Its crazy how before the culling games people were asking were are the fights and it was boring and moving too fast, now there are fights and people say it's too slow
@@BrokenRonin exactly the people complaining are people only look at what’s in front of them and not thinking about what will happen later in the story. I’ve seen people think we’ve seen the last of sorcerers who we’ve beaten like Uro, Ryu, Hiromi and they’re just gonna disappear
Each fight has served to expand the power system. Yuji's fight introduced us to non-lethal domains and their potential. Megumi's highlighted why barriers are so important for domains and we got more details on his technique. Yuta's highlights the difference between cursed energy quantity and curse energy output Hakari's focuses on cursed energy traits And now with Maki, we're seeing how not having cursed energy effects battles.
@@bredrunner Everything within the 200m radius will be slashed non-stop the moment Sukuna activate his domain. If you're not fast enough to escape the area or teleport, you're fucked.
The first big fight of the Culling Games was Yuji vs Higuruma, which considering the dive into their psyches and an underlying theme of justice/punishment for actions... We got substance, quite a bit, considering we can only guess at Kenjaku's schemes
Shoutout to Gege for writing a tournament-esque arc that has both major weight and objective whilst being shrouded in mystery the entire time. It’s fun to theorize what might happen next but this manga is completely unpredictable and that’s what so refreshing and interesting about it.
In my opinon Gege Akutami really perfected the "battle shonen" formula. I never feel like the fights go on for too long and the choreography, abilities and twists are always top notch, pretty often we get some huge information revealed within the fights and the plot is set up in such a way we get to see conflict after conflict in a very natural and engaging way. It may not be my favorite manga but it's the most fun imo and possibly the best in its genre (i don't count OP or HxH here, for me they are adventure with little emphasis on the actual battles)
it definitely works on Shibuya, but not here in my opinion... we've got 33 chapters of pure character introduction and not a really engaging plot is just a farming arc so far, nothing has really happened
@@littorio1806 this is exaclty what i thought when i was reading weekly but after i binge reread all it felt much more enjoyable than weekly experience
@@littorio1806 bro everybody who says it’s slow paced forget they’re reading it week to week and a story has to have development. Reading something week to week and then having the manga and arcs completed, two different things. In addition the scope of the culling games is different, where in a far different stage in the story it’s like people are in a rush for him to make shibuya 2
@@littorio1806 but that’s the point of the culling games it’s not supposed to be complex that’s what shibuya was for. Culling games is all about the characters and their development mentally and as fighters, the entire theme of the the games is about evolution and that’s what we’ve got with each fight so far
The problem is the fact that the arc came after such a beautiful one and some people don't want to wait for that development which is understandable kind of personally i love the arc but i love jjk which may make me biased
@@jackiesoprano2064 The culling games so far is 32 chapters long, whereas Shibuya was 53 chapters long. The culling games is shaping up to be a much longer arc, so it's hard to judge it right now, but I can see why people would be frustrated by the lack of progression so far. Especially if people compare this arc to Shibuya, which 32 chapters into that arc sukuna was fighting Jogo and going on a rampage. Shibuya was paced very differently and involved a lot more character work, at least at this point. I've been enjoying the culling games but I am getting a bit tired of the repetitive colony boss battles.
@@log5531 Not to mention, we already found the individual they need to free Gojo. Once we got that, perspective shift. Which can rub people the wrong way.
@@jackiesoprano2064 also they have to remember that it wasnt just shibuya. That masterpiece wasnt born from nowhere, but from the firts arcs that worked as a build up and foreshadowing at the same time they developed the world and the characters we follow. All that was necessary to give us shibuya, and with the culling games is the same thing. Gege is again building up, developing his characters and world to reach a satisfying conclusion. If you rush him you will only fuck up jjk. Besides, the fights are great and they are giving new depth to the curse energy, developing their characters and giving them the opportunity to grow through experience, wich is important especially for characters like Yuji and Megumi that are very outclased at this point in the story Pd: these people probably read bleach, naruto, dragon ball and one piece. All works that have ten times the filler jjk "has" while also lacking a pourpose to it, and now they come here and dare to complain? They can suck gege's and my dick for all I care
I think it's safe to say that Gege gives us substance in both fights and writing. Atleast I find his writing compelling and enjoy how he will go about revealing something. He does occasionally hit us with a hxh style wall of text, but it's kind of necessary when it's about the prison realm or some extremely indepth and possibly even slightly convoluted ability. The build up before we started getting the fights was a great break from what we just had in and after shibuya, makes this arc feel bigger in a scope kinda way.
I could not agree more. Not only do I think there is substance in the fights outside of just visual spectacle but there is also a slow build of narrative in the background that keeps me on my toes from chapter to chapter
The culling games does alot of storytelling through the fights, we can piece together what other centuries were like based on who appears from them, we get confirmation that Naoya comes back as a curse, we learn so many abilities, and we are only going deeper. People who are saying this arc has no story will most likely be eating their words soon.
ong rn its building up to something even more and the that included shibuya its nothing but a stepping stool for the culling games or for whats to come
I mean 4 months later and we’ve at least finally seen Yuki and Kenjaku fighting even if the story hasn’t really progressed but we might *finally* have an amazing story and reveal chapter in the next 2 months because Kenjaku is actually on the move lel The biggest thing with JJK is you know amazing stuff is coming months down the line but you just kinda end up hoping it’s finally time and getting either mediocre or good but wasted/under used stuff while waiting for the big chapters
Okay, let's put it this way. Why is this question non-existent when people talk about chunin exams or dark tournament? The fact that this topic is even being discussed and many people feel very strongly about it should be very telling in the first place.
I agree with you 100 percent, that the thought that this story arc lacks plot is due to perspective of the arc in a smaller sense, when looked at like that it does seem like we’ve been going in a linear and repetitive line with fight after fight, but even when looked at on the smaller scale almost every fight sets up future plot lines/points. Some people tend to forget that the the purpose of these fights are to gain points and add rules which were some of the objectives of our crew coming into the culling games. It’s easy to forget that when absorbed in the back to back fights and really no chapters to directly and clearly further the plot. Point is that the plot is advancing and the proof is that we’ve added a rule, and have enough points to add another (I think). Oh yeah I forgot to add, that until the whole switch to maki, we’ve been exploring pretty much the same time frame from different perspectives for around 30 chapters, when looking at it like that it should be easy to realize why there haven’t been any major plot shifts or bombs dropped, considering that we were only a hour or two into the culling game. This doesn’t apply to shibuya though because shibuya was way more contained, way smaller than a single colony so of course things would naturally happen faster since it would be the equivalent of having everyone in a single colony.
The culling games definitely has a plot, but that’s more so due to it having a general end goal to begin with imo, the issue of the culling games for me lie from the fact that there has been very little individual character growth for half of the characters that were shown within it , yuji and higuruma being the best, megumi got some outward development in strength and everyone else so far has felt kinda stagnant or bare. Hakari was pretty much the same, panda as well, kashimo, Reggie and ishigori were satisfied ,but they’re no where near as complex as higuruma was for yuji narratively or character wise. The culling games feel like a culmination of side quest to get to the end goal after yuji’s fight. And some could say that may be the point since it’s game esc scenario, but I feel really disinterested when nothing is being developed narratively or characteristically. Just a lot of characters fighting to reach a means to an end. With a lot of cool explanations and slight lore here and there, maki’s upcoming battle seems to be changing that with naoya returning but most of it’s been kinda eh so far, outside of the fights being cool
I disagree on Panda, with the death of his father and the brutal one sided defeat against Kashimo that led to the death of his sibling cores, there's alot of potential growth for him in terms of character and power
@@kiatorrette5631 I mean yeah there’s potential there to be expanded on, but it wasn’t expanded on in the culling games so his character doesn’t really develop there, it’s just set up for where his character could go, and his pops died at the end of Shibuya , not the culling games
@@SubjectJuice nah its acc included in culling game chapters i think the first chapter is 143 yuta talking to yuji after killing him. if im wrong, sos ig
Fair point but set up is very important for each character's development which I am anticipating will happen. If Gege doesn't follow through it will be a problem but as a reader it seems each character is being set up for development.
I can Agree on Hakari not getting much development but you cant say Seeing our Boy Yuta who used to be so timid and indecisive is now so grown strong in his acts and His Word by vowing to KILL Kenjaku and take on the burden of getting the points on himself and At the last moment try to go all out just for the heck of it as someone who has never found meaning in fights, Megumi killing ppl for tsumiki showing Again how he is inherently very different than Yuji , and ofc we all agree how Yuji has shown to accept his role as a Vessel and As A Sorcerer . Sure these themes have not been blatantly stated but when you re-read the series they become apparently very clear to see .
great discussion here, glad you addressed how massive the scope of this arc is !! were many, many chapters in and its only getting started really, it blew my mind after realized only a few days had passed in the story after the kashimo and hakari fight. the storytelling through the fights and insane moments/tactics are so satisfying.
So a year later and uhhh, There is no bomb, yuji and fushiguro don’t get any stronger, none of our questions about yuki were answered and she’s dead, kenjaku’s end goal is interesting actually so there’s that, tsumiki is not ok and she’s dead, angel serves no purpose to the story and only exists to free gojo and have some interesting character motives that would have been explored if gege wasn’t driving this story at a million miles per hour, and sukuna’s plan was to take megumi’s body and… kill gojo… I guess. Hm
@@Periodik Possibly. Personally I'm enjoying the direction this story is going.. mostly. Recent chapters have been very nice.. but there are definitely large writing flaws
@@somerandomdiamond7345 now that the story is over I’m happy to say that jujutsu Kaisen is my favorite story of all time. Mostly I just had a lot of time to re evaluate my opinions on what had already happened, and I love this series through and through
Kind of feel like this arc is fleshing out the power scale. I absolutely LOVE JJK but I always felt like we got to see the low end of the scale in the weak curses and the high end in Gojo, but the in between felt kind of nebulous. This arc really shows you where everyone sits in relation and also shows the versatility of things we thought we understood before.
This arc has been amazing so far. The premise/plan was established before the group entered the CG and now we are seeing the plan come into place, idk why some are upset lol This arc has the potential to be better than Shibuya if done right. When we see Kenjaku's plan in entirety and Sukuna the wild card, Its gonna change the series, again lol I'm so pumped for this arc!
