Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 & Episode 10 Review: Did MAPPA do justice to the Greatest moment in the Shibuya Arc?

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 featured what will be the most remembered moment in the anime for years to come in episodes 9 and 10. The topography of Jujutsu Kaisen has been forever altered, and even if Gojo does manage to get unsealed, nothing will ever be the same.

The sealing of Satoru Gojo is the single most important tipping point in the entire series, and Mappa decided to split it into two episodes: episodes 9 and 10. As such, it seemed prudent to consider the two together as a unit and discuss how Mappa’s adaptation of the most revered moment in the Shibuya Incident arc held up to the viewers’ expectations.

Outside of the thematic importance of this moment in the Shibuya Incident arc, many fans consider the execution of the event to be the true test of MAPPA’s understanding of the series as a whole. While the Gojo being sealed is not the only crucial paradigm shift in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, it is the first and most impactful. The question then arises: Did MAPPA do justice to this moment?

Did MAPPA understand the gravity of Gojo’s sealing? Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episodes 9 and 10: A review

Gojo during his last moments in Shibuya (Image via MAPPA)

This review is primarily focused on the sealing of Gojo and not the peripheral happenings of the episodes. The two episodes combined adapted parts of chapters 84, 85, and 88 and the whole of 89- 93, respectively. In brief, the series of events goes as such:

The curses push Gojo to the brink of his sanity by using Transfigured Humans, leading him to kill approximately 1000 of them to save the civilians. Taking advantage of that mental state, Pseudo-Geto, who reveals himself as a body-hopping Curse User (later called Kenjaku) currently possessing Geto’s corpse, traps Gojo within the Prison Realm.

Following the closure of the Prison Realm and the sealing of Satoru Gojo, every sorcerer stationed at Shibuya moves inwards in an attempt to rescue the man as the balance of the Jujutsu world shifts forever. The known casualty of the event is Hanami, who was quite brutally killed by Gojo prior to his sealing.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episodes 9 and 10: Creative liberties

Gojo vs Jogo and Hanami (Image via MAPPA)

As a successor of episode 8, which sparked the “how far Mappa will alter the timeline” discussion, Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 9 is the natural victim of some doctoring. It cuts down on the perspective switches between battles as much as possible and stays entirely focused on Gojo vs. the Curses.

However, episode 9, as well as Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10, do play around with the placement of flashbacks. They are spaced out for maximum intrigue and impact, with the directors taking creative liberties with the setting and timing.

The Curses playing a game (Image via MAPPA)

The Curses playing Mahjong during Jogo’s flashback in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10 is particularly noteworthy. There is a rhythmic cadence to the play and each fact slowly being revealed by Pseudo-Geto. His win coinciding with Gojo being caught by the Prison Realm gate is especially well-done.

Another improvisation in the anime is the animation of static panels. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 begins with everyone giving their opinions on Gojo, with the last word being spoken by Yuji. Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10 shows Gojo returning that faith, with his last word being heard when Yuji is on the screen.

The Shibuya Arc rescue panel (Image via MAPPA)

Both of these scenes were drawn in the manga in evenly paneled pages that put no additional importance on any one character. However, Mappa managed to put more emphasis on Yuji’s importance to the series and to Gojo by placing him at the center of both montages.

The placement of the “the strongest” segment at the beginning of episode 9 was a sublime beginning to the event of Gojo being sealed, and the infamous “rescue Satoru Gojo” panel closed the event in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10. MAPPA clearly treated the two episodes as a single unit and planned the execution of the arc around it.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episodes 9 and 10: The voice acting

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Both episodes 9 and 10 have, as has become a staple for the series, incredible execution in terms of production. However, the voice acting completely steals the show, especially by Takahiro Sakurai as Pseudo-Geto and Yuichi Nakamura as Satoru Gojo.

Throughout Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 9, Gojo is arrogant, feral, and adult in a way viewers have not seen before. This is a Gojo removed from his role as a teacher or a mentor, with no one to protect and no one to impress. He is focused, annoyed, efficient, and battle-hungry. The death of Hanami, especially, shows Gojo’s unhinged bloodlust spectacularly.

