Jujutsu Kaisen Part 2 – Episode 30

©芥見下々／集英社・呪術廻戦製作委員会

It’s all well and good to explore the troubled backstories of Gojo and Geto, but Jujutsu Kaisen’s beating heart has always been in the strength of its main cast, and boy, is it good when the core trio is back! “It’s Like That” is perhaps the best possible reintroduction to JJK’s modern-day storyline that we could hope for. It’s funny and heartwarming, and then just when you think the show is starting to get too stuffy for us, it swoops in and commands a Giant Freaking Robot™ to knock down and remind us that this is, indeed, one of anime’s premiere action titles.

Before we get to all that mechanical goodness, however, JJK has made the wise decision to get us back into things with a generous helping of storytelling and emotional exposition. touch. At first, that sounds dry and if we’re being honest it probably would be if this were the same show as it was back in Season 1. Under the care of a new creative team led by Shōta Goshozono comes out on top. However, we have absolutely nothing to worry about because the show is continuing to take the lessons MAPPA learned with Chainsaw Man and apply them. Take a look at the initial catch-up attack we get with Todo and Mei Mei: In most other shows, it could easily devolve into an endless series of “talking head” shots, possibly with following a few pillow shots of the background scenery. for good measure. Yet here, in Jujutsu Kaisen Part 2, we get to see these two characters engage in an absurdly beautifully animated game of ping pong as they explain how all the students from Part 1 will be promoted to Grade One Jujutsu Sorcerer, because why not, right?

Then there’s the extended comedy ending that allows the show to properly reintroduce Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi. I’ve said for years that JJK’s secret weapon is that it’s one of the funniest comedies currently airing, at least when it’s not horribly enlivening its cast of heroes and villains. villain or cruelly crushing their spirit for our enjoyment.. Yuji and Nobara’s back and forth over the extremely ridiculous Centipede parody that Yuji wanted to see was funny enough. However, the episode featured Yuji’s adorable old classmate, Yuko, and immediately melted our hearts.

Yuko’s only downside, as a character, is that she’s too sweet and adorable. Sure, it’s cute to see that Yuji was able to see her appeal even before her recent shine, but we all know what happens to the people that the main characters of We’re interested in Jujutsu Kaisen, right? I can’t help but suspect that the poor girl would have been doomed with a capital “D” if she had ended up staying. On the other hand, I think the story could benefit from adding a few more civilians to the list of supporting characters, especially if this upcoming plot is going to get as much attention as manga readers told me in past few months.

However, like I said above: All the funny and sweet character interactions are great, but we all know what we really came to Jujutsu Kaisen for and that is to see the Jujutsu wizards destroy things really well with their nifty powers, and in that regard, “It’s Like That” does not disappoint. At first, I was a little confused that we started this part of the season by casting MechaMaru/Kokichi as spies in cahoots with the Curse Users since we only learned of the group from Kyoto School last season . However, all is forgiven when we learn that, in addition to acting as a double agent in an attempt to warn Gojo about the Curse User’s plot, Kokichi is also working on building a damn Evangelion to Fight using your brand new body.

You don’t know how loudly I screamed in absolute joy when I realized what the show was about. Now I need to get next week’s episode straight into my veins, ASAP. It’s JJK plus Giant Freaking Robots™! What more could you ask for?

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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which you can also find on Twitter his blog and his podcast.