#akutami is real for hating gojo though

[seoafin]

natsu hyuuga hating jinshi is so funny to me. what is with these authors hating their extremely popular male leads.

[fushiglow]

Then I guess you're a better person than me, Gojo!!

Because I hate Gege Akutami and I'm *very* angry on your behalf 😃 I’m (sort of) kidding but damn... thoughts on 236 below the cut!!

I held off posting earlier because I felt like going scorched earth on everything jjk. I took some time to clear up some of the translations I wasn't sure about and let the reality sink in, and now I'm ready to talk about this chapter rationally lol.

Firstly, I wanna say that my issue with this chapter isn’t Gojo dying or even the way that he died. I always knew that Gojo dying was likely, but here?? Now???? I've spent all day turning it over in my mind and trying to make it work, but it just won't.

I think Gojo's 'delusion' (daydream? afterlife?) is really beautiful in isolation. Some of the dialogue is really touching and I think it'll benefit from the emotional impact delivered by the full translations. The problem is what follows.

After 235, people were nervous that Gojo hadn't actually won yet. I waited to see what some trusted translators thought of the editor's comment before deciding it was a conclusive win for Gojo, and what I read reassured me that the win would remain intact even if he died at some point over the course of December 24.

In the past couple of chapters, we were told that Sukuna was 'nervous' for the first time in 1000 years and he thought Hollow Purple at close range would be fatal. At the end of 235, Sukuna is looking pretty terrible while Gojo looks fresh as a daisy after fighting in inspiring, inventive ways throughout.

So to find out that, actually, he *hasn't* won and he's been killed by getting cut in half offscreen feels like shock value for the sake of shock value. There have been a few 'shock factor' moments during this fight and they've always bothered me a little, but I could excuse them for the sake of hype building in a weekly manga. However, I never anticipated anything on this level and I'm genuinely so disappointed.

I think this long-awaited fight ending this way cheapens Gojo's character *and* Sukuna's character (and Kashimo's character for that matter!), and ultimately makes the entire thing feel meaningless. 'Meaning' is the thread that has run through Gojo's entire arc, tying him back to Suguru as he sought to build a better world. I always felt certain that Gojo's life and death would have meaning, even if it ended tragically, but I just can't find the meaning in this. I think I understand what Gege was trying to do, but he really didn't sell it for me.

There’s nothing worse than when a story makes you feel stupid for getting invested, and that’s how I’m feeling right now. I find myself wondering, what was the point in bringing Gojo back at all??? Keep him in the box and very little changes in the story, unless it transpires that Gojo 'weakening' Sukuna for the students was his grand purpose after all which... really??

Even worse, I *always* said if it was between Gojo and the students, I wanted Gojo to die. Since 212, getting Megumi back has been my number one priority, but 236 has achieved what I previously thought impossible. I literally don't even want Megumi to come back anymore, because I just can't imagine how he could live with himself after 'killing' Tsumiki and Gojo. It seems kinder for him to die with Sukuna and I *never* thought I would say that.

I'm feeling like a real clown for the meta I posted after 235. I want to take it down because I was so certain that Gojo had won, but I won't because I don't believe my reading of Gojo's character was wrong. I just think my expectations were too high, even though I tried hard to temper them. Even so, telling Megumi about Toji being left to Shoko? Gojo losing and leaving his students to clean up the mess again?? Gojo not even *mentioning* his students in his dying daydream???

It all just feels wrong. Gojo has been turned into nothing more than a plot device at the absolute last second, and maybe it's on me for ever expecting that he would be anything more than that in a series where he isn't the main character, but why bother writing Hidden Inventory then? Why bother getting us invested in this man's story at all?

Right now, I'm feeling like I don't even want to watch tomorrow's episode, but I am interested to see whether Gege can pull this arc off in the long term. I've seen people talking about resurrection theories because of the enlightenment hints and, while I do see the vision, I think Gojo's acceptance of his death and letting go of his regrets can also be read as enlightenment as he escapes the mortal coil once and for all.

Gojo's dying bloody smile shows he's at least happy in his final moments, so my feeling is that Gojo is truly dead and gone. I really want to trust that Gege will make this work, but damn. This is a tragedy.

(Although, if Gojo actually is at peace in death, maybe that's the reason Gege will bring him back. He'll *never* let that man be happy, I swear.)

To end on a positive note, the SatoSugu crumbs were beautiful and teenage Gojo's facial expressions were wonderful. I'm crying again just thinking about the contrast of that last adorable smile with his blank expression on the next page.

I'm dropping all my canonverse WIPs and working exclusively on AU fics for the foreseeable future 😤 I'm gonna give Gojo all the happy endings he deserves!!!

(fuck. poor poor shoko.)

[pengujoon]

A CRUEL TRICK, A REMINDER OF FATE

cont. gojo x reader, angst, hurt, no comfort, reliving ch236.

a/n. i hate this. i am really sorry. this exact scenario happened to me. 

please note that this is basically just chapter 236. if you haven’t read it, don’t read this. you will be spoiled very badly.

