is depicted, with its aquamarine coloring and pseudo 3d “drawn” outline adds definably high energy to individual moves. This of course is helped by a pumping score, with Nanami’s theme, Fushigoro’s theme and Your Battle is My Battle standing out most among them. In general, while individual fights aren’t on par with ufotable’s more thinly spread action scenes, the impressive flexes from the team and strong character/tone aesthetic create a consistently visually appealing show.

Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t feel like a massively grand vision yet, so much as an ever-evolving series of smaller elements that combine well together when taped with strong structural decisions, but this feels in line with my natural selection thesis. In its characters, its story structure, its tone, and its ease to hop into exciting powerup action the animation team flexed over, it gets what audiences want from Shonen material as a strong start to a story while removing or playing down stuff that’s been less palatable overtime. I can only hope it improves further as the characters/battle conceits become stronger and its many dynamics continue to be tested.

I rate shit on enjoyment because that is what's important. Shit's lit, so watch it if you like high quality action scenes with moments of light heartedness but with a general dark theme. Mixes really well in my opinion and I suggest highly.

Don't go into it looking for a psychological thriller with some really deep story. Because that's not what it is. Go into it looking for a well crafted show with a story that takes its self seriously enough to keep you in it but not so much that the light hearted moments seem out of place.

In short it's a main stream ... minded show in it's lore, story and direction. But executed greatly making the show worth watching on its other merits alone.

Jujutsu Kaisen is unlike any other anime I have seen before. When I first saw the trailer for it I thought that it was not really my style; seeming like a horror anime with obscure powers and weird monsters. Although Jujutsu Kaisen is this to a point it is so much more. As it does focus on the premise of curses, you can expect a horror aspect to this anime, which may not be your cup of tea, but trust me there is so much to offer in this anime.

I have never had characters in a series I have enjoyed more as much as ... I do in Jujustu Kaisen. The trio of Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisake are downright perfect. Yuji Itadori's comical presence pairs perfectly with Megumi Fushiguro's flare and Nobara Kugisake's spunk making this trio some of my favorite characters of all time. Then add Saturo Gojo as their teacher and oh my god you have some of the best protagonists ever, and Sukuna and Suguru Geto have the makings of being A tier Antagonists as well.

Another incredible thing about Jujutsu Kaisen is its animation. Its absolutely stunning, my mouth dropped at some of the fight scenes, because of how beautiful it was, and the fight scenes are unlike any I have seen before, they are just spectacular.

The only knock on Jujutsu Kaisen I have is that it kinda moves a little too fast at times, especially in the first episode. I found myself a little confused at times since it was explained or shown so quickly, but I think the pacing does get a lot better as the series goes on.

I can't recommended this anime enough, please just watch the first 2 episodes and I guarantee you will be hooked.

I'll give this review straight to the point! (10/10)
First , MAPPA studio has certainly nailed it!
This show has the potential to be one of the best Shounen Anime series ever!! This show has kick started really hard!
I've watched 12 episodes of JJK and I can easily say this is the most entertaining series I've ever seen to exist .The show has a dark plot where every episode is so much entertaining and straight to the point.(no fillers or waste of time scenes). Every episode ends with a cliff hanger(which shows how smartly they have put all the ending scenes of the ep).

The animations(10/10) ... are undoubtedly the most fantastic and flawless. Every fight scenes are really badass and smooth as if it's very real. The amount of power levels & various curse(fighting) techniques seems to be extraordinarily huge and unique.

All the characters are incredible, beautifully animated and appealing. The dialogues are at another level(It's Dope!!).
There are scenes which are really funny, inspiring, also sad & emotional breakdown scenes.( All in one package )

The sound tracks ofc. are one of the best we can get! The music & sound effects are also clean. The voice acting is also wonderful.

For the story, it has been straight to the point & good yet but I can say definitely it'll become even better in the upcoming episodes .

Overall: 9/10
Now that JJK is over, I’m sure everyone who dropped it after 4 episodes or clowned it for being more trashy shonen are shaking and crying right now. While y’all did look foolish today, clown tryouts for the circus are next week. And if anyone STILL thinks JJK is an average shonen or sub-par anime, I would like to quote the great intellectual, Cardi B: “Hoes speaking capanese hit ‘em with karate chop.”

JJK is peak shonen that, in my mind, WILL become a masterpiece in the coming years (can’t wait for Shibuya adaptation holy shit man). You take the hypest arcs/features that took forever ... to develop from existing shonens, and you’ll find them in the first 24 episodes of JJK albeit on a smaller scale.

So what makes JJK so fucking good? Is it the mix of realistic and diverse cast of characters? Or it’s ability to incorporate great themes and subtexts without feeling forced and overbearing? Maybe it’s the classic shonen tropes reskinned and used to maximum effectiveness, or the INSANE animation sequences and visuals Mappa pulled off. I think that’s what makes JJK such a fun anime to watch, because no matter what you watch anime for, you can find something enjoyable in this series. For me, the big enjoyment factor was the added level of realism and darkness you don’t quite find in other shonen anime, which makes JJK more of a 30% seinen 70% shonen hybrid: an AOT but more towards shonen. I think Parasyte x MHA is the closest comparison I can think of to JJK for a non-watched, and even then it’s still so vastly different.

All that said, let’s take a look at why I consider JJK to be one of the absolute best shonen anime, and amongst the best anime released this year.

Story: 6/10
I think most people can agree that JJK has a very simple story. Although I will say, without spoiling anything, that the Shibuya arc will elevate the story aspect of JJK to the next level, so keep an eye out for when that adaptation comes.

JJK’s premise is very simple: monsters (curses) exist, people eliminate these curses (sorcerers). In terms of originality or creativity, there isn’t much to be found, although I will applaud JJK for having a very strong power system to work with (cursed energy works similar to chakra/nin from Naruto and HxH respectively). This means it’s easy for the average viewer to follow along in battles, and that we shouldn’t expect crazy plot twists/insane power scaling that ruins the integrity of the series.

It’s important to realise that “story” has 2 defining aspects:
1. The worldbuilding, storytelling, and plot
2. The message, themes, and subtexts being explored

That being said, I think JJK explores just enough messages, themes, subtexts and whatnot through its story and characters, that gives it that tiny edge over your traditional story. To name some arcs where these elements are a primary focus, consider the Junpei and Mahito interactions from the Vs. Mahito Arc, the all-girls battles in the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc, and finally Megumi’s time to shine and the fallout from the Death Painting Arc. It’s a healthy amount of seasoning where it doesn’t feel forced at all, and quite natural within the scope of the characters and their personalities, which I’ll get into later on.

That being said, I gotta acknowledge the introductory arc, EP 1 in particular, is a tiny bit of a downer. We quite literally jumped right into the world of curses, without much exploration of the relationship between Yuji and his deceased grandfather. An argument could be made about how the trope of “family member dies which sends protagonist out on a quest” is almost immediately subverted by Principal Yaga, but it doesn’t change the fact the pacing for the first arc is a bit weird, especially when you consider how well crafted and paced every other arc is.

Simplicity shouldn’t be a killer: Dr. Stone has an equally simple story as JJK. At the end, it’s all about how well that story is executed. Dr. Stone does an amazing job of executing their story, and while JJK isn’t quite at the same level yet, it hopefully will be in the future.

