Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3: A Fat Review

[00:00] I love how the first scene of JJK season

[00:02] 3 was dedicated to immediately reminding

[00:05] you how deeply traumatized Yuji became

[00:08] following the events of the Shabuya

[00:09] incident. Especially since the

[00:11] culmination of Yugji's guilt led to one

[00:13] of the best moments in season 3 and

[00:15] possibly Yugji's best moment in the

[00:17] entire series, his confession to

[00:19] Higuruma. Now, it's hard to tell because

[00:21] of how strangely this episode is

[00:23] structured, but Yuji just stops to aura

[00:25] farm on a ghost freak looking cursed

[00:27] spirit in the middle of a genuine fight

[00:29] for his life here. And yes, I said

[00:31] cursed spirit. So, all of you noodle

[00:32] brain GGK fans who were yelling at me

[00:34] months and months ago that this is

[00:36] actually Ra can suck it, bro. Because

[00:38] last I checked, Ra has not got a hand

[00:40] sticking out of her [ __ ] Eugi runs

[00:42] and dives straight out of this

[00:43] skyscraper window. And then this

[00:45] absolutely like leg shaking ear

[00:47] orgasming chill ambiance ASMR type music

[00:50] kicks in to immediately immerse you in

[00:52] the post Shabuya setting. Now I think

[00:54] JJK has always excelled at music

[00:57] aesthetic and atmosphere in general, but

[01:00] season 3 pushes all of those things to a

[01:02] completely different level. Something

[01:04] else this season excels at though is

[01:05] anime only extensions. Actually

[01:08] extensions isn't even the right word. A

[01:10] lot of the moments, such as this entire

[01:12] episode 1 opening sequence, is simply a

[01:14] new scene. It's 100% anime original.

[01:16] Anyway, after stealing some random

[01:18] family's protein bars, Yugji gets

[01:20] manhandled by Ghost Freak and dragged

[01:22] all the way into the sky before some

[01:24] unseen present starts moving like Sukuna

[01:26] and severs its arm. We see that my

[01:28] glorious king UTU is the off-screen

[01:31] presence that handled Ghost Freak. And

[01:32] now he has Yuji pinned down in a

[01:34] theater. And like I said, this entire

[01:36] opening sequence is anime original,

[01:38] which is cool cuz new content, but the

[01:40] continuity doesn't really make any

[01:42] sense. It's basically one of those,

[01:44] >> you're probably wondering how I ended up

[01:46] in this situation.

[01:47] >> And the openings, except you never

[01:48] actually find out how you ended up in

[01:50] the situation. I mean, Yugji and Uta

[01:52] start their chase right next to each

[01:54] other, but somehow UT ends up in a

[01:56] skyscraper halfway across the city. But

[01:58] whatever it it's one of the very, very

[02:00] few critiques I have of the season, so

[02:01] who even cares? Eyeso. Eyeso genuinely,

[02:04] bro. I hit Io Isizo in my dreams. Even

[02:06] more so since watching that insane final

[02:08] episode. Anyway, now he is in it. In the

[02:10] manga, he's cool. He's all right. Bit

[02:12] weird. Definitely opinionated, but I

[02:14] forgot that Ma are Loki Goonas for men

[02:17] because they made this man a completely

[02:19] different creature. Imagine your anime

[02:21] debut being some [ __ ] about my cousin

[02:23] got hella boobies. Okay, I might be

[02:25] paraphrasing slightly, but that's the

[02:26] gist of it, right? They've even got a

[02:28] whole anime only scene where Mary's mom

[02:30] ties Na's laces which low-key got me

[02:32] thinking Mara might just straight up

[02:34] hate women. Now despite being the

[02:36] richest dudes around with the exception

[02:38] of Satar Gojo of course the Zenin

[02:40] brothers decide to hold their circle

[02:42] jerk meeting in a janitor's closet of

[02:44] all places but it is hella

[02:45] claustrophobic and does make the whole

[02:47] thing really tense which is pretty dope

[02:49] to be honest. Now this old dude who's

[02:51] lowkey built like a Mr. Whippy Ice Cream

[02:53] pulls up to tell Nia that he's the new

[02:55] Zening clan head.

[02:56] >> Psych. Yeah, that's definitely got a

[02:58] sting, bro. Like, imagine being

[02:59] remembered as the [ __ ] that got his

[03:01] [ __ ] stolen by potential man of all

[03:03] people. Obviously, now has to unleash

[03:05] his inner Toji and go murder some

[03:07] teenagers, specifically Yugji, so that

[03:09] he can learn Mega Meow and then handle

[03:11] him. When you really deep it, though,

[03:12] now you Loki would have died if UT

[03:14] didn't pull up to save him. Like, bro

[03:15] lost to just Choso. Without UT to save

[03:17] him from the Yugji Choso combo, it's 10

[03:20] billion% now over, bro. Anyway, we

[03:22] finally end up back on the bridge where

[03:24] season 2 ended. Now, in the manga, Yugji

[03:26] versus the Tokyo Curse Spirits is dope.

[03:29] It's only like three pages, and the

[03:30] second I move on, I forget it even

[03:32] happens, but it is dope all the same. In

[03:34] the anime, though, yeah, this Goshono

[03:36] guy took these three pages and dashed

[03:37] that [ __ ] out the window because this

[03:39] was a whole different thing entirely.

[03:40] Honestly, I still think it's one of my

[03:42] favorite sequences in the season. It's

[03:44] definitely one of the most memorable for

[03:46] sure. The color scheme and lighting is

[03:48] actually just godly. Like, the water is

[03:50] purple, sort of similar to cursed spirit

[03:52] blood, and there's this cold, almost

[03:53] dreamlike aesthetic. Anyway, Yugji falls

[03:56] down in a ridiculously dynamic shot

[03:58] before being grabbed by what looks like

[04:00] the foreskin curse spirit and dashed

[04:02] around the city in another

[04:03] breathtakingly well animated sequence.

[04:05] Yuji then lurs the hordes of freakazoids

[04:08] into a tunnel, but it's a trap because

[04:09] they get obliterated by piercing cinema.

[04:12] While Choso yaps away about war gods and

[04:14] such, Nia then hits us with an

[04:16] annoyingly cool entrance. Bro, listen,

[04:18] it's cool, okay? He is a cool character.

[04:21] Mappa gave him that BBL. All right, I'm

[04:23] not a misogynist. I promise. Big up

[04:24] women and all that, but I'm not going to

[04:26] sit here and blatantly lie. Now Zenin is

[04:28] cool as [ __ ] I mean, they got bro out

[04:30] here looking like he's playing Beat

[04:32] Saber on Choozo's face. Imagine having

[04:34] the audacity to turn your back on your

[04:35] opponent and flick your hair mid beat

[04:37] down. Now's aura only goes downhill from

[04:39] here, though, because what happens next

[04:41] really puts into perspective how dulu

[04:44] this dude is. Bro thinks he can stand

[04:45] with Toji and Gojo, but UT's aura alone

[04:48] is enough to put skid marks on his

[04:49] underwear and have him begging for his

[04:51] life. And speaking of UT, holy Aura,

[04:53] Utah's pink cursed energy overflowing

[04:55] the city still makes my butthole clench,

[04:57] bro. Imagine having Aura so intense that

[04:59] people be mistaking you for literal god

[05:01] because that's basically what Yugji did.

[05:03] Who knows why he was arching his back

[05:05] like that, though. I'm not even going to

[05:06] question it. Now, Choso switched up on

[05:08] his whole war god thing real quick

[05:10] because he tells Yugji to run or he'll

[05:11] die, which is exactly what Yugji does.

[05:14] Runs then dies. Or more accurately,

[05:16] Yugji runs. UT immediately catches up to

[05:19] him, but then Goshono's internet cut out

[05:21] or something because we end up right

[05:23] back in the theater scene from the

[05:24] opening. And dude, the logic ain't

[05:26] logicing. How did they go from being

[05:28] next to each other to in two different

[05:30] skyscrapers hundreds of meters away from

[05:32] each other and then also, how did they

[05:34] start running away from Choso and Noya,

[05:37] but then end up in a theater right next

[05:39] to where they started? It doesn't make

[05:41] any sense, bro. But whatever, it is what

[05:42] it is. I'm going to drop a truth bomb on

[05:44] you guys now though that a lot of you

[05:45] are not going to want to hear, but the

[05:47] fight between UT and Yuji in the theater

[05:49] is actually a really accurate depiction

[05:52] of how this fight should go down. I know

[05:53] it looks stiff and slow and there's no

[05:55] insane sucka cuts or moons exploding,

[05:58] but this fight was never really like

[06:00] that because it isn't actually a fight.

[06:02] At this point, UT is leagues above

[06:03] Yugji. If he wanted Yugji properly dead,

[06:06] his head would be rolling on the floor

[06:07] before he could even try to dodge.

[06:09] Sendai Colony is now proof of that. But

[06:11] UT needs to land a clean hit to the

[06:13] heart so he can do his healing thing and

[06:15] revive Yuji. Which is why I really like

[06:17] how this scene makes it look as if UT is

[06:19] having to match Yuji's pace. He's being

[06:21] delicate, you know, and it does look

[06:22] like it. I know you're going to call me

[06:24] a delusional agenda pushing Glazer, but

[06:26] that's something a delusional agenda

[06:28] pusher would say. So, [ __ ] you. I was

[06:29] very upset that they removed the car

[06:31] scene, though. I'm not going to lie.

[06:32] Anyway, the visual representation of the

[06:34] difference between their cursed energy

[06:36] was mental. And I know it was always

[06:37] going to be mental, but seeing it

[06:39] actually, you know, on the screen was

[06:41] crazy. I mean, UT's aura is so hefty

[06:43] they had to whip out the 3D model to

[06:44] show it. Bro, also w too cameo. I was

[06:47] not ready for that. Playtime is over for

[06:49] UT now, though. Bosch knee to the

[06:51] stomach. UT then reveals that he was

[06:53] secretly trained in the UK, so he slices

[06:55] Yugji's stomach wide open. Yuji fights

[06:57] back and snaps UT's katana, but it meant

[06:59] nothing because UT simply dips out and

[07:01] leaves the rest to RA. Rough. The second

[07:03] Yuji felt Ra's aura and knew he was

[07:05] dropping fat logs in his pants. Bro, he

[07:07] already knew it was raps. Like, I mean,

[07:08] Ra had him in a bear hug so tight he

[07:11] low-key forgot he was the main

[07:12] character, so all he could do was watch

[07:13] as UT slowly pushed the blade through

[07:15] his heart.

[07:18] Now, for some reason, Mappa decided

[07:20] seeing Sukuna's reaction to being

[07:22] murdered would be way more interesting

[07:23] from the back of his head than seeing

[07:25] his face. I mean, look at this man's

[07:27] genuinely shocked expression turn to

[07:29] delight in the manga when he discovers a

[07:31] sorcerer as exciting as UT Aotu. But

[07:33] nah, apparently we didn't need that.

[07:35] Anyway, time for peak fiction.

[07:36] Misogynist versus the HIV devil. Yeah,

[07:39] so Nia was definitely not doing all that

[07:41] in the three pages of manga that this

[07:43] fight got. But no, Mappa said, "Screw

[07:45] the source material, bro. We're going to

[07:47] make him hit Choso with a damn Jojo's

[07:49] move." And you know what? I love it.

[07:50] Now, I wasn't the biggest fan of how

[07:52] loose some of the fights in season 2

[07:53] got. But for me, this was oh, this was

[07:55] beautiful. Now, I'm no animation pro. I

[07:57] can't even try and explain why I feel

[07:59] this way. But even though Nia was

[08:01] low-key turning into a crayon smudge on

[08:03] my screen, I just thought it looked

[08:04] dope. Like, the drawings felt strong

[08:06] even when things got loose. I I don't

[08:08] know. It's really hard to explain. The

[08:10] lighting, the music, the lighting, the

[08:12] smooth ass animation aura, the lighting,

[08:15] the dope blue projection sorcery effect,

[08:18] Choo's blood, the lighting, and I guess

[08:20] the lighting too. Whatever. Choso then

[08:22] releases his fluids all over the tunnel

[08:24] and so Nia dashes away. Well, he tries

[08:27] dashing away. It's kind of embarrassing

[08:29] though because how is he narrowly

[08:30] outrunning a wave of blood way slower

[08:33] than piercing blood which is literally

[08:34] just Mark 1. Everything then gets

[08:36] incredibly wibbly wobbly. Like I'm

[08:38] surprised my furniture didn't start

[08:40] floating or some [ __ ] during this scene

[08:42] because it dead ass looked like some

[08:43] freaky exorcism [ __ ] I mean, now Beto

[08:45] was over here casually sideswiping a

[08:47] whole ass flood from Dargon while his

[08:49] bum ass son is just going high diff with

[08:51] a bucket of red paint. Generational

[08:52] fraud, bro. I'm telling you. And let's

[08:54] not even talk about how Choso magically

[08:56] teleports to where Noa is and absolutely

[08:58] fries him with a supernova. Now is

[09:00] honestly so lucky pulled up at this

[09:02] exact moment to save his ass. Bro pulled

[09:05] up like this a regular day at the office

[09:06] and had Choso [ __ ] his pants from

[09:08] his aura alone. I'm pretty sure Uta

[09:10] didn't even hit him here, bro. Choso

[09:11] just looked at him and collapsed

[09:13] spontaneously. Shall I heal you now? Oh,

[09:16] I know that felt good having your girl's

[09:17] number one hater on his knees like that.

[09:19] Bro lost so much aura you'd think he'd

[09:21] been hit by chapter 7 bankruptcy. If if

[09:23] you know, you know. Now, obviously Yugji

[09:25] isn't dead because he's the main

[09:26] character. Yugji and UT then have a

[09:28] little yap session around a campfire

[09:30] that I can't really be bothered to

[09:31] explain, but the TLDDR is that UT calls

[09:33] Gojo bitchless. Megumi admits that he's,

[09:36] you know, put on a few pounds since last

[09:37] we saw him. And then we see, oh, it's

[09:40] Ryu, Uro, Reggie, and Higuruma. Let's

[09:42] go. The goats of the whole season. Oh,

[09:44] and and that zappy dude is there as

[09:46] well, I guess. I suppose I should also

[09:47] mention how Yuji had a flashback to his

[09:49] mom being Kenjaku, which meant Kjaku was

[09:52] a woman taking back shots from his dad.

[09:54] Whatever. I'm sure you guys understand

[09:56] that. Charzo then logged back into the

[09:57] game and told them all to get their

[09:59] asses to Jujutsu High, where we see post

[10:01] cookage Mari. And damn, she looks cool

[10:03] as hell. Also, Yuki, respectfully, um,

[10:06] please sit on my face. Honestly, when I

[10:08] got to this point, I'd forgotten that

[10:10] nobody except Yugji actually has a clue

[10:11] who Choo is. [screaming]

[10:15] And it's even funnier when you watch

[10:17] this scene and realize nobody gives a

[10:19] [ __ ] Seriously though, like, why have

[10:21] we not cleaned up the mess that Toji

[10:23] made here 12 years ago, bro? How have we

[10:25] still got brains and blood on the floor?

[10:27] I mean, I get Tenken's got [ __ ] to do,

[10:28] but if you're not going to hire a

[10:29] jiu-jitsu janitor, then get off your

[10:31] lazy ass and just do it yourself, bro.

[10:33] It will take 5 minutes. Look at her

[10:34] standing there like she done something

[10:35] cool. We know what you are. Anyway, uh

[10:37] that's episode 2, I guess.

[10:41] JJK season 3, episode 3 is one of the

[10:44] most inventive, exciting, and visually

[10:46] impressive episodes that Mappa have ever

[10:48] created. I honestly do not think it

[10:50] would be crazy to say this is the best

[10:53] looking episode of Jiujitsu Kaisen to

[10:55] date. Sure, there's no fights or insane

[10:57] action, which to some might make it

[10:59] boring or lackluster. And it's

[11:01] definitely a big information dump that

[11:03] would have even manga readers a bit

[11:05] confused, which doesn't really say much

[11:07] because comprehension isn't exactly this

[11:09] fandom specialty, but you get what I

[11:10] mean. Despite being given two full

[11:12] chapters of pure dialogue and slightly

[11:14] mind-boggling exposition to work with

[11:16] though, Muppa and season 3 director

[11:18] Shotoshono managed to not only create an

[11:20] incredibly engaging episode of anime,

[11:23] but they also managed to make several

[11:24] huge improvements from the manga.

[11:26] Actually, that's just a blatant

[11:27] understatement. This is leagues better.

[11:29] Overall, my favorite thing about this

[11:31] episode is just how unbelievably

[11:33] stunning it is, which is something I'll

[11:35] properly break down in just a moment.

[11:37] But if I personally had to choose one

[11:40] specific moment that really made my jaw

[11:42] drop, even as a manga reader, it was

[11:44] this right here. This image is just way

[11:48] cooler than some of you realize. Because

[11:50] in the entirety of JJK's history,

[11:52] whether it be anime, manga, or even

[11:54] bonus material, we have never ever seen

[11:57] what a sick size user looks like beside

[12:00] Saturu Gojo. This image does not exist

[12:02] in the manga. Ten simply explains

[12:04] everything with words. So, imagine my

[12:06] surprise when they start talking about

[12:08] that time a six eyes user and a star

[12:10] plasma vessel appeared on the day of the

[12:12] merger and then we actually saw it in a

[12:14] visual. Sure, it's just the back of a

[12:16] guy's head in an incredibly lowquality

[12:18] and staticky shot, which reveals pretty

[12:20] much nothing, but there is just

[12:22] something really exciting about finally

[12:24] seeing a six eyes user that isn't Satur

[12:27] Gojo. Plus, I thought people would find

[12:29] it pretty interesting that he doesn't

[12:30] have white hair, because believe it or

[12:32] not, not all Gojo clan members have to

[12:33] have the same color hair. I'll get into

[12:35] the episode properly now, okay? But I

[12:37] just wanted to fanboy over that moment

[12:38] for a second because it really did take

[12:40] me by surprise. I hoped Smapper would

[12:42] make use of Tenkin space and create

[12:44] visual representations of what was being

[12:46] described, but I did not think they'd

[12:48] actually create a visual for a moment

[12:50] like that. And slight tangent real

[12:52] quick, but word on the street is if you

[12:53] like this video and subscribe to the

[12:55] channel, Ayuki Sukumo will come into

[12:56] your life and fix all your problems.

