Every anime has its fair share of references. In some, they are very easy to spot, and some, like Lucky Star, basically build their whole comedy on them — which means many of them are very obscure and hard to figure out.
Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t a stranger to both of these, and while the anime constantly making references to Bleach is something fans noticed almost instantly, here are some references that you probably completely missed on your first watch!
Yuji vs Choso in S2 is a reference to The Raid 2
The Raid 2 — also known as The Raid: Retaliation — is an Indonesian action film that has quite a large fanbase even outside the country. The movie is even more popular in Japan, though, and Jujutsu Kaisen actually references its famous kitchen fight scene.
While it can be argued that the characters’ poses in the bathroom fight of Yuji and Choso could pass as a coincidence in the manga, the animators knew what they were doing. The same scene in the anime includes an almost move-by-move recreation of the fight from The Raid 2.
Did you notice this reference?
The full cast shot in S1 OP1 is a reference to a famous painting
There’s something calming about seeing the characters assemble in a mundane situation, doing completely ordinary things. The cast shot in the first opening gets more and more characters added to it as they’re gradually introduced, seemingly just having a fun picnic in the park.
The shot is actually a reference to Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, a painting by a French impressionist artist Claude Monet (not to be confused with the painting by the same name by another French artist, Édouard Manet).
Did you notice this reference?
There’s an Oikawa cardboard cutout in S1 EP9
During the Vs. Mahito arc in Season 1, at some point, Yuji and Nanami go to investigate a building as they’re following the trail of corpses.
The building isn’t particularly extraordinary, but a fun little detail that some fans noticed is that in it, there’s a cardboard cutout figure of Tooru Oikawa from Haikyuu!!. What is it doing there? No clue. Shounen Jump series often make references to each other, and this is one such example.
Did you notice this reference?
A gag with Yuji and Junpei from EP11 is another movie reference
It seems that both Gege and the anime staff are fairly fond of cult classic movies. In Episode 11 of Season 1, during his dinner at Junpei’s mother’s house, Yuji starts freaking out about “Wilson”.
Junpei spits out his drink because of surprise, but calls him out anyway: Yuji is re-enacting a scene from a 2000 cult classic film “Cast Away”.
Did you notice this reference?
Did you spot all of them?
Every anime has its fair share of references. In some, they are very easy to spot, and some, like Lucky Star, basically build their whole comedy on them — which means many of them are very obscure and hard to figure out.
Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t a stranger to both of these, and while the anime constantly making references to Bleach is something fans noticed almost instantly, here are some references that you probably completely missed on your first watch!
Yuji vs Choso in S2 is a reference to The Raid 2
The Raid 2 — also known as The Raid: Retaliation — is an Indonesian action film that has quite a large fanbase even outside the country. The movie is even more popular in Japan, though, and Jujutsu Kaisen actually references its famous kitchen fight scene.
While it can be argued that the characters’ poses in the bathroom fight of Yuji and Choso could pass as a coincidence in the manga, the animators knew what they were doing. The same scene in the anime includes an almost move-by-move recreation of the fight from The Raid 2.
Did you notice this reference?
The full cast shot in S1 OP1 is a reference to a famous painting
There’s something calming about seeing the characters assemble in a mundane situation, doing completely ordinary things. The cast shot in the first opening gets more and more characters added to it as they’re gradually introduced, seemingly just having a fun picnic in the park.
The shot is actually a reference to Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, a painting by a French impressionist artist Claude Monet (not to be confused with the painting by the same name by another French artist, Édouard Manet).
Did you notice this reference?
There’s an Oikawa cardboard cutout in S1 EP9
During the Vs. Mahito arc in Season 1, at some point, Yuji and Nanami go to investigate a building as they’re following the trail of corpses.
The building isn’t particularly extraordinary, but a fun little detail that some fans noticed is that in it, there’s a cardboard cutout figure of Tooru Oikawa from Haikyuu!!. What is it doing there? No clue. Shounen Jump series often make references to each other, and this is one such example.
Did you notice this reference?
A gag with Yuji and Junpei from EP11 is another movie reference
It seems that both Gege and the anime staff are fairly fond of cult classic movies. In Episode 11 of Season 1, during his dinner at Junpei’s mother’s house, Yuji starts freaking out about “Wilson”.
Junpei spits out his drink because of surprise, but calls him out anyway: Yuji is re-enacting a scene from a 2000 cult classic film “Cast Away”.
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