*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the first film and prequel to the massively successful manga and anime series, has finally been released in the United States.
Yuta Okkotsu is a young boy harboring a major curse. As a child Yuta, witnessed the death of his best friend Rika after a horrific car accident. Rika now manifests as an immensely powerful cursed spirit whose sole purpose is to protect her love, hurting anyone who threatens Yuta in any way. After Rika nearly kills some bullies at his previous school, Yuta is ushered into the world of the Jujutsu Sorcerers and vows to break the curse that bonds Rika to him and free her spirit.
Fans of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime may notice that Yuta and the series main protagonist Yuji Itadori share a lot of qualities and follow a very similar character roadmap. This isn’t a bad thing as the formula works very well and the differences in their characters make them very distinguishable from each other as the story unfolds. For anyone that reads the manga, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 follows the prequel book pretty closely. Yuta enters the first year class of Jujutsu High School alongside some familiar faces from the main series. Along the way, he gains strength, knowledge and a camaraderie that ultimately breaks the curse.
The animation, once again provided by Studio MAPPA and TOHO Animation, does not disappoint. Every major battle in Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is beautifully animated, fast paced and visceral. That isn’t a total surprise however, as one of the major contributors to the success of the series as a whole is the quality of animation. While the world of the Jujutsu Sorcerers is dark, bloody and full of death, the humor from the show remains intact, injecting itself in the right instances to signal the end of a tense sequence and provide a nice bit of levity for such a dark fantasy story.
However, with all the pros that this film has going for it one major issue I had with the film is the pacing. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 moves quickly. Too quickly in fact. With a runtime of 1:45, I think it suffers from the lack of something that makes the main series protagonist so loveable. It does not give you time to grow with the main character. I read the manga after watching the movie so I realize how condensed Yuta and Rika’s story actually is. Yuta is a great character with a really compelling story and I would have loved just a little more time to watch him grow and evolve his relationship with Rika as his curse spirit bodyguard. The movie doesn’t go out of its way to build that relationship beyond some flashbacks unfortunately, and some may not even realize how much time actually passes over the course of the movie either. Thankfully, for most watchers, I don’t think that will bring the film down at all.
I really loved Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Having not read the manga before watching the movie, I was happy to see that it is completely accessible for anyone not already familiar with the franchise. The writing manages to explain to the audience who and what this world is all about without relying on overlong exposition. Those fans of the show will be happy with all the familiar faces and a few “ah ha” moments thrown in for them regarding some of their favorite characters. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is already a major success in Japan and it’s easy to see why.
–Eric
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is sure to be loved by those familiar with the story already, as well as those new to the Jujutsu Sorcerer world. As someone that has not read the manga (yet!) but loved the series, I wanted to pop in with my quick take on this as well. Eric pretty much covered all the main points so I won’t keep you long!
The sheer art of the animation definitely deserves to be mentioned again! The artists did a stunning job capturing every little detail and emotion. The storyline is already wonderful but the ability to clearly see every detail from a certain ring to the agony on characters’ faces to the typical anime hearts is what helps to make this a real masterpiece.
Eric and I disagree on the run time aspect of this movie. I really feel like this needed to be split into 2 movies. The movie was long and honestly, I feel like it felt longer than it was. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the movie! However, I think the studio jamming an entire storyline into the 1:45 run time made it just seem so much longer. Like Eric said, I would have liked to see more development of the relationship between Yuta and Rika. Some of the flashbacks would have made more sense with a bit more story to them. I also would like to see more of the development of Rika as the curse. Without the development, she basically goes from just a little girl to this immensely powerful curse within seconds. As Eric also pointed out, the passage of time in the movie is also rather confusing. It seems as if all the events once Yuta gets to Jujutsu High happen within his first week when in reality, it would definitely be a much longer time span. If the movie had been broken down into 2 parts, they could have developed the storyline and characters much more. Let’s be real, we all would gladly sit for 2 Jujutsu Kaisen movies while we wait for the next season of the anime to come out.
Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is definitely a must-see from the Comic Attack crew! Oh, and be sure to watch the entire movie, credits are important.
–Anna