[12:58] Anyway, this episode adapts exactly two

[13:01] chapters of the manga, chapter 145 and

[13:03] 146. In the manga, the gang walk into

[13:05] Tenin's big white barrier and they talk.

[13:08] That's it. They literally just stand

[13:09] there and yap, which is fine for manga.

[13:11] To be honest, I feel like Mappa probably

[13:13] could have gotten away with a pretty

[13:14] one-to-one adaptation of this

[13:16] conversation. Sure, it wouldn't exactly

[13:18] break the internet, but it would just be

[13:19] considered a necessary setup for the

[13:22] absolute peak fiction to come. But this

[13:24] is Mappa and Goshono we're talking

[13:26] about. This is pretty much a passion

[13:28] project for the staff at this point,

[13:30] meaning mediocrity simply was not an

[13:32] option. The lack of fights and intense

[13:34] action meant they could be way more

[13:35] in-depth with the details and really

[13:37] focus on the art. In fact, there was

[13:39] practically no major character movement

[13:41] at all, at least not compared to your

[13:43] average episode. So, they could really

[13:44] go all out with how it looked. Every

[13:46] single character looks the absolute best

[13:48] they ever have in literally every single

[13:51] frame they are in, especially because of

[13:52] the red line art, which really makes

[13:54] them pop out of the plain background.

[13:56] And oh my god, Yuki, please just punch

[13:59] me right in the face, dude. You know

[14:01] what? [ __ ] it. Choso can have in on it

[14:02] too. Both. I want both of them. I love

[14:04] you to Mari, but Yuki and Choso are such

[14:07] a goated power couple and they look so

[14:08] amazing together in this episode that

[14:10] it's making me so excited to see. You

[14:12] know what? The whole thing is just super

[14:14] cinematic, but also super tense at

[14:16] times, too. For example, once they enter

[14:18] the barrier, the entrance starts very

[14:20] slowly moving away from us. At first, it

[14:22] was such a slow panning movement that I

[14:24] wondered if it was actually happening

[14:25] until Yugji turned around and noticed

[14:27] that the entrance was fading slowly out

[14:29] of view. Tenin then gets right to the

[14:31] point with their explanation of the

[14:32] culling game and Kjaku's plan to use it

[14:34] as a means of collecting the cursed

[14:36] energy required to force the collective

[14:38] evolution of humanity by merging them

[14:40] all with Ten, who he intends to acquire

[14:42] via cursed spirit manipulation. Now,

[14:44] reading all of these nitty-gritty and

[14:46] slightly plot convenient details of

[14:48] Kjaku's evil plan for the first time can

[14:50] just feel like you've been hit with an

[14:51] unlimited void. That [ __ ] would

[14:53] overwhelm anyone. But Mara made it way

[14:55] more viewer friendly by actually

[14:57] utilizing Tenin's barrier and creating

[14:59] this really cool holographic projector

[15:01] effect so that both the characters and

[15:03] the audience have a visual road map of

[15:05] how all the key events in JJK link

[15:07] together and what they all mean for the

[15:09] future. It's honestly such an inventive

[15:11] way of making the explanation easier to

[15:13] digest and also making the episode

[15:15] engaging because holy [ __ ] the whole

[15:17] thing was just so beautiful to look at.

[15:19] My favorite part was when the entire

[15:21] place turned black and red, leaving them

[15:23] in this digital simulation looking place

[15:25] that Tenin manipulates to create visuals

[15:27] of what we actually see in the manga.

[15:29] Tenkin summoning text cards to represent

[15:31] certain events or people and then slowly

[15:33] linking all of them together throughout

[15:34] the episode until you are left with this

[15:36] massive chronological mind map was also

[15:38] an awesome addition. Tenkin then just

[15:41] starts from the very beginning with an

[15:42] explanation of why they look the way

[15:44] that they look. And this was shown by

[15:45] Tenkin spawning a load of images of

[15:47] themsel to demonstrate how what people

[15:49] see is just their body. Tenken's soul

[15:52] has actually become the very world

[15:53] itself following the events of Hidden

[15:55] Inventory 12 years ago thanks to Toji

[15:57] Fushiguru killing Rico Omanite which I

[15:59] really didn't need to see again by the

[16:00] way. It was depressing enough the first

[16:02] time. You didn't need to do that to me

[16:03] mapper. It's just rude. Ten then goes on

[16:05] to explain how fate ties themsself the

[16:07] star plasma vessel and the six eyes all

[16:09] together in an amazing visual. They

[16:11] continue on to explain that because Toji

[16:13] escaped cursed energy, Toji and Toji

[16:16] alone was able to finally break the

[16:17] chains of fate that tied these three

[16:19] things together. And of course, we got

[16:21] another visual just showing the goat

[16:22] himself because Gagege loves any

[16:24] opportunity to make Toji relevant in the

[16:26] story. This image of Toji and the image

[16:28] of Ghetto, which follows immediately

[16:30] after, are actually just direct onetoone

[16:32] adaptations of the manga panels, though.

[16:34] The only difference is that in the

[16:35] manga, they weren't shown as physical

[16:37] holographic images. Pretty much every

[16:39] other visual we see besides the bird's

[16:41] eye view of Japan and the two cursed

[16:42] tools is an anime only edition though.

[16:44] So Tenken's shadow clones, the older six

[16:47] eyes user, the actual six eyes, the text

[16:49] cards, and the big panels that state

[16:51] each coloring game rule are completely

[16:52] anime only additions visible to both the

[16:54] audience and the characters, which again

[16:56] I think is just such an inventive and

[16:58] aesthetically pleasing way of using

[17:00] Tenkin's barrier. And it's in this next

[17:02] bit that Tangen changes their desktop

[17:03] wallpaper to the red and black theme and

[17:05] explains how Fate ties themsself, the

[17:07] star plasma vessel, and Six Eyes all

[17:09] together with that visual. It's great.

[17:10] Yeah, I'm not going to explain every

[17:12] single detail because I would just end

[17:13] up repeating myself about how incredible

[17:15] the art looks and how cool the whole

[17:17] holographic projection thing is, but I

[17:19] do want to touch on the part where the

[17:20] gang recap their goals for the season.

[17:22] Long story very short, there are

[17:24] basically just three main goals that the

[17:25] group has. One, to enter the game and

[17:28] collect as many points as possible to

[17:29] add a rule allowing Megumi sister to

[17:31] safely exit the game. Two, figure out a

[17:34] way to end the game if possible. And

[17:36] three, free Satar Gojo by having the Han

[17:38] era sorcerer called Angel use her

[17:40] extinguishment technique to open the

[17:42] back of the slightly plotconvenient

[17:43] prison realm and then have Gojo fix

[17:45] everything for them. If a player fails

[17:47] to enter the colony within 19 days of it

[17:49] starting, they have their technique

[17:50] forcibly removed, which Shoko says would

[17:52] mean death. And speaking of Shoko, holy

[17:55] [ __ ] And also, holy [ __ ] Shoko. I know

[17:58] you've had a really rough time of it,

[18:00] but Jesus Christ, it cannot possibly be

[18:02] that bad, bro. Somebody put this woman

[18:04] in rehab. [ __ ] Anyway, as of now, Uta

[18:07] is going to enter a colony all on his

[18:09] own. If you know, you know. Yugji and

[18:10] Megumi are going to recruit suspended

[18:12] thirdyear Kinji Hakari. And finally,

[18:14] Mari is going to collect cursed tools

[18:16] from the Zening clan, which we're going

[18:17] to see next week. Now, if we follow the

[18:19] manga, then the next episode should just

[18:21] be mostly Panda and Yaga stuff with the

[18:23] second half being about Mari. But based

[18:25] on the preview, it seems like we're

[18:26] going to be pushing the panda stuff back

[18:28] and focusing solely on Mari, which is so

[18:31] exciting because holy, we are in for

[18:33] such a treat if it's just a whole

[18:35] episode about Maki. If you know, you

[18:37] know. Genuinely, it might be a top three

[18:38] episode of the season or or maybe just

[18:40] of the anime. I'm not going to lie, it

[18:41] has some insane potential. The episode

[18:43] then ends with a brief introduction of

[18:45] Fumiko Takaba, a failing comedian who

[18:47] awakens a cursed technique and becomes a

[18:48] culling game player. And all I have to

[18:50] say about this is that damn, I I did not

[18:52] realize how sad and depressing his life

[18:54] actually was until I saw this moment

[18:56] animated. It's pretty hard to read his

[18:58] manga chapters without finding them kind

[18:59] of goofy, but this one really does hit

[19:01] hard. I'm not going to lie. I can't wait

[19:03] to see his stuff later on. And yes, this

[19:06] was just 23 minutes of straight yappage.

[19:08] But this episode walked so that the rest

[19:10] of the season could run. Trust me, from

[19:12] next week onwards, we're going to just

[19:13] be getting back to backto back peak

[19:15] fiction, especially episodes four and

[19:18] five. Oh my god. But yeah, the lack of

[19:20] action and movement in this episode

[19:21] really allowed the staff to focus on the

[19:23] art and visuals, which is why it's

[19:25] easily one of, if not the most beautiful

[19:27] looking episodes of the whole season so

[19:29] far. Actually, no, it's just one of the

[19:30] best looking episodes of the show. Let's

[19:32] be honest.

[19:47] >> [music]

[19:54] [screaming]

[19:54] >> What?

[19:56] >> Two seconds later.

[19:58] >> That episode was objectively

[20:03] mid.

[20:05] Four out of 10 ass. All right, look.

[20:08] When I loaded up social media after

[20:10] watching today's JJK episode, 70% of the

[20:13] responses I saw made me question if

[20:15] having eyes is like low-key overrated.

[20:18] Sure, most of it is either meaningless

[20:19] rage bait, burrito accounts seeking

[20:22] attention, or One Piece accounts being

[20:24] genuinely livid that Tolli isn't the

[20:26] only animation studio that exists. But

[20:28] this week, it somehow got to a point

[20:30] where some of the actual JJK fans

[20:32] sounded even dumber than the rage bait

[20:35] accounts. because for some reason that

[20:37] is far beyond my ability to comprehend.

[20:39] This episode didn't meet their

[20:40] expectations. Apparently, it was just

[20:43] never going to be enough for some people

[20:44] unless they could see Vincent Chanzard,

[20:46] Alan Bao, and God on that already loaded

[20:49] staff list. I mean, honestly, the only

[20:51] explanation is that I just watched a

[20:53] completely different version of the

[20:54] episode to these people because for me,

[20:56] this was a top five JGK episode.

[20:58] Actually, screw recency bias. It's one

[21:00] of my favorite episodes in anime, and it

[21:02] was certainly my favorite animated

[21:03] episode in the entire series. Yes,

[21:05] animation wise, I'd even put it above

[21:07] Sukuno vers Maharaga. Not the Blu-ray,

[21:09] though, cuz that's a whole different

[21:10] ball game, and that's also just my

[21:12] preference. I'm going to actually review

[21:13] and analyze the episode now, instead of

[21:15] ranting about how ungrateful this

[21:17] depressing poo stain of a fandom can be

[21:19] sometimes. Right, to stop myself from

[21:21] obsessively repeating this throughout

[21:22] the video, I'm just going to say it now.

[21:24] From beginning to end, this episode is

[21:26] absolutely incredible. There are so many

[21:28] different styles of art and animation in

[21:30] this episode, yet nothing really feels

[21:32] out of place. And I think it flowed

[21:34] incredibly well from beginning to end. I

[21:36] mean, the episode literally begins with

[21:38] a shot of Marquy walking towards the

[21:39] Zeninclan HQ, and it ends with the exact

[21:42] same shot, but it's her walking back out

[21:43] of it. I feel like this detail and a

[21:45] load of other things make the episode

[21:47] feel more complete because even though

[21:49] it has an extended runtime of 28

[21:51] minutes, fitting in around four and a

[21:53] half chapters worth of manga into a

[21:55] single episode could have easily made it

[21:57] feel rushed or disjointed, especially

[21:59] because there's such a sudden shift from

[22:01] the slow and emotional pace to the pure

[22:03] hype moments and aura. The other thing I

[22:05] wanted to quickly address early on is

[22:06] that even though I agree they did

[22:08] sometimes miss the mark, I respect the

[22:11] Mupper staff immensely for having the

[22:12] balls to get truly creative when

[22:14] adapting the source material instead of

[22:16] playing it safe and trying to make it a

[22:18] onetoone. So with Megumi's permission or

[22:20] the head of the Zenin clan, Mari pulls

[22:22] up to basically just raid the Zenin

[22:24] storehouse of cursed tools. Somehow

[22:26] after being embarrassed by Choso and

[22:28] Uta, NA still has the balls to belittle

[22:30] Marquy. And we even get this really dope

[22:32] shot where we actually pan from the

[22:34] present NA to the flashback of him

[22:36] bullying child Maki as if they were

[22:38] happening at the same time kind of. I

[22:40] feel like this is a good example of

[22:41] Mappa's inventiveness actually

[22:43] succeeding. It It's minor but very

[22:44] effective. The conversation where

[22:46] Janichi tells Noya that Oi is, you know,

[22:48] luring Marquy in to kill her is just

[22:50] pretty standard. And I would say the

[22:52] same for Mari walking past her mother in

[22:54] the tunnel, but damn. Damn, bro. Her

[22:56] voice actress had absolutely no reason

[22:59] to go that insanely hard. Anyway, Mari

[23:01] versus her dad round one. First of all,

[23:03] this shot reminded me of Moria from Lord

[23:05] of the Rings. Just wanted to throw that

[23:07] out there. Secondly, I much prefer the

[23:10] anime's adaptation of this fight to the

[23:11] mangas. The complete darkness with the

[23:13] only light being caused by the glow of

[23:15] Oi's cursed energy and the spark of

[23:17] their blades actually clashing is dope.

[23:19] But I also love that there is no music

[23:22] at all. The scene is very fast, but

[23:24] still incredibly tense. I mean, I know

[23:25] what's going to happen. I've read the

[23:27] manga and I still felt the tension. Oi

[23:29] just cooks Marquy Loiff before dragging

[23:31] both her and the severely injured Mai

[23:33] into the Zenin dungeon where they keep a

[23:35] load of cur spirits. Now, it's in this

[23:36] scene that we first get a taste for this

[23:38] episode's use of selective color, making

[23:41] practically everything black and white

[23:42] with the exception of the red blood.

[23:45] It's such a simple but very, very

[23:47] effective technique that they absolutely

[23:49] nail later on in the episode. Now, in

[23:51] the manga, Mai actually does kiss Mary,

[23:54] which I assume is because it's necessary

[23:56] for her to do that for what she's about

[23:58] to do. At least I hope. I I don't know,

[24:00] bro. Interpret it how you like. It's a

[24:01] bit weird either way. Their souls then

[24:03] resonate and they end up on a beach.

[24:05] Just like in the manga, they both wake

[24:07] up here without any shoes on because

[24:08] Gagegeay has a very suspicious habit of

[24:10] taking characters shoes off for

[24:12] literally no reason. In all seriousness

[24:14] though, this scene was adapted every bit

[24:16] as good as I had hoped. It didn't feel

[24:18] too rushed. The voice actors nailed the

[24:20] dialogue and the music low-key had me

[24:23] tearing up. Oh my days, it was peak. And

[24:25] dear god, Marina Inu's execution of the

[24:28] destroy everything line gave me actual

[24:31] chills. Even just the like subtle switch

[24:33] from Mary, you know, emotionally chasing

[24:35] after Mai and begging for her to wake up

[24:37] to the stoic and borderline emotionless

[24:40] looking monster that she becomes is is

[24:42] so well done. The character acting and

[24:44] animation in these moments has been so

[24:46] so good in season 3 so far and I really

[24:48] do hope it keeps up because there are so

[24:50] many more dialogue focused emotional

[24:53] moments to come. Also, for any anime

[24:55] onlyies that are confused about what

[24:57] happened in this scene, allow me to

[24:58] explain. Normal humans in JJK have a

[25:01] small amount of cursed energy. However,

[25:03] Toji had absolutely zero, which is what

[25:06] made him so stupidly strong and able to

[25:08] actually perceive curses with his eyes.

[25:10] Just like Toji, Mari has literally zero

[25:12] cursed energy for herself. But because

[25:14] Jiujutsu actually considers identical

[25:16] twins to be the same entity, her

[25:18] heavenly restriction has been massively

[25:20] held back because Mai still has cursed

[25:22] energy and Mai also lacked the will to

[25:24] get stronger. Mai's existence has

[25:26] literally held back's full potential,

[25:28] which is tragic but true. So when Mai

[25:30] dies, she takes all of that cursed

[25:32] energy with her, leading Mari to awaken

[25:34] her full strength by giving her life in

[25:36] a binding vow to massively increase her

[25:38] output. Ma uses her construction

[25:40] technique to create the weapon in

[25:42] Marquy's hand, which we're going to

[25:43] learn more about later, so I won't get

[25:44] into that now. She basically becomes the

[25:46] blade in a way, though, that's pretty

[25:48] much the gist of it. Yeah. Now, for the

[25:50] controversial part, Marquy versus Oi,

[25:52] round two. To an anime only, this scene

[25:54] would be absolute peak. Mary's newfound

[25:57] aura is dope. The way Oi immediately

[26:00] switches up and craps himself is dope.

[26:02] And the way he gets genuinely nodify is

[26:05] dope. But to a manga reader, I do

[26:07] understand the complaints to an extent.

[26:09] I think absolutely everything about this

[26:10] scene is literal perfection and a great

[26:13] adaptation of the source material. But

[26:15] the silhouette of Toji should have

[26:17] lasted literally 1 second longer because

[26:20] to a casual viewer, they're genuinely

[26:22] going to struggle to see who that was

[26:23] meant to be. Trust me, I watched this

[26:25] episode with three anime only casuals

[26:26] and they didn't even notice it

[26:28] happening. Maybe that's just because

[26:29] they're blithering idiots, but who

[26:31] knows? I'm sure they're not the only

[26:32] ones. So yeah, when compared to the

[26:33] manga panel, I mean, look at this thing.

