“Tokyo is pandemonium.” After the battles between the cursed spirits and the jujutsu sorcerers led to skyscraper after skyscraper being knocked to the ground, and with Sukuna gaining control of Itadori’s body and killing hundreds of innocent victims, Itadori has been sentenced to death. Hunting him is no less than Okkotsu, a special grade sorcerer who was also a student of Gojo’s. But it is another threat—Naoya Zenin—who finds Itadori first. Zenin means to take control of his family’s house, and cannot do so while Fushiguro is still alive. But to find Fushiguro, he must first track down Itadori, who is cleaning up the cursed spirits in Tokyo with Choso. The two have more than their hands full with the Zenin clan’s potential leader—made far, far worse when Okkotsu arrives to carry out his assigned assassination.
Jujutsu Kaisen is back! I can’t tell you how excited I am for this series to return. JJK is one of my favorite shonen manga: It’s dark but with enough light to give you hope, has bonkers action scenes, and features a number of memorable characters—most of whom show up, if even just in a flashback, in the two episodes that open season three. Just as with season two, this season does begin with multiple episodes, and two are needed to connect us from “The Shibuya Incident” to “The Culling Game,” which is the name of this season. The game itself is only explained in brief; these first episodes, instead, serve to bring characters together and show what happens next. Among those we get to see are Maki with her cool new scars; the aforementioned Okkotsu, who we’ve all been dying to see in action again after JJK 0 (his fight with Itadori is unfortunately too quickly completed!); and Naoya Zenin, who has always stuck with me as one of the most vile characters in the series. He’s set up early by giving one cruel, prideful, misogynistic statement after another on a walk, before he leaves the Zenin compound to commit murder. Choso stands in his way, defending his brother, and—yes!—Choso gets his chance to shine, not only through his powers, but for his personality and integrity.
As usual, MAPPA does a fine job with animating the series. It’s in such good hands with that studio, which is able to slow down the non-stop action (and it comes fast and furious from here on out) and help us feel the heartbeat of the characters, rather than just flashing by from one impressive fight scene to the next. The opening scenes, showing Itadori washing his bloody hands, effectively convey the guilt he’s carrying, while the general structure of episode one and some of two, which jumps back and forth between things happening now and in the near (and sometimes far) past, is artsty and captivating and perfect to remind us of what happened last season without blurting it all out or giving a lengthy prologue. We even get flashbacks of Itadori’s parents—a scene that is very cool and reminds us that there are still many things to be revealed in this insane series. Oh, episode one, by the way, ends on quite a note—you may want to set aside enough time to watch both episodes at once, or you might not be able to focus on anything else the remainder of the day.
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
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