Shounen is arguably the most popular and the most disputed genre in anime. Many anime fans, almost all of whom are unsurprisingly the genre's target audience -- male teenagers, dote on Shounen and revere it like it's the best thing since sliced bread. On the other hand of the spectrum, some of the more "critical" fans aren't as fond of the genre and often criticize it for its simplicity and lack of creativity.
However, while that statement is true to some extent, there are several Shounen anime out there such as FMAB, Gintama, HxH, etc. that have received plaudits from the more mature audience. In more ways than one, these titles have tried to do more than what Shounen is usually credited for -- mindless action and simplistic storyline -- and have succeeded at it remarkably.
Incidentally, Jujutsu Kaisen is one of them.
Originally a manga being serialized on Weekly Shounen Jump, Jujutsu Kaisen has gained quite the popularity ever since it started airing. And as expected, it has also gained a bit notoriety for being "overhyped" and "a duplicate of other Shounen", which is honestly very undeserved. While it is obvious that the series has taken inspiration from other Shounen titles, to label it merely as a duplicate would be seriously undervaluing it --
Jujutsu Kaisen deserves all the praise that it gets.
To be completely honest, I would be lying if I said I became a fan of the anime right from the beginning -- because I didn't. Given its hype, I was fairly disappointed after watching the first few episodes; I didn't enjoy them as much as I thought I would. Like many others, I thought the show was kinda overhyped and mediocre. Needless to say, I was quickly proven wrong.
Stories that are similar to JJK are commonly found in the Shounen genre. After going through a series of major and unexpected events, the protagonist's life changes forever, and then he devotes himself to fighting off villains and monsters for the better of humanity. What makes JJK unique then? What makes it different? Perhaps its exceptionally life-like and realistic characters, and how maturely it handles its themes compared to the majority of Shounen.
The inclusion of dark themes in narrative isn't a new thing in Shounen, but the problem arises when we come to the execution. In hopes of appealing to the more mature audience, a lot of Shounen (and non-Shounen) anime half-assedly throw in a bunch of seemingly mature subjects without properly putting them together, which just ends up creating a giant, ugly mess that is barely salvageable. However, JJK completely averts this issue by taking a more careful approach to storytelling, slowly but steadily building its themes, and creating diverse and believable characters.
There are several themes that are explored in the series, but the most recurring and notable one is the concept of "Curses". Simply put, Curses are frightening supernatural beings that are born from the negative emotions of humans: hate, rage, disgust, jealousy, depression, and many more. The entirety of JJK revolves around the Curses, and the first real attempt at exploring the concept is done through Junpei Yoshino, a high school student turned recluse who has been a victim of bullying his entire youth. Junpei is not a side character simplu created to manipulate the viewers' feelings; he is fleshed out within a short period of time and plays a significant role in the story (i.e. helps shaping up a certain character).
And this is not only Junpei. Most characters of the show are decently characterized within a short amount of time. Granted, they are built on certain popular archetypes due to the usual boundaries of Shounen, but most of them display a degree of realism and maturity which by far exceeds that of most other Shounen characters. Through various monologues, conversations and events, the series gradually fleshes out the characters and their relationships. And perhaps the best example of this is our protagonist Yuuji Itadori.
Excluding his abnormal physical strength, Yuuji is an ordinary "happy-go-lucky" highschooler, who spends his time doing typical highschooler things and taking care of his bed-ridden grandfather—until one day, promptly after his grandfather's death, he finds himself dragged into the ominous world of curses and becomes the vessel of Sukuna, the king of all curses. From this point onwards, Yuuji frequently has to fight against horrifying creatures alongside other Jujutsu sorcerers, all while being subjected to the ugly side of mankind.
Reading this short description, it's easy to mistake Yuuji for your typical childish yet kind Shounen protagonist, but as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that there is far more to him than that. Yuuji's first encounter with a special-grade curse is probably the most defining moment of his life. It made him realize how weak he is, how little his life actually amounts to. It made him realize that he isn't strong enough to save everyone, or even just himself. This realization is later reinforced in episode 12, when Yuuji has to witness Junpei get transformed into a curse with his own eyes. Junpei's death is another crucial point in Yuuji's life, and as more major incidents occur around him, he experiences change regularly—he doesn't remain a static character.
