#there just wasn't enough Takako to make up for Yuuta sleep-walking through the colony

[cursedvibes]

My Culling Game 1st Phase Ranking

(This is based on my personal taste and very subjective. I have enjoyed all the colonies, so just because one is last place, doesn't mean I hate it. I split up Yuuji and Megumi's parts because they are tonally so different.)

Tokyo 1 (Yuuji edition): A big part of why it's in first place is because Yuuji is my 2nd favourite character but that's not all. The dynamic with Higuruma is just perfect. They are such a good match in theme & personality, we don't really find that in the other colonies (Hakari & Kashimo to an extend but it doesn't run as deep). Yuuji confronting his guilt and getting to open up about it at least a little bit, was very touching to read and Higuruma's development over the fight and how he is changed by Yuuji is so well portrayed as well. Plus, we got a glimpse at Yuuji's childhood which is always interesting.

Sakurajima: Reading it in one bunch makes it flow much better. I don't think that the appearance of Daido & Miyo breaks the flow of the story. The colony's greatest feat is making me deeply care about Noritoshi when before he was barely on my radar outside Kamo lore. Maki and him parallel each other nicely and the little talk about their mothers at the end was the icing on the cake. Maki's ascention and mastering of her new body was beautiful to see. My only problem is Naoya. I understand why he's capable of coming back and how he's supposed to symbolize the full destruction of the Zenin Clan, but his impact was just lacking. Maki didn't seem particularly bothered by him outside of general annoyance. An amalgamation of Zenin Clan spirits could've served the same purpose and potentially been more interesting.

Tokyo 2: I didn't care much for Charles but Hakari makes up for it. Kashimo is bringing some sweet gore, which is always appreciated. It still bugs me that Panda's sister died so easily. I guess Akutami changed whatever they had initially planned for Panda. That death scene in Panda's internal world was still touching. The fight between Hakari & Kashimo is super entertaining and feels much less dragged than when reading it weekly. Actually, I was basically flying through the pages. Love the dynamic of the two and a great introduction to both of them. The Edo flashback got me excited for what they have in store for the Heian era.

Sendai: This one made me love Takako but it also made my opinion on Yuuta go from indifferent to annoyed. He needs a mini-Megumi on his shoulder to remind him of what's important. The colony introduced a lot of interesting new themes and gave us some Heian lore to look forward to, that's why I still liked a lot. However, as much as I love Takako and the cockroaches, Hakari vs Kashimo was more entertaining and versatile than Yuuta & Ryuu's energy blasts.

Tokyo 1 (Megumi edition): Even if it ended up in last place, I still enjoyed this part a lot. I love Reggie, and Takaba & Hazenoki (especially his technique) are fun. Megumi got to improve his domain and kill for the first time. The information Reggie provided was essential and I hope it means the others won't be as trusting of Tengen in the future either. All the lore we got was probably my favourite part of this. Still, there wasn't that much character development on Megumi's part or introspection as in the other colonies, so that's why it ended up here. I just liked the others more.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers #Sendai ended up further down than I initially expected #there just wasn't enough Takako to make up for Yuuta sleep-walking through the colony #and the other colonies were more fun/interesting