[26:35] It's so cool. When compared to this, it

[26:37] does seem slightly underwhelming, but

[26:38] realistically, it's not that big of a

[26:40] deal. However, I do think they nailed

[26:42] the Toji moment that happens later on

[26:43] when Kid Na sees him as well, a kid. The

[26:46] way it goes from the bright and

[26:48] cartoon-like shot of Kid Nawa to the

[26:50] dark and unsettling shot of Toji makes

[26:53] for a pretty dope contrast. Now then,

[26:55] this is where the fun begins. The rest

[26:57] of the episode is really very simple.

[26:59] Mari locks in, channels her inner Toji,

[27:02] and literally annihilates her entire

[27:04] family. The anime absolutely clears the

[27:07] already goated manga adaptation of this

[27:09] event, though, because in the manga, the

[27:11] fights are entertaining, but much

[27:13] shorter and on a much smaller scale,

[27:15] which does mean that I feel it slightly

[27:17] fumbles when it comes to driving home

[27:19] the point that she just wiped out one of

[27:21] the three most powerful and dangerous

[27:22] jiu-jitsu clans alive with minimal

[27:24] difficulty at that while being heavily

[27:26] injured. To be fair, Gagegeay was sick

[27:28] when he was working on this fight in the

[27:29] manga, so it does make sense. But oh my

[27:32] days, the anime doesn't just fix the

[27:34] issue, but it low-key borders on

[27:35] overkill. You're telling me this Janichi

[27:38] guy is doing all that as a grade one

[27:40] sorcerer, cuz he is definitely not doing

[27:42] all that in the manga. He gets like one

[27:44] page. Look at this dude pull a deu on

[27:47] the whole estate and then compare him to

[27:49] Nanom. I'm sorry, but these Zenin grade

[27:51] ones are not like the rest because oh my

[27:54] days, this is some next level stuff. So

[27:56] yeah, when it comes to making the Zen

[27:58] clan look like they deserve the title of

[28:00] a top three clan, Mappa absolutely

[28:02] smashed it. In fact, the only thing they

[28:04] portrayed better than this was how

[28:06] insanely far above the rest of the

[28:07] jiu-jitsu world Marquy has actually

[28:09] risen. You know, because she like kills

[28:11] them all. Anyway, before the strong

[28:13] dudes arrive, Mari needs to warm up by

[28:15] slaughtering all of the Zenin NPCs,

[28:17] which is my favorite scene of the entire

[28:19] season so far and one of my favorite

[28:20] scenes in all of JJK. Not only does it

[28:22] have some incredible choreography as

[28:25] well as that same beautiful selective

[28:26] coloring, but is also a direct reference

[28:29] to Kill Bill, apparently. I wouldn't

[28:31] know. I've never seen it. Not only is

[28:32] she built like a brick [ __ ] house, but

[28:34] her completely stoic, nonchalant

[28:36] demeanor makes Marky's motions look so

[28:38] effortless, and it's just so cool. I

[28:40] especially like this cut of her standing

[28:42] dead still, just casually swatting away

[28:44] the NPCs because it felt like a homage

[28:47] to, you know, Toji doing this to Megumi

[28:49] in season 2. Oh, when she hit the knee

[28:51] slide, I screamed. And when she started

[28:53] ice skating on their blood before one

[28:55] inch punching this random dude, I was

[28:57] having a straight up aneurysm from just

[28:59] too much peak. Like I said, her fight

[29:01] against the hay was so dope and way more

[29:03] impactful than the manga, with even

[29:05] Rant's eye technique being made to seem

[29:07] way more busted than it was in the

[29:09] source material. And look, I'm a sucker

[29:11] for the Utaka Nakamura style orange and

[29:13] red heat effect to show a really

[29:15] hard-hitting move. So, this entire

[29:17] brightly colored sequence when Ranta and

[29:19] Janichi do their duo attack was just so

[29:21] cool to me. Like, it's it's so dope.

[29:23] Also, yes, this is definitely a Full

[29:25] Metal Alchemist reference. As expected

[29:27] though, Mari cleans these pulls up with

[29:30] very little difficulty. And it's at this

[29:32] point that the episode reaches its

[29:33] pinnacle. Now, Zenin versus awakened

[29:36] Mari. Wow. If you can't tell already, Na

[29:39] was massively holding back against Choso

[29:41] cuz this dude is an absolute menace when

[29:44] he actually reaches full speed. Like I

[29:46] said before, I'm a sucker for Utaka

[29:48] Nakamura's animation style. Grass is

[29:50] green, I know. And in the manga, Gage

[29:52] even drew this fight as a homage to the

[29:54] iconic Utapon Cube animation style that

[29:57] Utaka Nakamura has. So, when I saw names

[29:59] like Kohi Hiro on the staff list, I was

[30:02] certain this fight was in good hands.

[30:04] And oh my days, it did not disappoint.

[30:06] Mari basically just acts as a punching

[30:08] bag for the entire thing while she

[30:10] gradually adjusts to Nia's 24 fps

[30:12] rhythm. The depiction of Nia's insane

[30:14] speed with his blue projections, the

[30:16] insane destruction caused to the

[30:18] environment and the impacts of every

[30:20] blow is executed to perfection in this

[30:22] sequence. I don't even have that much to

[30:24] say about it to be honest beyond

[30:26] absolute cinema. The cherry on top and

[30:28] my favorite part of this fight though

[30:30] was the way Mary's first and final punch

[30:32] on Na was done. The scene actually

[30:34] freezes and we get a few different 360°

[30:37] shots of her throwing the punch right as

[30:39] Noi is running into it. And oh my days,

[30:42] the art and compositing here is just

[30:43] next level. I'm also a very big fan of

[30:46] the freeze frame shots of Maki actually

[30:48] landing the punch. I can definitely see

[30:49] why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of

[30:51] tea. But like I said in the beginning, I

[30:53] enjoy seeing ballsy creativity and this

[30:56] moment really worked for me. Especially

[30:57] the shot of Na's skull turning to dust.

[31:00] Oh. The episode rounds off with Marquy

[31:02] cutting down her own mother in an

[31:03] unexpectedly wellexecuted scene in which

[31:06] Marquy is exceptionally calm. And oh my

[31:09] days, bro. Like Nia's comment to Mary's

[31:11] mom in episode 1 of season 3 about how

[31:14] women who don't walk three steps behind

[31:15] men should be stabbed in the back and

[31:17] left to die aged absolutely horrifically

[31:20] because Mary's mom finds the strength to

[31:22] literally stab Noya in the back and

[31:24] leave him to die. This bum then arrives

[31:26] to cry over Mai's body. And we're told

[31:28] that over the next few days, Marky

[31:30] hunted down the rest of the clan that

[31:32] weren't present that day. And then the

[31:33] episode ends exactly how it begins. God

[31:36] knows how they were even allowed to get

[31:38] away with assembling the Avengers of

[31:40] animation and even releasing a 28minute

[31:43] cut for this episode, but I guess JJK

[31:45] just gets special treatment. Overall, it

[31:47] was truly peak and is comfortably in my

[31:49] top five favorite JJK episodes at the

[31:51] moment. If it genuinely wasn't your cup

[31:53] of tea, then that's fine. But at least

[31:55] give the animators credit where due.

[31:57] They definitely poured all of their

[31:58] heart and soul into making this and it

[32:00] paid off because it it just looked like

[32:02] absolute cinema.

[32:06] >> I'll never forget it. He's super tall,

[32:08] bro. And like it's super intimidating

[32:10] when he has so many bodyguards around.

[32:12] >> Who the [ __ ] is that guy?

[32:18] [screaming]

[32:24] >> No. Last week was Maky's time to shine.

[32:27] She was up in there being a complete

[32:29] goat for 28 minutes straight and it was

[32:31] peak cinema. But for episode 5 this

[32:33] week, we had a little cool down. Things

[32:34] are a bit slower and you know a little

[32:36] bit less massacre. Just like with the

[32:38] Tenken episode though, it is still

[32:40] gossoo cinema. The environments, the

[32:43] character acting, the unnecessarily

[32:45] incredible and dynamic direction of

[32:47] simple moments, the color palettes, and

[32:49] I I think you get the point. It's

[32:50] incredible. Oh, and I I nearly forgot to

[32:53] mention this episode is low-key making

[32:55] JJK history right now because it finally

[32:57] shows us the goat Kusa Kabi. Okay, I'm

[33:00] I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All right, it

[33:02] finally shows us the restless gambler

[33:04] himself in the flesh, Kenji Hkari, a

[33:07] suspended thirdyear who was teased by

[33:09] Gojo all the way back in season 1 as

[33:11] being a sorcerer in the same league as

[33:13] Uta Akotu, who will one day grow to be

[33:15] on par with Gojo himself. I don't know

[33:17] what Gojo was smoking that made him say

[33:19] that, but whatever. That's not

[33:20] important. I mean, you can tell Goshono

[33:22] knows how much hype there is around this

[33:24] dude simply by the fact that he was

[33:25] teasing that face reveal for the whole

[33:27] episode. I'm talking straight up edging.

[33:29] Like, Eugi, just move your elbow, bro. I

[33:31] want to see his face. Why Why are we

[33:32] doing all that? Just let me see him. Oh,

[33:34] okay. Definitely not the most badass

[33:35] angle, but but Cook, I guess. Yeah.

[33:37] Anyway, I'll get into my full review

[33:38] now. But wow. After seeing how great

[33:40] this episode looked, I I've just come to

[33:42] accept the fact that I I don't think

[33:44] there's going to be a single episode

[33:46] that I won't like or thinks looks worse

[33:47] than the others. JJK season 3 is just

[33:50] apparently what you get when your staff

[33:51] have an actual healthy schedule. I mean,

[33:53] who would have thought, right? So, the

[33:55] first 5 minutes of the episode is

[33:56] dedicated to this one single chapter of

[33:58] Yaga/Panda/Gakuganji/

[34:01] Timu Kakashi stuff that I think was

[34:03] adapted almost perfectly. Visually, it

[34:05] looks amazing. And, you know, it's

[34:07] pretty much a straight one:1 adaptation

[34:09] of the manga. You see, back in the day,

[34:10] Yaga was thrown in sorcerer jail because

[34:13] he managed to create Panda using his

[34:14] puppet technique. Normally, Yaga has to

[34:16] control his puppets himself, but he

[34:18] actually discovered a way to give

[34:20] puppets sentience and their own

[34:21] independent, self-preserving cursed

[34:23] energy supply, which may sound like a

[34:25] beautiful and wholesome thing, but as

[34:27] Yaga says, it's actually a curse. I

[34:29] mean, in the flashback, Yaga just

[34:30] outright denies that he can create these

[34:32] things deliberately and says Panda is an

[34:34] accident, which Loki saved his ass from

[34:36] either being executed or labeled as a

[34:38] special grade because those damn Tory

[34:40] make jiu-jitsu great again higher-ups

[34:42] were worried he would be able to create

[34:43] an army of pandas. God knows why anyone

[34:46] would be scared of an army of bums when

[34:47] people like Uta and Gojo walk the earth.

[34:49] But yeah, he was set free because of

[34:51] this lie. As of the end of the Shabuya

[34:53] incident, those same stinky jiu-jitsu

[34:55] Tories pinned Ghetto and Gojo's fuckups

[34:57] on Yaga and sentenced him to death.

[34:59] Which is why we see Gakuganji and this

[35:01] fake ass Kakashi pull up to jump him.

[35:03] Now low key, I do wish we actually saw

[35:05] this fight on screen because seeing more

[35:07] interactions and infighting between

[35:10] multiple experienced grade one sorcerers

[35:12] would have been completely dope. But

[35:13] this is how the manga is, so I'm not

[35:15] going to blame the anime for it. One

[35:16] thing I was very upset about, though, is

[35:18] that in the manga, Gakuganji is like

[35:20] really roughed up. But in the anime, his

[35:22] shiny bald head did not get a scratch on

[35:24] it. Like, can we put some respect to my

[35:26] goat Yaga's name, please? I I know bro

[35:28] put up a hell of a fight. Now, the

[35:29] context to Yaga's secret was executed

[35:31] really well in the anime, and I love the

[35:33] visual that they did for Panda's three

[35:35] souls moving around. Long story short,

[35:37] the absolute goat Kusakab, aka the

[35:40] strongest sorcerer available, actually

[35:42] has a sister who lost her son, Takaroo,

[35:44] and became, well, I mean, look at her.

[35:46] She clearly became prettying depressed

[35:48] over it. And so is Kusakab for good

[35:50] reason. I mean, it's her kid. So,

[35:51] Kusakab turned to Yaga for help. Yaga

[35:53] copied the information of her son's soul

[35:55] and placed it in a cursed corpse similar

[35:57] to Panda and basically let him live out

[36:00] the rest of his life happily in a forest

[36:01] that's protected by Tangen. Yeah. Yeah.

[36:03] It's all very sad and and you know, it's

[36:05] like literally never brought up again in

[36:07] the whole story, but still, I like it.

[36:09] Anyway, much to Gakuganji's surprise,

[36:11] when Yaga's on death store, he actually

[36:13] spills the secret behind creating things

[36:15] like Panda and says the knowledge is a

[36:17] curse. Now, at this point, Gakuganji's

[36:19] entire thing is about being, you know, a

[36:21] mega right-winged jiu-jitsu Tory who

[36:23] just follows orders and sucks off his

[36:25] bosses to no end. I mean, hell, he

[36:27] killed his colleague in cold blood

[36:28] because that's what he was told to do.

[36:30] The man has no agency. But Yaga

[36:32] revealing this cursed knowledge right at

[36:33] his death seemed to lead Gakuganji to

[36:35] realize what he was actually doing,

[36:37] which comes back around in a very nice

[36:39] way later on in the story. Panda then

[36:40] pulls up and mourns the death of his

[36:42] father. Because remember guys, even

[36:44] pandas cry.

[36:45] >> Who gives a [ __ ]

[36:46] >> To be honest, my only complaint about

[36:47] this whole scene is that I think I would

[36:49] have preferred to have some kind of sad

[36:51] music over this scene rather than like,

[36:52] you know, dead silence. But other than

[36:54] that, it is adapted to perfection as an

[36:56] exact one to one and it is Loki Peak.

[36:58] Anyway, on a slightly happier note,

[37:00] Yugji and Megumi pull up to Herkari's

[37:02] illegal fight club that he runs as a

[37:03] broki bookie that he runs as a bookie. I

[37:06] mean, dude, just look at this scene of

[37:07] Yugji moving under the camera with the

[37:09] barrier moving up past the screen. Go

[37:12] direction actually just needs to be

[37:13] properly studied because even in these

[37:15] tiny insignificant moments, they be

[37:17] doing the most to make it engaging and

[37:19] basically just as difficult for them as

[37:21] possible. And other than the fact that

[37:22] they made my goat Loki look like a can

[37:24] of [ __ ] Fanta, this entire part of

[37:27] the episode really does put into

[37:28] perspective how great season 3 looks

[37:30] compared to both one and two. At least

[37:32] in my opinion. Even just the road they

[37:34] are walking down is like some really

[37:35] Chainsaw Man season 1 level stuff. The

[37:38] character acting, the constant change in

[37:40] color palette, and even the mix of 2D

[37:42] and 3D environments make this, you know,

[37:44] conversation, which should just be

[37:45] boring, pretty engaging and interesting

[37:47] to watch. At least if you have the eye

[37:49] for that kind of stuff, it is. I don't

[37:50] know. My my anime only friends when they

[37:52] watch this, you know, they're kind of

[37:53] brain dead, so they couldn't tell the

[37:54] difference between this kind of stuff

[37:56] and One Punch Man season 3, but

[37:57] whatever. Long story short, Yugji will

[37:59] enter the fight club and well, fight.

[38:02] Meanwhile, Mega will do recon inside the

[38:05] spectators shadows. Oh my god, that

[38:07] looks so dope. Hell yeah, man. Screw the

[38:09] Shikagami. This use of the 10 shadows is

[38:11] so much cooler. I need more. Now, Hikari

[38:14] is basically just sus of everybody and

[38:16] doesn't want any contact with Jiu-Jitsu

[38:18] High for fear of being spied on, which

[38:20] kind of works in their favor since

[38:22] Megumi and Yuji are first years that

[38:23] Hkari has never seen before. Unlike

[38:25] Panda, who was a second year and happens

[38:27] to be Yuji's first opponent. Yeah, this

[38:29] moment here where Yuji like smiles after

[38:31] seeing Panda as his opponent. Loki just

[38:34] reminds me of that one scene from Thor

[38:35] Ragnarok.

[38:36] >> Yes,

[38:39] he's a friend from work. They put on an

[38:41] incredible fake fight that had

[38:43] absolutely and no reason to be as

[38:45] unbelievably well animated as it was.

[38:47] Especially since the manga is like two

[38:49] panels and then Hikari just sits there

[38:51] and watches it from the monitor room and

[38:53] oh my god, bro, he is like fully clamped

[38:55] onto that [ __ ] Godamn. Even Gojo's blue

[38:58] could not pull his hand off that. Oh my

[39:00] days, Akari, you absolute menace. Bro

[39:02] dropped out of school to grab ass, eat

[39:04] shitty snacks, drink booze, and rig

[39:07] illegal death matches. How can you not

[39:08] immediately love this guy? Also, wow,

[39:11] Hikari looks like absolutely incredible

[39:13] in the anime. Zoro's Japanese voice

[39:15] actor, too, by the way. Like, is that

[39:17] not crazy? I think that's crazy. Now,

[39:18] obviously, Hikari is immediately

[39:20] impressed with Yuji since he knows Panda

[39:22] is a beast compared to your average Joe.

[39:24] And he also likes how Yugji is

[39:26] deliberately putting on an interesting

[39:27] fight for the spectators. So, he calls

[39:29] him up to his office later on to give

[39:30] him a job offer in basically just

[39:32] scripted matches in exchange for big

[39:34] monies. And it lowkey makes me wish that

[39:36] we actually got an alternate timeline

[39:37] where Yuji does that because it kind of

[39:38] sounds dope. Yuji just keeps on winning

[39:41] and winning and what is he doing, bro?

[39:43] That stuff is not in the manga. Bro just

[39:45] beat up a pedestrian dressed as the

[39:47] [ __ ] Lorax and now he's out here

[39:49] emoting on their asses. But Bro was even

[39:51] like lightly knocking on the fourth wall

[39:53] there when he came up to the camera.

