Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is a third person fighting game based on an anime I don’t watch. Just so we’re all on the same page here.

Of fine.

The characters race each other through the battlefield – which is defined by a blue shield – centered on scenes from the show. In fact, the game’s story mode does a lot of recreating scenes from the series, but in a way that assumes you know who these characters are and are excited to fight alongside or against them.

For me, it was kind of a blur as they dramatically introduced “Blizz-blam, Princess of the Seven Keys of Fintoozler” as my next opponent.

The story revolves around a high school student who eats a cursed finger (maybe) and that’s bad, but then the one dude who’s supposed to kill him (maybe?) decides it’s because he’s so good at hitting that they shouldn’t . kill him, he should kill monsters. Honestly, I used the “skip” option a lot when the story part came up. I’m older now, and my interest in games based on shows about teenagers screwing things up is at its nadir.

Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash’s story mode is not difficult at all. After finishing the tutorial and moving on to more missions, I completed almost every level I played with an “S” rank, just by mashing buttons. Early on there are challenges where you have to pull off combos solo or with your AI partner, and those were mostly annoying because I had no idea how to do it. Honestly, this was the hardest part of the game: I would have defeated the enemy several times, but the level won’t end until you perform a certain combo/event, which is annoying because the game doesn’t do a good job of explaining how to you pull it off.

In terms of tone, the game reminds me of the teenage kids I see in parking lots with skateboards, swearing to their friends that This time, they will do the trick. No, This year.

And of course, it comes with the standard health/mana meter. Oh no, sorry I just got a note that said it’s not ‘mother’, it’s ‘damn energy’, possibly from that finger she ate? I think so?

Oh right, playing with partners. I understand that this is part of the show, because when you finally get to do it, it’s pretty cool. There’s also a Fire Emblem-like metric where if characters fight together, they can increase their relationship/trust levels. You can also unlock and purchase (using in-game currency earned by fighting) new outfits, poses and weapons.

And if you are a person who enjoys this show/game and know other people who do, you can fight in multiplayer battles.

Look, I watch anime, I know this show is popular. Hell, they made a game out of it and it ported over to America. I have no doubt that there are many people who are very excited to play a fighting game in this world.

But if you’re not, there’s very little to recommend. It’s not a Street Fighter where the insanity of the characters is part of the charm. (A Hollywood star fighting a four-armed demon? That’s exactly what’s going to pique my interest.) All of these characters dress in black school uniforms, and the monsters they fight are just kind of blobs of gray. I’m sure the reason they have to fight these blobs is explained in the cutscenes, but these go on and on (probably to please the fans). Honestly, I couldn’t be bothered to sit through a slideshow recounting the plot of a show that the game assumes I’ve already seen and am invested in.

So to summarize, Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash is based on a very popular show about a guy who eats a finger and then punches people. If you are a fan of this show, you will probably like this game. For everyone else it is fine.