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EP. REVIEW: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

Episode 7

Very good episode overall; I'm not someone who needs/wants anime-only additions or filler, but it was somewhat necessary here since they used this episode to finish up the plot thread from last week while getting the final bits of set-up ready for the rest of the arc-proper.

Very different animation style going on in this one and was noticeable right away in the cold-open, to mixed effect(at least for me). A couple of the sequences during the anime-extended fight between Mechamaru and Mahito stand out in particular: the VERY cool chase where we follow behind Mahito as he changes into multiple animals, and the less cool-but-still-cool-looking final clash inside the cockpit. The animation is messy and kinetic, and reminds me of that "Madara VS Shinobi Alliance" sequence from Naruto Shippuden ep 322. However, outside of these sequences I found the style to look....kind of bad semi-often? Characters look janky and off-model; during the latter half of the episode most of the civilian partiers(even the speaking ones based on their manga counterparts) look like they're from a completely different series. I can't recall if season 1 had any "bad" episodes as far animation goes, but this one is definitely the lowest of this season so far(again, aside from those action sequences). And even then, it's more a mixed bag of interesting, weird, and "huh?", rather than "this looks like dogshit". I love animation getting experimental, but this one was a little jarring following the previous 6 episodes of the season.

8/10

Honestly, I really don't care about Mechamaru. Had Mappa chosen to to expand his screen time rather than show us that random three amigos moments from last week I would care about the guy. Also, his crush kinda came out of nowhere and even didn't fit because the blue haired girl was more into Gojo last season.

By the way, the narrator is Haman Karn!

Gem-Bug wrote:

Episode 7 Very good episode overall; I'm not someone who needs/wants anime-only additions or filler, but it was somewhat necessary here since they used this episode to finish up the plot thread from last week while getting the final bits of set-up ready for the rest of the arc-proper. Very different animation style going on in this one and was noticeable right away in the cold-open, to mixed effect(at least for me). A couple of the sequences during the anime-extended fight between Mechamaru and Mahito stand out in particular: the VERY cool chase where we follow behind Mahito as he changes into multiple animals, and the less cool-but-still-cool-looking final clash inside the cockpit. The animation is messy and kinetic, and reminds me of that "Madara VS Shinobi Alliance" sequence from Naruto Shippuden ep 322. However, outside of these sequences I found the style to look....kind of bad semi-often? Characters look janky and off-model; during the latter half of the episode most of the civilian partiers(even the speaking ones based on their manga counterparts) look like they're from a completely different series. I can't recall if season 1 had any "bad" episodes as far animation goes, but this one is definitely the lowest of this season so far(again, aside from those action sequences). And even then, it's more a mixed bag of interesting, weird, and "huh?", rather than "this looks like dogshit". I love animation getting experimental, but this one was a little jarring following the previous 6 episodes of the season. 8/10

If anything, this episode was one of the best action episodes in the series so far. The only thing that really screws it over is the insane levels of ghosting, which can't be fixed in any way until the BD comes out. And that crowd animation in particular looked fantastic if anything else, having 2d crowds and them moving that much is not really easy.

Also, S1 had several scenes with absolutely terrible CG backgrounds and textures, which are pretty much completey absent from this season. It was not at all perfect.

I was more thinking about Gurren Lagann instead of Evangelion. Gurren Lagann spoilers:spoiler[That last fight sequence was probably a reference to final moment of the last battle where Simon was fighting the Anti-Spiral. Also, those pencil sketches made me think of the series too.]

I suspect that Mechamaru did succeed in getting info to JJK. That notebook he left for Miwa feels like a Chekov's gun. A failsafe in case he died. Likely a legalistic way around the pact where he documented things, but technically didn't betray Mahito or Geto until the pact was completed. Mechamaru seems like the pessimistic cautious planning sort. Likely he got done in by overconfidence due to the high of getting a fixed body and the hopium of seeing his friends.

This fight was totally fine, but the studio’s (?) choice to blur/ghost the animation made it look way worse than it was. Frustrating.

BTW, this wasn’t the first fight in the manga, but they moved it up because it’s the least important.

and I recognize that I have been properly spoiled by Chainsaw Man's commitment to eschewing all of the power-scale nonsense and dedicating all of its time and energy on the raw, visceral bloodshed.

Interesting that people have an issue with the ghosting...I guess I might have lower standards, because the animation looked fine to me