Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 premiered today, January 8, 2026, delivering a highly anticipated one-hour special. Episodes 48 and 49 are now streaming on Crunchyroll, marking the official start of the intense Culling Game arc that fans have been awaiting since the conclusion of the Shibuya Incident.
The new season dives straight into the aftermath of the devastating Shibuya Incident, where ancient sorcerer Kenjaku has unleashed the Culling Game—a deadly battle royale that forces awakened jujutsu sorcerers to fight across colonies in Japan. Protagonist Yuji Itadori faces execution, with special grade sorcerer Yuta Okkotsu tasked as his executioner, setting the stage for intense confrontations and alliances amid escalating chaos.
In celebration of the premiere, the creditless versions of the opening and ending theme sequences have been released through official channels. These videos offer an uninterrupted view of the high-energy animation and thematic storytelling that complement the arc's brutal stakes.
The opening theme, AIZO, is performed by King Gnu, the acclaimed band returning after their contributions to previous entries in the series, including the memorable track for the Shibuya Incident arc in Season 2. The sequence captures the frenetic pace of the Culling Game with dynamic visuals showcasing key characters and cursed techniques in action.
Complementing it is the ending theme, Yoake no Uta (Song of Dawn), performed by jo0ji. This softer, more introspective track provides a contrasting emotional close, emphasizing themes of resilience and dawn breaking through darkness.
These non-credit videos highlight MAPPA's signature animation prowess, featuring fluid fight choreography, detailed character expressions, and atmospheric effects that immerse viewers in Gege Akutami's supernatural world of curses and sorcerers.
Shota Goshozono directs Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 at studio MAPPA, with Hiroshi Seko writing the series composition alongside Yosuke Yajima and Hiromi Niwa on character design, and Yoshimasa Terui composing the music, all returning from the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen.
The series continues to adapt Akutami's bestselling manga, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, known for its blend of high-stakes action, complex character development, and exploration of cursed energy. With the Culling Game introducing new players, rules, and moral dilemmas, Season 3 promises to deliver some of the manga's most thrilling battles and plot twists.
Crunchyroll describes the Jujutsu Kaisen as follows:
Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back.
New episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 are expected to stream weekly on Crunchyroll following the double-episode premiere.
Sources: Official X account of Jujutsu Kaisen and TOHO Animation YouTube channel
