SilvaDour’s Movie Review: Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Well, I just got back from seeing Jujutsu Kaisen 0 and it was pretty good or pretty kino as the young kids say. I will be honest with all of you; before this movie was announced I was always under the impression that MAPPA would choose to adapt this prequel as a direct to DVD OVA or even as a prequel arc in a new season of the TV anime (this latter thought rings a little louder given the series’ director’s initial intentions), but given the recent change of well-known anime IPs receiving canon theatrical screenings, I suppose it was only just a matter of time.

So here we are, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, from the surface if you were to ask me what would be this movie’s strongest point I would say that it is the main cast, primarily Yuta, Gojo, and Geto.

As the story does center around Yuta, I figure I’d give my thoughts on him first. For a story revolving around a self-isolating boy with a dangerous curse that can harm others, Yuta essentially starts off as a reluctant shonen protagonist. Hell, it wouldn’t even be far off if you were to compare his character to that of Shinji Ikari from Evangelion (the comparison is more apt since both characters share the same Japanese voice actress). And much like Shinji, he’s initially reluctant to act upon immediate calls to action, but for different reasons. His initial reluctance stems from a fear of hurting anyone, it’s more of a self-loathing born out of concern rather than a product of his environment demanding too much out of him, and when you look at him from this angle you can see how much of a caring person Yuta really is and you’re just interested to see how he progresses emotionally over the course of the movie with a strong purpose.

While Maki, Inumaki, and Panda are considered part of the main cast, I would argue that they don’t have that much of a strong presence compared to either Geto or Gojo. It’s not as if they serve no narrative purpose, as it is their positive influence and growing relationship with Yuta that gradually influences him into being a more positive person, and they do receive enough further characterization that was sorely lacking in their initial appearances in the present timeline of the anime. But for all sakes and purposes, I would argue that Geto and Gojo are the other stars of this prequel story as their relationship does carry a significant amount of weight in the greater ongoing Jujutsu Kaisen story.

As this movie is Geto’s first proper appearance as an antagonist, we see him fulfilling that role with full force and absolute glee. While the portrayal of the character in the first season of the anime gave off a cunning but affable air to him, here we see the true shades of his villainy as a mad, hate-filled, and misanthropic monk who wishes nothing more than to see most normal humans exterminated so that he can bring out a new world where only jujutsu sorcerers exist, even when ironically jujutsu sorcerers are equally human. While his motivation is flat-out insane it only holds any kind of tangible weight due to his understanding and prior experiences as a former jujutsu sorcerer, which brings me to Gojo.

Gojo does take a more active role as a mentor to the Tokyo Jujutsu Tech students in this movie for a couple of reasons, one of them being he is a firm believer of a younger generation’s potential for creating an ideal future mostly to break away from tired conservative views in the sorcerer world and the other reason he is so active is once again due to Geto’s involvement and their history together. While the movie is about Yuta coming to grips and making amends for accidentally cursing his childhood sweetheart Rika Orimoto and unintentionally bringing harm to so many, it is also about Gojo and Geto trying to somehow reconnect even when they are on opposing sides with clashing views. I would go further into their relationship but that would be touching on manga spoiler territory, so for now I’ll only engage in a conversation about those two when the anime’s second season is released next year.

Now as for the other strong point of this movie it is most definitely the animation and sound design. As this movie was initially supposed to be included in the TV airing of the anime’s first season but was repurposed as a movie due to scheduling conflicts, it’s much more visually impressive and refined when compared to a standard Jujutsu Kaisen episode, even though standalone episodes can look very solid in their own right. The film retains the usual composition of the TV anime but its fight scenes are arguably a bit more experimental than what was seen in the TV anime, even when it does take a few shortcuts. I think one of the smallest pieces that caught my eye was just how well-integrated the CGI models for some of the curses were within the 2-D foreground. Special mention goes to the following animators I could identify and the level of detail they put into the scenes they worked on: - Sunghoo Park (Gojo vs. Miguel) - Keisuke Watanabe (Maki vs. elementary school curses, Panda vs. Geto) - And I presume Tsutomu Oshiro (during the climax of Yuta vs. Geto)

I should also mention that as an adaptation, JJK0 genuinely surprised me in how it takes established pieces of series lore to create wonderful pieces of fanservice. Some of the little tidbits that were mentioned in the mainline series such as The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, Todo’s involvement in the aforementioned event, Nanami’s Black Flash record, and more are all found and seen here in this movie and it serves as a good example of adaptational expansion and a slight teaser of what’s to come in Season 2.

So these were my general thoughts on JJK0, it was a pretty solid movie, but if I were to list out some negatives is that I think the pacing was somewhat scattered (again, I felt as if this story would work better in bit-sized chunks in a TV episode format), and that the soundtrack lacked a certain level of pizazz compared to the TV anime. But compared to some of the positive aspects I’ve already talked about, this is small potatoes by comparison.

So if you’ve got some time to kill on your weekends I’d say check out Jujutsu Kaisen 0 it’s a solid movie giving you a different perspective on established characters and more juicy details that will definitely please those who are already fans, and its story is isolated enough that it can serve as an entry point to those not already familiar with the series.

I give it an 8 out of 10.