Yuta Okkotsu is a nervous high school student who is suffering from a serious problem—his childhood
friend Rika has turned into a curse and won't leave him alone. Since Rika is no ordinary curse, his
plight is noticed by Satoru Gojo, a teacher at Jujutsu High, a school where fledgling exorcists learn
how to combat curses. Gojo convinces Yuta to enroll, but can he learn enough in time to confront the
curse that haunts him?
(Source: Viz Media)
_SPOILER-FREE_ For starters, this movie is very watchable as a newbie to the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. It was adapted from the prequel to the primary series, so while it doesn’t flesh out the world as well as the main series does, you can watch it without any prior knowledge of the world and still understand it just fine. Now, onto the review. ___ Jujutsu Kaisen 0 had __stunning animation, incredible music,__ and __amazing characters.__ It’s a shame it was only an hour and forty-five minutes, but they made every moment matter. I thought the __characters__ were great. I loved the look into the second-years from the main series when they were first-years, and of course I loved Yuuta. His development and relationship with Rika was clever and unique, and I enjoyed how the ending of the movie worked out for them. I also liked the further exploration of Inumaki’s character in how he related and reacted to Yuuta. The development here really builds the deeper you get into the story as a whole. Also, Maki was mega-hot in this movie. The __animation__ was amazing. I can’t think of any particular scenes that made me think _oh, clearly the budget went somewhere else,_ although the shots of Gojo’s eyes did make me think _this. this is where the budget went._ The fight scenes were animated incredibly as well. Of course you can’t compare it to the quality of ufotable, but MAPPA really did do a great job with the animation. The CGI was good, the fighting was good, the curses and characters were good. No complaints here from me. And then the __music!__ Great music. King Gnu makes banger music. The OST was fantastic too. The right song played in the right moment, and the music really complemented what was going on during the movie. Then, of course, there’s the __plot__ itself. Honestly I don't have much to say where the story is concerned (well, not without spoilers, anyways). I wouldn’t call it anything incredible, but it’s far from being a trash plot. I like how it works into the main story, and the concept as a whole was very interesting and enjoyable. It definitely got me wanting to get back into Jujutsu Kaisen. The __anime original scenes__ were very enjoyable too. After recently rereading the manga, I can confirm that there were very few anime-only scenes; they added some extra pizzazz to the fights of course, and they also gave cameos to characters from season 1 that didn't appear in the manga. There is an additional end credits scene that was not included in the manga, but I think that's about it. As for some other negatives, I did think the __pacing__ was a little off, but not so much that I didn't enjoy the movie. The manga (a mere four chapters and ~200 pages) had some poor pacing, and this movie was a very faithful adaptation. However, even if it was anime original, I do think that an extra thirty minutes or so could’ve made the movie just _that_ much better. It really felt like a short movie, especially in comparison to recent American movies that have been closer to three hours. ___ Overall, this was a great movie. I’m not quite as awed as I was after leaving the theater from the Mugen Train movie, but it’s certainly better than any My Hero Academia movie they’ve made so far. Many individual aspects I found amazing, like the characters, animation, music, and story, despite the pacing feeling a little off in a few places. But, even though the fights were amazing, it simply wasn’t as enjoyable for me as season 1 was. However, I do think it’s fair if you liked the movie more; it was a very solid movie with several incredible aspects. The big-screen experience is one you won't want to miss for this movie. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is definitely worth the watch, regardless of how much you already know about the series.
__This review will contain spoilers of Jujutsu Kaisen 0__. But just to put it out there, this movie can be watched without having seen the main series since it is a prequel. Although they don't explain how cursed energy works so you're gonna have to leave that to your imagination until you watch the first season. ~~~__As a diehard Jujutsu Kaisen fan, I couldn't help but feel like it could've been better. ~~~__ For starters, I had read the JJK 0 Manga it was based off of as soon as season 1 ended. I became so enamored with the series and the story the Gege Akutami had written. He has the shounen formula refined to a tee, so efficient in his storytelling, so calculated in his script-writing. The characters were so captivating and delightful, the power system so complex and intricate. Paired with MAPPA's efforts, this series had everything I was looking for and more. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was written prior to the main story, and you can feel as you read it that Akutami was still trying to find his rhythm of storytelling. Elements of the story were rushed and some characters felt one-dimensional (Rika). It still hadn't found its footing just yet but there were some glimpses of greatness. So when they announced that the movie was getting adapted. I was excited, I wanted to see them refine the prequel story and fix some of the glaring pacing issues it had. And it's so disheartening to say, but I feel like MAPPA weren't able to achieve that. Getting the good points out the way, the production quality of this movie is nuts. The art is absolutely stellar, the textures and after-effects were outstanding, to the point that it was jarring to switch to the comedic gag style. The lighting and background art was magnificent. I had originally doubted the casting of Megumi Ogata but she absolutely proved me wrong. I hope she can continue doing the same for the scarier aspects of Yuta that come up later in the series. The anime original fight scenes that were added were my favorite part of the movie, with Nanami's black flash record and Gojo and Miguel's fight looking out of this world. For me, Maki and Inumaki absolutely stole the show as well, they were both such a treat to watch. The little cameo of Todo was exciting, and the special grade curse he was about to fight looked incredibly cool but I can't help but feel disappointed that they didn't show them actually brawling it out. Ultimately Todo's appearance was just for fanservice purposes and nothing else. Moving onto the issues, first, and most importantly, the pacing of this movie was incredibly rapid. It had followed the manga pretty religiously, including its problems. Yuta and Rika's relationship was speedran through, making the choice of having their flashbacks scattered instead of played chronologically. I disagree with this decision, the flashback should've played continuously at the start of this movie, and they should've given us an additional 20/30 minutes at the start to let their relationship breathe more. Then Rika's death would've had a far bigger impact on us than the method they went with. To me, the soundtrack this time around wasn't up to par for the series, I was hoping for some memorable orchestral numbers but instead got some generic soundtracks with no memorability. I still listen to the main soundtrack when I read the manga, and that includes some very unique music I'm still a fan of even a year after release. It wasn't bad by any means, I was just hoping for something a little more exciting. A little complaint I wanted to include was that they made the revelation that Gojo and Yuta were actually related into a gag, this plot point is actually coincidentally unfolding in the manga right now so it should've been handled with a little more seriousness in my opinion. Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely, especially for people who love this series. But don't expect much in terms of plot, just let the spectacle play out and enjoy the fights displayed.