The strongest living jujutsu sorcerer is someone who not only enjoys battle but cannot thrive without it. This lends to Gojo the morally gray, utilitarian, non-heroic layers that have set him apart from other white-haired, overpowered, suave teacher/mentor characters in modern shonen.

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Yuichi Nakamura captures this thoroughly, his tone suiting his emotions and the situations brilliantly. His performance in these two episodes brings out the side of Gojo that the jujutsu higher-ups both revere and fear while also pointing out that Gojo is, after all, just 28 years old.

There is a helplessness to him when Geto appears in front of him, one that is equally conveyed by the animation and Nakamura’s voice. However, brilliant as he had been, Nakamura was upstaged by the performance of his co-actor, Takahiro Sakurai.

So far in the series, viewers have seen Geto in several avatars. Suguru Geto’s introduction to the anime watchers was vastly different than it was to the manga readers. While the manga readers were introduced to Geto in Jujutsu Kaisen 0 first, anime-onlies first met him as the calm and collected supporting villain in season 1.

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Therefore, the unhinged Suguru Geto teetering on the edge of insanity in the movie came as a shock to them, which was furthered by Geto’s righteous and kind appearance in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2. However, his gradual mental decline as the season progressed explained his appearance in the movie, but it didn’t rationalize his current version at all.

In Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10, every version of Suguru Geto was well-explained, and the disconnect in his mannerisms and the difference in his characteristics were clarified. That entails that Sakurai has essentially been playing two characters all this time, and Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 9 reveals how brilliantly he has been playing Kenjaku who was playing Geto.

The subtle difference in his tone when he says, “Yo, Satoru,” as Geto and as Kenjaku, was enough to alert even the anime-only viewers that this man wasn’t Geto. His performance as Kenjaku in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10 is brilliant on its own, but coupled with his act as Geto elevates his acting to the best in this season, and perhaps in the entire series.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episodes 9 and 10: The beauty of restraint

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Being as important as Gojo being sealed is, and with as many vacant spots Akutami intentionally left in the narration, the temptation to extend each and every one of them must have been persistent. However, a great execution knows when to stop; there is beauty in moderation.

This does not apply only to the sealing itself but to the entire length of both episodes. There were opportunities for extension in Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10 during Yuji’s brief fight against Transfigured Humans, but the episode kept close to its source material. Gojo’s time inside the Prison Relam could have been elaborated upon as well, but restraint was shown there as well.

As mentioned above, the two flashback scenes in episodes 9 and 10 were embellished quite a bit, but not to the degree where they became stretched or slow. The pacing of these episodes is a crucial thing, especially at this point in the arc, and MAPPA has been careful not to over or underplay the speed of adaptation of these chapters.

Final thoughts

Geto Calling out to Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 (Image via MAPPA)

This review has not discussed the importance of these two episodes on the story itself because that is an entirely different matter and has little to do with MAPPA’s role in executing the event as well as they have. The production of it is the crux of the matter here.

To present such a famous moment to the anime-watchers in a way that does justice to the praise they have heard from the manga-readers, as well as to re-present it to the manga-readers who will inevitably judge it through the lens of how it was drawn in ink and paper, had been the true challenge for MAPPA during these two episodes.

Undoubtedly, the sealing of Gojo Satoru is the most important moment in the entirety of the Shibuya arc and perhaps the whole of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 as well. And MAPPA does justice while translating that gravity from paper to the screen. Collectively, these two episodes can be dubbed the best episodes of the series so far, although episode 9 may edge out episode 10 if one were to be minute.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 10 marks the final appearance of Satoru Gojo in the anime for years to come. From here on out, the show belongs to Gojo’s students and Kenjaku’s minions. While fans may mourn Gojo’s disappearance, they can look forward to new characters being introduced soon and to losing more beloved characters even sooner.