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[Spoilers] Jujutsu Kaisen 2nd Season - Episode 20 Discussion
A satisfactory episode. Everything goes great when Todo and Itadori comes together. Holy duo. Finally enjoyed an episode without any complain.
Bro the Hype!!!!!!!! Not even Todo comic relief was able to tone it down!! 
This duo is fucking beyonddd any explanation
Todo appearing was so hype.
However, I didn't really enjoy the animation for his black flash :/
The cringe is back to help our ignored Mc for the purpose of beating an insufferable clown.
Basically the episode in a nutshell.
Still Mappa animators have my utmost respect man...
Best brother is here and peak fight is starting. Dont know how the animators are still functioning because this episode was incredible. I expected the animation to be ass 2 episodes ago but somehow its still insanely good. Itadori breakdown at the beginning was perfect and the Miwa scene was so beautiful. I dont even need to say how good the fight is looking
Next episode will be peak jujutsu kaisen
I paused the manga when the shibuya ark began cause I foresaw how peak it would be, and wanted to see it firsthand in the anime, you sure confirmed my expectations and I hope next ep makes me fucking punch my TV out of hype
everyone talking about Todo's comeback and their fight against Mahito (which is honestly kinda eh), meanwhile I'm just sitting here ugly crying because of this beautiful little moment:
Mechamaru was, is, and always will be, (in my opinion) trash that deserved to be erased because good intentions don't justify his actions. The scene itself was good for sure, but the fact it was centered on Mechamaru made me not care for it much and felt like an unnecessary distraction from the fun brainless action going on elsewhere.
It's the sasuke treatment. You can't escape it.
Todo pulled out "One for All" for this episode.
HYPE!!!
So cool that Todo is back and that he and Yuji is fighting togther again. The scene with Miwa was sad too
MY ONE ISSUE FOR THIS EPISODE
in the manga there is a narration for when mahito does a black flash, it says "the spark of the black flash doesnt choose who to bless" i wish they did that in the episode saying like curse spirit or jujutsu sorcerer it does not discriminate who its used by i feel like it wouldve added more of an OOPH to the mahito black flashI knew my girl couldn't be dead-dead. She is just dead. CLASSIC!
Hey to my brother from another mother from another hood!
And this season is giving me "This is not even my finale form" vibes.
I mean... we saw a head explode...
give Nitta the sixty-five, he's on the job!
Everyone needs a homie like Todo, to lift you up when you down, to push you to be stronger, to be your brother
JUJUTSU KAISEN S2 #20: Right and Wrong, Part 3 (5.5/10)
SB/Enshutsu: Yuuji Tokuno ___ I already talked with friends about this episode so I am aware that the next episode will build on this one so some dissatisfaction I have will most likely be improved next week, but I didn’t like Todo’s inclusion this week. I already said before that Shibuya for me lacks focus, and now that we have a confrontation between Itadori and Mahito and we’re actually getting into some interesting stuff, Todo’s intrusion narratively feels unwarranted. The way he pep-talks Yuji is also stuff we’ve seen before - In fact, while not that on the nose, the idea of taking on the will of the dead was already seen immediately after Nanami died when Yuji solidified himself as a jujutsu sorcerer. What I like about Mahito is that he challenges Yuji and his goals, which aren’t clearly defined in execution. Mahito even brings up the idea of a war where each party tries to impose their will on the other, and I really like the idea. I like when two sides don’t really try to understand each other or have a high moral ground, when it simply comes down to cursing each other, like Yuta and Geto did. Curses and humans are simply not compatible, and Mahito and Yuji are the same in the regard that both of them have something they unquestioningly believe in and they act according to it, although Mahito is more unrestrained and free in doing so. The first bit of this episode thus was much more interesting to me, and everything after Todo appeared was rather meh. I frankly hoped that this fight would be a focused decisive battle between Mahito and Yuji only but it seems it will take another week to be resolved. As it stands Yuji hasn’t really changed as a character, which is mildly disappointing, but the fight isn’t over, so we’ll see. Also, Kugisaki has a shot at surviving now. If she does, I seriously question why I had to sit through a pointless 12 min flashback last episode. I also liked the short scene between Miwa and Mechamaru. Their relationship is pretty rushed in terms of development, as it was basically speedrun within 2 episodes, but I liked this scene still. It also looked really good, which isn’t really the case for the rest of the episode which is wildly uneven.
