In Season 3, the production team of the anime Jujutsu Kaisen takes more risks than before. As the animators have more time than in Season 2, the fans’ assessment is significantly better. One episode is even a very special exception.
What makes this episode so special? Fans of Jujutsu Kaisen are quite astonished, as Episode 8 of Season 3, which aired just recently, had only one key animator. Kouki Fujimoto was given the necessary time and creative freedom to animate the episode almost single-handedly.
Fujimoto was responsible for the entire motion sequence and the acting of the characters in the core scenes. This is seen as a huge vote of confidence, as normally several key animators work on an episode.
For this episode, he reportedly took a total of 11 months (read more on Reddit), which seems realistic given the effort for a 20-minute episode.
He wasn’t completely alone: there were also so-called second key animators who cleaned up his drawings and finalized details like hair and clothing. But Fujimoto at least created the dynamics and rough drafts for the most important key frames.
Only one key animator is a big highlight
How does it usually work? Typically, around 10-20 key animators work on an anime episode. In the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen, the number often stood at about 15 animators, which is a good framework for the elaborate battles.
In Season 2, it looked different. Here, the production team was under enormous time pressure, and in one episode, often 30 to over 50 key animators worked on an episode. On Sakuga Booru, you can take a closer look at which animators were responsible for which scene, if interested.
Which episode is it about? The episode revolves around the emotional backstory of Hiromi Higuruma, who worked as a defense attorney in a courtroom before the current events.
Although in Japan 99.9% of criminal proceedings end with a conviction, he repeatedly takes on hopeless cases. Yet even with his clients, where the evidence is extremely thin, a conviction is rendered.
This conviction completely shatters Higuruma’s faith in the justice system and humanity in the courtroom. One can see the absolute despair in the defender and how his inherent curse technique awakens.
What do fans say about it? Fans on Reddit celebrate the animator for his incredible work. Many believe that Fujimoto is incredibly talented and that it is simply inhuman that he accomplished such a feat in such a short time.
Moreover, Fujimoto has also worked on other projects on the side. But the hard work seems to have paid off, as the episode is rated 9.1 out of 10 on IMDb. Thus, it lands in the upper midfield of the episodes aired so far.
The so far worst-rated episode of Jujutsu Kaisen is, according to ratings, the third episode of Season 3. Here, only the rules of the slaughter games are explained. For fans, there is simply too little action: Episode 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen receives “only” a moderate rating, and anime fans believe: The new generation is to blame