While I never thought the Culling Games was just a brawl fest, it has in a way been hard to follow in terms of where things are going because of the amount of characters that are at play, which does slow down the plot moving at a natural speed like you touch upon. When it comes to Shibuya, it pretty much started off with the sealing of Gojo which is a massive turn of events, so that impact was still felt throughout the arc while watching all these conflicts take place, and because of how big of a moment the sealing was, we weren't left starving of "plot progression". But it's hard to compare Shibuya to Culling Games considering how massive in scale this arc is, there's just a lot going on especially when looking at the arcs length. I've since dropped the manga a few months ago because I wasn't enjoying the week to week experience, but I'll definitely give this arc another go upon a binge read like you say. Good stuff!
Honestly, dropping the arc for a couple months will probably make it way more fun to read. I don't think that these fights aren't pushing the narrative, but reading them weekly, especially with the constant breaks, makes the fights feel less like a way of plot progression and more of a checklist. Combine that with relatively light character work so far(excluding higuruma, yuji, and to an extent Megumi), and I understand why some people are getting impatient. Being able to binge the chapters, get through the fights quickly, and then move on to larger plot threads will make the arc a lot more enjoyable.
Okay, so what about the actual characters and the storytelling? There can be a tournament, while having great and nuanced character writing. The characters themselves barely matter besides what they do to further the plot. It's a plot driven show, that constantly leaves potential character drama to the wayside. Makes you give less and less of a shit about the actual characters and what happens to them.
@@suneethalankipalli8643 I have read the manga. Even caught up with Ch. 265 a few hours ago. The characters barely matter. We'll see this sentiment grow more and more as the Culling Games start and we're introduced to like 10+ characters and more minor changes get more screen time ....only for people to realize not much goes on character wise. These next 2 arcs also really emphasize what Gege means when he says that he can't write female characters.
My problem is it happened too soon. I understand this is a battle shonen but with how much we were being set up with yuji in shibuya, I just wanted a little more time with him and all of the characters reflecting on the events of shibuya. They move on almost immediately
While the Culling Game is still my least favorite arc, I appreciate it more. I disagree with Yuta's fight having the gravitas of a finale since the opponents are pretty shallow in comparison to the Disaster Curses and Choso, but I'm glad some people like it.
I think what you're arguing is the potential of the culling games (which is undoubtedly high). Most ppl have a problem with what we have realistically gotten so far. There has been little sprinkles of lore here and there, but the plot progression has kinda been at a stand still for more than 30 chapters. The new characters we have so far all seem pretty shallow in their motives, with the exception being Higuruma and maybe Uro later on ( but all we've gotten from her so is her yelling "FUJIWARAAAAA!!!" annoyingly) . All the breaks we have gotten make the pacing way worse as well. But I'm not satisfied with what we've gotten so far. I'm just ready for this first segment to end so that we can get into some important stuff...
Hold the manga and come back later to read at once 30 ch of fights are nothing if u ask me and especially in jjk the fights flow very differently it's just that people need to have patience arc like Shibuya take time to setup. And I'm sure that what happening rn.
The fights all have purpose and are leading up to larger outcomes. It's not as if these fights are meaningless. They each play a narrative role and give us a chance to watch a variety of the main cast in fights. The plot being slow isn't a flaw. It allows the reader to savor the moments and digest the impact of those moments. This also allows for any twists or major revelations to feel surprising because we crept towards each morsel of info rather than sprinted through them. I think this writing strategy has been done before and seems to fit well in this situation.
When I felt you were about to start firing off questions about the exciting plot points that gege still has to tie up I found myself asking them out loud along with the video and got more and more pumped each time we synced up😂. Not enough of my friends are into JJK (as much as I want them to be, anyway), so your content scratches that itch 100%. Your level of thought and detail into each upload is refreshing and always gets me hyped for what’s coming next. Cheers!
You know BR, there's something you once said in one of your videos that stuck with me. It was something along the lines of "PEOPLE REFUSE TO GIVE JJK THE SAME AMOUNT OF INDEPTH ANALYSIS THAT THEY GIVE TO OTHER SERIES." Every single time when I can't tell where Gege is going with something, I get more expectant. I mean it became clearer where Gege was going with this arc when the Sendai colony arc began and its sad that other people can't see the grandness of this arc. If Gege hadn't said he'll be finishing the series in 2 years, I'd be comfortably waiting for an entire Heian Era arc after the Culling Games on top of a final arc afterwards.
Yuji was literally judged in his fight allowing us to see his mental state and that he blames himself for everything Megumis allows us to see Megumis progress in power and how far hell go for his sister Yutas fight against those 3 sorcers tell us different things all at once, the roach curse showed how powerful a curse like that can get and showed how horrible the world was getting for non sorcerer's. The weird hair guy shows a need for something in his life and a sort of nihilism that all sorcerer's kind of feel and the assassin shows the discrimination towards certain people who they fear have too much power but also shows a bit of her own hypocrisy No substance?please
I said it in another cmt but i really do feel like we're in a setup phase for as hype as the fights are rn Thru the fights the key players and areas are being laid out and everything will ramp up later down the line
Bingo, the past 30 chapters have been to show us the pov of all of our crew in the culling game. After this maki pov no doubt things will ramp up plot wise.
For me its more the utterly trashed state the lore and cast are in, like the lore is completely ridiculous at this point deadass saying curses barely appear outside of Japan somehow and instead of an arc like the Kyoto Games where it feels like the cast is actually there the culling games is an isolated collection of monster of the week type fights that take months to get through and most of the good characters just disappear instead of being relevant It really has the issue people had with Naruto where the cast just kinda gets trashed to focus on like 2 characters most of the time and what makes it disappointing is there’s so much good stuff that just isn’t used or is completely tossed after its arc is done I also didn’t like Shibuya as much because towards the end it was just a kill fest for no reason with most of the cast that died just fucking being ignored after the initial shock value *LIKE CAN WE FUCKING TALK ABOUT HOW ONE OF THE DAMN PROTAGONISTS FUCKING DYING HAS ONLY BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED ONCE OUTSIDE OF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENING?!* The culling game arc being so good potentially and hyped is exactly *why* it’s disappointing to read because it ends up as good fights and characters being mostly spectacle that doesn’t matter on top of ruined lore and a cast that gets sidelined for a year Really after the slaughter fest in Shibuya and Kugisaki being handled so poorly i just kinda felt “yeah this character is probably gonna die too whatever” and Getou is just kinda a better villain but he had to get completely memed for Kenjaku who is just mr evil mysterious man that throws out gods like fucking Pokémon and *might* be as good as Getou if we hope for enough months TLDR: the cast was almost entirely scrapped after Shibuya with a fuck ton of deaths that were only treated for shock value along with the surviving cast not mattering whatsoever for over a year and the lore is a complete joke at this point so that really weighs on an arc as grand and far reaching as the culling games where what we’ve been given is so interesting and hyped but completely unused that having to wait years of crumbs for the payoff really diminishes the reading experience as opposed to the other arcs It just kinda feels like there’s a lot of stuff that could and should be happening but isn’t because we’re caught up in mystery baiting and hoping its as good as we’re being led to believe and better than what could have been happening At the end of the day JJK is really the wait and see next year kind of manga as opposed to ones that are literally forced to have a good weekly experience with a good overall experience or they get fucking canceled
Once the days go by and the culling games progresses with everything like angel, saving tsumiki, the ‘bomb’, unsealing gojo, kenjakus plan and maybe some character deaths. Depending on all these variables and how they play out is gonna decide the future of jjk. I trust that gege hasn’t fallen off since shibuya arc.
I’ve felt somewhat mixed on the Culling Games, sometimes I get a bit of whiplash from everything getting thrown at us so fast yet slow, but then when I read the Hakari/Kashimo fight I got hyped outta my mind. If/when this gets animated, I think it’ll be a masterclass of writing and fighting in anime
I see the Culling Games as basically an unorthodox tournament arc. While it has rules and parameters, similar to a tournament arc, it's chaotic structure kinda tricks you into not realizing it. It's one of those arcs that is more character-driven than plot-driven. Revealing Yuji's trauma and guilt through his fight with Higaruma, revealing just how tactically vicious Megumi can be on his own against Reggie, showing how far Yuta has come since Vol. 0 against Ishigori and Uro, and really displaying why Hakari was stated to be on Yuta and eventually Gojo's level... The plot is a lot simpler than Shibuya's because the actual specific events of each fight are less important than the characters in those fights.
I definitely feel like this arc is gonna be one of those ones that's better on a re-read once it's all over. Right now, the story is progressing and the fights are amazing while fleshing out abilities, philosophies, and characters more than before, but it definitely does feel like the plot itself has been moving at a far slower pace than other arcs. Just thinking about the whole arc so far from memory, it felt like the plot specifically was progressing the most at the beginning then got slowed down to a near halt once we actually entered the colonies themselves. Again, there are still tons of things that're being more fleshed out through these great fights, but even with how much I love them I could start to feel the "alright but when are we actually gonna progress here" even from near the climax of Yuta's fights. We've been learning more but not really moving forward which I feel is a pretty valid criticism
I have to agree with you, i'm itching to get back with Megumi and Ittidory, Sukina makes me sweat there is a lot of tension right now, I do hope we get back to seeing what kind of state Megumi and Yugi are currently in as I think out of everyone they did win but are the worse for wear. Yutta is right, he's stronger than the others right now and that concerns him greatly, if Megumi or Itidori had encountered the same foes Yutta did, I think they are both dead.
THANK YOU FOR THIS BROKEN RONIN, So glad I am not the only one who is tired of this arc!!! The fights bore me, seem directionless, and most of these so far are involving characters I just don't care about. Even when it was Yuji I was bored. The author is very sloppy with who is involved with this. Just characters he is pulling out the butt just appear.
Before: The culling games is boring with no fights and all politics. After: The culling games is only fights with no substance. Like, you've gotta pick one bro.
