It's entertaining, the fights and visuals are consistently good, and I actually like a lot of the characters. Season 1 was inconsistent and there was a lot of ups and downs, but I really enjoyed season 2. Is it a well-written masterpiece? No, but I can fully understand why people like it. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of the series, but I like it well enough that I'm going to check out the next season when it comes out.
Jujutsu Kaisen. Shonen anime; main character accidentally absorbs part of an evil sorcerer who sometimes possesses him, goes to a school for good sorcerers who fight evil spirits and other bad sorcerers.
JK is actually short for "just kidding", and the J in super saiyan is because how it's written and pronounced in Japanese is "Super Saiya-Jin". Hence, SSJ.
SS is the acronym in Japan, yes, but in the west SSJ has been used since at least the first bootleg VHS's of DBZ made their way into the west. Back then, there was no subtitles, so the earliest acronym literally came from how it was pronounced in Japanese (Super Saiya-Jin).
It's not even just relegated to english-speaking countries; Mexico also use SSJ as the acronym.
I'm not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure doing JJK is mainly to differentiate from JK (as in "just kidding"), or else maybe it's something to do with how the kanji are written (maybe the Ju at the start is counted as it's own unique symbol separate from the Jutsu).
It's decent. Personally, I enjoy it quite a bit, but it's not what I would call a consistent or particularly well-writen story. The animation, music and fight scenes are all pretty top-tier, and I really like a lot of the characters, I think the character's are where some of the story's best writing is held.
The first season is very up and down with regards to quality, which is a shame because season 2 is a vast improvement, and I think actually manages to be consistently pretty good. I'd say give it a shot, and if you find the characters likable and aren't too turned-off by the classic shonen tropes, power through until you get to the second season.
This is it. JuJutsu is a compound word in japanese which means it uses two seperate Kanji. JJK as an acronym comes from the japanese fandom (Romanji is pretty common in modern japan)
JJK is one of the most frustrating shows I've watched in a while. It seems to understand how to make characters that are likable and interesting as snapshots, but it has absolutely no idea how to use them.
Spoilers ahead.
Gojo is a hilarious plot vortex. When he's active, the stakes are non-existent. But the story recognizes this and literally sends him away on unexplained business trips when it needs to bring the stakes back.
Todou is legitimately a psychopath willing to kill people over taste in women. I don't understand why he's written the way he is.
Itadori has no clear motivation. He tells us many times that his relationship with his grandfather was very important to him, but we know nothing about it. He wants to be a good person, I guess, but there's really nothing more to him than that.
Maki and Mei have an interesting dynamic, and Maki's limitations are a deep well for character development and theme. Too bad she's killed unceremoniously before any of that can happen.
Nobara was actually somewhat interesting and likable. It seemed like she was going to be very relevant to the story for a long time. I knew I was done with the series when she was killed. Such a huge waste for such a boring, emotionally manipulative, purposeless death.
Really that's the theme: introduce a character with an interesting personality and/or ability, imply there's something significant about them to discover or develop, and then drop them on the floor randomly. All while totally failing to keep Gojo in check without resorting to anti-Gojo macguffins.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a bad show that sometimes has some technically good animation, I guess. But the writing is irredeemable.
Gojo being an instant win is not a bad idea per se. In theory Gojo sets the upper bound of the power limit and creates a reason why the antagonists do not automatically win. The fact Gojo cannot be everywhere at once is his limitation and that is generally a good mechanic. The issue is that sometimes Gojo is gone because the plot requires it and that is the only reason.
Moreover, another problem is that Sukuna seems to be more powerful than Gojo when he is able to takeover Itadori. Meaning the upper limit is not Gojo and you have this bigger issue with Sukuna. Also Sukuna himself is just a destructive force with seemingly 0 motivations.
I find it often feels like a problem when Gojo shows up too. This guy can singlehandedly solve any threat that isn't apocalyptic, and even probably the apocalyptic ones. Does he really have time to be frivolous and micromanage students? Isn't there probably somebody dying right now because of a curse that he could be saving? Heck, he could get involved in real-world politics, he doesn't need to be accountable to anyone.
I feel like somebody needs to Uncle Ben him, but the story we're told is mostly unconcerned with Gojo's relationship with power. It just puts him at the top of the scale because it thinks it's cool to do so.
I'll say I enjoy the inventive nature of the courses and the jargon with all the types of battle techniques involved. I know most dont like how it ended but I actually appreciated most of it minus how crushed that last half the arc was. Also the fact it has a definitive conclusion appealed to me immensely, I despite Naruto/One Piece for the amount of time and gloat they come with.
The early setup had an interesting premise and potential for a good story with interesting world building. Gege dropped several storylines that had some potential like the Is invading Japan to seize sorcerers to harness energy, what the merger could actually result in, etc.
Problem was all these story threads were dropped and it just became about cool fights.
probably just the general shounen battle manga hype.
MOst of those have borderline psychotic writing, but the novelty of the general aesthetic and world building kind of genereates interest.
Basically the Harry Potter effect. Original worldbuilding with memorable characters does all the heavy lifting to the point where the actual writing or general logic falls to the side.
Give Chainsaw Man a watch/read instead (if you haven’t already). Many anime fans love to compare it to JJK, but CSM is the superior story. It’s labeled as a shonen, but it almost feels like a seinen most of the time, and that’s what makes it better imo.
I dropped it after ending S1 because I didn't like it. I have also watched the movie but I completely forgot everything about it. Idk if S2 is better but I have no interest in watching it.