Yuuji is a victim of the curse; he never asked or deserved to be in this situation. Yuuji constantly questions himself if he is doing the right thing, if he is happy with who he is now. He constantly struggles to figure out exactly why he is doing this, and honestly, he still doesn't know. However, there is one thing that he knows for sure -- he wants to save others from experiencing a cruel fate, even if it's only one person. He wants to bring a smile on people's faces, even if it means he has to come across some horrible things on the way. Yuuji simply wants to make people happy. His goals may not seem impressive to others, but to him, they mean a lot.
And that is precisely what makes him such a well-written protagonist.
This sense of realism can also be found in other characters. Out of all the characters, Megumi is unquestionably "the serious guy". He is seemingly just a mysterious, emotionless boy who is implied to possess extraordinary yet undiscovered power. So basically your typical Shounen deuteragonist, right? Megumi is backed up with rather strong characterization though, that makes him stick out. Megumi isn't simply fueled by revenge or the like; he is a lot more mature than that. That said, like a few other characters, he isn't fully fleshed out yet, and it isn't until the final arc that the series starts focusing on him. This may seem like a major issue, but it is justifiable given the nature of the story, which I will talk about a bit later.
Despite not being a comedy anime, comedy is indeed an essential part of Jujutsu Kaisen. The series has its fair share of jokes and light-hearted moments, which is to be expected considering that it is primarily targeted towards a Shounen demographic. Fortunately, the comedy of the show is mostly very charming and humorous. Rather than relying on only two or three characters to deliver all the jokes (which seems to be the case with a lot of action series), JJK utilizes its diverse cast to do that. I mean, there's a giant talking panda as a crucial side character. How cool is that?
That said, I do have one gripe with the comedy: it can be too overwhelming sometimes. The comedy is mostly separated from the serious content so it doesn't feel distracting, but that's not always the case. For instance, I had a few issues with how the fight between Yuuji and Toudou was presented -- not because of the fight itself, but because of how intervening the comedy felt to me. However, I do believe that it's more a personal issue than an objective one and shouldn't be problematic for most other viewers.
A lot of Shounen anime suffer from weak female characters, which is understandable in some cases, but most of the times, it's because of the sad truth that they are oftentimes treated as objects more than anything else. Many shows create female characters solely to provide shameless fanservice and serve as "waifu bait", a cheap, narrow-minded trick used to appeal to the utterly horny fanbase. Jujutsu Kaisen, however, is an exception to this; it arguably has some of the most well-written female characters in Shounen I have ever seen.
The only female of her group, Nobara is one of the strongest characters in the anime; she doesn't let the male characters undermine her presence. She certainly can be a bit silly, childish and irritable at times, but her confident, determined and kind nature is what makes her a great character. Nobara realizes that she isn't as strong as her teammates, but doesn't let that bother her. She realizes that she will have to face many difficulties ahead, but doesn't let that discourage her moving forward. No matter what obstacles may come toward her, she will keep struggling to accomplish her dreams.
The other female characters also make strong impressions, notably Maki and Mai, the Zenin sisters. At first, it is easy to find the latter dislikeable because of her seemingly hateful nature, but her harsh background, revealed later on in the show, explains why she behaves that way and fleshes out both her and her sister adequately. You probably won't find the other girls as appealing, but they are all unique and charming in their own right. As I said earlier, all the female characters are treated as actual characters with believable personalities, not merely tools used for redundant and appalling fanservice.
Like the above mentioned characters, pretty much the entire supporting cast is memorable. Quite a few of them have been given obvious quirks to expand on the comedy: Toudou's eccentric nature and wacky tomfoolery, Inumaki occasionally uttering random words to prevent his cursed speech from hurting others, and the previously mentioned Panda's quirk is, well, being a panda. However, the said characters are sufficiently balanced with proper characterization, and they indeed play a significant role in the story. The same applies to the villains as well. They are all well-written and decently characterized, particularly the main antagonist of the series, Sukuna Ryoumen.
Sukuna is one of the most compelling Shounen antagonists I have seen to date. To be blunt, he is an asshole. His smug face, overbearing presence, cocky nature -- everything about him just shows how big of an asshole he is. When Yuuji gets in trouble, he mocks him for being weak and laughs at his misery. When someone speaks slightly ill of him, it immensely hurts his ego -- if he hadn't been stuck inside Yuuji's body, he would have killed that person in an instant. However, even if he is the spawn of Satan, it's hard to dislike that guy. No matter how wicked he is, Sukuna is undoubtedly a great antagonist and the mystery surrounding him only adds to his appeal.
