Summary
With the second season ofJujutsu Kaisenover, fans can safely say by now that Mappa did a stellar job with the adaptation (though the cost to their employees wasn’t worth it). Once they found their footing Mappa did such a high-quality job of adapting the breakneck pace, style, and flair ofJujutsu Kaisen.
However, between the anime adaptation and the manga in general, there are a few noticeable changes, revisions, or additions that Mappa seems to have made. So, let’s go over some of the most prominent examples.
Updated December 31st, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter:Now that Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen is over and viewers and reeling from everything that happened in it, let’s take a look back. Mappa,despite their mistreatment of employees, was very faithful in their adaptation. The quality of animation and overall retelling of manga events in this Season was 10/10. That said, not everything can (or should) be a perfect 1:1 recreation, and there are some noticeable differences between both formats. Let’s take a very close look at these differences and really talk about them at length.
Disclaimer:Massive spoilers for the first few episodes of Season 2 ahead. The Season is over now, so watch it first and come back to this.
Combining The Long-Winded Explanation With Some Great Visuals As Well
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The last section of Season 2 of theJujutsu Kaisenanime adaptationeither perfectly adapted or improved upon the source material manga in almost every way. One of the best examples (of which there are many) isSatoru Gojo’s battle against the Disaster Cursesin B-5 of the Subway Station. Gojo’s thought process is expanded upon, his method of killing Hanami was even more brutal than the manga, and they just added more context wherever applicable.
This added context is probably the most beneficial when Gojo uses his Domain for 0.2 seconds in order to freeze everyone in place and take out all the transfigured humans before they recover from the influx of information. In the manga, there’s this whole explanation of what Gojo did here, why he thought it would work, and how he went about the task (as well as 1-2 panels showing it). In the anime however, it’s a long well-animated scene showing just how absurd it would be to actually kill this many transfigured humans in such a short span of time.
20Sukuna Vs Mahoraga
Or To Be More Accurate, Sukuna Vs Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga
The Sukuna Vs Mahoraga battleduring the Shibuya Arcis honestly one of the better ones in the entire series. A lot of the Cursed Techniques inJujutsu Kaisenare relatively confusing, and there is a good chunk of battles where it’s hard to really tell how both combatants' Techniques are interacting with each other. But, while Sukuna is taking out Mahoraga (to save Megumi), things are pretty simple. Sukuna is trying all sorts of things on Mahoraga to figure out its ‘gimmick’ and he does figure it out pretty quickly.
From there, Sukuna makes relatively short work of the ‘strongest Shikigami’. In the anime however, this scene is a lot less about Sukuna testing things on Mahoraga and figuring things out, and more about Sukuna happening to figuring it out while fighting and brute forcing his way through. Granted, the animation during this scene is incredible and great eye candy all around. But, if an anime watcher was asked an hour after watching this episode what exactly happened during this fight, it’s likely they’d have a hard time describing it.
And It’s All Anime-Original
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Depending on the viewer’s sense of humor, this anime-only scene with Aoi Todo is either their absolute favorite scene in the whole Season or it’s one of their most hated. This anime-only scene is absolutely Mappa’s way of ‘sending off’ Aoi Todo in one last big hurrah, as after this point his Technique Oogie Boogie is no longer usable. From the point where Todo’s locket (which holds a picture of both his favorite Idol Takada and his ‘brother’ Itadori) opens after hitting the ground, the next 40 seconds or so are anime-only, and it’s hilarious.
Sure, it’s a bit ‘out of left field’ in terms of tone compared to the manga, but considering how popular Aoi Todo is, nobody is really complaining.
17Hunter Itadori Calmly Cornering His Prey, Mahito
A Tragic Hero Wolf About The Consume The Most Twisted Rabbit Of All Time
And now,let’s talk about Mahito. For a Cursed Spirit, this thing got almost as much screen time as the main character did this season (possibly even more). However, he’s gone nowafter Kenjaku absorbed and immediately used his Technique.
But, in Mahito’s last moments, his true ‘humanity’ came out, as the Cursed Spirit dropped all semblance of pride while trying to desperately escape from Itadori. In the manga, there are a couple of small panels and one wide panel that show this ‘hunter vs the hunted’ symbolism. But, in the anime adaptation, so much more was added to this scene to make Mahito’s pathetic struggle even more pathetic, to show just how cold Itadori has become, and to also show how long Itadori had to actually finish off Mahito before Kenjaku would have even shown up.
16Extra Moments Added To The Last Scene With Riko Amanai
Mappa Really Added To The Scene With Motion & Audio
Riko Amanai’s story in the ‘prologue’ forJJK’ssecond season is so incredibly heart-wrenching. The unfairness of being born as the next Star Plasma Vessel is an unfortunate situation that’s only trumped by what eventually happens to Riko as a result. And for manga readers, that moment where it all seems like it’s going to be alright, only for a single explosive sound to tear everything down, has only become an even harder moment to watch thanks to the anime team intentionally ‘sewing the rug’ for viewers to walk on only to immediately pull it out from under them.
The shot composition, the ending song being used as a feint that the episode is ending happily, and the sound design all make it that much tougher to watch this tragic death underneath Jujutsu High. Truly, the adaptation team took a look at this moment in the manga and thought “How can we make this hurt even more?” and then managed to do just that.
15Utahime & Mei Mei’s Mansion Adventure
More Time Spent On Characters Like Utahime Or Mei Mei Is Always Welcome
It’s always nice to see more of Utahime and Mei Mei in general, and this is especially true for Utahime as she’s barely ever given any substantial screen time. In fact, her actual Cursed Technique isn’t even elaborated on until much later in the story. So, when theJJKanime proceeded to actually deep dive into the mansion incident that caused a bit of a scandal thanks to Satoru Gojo, it was a nice bit of fluff leading up to the Star Plasma Vessel mini-arc.
Not only does this give fans a bit more time to get used to the idea of Mei Mei being a big part of season 2 (and she is), but it’s also a great way to show that Utahime isn’t helpless and actually knows what she’s doing.
14Mechamaru Vs Mahito
Feels Like A Straight Up Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Battle
Yet another scene that brings on the waterworks, Mechamaru’sbig fight against Mahitois so absurdly well-animated in the adaptation. The original manga did a great job with the paneling and overall choreography of this fight, but the anime only improved on it.
Whether it’s the extra attention given toMechamaru’s Pigeon Viola attack, the added scene of the last-ditch cockpit Mechamaru’s holding off Mahito, or the framing ofMiwa’s tragic confessionthat she wants to visit the real Mechamaru, it all adds so much.