Art: 10/10
No debate to be had here. I think anyone who’s seen a single Crunchyroll clip of this anime would agree, the art is top-notch. Impact, flow, key animation frames, transitions, and camera angles are all insanely well done: I especially enjoyed how Mappa played around with “first-person” camera angles during certain fights (Toudou vs. Megumi and Toudou vs. Yuji). Action sequences aside, still frames and shots were done very nicely as well, with the shot of Hanami posing while talking about becoming sages being some wallpaper type shit. And don’t even get me started about the OPs and EDs we got, all of which are absolute masterpieces in their own rights.

Sound: 10/10
Going off of the amazing OPs and EDs, god damn is the music and OST for JJK good. I really can’t get enough of it. You already know some hype ass shit is coming when certain tracks start playing, or when that eerie violin track comes on that shits gonna hit the fan. Most recent track stuck in my head is that sick rift we got when the trio crossed the river in EP 22.

OST stuff aside, the voice acting is extremely well done too. You can hear the seething anger in Yuji’s voice when confronting Mahito. You can pickup the traces of whimsical innocence and cockiness in Gojo’s carefree voice, or in contrast, the serious nature behind Nanami’s voice. I for one also love the sounds curses make. Shit can be disturbing and hilarious at the same time and I’m all for it.

Character: 9/10
If you asked me to pick one thing that makes JJK so much more different from contemporary and even iconic shonen, it would be this. The characters. I fucking love the characters from JJK, especially the women. And not for the typical simp reasons you’d imagine. For once, in the entire history of shonen anime (and I’m honestly not exaggerating at all considering how much shonen I’ve watched), we have finally witnessed truly amazing female characters. I have no fucking clue how Gege pulled this shit off (his mom reads the manga which partly explains the lack of fanservice and bullshit), but if you asked me for the definition of perfectly written female characters, you’ve got them right here in JJK. And not just one or two, a whole truckload of them.

This is why I was super-peeved when people were shitting on JJK characters for being unoriginal, and comparing this shit to Naruto. As much as I love Naruto, you cannot possibly look at Nobara and Sakura and tell me they’re the same: anyone who thinks this outta be arrested.

Nobara, like many other female characters in JJK, is an actual character. They have their own motivations and personality that’s NOT defined by the male characters around them. You pick any other shonen anime and most female characters are only defined by their interactions with male characters, through the typical sex/romance gags or damsel in distress stuff. While these tropes can sometimes be funny or good, it’s wayyyyyy too overused and honestly quite sad to see potentially interesting characters relegated to this. Nobara wants to be strong because she wants to be strong. Not so she can ride Sasuke-kun’s dick. Heck, we haven’t even gotten any serious romance shit going on, which should already tell you everything about the female characters. Maki wants to be strong to spite her family and Mai doesn’t want to be strong because she’s fine with living a “normal” life: this contrasting sibling dynamic was amazingly well written. Hell, Sakura didn’t do shit until her battle against Sasori in Shippuden. And Nobara? Fucking black flashed Kechizu’s bitchass in EP 24. Get that shitty ass comparison off the airwaves bitch. If you need any more evidence of strong female characters, I simply point you to EP 17. Specifically, the conversation between Nishimiya and Nobara on what it means to be a female-sorcerer, and Maki and Mai’s conversation on why Maki is trying so hard. Perfectly executed, chef’s kiss, mwah. Honestly can’t get any better than that.

Now, let’s look at best boi Yuuji (Gojo is the goat, different status here people). I like him because his goal is simple: help people before you die. It’s something I can relate to personally, and I’m sure many others can as well. This adds, again, to the realism of JJK’s characters. We don’t have grandiose goals like becoming Pirate King, Wizard King, Ninja King, Hero King, etc. etc. Even moreso, I like Yuuji’s development. Yuuji is like a tragic hero (this is truly realised later on but I won’t spoil it). He never set out to become a sorcerer, his life was turned upside down and he was thrown into this whole other world. And we see this reflected in the first 2-3 arcs. He gets his ass clapped, time and time again forcing him to realise how hopelessly weak and stupid he is. This guy straight up hit depression and shit, his lowest of the low, in VS. Mahito Arc where he really came to realise how fucked up the world of curses is. What about our other shonen protagonists? Naruto didn’t really hit this until Valley of the End, Luffy until Marineford, Asta until Vetto/Midnight Sun, and Deku basically never has (in the anime). But because of the path he’s committed himself to, after despairing and regretting, his only option is to keep moving forward (Eren stans Yuuji).

I can’t really elaborate too much on Megumi since he hasn’t had too much of the spotlight so far, but he’s the moody lancer archetype done right. He never feels too extra or unnecessarily cringe and isn’t an asshole about his views either, since he cares about his friends even though he’s normally grumpy and collected. So far his biggest development was in EP 23, where we see him finally discard his old perception of himself as a limited, extremely selfless individual. It’s a simple lesson but one a lot of people forget: sometimes, you gotta be selfish instead of selfless. Good on you Megumi for realising your own power and deciding to just go ham with it when you feel like it instead of being a team player, after all, “dying to win and risking death to win are completely different things.”

I won’t speak too much on Gojo since we haven’t gotten his backstory yet, which is more like his actual character development, but all I can say is he’s an overpowered character done right. He’s never used as a deus ex machina, heck, he’s often missing when he’s truly needed the most because he’s got shit to deal with overseas.

As for villains, super well done on Gege’s part too. Mahito is an amazing villain, as is Sukuna. Most importantly, there isn’t any moral ambiguity in these villains, as you would often find in other series, and as Yuuji realised himself. These guys are just pure evil incarnate. Sukuna doesn’t help Yuuji for any other reason than to advance his own agenda, which even now we don’t really know. We also know Getou is pretty fucking evil, but the fact we don’t know much about him leaves you excited for when the reveal is actually made on who he is and what he wants.

Side characters like Inumaki, Panda, and Maki get enough development so they aren’t absolute fodder and you can care about their wellbeing, but not so much where they detract from the primary trio of Yuuji, Nobara and Megumi.

TLDR, JJK does a very good job of making their characters independent of each other and realistic. It’s able to effectively use tropes to enhance, but not define each character. Add in Gege’s amazing writing ability and you get truly meaningful interactions between super realistic characters. Good shit.

Enjoyment: 9/10
Although the story started off a bit weak, everything just kept getting better and better. Literally, every episode, every arc, was in some way or another better than the previous one. And that’s really hard to do when most series just plateau at certain points: JJK is constantly going up, even if only by a small amount.

Even when life as a university student got busy and hectic, JJK was something I could look forward to every week, where I could spend 24 minutes just chilling and enjoying a really fucking good piece of work. The mixing of characters, plot, action, and themes/messages is masterfully done, so it’s no wonder so many people enjoy watching JJK.

All I can say is, JJK does it’s job fantastically well: I strongly expect manga sales to increase even more now that the anime has ended. As for what to expect in the future, I’m sure it’s hard to believe considering how great JJK already is but it just gets even better. Whether it’s 3, 4, or even 10 years from now, the day the Shibuya arc is adapted and released, is the day JJK will cement itself in history as one of the greatest shonen to ever be made. And that my friends, is most definitely not capanese.

What is wrong with a generic shounen anime?