You watched in helpless despair as the world around you trembled. Sukuna’s malevolent laughter echoed through time and space itself, sending shivers down your spine. You watched helplessly as the scene unfolded before your eyes, as though you are an invisible observer, unable to change the course of actions. 

Satoru stood valiantly before the malevolent curse. His eyes, usually filled with confidence and charisma, are now filled with determination and a hint of sadness. Sukuna’s sinister laughter reverberated through the air as he raised his hand, gathering an otherworldly energy that crackled with malice. 

Then it happened.

In an instant, space itself seemed to shatter, and Sukuna’s hands moved like a blade, slicing through the very fabric of reality. Time seemed to slow down as you witnessed the body of the love of your life split into two halves, his once invincible form torn asunder. Blood, like an ethereal river, spilled forth, staining the void around him with nothing but crimson red. 

Satoru's piercing blue eyes, always filled with confidence and wit, held a very brief expression of pain and shock before they dimmed. The agony on his face was unbearable to watch, and the sight of his life force dissipating into the void left you speechless; you wanted to reach out, to scream, to stop this nightmare, but here you were: powerless.

“Satoru!”

The shock and horror of that moment was indescribable - you could feel the tears welling up in your eyes as you watched him fall to the ground, lifeless and broken; each gruesome detail etching itself into your mind. The pain in your chest was unbearable, and a guttural scream escapes your lips, but no sound came out. 

Suddenly, you snapped awake, your body jolting upright in bed. The room was dark, save for the faint moonlight casting eerie shadows on the walls. Your body was drenched in sweat, as you trembled uncontrollably. Panic clawed at your chest as you looked to your side, expecting to find him there, reassuring and alive. But his side of the bed was empty, an emptiness that stretched into eternity.

Reality crashed down upon you like a tidal wave, and a sob escaped your lips. You clutched the sheets tightly, your fingers trembling as the tears flowed freely. The dream had been a cruel trick, a reminder of a fate you never wanted to imagine.

The dream felt so real, so vivid, that for a very brief moment, you had hoped it was just nothing but a cruel illusion. But now, in the cold reality of your empty bed in your shared apartment, you could no longer deny the truth - Satoru, the love of your life, was gone, forever. 

He no longer exists.

You buried your face in your hands, letting out heart-wrenching sobs that seem to echo in the emptiness. The pain was unbearable, the loss insurmountable. In this lonely moment, all you yearned for was the warmth of his presence, for his reassuring smile and his comforting words, and nothing else but for the reality that he was still by your side.

But in the cruel embrace of that nightmarish vision, you were left with nothing but the hollow echoes of a love lost forever, and the darkness that now surrounded you.

i wrote this the minute i woke up from my nightmare. akutami i will come for you. 

am i sorry for writing this piece? yes. please forgive me for this.

[neonscandal]

"JJK really went from a loved manga to a mid-to-bad story with insufferable fans 🙏 may more of us hate it in the future. It snatches the spotlight from genuinely good shows and its another case of "general shonen fan will call any trash 'goat' if the fight is well animated".

I used to be a fan, until the start of the culling game. And after this controversial, inconsistent and inhumane adaptation of shibuya, im glad that I have no interest in both manga and show anymore"

Do you think Culling Game really that hard to understand? Cause I saw quite a llt got turned off to JJK since that arc....

⚠️ Content Warning (no real spoilers) for the Culling Games arc. Nothing in depth to warrant burying beneath a "Keep Reading" but fair to mention just in case.

I don't know how to say this without generalizing negatively but the sentiments very much sound like they came from a cishet dudebro. I've noticed that shonen series' that have a fanbase made up of vocal queer people and/or womxn fans are widely renowned for their "insufferable fans" and this specifically is applied to JJK and MHA across social media. I wonder why.

From the lack of sexualization of female characters/students, the immediate shutdown that Nobara was going to fall for Yuji or Megumi in typical shonen fashion, the cast of men being curated for the female gaze across the manga and anime adaptation (Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Toji, etc.), the overt queer coding and presence of canonically queer/trans characters... also, the simple fact that the canonically attractive and OP characters aren't insufferable assholes? Maybe that's just a me thing but it seems like these factors have been rubbing certain people the wrong way.

Re: the animation of Shibuya and the practices that delivered the work with such an insane timeline and not to the quality of the team of animators' liking... that's valid. But that is a Mappa shortcoming in an effort to snatch up all the prolific and iconic adaptations they can, not a JJK shortcoming. As such, throwing the baby out with the bathwater there doesn't seem like a particularly sound argument but just a means to pile on.

A/N: As it stands, Mappa held the reigns on AOT's final season (taking over from Wit Studio due to production schedule), S2 of Vinland Saga (taking over from Wit Studio due to production schedule), JJK S1, JJK 0 movie, CSM adaptation of S1, Hell's Paradise adaptation of S1, JJK S2, CSM movie adaptation for Reze Arc, Zom 100... all since 2020 and does not encompass other, smaller series'.