__The Good__ _Jujutsu Kaisen 0_ covers many of the checkboxes for a great movie. The plot is solid and engaging. Not outstanding, but no major issues. I'm definitely invested in the main character, possibly more than Itadori. It's an absolute treat to see the side characters from the main TV show in action again, and I mean it, because nearly all of them reappear in the movie. The animation is fantastic, and cursed energy is always cool to see. There is plenty of action to let the animation shine throughout the movie. The music is great and enhances the experience. Not in a way that I'll be downloading the soundtrack to my playlist, but it worked perfectly to increase the impact each scene had. Something I really like is that some side characters receive more attention, and as a result you find out more about their past and personality that wasn't told in the main show. __The Bad__ It's easier to write about what I would have wanted instead of what I already got. Although the movie is entirely built upon the main character's backstory, it is painfully neglected. In fact, if you've seen it, the movie's trailer doesn't recap his backstory - it's pretty much what you get when you watch the actual movie. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, I wouldn't recommend doing so. It cheapens the already weak backstory by spoiling it ahead of time. Towards the end of the movie I actually felt somewhat emotional - so if they had just put in an extra 10 minutes towards the backstory, which wouldn't hurt at all for a 1 hour 45 minute film, it could have been phenomenal. On top of this, I wish the flashbacks to the backstory were presented in partially unique and overlapping pieces - not a repeat of the same scene each time. I can understand why it was done, because it works just fine under TV show pacing, just not in a movie where the last time I've seen the flashback is at most 10 minutes ago. This also leads into the next point. My other gripe is that _Jujutsu Kaisen 0_ doesn't utilize much of the advantages of a movie format. It doesn't feel like a movie - it feels like the back-to-back episodes of a slightly short TV show arc. To be completely honest I can't exactly explain at the moment why it feels this way, but I suspect part of the reason is the pacing, and a weaker central theme. A recent example of another shounen action movie that, in my opinion, was able to successfully adapt to a movie format and utilize its advantages, would be _Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train_. __Conclusion__ All in all, _Jujutsu Kaisen 0_ is a great experience, and highly recommended. The quality and content is on par with the main show, so if you liked that, you'll love the movie too. If you haven't seen the main show yet, I would recommend watching it first, as the movie leaves out quite a few details and assumes you already understand concepts explained in the show. If you haven't seen any of the trailers yet, keep it that way. Finally, there's a post-credits scene that apparently sets up season 2 and 3, don't miss it!
~~~Just a heads-up, if you haven’t watched the movie and haven’t read the manga and want to avoid Any spoilers, just scroll down to after the second rainbow breaker for a tl;dr. This isn’t an in-depth review but I do make references to things that might count as at least minor spoilers. img(https://files.catbox.moe/afsqmm.gif) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a pretty good movie. I went into it having already read volume 0 of Jujutsu Kaisen about a year ago and not feeling especially excited to see it adapted into a movie format. Okkotsu was a bland character, and I didn’t feel like its plot was especially necessary to get through before the events that the next season of the anime will cover. I came out of the movie though actually wanting to reread volume 0 and catch back up with the manga for the chance of seeing more of this movie’s main character Yuta Okkotsu. The story primarily follows Yuta and his relationship with Rika, someone he was close to as a child that ended up becoming a cursed spirit bound to him, lashing out at everyone and everything she perceives to be a threat. Somewhat understandably, this has had the effect of making our protagonist close himself off from most people out of fear from what Rika might do to them. Somewhere along the line this uber powerful and kinda crazy cursed spirit catches the attention of Suguru Getou, the antagonist of the main series and of this movie, as he tries to acquire Rika’s power for himself. In the middle of all that we’re also given a bit of background on Gojo and Getou’s history with each other which will be further explored in the content that season 2 will adapt, and a pretty nice snapshot into what Maki, Panda and Toge were like in their first year at Jujutsu High School. In that regard, the pacing of the movie does feel a little off since we don’t necessarily get all that much time to fully develop some of the aspects around these parts of the story, but it definitely was adequate at the very least, and with this being something from Mappa with a movie budget the action scenes alone are more than worth the price of admission. The first thing that stood out to me right around the start of the movie was that Okkotsu is basically Shinji. Megumi Ogata does a fantastic job at really embodying this character, and while you can instantly make out parts that feel lifted right out of her performance as Shinji in NGE, it’s not necessarily distracting and also doesn’t take away from the unique traits of this specific character. Not gonna lie though, part of me did mentally go "__get in the demon, Shinji__" when Yuta took part in his first fight. Consistently throughout the movie though, he does what he does because he doesn’t want the people around him to get hurt, ultimately raising the threshold of what he’s willing to do in the name of protecting the people he cares about. It’s your usual shounen mc motivation but it works well because in the last part of the movie especially it’s clear that he’s really not going to pull his punches at all even though his intentions might be “noble.” There are some parallels between him and Itadori that I didn’t notice when I read the manga, with how