Now, I won't be doing justice to a certain character if I don't bring him up. And that character is, of course, the strongest of all sorcerers, or quite possibly all living beings, Satoru Gojou.
To grossly oversimplify, Satoru is a righteous version of Sukuna. Similar to his evil counterpart, he is incredibly prideful, sorta narcissistic, and carefree. More often than not, this kind of personality comes off as very, very annoying. But mind you, this dude is NOT annoying. Like his magnificent eyes, everything about him overflows with charisma. He is unbelievably charming, hilarious and outgoing, someone who you would love to hang out with everyday. For the brief appearance that he usually makes, he more than compensates for it just by appearing on the screen. Of course, his role in the story isn't simply limited to being a silly yet cool teacher. Although he doesn't appear nearly as much in the anime as the other main characters, it's apparent that his significance is going to be much, much more notable as the story advances, and I can't wait to see that.
This leads us back to the seemingly major issue that I talked about earlier.
Jujutsu Kaisen is originally from Shounen Jump, and considering how long most successful Shounen Jump titles are, it's not surprising that it will take multiple seasons to adapt the whole manga. And the manga isn't even close to being finished, which means that the first season has only covered the early stages of the story so far. It's going to take a fairly long time to fully explore the themes and develop all the characters. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I can see how it would be a turn-off for people who aren't into stories of this nature. Personally, I didn't think it was an issue at all. Besides, that just means the show is going to get even better. And when it's already this good, I'm excited to see what's coming next.
In all probability, 2021 is going to be the year of MAPPA. Including the last half of Jujutsu Kaisen, with titles like Attack on Titan, Zombieland Saga and Chainsaw Man at hand, it is potentially their most prolific year to date, and I think they completely deserve it. MAPPA's animation has always been great, but they have stepped up their game in recent years. Their latest works like Attack on Titan, Dorohedoro and The God of High School are excellently animated, and Jujutsu Kaisen definitely isn't an exception.
JJK is arguably one of the most well-animated shows of the past few years. The animation is smooth and fluid right from the beginning and has no apparent flaws whatsoever. The school costumes look pretty sick, and while the artstyle is intentionally given a generic touch, it's distinct enough to differentiate it from other Shounen anime. More importantly, throughout its entirety the series consistently maintains a dark atmosphere and, on other the hand, seamlessly blends in with the light-hearted scenes, which is quite an arduous task to do. The action is spectacular. Every action scene brims with jaw-dropping animation and zestful music; they are always immensely entertaining to watch.
Speaking of music, the soundtrack of JJK is amazing. The score is mostly funky and classy, but there are several spine-tingling tracks as well that are played exactly when they are needed. As I said earlier, the action scenes are accompanied with electrifying music which makes the fights even more exciting, and thus even more engrossing. The voice acting is also very remarkable; from the smug and arrogant Satoru to the relatively serious Megumi -- it is evident that every character's lines are delivered with a lot of skill.
The first opening theme "Kaikai Kitan" is Eve's second song being featured in anime. It's one of my favorite J-pop songs of all time and perhaps the best song he has released so far. The sequence is also amazing; it perfectly captures the grim atmosphere of the series and contains a great amount of painstaking details that can be noticed if looked closely. Moreover, subtle details are added as major events take place (e.g. new characters being added, Satoru showing his eyes), which I find applaudable. The second opening theme "Vivid Vice", although not as good as the first opening, also features a great song and a beautifully animated sequence.
The first ending theme "Lost in Paradise", performed by Ali and Aklo, is very, very catchy and groovy. It is very cheerful and there's not much to critically analyze about it in contrast to the openings (especially the first one), but in terms of visuals, it is easily one of the nost stylish endings I have seen to date. The second ending theme "give it back" is personally a letdown compared to the other theme songs, but it isn't bad by any means and features a very soothing and beautiful sequence. On a side note, the endings are followed by short comedy skits called "Jujutsu Scroll", which are quite funny to be honest.
Bottom line, Jujutsu Kaisen is amazing. If a viewer doesn't go into the show with an "Anything that is remotely similar to my favorite Shounen anime is instantly bad" type of mindset, then it has a lot to offer. It's apparent that the series has yet to reach its peak, but even in its current state, it manages to be far more than just your typical Shounen. Along with its fantastic animation and kick-ass soundtrack, the series quickly establishes a dark, gripping storyline with compelling and true-to-life characters, which immediately sets it apart from many other Shounen anime.
At the very least, Jujutsu Kaisen is a great example of how good Shounen can be.
