Unpopular Opinion: I Don't Like JJK's Animation
Tejas GK| (3d ago)
Okay.
I know I'm probably going to get crucified for this one.
I don't like Jujutsu Kaisen's animation.
More specifically, I don't like the visual direction JJK started leaning heavily into after Season 1.
And every time I say this, someone immediately goes:
"BRO WHAT??? JJK HAS SOME OF THE BEST ANIMATION IN ANIME."
And then they send me a 14-second clip of Sukuna throwing Mahoraga through six buildings.
Yes.
I've seen it.
It moves beautifully.
That's not really my problem.
My problem is that I don't want an anime to only look incredible while everyone is moving at Mach 7.
I want the entire fucking thing to look good.
The faces.
The crowds.
The backgrounds.
The lighting.
The horror.
The still moments.
The emotional moments.
The transitions.
The impact frames.
The characters simply standing around talking.
Everything.
And sometimes I look at JJK Season 2 and genuinely think:
Why does this look unfinished?
Then I open Twitter and everyone is calling the exact same scene generational animation.
Maybe I'm fucking blind.
But I don't see it.
Before someone kills me: yes, JJK has incredible animation
Let's establish this first.
I'm not saying:
MAPPA CAN'T ANIMATE.
That's obviously ridiculous.
Yuji vs. Choso?
Fucking amazing.
Sukuna vs. Jogo?
Insane movement.
Sukuna vs. Mahoraga?
Absolutely ridiculous.
Toji?
There are sequences where he moves exactly like I imagined Toji should move.
There are individual cuts throughout Shibuya where I completely understand why animators lose their minds over them.
There are moments where the choreography is genuinely some of the best I've seen.
My criticism isn't:
JJK has bad animators.
My criticism is:
I don't like how JJK looks overall.
Those are completely different things.
Because apparently somewhere along the way we've started treating:
fluid movement = beautiful animation
as if those are exactly the same thing.
They're not.
At least not to me.
"But it's free-flowing!"
This is always the argument.
The characters are simplified because it allows more movement.
The linework is looser because the animator gets more freedom.
The models aren't rigid.
The characters deform.
The perspective changes.
The animator can prioritize motion.
Cool.
I understand the argument.
Seriously.
I get it.
But here's my extremely sophisticated response:
I WANT BOTH.
😭
I want the character to move beautifully...
AND look beautiful.
I want ridiculous choreography...
AND detailed faces.
I want expressive drawings...
AND gorgeous compositing.
I want creative camera movement...
AND backgrounds that look finished.
Why are people presenting these things like I have to choose one?
Look at fucking Ufotable
This is why Demon Slayer has completely destroyed my standards.
Say whatever you want about Demon Slayer's writing.
That's another discussion.
Visually?
Jesus fucking Christ.
Ufotable understands something I desperately wish JJK leaned into more:
spectacle isn't only movement.
Lighting is spectacle.
Colour is spectacle.
Composition is spectacle.
Atmosphere is spectacle.
Environmental detail is spectacle.
Camera work is spectacle.
A character slowly turning around can be spectacle if you present it correctly.
And Demon Slayer does this constantly.
Characters can literally just be walking through a forest and I'm thinking:
Why does this forest have a higher production value than my entire life?
😭
Then a fight begins and somehow it gets BETTER.
Tanjiro meeting Muzan is exactly what I mean
One of my favourite examples isn't even some gigantic Demon Slayer battle.
It's Tanjiro encountering Muzan.
Think about what actually happens.
Tanjiro is moving through a crowd.
He smells Muzan.
He realizes what that smell means.
He searches.
Finds him.
Walks toward him.
Touches his shoulder.
Muzan turns around.
That's basically the scene.
No city gets destroyed.
No Domain Expansion.
No giant dragon.
No one is moving at hypersonic speed.
And yet the entire sequence has presence.
The crowd feels alive.
People move.
People pass each other.
Tanjiro has to physically navigate through them.
There's depth.
There's lighting.
There's atmosphere.
Then Muzan turns around holding a fucking child.
And suddenly the entire scene becomes unsettling.
The environment did half the work.
That's what I mean when I say animation isn't just movement.
Now compare that to Gojo getting sealed
This should've been one of the greatest scenes in JJK.
Forget fighting.
Narratively, this is MASSIVE.
Gojo Satoru is being removed from the story.
The strongest sorcerer alive.
The guy whose existence alone changes how everyone behaves.
And the plan works because someone uses the face of his dead best friend against him.
This should feel surreal.
Horrifying.
Claustrophobic.
Wrong.
Gojo turns.
Sees Geto.
His brain basically processes years of memories.
Prison Realm activates.
The entire balance of the world changes.
And I'm looking at some of the surrounding civilians like:
🧍🧍🧍🧍🧍
BRO.
MOVE.
REACT.
DO SOMETHING.
Why do some crowds in JJK feel like somebody imported:
crowd_final_v2.png
into After Effects and called it a day?
😭
This is SHIBUYA.
There are thousands of terrified people trapped underground with supernatural monsters.
I want panic.
People bumping into each other.
Someone looking over their shoulder.
Someone crying.
Someone falling.
People pushing.
Someone trying to get away.
Tiny reactions everywhere.
Make the entire frame nervous.
Instead, sometimes the main characters are doing something incredibly important while the surrounding world feels strangely dead.
And that kills atmosphere for me.
Gojo's 0.2-second Domain should've felt even more surreal
Same thing.
This is such a fucking cool concept.
Gojo realizes he can't use Unlimited Void normally because he'll destroy the civilians.
So he activates it for 0.2 seconds.
That's insane.
I don't only want:
cool Gojo animation.
I want the entire station to feel like reality just broke for a fraction of a second.
Imagine every civilian's expression changing simultaneously.
Eyes losing focus.
Bodies freezing mid-motion.
Someone's phone dropping.
A person halfway through screaming suddenly stopping.
Tiny details suspended everywhere.
Then Gojo moves.
And from everyone else's perspective he's basically become a fucking ghost.
THAT would sell his speed.
The contrast matters.
If the environment feels alive before Unlimited Void, then freezing it becomes horrifying.
Jogo burning Nanami, Maki and Naobito
Another moment where I wanted more visual horror.
Jogo arrives.
And basically:
fire.
These are powerful sorcerers.
And suddenly they're getting absolutely cooked.
I wanted the heat to feel disgusting.
Skin.
Smoke.
Clothing.
Light reflecting off everything.
The environment reacting.
Make me FEEL how absurdly hot Jogo is.
Fire is something Ufotable is ridiculously good at making feel like an actual physical presence.
Not just:
orange effect appears.
I want the entire colour of the scene to change when Jogo enters.
He's literally a volcano curse.
Make the fucking room feel like a furnace.
Nanami walking through Shibuya half-burned
Now THIS is where I want detail.
Nanami walking around after being burned should look horrifying.
This man is basically already dead.
His body is destroyed.
He's mentally somewhere else.
He's imagining Malaysia.
The beach.
Peace.
Meanwhile his actual body is walking through hell.
The contrast is beautiful.
But imagine pushing the visual difference even harder.
Malaysia:
warm.
Beautiful.
Detailed.
Soft lighting.
Water moving.
Wind.
Nanami relaxed.
Cut back.
Shibuya.
Cold.
Destroyed.
Smoke.
Blood.
Half his body burned beyond recognition.
Every step looks painful.
His clothes physically dragging against ruined skin.
Then back to Malaysia.
Peace.
Then Shibuya.
Hell.
That's the kind of visual storytelling I want.
Mahito should be one of the creepiest animated characters EVER
THIS ONE.
This is where I really think JJK could've gone insane.
Mahito's entire ability is fucking horrifying.
He touches your soul.
Your body stops obeying biology.
You become whatever shape he wants.
That's nightmare fuel.
Idle Transfiguration should make me uncomfortable.
Not:
Oh cool, weird human monster.
No.
I want to regret having eyes.
When a human gets transfigured, give me that tiny moment where their anatomy stops making sense.
Shoulder moving somewhere it shouldn't.
