The Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date is confirmed for July 6, 2023, the Summer 2023 anime season.
The 2nd season will have two consecutive cours, which means the 2nd season will end in December 2023.
The second season will continue Yuji Itadori’s quest to find and consume Sukana’s 20 cursed fingers. Jujutsu Kaisen 2 will adapt the flashback story arc Hidden Inventory/Premature Death, which is about Satoru Gojo’s high school days.
It’s also been confirmed that the Shibuya Incident Arc from the manga series will be adapted by Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2.
But will director Sunghoo Park (Seong Ho Park) return to direct the Jujutsu Kaisen 2 anime TV sequel? (Please see the studio and staff section below for more details.)
The Jujutsu Kaisen anime will have a special stage at Anime Japan 2023 on March 25, 2023. It’s possible that new info about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 will be announced on that day.
The first season was two cours with 24 episodes in total. Based on the pacing of the story, it was previously predicted that Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 would need to be longer than a single cour (see the manga comparison section below for more details).
The second season will have two consecutive cours broadcast in 2023, which means the finale will come out in Fall 2023.
What’s a “cour,” you might ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month block of TV broadcasting based on the physical seasons, usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes.
The first season was also not a split-cour, which is when a single anime season takes a multi-month break before resuming TV broadcasting.
On September 18, 2022, a Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 special TV program was broadcast by MBS/TBS TV stations in Japan a week after the first season finished re-broadcasting during Summer 2022. The Jujutsu Kaisen special program featured the anime voice actors live-performing certain famous scenes, and they also celebrated the previous release of a new key visual, but they did not reveal the exact time frame for the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date.
Instead, the seiyuus teased fans about the anime adapting the manga’s Shibuya Incident Arc by asking, “Do you really think Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 will only have the Hidden Inventory and Premature Death arcs? Guess we’ll find out during the TOHO anniversary event!”
This was a reference to TOHO animation 10th Anniversary Event’s Finale Stage, which occurred on September 25, 2022. Besides confirming the two 2 consecutive cours, the official website also introduced the new complete key visual.
(More info about the Trigun Stampede anime was also announced during the TOHO event.)
Crunchyroll will be streaming the new Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 episodes when they come out. The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie was released on Crunchyroll with subs and English dubs on September 21, 2022.
During Crunchyroll Expo 2022, a 5-minute long trailer featured memorable scenes from the series and teased that the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date is in 2023.
The official “super significant announcement” of the second season was made near the end of a Jujutsu Kaisen 0 event held at 3:55 PM JST on February 12, 2022. In celebration of the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 box office sales being a blockbuster hit, the JJK 0 movie was played on stage at Toho Cinemas Hibiya where anime voice actors Junya Enoki, Megumi Ogata, Kana Hanazawa, Yuichi Nakamura, and Sakura Takahiro were featured as guests.
Enoki is the Japanese voice actor for main character Yuji Itadori. After the movie finished playing, a box was rolled out onto the stage and Enoki leaped out while wearing a sash that announced the second season. The movie screen then clarified that the TV sequel was coming out in 2023.
It should be noted that some anime news leakers got the time frame wrong for the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date. Anime news leaker Animehype once claimed that the second season would be airing as a single cour in the Winter 2023 anime season from December 2022 through March 2023.
In addition, Animehype initially claimed that a Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 trailer was shown at the theater event, that “Toji looks hot” in the preview, and that the PV would be released on Youtube soon, but that was allegedly a “misinterpreted translation“. Obviously, the entire leak was incorrect misinformation.
“Due to our lack of understanding of Japanese, it would appear that we’ve mistranslated crucial information. We have now deleted the tweets,” Animehype tweeted. “Our sincerest apologies. We aim to announce correct information, only when it’s 100% confirmed [Both publicly and privately]. Regarding the Toji tweet, which was the first one to be deleted. That was both bait and a direct copy-paste tweet from someone. Again, apologies.”
Even this apology was eventually deleted. However, they were not alone in spreading this rumor since the usually trustworthy Shonen Jump News – Unofficial profile also made the same claim at first only to apologize later.
