Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦, rgh. "Sorcery Battle")[b] is a Japanese anime television series produced by MAPPA, based on the mangaseries of the same name by Gege Akutami. The story follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Jujutsu Sorcerers to eliminate a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna, of whom Yuji becomes the host. The series broadcasts on MBS and TBS in Japan. It has been licensed by Crunchyroll for streaming outside of Asia, which premiered an English dub in November 2020. The anime's original soundtrack was released in April 2021.
A prequel film set before the events of the main series, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, was released in December 2021.
Jujutsu Kaisen director Sunghoo Park had meetings with Shueisha and the Jujutsu Kaisen manga author Gege Akutami to discuss the details about adapting the long-form narrative into a seasonal anime structure. Park also felt the challenges from the MAPPA's staff in adapting the series' designs, build the characters, and create the "Domain Expansion" scenes during their production which he stated that it required a lots of detailed discussion with Akutami and Shueisha to enhance their works. Compared to his previous work The God of High School, Park acknowledges in working with different teams through the use of their technique and creativity to make their action scenes possible.[4]
Scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko discussed about the handling of the drama but also the comedic banter between the teenagers, adults, and the cursed spirits in the series which is mostly based on the original materials. Toho producer Hiroaki Matsutani also revealed the addition of the post-credits shorts "Juju Sanpo", in which an idea from Akutami came up with the draft and later submitting it to the staff. When discussing about the sound and music, Matsutani originally stated that they assigned Yoshiki Kobayashi as the composer, before its role was eventually given to both Hiroaki Tsutsumi and Yoshimasa Terui.[5]
The series was announced by Weekly Shōnen Jump in November 2019.[6] The manga author, Gege Akutami, and the main cast members appeared at Jump Festa '20 on December 22, 2019.[7] The series was produced by MAPPA and directed by Sunghoo Park. Hiroshi Seko was in charge of the scripts, Tadashi Hiramatsu designed the characters.[8] While the anime had an advanced streaming debut on YouTube and Twitter on September 19, 2020,[9] it aired for 24 episodes on MBS and TBS's Super Animeism block from October 3, 2020, to March 27, 2021.[10][11][12][c] From episode 3 onwards, the series includes post-credits anime shorts titled "Juju Sanpo" (呪術さんぽ, lit.'Jujutsu Stroll'), which focus on the daily lives of the characters.[14]
On February 12, 2022, a second season was announced.[15] Shōta Goshozono replaced Sunghoo Park as the director, with Sayaka Koiso and Hiramatsu designing the characters.[16] The season aired for 23 episodes from July 6 to December 28, 2023.[17][18] It ran for two continuous cours and adapted the manga's "Hidden Inventory / Premature Death" and "Shibuya Incident" story arcs.[19]
A compilation film version of the "Hidden Inventory / Premature Death" story arc is set to premiere in Japanese theaters in 2025.[20][21]
Upcoming sequel
After the second season's finale, a sequel covering the "Culling Game" arc was announced. The format was not specified.[22][23]
International release
The anime is licensed by Crunchyroll for streaming outside of Asia.[24] Crunchyroll has released streaming dubs for the series in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German that premiered on November 20, 2020,[25][26] with the English dub also premiering on HBO Max on December 4, 2020.[27] Crunchyroll is also streaming for the second season.[28] Viz Media released the first part of the first season on home video on February 28, 2023.[29][30][31] In Asia-Pacific, Medialink licensed the series and streamed it on iQIYI and Ani-One Asia's YouTube channel;[32][33] Ani-One Asia later streamed the series for their Ultra subscribers.[34] The company also released the series on Netflix in Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on June 3, 2021.[35][36]
The original soundtrack of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime series is composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui and Alisa Okehazama.[8] The series' first opening theme is "Kaikai Kitan" (廻廻奇譚, lit.'Round Round Mysterious Story'), performed by Eve, while the first ending theme is "Lost in Paradise" performed by ALI featuring Aklo.[37] The second opening theme is "Vivid Vice", performed by Who-ya Extended, while the second ending theme is "Give it back [ja]", performed by Cö Shu Nie.[38] The original soundtrack was released on a 2-CD set on April 21, 2021.[39]Anime Limited released the soundtrack digitally in North America, Europe and Oceania on April 21, 2021,[40][41] and was released on CD and vinyl on January 31, 2022.[42]
Terui returned as the sole composer of the second season.[16] For the second season's first five episodes (covering the "Hidden Inventory / Premature Death" arc), Tatsuya Kitani performed the opening theme "Where Our Blue Is" (青のすみか, Ao no Sumika) lit.'House of Blue', while Soushi Sakiyama [ja] performed the ending theme Akari (燈, lit.'Light').[43] For the sixth episode onwards (covering the "Shibuya Incident" arc), King Gnu performed the opening theme "Specialz",[44] while Hitsujibungaku performed the ending theme "More than Words".[45]
