Manga Review: Jujutsu Kaisen, Volume 2, by Gege Akutami

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: February 2020

Volumes: 11+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Yuji Itadori is resolved to save the world from cursed demons, but he soon learns that the best way to do it is to slowly lose his humanity and become one himself!

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna were lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of Jujutsu Sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

A cursed womb mysteriously appears at a detention facility. Itadori and his classmates are dispatched to the scene, but they're in for quite the surprise when they're attacked by a special-grade curse! Itadori allows Sukuna to take over his body in order to survive, but the consequences are more drastic than anyone expected!

Review:

Given the ominous warning of the previous volume, and yet how most stories go, I saw this plot point coming. But still, I don't mind it, even if some kind of surprise would have been nice. I think it makes sense, given that there are two people living in one body now and some kind of compromise has to be met.

After that first case, Itadora gets to find out what school will be like now. He meets his new classmates, while we're still discovering more about the other people he's met.

I do think a couple of the characters are interesting, and I think we're still just getting to know all of them. This still very much feels like the beginning of the series, and I think we're really just getting started with the plot as well.

It feels a little fresh for a shonen series, while still having the general set-up of a Bleach kind of series. I'm intrigued still.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Jujutsu Kaisen, Volume 1, by Gege Akutami

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: December 2019

Volumes: 9+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Yuji Itadori is resolved to save the world from cursed demons, but he soon learns that the best way to do it is to slowly lose his humanity and become one himself!

In a world where demons feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryoma Sukuna were lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of Jujutsu Sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the undead!

Yuji Itadori is high schooler who spends his days visiting his bedridden grandfather. Although he looks like your average teenager, his immense physical strength is something to behold! Every sports club wants him to join, but Itadori would rather hang out with the school outcasts in the Occult Club. One day, the club manages to get their hands on a sealed cursed object, but little do they know the terror they’ll unleash when they break the seal...

Review:

From the beginning, I'm unsure who we're following. We meet Fushiguro investigating a cursed object, and then go to Itadori, who's an average high school boy. He's in the occult club, but mainly because he needed to join a club that wouldn't overlap his outside-school responsibilities. Though he's found friends there, this is all interrupted when Fushiguro shows up and demons attack the school. When Itadori swallows the cursed finger, everything for him changes.

This was a wild volume. We get thrown to a couple of different places and we follow Itadori most of the time, but Fushiguro sometimes, too. The whole plot itself is a bit crazy, really. And then we're in danger as the volume ends, so I'm curious where that will go, as I'm a little doubtful that the warning we're given will be true.

I appreciate that, while this does take the stereotypical shonen route, it feels a bit new. Particularly, the lone female character is not just here for her big boobs—she's kind of awful, honestly. We'll see how that goes, though.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!