This article provides everything that is known about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 studio and staff: Will director Sunghoo Park return to direct the TV sequel?
The Jujutsu Kaisen anime is being produced by animation studio MAPPA, the studio that has given us anime such as Garo, Punch Line, Yuri On Ice, Kakegurui, Inuyashiki, Banana Fish, Zombie Land Saga, Dororo, and Dorohedoro.
In 2021, MAPPA was also working on Netflix’s Yasuke anime, the water polo anime Re-Main, The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace anime, the Sonny Boy original anime, and The Vampire Dies in No Time anime. The Attack On Titan Season 4 Part 3 release date was on March 3, 2023 (the final part also had a 2nd half released in 2023).
In the future, they’re releasing notables such as the Chainsaw Man anime, the Jigokaraku: Hell’s Paradise anime, the Yuri!!! on Ice movie: Ice Adolescence, and the Zombieland Saga movie.
The Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 staff hasn’t been confirmed yet. As noted previously noted, the biggest question is whether or not South Korean director Sunghoo Park will return to helm the second season after completing directing Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
In mid-March 2022, it was claimed by a Weibo source that director Park and several talented individuals had left Studio MAPPA to start his own new studio, E&H Production. According to this new studio’s background director Yann Le Gall, they’ve begun work on a new anime project. The official website lists 8 employees in total and they’ve been advertising for positions for a year.
In May 2022, this new anime project by director Park was revealed as the Ninja Kamui anime. It’s confirmed to be coming out on Adult Swim and HBO Max.
Keep in mind that Studio E&H Production was formed in March 2021. That means director Park was still freelancing with MAPPA during the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie production.
Anime production staff are typically freelancing contractors who jump between studios so it’s still possible for director Park to return for directing Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, 3, and so on. Director Park had worked in various roles at MAPPA since 2014, but in the past, he’s also worked for Studio BONES (Space Dandy), Studio Sunrise (Tiger & Bunny), Production I.G. (Guilty Crown), and others. Chainsaw Man anime director Ryu Nakayama is also a freelancer, not a permanent employee.
Director Park made his mark on the Japanese anime industry with Garo: Vanishing Line. For better or worse, Park also directed The God of High School anime, a Crunchyroll Originals anime. Some fans of the Webtoon series felt badly burned by the adaptation since it heavily condensed over 100 chapters worth of content into only 13 anime episodes.
But for all of that anime’s flaws, everyone agrees that The God of High School really shined when Park and the animation team at MAPPA cut loose with the amazing action sequences. And thus far this amazing talent has been on abundant display with the Jujutsu Kaisen animation.
Thankfully, we have writer Hiroshi Seko handling the series composition. If anyone can combine Park’s visual flair with a satisfying story that honors the source material, it’s Seko.
The writer is responsible for adapting modern anime classics like Attack on Titan, Mob Psycho 100, and Vinland Saga. He’s also known for his solid work on Ajin, Banana Fish, Dorohedoro, Inuyashiki, Kakegurui, and Levius. His original works include writing for Studio NuT’s Deca-Dence anime, Wit Studio’s Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, and Studio Trigger’s Kill la Kill.
Rounding out the main staff is Tadashi Hiramatsu, who is the character designer. He’s also worked on storyboarding and he was the chief animation director for the OP and certain episodes. In the past, Hiramatsu has been involved in a variety of roles for popular anime such as Angel Beats!, the Evangelion movie series, FLCL, Ghost in the Shell, Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Parasyte the maxim, and Yuri!!! On Ice.
Composers Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui, and Arisa Okehazama created the music.
The Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 OP (opening) theme song music “Ao no Sumika” (Where Our Blue Is) will be performed by Tatsuya Kitaniand whereas the ED (ending) “Akari” is by Soushi Sakyama.
For the first season, the Jujutsu Kaisen OP was “Kaikai Kitan” by Eve, while the ED was “Lost in Paradise” as performed by ALI.
The OP for Jujutsu Kaisen Part 2 was “Vivid Vice” by Who-ya Extended. The ED was “Give it Back” by Co shu Nie.
