There were obvious elements that can also be seen from other shows of the same genre, but this one had more guts.
And by that I meant, the ladies here weren't left out. They had amazing background stories, and in terms of skills, they can clearly fight side by side with the men.
An example was in episode 21 where there was a Sasuke / Naruto moment. Fushiguro was telling Itadori that he'll surpass him, however, Nobara replied with a strong statement:
She's like: You're not the only one who's going to get stronger!
Another thing was how clearly they were more vocal about not having issues with anything related to sexual orientations:
Moving on... A cliche aspect of action anime was how they had to explain the skills to the viewers. Here, they gave a solid reason why it's important to reveal a character's ability.
There's a 'pact' element, and there's one where if a character reveals his skill, the effectiveness of it will greatly increase.
(No need for a narrator to explain stuff! /lol)
When it came to transitioning of the story, others might feel puzzled because of the new setting. But, what's gonna be really confusing will be the new characters who will suddenly pop up without any clue about them.
To be honest, I felt a bit frustrated. When there's a new character, especially if it's someone with a major role, I felt the need to know at least a bit about him before he appear on the screen. I simply cannot give a F to someone I don't have the slightest clue about.
Nevertheless, it was something the creators were probably aiming at -- to completely load the show with unexpected events. Yes, it's not just characters which you will be surprised. Even skills that haven't been mentioned will just suddenly be a part of the scene.
An example was the skill called Black Flash:
There's not a single hint about that ability, and yet, it was instantly mentioned like it was some new, powerful skill that we need to gaze at.
Another unexpected event was the fate of Junpei. In the opening credits, he can be seen having fun with Yuji and the others. But... that actually didn't materialize.
Overall, I think this was the best Shounen anime of 2020. And personally, it's also my new top Shounen anime series.
Even though Yuji Itadori was the main character, it seemed like Satoru Gojo was the most popular in the anime community. His charm and epicness were just over the top.
Just look at his mesmerizing eyes:
Plus, he can be funny during fights as well. But, most of all his skills were just mindblowing:
Going back to our MC and his teammates, they sure were one strong team. Neither of them is lagging behind in terms of abilities.
Nobara Kugisaki with her doll technique.
All three have room for improvement, so I'm sure they will still surprise us as they awaken their dormant power as the series progresses.
When it came to their peers at school, I was totally amazed by Toge Inumaki. I just thought his skill -- Cursed Speech, was absolutely terrifying.
Though the one who gave me a shock was Maki Zen'in. At first, I thought she wasn't that powerful. But after seeing her battle against their rivals from the Kyoto branch, I was just simply floored.
And about Panda... well, I adore his butt attack. /lol
Regarding the main antagonist, Ryomen Sukuna has a similarity to Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter. Both were fascinated by some youngster who they believe will become much stronger when the right time comes.
From all the other antagonists, Mahito seemed to be the trickiest one to battle with. I mean, it looked like he's gonna be hard to kill. Because according to him:
There's also one character who had a very brief screen time that caught my interest. His name wasn't revealed, so, I did some research. His name was Uraume, and his gender's unknown.
I'm looking forward to his role for the next installation.
Monster Designs were top-notch. As the series progresses, you will clearly see how the artwork for the villains became better.
Music / SoundI loved both the 1st opening song ("Kaikai Kitan" by Eve), and 2nd ending song ("Give it back" by Cö shu Nie).
The insert song at the second half of episode 13 gave me goosebumps. While the insert song in episode 20 fired up the battle scene between Itadori, Todo, and Hanami.
Episode Ratings- 1 - Ryomen Sukuna - 5
- 2 - For Myself - 4
- 3 - Girl of Steel - 4
- 4 - Curse Womb Must Die - 4.5
- 5 - Curse Womb Must Die -II- - 5
- 6 - After Rain - 4
- 7 - Assault - 5
- 8 - Boredom - 3.5
- 9 - Small Fry and Reverse Retribution - 4
- 10 - Idle Transfiguration - 4
- 11 - Narrow-minded - 3
- 12 - To You, Someday - 4.5
- 13 - Tomorrow - 5
- 14 - Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event - Group Battle 0 - - 3
- 15 - Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event - Group Battle 1 - - 3.5
- 16 - Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event - Group Battle 2 - - 4
- 17 - Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event - Group Battle 3 - - 5
- 18 - Sage - 4
- 19 - Black Flash - 5
- 20 - Nonstandard - 5
- 21 - Jujutsu Koshien - 5
- 22 - The Origin of Blind Obedience - 3
- 23 - The Origin of Blind Obedience - 2 - - 4
- 24 - Accomplices - 5
PS: There are bonus scenes in almost every episode.
And the movie Human Earthworm 3 mentioned by Yoshino, refers to The Human Centipede 3.
