MAPPA has exceeded expectations with the Jujutsu Kaisen adaptation, making the already great work of Gege Akutami a worldwide phenomenon. Each fight scene builds upon the choreography of the manga and perfects what was already deemed flawless. The studio rendered heavy-handed dialogue and the intricate explanations of Cursed Techniques, including the laws of a Domain Expansion, easy to comprehend and visually appealing. Nevertheless, a couple of headlong seconds preserve the raw and jagged power of the original panels of Akutami a little better.
The animation makes it colorful, motion, and has an iconic soundtrack. But it is the ink work and layout of the panels that may produce those atmospheres that are difficult to capture on the screen with the manga. A facial expression may be more sinister in black and white, or a technical detail may have been lost in high-speed animation. These scenes are the best moments of the source material. To those who wish for a complete experience, the following six moments in Jujutsu Kaisen are arguably even more enjoyable in the manga.
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6 Yuta Okkotsu vs. Yuji Itadori
Since When Is Throwing Cars Not Considered "Peak Cinema"?
The Execution arc starts off with a high level of tension, as Yuta is sent to hunt Itadori. It adapts the anime in a fluid and beautifully animated way, whereas Chapter 140 and Chapter 141 of the manga are a raw, street-brawl desperation that the anime softened slightly. The anime also changed or deleted the panels where Itadori employs the environment with tremendous aggression and the fight more or less feels like it could go either way, but the anime pretty much guaranteed that Yuta was going to win no matter what, and fans are definitely not pleased with the pose Yuta did when he first appeared.
One of the notable moments from the manga that was cut off was when Itadori literally punches and throws a car to create an opening against Yuta. While the anime scene takes place in a similar setting, the fight scene is more focused on sword techniques and dodges. The scene is often highlighted by the community that the manga’s portrayal of Itadori’s physical strength in throwing vehicles while keeping up with a Special Grade sorcerer really highlighted how much of a "demon" he has become in terms of power in such a short time.
5 Sukuna and Mahito Laugh at Itadori
Getting Laughed At By Villains Hits Harder In Ink
After the unfortunate event of Junpei Yoshino's soul being changed and then dying from it, Itadori is forced to a state of complete desolation where he pleads with Sukuna to assist him, but is met with vicious laughter. The voice acting is excellent — Junichi Suwabe and Nobunaga Shimazaki both do their parts to perfection—but the manga in Chapter 27 is spooky, as is the way the panels are laid out. The layout of Sukuna and Mahito’s faces looming over a broken Itadori creates a sense of "cosmic" cruelty.
The manga adaptation is famous for its use of the laugher speech bubbles, cramming as many as possible around the Itadori speech, which visually demonstrates how their malice overpowers his sorrow. The scene in the anime is fast cut, whereas the manga allows the reader to take his time and contemplate the sheer ugliness of the delight of the villains. It is a landmark moment for the character of Itadori, and the manga creates that particular scene to be a bit more visceral by making villains appear subhuman through twisted facial expressions.
4 Sukuna vs. Mahoraga
Wait, Did Anyone Actually See What Happened There?
This fight in the Shibuya Incident arc is among the most renowned frames of animation in recent years. However, it also resulted in a significant argument for visual clarity. The anime version of the fight is a spectacle of huge mass destruction, and due to the visuals becoming overcrowded, it became impossible to track the strategy of the fight in its entirety. Those scenes that were crucial in learning about Mahoraga and his Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General were covered with explosions and rubble.
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The pacing is far more methodological in the manga as it draws attention to the fact that the back of Mahoraga turns into a wheel and the moment when the shikigami adapts to the Dismantle of Sukuna. With the help of still images, Akutami is able to emphasize the technical logic of the adaptation process, and it is clear how Sukuna ultimately weakens Mahoraga with his “Malevolent Shrine” and then defeats him with Fuga. For those fans who appreciate the chess-match element of Jujutsu Kaisen with regard to its power structure, the clarity of the manga equalizes a better insight into how the most powerful shikigami truly works.
