*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*
*This is a bare-bones/lite review made after only a single viewing. (Hence there not being any replay rating)*
A young Utahime and Mei investigate a haunted building and later a young Gojo and Geto, not quite how you'd expect them to be, are tasked with escorting a young girl to be sacrificed for the sake of the Jujutsu world. Conflicting ideologies and murderous curse users threaten the two at every turn, but they're the strongest, why should they fear the weak?
This was a wonderful return to JJK, although Hidden Inventory/Premature Death is my least favorite manga arc, it's clearly being done well and the changes made to the source material make it that much better! Expanding Utahime and Mei's roles at the beginning of this arc was a great idea and the extra character building and relationship establishing added was also amazing. Aside from that most everything was manga accurate with the exception of some anime only scenes and moved around pieces. The story moves a bit fast after the beginning, but that's to be expected, this arc is by no means long and the start of it is far from the best part. Aside from the pacing issues later on, the episode has some exposition dump issues, but they're not that bad all things considered. The biggest Hindrance to this episode was, oddly enough, the animation itself, which held down the beginning quite a lot and therefore dampened the whole experience for me, but this is about the writing, and that was phenomenal. Geto and Gojo's conflicting morals are really wonderfully shown as well as the tension between the two despite their friendship, plus Ieri is a gremlin, as she should be, Mei is perfect, and Utahime is as useless as you'd expect her to be. Most everything writing wise is great, with only some minor bumps here and there, and the atmosphere is great and well established in every scene.
There's nothing to say about the Japanese voice acting aside from "it's perfect." I mean, Toji's voice is a little iffy for me near the end but I expect to grow to like it more and more. Aside from that, basically everyone is perfect beyond compare, as expected of a high-quality anime.
Now for the meat. The animation for the first several minutes isn't very good. I'm sorry, but it isn't. The 3D feels way too 3D and the 2D often feels floaty and also way too fluid and out of place. There also seem to be some clearly clashing animation and art styles slammed together that just make the beginning feel disjointed, ruining a creepy and intriguing atmosphere. That said, there are plenty of good parts early on as well, but they just don't make up for the bad parts sadly. Thankfully, later on, there is significantly better animation and far less 3D, with a great basketball scene, Geto getting some great action, and some fun off model animation too, even though it also absolutely has its faults. The animation is pretty stellar after the beginning, even with some weirdness and hiccups here and there, and from that point on the pacing is more the issue, but really, this is Hidden Inventory, I didn't expect the pacing to be perfect whatsoever. Aside from that, the music and sounds were absolutely amazing, flawless even, and aside from a few scenes, the cinematography was amazing, with perfect camera placements for each scene, giving creepy vibes and funny vibes exactly when needed, as well as enhancing the more serious and dramatic moments. The character designs are amazing, same with the set design, as the set pieces are just beautiful, even if we move past some far too fast, but that said, there are minor issues with them, such as Gojo's eyes looking bland and sets being kinda iffy mostly due to the CG used. Ignoring the first several minutes however, this episode has really good animation, even if it's quite a bit away from perfect, and I love the bright atmosphere, especially as a manga reader who knows what's coming.
All in all, a good start to the new season and a fun episode with everything we love about JJK except for a flawless massive fight scene, but we got inklings and next episode will get much more. Overall the animation is the worst part of this episode, with the 3D holding the beginning down, followed by iffy pacing in the latter half of the episode holding down the now fantastic animation. The writing is gold, the acting is as good as it possibly could be, and all in all, I'm excited to see my least favorite arc be given such a glow up and hope next episode fixes even more issues I have with it, such as the pacing. I'm excited for this season, I can't wait for next week's episode, and I can't wait to start throwing out 10/10 left and right!
Total - 8 (knocked down one for the too quick end and poor early animation)
Plot - 9
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Story - 9
Pacing - 8
Dialogue - 9
Narration - 10
Exposition - 7
Adaptation - 9
Enjoyment - 9
Twist/s - NR
Resolution/s - NR
Ending/s - 8
Acting - 10
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MC/s - 10
SC/s - 10
BG/s - 10
Narrator/s - 10
Animation/Effects - 9
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Music - 10
Voice Effects - NR
2D Animation - 8
3D Animation - 6
Set Pieces - 9
Designs - 9
Action - 9
Cinematography - 9
Sounds - 10
Replay - NR
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Re-Enjoyment - NR
New Details - NR.
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