How It Ended

After a couple weeks of discussing premiers, let's switch it up and discuss a finale! The season finale of the 2021 Anime of the Year award winner- Jujutsu Kaisen.

What a run. Honestly, what a freaking run. Nominated for ten awards before it was even halfway through it's first season. Taking home three of those nominations as wins, including Anime of the Year! I covered this series journey from the start of their season and will now cover the finish- well, finish of their first season, because we all know: they are just getting started.

A quick explanation of the story: Yuji Itadori is a 15 year old boy/man child with record breaking strength and endurance, but no motivation to exploit it. All great qualities for someone who is going to fight to save others from curses. That's right, curses. Ordinary humans can't see them, but the gifted individuals that train to fight them, Jujutsu Sorcerers, can see them all too well. Due to various unfortunate circumstances, Itadori ends up swallowing a cursed object that should kill him, but wouldn't you know that he and his weird body actually make the perfect vessel for the most powerful cursed being of them all- Sukuna. Condemned to death due to his curse, Itadori strikes a deal with the Jujutsu Sorcerers, he will find and consume every part of Sukuna he can before being killed in order to try and save as many people as he can along the way. As these stories tend to go, he realizes quickly, that it won't be that easy.

I enjoyed this series a lot. I am a sucker for a good fight scene (blame it on my shonen upbringing), and this one has a lot of them. Not only were there a lot of them but they were all different as well. They did a great job of showcasing the different characters abilities, growth, and adaptations in order to keep it from feeling too repetitive in the animation sequences, which I deeply appreciate. I do want to note though, mainly as a side thought, that some of the animation of energy or other abilities, felt very reminiscent to this Anime of the Year award winners predecessor- Demon Slayer. That more classic Japanese painting turned vibrant style was a huge eye catcher for Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen decided to dip into it. I point it out because just as with all things in pop culture, we go through phases and styles, I am now wondering if this is going to be one of those phases for the anime community. If it is, I'm neither here nor there on it. It gives a bright pop of color in otherwise darker fight scenes, so I won't complain at the very least, but I think overall I did prefer it as a unique staple to the first series.

A fear I stated in past articles on the series was that it had the potential to be a "strong start, sloppy finish" flop. That was a devastating thought after it won Anime of the Year. Now that the series is over we can finally say with certainty that it was no sloppy finish...However, it did heavily make me reflect on what qualities I felt gained it the award so early on and if I thought it was enough. To be honest, I think it still would have won even if the season had been complete, it's continued rise in popularity shows that, I'm just not sure I would have backed it as much...

This is not to say that I don't like how the series ended but the second half did make me reevaluate how I viewed the series as a whole. In my original review, I stressed how unique the pacing of the show was and how that factor alone set the series a part from others. This is 100% true for me still- what's changed is whether I like that pacing or not. It was refreshing in the first half because of how different it was from what we typically see, but by the end I felt that it was almost too rushed, or worse yet, incomplete. The way they managed to create the pacing was by removing virtually all natural transitions. Their constant time skips made me feel like we were missing key moments of insight on characters and situations. This tactic might work for people who prefer the fast pace but for me it left me a bit wanting for more and even a little confused at times, feeling like I was missing something. Other than Itadori, I never felt connected with the other characters. I have considered the possibility of all that being intentional, but we won't know that answer for certain until season two.

The pacing also leaves me fairly confident that the anime does not follow the original manga closely. I don't know that because I haven't read it [yet], but that is my strong prediction. I just can't see a manga pulling off these nonexistent transitions and not being completely and utterly confusing. With how successful the manga is, I am going to side with a no on that one. Which causes the question: why are fans still so loyal then? I'll probably have to check that one out for myself.

Another point of disappointment for me was the second opening and ending sequences. The first round were both nominated for awards this year, with the ending sequence actually winning. I feel confident in saying that neither of these second rounders would have ever even made it as nominees, which ultimately left me feeling pretty flat. Don't get me wrong, I saw what they were going for, and I didn't hate the animations at all, it was just not up to snuff with our first round, which was disappointing considering how amazing they were.

But even after all that, none of that seemed to matter to me as much as this last point. Now please hear me when I say: I hate when I see people talk about this topic too much, because this is not the first series it's been said about, frankly the topic is wildly overplayed, but yet...I still need to say it. There was one thing that I absolutely tried to shake but just couldn't...it is SO much like Naruto... I KNOW I KNOW, ANNOYING, RIGHT? I hate myself for even saying it, but I HAD to. You mainly see it in the character designs, but it's even in some of the mannerisms. I tried and I tried but I just couldn't shake the thought that the original author must have been a huge fan and just wanted to pay some homage to the classic series. And, I mean, I can respect that, but maybe, reel it in a little? But hey, what do I know? You won the awards after all!

Though most of this post ended up coming across as a criticism, I did really enjoy the series, and hands down plan to watch season two when it graces our screens. I even recommend you check it out, and let me know what you think. Do you agree with me on any of these points? Do you think I'm being absolutely ridiculous? Let me know! Just don't curse me for it.

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Thank you for joining me for this cursed installment of Nerdom. This was a fun series to cover, Itadori is the best of boys and I wish him the best on his dangerous endeavors. And you too! Finish your week strong and I will be back this Sunday with The Mess. In the meantime, stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay messy otaku.