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spotlight: specialz

of course my first spotlight has to be jujutsu kaisen related... i'm functionally neet right now, and i'm so brainrotted for this series!

specialz has got to be one of my favourite anime openings of all time. it's so deeply haunting, with everyone single-mindedly making their way towards shibuya, prepared to give up their lives in what's about to become an all-out war. as you make it through the shibuya arc, you'll be able to recognize that every frame in the opening is a callback to certain scenes and concepts from the story. this opening is so good that i never skip it while watching jjk, and it hurts more and more to watch as each episode provides more context for the opening.

that black line separating gojo and geto is a direct reference to the opening for the hidden inventory arc, which is immediately before the shibuya arc. in that opening, gojo and geto were split by a white line, depicting them as two halves of a whole. it's a devastating reminder of where gojo and geto started, what happened to geto (which is summarized very well (but not analyzed) in this video), and where they both are now. gojo standing alone in the crowd shortly after that is reminiscent of gojo and geto's breakup scene.

symbolism and foreshadowing aside, this opening is just plain beautiful. the animation and the music are pleasing to watch and listen to.