Linear is not a word in Jujutsu Kaisen’s vocabulary. Season one was a fairly straight-forward shounen/horror show, focusing on Itadori and introducing the world and power system. Then Jujutsu Kaisen: 0 rewound time a bit, introducing Yuta and developing a select few established characters. Then season two rewound time even further back! The story was going backwards, not forward!
Is that a bad thing? Far from it! Rather, it’s an interesting narrative tool used to create intriguing mysteries. And no arc makes that strength more apparent than this one!
Our story begins in the bustling streets of Shibuya. Gojo confronts Geto on the street, a sea of ordinary people between them, and Geto drops a rather ominous line. It’s a brief but chilling scene that immediately ignites another mystery. Just what is happening here, and how are we gonna reach this point?
Rewind the clock. A young Utahime and Mei are on a mission. It seems innocent enough, except for one thing: the hallway is looping forever. Using 110% of her brain, Utahime deduces the inner workings of the domain; it’s actually a really neat little bit of investigating, with some classic sleuthing music and fantastic editing. Putting a plan into effect, she and Mei begin to unravel the domain…
…when the entire building is reduced to rubble by Gojo. Why bother solving the puzzle when you could just flatten it with a bulldozer?
This is an incredible opening. Seeing Utahime go from jumpy scaredy-cat to brilliant Sherlock Holmes detective goes a long way in making her character interesting, and her dynamic with the cool and calm Mei is a fun one. I’d have watched an entire show about these two solving supernatural capers! But then bam! Gojo shows up and completely annihilates the conflict in an instant, as if to say, “Nah, this is my show now!” It’s a hilarious bait-and-switch that sets the stage and tone perfectly!
After getting in trouble and butting their heads, Gojo and Geto are given their next assignment: to escort a girl to safety: Amanai Riko. TL;DR: she is to become the next Tengen, an entity that maintains the balance between the world of Curses, Sorcerers, and regular humans. Without her, there is no Tengen, and with no Tengen, the human world will end. As such, an insane cult, a military dictatorship, and a good number of assassins are gunning for Amanai’s head. Now it’s up to Gojo and Geto to protect her.
It’s hard not to like Amanai. A teenage girl with a fate that is ‘grand’ and ‘wonderful’ and ‘totally-not-certain-death’, trying to enjoy her normal life while she can; it’s a grim premise. Especially for a character as proud, hot-blooded, and adorable as Amanai. It’s no wonder Gojo treats her like his kid sister! Her dynamic with him and Geto are both delightful!
Also her maid is fun. Shame the show did her dirty.
For most of this chunk of the story, things are all smooth sailing. Gojo and Geto are so ridiculously powerful that any would-be god slayers that come their way are instantly swept aside. The stakes are so low it literally becomes a joke; the plot sets up a grand rescue that will change our characters forever, only for it to be resolved with the very next cut! It’s all fun, sunshine, and rainbows!
But this doesn’t mean they’re safe. Someone else is lurking in the shadows. Biding his time. Watching.
Toji Fushiguro.
This dude is one of my favorite characters in Jujutsu Kaisen! A cold, calculating killer who breaks all the rules of Jujutsu Sorcery by not playing its game. His design is incredible, his fight scenes are jaw-dropping, and best of all: he’s voiced by the legend himself, Takehito Koyasu. He’s legitimately hilarious and terrifying at the exact same time!
And when he goes in for the kill? Holy fuck! Dude takes the dial, twists it to fifteen, then rips it off the machine! This happy-go-lucky, easy going arc gets real dark real quick!
Until Gojo reminds you that he is, in fact, Gojo Satoru. Toji fucked around, and boy howdy, did he find out.
The fallout of this arc has a tremendous impact on Geto. Here, we see how this young and heroic man falls into the murderous lunatic that we knew back in the 0 movie. And it is every bit as horrifying as it was built up to be.
Yet you can understand the reasoning behind it. Gruesome and diabolical as his methods are, Geto does sort of have a point. It isn’t that the young hero went away. His values were simply twisted so horrifically by exhaustion, depression, and despair, that he went insane.
This arc was an incredible way to start the second season. It shines light on the series’ most important mysteries will introducing a few new enticing ones to keep the train moving. Short, compelling, tragic, it’s a gripping beginning.
One that gets you right into the next arc quickly and smoothly. Boy, did it get me excited! I couldn’t wait to catch up with Itadori and all the rest for another batch of adventures! It promised to be dark and intense, and I couldn’t wait to see it!
I just wish I had known ‘it’ would be Jujutsu Kaisen’s Eclipse.
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