I'll concede, it makes sense that the culling games left a lot of readers lost in the forest, myself included. Not the point of the games since we know, to what end, Kenjaku!Geto hopes to achieve at this point.

I think readers were stymied by how much time was spent on developing unique characters who were offed like.. a chapter later. A necessary evil to maintain the living core cast of characters who would later have to take on the Big BadsTM while also moving along the point system for the Culling Games. It seems like Gege Akutami took their time to cultivate these mini-fights though it wasn't clear to what end from a plot standpoint... yet. Empirically, we've seen small details woven back into the story which didn't seem apparent at the time given the exposition style of the mangaka.

As a reader, I love guessing at the end of stories. You can see the crackpot theories that pepper the Manga With Me tag. But the Culling Game arc spans long enough to lose the plot and make it so much harder to forecast where the story is going. Especially when Gege Akutami generally seems like a troll of a person anyway.

I think the Culling Games happening immediately after the Shibuya arc was a choice. Based on anime only fan reactions to Shibuya, what's to come is not for the faint of heart fans. Especially when you consider the losses suffered in Shibuya are immediately eclipsed by the regular losses and disappointments within the Culling Games. However, as a fan, I'mma let Gege cook even if they're using my tears and angst as seasoning because we haven't seen enough of the story to determine the Culling Game's true place/meaning within it.

I think, story wise, they started off too strong with emphasizing Gojo's overpoweredness. Subsequently, they had to write in caveats and build ways to close the gaps between him and other characters to allow for the story to press forward with or without him. I still don't know how this story is going to end though I think I have a new hypothesis from the last time I guessed at who would survive.

At the end of the day, it's definitely that person's opinion to jump back in once more of the story has been fleshed out should they choose to do so because a lot of people don't like dealing in uncertainties. Whatever they decide, don't let it sway your enjoyment one way or another, anon. ❤️

[justsomerandomplanet]

Just general thoughts on the chapter (jjk 236 leaks)

Be warned of jjk manga spoilers!!!

One thing I thought was interesting was why gojo said bye to the others even though he died? Judging by the imagery it does look like they're all gonna go to the same place (afterlife) and yet gojo still doesn't go with them. My only thoughts on this is either gojo is still alive (similar to the first time he fought toji), gojo as a curse (? Its possible but idk if he had any real regrets here) or akutami just wanted to do it that way (most possible one imo LMAO)

Another thing i found interesting was the sudden topic about gojo's father. We still have little to no information about the gojo family outside of satoru himself, so I'm more than interested to learn more especially considering how six eyes is bonded to tengen/the star plasma vessel and whether anyone in that family knows good ol' Lore

Other than that really, kinda disappointed in the fight. No I'm not surprised or even sad gojo died I've always been on team gojo will die somehow, it's just the execution of it was lacking. But upon reflecting on it a bit, deaths in jjk haven't always been satisfying really and they often come suddenly. The only death I found the most heartwrenching was nobara's (im on team she's still alive btw). Nanami was also a close one but he really just Died like that lol (don't get me started on yuki's death too)

It's a weakness to the story, which has become more apparent the closer we get to the ending and where the emotions need to be stronger to get a satisfying climax.

The issue with gojo's death is that it happened Right after his unsealing. To put it into perspective, we spent 130 chapters without gojo (91 to 221), whereas from his unsealing to his death was only 15 chapters. Now im not saying his death shouldn't have happened, but what I am arguing is that there was no real buildup for it to be satisfying.

Between those 15 chapters, akutami made a three month timeskip and we barely know what they did in that time. I know the whole point is so those things can be brought up later as a surprise (especially since whenever we do know plans for our mcs they always tend to go wrong) but at the very least they could have added some sort of emotional buildup to it.

Of course, one thing about jjk is that it certainly does not always feel predictable so who knows what's gonna happen. Like i mentioned earlier, its possible that gojo is in fact alive, and I would be more than happy if he fought kenjaku instead later, but also the idea of bringing him alive again is so....idk. It feels wishy washy (but then again yuji has also died twice so who am I to say anything right)

Anyway overall it was an alright chapter, I don't hate it but could have been better! All I'm looking forward to is sukuna vs yuji now (whenever that happens i guess lol)

Also where the heck is kenjaku

[yazzydream]

follow up to my HI/PD post, HERE'S SHIBUYA INCIDENT. AHHHHHHHH!!! i can't wait. this arc has some of my favorite moments in the manga overall. reminder that episodes restart aug 31st!

here are scenes and moments i'm most looking forward to seeing animated. also serves as an incomplete recap ig.

manga SPOILERS, obviously.

just gojo casually stepping over normies' heads. ignoring sorcery secrecy like fuck it.

