Jujutsu Kaisen is not a typical shōnen genre or a typical deconstruction of the shōnen genre. We’ve seen genre deconstruction before – Neon Genesis Evangelion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Re:Zero, etc. – and the creative minds behind Jujutsu Kaisen are well aware of it. They know that it’s not enough to show what would happen in reality if you give kids superpowers and task them with fighting apocalyptic gods.
Besides that dark tone, they also have a more meta approach to subvert audience expectations. Do you think the OP won’t mislead you? Or that when the music at the end fades out, everything will be fine until next week? Or will the world the characters live in not reorient itself according to the whims of the plot? Let’s take a closer look at how Jujutsu Kaisen lies to you.
Spoiler alert for season 2 of the anime!
Note: This is not an endorsement of MAPPA as a company. I support the extremely talented animators working there, not the leadership that overworks them.
Building false hope with Junpei
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One of the simple pleasures of anime is how you can rewatch the OP each episode and recognize new characters as the series progresses. Sometimes there’s even a group shot that fleshes out each character as they’re introduced, and you get to see how far you’ve come as the entire team gradually assembles each week. The first opening of Jujutsu Kaisen – “Kaikai Kitan” – follows this formula pretty much to the letter. It adds more and more actors to the park scene at the end, surrounding Yuuji and Junpei, who are happily hanging out together in their Jujutsu High uniforms. Sure, Junpei’s story starts out bleak, but if he’s in the OP, that means he lives at least long enough to join the school and become better friends with Yuuji, right?
Well, no. Even though it goes against everything we expect from anime (especially shōnen), Junpei tragically died before he could fully understand his powers. Mahito and Sukuna laugh at Yuuji for trying to save the poor child, and Junpei’s only lasting legacy is a sobering warning to Yuuji that the world of witches and curses is cruel. In the next episode, OP added a teardrop to Yuuji’s face during the train scene, showing that the idyllic moment at the park was just a fantasy.
Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 27 title page
JUJUTSU KAISEN © 2018 by Gege Akutami/SHUEISHA Inc.
I love how this long con ends up tricking veteran anime fans into convincing themselves that Junpei will be fine. Of course, the OP may be abstract and not literal, but such an outright lie is crazy. I can only think of one other anime that did the same thing-School Live, which removed this scene after the famous reveal at the end of the first episode. The Jujutsu Kaisen manga has a more condensed version, with the title for chapter 27 featuring Junpei as a member of the main team of Yuuji, Fushiguro, and Nobara. However, since this happens in the very chapter where he dies, it doesn’t take long for it to stick in the audience’s minds. By randomly including Junpei in the OP since the beginning, it’s that much more painful when we realize that his life was snuffed out before it could even begin.
Riko and the second last carpet pull
© Gege Akutami/Shueisha, JUJUTSU KAISEN Project
You’d think we’d be on par with season 2’s Jujutsu Kaisen tricks, but somehow they still know how to catch us off guard. In a flashback at the beginning of the season, Gojo and Getou are tasked with protecting a girl named Riko until she can complete her mission of merging with an ancient witch to serve as his new body. ta. Riko seems more or less okay with that, and the section is called”Hidden Inventory & Early Death,” so we’re prepared for her to carry out the plan.
But after she finally gets to live life to the fullest with Gojo, Getou, and her caretaker Misato, Riko realizes that she wants to continue being herself. At the final cliff of the ancient witch’s lair, she had a heartfelt conversation with Getou, and he held out his hand to take her home. The music starts at the end and we can relax because everything is going to be okay…
And then a gunshot rang out. Riko died. Somehow, the scary villain chasing the group caught up with them and took Riko out simply by walking up and shooting her in the head. Instead of building expectations long and slowly, this scene succeeds through its sudden and shocking brutality. The manga is equally impactful because Riko reaches out and answers Getou in the same scene where she was shot.
JUJUTSU KAISEN © 2018 by Gege Akutami/SHUEISHA Inc.
When you reach the end credits of an episode, viewers expect that there might be a surprise twist or a secret little scene afterward, but the main plot will wrap up for the week. And when you see a speech bubble in a comic, don’t expect the speaker to be shot to death at the same time as the speech. We are used to these conventions – dead-on structural elements, separate from the story itself. It’s incredibly annoying when Jujutsu Kaisen messes with them, especially for seasoned anime fans. Since pretty much the whole point of the series is to make the audience feel as lost as Yuuji, “extremely” is exactly the point of the show.
Subtle surrealism
© Gege Akutami/Shueisha, JUJUTSU KAISEN Project
Junpei and Riko’s stories are the two clearest examples of Jujutsu Kaisen catching the audience off guard by using their expectations against them. However, there are also lots of smaller moments. Subtle details in the animation or setting make the world of the anime seem a little different.
During the fight between Yuuji and Choso, Mechamaru explains Choso’s techniques through an infographic that resembles other subway signs in the room. However, when the camera pulls away, the infographic sign remains as part of the environment as if it were no big deal! At the end of the battle, the false memories Sukuna implanted in Choso’s mind have the unstable, bland quality of classic cartoons on VHS. Naobito Zen’in’s Projection Magic is then explained using a storyboard with the Jujutsu Kaisen logo on it.
I love how this anime breaks the fourth wall in ways that don’t distract from the main action. No one points out these strange events, so they contribute to an underlying sense of oddity rather than being used as jokes or plot points.
© 2021 「劇場版 呪術廻戦 0」製作委員会 ©芥見下々/集英社
Even the way certain characters and scenes are animated makes them seem otherworldly, much like how the more monstrous cursed souls tend to be drawn with thicker, wavy lines. more waves, more prominent against the background. For example, when Yuta Okkotsu and the cursed version of Rika are in the same scene, they appear to be separated from different planes of existence. The cursed energy itself is drawn this way, as a strange blue blob with speckled lines bubbling and seething with unknowable power.
And when two cursed souls of immense power confront each other, it seems impossible for reality to keep up. Sukuna’s battle against Mahoraga near the end of the Shibuya Incident arc begins with animation similar to any other action scene but deforms over time into something resembling DEVILMAN’s crying baby. Proportions are compressed and stretched, shadows become harsh black voids, and backgrounds transform into nightmarish collages bathed in red. This kind of change in animation style isn’t unique to Jujutsu Kaisen (Puella Magi Madoka Magica is famous for its wacky witch territories), but it’s used very effectively here to emphasize the malleable nature of anime world.
Final thoughts
Because it aims to keep viewers engaged, Jujutsu Kaisen can sometimes feel disjointed and difficult to follow. However, that doesn’t stop the truly excellent moments from hitting harder than Black Flash’s punch to the face. Both the manga and anime use the typical shōnen fan’s knowledge against them to remarkable effect, and I hope to see more of these memorable moments in the future!
What do you think about this overview? Can you think of any other moments in Jujutsu Kaisen or other series that match audience expectations like this? Let us know in the comments and thank you so much for reading!