An Autist Reviews: Hidden Inventory -III- (JJK Season 2 - Episode 3)

*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)*

Whatever will our heroes do with Riko’s caretaker kidnapped? Who cares, we’re going to the beach baby! Riko is enjoying her last days before erasure, Gojo is stressing himself out to keep her alive, and things seem to have calmed down. But as emotions run wild in Riko and Gojo reaches the end of his rope, what will the sorcerer killer do? And can anyone really stop Satoru Gojo?

YES! THIS IS IT BABY! EVERYTHING I WANTED! The lack of a narrator is a massive issue for this arc in particular since we don’t get to know much about Toji’s hidden inventory, Gojo’s Six Eyes, etc. but once again it feels natural and as if we’re standing in a developed world that we don’t fully comprehend yet, and I have faith that later in the season these things will be more explained. This episode pulls no punches and gives us some of the most joyful and sorrowful experiences in this season yet and easily outdoes the manga in every way shape and form! The writing of Gojo, Geto, Riko, and her caretaker is amazing and they all feel so fleshed out and it makes everything they go through feel so much better and so much worse for it. The end of the last episode is resolved in no time and most of this episode is spent dealing with Toji’s endgame or having fun with Riko and the gang, but I will say the early pacing is a bit off. That said, it’s 1,000x better than the manga’s pacing and actually never feels rushed so much as it feels a bit weird that this or that doesn’t happen or that these characters appear but don’t really do anything. The sad thing is that I can’t really experience the twists this episode provides the way others will, but given how extreme my feelings were, I can only imagine what a first-time experience of this episode will be like without the manga to work off of. The ending is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen, and to say I’m hyped moving forward now, without a doubt, is an understatement.

The acting in this episode is, funnily enough, the worst it’s been this season. So it’s gone from Ishtar to Gilgamesh in quality is what I mean. In other words it’s still pretty much perfect with only a few minor faults, so don’t worry, it’s still 10’s across the board no matter how you look at it. To say everyone gave the performance of their lives when it counted is a bigger understatement than anything else possibly could be. Literally all of our 5 most important characters gave their all to show the intensity and emotional nature of their lines when it mattered most and it shows so, so much. I have nothing else to say but that I am overjoyed.

Listen, I’m not gonna lie and say that the animation here is perfect. It’s not. I have my issues with it’s almost painfully off-model nature, especially during action scenes, but to say that it isn’t fucking fantastic and that almost all my doubts about everything to come have been erased would be a lie straight out of hell. The Toji fight is fucking intense, Gojo’s powers are so fucking beautiful and terrifying, the scenery fucking glistens, the eyes carry so much weight, the symbolism is so fucking powerful, and I can’t stop thinking of things to gush about. The music in the beginning was a little annoying, but aside from that, the music was perfect, the split between the two halves of the episode was not quite perfect but I adored it, the tomb of the stars was beautiful, the forest and aquariums were amazing, the entirety of Jujutsu Tech was fantastic and watching it get wrecked wrecked me somewhere deep inside. I was slack jawed for most of the episode and trying to hold back a smile either of joy or terror the rest. The way this episode used off-model animation is easily the best yet and seeing the unnatural movements of Toji was amazing and made even better by just how distorted he would become as he moved. I have no real complaints here, nothing I can really add. I could go further about this or that but honestly it would be a spoiler and I can’t stand the idea of doing that, I can’t stand it. I can’t go any further than tacking on here at the end that the use of Gojo’s eyes throughout this episode was amazing and that it seems like they’re just getting better looking as the episodes go on. I look forward to things going even more insane next episode, at least partially if nothing else.

All in all this episode is nearly perfect in every aspect with barely anything holding it down at all. It has a misstep here or there but they are minor at worst and none of them take away from the impact, beauty, sorrow, and horror of this episode. The action is godly, the animation is beautiful, the music breaks my heart, the writing too, and the joy this episode brings out rings so perfectly in my heart that the pain it brought out hurts my very soul. Every actor put their heart and soul into this episode, whoever wrote it too, and the people animating it. They made this episode special and it feels like a tribute to Riko, to our beloved star plasma vessel. This is going to be hard to top but next episode may well be able to and there are certainly incredible things to come as well, so we’ll have to see how things go, but I can safely say that I am so, so fucking ready for this, for all of this. See you next episode, Toji. I just can’t wait to see this.

Total - 10

Plot - 10

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Story - 10

Pacing - 9

Dialogue - 10

Narration - NR

Exposition - 9

Adaptation - 10

Enjoyment - 10

Twist/s - 10

Resolution/s - 9

Ending/s - 10

Acting - 10

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MC/s - 10

SC/s - 10

BG/s - 10

Narrator/s - NR

Animation/Effects - 10

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Music - 9

Voice Effects - NR

2D Animation - 10

3D Animation - 9

Set Pieces - 10

Designs - 10

Action - 10

Cinematography - 9

Sounds - 10

Replay - NR

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Re-Enjoyment - NR

New Details - NR

-=- If you want to see more of my reviews, some of my craziness, my thoughts on stories I've experienced but not reviewed, and the important libtard things I share around because I'm a filthy liberal snowflake, check out my Instagram page @maxtheautist -=-