I firmly hold the idea that, nowadays, originality is something almost impossible, because every new anime you see will remind you of x anime you had seen before. No matter how hard you try not to compare, the floating idea is always there "oh, this is exactly the same premise as x anime". Nevertheless, does a show need to be only original to be great? No! Of course, if it has originality it is something to congratulate, but if it doesn't, there's a lot of ways to tell a story and pass over that. It can have ... a big potential and develop it very well, with a good soundtrack and an amazing animation. It can have a bunch of likeable characters that, even though they are typical shounen main cast, can be really good and memorable. It's like reading a lot of books from the same author; even though you have an idea of which path the book is going to take, since you know how the writer works, that doesn't mean that you are going to despise every book the author writes after you read a pair of them just because it looks like his previous work. And if you do, please, grow up, grab a few books from the same author or movies from the same director and take a seat and, for once, enjoy life. If you have good reasons and a lot of arguments against a work, do it, hate it, and do it with all your strength! But hating just because, is stupid. Hating on generic or hyped animes assuming it is mediocre or repetitive because it belongs to certain genre doesn't make you look cool, get over it.

That is Jujutsu Kaisen, a shounen anime that has a lot of things you have seen before, and a lot that you haven't. It has a simple premise: a guy eats a cursed finger and gets some sort of Kyuubi to lodge ins his body and becomes a magician so he can control that beast. The only thing is that the guy that starts existing inside him, instead of being the strongest bijouu, is the strongest curse. Instead of being the one with the major quantity of tails, he is the one with the major quiantity of lost cursed fingers all over the place. The adorable guy that ate that finger is called Yuuji Itadori, and the entity that lives inside him is called Sukuna, the king of curses, a strong as hell dude that can use Yuuji’s body to his own benefit and possess it whenever he felt like it. Oh, yes, and he can create a second mouth on his container friend’s face so he could talk to the rest and to not be excluded of the conversation. And to laugh at Yuuji, of course.

I must admit it. I saw the first episode by accident, it wasn't at my radar at all. And even more, I dropped it by the middle of it because I found it unattractive. After that, the anime got to CR and its publicity all over the platform kind of convinced me to give it another chance. And I don't regret it. When I finished that first episode, I liked it. It didn't seem to me the perfect first episode, because it's nothing really special, but it was fine. After that, every episode was getting better, and that's another point that I give to it. It's way better a show that improves every minute than one that starts with all the cards and loses the game by the middle of the show.

The humour in this show is, in my opinion, well done and in good measure. The dark atmosphere is successfully handled with some scenes that show you how crude that reality is. From the go, curses are nothing but a humanity’s creation. Curses are born from hate, resentment, pain and so, and that says a lot since the more pain it collects, the more powerful it is, and there’s a lot of fucked up curses. And even letting aside that fact, this reality is harsh since people is too. We saw it with Nobara’s backstory, with Junpei, with Megumi’s family. Darkness and a sad aura is all over the place. The world, then, is decent constructed; is not perfect, but it does justice to the show. I can say there are some plot armour on it, based on how powerful Sukuna is and how he can manipulate some stuff in the way he desires without thinking it too much, or based on the dark energy and its scope, because Gojou, for example, is sooooo buffed that the world kind of fails to demonstrate his power’s limits. He protect, he attack, but most importantly he FLY. However, I won’t be focusing on that since this plot armors or exaggerations are lowkey subtle. At least, it is not the only weapon they have.

It has the typical main character that is pretty cheerful, charismatic, energic and that respects the dead. Personally, I loved him; if he was real, I would adopt him. His personality doesn't seem forced, he plays the fool without abusing of it, and most important, he isn't in love with his sidekick but with Jennifer Lawrence. Something that I really liked about him and the beginning of this series is how, since the first moment, his grandfather dies and throws him his last words. I mean, you start the show and you already know what motivates him to play the hero part. And that's nice. I 'm not saying is mythical, but is well made and gives him a little depth that is going to carry with him for the rest of the story, rather as a weight than as a lesson or a choice, almost forcing him to be a good person or to do a good for the others before he dies. Another thing, related to this, that I can save from him is that he doesn’t want to fight, he doesn’t want to be the best. He just wants to read mangas and keep doing stuff with his friends at the occultism club. He doesn’t have that typical MC complex of trying to be the strongest just because he wants people to respect them nor a dream of being the highest in a hierarchy. The only reason he is becoming a magician is because he is taking responsibility for his acts, and later on because he wants to be strong enough to control Sukuna in order not to hurt his partners.

Itadori is a simple person who likes simple things, that is relatable, sensitive and funny. He is so simple that that makes him a human, and as such, you can understand him, and his fears and his suffer. He doesn’t cry because his sensei died nor anything so dramatic, he cries because he loses his friends. He doesn’t behave as some sort of powerful guy, but he openly admits that he is scared of dying. He is so likeable that every person he mets, likes him. Even when he is insistent, he makes his way through them and gets to develop a good relationship with them, just like he did with Junpei, and I just can’t believe how much I ended up empathizing with both of them and their relationship and the natural way it was handled. Nothing from other world, just two guys discussing about gore movies. Junpei himself is a really well-made character that achieved his goal of getting us all sentimental with his tragic and detailed background and story. Not gonna lie, his entire arc broke my heart, with just a bunch of episodes I could totally feel him. As a lot of people said, Junpei wasn’t a victim of curses, but a victim of humanity. Just when you think that JJK is starting to get slow, this arc comes in, breaks your window and slaps you in the face.

Going back to the characters, I have to say that I’m a person who gets attached easily to them, as long as they give me something to like them. I don't usually like “cold” characters, but Megumi is a guy that I like a lot. Typical emo of the group, but at least he has a good background and doesn't mistreat the MC all the time, he even constructs a valuable relationship with him. In the first episodes you already get a glance of his past and after some events the viewer starts to witness his first perspective changes and how Yuuji’s personality start to take root within him.

Nobara is a character that I also love very much, because she doesn’t exactly fit in the stereotype of the useless female character that is in love with the emo, and another interesting quality that differences her a little is that she is shown as strong girl who appears with a clear objective in her mind. Since the first moment, she is a character with a part to achieve, an objective of starting a new life on her own and to chase after someone of her past in order to make peace with her and herself, and that’s pretty good. She fights a lot with Itadori in a comedic way and it’s a humour I personally enjoy because it’s well settled and the anime doesn’t abuse of it, she doesn’t get to the point of being unbearable, not even close. Yes, they argue all the time because they like to annoy the other one, especially her, but at the same time they develop an estimable partnership. Overall, I liked her since her first moment, and even more after seeing how confident she is even though her mistakes and her debilities, and how she doesn’t think of the main characters’ dicks. And the way she wanted to beat Mai just because she ruined her clothes cracked me up.

“I love to look pretty as much as I love being strong”. That’s the woman I needed. More characters like Nobara, and even more like Maki, please.
The other students are pretty interesting, every one of them: Maki, PANDA, Mechamaru. However, braindead muscles guys are my weakness, I’m not going to lie. Toudou is one of the best things of this show. He is one of those that are insanely strong and that enjoy having a good fight and that even enjoy losing if their opponent was better than them. He is an idol’s fan and takes every oportunity to demonstrate he is straight, considering a man’s taste in women as a matter of life and death. This guy can’t be taken seriously but damn, he made me laugh a lot, and really impressed me with his skills. His clean-punch fight against Itadori is AMAZING. No power-ups, no abilities getting out of nowhere, just two guys throwing fists and taking advantage of their surroundings. Excellent animation, choreography, feelings and the little talk. That fight is just so well done. And, of course, my favourite thing about that episode was his evangelism. He doesn’t become Itadori’s friend because Itadori told him his tragic backstory and told him “we are the same”. No, Toudou become’s Yuuji’s friend because they share opinions in their perfect type of woman, and their favourite butt: Jennifer Lawrence. You guys should just break the tension by opening a Jennifer’s fan club. I’m joining, you know.

If you just tell me that “these are characters with nothing special and that you will eventually forget them”, well then, I’m sorry about your memory and how bad it is to not remember these guys. If you stick to that argument, then you just didn’t want you to like them.

