REVIEW: ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ Episode 33 — “The Shibuya Incident – Gate, Open”

With the stage set in Shibuya Station of Satoru Gojo (Yûichi Nakamura) to face his attackers, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 follows every step of the bloody encounter. But can even Gojo manage to overcome the sinister trap set for him? Or will even his godlike powers prove insufficient against the forces arrayed before him?

Coming into this episode I was curious to see how the ensuing battle would play out. With Gojo’s near-limitless abilities, it felt impossible to craft a scenario where he could actually be threatened without simply needing his power. But just as the last episode explained why this particular situation was a detriment to his powers, the unfolding battle continues to see more and more modifiers stacked against the sorcerer, till it is believable that even he could be in trouble.

Rather than diving right into the action, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 opens with clips from what feels like a home movie. Someone behind a camera has asked various personalities from Jujutsu Tech what they think of Gojo. While Itadori seems to have the most affection for the teacher, he did get his life spared because of him after all, most see Gojo as well-intentioned but an idiot. The character frequently plays the fool throughout the series when it suits him, so this response isn’t a surprise. The sequence makes a point to return to Itdori so he can make one final statement about his teacher: He’s the strongest.

From this surprisingly calm entry, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 returns to Shibuya station as Gojo demonstrates this strength firsthand. Hanami (Atsuko Tanaka) and Jogo (Shigeru Chiba) may have believed that the presence of so many innocents would leave Gojo’s hands tied, but he soon relieves them of that notion. While his domain expansion technique may be off the table, he soon proves he can dispatch this pair the old-fashioned way if he wishes. However, this ongoing struggle does begin to wear on Gojo’s mental state, even as he dominates his opponents physically.

While the entire battle that occupies the bulk of this episode is delivered with eye-popping skill, it is the fracturing of Gojo’s emotional state that stands out in this sequence. MAPPA’s artist makes sure you understand just how trying the situation is on the sorcerer. We see a brutality from Gojo’s attacks that hasn’t even been hinted at before. The previously referenced fool of a teacher is nowhere to be seen as he decimates Hanami with some of the most merciless fighting the series has showcased to date.

Helping to keep the action from devolving into an ever-growing cacophony of explosions and torn limbs, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 repeatedly cuts away to the planning stage for the episode’s trap. Sitting around a table playing some style of Majong-like game, the curses prep their ambush. These moments help set up the evolving trap as the players discuss the next step that will unfold, letting the viewer understand what is happening. This is a far more elegant solution than having someone randomly monologue it at the fight scene as narratives sometimes do for the audience’s sake.

But while the episode was already showing Gojo’s mind beginning to fray, the trap still hadn’t fully sprung. Attempting to overwhelm Gojo with threats and providing more danger to the civilians around him, the final element forces the protagonist to push his powers to the maximum. While he manages to thwart the bulk of the threats the latest element of the battle had posed, it takes too much out of him, allowing him to be caught off guard by the figure of his old friend,  Suguru Geto (Takahiro Sakurai).

The moment where Gojo and Geto come face-to-face is a revelatory one for the series. It informs some key moments in previous entries in the franchise and shines a new light on how far Gojo is willing to go to protect others. As well as further reinforcing the fact that the fool he plays is truly just an act.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 delivers gorgeous visuals and key character moments as it shifts the landscape of the show’s power structure for the foreseeable future. The only sure thing going forward from here is that nothing at Jujutsu Tech will ever be the same again.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 9 is streaming on Crunchyroll, with new Jujutsu Kaisen episodes every Thursday.