Exactly all the fights were different. I felt more for yuuji in his fight with higuruma than I have ever felt for him. Megumi showing us why he has 10/10 intelligence never gets boring. Yuta casual schooling special grade sorcerers from the past was so fucking amazing. How he casual said domain expansion while the rest were yelling was funny We thought Hakari was an asshole like todou. But seeing his character fully fleshed out was amazing. I didn't know who would win between Hakari and Kashimo coz Hakari had to show why gojou believed in him. Kashimo had to show why he had 200 points and wants to fight sukuna. The culling games have been incredible and we are still at the preliminary stages..... And Maki greatness next
I'd just like if we could zoom out after each fight or two with a chapter that goes over the current standings of culling game players. Or at least let us see yuji again. It's been a while and I'm missing him
@@Bighomie39 definitely, as much as I love all the other characters, yuji is our touchstone and it'd be nice to see him and his goings on every now and then.
@@tons241 Also, every single fight being around 5-6 chapters is really killing the pace. These new CTs and applications of them are cool, but it's sort of a rule to use 1-2 chapters for more minor fights and then use 5-6 for the big ones. And of course, there's the REALLY big fights, which can often clock in at double digit chapters.
I think people also forget that the reason these fights are occurring are in service to a larger goal, that being to add rules and collect points. Each fight ends with progression on that front, and thats not getting into the specific character moments that elevate the fights even more for me (Yuji pleading guilty to mass murder and Megumi killing a man to save his sister for example) that make these fights some of the best in the series from a narrative standpoint.
I think reading this arc weakly can give you vibe of lacking plot because for more than a year we constantly get a fight chapter after a fight chapter. So the issue is just it weekly. But if people would reread the whole arc, they wouldn’t get the vibe of lacking plot at all
Dude u are speaking straight up facts. Imo tho I'm not sure Maki can defeat Naoya right now. His speed now far surpasses his as a sorcerer and her cursed tool doesn't seem like it has any special properties, also Noritoshi is out or potentially dead so no team up.
Imo Gege is the master of adding substance into his fights, and every punch thrown, every kick taken, has something or the other greater behind the lines of the panel.
Culling Games barely has any story, you can just Skip most of the story and your ok, the only important and good stuff is the zenin clans massacre and makis char development there, nothing else, and gojo vs sukuna, basically only those
Worse arc in all of JJK honestly, extremely dissapointed Only cool thing there was the zenin clan arc. NOTHING ELSE. THAT AND THE GOJO FIGHT which unironically lacked some action
I had worries about jjk writing flaws back during the preparation Arc (just after Shibuya) , but I thought it was just due Gege's health issues and that it'd be resolved after a break . I was hyped 2 years ago , Yuji's fight against Higuruma was interesting , Megumi's fight against paper dress man (I forgot his name) was epic. But after that I started to feel bored , nothing tangible was happening , it was just fight after fight with new characters I didn't really care for .
@@madmouse4400this is why i dont want culling games to be canon, its actually terrible. All fights and character slaughtering, nothing else, you dont give them story, character development, NOTHING AT ALL. YOU JUST MAKE THEM FIGHT AND KILL EACHOVER NONSTOP.
Worst arc in JJK, pure humilation to characters. Just fights and fights, atleast dragon ball gives the characters breaks. Its actually sad. After Jogo Vs Sukuna it went downhill. Cant believe people actually like this. They humilated Nobara and Gojo so hard. Especially Nobara, the way she died was ENTIRELY EMBARRASSING. If Gego kills Maki and Yuta, hopefully fans quit and ACTUALLY tell him. Also, its just, killing of characters, and just, fighting...barely anything else, no character development, no stories, these are just asspull characters, 1 being Yorozu, god shes unlikeable, personality, motives, EVERYTHING EXPECT DESIGN. GOD. then you got yuki, which is the same case, expect her motives are far better, she is just interesting abilities wise, nothing else at all. Hakari is the only "Okay" new character in this arc, no one else, this guy has interesting abilities, a cool personality, some "interesting" motives.
In plot department it's more "all setup, no payoff" as you mentioned there is bunch of plot stuff that has been set up, but most of those are still just seeds and even those seem pretty sparse between fights. I honsetly forgot half of those threads you mentioned in first half of your video, there been so much stuff after them.
I'm curious as to how things will shape up with Naoya, considering the very high likelihood of him gaining some kind of new power with his butterfly-like evolution as a vengeful curse. Something tells me that he may very well be an important part of the culling game. I don't think Gege would go through all the trouble of brining him back only for him to be the same as other culling game villains
Ok I want to give my own take on this topic. While I definitely agree the Culling Games has been very good so far. I honestly have some issues and find certain decisions concerning. 1. The whole rushed Zenin massacre. The whole Zenin clan being woefully underdeveloped and not given enough time to know them before Maki basically kill them all off. Just felt so random and out of nowhere. Plus there wasn't major consequences for Maki killing an entire Big 3 family. Mai and her relationship with Maki feels very underdeveloped so it's kinda hard to care. 2. The sump guy and the katana popping up out of nowhere to help and teach Maki to improve. I get it but I think Akutami could've handled that way better. 3. Hakari's fights has been very annoying not because of the actual fights but his abilities are very nonsensical and redundant. All that Pachinko and rules stuff is window dressing he just gets a power up guaranteed. I personally didn't really care for his abilities and only cared for that fight because of Kashimo. 4. I feel this arc is trying to set up for the final arc already when their seems to be so much this series needs to explore and dive more into like more on the Gojo and Kamo Clan. Like despite one of the main characters and the main villain having connection to those clans we never see anyone else from them and don't know anything about them outside what pertains to Gojo, Kamo, and Kamo/Kenjaku. With Kenjaku as the new leader I'm hoping we learn more about them. The other Death Paintings, the 3 Vengeful Spirits, Sukuna's backstory, I feel like Akutami might be rushing to the finale (while dilly dallying with some fights) and this could negatively affect the series in the future (like it did MHA). I hope I'm wrong and Akutami turns it around. I'm enjoying the arc due to the fights, characters, and the fact it seems to be setting up stuff. Unlike Shibuya which was a rollercoaster from beginning to end Culling Games seem to be building things up to some grand event in the arc. Shibuya could afford it since the previous arcs prior we're all building up to it. I think the arc really begins when all the pieces are finally in play.
It's like saying that Haikyuu is all volleyball matches lmao, people need to understand that these volleyball matches/fights are ways of telling the story.
The manga answers your first question: can't remember where nor from who, but they do allude to the fact that some elements in the game do not make proper sense and wonder what the real objective is. So, we are not supposed to know what Kenjaku is doing with the CG, I suppose it is something that we will discover/piece together at the same time as the other characters. Also, there is storytelling through the fights. We do learn about the new folks, their frustrations, their ambition, their hatred, what they want and why... we also learn new things about people we already knew. A whole chapter was dedicated to Panda and his "siblings" and how he was perceiving their relationship. Yuuta showed a selfish side in his definition of justice, but also how he pushes his view on people while acknowledging that he is blessed. Yuji is still torn about what Sukuna did, but meeting Higuruma (who needs to come back omg) kinda helped him to see the dichotomy in what happened. Let's not even talk about Maki. Even Noritoshi got some emotional development.
what are people talking about when they say "the culling game's fights are getting boring and repetitive". Kashimo vs Hakari is literally in my top 5 JJK fights lol
People will always find something to complain about which is why you can never please everybody and shouldn’t bother to The culling game has been amazing so far a very amazing arc and I have a feeling that it might top Shibuya very brilliant Akutami never disappoints.
This arc doesn’t lack any narrative, people are just impatient. They want all the action with the story pacing of MHA, like. chill. If they ain’t seeing the bigger picture, that’s on them when a plot point goes over their heads after a big reveal. Tired of people discrediting the action in this arc to smooth brained reading when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Maybe I’m just a simple man or maybe I’ve had to much time to think about it. The Culling Games has been absolutely amazing to me. The mysteries all set up between the end of Shibya and the start of the Games has been fantastic. Each fight has been insane in many different ways. God I haven’t felt like a single chapter hasn’t had so much energy, I’m reading weekly and I forget often how many weeks has passed since the start because it feels like it just started a few months ago with how crazy the battles have been. Thanks Robin for fighting against criticism that I fine is wholly untrue.
We totally got substance tho Higaruma is now my favorite character in the series and only gets even better with his writing in the final arc in my opinion. We get to see in depth yuji and hiromi’s sense of justice clash giving more info on both characters,we get most of the info on Hakari that we get throughout the whole story and Kashmir is introduced. And the Sendai colony gives us a ton of info on how Yuta has grown as a character. Finally we get a more in depth look into the fucked up psyche that is megumi fushigoro and we get to meet takaba who is again in my opinion a well written gag character. It might be a hot take but I think culling games is my favorite arc.
I mean not really i think that they have to establish a new basis for our characters. I mean i can see threads developing with each character but we need to establish power without gojo and have every character slowly move towards one another. I think its gonna be a hype arc when it finishes
people are just skipping the strategy part, what they're gonna do in the culling game, then complain when it's just fight. Cant expect much from shounen readers.
Dude I literally love the calling game arc so far all the fights have been kiping me on my sit and there's still so much about the hole calling game that we still don't know
Hey can you do a video on megumis current power level in the story and maybe some potential abilities he can develop in the story you could probably do the same for ittadori I feel like his powers are goin to be like nothing we’ve seen so far in the story
the fact that we can call the recent rapid-fire carnage in the games "preliminary fights" gets me so hype for the rest of the mental and emotional anguish Gege has in store for us that i could puke. lets goooo.
There are substances. As mentioned by Oggy 5000 in the comment sections. Aside from that, there are also personal substances. Higuruma seeing and knowing how Yuji feels about the destruction of Shibuya. Megumi's connection with Angel. Yuta's personal connection to Uro (Yuta's ancestor) and also satisfying Ishigori's hunger for "dessert" Hakari and Kashimo recognize each other's strength and eventually have mutual respect. and now (currently) Maki and Naoya (with his vengeance as a cursed spirit) + Noritoshi's supposed purpose and growth.
BR! amazing video as always! thanks for the entertainment ! I need some insight, is it possible that Nagoya died because of Kenjaku? seeing how Maki supposedly killed her mom ?