Now, about animation and sound I have nothing to say. MAPPA nailed it. No complaints, I love this studio and didn’t disappoint me here. And the sound, what can I say? Everybody talks about Lost in Paradise. I mean, it’s an awesome ending, not only because of the song, but the art on it. The OP is decent too, and beyond it, the OST along the episodes is noticeable too. And what I enjoyed a LOT were the seiyuus. My god, I love Nakamura Yuichi and Suwabe Junichi. Having both of them in this series were a gift to me, specially Junichi, who voiced Sukuna and did a very memorable job.

In conclusion, Jujutsu Kaisen is the generic shounen anime that has its unique things that makes it a very good anime and even better than a lot of its predecessors. This show proves my point that you don’t need a perfect originality to make an excellent work done with lovable characters and a pretty well world building. From an idea to an execution there is a whole world and it depends on a show how it deals with it. This anime did it in a great way.

In my experience, none of its defects stopped me from enjoying this piece, and I hope I made myself clear that If you are looking for a great show, to have a good time and have some laughs with an excellent animation, this is for you. If you hate generic shounen because you are a superior human being that thinks that a person that enjoys a shounen is unable to understand Evangelion, then pass it and miss it, for the health of the community.

Pretty Neat

So I came here after the hype that was the trailer and the wait for this show. Of course I did start the manga but only read the first few chapters and kinda stopped. I thought it was pretty good. But this anime made the experience different and hype as hell. This delivered some top tier animation and great voice acting, hell some decent CG as well.

Story: Some demon called Sukuna was killed and his fingers were chopped in to many pieces. This one Occult club found one of the fingers in a package and opened it. Which attracted many curses their way. ... Our Main hero who has superb strength and is pretty much a super human had the brilliant plan of eating the finger. It was revealed that he is a rare m,an who can become a vessel for Sukuna so they could eventually destroy him. He then joins the Jujutsu sorcerers and goes on missions with his friends

Characters: They have been pretty decent but nothing new. Yuuji is very energetic and kinda dumb like every shounen mc. He blasts demons away with his superhuman strength and sometimes asks help from the curse within him. He is accompanied by Megumi who is the shows edgy boy. His ability is to summon shadow beasts. Ironically he uses 2 wolves the most that makes him more edgy. Nobara is the main female but unlike the stereotypes she is not useless. She still does dumb shit. She uses cursed nails or some shit as a weapon. Then comes best boy Gojou Satoru. He is pretty much like Kakashi. He is the strongest Jujutsu sorcerer. He is also pretty funny. Sukuna is just a cunt

Animation and art: It is great on both.The animation is smooth as fuck

Music: Good ost, good songs. They are pretty epic. The opening is a banger and has great visuals. The ending probably sticks out the most. Compared to the hype music the ending is pretty chill. The animation in it is good and the song is an earworm.

I enjoy this show a lot. It is funny and epic. Kinda reminds me of Demon Slayer. I recommend

Ah yes, rating an anime even when only 1/4 of the whole series have dropped are we?

Minor (first episode) spoiler warning.

Story: 7

Anime have done pretty well job in explaining the world around itself. Most of the elements like curses items, curse demons etc aren't very innovative because they have their origin laid in Japanese mythology itself. The only twist added is a group of sorcerers having the job to exorcise these demons... and they have a school. Sure, why not. Unless there are things we can expect in future, its a pretty simple scenario for worldbuilding.

However, the anime's true potential lies how its characters interacts ... with this world (storytelling). How were they exposed to this side of the world? What gave them these powers? What is their past, motivations, struggles, etc.? What does the future hold for them? All these questions, mostly unanswered so far, carries so much potential that it can easily outshine the ordinary worldbuilding.

NOTE: From my point of reference, think Attack on Titan as peak of world building, Kimetsu no Yaiba as peak of storytelling. While FMAB as peak of both.


Art & Sound: 9

As always MAPPA did a really great job with sequences. Although, there is this tiny thing in my head - everytime I see the opening, I can't help but wonder why the opening sequence have crispier animation than the rest of it. This may make me sound like a kid throwing tantrum, but it just shows they did a less better than what they could have.


Character: 7

I am giving it a 7 because we are literally 6th episode in, and we don't know much about characters yet. So, expect this to change later on. Remember the potential thing I mentioned in story segment? We haven't seen much of it yet. I am really hoping story expands upon the characters more.

So far we have delved somewhat into the life of the main protagonist. So far he lived a simple highschool boy life with his grandpa until these events unfolds. Accompaning him is Sukuna, somewhat chaotic neutral personality with some vague mentions of his pasts. Overall series have only provided with shadows, if I may call it, of character's pasts and expecting some developments within 6 episodes won't be fair. So, I will park this one aside for now.


Enjoyment: 8

A series isn't really worth watching if it isn't keeping you on toe with your emotions. So how do you really enjoy any anime? Step 1, stop relating every godamn element in the story with another popular anime. Keep a fresh eye for once and give it a chance to see if it works. Step 2, Stop hating on any anime just because some cringy kid called it good on TikTok. Keep a fresh eye for once and give it a try!

Now, if you enjoy well choreographed sequences, go ahead and watch it. You won't be disappointed. Story so far have been making sense as well and overall pacing is great too. Really looking forward to how it's going to end.


Overall: 8

There is nothing game changing or highly innovative about this. But that's the thing, you don't need those elements to enjoy something. I thoroughly enjoyed this anime, and I'm pretty sure if you like action-packed sequences with decent storytelling you're going to enjoy this too.

Very short review just to answer if this is worth watching. IT IS WORTH WATCHING IF you're a fan of action. It's power system is well written and is consistent enough.

The best thing about this show is that every episode is literally filled with amazing action sequences, the characters are well-written especially their realistic aspirations, the power system is amazing too. Even though this can be just labeled as "yet another shounen show," everything that a shounen should have to be really good, it has it.

Definitely worth watching. Was not disappointed. Pretty okay premise, but everything about it as a shounen really rocks hard.

One of the best anime I've seen in a while. I haven't been excited in a long time, and this gets me excited. This is my first review on any anime, I am also not an expert. The art is not bad (so far) but it's great. I've fallen in love with the soundtrack (opening and ending music) that it's currently offering. The characters are on point, character development will definitely improve upon future episodes. What I liked about this anime is the characters, Gojou is an awesome character in my opinion.

That's all I can say about this anime. Welp, it's time for you to ... decide, you'll just have to watch it to find out what's so special about it. Have fun and stay safe.

As someone who watched alot of anime like I mean alot, there are times when I question whether I'm getting bored to the same premise or genre over and over again. As of now, I am trying to watch more anime that involves heavy drama and psychological aspects. However, there is still a part of me that just want a simple story with a great animation. A simple story of an MC fighting evil bad guys with his/her friends, where the power of friendship and the teachings of the "sensei" inspires the MC to move forward to any situation. I literally summarized every Shounen anime ... out there. Am I tired of it? No. Why? This is because of one shounen that aired last year Fall 2020 which is Jujutsu Kaisen.

