Jujutsu Kaisen Added One Great Anime Original Moment To The Shibuya Incident Arc

Before Jujutsu Kaisen‘s second season fully dove into the Shibuya Incident arc, it displayed an anime original moment that proves how great the show is. This isn’t the first time MAPPA has snuck an anime original moment into the series to improve its source, having featured a great scene of Geto making tea earlier in the season. But this new moment shows how well aligned the studio is with the original humor and vision of mangaka Gege Akutami.

In episode #6 of season 2, Nobara and Yuji are hanging out discussing their afternoon plans. Yuji tries to get Nobara to see a new movie with him called Human Earthworm 4 about a mad scientist who creates a hybrid human earthworm creature. The anime features a full trailer for this movie, showing the monster fall in love and then get brutally killed, after which point its children rise to avenge it.

It’s a hilarious sequence that parodies the absurdity of B movie horror flicks, and shockingly it is a moment completely original to the anime. This is surprising due to how seamlessly it fits in with the rest of the episode’s humor that comes from the manga.

Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Human Earthworm Trailer Shows How The Anime Improves The Manga

The Human Earthworm movie franchise isn’t actually new to the series, as in Season 1 Junpei watched the Human Earthworm 3 in theaters. The concept also isn’t wholly original, being a clear parody of the Human Centipede movies. This is a very strange reference for an anime to make, but mangaka Gege Akutami fills their manga with these sorts of unexpected references, so this doesn’t feel too out of place. Unlike other classic Shonen series like Naruto or One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen ostensibly takes place in a version of the real world, so characters like Yuji are well acquainted enough with Hollywood to be a fan of Jennifer Lawrence and watch silly B Movies like the Human Earthworm franchise.

This sort of reference humor is unique to Jujutsu Kaisen so it is a great sign that the anime managed to mirror its style so well for its original joke. However, it is also somewhat unsurprising given how the studio adapted Chainsaw Man, another modern Shonen series that references film and pop culture. Chainsaw Man doesn’t use its movie references in quite the same way, but the show still had an opening featuring a number of obscure film pastiches that shows MAPPA can put twists on these movies to fit a given series. By applying these principles to Jujutsu Kaisen as well, MAPPA delivered a truly brilliant anime original scene.

Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Anime Original Scenes Make It Great

The Human Earthworm trailer shows that the Jujutsu Kaisen anime is willing to change its source material for the better if it needs to, which is a trend that continued into the extended fights of the Shibuya Incident Arc. The studio clearly has a deep understanding of the series and will thus be able to make the epic and hard-hitting moments of that arc land with the intensity they need to as well as adding new scenes to enhance them. Hopefully more anime will learn from what Jujutsu Kaisen has done and start adding original scenes to their adaptations as well.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Watch on Crunchyroll