The Culling Game Begins! What to Expect From Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 3

On Janaury 14, 2026, more details about the upcoming episode of Jujutsu Kaisen have been revealed.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 3 is titled, “About the Culling Game”.

Chapters Covered

This episode will cover Chapter 145: “The Back” and Chapter 146: “About the Culling Game”, the latter being where the chapter title is from for a total of 38 pages.

Adapting only 2 chapters, this episode will be quite dialogue heavy as it will focus on Tengen explaining the rules of the Culling Game.

At the start, we will get the name of Pseudo-Geto or “Noritoshi Kamo”, which is Kenjaku, a spoiler name that had to be hidden for more than 2 years yet is revealed at the early parts of the new season.

Preview Video 

The preview in black and white lines shows the conversation about the Culling Game, which will be the predominant content for this episode.

Preview Images

Just recently, we got the preview images, showing us how Tengen’s Empty Barrier works in the anime format, akin to Creative Mode in a video game or simulation, with the whole room maintaining its white, storyboard paper-like quality while it turns red or other colors during presentations.

While the episode will be dialogue-heavy, there will be a lot of differing approaches to the presentation because of this mode.

This shows that Tengen’s Empty Barriers can adapt to new technologies or are actually beyond technological progress as the concept of a Empty Barrier.

Through this, Tengen’s points are visualized by Powerpoint presentations.

For example, here, Tengen explains the link of fate between Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel and the Six Eyes.

By killing Riko Amanai, the Star Plasma Vessel, Toji Fushiguro, a being who has zero Cursed Energy, broke the bond of fate, which gave Kenjaku the opportunity he needed to execute the Culling Game for his ideal Merger, between Tengen and the entire country of Japan that she has put a barrier around to optimize Cursed Energy exclusively in the country.

We also see Tengen bring out the Back of the Prison Realm and the explanation of how objects like Miguel Oduol’s Black Rope or the missing Inverted Spear of Heaven once used by Toji Fushiguro to nearly kill Satoru Gojo, with the Chapter 145 part ending on the introduction of the first new Culling Game player, the Angel, Hana Kurisu.

This preview image shows the countdown (10 days, 14 hours, 59 minutes, 60 seconds) to the days since the Shibuya Incident, which is accurate to the manga because the Sorcerers meet Tengen on November 9, 8 days after the start of the Culling Game when Kenjaku activated the Curse Technique of new Sorcerers and Reincarnation Vessels on November 1st, 12 midnight.

This conversation has taken place on November 9th at 9 AM in the morning, so this countdown is an additionally helpful visualization outside of Maki checking the time and the manga also has Megumi say that Tsumiki, his older stepsister, has roughly 14 days and 15 hours to declare participation as per the very first rule of the Culling Game.

Another important preview shows the Kogane, a shikigami each player has which Tengen equates to an interface or program for the Culling Game

Staff

Storyboard: Shouta Goshozono (series director since Season 2)
Episode Director: Takumi Ichikawa (Episode director, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 31)
Chief Animation Director: Mitsue Mori (Sub-Character Design of Season 2)
Assistant Animation Director: Yazhi Lu, Xuanjing Wang, Reimi Eda, Sangeun Song, Yuuko Ebara

Key Animators: Takumi Ichikawa, Yazhi Lu, Reimi Eda, Sangeun Song, Risa Suzuki, Nahu, Xuanjing Wang

12 2nd Key Animators

It looks like Shota Goshozono will be storyboarding most, if not all episodes moving forward as he has been for the premiere, the opening and ending.

This approach is similar to Yuichiro Hayashi, famous for directing Attack on Titan: The Final Season and its movie finale, as well as Dorohedoro.

In Dorohedoro, he storyboarded every single episode, opening and its multiple ending themes even while others directed the episodes.

Next Episode: Perfect Preparation

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 4 is titled, “Perfect Preparation” and will be released on January 22, 2026.

This episode will likely adapt the entire Zenin Clan Massacre from Chapter 148: “Perfect Preparation” to Chapter 152: “Perfect Preparation Epilogue”, which is the shortest chapter in the series at 9 pages, for a total of 47 pages.

Considering the episode title and the focus on Maki Zenin’s loss and the destruction of the clan, it is very likely that the earlier Chapter 147: “Even Pandas” will be moved to the episode after for the sake of pacing and to ensure such an episode is given its time to shine.

Source: Twitter

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 Episode 3 Preview 🔥
Title : ” ABOUT CULLING GAME ” pic.twitter.com/XjaootlbCw

— Otaku Society (@0takusociety) January 8, 2026

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