Not very long ago, Jiujutsu Kaisen was one of the most hyped up and loved stories out there. Everyone was watching this and everyone loved it. But at some point, as the manga continued on, that love kind of shifted to the point where you nowadays see a ton of hate and frustration towards the story, particularly after the ending. Now, it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. The Attack on Titan finale was largely hated on by manga readers, but when it came out in the anime, even though there were some changes, the ending was basically the same.

And yet, the perception was largely positive. Even a lot of people that had hated the ending in the manga had a complete 180 after seeing the anime because it was so well animated and the music was so good. Is this serious? I think it's fair to say that a lot of these people don't really like manga that much compared to anime and just switch to it because they really wanted to see what happened in the story. Similarly, the hate and criticism towards Jiujutsu Kaisen really started to build a little after season 2 ended, which is the natural point where anime only would switch to the manga.

Now, I'm not saying that this is the only reason why the perception of Jiujutsu Kaizen got so much worse or even that it's necessarily a factor at all. But I think a good reason could be a lot of people just weren't as accustomed to manga. And I think that was probably even more so the case with Jiujutsu Kaizen. Because while the Attack on Titan manga is basically the exact same experience as the anime, the Jiujutsu Kaisen anime and manga are two completely different experiences and are more different than most anime and manga counterparts, at least season 2.

Season 1 is pretty straightforward and follows the manga closely. But season 2 blows it out of the water and is what every anime adaptation should strive to be in my opinion. And its success is in large part due to this guy right here. That's what I'm talking about. That's why he's going to beat me. >> This is Shota Gosho, the director of the second season. And man, this dude knows how to cook. >> Oh >> Chosen won the anime awards in 2024 for his work on the season.

He also worked on one of the best looking episodes of the first season and directed this beautiful episode from the Chainsaw Man anime. He absolutely deserved this win as season 2 added so much extra content and scenes and told the story in a way that really elevated the source material. I know that for me one of my biggest criticisms about Jiujutsu Kaisen, particularly in season 1, is that the pacing was a bit too fast.

I really felt like a lot of moments, especially emotional ones, didn't get a lot of room to breathe before moving on to the next scene. But in this season, so many scenes are intentionally made longer than they were in the manga. Like the first 12 minutes of the first episode is almost entirely anime original stuff where they took a few pages from the manga and turned them into a much more lengthy and substantial sequence.

The Maharaga fight is like twice as long as the manga. The Joo fight was extended quite a bit. One of my favorite moments of the whole show when Toto has like a whole ass music video midfight is just straight up not in the manga at all. All of these scenes weren't in the manga and it just adds so much stuff that fleshes out the story. Now, while I think this helps with the pacing issue I talked about earlier, I'm not saying I just want more content to be added for the sake of it.

Typically, I'm not really forward doing changes to the source material in the first place. I'm here to see the original story, not the original story, plus a bunch of other stuff that some random guy added to it. So, if there are changes, they really have to justify their existence and add to the story in a meaningful way, which is exactly what I think this season does. Especially what this scene right here. If >> you can't write, you can't direct because all you're doing is telling a story on film, but the story is still the same.

And if you don't know what the story is and you don't know how to write the story, you're not going to know how to direct it. >> Shota Gosho knows this story. He understands it. And I know he does because he put this scene in that looked like this in the manga. I think that if I were reading this in the manga for the first time, I would think it was a bit rushed and that the moment didn't get enough of a chance to really take shape before it just ends.

The anime scene makes me perfectly understand and connect with Nanomi's struggle with responsibility versus personal desire and is a scene that someone who doesn't understand the story of Jiujutsu Kaisen would not be able to include. And that's exactly why I think Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and onwards will be perceived a lot more positively than the manga because it has been announced that Shozeno will be coming back to direct season 3 as well with most likely a much healthier production schedule than season 2.

I think that if there's a death scene that you felt was rushed in the manga or a fight that was a bit too short, there's a good chance that it will be enhanced in the anime. But of course, there are big limits to just how much the anime can enhance. It can improve and add to moments, but it cannot fundamentally change any story elements, meaning the core story will be the exact same. So, the question that remains is how big and deeprooted are the manga's issues and can the anime fix it without making big alterations?

And well, I have no idea as I haven't read the manga, which is why I have my Jiujutsu Kaisen expert here, Fumbas. I'm here. Yes, gang. Internet celebrity Fumbus Wombus has arrived. Don't worry, I'll take one autograph at a time. Oh, you guys don't know who I am. Well, my good buddy Kumo Bear decided to have me on as a guest because I'm a pretty big fan of Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen and have read the manga to completion. So, I'm here to kindly answer some of the questions Kumo has posed, but I'm not going to spoil all too much.