[39:54] Anyway, later on, Megumi and Panda have

[39:56] a little catchup session outside to

[39:58] discuss strategy. They basically just

[40:00] want to take control of the roof around

[40:01] the monitor room once Yuji is escorted

[40:03] inside, which means they're going to

[40:04] have to find a way around Kurara's

[40:06] technique, which seems to work in a

[40:08] similar way to Gojo's in that no matter

[40:09] how hard he tries, Panda cannot actually

[40:11] get any closer to the room. Megumi also

[40:14] then says Kurara was a guy, right? To

[40:16] which Panda responds, "Yes, a guy."

[40:18] Listen, yeah, I don't want to get too

[40:20] political on here cuz I know I'm not

[40:21] going to change anybody's mind by saying

[40:23] anything. Kurara's exact gender identity

[40:25] is just not confirmed in any way. And I

[40:28] do think it's supposed to be somewhat

[40:29] open to interpretation, but she is

[40:31] strongly suggested to be trans. I think

[40:33] at least that's my interpretation is

[40:35] that she's probably just a trans woman.

[40:37] >> Um, actually, um, Kurara is a dude, so I

[40:40] think you meant to say he.

[40:41] >> Shut up, brother. Why are you like 12 or

[40:43] something? Get off your mom's phone and

[40:45] go play Frisbee in the park. I don't

[40:46] know. I mean, first of all, Panda is

[40:48] like he's he's a panda.

[40:50] >> He's a panda. You're a panda.

[40:52] >> He doesn't have a concept of human

[40:54] gender identity, you know, cuz he's a

[40:55] he's a panda. I mean, hell, in this very

[40:58] episode, we see that a big part of Panda

[41:00] is that he is not a human and his mind

[41:02] doesn't work the way humans do. So,

[41:03] judging Kurara's entire gender identity

[41:06] of something a literal panda says is

[41:08] silly bro.

[41:11] My interpretation, you know, is that

[41:13] Kurara identifies as a woman, so I'm

[41:15] going to treat her as such. But what do

[41:17] I know? Like, you have absolutely no

[41:19] obligation to agree with my take. This

[41:20] is just what I think. I'm not trying to

[41:22] convince anyone of anything. Everyone is

[41:24] free to think what they like. Just

[41:25] please don't go and start demanding that

[41:28] everyone else share your exact

[41:29] interpretation because that's just

[41:31] unproductive and only causes conflict.

[41:33] Especially since I do believe it is left

[41:35] kind of, you know, open to

[41:36] interpretation because Ggeay wants it

[41:38] that way. But yeah, do your worst

[41:40] comments. I'm fully prepared. Like do do

[41:42] your worst. Go ahead. Anyway, Kurara

[41:43] shows Yugji into Hikari's monitor room

[41:45] for their meeting and then leads them to

[41:47] it. H I wonder what that suspicious

[41:50] looking grux symbol means. Huh? Anyway,

[41:52] the entire Hikari and Yugji conversation

[41:54] then plays out all at once in one shot

[41:57] from this side on angle, which is very

[41:59] different to the manga, but I really

[42:00] like it. The manga shows this

[42:02] conversation happening in real time,

[42:03] where we cut back and forth between this

[42:05] and the events of the next episode,

[42:07] which are happening outside of the

[42:08] monitor room as they speak. I actually

[42:10] really like that they condensed it into

[42:12] one scene, and even that they kept it as

[42:14] one static angle, because that combined

[42:16] with the dim lighting emitted from the

[42:18] TVs makes the scene so much more tense.

[42:21] The manga has a lot of different angles

[42:23] that I do wish we could have seen, like

[42:25] Kakari drinking and then firmly placing

[42:26] his glass down in response to Yuji's

[42:28] panicked face, but I think I like the

[42:30] suspenseful interpretation just as much,

[42:32] if not more. Especially since it allowed

[42:34] the animators to really go overboard

[42:36] with the character acting, which made it

[42:37] all feel supernatural. I mean, sure,

[42:39] Yuji being called out on not knowing

[42:41] Saturu Gojo was much less comedic than

[42:43] the manga made it seem, but I think it

[42:45] was worth it for the tension. Even just

[42:47] the way Hikari like nonchalantly threw

[42:49] the glass at Yuji, who was already

[42:51] backing up because he knew he messed up

[42:53] felt so natural. And oh my god, I love

[42:55] the way Hikari does the doors as well.

[42:56] It was great. Again, it does seem a lot

[42:58] more like dramatic and in-your-face in

[43:00] the manga, but I think I prefer this

[43:02] tense version to be honest. And and god,

[43:04] bro, Hikari looks so good, dude. I felt

[43:06] like Gage always kind of drew Hikari as

[43:08] this slightly, you know, stubby dude,

[43:10] but wow, he just looks incredible in the

[43:13] anime. Like look at the character and

[43:15] clothing animation when he swings for

[43:16] Yuji in this scene. It's so effortless

[43:18] and natural. In fact, the character

[43:20] animation being this good in these

[43:22] scenes, as well as certain ambiguous

[43:24] hints from staff members online has led

[43:26] a lot of people to believe that these

[43:27] scenes are rotoscoped, which I think

[43:29] could definitely be true. Uh, and I

[43:31] don't see the problem with that in the

[43:32] slightest. Whatever looks best in it,

[43:34] like whatever works. There's no

[43:35] confirmation of this though, not yet

[43:36] anyway. So, you know, take everything

[43:38] with a pinch of salt. The episode then

[43:39] comes to a halt right as Yuji is backing

[43:41] up from Herkari, meaning that next time

[43:43] we're going to be seeing what was going

[43:44] on outside that door. I cannot wait.

[43:47] Again, this episode was gosso cinema,

[43:49] and it was amazing seeing Hakkari in the

[43:51] flesh after so long.

[43:54] In this week's episode of Jiujitsu

[43:56] Kaizen, Panda launches a bunny rabbit,

[43:58] Megumi flexes his abs, Kurara commits

[44:01] several animal safety violations, and

[44:03] Hakari gets jump scared by a child. Oh,

[44:06] and we see this guy, too. Yay. I'm

[44:08] guessing this is probably going to be

[44:10] another controversial episode of JJK,

[44:12] but I wouldn't know because I've chosen

[44:14] to make this video before checking the

[44:16] negativity riddled cesspool that is the

[44:18] internet. I say this because like the

[44:20] Ten episode, episode 6 of JJK requires

[44:24] basic reading ability and an IQ above

[44:26] room temperature to actually understand.

[44:28] Actually, to be fair, that that's a bit

[44:29] harsh cuz I didn't even really

[44:31] understand Kurara's technique at first

[44:33] either. But then again, I've never

[44:34] claimed to have an IQ above room

[44:36] temperature, so suck it, I guess.

[44:37] Director Goshono and his incredibly

[44:39] talented team yet again took on some

[44:41] creative liberties when adapting this

[44:43] episode, which obviously are mostly for

[44:46] the best. I'll start breaking it down in

[44:47] a moment, but first, I just want to

[44:49] glaze the music and sound design in this

[44:51] episode specifically because holy hell,

[44:54] as if Yuji's cog speech to Hakari wasn't

[44:56] already amazing in the manga, the anime

[44:59] just pushed it up to a completely

[45:00] different level for me. Even the tension

[45:02] between Megumi and Kurara was like

[45:04] massively elevated to a totally new

[45:06] level simply because of a few simple but

[45:08] very impactful sound design and music

[45:10] choices, which I feel like is a

[45:12] recurring theme throughout the season so

[45:13] far that the music and sound design game

[45:15] has really stepped up. Anyway, sorry.

[45:17] I'm going to stop yapping about that

[45:18] now. Let's just get right into it. Oh my

[45:21] god, bro. The silent pan across to

[45:23] Megumi just a farming inside of a dude's

[45:25] shadow to start off an episode is

[45:27] actually crazy. The way his face lights

[45:29] up from the dude's lighter. Oh my god,

[45:31] it's so peak. But dude, that guy is just

[45:34] an NPC. Like, why why is Megumi looking

[45:36] at him like he's just mowed down an

[45:38] orphanage or something? I don't know,

[45:40] man. This jiu-jitsu clearly gets

[45:41] serious. Now, Megumi honestly thinks

[45:43] he's Sunjin Wu. And you know what? I'm

[45:45] not even going to hate on it because

[45:46] when was the last time you saw Sunjin Wu

[45:48] dive into a dude's shadow like that? Oh,

[45:50] it's so cool. Honestly, this just makes

[45:52] me want to call Megumi a fraud even more

[45:54] because I need him to be using this side

[45:56] of his technique in the rest of the

[45:57] series. Please. While he's busy aura

[46:00] farming though, Pandanda's out here

[46:01] pretending to be well, a panda.

[46:03] >> He's a panda. You're a panda.

[46:05] >> Once the fod were dealt with, Megumi and

[46:07] Panda make it onto the set of today's

[46:09] episode, a rooftop car park with Akari's

[46:11] monitor room placed in the corner.

[46:13] Kurara passes underneath them and they

[46:14] make eye contact, which means now they

[46:16] obviously have to fight. However,

[46:18] Megumi's divine dog totality gets flung

[46:20] right back at him once Kurara marks it

[46:23] with her cursed technique because that's

[46:24] kind of how that works. I'll explain it

[46:26] more in a second, maybe. But can we

[46:28] please just take a minute to appreciate

[46:30] how unbelievably cool Totality looks?

[46:32] Bro, that's not even a dog anymore. He's

[46:34] just standing upright like a whole ass

[46:36] dude looking like that one Ben alien.

[46:38] It's so cool. Before the fight properly

[46:40] gets started, Megumi tries reasoning

[46:42] with Kurara and telling her the

[46:43] situation. But obviously, she ain't

[46:45] buying it because the concept of Satur

[46:47] Gojo being sealed is just straight up

[46:49] incomprehensible. Like seriously, there

[46:51] was no doubt on Kurara's face. The

[46:53] possibility of that being true didn't

[46:55] even cross her mind because Gojo is

[46:57] really just that guy. So look, right,

[47:00] this is obviously just a simple

[47:01] conversation between Megumi and Kurara.

[47:03] The animators could have just had it be

[47:05] a normal face-to-face confrontation and

[47:07] no one would bat an eye, but director

[47:09] Goshono and his team are just not having

[47:12] it. They still chose to do the absolute

[47:13] most possible to make this dialogueheavy

[47:16] episode into a proper treat. There was

[47:18] no need for this dramatic slow-mo pan or

[47:20] for this completely amazing but totally

[47:22] unnecessary dynamic perspective of

[47:24] Kurara literally just standing still.

[47:27] But they chose to do it anyway, which is

[47:28] why JJK is so goated and why the

[47:31] adaptation gets so much praise. Now, I

[47:33] think this fight is really dope because

[47:34] it's not actually a fight. Like, no

[47:36] hands are really thrown. As it normally

[47:37] is for Megumi's best moments, it's a

[47:39] game of strategy and intelligence, which

[47:41] because it's Gay writing, it often means

[47:43] a lot of dialogue and overly complex

[47:45] explanations that I think Mapper

[47:47] actually did a pretty good job of

[47:49] adapting. I think the team genuinely

[47:50] handled this specific fight as well as

[47:53] they possibly could have by basically

[47:55] making the dialogue and explanationheavy

[47:57] moments much easier to understand with

[47:59] simple diagrams and then keeping the

[48:01] viewers engaged in between these moments

[48:03] by dialing up the animation to 11. The

[48:06] entire first half of this episode feels

[48:08] like it goes through this constant cycle

[48:09] of explanation and then wellan animated

[48:12] action and then more explanation and

[48:14] then more well-animated action. Like

[48:15] sure, they didn't need to be making

[48:17] these stupidly dynamic almost

[48:20] utaponesesque scenes for a fight like

[48:21] this one, but doing so is a really great

[48:24] way of keeping your attention because of

[48:26] how dialogueheavy the rest of it can

[48:27] get. Okay, maybe I haven't really

[48:29] explained this in the best possible way,

[48:30] but I can summarize by saying the

[48:32] episode was structured and storyboarded

[48:34] really well. so that we didn't get

[48:36] bored. That's basically the gist of it.

[48:38] We might have been confused with the

[48:39] information, sure, but not bored. At

[48:41] least I definitely wasn't. Anyway,

[48:43] Megumi tests out his hypothesis by using

[48:45] his rabbits and seeing what they can

[48:47] reach. He then comes to the conclusion

[48:48] that Kurara marks cursed energy with a

[48:51] star from a specific constellation. And

[48:53] then later on in the episode, he works

[48:54] out that in order to reach a location

[48:56] marked with a star, you need to first go

[48:58] past all of the other stars in the

[49:00] correct order. That's the bare bones

[49:01] basics of it. But don't ask me more than

[49:03] that because it just breaks my brain

[49:05] every time I put too much thought into

[49:06] it. I don't know. Like, go watch the

[49:08] episode. I'm not here to break down how

[49:09] the technique works. I want to glaze the

[49:11] animation. Now, from the moment this

[49:12] fight began in the anime, the OST just

[49:15] started absolutely cooking. Like, so far

[49:17] in season 3, the music has definitely

[49:19] been very bold. It's very brave choices,

[49:22] but I'm really appreciating it so far.

[49:24] It is working. And god, I love the

[49:26] tension built by that synthetic voom

[49:29] sound when Megumi tests Kurara's

[49:31] reaction to saying her technique

[49:32] resembles the southern cross. That this

[49:34] was definitely a highlight for me. That

[49:35] that little was just oh, it was it added

[49:38] such a nice little element that I didn't

[49:40] think that scene even really needed.

[49:41] Directly after this scene, we also get a

[49:43] really wholesome anime only visual of

[49:45] Megumi's sister, Sumaki, showing Megumi

[49:48] the Southern Cross when they were kids.

[49:49] And honestly, watching that one little

[49:51] it's it's genuinely like a second long,

[49:53] but watching that one little scene made

[49:55] me like feel really strange because it

[49:57] it looks so far removed from JJK. I hope

[50:00] they do more stuff like this because

[50:01] even Gage himself has acknowledged the

[50:03] slight lack of substance from Sumaki and

[50:05] Megumi's relationship. Also, I'm sorry,

[50:07] but what the is Panda doing, bro? Like,

[50:10] you you guys ask why I hate on Panda,

[50:12] but what did he actually contribute to

[50:13] this fight besides being a test dummy

[50:15] for Megumi? I mean, later on in the

[50:16] episode, once Kurara's technique is

[50:18] exposed, he still decides to try and

[50:20] throw a car that Kurara draws to him.

[50:22] Why? Because he's a [ __ ] idiot, bro.

[50:24] That's why. The scene of Panda actually

[50:25] throwing the car, though. Wow. I love

[50:27] that. I really love that scene. The

[50:29] camera movement in this episode and the

[50:31] way it tracks Megumi vaulting the

[50:32] handrail. Oh, it just looks so clean.

[50:35] Even just these simple visuals of Megum

[50:37] are beautiful. Anyway, Panda takes a

[50:39] trip into the sky and then wait coin

[50:41] coin. Look, Kura is doing a If you know,

[50:44] you know, man. If you know, you know.

[50:45] But look, that's coin. That's coin. I

[50:47] must sound like a crazy person to you

[50:48] guys. Read Kagurabachi, man. It's peak

[50:50] and and damn, like I know Kurara is

[50:52] cool, but what the hell are these mappa

[50:54] dudes thinking giving her aura like

[50:55] that? She's moving like Gojo with blue.

[50:57] I mean, that was beyond a speed blitz.

[50:58] That was just straight up ultra

[51:00] transmission or or something. I don't

[51:02] know, man. I've never watched Dragon

[51:03] Ball in it. Kurara then does some

[51:05] Magneto type shenanigans on the car to

[51:07] try and straight up murder Megumi. But

[51:09] the divine dog that has been lying in

[51:10] weight behind the wall is then launched

[51:12] towards Megumi with Kurara standing

[51:14] directly in the way exactly as he

[51:16] planned. Megumi dies out of the car,

[51:18] subdued Kurara, who canceled her

[51:20] technique, and then the car [ __ ]

[51:21] explodes for hype moments and aura

[51:23] reasons. Enough of all that though.

[51:25] Let's talk about the main event. Let's

[51:26] talk about Kinji Hikari and Yugjiadori.

[51:29] Bosch. Car blows up. Kurara finally

[51:32] agrees to help. And Yuji gets his [ __ ]

[51:34] absolutely rocked by this wife

[51:36] beaterawwearing behemoth of a man. I

[51:38] always thought Gagegeay draws Akari in a

[51:40] way that makes him look kind of small

[51:41] and stubby, but god damn, the anime

[51:44] makes this dude look like an absolute

[51:46] monster. Something else I really like

[51:48] compared to the manga, as Hakkari just

[51:49] wales on Yuji here, is that Hakkari's

[51:51] face is way more expressive than in the

[51:53] manga. He seems way more well, I mean,

[51:56] way more passionate, I guess. And the

[51:58] music and the lighting in this scene are

[52:00] just oh, they're so peak. Like, they

[52:02] create such a tense and emotional

[52:04] atmosphere. especially the music later

[52:06] on when we see Yugji get back up to give

[52:08] his cog speech. Just before Yuji gives

[52:10] his speech though, Hikari actually has

[52:11] his own little bit of very cool and

[52:13] underrated dialogue. He basically says

[52:15] Yugji is boring because being a cog that

[52:17] exercises curses simply because that's

[52:19] what he's been told to do isn't

[52:21] passionate at all and that principal

[52:22] Yaga was meant to weed out people like

[52:24] him from the school. It's in the manga,

[52:26] too. But I love this little throwaway

[52:27] comment from Hkari because he's right.

[52:29] Yaga did test Yuji way back in the

[52:31] beginning of the series to see if he had

[52:33] passion or if he was just becoming a

[52:34] sorcerer because that's what he was told

[52:36] to do. What takes Hikari probably by

[52:38] surprise though is that even with his

[52:40] sharp cursed energy and insane striking

[52:42] power, he cannot get this cog that is

[52:44] Yujiadori to stay down. Oh, and yeah,

[52:46] Hikari's got a cursed energy trait that

[52:48] makes his cursed energy feel sharp. I

[52:50] Loki thought his cursed energy would

[52:52] also be a different color, but it seems

[52:53] to just be blue. That might change later

[52:55] on in Jackpot, but who knows? Hkari

[52:57] absolutely decimates Yugji with a strong

[52:59] punch and then turns around to talk to

[53:01] Kiraara. But he clearly hasn't watched

[53:03] the show because if it's just pain, then

[53:06] Yujiadori will never quit. Ray Yuji

[53:09] pulls up behind Akari and straight up

[53:11] jump scares that man. I've never seen

[53:12] Hkari back away from anyone like that

[53:14] before. So, props to Yuji for being the

[53:16] first and the last person to do it. Yuji

[53:18] then delivers his incredible cog speech

[53:20] about how he's a cog, but he's a cog

[53:23] with a purpose, and he will not stray

[53:24] from that purpose until the day he dies.

