The Summer 2023 Anime Preview Guide

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto were not always enemies. Long before they had what was supposed to be their final encounter during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, the pair were fellow students, rivals, and friends. In another world, they would have been the twin shining stars of Jujutsu Sorcery, but one fateful event destroyed any hope of that ever happening. Turn back the clock to witness the mission that drove them to curse one another beyond even death.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is based on Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen manga series. It streams on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

JJK is back, everybody, and if you've been waiting to see the students of Tokyo Jujutsu High make their return...well, continue to wait for another couple of months. For reasons that aren't explained in the show itself, season 2 opens with a flashback to when the adults of the cast were still snot-nosed teenagers learning the ropes of Curses and exorcism themselves. It's certainly an odd place to start, especially after the JJK0 movie was already a prequel in its own right. However, while unconventional, this new season and story arc are off to a great start – and offer a great introduction to the new staff for the anime.

That change in staff between seasons is apparent in this opener, though not in a bad way. If anything, the new staff's approach to character design and direction much more closely captures the often irreverent and comedic side of the JJK manga that didn't always make itself clear under Sunghoo Park's team. There's a playfulness to the action sequences here that makes them engaging to take in – not just in a “wow, this is cool and intense” way, but in how the individual characters move and express their personalities. The sequence of Utahime running down the crumbling, infinite hallway was probably my favorite moment in the whole episode for how joyful and fun it was. The brighter colors may take some getting used to compared to S1's darker, muddier aesthetic, but I'm all for this new look.

The change in style also comes at a convenient time, as we follow these familiar faces in a wholly unfamiliar dynamic. While nobody would ever accuse adult Satoru Gojo of being humble, his teenage incarnation is positively insufferable, high on his own genius, and acting like the kind of asshole only a teenager with more power than sense can be. Even more striking is Geto, pre-fall to villainy, who's actually the group's moral center – is also willing to be a trollish asshole when it suits him. Like most prequel stories of this kind, the question is how these versions of the characters eventually become the sworn enemies we know them as in the present day, and this is a great starting point. I'm less interested in their big mission since it's steeped in JJK's tenuously established lore. Despite the best attempts by the storyboarding and direction, sitting through the exposition about the Star Plasma Vessel and Tengen-sama was a drag in an otherwise atmospheric and gripping episode.

Overall though, this is an excellent return for the series. I'm excited to see them adapt the next couple of arcs – specifically because I have some pretty big issues with both that I think the anime could smooth out well, similar to how it adjusted things last season. There's an inherent, infectious “cool” to JJK, and with even sharper style and energy, there's very much cause to hope for a fun, wild ride.

Like an oasis in the desert, Jujutsu Kaisen has returned with its long-awaited second season and waded through the muck of this thoroughly underwhelming summer to remind us that anime can, in fact, be good. Scratch that—anime can kick unholy amounts of ass all up and down the street, so long as you possess a supremely talented crew whose skills have been married to an exceptionally honed creative vision. When you look at it that way, I guess it isn't exactly surprising that so many shows in any given season are bound to disappoint in one way or another, but then again, that also means that it is hard to give those mediocre also-rans the benefit of the doubt when you have series like JJK here that make being so absurdly cool look so effortless.

I know that many of you are, like me, still in the recovery stage from having to look at the latest GoHands atrocity without adequately protective eyewear. Let me tell you, my friends, that the cure to what ails us lies no further than feasting our cracked corneas on the cornucopia of delights that MAPPA has served us on a silver platter here. Behold: Creative and unique cinematography that actually fits the tone of the haunted-house battle manga that this show is adapting! Character designs and color schemes complement the spooky and fun hangout vibes, which are both served up in spades! Stylish and creative cuts of animation that work to enhance the characterization, tell the story, and impress the hell out of the audience! Could you complain that some of the CGI compositing is still rough around the edges, especially in the introductory sequence where Mei and Iori investigate the cursed building with the endless hallways? Sure, I guess, but then you'd be ignoring how funny, creepy, and downright cool that whole scene is, and why would you want to do that?

Lest anyone unfamiliar with the series think that JJK's second season is shaping up to be all style and no substance, this flashback arc has already managed to set up a very intriguing story in just its first episode. Considering that this part of the season is functioning as the prequel to the recent Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie that itself served as a prequel to the first season, I don't blame folks that are anxious to be reunited with the core JJK crew, but I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to learn a lot more about both Gojo Satoru, our resident rebel teacher and all around role model, and Geto Suguru, our resident villain. The air of tragedy that hangs over the pair's rivalry makes the prospect of just about any adventure they might go on sound fairly compelling, nevermind one that involves the jujutsu sorcerers doing battle with two separate terrorist/cult groups over the fate of some unlucky vessel to an immortal, eldritch being.

So, yeah, if you couldn't guess by now, I am all in on this new season of JJK. The show's storytelling and world building has been so consistently strong that it has earned the right to take an extended detour away from the main plot, and the MAPPA crew is continuing to run circles around the competition when it comes to the confidence with which it produces these ridiculously stylish productions. The next episode can't come soon enough.

Well, after some of the most generic shows I've seen in quite some time alongside whatever the hell The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses is supposed to be, Jujutsu Kaisen season two acts as the perfect palate cleanser. Not to sound redundant but compared to everything else that has aired so far, this is a solid first episode and doesn't waste a lot of time getting to the things that people love about the series. Season two is shaping up to be a prequel focusing on the early life of fan-favorite Gojo when he was still a sorcerer from Jujutsu High and it's nice to know that the dude hasn't really changed a lot since then. It's a shame we don't get to see much of Yuji and co. given this setup but it's kinda nice to see some of the older characters from season one back in a slightly different context. It is fun but I know that's not where the focus of this season is going to be.

The focus is definitely going to be on Suguru Geto and how his worldview changed to something more in line with what puts him in an antagonistic position in the present day. We seem to get a bit of a glimpse of that in the first couple of minutes and from some of the tension he shares with Gojo, but I imagine it's going to be a while before we actually get to that point. In the meantime, I am perfectly happy with enjoying some of the crazier, off-the-wall antics and dynamics of this group of characters. A lot of this is helped by the animation which does have its moments of self-indulgent cinematic cuts but it balances that out with a more laid-back tone and comedy that definitely focuses on the “less is more” mentality. Our teenage oddballs from season one might not be present but their spirit definitely is.

That doesn't mean that most of the animation doesn't serve a purpose because it definitely does for the most part outside of the comedy. There are loads of little details that can be appreciated like the graininess of the old video talking about the abandoned house or the way that the camera will be used to emphasize a sense of scale. Then there's the sound design which caught me off guard at first with how the layered humming and volume pitching sounded grating to the ears. But I can appreciate that being done for the purposes of being deliberately unsettling. I don't need this season to be perfect but I have very little reason to think that it will be anything less than good