Notably, the group shot scene in the first OP changed over time as more characters were introduced.
The ending of the first cour, Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 13, was released on December 26, 2020. The finale, Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 24, was released on March 26, 2021 (1:45 PM EST on Crunchyroll Premium).
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time audiences watched the anime, Yuji had survived the chaos of the ironically named Kyoto Goodwill Event. Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara were sent on a mission to investigate a series of deaths where the victims had been killed by curses lurking in their doorways.
The investigation took them to Megumi’s old school. They came to realize that all of the victims of the curses shared an experience where they were all found unconscious underneath a bridge where students would bungee jump.
Mahito and Suguru Geto used a curse womb to create Death Paintings, where flesh and blood humans were implanted with curses. The young Sorcerers were faced with a situation where they could have been forced to kill humans for the first time.
The next story arc tells the tale of how Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto’s friendship came to an end and why the latter Sorcerer turned traitor. The two are sent on a mission to escort the Star Plasma Vessel Riko Amanai, but their mission is complicated by the arrival of Megumi’s father, “Sorcerer Killer” Toji Fushiguro, who was hired by the Star Vessel Association.
Toji manages to surprise the Sorcerers and kill Riko. In the resulting conflict, Toji defeats Geto and almost kills Gojo by stabbing him in the throat and slashing him multiple times. But Gojo’s near-death experience helped him since almost being killed forced him to master his reverse technique.
This time the tables are turned on Toji and he’s easily overwhelmed by Gojo’s new abilities. Toji’s last words are to tell Megumi that he will be sold to the Zenin Clan, which led Gojo to track down Megumi to tell him about his father.
While Toji did manage to kill his target Riko before losing the battle, the Sorcerers track down the Star Vessel Association headquarters. They believe the organization will disband soon.
A year passes and Gojo is becoming increasingly more powerful. It’s becoming more apparent that something is wrong with Geto.
When Geto is sent out on a mission to investigate strange deaths in a village he ends up slaughtering all of the villagers.
It turns out Geto desires to create a world in which only Shamans exist and he’s willing to carry out terrible acts to force this “solution” for the world’s problems. Geto then takes over the Star Vessel Association, which hadn’t been disbanded but simply renamed itself.
On October 31, Geto’s plan is put in motion to trap civilians in Shibuya by creating a curtain. Communication is cut off by the Shibuya Curtain and sorcerer squads are dispatched to investigate. It turns out people inside the curtain are all saying that Satoru Gojo needs to be brought to Shibuya.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!
Crunchyroll’s Jujutsu Kaisen English dub on HBO Max
The Jujutsu Kaisen anime’s first season was streaming on Crunchyroll. The Jujutsu Kaisen English dub began releasing on Crunchyroll on November 20, 2020.
In addition, the HBO Max streaming schedule lists the dubbed Jujutsu Kaisen episodes as releasing in their curated Crunchyroll Collection on December 4, 2020.
Crunchyroll’s Jujutsu Kaisen dub features Adam McArthur as Yuji Itadori, Robbie Daymond as Megumi Fushiguro, Anne Yatco as Nobara Kugisaki, Kaiji tang as Satoru Gojo, and Ray Chase as Ryomen Sukuna.
Note: This article will be updated with information about the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 English dub release date when it’s announced.
Why the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 anime was inevitable
As of the last update, TOHO Animation, Shueisha, dugout, MAPPA, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the exact Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date.
However, the production of a sequel was announced on February 12, 2022. During Jump Festa 2023, it was confirmed that Jujutsu Kaisen 2 will premiere in Summer 2023.
The producers have been teasing anime fans for a while. In the last week of March 2021, MBS chief programming director Hajime Yokota was speaking about the spring 2021 schedule when he was asked about a second season.
“Even though the manga series is still ongoing, we have no concrete information at the moment,” Yokota replied.
On January 19, 2022, the MBS TV channel president Youichi Mushiaki held a press conference online to discuss Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2. The TV station has been airing year-end specials and one-off broadcasts of Jujutsu Kaisen and Mushiaki said, “We were able to contribute to the movement that Jujutsu Kaisen is creating.”