Shibuya was so engaging, it was nuts-to-butts the WHOLE time and was so good. I’ve been having trouble staying interested in the Culling Game, simple because it’s a lot of focus on characters I don’t care about. I’m not a huge fan of the “follow different characters for extended periods” style of story telling, and since it’s been ages since we’ve had Yuji, Megumi, and Gojo, I’m losing interest. I just don’t give much of a fuck anymore. I mean, when was the last time we saw Yuji…166/167? I don’t necessarily want to spend months and months on Hakari, Maki, or even Yuta having visually noisy fights that don’t seem to progress the story. I suppose when JJK is over, this will flow much nicer when you can just buzz right through everyone’s fights, but being a weekly reader is painful. The short chapters are also frustrating. Right now I’m personally just burned out on the Culling Games. I’ve been taking a break and will pick them up again when I can read several chapters in a row (and hopefully by then Yuji will be back and the story will start to climax).
I want to ask, when we first met hakari he used an unknown technique against yugi but now in the culling game he uses only domain expansion, so does he not have a cursed technique?
There is substance, just need to pay attention. The culling games is meant to be subtle as to where everything is going in possibilities and mystery. You notice the flashbacks and details, also the danger is constantly increasing while the characters are growing in a well written and cool way both protagonist and antagonist. Jjk with how it works is very interesting
I think the fights in the culling games are very necessary pieces in the grand scale of the entire arc. However, my biggest issue is how little emotional impact/character writing there has been outside of Yuji vs Higuruma. I think this is a result of having to introduce many characters all at once. TLDR; it’s 90% buildup, 10% payoff so far. Not necessarily a problem, but it feels slow reading weekly.
Its like in any manga really when there is a big war arc - You cannot possibly be attached to all characters. Plus the culling game is still in a build up phass where the cast is picking up allies, The emotion will come or not later with these characters!! Personally I enjoy every bit of those introduce like Reggie, Uru, Ryu & Kashimo, even Kuroroushi!!
That's crazy because i think the character writing of Uro, Yuta, Ryu, Hakari, and Kashimo ihas been amazing even if there hasn't been too much emotional impact because we are still in the first phases of the arc.
People also forget that a good amount of characters (both friend and foe) died in Shibuya. So Gege has to introduce some new ones into the story to make up for the ones who are gone/out of commission
gotta disagree on hakari vs kashmo. i got bored with hakari's domain being the center of the entire fight and not showing something new in the fighr unlike with yuta and uro and ishigori. Reggie vs Megumi was cool.
6:45 Reggie overstayed his welcome? What does this mean?? Not to mention his fight with Megumi was the most grounded one that doesnt rely on asspulls every chapter like Yuta. Im sorry, but there is a reason why there is a decline of the fanbase because of this arc.
I think people expecting some sort of crazy character development from Yuta and Hakari is strange when both were basically just introduced (reintroduced in Yuta’s case) and need at least a mini arc to (re)establish character personality and even ideals, which is what happened. A lot of their ideals were either shown to us in their fights or outright told to us. Also, Kashimo is a complete mystery character to me. Obviously, he’s a battle monger but why to this extent?
You bring up some interesting plot threads bubbling under the surface, but they’re not guaranteed to play out within this specific arc. So frankly speaking I think the criticism is fair, because SO FAR, this arc hasn’t really done much (aside from some of Gege’s most insanely choreographed fights to date which I’m honestly more than happy with)
I first wanna say I appreciate the respectful push back however I have to disagree a bit. 1. I think the direct after math of this arc and its consequences count as major points in the plots favor (shibuya for example is contextualized much better when you realize it built to this) 2. I think the criticism of this arc having no plot doesn't work because of all the setup IN THIS ARC that we've gotten. The only plot points I bring up that weren't established in this very arc is Mahoraga's taming, Sukuna's technique and Sukuna's plan. Everything else has been setup within this arc to be payed off later. So I think it'd be a bit weird to critique the arc for "lacking plot" simply because we haven't gotten the payoff yet. If we kept that line of thinking all arcs should be criticized for lacking plot until their conclusion, which they usually arent
@@BrokenRonin Appreciate the thoughtful response- btw been a fan of your content for a while now so I'm glad u didn't take my comment the wrong way 🙏 This might be more a note on Gege's narrative style/structure/pacing overall, (which is pushed to an 11 here) where plot threads slowly and subtly build up until it explodes to the surface like in Shibuya. Set up and payoff is a great narrative tool, but a good example of an arc that manages to do this while also having the plotlines themselves progress DURING the arc rather than all at the end, would be Ennies Lobby from One Piece. In other words, I do think it's valid to criticize an arc for lacking plot until their conclusion- some people are fine with that type of pacing or structure though, which is also valid. (That being said, I will admit there is still some level of progression in the way Yuji and Megumi are plotting to rack up points to change the rules and save everyone) But yea, I def agree there's insane potential for the end of this arc, even if some plot threads are left hanging I know there's some crazy, game-changing shit up Gege's sleeve. So while I still have issues with the way the arc is structured/paced, I think you're right that the arc on a grand scheme has plenty of substance.
I HEAVILY disagree with your assessment because the most important part of a story is its characters and this arc has incorporated excellent character development within these various fights that are taking place simultaneously.
@@Watermelon_Mancharacter development is really great, but there are ways to do it while simultaneously advancing the plot. Here the plot kinda stops while the fights play out
I can't wait to see where Akutami is going to take us with this arc, I think that so far they're trying a little bit to distract us, but fairly soon we'll probably enter a new part on the games, and it's gonna be crazy. Btw, is there going to be an Honoured one podcast this week ? :)
I do think this arc has been pretty great though I wouldn't say as great as shibuya mostly due to yuji vs mahito (+todo for some of it) being the best fight in the series so far imo and toji's return and obvious parallel to gojo not to mention the all of reveals. I do think the culling games will build up to moments in the arc that rivals or even surpasses all of these though. Like you said, it has the most narrative potential and I truly do wonder how Gege will tie up all the plot threads that have been set up thus far.
As some people pointed out it’s mostly the weekly aspect that drags this arc down. In my honest opinion this arc is gonna be like how Dressrosa was for One Piece in the fact that after all was said and done rereading it with no weekly wait will make people really like it.
It's the most creative tournament arc I've seen in shonen since yuyu Hakusho dark tournament. The point of the culling games right now is to introduce interesting characters and themes while expanding the power system. The story hasn't developed enough to give a negative critique on it. At the moment the fights we're getting are so good that I'm just enjoying those and Akutami Gege is making sure to sprinkle a little plot development slowly overtime. This is honestly some masterful writing people are just insanely ridiculous
i'm a part of the people that think there wouldn't be so much talk about the plot not moving foward if Megumi's and Yuji's povs weren't the first ones we see. If one of them was in the middle of Hakari's and Yuta's it wouldn't feel like the main plot is not moving. One of the objectives of the arc was fiding Angel, wich we did in Megumi's pov, and another objective was to get points in order to create those 4 rules and Yuji has already created one. Yuta's and Hakeri's povs happens around the same time as theyrs so after achieving two major plot points we are thrown back to a time in wich they haven't been achieved thus creating that notion that the main plot haven't moved. Maki's pov takes place after said major plot points were achieved so now the main plot can move again.
How could anyone read the Yuji v Higuruma and not see how guilt still haunts Yuji him; or notice how Megumi is less suicidal in fights and a lot more confident; or how we're getting more insight into the past generation with kashimo and Kenjaku? Some people are just not paying attention... I swear
This is just a theory but what if this is a coming of age ceremony with three main purposes 1. Imbue the world with curse energy 2. Resurrect sukuna and 3. Get yuji strong enough to handle containing all the curse energy and then break his mind and spirit to bring forth a Heian period. Just food for thought, and yes I do believe yuji is kenjaku's bomb he just doesn't know it yet
Its crazy how before the culling games people were asking were are the fights and it was boring and moving too fast, now there are fights and people say it's too slow
It was very interesting to see people that aren't big fans of JJK switch their issues like that
@@BrokenRonin exactly the people complaining are people only look at what’s in front of them and not thinking about what will happen later in the story. I’ve seen people think we’ve seen the last of sorcerers who we’ve beaten like Uro, Ryu, Hiromi and they’re just gonna disappear
Same thing they said for Shibuya, until it became Shibuya
@@BrokenRonin Maybe the plot may take more focus once all the main characters have reunited with each other
Can't please everybody. Fuk em
Each fight has served to expand the power system.
Yuji's fight introduced us to non-lethal domains and their potential.
Megumi's highlighted why barriers are so important for domains and we got more details on his technique.
Yuta's highlights the difference between cursed energy quantity and curse energy output
Hakari's focuses on cursed energy traits
And now with Maki, we're seeing how not having cursed energy effects battles.
I’m curious as to why the no-barrier factor of Sukuna’s domain is considered so strong. Is his domain still inescapable?
@@bredrunner you can escape it but its kinda impossible if ur the target (unless ur gojo n teleport) bcuz its 200m of dismantle nd cleave
Great observation!
@@bredrunner I think he chose no barrier to extend the range via heavenly restriction
@@bredrunner Everything within the 200m radius will be slashed non-stop the moment Sukuna activate his domain. If you're not fast enough to escape the area or teleport, you're fucked.
The first big fight of the Culling Games was Yuji vs Higuruma, which considering the dive into their psyches and an underlying theme of justice/punishment for actions...
We got substance, quite a bit, considering we can only guess at Kenjaku's schemes
Shoutout to Gege for writing a tournament-esque arc that has both major weight and objective whilst being shrouded in mystery the entire time. It’s fun to theorize what might happen next but this manga is completely unpredictable and that’s what so refreshing and interesting about it.
yes meh, gojo now in half lel he die to sukuna haha
In my opinon Gege Akutami really perfected the "battle shonen" formula. I never feel like the fights go on for too long and the choreography, abilities and twists are always top notch, pretty often we get some huge information revealed within the fights and the plot is set up in such a way we get to see conflict after conflict in a very natural and engaging way.
