Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re trying something a bit unusual, as we drop in right at the beginning of Jujutsu Kaisen’s third season. Though I have actually watched Jujutsu Kaisen’s first two seasons, I haven’t really written about them at length, for a pretty simple reason: I didn’t like them, and it takes a lot to motivate me to write about things I’m not enjoying. Quickly panning a movie for a Week in Review post is one thing; writing a fully negative piece on something someone cared about enough to fund is always a terrible feeling, and something I try to avoid in general these days.
Nonetheless, my patron is well aware I haven’t enjoyed Jujutsu Kaisen so far, so I’m taking a chance on this one. As for my general impression of the show so far, I’ve been quite impressed by some of the animation, but otherwise don’t feel I have anything to grab onto here. The characters feel superficial and grating, the worldbuilding feels ill-considered, the narrative lacks strong trajectory or momentum, and the combat system is essentially Calvinball – an attempt to make a Hunter x Hunter-like system without understanding the checks and balances inherent in such a system, which thus inevitably leads to contests of characters “going bigger” without any rhyme or reason. There is nothing about the source material that grabs me, and even in adaptation, it feels like the show often falls into the glossy, weightless spectacle of something like Demon Slayer. As I said, I’m not a fan, but I will do my best to address season three on its own merits, even if I lack the emotional attachment with which one should really be approaching a third season. Let’s get to it!