Fans Furious as Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Skips the Yuta vs Yuji Manga Showdown

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 finally showed up and didn’t waste any time. The January 9 premiere opens with the matchup fans have had circled for ages: Yuji vs Yuta. It mostly rules. It also quietly trims one beat from the manga that a lot of people consider pretty important.

The premiere: big swings, bigger hype

MAPPA kicked off Season 3 with a double drop — two episodes on day one — and new episodes are set to roll out every Thursday. The show is adapting the Culling Game arc and is streaming on Crunchyroll and Ani-One Asia.

Yuji vs Yuta: same result, missing muscle

Quick refresher on where we are: after the Shibuya Incident, Yuta is ordered to execute Yuji. Over in the Zenin mess, Naobito’s will says that if Gojo dies, Megumi inherits the clan, which infuriates Naoya. Naoya decides he’s going to kill both Megumi and Yuji, but he gets sidetracked brawling with Choso while Yuta hunts Yuji.

The anime delivers the fight and sticks the landing in terms of outcome — the result matches the manga, with Yuji taking the loss right as the episode cuts, a clean cliffhanger. It also keeps the bit where Yuta acknowledges how strong Yuji has gotten and likens him to Maki, even if the overall clash looks more one-sided on screen.

What’s missing is a specific sequence from the manga: Yuji uppercuts a parked car into the air to break Yuta’s rhythm, and Yuta casually hurls that same car back at him. Yuji is stunned because Yuta isn’t supposed to be a raw power guy. In the anime, that exchange is gone, swapped out for a fight beat inside a theater.

Why that car throw mattered

That mini-moment did a lot of heavy lifting in the manga. It made it crystal clear how far Yuji’s physical power has come, while also showing that Yuta can meet him there if needed. Without it, the anime version reads more like Yuta handled Yuji without breaking a sweat, which flattens the power scaling a bit.

Fans noticed — and they have theories

• Pacing: The premiere aims for that snap-to-black on Yuji’s defeat, and trimming the car toss may have been how they hit the timing. The Culling Game rules also flash by so fast you basically have to pause to read them, which supports the idea they were shaving seconds wherever possible.
• Resource focus: The Naoya vs Choso fight gets extra juice here compared to the manga, so the production might have shifted effort into that set piece and away from the car gag.
• Pattern, not panic: Longtime viewers pointed out this isn’t new — Season 2 cut or condensed bits too, while still delivering the major moments cleanly.
• Community heat check: A post on r/JuJutsuKaisen calling out the change pulled in close to 150 replies, so yeah, people clocked it.

The takeaway

Even with the missing car toss, the premiere plays: slick animation, confident staging, and a strong cliffhanger. If MAPPA keeps this level for the rest of the arc, we’ll be fine — even if a few manga flourishes don’t make the cut. Call it an 8.5/10 start and a very easy weekly watch.