[53:27] He must exercise curses no matter what.

[53:30] I don't know if any of you guys are

[53:31] reading JJK modulo, but uh wow, this

[53:34] this hits like 10 times harder now.

[53:36] Damn. His voice actor smashed it, and I

[53:38] love how dead pan Yuji's expression and

[53:40] voice are here. Like, there's no actual

[53:42] emotion behind it. He's just stating a

[53:44] fact. Kurara then chimes in to help

[53:46] Hikari realize that Yujiadori is

[53:48] actually a cog with passion. He is a cog

[53:50] with the fever. And for that reason,

[53:52] he's worth hearing out. The episode ends

[53:53] with Kugane pulling up to declare to

[53:56] Yuji Tadori specifically, who is already

[53:58] a player due to Sukuna that another

[53:59] player has added a rule allowing for

[54:01] player information to be shared, and

[54:03] I've just said player way too much. This

[54:05] rule was added by none other than the

[54:07] mythical Ado era farmer himself, Ahajime

[54:10] Kashimo. The only downside of this

[54:12] episode is that for whatever reason,

[54:14] Gosso decided to remove Kashimo's

[54:16] introduction panel where he's staring

[54:17] through some poor dude's donuted torso.

[54:20] Yeah, I really like that moment, but

[54:22] whatever. Instead, we just kind of see

[54:24] him in this weird crouching position

[54:25] under a bridge staring at the no-name

[54:27] droid that he seemingly just blasted.

[54:29] For anime onlyies, I'm not going to

[54:31] speak about this guy too much. Like,

[54:32] you're just going to have to wait and

[54:33] see. But for you manga readers, here's a

[54:35] cool little detail that you might have

[54:36] missed. You can actually see strands of

[54:38] gas or steam coming from the lake that

[54:40] he's sitting in due to the, you know,

[54:42] effect that his cursed energy trait has

[54:44] on the water, which is also probably

[54:46] what makes his stuff flare up as well.

[54:48] It's just another example of how much

[54:50] attention to detail Gosso and his team

[54:51] are putting into this series, man. But

[54:53] yeah, banger episode and the final prep

[54:55] episode before we finally jump into the

[54:57] actual culling games. And trust me, if

[54:59] you thought it was good now, oh my god,

[55:00] you have not seen anything yet.

[55:04] This week on Jujutsu Kaizen, Hikari

[55:07] breaks the fourth wall, Yuji hurts his

[55:09] hand, Megumi has a generational fumble,

[55:12] and Kjaku stalks children in their

[55:14] dreams. Actually, that that last one is

[55:15] like a bit mad out of context. I mean,

[55:17] even in context, it's a bit creepy and

[55:19] be real. Long story short, to explain

[55:21] Kaku's creepiness, non-scorers, such as

[55:23] Yugji's season 1 occult friends, get one

[55:26] chance to leave the colony and get

[55:27] themselves to safety. Kjaku gave special

[55:30] thanks to this one person in particular

[55:31] for being his son's friend, which has

[55:33] always made people wonder, does Kinjaku

[55:35] actually like care for Yugji as a child?

[55:38] Does he have like real maternal

[55:39] instincts? Like why has he gone out of

[55:41] his way to just thank this person for

[55:42] being Yugji's friend? I don't know. It's

[55:44] weird. It's interesting. As for how he

[55:45] invaded her dreams and leaded her out of

[55:47] the barrier in this weird world between

[55:49] worlds type of place, like God knows,

[55:52] bro. Like just don't think too hard

[55:54] about it. All right. Just just accept

[55:55] it, bro. Oh. Oh, wait, though. What?

[55:57] What's that in the background? Wait,

[55:58] that looks sick. I I I hope we come back

[56:00] to that for whatever reason, you know,

[56:02] later on cuz that that looks cool.

[56:04] Anyway, Isizo Isizo then blesses our

[56:06] ears again and we cut back to Hikari and

[56:08] the gang who are having a little yap

[56:10] session again. 99% of this is just a

[56:12] onetoone with the manga as Hkari shows

[56:14] disbelief that Gojo was sealed. Hand

[56:16] tells everybody about Yaga's death. And

[56:18] then Hikari explains his desire to well,

[56:21] long story short again, he just wants to

[56:23] expand his sorcerer fight club to all of

[56:25] Japan. The 1% of this that isn't

[56:27] faithful to the manga is um the

[56:30] hilarious moment where Hikari just hears

[56:32] Megumi say that he's the head of the Zen

[56:34] clan and can help him achieve his Fight

[56:35] Club goal and then basically just

[56:37] straight up break the fourth wall into

[56:39] little pieces in this little fang girl

[56:41] freakout moment. I was I was dying when

[56:43] he turned on his heels and made that

[56:44] cutesy face that he pulled in the manga.

[56:46] It's so funny. That bro is really doing

[56:48] tricks on it after beating up his friend

[56:50] right in front of him because he wants

[56:52] the fight club that badly. Bro has no

[56:54] shame. I lowkey respect it. Okay, then.

[56:56] Like, so, do these guys walk down the

[56:59] stairs in the manga? No. Did Mappa

[57:01] choose to include this sequence because

[57:03] they like flexing their artistic talent

[57:05] to every possible turn? Yes. And

[57:07] speaking of artistic talents, oh my

[57:10] days, the art in this episode is unreal.

[57:13] The aesthetic, the atmosphere, the

[57:15] insane sense of scale that Mapper

[57:17] achieved when showing the colonies and

[57:18] how desolate the streets are is, well,

[57:21] it's insane. And obviously the

[57:23] incredible OST only just helps elevate

[57:25] that feeling. Seriously, man, it looks

[57:27] so goddamn good. Like they're in broad

[57:29] daylight right now, but the tension is

[57:31] still incredibly high because of these

[57:33] very wide shots of the empty and

[57:35] desolate road that Fushiguru and Itidori

[57:37] are walking down. You see the huge scale

[57:39] of the city and the barriers. Yet, until

[57:41] they actually enter the colony itself,

[57:42] the place seems like a ghost town,

[57:44] almost as if Yuji and Megumi are the

[57:45] only people left in the world. So, yeah,

[57:47] I think the art and composition is

[57:49] definitely the highlight of this episode

[57:50] for me. You know, the whole thing had

[57:52] such a unique atmosphere and I really

[57:53] liked it. In fact, it was actually so

[57:56] good that my anime only friends who

[57:58] forever just complain about anytime

[58:00] Jiu-Jitsu Kaisen gets slightly

[58:01] dialogueheavy. Any yap sesh without a

[58:03] fight, they're complaining. Yeah,

[58:04] they're those kind of people. But they

[58:06] actually enjoyed this episode, which

[58:07] means yeah, it was it was that good, you

[58:09] know. Anyway, enough glazing for now.

[58:11] I'll continue to yap about the quality

[58:12] and other specific moments shortly. But

[58:15] first of all, a very brief TLDDR of the

[58:17] current situation because the culling

[58:18] game rules and objectives can be a bit

[58:20] complicated thanks to Gagege having just

[58:22] major overexplaining syndrome. To enjoy

[58:24] the culling games, you really don't need

[58:26] to memorize all of the rules. You get

[58:28] points for killing people. You can spend

[58:30] 100 points to add a rule within reason.

[58:32] If you refuse to participate or your

[58:34] points don't change for 19 days, you

[58:36] just spontaneously collapse and die of

[58:38] death. Very simple. This player called

[58:40] Kashimo spent 100 points to add a rule

[58:42] revealing player information to all

[58:44] players, which is good for us because as

[58:46] Megumi geniusly points out, they can now

[58:48] track down players with over 100 points

[58:50] that haven't yet created rules, beat

[58:52] them up, and then force them to make

[58:54] rules for us. There are a few rules that

[58:56] they need to make, but the most

[58:57] important one right now is allowing

[58:59] players to transfer points between each

[59:01] other because that way they don't have

[59:03] to kill anybody and Megumi can at least

[59:05] then transfer Sumaki a couple points to

[59:07] reset her 19-day countdown to death.

[59:09] Simple, right? Like it's simple. Load up

[59:11] the game, select battle royale, drop the

[59:13] battle bus, hunt down the top ranked

[59:15] players, victory royale. Easy. The

[59:18] calling game is literally as simple as

[59:19] Apex Legends or Fortnite, bro. Like, at

[59:21] least for now, it is. We can worry about

[59:23] the complex stuff much much later on. So

[59:25] yeah, the player that Megumi and Yuji

[59:27] actually choose to hunt down is called

[59:28] Higoruma sorry Higuruma Hiomi. He has

[59:32] 100 points and he has not yet created a

[59:34] rule. So he is the perfect candidate.

[59:35] Yugji and Megumi will track him down and

[59:37] Hkari decides that he will go and face

[59:39] Kashimo since that guy seems to be way

[59:41] too strong for Yuji or Megumi to

[59:43] currently deal with. Yeah, that is Loki

[59:45] Hkari aura. Not going to lie. The scene

[59:47] of them actually entering the barrier is

[59:48] really damn cool though. Especially the

[59:50] part where Megumi knocks on the barrier

[59:52] and it makes like this really nice

[59:54] metallic echoey sound which I feel like

[59:56] reinforces you know just how solid and

[59:59] and impenetrable these barriers actually

[1:00:01] are. I feel like sometimes they look a

[1:00:02] bit you know kind of just there but this

[1:00:04] really reinforces how how strong these

[1:00:06] things are. They are a barrier. The

[1:00:08] transition from Yugji walking into the

[1:00:09] barrier to him falling straight down was

[1:00:11] really well done. But damn, like imagine

[1:00:13] you were just a f sorcerer that had no

[1:00:15] way of surviving like a fall from this

[1:00:17] height. Everyone knows when you play

[1:00:18] these video games, bro, how embarrassing

[1:00:20] it is to die of full damage. You're

[1:00:21] telling me sorcerers have to deal with

[1:00:22] that off rip. Before he hits the ground

[1:00:24] though, Bosch jet hair lady slams him

[1:00:26] through a building in an awesomely

[1:00:28] animated shot which leads to a sick

[1:00:30] sequence where Yuji regains his balance

[1:00:32] and runs to the edge of the scaffolding.

[1:00:34] And damn, I have been watching Yuji

[1:00:36] getting slammed by this woman in

[1:00:37] ninjistic ninja's calling game MMV for

[1:00:39] literal years at this point. It It's so

[1:00:42] weird to finally see this, you know, be

[1:00:43] animated properly. And the anime really

[1:00:45] didn't hold back. like she looks strong.

[1:00:47] Oh no, never mind. Nope, she got taken

[1:00:49] out by a rock. Good job, Eugi. Jet

[1:00:51] lady's man then pulls up whose real name

[1:00:52] is Hubba, but we're going to call him

[1:00:54] helicopter man because that's exactly

[1:00:55] what he is. I mean, this dude really

[1:00:57] just pulled the short straw here. You've

[1:00:58] got techniques in the verse like the 10

[1:01:00] shadows, ratio, idol transfiguration,

[1:01:02] auspicious beast summon, but nah, this

[1:01:04] dude was born with an MHA background

[1:01:06] character's quirk. That's just unlucky.

[1:01:08] Still though, it does seem pretty

[1:01:09] deadly, especially when it comes racing

[1:01:11] towards Yugji as a life-sized blender. I

[1:01:13] mean, how the hell is Yugji going to

[1:01:14] survive? Oh. Oh, okay. No. Like, what

[1:01:17] the [ __ ] That was That was sick. It

[1:01:19] makes no sense at all. Like, how is Yuji

[1:01:20] fitting through that? I don't get it.

[1:01:22] But it's still sick. It's dope. It looks

[1:01:24] really cool. I mean, screw physics, bro.

[1:01:25] Like, this is anime. We don't really do

[1:01:26] that here. Just don't even question it,

[1:01:28] you know? Now, I really like this shot

[1:01:29] of Yuji being thrown out the back of the

[1:01:31] building. Uh, because I have a weird

[1:01:33] soft spot for like distorted close-up

[1:01:35] POVs like this. And also, this is the

[1:01:37] scene where I properly realize just how

[1:01:39] beautiful the background art really is.

[1:01:41] Like, just look at the sky and look at

[1:01:42] the cold purple bluish vibe they got

[1:01:44] going on. It's really nice to look at.

[1:01:46] To finally end the fight, Yugji figures

[1:01:47] that hitting helicopter man on the head

[1:01:49] with strong punch should definitely do

[1:01:51] the trick, which it did. Like low key,

[1:01:53] the manga almost kind of had you

[1:01:54] wondering if Yuji just straight up

[1:01:56] killed these guys because they are out

[1:01:57] cold. And all he got was some bloody

[1:01:59] knuckles. And I do really like the way

[1:02:00] that he tried to like, you know, shake

[1:02:02] off the pain. It looks really natural,

[1:02:03] which I guess I should just expect at

[1:02:05] this point because the character acting

[1:02:07] has been amazing so far. Now to fill in

[1:02:09] some gaps very quickly though. Ren

[1:02:10] Amayi. He's a dude who knows Itidori

[1:02:12] from back in the day and he is an

[1:02:14] awakened player that was working with

[1:02:15] the vehicle head people. It's honestly

[1:02:17] kind of messed up. They were just

[1:02:18] blatantly spawn camping people and

[1:02:20] attacking them as they fell on Amaya's

[1:02:22] signal. Now, Megumi actually landed safe

[1:02:23] and sound in the company of a very

[1:02:25] annoying but undeniably attractive

[1:02:27] scorpion tail-haired lady who claims to

[1:02:29] know where Higuruma is, but will only

[1:02:31] take Megumi there if he becomes her

[1:02:33] knight and shining armor. Yeah, this

[1:02:35] girl has clearly not read the source

[1:02:36] material because Megumi is not moved one

[1:02:39] millimeter by her seductive tactics. She

[1:02:41] tries getting all flirty with Megumi, to

[1:02:43] which Megumi's internal response is, "I

[1:02:46] ain't like Yugji, [ __ ] I'll [ __ ] kill

[1:02:48] you to get these points and he means

[1:02:49] it." The episode then ends on a

[1:02:51] cliffhanger where Amay tells Yugji that

[1:02:53] Higuruma is in Ikabukuro and Remy tells

[1:02:55] Megumi that Higuruma is in Shinjuku. As

[1:02:57] the split pathway imagery was alluding

[1:02:59] to for the entire episode until this

[1:03:01] moment, one of them is obviously lying

[1:03:03] and leading either Megumi or Yugji into

[1:03:05] a trap. Looking at these two though, I

[1:03:07] think anybody who thinks with their

[1:03:08] first head and not their second head can

[1:03:10] figure out who the yapper is. Anyway, W

[1:03:12] episode as expected. I just I loved the

[1:03:14] like sense of scale that was going on

[1:03:16] when we saw the barriers. And I also

[1:03:18] just love the crazy atmosphere that was

[1:03:20] built up in this episode. It was really

[1:03:21] damn good. Now, unfortunately, the anime

[1:03:23] is on break next week, but once it

[1:03:24] returns, it is going to be straight

[1:03:26] banger after banger for the rest of the

[1:03:28] season. I mean, and I know it kind of

[1:03:29] already is, but even more so than usual.

[1:03:31] So, yeah. As always, make sure to like,

[1:03:33] sub, thanks for watching, and I will see

[1:03:34] you in a bit. Okay, I lied. Video is not

[1:03:36] over cuz I realized as I finished

[1:03:38] recording that I have something very

[1:03:39] important to talk about. Hikari's dub.

[1:03:42] There was a lot of doubt online about

[1:03:43] Yuri being given the role of Akari

[1:03:45] because obviously, you know, we know him

[1:03:47] for voicing like Sasuke and Ben from

[1:03:49] Alien Force, which a lot of people heard

[1:03:51] those voices and were like, "Nah,

[1:03:52] there's no way that fits Akari." I think

[1:03:54] it sounds dope. He really captures like

[1:03:55] the nonchalant vibe, the way he's

[1:03:57] talking to Yugji. I think it does fit

[1:03:59] him. I think I look at him and I go,

[1:04:00] "Yeah, I believe he has that voice." He

[1:04:02] sounds like a teenage delinquent. That's

[1:04:04] what he sounds like. A young teenage

[1:04:05] delinquent. I know people are going to

[1:04:07] want him to sound like Zoro or Keachi or

[1:04:09] something, but like I don't know. I I I

[1:04:11] liked it. I thought it did fit and I'm

[1:04:12] really looking forward to his stuff. So

[1:04:14] yeah, don't judge a book by its cover,

[1:04:16] man. I really like it. It's nowhere near

[1:04:18] as out of place as people said it would

[1:04:19] be. It's dope. Sorry, I wanted to yap

[1:04:21] about that real quick cuz I think voice

[1:04:23] actors deserve way more respect than

[1:04:24] they get. And I honestly think he killed

[1:04:26] it. So Yuri, you're never going to see

[1:04:27] this video, but in case you do, you

[1:04:29] [ __ ] killed it, mate. All right, I

[1:04:30] like it.

[1:04:33] Oh my god, the bruh. Look at Yuji hook

[1:04:36] kick this man. I know it happens like

[1:04:38] halfway through the episode, but I'm too

[1:04:39] impatient to reach that part in my

[1:04:41] review. I need to talk about it right

[1:04:43] now. Look at how good this looks. What

[1:04:45] the hell, man? Nah, bro. The rotoscoped

[1:04:47] character acting in JK season 3 is

[1:04:49] actually ridiculous. It's added so much

[1:04:51] like source to this already sourced up

[1:04:54] anime. Sure, some crazy stuff happens in

[1:04:56] this episode, but this one little

[1:04:57] flashback scene of Yuji aura farming on

[1:04:59] some high school bullies, it's just

[1:05:01] living rentree in my head. Like, I

[1:05:03] actually just can't stop watching it.

[1:05:05] [clears throat] But anyway, I'll

[1:05:06] actually get into my review of the

[1:05:07] episode now before my retention starts

[1:05:09] declining steeper than Higuruma's knows.

[1:05:12] Today was a big day for Jiujutsu Kaizen.

