REVIEW: ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ Season 3 Episode 12 – “Sendai Colony”

Going for broke once again, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 is the perfect conclusion to the narratively messy but no doubt spectacular third season of the MAPPA series. A season that, much to the surprise of manga readers, managed not just to outdo the source material but also to deliver the best of the series to date. With its longer-than-normal runtime and some atmosphere-breaking, sky-shattering animation, “Sendai Colony” reveals artistic finesse. 

After spending a bulk of the season in the Tokyo Colony fights with Yuji (Junya Enoki) and Megumi  (Yuma Uchida), Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 shifts to the Sendai Colony, where things are a lot more deadly. Yuta (Megumi Ogata) is the best equipped to take on the titanic forces of cursed spirit, Kurourushi, and the reincarnated sorcerers, Takako Uro (Nana Mizuki), and Ryu Ishigori (Hiroki Tōchi). Despite a moment of calm, as Yuta and Rika try to protect a group of civilians by drawing their opponents away so they can take shelter in the stadium, the story quickly dissolves into a sprinting chaos. 

Yuta has been an admittedly hard sell (for me). If only because, aside from Jujutsu Kaisen 0, he has largely operated on the sidelines or in passing dialogue. Yet his power is revered, and he clearly is someone we’re meant to appreciate similarly. Yet it takes him biting a cockroach on the mouth to weaponize his reversed curse technique to exorcize Kurourushi for me to finally go, “yeah, okay, I get it.” 

Takako Uro nearly steals the show in the Season 3 finale of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Or, this is a sign that a Jujutsu Kaisen 0 rewatch is in order. Regardless, this move is such a wonderful deconstruction of expectation. It’s not that we don’t expect him to use his reverse cursed technique. It’s that we can’t possibly anticipate how he does so. And the MAPPA team highlights this level of pragmatic impulsivity, Yuta’s face morphing from desperate struggle to devilish thrill as he goes in for the kill. 

This is, maybe, minute five of the episode, and Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 is already demonstrating its willingness to play with format and color. The contrast of blood and the green, insipid poison that drips from Yuta’s eyes crafts something eerily discordant against the oppressive blue skies – a world gone septic. These visual contrasts lend the episode a dizzying effect as Yuta moves on from Kurourushi to fight the others. 

The battle is helped by the fact that, unlike Reggie Star, Ishigori and, in particular, Uro, make for fun antagonists. There’s a reality-breaking nature to all three of their techniques, but it’s Uro’s that truly bends the playing field with her ability to manipulate the sky. The effect is enormously satisfying, as Uro weaponizes the elements, using the weight of the sky she manipulates to trade blows while also using it for stealth, shaking the foundation on which they all stand. 

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 is visually vibrant amidst the bloodshed.

Uro’s entire design, really, is superb. It’s another instance in which Season 3 embraces vibrancy and stark color for greater visual impact. The pink of her hair and the translucent weaves of the atmosphere that flow around her create a striking image, especially as her face contorts into mounting rage as she fights against Yuta. From the bouts of an aerial conflict to the patience of their walk through the museum, there’s a staticky give-and-take to their fight in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 that makes them an intriguing pair. 

More so as Yuta slowly grows to comprehend the ire she levels at him. She sees him as a Fujiwara ancestor, a group that sacrificed her. When he asks her why she’d need to find a purpose in the Culling Game, having been reincarnated, she’s rightfully furious. She asks why she shouldn’t be allowed to seek meaning and a sense of self, given that in her past life she never had the chance to do so. As he stands in front of a painting of a member of the Fujiwara clan, past and present resentments combine for a flurry of rage-induced action. 

All of this before Yuta beckons Rika to him, where he’s finally able to use the full extent of his cursed energy. The combination of that cursed energy, his Copy ability, and other techniques makes him a battering ram of power and immediately changes the tone of the battle, even with the inclusion of Ishigori’s techniques. From the use of Cursed Speech to his rapid healing, he’s a force of nature up against a literal force of nature (Uro) and a combatant who looks at fighting as a way to satiate a dire hunger. 

A thunderous showdown is the heart of “Sendai Colony.”

The brief stalemate that warps into them launching a three-way Domain Expansion promises a thunderous showdown, but it is interrupted by Kurourushi, who isn’t dead yet. While we don’t get to see exactly what a three-way Domain Expansion would entail, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 at least gives us a fantastic split panel of the three, infused with a visceral, livewire energy. 

In the end, unsurprisingly, Yuta defeats Ishigori and Uro, able to copy both of their techniques in a shocking display of power. The fluidity of destruction and the tactility of their skills combine to create a rich, delectable experience despite the violence that fuels it. And throughout, Yuta proves a wonderful character worth coming around to.

He isn’t just a wonderfully complimentary contrast to Yuji; his pragmatism works against the latter’s do-first-think-later attitude, against their shared desire to protect and not kill. He’s also a well-rounded fighter who, despite his power, is still learning. 

Yuta’s kindness offers a necessary, compassionate respite. 

His kindness makes him stand out. Because he doesn’t seem to enjoy the fighting part, even if he excels in it. He heals both Uro and Ishigori. And then, in one of the more poignant instances of poignancy in the series, he realizes that by trying to force Uro to see the world his way, it would be only a roundabout way of inflicting further violence on someone who already endured plenty of it. He can let them live and secure their accrued points because he’s been lucky because of the company he keeps. He’s had support. 

That kindness is evident in the opening moments OF Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12, where he makes an internal promise to take care of Kenjaku himself so that Gojo won’t have to kill his best friend a second time. It’s compassion in a series that has no great wealth of it. And it’s necessary to watch the ensuing battle because it reminds us of who Yuta is at his core. 

It’s interesting to note now, with all three of the first battles done, how Yuji, Yuta, and Megumi contrast in their “wins.” Yuji loses to Higuruma but earns the latter’s respect for his sheer, palpable decency and gets his points. Megumi wins but kills Reggie Star for his points, and nearly kills again, only for his moral center (his sister) to tell him not to. Meanwhile, Yuta, in perhaps the most well-adjusted example, wins through his power, with his decency dictating the outcome. All three are students of Gojo, and all have taken different routes in their paths to rescue him. 

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 leaves us in a moment of unsteady balance. We see pieces of others’ journeys as they continue their fight in the Culling Game, but Uro’s warning to Yuta about what comes next rings out. “Sendai Colony” with it’s stunning animation, breakneck action, and fun new characters is the perfect cap off to a bar raising season. Cinematic in scope and gleefully ambitious. 

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 12 is out now on Crunchyroll. 

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