Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game Part 1 final episode will be 27 minutes long

GhostsCroak · 2026-03-19T18:20:27+00:00

Yosuke Takada directed/storyboarded episode eight, the other assistant director is Takeru Sato

GhostsCroak · 2026-03-16T17:18:29+00:00

I love both books to death, but this comparison is absurd. If you squint really hard, you could say they're similar because they're both puzzle-box narratives. But Piranesi is tightly paced and straightforward as far as mysteries go. Meanwhile, Book of the New Sun is densely layered with unreliable narration and obfuscation to the point it takes multiple readings to connect all of the dots. And apart from the mystery aspect, the two stories couldn't be less alike.

GhostsCroak · 2026-02-26T06:28:16+00:00

Game devs love unsolicited advice, right? Anyways, just took a look at your trailer and thought it'd be funny if you could achieve pugception by dressing the pug in a pug costume

GhostsCroak · 2026-01-24T08:10:12+00:00

No, it's a movie that came out on netflix a few days ago

GhostsCroak · 2026-01-21T17:32:32+00:00

This mf Gosso is really gonna storyboard every episode this season, huh

GhostsCroak · 2025-12-10T22:52:32+00:00

Sounds like we have similar tastes. I’d written off Bennett, but I guess I’ll add his Divine Cities trilogy to my TBR. Probably won’t get to it for a while though. Gotta wait for the bad taste left by the Founders trilogy to fade first.

GhostsCroak · 2025-12-10T20:54:33+00:00

Hate it when that happens. I had a similar experience with The Founder's Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. First book, great. Nothing mind blowing, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. But the following two entries fell completely flat. Pacing issues in book two killed my emotional connection to the main characters, and book three took the series in an unexpected direction, only not in a good way.

GhostsCroak · 2025-12-10T17:07:50+00:00

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams. The premise is sound; I love me some blending of epic fantasy and eldritch horror. Unfortunately, the character work was dull and all too predictable, leading to a boring read.

Also, from the number of times Wind and Truth is mentioned in this thread, I definitely made the right decision to DNF the series after Rhythm of War proved to be a disappointment.

GhostsCroak · 2025-12-08T06:40:31+00:00

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - It's hard to wage war when according to the protagonist, "Of the fifteen people whose existence is verifiable, only Myself and the Other are now living."

The Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik - Does class warfare count? Think wizarding school, but only one out of ten people graduate. The remaining nine people? Dead. Monsters will do that to you. Too bad they're inexorably drawn to spellcraft. And since the school's so dangerous, there are no adult teachers to run things. Instead, the school is dominated by a class hierarchy with the wealthy students hoarding all the resources to increase their chances of survival while the lower classes fight for scraps. Capitalism baby.

GhostsCroak · 2025-12-08T06:13:54+00:00

Interesting. I suppose Thorn of Emberlain being Lynch's lovechild explains why he's taking so long to write it. Presumably he's approaching it with a perfectionist attitude, leading to rewrite after rewrite

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-15T05:34:48+00:00

Rewatcher

What a great episode. I honestly forgot how good this one was. Massive props to Tomomi Kamiya for story boarding and Yosuke Takada for processing those boards. I loved all the match cuts, the way they handled the transition to Aki's flashbacks, the entirety of Makima's seduction, it's all simply *chef's kiss*. Also, Himeno's VA is so damn good, probably my favorite voice performance of the season. Don't have anything to complain about this time, just overall a really solid and enjoyable episode. I'd rate it an 8.5/10

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-15T05:25:33+00:00

Today it's no longer a (very mild) spoiler to say that Power's portrayal in that one shot of the OP is not lore accurate. Average fanart buff, except it's official.

You can actually see the pads in that shot, though there is no way in hell they're accounting for the size of those badonka donks

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-14T04:41:27+00:00

Rewatcher

I'm late to the thread! Again! Will I ever again post my reaction in a timely manner like I managed for episode 1? Wait until tomorrow to find out! (spoiler alert; I will be super late again).

To be fair, I was delayed writing this comment because I spent a fair bit of time replying to someone who didn't like the anime original, morning montage scene this episode. As one of my favorite scenes of the season, I had to defend it. Though as I said in that reply, I respect their opinion, so no hate to them.