[1:05:14] And to be honest, the more I think about

[1:05:16] it, the more the idea of an anime only

[1:05:18] who has never heard of the amazing

[1:05:20] lawyer/genius that is Heromi Higuruma.

[1:05:22] It's kind of hilarious to think about

[1:05:24] because like you must have been so

[1:05:25] confused when the opening shot of the

[1:05:27] episode was a grown ass man in a bathtub

[1:05:30] fully clothed on a theater stage with a

[1:05:32] note on a projector reading in Japan

[1:05:34] 99.9% of criminal trials end in a guilty

[1:05:37] verdict. Like that's so weird. That's

[1:05:39] such a weird way to open an episode. It

[1:05:41] must have had so many of you confused,

[1:05:42] bro. But to be fair, as funny as this

[1:05:44] seems at first, we soon learn that the

[1:05:47] context is really depressing. Not the

[1:05:49] like, "Oh my god, that's so sad. I'm

[1:05:51] going to cry kind of depressing. More so

[1:05:54] the oh oh my days man humanity is so

[1:05:57] screwed. How did it ever come to this?

[1:05:59] What is even the point anymore? It's

[1:06:00] that kind of depressing. His backstory

[1:06:02] starts with Hearuma being a normal 9 to5

[1:06:05] lawyer in Japan which had my anime only

[1:06:07] friends, you know, asking me if we were

[1:06:09] still watching JJK because yeah, this

[1:06:11] all feels way more grounded in reality

[1:06:14] than what we normally get from this

[1:06:15] show. Which I guess is kind of the

[1:06:17] point, right? It's a commentary on the

[1:06:18] exhausting injustice of, ironically, the

[1:06:21] Japanese judicial system. But to be

[1:06:23] honest, the message does kind of apply

[1:06:25] to a lot of countries, not just Japan.

[1:06:27] Now, I personally I I love I love this

[1:06:30] backstory because it begins with the

[1:06:32] case of this MPC who is found in

[1:06:34] possession of the murder weapon used in

[1:06:36] a recent killing. Basically, all of the

[1:06:38] evidence is like stacked against him,

[1:06:40] which would usually mean the case is

[1:06:41] relatively open and shut. Any normal

[1:06:43] defense lawyer would do what they could

[1:06:45] to get paid. But none of them would

[1:06:46] actually care enough about upholding

[1:06:48] justice to even consider the possibility

[1:06:50] that he was innocent because it seemed

[1:06:52] so, you know, implausible. Except

[1:06:54] Higuruma is no ordinary lawyer. Money

[1:06:57] does not drive him. He believes in

[1:06:59] justice and works himself to the bone,

[1:07:01] as I'm sure you can see from the way he

[1:07:02] looks, to ensure that all his clients

[1:07:04] get what they deserve, which is why he

[1:07:06] keeps looking into his client's story

[1:07:08] despite his assistant telling him that

[1:07:10] it's a waste of time. Now, when we hear

[1:07:12] the NPC's full account from Higaruma,

[1:07:14] suddenly him being innocent becomes a

[1:07:16] lot more believable. And what I I really

[1:07:18] love about this is that we never

[1:07:20] actually find out if that one guy was

[1:07:22] innocent or not because that isn't the

[1:07:24] point. The point is that Higuruma cared

[1:07:26] enough to look into the possibility that

[1:07:27] he was innocent because that's what it

[1:07:29] takes to achieve real justice. The next

[1:07:31] case that we see in the flashback kind

[1:07:33] of dives deeper into this idea because

[1:07:35] long story short, it exposes how the

[1:07:37] Japanese judicial system is basically

[1:07:39] pay to win. Despite all of the work to

[1:07:41] try and achieve true fair justice for

[1:07:43] the defendant, the outcome was decided

[1:07:45] from the very beginning and that made

[1:07:47] Higuruma mad as [ __ ] Around the same

[1:07:50] time as all of this going down though,

[1:07:52] you know, Kjaku conveniently started the

[1:07:54] culling games in Shabuya and caused

[1:07:56] people all across Japan to awaken cursed

[1:07:58] techniques. One of those people of

[1:08:00] course being Heromi Higaruma. So once

[1:08:02] his defendant had his initial, you know,

[1:08:04] ruling overturned and had been given a

[1:08:06] life [ __ ] sentence, Heromi Higaruma

[1:08:09] lost it. And oh my god, what a sequence.

[1:08:12] Look at this art, bro. This the kind of

[1:08:15] face that I'd see from my parents in the

[1:08:16] rear view mirror if I turn the roof

[1:08:18] light on in the car. You know, you get

[1:08:20] me? Yeah. You You get me? You get me?

[1:08:22] And then we just hear him start banging

[1:08:24] a gavvel on the desk, which was such a

[1:08:26] dope way to build like anticipation and

[1:08:28] tension for the reveal of his judgment

[1:08:31] shikami, which is somehow even creepier

[1:08:33] in the anime than in the manga.

[1:08:35] Especially later on when we see how it

[1:08:37] kind of like emerges from the tub that

[1:08:39] Higuruma is in. Like its face pops out

[1:08:41] of the water. Oh, that's so cool. But

[1:08:43] anyway, yeah, Higuruma locks in.

[1:08:45] Everyone come back. We're having a

[1:08:47] retrial. And then we cut to the

[1:08:49] announcement of Higuruma as an awakened

[1:08:51] culling game player for the halfway mark

[1:08:53] in the episode. Holy peak. Things then

[1:08:55] basically pick up where we left off last

[1:08:57] episode with Ren Amay telling Yuji that

[1:08:59] Higuruma is in Ikabukuro and that stupid

[1:09:02] bit that Remy chick telling Megumi that

[1:09:03] Higuruma is in Shinjjuku. And by the

[1:09:06] way, the point of this little flashback

[1:09:07] scene where you know the show suddenly

[1:09:09] becomes windbreaker is to show how Amay

[1:09:12] kind of like looks up to Yugji in a way

[1:09:14] because Yugji refuses to just be a

[1:09:15] bystander. Yuguji literally goes out of

[1:09:17] his way to help people, which is very

[1:09:19] relevant to what we saw from Higuruma

[1:09:20] earlier in the episode. Some food for

[1:09:22] thought. Anyway, time to glaze the

[1:09:24] production of this episode. Yeah, don't

[1:09:25] worry. I haven't forgotten because oh my

[1:09:27] god, this was this was actually mad. All

[1:09:29] right, again, I love the rotoscope

[1:09:31] character acting in season 3. The way

[1:09:32] Yuji is just like effortlessly dodging

[1:09:34] their attacks and the way he throws

[1:09:36] those kicks, it looks so dope. I love

[1:09:37] it. It really does look like a real

[1:09:39] person is doing them, which I guess is

[1:09:40] kind of the point of rotoscoping. But

[1:09:42] yeah, it really does make a huge

[1:09:43] difference. The most impressive thing

[1:09:45] about this episode by far though that a

[1:09:46] lot of you may not actually know is that

[1:09:48] the entire thing was animated by one

[1:09:51] person kind of Koki Fujimoto. He acted

[1:09:54] as the sole key animator for this

[1:09:56] masterclass of an episode which means he

[1:09:58] did the vast I mean I say vast majority

[1:10:01] pretty much all of the animating work

[1:10:02] for every single sequence. To kind of

[1:10:05] put that in perspective, the last

[1:10:06] episode and most other episodes have

[1:10:08] around 20 primary key animators working

[1:10:11] on it. This episode had one. Yeah, sure,

[1:10:14] there were still like around 30 second

[1:10:15] key animators to help finish up the

[1:10:17] work, but most of the workload fell to

[1:10:19] just him, which is insane. And if you

[1:10:21] have a key eye for this kind of stuff,

[1:10:22] then you might actually be able to tell

[1:10:24] by just watching it because the scenes

[1:10:25] with lots of movement are animated

[1:10:27] beautifully. But there are also just way

[1:10:29] more still shots and slow pans that are

[1:10:31] there to kind of reduce the workload and

[1:10:33] effectively cut corners so that the

[1:10:34] higher priority scenes can get more

[1:10:36] attention. That's why one minute you

[1:10:38] have, you know, a very long-lasting

[1:10:39] still shot of a building and then the

[1:10:41] next you have this unbelievable like

[1:10:43] firsterson POV shot of the uh the

[1:10:45] defendant looking at his handcuffs

[1:10:46] looking at the floor and we have even

[1:10:48] more 2D environments as we're moving

[1:10:50] forward for no reason other than like

[1:10:52] you know the artist flexing their

[1:10:54] artistry and maybe in like other anime

[1:10:56] like your average anime it would be more

[1:10:58] noticeable but JJK season 3's background

[1:11:01] art and composition is just so [ __ ]

[1:11:03] good that even when I look at you know a

[1:11:05] city or a building for more than 10

[1:11:07] seconds, it still feels engaging. It's

[1:11:09] just nice to look at. Oh, and the music

[1:11:10] in this episode incredible. Like the

[1:11:13] music in Higuruma's backstory, it kind

[1:11:14] of reminded me slightly of uh By the

[1:11:16] Pool from Chainsaw Man, you know? But

[1:11:18] yeah, just the whole thing, the

[1:11:19] background art, phenomenal. You know,

[1:11:20] the way we cut from the kind of

[1:11:21] desaturated, very normal, grounded in

[1:11:24] reality look of Higuruma's life to then

[1:11:26] the sort of like purple bluish, very

[1:11:28] very cold kind of aesthetic that we have

[1:11:31] in the barrier in present time in the

[1:11:33] culling games kind of separates the

[1:11:34] first part of the episode from the

[1:11:36] second, right? Like it's two completely

[1:11:37] different worlds that I feel like we're

[1:11:39] we're living in, which can kind of maybe

[1:11:40] represent the way that, you know, Ten

[1:11:42] said Kenjaku has moved Japan across to

[1:11:45] the other side. We've gone from reality

[1:11:47] into this this [ __ ] up jiu-jitsu world

[1:11:49] that Kjaku has created. Or maybe I'm

[1:11:51] just looking into that and they like the

[1:11:52] color blue. I don't know. But then yeah,

[1:11:54] we also have these like amazing shots

[1:11:56] of, you know, the defendant walking down

[1:11:57] the hallway with that 2D environment

[1:11:59] that we saw in the Hikari introduction

[1:12:01] episode for no real reason other than it

[1:12:03] looking dope. Again, the first person

[1:12:05] POV, the amazing art of Higuruma's eye.

[1:12:07] Even just that scene later on in the

[1:12:09] episode of Higuruma dramatically walking

[1:12:11] towards Yugji down the stairs is like

[1:12:13] it's just done so well that it makes up

[1:12:15] for the you know still shots throughout

[1:12:16] the episode. Anyway, the rest of the

[1:12:18] episode is basically a mix of Megumi and

[1:12:20] Yugji arriving at their destinations and

[1:12:22] finding out that they have either been

[1:12:23] tricked or that they have found their

[1:12:25] target. As expected, Megumi was the one

[1:12:27] who got tricked, but thank God he did

[1:12:29] because Megumi versus Jojo's side

[1:12:31] character 42 is actually a generational

[1:12:33] fight that is going to be hard to hate

[1:12:34] on no matter how strong your anti agenda

[1:12:37] is. That fight is going to have to wait

[1:12:39] for the moment though because first

[1:12:41] Yugji is confronting Higuruma who has,

[1:12:43] you know, been found lying in a bathtub

[1:12:45] fully clothed in a theater that he has

[1:12:47] made his base of operations for the

[1:12:49] culling game. And oh my god, bro, like

[1:12:51] Higuruma's voice actor was just cracking

[1:12:53] me up in this scene. Listen to his laugh

[1:12:56] after he tells this dad joke. Jokes

[1:12:58] aside though, the lighting and

[1:13:00] composition on this entire sequence is

[1:13:02] amazing. The way he's just like sat

[1:13:03] there playing with the water with wide

[1:13:05] eyes makes him look it makes him look

[1:13:07] deranged. Like he's he's a grownass man

[1:13:09] in a suit sat in a bathtub in a theater

[1:13:11] playing with water like he's four years

[1:13:12] old, bro. It's just it's crazy. He's out

[1:13:15] of his mind. And it's, you know, the

[1:13:17] whole scene is so desaturated. And it

[1:13:19] all just further reinforces how

[1:13:20] depressing and lost this character is.

[1:13:22] It's amazing. His reasoning for

[1:13:24] rejecting Yuji's proposal of using his

[1:13:26] points to create a rule to stop killing

[1:13:28] also interested me a lot when I read it

[1:13:30] in the manga because, you know, he's

[1:13:32] obviously unaware of Kjaku's true goal.

[1:13:34] But even when Yuji says that the game

[1:13:35] will eventually lead to everybody's

[1:13:37] death, his logic for like calling

[1:13:38] [ __ ] on that is completely sound.

[1:13:40] It's actually so sound that even Yugji

[1:13:42] questions himself. You see, the calling

[1:13:44] game is built to literally make sure

[1:13:46] that the game isn't forcefully ended

[1:13:48] even by Kjaku. So it starts begging the

[1:13:50] question, you know, what has Kjaku got

[1:13:52] planned to actually beat the rules of

[1:13:54] his own game? Higuruma's interest in the

[1:13:56] calling game and jiu-jitsu as a whole

[1:13:58] being, you know, a way to force an

[1:14:00] unbiased justice upon Japan is really

[1:14:02] interesting. And to be honest, I can

[1:14:04] definitely see where he's coming from

[1:14:05] with the concept of it. But the Colin

[1:14:07] Games itself is obviously just too

[1:14:09] brutal to actually work. Still, his

[1:14:10] interest in a system that delivers

[1:14:12] forceful, unbiased justice automatically

[1:14:15] is kind of valid, especially, you know,

[1:14:17] given what he's seen from the judicial

[1:14:19] system of humans. I'm getting sick of

[1:14:21] saying judicial. Like, it's just a

[1:14:22] difficult word to say in a script. Where

[1:14:24] I think Higurumi's character really

[1:14:26] shines, though, is when he's clashing

[1:14:27] with Yujiadori, the judgment versus the

[1:14:30] judged. It creates for an incredibly

[1:14:32] interesting dynamic that unfortunately

[1:14:33] we're not going to see until next

[1:14:34] episode. So, the anime only are going to

[1:14:36] have to, you know, wait for the payoff

[1:14:37] of this episode. But trust me, it's so

[1:14:39] going to be worth it. And then when

[1:14:40] Higuruma gets out of the tub in response

[1:14:42] to Yugji's threat, like the theater

[1:14:44] lights just change to to neon, red, and

[1:14:46] blue, which I guess can only be

[1:14:48] explained by saying it was divine

[1:14:51] intervention because of how much aura

[1:14:52] there currently is in this theater.

[1:14:54] Seriously though, the last time we got

[1:14:55] the red and blue neon lights in a fight

[1:14:57] was Yuji versus Choso. So, I am

[1:14:58] expecting some serious peak next

[1:15:00] episode. Hearuma walks ominously towards

[1:15:02] Yugji and then the OST just starts

[1:15:04] cooking. of I can't play it cuz you know

[1:15:06] copyright but just just imagine that I

[1:15:07] am yeah drums guitar absolute s wait is

[1:15:12] that [ __ ] domain expansion off rip

[1:15:14] bro what we even doing here yeah bro no

[1:15:16] no no wonder this dude tore through half

[1:15:18] the players in this colony already man

[1:15:19] is clearly a beast god the domain also

[1:15:21] just looks so dope like especially with

[1:15:24] him banging that hammer again bro it's

[1:15:26] it's so cool and and speaking of him

[1:15:28] looking dope listen when it comes to

[1:15:29] this character you know what the JGK

[1:15:31] fandom is like right I just know the

[1:15:33] gojo figure incident side of the fandom

[1:15:35] is gooning so hard to this bro. Hell,

[1:15:38] some of you are probably gooning to him

[1:15:39] while watching this video. Freaky ass

[1:15:40] [ __ ] But yeah, to be continued.

[1:15:44] Hey, this is editor Alons here just

[1:15:46] interrupting real quick. So, this next

[1:15:48] episode review basically features my

[1:15:50] face cam instead of the normal, you

[1:15:52] know, suka shaking image. Don't worry,

[1:15:54] it's literally just for this episode.

[1:15:56] The compilation will go back to normal

[1:15:58] after we're done with this one. I was

[1:16:00] just messing around, you know, to see

[1:16:01] whether it would make things easier for

[1:16:03] me, but it didn't, so I dropped it. And

[1:16:04] uh, yeah, that's why you will now see my

[1:16:06] face. Gay Akatami, the writer of

[1:16:08] Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen, basically just put two

[1:16:10] men in a room with a bathtub, gave it to

[1:16:13] Mappa, and said, "Make peak fiction."

[1:16:15] And there's actually an old Jiujitsu

[1:16:17] Kaizen saying that explains exactly how

[1:16:19] they were able to create such an amazing

[1:16:21] episode. It's a phrase of great power

[1:16:24] and wisdom. Go cinema, bro. Yeah, that

[1:16:27] intro line took me like 20 minutes to

[1:16:29] come up with. By the way, I I didn't

[1:16:30] even know how to start this video. Like,

[1:16:32] I've been sat here staring at a blank

[1:16:34] page for 20 minutes trying to think of

[1:16:37] something witty or even just find the

[1:16:39] words to describe what the actual f what

[1:16:41] in the actual world I've just watched.

[1:16:44] So, you know what? I'm just going to say

[1:16:46] this. I think Yuji versus Higuruma is

[1:16:49] the best fight in Jiu-Jitsu Kaisen's

[1:16:51] anime so far. Yeah, I said that. I'm not

[1:16:54] lying. And I won't Okay, never mind. It

[1:16:56] really doesn't hit the same when I say

[1:16:57] it. Oh, the recency bias is crazy, bro.

[1:16:59] Relax. It's not that serious. I don't

[1:17:01] care, bro. Eat a brick. Sure, Sukuna

[1:17:04] versus Maharaga is peak in terms of

[1:17:06] animation and hype, but this latest

[1:17:07] episode of season 3 just scratched an

[1:17:09] itch that the rest of the fights in the

[1:17:11] anime really just couldn't reach for me.

[1:17:13] Oh, and this is my face, by the way.

[1:17:15] Yeah, I kind of felt bad about shoveling

[1:17:17] Ryu's gifts down your throat for 10

[1:17:18] minutes every week, so I'm doing this in

[1:17:21] those moments now. You're welcome.

