Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 – Part 1, Episodes 1 & 2 Review

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 is streaming connected Crunchyroll, with episodes dropping play connected Thursdays.

The Culling Game arc successful Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga swings connected a dense pendulum, backmost and distant from drawn-out battles and tedious explanations of its world’s rules to immoderate of its best, astir originative chapters crossed the full story. For me, from this constituent until the end, Jujutsu Kaisen was a frustratingly jagged read, and I had reservations that the on-page worldly would beryllium excessively wily to marque bully anime. Then again, 1 of the advantages of the mean is being capable to whittle a communicative into thing recently transmittable, and workplace MAPPA erstwhile again confidently asserts its grasp and imaginativeness of bringing its root worldly to beingness successful the archetypal 2 episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Culling Game Part 1. Though there’s inactive plentifulness of clip to get mislaid successful the sauce, the astute pacing, absorption that seems to actively subvert thing that could beryllium easy clipped connected TikTok, and crisp animation up apical definite each person maine hopeful that we’re headed successful the close direction.

Off the bat successful the archetypal occurrence “Execution,” the wordless prologue takes a tonal plaything successful resetting Jujutsu Kaisen aft the bloodbath of the Shibuya Incident successful Season 2. It opens connected our main lad Yuji Itadori, inactive traumatized from the utter devastation Sukuna caused from his bodily takeover, seemingly alone, surviving disconnected of vigor bars and cleaning up the apocalyptically sparse vicinity from an influx of cursed spirits. That is until he’s nabbed by an particularly large 1 earlier being saved by a mysterious portion that crashes him and the tone done the extortion of a building.

Cut to Itadori pinned connected his backmost astatine sword constituent by Yuta Okkutsu (watch the movie Jujustu Kaisen 0 if you request a refresher connected what that guy’s woody is) connected a signifier successful a transfixing wide changeable truthful agelong that I astir thought my net had sputtered had it not been for the specks of gleaming light. That’s interrupted by a deluge of purple humor and a chopped to the rubric series – a bop arsenic always, adjacent if it’s not rather the series’ undefeated “Vivid Vice” opening. Just these three-and-a-half minutes are stuffed with bold cinematic choices that hint astatine however overmuch of the remainder of the runtime crossed 50-ish minutes volition go: kinetic and cleverly choreographed conflict sequences halt into inactive moments that fto the full happening – the characters, the sets, the viewers – respire a bit.

Not agelong after, we’re plunged into the first caller bits of satellite lore – the Zen’in clan appoints a caller head, done successful a highly stylized and shadowy backmost country – which made maine tense earlier it each played out. The Culling Game Arc volition surely balloon its formed with brand-new characters, jujutsu sorcerers who person conscionable acquired caller powers, to marque up for each the ones mislaid successful Shibuya. But these episodes amusement singular restraint, keeping the halfway formed tiny and communicative comparatively choky earlier it inevitably lets retired the leash.

The amusement evidently respects the beats of the manga it’s based connected and knows however to usage conscionable capable explanatory accusation arsenic is necessary, portion holding much abstraction for the darker affectional spots that colour this end-game setup and, of course, precise sick fights. (Alas, accidental farewell to astir of the joke-y bits from the archetypal season, particularly with Gojo Satoru inactive trapped successful that damn Prison Realm box.) Look nary further than introducing the rules of the Culling Game itself: In the past 3rd of the 2nd occurrence “One More Time,” a not-insignificant chunk of substance is plastered connected the screen, but the cards don’t linger agelong capable to work it all, alternatively rapidly flashing to cardinal words and phrases. “Blah, blah, blah, you get the gist,” they’re fundamentally saying, “we’ll explicate soon.” Lo and behold, Episode 3 is titled “About the Culling Game”; hole for a talk-y breakdown astir what to expect for the remainder of the season.

Once again, I’ll notation the fights since badass combat is JJK’s breadstuff and butter, and they’ve genuinely ne'er looked amended than they person here. Unlike the backmost fractional of the Shibuya Incident arc, each of these sequences are cautiously executed and unrushed, acceptable to JJK’s distinctive synth-y conflict score. Whether it’s Yuji and Choso cleaning up the streets successful “Execution,” with flashy colors and outstanding cinematography, oregon Choso vs. Naoya Zen’in, the jerk of a caller clan head, with its trippy visualization messing with framework rates and colour inversion, the fights shine. If the remainder of the play tin support up with this momentum, Jujutsu Kaisen’s Culling Game anime could alteration a tricky manga arc into a thrilling televised instrumentality that’s been downsized for the better.