It may not be my favorite manga but it's the most fun imo and possibly the best in its genre (i don't count OP or HxH here, for me they are adventure with little emphasis on the actual battles)
it definitely works on Shibuya, but not here in my opinion... we've got 33 chapters of pure character introduction and not a really engaging plot
is just a farming arc so far, nothing has really happened
@@littorio1806 this is exaclty what i thought when i was reading weekly but after i binge reread all it felt much more enjoyable than weekly experience
@@littorio1806 bro everybody who says it’s slow paced forget they’re reading it week to week and a story has to have development. Reading something week to week and then having the manga and arcs completed, two different things. In addition the scope of the culling games is different, where in a far different stage in the story it’s like people are in a rush for him to make shibuya 2
@@littorio1806 but that’s the point of the culling games it’s not supposed to be complex that’s what shibuya was for.
Culling games is all about the characters and their development mentally and as fighters, the entire theme of the the games is about evolution and that’s what we’ve got with each fight so far
@@littorio1806 You are so embarrassingly wrong that it’s not even laughable. It’s just sad
The problem is the fact that the arc came after such a beautiful one and some people don't want to wait for that development which is understandable kind of personally i love the arc but i love jjk which may make me biased
Yeah people need to understand you can’t compare the beginning of an arc to one that’s be completed and had a lot of time to be digested
@@jackiesoprano2064
The culling games so far is 32 chapters long, whereas Shibuya was 53 chapters long. The culling games is shaping up to be a much longer arc, so it's hard to judge it right now, but I can see why people would be frustrated by the lack of progression so far. Especially if people compare this arc to Shibuya, which 32 chapters into that arc sukuna was fighting Jogo and going on a rampage. Shibuya was paced very differently and involved a lot more character work, at least at this point. I've been enjoying the culling games but I am getting a bit tired of the repetitive colony boss battles.
@@log5531 Not to mention, we already found the individual they need to free Gojo. Once we got that, perspective shift. Which can rub people the wrong way.
@@jackiesoprano2064 also they have to remember that it wasnt just shibuya. That masterpiece wasnt born from nowhere, but from the firts arcs that worked as a build up and foreshadowing at the same time they developed the world and the characters we follow. All that was necessary to give us shibuya, and with the culling games is the same thing. Gege is again building up, developing his characters and world to reach a satisfying conclusion. If you rush him you will only fuck up jjk. Besides, the fights are great and they are giving new depth to the curse energy, developing their characters and giving them the opportunity to grow through experience, wich is important especially for characters like Yuji and Megumi that are very outclased at this point in the story
Pd: these people probably read bleach, naruto, dragon ball and one piece. All works that have ten times the filler jjk "has" while also lacking a pourpose to it, and now they come here and dare to complain? They can suck gege's and my dick for all I care
I think it's safe to say that Gege gives us substance in both fights and writing. Atleast I find his writing compelling and enjoy how he will go about revealing something. He does occasionally hit us with a hxh style wall of text, but it's kind of necessary when it's about the prison realm or some extremely indepth and possibly even slightly convoluted ability. The build up before we started getting the fights was a great break from what we just had in and after shibuya, makes this arc feel bigger in a scope kinda way.
I could not agree more. Not only do I think there is substance in the fights outside of just visual spectacle but there is also a slow build of narrative in the background that keeps me on my toes from chapter to chapter
The culling games does alot of storytelling through the fights, we can piece together what other centuries were like based on who appears from them, we get confirmation that Naoya comes back as a curse, we learn so many abilities, and we are only going deeper. People who are saying this arc has no story will most likely be eating their words soon.
ong rn its building up to something even more and the that included shibuya its nothing but a stepping stool for the culling games or for whats to come
I mean 4 months later and we’ve at least finally seen Yuki and Kenjaku fighting even if the story hasn’t really progressed but we might *finally* have an amazing story and reveal chapter in the next 2 months because Kenjaku is actually on the move lel
The biggest thing with JJK is you know amazing stuff is coming months down the line but you just kinda end up hoping it’s finally time and getting either mediocre or good but wasted/under used stuff while waiting for the big chapters
Okay, let's put it this way. Why is this question non-existent when people talk about chunin exams or dark tournament? The fact that this topic is even being discussed and many people feel very strongly about it should be very telling in the first place.
People need to get over nostalgia, a good 40% of the Chunin Exams arc feels like filler. The Land of Waves arc is so much better paced in comparison.
its been a FANTASTIC ARC SO FAR TO ME
I agree with you 100 percent, that the thought that this story arc lacks plot is due to perspective of the arc in a smaller sense, when looked at like that it does seem like we’ve been going in a linear and repetitive line with fight after fight, but even when looked at on the smaller scale almost every fight sets up future plot lines/points. Some people tend to forget that the the purpose of these fights are to gain points and add rules which were some of the objectives of our crew coming into the culling games. It’s easy to forget that when absorbed in the back to back fights and really no chapters to directly and clearly further the plot. Point is that the plot is advancing and the proof is that we’ve added a rule, and have enough points to add another (I think). Oh yeah I forgot to add, that until the whole switch to maki, we’ve been exploring pretty much the same time frame from different perspectives for around 30 chapters, when looking at it like that it should be easy to realize why there haven’t been any major plot shifts or bombs dropped, considering that we were only a hour or two into the culling game. This doesn’t apply to shibuya though because shibuya was way more contained, way smaller than a single colony so of course things would naturally happen faster since it would be the equivalent of having everyone in a single colony.
Eloquently put
The culling games definitely has a plot, but that’s more so due to it having a general end goal to begin with imo, the issue of the culling games for me lie from the fact that there has been very little individual character growth for half of the characters that were shown within it , yuji and higuruma being the best, megumi got some outward development in strength and everyone else so far has felt kinda stagnant or bare. Hakari was pretty much the same, panda as well, kashimo, Reggie and ishigori were satisfied ,but they’re no where near as complex as higuruma was for yuji narratively or character wise. The culling games feel like a culmination of side quest to get to the end goal after yuji’s fight. And some could say that may be the point since it’s game esc scenario, but I feel really disinterested when nothing is being developed narratively or characteristically. Just a lot of characters fighting to reach a means to an end. With a lot of cool explanations and slight lore here and there, maki’s upcoming battle seems to be changing that with naoya returning but most of it’s been kinda eh so far, outside of the fights being cool
I disagree on Panda, with the death of his father and the brutal one sided defeat against Kashimo that led to the death of his sibling cores, there's alot of potential growth for him in terms of character and power
@@kiatorrette5631 I mean yeah there’s potential there to be expanded on, but it wasn’t expanded on in the culling games so his character doesn’t really develop there, it’s just set up for where his character could go, and his pops died at the end of Shibuya , not the culling games
@@SubjectJuice nah its acc included in culling game chapters i think the first chapter is 143 yuta talking to yuji after killing him. if im wrong, sos ig
Fair point but set up is very important for each character's development which I am anticipating will happen. If Gege doesn't follow through it will be a problem but as a reader it seems each character is being set up for development.
I can Agree on Hakari not getting much development but you cant say Seeing our Boy Yuta who used to be so timid and indecisive is now so grown strong in his acts and His Word by vowing to KILL Kenjaku and take on the burden of getting the points on himself and At the last moment try to go all out just for the heck of it as someone who has never found meaning in fights, Megumi killing ppl for tsumiki showing Again how he is inherently very different than Yuji , and ofc we all agree how Yuji has shown to accept his role as a Vessel and As A Sorcerer . Sure these themes have not been blatantly stated but when you re-read the series they become apparently very clear to see .
I think JJK is a masterclass in writing action-focused stories in general and this arc just proves it even more
great discussion here, glad you addressed how massive the scope of this arc is !! were many, many chapters in and its only getting started really, it blew my mind after realized only a few days had passed in the story after the kashimo and hakari fight. the storytelling through the fights and insane moments/tactics are so satisfying.
So a year later and uhhh,
There is no bomb, yuji and fushiguro don’t get any stronger, none of our questions about yuki were answered and she’s dead, kenjaku’s end goal is interesting actually so there’s that, tsumiki is not ok and she’s dead, angel serves no purpose to the story and only exists to free gojo and have some interesting character motives that would have been explored if gege wasn’t driving this story at a million miles per hour, and sukuna’s plan was to take megumi’s body and… kill gojo… I guess.
Hm
Has your opinion changed in the last 3 months?
@@somerandomdiamond7345 Probably for the worse.
@@Periodik Possibly. Personally I'm enjoying the direction this story is going.. mostly. Recent chapters have been very nice.. but there are definitely large writing flaws
Well one year later. It got worse 😂
@@somerandomdiamond7345 now that the story is over I’m happy to say that jujutsu Kaisen is my favorite story of all time. Mostly I just had a lot of time to re evaluate my opinions on what had already happened, and I love this series through and through
Kind of feel like this arc is fleshing out the power scale. I absolutely LOVE JJK but I always felt like we got to see the low end of the scale in the weak curses and the high end in Gojo, but the in between felt kind of nebulous. This arc really shows you where everyone sits in relation and also shows the versatility of things we thought we understood before.
Like literally. Scaling and seeing fighters evolve as they go on
This arc has been amazing so far.
The premise/plan was established before the group entered the CG and now we are seeing the plan come into place, idk why some are upset lol
This arc has the potential to be better than Shibuya if done right. When we see Kenjaku's plan in entirety and Sukuna the wild card,
Its gonna change the series, again lol
I'm so pumped for this arc!
While I never thought the Culling Games was just a brawl fest, it has in a way been hard to follow in terms of where things are going because of the amount of characters that are at play, which does slow down the plot moving at a natural speed like you touch upon. When it comes to Shibuya, it pretty much started off with the sealing of Gojo which is a massive turn of events, so that impact was still felt throughout the arc while watching all these conflicts take place, and because of how big of a moment the sealing was, we weren't left starving of "plot progression". But it's hard to compare Shibuya to Culling Games considering how massive in scale this arc is, there's just a lot going on especially when looking at the arcs length. I've since dropped the manga a few months ago because I wasn't enjoying the week to week experience, but I'll definitely give this arc another go upon a binge read like you say. Good stuff!