I'll try to talk more in general terms cuz I know that this is more of like an anime anime channel, not an anime and manga channel. But if I do get into spoilery territory, I'll let you know ahead of time, probably in the form of a time stamp. It's hard to deny that JJK has a lot of problems that I don't think are just attributable to the way people consumed it. There are things that can be changed or tweaked around in order to create a better final product.

Personally, I think the general structure and ideas presented in Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen are fine. I don't think the fundamental story needs to be changed. I think this is more about adding things rather than subtracting things like Kumo just said about adding more scenes. Kumo said that the pacing of Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen season 1 was a little too fast for his liking. So, sorry to have to tell you this way, but this is an issue that becomes worse as the series progresses.

So, it's very warranted to create probably even more anime only scenes than season 2 and one that are even more substantial to the story. They're very likely going to add or extend to fight scenes. Like, that's kind of a no-brainer. I don't think we have to worry about that. But, if they really want to make this the best adaptation possible, a great suggestion would be to make scenes that either add upon or wrap up key plot points.

Not going to say what, but there were minor to major plot points and elements in JJK that either weren't expanded upon too much, didn't go into fruition in a satisfying manner, or were just kind of forgotten about. Why not add things to make them more satisfying? Why not give us some more context on certain characters? JJK is infamous for lacking in that department. So why not throw in some meaningful character interactions, create more grounded setup and buildup for huge events.

Maybe even throw in a backstory or two for a particular somebody. Maybe even have anime only fights for characters that didn't really get to do all that much in the manga and overall just smoothen the pacing so that the sequence of events feel more natural, especially within the ending. Now, I'll still try to talk in general terms, but if you want to know absolutely nothing about the ending, well, first of all, congrats.

You're one of the few people who haven't been spoiled yet on this manga. And secondly, this is your sign to click off the video, or maybe you can possibly skip to this part in the end if you really want to. Now, people have their opinions on the ending. Mostly negative, but some will defend it. Personally, I think the ending is kind of bad. Not outright crap, not horrible, not the biggest piece of dog ever, but you know, this is kind of bad.

Like, however, like I said before, I don't think like the premise or the concept of the ending is bad. The ending execution-wise is just super rushed and was trying to wrap up way too many things in a desperately short amount of time. So, the way I can see the ending going animewise is pretty similar to that of Yuyu Hakasho. Spoilers for that. even though the show is like 30 years old, but essentially the Yuyu Hakusho manga ending is a mess.

Now, I will admit I have not read the manga fully. I was just going through some of the final chapters just to kind of see the difference. And when I was reading those final chapters, I was like, Jesus Christ, you thought JJ Cave was rushed. Yuyu Hakasho is on a whole new level of rushed. The entire final battle gets offscreen and I guess Toashi just decides to make these little epilog chapters to kind of fill in the blanks, I guess.

Either way, this kind of reeks. Thankfully, I did not experience this through the manga. I watched it through the anime, which does a much better job of handling the manga by not only adding more to given events, but also reorganizing the finale by adding those extra chapters Toashi made and incorporating them more naturally into the final product. Sure, the final arc itself still feels somewhat antilimactic, but the overall ending finishes on such a good note that it's all the better for it and still remains one of my favorite endings in anime.

Now, JJK does not have to do things as drastically as Yuyu Hakusho did, but definitely can change the ending in a way that makes things more satisfying while still staying true to the actual context of the story. Just make the ending feel bigger, like a true climactic finish. The original ending felt so antilimactic, so underwhelming, and it would really be nice to let those final moments of the fight just simmer a bit more and leave more of a lasting impression.

A little while ago, Gay made an epilogue chapter with different side story, so you can incorporate some of that into the anime ending as well. You can also remove certain things as I mean, I might get some flack for this, but maybe there are just some aspects of JJK we can kind of, you know, do without, you know, you know, uh, if we're not going to do anything with the military plot line, maybe we can just kind of exclude that out of the anime, unless you, you know, you find some way to incorporate it in a really cool way.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. You know, we can just throw chapter 269 in the garbage. Uh, so no, I don't think JJK as a story needs an overall rewrite, but more proofreading, if you will. I do think that for these coming seasons, the team will need to do even more than they did with season 1 to two to make this the best adaptation possible. But of course, we will have to see how this goes. And I really hope none of this causes even more harsh conditions for the animators behind the project.

I'm still hoping for the best. And even if they can't change all too much, uh, it doesn't even matter cuz you're probably going to be there for the premiere anyway. And if you want to know what really grinds my gears about JJK's ending in Full Leg, you want to know why I really think it's that bad, watch this video I made. Um, it's pretty good.