spindizzy | Started catching up on the JJK anime with Lex and remembered I already wrote this

OKAY, SO, JUJUTSU KAISEN, LET'S FUCKING GO. Spoilers for everything from volume 0 to volume 23, so past the Shinjuku arc and into the Culling Game.

NOBARA DESERVED BETTER! NANAMI DESERVED BETTER! MAI DESERVED BETTER! EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER DESERVED BETTER!

Like seriously, the last two story arcs feel like the embodiment of all of those writer memes about "Mwahahaha, this character is unbeatable! How will the characters get around this! ... Oh shit, I need to figure out how the characters will get around this." Every single competent character has either had an arm ripped off so they can't use their powers, or they've been murdered. Sometimes with no warning. And then replaced by someone to fill the same narrative role or power level, because that character was filling a narrative niche. (Boogie-woogie guy and pachinko guy are THE SAME CHARACTER, okay.) I get why creators kill characters off wildly, I have read all of the arguments about A Song of Ice and Fire, but I'm on the side of "This isn't raising tension, this is discouraging emotional engagement."

See also: the twins in Geto's group were absolutely wasted. They're fanatically loyal beyond the pall of death, and you basically name them and kill them?

That said, the use of powers and the use of anti-powers are pretty cool. Especially once Fushiguro relaxes enough to just start going wild with his powers. Any fighter that resolves their problems by dropping an elephant on someone has to be having fun, right?

I feel very old now because of the amount of "What do you mean there's another new character?" I'm doing. Listen, I am SO BAD at names! Then it'll mention someone's name and I'm straight-up just going "Who is that and why should I care?" until their face pops up and I realise I do know them.

I'm amused at how many people meet Itadori and have a flashback to a friendship that never happened. Especially because it's shown that he is a friendly little weirdo anyway!

I kinda like that the older someone gets, the more modern-looking their power set is. The old guy is a rocker, Maki's uncle is an animation nerd, the principal made stuffed animals...

Gojo is a hypercompetent horrible gremlin man and I love him. He's thoughtless and reckless and has enough firepower that step one of every villains' plan is "How the hell do we get around THIS ONE GUY." I really wish the jujutsu... Community? Politics? was clarified a bit more, because it feels weird that the disappearance of one man could destabilise the entire power structure. What were they gonna do when he died? What were they gonna do when any of their grand plans to ruin his life paid off? And the jumps back to reveal more of the power structure always feel a bit weird, because it's presented as "These five hundred faceless people have always been here, and it's okay that you didn't know because they're all dead now."

Maki is my favourite. Mai having to sacrifice herself for Maki to level up: not my favourite. But she's still the most badass person there. I kinda like that she was aiming for a goal that she couldn't quite visualise, and then got it clarified by Toji showing up to kick the arse of literally everyone. But also... Everything about her has been pared back to the murder machine. I'm kinda into it? I think I'll miss her having a personality that isn't just murder? But also hypercompetent woman crushing people is my jam.

Maki's mother using the last of her strength to murder a man? Incredible. Like, she's also a terrible person in a terrible situation, but the fact that she's finally proud of her daughters because they gave her an opportunity to stab the worst guy in the entire clan is very pleasing.

(Maki killed basically HER ENTIRE FAMILY. Which I get, because the mistreatment and the murder and the attempted murder, and her cousin is THE WORST, but also: her entire family. Presumably to establish exactly how nails she is before any of the fights where she struggles. And/or because they're all complicit in the messed up system that enabled the mistreatment and the murder and the attempted murder and her cousin being THE WORST.)

I was so mad when Okkotsu showed up again because NO, WHY IS RIKA THERE. YOU LET HER GO SO SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO BE A MURDER MONSTER ANYMORE. But no, it's fine, apparently the little girl has moved on and the giant monster has remained? Somehow? IDK my dudes, this feels like a having your cake and eating it solution to me.

We have the answer to why Sukuna is so invested in Fushiguro aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's boring. Like, it's not as boring as it would be if they turned out to be relatives, but still pretty boring. "I am going to encourage this sorcerer to become the strongest version of himself and go out of my way to keep him alive so that he's more powerful when I bodyjack him later ♥" is fine. It's fine. It's boring, but it's fine. ... It does make me laugh though that Sukuna is apparently incapable of wearing a shirt when he incarnates. Whoops.

Compare/contrast: Itadori's family secret being that he's related to the non-Sukuna villain! Which is kind of a boring answer to the whole "What is going on with this kid" question, but does at least flag up some more questions for later.

The Culling Game arc is... Hm. I like culling game stories! They're fun and require minimal investment. And stories where the characters have to work within heavy restrictions are also cool, because it means that the characters have to get creative in their problem-solving. But this arc... I don't know. I think it's because we went straight from Shinjuku to this without stopping to pass go or collect £200, y'know? Like, half the named cast just died and a bunch of the survivors just got maimed. Can we take a fucking minute? Oh. No. Okay.

I like the depressed lawyer and the comedian who's just running around being a menace, but for two completely opposite reasons.

Itadori pleading guilty to mass murder is sad. Everyone around him knows that he didn't do it and would have stopped it if he could, but he truly believes that not being strong enough to stop it makes him guilty.

I LIKE JJK, I think binging it in one go and losing that many characters in the space of like twenty chapters annoyed me. The anime is making me remember why I like it though, and it's for these weirdos being creative and having cool fights! So I should focus on that!

Susan