Reviews

JJK Season 3 Review: Is the Culling Game Too Confusing?

Somen Halder Feb 23, 2026 10 Views

The Culling Game arc is here — and it's either the smartest shonen in years or a law exam disguised as anime. We break it all down.

It Feels Like a Law Exam	That Complexity IS the Point
The Culling Game swaps emotional horror for a Battle Royale with a complex legal system. Fast-moving rule screens make it hard to follow, jarring for fans who prefer simple action.	The rule system forces characters to use strategy ("outthink") rather than just brute force ("overpower"). The complexity pays off in strategic, courtroom-drama-like fights, enhanced by MAPPA's animation.

Why the Culling Game Divides the Community

The Shibuya Incident was survival horror. One location. Escalating dread. Emotional devastation that didn't require a rulebook — just eyes and a functional heart. The Culling Game is structurally the opposite. It is a dispersed, colony-based Battle Royale governed by a legal framework that the show introduces rapidly and expects you to retain.

The adaptation's biggest early stumble was pacing the exposition. In the opening episodes of Season 3, the rules appeared as dense text screens delivered fast enough to require multiple pauses. For viewers who came in expecting Shibuya 2.0, those opening episodes felt like someone handed them a terms-of-service agreement before the action started.

But here is the thing about the backlash: almost all of it is front-loaded. Once the rules land and the colonies open up, Season 3 delivers fights that Shibuya — for all its emotional devastation — simply couldn't. Because the rules are what make the fights interesting. They transform combat from a power-level contest into a problem-solving exercise where the smartest move beats the strongest one.

Feature	Shibuya Incident	Culling Game
Structure	Single location, escalating convergence	10 dispersed colonies, parallel action
Tone	Survival horror, emotional devastation	Strategic thriller, intellectual tension
Entry Barrier	Low — all stakes are immediately felt	High — rules must click before payoffs land
Fight Type	Desperate brawls under impossible odds	Creative 1v1s where the smartest player wins
New Characters	Minimal — spotlight on established cast	Major — Hakari, Higuruma, colony fighters
MAPPA Flex	Gojo sequence, Mahito transformation	Sendai Colony fights, Yuta vs. Yuji

Why Season 3 Is Still Peak Shonen

Three things make Season 3 exceptional despite the learning curve — and each one is stronger than anything the arc's detractors tend to acknowledge.

The Animation Is Genuinely Cinematic

MAPPA has had their budget discourse. Season 3 ends it. The Sendai Colony sequences represent some of the finest action animation the studio has ever produced — fluid, dynamic, and structured around the unique spatial logic of domain expansions in a way that previous seasons only hinted at. The Yuta vs. Yuji sequence specifically has been described by multiple community voices as the best-animated fight in JJK history, which is a genuinely difficult bar to clear after Shibuya. MAPPA clears it.

The New Characters Are Immediate Legends

Hakari and Higuruma are not side characters. They are the arc's second and third leads, and both deliver techniques that are mechanically unlike anything previously shown in the series. Hakari's pachinko-jackpot domain is chaotic fun with genuine strategic stakes. Higuruma's courtroom domain is the single best argument for why the Culling Game's rule-complexity works — it turns a physical fight into a legal proceeding where the opponent's actual crimes determine the sentence.

Strategy Replaces Raw Power

The Culling Game's rule system eliminates the "scream louder and punch harder" resolution that plagues generic shonen arcs. Every fight is a puzzle. Every victory requires the winner to understand both their own technique and their opponent's technique well enough to construct a scenario the opponent cannot escape. It is the closest JJK has ever come to Hunter x Hunter's Nen system in terms of intellectual combat depth — and in Season 3, it consistently delivers.

Title	Jackpot Domain Fighter	Courtroom Domain Sorcerer
Character	Hakari Kinji	Higuruma Hiromi
Cursed Technique / Domain Expansion	Cursed Technique: Idle Death Gamble	Domain Expansion: Deadly Sentencing
Description	A pachinko-style domain that, upon hitting a "jackpot," floods Hakari with unlimited reversed cursed energy — making him effectively immortal for the jackpot window. Chaotic, dangerous, and one of the most visually inventive techniques in the series. The jackpot mechanic means Hakari fights differently every time, preventing any opponent from preparing a consistent counter-strategy.	Transforms combat into a literal courtroom. A shikigami called Judgeman prosecutes the opponent for their real-world crimes. The most severe verdict — Extermination — strips the opponent of their cursed technique entirely. If the opponent is found innocent or Judgeman cannot identify a crime, the domain deactivates. A former defense lawyer weaponizing the law itself. Perfect storytelling.

