Haikyuu!! To the Top 2nd Season – 04
The supporting cast 2nd remove in Haikyuu is pretty good on the whole, but with a few exceptions I don’t care about them as much as the Karasuno core group. That applies to Nekoma, who on some level appear to be the final boss opponent but have always struck me as kind of boring. At the very least Kozume Kenma appears to be Shouyou’s personal final boss, but hasn’t really done anything yet to make me care about him one way or the other.
As such, a two-episode (at minimum, could be more) detour for Nekoma’s match with Sarukawa – plus flashbacks – is a bit of a snoozer for me. Maybe the light will click on at some point and I’ll get why these guys are supposed to be so interesting, but until then I’ll kind of be watching the clock. The opponent, Sarukawa, is coached by one of Nekomata’s disciples, and is thus likewise a defensive specialist. But we know next to nothing about them so they’re a Washington Generals until proven otherwise.
I’ve rarely if ever (well, rarely) covered Haikyuu is a digest post, and certainly don’t plan to to do much of it long-term. But without a whole lot to say about the episode that’ll have to do for the moment. We’ll see if Episode #5 demands anything different.
Jujutsu Kaisen – 04
As it becomes pretty clear Jujutsu Kaisen is going to ride its anime adaptation to major hit status, I find myself in roughly the same position I was with Kimetsu no Yaiba. That is to say wondering just why the series should click in a big way while many similar or better shounen action titles don’t. It’s not that I dislike either show, but rather than I don’t find anything exceptional in them. The Kimetsu phenomenon is certainly the harder to explain, given that over the course of two years it’s the biggest hit in anime/manga history, and I don’t think Jujutsu is going to reach that level.
To reiterate, I didn’t dislike Kimetsu (just Zenitsu and Inosuke) and I don’t dislike Jujutsu. In fact it strikes me as very competent, both in terms of original composition and the execution of the adaptation. In fact it’s one of MAPPA’s better-looking shows (suggesting a decent budget and production schedule by their standards). And the narrative and characters are very approachable and new-viewer friendly. The premise is pretty straightforward and logical – even interesting – and it’s easy to grasp what kind of people the characters are and how they’re going to act. Brilliance is nice, but coherence is not a quality to be underestimated in a series and this one has it.
This series and Demon Slayer seem to have something else in common, in that both trade on the idea of trainees being thrust into supernatural situations for which they’re grossly unprepared. It became a credulity issue for me with KnY (where the sloppy writing was a consistent niggle), but at least it’s acknowledged here – by Kiyotaka-san, who seems to be acting as the school’s handler for the current mission – as a result of a shortage of jujutsu sorcerers. That mission is the infiltration of a detention center afflicted by what’s probably a special grade curse – something grommets like these should never take on head-on. Which of course means they will.
Yuuji is obviously the type that’s never going to say no to putting himself in an insanely dangerous situation, but pair that with the fact that he’s hosting a curse so powerful that it can toy even with special-grades and he’s basically a perpetual confrontation. That seems like it’s going to be his role in the story, to boldly go where fools fear to tread, which I suppose makes sense since he’s operating on a deferred death sentence anyway. What does the organization have to lose by sending him into harm’s way, and getting whatever use they can out of he and Sukuna while they can?
Yann
October 25, 2020 at 11:24 amI can’t remember ever not enjoying Haikyuu but this was completely uninteresting for me… Why should we care? I didn’t get it. I can’t believe they’re going for 2 episodes with this. I really hope that’s it after that!
Jujutsu is noticeably darker than I thought it would be, so at least it surprised me in that regard. But I’m in the same boat… I don’t get it. I think Kimetsu’s opening was waaaaay stronger and the artwork 1.72 bazillion times better.
Rean
October 25, 2020 at 12:38 pmIf I had to criticize this episode for something, it’s probably the transition from Fushiguro and Itadori facing the curse to Fushiguro abruptly falling through the well trying to follow and rescue Nobara, I had a bewildered look on my face even though I already read the source material, the rest was very solid.
Enzo, I also think your comparison of JJK and KnY is not accurate, the only real similarities between them is the early shonen worldbuilding phase, they have completely distinct strengths and weaknesses.