[1:17:23] Anyway, episode 9 of season 3 was as

[1:17:25] incredible as it was because it had the

[1:17:27] perfect blend of the only three

[1:17:29] ingredients that you ever really need to

[1:17:31] create actual peak fiction. Peak

[1:17:33] writing, peak animation, and peak music.

[1:17:36] Yes, I said music, even though it played

[1:17:38] a variant of the La song that everyone

[1:17:40] hated. And what? It was beautiful. [ __ ]

[1:17:42] had me looking like that one Kroo. Now,

[1:17:43] I'm not saying fights like Sukuna versus

[1:17:45] Maharaga and Chos versus Yuji don't have

[1:17:48] these three things, but it's all about

[1:17:49] balance. Let's start with just like the

[1:17:51] animation for example, right?

[1:17:53] Immediately as soon as the episode

[1:17:54] begins, it's on site. Domain expansion.

[1:17:57] Now, domains normally look awesome when

[1:17:59] they're expanded. Sure, they definitely

[1:18:01] don't cut corners, but in this case, we

[1:18:03] got like an entire 5-second shot of

[1:18:05] simply just the gravel floor unwinding.

[1:18:07] Why? Why? It looks so good. And then

[1:18:10] there's the art direction throughout

[1:18:11] this episode as well, which is like, you

[1:18:13] know, we do the first part, which is the

[1:18:15] whole pachinko parlor trial incident.

[1:18:17] The domain looks great. You've got this

[1:18:19] nice warm lighting, spotlights on each

[1:18:21] character, and you kind of just have fun

[1:18:23] with the moment, right? But then you cut

[1:18:25] straight back into that action sequence

[1:18:26] that follows and it's neon red with a

[1:18:29] blue spotlight that follows Yugji

[1:18:30] around. Very similar to how Yugji versus

[1:18:33] Choso did it in the bathroom, right?

[1:18:34] It's like the kind of neon red and blue

[1:18:36] contrast. And then later on when you

[1:18:38] know the episode takes a slightly dark

[1:18:40] and very depressing turn which I'll talk

[1:18:42] about in a moment. It goes back to this

[1:18:44] kind of melancholy like colder blue or

[1:18:47] greenish kind of vibe which is so sick

[1:18:50] the way that we literally change the

[1:18:51] lighting and the the colors throughout

[1:18:53] the episode depending on the tone. Now

[1:18:55] in the domain basically what happens is

[1:18:57] Yugji just figures out how it works.

[1:18:59] It's not a typical domain with a short

[1:19:01] hit. But then what's dope is in the

[1:19:02] manga we get this one panel of Yuji

[1:19:04] talking to Tangen where Ten explains,

[1:19:06] you know, what domains used to be like.

[1:19:08] This could have easily just been a

[1:19:09] silhouette saying it in like a single

[1:19:10] line, but no, it's Mappa, so he had to

[1:19:12] go overboard. All right. Yuji literally

[1:19:14] transitions from where he's standing and

[1:19:16] peels back into Tenin's domain into the

[1:19:18] flashback, right? And then the animation

[1:19:20] when Tenin like does this visual of a

[1:19:22] barrier expanding is just so good for no

[1:19:25] reason at all. And again, a very

[1:19:27] important thing about this episode, I

[1:19:28] won't get into the writing too much cuz

[1:19:30] I've already have a a massive like deep

[1:19:32] dive analysis video um on my channel of

[1:19:35] this fight. So, if you want like deep

[1:19:36] deep writing, then check that out. But

[1:19:38] what I love about this fight and that

[1:19:40] the anime absolutely nailed is the way

[1:19:42] that we set up the second half by

[1:19:44] basically making the first half kind of

[1:19:45] unserious, you know? Oh, Yugji, you've

[1:19:47] been accused of going to a pachinko

[1:19:49] parlor, which is basically a casino when

[1:19:51] you're underage. That's illegal. And

[1:19:52] Yugi's like, ah no, what should I do?

[1:19:54] and he's there shivering like a fence

[1:19:56] zombie who can't get his fix for like 3

[1:19:58] minutes, right? It's all kind of goofy.

[1:19:59] It's fun. I was laughing. My mate was

[1:20:01] laughing. It was a great time. He then

[1:20:02] comes up with his, you know, very very

[1:20:04] dumb idea where he goes, "Ah, I went in

[1:20:07] there to take a [ __ ] Didn't really pan

[1:20:08] out." He got his um cursed energy

[1:20:10] confiscated. Well, technically, no.

[1:20:12] Normally, it confiscates your technique,

[1:20:13] but then, you know, Yugji doesn't have a

[1:20:15] technique, so it kind of disabled his

[1:20:16] cursed energy instead. Obviously, at

[1:20:18] that point, Higarum would normally

[1:20:20] squash any enemy, but Yugji is built

[1:20:22] different even without cursed energy.

[1:20:24] So, he's the perfect matchup here. But

[1:20:25] yeah, that whole kind of thing happens

[1:20:27] and it's like very light-hearted and

[1:20:28] unserious and it's kind of meant to

[1:20:29] lower the viewers's guard so that later

[1:20:31] on, you know, when we get the moment, if

[1:20:34] you know, you know, it just hits like

[1:20:36] like like what? One minute you're

[1:20:38] laughing. It's like, "Oh, that's that's

[1:20:39] good." And then Eugi goes, "Yeah, I did

[1:20:40] that." And you're like, "Huh? What?

[1:20:42] Huh?" And then everything just gets like

[1:20:44] more depressing from there. That's

[1:20:45] something that the lighting actually

[1:20:46] does a really good job of portraying is

[1:20:48] the way the episode is split. You do the

[1:20:49] goofy bit and then the red action bit

[1:20:51] and then you go back to the bluer, you

[1:20:52] know, colder colors for, you know, the

[1:20:54] very sad, depressing stuff. And the

[1:20:56] music also matches as well. The way the

[1:20:57] domain turns off when Yuji gets accused.

[1:21:00] Oh my god, it just zip gone. And then

[1:21:02] Higuruma on smoke, bro. He's using that

[1:21:04] gavvel like Thor's hammer, throwing it

[1:21:05] back and forth, using the force to pull

[1:21:07] it back to him. Crazy things that never

[1:21:09] happen in the manga, bro. This fight was

[1:21:11] massively extended. And again, I'm I'm

[1:21:12] just going to say it. I think animation

[1:21:14] and choreography wise, like hand-to-hand

[1:21:16] fighting, this is the best we've got in

[1:21:17] JK. And it looks so good with that neon

[1:21:19] tint. But the the hand-to-h hand

[1:21:21] animation is ridiculous. It's so good.

[1:21:24] It's made by this entire 1 minute 30-ish

[1:21:26] cut, I think, is done by a guy called

[1:21:28] Nyion or Neon 41 who um animated that

[1:21:31] one fight everyone sees, you know, every

[1:21:33] other month on the internet from Super

[1:21:35] Cube because it's just that that good.

[1:21:37] Yeah, he cooked with this sequence, man.

[1:21:39] Oh my god, the choreography is insane,

[1:21:40] bro. Higaruma was doing things like,

[1:21:42] "Oh, Yuji blocks my hammer." Smashes it

[1:21:44] into his face. And then he's using it

[1:21:46] like a like a gum gum gatalin, bro. He's

[1:21:48] going like voom voom voom with the

[1:21:49] hammer. I'm never doing that again. But

[1:21:51] yeah, he's like doing things that Gay

[1:21:53] like didn't even dream of when writing

[1:21:55] the manga. And it's just it's amazing.

[1:21:56] He literally uses it to pull V onto the

[1:21:59] stage. Oh, it's so sick and just it's so

[1:22:01] dynamic. The way that like the fluid

[1:22:03] motion and the sucker moments are still

[1:22:05] like you can still follow them. You can

[1:22:07] still understand everything that's

[1:22:08] happening. It's incredibly fast, but not

[1:22:10] so fast that you, you know, you get lost

[1:22:12] in it. It's so good. It's ridiculous. I

[1:22:14] will say I think the Choso and Yuji

[1:22:17] fight was a bit more dynamic in terms of

[1:22:18] how they use their environment and like

[1:22:20] the POV shots and stuff, but in terms of

[1:22:22] like the actual hand-to-h hand and just

[1:22:24] the the quality of the overall animation

[1:22:26] is a different level to any. So,

[1:22:28] honestly, like honestly, it's like

[1:22:30] probably one of the best handtohand

[1:22:31] scenes I've seen in animation to be

[1:22:32] honest. And again, just like the

[1:22:33] lighting is great. We finally end up

[1:22:35] after that ridiculous sequence after

[1:22:38] Yugji slides under Higuruma's feet and

[1:22:40] kind of runs away for a bit, eventually

[1:22:42] gets him back onto the stage and then

[1:22:44] thinks of the retrial moment. So, as

[1:22:46] soon as he says retrial, bam, again,

[1:22:48] we're straight back in the domain, which

[1:22:50] I really like cuz it kind of backs the

[1:22:51] point that it's more of a rule than like

[1:22:53] a suggestion. You know, if you demand a

[1:22:55] retrial, you get a retrial whether

[1:22:56] hearuma wants to give you one or not.

[1:22:58] But then this is when the episode shifts

[1:22:59] and I was watching it with my anime

[1:23:01] anime only friend who was like, you

[1:23:02] know, we were having a good time. It was

[1:23:04] like, "Wow, that's funny." And then it

[1:23:05] was like, "Wo, that action's cool." And

[1:23:07] then Judgment says, "You've been accused

[1:23:09] of mass murder in Shabuya on October

[1:23:11] 31st." And then very simple, very

[1:23:14] onetoone panel of Eugi. Just just one

[1:23:16] frame. Yeah, I did that. I'm not lying

[1:23:18] and I won't deny it. And he's got this

[1:23:20] very matterof fact voice. It's not

[1:23:21] overly emotional. It's kind of dead.

[1:23:23] There's no music. It's completely

[1:23:24] silent, which just really makes you feel

[1:23:26] it. And obviously the evidence shows

[1:23:28] that actually it wasn't Yugji. But

[1:23:30] because he confessed, judgment

[1:23:32] immediately immediately handed out

[1:23:34] confiscation and death penalty. Hearuma

[1:23:36] had his executioner's blade pretty much

[1:23:38] instantly and was throwing hands with

[1:23:40] Yuji, but he in his mind he was confused

[1:23:42] cuz he's like, "You've said you're

[1:23:44] guilty, but the evidence says it's

[1:23:45] Sukuna, like it wasn't you." And this is

[1:23:48] amazing because not only is the like the

[1:23:51] visuals and the music in this following

[1:23:53] sequence ridiculous with that like I

[1:23:55] don't even know what to call it like

[1:23:56] beautiful kind of 360 looking shot of

[1:23:59] like Kigaruma literally flying down upon

[1:24:02] Yuji with the spotlight behind him like

[1:24:03] he's an angel coming in to strike the

[1:24:05] chairs flying around him that kind of

[1:24:07] green mist the music just like very soft

[1:24:10] very emotional a bit of the la music in

[1:24:12] there as well you know but it it looks

[1:24:14] incredible it really matches the tone

[1:24:16] but what I love about it is just the

[1:24:17] fact that Yugji is completely defying

[1:24:20] everything Higuruma stands for at the

[1:24:22] moment. You know, after being a lawyer

[1:24:23] for so long, he eventually reached the

[1:24:25] point where he snapped and decided all

[1:24:26] people are ugly and just the worst,

[1:24:29] right? Yugji really does whatever he can

[1:24:31] to help people cuz that's what his, you

[1:24:33] know, grandpa told him. He is a cog to

[1:24:35] exercise curses and to help people to

[1:24:37] save them. So, this is Yugji just being

[1:24:39] himself. And even just that is making

[1:24:42] Higuruma question everything that has

[1:24:44] led him to this point. And he's now

[1:24:45] having this moment of like, "Oh [ __ ] I

[1:24:47] killed those people." And he's

[1:24:48] realizing, "Was I was I in the wrong?"

[1:24:50] Because Yugji is disproving everything

[1:24:52] he currently believes. Obviously, there

[1:24:54] is a lot more to analyze from like I

[1:24:56] mean so much more to the point where I

[1:24:57] managed to bring Gojo into it and the

[1:24:59] future of JJK, but go watch the video

[1:25:00] for the full breakdown. But yeah, wow.

[1:25:03] the parallel between them cuz like Yugji

[1:25:05] after Shabuya so far in season 3 we

[1:25:07] haven't brought up what happened a lot

[1:25:08] and we know he feels guilty about it but

[1:25:10] it's kind of been gatekeep from us

[1:25:12] because we've been saving it for this

[1:25:13] moment where Yuji just gets his like you

[1:25:15] know judgment judges him you killed

[1:25:17] those people in Shabuya and he finally

[1:25:19] has to come to terms with that against

[1:25:20] the lawyer player in the culling games

[1:25:22] which is so so dope and I feel like

[1:25:24] Higuruma and Yuji in their own right

[1:25:26] stand apart but also they have a great

[1:25:28] dynamic and it it's just beautiful all

[1:25:30] around so yeah incredible scene the

[1:25:32] music just cooks. Hearuma's flying in

[1:25:34] like an angel. Eugi's shirtless. I I I

[1:25:37] can't remember why. I think he throws

[1:25:38] his shirt at Hearuma for distraction or

[1:25:40] something. I don't know, man. And then

[1:25:42] at the last second, Hearuma gets rid of

[1:25:44] the executioner's blade. And then Yuji

[1:25:47] realizes and decides to punch him in the

[1:25:48] gut anyway, which is a bit of a dick

[1:25:49] move, but whatever. We all end up happy.

[1:25:51] Well, not happy. It's actually very

[1:25:52] depressing. Hearuma realized he killed

[1:25:54] innocent people and then wants to turn

[1:25:56] himself in and just realize he's given

[1:25:57] up his life forever. But whatever, it's

[1:25:59] about redemption for him. It's great

[1:26:01] though cuz in the end he realizes, you

[1:26:02] know what, Yugji, I can't I can't

[1:26:04] actually fight you. I can't with good

[1:26:06] conscience kill you. You've turned me

[1:26:07] back into what I used to be before, you

[1:26:09] know, the uh the corruption of the

[1:26:10] justice system destroyed me. So, he's

[1:26:12] kind of helped Higuruma find who he who

[1:26:14] he was before being influenced by that,

[1:26:16] which is really nice. And yeah, so they

[1:26:18] get the transfer rule. Yuji then gets

[1:26:20] given a point, so he doesn't have to

[1:26:21] worry about the 19 days anymore. And

[1:26:22] Higuruma exits. And again, what is it

[1:26:24] with these like fights that are so peak?

[1:26:27] You know, all the best hand-to-h hand

[1:26:28] fights with the neon red and blue

[1:26:29] lighting end with an exit sign. Is that

[1:26:32] a little call back to Choso vers Yuguji?

[1:26:34] I don't know. How has it happened twice?

[1:26:35] It's weird. Anyway, I don't even know,

[1:26:37] man. The voice acting was incredible

[1:26:39] considering it was pretty much just

[1:26:40] three characters plus some flashback

[1:26:42] stuff. The art direction, and lighting

[1:26:44] was insane. It genuinely had what is

[1:26:46] probably my favorite animated

[1:26:47] hand-to-hand fight scene in JK or just

[1:26:50] fight. I think it's just one of like at

[1:26:51] least a top three cut in the whole in

[1:26:54] the whole show for me. The music and the

[1:26:56] way that we just go from, you know, that

[1:26:58] first part is very light-hearted and

[1:26:59] it's kind of unserious and then it goes

[1:27:01] to the red and the upbeat music and the

[1:27:03] action scene and it's the animation is

[1:27:05] ridiculous and it's fast but it's easy

[1:27:06] to follow and you can figure out what's

[1:27:08] going on. Bro, in the manga it's like

[1:27:09] two or three pages of, you know, it's

[1:27:11] cool, but it's pretty basic action

[1:27:12] stuff, right? But no, we've got Higaruma

[1:27:14] using his hammer like Thor's hammer

[1:27:16] bringing it back, right? He's like

[1:27:17] swinging that thing round. He's firing

[1:27:19] at Yuguji like non-stop to the point

[1:27:21] where you can't even follow it with your

[1:27:22] eyes. He's polevolting using the end of

[1:27:24] it and extending it outwards. There's

[1:27:26] that like amazing um shot of Higaruma

[1:27:28] kind of jumping up and through the bath

[1:27:30] water which looks like blood because of

[1:27:32] the lighting. It's so good. It genuinely

[1:27:35] is just like it's such an amazing

[1:27:36] sequence and I can't sit here and

[1:27:38] describe every single frame because I

[1:27:39] feel like this video would end up being

[1:27:41] an hour long. But yeah, it's the way he

[1:27:42] used the gavvel for me that I really

[1:27:44] liked. Also just the how the environment

[1:27:46] kind of crumbles and moves. Um, it does

[1:27:48] a really good job of showing how strong

[1:27:49] they are, showing the impact. I think

[1:27:51] that's something Gay maybe failed at

[1:27:52] when writing this is he kind of failed

[1:27:54] to show how insanely combat capable

[1:27:57] Higuruma is simply because of his

[1:27:59] natural genius, right? He puts his mind

[1:28:00] to something, he achieves it, bro. He

[1:28:02] wasn't fighting nobody. He was no like

[1:28:04] he was no daredevil. All right? He

[1:28:05] wasn't lawyer by day, Daredevil by

[1:28:06] night. No, but he awakened his

[1:28:08] technique. He was like, "Huh? All right.

[1:28:09] Domain expansion. Boom." And then he's

[1:28:12] just able to use his technique so

[1:28:13] dynamically and freely. and the just his

[1:28:16] uh combat ability and ability to figure

[1:28:18] out what was going on with Yuji and why

[1:28:20] he was so strong is like it really shows

[1:28:22] his genius. And I think being able to

[1:28:23] convey that mid fight is really

[1:28:25] difficult thing to do. But Gosso Cinema,

[1:28:27] they smashed it. I loved it. It was

[1:28:29] dope. Amazing episode. Probably a top

[1:28:31] three episode for me as a whole. I I'm

[1:28:34] split between this and the Marquee

[1:28:35] episode for this season. I don't know.

