Highlights
- The appearance of the Kyoto students and Yuki Tsukumo in the Shibuya Incident was exciting but felt like a misuse of the characters.
- Mei Mei's selfish and manipulative actions contrast with Kento Nanami's selflessness, showcasing the flaws of the jujutsu society.
- Choso's fight against his father was impressively animated, highlighting MAPPA's favoritism towards certain characters.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen Episode 46, "Metamorphosis, Part 2", now streaming on Prime Video.
While Metamorphosis, Part 2 is not that much about change, this frenetic episode finally included a lot of characters that had been missing from the Shibuya Incident battlefield. Jujutsu Kaisen is now just one episode away from the end of Season 2, with a strong case for being one of the best anime of the year, if not the best.
If this episode proved anything, it was that both the Kyoto students and Yuki Tsukumo could have played a massive role from the beginning, but they had to come to the rescue at the last minute, which, in its way, was pretty exciting. Still, episode 46 was a solid and well-rounded episode containing a little bit of everything without any major downs or disappointing moments.
The Impact of The Shibuya Incident on Jujutsu Kaisen's Main Cast
Shibuya has brought a lot along with it and most characters in the show have definitely felt it.
Leave And Never Look Back
The intro of this episode had to feature one of the most controversial scenes in the entire Jujutsu Kaisen series. There were some doubts about whether it would even be adapted without major changes or directly removed. In the end, it stayed the same, even featuring a certain pause to clearly showcase them inside that bed. If there is something to complain about in this episode, it is certainly Ui Ui and Mei Mei bed scene.
However, this also serves to greatly close the analogy or comparison between Mei Mei and Kento Nanami. It's not by chance that she finds herself precisely in Malaysia, the place Nanami wished to go but never could. Mei is a character that exemplifies everything that is wrong with jujutsu society. Selfish and manipulative, she opts for survival and quickly sells all her assets in Japan, knowing what's about to happen to keep her wealth.
On the other hand, a selfless nature pushed Nanami to protect others above all else. He would dream of one day going to Malaysia, but he couldn't just do that while others were in danger. All that brought him death. That's how the jujutsu world operates, and that's why there is no point in talking about good or bad, one side or the other. In the end, everyone is moved by their own interest. An idealistic interest like Nanami's or a selfish survival interest like Mei's, would carry the fate this wicked world has to offer.
A Conversation Needs To Be Had
One of the many highlights from this episode was the long-awaited appearance of the rest of the Kyoto students and Utahime. Their arrival at the Shibuya Incident was quite embarrassing as they were completely overpowered by Pseudo-Geto and Uraume. Miwa lost her Katana and her means of fighting for the rest of her life in an effortless move by Pseudo-Geto. Mai tried to shoot him once and failed. Momo's attack was easily deflected, the same thing with Noritoshi. Utahime didn't even do anything.
Perhaps if they had been there from the beginning, they could have done something, maybe even had a power-up during battle, but at this point, they were nothing but filler. Of course, the same could be said about Panda, who also didn't do a thing during the entire Shibuya Incident. The overall feeling is that Gege started to build on a great story and chemistry for all these characters but then went in a different direction, leaving all of them behind as mere background secondary characters. While this issue has nothing to do with the anime itself and stems from the manga, it's still a problem.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Hakari's Domain Expansion, Explained
Of the many Jujutsu Kaisen Domain Expansions seen, Kinji Hakari’s gambling based technique is one of the most complicated one yet.
Choso, A Fan And Studio Favorite
It's almost a tautology at this point. If Choso fights, it's going to be spectacular. Probably nothing could top the bathroom fight with Yuji, but surely it has been a minute since fans got a perfectly animated and executed fight. Choso's revenge on his father, Noritoshi Kamo (not the Kyoto one), was truly impressive. The animation of his piercing blood attacks was as stunning as always, but even when they were just trading punches it was better than most.
Fans even got another fragment of that brotherly picnic again, Choso asking Yuji to call him "onii-chan" and revealing what was everyone's guess at this point; whatever was inside Geto, also was inside Yuji's mother, someone he never actually met. It does seem like MAPPA has some favorite characters who will often get better treatment when it comes to their fights and iconic scenes, and Choso is definitely one of them.
Old Sorcerers Versus New Sorcerers
Another interesting angle of this episode is the ridiculous difference between Heian-period sorcerers and present-day sorcerers. Starting with Noritoshi Kamo, controlling Geto's power even better than Geto and discovering a new use for its supreme art, Uzumaki, extracting the cursed spirit's technique. This brought the end of Mahito once and for all, but still, his intentions with this power have been left hanging for the season finale.
But if he was impressive, Uraume was even more. Their ice-based cursed technique, also beautifully animated, made easy work of Yuji and company while also showcasing reverse cursed technique and an immense amount of cursed energy. As Kusakabe stated, they were simply on a completely different level. They never had a chance, at least until the last superstar broke onto the scene.
Season Finale Preview
Once again, the episode ended on a cliffhanger and a lot of questions. First and foremost, where was the only other special-grade sorcerer during all this time? There is no doubt that someone with her abilities would instantly realize the veils were placed all over Shibuya, yet she didn't show up until the very last minute to fit the plot. Something similar could be said about Yuta being somewhere in Africa all this time just so he didn't interfere with the story that needed to unfold.
All things considered, it's probably for the best that they weren't there from the beginning, virtually putting an end to all of Psedo-Geto's plans. Still, it can't be helped that it feels like a massive plot hole. Nonetheless, not that Yuki is finally here, and things seem to be more even going into the last episode of Season 2 in which Pseudo-Geto will finally reveal his lifelong plan, effectively reshaping the world of Jujutsu Kaisen.