Story:
The story of Jujutsu Kaisen in all honesty is really not that unique compared to any other shounen anime or anime in general. Heck, I literally summarized it on my introduction and yet here I am going to write about it.
Even though Jujutsu Kaisen seems like your generic shounen out there, there is this excitement in my opinion to keep on watching and watching every week on how will the story unveil. Because lets face it, the story of Jujutsu Kaisen may not be unique, however you have to appreciate the execution of it. Unlike other shounens out there that tend to go long with so many heavy fillers and extra episodes, in Jujutsu Kaisen, I never felt that moment. This is probably one of the advantages of an anime having 24 episodes only whether it is shounen or any genre as it really focuses on the story, characters, pacing animation and many more elements to execute it well. Talking about the story, it is quite simple. We have our main protagonist Itadori Yuuji who, like every shounen mc, have unique strength and in some circumstances, he joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School to become a Jujutsu sorcerer and fulfill his grandfather's wish for him. There he is joined by a Sasuke-like character named Megumi Fushigoro, useful Sakura Kogasaki Nobara and their sensei Gojo Satoru. Together these three (well and other characters that Ill get into later) fights off curses whether they are small or big. I also think the power system of Jujutsu Kaisen is very intriguing. I will not go into it much further as it is such a spoiler however the simple explaination is curses vs curses. The premise is literally just like what I said, every shounen story out there however, there is a charisma or charm that makes Jujutsu Kaisen so enjoyable to watch even though the story is very simple. And it involves the characters, animation and the osts that I will explain further.

Characters:
There are things I want to say in general about the characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. First is that every character have their own charm and charisma. Most of them are likeable. Second is that most of the characters that are introduced so far have their own memorable moments. Of course the main characters like Yuuji, Megumi, Nobara and Gojo have some notable ones however, some side characters also makes the show really enjoyable.
Going by the characters, lets talk about the protagonist first which is Yuuji Itadori. Like I said earlier, he is your typical heroic protagonist however what resides him is the King of Curses named Ryoumen Sukuna. I believe Sukuna needs more moments honestly and he will probably have more as the story goes on. There is also Fushiguro Megumi who gives me Sasuke-like vibes but in a good way. Unlike Sasuke being a literal terrorist and literally hurting the protagonist Naruto in many ways, Megumi is literally a close friend to the protagonist and he himself is getting inspired by the development of the protagonist. That is why it is a good thing there is a big moment near the end of this anime where he truly shined more. We also have useful Sakura, Kugisaki Nobara. In all honesty, her trait of being so obsessed with modern things and literally Tokyo is really amusing that it blends well with Yuuji, making the anime sometimes comedic. She is not only a comic relief tho as she did some roles in the story and her past was really interesting. Then we have Satoru Gojo, who is the teacher or sensei of these three. Some say he is a Kakashi rip-off but I do not care because he is so cool and I understand why many people especially the girls simps for him so much. Thank MAPPA that Gojo is well animated people. Gojo is such a likeable character because of his traits. He is mellow, idiotic sometimes and fun as hell. Now going to the side characters, I will mention like three of them that really caught my eye and one that really impressed me was Aoi Toudou. He is probably one of the most out of place character in Jujutsu Kaisen. He is the literal definition of "Do not judge a book by its cover" and his tandem with Yuuji is just amazing. Next is Zenin Maki, which can only define as one word, charismatic. She can even be on par with Nobara. There is also Panda which is.. a literal panda who fights alongside the protagonist imagine that. Again these are just the characters that I totally liked in the anime. Other side characters have their own quirks and characteristics that makes them interesting. Overall Jujutsu Kaisen presents such diverse characters that makes you want to watch them develop as the story progresses even though the premise of the story is very simple.

Art:
I cannot stress enough how godly the animation is in Jujutsu Kaisen. It is the main factor that drives this anime for people like me who got tired of shounen already. I believe MAPPA have done an excellent job on the art/animation department as it made the animation for the fight scenes (especially Gojo's scenes) really amazing. Not only that but also the way they animate the curses are quite unique. They showed the terifying features of curses whether it is small or big in a hand drawn fashion and made the aura of curses and powers in a perfect fashion.

Sound:
This anime is probably one of the few that have both openings 1 and 2 that are equally good as hell. Even the full version of the songs live up to the hype of the series. Opening 1 however takes the crown for me as one of the best openings in anime last year 2020 as well as ending 1. Ending 2 have such a bittersweet feeling and it is quite appropriate after each episode of the second half. Along with the OPs and EDs, the osts as well are composed very well. There is one fight that got me vibing to the ost and it involves Yuuji and Toudo. The ost on that part have resemblance on the ost of Persona games and that made me so invested to the fight and ost.
The anime does not even hesitate to really give life to the curses by making such ominous sounds to them and it makes the curses really scary and you can sense a taste of disgust if you hear it. That is realism right there. Overall throughout the anime the sound production is amazing.

Overall thoughts:
To wrap this all up, all I can say is that Jujutsu Kaisen is such a great shounen anime. It really did not have the purpose of going beyond the shounen genre and I think it is okay because the main premise is literally very shounen. Some people will say it is a rip-off and all however, like I said it really did not try to be very unique in the terms of premise or story. It is literally another shounen that you can criticize for being generic for all I care. However, with the characters, animation, sound, pacing and many more, it really lives up to my standards. Some may argue that if Jujutsu Kaisen have shitty animation it will have lower score and I tend to agree on that. There is a chance people will just ignore it but thats just a theory and we are currently living in a reality where Jujutsu Kaisen is animated in an excellent fashion, directed well, have good pacing and likeable characters. And even though I tend to go away from my generic shounen trash, Jujutsu kaisen pulls me toward it again and I love watching this show. It is just an amazing show even though you could say the premise is generic. Overall I enjoyed Jujutsu Kaisen and I would rate it 9.5/10 but since myanimelist does not implement decimals I guess I put it as 9/10. I do not want to say it is an overall masterpiece as like I said the premise is generic however, everything makes it a perfect 9/10. Simple story but straight to the point, pacing is good, characters are amazing and charismatic, sound department is such a symphony worth hearing for and last but not the least, a work of art.

Environment building 10/10

The story doesn't really do anything all that unique, the thing though is that it really doesn't need to. Most modern movies and tv shows are nothing more than recycled ideas with slight changes based on the preferences of the author. As such, I don't see any issue with this, yeah sure it does have the whole team 7 vibe from Naruto but so does one piece, bleach and pretty much any other show of this type. Aside from that, the setting is quite different from Naruto as such the interactions are quite different and that I believe is where this shows unique ... quality comes in.. so far at least. I cannot go into any further details without entering spoiler territory so to find out what I mean, you will have to watch it yourself. Aside from that I really do like the art style and the animation quality is quite good too, at least to me anyway - they really amp it up in the fight scenes and development of the environments within the episode.

Jujutsu Kaisen literally translates to Sorcery Fight. It is an adaptation of the manga written by Akutami Gege, serialized in Shounen Jump since March of 2018. As of the years 2020-2021, it is probably the most hyped up shounen show in existence, more so even than the Bleach sequel. It is safe to say I had high expectations for it and was pumped to watch the series as soon as possible. My buddy and I took forever to match our schedules, and when we finally made time for it, I was as excited as one can be for unknown media. Were my expectations met? Short ... version, no. Not even close.

JJK tells the story of Itadori Yuuji, a young man with pink hair who has, for some reason, always been a lot physically stronger than any of the other kids his age - than any human on the planet, actually, seeing as you get to witness him casually break fitness world records in the first episode. As of the first season, the reason for him possessing this seemingly innate superhuman level of fitness even before any encounter with paranormal entities or phenomena (that we know of) is not explained. One thing leads to another and one day he comes face to face with the reality of the supernatural. As it turns out, Curses exist and they take physical forms. Invisible to regular humans, they're what is responsible for most unexplainable accidents and deaths around the world. As such, it is the job of Sorcerers to observe and exorcise them when needed. Due to the events of the first episode, Yuuji is put in a situation where he has no choice but to pursue the path of Sorcery and thus enrolls into Tokyo's Jujutsu High School, one of two Sorcery schools in Japan. There he teams up with his only 2 classmates, Fushiguro Megumi, an edgy, serious, dark-haired dude and Kugisaki Nobara, the chestnut-haired main heroine and their... education(?), if you can call it that, begins.