FUCK. the whole... train station massacre. this entire arc has to be rated R right? that's why this airs at midnight in japan. (i hope it's not overly censored...) and THEN gojo drops this cold ass line. he's so intimidating. jogo SWEATING. why is gojo so hot? 😭 i love scary!gojo.

i will cry. he's so BRUTAL. 😭😭😭

look at him chasing after jogo. scary......... 😭

*screams quietly in hornyhorror* L👀k at this motherfucker tricking hanami to then turn around and brutalize them.

not jogo trying to help hanami by distracting gojo only for gojo not to give a shit and just obliterate hanami anyway! only yes, because this pragmatic side of gojo is everything to me. again, this post is for parts that will make me scream, and i. will. scream.

I. WILL. SCREAM.

it's like... ok, listen. in jjk i'm pretty sure sorcerers are atheists? (i have no idea if i read that somewhere or if i made that up. sorry.) but anyway, gojo is pretty much the closest thing to a god they have in a real tangible way in jjk? but this arc is a very blatant reminder that gojo is human. he'll do the best he can (which is generally very good, thank you) but he's not actually omnipotent. he can't, he hasn't saved everyone. he's failed a lot of people actually. here and in the future too. it's soo good. akutami may hate writing gojo, but he's excellent at it. gojo is perfect in everything he does but he still fails when it's important. shit, that's good. (this is another reason why i think he'll lose against sukuna but that's another arc altogether so moving on)

omg omg omg omg. the train bursting with transfigured humans is going to be so grotesque and awful. and gojo's distressed face! bby ahhhhh

he's so aghast!!! for a fucking good reason. this massacre is sooo out of pocket.

and what the fuck this entire plot is so fucked and out in the open. there's zero secrecy and separation from the normal world. this is a game changer to what you'd expect in this series. sigh~❤️ so good.

i hate mahito. HATE. but i felt this on a visceral level in the best worst way. lemme preface this by saying, when i'm reading an english tl of japanese media, sometimes certain phrases trigger my brain into wondering what the og japanese was saying. notably, a lot of japanese words are just onomatopoeias of what things sound like. so even though i haven't bothered looking up what this actually said in japanese, i imagined mahito saying there's "uja uja" of them. which is like the sound of many crawling/swarming insects. and it made me feel some type of way. disgusted actually. which is his point. lol

RUTHLESS PRAGMATISM, LET ME SCREAM IT

this shibuya post is just turning into me screaming about the satoru gojo fight. and im ok with that.

exhausted darling. i can't wait to see it. SHOWED UP IN THE TRAILER. I'M DYINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG 💀

>:-I pouty baby

adorable.

jc this is such a typical shonen hype moment and the irony is absolutely killer. i wanna see this animated just so i can see the anime-onlys suffer.

gonna cap it here before i hit the image limit.

cont. in part 2.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

236 and i have a love hate relationship. I refuse to read it but i know everything that happens 😭im just scared because if i read it in full i know ill sob like a baby but ill definitely read it before that season comes out

i hope the next time around Mappa takes their time with breaks and all :/ even if we only get an episode a month or the end product is still not 100% - i’d rather experience everything to its fullest potential

#sukugo is on par w stsg to me 😭 one of my favorite dynamics Ever

YES!!!! stsg lives in my head fr but sukugo… the way they are polar opposites yet also the closest people that can truly understand each other… lots to unravel and loads of potential there

#one thing abt akutami is he WILL not miss an opportunity to create the most homoerotic fight i’ve seen in my life 🙏🙏

i think i read a fic or a hc once (i forget who wrote it) where sukuna got off on fighting gojo and ari it was chefs kiss. perfection. i need to find it again. gege really cooked with that fight (still on a rollercoaster of emotions ab how gojo d*ed ; some days im completely behind it other days im like. wtf.)

#what if they turn sukuna vs gojo into a movie … i would Cry out of joy

jjk0 -esque… i can see the vision.. i just need that fight to be done justice thats all i beg for 😩😩

SOOOOO REAL OF YOU ANON i’m glad we agree on the sukugo dynamic they make me INSANE. the fact that gojo genuinely wanted to teach him about love…… that he wanted to reach out to him and save him from his isolation. goshhh they mean so much to me………. :(((

OOOOH AND AND AND i think i might know the fic you’re talking abt…. maybe not but this one fic on ao3 is what got me into sukugo and still one of my favorite jjk fics 🙏 the writing and characterization are so good….. i can’t find it anymore either though :’3 will try looking more later!!! pretty sure i have some screenshots of it somewhere…….

but yes pls take as much time as you need to prepare yourself before reading 236 ….. i genuinely sobbed. like actually. i couldn’t speak 😭😭 but it’s SUCH a wonderful chapter both art wise and dialogue wise….. i won’t survive seeing it animated i fear </3 (ALSO pls do yourself a favour and read the chapter on tcb because their translation is easily the best one 🙏)

AND HEAVY ON MAPPA’S PRODUCTION i’m begging them to give their employees a break next season….. i wouldn’t mind a monthly episode at all. just want them to be able to feel satisfied w their own hard work T_T !!

[penultimate-step]

Thank you for responding! Responses to responses:

I'll go in reverse order this time.