Jaw stretching.
Fingers bending incorrectly.
Skin pulling.
Eyes remaining conscious while everything around them changes.
Don't even necessarily add gore.
Sometimes less gore makes body horror worse.
Just make it anatomically wrong.
Mahito should feel like Junji Ito wandered into a battle shonen.
The transfigured humans
Same problem.
These shouldn't just be enemies.
These were PEOPLE.
That's the horror.
Every time Yuji punches one, there should be a tiny part of me remembering:
Someone used to live inside that body.
Give some of them remnants of normal human movement.
One tries walking normally but its legs don't work correctly.
One still reaches for something instinctively.
One makes some barely human expression.
Something.
Make me uncomfortable.
Make Yuji having to kill them feel horrible.
Mahito transforming himself
And when Mahito transforms his OWN body?
GO FUCKING INSANE.
He has no reason to obey normal anatomy.
Why should his transformations feel clean?
Bones shouldn't bend like rubber.
Joints should appear where joints shouldn't exist.
His silhouette should change unpredictably.
One second he looks human.
Next second:
what the fuck is that?
Then human again.
Mahito should be one of those characters where animators are allowed to become completely deranged.
Kenjaku opening Geto's skull
This one still annoys me.
BRO.
YOU HAVE A MAN OPENING HIS FUCKING SKULL.
How do you not make this one of the creepiest scenes in the entire anime?
Slow it down.
Gojo is already mentally destroyed because he's looking at Geto.
Then Geto reaches up.
Touches the stitches.
And starts opening his skull.
Give me DETAIL.
The skin moving.
The stitches pulling.
The horrible weight of the skull cap.
Gojo's eyes.
The brain underneath.
Then:
the mouth.
The fucking brain has a mouth.
MAKE THAT SHIT DISGUSTING.
Not necessarily gore.
Texture.
Movement.
Moisture.
Tiny contractions.
Something that makes my brain instinctively go:
NOPE.
Kenjaku is literally a brain that steals corpses.
He should have some of the best body-horror animation in modern anime.
Toji's resurrection
Another one!
A dead man takes over someone else's body.
That's fucking horrifying if you actually think about it.
Toji's information overwhelms the host.
His body effectively reconstructs itself.
And then this dead monster starts hunting the strongest thing nearby.
I wanted more transformation horror there too.
Not twenty minutes.
Just several seconds of:
Something is seriously fucking wrong.
Bone structure changing.
Muscles shifting.
Face becoming Toji.
The host disappearing.
Then silence.
Toji.
That would make his arrival feel less like:
FAN FAVOURITE CHARACTER HAS ENTERED
and more like:
something that should be dead has returned.
Toji vs Dagon is exactly where loose animation DOES work for me
And this is important.
I don't hate the style everywhere.
Toji going absolutely feral against Dagon?
There I understand it.
Let the drawings deform.
Let Toji become a fucking smear.
Let perspective break.
Let his body stretch.
Because the point is SPEED.
The point is that everyone else is watching something barely human move through the Domain.
That's where I want free-flowing animation.
Same with Sukuna.
Same with Mahoraga.
When something is moving impossibly fast, distort the fuck out of it.
But when Toji stops?
Give me detail again.
That's my ideal.
Sukuna vs Jogo
This fight is actually a great example of why I understand what people love about Season 2.
The movement is nuts.
The scale is nuts.
Characters fly across Shibuya.
Buildings get destroyed.
Jogo gets to finally demonstrate that despite being Gojo's favourite punching bag, he's ridiculously powerful compared to almost everyone else.
There are shots here that are incredible.
But there are also moments where the looseness goes past my personal threshold.
Sometimes I'm no longer thinking:
holy fuck Sukuna is moving fast
and instead I'm thinking:
what exactly am I looking at?
And apparently other people LOVE that.
Fair.
I don't.
I want the insanity of Sukuna vs Jogo with another pass of visual polish.
That's basically my entire JJK complaint condensed into one fight.
Sukuna vs Mahoraga
Same thing but turned up to 500%.
This fight is insane.
Mahoraga adapting.
Sukuna experimenting.
Buildings exploding.
Scale constantly increasing.
Malevolent Shrine.
The whole thing feels like two natural disasters fighting.
Conceptually?
Fucking incredible.
Movement?
Ridiculous.
But sometimes it gets SO loose that I stop seeing Sukuna and Mahoraga as actual physical beings occupying an environment.
They become shapes moving extremely fast.
I know some animation fans adore exactly that.
They'll screenshot some distorted frame and explain the incredible sense of motion.
And again:
I GET IT.
I just don't prefer it.
I want Mahoraga to feel HEAVY.
This thing is enormous.
When its foot hits the ground, I want weight.
When Sukuna launches it through something, I want debris.
Dust.
Concrete.
Lighting.
Tiny environmental reactions.
Give me the crazy movement AND make me feel like these things have mass.
Malevolent Shrine should look fucking divine
This is another thing JJK has that should be visually unbeatable.
Domain Expansions.
These aren't just super moves.
They're basically someone's inner world imposed onto reality.
That is such an absurdly good concept for animation.
Malevolent Shrine especially should look like something you're not supposed to witness.
Not just:
cool evil shrine.
I want religious horror.
Beautiful and disgusting simultaneously.
Something ancient.
Something divine.
Something where even before Sukuna starts cutting everything, the visual itself tells you:
You are inside the territory of something fundamentally above you.
Give me impossible lighting.
Details in the shrine.
Subtle movement.
Things you notice on rewatch.
I want Domain Expansions to be the anime equivalent of opening an art book.
Choso vs Yuji is actually closer to what I want
This fight is one of my favourite examples because the visual direction actually feels deliberate.
The bathroom.
The water.
The blood.
The confined space.
The choreography.
The lighting.
Everything contributes.
It's not simply:
LOOK HOW MANY DRAWINGS WE USED.
There's an actual visual identity to the fight.
The environment matters.
The characters interact with it.
The blood matters.
The water matters.
The limited space matters.
That's what I want more of.
Give every major encounter that kind of identity.
Mechamaru vs Mahito
Another fight where you have SUCH cool possibilities.
Giant mechanical armour.
Mahito.
Huge scale.
Cursed energy.
Domains.
Mechamaru desperately fighting knowing what happens if he loses.
This should feel almost like JJK temporarily turned into a fucking mecha movie.
And there are great moments.
But again, I would've pushed the polish.
Give Ultimate Mechamaru absurd mechanical detail.
Panels lighting up.
Tiny moving components.
Steam.
Damage accumulating.
Pieces breaking off.
Then contrast all that machinery against Mahito's disgusting organic transformations.
Machine vs flesh.
Order vs chaos.
That visual contrast could've been ridiculous.
Gojo vs Toji
Again:
good.
There are sequences I love.
But imagine the rematch with even more environmental polish.
Gojo is basically high.
He has figured out Reverse Cursed Technique.
He's floating.
Toji realizes something is wrong.
This isn't the same kid anymore.
I want the atmosphere itself to change around Gojo.
Not just because he's using a technique.
Because we're watching someone basically undergo enlightenment.
The sky.
Lighting.
Sound.
Movement.
His eyes.
His hair.
His clothing.
Everything should feel slightly unreal.
Then Purple happens.
Make it fucking BEAUTIFUL.
Destruction can be beautiful.
That's something Ufotable understands extremely well.
Geto's descent
And not everything needs to be fighting.
Geto slowly breaking psychologically is one of the most important parts of Hidden Inventory.
This is exactly where detailed facial animation matters.
Tiny expression changes.
Eyes.
Posture.
The way someone sits.
How long they look at something.
How exhausted they appear.
You don't need sakuga.
You need acting.
Anime characters shouldn't only become impressive when they're punching someone.
Some of the most difficult animation is making a human being sitting in a chair feel alive.
Riko's death
Same thing.
That gunshot should feel fucking wrong.
Not necessarily spectacular.
The opposite.
Sudden.
Ugly.
Normal.
One second she's alive.
She's thinking about her future.
Then:
gone.
Toji shouldn't need some crazy animated entrance.
The brutality comes from how quickly happiness gets interrupted.
Visual storytelling isn't always MORE.
Sometimes it's knowing exactly when to do less.
Nobara vs Mahito
Again:
body horror.
Nobara touches Mahito's double.
Resonance.
Mahito's soul gets hit.
That's such a strange supernatural interaction.
Make the connection visually horrifying.
For a moment, show us that these bodies aren't really separate in the way normal bodies are.
Then later when Mahito touches Nobara?
That moment should make the entire audience instinctively tense before anything even happens.
Because by then we've learned what his hand means.
Nobara's face
This is where detail matters enormously to me.
If you're going to damage someone's face in a scene that's supposed to emotionally destroy Yuji, I want every part of the presentation working.
Yuji's expression.
Nobara.
Mahito.
The environment.
The silence.
Don't rush.
Let me fucking sit in it.
Nanami's death
Same.
Nanami standing there.
Mahito behind him.
Yuji seeing him.
Nanami turning.
Those last few seconds matter more to me visually than 300 punches.
Give faces DETAIL.
Give eyes life.
Give body language.
Let Nanami look tired.
Not anime tired.
Actually fucking tired.
This man has been fighting all night while half-dead.
Then Mahito touches him.
And Yuji watches.
That's where polished character acting matters.
Todo arriving
Now switch.
THIS is where you can go wild again.
Todo arrives.
Yuji is psychologically destroyed.
Then suddenly:
BOOGIE WOOGIE MOTHERFUCKER.
Energy changes.
Movement changes.
Direction changes.
Todo is larger than life.
Let animation style itself change slightly because that's what Todo does to the fucking story.
That's expressive animation I love.
I'm not against stylization.
I'm against stylization being used as an answer to every visual problem.
Mahito's final form
Another one where I wanted insane detail.
Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing.
This should feel like Mahito has finally perfected the art of turning himself into something designed purely to kill.
Make him look fucking terrifying.
Detailed armour-like flesh.
Texture.
Weight.
Make his movements different from normal Mahito.
Normal Mahito feels loose.
Playful.
Unpredictable.
Final Mahito should feel focused.
Heavy.
Purpose-built.
The animation itself can communicate character development.
Yuji chasing Mahito through the snow
And THIS is one of those sequences where simplicity works.
The wolf.
The rabbit.
Mahito running.
Yuji following.
That doesn't need 400 layers of compositing.
Because it's metaphorical.
The simplicity IS the point.
See?
I'm not asking every fucking frame to look like Demon Slayer Episode 19.
Style should serve the scene.
That's my argument.
That's what bothers me about the "you don't understand animation" response
Maybe I understand what they're trying to do...
and still don't like it.
Those things can coexist.
I understand why simplified character models allow freer motion.
I understand why animators like looser corrections.
I understand why deformation can create stronger movement.
I understand that individual frames aren't supposed to be viewed as illustrations.
I understand that a smear frame can look ridiculous paused and fantastic in motion.
I'm not complaining because:
HAHA LOOK SUKUNA'S FACE LOOKS WEIRD IN THIS ONE FRAME.
That's stupid.
I'm talking about the overall visual experience.
I prefer polish.
That's it.
And Season 1 proves JJK can look different
This is why I know I'm not simply incompatible with JJK.
I liked Season 1.
A lot.
It looked cleaner to me.
The character models felt more consistent.
Faces felt more detailed.
There was more of that polished anime look I personally enjoy.
Then Season 2 changed direction.
And most people seem to prefer Season 2.
Fine.
I don't.
Give me:
Season 1 cleanliness + Season 2 choreography.
BRO.
That's my dream JJK.
Also: backgrounds matter WAY more than people acknowledge
People talk about character animation constantly.
But the environment is half the image.
Especially in Shibuya.
The entire fucking arc is named after the location.
SHIBUYA should basically be a character.
Signs.
Screens.
Trains.
Escalators.
Shops.
Advertisements.
Lights.
Crowds.
Trash.
Smoke.
Broken glass.
Blood.
Emergency lighting.
Fire.
Destroyed buildings.
And the environment should gradually deteriorate throughout the night.
Imagine if you could visually track the progression of Shibuya itself.
Beginning:
alive.
Bright.
Crowded.
Normal.
Then barriers.
Confusion.
Then fighting.
Damage.
Smoke.
Fire.
Bodies.
Destruction.
Then Sukuna.
And eventually the city barely resembles the place we started in.
THAT'S visual storytelling.
Crowds matter too
I keep coming back to this because people underestimate it.
Background humans make supernatural characters feel supernatural.
Gojo looks faster when normal humans are moving realistically around him.
Sukuna feels scarier when civilians react like actual terrified humans.
Mahito feels more disturbing when his victims looked alive five seconds earlier.
The curses feel more alien when they're contrasted against believable normal life.
If everyone in the background feels like an NPC waiting for their animation loop to restart, you lose some of that contrast.
Faces matter
Especially in JJK.
Gojo's entire personality is communicated through his face.
Geto's descent happens through tiny emotional changes.
Yuji goes through unimaginable psychological trauma.
Nanami is perpetually exhausted.
Mahito is expressive as fuck.
Sukuna communicates half his personality through a smile.
These characters NEED faces.
So yes.
When a close-up is simplified, I notice.
And no amount of:
but look how fluid the next cut is
makes me suddenly stop caring.
Lighting matters
This is probably the biggest Ufotable comparison for me.
Lighting can completely transform an average drawing.
Characters should feel like they exist inside the environment.
Fire should illuminate them.
Neon should affect them.
Moonlight.
Street lights.
Domain lighting.
Cursed techniques.
Everything.
Imagine Jogo fighting Sukuna and the entire environment constantly changing colour based on fire, destruction and cursed techniques.
Imagine Gojo's eyes actually affecting how the scene feels when they're revealed.
Imagine Mahito appearing in dim subway lighting and parts of his face disappearing into shadow.
That shit matters to me.
And horror REALLY matters
If there's one thing I wish JJK pushed harder visually, it's horror.
Because JJK is fucking disgusting when you actually think about it.
Curses are born from negative emotions.
Sukuna has extra eyes and mouths.
Kenjaku pilots corpses.
Mahito reshapes souls.
Humans get turned into monsters.
People are eaten.
Bodies are mutilated.
Domain Expansions trap you inside someone's psyche.
This universe is HORROR wearing battle-shonen clothing.
USE THAT.
Give me shots that make me uncomfortable.
Give me imagery I remember years later.
Give me one Kenjaku shot that makes me wish I hadn't seen it.
Give Mahito transformations that become reaction images because everyone collectively goes:
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT
I don't want Ufotable to literally animate JJK
And that's important.
I'm not saying:
give JJK Demon Slayer's exact art direction.
That would probably look weird.
JJK should have its own identity.
I actually like that it feels rougher and dirtier than Demon Slayer.
My issue is how FAR it sometimes pushes that looseness.
I want JJK's grime.
JJK's darkness.
JJK's visual experimentation.
JJK's choreography.
But with another layer of polish.
That's it.
Give me the best of both worlds
Imagine:
Season 1 character consistency.
Season 2 movement.
Yuji vs Choso-level direction.
Ufotable-level compositing.
Detailed horror.
Living crowds.
Shibuya treated like an actual environment.
Beautiful Domain Expansions.
Fluid fights.
Detailed close-ups.
Expressive deformation exactly when the scene needs it.
BRO.
You would have to physically remove me from the television.
And yes, I know production reality exists
Anime doesn't appear because I scream:
DRAW MORE DETAILS
at Japan.
There are schedules.
Budgets.
Deadlines.
Studios.
Directors.
Animation directors.
Key animators.
In-betweeners.
Compositing.
Background teams.
An absurd number of moving parts.
And JJK Season 2's production circumstances became a huge part of the conversation around the anime.
So I'm absolutely NOT sitting here calling individual animators lazy.
These people produced ridiculous work.
My use of "lazy" is about how the final aesthetic sometimes looks to me.
Under-rendered.
Rough.
Unfinished.
Like I'm looking at an incredibly talented animator's first pass before another team comes in and polishes everything.
And interestingly, some Season 2 material was later reworked or expanded for Blu-ray/compilation releases, so even the broadcast version isn't necessarily the only possible presentation of those sequences.
Maybe that's exactly why other people love it
And that's fine.
Maybe when another person sees Sukuna turn into five lines and a vaguely human-shaped smear flying through a building, they're thinking:
PURE FUCKING ANIMATION.
And I'm thinking:
where did his face go 😭
Neither of us has to be stupid.
We just value different things.
They prioritize motion.
I prioritize the whole image.
Movement.
Detail.
Composition.
Lighting.
Atmosphere.
Weight.
Character acting.
Environment.
Horror.
Everything together.
And that's why Demon Slayer wins visually for me
Not because every Demon Slayer fight has better choreography.
Not because every animator is better.
That's a stupid way to compare studios anyway.
It's because when I'm watching Demon Slayer, I more consistently get the thing I personally want:
visual polish.
When a character isn't fighting, the anime still looks beautiful.
When someone enters a room, it can look beautiful.
When someone walks through a city, it can look beautiful.
When two characters talk, the lighting can make it beautiful.
Then when the gigantic fight finally begins?
They go fucking insane.
That's my taste.
I want the shoulder tap AND the fight
That's basically the easiest way I can explain my opinion.
Give me Tanjiro tapping Muzan's shoulder in that living, breathing crowd.
Give me the atmosphere.
Give me the lighting.
Give me the detailed expressions.
Give me the tiny movements.
And THEN...
when Muzan fights...
give me insane movement too.
Why settle for:
This anime has incredible fight animation!
I want to say:
This anime looks fucking incredible.
There's a difference.
So yes, unpopular opinion
I don't think JJK's animation is as amazing as everyone says.
Its animators are amazing.
Its best sequences are amazing.
Some of its choreography is fucking ridiculous.
Yuji vs Choso is incredible.
Toji has incredible sequences.
Sukuna vs Jogo has incredible sequences.
Sukuna vs Mahoraga has incredible sequences.
There are moments throughout the series where I'll happily shut the fuck up and watch.
But the overall style?
Especially Season 2?
I don't love it.
I wanted Gojo's sealing to feel more alive.
I wanted Shibuya's crowds to actually feel like crowds.
I wanted Kenjaku opening Geto's skull to make me uncomfortable.
I wanted Mahito to be genuine body horror.
I wanted Jogo's flames to change the atmosphere of the entire scene.
I wanted Mahoraga to feel heavier.
I wanted Malevolent Shrine to look almost religious.
I wanted Toji's resurrection to feel unnatural.
I wanted Nanami's ruined body to contrast harder against Malaysia.
I wanted Nobara's final moments to obsess over facial acting.
I wanted Geto's deterioration to live in tiny expressions.
I wanted Shibuya itself to slowly die over the course of the arc.
I wanted more detailed characters.
More detailed environments.
More atmosphere.
More horror.
More polish.
AND—
because apparently I have to keep saying this—
I STILL WANT THE FUCKING MOVEMENT.
Don't give me a gorgeous slideshow.
Don't give me a fluid sketch.
Give me both.
Give me something where the character starts moving and I think:
Holy fuck, look at that animation.
Then they stop moving...
and I think:
Holy fuck, look at that frame.
That's what I want.
Maybe it's greedy.
Maybe Ufotable has permanently fucked my expectations.
Maybe animation nerds are going to explain to me that the roughness I dislike is exactly what makes Season 2 artistically brilliant.
That's fine.
I understand.
I respect the craft.
I respect the animators.
I understand why people love it.
I just don't.
Give me detail.
Give me fluidity.
Give me weight.
Give me movement.
Give me beautiful lighting.
Give me disgusting horror.
Give me crowds that actually look alive.
Give me characters whose faces don't disappear the second they start running.
Give me ALL OF IT.
Because when someone tells me:
"You have to sacrifice visual detail to get really good movement."
I look at Demon Slayer and think:
Do I though?
