#please don't yell at me about my bad opinions about shounen manga

[funwalker]

spoilers for jjk....

I think the problem I've been having with the current arc of jjk (the manga) is that they're doing it like a reverse heist movie and I think it really works against the story.

All of the characters have been doing all of this preparation off screen and when they use the fruits of all of their planning it just kind of feels like it's been pulled out of thin air as a plot convenience?

The explanations feel like they've had a decent amount of thought put into them but i feel like it really diffuses the tension having them after whatever they're explaining has occurred.

just saying "oh yuji can use reverse cursed techniques now so he can fight tougher enemies without dying," like... that's cool and all but i feel like it would be more satisfying if we were shown that first and then watched things unfold in unexpected ways in the battle. The way it is now is Yuji shows up, we learn he has a new power, they fight for a while. Theeeeen we go back and learn how he got this power, but it's still in the talking heads format where everyone is sitting around explaining their plan as if this is a heist movie... but we're already watching the heist. We're like, 3 hours into the heist. Like, it's not a trump card that really turns the tides (or at least hasn't yet). I feel like if you're trying to reveal "this character has grown while you weren't looking" it's really more effectively used for emphasis rather than exposition?

A more satisfying flow to me would be something like:

showing all of the characters preparing for this big battle. there are lots of little moving parts to this plan, hence why I likened it to a heist movie. (this would be all of those little flashbacks peppered throughout the recent chapters, but frontloaded either before they send gojo to fight sukuna or after gojo dies. probably after gojo dies for the most dramatic tension)

they go into battle. everyone is at their marks. it's not enough. (this is essentially what's already happening)

if things don't happen as they should, *then* they can explain the contingencies, but because you already know the basic plan, you can begin to put together how this changes things, or it could set you up to be more surprised by an unexpected turn of events.

I think that's why I had more fun with the comedy "battle" between Takaba and Kenjaku. Like, the realization that he's sort of met his match and is enjoying the fight is unexpected and later it's revealed that they had planned it (which in itself is kind of novel because it's also an unexpected pairing from a reader's standpoint). It's probably my favorite sequence in the recent chapters.

Anyways, I'm just complaining because it feels like this arc has gone on for so long and we keep stopping to explain power levels and healing your brain so you can keep using your domain and blah blah blah we picked these three guys to nullify this one thing that sukuna does and taught yuji rct off screen in a week or however long its been and we've made so many contingency plans PLEASE JUST GET ON WITH IT... Honestly though, I've been so checked out of jjk since the shibuya arc ended. I've mostly been reading it on the side because there's usually a new chapter up when I got to check for the new Chainsaw Man lol...

edit: I wrote all of that mainly to say I really don't get why people are enamored with telling a story out of order. it's cool for a surprise every now and then or if it is thematically relevant, but a lot of times it feels like they're just doing it for the sake of doing it. Or like in this case, it feels like it's supposed to be *another* reveal. What is this, like the 4th or 5th time? It's no longer interesting at this point. (it wasn't even well used to begin with.) There's nothing wrong with things being in chronological order!! En media res is probably the most misused rhetorical device IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! STOP IT. STOP. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA