Everything You Need To Remember To Watch Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

This post contains spoilers for "Jujutsu Kaisen" season 1 and Gege Akutami's manga series.

The second installment of the ultra-popular anime series, "Jujutsu Kaisen" is just around the corner, leaving both dedicated fans and casual viewers in a state of anticipation for what's to come. Gege Akutami's "Jujutsu Kaisen" manga series is beloved for good reasons — despite exhibiting tropes similar to action-adventure and dark fantasy narratives, "Jujutsu Kaisen" deepens its lore with grounded, fleshed-out characters who are extremely easy to root for. Even antagonists like Suguru Geto and Ryomen Sukuna are filled in with believable shades of grey that serve to humanize them without ever justifying their cruel deeds. Moreover, Season 1 of Sunghoo Park's anime adaptation laid down a ton of foundational lore for the franchise, introducing new antagonists late in the game and ending the story with multiple cliffhangers.

Our protagonist, Yuji Itadori, has to shoulder a terrible burden: the King of Curses, Sukuna, is bound to his body, and he has to serve as a vessel for this dangerous Cursed Spirit. This puts a target on Yuji's back, as some Jujutsu sorcerers want him dead, while Cursed Spirits want to harness his powers as Sukuna's vessel to remake the world per their own designs. These machinations culminate in the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill arc, where a plan to trap Yuji's mentor, Gojo Satoru, quickly takes shape as some Kyoto students try and kill Yuji. As season 2 will be adapting a chunk of the Shibuya Incident — where the story takes a deeply traumatic turn — a refresher for the key events in season 1 will help us better understand what's to come.

The fates of certain characters are also left unresolved, raising pertinent questions about a world where Cursed Spirits aim to annihilate humanity altogether. Here's what might happen.

Considering how Yuji found himself embroiled in the Sukuna situation, it is hard not to view his fate as that of someone selflessly heroic who is just another lamb for slaughter. The reason why Yuji eats Sukura's finger in the first place is to help Megumi out of a tight spot — he has no real reason to help someone he barely knows, but he does it anyway, keeping his grandfather's parting words about helping others close to his heart. Yuji's decision binds Sukuna to his body, which is a double-edged sword: while this opportunity allows the sorcerers to use Yuji as bait for consuming all 20 of Sukuna's fingers and destroying him once and for all, this also leaves Yuji vulnerable and allows Sukuna to drastically amass power.

While Yuji is capable of remaining in control of his own body most of the time, there is a real possibility of Sukuna taking over, especially during the heat of battle. Even someone as compassionate as Gojo is aware that Yuji must die one day, as the sorcerers plan to kill him once he completes his goal. Yuji has willingly taken on this role and is dedicated to becoming a powerful sorcerer who can battle Cursed Spirits head-on. However, when a beloved protagonist's death is inevitable, it adds more layers of sadness to the tender experiences and friendships he encounters along the way, making the tragedy of his arc more pronounced.

An example of this is Junpei's fate, which emotionally incapacitates Yuji, who is guilt-ridden after his death. This incident is a reminder that he cannot save everyone along the way and that his personal friendships will always open him up to vulnerable situations where he will be manipulated to give into nefarious plans.

The Kyoto Goodwill Event arc helped solidify three things: the event allowed new players to be introduced, let the sorcerers showcase their individual skill sets, and helped Gojo realize that there is a mole among the ranks of Jujutsu High. The Cursed Spirits move in quickly as the event progresses, creating the barrier between those participating and the mentors of the show, setting the perfect opportunity for the introduction of the special grade curse, Hanami. S-grade curses like Hanami are capable of complex thought and reasoning, making them more formidable than standard curses (who are like sludge entities). Ghetto and Mahito are revealed to be involved in this master plan, with new Curses like Haruta Shigemo dashing toward battle as a wild card.

There's also the two Cursed Spirit brothers, Kechizu and Eso, who are eventually defeated, but their third sibling Choso, is now rearing for revenge and has aligned himself with the Cursed Spirits. Choso's formidable powers include the Death Painting Womb Physiology, which allows him to manipulate blood particles — granting him near-unlimited health and the ability to deplete his opponent's stamina. With Choso on their side and the successful theft of Sukuna's six fingers from the school vault during the Kyoto event, the Cursed Spirit gang is now more dangerous than ever, leaving the sorcerers wary and vulnerable in the fights to come.

Yuji is integral to this plan, as they intend to side with Sukuna and use his abilities to enforce their goal of world domination. As Sukuna is unpredictable and will end up having his own pact with Yuji, the pendulum can swing in any direction at the moment while the fate of the world is at stake.

Gojo is one of the most overpowered sorcerers in the "Jujutsu Kaisen" universe, as his abilities allow him to defeat some of the most dangerous Cursed Spirits. Moreover, Gojo is the only one standing in between Yuji and the Cursed Spirits, acting as protector and mentor for all the young sorcerers at the moment. It is impossible to talk about Gojo's fate without talking about the upcoming Shibuya Arc, which will be devastating, to say the least, leading to major casualties in the near future. The Curses have hatched a plan to lure Gojo into a trap known as the Prison Realm — unfortunately, they will succeed in doing so in Shibuya on October 31st.

An intense Mahito versus Mechamaru fight is to be expected, laying the foundations for the massive screen cast around Shibuya that blocks communications during the incident. The Shibuya station massacre is the one to look out for, where several civilians are slaughtered while the Curses make their way to Gojo. After a string of horrifying events, Gojo is successfully sealed and all 23 Curse-limiting wards in Tokyo are lifted, transforming the city into a playground for the Cursed entities (who are obviously up to no good).

There are various stages to the intense battles that take place over this arc, and it is unlikely that season 2 will be able to adapt this event in its entirety. After all, the Shibuya arc in the manga is 58 (!) chapters long. Moreover, the series will also juggle past storylines to underline the Gojo-Geto dynamic and introduce Toji Fushiguro, the Sorcerer Killer. This is the first time Toji will be animated on the small screen and will be an integral part of Gojo's Past Arc, further complicating ties with his estranged son, Megumi.

The devastating Shubuya arc has several masterminds behind its ensuing tragedy, and Mahito takes the number one spot for triggering a majority of the havoc. However, Sukuna plays a terrible role in the event: He awakens after Yuji is incapacitated and is accosted by Mimiko and Nanako, who naively believe that the King of Curses can be controlled or ordered around. As if things were not already dire, Sukuna's awakening adds literal fuel to the fire, causing an explosion and claiming lives indiscriminately amid the chaos.

Sukuna's ability to ruthlessly manipulate those around him makes him the biggest threat in the anime, and as Yuji shares a body with him (and can be taken over anytime), the chances of sudden mayhem are at an all-time high. While Gege Akutami's manga is still a work in progress, recent chapters added only serve to highlight what a menace Sukuna is, and an animated Gojo vs. Sukuna fight is on the cards sometime soon. There's also the inevitable vessel transfer that happens in the manga, and it will be interesting to see how the anime tackles this pivotal moment in the seasons to come.

In essence, it's best to be emotionally prepared for the traumatic events in season 2, where lives will be lost and characters will edge towards tragedy. In "Jujutsu Kaisen," the world is both literally and metaphorically cursed, and peace is but a dream that can never be actualized.

Season 2 of "Jujutsu Kaisen" will premiere on July 6, 2023, on Crunchyroll.