“No one knows the taste of cursed spirits.
It’s like swallowing a cloth that has wiped vomit.”
Suguru Geto once again ruminates on what it’s like to chase and swallow cursed spirits, wondering if there’s really any point to it all. As he voices his thoughts, it sounds like he is reciting a string of sad Haikus. With Satoru Gojo sealing his position as one of the most powerful Jujutsu sorcerers and going on missions alone, Geto faces an existential crisis.
Titled “Premature Death,” episode 5 of season 2 is set in August 2007, a year after the Star Plasma Vessel debacle. The focus is on how Geto gets influenced by the ideas of an unconventional special grade sorcerer and begins to unravel completely. It’s a profound slow-burn edition, which leaves no holes in explaining how Suguru and Satoru become estranged after a radical shift in the former’s worldview.
The animation is simple, stark and fantastic. But like the rest of the series, the animators continue to keep long shots devoid of details. For example, look at the image below; it’s a scene where Satoru demands an explanation from Suguru over his change of heart.
The animation appears like hurriedly scribbled rough sketches for a storyboard. But as I’ve said before, “Jujutsu Kaisen” is a story-heavy anime series, with enough action going on, affording the animators to go easy on the art, since you are too busy paying attention to the dialogues. The imagery in this scene, however, was great, the duo talk to each other from a distance, symbolic of the wedge that’s driven between them. They will never be close again, at least not as friends.
One scene that really stood out was a creepy close shot of Suguru in a public shower as he contemplates his role as a sorcerer. While he looks friendly and approachable in his academy uniform, that scene shows him naked in the shower, his face contorted, as if he is possessed himself. It was a fantastic setting to show lay bare his soul and indicate his slow metamorphosis into the evil side. In a surprise ending, the climax ends with Satoru scouting a young boy as his mentee, someone who goes on to become an important character in the series.
Overall, it was a great edition. You can stream “Jujutsu Kaisen” on Netflix or Crunchyroll.