I decided recently to dabble into more contemporary Anime, to move outside of the established classics that i've been moving through at a glacial pace in the last few years. Arbitrarily i picked Jujutsu Kaisen, in the hope of finding something that may respark that fascination i felt for Naruto.
It is almost comical how blatant the rip offs from Naruto are on the surface, but whatever the intention was, i feel that it was only the initial structure that was copied, as all of the characterizations are actually quite different. Yes, Yuji and his friends look very similiar to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura but
...
they have very different personalities if we are honest about it.
They are at a different age, at different stages in their life, and are generally rendered more realistically. Particularly Megumi surprised me by the end of the show due to the nuance that was shown in his character. His confusion, disattachment and disorientation regarding his moral compass make him appear somewhat bland, but at the very end of the first season he comes to a conclusion that felt very satisfying to me, and, makes him anything but a copy of Sasuke.
Those supposed similarities aside, i think this anime is both a labour of love and a mixed bag. What i didnt like was the very fast pace, a lack of coherent development in the story, insofar that arcs arent really intertwined or blend into each other very well, which makes things feel quite disconnected from each other. It also renders some emotional development from previous arcs null.
What make this anime stand apart are the horror elements, that are a few times executed very well to create a strong emotional impact, there are what i would call truly traumatizing experiences that the characters go through, and this is reflected by those characters, but a few sentences and scenes later processing is done and the experiences just move back into a sort of residue at the back of a characters mind to remind them how they have grown. I've seen better. Another thing i didnt like too much were the comedic elements. I'd say that i found around 10% of the comedic scenes amusing, and maybe 5% actually funny. While the intention is to loosen up some of the tension, i think it was often quite misplaced and again at times undermined the progress the story made. Building up Yujis and Aois friendship as effectively as it was done during the exchange tournament, just to have yuji exclaim one episode later that he wasnt quite himself when they did that, then actively avoiding contact with him, served the joke to play up Aois oddness for laughts but to me it felt genuinely frustrating. There is definitely gold produced by the writing in this show but its often not capitalized upon and at times even undermined. Lastly, i'm not fully in tune with all of the designs here. That's a very subjective thing, but some of the characters here are too jarring for my taste, electic guitar grand pa and some of the curse designs come to mind. It feels a little inconsistent and reminded me in good and bad of SMT 4.
Now for the good stuff: As i said the horror elements are executed really well at times. Junpei's transformation was brutal, truly brutal and surprising to me. There's some real body horror too, as this young teenager who has been built up over several episodes as a character gets cruelly transformed into a deformed monster just to die shortly afterwards. Generally the world building is weird but fascinating and i think that's a big draw to this show. The way everything is laid out i expect to be surprised constantly and i do get surprised, as the elements of how this world functions are expanded in creative and interesting ways. Especially the big focus on horror elements pays off here, particularly the way humans are transformed into objects, puppets, monsters etc by Mahito. I think the anime succeeds here in building up curses as these horrifying phenoma and it underlines the pathos of what it takes to be a sorcerer effectively. While the "Humans are impure, curses are pure and thus deserve to rule" angle felt a bit shallow and simplistic to me, the cast of antagonists was quite alright. Just as is the rest of the cast. I look forward to see how the characters develop and expand. While the introductory backstories are mostly very weak, i find the characterization that takes place during the episodes to be quite effective and i already have a few favourites that i would like to see much more from. The great animation all across the show is a plus too although that is something i personally see as secondary. I wont sit through a show that has bad writing just to see amazing animation But in this case i dont have to.
The biggest positive that i could name for any art work, what made me embrace the show after my initial scepticism, was the feeling that the writer behind it has something meaningful to say. While there are the usual tropes and platitudes about self improvement and finding one's place in the world thrown around, i generally felt that there was a lot of substantial stuff too. There's this underlying theme around everything that goes on here, that gives a kind of thematic cohesion and fascination beyond the tropes. While the plot is often disconnected, the atmosphere of this world, with all that makes it feel alive, is anything but.
I don't know who wrote the manga and how much experience that person has, and i wont look it up now, while writing, as to keep my judgement authentic, but i imagine him to be a young not-yet-fully-established manga writer, with genuine talent, who brute forced himself to produce this art. That little arc about Megumi at the end that i mentioned earlier, ignoring perfectionism, letting structure come afterwards, going with the flow, meaning what you do, not hiding; in essence: finding an approach to let your energy flow, was for the most impactful moment of the show, even though it bears little relevance to the general plot. Megumi evoking his domain, immediately seeing its flaws but deciding not to care about it, as to get done what needs to be done because it can be done, so to say "risking creativity" - A true artists dilemma being expressed. This interpretation fits very well with how i judge the show: Imperfect, inconsistent but with flashes of brilliance and creativity that justify the time spent on it, having the talent to take risks and make it work, while still being a bit wonky on its legs. Add great animation work on top of it and we have ourselves a fine and promising first season of a show.
Jan 4, 2024
Jujutsu Kaisen
(Anime)
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I decided recently to dabble into more contemporary Anime, to move outside of the established classics that i've been moving through at a glacial pace in the last few years. Arbitrarily i picked Jujutsu Kaisen, in the hope of finding something that may respark that fascination i felt for Naruto.
It is almost comical how blatant the rip offs from Naruto are on the surface, but whatever the intention was, i feel that it was only the initial structure that was copied, as all of the characterizations are actually quite different. Yes, Yuji and his friends look very similiar to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura but ... |