they both were thrust into the world of sorcerors and curses through essentially being possessed by something of immense power that they then have to learn to live with and use to help people. Only issue is that since Okkotsu’s arc is mostly confined to this movie/volume, which itself skipped quite a lot of time through even what happened while he was enrolled at Jujutsu High, it can kinda feel like he moved on a little too quickly. The idea that he and Rika were so in love it created such an immensely powerful curse was also a bit more than the story was able to sell, but for what it’s worth the scene they shared at the end did feel earned, since the whole movie had been building towards Okkotsu fully accepting himself. Plenty of characters from the main story also make cameo appearances, and it works really well. The principal of the Tokyo school in particular was really fun to watch literally every time he was on screen, and it injected some good humour into the movie. Much of the rest of the comedic lines and scenes were pretty hit or miss though, which is the usual with shounen stories anyway. I’ve never personally been a big fan of those chibi moments in any story, and they felt even more awkward in the context of a big movie, but they’re not too prevalent and of course only last a few seconds at a time anyway so you can ignore them fairly easily. As I said before, the action here is incredible. Before going into this I couldn’t imagine that it could look much better than what they pulled off with some of the best fights in season 1 (the one against Hanami in particular) but they completely exceeded every possible expectation the anime series might have set previously. The fights in the last act were animated very fluidly, everything moved fast without being too difficult to follow, the scale and weight behind each attack felt appropriately epic for a movie. If I could I would just infinitely loop the fight that Gojo had in particular because that might just be the best thing I’ve seen so far this year. Sticking on the technical side of things, the cgi usage was simply immaculate, the way it was integrated in just helped with making everything feel that much more grand in certain shots. I wanted to have more to say about the soundtrack, but it didn’t stand out to me really at all at any point, which I suppose could be a good thing since it also means it wasn’t at all a bad or inappropriate soundtrack. The King Gnu song that played over the credits was pretty great though, speaking of which, you stick around for the credits. There’s a scene afterwards that I honestly did not understand at all but,,,,it exists I suppose. img(https://files.catbox.moe/afsqmm.gif) If it’s not already obvious, I had a great time watching this movie, and even if you’ve already read volume 0 it’s more than worth seeing how it’s brought to life and really even improved here through not just the stunning animation but also the addition of scenes that weren’t originally in the manga. It’s an easy __85 out of 100__ just for the rewatch value, the action, the added backstory for the series, and for Okkotsu himself really.~~~
[[Warning: untagged spoilers]] ~~~---------- ----------~~~ ~~~img553(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CoordinatedDeafeningJaguarundi-size_restricted.gif)~~~ ~~~---------- ----------~~~ The movie centers around Yuuta Okkotsu, who as @Horsie said in their [review](https://anilist.co/review/15749), is a protagonist perhaps more investing than Itadori Yuuji-san. His story's darker, too, in my opinion. He's also haunted by [Rika-chan](https://anilist.co/character/208533/Rika-Orimoto), an extremely powerful curse monster. We are given the nostalgic questioning room early on. The movie gives wonderful atmosphere all throughout. The art was great (although a bit extreme on some face close-ups), and the 'vibe' is done really well, overall and with the veils. ~~~------ Characters ------~~~ During the first veil, the show centers on Toge Inumaki and Yuuta. You get to learn a little more about the Cursed-Speech user, and watch them work together. Yuuta then gets a sort of flash back thing, which is okay I guess. He basically started understanding Inumaki better. Then there's Maki Zen'in, the second of the three main-side-characters. She's given similar progression, with Yuuta. I personally don't like her or her motives, but they're fully necessary to the movie, kinda similar to how I think of Darkness from *Konosuba*. Then there's Panda. I expected there to be similar progression with him and Yuuta, but there's none, and nothing explained for his past. That makes his fighting more impressive in my opinion, as his Cores aren't explained. The antagonist, Suguru Getou-sama, is okay. He's strong, evil, and you can see he's always a move ahead of the others, like Panda in the fights, and also Satoru Gojou. Getou is completely evil (voicing disgust at one point at a human, and not at the way he killed him), but he's also doing everything to create a purer world. ~~~------ Fights ------~~~ When the fighting scenes started, I was like Oh, flip, I forgot how good JJK fight scenes are. I was not disappointed at all by the quality of the fights. I did have some problems with them, but that was with what I *didn't* get to see. 1. It seemed that a form of Gojou's Hollow Purple attack was shown, but only suddenly, for a second, in the background. 2. Toudou was going to fight a Toudou-sized curse, which I actually wanted to see and thought I would. 3. Plenty of design is given to the minor curses, but quite little to the ultimate curse at the end. Lots of characters from the original show appeared too. You get to see a few seconds of Miwa being epic :D There was also a short, zoomed out hospital scene. ~~~------ Ending ------~~~ I can't describe the ending as moving, but it was quite touching. It was the sweetest thing I've seen in *Jujutsu*, after Junpei. :') As I was seeing it in an American movie theater, I expected it to be a little bit more like an American movie, and less like the anime itself. But no, it was just like the anime. The movie's opening was not much, and after the 2 ending songs, there is an after-credit scene, preparing for [more *Jujutsu*](https://anilist.co/anime/145064/Jujutsu-Kaisen-2nd-Season). ~~~------ Gojou ------~~~ That's all. As a final note, I'd like to say how awesome Gojou is. I'd already thought he was great, but after watching this movie, I tell you that you'll like him even better. ~! Near the beginning of the movie, he essentially says he'd die defending Yuuta, and near the end, he's sweet to Getou, which redeems Getou as an antagonist in my opinion. !~ [[Edit: If you like JJK, watch this. ^^ I don't suggest watching this before JJK, as you wouldn't appreciate it much.]] Movie is maybe a little less than 9/10 for sweetness and for being the perfect prequel. :'>
