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Now, Jujutsu Kaisen is definitely set to be the next big Shonen, in the same vein as Kimetsu no Yaiba (the two share a lot of similarities too). But does it actually hold up to its hype?

It depends.

The show isn't bad per se. Sure, it's generic, and has the same kind of gritty tones countless of shows have because people seem to love it nowadays. But if you want a fast paced show, with an interesting enough premise and great fights you'll certainly love it.

But if, like me, you mainly enjoy shows for the characters, let me tell you right now : ... it isn't for you.
I've rarely seen characters so flat and generic. They're introduced left and right, given two minutes of introspection for us to understand their motivation, and that's it. How are we supposed to grow attached to them?

The main trio, who we are supposed to root for, has 0 meaningful interactions in 11 episodes. The main girl is taken out of all the interesting action, which isn't surprising but is certainly disappointing. The main character is cliched but surprisingly okay, if we take away from the fact he doesn't have any depth and somehow takes inspiration from the death of his grandparent we've known and said goodbye to in 10 seconds. The 'emo character' is the same one we've seen in countless of shows, except there's literally 0 effort to make him somewhat stand out by giving him something interesting for us to be invested in. We know nothing about him, and his personality (spoiler:he doesn't have one) doesn't make up for it. There are other characters, all with interesting designs, and they could be interesting and developed later, but seeing how the main characters are developed, I don't have much hope. The relationships follow the same veins as the characters: are we supposed to believe the characters care about each other just because the show tells us they do? Aren't we supposed to... see it for ourselves?

Finally, maybe it's just me, but the humor is trying way too hard and isn't funny at all, which spoils my enjoyment a lot.

All in all, it's a good enough shonen, but it really depends on what you're looking for.

To start off this review, I'd like to say that I've seen quite a few people complaining about this season. The main complaints seem to be about the animation and the lack of action.

I normally never write reviews, but, because of what I stated above, I'll try to express my opinion this time.

While I don't think starting with the animation is that relevant, I'd like to address the complaints here. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, it's the art style (yes, it's not the same thing) that has people complaining. I believe people just don't like changes, and, when something is indeed changing, they immediately react ... in a bad way without taking the time to think about it. To me, the animation is great.

Furthermore, the art change was made to stay true to the manga, so I think that's a good thing.

It does take a while (like 5 minutes) to adapt, but if you try to enjoy it, you'll see the animation and art style is pretty damn great. I personally like this art even more than the older season. It resembles the manga more, and seems more "modern". It is simpler, mostly because the animators weren't the same I believe. But it's still beautiful and satisfying to me.
Adapting to a different art style and seeing animation evolving shouldn't be such an important topic of complaints when it's done greatly! It's anime, OF COURSE the animation or art style is gonna evolve.

Secondly, the lack of action. I don't understand this statement either? Do people believe a good series is only matches with no character progression in between? This is what makes Haikyuu! so great : how we see the characters grow. Complaining about this is understandable if no big matches were played for some time, but this season follows the biggest match we've seen till now. Not to mention we still did get a quick match at this end, and we know the second cour is gonna be all about action.

Furthermore, if there weren't these moments where we see characters evolving, the show would become repetitive and boring, so I personally enjoyed it. Of course there's gonna be some training arcs, but if well made, they're interesting!

The focus on the first half is divided between Kageyama and Hinata, and it's incredibly interesting. I personally didn't see time passing when I watched each episode. I was engrossed in each of them!

To conclude, apart from some small pacing problems and some things being resolved too fast, it was still very good. I don't think this season is worse than the others. The characters are still lovable, the story leading to nationals is interesting, and the evolution of everyone's play (particularly Hinata) is great.

If you've loved the first 3 seasons of Haikuu and don't fixate on the art style just because it has changed, you're gonna love this season as well.