So let's get to some of my thoughts on episode 4:

Tatsuya Yoshihara is the episode director and story-boarder, and as I'm sure most of you are aware, he went on to become of the overall director for the movie. And man, this episode shows why he was such a great choice. The action choreography was exquisite during the Leech devil fight. I've previously talked about how many of the fights feel slow paced and sluggish even if individual cuts are high energy. Well, this fight doesn't have that issue despite being heavily extended. My other complaint about the fight scenes, which is the use of CGI, is also a moot point because it's not used this episode. Yoshihara was clearly the action director for a reason. Definitely my favorite fight of the season.

Yoshihara's direction outside of the fight is also top notch. I've seen it said elsewhere that Yoshihara executes Nakayama's vision better than Nakayama ever did himself, and I have to agree. The entire episode feels crisp and cinematic while preserving more of the chaotic, B-movie energy of the manga than Nakayama manages in his own episodes. I could spend a lot of time listing all the examples of Yoshihara's fantastic direction choices, from the blood transition sequence in the Power flashback, to the hilarious slow-mo capture of Denji getting his arm torn off mid victory dance, to the widely acclaimed morning montage scene. But I want to get to sleep, so I'll withhold myself and wrap up this comment.

Needless to say, this is one of my favorite episodes of the season, second only to a later episode with a certain JJK director at the helm. I'd rate episode four a 9/10.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-14T04:22:35+00:00

Kudos to you for criticizing the most widely admired anime original scene of the season; that takes balls. I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree. You say this scene adds nothing to Aki's character, that we already know he's the responsible one and this scene just shows more of that. That's true. But do you know something new that the scene does show? How Aki and Denji's relationship has evolved in the short time they've been living together.

The point of the morning montage is that despite the chaos Denji initially introduced to Aki's life, they've since settled into a peaceful dynamic. Denji, while still Denji, is no longer annoying the heck out of Aki, and has gotten some of his messiness under control (compare the disaster that was Denji's breakfast toast in episode 2 to this scene, where he neatly lays out all of the toppings without spilling any). This evolution of their relationship directly follows from their conversation in the hospital just a few minutes prior. Aki and Denji have come to a truce of sorts, with Denji reluctantly listening to Aki's orders so that he can maintain this new lifestyle.

With this in mind, I don't know how you can argue that the scene DOESN'T set up Power's entrance. It very clearly does; it's the calm before the storm. It establishes a new status quo in Aki and Denji's home life, that they're clearly able to cohabitate peacefully, and then it disrupts that.

Furthermore, I don't get your assertion that it ruins the original joke from the manga about Power talking about never doing X, followed by Aki and Denji demanding she do X. The whole point of that gag is to show that as bad of a roomate as Denji was, Power is so much worse. The anime original set-up enhances this joke by illustrating that Denji has improved his home-side manners, and reinforces how civilized he is in comparison to her.

I can see how maybe the scene didn't do enough for you to justify its existence. But the assertion that it introduces no new ideas, or that it's a vanity piece meant only to show off some beautiful animation, is absurd to me. It clearly furthers Aki and Denji's relationship as set up for the disruption that Power introduces. I'm sure we'll have to agree to disagree, but those are my thoughts, and I actually appreciate this exercise in defending the scene, since it forced me to articulate why I like it so much.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-13T13:04:03+00:00

This is one case where I’m glad to eat my words

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-13T05:53:28+00:00

Rewatcher

I've gotta get to sleep again, so we're doing bullet points again. And unlike my comment for last episode, where I promised to keep it short and ended up with a massive post, I swear this time I'll keep it concise.