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@Gwendolyns It's mostly just the rating, anything 6.5/10 or below is unacceptable to the JJK crowd here. Don't think that most of them read what I write
I respect your opinion and I think it's good that you get so involved, but sometimes I have the feeling that you forget to just relax and enjoy the series if you know what I mean
@AniErdnusskopf fair point, but I do genuinely find certain aspects of JJK really good so I want to treat it on a higher standard than just something I turn my brain off to enjoy (which I do with some shows). And I personally find it interesting to analyze art, I also plan to work in the anime industry in the future so I'm working to develop my observational skills, so it's both interesting and important for me to understand why I like/dislike something.
That might sound like a good way to kill all your fun but for me it works, besides, I'm just watching the episode normally like everyone else - analyzing it comes afterwards when I want to understand what I liked and what I disliked, and why. I'm not even going super deep with it (I took like 15 min with this review) because I simply don't have the time to do so. I also am pretty quick to drop stuff I don't enjoy - But I'm still watching JJK, that says something doesn't it?
- continue this thread →
Understandable. Everyone has their own way of enjoying a show. At least I understand now you are not someone who watches popular shows just to hate on them for some attention and brag about it.
@Kaito67
Nah you are right. Todo is cringe and you cant just relax and enjoy his yapping lol.
Agree with everything else you said(this fandom sucks)I did like Todo in Kyoto Goodwill, but yes. I do think that he only works in specific scenarios, this episode was not one of them imo
why is bro so harsh with ratings, it doesn't even fit your "review"
4 = bad
5 = boring
6 = fine, enjoyable
7 = goodSome parts of the episode (Miwa, Mahito) are 7 or above, most of the Todo stuff and how the episode developed is 5, some stuff like Kugisaki surviving is kinda a 4, my overall impression is kinda a 5.5/10. But I'm not really calculating my overall episode rating, it's more a general impression where all these factors kinda play into.
I personally thought that Todo's inclusion in the fight was the perfect moment for him to show up. Realistically at that point in time, I feel like Yuji was not ready to face Mahito. Even if Yuji was capable enough physically, him having to face the horrors of being a jujutsu sorcerer, by watching his comrades die around him, would and eventually did break him. I understand wanting Yuji to have his own focus in battle, but I feel like we already had that with the bathroom scene. He simply wasn't ready to face Mahito alone. Expecting him to pick himself up and solo Mahito after watching 2 of his comrades blow up, would be unrealistic and bad writing.
As for the people who we've seen in this arc the only characters I felt were missing are Todo and the rest of his year. That combined with Todo and Yuji being "brothers", makes him the person Yuji needed after watching kugisaki's(?) and nanami's deaths. Yuji was in no state to fight anymore and seeing he saw everyone he came across die, makes me assume he was close to giving up, due to not being able to save a single one of them.
As for Kugisaki's likely fake death (I'm assuming as an anime only), I don't mind it. We have seen characters die left and right in this arc, some of which being important like Nanami. This creates the suspense of not knowing who's next and raises the stakes for all of the characters. Then seeing Kugisaki lay there with a hole in her head, seems like the height of the desperation in the situation. All sense of security and plot armor seems to have disappeared and to me that is great writing. However, killing off Kugisaki at this point in the story feels like it would hurt the story more than keeping her alive. We have just seen some more of her backstory last episode and there is still a lot of potential for her character and viewer interest as well. After seeing so many characters die or get retired out of fighting, there still needs to be an interesting main cast of characters. Also her backstory foreshadowing her death, was also a good situation to flesh out her character more (if she survives).
Oookay, this kinda caught me off guard because I don't really recall receiving a reply that long for a long time, but I appreciate it!
I personally thought that Todo's inclusion in the fight was the perfect moment for him to show up. Realistically at that point in time, I feel like Yuji was not ready to face Mahito. Even if Yuji was capable enough physically, him having to face the horrors of being a jujutsu sorcerer, by watching his comrades die around him, would and eventually did break him. I understand wanting Yuji to have his own focus in battle, but I feel like we already had that with the bathroom scene. He simply wasn't ready to face Mahito alone. Expecting him to pick himself up and solo Mahito after watching 2 of his comrades blow up, would be unrealistic and bad writing
A friend also told me that, I can see where you're coming from, still, not a fan of Todo's inclusion. I think Itadori getting help is a valid way to go about it, and I agree that you could say it's unrealistic to expect Itadori to fight Mahito in his state. But as I said, I am not a fan of Todo pep-talking Itadori with something which already defined Itadori's character the whole series, I want more lasting consequences, developments, or even changes for his character. Having Todo appear and help Itadori, and return him to the state he was before, is something I don't like. Because nothing really changed, and they are still fighting Mahito when this fight could've been resolved in this episode.
