Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

Episode 30

It's been all well and good exploring Gojo and Geto's fraught backstories, but the beating heart of Jujutsu Kaisen has always lied within the strength of its main cast, and boy, is it good to have the core trio back again! “It's Like That” is maybe the best possible reintroduction into the modern-day storyline of JJK that we could have hoped for, too. It's got comedy and heart to spare, and then just when you think the show is starting to get a little too mushy-gushy on us, it goes and whips out a Giant Freaking Robot™ to bring the smackdown and remind us that this is, indeed, one of anime's premiere action titles.

Before we get to all of that mecha goodness, though, JJK makes the wise decision to ease us back into things with a heaping helping of narrative and emotional exposition. That may sound kind of dry, at first, and if we're being honest, it probably would have been, if this were the same show that it was back in Season 1. Under the care of the new creative team headed by Shōta Goshozono, though, we have absolutely nothing to worry about, since the show is continuing to take the lessons that MAPPA learned with Chainsaw Man and run with them. Take the initial bombardment of catch-up that we get with Todo and Mei Mei: In most other shows, it could have easily devolved into a series of endless “talking head” shots, with maybe a few pillow shots of the background scenery thrown in for good measure. Here, though, in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, we get to watch these two characters engage in an absurdly well-animated ping-pong game as they explain how all of the students from Season 1 are going to be promoted to First Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers, because why the hell not, right?

Then there's the extended comedy interlude that allows the show to properly reintroduce Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi. I've been saying for years that JJK's secret weapon is that it is low-key one of the funniest comedies currently airing, at least when it isn't gruesomely vivisecting its cast of heroes and villains or cruelly crushing their spirits for our viewing pleasure. Yuji and Nobara's back-and-forth about the absolutely ridiculous Human Centipede parody that Yuji is dying to see is already funny enough. Still, the episode brings in Yuji's adorable former classmate, Yuko, and straight up melts our hearts.

The only downside to Yuko, as a character, is just how sweet and likable she is. Sure, it's cute to see that Yuji could see her appeal even before her recent glow-up, but we all know what happens to the people our protagonists care about in Jujutsu Kaisen, right? I can't help but suspect that the poor girl will be Doomed with a capital “D” if she ends up sticking around. On the other hand, I think the story could benefit from adding a couple of civilians to the roster of supporting characters, especially if this upcoming storyline is set to pop off as much as manga readers have been telling me for the past few months.

Like I said up top, though: All of the comedy and sweet character interactions are nice, but we all know what we really come to Jujutsu Kaisen for, and it's to see Jujutsu Sorcerers wreck shit up real good with their nifty powers, and in that respect, “It's Like That” does not disappoint. At first, I was a little bummed that we were starting this chunk of the season by outing MechaMaru/Kokichi as the mole in cahoots with the Curse Users since we'd only just gotten to know the group from the Kyoto School last season. All was forgiven, though, when we learned that, in addition to playing double-agent in an attempt to warn Gojo about the Curse User's schemes, Kokichi has been working on building a goddamned Evangelion to fight with using his brand new body.

Friends, you have no idea how loudly I screamed in rabid delight when I realized what the show was up to. Now I need to get next week's episode hooked straight up into my veins, ASAP. It's JJK plus Giant Freaking Robots™! What more could you possibly ask for?

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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.