According to Mantan Web, Mushiaki directly addressed questions about Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 by asking that everyone “wait for us to state a concrete plan”. While he did not directly confirm that the second season had begun early production, he seemed to tease a future announcement since he also stated, “However, I think we will be able to meet your expectations.”
Despite any protests to the contrary, the anime production committee would be nuts not to renew Jujutsu Kaisen for multiple seasons, not just a second season. Not only has the anime been well-received by reviewers, winning Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year award in 2021, but the first volume of the Blu-Ray/DVD box set sold an astounding 22,701 copies in its first week in Japan!
And Volume 2 continued the domination by selling another 21,271 copies in its first week! By May 17, 2021, The average BD/DVD sales of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 reached 29,575 copies, which puts it in the top 50 best-selling seasonal anime TV series in history.
To put those numbers in perspective, those first-week sales were better than all four of the seasons of My Hero Academia combined, although still not good as the first season of Attack On Titan, which sold 52,078 copies back in 2013. (Later seasons of Attack On Titan never managed to recapture that immense popularity, selling only 7,410 [Season 2], 4,297 [Season 3], and 3,179 [Season 3 Part 2] copies.)
From a streaming revenue perspective, the anime is regularly near the top of Crunchyroll’s popular anime list. In fact, Crunchyroll’s 2020 most popular anime list revealed that the first season was a fan favorite in 71 countries and territories, which is more than Boruto (32) and My Hero Academia (23) combined. Jujutsu Kaisen was second only to Black Clover, which had 87 regions.
“The prominence of Jujutsu Kaisen in so many of the most populous countries in the world is all the more impressive when considering that the title only started airing in October — other series aired earlier and had more opportunities for fans to find them, or, like Black Clover and Boruto, were on air the entire year,” Crunchyroll stated.
This worldwide success on Crunchyroll is important considering that streaming revenue is the biggest factor determining whether an anime is renewed for a second season.
One issue is the availability of Studio MAPPA. There’s no concern about the anime switching studios since MAPPA is on the anime production committee (they’re also on the committee for Attack On Titan: The Final Season).
Anime productions are scheduled years in advance and it often takes time to gather the voice talent and the main animation staff, who are usually contractors who drift between studios for projects.
In 2022, series composition writer Hiroshi will be working with David Production on the 2022 Spriggan reboot, but the contractor will presumably return for the TV sequel. As previously mentioned, it’s possible director Seong Ho Park will be returning to direct Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 even as he builds up his own studio.
The second issue is the source material, the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. It’s expected to become a long-running series, and there are currently enough chapters for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2. In early 2021, the manga finished a long story arc that sets up the second season to be two cours (please see the manga comparison section below for more details).
Ultimately, even though the production of the anime series has been planned out in advance, the wait for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 needed to be measured in years. But with those high streaming numbers and amazing disc sales, it’s not surprising that the sequel was announced quickly after the JJK 0 movie premiered.
Let’s just be glad that the Jujutsu Kaisen anime production committee didn’t repeat the same mistake made with Attack On Titan. Instead of immediately capitalizing on the success, the anime series’ popularity languished due to the four-year wait. Repeating that error would be a titan-sized mistake.
Therefore, as Anime Geek predicted in the past, the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date would be in 2023. We also successfully predicted that the time frame would be Summer and Fall 2023.
Jujutsu Kaisen hiatus in 2021 caused by Gege Akutami’s health problems
The story for the anime is based on the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series by creator Gege Akutami. The title is about as straightforward as it gets, with the English translation literally meaning Sorcery Fight.
Akutami started his manga career as an assistant in 2014 and was given opportunities to release several one-shot mangas over the years. In 2017, he released the four chapters for the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School manga, which was retroactively labeled as Jujutsu Kaisen 0 since it serves as a prequel to the main manga series.
Like many manga authors, Akutami suffers from health problems. In early 2021, Akutami suffered from an unspecified sudden illness that required a short Jujutsu Kaisen hiatus after finishing Chapter 137. That meant the Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 138 release date was pushed back to February 15, 2021.
