---
title: 'The Secret Behind Jujutsu Kaisen''s Animation! | VISUALS BREAKDOWN!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=2LELwLwgCBU'
video_id: '2LELwLwgCBU'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 608
---

# The Secret Behind Jujutsu Kaisen's Animation! | VISUALS BREAKDOWN!

> Source: [The Secret Behind Jujutsu Kaisen's Animation! | VISUALS BREAKDOWN!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2LELwLwgCBU)

## Summary

This video breaks down the animation techniques behind Jujutsu Kaisen's second season, analyzing specific cuts to reveal how effects, camera work, and compositing create its stunning visuals. The creator examines scenes from key animators like Kichiro Watabe, Selot, and Mr. Vincent Chanard, highlighting tricks such as implied motion, strong silhouettes, and efficient use of tools like Clip Studio Paint's lasso fill.

### Key Points

- **Cohesion Through Clockwise Motion** [0:26] — A recurring clockwise motion in a segment guides the eye, created by a 3D rotating background, character foreshortening, and implied motion via debris.
- **Strong Silhouettes for Readability** [1:32] — Maintaining strong posing and silhouettes is crucial for readability, especially when bright effects are present.
- **Effects Animator Taml's Work** [2:58] — A 3D rotation with 2D drawings and a water ripple effect look good due to inconsistency between drawings, selling the idea of imaginary liquid.
- **Mahoraga Regeneration Cut** [3:30] — Animated by Selot and Mr. Vincent Chanard, the walk cycle uses wide stance and positive/negative space. Slash effects use custom brush strokes and lasso fill tool for quick detail.
- **Sukuna's Deceptive Simplicity** [5:06] — Sukuna's cut uses simple shapes but complex anatomy and shading. Slashes are straight lines, and weight is conveyed through organic arcs and momentum changes.
- **Sukuna's Menacing Shot** [6:36] — A shot by Cirri L uses dark shadow and bright red background for contrast, with stylized red shapes over the face and a reveal of detailed teeth.
- **Compositing Process** [7:51] — The composite artist combines flat elements to create the final product. The creator demonstrates a sped-up composite, noting it took 43 minutes per shot.

### Conclusion

Jujutsu Kaisen's animation excellence stems from clever techniques like implied motion, strong silhouettes, efficient effects, and masterful compositing, all executed under tight production deadlines.

