Highlights
- The latest episode of Jujutsu Kaisen delivered an exciting thriller that left no room for complaints, with stellar animation, directing, and voice acting.
- Toji Fushiguro proves to be an unstoppable force of nature, easily defeating the powerful cursed spirit Dagon.
- Jogo finally wins a fight, defeating Nanami, Maki, and Naobito.
- Bad decisions by certain characters lead to dire consequences.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 39, "Fluctuations, Part 2", now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Episode 39 of Jujutsu Kaisen left almost no room for complaints. The slight redundancy of the first two minutes filled with a flashback was followed by an exciting thriller that barely gave time to process everything that was going on. The animation was on point from start to finish, and so was the directing accompanied by some stellar voice acting.
The anime adaptation really keeps improving upon the original material. The key to this is the dedication to deliver amazing battles but also from a direction standpoint. Introducing scenes that weren't in the manga or changing the order of some panels to provoke certain emotions or produce a different narrative. The work being done by Jujutsu Kaisen should be exemplary for any other anime adaptations.
Unstoppable Force Of Nature
Dagon was the cursed spirit representing the fear and mystery of the sea. Powerful enough to fully develop his domain expansion in an instant. Probably he thought he was indeed an unstoppable force of nature just like the entity he was connected to. The problem was he hadn't met Toji Fushiguro just yet.
The séance technique was based on the target using up the cursed energy of the body, but Toji didn't have any cursed energy. He would exist until he completely broke the body following the one order he was given. Instinctively attracted by the strongest around him, he got inside Dagon's domain with one simple thing in mind, beat him up. He did just that.
The anime managed to add a few scenes to this battle in hopes of making it more of an epic clash showcasing Toji's abilities. It also served as an opportunity to add the already viral scene of him biting the fish and sticking his tongue out. For a character that is supposed to be hated, he sure has developed a huge fandom. Right after the domain disappeared he already jumped on the next strongest fighter around, his son, Megumi, leaving the other behind for a well-timed ambush.
Easy Work
At some point, the moment for Jogo to win a fight had to come. It wasn't a long fight, all his opponents were wounded, and he caught them by surprise. Still counts as a win though. Truth is, making easy work of that level of sorcerers is impressive no matter what. It seems that he has learned something from past encounters with Satoru Gojo and stopped taking humans for granted.
It all happened so quickly that fans almost can't realize that Nanami, Maki, and Naobito were all defeated, and at the very least, severely wounded. And that is not the biggest concern at that moment. As Jogo notices right away, someone is playing around with one of Sukuna's fingers. He got there in the first place looking for Itadori, in order to fulfill his plan of giving him all the fingers they collected which would allow Sukuna to form a pact with Yuji to take over his body. Little did he know.
Bad Decisions
Surely using séance to bring back Toji was a terrible decision, one that immediately cost them their life and left him to break havoc around the place. But the Shibuya Incident became an incident because a lot of people kept making the wrong decisions over and over again.
The Hasaba twins Mimiko and Nanako were guided by their feelings towards Geto. Every decision they made after meeting him was based on that. At this point in time, their sole desire was to free Geto's body from Kenjaku. For that purpose, they got their hands on a Sukuna finger and planned to give it to him in exchange for the petition to kill Kenjaku.
The audacity to ask him that, and to even tease him about knowing the location of another finger, proved to be their last poor choice. Nanako's innate technique allowing her to manipulate a photographed subject barely saved them from Jogo and was completely useless against Sukuna and they knew it. They perfectly expressed the tension and terror that comes from being in the presence of the disgraced one.
Sukuna's Cursed Technique, Explained
His exact cursed technique is yet unknown, even in the manga, but he has shown a lot of its applications. Dismantle is the default slashing attack he used when he told them that they were holding their heads too high. A simple invisible slash attack that can cut pretty much anything and can adjust its power.
What he used to kill Nanako was Cleave. This attack is also a slashing attack but one that adjusts itself depending on the target's toughness and cursed energy level. It cuts them down to pieces to the point of leaving nothing but a stain behind. Cleave can be adjusted to adapt to surfaces or objects taking different shapes or forms before slashing everything it covers.
As shown in the opening, he can also use a fire arrow created by manipulating flames. It adds a long-range attack to his repertoire. This essentially means he could eventually manipulate flames for other purposes, although it hasn't been shown yet.
Me, Myself and I
Anime-only fans are confronting now a rough realization. Sukuna is the true antagonist of the series. If he didn't give enough indications before, now and in the upcoming episodes, he will dissipate any doubt. He only thinks about one person in the world, himself. His wishes only point in one direction and in one person's interests. He is not another version of Kurama that will eventually come around.
Sukuna is the embodiment of evil. A villain that lacks any kind of empathy, is lost in his egocentric demeanor. To showcase that Junichi Suwabe has been doing an amazing job. His performance as the strongest sorcerer of all time truly brings the fear and sense of superiority the character emanates from the world of Jujutsu Kaisen.
To Jogo's surprise, he already had his own plans (and pact). His first urge was to wipe out every human in Shibuya, except for one, Megumi Fushiguro. But before, he could play around with Jogo to warm up, the cursed spirit, deluded, took the bait. Toji vs. Megumi and Sukuna vs. Jogo highlight the expectations for episode 40.