The Jujutsu Kaisen author’s health problems have not been detailed publicly. Akutami doesn’t have a history of taking breaks and this is the first time any health issues have been mentioned publicly.
But other creators have suffered health problems only to find themselves needing to take year-long breaks. For example, the Tower of God hiatus was originally planned to be short, but then it was extended multiple times into weeks and then many months.
Unfortunately, the Jujutsu Kaisen manga’s hiatus was not a one-time event. In March 2021, a second week-long break was announced for Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 18, 2021. That meant the Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 145 release date was delayed to April 11, 2021 (WSJ Issue 19, 2021).
It’s currently unknown if the second hiatus was related to the previous health problems. But in June 2021 Weekly Shonen Jump announced an indefinite hiatus for the JJK manga.
“To our readers. Thank you for always reading Jujutsu Kaisen,” wrote Weekly Shonen Jump. “Due to the poor physical condition of Akutami Gege, Jujutsu Kaisen will be absent for some time from the next issue onward. Akutami wanted to continue writing, but after several discussions with the editorial department, it has been decided that it’s better for Akutami to take a break for a certain period of time. We determined it was the best decision for the mangaka to recover their physical condition.”
The Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 152 release date in Weekly Shonen Jump No. 28 was on June 14, 2021 (or June 13, 2021, in North America). The JJK creator was originally hoping that the new JJK hiatus would only last a month. Unfortunately, it lasted longer, which meant the Jujutsu Kaisen 153 release date was pushed back to August 2, 2021.
Jujutsu Kaisen manga popularity soars
The main manga series began serializing in Weekly Shonen Jump in March 2018. By October 2020, the manga was already popular enough to surpass 10 million volume sales. By the end of November 2020, the manga was up to 12 million copies.
The manga’s popularity continued to explode. In mid-December 2020 it was up to 15 million copies. By January 13, 2021, the manga had over 20 million copies in circulation (including digital) and 13 days later on January 26th, the manga reached the 25 million mark. By February 9th, it was up to 30 million. By March 1st it was up to 36 million. By March 30th it was up to 40 million. And then by April 21st it was up to 45 million.
On May 30, 2021, Shueisha confirmed that the manga had broken the 50 million mark. As of October 4, 2021, there were 55 million copies in circulation, including both print and digital copies. Thanks to the anime’s popularity, the manga sales jumped 650 percent, having more than doubled since the anime released in October 2020. And by November 2021 it was up to 60 million, and then by March 2021, it was up to 65 million.
Historically, five new volumes release per year, with a new volume coming out every January, March, June, August, and October, but this schedule was probably disrupted by the creator’s health problems. Volume 21 came out on December 2, 2022.
VIZ Media is publishing the official English translation of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series. Volume 19 is scheduled for March 21, 2023.
Jujutsu Kaisen manga’s ending already planned out
In a 2020 interview with Le Figaro magazine, Akutami explained that one of his earliest influences was the Evangelion series, which contained elements of Bible stories. He also drew on mythology where “men and god are opposed, without ever explaining why”.
One of the core messages of the manga is philosophical relativism, the idea that no one has a grasp on the ultimate truth.
“The ‘good guys’ are like the ‘bad guys’. Some seek to kill the hero out of sheer selfishness, but others are led to this decision by logical reasoning. If no one is really right then no one is wrong either. Each character is guided by their own ethics. … In a fight scene between the hero and an antagonist, do you ever want to support the villain?
We live in a time when the notion of right and wrong is blurred. Whether in terms of society or ecology, we can sometimes wonder if humanity is not a scourge. That’s why when a big bad guy appears with the goal of eradicating humanity, his pitch strikes a chord with us and we end up feeling a certain empathy for him.”
At the same time, Akutami does have characters like Mahito, who is considered to be “evil incarnate.”
“I wanted above all to avoid the classic gimmick of ‘but deep down he’s nice.’ Mahito is inherently evil deep in his being and he only thinks of making humans suffer,” Akutami explained. “But can we prove him totally wrong? It reminds me of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. In the end, I never felt any hatred for him.”
