Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2
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Eggmade
Posts: 6 |
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Whether or not 'Specialz' works emotional-wise as the song for the ending sequence of episode 41 is going to be up to personal taste, and I totally get that a bunch of folks is going to prefer a more melancholy sounding song for that. However, from a thematic stand point, I think 'Specialz' is actually a well thought-through choice. It reads (as it should) as Sukuna mocking the hell out of Yuji.
Aside from the whole mocking aspect, 'Specialz' being put there also shows how Yuji-Sukuna situation is a deconstruction & subversion on the typical Shounen main character situation. The Shounen main characters are usually 'Special' --- being birthed by super special circumstances (Ichigo / Naruto) or burdened with extra handicaps (Astra / Deku). This specialness, while at first might seem like a curse that makes their lives harder than others or red-strings them into troublesome situations, the specialness usually gives them a chance to showcase their inner determination. That determination / inherited goodness combining with their special situation will usually work out in making them the heroes they are meant to be. HOWEVER... For Yuji, despite seemingly felling into a similar category as his Shounen peer at first for getting Sukuna into his body and getting into a hidden magical world with all the stubborn cheeriness and all the other making of a hero, his 'Specialness' or Sukuna is no Chakra Monsters who can be won over and used. Sukuna is a genuine curse who is only too happy to prove that evil isn't a toy. Rather than leading Yuji into an opportunity to show off his Shounen heroism, Sukuna leads Yuji through the point of despair. Rather than soldiering through because of his Shounen hero energy, Yuji instead has to keep going on with immense guilt --- as he reflects at the end of this episode that he must do SOMETHING --- and this something isn't to even be a hero but sadly just to not die feeling like a monster. |
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Stelman257
Posts: 321 |
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Man rip these animators, actually carrying the show so hard and being treated like shit by the studio. With no narrative attachment I really just find it borderline impossible to enjoy given what’s happening behind the scenes.
The song sounds like a funky dance number, it doesn’t matter what the lyrics are to 90% of people when it sounds like that because it just creates a funny sounding scene that’s easily memeable, especially out of context. It simply comes down to the tone of the song and not what it’s saying, being a mismatch with the scene. That’s how this classic meme happened after all. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dear-sister-parodies-mmm-whatcha-say The smart thing to do in situations like this, which many shows and games do, is you create a more tonally fitting version of the song you want to use. Tailor it to that scene, so it not only elevates the scene itself, but even helps you view the original use of the song in a different light. |
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Sekaro
Posts: 402 |
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Seems like people would be more OK with the song choice if they had played an acoustic ver of the song, same way Tokyo Ghoul S2 played a slower more melancholy ver of Unravel in the last episode.
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Kirki
Posts: 296 |
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I vehemently disagree that "SpecialZ" didn't fit in the end. I think it was an excellent choice, surrealistic while still fitting this otherworldly scenery of destruction and obliteration. "SpecialZ" is not just funky and upbeat, I don't know where people get that. It perfectly fits JJK's eerie style, and its core is "love for destruction" which characterizes most of the cast, and definitely Sukuna the best. It says pretty words but has a malevolent aura around it, like someone relishing in his happiness while waving a bat and destroying everything on sight - and that was the point. Sukuna is no MC's pet, and there is no underlying message of "making peace with your demons and draw strength for it". He is THE villain of the series and your demons must be fought againt and disappear, otherwise you and everybody else are screwed.
Also, JJK might indeed have absolutely no plot in sight, but it still has great characters and impressive battles. Word goes around about how MAPPA employers should definitely be overworked because "well how else could they produce this spectacle?" I don't know, maybe because they are that good? How come we didn't see the same argument pop up for Demon Slayer's ufotable for example. Not that it is not believable that a company would overwork their employees, but it's a little sad to see this product come out and the first thing everybody says is: "aw, you poor thing, you must be exhausted" instead of "wow great job you are amazing!". How unfortunate it is for pity to take the place of appreciation. |
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Stelman257
Posts: 321 |
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Are you trolling or just blissfully ignorant, the animators working at Mappa have literally been posting about the awful working conditions and awful production schedule on their social media accounts.
https://twitter.com/epppyyy/status/1724836076198433177 This is not fan speculation this is the reality of the situation. Also this ain’t the first time Mappa has had awful shit like this come out about them. It’s been a constant thing, and it’s now reaching a breaking point. The reason everyone gives nothing but appreciation to the incredible work studios like Ufotable do is because they don’t get reported doing shit like this. |
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ronri
 Posts: 86 |
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The lyrics of "Specialz" has a very sleazy vibe and the mood of the OP's visuals and how it celebrates the gleeful violence of the Curses very much set that tone from the start so I don't see why people think it's just some random funky song.
