Jujutsu Kaisen has embarked on its Culling Game arc, and its introductory sequence makes one aspect evident: This is not a game from which anyone emerges unaltered.

Launched online yesterday alongside the Season 3 debut, the opening sequence favors symbolism and an unsettling atmosphere over mere excitement. Accompanied by King Gnu’s “Aizo,” it depicts the Culling Game as a meticulously crafted exhibition of brutality and spectacle, in which jujutsu sorcerers are compelled to take part.

Its visuals draw significantly from classic art, featuring influences from Egon Schiele, Paul Rubens, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt, and John Everett Millais. Schiele’s impact is evident in a compelling depiction of Yuji Itadori in the womb, his form twisted and confined, while Rubens’ baroque style reinterprets Maki and Mai Zenin as slumbering children, an image of tenderness already overshadowed by future happenings. (The sorrow of Mai as Ophelia is particularly striking.)

Klimt’s “The Kiss” finds its reimagining as a somewhat menacing embrace between Yuta Okkotsu and the special-grade cockroach cursed spirit Kurourushi. IYKYK.

All of this transpires beneath the looming presence of Satoru Gojo, whose ongoing absence — still sealed away — casts a shadow over the season. The opening zeroes in on familiar characters now weighed down by the Culling Game, while hinting at new entrants that manga readers will recognize and anime-only fans will soon encounter. (Kirara and Hakari enthusiasts, this is our moment.) Kenjaku hovers over all, watching the turmoil like pieces on a chessboard.

This season is not merely elevating the stakes. It is redefining the rules altogether.

Fresh episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 drop at 12 p.m. ET on Thursdays on Crunchyroll.