not only does it fully embody its title's straightforward nomenclature, it also fully embodies the nature of its anime subgenre: battle shonen.
it's a show that's brimming with energy. from its high octane animation quality to the one-two punch one liner comedy to its brisk nonstop pacing to the varied score with new tracks for every new fight, Jujutsu Kaisen is a pure delight to watch.
but it's clear to me that Jujutsu Kaisen is more than just a fast paced seasonal thrill ride. to me, Jujutsu Kaisen is a watershed moment for shonen, a pivotal show that will forever shift not only the battle shonen subgenre but the anime medium from this point onwards.
airing directly after the close of a decade that had equal amounts of wild experimentation/the preservation of hand-drawn animation in more niche circles (Mob Psycho 100 and the works of Masaaki Yuasa come to mind) and lucrative derivative creative bankruptcy/the rising over reliance of shoddy CGI in the mainstream (name any of the dime a dozen isekai), Jujutsu Kaisen serves as a perfect middle ground, appealing to the largest audience possible whilst upholding a standard of quality that's heretofore unprecedented in a mainline battle shonen.
reminiscent to 2019's Demon Slayer (which was a watershed moment for the medium in of itself), Jujutsu Kaisen rises above every single one of its contemporaries as a showcase not for the best writing, the best original premise, nor even the best characters (which is not a slight against the characters at all; they're all wonderfully rounded-out, even the sentient Panda).
no, Jujutsu Kaisen serves almost purely as a showcase for the handdrawn animation that explodes across the screen, bringing in its viewers for more doses of animated phantasmagoria every week.
i found myself dumbfounded at the amount of hard work the animators over at MAPPA poured into this, with week after week of sakuga goodness flowing without any seeming end. even small character moments and simple conversations possess detail that most shonen don't even bother with; characters actually emote even in mundane scenes, their hair animated to react to walk cycles or gusts of wind.
but what elevates the animation as well as the show at large is how the writing, pacing, and plot all serve to highlight the animation and the battles themselves.
to understand what makes Jujutsu Kaiden's structure so special, we have to also understand that it's not original; this isn't the first anime to use this formula of prioritizing battles over everything.
the formula of a nonstop battle shonen is something that's been around for a while, most prominently featured in classic manga/anime like Yu Yu Hakusho and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo.
it's a formula that forgoes the hallmarks of typical battle shonen that turn so many people off the subgenre as well as the medium at large; it's lean, cutting off any unnecessary "filler" episodes, excising any episode that is fully dedicated to exposition and/or character development.
instead, the formula these battle shonen utilize is one that purely revolves around the aspect of battle itself:
-"training" arcs are relegated to a one or two episodes at most, with the breakthrough required from this narrative device achieved purely through fight scenes
-comedy isn't just relegated to a few side characters or an episode or two, it's organically weaved between battles and sometimes, within battles themselves
-battles/fights themselves don't just serve as climax to machinations of ongoing plotlines, but also as a form of therapy for our characters, doubly advancing the plot while also rounding out our characters' backstory and development
Demon Slayer is the most recent example of this formula, but even that show falls to some of the pitfalls of the genre, its pacing taking a break from the action for comedic bits, exposition, or world building.
what Jujutsu Kaisen does differently is that it fully commit to that formula to the fullest.
it's no wonder that the show is so delightful in wearing its influence on its sleeve when everything it accomplishes is built off everything that came before. in acknowledging rubbing shoulders with battle shonen giants like Naruto and Bleach (which has a very profound influence on Jujutsu Kaisen in more ways than other predecessors, but that's another topic for another time), it also acknowledges how it makes up for their shortcomings, learning from their mistakes and advancing the medium-dominating genre of battle shonen as a whole.
at the end of the day, Jujutsu Kaisen may not be wholly original but it isn't trying to be. in perfecting what makes the battle shonen subgenre works so well, and fixing the shortcomings of its biggest influences, Jujutsu Kaisen becomes something wholly different altogether.
it's forward-thinking in every way possible, working in tandem with respect for the influences that came before as well as upholding and revitalizing the lifeblood of traditional handdrawn animation.
only time will tell if this show is truly a microcosm of what popular anime will look like in the future (the upcoming adaptation of Chainsaw Man on the horizon is a great sign).
regardless, it's very plain that Jujutsu Kaisen is an instant classic. here's to the future!