Haruta is...punchable. He's a competent heel, I guess.

He certainly is that, yeah.... I don't really know why he bothers me so much, it's not like I usually have anything against villains. Mahito is just as cruel but he's one of my series favorites. It's not uncommon for the villains to be some of the characters I like best, but something about him makes it so I just don't enjoy any scene he's in. Possibly because he's just pathetic enough that I can't even get hyped for the heroes to defeat him. Even seeing Nanami wreck him just made me feel bad that the closest thing jjk has to a father figure was engaging in such brutal violence. To use another series, BNHA, for comparison: he feels less like a Shigaraki and more like a Mineta. I don't want him punched I just want him to...stop that.

It would be easy for someone like Satoru Gojo to have boring non-fight scenes. But in Shibuya, Gege Akutami does a good job of finding ways to escalate the stakes even when Mr. I Win Button is around.

Yeah I was impressed by how well they've been handling Gojo. It is pretty funny to me that part of that was just, okay, we need stakes now, let's literally box him up and put him on the shelf for later. But even before that, the way his existence as a pillar for the other characters is fully relevant to way the story is going makes him much more effective than a deus ex machina. And none of his scenes in season 2 would have anywhere near the same impact if we didn't have a whole season previously of him showing the viewers that he could be the invincible support for the jujutsu society. I like how he's been written a lot.

Anyways, I think I've talked about this before on one of my own posts, but I like Real Geto a lot better than his replacement. There's a lot of stuff that pseudo-Geto can do that would be implausible for someone as young as Real Geto.

I haven't had too long with fake Geto, so I'll give him some time before I make judgments, but it does strike me as a bit of a shame to lose Real Geto. I didn't think too much of him in the movie but he was absolutely a highlight of the flashback arc, and I would hate for the climax of that character thread just to be "his body used to immobilize Gojo for a second."

(worldbuilding stuff)

Wait, there's no cursed energy outside Japan? That's...an interesting worldbuilding choice, I suppose.....but why??

Geto's movie team was intentionally international, if I'm remembering right. There was the guy from Africa that you mentioned, and another guy unspecified but with a foreign appearance and name. (His name, Larue, is I think either Italian or French?) Plus, I could have sworn there was some mention of sorcerers going overseas on missions...

That's fine, though it does somewhat reinforce my sense that jjk feels like a very artificial world. As you say, there's nothing wrong with having so many of the important figures be in Japan, that's just where the story takes place. I've read plenty of manga where every important person in the world lives in Tokyo, and there's no shortage of US series where everybody internationally relevant lives in New York, or San Francisco, or wherever. My issue is more that even if we're limiting it to just Japan, it feels like this world couldn't sustain itself if I start thinking about it for two seconds.

Like, the obvious question is, what happens when Gojo decides to retire? Heck, what happens when he takes a nap? He can't be everywhere. Specifically, the jujutsu society isn't new, its existed for over a thousand years, but the way the story has him be an end all be all makes me wonder how humanity didn't go extinct long before he was born. There's a moment in the curse user battle that kind of answers this - that everything got more dangerous when he was born, inexplicably. But then, okay, but he's still just one guy. Curses form naturally so long as there are people, we are told. If I'm taking the worldbuilding at it's word, there are threats constantly going on all over the world (or, apparently, only all over japan. strange choice from Gege but I'll roll with it.)

In some hidden-world type settings, the actions of those hidden are performing vital functions to protect the ordinary world, which would collapse without their heroism. JJK initially made me think this was the setup we had here, with curses preying on humans and sorcerers organizing to protect them. But with later revelations, it's hard for me to picture any organization here at all. It's less a hidden world, and more a hidden house or classroom. The two pillars being in Japan aren't the issue to me, it's just hard for me to believe that a world only surviving by the constant close scrapes of two pillars can even survive. Can these dozen or so guys really protect so many people? And if they can't protect everyone, and they're only stopping a small percentage of the curses, how did humanity even survive this long?

I guess this is kind of the risk you run whenever you try to portray this kind of setting. Fundamentally, the world from the perspective of an ordinary person is supposed to look identical to our own, but our own world is dependent on so many very specific moments in history that when you make too many alterations it starts to strain suspension of disbelief that a world like ours is even plausible.

I am aware that I'm being super nitpicky about this - every fictional world could be equally said to be unrealistic if you really think about it. On some level, the idea that the world depends on Gojo isn't any more unrealistic than the world of DC depending on Superman - such is any world with high stakes. JJK is only different in that it presents a world that despite having a radically different past, resulted almost identically to our own - but that is also just a common bit of worldbuilding, making a fictional world similar to reality is both convenient for writers and easy to understand for readers.

