Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦) is a 2020 television anime series based on Gege Akutami’s manga series of the same name. The series was produced by studio MAPPA, and the staff credits include director Sunghoo Park, screenplay writer Hiroshi Seko, character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu and music composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui, and Alisa Okehazama. The season was first aired in Japan on October 2020.
Background:
“A boy fights… for “the right death.”
Hardship, regret, shame: the negative feelings that humans feel become Curses that lurk in our everyday lives. The Curses run rampant throughout the world, capable of leading people to terrible misfortune and even death. What’s more, the Curses can only be exorcised by another Curse.
After escaping from Itadori and Nanami, Mojito reunites with Geto and the others to try and move their plan forward. Meanwhile, Jujutsu High is about to host its Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event. Fushiguro, Kugisaki and the second years Maki, Toge, and Panda all meet up to greet Todo and the other Kyoto students on arrival. Sparks immediately start to fly when Gojo rushes in late to the meetup and presents his surprise…”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, May 2023.
Jujutsu Kaisen is getting popular day by day. Ever since the first season had aired, the series is just as big as Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia thanks to its anime adaptation by studio MAPPA. I wasn’t sure what to think of the series until I gave the anime a shot and was surprised by how much I had enjoyed both its characters and the storyline, plus the animation was very well done.
Since then, a theatrical film based on the manga’s original concept (Jujutsu Kaisen 0) was released and a second season will soon air in 2023 by the same team. Though that said, I believe the manga is getting closer to reaching its conclusion (not immediately but will likely end within the next few years) which has been a recent approach for a lot of shonen titles like Black Clover and My Hero Academia. That said, I’m sure there’s still room for more content like Naruto has done with its novels and second series.
Crunchyroll acquired the streaming rights for the series and also picked up home video at the same time. Jujutsu Kaisen was dubbed during simulcast but home video is in a weird position. The first season was sub-licensed to Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland whilst Viz Media handled US & Canada. Despite this, the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film was instead distributed directly by Crunchyroll across both regions so it’s expected they’ll do the same for the second season onwards.
Anime Limited’s release for Part 2 was originally planned to be out not long after the first half, but due to approval issues (and probably to allow the US side to catch up), we are now finally getting our hands on the rest of the season.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Jujutsu Kaisen received a pretty solid treatment from Anime Limited, and for Part 2 we also have a shop exclusive outer box to house both collector’s edition parts together.
The package is presented as a rigid box with an digipack to house the discs as well as the show’s original soundtrack CD. Also included with the set is a 36-page booklet, 68-page Juju Sanpo booklet and 12 art cards. The booklet features a couple of interviews from the voice actors, a brief episode synopsis and some illustration artwork.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray set is limited to 1000 units for SRP £69.99 (the higher SRP is due to the show’s original soundtrack being included with the set), and I pre-ordered my copy through AllTheAnime during their early bird deal at £44.99 but using their membership discount for £40.50. A standard Blu-ray was also released on the same day as the set.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork and digipack packaging
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- Original Soundtrack CD
- 36-page Booklet
- 68-page Juju Sanpo Booklet
- 12 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 1st May 2023
The collector’s edition Part 2 release for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 contains the remaining 12 episodes (episodes 13-24) across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode and authoring produced by VDMS. Viz Media did their own encode and as per usual it’s not very good, so you do have the added benefit of this release not only authored better but the subtitles are using the same setup as Crunchyroll’s streams which is good in terms of the on-screen translations). The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Studiopolis English dub commissioned by Crunchyroll.
The white subtitles (which also use the same font and translation as the Crunchyroll streams) are locked during playback, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Clean Opening “Vivid Vice“
- Clean Ending “Give It Back”
Unboxing Photos:
And here’s some photos of both parts together.
Final Notes:
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 Part 2 is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition Blu-ray can be acquired through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store, and MVM’s Anime-on-Line. A cheaper UK standard edition Blu-ray is available to order on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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