For me, my biggest source of enjoyment of Jujutsu Kaisen is in how well it deconstructs the usual tropes, and this arc provides the 1st example of this, ad in many ways, this arc heavily deconstructs the 1st real Naruto arc (Land of Waves):
1) The sensei character doesn’t even accompany the students on the mission, as it’s considered too small-time for him.
2) The main trio are immediately outclassed and out-thought by the threat(s) and their immediate 1st thought is to escape with their lives.
3) The only named character-in-distress is shown to be a scumbag that may not deserve to be saved in the 1st place.
4) The protag’s 1st attempt to produce his power under heavy emotional duress fails immediately (something that typically works at least in a partial manner in most shonen).
5) The protag’s gambit of letting his inner monster companion take charge immediately backfires, and not in the normal way, as said monster decides to actively screw with him instead, and only decides to eliminate the threat after it didn’t comply with his wishes to do so.
You will see a lot more subtle deconstruction of various other shonens in a similar manner, plus the usual shonen fighting spectacle.
LAsuka
October 26, 2020 at 8:17 pmI know what you mean. I actually dozed off partway through the episode, and couldn’t be bothered to rewind back to watch what I missed, which is a bad sign for a show whose selling point is the action. Even with the flashback (or what I caught of it), I still don’t care about Nekoma’s match, let alone the extremely boring characters.
bennydelon
October 26, 2020 at 12:39 amWhile I agree Nekoma is not as interesting as Karasuno right now, at least the episode didn’t seem to assume we cared about them beforehand. Instead, they told a self-contained history about Kenma and Yamamoto that I found interesting on its own.
In that sense I think it was much more effective than the OVA, which tried to get us invested in some matches when we barely knew the players.
Guardian Enzo
October 26, 2020 at 7:44 amYeah, I really didn’t find it interesting but that’s down to subjectivity I suppose. But making it a multi-episode thing seems excessive.
Antony Shepherd
October 26, 2020 at 6:34 am10/10 for the Van Halen reference!
On topic I’m so far liking Jujutsu Kaisen but wondering how long before I go off it.
Guardian Enzo
October 26, 2020 at 7:43 amDLR era only.
Kim
October 26, 2020 at 8:12 amI am not sure about how big Jujutsu Kaisen will get but I’m with you on Kimetsu no Yaiba. I actually really enjoyed KNY but for it to be the biggest hit in like 10 years I can’t begin to explain it. It’s good but not that good. It doesn’t even do anything new or unique.
Guardian Enzo
October 26, 2020 at 11:17 amIt’s the biggest hit in like, ever – over a 2-year stretch anyway. By pretty much any measure you could use.
ibtachi
October 26, 2020 at 2:57 pmAgreed. Maybe airing in the height of sakuga-obsessed echo chambers on social-media (twitter mainly) has something to do with it.
Kind of telling that when you ask someone why they love KnY theyll show you a 30 sec clip of *that* one fight LOL.
Kim
October 26, 2020 at 7:40 pmThing is it’s not specifically the anime that broke records but the manga
The anime did really well too but it was still a normal hit . It was really the manga that began to outsell everything
Guardian Enzo
October 26, 2020 at 8:16 pmThe movie is already the first anime ever to be the global #1 and owns the Japanese record for the biggest 3-day box office of all-time despite premiering during a pandemic.
Earthlingzing
October 31, 2020 at 3:30 pmI finished Ahiru no Sora awhile back, the last batch of episodes there feel actually way more interesting than whatever’s going on in Haikyuu right now.
As for Jujutsu, the appeal for me is really just the Shin Megami Tensei-esque art style and the fairly engaging way they deliver their exposition. But to me this was the weakest episode so far(still pretty good though).
Guardian Enzo
October 31, 2020 at 3:34 pmStarting with like what episode? I think I dropped it around 30.
Earthlingzing
October 31, 2020 at 4:22 pmI thought the last game was the best one in the show(episode 41+ I think?), but I did already find it engaging at the 30+ episode stretch. Character-wise there just feels like there’s more depth in it than Haikyuu.