In general, most of the characters are based on manga shonen archetypes, although some, like Panda and Inumaki, were based on visuals. Some are based on a concept, with Gojo representing the paroxysm of force.
The character of Yuji is based on Akutami’s older brother, who he says is his “opposite” and succeeds in everything. Akutami plans on bringing Yuji’s mother into the story eventually but hasn’t figured out a role for the father.
Akutami says he has already planned out the Jujutsu Kaisen manga’s ending. He’s already mapped out the major plot points of the story, although he admits that the “path between the two remains fairly free.”
On February 27, 2021, Akutami said in an interview that he intends on finishing the manga in less than 2 years, which means 2023. He’s already more than halfway done with the manga series as planned. He’s already chosen how the overall ending will be handled, and decided on the endings for Itadori and Fushiguro, but not the villain Sukuna.
(For more details, please see the news story about the Gege Akutami interview.)
Of course, mangakas will often say things like this and then dramatically change their plans over time. For example, the My Hero Academia manga was apparently planned out to be much shorter but was then extended.
Akutami has not mentioned the number of volumes or chapters that he’s targeting for the ending. (VIZ Media published an “interview” where he said it was approximately 21 volumes/200 chapters, but that was an April Fool’s joke.)
If the Jujutsu Kaisen manga remains popular by the time Akutami reaches his original planned stopping point it’s possible he’ll figure out a way to continue the story. On the other hand, Akutami may choose to go the route of the Demon Slayer manga and not drag things out unnecessarily.
Whatever the case may be, the length of the series means that there is plenty of room for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, 4, and beyond.
Jujutsu Kaisen movie adapted Volume 0: Cursed Child Arc
Notably, the anime adaptation skipped over Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School manga. While the story is not necessary for the first season, it makes sense to adapt the story into an anime movie.
The plot focused on a teenager Yuta Okkotsu, a victim of a Special Grade Curse. Similar to Yuji, Yuta is designated to be executed, but Satoru Gojo intervenes and Yuta is enrolled in the school.
The Yuta character is briefly referenced several times in the anime’s first several episodes. Megumi mentions that Yuta is a student studying overseas and Gojo believes Yuta is one of the few students who have the potential to surpass him, alongside Yuji and Hakari.
A Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie was necessary since Yuta’s story allows anime-only fans to fully understand a future story arc, the Shibuya Incident.
The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie will be adapting only four chapters. While that doesn’t sound like much, Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 0 is 200 pages long, which is 8 pages longer than Volume 1. Therefore, the movie runtime should be longer than an OVA episode.
The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 release date in Japan is on December 24, 2021. The timing of the premiere date isn’t coincidental since most of the story events in the manga take place on December 24th.
It’s predicted that the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 USA release date will be in January 2022.
Jujutsu Kaisen manga compared to the anime
The anime has been very faithful to the source material although action sequences tend to be extended with special directorial touches. In an interview with Anime News Network, director Sunghoo Park explained his approach to adapting the narrative structure of the manga series into a seasonal anime.
“Our goal wasn’t to reconstruct the manga version but to create the anime which follows the original storyline as precisely as possible,” the director explained. “Therefore, we’ve had lots of meetings to discuss details closely with Shueisha and Akutami-sensei.”
The beginning itself heightened the drama by opening Episode 1 with a flash-forward to the first two pages of Chapter 2.
Otherwise, any changes are usually minor and emphasize a specific emotion elicited by a scene. For example, the scene where Yuji’s classmates hide from the curses is given more time to develop their fright.
The director said that such scenes were “created with Akutami-sensei’s approval”.
Episode 2 added a scene where Yuji visits his grandfather’s grave, which was originally only chapter cover art.
The intensity of Episode 5 was heightened by making the scene where Sukuna pulls out Yuji’s heart more graphic. The visual of clock gears were used to highlight the unfairness of life in Megumi’s inner monologue.
The Episode 6 scene where the volcano-headed Gojo burns people to death in a restaurant emphasized the horror of the moment by focusing on the victims.
