English Dub Review: Jujutsu Kaisen: “Jujutsu Koshien”

Overview: The teachers and students of the Tokyo and Kyoto schools deal with the aftermath of their battle with the cursed spirits.  

Our Take: Before the much anticipated intense, climatic battle between the Tokyo and Kyoto schools, more light is shed on the cursed spirit’s scheme. One aspect that makes itself quite prominent, in the pre-planning stages of the attack, is how cunning and clever Suguru is. He is seemingly always thinking two steps ahead and at the same time also accounts for unknown variables like Sukuna acting differently than he had assumed. Without spoiling too much, this becomes even more evident, during the events of the Shibuya arc later on in the series, with how intricate and well thought out his schemes are. This episode, like the manga, exceptionally showcases how much of a threat Mahito, Hanami, Jugo are under Suguru’s guidance and poses to jujutsu sorcerers.

Rather than continue with battles, things get competitive in a different way with a good ol’ baseball time! The game is lighthearted and playful and rightfully eases the tension after such a perilous bout. So much clever writing with great visual humor that features funny, arbitrary facts about everyone during their game. The only minor annoyance is how it can make the scenes a bit busy at times, as a result. Especially when the captions come and go so quickly and there’s conversations going on, forcing me to pause it a couple of times to fully absorb everything. 

This is all beautifully cemented with a heart-to-heart as Kamo seeks to understand Yuji and his reasoning for becoming a sorcerer. This is where we’re fully able to understand and appreciate the weight of Kamo’s decisions, despite their misguidance, not to mention how much they also relate to Yuji’s too. An amazing character moment if I’ve ever seen one. Lastly, there’s also great stuff in the conversation between Principal Gakuganji and Yaga as they discuss Yuji and how to proceed with him. It works well because of how much uncertainty and uneasiness is present throughout as the potential danger that Yuji presents is discussed. However, when all the lives that Itadori have saved are taken into account, it also leaves on a meaningful, hopeful note for the future of the character and the series as a whole. 

“Jujutsu Koshien” is a home run of an episode as the school exchange comes to an end with heartfelt moments and great anticipation for the future of the franchise.