THE CULLING GAME — OFFICIAL RULES

Established by Kenjaku · Enforced by Kogane (Game Master) · 10 Colonies across Japan

A nation-wide death match across 10 barrier colonies in Japan. You kill people to earn points. You spend points to change the rules of the game itself.
01	The Deadline	Once a cursed technique awakens, a player has 19 days to join a colony. The clock starts instantly, with no extensions.
02	The Penalty	Failure to join a colony within 19 days results in the forcible removal of the cursed technique, which is fatal for sorcerers.
03	No Bystanders	Any normal human who enters a colony barrier is automatically classified as a player and can be legally killed for points.
04	Point Scoring	Killing a Sorcerer earns 5 pts. Killing a Non-Sorcerer earns 1 pt.
05	The Reward	Accumulate 100 points to request that Kogane (the Game Master) add a new rule to the Culling Game.
06	The Catch	Players can only add new rules, never remove existing ones. Proposed rules cannot fundamentally break the game structure.
07	Anti-Camping Rule	If a player's score does not increase for 19 days, they are automatically killed, preventing survival through hiding.

Conclusion

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 is not for passive viewers. It demands your full attention during exposition, your patience during setup, and your trust that the complexity is going somewhere worth the confusion. For viewers willing to meet it halfway, the payoffs are extraordinary.

MAPPA's animation delivers its best work yet. Hakari and Higuruma are instant classics. The strategic depth of the Culling Game produces fights that will be discussed for years — not because of how hard the characters hit, but because of how cleverly they think. The one-point deduction goes to those early rule-dump episodes that could have introduced the system more gradually without losing any of the urgency.

Is it too confusing? Yes — if you're not paying attention. But that's exactly the point. The Culling Game rewards the audience that shows up for it.

Category	Point	Detail
Strengths	Exceptional Animation	MAPPA's work, particularly during the arc's climax, is a highlight.
Strengths	Compelling Characters	Hakari quickly emerged as a fan favorite.
Strengths	Creative Conflict	Higuruma's courtroom domain and the emphasis on strategy over brute strength offered unique battles.
Strengths	Dynamic Presentation	The fight choreography and cinematics in the Sendai Colony were impressive, and the arc delivered a variety of unique 1v1 matchups.
Weaknesses	Pacing and Exposition	The arc suffers from a heavy initial load of rule explanations.
Weaknesses	Tonal Shift	The change in tone following the Shibuya Incident arc can be jarring.
Weaknesses	Structural Issues	The "Colony" setting sometimes makes the narrative feel disjointed or scattered.

// FAQs

Season 3 is significantly more complex than previous arcs — particularly the Shibuya Incident — because the Culling Game is a structured death match with a full ruleset rather than a straightforward survival scenario. If you aren't actively paying attention, the fast-moving text screens explaining the rules can leave you lost. However, once the rules click into place, the strategic depth rewards attentive viewers with some of the most creative, multi-layered battles in shonen anime history.

The Culling Game has 7 core rules: (1) Any awakened cursed technique user must join a colony within 19 days or lose their technique and die. (2) Normal humans who enter a colony become players and can be killed for points. (3) Killing a sorcerer earns 5 points; killing a non-sorcerer earns 1 point. (4) Players with 100 points can ask the game master Kogane to add a new rule. (5) Rules can only be added, never removed. (6) New rules cannot end the game. (7) Players whose score doesn't change for 19 days are killed automatically — no camping allowed.

Kogane is the 'Game Master' of the Culling Game — a small, doll-like entity that appears to each player and enforces the rules set by Kenjaku. When a player accumulates 100 points, they can use those points to request that Kogane add a new rule to the Culling Game. Kogane cannot be fought or negotiated with directly — it functions as an impartial referee for Kenjaku's death game, which is why the strategic use of rule-additions becomes a central mechanic for the protagonists.

Hiromi Higuruma's Domain Expansion, Deadly Sentencing, transforms the fight into a literal courtroom. Inside the domain, a shikigami called Judgeman serves as judge and prosecutor, putting the opponent 'on trial' for their real-world actions. The trial targets the opponent's most serious crime. If found guilty, the defendant receives a sentence — the most severe being Extermination, which strips them of their cursed technique. If Judgeman cannot identify a crime, the case is dismissed and the domain deactivates. It turns combat into a legal-thriller format, perfectly demonstrating why the Culling Game's complexity works as a storytelling device.

The Shibuya Incident was a single-location, escalating survival horror event — emotionally driven, with clear physical stakes and momentum that carried viewers forward without requiring much strategic analysis. The Culling Game is structurally opposite: dispersed across 10 colonies, rule-governed, and built around strategic decision-making as much as raw combat. Shibuya hit harder emotionally in the moment; the Culling Game rewards viewers who engage intellectually. Season 3 is a different flavor of excellence — less gut-punch, more chess.

Kinji Hakari is a standout addition in Season 3. His cursed technique involves a pachinko-style domain mechanic where hitting a 'jackpot' makes him invincible for a limited time by generating unlimited reversed cursed energy, effectively making him unkillable during the jackpot window. He is chaotic, stylish, and represents the best of what the Culling Game's new-character introductions have to offer — a fighter whose technique is as entertaining to watch as it is strategically interesting.

JJK Season 3 earns a 9/10. MAPPA's animation is among the best the studio has ever produced, the Sendai Colony fights in particular delivering cinematic-quality sequences. The Culling Game's rule-based structure creates uniquely intelligent battles that push characters to outthink rather than just overpower their opponents. The one-point deduction is for the early exposition-heavy episodes that front-load rules in ways that can alienate casual viewers before the arc finds its footing.