The more I write this out the more I think there isn't actually a problem, and this is all just my own personal taste being expressed. Nonetheless this is a live reaction series, not an analysis, so the lack of rigor here is possibly excusable on my part. All I can really say is that as I was watching S2 so far, my kneejerk reaction was "this world setting feels like it exists for the sake of the plot, more like a stage prop than an actual world I can imagine people living in." And yeah, every work which focuses on plot or characters and isn't just a worldbuilding bible is this to some extent or another, but in JJK I started to feel it much more strongly when compared to some of it's fellow shonen peers. Which might be a completely biased and wrong interpretation of what is going on, I fully admit I could be doing some terrible reading comprehension.

JJK S2 Livewatch: Eps 8-12

Hello, everybody! Sorry for taking so long to continue this live reaction. Since this is the part where the fights start in earnest, I had a lot less to say about the show's specifics and more general rambling thoughts I had as watching. It made me unsure about how to write this part up, and I ended up taking way longer than I should have (I watched these eps weeks ago!) Not sure if this will make the livewatch more or less entertaining to read along. But at this point I am going to post and hope for the best. Hope nobody is disappointed.

So, following up the end of the last ep, Gojo is called out to the danger zone. It's emphasized how much he's the one guy who matters and can do anything here. Which does kind of make me have thoughts about the worldbuilding.

Ok, so, what is the size of the jujutsu world, exactly?

Between Gojo and Tengen, we have multiple individuals who apparently single handedly hold the jujutsu world on their shoulders. That is so many points of failure, so many points where things could just go catastrophically wrong at any moment, presumably dooming the world. I know that this is primarily in order to place the plot focus on the important people. but it feels less like the jujutsu world is an institution or a world on its own, and more like a small club. Which could be fine, but its established that curses appear constantly, all over the world. It's hard to believe that a group small enough to need a handful of people to hold critical roles could cover the whole nation We know there are only 2 jujutsu schools in japan, and its unknown how many elsewhere but presumably an equivalent amount. We've seen most of the students at the school competition arc, and there were less than a dozen altogether. So....what's going on here? It just seems kind of arbitrary, and makes the world feel more constructed - which, of course, it is, being a fictional world, but generally we prefer when the guiding hand of the author is less obtrusive.

Some comparisons that can be made are to Naruto, the manga which I am almost certain is JJK's biggest inspiration, and to Chainsaw Man, a contemporary peer. Naruto's worldbuilding is large and sprawling, with plenty of named organizations, locations, and events offscreen. out of universe info books and spinoffs help add detail to this, but aren't necessary. There, it is believable that any given character exists in the context of the world because the world exists as background. in contrast, chainsaw man shares a much tighter focus with jjk. much less exacting detail, minor characters, etc; a greater focus on a small cast. There is no greater detail, readers know nothing about the structure of hell, the goings-on in the US or USSR, or even other divisions and areas in japan. but there is enough there to maintain an illusion that the world exists - mentions of foreign countries, occasional shots of hunters or political leaders. Sure, it's not the same as actually detailing in the world, but there's no need to go that far - enough has been sketched in that the readers can imagine the characters getting on a plane and flying to another country, even if they don't have any details about the destination, it feels like they exist in a real world with real places that the camera just doesn't turn to.

This might seem like I'm being overly harsh to the setting. it is clearly an intentional choice to have Gojo be the lynchpin of the world, there's nothing inherently wrong with it. But as someone who loves urban fantasy as a setting, it does sometimes bother me when I feel like the world exists only for the convenience of the main cast. It's a world close enough to our own that I feel like it should make sense.

Anyway, that's enough of that. Moving on to actually talking about the events of the episodes. I did warn you at the start that I had less to say about this set, though.

The fight between Yuuji and the locust curse isn't a bad fight to reintroduce us to the main protagonist. It's smoothly animated, outside some hiccups when jumping through walls, and the fact that both fighters use fully physical techniques made the whole thing seem very even and straightforward.

It's outshone completely by the Gojo vs villain gang battle at the end of 8 and through 9, though. I love when hidden world fantasy type settings use the clash between the normal world and the fantastical, setting these fights in a crowded city subway was a cool enough idea already, but the villain plan to use ordinary citizens to box gojo in, the use of trains in the battle, all hammered it in. the way the battle goes on around them while they can't even see most of it is interesting.

The almost wild, ruthless way Gojo speaks and fights in this battle make it clear he's been pushed very far. Between this and the flashback eps, S2 hasn't been shy about showing Gojo struggling and on the edge, a stark contrast to the way he was essentially the plot device "I win" button in his season 1 appearances. Where many of his memorable moments then had him floating at a distance to his opponents, untouchable as his technique, this fight is brutally physical. The moment he grabs at Hanami's branches was visceral. I was actually really surprised to see Hanami die. When he had Hanami against the wall, I started saying out loud "You know, the ruthlessly strategic thing to do here would be go for the killing blow on the weakened enemy. I just know Hanami is going to come back and cause trouble in future arcs. But it makes sense the author wouldn't want to waste a villain with so much buildup like that." And then he actually did kill him. Okay! Message received, Gege! I'll stay on my toes a bit more!