Reception
Popularity
In January 2021, it was revealed that Jujutsu Kaisen was the second most-watched anime series on Crunchyroll in 2020, only second to Black Clover, being watched in 71 countries and territories, including North America, South and Central America, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Asia and Oceania.[46] The official music video of the series' first opening theme song, "Kaikai Kitan" by Eve, reached 100 million views on YouTube in April 2021, being one of the fastest anime openings to hit such number of views.[47]
On Tumblr's 2021 Year in Review, which highlights the largest communities, fandoms, and trends on the platform throughout the year, Jujutsu Kaisen ranked second behind My Hero Academia on the Top Anime & Manga Shows while Satoru Gojo was fifth on the Top Anime & Manga Characters category.[48] During the same year, the series became the second most discussed TV show worldwide on Twitter, surpassing Squid Game.[49] It placed nineteenth on the annual Twitter Japan's Trend Awards in 2021, based on the social network's top trending topics of the year.[50]
In 2024, Jujutsu Kaisen was named by the Guinness World Record and data-science firm Parrot Analytics as the "Most in-demand animated TV show", with a global demand rating 71.2 times than that of the average TV show, previously held by Attack on Titan. The demand of the series peaked on December 29 at 128 times the demand of the average show. It also had a higher percentage of Gen Z (ages 13–22) viewers with 71.3%, compared to 56.7% from One Piece and 64.4% from Attack on Titan.[51][52]
In April 2024, where according to the data compiled by the analyst Miles Atherton, Jujutsu Kaisen had the most social media engagement for the last 30 days in the top anime and network dramas in United States with 11.2 million, ahead of the other top shows including One Piece, Young Sheldon, and Grey's Anatomy.[53]
Critical reception
Micah Peters of The Ringer said that while the series' "focused execution" of shōnen tropes makes it "infinitely watchable", is its "specificity, its personality, its ultra-slick stylishness" what make the show special. He added: "Like with Park's previous work, there is a sumptuous amount of splashy, expensive, mo-cap-enabled animation, delivering on the action promised by the comics".[54] Paul Thomas Chapman of Otaku USA called it a "prime example of average material elevated by excellent execution", adding that it is similar to Bleach and YuYu Hakusho. Chapman commented that Sunghoo Park "puts the "beatdown" in narrative beats", being able to "segue from goofy comedy to chilling horror in an instant", and that he and the crew at MAPPA "make this narrative mutability seem effortless".[55] Ana Diaz of Polygon highlighted the 17th episode, praising the series' treatment of its female characters, different to other shōnen series. Diaz wrote: "Jujutsu Kaisen goes a step further than avoiding gender tropes by presenting a variety of female perspectives. It's not like there's any right way for these young women to deal with the unique pressures they face. The story lets them disagree, and fight for their perspectives and their place". She concluded: "The show's widespread success signals that audiences aren't just ready for change, they're actively craving it. Now, every other creator has the green light to write all kinds of women into their shows".[56]
Reviewing the second season's Shibuya Incident Arc, Rafael Motamayor of IGN praised the animation but criticised the story as meandering and the relentless fight scenes as a "slog," describing the arc as "nonsensical fight after nonsensical fight without much emotion in the storytelling."[57]
Accolades
The Jujutsu Kaisen anime was awarded "Anime of the Year" at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, while Ryomen Sukuna won the "Best Antagonist" category and "Lost in Paradise feat. Aklo" by ALI won the "Best Ending Sequence" category.[58][59] In 2021, the series won the Character License Award at the Japan Character Awards by Japan's Character Brand Licensing Association (CBLA).[60] It also won the Best TV Anime award at the 2021 Newtype Anime Awards, while Hiroshi Seko won Best Screenplay for his work on the series.[61] The series ranked second in the anime category of the Yahoo! Japan Search Awards, based on the number of searches for a particular term compared to the year before.[62]
In 2022, Jujutsu Kaisen won the Tokyo Anime Award for Animation of the Year in the television category.[63] In 2023, the series became one of three recipients of the Special Achievement Award at the 65th Japan Record Awards.[64] In 2024, it won the "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2023" and "Most In-Demand Anime Series of 2023" at the sixth Global Demand Awards.[65] At the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the second season of the anime won eleven out of seventeen nominations including "Anime of the Year", which became the first to win the top prize twice.[66]
^Jujutsu (呪術) translates as "sorcery", while Kaisen is a coined word by the author, combining two kanji; kai (廻, "to rotate") and sen (戦, "battle").[3]
^MBS listed the air dates for the series on Friday at 25:25, which is effectively Saturday at 1:25 a.m. JST.[13]
^ ab第65回レコード大賞各賞発表！ [The 65th Japan Record Awards winners announced!] (in Japanese). Japan Record Awards. December 6, 2023. Archived from the original on December 28, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
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