3 Itadori’s “I’m You” to Mahito
That "I’m You" Stare Was Way More Terrifying In Black And White
And the end of the fight against Mahito is a masterpiece of narration, when Itadori turns to his acceptance of being a cog in the exorcism machine. The metaphor of the snowy forest in the anime is stunning and is inherently beautiful and atmospheric, but the facial expression of Itadori in chapter 132 of the manga is far more sinister. His eyes are depicted in the manga as cold, dead and totally lacking his normal warmth, which makes him seem less of a protagonist and more of a predator who preys on his victims.
The fandom itself frequently talks about how the black-and-white contrast of the manga makes Itadori appear to be terrifying during this scene. Although the anime makes him have a stoic resolve, the manga makes him to have lost a part of his soul. The art in the manga gives the impression of some form of darkness when he gazes at a horrified Mahito and tells him that he is him, noting the mental cost the Shibuya Incident had on him. It is a scene when the development of Itadori is both heroic and profoundly disturbing.
2 Final Moment of Nobara Kugisaki
The Manga Didn't Even Give Us Time To Say Goodbye To Nanami Yet
One of the most emotional moments in the series is the indefinite exit of Nobara (or death) that takes place in the Shibuya arc. The anime made this scene even more beautiful through a chair metaphor and an extended flashback that most fans appreciated since the manga just gave us two heartbreaks. The moment of injury, however, in the actual sense in chapter 125, is more powerful due to the shock value of the paneling. The manga itself is violent in its portrayal of the lazy transfiguration striking her face, quick, rough, and eternally devastating.
Fans have pointed out that the manga’s version feels more like a sudden "snapping" of the story's light, as the series suddenly stopped pulling all its punches. In making the scene short and the shot of the injury more realistic, Akutami draws the hectic and unjust character of the sorcerer killings. Although the artistic decisions made in the anime were beautiful, the brutality of the manga, with its blink, and you will miss its brutality, is a less pleasant reminder that in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, even the favorite characters may get eliminated in the blink of an eye without a big cinematic farewell.
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1 Gojo’s “Honored One” Awakening
That "Drunk On Power" Look We All Fell For
The best moment in the Hidden Inventory arc is the comeback of Satoru Gojo, who is on the verge of death when he fights against Toji Fushiguro. The scene in the anime is quite bright and has a certain style of colors that is beautiful. The Gojo in chapter 75 of the manga, however, possesses an aesthetic of a legendary drunk on power, which is difficult to replicate. The pose of Gojo floating against the sun, and his hand perfectly placed, has become an iconic manga panel on its own.
Throughout Heaven and Earth... I Alone Am the Honored One — Gojo Satoru
The reason the manga version stands at number one is the look in Gojo’s eyes. Akutami-sensei drew him with a wide-eyed, almost crazed expression that shows he isn't just healed—he’s "high" on the core of Cursed Energy. The anime makes him appear more angelic and non-violent, whereas in the manga, he is a god who has just discovered that he is untouchable. To the fans, that specific "Honored One" panel represents the true birth of the strongest sorcerer, and the raw linework captures a level of divine arrogance that is the definitive version of the character.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 3, 2020
- Network
- TBS, MBS, CBC, Tulip Television, BSN, tys, NBC, HBC, RKK, i-Television, SBS, IBC, BSS, MRO, OBS, TUF, RSK, TUY, tbc, RKB, SBC, KUTV, RBC, UTY, RCC, MRT, atv, MBC
Cast
-
Junya EnokiYuji Itadori -
Yuichi NakamuraSatoru Gojo
WHERE TO WATCH
Based on Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Mappa's battle shonen anime envisions a world where Jujutsu Sorcerers battle against entities born out of Cursed Energy. One day, a teenager named Yuji Itadori is dragged into this conflict when he eats a possessed finger.
- Directors
- Ryohei Takeshita, Masataka Akai, Chie Nishizawa, Daisuke Tsukushi, Tomomi Kamiya, Kakushi Ifuku, Ken Takahashi
- Writers
- Hiroshi Seko
- Franchise(s)
- Jujutsu Kaisen
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- MAPPA
- Producers
- Makoto Kimura, Hiroaki Matsutani, Yuriha Murai, Toshihiro Maeda, Yoshiaki Takagaki, Tatsuya Omori, Hiroaki Yamazaki
- Based On
- Manga
- Creator
- Gege Akutami
- Number of Episodes
- 47
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.57 (Season 1)
- Executive Producer(s)
- Hiroo Maruyama, Keiji Ota