Shounen stories seem to just be unable to let go of the protagonist/rival/love interest holy trinity, such as Akira/Asuka/Miki from Devilman, Guts/Griffith/Casca from Berserk, and Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura from Naruto. Although most modern ones at least attempt to make it less conspicuous by not having them be an explicit unit that's constantly together, such as Ichigo/Ishida/Inoue or Ichigo/Renji/Rukia from Bleach or Deku/Bakugo/Uraraka from HeroAca, the format is still there. For what it’s worth, due to their fairly mellow personalities, Yuuji/Megumi/Nobara are one of the more pleasant trios of the sort to spend time with, seeing as none of them is too obnoxious or autistic, one way or the other, but the lack of extreme personalities is also probably what makes them one of the least interesting trios around.

JJK was animated by studio MAPPA. The whole time I was watching it, I just couldn't help but think how much better it would have looked, had it been animated by Bones instead. With the exception of episode 17 and the very last fight of the season, there were no other episodes that stood out in my mind as “Oh, yeah, that was the tits!” You’ve got individual sakuga scenes that were pretty cool, but I still felt like they were fairly few and far between. What I’m saying is that the visual presentation of the show, again, with the exception of episode 17, felt surprisingly mid to me – that is compared to what I was expecting given the hype, and compared to, again, a Bones show. Speaking of episode 17, that whole episode looks consistently fantastic. I couldn't find any info on the matter after a cursory Google search, but MAPPA must've outsourced it to a different animation team. Either Yutaka Nakamura was involved, or at the very least a student of his was. Still, I wasn't otherwise overly impressed.

As the protagonist goes, Yuuji is likable enough. He avoids most of the annoying shounen protagonist pitfalls. He is not overly stupid, overly loud, overly hot-headed, overly gluttonous. No, he’s fine – a bona fide regular Joe, I’m sure he would be fun to hang out with – but therein lies his problem, too. Harkening back to what I said about the trio as such, because Yuuji just feels so normal, he probably ends up being one of the most underwhelming mainstream shounen protagonists to date. What I’m looking for here isn’t a buddy with whom to crack open a cold one on a Saturday afternoon. I’m looking for an action hero. Ichigo and Yuusuke had the problem of having no meta goal that went beyond whatever event they were currently involved in, but still, Kubo-sensei and Togashi-sensei made the effort to make them nonetheless attractive & cool characters you would want to root for.

In contrast, what's cool about Yuuji? Why are we rooting for him? Because you got to see him be physically stronger than regular humans in the first episode? Yeah, ok, bro, that's not that cool, really. Because he is a manly shounen protagonist and yet he has pink hair? Yeah, ok, I get it. You wanted your main character to be a reference to Natsu from Fairy Tail. How do I know Yuuji is a Natsu homage? Because the motherfucker has pink hair, and you don’t just give your main character pink hair. You liked some other character with pink hair, and that’s why you chose it, and I would be willing to bet money that character was Natsu. Either way, cool, fine, go for it, but cosmetics alone are insufficient. Natsu had a fiery (pun intended) personality that helped advance the story, such as it was. He was, in large part, the main engine propelling the narrative forwards and you got a clear sense of why he was the protagonist. He was uniquely equipped to solve the various problems the plot threw at him. Yuuji, on the other hand, really just feels like some random dude who kind of gets dragged into the whole Sorcery rigmarole and is now a leaf in the wind, going wherever and doing whatever the storyline needs him to.

Aside from being a literal plot device, what's the point of Yuuji? Why is Yuuji even the main character? I would argue that Naruto, love him or hate him, had such a strong personality, he would’ve still been the MC even in the absence of the Nine-Tailed Fox contrivance, but Yuuji? Is this just some guy? Why is the entire story revolving around him? Why are we expected to root for him over other characters with relatively more intriguing backstories? What's driving him? What motivates him? The fact that his grandad told him "Don't be a cunt, 4head." that one time? That's it?

To begin with, I was fully prepared to like this dude and invest in him, but after a while of not being given a compelling reason to do so, I began to scratch my head whenever he would appear on screen. His only motivation is some vague concept of "helping people" and it's not even his original goal, but something his grandad thrust upon him. I am tempted to say that unqualified altruism seems be his highest moral ideal, but that's incorrect. It's his only ideal. Great, another self-destructively selfless action hero who is animated by an impetus he didn't come up with himself, but rather inherited from someone else. Haven't had one of those in a while. This all made him feel a lot like Shirou from Fate and that's absolutely not a good thing. In fact, he's exactly like Shirou.

Also, what kind of action hero name is Yuuji? What was Akutami Gege-sensei hoping to achieve by naming him like every bland self-insert harem protagonist ever? Make him uninteresting? Mission accomplished, I suppose?

The humor I am ambivalent about. I’m tempted to say that it’s nothing to write home about, and for the most part, that’s certainly the case, but then there’s Toudou. In one particular moment, that dude had me in literal tears – I shit you not. The guy is a lot of fun - his VA, too.

Speaking of VAs, Suwabe Junichi voices the main overarching antagonist. We love him.

The only thing that JJK does better than most shounen is the writing of its female characters. Alas, having better written female characters than Naruto, Bleach, or Hitman Reborn is not the great achievement JJK sycophants seem to think it is. In fact, the only thing Akutami-sensei achieves here is to not write them as irrelevant women, but rather as men instead. Gold star, you've made your women interesting by writing them like men. Good for you, little buddy, pat yourself on the back, but the fact that most mangaka have no idea how to write actual women remains unchanged. I really liked Maki and adored Nobara's array of crazy facial expressions, but they're still a far cry from characters like Nami, Robin, and perhaps particularly Vivi - all 3 of which are One Piece heroines.

Which brings me to my next point, much as I enjoyed Nobara because of her facial expressions, as I said, her personality was nothing impressive, because she was written like a dime-a-dozen shounen supporting character bro, but the thing to note here is the character design. Compared to most modern shounen like My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, Black Clover, and The Seven Deadly Sins, it seems indisputable that JJK has the most uninspired character design of them all. The students all wear the same dark blue uniform. Attack on Titan also goes for uniforms, but at least some effort went into designing those. There's a reason cosplayers go crazy for AoT uniforms. The Jujutsu High School uniforms are literally a plain dark blue shirt and plain dark blue pants for the boys, or a plain dark blue skirt for the girls. Other than a couple of yellow buttons, there are no distinctive features on either uniform except for Yuuji's. Yuuji's uniform is the only one that's different, featuring some red elements, and the show tries to give some half-hearted in-universe explanation as to why his is different, but it's paper-thin. It's different because Akutami-sensei wanted protagbro to stand out. That's all there is to it - nothing more, nothing less.

The director of the school, Yaga Masamichi, is probably the most forgettable bootleg Dumbledore I've ever seen, and I feel like Kishimoto-sensei has grounds to sue for copyright, because Gojou Satoru is literally a Kakashi clone, much like Gildarts from Fairy Tail with Shanks from One Piece. What can I say, Gojou is fun and all - I mean, Kakashi was fun and Gojou is a literal identical copy, ergo it stands to reason he'd be fun, too, so I’m hard-pressed to lend him too much credit - but his costume design is just ridiculous. Dude wears a dark purple long-sleeve shirt and dark purple (same color) pants, no features on either. Are you serious? How long did it take to come up with this design? Did Akutami Gege's 6-year-old cousin design him in Paint? Gojo’s design lives and dies with his blindfold.

