Jujutsu Kaisen – Episode 7 Review: Assault

I think this show is actually starting to get its teeth into me now. I had this feeling from the beginning that this was going to be one of those series that pushes all of my shonen hype buttons just right. It was always just a matter of if its characters and its story would be able to match up the its impressive animation.

With this 7th episode, I’d certainly say that it’s getting there nicely.

This episode kicks off by taking us right into the fight that started at the end of episode six; the volcano headed curse monster, whose name is Jougo apparently, ambushing Gojou Senesi. Just to be clear, at no point was I ever worried that Gojou would struggle in this fight. That’s because I saw this fight for what is really was: a measuring bar.

We’ve seen a lot of Itagoi and Sukuna fighting so far. But now we’re getting to see the exact gap in power between them and our white haired teacher; the supposed most powerful sorcerer in the world. Spoilers: It’s vast.

The show is even nice enough to break it down to exact finger level for us. We’ve seen Sukuna being a total, terrifyingly powerful monster in the previous episode. And Gojou states that this volcano headed guy is even stronger than the demon Itadori is being host to with this 3/20 finger consumption power. So seeing this Curse get toyed with to such an extent is something else.

It’s difficult to not just really like Gotou, he’s that perfect blend of goofy and carefree while also being a total badass. And at this point it occurred to me that I’m not sure we’ve actually seen a close fight in this series so far. As basically every battle we’ve seen so far has been embarrassingly one sided. Which admittedly is cool as hell, so I’m not complaining. Just an observation.

Gotou is toying with Jougo so much that he vanishes to go and pick up Itadori, who is miles away, just so that he can watch the end of the fight as a bit of learning experience. Walking in on Itadori  who has seemingly gotten the hang of his emotional curse control very quickly. He’s watching an anime version Lord of the Rings by the way. And I’m sorry but I had to go back and watch that scene a couple more times.

It’s literally Lord of the Rings, but anime. It had me killing myself laughing.

Back in the fight, a bewildered Itadori, along with the audience gets another important lesson about how the power mechanics in this world work. As here we learn about Domains. Anyone can use cursed energy to create a “innate domain”, which is a location imbued with a cursed techniques in your surroundings. What we saw at the juvenile detention centre was an incomplete domain with no techniques put into it.

It’s almost akin to a location buff. Like Babidi teleporting fighters to their home planets during the Majin Buu arc of Dragon Ball, or using a land field spell in Yu-Gi-Oh! So, of course, Jouru’s domain is like the interior of a volcanic cave, giving him a powerful advantage because he can control all the rocks, molten and otherwise, to attack his opponent.

Something that predictably leaves Gojou unmoved, as he casually explains how to counter a Domain. Either by powering through the attacks that will inevitably hit you while you’re in the domain, or by spreading out your own domain to counteract it, with the more powerful one taking stronger control.

At which point the volcanic cave becomes a blank void of space. It’s especially difficult to make yourself seem anything but ridiculously overpowered when all of your moves and abilities involve the word “infinity”. But that’s exactly what Gotou’s domain is; he overwhelms his opponent with indecision, allowing them to perceive everything, at which point making a choice becoming impossible. It’s pretty badass to be honest.

He leaves the curse monster alive though, wanting some information it of him before he kills him. However, another of the creatures uses power that blooms flowers all around them, distracting them for long enough that he can snatch Jouro’s severed (and perfectly alive) head.

But here we have our measuring bar, something Gotou says as much to Itagori in his preparations for the interschool tournament, while simultaneously informing him that he’ll be participating in an inter-school tournament. The airheaded goof. Despite this measuring bar through, Gotou is so powerful at this point that his powers are almost incomprehensible to me to even understand.

The episode ends with some more reveals of what I assume are going to be our villains. The unusual human from the previous episode, whose name is revealed to be Getou enters a building and walks out onto a tropical paradise. Which I have to assume is a domain, probably belonging to a scarred up, long haired man dressed all in black, reading a book on the beach. His name is Mahito.

This is an effective scene though, as there is this eerie calm and pleasantness to these two guys as they talk amongst these and the curses. It’s basic stuff for bigging up your characters, but I’m nothing if not basic when a show gets said basics correct. Now I’m starting to get a feel for how this world works and what the power systems are, I am really getting invested in what’s going on.

I do a lot of talking about valuing thing being different or interesting, breaking away from the norm, but if something goes about doing something pretty by the book, but does it especially well, than I’m 100% more on board for that than I am anything pushing the envelope into something different. It’s why I loved Demon Slayer as much as I did and why I loved the first couple of seasons of My Hero Academia as much as I did.

Jujutsu Kaisen seems to be on the right track to becoming a series in that same tier of my estimation. And I’m already looking forward to the next episode and seeing Itadori reuniting with his classmates, as this is the one aspect of the show I still think it needs to lock down, as their relationship needs one more little push to be totally solidified in my eyes. It’s good stuff guys.