Jujutsu Kaisen has undergone various aesthetic and thematic changes in just its first two seasons. Several changes to the anime production team were made between the seasons, with Shōta Goshozono taking over as the series director from Sunghoo Park, who served in that position for season 1 and directed the prequel film Jujutsu Kaisen 0. With the shift, the latest season featured a distinct change in the visual style of the series, featuring a much more free-flowing art style and cinematic feel with its camera work, color grading, and even the soundtrack. Interestingly, the shift from various artists on the soundtrack to a single composer has made the anime’s music its best quality by far.
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While opening and ending songs have always been hot topics of discussion for anime in general, scores can often be overlooked. Sure, ending songs like Ali’s “Lost in Paradise” for season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen or the opening song “Specialz” for season 2 dominated the pop culture zeitgeist. Still, Yoshimasa Terui’s diverse score for the second season elevates the beautiful animation and pulse-pounding, emotionally resonant story. With its frenetic jazz tracks, its emotional piano pieces, and quieter acoustic sound selections, Jujutsu Kaisen’s soundtrack is easily its best and perhaps most overlooked quality.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Genre-Spanning Soundtrack Is Also Thematically Consistent
Despite varying genres with each subsequent track, Jujutsu Kaisen season 2’s music stays consistent in telling a story using leitmotifs that are interwoven throughout the cacophony of sounds. The various themes created for characters, such as Nanami’s “Working Overtime” theme, carry over from the first season to maintain consistency and get viewers even more emotionally invested when a recognizable leitmotif plays, signifying a character’s entrance. Another significant example is Gojo’s leitmotif, which can be heard in the opening track “Hidden Inventory”, the aptly titled track “Limitless Cursed Technique”, and “Arrogance”.
Gojo is a significant focus of both the Hidden Inventory and the Shibuya Incident story arcs. Although he is absent for most of the latter arc, it heavily revolves around his place in the Jujutsu Sorcery Heirarchy. Because of this, his energetic theme is heard in the score’s jazz compositions and piano arrangements and even comes back into play in the unforgettable scene in which he activates his domain expansion for a split second on the Shibuya platform. Each time his theme makes a return, it signifies a shift in the story and Gojo’s mindset.
It isn’t just Gojo’s leitmotif that gets attention (though it is certainly up there in terms of receiving the most), as several characters receive unique renditions of their themes. Sukuna is another character that stands out, as he not only receives some of the most stunning and hyper-choreographed fights from Studio MAPPA, but his theme evolves depending on the encounter. When first awakened inside Yuji by Jogo in Episode 15, a sinister choir is immediately heard (in the fittingly titled track “Awaken”), with the soundtrack shifting entirely to a much more ominous and unsettling tone.
The music track “Thunderclap” continues using Sukuna’s leitmotif as he fights Jogo, maintaining the choir but also upping the tempo to match the frenetic energy of the fight. In a completely different arrangement with the same underlying choir that’s become symbolic of the King of Curses, the track exemplifies Sukuna’s savagery and Jogo’s erratic and nervous fighting, elevating Season 2, Episode 16 (also titled “Thunderclap”). In maintaining consistency with character themes but diversifying the instrumentals around them, the Jujutusu Kaisen soundtrack soars.
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The Music of Jujutsu Kaisen Tells a Story In and of Itself
Aside from its consistency in leitmotifs for various characters, Jujutsu Kaisen’s soundtrack has the incredible ability to tell a story with just its music. Despite not writing or being involved with Tatsuya Kitani’s opening for the first half of Season 2, titled “Where Our Blue Is”, Yoshimasa Terui weaves in elements used in both Gege Akutami’s original story and the visuals and clapping instrumentals from the opening to tell a grim and tragic story. The clapping seen in the visuals of “Where Our Blue Is” signifies not only the divide between Gojo and Geto but the religious sect that actively applauds Riko Amanai’s death in the arc, something that actively disturbs the duo.
So, the track titled “Premature” featured towards the end of Season 2, Episode 9 (in reference to the title of the arc and the premature death of Geto’s lofty and upright ideals as a Jujutsu Sorcerer) tells its own story. As Geto takes the stage of the religious cult he takes over, the track consists entirely of clapping. What starts as scattered, disarrayed clapping slowly turns into methodical, rhythmic clapping when he massacres those who object to his takeover. What was once an auditory reminder of Geto’s biggest failure soon represents what it’s turned him into. Musical storytelling doesn’t get better than this.
The soundtrack isn’t just used for somber and heavy moments, either. In Yuji and Todo’s fight with Mahito in the final episodes of season 2, an anime original moment becomes so much more hilarious and unhinged with Terui’s song “Highest Jumping”. Whereas the manga made Todo’s noble sacrifice of his only remaining hand to switch places with Yuji a brief moment, the anime gives viewers an extended glimpse into Todo’s disturbed psyche. Imagining himself fighting alongside his idol Takada, the grim color palette is replaced with bombastic, colorful, and heart-filled visuals as Todo beats up Mahito in his imagination.
The lyrics of “Highest Jumping” feel straight out of the opening of a romance anime, adding some much-needed levity to what had been a dark and depressing season up to that point. Without the music, this scene would not have been nearly as tonally jarring as it needed to be, further proving the profound impact Terui’s music has on the series.
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Is As Good As Anime Soundtracks Get
Jujutsu Kaisen was already an impressive anime in its first season, with its soundtrack of diversified artists and sounds leaving its mark. However, the consistency and singular creative vision for Season 2’s music helped to take the anime to another level. Studio MAPPA has repeatedly shown that they take pride in Jujutsu Kaisen and want to do justice with some stellar animation work. However, its greatest and perhaps most overlooked quality is the level of detail and care put into the series’s music. While there are some minor grievances with the music choices in the series, such as the inclusion of the second opening of season 2, “Specialz”, during Yuji’s emotional breakdown, the series mostly hits the mark musically.
Hopefully, the upcoming third season of Jujutsu Kaisen will bring Yoshimasa Terui back into the fold to continue creating phenomenal music. Plenty of new and returning characters will be brought into the fray of the Culling Games, giving Terui new opportunities to expand the canon of Jujutsu Kaisen’s already impressive music library. The music of an anime is often overshadowed by songs made for openings and endings. Hopefully, Jujutsu Kaisen’s brilliant and detail-oriented score will get more attention than it already does.