Add to that the fact that when compared to the Death Weapon Meister Academy from Soul Eater, or the True Cross Academy from Blue Exorcist, or U.A. High School from HeroAca, or Toutsuki Teahouse Culinary Academy from Food Wars!, or even that scuffed ass bullshit excuse of a school from Seraph of the End, JJK's Jujutsu High School feels like an afterthought. In fact, there's not much of a school present at all. The protagonists are always out and about on missions and what have you, so what was the point of even having the school in the first place? Yuuji, Megumi, and Nobara are literally the only 3 students in their year. There are 3 more 2nd year students and that's it. The 3rd year students never make an appearance for some reason I won't even pretend I paid enough attention to in order to remember. It's like, tell me you don't have enough ideas to populate a proper cast of characters without telling me you don't have enough ideas to populate a proper cast of characters.

I don't think I've ever seen a more underwhelming and pointless Hogwarts knock-off. Hell, even some light novels feature more substantive dollar store Hogwartses. Trust me when I tell you that no one is more rueful in saying this than me, but even that piece of shit Seidoukan Academy from the God damn Asterisk War was of more import than this trash. JJ High School feels just about as meaningful as the Shinobi Academy from Naruto, you know, the one Naruto graduated from in the first episode and was never relevant again? Yeah...

In a sense, the biggest problem I have with JJK is the speed of its escalation. It's the same problem I had with Demon Slayer. I said it felt like a shounen speedrun. This feels a lot like the same. Within the first 15 episodes, Yuuji can already trade evenly with the highest recorded tier of Curse there is. Additionally, there's some absolute expert level Sorcery technique that even veteran professional Sorcerers have trouble using, and when they do, it's mostly luck. It's rare for anyone to be able to use this technique deliberately, let alone twice in a row. The world record holder barely managed to shoot it off 4 times in a row and he also claims it was mostly luck. Well, within literally 5 minutes of learning the technique, Yuuji successfully uses it 4 consecutive times, instantly matching the record. Oh, great... that sure helps sell me on how much of a big deal this is and how difficult it is to use...

The same goes for the highest tier Curses. Think back to Ichigo's first encounter with a Captain of the Gotei 13, Byakuya. It was probably one of the most miserable and most confidence-shattering defeats in anime history. It took him several intermediary battles and a whole ass training arc to be able to fight on the same level as the big dogs. How well would the prestige of the Gotei 13 Captains have gone over if Ichigo had been able to stand toe to toe with Byakuya the first time he encountered him?

Then there's technique mastery. It took Ichigo some 20 episodes just to release his Shikai. Imagine how underwhelming it would have felt if Naruto had learned to use the Rasengan and the Kyuubi Cloak by episode 15, or if Ichigo had his Bankai and Hollow Mask mastered by episode 10, or if Luffy had debuted Gear 4th by episode 30.

Time. It all comes down to time. The way you write things, context, jobbing, build-up, foreshadowing, yes, that all matters when it comes to making things feel like a big deal and goading the audience into investing in whatever you want them to invest in, but at the end of the day, you just can't get away from the fact that the most important factor is plain old time. No matter how well you write the elements of your story, the audience still needs to spend time with them in order to properly invest. You can't just skip that step.

I can't even tell you how many anime I've seen that were, truth be told, pretty fucking terrible, but still succeeded to make me invest in the cast and got me to somewhat give a shit about what happened to them simply by virtue of the sheer amount of time I spent with them. I cannot emphasize this enough. Time matters. It's the foundation which the upside-down pyramid of long-form story investment is based on.

You feel that old school shounen dragged their feet for too long and you wanna introduce some brevity into the genre? Yeah, ok, that’s a fair point. Having recently rewatched Bleach’s Soul Society arc, of which I have very fond memories, I now have newfound appreciation for how much time old school shounen wasted with meandering bullshit, boring flashbacks, and pointless jerking around. The desire to change that and speed up the pacing is understandable, even laudable, but this is just daft. Take a page from HeroAca's book. The escalation pace there is decent.

Also, speaking of power escalation – we have to talk about training arcs. I remember saying that the training arc at the end of the first season of Demon Slayer was the worst I'd ever seen, and if I think about it carefully, I reckon I still stand by that statement, purely by nature of just how fucking long and boring that one was. By comparison, JJK's training arc was mercifully short, but it comes in at a very close second simply by virtue of how stupid and uninteresting it was in concept. Are modern shounen authors no longer capable of writing a training arc that's exciting in and of itself? Yes, of course, the main attraction is seeing how much more powerful the protagonist is at the end of the arc, but the training process still has to be interesting in its own right. Does anyone remember Hyperbolic Time Chambers and Gravity Machines? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Besides, a lot of the classic cliché shounen moments fall flat in JJK. There is no comparison between the first time Ichigo, say, used Flash Step or Getsuga Tenshou versus the first time Yuuji used Black Flash. Instead of a "HOLY SHIT, HE DID THE THING!" sperg moment, what you get instead is an "Oh, cool." at best.

There's even a scene where one overdog character is painted as arrogance personified, as an absolute, overwhelming, untouchable presence, one who views his opponents as insects, because compared to him, they are in fact insects, and you're supposed to be impressed by how self-confident and intimidating and conceited he is, by how he literally exudes superiority, but I'm sorry, I’ve already seen Fate/Zero and Gilgamesh just does arrogance better. It was reminiscent of how the Avatar sequel, The Way of Water, tried to impress us with scenes of underwater landscapes, marine life, and general aquatic wonder. Yeah, ok, that’s very nice and all, but we’ve already seen Aquaman, and that movie does everything you do, but better. Sukuna did not impress me.

Also, every shounen has a moment when the protagonist(s) are faced with an overwhelming enemy they have no hope of defeating and the whole thing is simply meant to make you go "Oh, God, oh, shit, oh, fuck!". That's your Team 7 encountering Orochimaru for the first time, Zoro encountering Mihawk for the first time, the Soul Eater trio encountering Ashura for the first time, the True Cross Academy students encountering Amaimon for the first time, the Shandians encountering Enel for the first time, and perhaps the most effective example of all, Ichigo encountering Kenpachi for the first time. But here? There is an attempt to manufacture that same exact moment somewhere towards the end of the first cour of JJK, but I would have to be charitable to call it laughable.

After all this time, you might be wondering why I'm comparing JJK to Bleach so much. Well, here's the long and short of it. Akutami-sensei made no secret of the fact that he's a fan of Kubo-sensei's work and that JJK was intimately inspired by Bleach, and indeed the Curses and Sorcerers shpiel is effectively identical to the Hollows and Soul Reapers from Bleach. Even the first episode of JJK is almost a shot for shot remake of the first episode of Bleach. We're talking Chivalry of a Failed Knight and The Asterisk War levels of similarity. Still, after we finished JJK, I showed my friend the first episode of Bleach. He, as someone who had no previous interaction with Bleach and no nostalgia element, could not believe his eyes how much better Bleach was and how much more substantial it felt.

As far as I am concerned, this stands as incontrovertible proof. Old school shounen are better. The Big 3 shit on anything out today, with the possible exception of HeroAca. They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

All in all, I am too old and have too good taste to understand why zoomers are so hyped about JJK, but here we are.

