Highlights
- Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 37 showcases excellent animation, with a focus on creativity rather than just flashy fights and explosions.
- Choso's blood manipulation technique is powerful, allowing him to use various techniques and hardening parts of his body to overpower Yuji.
- The episode is visually stunning, with intricate details and a contrast between the blue and red auras of Choso and Yuji, symbolizing the conflict between cursed spirits and humanity. The episode also features a memorable glitch effect and a twist ending with fake memories.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 37, "Red Scale", now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Jujutsu Kaisen episode 37 brought an epic clash between Choso and Yuji. Not even the ghosting was capable of diminishing the magnificent animation on display. That's mainly because this is a show that focuses more on creativity rather than simply enhancing its fights with spectacular explosions and a show of bright colors. The composition of this episode is truly great, besides the intro.
The second season of Jujutsu Kaisen has left a good number of amazing intro scenes that fit perfectly into the episode. But in Red Scale, arguably one of the overall best episodes in the entire series thus far, the intro is the worst part. The scene where Inumaki clears the way for Yuji happened before the encounter with Choso in the manga. The main difference is that episode 36 simply didn't fit in order to finish the episode on a high note. It does feel out of place and as a break of continuity, acting as the intro in an episode entirely dedicated to the fight between them. Intro aside, plenty of takeaways point towards a superb and detailed episode.
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Choso's Blood Manipulation
It wasn't the first time to witness his attacks, but it was the first time he was going all-out in a one-on-one battle. The blood manipulation technique, one of the Kamo clan's inherited techniques, can't get any better. A cursed technique feared for his powerful attacks but with a massive downgrade, blood loss. However, as one of the death paintings that doesn't apply to Choso, as he won't die from blood loss.
Like Mechamaru states, he might have no weaknesses, but his last advice to Yuji gave him a slim chance. A bathroom battle with water pouring all over the place was effective enough to dissolve Convergence, and as consequence, eliminating his long and mid-range attacks. It still wasn't enough as he proved to be a master hand-to-hand combatant thanks to his techniques Red Scale and Blood Meteorite. These techniques improve his physical abilities and harden certain parts of his body, which combined with his immense cursed energy overpower Yuji.
A small detail of Choso's blood manipulation is that his facial blood marks change with every different technique. This was represented in a very colorful way during the episode. For example, when he uses Flowing Red Scale: Stack, the three blood marks going across his nose and eyes all turn into arrowhead designs.
Another Visual Masterpiece
The amount of details that can be found in this episode is obscene. It's easy to wonder how hellish it was for the animators to complete an episode like this. But when animators and direction can pull it off, all the trouble might just be worth it to witness the results. To start let's talk about the use of color throughout the episode.
Focusing on the characters, Choso is surrounded by a blue or cold aura, however, his cursed technique manipulates blood and his cursed energy is red. In an intended contrast, Yuji is surrounded by a red or warm aura whereas his cursed energy is blue. This irony may very well represent the two sides, cursed spirits versus humanity, while also giving a meaning to their family dispute that will end with a twist and even a change of sides.
The scenario starts with vivid colors while it takes place at the entry to the station, but turns darker as they enter the bathroom and the fight keeps approaching its final stages. However, this darkness suddenly breaks into a vivid scene once Choso fails to finish him off. The scene itself, where Choso can be seen through the hole in the wall and then cuts into a shot of his eye zooming out to showcase his facial expression, it's similar to a previous scene from early in the season.
That would be the fight between Toji and Satoru, the semicircular hole in Toji's body showing Satoru in the distance. In both cases, the character-focused has undergone a sudden change in personality and behavior, while the other, who has caused this change, has been defeated. While everything in this episode was constructed as a metaphor related to brotherly love and their true bond, for instance, the arrow signs placement, this scene, in particular, uses a common resource to state the state of mind of the character.
Memories That Didn't Exist
The visual prowess of the episode didn't stop at their many visual cues. The last minute or so of the episode took it to a whole another level. The image forcefully changes the aspect ratio, showed with an animated glitch that turns it from 16:9 to 4:3, also adapting the animation to a classic animation filter or VHS style. All to show those memories that appeared in Choso's mind, memories that didn't really exist.
At the end and from the beginning it was all about them being brothers. Even the music used during the fight is none other than a rendition of the same soundtrack used during the fight between Yuji and Choso's younger brothers.
Right before the ending and after showing this fake memory of the whole family together, Choso stumbles around trying to assimilate what had just happened. The last few seconds show the glass getting shattered and the elevator door closing into a black frame, a brilliant ending for a brilliant episode. How did he actually become aware of them being related is unclear, and the story doesn't have much time to stop and wonder. As shown in the scene after the ending, Mimiko and Nanako are already next to Yuji, ready to complete their own plot of revenge.