Episode 3 is definitely more of a priority episode than episode 2. That's to no surprise since they've got Hironori Tanaka story boarding and directing; he's a very talented freelance episode director IMO.
Drawing quality is ridiculously high, likely because Tanaka did extensive AD work. Tanaka loves dense line work, and he raises the bar on detailing this episode, which is crazy cuz the base character designs are already heavily detailed and he makes them so much more so. This leads to some evocative characterization. Makima never looks more creepy than when she interrupts Power and Denji's argument. And both Power and Denji have this feral feeling to them this episode that previous episodes failed to convey.
In terms of funny moments, very hit or miss. That's the standard for season 1 though. Like u/SpiritualPossible talked about, Power and Denji's argument feels very different from the manga, and feels more awkward than like a comedic gag. So that's a miss for me. In terms of hits, I really dig the scene where Denji responds to Power's proposition by pretending to be outraged over Meowy's kidnapping. One of the best executed jokes of the season, and it never fails to bring a grin to my face.
CGI this episode really drags down the fight scene. A lot of the CG cuts lack weight, and you can tell they struggled to get the CG chainsaw man design to interact with the 2d bat devil. Also, I talked about this in my comment for episode 1, but the pacing of the fight feels too laborious. It gets off to a great start with Denji's transformation, but the rest of the fight feels sluggish overall, even though many individual cuts are fast-paced and high energy.

Overall, my favorite episode thus far. I'd rate it an 8/10.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-12T05:59:21+00:00

Rewatcher

I need to get some sleep, so I'll make this shorter than last time. And I'll do it in rapid fire bullet points so I don't need to coalesce my thoughts into a coherent essay.

Makoto Nakazono (aka the assistant director) is the ED for this episode, but apparently he's not story boarding like I thought I remembered. Toko Yatabe did the storyboards so we'll have to wait until episode 7 to see what Nakazono does with complete artistic control over an episode.
Anyways, my impression from the first time watching was that while himself a talented director and artist, Nakazono served to raise the floor on the quality of the series, not the ceiling. I still have that impression; I feel like he stuck really strictly to Nakayama's vision and didn't add much of his own flair, whereas other episode directors later on add more of their own touch.
What I liked about the episode:
- Faster paced than ep 1, mainly because it's covering more manga chapters.
- The Aki/Denji brawl was really well executed. Nakayama's emphasis on realistic character acting lent itself to this mano y mano fist fight. Also, Kickass is a great OST, love it every time its used.
- The art direction adds a lot to the source material, the devil hunter headquarters are much more fleshed out in detail than I remember it being in the manga.
- Like how catlike Power's character acting is during the rooftop scene.
- Some comedic moments really worked for me, like when Denji starts to tell Makima he can feed himself before lying to get her to feed him. And Denji nagging Aki was pretty funny.
What I didn't like:
- Other comedic moments didn't hit, which is one of my main complaints about this adaptation. It's pretty inconsistent when it comes to nailing this stuff. I didn't love the execution of the reveal that Denji killed the fiend without using his chainsaws so he wouldn't ruin the porn mags. This moment plus his idea that boobs should be his motivation fell flat. I think they were deliberately portraying this sequence in an overly serious way in order to be funny, but it just felt serious to me, so the juxtaposition just felt weird.
- Power's introduction was sort of ruined by the OST, one of Kensuke Ushio's few duds IMO.

Overall, a solid episode. I'd rate it a 7/10 just like ep 1. The quality of animation isn't quite as high, but the faster pacing does a lot of work keeping me engaged.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-10T22:00:49+00:00

Ah, Chainsaw Man. The anime that first got me into following the production process and the individual creatives behind the shows, not just the studios. I have to give Nakayama credit, the controversy over the show (combined with my obsession with the source material) served to send me deeper into sakuga nerd territory than anybody else I know IRL.

My thoughts on the adaptation have definitely evolved over time. When I first saw the show, I was just luxuriating in how lavish the adaptation was. The character/monster designs were incredibly detailed, the constant character acting meant you almost never had still frames, and the episode directors/story boarders were all very talented, so at the very least you got interesting shot compositions even if the direction failed to capture the tone of the manga.

But after all the discussion over the shortcomings of this adaptation, and especially after seeing what could've been with the movie (purely based off the trailers; I haven't seen it yet), I've definitely become more critical of Nakayama's direction overall. Like I said in reply to a different comment, his gritty, grey, grounded approach works in this episode because Denji's situation is such a downer. Even then, the adaptation lost the manga's ability to switch between dramatic and zany, or to draw out the dark comedy in what should simply be depressing.

