#did they used all the budget to the sukuna mahoraga fight?

[cieric-of-chaos]

My father just died y'all....

[frost-felon]

Thunderclap, Part 2 got me in a grip, for better and worse. Remembered to use a Read More this time.

So, my issues with the character animation on Sukuna? Part 2 delivered¹, though almost in the other extreme, lmao. He's such a prick, and Yuji paid the price via a simplistic frame during one of his most defining character moments. I did actually like much of how they adapted Yuji's breakdown and decision to soldier on, though it felt comparatively rushed to the manga, even accounting for the differences of animation versus the art of manga. EDIT: Having re-read that chapter, they definitely fucked over Yuji. His breakdown is given significantly more pause and elaboration on what he's actually thinking of ("I wonder why I have to be executed." juxtaposed with the answer: Yuji's life isn't worth more than the suffering Sukuna causes, even to Yuji himself.) in the manga, whereas the anime portrays it as if ALL OF THAT happened in like, two minutes in JJK time. Disappointing, as I really thought MAPPA would give that scene the weight it deserves. It's not nearly as much of a sucker-punch low in that episode, at least to me.

Uraume still got cucked, lmao, getting hit with the blur for half of their minimal screentime in this episode. Not as off-putting as last episode's, so I'm hoping to see more attention to Uraume later. EDIT: Having re-read that chapter, Uraume loses the depth-ambiguity in the manga scene.

Mahoraga fight was adapted extensively, which while hardly surprising, oozed a feeling of, "We gotta hype up Mahoraga for later." One thing I really liked was the additional civilian kills, for fleshing out the anime's depiction of Shibuya's liveliness (and then the wasteland it partially becomes); one thing I took issue with were the civilian kills via Sukuna's Domain. Unless my brightness wasn't up high enough, we didn't get to see Dismantle in a way that sticks/is informative and impactful, like how the manga handled it.

I liked how the abominable twink's death was handled. Haruta's characterization seemed notably different from the way he was portrayed in the manga, though. Rough for all eight of his fans.

I felt iffy on the explanations in this episode--some of the vital information seemed to be skipped, not just adapted visually (that is, shown with clever framing/animation-direction instead of narrated). This seemed to come at expense of showing off Sukuna's insight, though the bastard still made a good showing throughout his time in this arc.

Praying that Yuji gets great character-animation for the rest of these episodes. I doubt MAPPA will pass up the absolute state of this lad in the end-chapters of Shibuya Incident, but I need to see how he's handled before that. The way they handled him in this episode has weakened the doubt.

That one still of Yuji that they used twice reminded me of holding-shot issues in the Maki VS. Mai fight and I think part of the defensive against Hanabi in S1. It's just not a compelling enough frame to stay on for so long, especially compared to how the manga showed changes in Yuji's expressions in each panel. It definitely didn't deserve to be used twice, though the part showing his fingers rising to grip his head was nice. Actually groaned when they held on it again. I'm aware that budget/time-constraints likely played into why the scene was adapted this way.

Also, EVIL to use "SPECIALZ" there, though I guess that gives us a better idea of what the OP was meant to point to. I still see it as an overall summation of the "Everybody knows that shit's fucked!"vibe of Shibuya Incident. I can't remember what exactly I said when it cut to the ED, but that was a remarkably evil choice, too, to keep it fully-intact.

Also, heyyyyy, Nanami! You look...like you really need to see Ieri. Bet we're gonna have fun with him in the next episode.

¹Rereading the chapters had made me once again appreciate the differences in how manga Sukuna and anime Sukuna are depicted. I miss the bit where Sukuna gets surprise-decked, though the "oh shit" expression he had later in the anime was fun.

Bonus: Tags that didn't age well.

I don't have a whole lot of thoughts on Episode 16/Thunderclap, but man, the changes to how the scenes where Sukuna takes enjoyment in playing with the lives of the 'weak' and the reunion with Uraume suck the wind out of my sails. I have some problems with how MAPPA has adapted the Premature Burial -> Shibuya Incident chapters (Mechamaru/Kokichi, my guy, what did they do to you--), but I was really hoping to see the emotions present adapted in a way that was faithful to the intent of the panels, even if it wasn't the same. And it's like...the expressions were kept, but they were shadowed, zoomed-out, or both. That strikes me as such a loss, since Sukuna is shown to be outright giddy when he's wrecking shit in Yuji's body. Sure, he made fun of Yuji when the latter was made hopeless witness to Junpei's demise, but he hasn't shown emotions like this since Yuji tried to kick Sukuna's ass after calling Sukuna's bluff in Chapter 10/Episode...5 or 6, can't remember. Hell, you could probably argue that even then, he wasn't filled with as much glee. Mirth, perhaps, but this is different.

Sukuna genuinely seems to be elated at having control during Shibuya, even though he knows it will be short-lived. It's not hard to see why--he's Yuji's prisoner most of the time. Whether he admits it or not, he's bound to Yuji's whims, with his only levels of control being: he can refuse to give his power to Yuji, and he's got the Binding Vow that Yuji can't remember. That's it. Don't get me wrong, Sukuna holds a lot of power and control over Yuji, but Yuji ultimately decides if Sukuna gets to feel the breeze on any given day. And in most cases, understandably, he chooses to not give Sukuna that freedom.

So Sukuna getting some time to do whatever without Yuji's interference? You can bet that he's high on life.

And when Sukuna sees Uraume, he appears actually excited. Uraume is, likewise, rather pleased that Sukuna is around. They're doing this at each other in the manga:

Is it so wrong, MAPPA, to want to preserve what crumbs of characterization we can get for either of these two? I know that MAPPA probably won't fuck with a certain Uraume scene later, but damn, I miss the touches on character animation.

Anyways, Yuji will suffer regardless, as Gege intended.