# ~~~“Love is the most twisted curse of all.” - Satoru Gojo, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. ~~~ __This review of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is spoiler-free. I have not read the manga, so my understanding is solely based off the main series and its subsequent film. Because the film precedes the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen, nearly anyone can enjoy watching it without feeling confused or lost. Perhaps, the cursed-energy system could have been explained with better detail, but for the most part, the plot and its story were simple enough to follow. __ I did not have mega expectations for this film; however, I was quite surprised with the quality of the animation, particularly the fight between Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto. I enjoyed most the interactions between the side characters and learning more about their history. The pacing, although not awful is fanciful even by anime standards. I hate to make comparisons, but whereas the film, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train felt like a legitimate movie, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 felt more like a bunch of episodes conjoined together. The movie lacked a proper rhythmic flow, which resulted in a stop and go feel. The soundtrack is not the most unique or inspiring; however, I enjoyed the music and thought that it complimented its action scenes quite well. The main protagonist, Yuta is a child when he witnesses the brutal death of his young love, Rika. The girl, Rika lost her life in a tragic accident that has left Yuta with deep-rooted psychological scars, trauma, and a powerful cursed spirit that is bound to him. In an effort to break this curse, Yuta joins Jujutsu High, an institute dedicated to the training and education of curse users. In terms of pure action, the film lives up to its reputation. The brief moments of humor between side characters, and the mystery of Yuta and his cursed spirit/lover Rika provides the anime with a human relatability. Particularly, the question of love and the implications it may have if corrupted are symbolized by way of Yuta’s dead lover turned cursed spirit. Despite realistic themes of love, death, grief, and healing, the film lacks key elements. Most notable is the question of human mortality – the antagonist Geto intends to unleash violent cursed spirits amongst normal humans. Such an act would kill thousands of innocent people. What believable reason or motivation is there for Geto to commit such an atrocity? In a brief flashback shared by Geto’s two younger companions, it is revealed that in certain regions, particularly in rural communities, there exists a prejudice against jujutsu sorcerers. Similar to the real world, preconceptions against an individual or group whose ideals or understanding opposes mainstream society can result in bullying and abuse. Regardless, this backstory did not reappear nor was it elaborated on in more detail. I am not dismissing the meaning behind the memory; however, its significance does not justify a murderous event on such a largescale. The rationale is simply nonsensical, and ultimately undermines Geto’s character as a villain and antagonist. The battle between Yuta and the antagonist, Geto are perhaps the most defining moment within the film. Throughout the story, Yuta is confronted with adversity, primarily mental struggles caused by his cursed lover as well as within himself. As the story unfolds, Yuta becomes close friends with side characters, Maki, Panda, and Toge. Yuta’s training and his motivation to get stronger increases as well. Geto’s declaration of war should have triggered a training montage of the main/side characters or at the very least, a type of preparation for the upcoming conflict. In the span of a week, during which characters should have collected items, learned additional skills, or simply furthered their training, absolutely nothing happened. The film dismisses this “bracing” period and skips to the battle between Geto and Yuta. The powerful sorcerer Geto who is also the antagonist of the main series is defeated by a rookie. Yes, the audience wants to see the main character succeed, but there is no satisfaction in seeing a hero defeat a powerful villain simply by the powers of friendship and love. I understand that there is only so much a movie can include due to time restraints. However, another 20 minutes spent during the week of waiting would have benefited the film greatly. During this time, I would have also included different memories between Yuta and Rika. The flashback of the two together on the playground and Rika’s subsequent death quickly became too overplayed. The side characters, Panda, Toge, and Maki were entertaining and I enjoyed every minute of their screentime. I only wish they had more impact on the overall story. Panda’s comedic timing, although refreshing quickly became his only defining moments of the film. That and combined with his quick defeat against Geto were disappointing. Whereas Panda is the “gag” character, Toge and Maki’s character development are much more progressive and impressionable. Toge’s understanding and sympathy for Yuta who suffers from anxiety reveals his kindness, which is sometimes overlooked due to his cursed speech that forces him to have a very limited vocabulary. In the beginning, Maki came off as insensitive and harsh. Later in the story, Maki’s family background is revealed and as a result, her achievements until that point are even more impressive. My only complaint is that these characters had little to no consequence on the main plot.