Honestly, dropping the arc for a couple months will probably make it way more fun to read. I don't think that these fights aren't pushing the narrative, but reading them weekly, especially with the constant breaks, makes the fights feel less like a way of plot progression and more of a checklist. Combine that with relatively light character work so far(excluding higuruma, yuji, and to an extent Megumi), and I understand why some people are getting impatient. Being able to binge the chapters, get through the fights quickly, and then move on to larger plot threads will make the arc a lot more enjoyable.
Okay, so what about the actual characters and the storytelling? There can be a tournament, while having great and nuanced character writing. The characters themselves barely matter besides what they do to further the plot. It's a plot driven show, that constantly leaves potential character drama to the wayside. Makes you give less and less of a shit about the actual characters and what happens to them.
You have not read the manga lmao
@@suneethalankipalli8643 I have read the manga. Even caught up with Ch. 265 a few hours ago.
The characters barely matter. We'll see this sentiment grow more and more as the Culling Games start and we're introduced to like 10+ characters and more minor changes get more screen time ....only for people to realize not much goes on character wise. These next 2 arcs also really emphasize what Gege means when he says that he can't write female characters.
You’re correct.
My problem is it happened too soon. I understand this is a battle shonen but with how much we were being set up with yuji in shibuya, I just wanted a little more time with him and all of the characters reflecting on the events of shibuya. They move on almost immediately
My only complaint is we haven't seen yuuji and Megumi in 20+ chapter, at least a glimpse of what they were doing
While the Culling Game is still my least favorite arc, I appreciate it more. I disagree with Yuta's fight having the gravitas of a finale since the opponents are pretty shallow in comparison to the Disaster Curses and Choso, but I'm glad some people like it.
I think what you're arguing is the potential of the culling games (which is undoubtedly high). Most ppl have a problem with what we have realistically gotten so far. There has been little sprinkles of lore here and there, but the plot progression has kinda been at a stand still for more than 30 chapters. The new characters we have so far all seem pretty shallow in their motives, with the exception being Higuruma and maybe Uro later on ( but all we've gotten from her so is her yelling "FUJIWARAAAAA!!!" annoyingly) . All the breaks we have gotten make the pacing way worse as well. But I'm not satisfied with what we've gotten so far.
I'm just ready for this first segment to end so that we can get into some important stuff...
Hold the manga and come back later to read at once 30 ch of fights are nothing if u ask me and especially in jjk the fights flow very differently it's just that people need to have patience arc like Shibuya take time to setup. And I'm sure that what happening rn.
The fights all have purpose and are leading up to larger outcomes. It's not as if these fights are meaningless. They each play a narrative role and give us a chance to watch a variety of the main cast in fights.
The plot being slow isn't a flaw. It allows the reader to savor the moments and digest the impact of those moments. This also allows for any twists or major revelations to feel surprising because we crept towards each morsel of info rather than sprinted through them.
I think this writing strategy has been done before and seems to fit well in this situation.
Also, people don’t seem to understand that reading something on a week-to-week basis is not accurate to how well it’s paced.
When I felt you were about to start firing off questions about the exciting plot points that gege still has to tie up I found myself asking them out loud along with the video and got more and more pumped each time we synced up😂.
Not enough of my friends are into JJK (as much as I want them to be, anyway), so your content scratches that itch 100%. Your level of thought and detail into each upload is refreshing and always gets me hyped for what’s coming next. Cheers!
Not gonna lie Gege did take a lot from Yu Yu Hakusho, it reminds me so much of the Dark Tournament lmao 🤣
I like the spin on the whole “tournament arc” there’s nothing stopping people from ganging up, intervening or just not participating and I love it
You know BR, there's something you once said in one of your videos that stuck with me. It was something along the lines of "PEOPLE REFUSE TO GIVE JJK THE SAME AMOUNT OF INDEPTH ANALYSIS THAT THEY GIVE TO OTHER SERIES."
Every single time when I can't tell where Gege is going with something, I get more expectant.
I mean it became clearer where Gege was going with this arc when the Sendai colony arc began and its sad that other people can't see the grandness of this arc.
If Gege hadn't said he'll be finishing the series in 2 years, I'd be comfortably waiting for an entire Heian Era arc after the Culling Games on top of a final arc afterwards.
Yuji was literally judged in his fight allowing us to see his mental state and that he blames himself for everything
Megumis allows us to see Megumis progress in power and how far hell go for his sister
Yutas fight against those 3 sorcers tell us different things all at once, the roach curse showed how powerful a curse like that can get and showed how horrible the world was getting for non sorcerer's. The weird hair guy shows a need for something in his life and a sort of nihilism that all sorcerer's kind of feel and the assassin shows the discrimination towards certain people who they fear have too much power but also shows a bit of her own hypocrisy
No substance?please
Although yuji blamed himself that was obvious, I wanted much more from him considering he literally watched sukuna kill thousands of people.
I said it in another cmt but i really do feel like we're in a setup phase for as hype as the fights are rn Thru the fights the key players and areas are being laid out and everything will ramp up later down the line
Bingo, the past 30 chapters have been to show us the pov of all of our crew in the culling game. After this maki pov no doubt things will ramp up plot wise.
For me its more the utterly trashed state the lore and cast are in, like the lore is completely ridiculous at this point deadass saying curses barely appear outside of Japan somehow and instead of an arc like the Kyoto Games where it feels like the cast is actually there the culling games is an isolated collection of monster of the week type fights that take months to get through and most of the good characters just disappear instead of being relevant
It really has the issue people had with Naruto where the cast just kinda gets trashed to focus on like 2 characters most of the time and what makes it disappointing is there’s so much good stuff that just isn’t used or is completely tossed after its arc is done
I also didn’t like Shibuya as much because towards the end it was just a kill fest for no reason with most of the cast that died just fucking being ignored after the initial shock value *LIKE CAN WE FUCKING TALK ABOUT HOW ONE OF THE DAMN PROTAGONISTS FUCKING DYING HAS ONLY BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED ONCE OUTSIDE OF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENING?!*
The culling game arc being so good potentially and hyped is exactly *why* it’s disappointing to read because it ends up as good fights and characters being mostly spectacle that doesn’t matter on top of ruined lore and a cast that gets sidelined for a year
Really after the slaughter fest in Shibuya and Kugisaki being handled so poorly i just kinda felt “yeah this character is probably gonna die too whatever” and Getou is just kinda a better villain but he had to get completely memed for Kenjaku who is just mr evil mysterious man that throws out gods like fucking Pokémon and *might* be as good as Getou if we hope for enough months
TLDR: the cast was almost entirely scrapped after Shibuya with a fuck ton of deaths that were only treated for shock value along with the surviving cast not mattering whatsoever for over a year and the lore is a complete joke at this point so that really weighs on an arc as grand and far reaching as the culling games where what we’ve been given is so interesting and hyped but completely unused that having to wait years of crumbs for the payoff really diminishes the reading experience as opposed to the other arcs
It just kinda feels like there’s a lot of stuff that could and should be happening but isn’t because we’re caught up in mystery baiting and hoping its as good as we’re being led to believe and better than what could have been happening
At the end of the day JJK is really the wait and see next year kind of manga as opposed to ones that are literally forced to have a good weekly experience with a good overall experience or they get fucking canceled
Once the days go by and the culling games progresses with everything like angel, saving tsumiki, the ‘bomb’, unsealing gojo, kenjakus plan and maybe some character deaths.
Depending on all these variables and how they play out is gonna decide the future of jjk. I trust that gege hasn’t fallen off since shibuya arc.
I’ve felt somewhat mixed on the Culling Games, sometimes I get a bit of whiplash from everything getting thrown at us so fast yet slow, but then when I read the Hakari/Kashimo fight I got hyped outta my mind. If/when this gets animated, I think it’ll be a masterclass of writing and fighting in anime
It’s rly just started they’re trying to showcase everyone’s new powers rn before moving to the bigger picture
Love the culling games and it's definitely not just fights but I am still watching the video 😋😂
I see the Culling Games as basically an unorthodox tournament arc. While it has rules and parameters, similar to a tournament arc, it's chaotic structure kinda tricks you into not realizing it. It's one of those arcs that is more character-driven than plot-driven. Revealing Yuji's trauma and guilt through his fight with Higaruma, revealing just how tactically vicious Megumi can be on his own against Reggie, showing how far Yuta has come since Vol. 0 against Ishigori and Uro, and really displaying why Hakari was stated to be on Yuta and eventually Gojo's level... The plot is a lot simpler than Shibuya's because the actual specific events of each fight are less important than the characters in those fights.
Are you kidding ? Before it even started I was like "Great, another tournament in a shonen...". Bruh
Ishigori is also one of my favorite characters in the culling games also including kashimo
I definitely feel like this arc is gonna be one of those ones that's better on a re-read once it's all over. Right now, the story is progressing and the fights are amazing while fleshing out abilities, philosophies, and characters more than before, but it definitely does feel like the plot itself has been moving at a far slower pace than other arcs.
Just thinking about the whole arc so far from memory, it felt like the plot specifically was progressing the most at the beginning then got slowed down to a near halt once we actually entered the colonies themselves. Again, there are still tons of things that're being more fleshed out through these great fights, but even with how much I love them I could start to feel the "alright but when are we actually gonna progress here" even from near the climax of Yuta's fights. We've been learning more but not really moving forward which I feel is a pretty valid criticism
I have to agree with you, i'm itching to get back with Megumi and Ittidory, Sukina makes me sweat there is a lot of tension right now, I do hope we get back to seeing what kind of state Megumi and Yugi are currently in as I think out of everyone they did win but are the worse for wear. Yutta is right, he's stronger than the others right now and that concerns him greatly, if Megumi or Itidori had encountered the same foes Yutta did, I think they are both dead.
THANK YOU FOR THIS BROKEN RONIN, So glad I am not the only one who is tired of this arc!!! The fights bore me, seem directionless, and most of these so far are involving characters I just don't care about. Even when it was Yuji I was bored. The author is very sloppy with who is involved with this. Just characters he is pulling out the butt just appear.
Before: The culling games is boring with no fights and all politics.
After: The culling games is only fights with no substance.
Like, you've gotta pick one bro.
JJK fans are bipolar
Facts pick one
You can have both no? No need to be Russian or Chinese sbout this.
Exactly all the fights were different.
