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I'm just getting back into anime after being burnt out of the scene some odd years. A lot of content has been produced in my absence, one of the biggest I constantly hear praised being none other than Jujutsu Kaisen. So what better way to get back into the scene, and annoy nerds with my strong opinions, than immediately jumping into what everyone is watching? And watched I have! Here is my take on Jujutsu Kaisen, structured to fit the title of one of my favorite movies: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly directed by Sergio Leone. Those of you who read Game Informer ... might remember them having a news segment structured the very same way! Without further ado...

The good... Jujutsu Kaisen is a battle shonen, but one that places its niche in dark fantasy. For the most part, while battle shonens are certainly edgy (with no exception spared for Jujutsu Kaisen), wholly gritty and dark battle shonens like this are still relatively unexplored. This makes Jujutsu Kaisen stand out, in terms of presentation and aesthetics at least. Especially with its modern setting in contrast to the dark world of curses and jujutsu sorcery. Despite its shortcomings detailed below, it also is an engaging experience despite being not even half as long as other highly praised Shonen Jump adaptations. It has a lot of expectations to live up to, and for the most part, it meets them excellently. By the end I found myself genuinely invested into the world and story-line being set-up, and I'm excited with the direction the series is going in.

The bad... That said, it being "dark" doesn't substitute for the Jujutsu Kaisen's lack of depth and its identity crisis. This anime has been compared to no end with others like Naruto, and this is because it has trouble setting itself apart from anime that clearly inspired it. This manifests even within the main cast of characters themselves being uncanny resemblances to already existing characters in other Shonen Jump media. While the surface of it appears experimental with the genre, the actual core show is something seen quite a few times now in other battle shonen. The dark setting and gore mostly exist in of themselves, and do not necessarily emphasize the anime's core themes and messages. Perhaps this is because it's still a shonen anime, and therefore it has to suppress those same themes and messages to appeal to its demographic. But nonetheless, I rarely found myself very emotionally invested nor intellectually stimulated. And while you can certainly argue that Jujutsu Kaisen isn't trying to be a philosophy textbook, it can be infuriating when it just barely graces complex topics and then doesn't elaborate on them or fumbles them altogether.

The ugly... While lovable, the main trio of characters do not stand out much compared to the entire cast of the show. With exception to Megumi getting a fair bit of development particularly towards the end; Yuji is merely our traditional dumb oaf who's absurdly powerful, and Nobara is the ignored female character who is mostly delegated to supporting roles and comedic effect. Throughout watching Jujutsu Kaisen, I found the main cast were most interesting when they interacted with side characters rather than when they interacted with each other. This was especially prominent in a later arc, being paired up with other characters that contrasted and/or emphasized their goals and abilities. I find this to be something of a pro and a con, because while having a main cast that's difficult to get invested in impacts the quality of the anime... Jujutsu Kaisen leaves a lot of the spotlight for side characters that immediately and continuously amaze. Rather than the entire journey hyper-focusing on the the main cast of characters, most episodes split them up and focus on side characters just as much. This made Jujutsu Kaisen feel varied and unique with every episode, subverting expectations regarding what would happen from one to another.

Jujutsu Kaisen was initially hard to get into, as the first half of this season was a slog compared to the fantastic second half. But trudging through the formalities with an anime trying to find its own ultimately ended up being rewarding. While this season was good alone, clearly the bulk of its quality is spent setting itself up for bigger things. Introducing concepts, important characters, and the like. Gojo, a beloved character this review hasn't touched on due to his frequent absence in this season, is clearly being set up as some powerful and elusive sorcerer who will play a key role in the next season. So too did Sukuna - a formidable curse and overarching villain - take a back seat after the first half, preparing to showcase his full potential later on. And not to neglect it, the soundtrack is extraordinary. Combining the likes of rock, metal, EDM, and hip-hop to produce some banger tracks. Overall, I'm very happy with the time I spent watching this - and I'm excited not only to watch the rest, but to get back into anime in general! It's good to be back!