Hope you are here after Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 episode 22. Minor spoilers ahead.
Twists, twists, twists… some chaos… a whole lot of dizzying updates on how the rest of the Japan is processing the black-out in Shibuya… two more twists and the season 2 finale of Jujutsu Kaisen is over!
Titled “Shibuya Incident – Gate Close,” episode 23 of Season 2 opens with Yuki Tsukumo coming to Yuji’s rescue, which was essentially the end twist in the last edition. Yuki tries to buy some time by engaging Pseudo Geto in a debate about their clashing world views and gets him to explain what he is trying to achieve at Shibuya. In short, Pseudo Geto wants the revival of the Heian era, the period when Ryomen Sukuna was at the height of his power, and Jujutsu sorcerers wielded a lot more clout.
“Are you listening, Sukuna? It is starting. The height of sorcery… The Heian period is about to return,” Geto smiles at Yuji while cruelly teasing him with the glimpse of the prison realm. At which point, Yuji lets out a harrowing scream, calling out for his “Gojo sensei”, which marks the biggest emotional high-point of this closing chapter. Junya Enoki has been consistently affecting in giving voice to Yuji’s varied emotions through the series, especially at his lowest points. The animation style also peaks in the scene, it’s more 3D in nature, markedly different from the more 2D shift in character designs that dominated the few minutes. For example, Yuki literally appears like a paper cut-out (pictured below) during one of her interactions with Geto. But these 2D sequences also help provide some comic-relief in the otherwise dark segment.
Honestly, for someone who hasn’t been following Gege Akutami’s manga series, quite a few parts of this episode were confusing. So, I had to watch some parts again. And then it all sort of fell into place. Pretty sure many fans would’ve been appreciated if the anime creators had done voice-over narrations to explain a few things, like they did in some of the older episodes. Instead, the middle section of the episode is filled with rapid stills and a quick collage of civilians watching the news about Shibuya and politicians scrambling to figure out how they’d explain the situation to commoners. These updates don’t have any direct bearing on the plot, except for making the viewer anxious about what is really happening at the epicenter.
The last five minutes however make-up for the slowing down of pace in between. Yuta Okkotso, who was one of the primary characters in the “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” film, finally makes his much anticipated appearance. Also, a slew of surprising/shocking decrees are issued by the higher-ups, the least surprising of which is the rescinding of the stay order on Yuji Itadori’s execution. C’mon, it’s barely a spoiler, not after all the Sukuna sized fingers he ingested in the earlier episodes.
While this season finale of Jujutsu Kaisen felt like a filler between this season and the next (whenever that comes out), it doesn’t change the fact that the Shibuya Arc was monumental in terms of scale, action, and fights. To ensure fans don’t feel too underwhelmed, the creators cleverly close the curtains with an exciting/confusing/dramatic scene featuring Yuji. “There you go, there’s your favorite character, now goodbye, sayonara, until next time,” the creators seem to be telling fans at the end. Besides, if a friend who’s up to date with the manga series is to be believed, the next arc is “five times wackier.” So there’s that to look forward to!
You can stream Jujutsu Kaisen on Netflix or CrunchyRoll.
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