At some point this year, I became aware of some new Jujutsu Kaisen episodes. Labeled “Season 2,” I was a little trepidatious about diving into a new season since the titles implied a bit of parallel story-telling rather than a direct continuation of the story that ended with Season 1. Eventually, though, I got over my trepidation, rewatched the entirety of season 1, and then watched the five episodes that exist of season 2. According to what I could find, more is going to start dropping on the thirty-first of this month, which is my birthday. It’s a lot more exciting to be focused on this upcoming release than it is on the unknown number of years it will be before the next bit of Demon Slayer comes out (since all we’ve got is pure conjecture at this point) and while the shows are incredibly different in theming and the episode-to-episode contents of their show, they’re both about slaying horrible monsters and bringing down the organization guiding the upper levels of those horribel monsters. I’m not really in-tune with anime trends enough to tell if this is an emerging trend (or it’s a dwindling one, considering how old Bleach is), but it does seem pretty funny to learn that two hit shows these days are both about slaying monstrous creatures that are varying degrees of intelligent and sapient.

Other than this one thing, though, they’re incredibly different. Demon Slayer is about trauma, victims, and the combination of strength and righteous fury required to stand against those who use other people with callous disregard for their well-being. Jujutsu Kaisen is about how to make the world a better place, the place of skill/talent in the world, and the interplay of self-sacrifice and self-determination in your own life. There’s only one season of Jujutsu Kaisen so far, though, so those might just be the early themes. I’d probably say something different about the themes of Demon Slayer if I had just seen the first season and a little bit of the Mugen Train arc in Season 2. That said, it wouldn’t be THAT different from what I said, though I’d probably emphasis different things. Demon Slayer is very specifically calling attention to specific themes while Jujutsu Kaisen is a little more of a typical action story with some themes more casually worked in. I haven’t read the manga of either one, so I have no idea if the themes are more apparent, less apparent, or even different in either story, but I plan to read them both once the anime are finished. I’ve already started collecting a few volumes of Demon Slayer during sales at the bookstores I frequent.

I don’t really have specific parts of Jujutsu Kaisen that I enjoy or feel strongly about, like I did with Demon Slayer. It’s a fun show to watch in general and I enjoy the way the world is set up, plus the characters all seem fairly amusing. The balance of powers and monsters is interesting, though I’m not entirely sure I enjoy the whole “bloodlines” aspect of some of the powers. Sure, this distribution of seems to be depicted as being clearly bad, but several of the characters are super powerful BECAUSE of their bloodline. Sure, they show those characters working to improve and master the powers they’re granted by their bloodlines, but it walks uncomfortably close to the “elevate the chosen few” line, which is troubling given that this is pretty much exactly what the villains want. The start of season 2 makes it clear that this is intentional, showing the parallels between what the villains and the heroes want. Sure, their methods are incredibly different, as are their reasons for acting, but the thin line of intention is all that separates them and it doesn’t take much to cross that line. Even with this intentional characterization, it just feels a little too close for comfort, given the way the show tends to deprioritize fleshing out its themes and the story as a whole in favor of building out the characters (at least in the first season. The bit of season 2 I’ve seen is balancing themes and characters more evenly). They haven’t done anything that feels like a misstep yet, and this nervousness I feel doesn’t detract from the show because they do make the differences clear, but it is definitely something I’m concerned about even if the manga will likely be finished well before the second season of the show (which is where most anime based on a manga series tend to lose their footing).

My absolute favorite thing about the show, though, is show’s first end credits sequence. The song is an absolute bop and I love the way it perfectly captures the characters in these little vignettes that feel like how they’d each spend their day off if they had one. The mix of dancing, fashion-sketch visuals, and light coloration really expresses each character in a brilliant manner, telling me who each of them is in seconds while it takes the show almost an entire season to convey the same information. The focused attention and confident smile of the protagonist, Yuji. The bored inattentiveness mixed with focus on his individual occupations of Megumi. The cheerful, energetic, and happy-go-lucky attitude that disguises the unquenchable fury of Nobara. The blasé confidence and swagger that belies the extreme focus and meticulous planning of Gojo. It’s all right there in a way that makes it clear to the audience without forcing them to watch an entire show just to understand the characters. You can get it all in the first airing of the initial ending sequence and use it to inform your understanding of the characters in the rest of the show. It’s very good character work and, honestly, just a delight to watch.

Anyway, I’m very excited to start watching the next section of the show on my birthday. It’ll be a great present to myself, even if I probably wait until the weekend after to actually watch it. I tend to stick with something I can do for at least a couple hours on my week nights, rather than dip in and out of things I can only do a little bit. I don’t much care for the flow of doing a bunch of different things in my evenings. It’s too much work. I need to just turn my brain off and settle in on a week night. And, as much as I’m excited to get into the next arc, I’d rather wait until I can comfortably enjoy the single episode than see it right when it comes out.