This gonna be my first time doing this so hopefully, it's alright. JJK 0 for me really fell hard under the "refined extended tv anime episodes" rather than actually looking like a movie. As someone who really enjoyed the prequel when I first read it, hell I'll admit it I enjoy Yuta a whole lot more than I ever have with Yuji I just haven't really found anything to say that makes this movie stand out when it comes to ambitious directing. Throughout the entire film, I just felt that everything looked well and compositing looked better compared to the actual series but it felt like it could've been executed in an ova setting more than a movie. I think Rika was definitely a character where there should've been some sort of expansion on her as she felt really shallow in the manga and there was an inclusion of a bit of her backstory in the manga extra if I remember correctly. Megumi Ogata was someone who I knew would absolutely kill this role with Yuta and she does a phenomenal job once again with him. The movie does a great job following a 1:1 adaptation and doesn't really miss a beat in it other than adding in some new scenes such as Todo, Nanami, Mei Mei, and others getting some small screen time here and there but the movie won't stray away much at all from the manga if people were worried over that. Kouki Fujimoto's sequence in the movie might've been my favorite part and easily the strongest throughout the movie (His sequence should be the start of when Yuta fights Geto and the ost The Real You plays) he has such great fx work and his black flash was incredible as well also Shinsaku Kozuma has a great cut with the explosion at the end. Speaking of OST the movie felt really lackluster with it, the main series I felt had a pretty solid ost and I was really pumped to hear what they would have in store with the movie but other than "Greatest Strength" and "The Real You" it was extremely dull and I felt that they held back on it. I don't really mean for this review to sound all negative because I've seen the movie two times and I did enjoy it both times, it just lacks that ambitious directing that I felt could've elevated this movie higher such as the third MHA movie with cuts such as Suzukis and Hayashi's or even SAO Progressive just felt much stronger when it came to the overall direction of a film even though when it comes to story JJK 0 was far better for me. Even with these issues I still recommend people to watch this film Ogata does an amazing job with Yuta and Fujimoto's cuts are absolutely incredible but I can't really say much else other than the feeling that it could've worked better in the OVA format rather than a theoretical film.
My country hasn't exactly been notable for screening anime movies in theaters. Spirited Away was, as far as my knowledge goes, the latest one we got, and that was nearly two decades ago. This makes the sudden appearance of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 all the more surprising. As sad as missing out on Kimi no Na wa and Koe no Katachi might have been, we're now off to a much more promising future for Japanese movies in the region. But enough with the localization - let's get to the movie itself. Volume number 0 of JJK was turned into roughly 100 minutes worth of content. I'm no expert on movie adaptations, but with how some TV series adaptations go (case in point: Erased adapting the entirety of its first volume in one episode), the final product must be the result of adding numerous original scenes to the manga chapters. Fortunately enough, there is no one scene within the entire spectacle that felt out of place, which does tend to happen with some other "filler" content. As expected of Mappa, the animation, especially throughout fight scenes, is ineffably stellar, and accompanied by a soundtrack that will keep you pumped all the way through. Whether the staff working on it all was offered sleep or money is, unfortunately, unbeknownst to me. JJK characters always appeared likable to me, and the newly introduced members of the cast are no exception to this rule. What I enjoyed a bit less this time around was the comedy, which, to me, felt slightly excessive at times (though less so than in most other shounen series). I do, however, appreciate how some characters we had already known from the main series (Gojou, Maki and Toge come to mind) were given more depth. The horroresque vibe of the franchise is as strong as ever with this arc, with even the first couple scenes presenting us with our new temporary protagonist, Okkotsu Yuuta, struggling to find a way to keep his actions from exacerbating his current situation. As it turns out, nothing goes right once your childhood friend turns into a curse after death. Other than the quickly established main plotline, the viewers are presented with a training arc, a whole lot of action, the big, final fight... you know, the classics. After all is said and done, and an epilogue is all it takes for the movie to finish on a high note... the end credits appear. It would be far from fair to claim the film has failed to tie up its loose ends - the problems we were presented with at the beginning were resolved okay. And yet, I couldn't help but think there should have been more to it, like there is a Jujutsu Kaisen 0.5 movie in sight, which I am sure there is not. I needed naught, but a climax - seems like it was too high of an order at the end of the day. Overall, it was a very solid movie. Not as gripping and bizarre as the main show, but very well-made and, without a doubt, entertaining. As a prequel to the series, it can serve as a proper starting point for newcomers, as each character and event is presented anew (we do, ultimately, have two different protagonists, and each of them needs to understand their position somehow). I enjoyed the experience just as much while having previous knowledge of the world (the exposition dumps were perfectly bearable). It may not be the best thing you will have seen this year, but hey, it's still pretty good!
# ~~~__Jujutsu Kaisen 0__~~~
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/26X0AxR.png)~~~
***
# ~~~__Introduction__~~~
_Disclaimer: This is a spoiler-free review._ Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is follows the story of Yuta, an
ordinary teenager haunted by the curse of his childhood friend Rika. As it turns out, Rika herself is
no ordinary curse, therefore she and Yuta gets recognized by the school of exorcists. Yuta joins the
school in hope of looking for answers. _P.S. This movie is canon, but it is a prequel to the
Jujutsu Kaisen anime and manga. I will be talking about whether it is possible to watch this movie
without watching the anime or reading the manga, in the review itself._
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/qnBKrfo.png)~~~
***
# ~~~__The Blessing__~~~
MAPPA went all out. The visuals are beautiful, the backgrounds are drawn with detail (even the
particles), and the lighting is perfect. The opening OST was heavenly; the first time I've heard Indie
Rock in an anime movie. The other OSTs were also good, and there were so many varieties including Jazz
and Rock. The sound effects were decent as well. Everything is really well drawn, specially the
characters. If you look closely, you can see that there are outlines on the characters and curses to
heighten the viewers' focus on them.
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/nxnIi5z.png)~~~
MAPPA also slightly blurred the backgrounds to heighten the focus on the characters during fights. The
animation itself is really good, and in my opinion, better than the one in the anime. The fight
choreography and action sequences are great, specially in the latter half of the movie. The movie also
provides a look at Gojo's hand to hand combat, which I fell immediately fell in love with. The camera
movement was surprisingly decent, which is something that MAPPA hasn't been too good at in the past.
This came in handy in situations where the force of impact needed to be shown.
