If you’ve seen the trailers, you’re probably aware this comes packaged with a recap of the entire Shibuya Incident. On paper, this seems like a way to catch up viewers who haven’t seen this arc in preparation for the new episodes. Here’s the thing: the movie is only 83 minutes, barring the credits, and 41 minutes are the new episodes. So the recap portion of this covers 18 episodes in 42 minutes. If you’re expecting a coherent re-telling of this arc or a chance to rewatch your favorite action cuts uninterrupted, prepare to be disappointed. Most of it is cut so fast that the scenes bleed into each other. You get fragments of these viral moments, expecting to know how it plays out already. It’s less like a compilation and more like scrolling through someone’s live-watch thread of Season 2.

Having said that, this approach was interesting to experience once. While it’s a mess of a summary, it’s edited almost like a two-episode AMV. Seeing Jogo’s beatdown cut to the beat of “SpecialZ” or “more than words” playing for the rest of Mahito’s fight was pretty cool to see. This makes the one time they don’t do this stand out: for the first time, you get to see Yuji’s Crash-Out in front of the crater WITHOUT King Gnu going “You are my Special “in the background. I actually liked that moment in the show, because it felt like Sukuna hijacked the editing room to continue trolling Itadori at his lowest moment. At the same time, his sense of dread hits differently when you get to just stew in his thoughts. Moments like this might be worth it for die-hard fans, but don’t worry if you show up late: the two eps we’ve got are already a cinematic experience.

Right out the gate, we’re dropped into what Yuji’s life is like, constantly on the run. Living off whatever rations he can find in the ruins of Shibuya, curses of all sizes chase him through every corner. Seeing him parkour his way through abandoned buildings and using his superhuman strength to scale collapsing bridges is a sight to behold. But we know he can’t keep this up forever, and eventually a colossal bird catches him off guard. They’re not the king of this jungle, though, as it turns out, the curses weren’t who he was running from. A new enemy clips the bird’s wing and crashes Yuji through the roof of an empty theater: it’s Yuta with a sword aimed directly at his throat as the title drops.

What follows are two of the best fights we’ve yet seen in the series. Yuji and Yuta’s match-up draws a clear distinction between the two protagonists: brawling vs casting. Yuji’s motivated by putting his body on the line, so he channels whatever cursed energy he has into his fists. Yuta, on the other hand, suffered from a lack of control of his overwhelming energy, so his style is to let as much out into each slash. The resulting fight is a weighty affair where one mistake could mean the end of the other. It’s amazing to see someone like Yuji improvise against a living magical arsenal. And without spoiling, the result and the accompanying explanation were incredibly in-character. It sets up an intriguing new dynamic with past characters, which is sorely needed after how many of them passed away in the prior arc.

The surprise standout was between former enemy Choso and Maki’s misogynist cousin Naoya. Representing everything wrong with the Zenin clan’s patriarchy, he’s a delightfully evil brat who thinks the only thing worse than being a woman is being ugly. Ironically, his infatuation with Toji means he doesn’t necessarily agree with the clan’s emphasis on supernatural talent: being hot and powerful is all that matters. If Maki were born a man, he’d likely put her above his own brothers. What makes it fun to hate him instead of annoying is that, begrudgingly, he puts himself on that high standard: he’s skilled enough to match Choso with his eyes closed, mastered the same animation framerate skill set of his elders, and constantly grooms himself to look fabulous. This makes his defeat at the hands of Choso all the more satisfying. It turns out a certain meme regarding his blood was not entirely off-base: his blood really IS that toxic.

As for the overall story, we seem to have shifted to a straight-up death game with sorcerers. After going through a tournament arc and a rescue mission gone wrong, the culling game postulates what a superpowered free-for-all looks like when wiping out your opponent is the point. We’re also getting hints about Yuji’s origins as to why he’s so powerful before swallowing 15 fingers, and we even find out who that narrator throughout the series actually is. It’s nice to see an episode premiere in theaters ending on a cliffhanger that doesn’t feel cheap. The core conflict regarding Yuji’s survivor’s guilt is directly addressed in this premiere, and the promise of more is spent on new story threads built up afterwards.

Shōta Goshozono and his staff made a big impression with Season 2, pushing for experimental animation even in what’s become an infamous production schedule. Even at its roughest, the series consistently delivered some of the most inventive action in a battle shonen. After losing the more martial arts-driven Sunghoo Park of S1 and 0, MAPPA seems to recognize they need to earn back their talents’ trust. So, alongside making this arc split-cour, their answer seems to be giving their current team even more freedom to play around with the series. Despite very much being an anime blockbuster, the presentation here is at times more akin to an arthouse title. Monsters explode into kaleidoscopic shapes, characters break into minute-long smears, and even as their fighting arena shifts in both perspective and lighting. The surreal imagery really enhances the feeling of watching supernatural fighters.

The new music from Yoshimasa Terui leans more toward the brooding side. While it spikes in tempo during the numerous fight scenes, those moments when it’s time to breathe are colored by a sense of reflective mourning: minimal notes echoing in empty spaces. One particular scene referenced in this season’s iconic red key visual has a lo-fi quality that I really dug. It served as a good contrast to how the two music videos in the recap portion were used to condense massive stretches of the Shibuya Incident without losing momentum.

For anyone wanting to come into this new season unspoiled, Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution is well worth a trip to the theaters. If you’re all caught up on your Jujutsu Kaisen homework, even the recap might be worth sitting through once. If not, my advice is to check your watch and go in 42 minutes after the commercials. You’ll come out of it pumped either way.