I felt more for yuuji in his fight with higuruma than I have ever felt for him.
Megumi showing us why he has 10/10 intelligence never gets boring.
Yuta casual schooling special grade sorcerers from the past was so fucking amazing. How he casual said domain expansion while the rest were yelling was funny
We thought Hakari was an asshole like todou. But seeing his character fully fleshed out was amazing. I didn't know who would win between Hakari and Kashimo coz Hakari had to show why gojou believed in him. Kashimo had to show why he had 200 points and wants to fight sukuna.
The culling games have been incredible and we are still at the preliminary stages.....
And Maki greatness next
I'd just like if we could zoom out after each fight or two with a chapter that goes over the current standings of culling game players. Or at least let us see yuji again. It's been a while and I'm missing him
Yeah, it's been so long as a weekly reader that I forgot what Yuji and Megumi are up to rn
@@Bighomie39 definitely, as much as I love all the other characters, yuji is our touchstone and it'd be nice to see him and his goings on every now and then.
@@tons241 Also, every single fight being around 5-6 chapters is really killing the pace. These new CTs and applications of them are cool, but it's sort of a rule to use 1-2 chapters for more minor fights and then use 5-6 for the big ones. And of course, there's the REALLY big fights, which can often clock in at double digit chapters.
Yuta being “hyped up to be the next Gojo” hits so different now.
I think people also forget that the reason these fights are occurring are in service to a larger goal, that being to add rules and collect points. Each fight ends with progression on that front, and thats not getting into the specific character moments that elevate the fights even more for me (Yuji pleading guilty to mass murder and Megumi killing a man to save his sister for example) that make these fights some of the best in the series from a narrative standpoint.
Ronin is goated for their thumbnails honestly. This one works for so many reasons
I think reading this arc weakly can give you vibe of lacking plot because for more than a year we constantly get a fight chapter after a fight chapter. So the issue is just it weekly. But if people would reread the whole arc, they wouldn’t get the vibe of lacking plot at all
Agree, the issue for me is more about the pacing with the weekly chapters, rather than lack of plot points.
Even if it was mindless boxing, shit would still be entertaining.
Dude u are speaking straight up facts.
Imo tho I'm not sure Maki can defeat Naoya right now.
His speed now far surpasses his as a sorcerer and her cursed tool doesn't seem like it has any special properties, also Noritoshi is out or potentially dead so no team up.
Imo Gege is the master of adding substance into his fights, and every punch thrown, every kick taken, has something or the other greater behind the lines of the panel.
@@spainwithoutthes4376 what do you think now?
for someone to say this arc has no “plot,” hasn’t been reading well. this shit is amazing through and through
Culling Games barely has any story, you can just Skip most of the story and your ok, the only important and good stuff is the zenin clans massacre and makis char development there, nothing else, and gojo vs sukuna, basically only those
Worse arc in all of JJK honestly, extremely dissapointed
Only cool thing there was the zenin clan arc. NOTHING ELSE.
THAT AND THE GOJO FIGHT which unironically lacked some action
I had worries about jjk writing flaws back during the preparation Arc (just after Shibuya) , but I thought it was just due Gege's health issues and that it'd be resolved after a break .
I was hyped 2 years ago , Yuji's fight against Higuruma was interesting , Megumi's fight against paper dress man (I forgot his name) was epic.
But after that I started to feel bored , nothing tangible was happening , it was just fight after fight with new characters I didn't really care for .
@@madmouse4400this is why i dont want culling games to be canon, its actually terrible.
All fights and character slaughtering, nothing else, you dont give them story, character development, NOTHING AT ALL.
YOU JUST MAKE THEM FIGHT AND KILL EACHOVER NONSTOP.
Worst arc in JJK, pure humilation to characters.
Just fights and fights, atleast dragon ball gives the characters breaks.
Its actually sad.
After Jogo Vs Sukuna it went downhill.
Cant believe people actually like this.
They humilated Nobara and Gojo so hard.
Especially Nobara, the way she died was ENTIRELY EMBARRASSING.
If Gego kills Maki and Yuta, hopefully fans quit and ACTUALLY tell him.
Also, its just, killing of characters, and just, fighting...barely anything else, no character development, no stories, these are just asspull characters, 1 being Yorozu, god shes unlikeable, personality, motives, EVERYTHING EXPECT DESIGN.
GOD.
then you got yuki, which is the same case, expect her motives are far better, she is just interesting abilities wise, nothing else at all.
Hakari is the only "Okay" new character in this arc, no one else, this guy has interesting abilities, a cool personality, some "interesting" motives.
Might be one of the worst takes ever, even 6 months later 😭
I 100% agree, a lot of ppl don't see it the same way and that's kind of a shame
In plot department it's more "all setup, no payoff" as you mentioned there is bunch of plot stuff that has been set up, but most of those are still just seeds and even those seem pretty sparse between fights. I honsetly forgot half of those threads you mentioned in first half of your video, there been so much stuff after them.
I'm curious as to how things will shape up with Naoya, considering the very high likelihood of him gaining some kind of new power with his butterfly-like evolution as a vengeful curse. Something tells me that he may very well be an important part of the culling game. I don't think Gege would go through all the trouble of brining him back only for him to be the same as other culling game villains
Ok I want to give my own take on this topic. While I definitely agree the Culling Games has been very good so far. I honestly have some issues and find certain decisions concerning.
1. The whole rushed Zenin massacre. The whole Zenin clan being woefully underdeveloped and not given enough time to know them before Maki basically kill them all off. Just felt so random and out of nowhere. Plus there wasn't major consequences for Maki killing an entire Big 3 family. Mai and her relationship with Maki feels very underdeveloped so it's kinda hard to care.
2. The sump guy and the katana popping up out of nowhere to help and teach Maki to improve. I get it but I think Akutami could've handled that way better.
3. Hakari's fights has been very annoying not because of the actual fights but his abilities are very nonsensical and redundant. All that Pachinko and rules stuff is window dressing he just gets a power up guaranteed. I personally didn't really care for his abilities and only cared for that fight because of Kashimo.
4. I feel this arc is trying to set up for the final arc already when their seems to be so much this series needs to explore and dive more into like more on the Gojo and Kamo Clan. Like despite one of the main characters and the main villain having connection to those clans we never see anyone else from them and don't know anything about them outside what pertains to Gojo, Kamo, and Kamo/Kenjaku. With Kenjaku as the new leader I'm hoping we learn more about them. The other Death Paintings, the 3 Vengeful Spirits, Sukuna's backstory,
I feel like Akutami might be rushing to the finale (while dilly dallying with some fights) and this could negatively affect the series in the future (like it did MHA). I hope I'm wrong and Akutami turns it around.
I'm enjoying the arc due to the fights, characters, and the fact it seems to be setting up stuff. Unlike Shibuya which was a rollercoaster from beginning to end Culling Games seem to be building things up to some grand event in the arc. Shibuya could afford it since the previous arcs prior we're all building up to it. I think the arc really begins when all the pieces are finally in play.
Media illiteracy truly is a problem
LMAO yea I feel you on that
It's like saying that Haikyuu is all volleyball matches lmao, people need to understand that these volleyball matches/fights are ways of telling the story.
The manga answers your first question: can't remember where nor from who, but they do allude to the fact that some elements in the game do not make proper sense and wonder what the real objective is. So, we are not supposed to know what Kenjaku is doing with the CG, I suppose it is something that we will discover/piece together at the same time as the other characters.
Also, there is storytelling through the fights. We do learn about the new folks, their frustrations, their ambition, their hatred, what they want and why... we also learn new things about people we already knew. A whole chapter was dedicated to Panda and his "siblings" and how he was perceiving their relationship. Yuuta showed a selfish side in his definition of justice, but also how he pushes his view on people while acknowledging that he is blessed. Yuji is still torn about what Sukuna did, but meeting Higuruma (who needs to come back omg) kinda helped him to see the dichotomy in what happened. Let's not even talk about Maki. Even Noritoshi got some emotional development.
what are people talking about when they say "the culling game's fights are getting boring and repetitive". Kashimo vs Hakari is literally in my top 5 JJK fights lol
Facts Kashimo and Hakari is my favorite fight in the series.
People will always find something to complain about which is why you can never please everybody and shouldn’t bother to
The culling game has been amazing so far a very amazing arc and I have a feeling that it might top Shibuya very brilliant Akutami never disappoints.
This arc doesn’t lack any narrative, people are just impatient.
They want all the action with the story pacing of MHA, like. chill. If they ain’t seeing the bigger picture, that’s on them when a plot point goes over their heads after a big reveal.
Tired of people discrediting the action in this arc to smooth brained reading when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Maybe I’m just a simple man or maybe I’ve had to much time to think about it. The Culling Games has been absolutely amazing to me. The mysteries all set up between the end of Shibya and the start of the Games has been fantastic. Each fight has been insane in many different ways. God I haven’t felt like a single chapter hasn’t had so much energy, I’m reading weekly and I forget often how many weeks has passed since the start because it feels like it just started a few months ago with how crazy the battles have been. Thanks Robin for fighting against criticism that I fine is wholly untrue.
We totally got substance tho
Higaruma is now my favorite character in the series and only gets even better with his writing in the final arc in my opinion. We get to see in depth yuji and hiromi’s sense of justice clash giving more info on both characters,we get most of the info on Hakari that we get throughout the whole story and Kashmir is introduced. And the Sendai colony gives us a ton of info on how Yuta has grown as a character. Finally we get a more in depth look into the fucked up psyche that is megumi fushigoro and we get to meet takaba who is again in my opinion a well written gag character.
It might be a hot take but I think culling games is my favorite arc.
Hey what's up bro love the content i miss talking to you bro it's been a while hope you're doing ok
I'm doing good man, hope you are as well
@@BrokenRonin I'm doing good bro keep up the good work it really helps my day get better
I mean not really i think that they have to establish a new basis for our characters. I mean i can see threads developing with each character but we need to establish power without gojo and have every character slowly move towards one another. I think its gonna be a hype arc when it finishes
I’m loving how fast these fights are moving, the length makes each matchup hit hard while not overstaying it’s welcome
people are just skipping the strategy part, what they're gonna do in the culling game, then complain when it's just fight. Cant expect much from shounen readers.