Also, as an aside (much as the show does,) I really liked the villain interludes. Seeing them messing around playing games in their free time did a lot to add to their characterization, even if it was just a way to exposit their plans to the audience.

While I'm giving praise, the sound design and music team did a great job. There's so much that wordlessly conveys the emotions going on mid-scene without having to stop and actually demonstrate them. the ominous overlay on the villains, the frenetic piano as gojo rushes to use his domain, and the most evocative of all, the soft and emotional tunes of shock when Gojo sees Geto again.

Also, this is the part where I have to embarrassedly admit that I was already spoiled on present day geto being fake. Rather, I was so spoiled that I assumed it wasn't a spoiler and was revealed in S1, until seeing the big reveal scene made me realize someone must have told me about this years ago. Whoops. Apologies if any of my followers were waiting for my reaction to that bit :(

Ep 10 is mostly a bridge and setup for the next portion, but I do have some brief thoughts on the new characters to touch on before moving on. The drinking old man is not endearing himself to me with his flippancy, the curse user with the hand sword from season 1 is back, and still kind of annoying whenever he's on screen. The unnamed white-haired girl with him seems cool though. also, this may be kind of a late moment to say this, but I really do like mahito as a character. Some of his transfiguration stunts were genuinely unsettling, and the way he alternates between that kind of cruelty and his general playful attitude makes him pretty fun to have on screen. He's far and away my favorite of the present day villains.

Skipping ahead to the fights in eps 11 and 12. The montage of murders by the curse users actually disgusted me. Which is kind of funny to contrast with the appearance and fighting style of the man who fights Yuuji and Megumi in this episode. His face and movements are different than most of the cast, reminding me more of some kind of demonic looney tunes character, jumping around and letting hits bounce off him. The fight is a cool showcase of 10 shadows, as well as giving some fun interactions between Yuuji and Megumi.

Actually, as I look back on it, I'm somewhat more impressed by this bit than I was as I was actually watching. None of the individual moments are super impressive or thought provoking, but as I come in to write down thoughts I realize that this two episode span seamlessly transitions between 4 different fights, done well enough that I didn't see it as an interruption, and only realized while writing this about it afterwards.

I don't want to dwell too much on the Nobara and Nanami vs hand guy fight, because that guys icks me out. Mei Mei's fight is mostly offscreen, but I do have a meme about it, because I cannot stop my brain from making unfortunate connections. The fight between the masked sorcerer (I don't remember if we got his name?) and the pair on the rooftop, though. It starts pretty slow - I don't think either of their powers or the way they use them are very interesting - but things tick up immediately when Toji shows up. Just like in the flashback arc, he just grabs the attention in every scene he's in, an

While I'm on the topic, one thing I noticed is how efficient the flashback arc was. Pretty much every element from there makes a direct return now, not even 10 episodes after the fact. Geto and Toji are shown off in the past right in time for them to be introduced in the main plot, not wasted elements. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing but it did feel noticeable. Possibly this ties back to the stuff I was talking about at the start of this, where JJK keeps making the tradeoff of telling a tighter and more focused story while cutting lose any elements that could be seen as extraneous, for better or for worse.

Anyway, that wraps up that watch session. It was pretty good, I didn't enjoy it as much as I liked eps 1-5, but much more than I liked 6-7. as a whole I think I can start to calibrate my expectations for how good this seasons is going to be now, very well executed but much more straightforward than that first arc would suggest. Less exploration of world and characters, more cool fights and action scenes.

I feel like I said a lot without actually saying very much, I worry that this was almost entirely recap of things any watcher knows already. I'll try and write the next section much faster, and hopefully I'll have more interesting things to say about that one.

[bxriles]

At least we’re in hell with you! c: the real question though is: are you OK enough to pull yourself together and give us a Gojo story to survive the hell of him being sealed away? 👉👈

LOL I am not OK in even the slightest sense of the word. But you're right--I'm in good company! (except for Akutami. He isn't invited to the party since he hates my boy)

But yeah. There's a Gojo story coming in the next few weeks(:

[See below for more rambles on how JJK is slowly destroying my life]

I know you didn't ask but like... Did no one else feel this utter shock and chaos and emptiness and ANXIETY AFTER FINISHING SHIBUYA?!?!??!?!??!? The last time I was this emotional over any form of book/story/media was when I finished David Copperfield (my favorite book of all time) for the first time. I cried for a week straight when I finished it. And that was 12 years ago lmao.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

>:333 in return for your wonderful rambling essay i’m gna give you my own lil rambling essay… (<- making excuses to talk abt zero escape)

ok so first off I AGREE . on everything. i also have a bit of a love/hate relationship w ztd bc it has some really good moments and characters AND it’s the funniest zero escape game by far but also just. some story/lore stuf… really didn’t hook me…. (but tbf i really didn’t like the plot twist in vlr either :’3 it’s just a Me thing to be clear but. my pet peeve are small-scale stories that turn into large-scale stories.. just… the world ending…. the weird cult….. the Virus…… yeah i’m good thanks)

as for . the Teams ….. q was the weakest by far BUT I LIKED MIRA A LOT!!! she’s beautiful and a little homicidal but i think it’s ok :3 eric was real as hell. i’ve always really liked his last words being ”i forgive you” in the scene where mira kills him…. i feel bad for him but he just isn’t charming enough to make up for how weak the q team dynamic feels 😭😭 ooh but i do like the secret ending where q kills delta :33 secret endings r fun. my favorite streamer played it and got the ending pretty early by luck and he was SO confused lmao…..