## Transcript

what sets Jiu-Jitsu kaisen apart from
other anime we're going to explore some
of my favorite cuts from the latest
season and unravel their production
Secrets but not for free I'm charging a
onetime fee of one like sub or comment
on this video done all right all right
[Music]
I'll because of the sheer number of high
quality Cuts I've opted to show only a
few for this breakdown and I'll have to
cover the others in another video but I
still think we can learn quite a lot
here the first scene I'd like to analyze
is by kichiro watab the effects that he
animates surely play a large part in why
this looks so good but what we're more
interested in here is how he creates
cohesion between the shots there's a
recurring clockwise Motion in this
segment that helps to guide your eye
I'll annotate a bit to make it more
clear in this first shot there is a 3D
animated background rotating in the
clockwise Direction to convincingly
integrate the character they are drawn
with foreshortening to help imply depth
and they rotate with the camera the
light from the effects are bright so
it's important to maintain strong posing
for a readable Silhouette what's most
interesting here though is that the blue
that the character is manipulating does
not actually move in screen space it
remains in the top left of the frame for
the entirety of the shot the motion is
instead implied by the camera work and
the inconsistency of the debris moving
around the effect helped to mask this
lack of real screen movement
to ease on the eyes a little the next
shot instead has almost no camera
movement the previous motion is implied
by the movement of the blue blast and
then the blast is given strength by the
sudden burst of dust effects again note
the strong posing of the silhouette if
you want to make good animation always
have strong Silhouettes they are the
first thing your eye subconsciously
notices and are one of the biggest steps
towards making stronger
work this dust continues on into the
next shot now assuming the same
clockwise motion that the blue blast
once made keeping this motion throughout
this portion allows the scene to
maintain consistency makes it easily
trackable by the eye and helps with the
illusion of depth almost all of the Dust
is drawn with one color in relatively
consistent width so by maintaining the
same motion that the blast and 3D
background created earlier your brain
remembers this illusion and reapplies it
subconsciously the scene is kept off by
this final shot that implies
continuation of the same clock motion
using three layers of effects work to
imply depth the two foreground layers
move to screen left while the background
layer moves towards screen right neither
of these directions are technically
clockwise however due to the placement
of the scene chronologically it still
gives this effect effects work and in of
itself is a fascinating topic and the
shape language in use here is beautiful
so I'd love to dive into it more when I
have more time sadly though that's all
the time I have for this scene in this
video so we'll have to move on I would
however like to point out the brilliant
effects of animator taml while we're
closing out this topic a 3D rotation
like this is hard to pull off with 2D
drawings and this water ripple effect is
quite fascinating as well I partly
believe that why this looks so good is
the inconsistency between each drawing
it really helps to sell the idea that
this is imaginary drawn like liquid
rather than a more tangible or physical
environment the contrast of the red and
blue is also quite appealing and lends
itself well to the idea of the
convergence that creates purple
the release for this next section had
some dimming issues on air so we'll be
looking at the genga instead the cut of
mahara regeneration was created by an
animator called selot and the suca
portion was made by Mr Vincent
chanard the walk cycle for mahara is
intimidating he walks with a wide stance
and does not stop once despite the
onslaught of attacks the gaps in his
body that continuously disappear and
reappear create interesting use of
positive and negative space but due to
the temporary genga colors this is made
more noticeable in the final
composite it is animated on ones likely
due to how the animator chose to
incorporate the Regeneration aspect of
the character the effects work of the
slashes while at an initial glance look
complicated are actually a clever trick
the artist grabs a custom brush quickly
makes a stroke and continues onward for
however many frames they want that layer
to move they don't need to be very
detailed because once so many of them
are created they instead create the
illusion of detail there is also a tool
in clip Studio paint called the lasso
fill tool that was likely used as well
this tool can create interesting
splotches of color in no time and
appears to have been used on at least
one slash layer as well as some wind and
dust I've made a quick time lapse on how
a shot like this could be quickly
constructed plus animating a walk cycle
of course I hope you find it
[Music]
interesting
[Music]
with a walk cycle and a little bit of
compositing magic this would look pretty
good now let's talk about sukuna this
cut is simple in execution yet much more
complex than you'd think Mr chanard is a
master of creating 3D volumes on a 2D
image sukuna is drawn with deceivingly
simple shapes but the roundness of the
edges and shading combined with an
Immaculate grasp of anatomy makes
drawings like these very difficult to
replicate the slashes are drawn with
straight lines rather than custom
brushes and random Strokes like before
and there is debris and dust that have
been tweened rather than redrawn suk's
outfit is drawn with an 11 frame Loop
and the hair is on a seven frame Loop
the changes in facial expressions and
foreground hand redraws help to hide
this and the constant movement of the
slashes aid this task as well but I feel
like the real magic here is in the way
that the artist conveys weight
as the hands move they don't feel like
they're sliding from one position to
another the organic arcs used and the
way that the hands gain and lose
momentum in a way that aligns with
reality ground the scene in a way that
feels realistic in order to give the
feeling of power and energy the hands
shake to and fro and heat is built
between them deceptively simple concepts
with deceptively complex
execution the understanding of motion
necessary to make a scene like this feel
grounded with such a limited frame due
to the deadlines of the production
absolutely blow me away and this was one
of chard's simplest cuts for the episode
for the sake of speeding this video
along as well as not being too
repetitive I'll do one last cut this
shot animated by cirri L looks stunning
for very similar reasons the hands are
drawn spectacularly and I love the use
of 3D volumes but for the sake of better
compartmentalizing the video we'll talk
about other aspects sua is almost
entirely obstructed by this extremely
Dark Shadow entirely black you can
hardly even see his smile and his other
facial features are entirely
non-existent this with the bright red
background directly contrasting it give
a very menacing appearance to the
character the shot lasts for quite long
giving a sense of drama to this motion
and the positive and negative space
within the shot are roughly 50/50
perfectly balanced there are also very
unique and stylized shapes drawn in a
faint red color over the facial region
I've not seen this done in this manner
before so it gives the shot quite nice
artistic
flare the reveal of the overly detailed
teeth from toward the end of the shot
give sua a powerful feeling and all of
these elements combined create a very
memorable image it feels powerful
grandiose terrifying I would win in my
previous video about Demon Slayer
production I had a speedup segment at
the end highlighting the importance of
the compositing step a composite artist
job is to take the flat version of the
scene and to combine and enhance the
elements to create the final product you
can almost think of it like VFX but for
animation with that said let's show how
the composite artist for this show could
have done a similar thing
[Music]
enjoy
[Music]
[Music]
he
I actually forgot to render this image
so I had to upscale a screenshot from
the time
lapse my bad for the sake of context
this composite process was sped up by
roughly 5,000% this took me about 43
minutes to composite and this entire
process would have to be replicated for
every single shot during production
Jiu-Jitsu kaizen's compositing process
is quite a bit simpler for me to
replicate compared to the Demon Slayer
composite so it wasn't too rough if you
want to see a more in-depth shot check
out the time lapse in that video there
are plenty of other shots that I can go
over for this season of Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen
so if this video gets good reception I'd
love to do more videos on it just like
this one also be sure to comment other
anime that you'd like me to go over or
other animators that you'd like me to
check out if you're interested in
learning the composite I've started
creating some YouTube shorts to give
some helpful tidbits of information
check that out and let me know what else
you'd like me to cover thank you for
taking the time to check out this video
and I really appreciate your time have a
good one check you next time