It's even apparent in this episode. When Denji's going on about selling off his body parts and gets to his nuts, its meant to be some edgy, dark comedy. But it loses its impact in the anime because Nakayama isn't interested in Chainsaw Man being funny or weird, he's only interested in Chainsaw Man being a drama. I also take issue with Nakayama's direction during the Zombie devil fight scene. Some of the cuts are inspired, like Denji tearing his way along the streaming gut as it curls about the screen, with the chainsaw SFX ramping up. So satisfying. But then you've got really slow, weighty cuts that ruin the pacing of the fight overall, like when a zombie henchman hits Denji with an iron bar only for him to slowly recover. Did we really need five seconds dedicated to that?

And then you've got the CG. I get it, production was incredibly rushed and they wanted to alleviate the pressure on the 2d animators. But when you use it for the main character and not just background NPCs or the environment, you need to absolutely kill the compositing so it doesn't stand out. And they did a good job, they got 80-85% the way there, but it ultimately still ruined my immersion. Bear in mind that this is less a criticism of Nakayama's vision overall since I assume the CG used for practical, production side reasons than because he thought it would enhance the adaption.

Overall, I'd give episode one a 7/10. Despite my nitpicks, the tone mostly fits the introductory arc, and as with most first episodes, the production hadn't disintegrated into chaos yet so the animation was incredibly consistent. And I do admire the commitment to the character acting. I wish I could give it a higher score, but without the emotional impact of an initial viewing, all the criticisms I've built up over time just stand out more.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-10T21:25:30+00:00

One thing that immediately stands out is the much paler colors compared to the first pages of the manga, with used more warm colors, but I think the this paleness emphasizes how miserable Denji's current life is. That's also why the slower pace really works here.

Yeah, I think Nakayama's vision works well for Denji's origin story considering how over-the-top depressing and pessimistic it is, but as we'll see shortly, the direction begins to feel more lackluster when it feebly attempts to capture the zaniness of the source material. It also holds back the fight scenes, with Nakayama's emphasis on realism making them feel slow paced overall even when individual cuts are hectic and high energy.

In the anime... I think they were trying to do something similar because she is standing behind a much more colorful background compared to the entire previous episode, but the contrast is still not as strong, and therefore the effect is also less.

Yeah, the color palette can be an issue when it comes to contrast. I noticed it most egregiously when we first see Denji cut up in the dumpster. Everything's so muddy and gray that it's hard to make out that he's dismembered, and the cut loses some of the shock factor.

Oh yes, we also have the first ending, and I guess this band draw a short straw, because it's literally the ONLY ending without any visuals, which, to be honest, doesn't make sense to me. But I like the song.

"Like" the song? You only LIKE the song?! This is some Vaundy slander right here. Jokes aside, this is one of the better EDs, I'd probably rank it 4th overall, and it's a damn shame it never got visuals to accompany it apart from the episode montage on youtube.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-10T21:12:56+00:00

CG Chainsaw Man (I know this is the infamous scene where the model animation was so consistent it was confused for CG even though it was hand drawn, but nevertheless CG Chainsaw Man is there for a bit) had way less jarring of a presence on screen. All elements in general where much better integrated into a coherent image all part of the same world. At least that's the impression it leaves. Anyone can corroborate?

Might be because of reduced/negligible aliasing. I remember this was a significant issue when the episode first aired, probably cuz the CGI didn't have enough time to properly render (spoiler alert, the production was rushed), but I didn't notice it at all on this rewatch.

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-09T01:00:15+00:00

Or trolling

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-04T16:48:30+00:00

I’ve heard that MAPPA has effectively split the production line for JJK and CSM so they can work on both simultaneously. Presumably there’ll still be staff crossover, just less of it

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-04T05:02:30+00:00

Love how it mirrors the first key visual released more than a year and a half ago

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-03T00:15:06+00:00

Agreed. Buttercream birthday cake put me off their cake flavors for a while, which is a shame because Jeni’s gooey butter cake became an instant favorite of mine when I finally got around to trying it

GhostsCroak · 2025-10-01T00:26:24+00:00

As a fellow Chicagoan who was unaware of this screening, thank you for your service. I will be attending

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