Obviously the moment is meant to showcase Sukuna's sadism and to great effect. Also while I do love the series, JJK is notoriously sadistic in tone, barely giving its characters time to mourn their losses as the villains are shown off in all their glory. It's fine to dislike its direction, but it's also very intentional in its gratuitous tone. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11668 |
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Yeah, how many weeks have we listened to that song accompanied by its doom-laden visuals? The OP looks like a death march, rather than a celebratory parade. I don't see anybody dancing to the dirge-like drum beat (unless you see Mahito slaughtering the train riders as a dance of death). |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1440 |
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That's not what people are saying at all, though. We know most of the episodes are under massive time crunch because the people working on the show have been publicly commiserating about it for months. Heck, you can even see how that time crunch ultimately cost this episode in a number of places. The final shot of Sukuna's fire attack is basically an animatic, panning over the storyboards rather than a completed cut of animation. There's a number of cuts that, while finished, are missing connective tissue and end up being way harder to follow in aggregate because of it. Somebody mentioned to backgrounds looking bad earlier, and that's a consequence of the animation being completed so close to airing that the compositing team didn't have time to finish their work. |
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N V
Posts: 76 |
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There it is again! I feel like I'm going insane, like I'm hearing something completely different to other people. How the hell is the opening funky, dancey, happy or upbeat? It's ominous through and through. Probably still wouldn't be my choice for that scene, but I don't think it was inappropriate. |
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kenatsu
 Posts: 32 Location: LA |
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Can someone explain to me what the dissect move from Sukuna is and why he was able to beat the shikigami
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 1440 |
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Sukuna's basic attacks are slashes, and "Dissect" is (apparently) a different kind of slash that automatically adjusts itself based on the defensive power of his target. Mahoraga's power is that after a certain amount of time, its body adjusts to whatever kind of attack has been used against it, with the timer being represented by the wheel turning on its back. The distinction between "Dissect" and Sukuna's regular attacks is basically to communicate why Dissect was effective after Mahoraga adjusted to his basic attacks. The way he won is that he destroyed Mahoraga with his fire attack before it had time to adjust. |
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Stelman257
Posts: 321 |
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The song is a great bop, love it as the OP and its got a great head banging chorus. A song like that has absolutely no place in a scene that’s meant to be sad or dramatic though aha. I will say if they’d had Sukuna boppin’ and dancing around Yuji while he cries the song would’ve been a great fit. |
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kenatsu
Posts: 32 Location: LA |
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Thanks..that makes sense now..I am also pretty worried about Nanami cause half his body is cooked and he seems to be heading into another fight |
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yeehaw
 Posts: 612 |
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No I'm saying it's sexist because the female characters never get to do anything cool. Nobara has ended up unconcious in every one of her fights except I think one
I know what he meant but It's to my understanding that curses can't exist without people since they're born from people's bad feelings. So I'm saying Jogos dreams were dumb, on the same level as those guys from pokemon who wants to replace all land with water/water with land
This is not in the show at all. That's just your personal headcannon. We haven't seen anything of how Geto treats his "family". We've just been told they loved him very much and we saw them brush his hair once
I think you're lowballing the amounts of deaths here a bit. 9/11 killed a little less than 3000 people and shibuyas halloween event 2019 had more than 40,000 attendees. Honestly the insane amounts of deaths is kind of a problem in this arc for me. It makes the schools look very incompetent when they got warned about this thing happening and we know that they have connections to the government despite being a secret society and yet their "evacuation" I guess was just telling people to go inside? Like seeing people die at first was a bit shocking but in this episode I literally laughed out loud when there's a shot of people falling off the roof of a building that is also falling over and we hear one guy yell "we're falling!" Anyway Enoki Junya did a really good job with the acting in that final moment. Made me feel bad about laughing I also disagree with James about the song. It's not an upbeat song. It's dark and muddy, not just the lyrics but the instrumentals. It's not a "partying in the club" song, it's at most a "bummed out in the club"-song
I know what he meant but It's to my understanding that curses can't exist without people since they're born from people's bad feelings. So I'm saying Jogos dreams were dumb, on the same level as those guys from pokemon who wants to replace all land with water/water with land |
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jdnation
Posts: 2144 |
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Pretty much. I had a long reply to someone 2 pages ago, but I'll add to the chorus that while the sakuga and general action on screen is still impressive and enjoyable, the quality of the show's visuals have dipped in relation to the standard that the show itself has established. They brought up the fact that some of the scenes were planned at the earliest stages of the show and so definitely had time in development, and maybe that could also be a result that early work might've been stylistically different from scenes done later in production, which can happen on projects, or mismanagement might've played a role in not giving them enough development time despite being started earlier, but anyway, only the staff know for sure how things were intended or not. The audience can only call it as they see it, which is that it didn't come off as well as other scenes in the show. From what people are saying, it may be a production committee issue where the financiers voted to not delay, and I don't know how much say MAPPA as the studio has in vetoing or overriding decisions as part of a committee. I think more forward thinking to avoid desperate overworking conditions would hopefully to go with the Netflix-model where an entire season's worth of episodes are delivered completely before an release date is set (which can still be aired weekly in seasonal slots). This may be complicated as contracts and slots need to be delayed, re-negotiated, or even entirely let go of... which could at least lead to 1 season's worth of fewer shows airing in that space for breathing room. So in a way, maybe the anime industry could benefit from an overall period of less content until production schedules at a more relaxed pace catch up. Naturally this is easier said and done as there is always money involved, and salaries, even meager ones, still need to be paid and come from somewhere. In all this news, I am also thinking of Chainsaw-Man, which was done under MAPPA themselves and not done under the typical production committee model. I wonder if that fact allows MAPPA to call the shots and allow for a better production schedule on behalf of its staff and the show's quality? It was no doubt more costly and riskier for them by doing it at their own expense, but would it help if the studio had more control over the project? And what precisely was the case with Attack on Titan? Why was AoT allowed delays and a more staggered schedule? And like AoT, could there be a benefit to delaying an episode one week, or several, and then release a double or triple or movie-length episode later? I've been checking out Pluto, and I've gotta say that I think the 40-min or lengthier episode model can be a very good option.
I didn't mind it too much, and assumed that the lyrics meant something. But yeah, stylistically it was not a good fit for the scene, and either needed a stylistically different version of the song, or a change in context for that scene. I'm certain Sukuna was not dancing around in the manga, which I'm sure they are sticking close to, but if you're going to use the same OP music, it'd be as simple as overlaying audio of Sukuna laughing over the track as it plays. |
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