Dude I literally love the calling game arc so far all the fights have been kiping me on my sit and there's still so much about the hole calling game that we still don't know
Hey can you do a video on megumis current power level in the story and maybe some potential abilities he can develop in the story you could probably do the same for ittadori I feel like his powers are goin to be like nothing we’ve seen so far in the story
the fact that we can call the recent rapid-fire carnage in the games "preliminary fights" gets me so hype for the rest of the mental and emotional anguish Gege has in store for us that i could puke. lets goooo.
There are substances. As mentioned by Oggy 5000 in the comment sections. Aside from that, there are also personal substances.
Higuruma seeing and knowing how Yuji feels about the destruction of Shibuya.
Megumi's connection with Angel.
Yuta's personal connection to Uro (Yuta's ancestor) and also satisfying Ishigori's hunger for "dessert"
Hakari and Kashimo recognize each other's strength and eventually have mutual respect.
and now (currently) Maki and Naoya (with his vengeance as a cursed spirit) + Noritoshi's supposed purpose and growth.
BR!
amazing video as always! thanks for the entertainment !
I need some insight, is it possible that Nagoya died because of Kenjaku? seeing how Maki supposedly killed her mom ?
Shibuya was so engaging, it was nuts-to-butts the WHOLE time and was so good. I’ve been having trouble staying interested in the Culling Game, simple because it’s a lot of focus on characters I don’t care about. I’m not a huge fan of the “follow different characters for extended periods” style of story telling, and since it’s been ages since we’ve had Yuji, Megumi, and Gojo, I’m losing interest. I just don’t give much of a fuck anymore. I mean, when was the last time we saw Yuji…166/167? I don’t necessarily want to spend months and months on Hakari, Maki, or even Yuta having visually noisy fights that don’t seem to progress the story. I suppose when JJK is over, this will flow much nicer when you can just buzz right through everyone’s fights, but being a weekly reader is painful. The short chapters are also frustrating. Right now I’m personally just burned out on the Culling Games. I’ve been taking a break and will pick them up again when I can read several chapters in a row (and hopefully by then Yuji will be back and the story will start to climax).
Its a classy way to do in the ring vs type of matches without getting in the ring
I want to ask, when we first met hakari he used an unknown technique against yugi but now in the culling game he uses only domain expansion, so does he not have a cursed technique?
U should do a video on Kenjaku and discuss his intellect, abilities and plans. He is the most interesting character for me
There is substance, just need to pay attention. The culling games is meant to be subtle as to where everything is going in possibilities and mystery. You notice the flashbacks and details, also the danger is constantly increasing while the characters are growing in a well written and cool way both protagonist and antagonist. Jjk with how it works is very interesting
I Wonder if anyone remembers Ronin when He did a video with a face cam I still rember it to this day 🤔
I think the fights in the culling games are very necessary pieces in the grand scale of the entire arc. However, my biggest issue is how little emotional impact/character writing there has been outside of Yuji vs Higuruma. I think this is a result of having to introduce many characters all at once.
TLDR; it’s 90% buildup, 10% payoff so far.
Not necessarily a problem, but it feels slow reading weekly.
Its like in any manga really when there is a big war arc - You cannot possibly be attached to all characters.
Plus the culling game is still in a build up phass where the cast is picking up allies, The emotion will come or not later with these characters!!
Personally I enjoy every bit of those introduce like Reggie, Uru, Ryu & Kashimo, even Kuroroushi!!
That's crazy because i think the character writing of Uro, Yuta, Ryu, Hakari, and Kashimo ihas been amazing even if there hasn't been too much emotional impact because we are still in the first phases of the arc.
People also forget that a good amount of characters (both friend and foe) died in Shibuya. So Gege has to introduce some new ones into the story to make up for the ones who are gone/out of commission
gotta disagree on hakari vs kashmo. i got bored with hakari's domain being the center of the entire fight and not showing something new in the fighr unlike with yuta and uro and ishigori. Reggie vs Megumi was cool.
This is a power boost/training arc hidden as a death game. The whole point is to give characters power boost for the final arc.
6:45 Reggie overstayed his welcome? What does this mean?? Not to mention his fight with Megumi was the most grounded one that doesnt rely on asspulls every chapter like Yuta. Im sorry, but there is a reason why there is a decline of the fanbase because of this arc.
Amazing breakdown. They just don't see the main goal
I think people expecting some sort of crazy character development from Yuta and Hakari is strange when both were basically just introduced (reintroduced in Yuta’s case) and need at least a mini arc to (re)establish character personality and even ideals, which is what happened. A lot of their ideals were either shown to us in their fights or outright told to us.
Also, Kashimo is a complete mystery character to me. Obviously, he’s a battle monger but why to this extent?
You bring up some interesting plot threads bubbling under the surface, but they’re not guaranteed to play out within this specific arc.
So frankly speaking I think the criticism is fair, because SO FAR, this arc hasn’t really done much (aside from some of Gege’s most insanely choreographed fights to date which I’m honestly more than happy with)
I first wanna say I appreciate the respectful push back however I have to disagree a bit.
1. I think the direct after math of this arc and its consequences count as major points in the plots favor (shibuya for example is contextualized much better when you realize it built to this)
2. I think the criticism of this arc having no plot doesn't work because of all the setup IN THIS ARC that we've gotten. The only plot points I bring up that weren't established in this very arc is Mahoraga's taming, Sukuna's technique and Sukuna's plan. Everything else has been setup within this arc to be payed off later. So I think it'd be a bit weird to critique the arc for "lacking plot" simply because we haven't gotten the payoff yet.
If we kept that line of thinking all arcs should be criticized for lacking plot until their conclusion, which they usually arent
@@BrokenRonin Appreciate the thoughtful response- btw been a fan of your content for a while now so I'm glad u didn't take my comment the wrong way 🙏
This might be more a note on Gege's narrative style/structure/pacing overall, (which is pushed to an 11 here) where plot threads slowly and subtly build up until it explodes to the surface like in Shibuya. Set up and payoff is a great narrative tool, but a good example of an arc that manages to do this while also having the plotlines themselves progress DURING the arc rather than all at the end, would be Ennies Lobby from One Piece. In other words, I do think it's valid to criticize an arc for lacking plot until their conclusion- some people are fine with that type of pacing or structure though, which is also valid. (That being said, I will admit there is still some level of progression in the way Yuji and Megumi are plotting to rack up points to change the rules and save everyone)
But yea, I def agree there's insane potential for the end of this arc, even if some plot threads are left hanging I know there's some crazy, game-changing shit up Gege's sleeve. So while I still have issues with the way the arc is structured/paced, I think you're right that the arc on a grand scheme has plenty of substance.
I HEAVILY disagree with your assessment because the most important part of a story is its characters and this arc has incorporated excellent character development within these various fights that are taking place simultaneously.
@@Watermelon_Mancharacter development is really great, but there are ways to do it while simultaneously advancing the plot. Here the plot kinda stops while the fights play out
Imagine when this peak fiction gets animated 🔥🔥🔥😤😤😤😤
Honestly once this shit animated man it’s gonna fucking break the Internet
I'm kinda lost with the story in general but I enjoy it as a whole
That’s what they would say about the Dark Tournament if it was new today.
I can't wait to see where Akutami is going to take us with this arc, I think that so far they're trying a little bit to distract us, but fairly soon we'll probably enter a new part on the games, and it's gonna be crazy.
Btw, is there going to be an Honoured one podcast this week ? :)
I do think this arc has been pretty great though I wouldn't say as great as shibuya mostly due to yuji vs mahito (+todo for some of it) being the best fight in the series so far imo and toji's return and obvious parallel to gojo not to mention the all of reveals. I do think the culling games will build up to moments in the arc that rivals or even surpasses all of these though. Like you said, it has the most narrative potential and I truly do wonder how Gege will tie up all the plot threads that have been set up thus far.
As some people pointed out it’s mostly the weekly aspect that drags this arc down. In my honest opinion this arc is gonna be like how Dressrosa was for One Piece in the fact that after all was said and done rereading it with no weekly wait will make people really like it.
Binge reading kill the hype train.
@@justsomerandomweeb4243 Not to me, I had a better time reading this arc after saving up a few chapters then reading.
It's the most creative tournament arc I've seen in shonen since yuyu Hakusho dark tournament. The point of the culling games right now is to introduce interesting characters and themes while expanding the power system. The story hasn't developed enough to give a negative critique on it. At the moment the fights we're getting are so good that I'm just enjoying those and Akutami Gege is making sure to sprinkle a little plot development slowly overtime. This is honestly some masterful writing people are just insanely ridiculous
I'd argue that's the series in general, had to drop it a few months ago.
i'm a part of the people that think there wouldn't be so much talk about the plot not moving foward if Megumi's and Yuji's povs weren't the first ones we see. If one of them was in the middle of Hakari's and Yuta's it wouldn't feel like the main plot is not moving. One of the objectives of the arc was fiding Angel, wich we did in Megumi's pov, and another objective was to get points in order to create those 4 rules and Yuji has already created one. Yuta's and Hakeri's povs happens around the same time as theyrs so after achieving two major plot points we are thrown back to a time in wich they haven't been achieved thus creating that notion that the main plot haven't moved. Maki's pov takes place after said major plot points were achieved so now the main plot can move again.
As much as that is ideal i feel that too would get complaints such as stop cutting from the fights
How could anyone read the Yuji v Higuruma and not see how guilt still haunts Yuji him; or notice how Megumi is less suicidal in fights and a lot more confident; or how we're getting more insight into the past generation with kashimo and Kenjaku? Some people are just not paying attention... I swear
This is just a theory but what if this is a coming of age ceremony with three main purposes 1. Imbue the world with curse energy 2. Resurrect sukuna and 3. Get yuji strong enough to handle containing all the curse energy and then break his mind and spirit to bring forth a Heian period. Just food for thought, and yes I do believe yuji is kenjaku's bomb he just doesn't know it yet
Its deadass a top 2 arc in the series i have no clue why ppl arent enjoying it as much as i am
Can you do a full video on how well itadori and megumi would have done if they switched fights for the culling game