I can also see why you say that logically Itadori needs help somehow to defeat Mahito logically (looking at his mental and physical), and it would be tight if he gets help -> defeats Mahito within one episode, but I feel like a fight between Yuji and Mahito alone could work. As I said, I like the idea of cursing each other, and Yuji could buy into it and have a pretty ugly dogfight with Mahito. And after it's done he would have to deal with the consequences and reevaluate what kind of person he wants to be, what his dreams are, or how realistic they are. I'm not saying that this is how JJK should be written, I am not a writer. But this scenario already sounds much more interesting to me then what we got. It's not too farfetched and I think it's important to consider these are fictional characters - Gege surely can come up with scenarios to make it work, it's not that difficult.That combined with Todo and Yuji being "brothers", makes him the person Yuji needed after watching kugisaki's(?) and nanami's deaths.
Well this brothers thing is a bit weird, honestly. Because Itadori admitted himself at the finale that he went along with it in an adrenaline rush, and we got a very one-sided gag with Todo chasing him - Their relationship is hardly developed. If anything, it's Megumi who needed to be there for Itadori. He even had the conversation with Itadori about what kind of jujutsu sorcercer they want to be, it fits.
Again, it's true that Megumi is now unconscious but, Gege could've written everything so far differently to have Megumi rescue Itadori. While it's true that in Shounen manga they write out some stuff the week they start drawing larger story arcs like Shibuya should be roughly planned out from the beginning, so yeah. I don't think Todo by any means has a meaningful relationship with Itadori except one which is pretty funny but it's still built on a personal delusion from Todo, and while they get along, it's nowhere near something like Kugisaki or Megumi.
As for Kugisaki's likely fake death (I'm assuming as an anime only), I don't mind it. We have seen characters die left and right in this arc, some of which being important like Nanami. This creates the suspense of not knowing who's next and raises the stakes for all of the characters. Then seeing Kugisaki lay there with a hole in her head, seems like the height of the desperation in the situation. All sense of security and plot armor seems to have disappeared and to me that is great writing. However, killing off Kugisaki at this point in the story feels like it would hurt the story more than keeping her alive. We have just seen some more of her backstory last episode and there is still a lot of potential for her character and viewer interest as well. After seeing so many characters die or get retired out of fighting, there still needs to be an interesting main cast of characters. Also her backstory foreshadowing her death, was also a good situation to flesh out her character more (if she survives).
Naruto really made me dislike fake-out deaths, so I am biased. But still, this flashback didn't really build her character, it just tried to make her death more emotional and if it's a fake-out death it feels cheap. I also would prefer more long-lasting consequences, such as Megumi and Itadori having now to deal with a gap in their team which used to have a bond between 3 people, and now one of them is missing. I think her character is lackluster still and there is some base foundation like her motivation to be a sorcercer STILL missing, even tho we got a 12 min extension of her backstory, so if she survives, I hope that Gege will do something with her. I agree that her surviving could lead to her becoming a better character, I hope so at least. But that backstory is still cheap to me. And if she would die, it would make JJK indeed more unpredictable, because Nanami dying isn't that crazy honestly. His character is already well-rounded, he had his moments, and he has no growth left. As Gojo said, the younger generation is about to surpass the older one. I love Nanami but he is about (and probably already) being powercreeped. So his relevance on future arcs, if he survives, is a bit questionable. Kugisaki is on a younger generation and still potentially has growth potential (natural counter to Mahitio too), and she's one of the main characters as you mentioned. If she survives, JJK still is predictable in terms of deaths like your usual shounen. Nobara actually dying is a totally different deal than Nanami dying.
TLDR:
- Support for Itadori is okay but I don't think he has anything meaningful with Todo and Todo returned his character to status quo
- A dogfight between Itadori and Mahito still is more interesting to me
- Kugisaki's fake-out death is still cheap to me
- Nanami was already about to be powercreeped, so JJK wasn't that unpredictable imo
Of course it's my opinion, you're free to disagree, but this is my stance on it in greater detail.
it literally could not have been anyone other than todo, who else but the one man who's shown his ability to bring itadori to a higher level, no one else could take on that role in this episode, and you keep saying "something which already defined Itadori's character the whole series" yes nanami told yuji to take it from there, but it hadn't set in for yuji what had actually been passed down to him, he was ready to give up and throw away nobara and nanami's sacrifices, and todo was luckily there, to remind yuji of their purpose, characters aren't so black and white in this series where once they say something, they have to follow it completely without allowing themselves to fall once in a while like yuji, yes his resolve has been outlined before, but once again since he's human losing so many, losing gojo to the prison realm, being almost killed by choso, sukuna wiping out shibuya, it's completely natural that he wouldn't be able to rise on his own. Todo needed to make that entrance, and I'm glad gege is the mangaka, because that was perfect
adding onto this further, megumi would lose to mahito, the only time megumi could beat mahito is when he's in the culling games and he's mastered his domain, otherwise mahito will destroy him, to make megumi save him you'd have to rewrite his entire character to be stronger, because yuji is stronger than megumi, and megumi has no way to beat mahito. He wouldn't use mahoraga as that would kill yuji and megumi too which would end the series right there
- continue this thread →
I am an amine-only (I started reading the manga but I'm nowhere near close S2 content) please no spoilers or comments about future arcs...