I found season 2 really enjoyable throughout, like I think it was leagues better than season 1. If you don't particularly like the characters, you probably still won't like season 2, but I'd suggest at least giving it a try.
I finished it only because my little sister begged me to watch it and it made her happy, and believe me I had to force myself to get through all 24 episodes + a movie. It was very mediocre, I really don't get the hype.
I mean, that's fair. Every property/story/game/whatever, regardless of the quality, is going to have people who just don't like it, for whatever reason. You gave it a shot, you didn't like it, that's all that people can reasonably expect of someone.
Its basically a naruto fanfic imo. The writer so badly wants to recreate naruto but doesn't know how to actually get his characters there. It starts out fine but then snowballs downhill
Depends on what portion of JJK you're talking about. I thought it was really fun, but not very deep up through the Shibuya Incident. From there I felt a very sharp decline in writing as if Gege had everything planned up until that point, but then started improvising and poorly. Yuki's mishandling in the manga was the real "abandon ship" moment for me. My most anticipated character done dirty and with 0 exploration of the character... That just killed my interest.
Its animation porn. It doesn’t need writing. I dropped off when they needlessly fed Juugo to Sukuna.
The whole show is just to build Sukuna vs Gojo, and I can’t help but just see the Naruto similarities in its main cast.
One piece is on a different level though. It's got issues just like alot of other series but it's characters are written well and the world building is unlike any other series I have seen. It feels less like a single story that revolves around the straw hats and instead a massive world and the straw hats are only one of many tales and events.
Eh, I'm sorry but I don't agree. Characters can be written well but are also a victim of regression and stagnation. Usopp is probably the best example of this. Luffy is also another great example. Luffyjas regressed back into a big headed idiot rather than the reliable leader he was aiming to be after the time skip. Usopp is just a mess. Great character writing until Water 7 then downhill from there.
The World Building is also filled with a ton of inconsistencies and is a victim to Oda having to constantly raise the stakes. For example, the way the world is set up is very inconsistent. We're led to believe early on that the Grand Line is a Pirate Graveyard and insanely unpredictable, yet it's almost always shown as being no worse than East Blue in fact, it arguably seems East Blue has more Marine protection than the Grand Line. From the start we're supposed to think that the Grand Line is like a ladder. You can only go in one direction. Yet we learn that numerous crews and the Marines have the ability to cross the Calm Belt and almost everyone can just be anywhere depending on where the story needs them. People seem to basically teleport around the world which is odd because we're supposed to believe the only way in and out of the Grand Line is Reverse Mountain. Remember all the people in Doflamingos Colosseum? They were from practically everywhere in the world. A few chapters later they're back where they came despite it being theoretically impossible to travel there, certainly not in the time it seemingly takes them. It also makes you question why the Obe Piece hasn't been discovered yet. It's supposed to be at the end of the Grand Line hidden somewhere but seemingly no-one goes through the calm Belt when it's been shown there are numerous ways to do it. Everyone decides the only way through is to defeat the Emperors.
Also the timeline is fucky. The crew were together for about 2-3 months before they were forced to split off. Then after that, Fishman Island to Dressrosa all happened in the course of a couple days. At this time I should mention your point about the world being active, only when Luffy is active. Very few things happened while Luffy was gone for 2 years. Then suddenly, all major events happened at once. In fact, happens a lot of Luffy. He seemingly always comes exactly when he needs to be there. Also no-one except Luffy seems to make any huge changes to the world. Blackbeard is the closest but even he doesn't topple as many dominos as Luffy. The problem is, almost everything in the world seems to lead back to Luffy. Luffy is practically the centre of the world.
JJK is on a list that I'll probably never watch, but simply must recognize the popularity of. Alongside it is stuff like Naruto, Demon Slayer, One Piece, and Solo Leveling. Things that I've mainly heard about through sheer hype for qualities like stunning animation, or good fight scenes. Not really what I'm looking for in anime.
That said, I've found anime series with amazing stories (to me, at least) after thinking the same about them, so decent chance I'm wrong in my surface level judgements. I'm just not really interested in watching those ones.
I have a rough time with anime because it's nearly impossible to distinguish the good from the bad without watching it when seemingly the entire audience is chasing hype, action, and fan service. Demon Slayer is pretty atrocious too. Can't speak to Naruto or One Piece.
Solo Leveling is actually fine. I was super suspicious of it going in, since the premise just sounds tailor made for wish fulfillment slop. And in a lot of ways it still is, tbh. But it does at least manage to put some effort into its characters and pay off some plot/character stuff in ways that feel earned. Will it make you stop and think? Nah. But if you just feel like watching something to scratch that kind of itch, it's competent.
Anime in general is one of the most divisive subjects when it comes to media. Some people think it's all trash, no matter what, even those who are absolutely obsessed with other movies and shows, even animated ones. Then you have the people who are absolutely obsessed with anime and little else, going so far as to call it the superior form of media in all aspects.
As far as individual series go, the same level of debate occurs there too. People will hate any given series, while singing the praises of other similar ones. It's a hard thing to navigate if you're looking in from the outside, kinda just makes the whole community look insane.
Personally, I just love the anime that I love, and that's all I care about. I put everything recommended to me on various lists based on shit like my own interest, surface-level judgments like I said before, and how much time it'll take.
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u/The_Goon_Wolf Toxic Brood 4d ago
It's entertaining, the fights and visuals are consistently good, and I actually like a lot of the characters. Season 1 was inconsistent and there was a lot of ups and downs, but I really enjoyed season 2. Is it a well-written masterpiece? No, but I can fully understand why people like it. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of the series, but I like it well enough that I'm going to check out the next season when it comes out.