~~~img500(https://c.tenor.com/6IorBuSFwYkAAAAC/yuta-jujutsu-kaisen.gif)~~~
The Voice Acting is great as well. Lots of familiar voices, including Yuta's, done by Megumi Ogata -
the voice of Shinji from Evangelion. Rika's curse voice is pretty annoying at first, but you grow into
it. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 also acts as a good introduction to the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. Bringing back
characters like Maki, Inumaki, Panda and Gojo from the original anime. Inumaki was given the proper
screentime that he didn't receive in the anime. The curse and sorcerer grading system is explained in
a more easy to understand manner. The origin of curses is also slightly touched upon. One would think
it's actually a solid starting point for newcomers to the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. But alas, it's not.
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/PPsqiec.png)~~~
***
# ~~~__The Curse__~~~
It's really unfortunate that the story of Yuta had to be contained into the time-limit of a movie.
There are so many flaws. Mainly, the pacing is really bad. The parts that mattered the most, happened
too fast. This includes the fights; they were too short. There were a lot of comedic elements as well,
which just dragged the seriousness of the story to the ground at times. Whilst the potential and
strength of Yuta was shown, considering that this movie was made for the sole purpose of exploring
Yuta, I felt that it was very lackluster. The backstory of Yuta is shown in parts, and not much is
shown; in the least, not enough to matter. It doesn't leave a lasting or strong impression. To make it
worse, they kept using the same flashbacks repetitively throughout points in the movie. As someone who
appreciates good writing, I cannot with a straight face say that Yuta is a well-written character. He
is a great concept, Rika as well. I believe she is the curse with the most personality. But their
stories had been cut short too early, they needed more depth, specially in their backstories,
psychology and dynamic.
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/hwYUbKQ.png)~~~
Moving on from Yuta, let's look at the other characters. A lot of side characters are shown that have
no relevance to the plot. They aren't explored much either. To better understand them you can watch
the anime. Also this may come as no surprise to anyone who watched the trailer, but the main
antagonist is Geto. The movie delved into Geto's story as well. He was actually explored in detail.
MAPPA seems to have left out parts of the MC to give time to Geto (there's a reason for this which
manga readers would know). Not the best move, but considering the supposed goal of this movie (which I
will reveal in the conclusion), I guess it makes sense. If I'm being perfectly honest, there is a
showcase of the dynamic between Gojo and Geto, and even though it barely lasted 5 minutes, Geto left
more of a lasting impression on me than Yuta.
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/Vkfe9MU.png)~~~
***
# ~~~__The Conclusion__~~~
I've seen a lot of people say that since Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a sequel, you do not need to watch the
anime to watch it. I partially agree. Yes, JK0 provides a great introduction to the universe but a lot
of it's elements are catered to the fans that it already has, the anime viewers, and the manga
readers. As I mentioned before, there are a lot of side characters, and to appreciate them, you have
to first watch the anime, else most of them will leave no mark. I wish it didn't focus on welcoming
the newcomers to the franchise, because that was a complete waste of time, and caused a downgrading in
the things that mattered the most - the characters and the plot. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad
movie, it's good, but that's because I've already watched the anime, and read the manga. For non-fans,
this is probably and 'Ok' movie. I will say this, this movie does slightly contribute to understanding
the current arc in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga better. Overall, I'm left with nothing but mixed feelings
about this movie. That's it for my review. Thanks for reading! This was
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/1NbIqt4.png)~~~
Welcome girls & bros and non-binary hoes (Line taken from SK8 dub. Highly recommended). This is one of those "Why I detest popular stuff" reviews, and our contestant today is **JJK0**. So if you're a fan, you'll probably have a hard time swallowing the upcoming claims, that is assuming you've read the review instead of just disagreeing with the score. JJK (The TV Series) isn't bad; it's just above average and clearly aimed at angsty teenagers who see a 10/10 show as anything that looks cool. So, I went into this film with somewhat low expectations, but boy! This film is just another one of those mediocre 1 hour 30-minute cash grabs that fail in a variety of ways. **Story: 5/10** This film, like JJK, does not make it clear where it wants to go. The main conflict does not appear until the halfway point of the film. Until then, they attempted to connect the characters with the audience using a common shounen cliche known as the 'Training Arc,' but it was repeatedly tiring to watch. The pre-climax and climax will be very predictable, and the only memorable fight is 'Yuta vs Geto,' because it is the only fight with some underlying substance (I will get into it shortly). You probably heard this claim but just throwing it here; JJK = Noragami/Bleach power system + Demon Slayer's world + Reimagined Naruto characters (It's surprising that this wasn't canceled). **Characters: 5/10** Yuta's personality shares some similarities with Shinji but they're clearly nothing alike. Except; - they both hate themselves, - they both want to be recognized (might be a stretch but you'll get my point), - and they both share the same Voice Actor. Aside from the unfunny sarcasm, the main difference between Yuta and Shinji is their development. Yuta went from being a depressed emo kid with a Yandere clinging ghost to a badass sword wielder who can command the said Yandere ghost with some *Twisted Love* logic, whereas Shinji just spirals deeper and deeper into depression and does some morally fucked up shit (flashbacks to EoE). Rika-chan's actions are more emotional than rational, so she can be a little irritating at times, but her character arc was wrapped up nicely. The rest of the cast is JJK characters, so you should already have your expectations/opinions because they don't go through any major changes or introduce anything new about them, aside from making Maki's thighs shine a bit more. **Visuals: 6.5/10** JJK (& JJK0) fights are cool, fast, and smooth, perfectly encapsulating what most immature teenagers define as a "Good Fight," but they overlook the impact. Not a single punch, power move, or anything that makes an energized fight lacks impact. The same can be said for the choreography; they simply swung the camera around and called it a day; Yuta's sword swings look identical to Geto's fight and Maki's fight, despite the fact that there's supposedly a few months of training in between. The only transformation in fighting style occurs when he abandons the sword at the end, which is also not particularly creative. As I previously stated, simply incorporating flashy animation does not result in a great fight. A great fight sends a message through all of its actions, such as "Meruem (The embodiment of anguish towards humanity) vs Netero (The embodiment of Human perseverance & Love)." Most JJK and JJK0 fights lack this concept and end up being nothing more than flashy light effects, except for the Yuta vs Geto fight. While there is no proper build-up, this single fight contains more substance than the rest of the film, featuring a battle between Twisted Love (Yuta & Rika-chan) and Twisted Justice (Geto). Except for the fights, the remaining visuals; backgrounds, character animation, and so on, are typical MAPPA/JJK fare. **Sound: 4/10** This is subjective and I didn't like it. I'm not an expert in music and I can't explain what makes it good/bad. I once tried in 4 paragraphs, but it just boiled down to "The sounds are music to my ears", except there aren't any scores that I wanted to relisten to it, so I say it's not bad but forgettable. **Enjoyment: 3/10** If you couldn't tell, I did not enjoy this film. If you want my honest advice, just check the "Yuta vs Geto" fight on youtube and be done with it. **Conclusion: Not recommended** (Unless you are a fan, but you still probably won't like it).