and then there’s d team ………… niku . i was also a supporter of phi/sigma 😔 (i had a feeling you were the same hehe, bickering rlly is a very Niku relationship trope)…… i just thought that twist felt so weirdddd . esp after they spend so much time flirting in vlr…. and also a bit in ztd….. then again ig it was never really Flirting since sigma was. an old ass man the whole time??? that twist was also…. kinda weird……. I LIKE THE D TEAM DYNAMIC THOUGH and more than anything i love sigma’s design <333 he’s soooo dilfy. built like shinjuku!gojo kind of. just one big brick. but yeahhh i just wasn’t very invested in diane/sigma as a ship at ALL 😭 i loved luna but diane didn’t rlly grow on me the same way…. she’s sweet but …… that’s all……..

BUT those teams aside. c team!!!! yes!!!!! our beloveds…… they were just so funny and wonderful and good. uchikoshi deserves some kind of award just for taking the exes of all time and putting them in a room w a random golden boy himbo…. he’s so cute and sweet and perfect for them :((( and GODDD the junpei/akane dynamic 😭😭 i loved the banter and bitterness and subtle dragging…… but the whole proposal thing was so sweet </3 and also kinda funny. emo junpei is dear 2 me :3 BUT C TEAM AS A POLYSHIP YES NIKU!!! join me!!!!!! i think he would balance them out so well….. i’ve seen some art of them before (and also read a fic i think..?) and they were all so sweet!! T_T

OH AND . akane as makima ….. i did in fact scream NIKUUU YOU LITTLE GENIUS …… she IS giving makima. beautiful master manipulator women!!! yes!!!! we need more of them….. 😔😔

AAA THIS IS ALREADY KINDA LONG but i haven’t even talked abt your main point yet …… i Agree. on delta. i remember him being like …. mildly interesting? but he just falls so flat when you put him next to akane and sigma 😭😭 likeee zero should always be a sympathetic lovable character trapped in their own narrative and i think delta checks some of those boxes? but he just. really isn’t given the same care as the other two….. so it’s just like . yeah ok….. this is our guy…… the man behind it all…… mr life is simply unfair snail guy…… he kills gab >:c i DO think his design (mask on ONLY) is pretty hot though but that’s my own issue to deal with

OOOOH AND AND AND !!!!!!! bten crumbs!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!! aaaa i’m still thinking abt that fic yk…… i love hearing more abt the creation of it and all the lore :3 i think shifting as a concept is so cool…. but definitely not good for our poor reader </3 i’m glad you threw them a bit of a bone…… i really am hoping they’ll turn out okay after you let them out of the box :’3 pls don’t pull a niku akutami and make them suffer right after …. plspls ….. (i would eat it up either way to be clear bUT…. still 😔)

TYSM FOR YOUR ANSWER NIKUUUUU i had sm fun reading your thoughts!!!!! i’m sorry for the kinda late reply too, i’ve been busy T_T but you alr know that…. i hope we’ll both get a lil more free time soon…… AND YES i also rlly wanna replay the games!!! if you’re interested in watching someone else play them then … here . link to a compilation of my fave streamer playing it :3 he’s kind of pretentious and critical though so . maybe… you won’t like him ….. but his streams were a lot of fun and he loves carlos !!!!! so there’s that .

anyway tyty my beloved niku!!! here is a silly little meme for you <333

i don’t know why it makes me laugh as much as it does but . i carry it w me everywhere … in my silly meme folder ……

AH YES ANOTHER PERSON OF CULTURE (zero escape fan)!!! Though I suppose I should not be surprised when you did mention loving time loops!!! Akane Kurashiki is truly my girl of all time....

NIKUUUU MY BELOVED PERSON OF CULTURE… yes…. the time loops ………. my biggest weakness 😔 uchikoshi is insane in the head (AFFECTIONATE!!) but i truly think he’s a genius for turning the classic video game format of diverging paths into a real part of the story …….. it’s just theeee coolest thing ever AND AKANEEEE OUR GIRL!!!! hehe i knew i could trust your taste :3 sigma n akane are my favs too!!! they’re just so silly…. a little insane…….. very tragic & doomed 💔 my type in other words (i think gojo and sigma would hit it off so well but i also Really don’t want them to i feel like their meeting would destroy us all)..

ok but niku ….. 👀 i neeeeed to know what you thought abt ztd . plot and lore aside i thought the carlos/junpei/akane dynamic was just so great……… i love them all so much <333 two divorcees and a Himbo