[1:28:37] But yeah, um it was amazing. I Oh. Oh my

[1:28:42] god, dude. Can you imagine Sendai

[1:28:44] Colony? What the [ __ ]

[1:28:47] No matter whether you're an anime only

[1:28:49] or a manga reader, I feel like you've

[1:28:51] all heard of the JJK character known as

[1:28:54] potential man. He also goes by the names

[1:28:56] of fraud or bum or sometimes Megumi.

[1:28:59] Now, I'm going to put my hands up and

[1:29:01] say yes, normally I am very much on that

[1:29:03] Megumi hate bandwagon. However, when

[1:29:05] season 3 started airing, I also put my

[1:29:08] hands up and said I'm going to have to

[1:29:10] admit that yeah, Megumi absolutely cooks

[1:29:12] in the Culling Games. Gagegeay was oh I

[1:29:15] don't know what he was smoking when he

[1:29:16] wrote Megumi's colony fight and godamn

[1:29:19] did storyboarder Shoto Goshono yes Gosso

[1:29:22] Cinema again this episode it's peak and

[1:29:23] also episode director Ichawa absolutely

[1:29:26] just elevated Gagegeay's vision for

[1:29:28] Megumi and wow they they made this

[1:29:31] episode unnecessarily beautiful but also

[1:29:34] Megumi isn't even really the highlight I

[1:29:36] was expecting to talk about that guy for

[1:29:38] ages when this episode came out but nah

[1:29:40] there's someone else there's someone

[1:29:42] else who just stole the whole show

[1:29:43] Takaba. Oh my god. I'm going to get on

[1:29:46] to that later. Actually, you know what?

[1:29:47] I'm going to I'm going to save it

[1:29:48] because I I feel like what I have to say

[1:29:50] about Takaba needs everybody's utmost

[1:29:52] attention, including my own. So, we'll

[1:29:54] let that sit. Anyway, this episode now,

[1:29:56] I'm going to just say this. I feel like

[1:29:58] it was a lower priority episode compared

[1:30:00] to the others. I don't think anything

[1:30:01] ridiculous happened, but obviously

[1:30:03] because it's JJK, the standard is

[1:30:05] already way higher than normal. So, the

[1:30:07] moments that look really good still look

[1:30:09] really good. and the overall, you know,

[1:30:11] general direction and art um throughout

[1:30:14] the episode is just it's so beautiful.

[1:30:16] So, the episode begins with Reggie and

[1:30:18] Megumi picking up their conversation

[1:30:19] from episode 8. I'm not going to kind of

[1:30:21] rehash what they talk about because, you

[1:30:23] know, watch the show, guys. You should

[1:30:24] know this by now. But a detail I really

[1:30:26] like in this conversation is that Megumi

[1:30:28] tells Reggie that a rule allowing the

[1:30:30] transfer of points will soon be added.

[1:30:32] Which basically means that Megumi has

[1:30:34] absolute unyielding faith that Yuji will

[1:30:36] add that rule. And sure enough, shortly

[1:30:38] later, the rule is added. And Megumi

[1:30:40] goes, "Huh, okay, cool. Yugji did it. As

[1:30:42] expected, I can lock in and just kill

[1:30:44] these guys now if I need to. No need to

[1:30:46] hold back." Which is great cuz it just

[1:30:48] shows how much Megumi has like

[1:30:49] unyielding faith in Yugji. Anyway, when

[1:30:51] Reggie realizes he's not going to get

[1:30:53] Megumi onto his team, which is done

[1:30:55] through a sequence of basically just

[1:30:56] still shots at the beginning of the

[1:30:58] episode, I feel like there was a lot of

[1:30:59] time saving, which is why I say it is

[1:31:01] possibly a lower priority episode. But

[1:31:03] then Chisuhari, who is this NPC, burger

[1:31:06] bot sorcerer, comes running at Megumi,

[1:31:08] but he is not on that guy's level, bro.

[1:31:10] Megumi dips into the shadows over the

[1:31:12] shoulder and dashes that man off the

[1:31:14] balcony. I'm talking he launches that

[1:31:16] dude, bro. Like in the manga, he kind

[1:31:18] of, you know, pushes him over the

[1:31:20] railing. But nah, in the anime, Gosso

[1:31:22] was like, "Nah, we're going to have him

[1:31:23] throw him to the next city, bro." Like,

[1:31:25] cool, I guess. I don't know how he

[1:31:26] survived that, but cool. And then Hazan

[1:31:28] Noki's eyeball drops and explodes in

[1:31:31] this weird kind of like Demon Slayer

[1:31:32] style 3D explosion, which at first I was

[1:31:35] like, that kind of looks weird. But it

[1:31:37] grew on me. I'm not going to lie. I like

[1:31:38] it. And I especially like that slow-mo

[1:31:40] shot of the explosion like creeping

[1:31:42] around the door frame. And then of

[1:31:44] course, Megum and Remy have their little

[1:31:45] talk. And oh my god, they made Remy look

[1:31:47] so disgusting graveling on the floor.

[1:31:49] She's preaching to the choir here, man,

[1:31:51] cuz this is Megum. He don't care. He

[1:31:52] just called her scum and trash and said

[1:31:54] she should, you know, piss off, which I

[1:31:56] kind of respect. But then that Chisaruh

[1:31:57] Hari guy came in and I watched what they

[1:31:59] did with this fight between Hari and

[1:32:01] Megumi and I just thought, "Yeah, Gosso

[1:32:02] has to be rage baiting us, bro." Like,

[1:32:04] what are we doing here? This has to be

[1:32:05] engagement bait cuz in the manga, all

[1:32:07] right, this is not close. Megumi just

[1:32:09] destroys that guy, you know, two or

[1:32:11] three panels, kicks him in the face,

[1:32:12] nonchalantly, doesn't even break a

[1:32:14] sweat, max elephant out the building,

[1:32:16] and then whams a sword right into his

[1:32:18] head. But no, no. In the anime, what

[1:32:20] what we're having is this again what I

[1:32:22] think is probably rotoscoped amazing

[1:32:24] shot of like Megumi kind of walking out

[1:32:26] to face Hari. He sizes him up with the

[1:32:29] sword, backs up into the room behind

[1:32:30] him, and then just looks like he gets a

[1:32:32] bit lazy, bro. Like, why are we making

[1:32:34] Megumi look like a fraud here? What are

[1:32:35] we doing? This is what I'm saying. It

[1:32:37] has to be rage bait, bro. Well, what do

[1:32:38] you mean? The guy who's supposedly

[1:32:40] really good in hand-to-h hand and

[1:32:41] weapons combat just got the sword

[1:32:43] immediately kicked out of his hand and

[1:32:44] then booted into a wall only to then

[1:32:47] fall back on using his shikami to save

[1:32:49] his ass and kick Harry out of the

[1:32:50] building. Listen, it all looks dope.

[1:32:52] Okay, it looks great and I appreciate

[1:32:54] fight extensions. I'm not complaining in

[1:32:55] that respect, but bro, this does nothing

[1:32:57] for the Megumi agenda, bro. All right,

[1:32:59] this guy gets slandered enough. Why are

[1:33:00] we having this random NPC put hands on

[1:33:02] him? Oh, it's just not a good look. It's

[1:33:04] not a good look. Gosh, why? Something I

[1:33:06] do really appreciate though from the

[1:33:08] animator team is that they did not

[1:33:10] censor this episode one bit. Bro, Megumi

[1:33:12] still walks up to Hari on the ground and

[1:33:14] just it's like a onetoone because I know

[1:33:16] you guys love your onetoone moments.

[1:33:17] Sword slices straight through his head

[1:33:19] like a watermelon. Beautiful. Reggie and

[1:33:21] Haninoi then do their little Mary

[1:33:23] Poppins thing down to the ground. The

[1:33:25] rule gets added. You know, Megumi is now

[1:33:27] like cool. I don't need to hold back. I

[1:33:28] can just fight these guys or run away.

[1:33:30] And then Haninoi spits a tooth in this

[1:33:32] really cool shot to be honest. spits a

[1:33:34] tooth at Megumi that gets intercepted by

[1:33:36] the [ __ ] goat. The absolute Oh, he's

[1:33:38] so good. Killed it in this episode and

[1:33:40] just it's I just Okay, right. I had to

[1:33:43] cut out a big section there because I

[1:33:45] started yapping. I was really worried

[1:33:46] that they were going to fumble the

[1:33:47] execution of Takabet because obviously

[1:33:49] comedy is a delicate thing, but no. They

[1:33:51] basically killed two birds with one

[1:33:53] stone. They made him unironically

[1:33:55] genuinely hilarious. But they also

[1:33:58] utilized this character as a time-saving

[1:34:00] technique to lower the workload of

[1:34:01] making the episode because when he

[1:34:03] dropped his zero damage bar, they let

[1:34:05] that moment play out in complete silence

[1:34:07] for 40 flipping sec. I counted it was 40

[1:34:10] seconds, bro. He just stands there and

[1:34:12] wastes a whole minute of the episode

[1:34:14] bleeding from his head smiling with

[1:34:16] Megum. Like I love the way he just

[1:34:18] shifts awkwardly in the background and

[1:34:20] even Reggie and Haninoi start like

[1:34:21] shifting awkwardly because it's it's

[1:34:23] uncomfortable, you know? He's just said

[1:34:25] this ridiculously unfunny thing and and

[1:34:27] just standing there like a dumbass. It's

[1:34:29] it's done so well, bro. I can't. And

[1:34:30] then of course the Wi-Fi bar. Oh my god,

[1:34:33] the Wi-Fi line was executed to

[1:34:34] perfection. He sounds so funny. In the

[1:34:37] manga, the joke is, you know, if you

[1:34:38] read TCB, it's actually none of your

[1:34:40] businesset like like bisnet, like

[1:34:42] business. But in the Japanese, it

[1:34:44] translates directly to Wi-Fi, which is

[1:34:45] why the joke might not land and it might

[1:34:47] just sound funny to you. I don't know

[1:34:49] why I'm explaining this. No one [ __ ]

[1:34:50] cares. And just like in the manga, they

[1:34:51] had to censor that shot of his ball

[1:34:53] falling out of his costume. But if you

[1:34:55] actually watch very carefully in the

[1:34:57] anime as he turns around after that

[1:34:59] shot, you can see his literally like

[1:35:01] shift in his underwear. It's so funny.

[1:35:02] And when he goes to drop kick Hazan

[1:35:04] Noki, there's these dumbass cartoon

[1:35:06] sound effects and they do it from like

[1:35:07] four different angles. It's so cliche

[1:35:09] and stupid. I love it. I feel like I'm

[1:35:11] watching Tom and Jerry, bro. It's great.

[1:35:13] Actually, just the whole episode has

[1:35:14] this really unserious, goofy, colorful,

[1:35:17] and vibrant, very cartoonish feel to it,

[1:35:20] which is something that I feel like

[1:35:21] couldn't be portrayed as well in the

[1:35:22] manga because obviously in the manga,

[1:35:24] you know, it's black and white. You

[1:35:25] don't have this kind of contrast. You

[1:35:27] don't have voice acting, you don't have

[1:35:28] music. But the anime episode really

[1:35:30] elevated what Gagege wrote by really

[1:35:32] drawing on the contrast of you have this

[1:35:34] dark and gloomy edgy teen like Megumi

[1:35:37] and the rest of the things going on

[1:35:38] around him. Whether it be the scenery,

[1:35:40] whether it be Reggie, whether it be

[1:35:41] Takoba are just all colorful and vibrant

[1:35:44] and flamboyant and goofy. I love it cuz

[1:35:46] realistically Takaba and Reggie are just

[1:35:48] both goofy as [ __ ] bro. Reggie's out

[1:35:50] here with his hobbit feet. He's built

[1:35:51] like a truck. He's wearing a dress of

[1:35:53] receipts. Man, the way he just pulls out

[1:35:55] that rinky dinky little scion blue moped

[1:35:58] later on is so dumb. It's like watching

[1:36:00] Dwayne the Rock Johnson, you know, get

[1:36:02] on a on a e- scooter. It's It's just It

[1:36:04] doesn't make sense, bro. It does.

[1:36:06] Nothing about this episode makes any

[1:36:07] sense other than Megum. He's like the

[1:36:09] most realistic part of the episode, but

[1:36:11] it's dope. It's such a good contrast,

[1:36:12] and I feel like they really go all in

[1:36:14] and bring it to life in this episode.

[1:36:16] I'm actually really struggling to put

[1:36:17] into words how I'm finding this. I don't

[1:36:19] know. The the Tupper thing is just

[1:36:21] hilarious. Like the way he does his own

[1:36:22] adlibs and the sound effects that he

[1:36:24] makes, like just the little noises. I

[1:36:26] don't know what Takaba's voice actor was

[1:36:27] smoking, bro. They gave him some crazy

[1:36:29] drugs, locked him in the recording

[1:36:31] booth, and just said, "Do your thing." I

[1:36:32] don't know. He was cooking. It was sick.

[1:36:34] And then, as if that isn't cool enough,

[1:36:35] we go back to the um, you know, Megumi

[1:36:37] and Reggie stuff where instead of just

[1:36:39] having the conversation about Reggie's

[1:36:41] curse technique on the street then and

[1:36:42] there like they do in the manga, there's

[1:36:44] this massive anime only uh chase scene

[1:36:46] where Reggie's like running down the

[1:36:48] scaffolding, dodging New A's lightning.

[1:36:50] And again, I just want to say it's

[1:36:51] rotoscoped even though it might not be

[1:36:53] because it looks that damn good. And

[1:36:55] then you had Reggie using his technique,

[1:36:56] which is great cuz I do feel like in the

[1:36:58] manga, he didn't really use it to full

[1:37:00] effect. And it's nice just to have this

[1:37:02] anime only sequence, you know,

[1:37:04] storyboarded by the goat himself where

[1:37:06] we get to see Reggie's technique used in

[1:37:08] a much more versatile way, where he was

[1:37:10] like summoning giant plushies to cushion

[1:37:11] his fall. He was doing this weird thing

[1:37:13] where he was putting like rock climbing

[1:37:14] things on the wall to help him run on

[1:37:16] the wall or something. And then later on

[1:37:18] he just drops a whole ass piano on

[1:37:20] Megumi in an alleyway. It's just dope.

[1:37:22] But the action sequence of them running

[1:37:24] around the city is just generally sick.

[1:37:26] Like Mega looks dope as well. Him

[1:37:27] summoning Max Elephant out of the

[1:37:29] building was really really cool.

[1:37:31] Actually, I really like that moment

[1:37:32] specifically because it kind of

[1:37:34] emphasizes the use of the shadows cuz

[1:37:36] that part of the building was in shadow.

[1:37:38] But then, you know, eventually after all

[1:37:39] of this peak fiction, they end up in the

[1:37:41] gymnasium where Megum dodges these uh

[1:37:44] these lorries that Reggie sends flying

[1:37:46] at him. or sorry, I should call them

[1:37:47] trucks cuz most my viewers are American.

[1:37:49] He summons these trucks and Megumi like

[1:37:51] dives under them and again the camera

[1:37:53] looks like it's handheld, bro. Like the

[1:37:55] cameraman lowkey is on acid or something

[1:37:57] like he's just wobbling all about the

[1:37:59] place which is really sick cuz okay

[1:38:01] cool. It was a well animated shot but

[1:38:02] having the the camera like violently

[1:38:04] move really kind of brought that moment

[1:38:06] to life for me. I thought it looked

[1:38:07] really sick. And after saving some more

[1:38:09] time by doing these uh slightly

[1:38:11] egregious slow-mo shots. Yes, I think my

[1:38:14] only real complaint of the episode is

[1:38:15] that the slow-mo was a little bit

[1:38:17] overdone in places. I mean, if you're

[1:38:18] going to have Takaba and those kind of

[1:38:20] moments be long and drawn out for the

[1:38:22] sake of saving time, don't don't also

[1:38:24] overload it with slow-mo. But that's a

[1:38:26] minor inconvenience. All right, it's not

[1:38:28] a real complaint. After all that gets

[1:38:30] packed up, though, it's time for the

[1:38:31] pinnacle of the episode. And somehow in

[1:38:33] the space of only three episodes, we're

[1:38:35] getting two with domain expansion

[1:38:37] cliffhers because Megumi starts talking

[1:38:39] about how his domain is incomplete,

[1:38:41] can't be contained by a barrier. And as

[1:38:43] soon as he starts talking about

[1:38:44] barriers, Reggie suddenly looks shook.

[1:38:46] Now, this is a moment that I think the

[1:38:47] anime did a really good job of

[1:38:49] portraying that Reggie is in genuine

[1:38:51] disbelief that Megumi was about to

[1:38:53] unleash a domain expansion because

[1:38:55] despite Reggie being very strong, it

[1:38:57] kind of emphasizes, you know, how much

[1:38:59] higher of a level of sorcery you have to

[1:39:01] be to have something like a domain

[1:39:03] expansion. And you can see that

[1:39:04] expressed very clearly on Reggie's face,

[1:39:06] which was dope. So, um, yeah, the music

[1:39:08] then kicks in. We're building the

[1:39:10] tension again. It kind of reminds me of

[1:39:11] when It kind of reminds me of when he

[1:39:13] says, "Oh, it's the Southern Cross to

[1:39:15] Kurara." And that kind of voom music

[1:39:17] starts playing again to build tension.

[1:39:19] And then we get this great zoom out shot

[1:39:21] of Megumi actually expanding the domain.

[1:39:23] Uh and then it's it just it's the best

[1:39:25] it's ever looked. Like it looks good in

[1:39:26] season 1. It looks okay in season 2 in

[1:39:28] Dargon's domain. But here you've just

[1:39:30] got like this weird neon blue lightning

[1:39:33] effect with the core of the domain

[1:39:35] hanging above him. Like it looks so

[1:39:37] sick. Whereas before you kind of just

[1:39:39] see the shadow spill out, right? But

[1:39:41] this is a different level. It's

[1:39:42] beautiful. I love it. So um yeah, that

[1:39:44] is the episode. But again, I think my

[1:39:45] only complaint is like the time-saving

[1:39:47] moments being used in the Takoba section

[1:39:49] for comedic effect is completely fine.

[1:39:51] If anything, it's peaked. It just made

[1:39:52] it funnier. And at the beginning of the

[1:39:54] episode, I don't care about seeing shots

[1:39:55] of the scenery because all of the art is

[1:39:57] so beautiful that I'll happily just, you

[1:39:59] know, sit there and watch it while