It all comes down to your expectations. If you’re expecting another long-running shounen with an intricate story and great longevity, you will have a bad time. On the other hand, as long as you don’t expect too much of the narrative, and just sit back and enjoy the fights, JJK is an exciting thrill ride that really doesn’t offer much in the way of dull moments. You'll have a good time with it, for there is a lot to enjoy in it, and it looks fairly good, too. Whether or not it will be memorable enough for you to center your entire personality around it, that’s a different story, but a good amount of people seem to think that it is, so what do I know?

MY PERSONAL RATE:(10/10)

STORY:(10)
CHARACTERS:(10)
ENJOYMENT:(10)
SETTING:(10)
SOUNDTRACK:(10)
PACING:(10)
ANIMATION:(10)
ART STYLE:(10)
... SATISFACTION:(10)
IMPACT:(10)

Idly indulging in baseless paranormal activities with the Occult Club, high schooler Yuuji Itadori spends his days at either the clubroom or the hospital, where he visits his bedridden grandfather. However, this leisurely lifestyle soon takes a turn for the strange when he unknowingly encounters a cursed item. Triggering a chain of supernatural occurrences, Yuuji finds himself suddenly thrust into the world of Curses—dreadful beings formed from human malice and negativity—after swallowing the said item, revealed to be a finger belonging to the demon Sukuna Ryoumen, the King of Curses.

Yuuji experiences first-hand the threat these Curses pose to society as he discovers his own newfound powers. Introduced to the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School, he begins to walk down a path from which he cannot return—the path of a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Honestly i had high expectations for JJK as a manga reader. And I wont be shy in saying that i am not disappointed.

JJK has been so enjoyable to watch and i can't get enough

love it so much and Inumaki is brilliant in the anime

This is my first review by the way so I'm not too sure how to make it longer but i will say both openings and endings have been absolutely brilliant and EVE did a brilliant job with opening one.

Also MAPPA have done a 10/10 job with the animation and I can't wait to see how they do Chainsaw Man.

This is one of the more overhyped anime as of recent. While the animation/art is great, some of the best out there, it sometimes feels like that's all the show is. Great animated fight scenes with bland-uninteresting characters/motivations. I find that the main character doesn't carry this show well. He is generic, and his reasoning for doing anything is based on the opinions of others, he is quite hollow and never really evolves outside of this. He is extremely selfless, which is not a bad character trait to have, as that is what makes Luffy from One Piece one of my favourite protagonist, but he ... doesn't feel real... His emotions and presentation of his character always feels flat to me, like he is written specifically to be a run of the mill protagonist. His convictions/reasonings are weak, and the situations he is put in don't make him feel like he is rising from the ashes to strike back after facing a terrible situation, but instead if anything doesn't go his way, he switches with Sakuna and the job is done. While in later episodes we see him stronger than ever, standing on his own, this feels extremely forced as well, with not much real progression to how he actually got to that state. He just starts doing unbelievable well, even compared to some of the strongest characters in the show. Compare this to Gon from Hunter x Hunter, who sometimes can't face a situation due to his weakness, leading to a strong character build up, but Yuuji on the other hand just happens to get strong, similar to Ichigo from Bleach, that or let him inner power do the work... Kinda like Ichigo from Bleach...

The side characters aren't all that interesting, and mainly come across as a cast as "cool" characters the mangaka thought up, who simply are written to be cool, and that's their character. At least to some degree the main side characters have a level of depth to them, with Nobara having a flashback episode. Not that it's that interesting to begin with, her resolve being that she wanted to live a wealthy life instead of the one she had.

I just can't relate to these characters, and after watching the second season of Mob Psycho, I find myself even more distant from these characters, when I can relate and care about a kid and a con man more than a whole cast of characters...

Despite this obviously negative tone, the action is good, and the animation is amazing. If you like power scaling battle manga, you will enjoy this, but if you are looking for something deeper, you'd be hardpressed to find it here.

Story: 10
The anime follows the manga faithfully, and anyone who has read the manga knows that the story flows very smoothly. Everything makes sense. It is not like one of those "unique" animes that have intentionally (or unintentionally) make it difficult to follow what is happening or what happened in between certain events. The story itself is very encapsulating since it is one of those ones where all my friends and I were always dying to watch the next episode after the ending of the current one. The story and what was to unfold got me so curious that I ended up catching up on ... the manga in just a week (I read slowly, don't judge me T^T).

Art: 10
I honestly don't understand how people could give this any less than a 10 watching any fight scenes of the show or even just the first episode. The drawings are dark, beautiful, and crisp for the main part of the episodes while the change in atmosphere and softer lines during the Juju Strolls (filler shorts after the ED) can change the mood immediately. All my friends (nonshounen watchers) and I think the fight scenes were much more fun/hype to watch than Demon Slayer and KnY's fights were beautiful.

Sound: 10
All the voice actors are so good at their job (ROPPONGI noises). The sound effects for the combat is sick. Most of all... ALL THE OPENINGS AND ENDINGS SLAP!

Character: 10
There are girls in shounen that are actually useful. There are badass almost but not really middle aged men with cool glasses. And then there is the axolotl (Wooper/Mudkip looking fish) boy of an MC. Oh and then there is the cool man with tattoos that everyone on TikTok seems to be replicating. The character designs and personalities are so full of life that it is hard to forget any of them.

Enjoyment: 10
It is the first anime that all my friends and I have been able to watch and enjoy at the same time. It is fun constantly bringing new people into the anime and hearing their top 3 characters. Not a single one of my friends that have started it have been disappointed. Personally, it entered my top animes because of the enjoyment I've had watching it with my friends (and rewatching on my own for the fight/comedy scenes).

Overall: 10
TL;DR: Enticing story that has you wanting more after the completion of each episode. Beautiful fight scenes and comedic moments that'll make everyone go crazy ahhhh go stupid. The openings and endings should be enough of a reason to watch the show. The characters have made everyone I know add a new favorite character onto their MAL list. My friends and I hyped for every Friday for the newest Jujutsu Kaisen episode. The manga's fight scenes were superb and the anime just expanded on it even further. This show is definitely worth giving a watch and gets a 10 from me.

I honestly don't understand how people can give this a low rating - my brain just doesn't process some of the criticism it's getting. Perhaps Jujutsu Kaisen IS like other shounen animes in its plot, frankly, I don't agree, but I also don't claim to have watched every shounen anime on the market so perhaps there's a running trend I've missed. Yes, Gojo does resemble Kakashi a lot, and I like that, and yes, there are some familiar themes that I've seen pop up elsewhere in shows somewhere or another. But if you look for similarities, you're always going to find them.

Plot: It's practically perfect, ... it's interesting and follows a similar dynamic to Mob 100 in the way it presents paranormal activity. It's a little dark, but I don't particularly mind. The smaller villains pose as very genuine threats unless you attach yourself to smaller characters, but I've always had a niche for characters like Kakashi or Levi who are way too overpowered.

Characters: I really love Itadori, the main character. Characters with perfect souls and super genuine personalities tend to annoy me as they can be loud and irritable, kind of like Deku, but Itadori is very self-aware and holds a special place in my heart. The only thing I'd say is that I feel we don't really get enough screen time for Megumi, but frankly, that's just because he's my favourite character so I'm biased.

Atmosphere and Setting (World Building): Overall, very consistent and always obeys to rules of the world that have been set out. I like that the high schoolers still behave like high schoolers in the settings thrown at them, but the makers of the show do still manage to instil a tone of seriousness when necessary which has been my problem with a lot of animes in the past.