Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – Ryomen Sukuna

Cursed

A boy wakes up tied behind his back in a room full of lanterns and paper charms. The man in front of him introduces himself as Satoru Gojo, in charge of the first years at Jujutsu High.

His name is Yuji Itadori, and there’s a curse inside of him.

Days before, Yuji called the nurse to ask how his grandfather was doing. His grandfather yelled at him on the phone and told him to just join the club at school.

Megumi Fushiguro walked inside the school grounds to search for a Special Grade Cursed Object in a box. He found it empty, but he could not go home without finding it.

Yuji and the Occult Club members were told to withdraw due to their lack of real-world activities. But Sasaki disagreed and laid down all the information from their research on the whole rugby team‘s illness. The president said the real problem was Yuji, who was actually an official member of the track-and-field club, making the Occult Club not meet the minimum requirement—three members—for having only two members. Takagi, the track-and-field coach, entered and claimed he rewrote Yuji‘s application and designated him to the track-and-field club. He wanted Yuji to win the national competition. Yuji protested and said he wrote the Occult Club and insisted on not wanting to join the competition. The coach challenged him to compete for it.

Megumi found a Grade 2 Curse moving through the field, but it’s not the object he’s looking for. He went to the field and found Yuji competing against the coach. Yuji won without much effort. Megumi was impressed. Yuji told Sasaki he liked the atmosphere of the Occult Club.

As Yuji left to visit his grandfather, Megumi caught the scent of a cursed object on him, but he ran too fast.

Last Words

Yuji’s grandfather scolded him for skipping club activities. He told his grandson to be strong enough to save others even if he didn‘t get any gratitude. He didn’t want Yuji to die lonely like him. The old man passed away.

Yuji packed up, dealt with his grandfather‘s death paperwork, and left, remembering his grandfather’s words. Megumi arrived and asked him to hand the cursed object. He explained it could manifest into something evil. Yuji threw him the box, but it’s empty. The object inside was with his seniors. They were planning to unravel it that night.

Megumi feared they were going to die. The two remaining Occult Club members huddled in their clubroom. They tried to unravel the object’s wraps by candlelight—they found a finger. The light went out, and a curse appeared from the ceiling.

Megumi and Yuji rushed back to school to save them. Megumi asked Yuji to stay while he took care of it. The curse hunted the club members. Megumi arrived and used a technique to summon two wolves.

Outside, Yuji hesitated out of fear, but he remembered his grandfather’s parting words.

Megumi’s wolves destroyed the minor curses, but he found Iguchi and Sasaki about to be consumed. He thought it’s too late, but Yuji smashed through the window, punched the curse, and rescued his friends. The wolves devoured its remains.

Ryomen Sukuna

Yuji said he wasn’t afraid that death would come for us all. He has the unique ability to see curses. The finger fell from Sasaki’s grip. It’s a Special Grade Curse: the finger of Ryomen Sukuna. Eating it could level up your curse power, so the other curses were after it.

Megumi asked for it, but another curse appeared from the ceiling and grabbed him. He got smashed outside of the walls. Yuji helped to fight, but he didn’t have his own curse to fight against it.

The curse grabbed him, so Yuji bit the finger. Before he got eaten, Yuji ate the finger instead. Megumi thought he’d die, but he transformed into the demon Sukuna with overwhelming curse power.

Sukuna rejoiced at his newfound freedom, but Yuji’s soul fought inside his body. Now that he’s a curse, Megumi moved in to exorcise him.

Our Thoughts

It‘s action-packed right out of the gates with some strong horror direction and excellent animation. I rate this 4.2 out of 5.