I started Jujutsu Kaisen expecting a solid action show. I did not expect it to become one of my favourite anime in recent years. The first season is excellent. The Shibuya Incident arc in Season 2 is one of the most relentlessly intense pieces of television I have watched.
If you are coming to JJK for the first time or want to understand what people keep talking about, here is everything you need to know.
The Premise
Yuji Itadori is a physically exceptional high school student with abnormally strong body strength and reflexes. He lives with his grandfather, who dies in the first episode — but not before telling Yuji two things: always be with people when you die, and use your strength to help others.
After his grandfather's death, Yuji and his friends accidentally break the seal on a cursed object — a severed finger belonging to Ryomen Sukuna, the legendary King of Curses. Yuji swallows the finger to protect his friends from the curse that emerges.
This is when the Jujutsu sorcerers arrive. Megumi Fushiguro, a serious young sorcerer, was sent to retrieve the finger before it could be released. Instead, he finds a boy who absorbed it and is somehow still alive and in control.
The normal procedure: execute Yuji immediately. The alternative proposed by the greatest sorcerer alive, Satoru Gojo: let Yuji live long enough to consume all of Sukuna's remaining fingers, ensuring the King of Curses is fully contained within one body, then execute him.
Yuji accepts. He enrolls at Jujutsu High School.
The Power System: Cursed Energy
Understanding the power system is essential for appreciating JJK's fight scenes, which are some of the most tactically interesting in modern anime.
Cursed Energy is negative emotional energy — fear, hatred, grief, regret — naturally produced by all humans as a byproduct of emotion. Most people cannot perceive or control it. Jujutsu sorcerers have trained themselves to channel it.
Cursed Techniques are innate abilities inherited through bloodline. Each technique is unique to its user or their family. Megumi uses shadow manipulation. Nobara uses a straw doll and nails. These are not just powers — they are tools that require intelligence and creativity to use effectively.
Domain Expansion is the ultimate technique. A sorcerer creates a space from their cursed energy where their technique is automatically guaranteed to hit. It is extraordinarily powerful and dangerous to maintain. When two sorcerers clash Domains against each other, the stronger Domain wins.
Binding Vows are agreements that increase a technique's power in exchange for a self-imposed limitation. Characters deliberately handicap themselves to become stronger within that handicap. This creates fascinating tactical situations — fighters who are more dangerous when they impose specific rules on themselves.
The tactical depth this system creates means that JJK fights are never just about who has more power. They are about who understands the rules better and can exploit them more creatively.
The Characters
Yuji Itadori
Yuji is one of my favourite shonen protagonists specifically because his exceptional quality is physical — he is extraordinarily strong and tough even before cursed energy. He is not a tactical genius. He is not the most intelligent person in the room. He leads with heart and body rather than mind.
What distinguishes him is his grandfather's moral instruction, which he takes completely seriously. He wants to be present for people when they die. He is haunted by every person he could not save. This gives him a moral weight that makes him more interesting than the typical "strongest protagonist."
Megumi Fushiguro
Megumi uses the Ten Shadows Technique — summoning shikigami, spirit creatures, from his shadow. He is tactically brilliant and emotionally guarded. His background involves a connection to a powerful jujutsu family and a mystery about his father that the series is slowly unraveling.
I think Megumi is the most interesting character in JJK. His technique is the most flexible and creative in the main cast, and the moments when he is pushed to his limits are always the most exciting.
Nobara Kugisaki
Nobara is aggressively confident and refreshingly self-assured. Her technique — the Straw Doll — allows her to hammer nails into a voodoo-style doll and damage an enemy's real body at a distance. It is a technique that rewards creative application, and Nobara consistently finds creative applications.
She is one of the best female protagonists in recent shonen anime.
Satoru Gojo
Gojo is the strongest sorcerer alive and he knows it. His Infinity ability automatically deflects all attacks — nothing can touch him unless he allows it. His Domain Expansion, Unlimited Void, floods the target's mind with infinite information, rendering them unable to act.
He is also funny, charismatic, and genuinely dedicated to training the next generation of sorcerers. His relationship with his students is one of the warmest elements of the series.
Ryomen Sukuna
The King of Curses is currently housed in Yuji's body. He occasionally surfaces to fight on his own terms and the results are catastrophic. Sukuna's true motivations and goals are one of the central mysteries of the series, and what the show has revealed so far suggests he is far more complex than a straightforward antagonist.
Season Guide
Season 1 (2020) — Episodes 1-24. Introduces the world, the power system, the characters, and the first major antagonist, Mahito. Episode 19 — the Yuji vs. Mahito fight — is one of the most technically impressive fight sequences in recent anime history. The animation team at MAPPA pushed themselves to produce something exceptional and it shows.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Film, 2021) — A prequel following Yuta Okkotsu, a first-year with an exceptionally powerful cursed spirit. Can be watched before or after Season 1. I recommend watching it after Season 1 because you will better appreciate the references to the wider jujutsu world.
Season 2 (2023) — Episodes 25-47. The Gojo's Past arc (Episodes 25-30) is a masterclass in world-building, showing how Gojo and Geto went from best friends to enemies. The Shibuya Incident arc (Episodes 31-47) is one of the most relentless, emotionally devastating story arcs I have watched. Multiple major characters die. The situation deteriorates beyond what seems survivable. There is a moment around Episode 40 that I had to pause because I could not believe the show had done what it just did.
Why JJK Works
Most battle shonen are about power escalation. Train more, get stronger, beat villain. JJK is about tactics — about who understands the rules of their world better and can exploit them more effectively. Combined with MAPPA's extraordinary animation and a willingness to let the story have real consequences, it produces something genuinely exciting.
Start from Episode 1 and watch through Season 2. Prepare for the Shibuya Incident arc to completely rearrange your expectations of what this genre can do.