Apart from that. Again, it's a fictional story. Gege could write the story that Megumi doesn't need to fight Mahito directly, and it would require changes to Shibuya as a whole but I'm not looking at this episode in a vacuum.
characters aren't so black and white in this series where once they say something, they have to follow it completely without allowing themselves to fall once in a while like yuji
I never said that. I said that Yuji's character always has been about the death and honoring the will of the dead (literally: his grandfather. Nanami is an extension of it). What we have here with Todo is Yuji breaking down -> being repaired, but he got repaired to the way he already has been before. My point was that I want some more lasting consequences and developments for Yuji as a character. If you disagree with that, again, it's fine. But my argument never was about that Yuji is not allowed to break.
After reading your reply I do understand where you're coming from. I hadn't really thought about Todo's and Yuji's development as friends and I do agree that someone like Megumi could have made more of an impact as their friendship is more developed. I do have to admit that I am a bit biased towards Todo because I like his character and also how Yuji and Todo bring the best out of each other. I feel like Megumi wouldn't be able to bring the best out of Yuji like Todo does/
A fight alone between Mahito and Yuji would be pretty cool to see and fits the narrative of that Yuji and Mahito are essentially just the same, but with opposite perspectives (So they would both be fighting for their own definition of what's "right"). It could work, but I think Yuji beating a special grade curse like Mahito at this point would be quite the leap strength wise as I personally don't think Yuji is at that point yet.
As for Kugisaki's flashback I do agree that it didn't do a whole lot character building wise, but she was the only main character besides Yuji and Megumi, from whom we had yet to see who she was before she became a jujutsu sorcerer. I hope her character gets more fleshed out if she survives the incident.
I personally don't dislike the way Gege did things, but I do understand your critique's on Shibuya arc.
Animation for this episode was second only to Sukuna vs. Jogo (limited to Shibuya Arc).
Unfortunately, the fights weren't that hype (no significant injury to either parties / no stakes).
I loved the scene with Mechamaru and Miwi. Had this been a romantic drama or the like, I might've enjoyed it to the fullest. This is JJK we're talking about tho. Kinda weirded me out given the context.
8.0/10 episode
P.S.: similarity with above comment was completely unintended.
I genuinely love this show with my whole heart, this season they have gone above and beyond in pretty much every aspect of every episode and this one went even further beyond that. Todo is too cold, his strength, iq and charisma are top tier. The black flash animation always goes crazy as well, mahito hitting a black flash genuinely made me jump lmao. I can't wait for next week, but I also don't want this to end only 3 more eps :(
the episode was IMMACULATE and i can't wait for the BD to drop so we can see this one without dimming and ghosting, like all the black flashes were incredible and i especially loved todo's
the animators are doing such an amazing job given the crunch time they're constantly under, and it really shows how talented they are. massive amounts of respect to every animator that worked on this season
Todo Arrival and Miwa entire scenes were hype so damn good
LETS FUCKING GO MY FUCKING BESTO FRIENDO!!! MY FUCKING BRAHZA TODO!!! SMOKE THAT GOOFY ASS SCARECROW REJECT !!! Hopefully, Nobara isn't gone... but I won't get my hopes up. I can see JJK bamboozling us by leaving her dead.
This episode was excellent, The voice acting was top-notch. Mahito was a bit too squeaky at times (IMO) but he was great for the most part, especially at the end. Miwa's VA was also great, got goosebumps listening to that shit. One of the rawest crying I've heard, she absolutely sold it. Itadori's voice actor can pat himself on the back too, masterclass!!! The art and animation were stellar, and the vibrant colours and fight choreography were proper eye candy. 20/20
Miwa and Mechamaru deserve better :'( FUCK YOU JJK YOU SLY SON OF A BITCH
I have to give a special mention to Itadori's breakdown, Nobara's blown-up face, and Miwa Mechamaru. Beautifully animated and so heartbreaking. MAPPA animators have my utmost respect!