Some anime original scenes added humor. For example, when Gojo explained how Yuji wouldn’t be able to use just any cursed techniques, the disappointed boy lists off a litany of anime special attacks he was hoping to use, including the Spirit Gun from YuYu Hakusho, Bankai from Bleach, Rasengan from Naruto, and the Dodon Ray and Kamehameha from Dragon Ball.
From an artistic viewpoint, the biggest changes were to the domain expansions. They had to imagine the domains as three-dimensional spaces in order to animate them properly, which was very difficult.
“[T]he domain expansions were also difficult to animate. In the original manga, those scenes are still images in black and white, so we had to consult the author, Gege Akutami to outline a more detailed image for us. I remember Gojo’s domain expansion, ‘Infinite Void’ was especially difficult to produce,” the director explained in an interview with Crunchyroll.
The pacing of the anime started off very slow, with Episode 1 barely adapting more than one chapter. By Episode 4 the anime began adapting more than two chapters each episode, with later episodes adapting as many as four chapters.
Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 14 began adapting the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event story arc, with Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 21 finishing it. Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 22 then jumped into the final story arc for the first season.
Based on the pacing of the anime, the finale, Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 24, found a stopping point in Volume 8: Chapter 63.
It’s the best stopping point since it finishes the story arc involving the team battles of the Kyoto Goodwill Event and then ends with the Death Painting story arc that pushes the main trio past their limits.
The next story arc is a flashback about Satoru Gojo’s past that is only 15 chapters long. Even if this flashback arc had been combined with the Volume 0 prequel it still wouldn’t have been long enough for a single cour season unless the premise had been significantly expanded by the anime adaptation with original content.
The next major arc, the Shibuya Incident arc, is 58 chapters long by itself. Combined with the Gojo’s Past arc that’s 73 chapters in total.
Therefore, the Jujutsu Kaisen movie adapted the Volume 0 arc with a 1 hour, 45 minute film runtime. It’s predicted that Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 will then adapt the next two manga story arcs with multiple cours based on the story flow.
Ideally, the second season would be three cours, but it seems more likely that the second season will adapt two story arcs with two cours, including the Satoru Gojo flashback and the Shibuya Incident Arc. Then the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 anime could tackle the manga story arcs released in 2021 and 2022.
Regardless of how the anime adapts the story arcs, the good news is that there is plenty of source material for Studio MAPPA to create Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 quickly. Better yet, English-only fans who wish to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Volume 8.
- Updated January 30, 2023: Added Anime Japan 2023 stage event info.
- Updated December 17, 2022: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 release date in July 2023.
- Updated September 25, 2022: Added new completed key visual and 2 cours info.
- Updated September 18, 2022: Summarized special TV program and added JJK Season 2 key visual.
- Updated August 21, 2022: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 announcement confirmed for September 18, 2022.
- Updated August 7, 2022: Added Crunchyroll Expo 2022 trailer.
- Updated May 20, 2022: Director Sunghoo Park’s new project is Ninja Kamui.
- Updated March 26, 2022: Added Anime Japan 2022 news.
- Updated March 22, 2022: Added discussion regarding director Sunghoo Park.
- Updated February 12, 2022: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 confirmed for 2023!
- Updated January 19, 2022: MBS President discusses Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2.
- Updated December 23, 2021: Movie after-credits scene teased.
- Updated July 29, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen 0 trailer.
- Updated July 16, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen hiatus update and Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 153 release date.
- Updated June 13, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen 0 release date in Japan. Added movie poster.
- Updated June 10, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen hiatus update.
- Updated May 21, 2021: Jujutsu Kaisen Blu-Ray sales reached the top 50 in anime history.
- Updated April 20, 2021: Added interview questions with director Sunghoo Park.
- Updated March 26, 2021: Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie confirmed!
- Updated March 24, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen movie rumors. Added Jujutsu Kaisen 145 release date/hiatus info. Added comment from MBS chief.
- Updated February 27, 2021: Creator interview discussed manga’s ending.
- Updated February 5, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen hiatus announcement.
- Updated January 11, 2021: Added Jujutsu Kaisen Part 2 OP and ED info.