___ #~~~JUJUTSU KAISEN 0: It's one of the anime movie of all time (this review contains naughty swears)~~~ ___ We start with Okkutsu Yuta being bullied by a gaggle of evil bullies who are just evil because ? anyways the bully just straight up threatens to kill a highschool student and because the main character is the main character in a shonen he has to have a powerful inner demon cheat code and brutalizes the cartoonishly villainous gang of ruffians. THEY ARE LITERALLY PIECED UP AND SHOVED INTO A LOCKER AND YET THE MOVIE INSISTED THEY LIVED??? And why didn't Rika (Kurama) stop the bullying earlier? Was Okkutsu stopping her somehow? Or maybe Rika realised that they needed this prequel movie to be made... So yeah we basically get introduced to the virgin Itadori and he starts JJ Tech with his new class of the Panda, the mouth guy and Maki. Obviously, they don't get along because we need blatant and obvious internal group conflict before we realise the friends we made along the way. The characters are just about the same as they were in the main series Maki is the tsundere "B-Baka! Yuta!", Mouth guy says funny ingredient and Panda is the Panda. Oh and Gojo (he's carrying in this movie). I don't really have a problem with these characters. Yuta is the one I have the main issue with. ___ #~~~"Yuta... It's you... You are Jujutsu Kaisen 0!"~~~ ___ He's your typical "Don't hurt my friends or I'll go beastmode!" and when he does go beastmode he pulls the absolute most dogshit abilities from thin air. The movie will tell you "This ability is one only few people can use and it's the most difficult thing to master ever" and then Yuta will come along and perform it with literally 0 effort. He does this in the movie and I was like "Where when and how the fuck did he learn this?" I don't know. He just did. It's not just the fact that he can (when he shouldn't) but that they don't show us that he might've came to learn or realise he can throughout the movie. He just does it out-of-pocket and we're just forced to accept that he can do it with no prior knowledge. It's just feels weird, contrived and jarring. Yuta feels like the epitome of a self-insert "Loser but secretly badass" character and it feels so weird and jarring when he's compassionate and kind throughout the entire movie but then just starts going crazy when his friends get hurt like "the version of you in your head when some conflict occurs". The fact that he can go toe-to-toe in combat against one of the most powerful sorcerers and come out with a few scratches is just absolute bollocks and only happens because "YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!!". He's the most bland and boring character and he's the main one... "I want to save everyone! I want to save my friends! Power of friendship!!!" Like just shut the fuck up god damn. And at the end of the movie they just casually drop "you are the chose one" type shit. Like, sure i guess... the movie is literally fucking ending but thanks for telling me. Like this thought this would make it better that he can pull off random OP abilities. ~~~img(https://i.imgflip.com/6zq5q9.jpg)~~~ His relationship with Rika is so forced and they pile-drive you with the sad backstory in this movie so hard. We don't know anything about Rika besides she just loves Yuta because he played with her at the fucking playground. This child literally HAS A RING from who knows where and fully gets engaged to Yuta. Bitch you are 5. And the same day she proposes and then gets her fucking head run over (lmao) to force the Okkutsu Yuta to have tragic anime character backstory. There is literally 0 romance besides Rika being held on this plane of existence by Yuta's strong copium energy and repeating "DAISUKI YUTAA!!!!!" and at the end performing a random "Power of love" energy beam. ___ #~~~"B-BUT MUH STUDIO MOPPER ANIMATION!!!"~~~ ___ Not even gonna argue coz its good. It fucking better be (I paid 15euro). They fixed the problems I had in the movie with the bad CGI backgrounds and compositing and colour grading and direction. Basically everything was fixed. YES FULL POINTS 10/10 STUDIO MAPPU ! Around here we let the animation do the heavy lift- oh wait thats UFOtable... ~~~img(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLVtHgWXIAMstZH.jpg)~~~ ___ #~~~Cursed Technique: Forgettable OST~~~ ___ Apart from one annoying song at the beginning that plays over Yuta morning routine that was so irritating It induced trauma, the OST for this was pretty sub-par and forgettable. I liked the OST for the main series and had some really memorable tracks, yet this time they really half-assed it. They could've really pulled through with the emotional moments with a good score but its just AudioJungle free background music. The men in black came after the movie and neuralised all memory of the OST ~~~img(https://media.giphy.com/media/R7m04yMaGWVeE/giphy.gif)~~~ ___ #~~~Lexicon Update: Prequilism~~~ ___ This movie suffers from something I like to call... _Prequilism_... A lot of tension is lost in this movie because we know that at the end of the day it's all going to be fine. We get a scene where Maki, Mouth and Panda are all severely fucked up and they really try to hammer it in that this is a dire moment for these characters. I'm like bruh they are literally alive in the series. Like is this movie trying to gaslight me? Or maybe when Geto is like "I'm gonna invade Tokyo and kill lots of people mwuhahahaha" and we know it's just not happening at all because its never mentioned at all. Now this is usually alleviated if the movie can give us an interesting story on HOW this things were prevented, but its just "We beat them up lol". - Also just a side-note but where the hell were the civilians or pedestrians in this movie? I swear the world felt like fucking abandoned and only the Jujutsu sorcerers existed like it was actually kinda fucking eerie how all the streets and locations were empty. It might've helped if we just got a few crowd shots in spread throughout the movie to make the world feel populated at least a little. - Gojo fucking up that black guy had to be racially motivated. He gave him all the hands, the full juggle combo, ass-whooping of the century. Bro didn't even go that hard on Jogo. We might have ourselves a new minority hunter... ___ #~~~Final Thoughts~~~ ___ Fr? Carried by animation.
