Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29

Jujutsu Kaisen is the topic of a lot of conversation right now. With the third season of MAPPA’s anime adaptation currently airing to rave reviews, and Gege Akutami’s spin-off series, Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo, nearing its conclusion, it’s almost impossible to avoid all of the online chatter surrounding this series. So, what better way to keep the conversation going than to discuss our thoughts on the official English release of Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29, a manga volume that has left me feeling extremely conflicted after reading through it?

It’s time to talk all things Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29. As always, we will be discussing spoilers in this review, so be sure to read the volume for yourself before you scroll any further! With that being said, we’ve got a very action-oriented edition of Jujutsu Kaisen to get through, so let’s waste no more time. Let’s dive right into the review!

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Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 Review

Image by VIZ Media

With the release of Vol. 29, Jujutsu Kaisen is nearing the end of its run, and what a ride it’s been. Despite its shortcomings, I’ve loved this series from the very beginning, and with Vol. 30 concluding the manga, there’s a really bittersweet feeling to reading through these penultimate pages. With that being said, I’ve always tried to be as fair as possible when reviewing any sort of content for Nerdy Nook, so I can’t deny the fact that this was far from a perfect volume. In fact, as the story nears its end, some of the major cracks in Jujutsu Kaisen’s storytelling are beginning to show, and the fragmented Vol. 29 that they’ve laid bare isn’t too pretty of a sight to behold.

On the one hand, there’s a lot of potential here, and I say this with the MAPPA anime adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen in mind. A lot of anime and manga fans like to insist that if a studio’s anime adaptation of a manga elevates the source material, then the anime itself isn’t worth respecting – take Demon Slayer for example, a series with an incredible anime adaptation that is constantly belittled by critics of the original manga. I disagree with this mindset almost totally, and with the current ‘Culling Game’ season of Jujutsu Kaisen facing such warm reception, I’m confident that when the time comes for MAPPA to take on ‘Shinjuku Showdown’, I’ll be feeling very differently about this arc than I do right now. As far as reading through Vol. 29 goes though, I was far from thrilled with the content presented to me.

One of the most glaring flaws of Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 is its repetitiveness, as we reach a stage in the story where our heroes are just sending character after character towards Sukuna, in what feels like an impossibly uphill battle. At one point in this volume, Takuma Ino takes a stab at battling Sukuna, and though it’s fun to see a lot of the series’ characters returning to action, it feels almost ridiculous that the story has reached a point where the likes of Ino are being sent out to battle. On the other hand, I did enjoy seeing characters like Miguel, Choso, and Todo returning to the fray. It’s quite difficult to get invested in their reappearance considering how little time we have to spend on any sort of characterisation with them – for large chunks of the volume, Sukuna is simply a punching bag for these characters to flex their abilities on, though they never feel like they do all that much damage to him.

Image by VIZ Media

I always feel a little bad criticising this aspect of manga, especially considering I have little to no talent in this field myself, but the art in Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 is another real low point for me. There are a few beautiful page spreads, as per usual, but as for the nitty-gritty action sequences, some of the panels here are borderline illegible. This is likely due to just how much action is going down back-to-back in Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29, and I’m sure Gege could have used more time to refine the visuals of this volume, but I can’t lie and say I enjoyed trying to decipher what was going on in these battles. I’ve seen a lot of fans praising the fact that Gege does not illustrate Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo himself, and I can’t help but feel like the contents of Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 added to this sentiment.

In many ways, Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 is a volume filled with some of the series’ most distinct flaws. With that in mind, let’s talk about the expositional dialogue, and how much more frequent it’s grown in the series’ recent outings. Even when it comes to the anime, Gege’s practice of large, text-form info-dumps is growing ever more evident, and it was really noticeable here. There’s a scene in Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 where Gojo explains why he can’t use Black Flash, and though I did read it, I would be lying if I said my eyes didn’t start to glaze over at points. The chunks of dialogue here were unusually overwhelming, but I think you can decipher that issue for yourself when you step back from this volume, and realise how little it moves the story forward as a whole.

Even with all of these issues though, it’s hard for me to say that I didn’t like Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29, even though it’s a real low point compared to other points in the series for me. There were some really enjoyable moments in here, and some sections that proved that Jujutsu Kaisen still has a grasp on me as a reader, even when it loses me a little through its missteps. Choso’s death really impacted me here, and though I think some of my emotion can be owed to his lovability in the anime adaptation, it doesn’t change my enjoyment of the character, and my devastation at his death. He got a fairly dramatic death by Jujutsu Kaisen standards too, so though I hate to see him go, I’m happy with the send-off he got.

Image by VIZ Media

From an action perspective, there are also some great moments here, and in such an action-heavy volume, that’s important. Yuta’s possession of Gojo had me feeling really conflicted when I first saw it, but I’ve come around to it by the time of writing this review. That’s the type of moment that’s going to break the internet when the anime drops for sure. I also loved seeing Yuji and Todo team-up, in what is easily the most reliably enjoyable pairing to ever come out of this series. Though Sukuna may feel like an impenetrable tank, and though that may be making the writing of recent volumes suffer a little, I still really enjoy seeing some of the Jujutsu Kaisen characters do what they do best – throw hands.

Ultimately, it’s extremely difficult for me to review this volume. I disliked a lot, but there’s still an undeniable magic to Jujutsu Kaisen that remained intact here. I don’t think that Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 was particularly well-written, nor was it particularly well-illustrated. That certainly knocks it down a few pegs, but it also gave us some truly enjoyable character moments, and a handful of scenes that I cannot wait to see MAPPA take on. With a little heavy lifting on MAPPA’s part, I can see myself really enjoying this part of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s story, but from a manga perspective, it was lacking the fundamentals of an enjoyable volume. I’m excited to see the conclusion to Jujutsu Kaisen in the next volume, and unfortunately, I feel like at this point, Gege was too. Above all else, I think Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29 was an indicator of Gege’s fatigue setting in as an author, which is a shame to say.

But what did you think? Did you share my opinions on Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 29? Are you excited to see MAPPA adapt this part of the story down the line? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and until next time, thanks for reading!

See also: Every Jujutsu Kaisen Opening, Ranked

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