I was encouraged to see this movie because of how insanely popular JK is, and despite having read over 100 chapters of the manga, I don't think I connected with the story. But instead, what I didn't feel with several of the main story arcs, I felt with this cool and great 1.5 hour prequel. The original draft had an apology for every time I said a negative opinion of JK, so to lighten things up, please don't read this review if you are a fan of JK and want to be annoyed or angry at every moment. I promise my indifference to JK is not because I want to be cool for not liking something that is popular, I just don't connect with the main story. But this prequel is another story. There are several things I liked, so to start off on one hand, I'd like to say how very charming the "love is the most powerful of curses" theme is. It's so simple and made for a lot of drama and emotions, along with the ending with the revelation that it was Yuuto who unintentionally cursed his girlfriend. The entire plot of the movie is straightforward, simpler than the arcs I read in the manga, and yet I still consider this more to my liking. One of the negative criticisms that many people have of JK is that the structure and tropes are that of just another shonen fighting story. I think that's true, but one thing I've learned from looking at so many stories is that execution is the most important thing. Zenin (I won't call her by her last name) and Toge have typical and simple roles in this prequel, and yet they are very charming and charismatic, I confess that here these two mattered and interested me much more than what I saw of them in the manga, especially Toge. "He can only speak with onigiri ingredients" made me think 'haha how quirky' but in the short collaborative fight with Yuuta he not only introduced his powers in a cooler way than in the base story if not made me empathize with him more with his personal decision of the way he communicates. Again, it's simple but so charming. About the magic system... Here things are explained to you straight to the point and without complications and I loved it a lot more for that. There is no need to explain things in an unnecessarily extended way. What are the grades of curses? The higher the more dangerous, and the unusual ones are the strongest. Where do they come from? From the negative energies of people and places. How is Yuuta going to fight if he was told that Rika's curse is destructive? He can transfer Rika's energy to a katana and use a common weapon but empowered with cursed energy. In this prequel they present most of the concepts of the base story but in a simpler way (one drink for every time this review says 'simple') which to me is much more appealing and entertaining. Same with Getou, his ideals and his ways of being in the manga for me were just "like 2/3 arcs to explain something so simple? Um, ok." but here they show it to you in just two simple and straight to the point scenes, god it even has comedy, the woman saying "you're showing your true personality, Getou" and him putting a pikachu-surprise-face like made me laugh quite a lot. Everything I liked about this movie can be summed up in that everything is so simple, so to the point, and at the same time so great and so cool. I dropped JK in the middle of the Shibuya arc because it got boring and I lost interest (sorry for swearing) but now I have the motivator to keep reading the story for many reasons: I remember Gojo said he wanted to overthrow the bigwigs of the cursed energy world, now I have much more interest in how he's going to achieve that. I want to see Zenin succeed in destroying her clan from within, I want to see Togo saying more onigiri ingredients, I want to see more of the panda because he's funny, Getou because he now seems like a cool villain to me, and, even though Yuuta already fulfilled his character arc, seeing some reference or cameo from him would make me happy because I love him so much. Now I'm more interested in JK's world for a prequel than for the main story, damn, that doesn't happen often. But that's ok, the main point is to enjoy stuff. Oh and the animation and the fights are of an otherworldly quality but I think that's something that everyone knows.
"Jujutsu Kaisen 0" consegue trazer pra mim, o melhor que Jujutsu Kaisen pode oferecer para alguém que nunca teve um contato com a obra. Claro, isso é uma espécie de prólogo a de fato ao anime/mangá, mas isso acima de qualquer valor de produção que o estúdio da Mappa conseguiria trazer e chamar alguém a consumir essa obra, "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" consegue desenvolver uma narrativa que além de interessante tem seu devido peso, que junto de seu apelo visual monstruoso em muitas vezes consegue marcar a cabeça de quem vê. Aqui, esse prólogo ao universo Jujutsu além de ser lindo e incrivelmente bem produzido pela Mappa, consegue entregar a melhor das coisas para um primeiro contato com a obra: Uma narrativa intrigante, interessante e acima de tudo muito bem construída até o seu final. "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" é notório por conta de suas lutas em níveis de qualidade acima da média, mas para mim é algo marcante levando em consideração toda a construção envolto do personagem de Yuta e seu complexo de culpa com o seu passado, o que para mim é uma ótima coisa levando em consideração que isso para muitos, seria só o começo do que Jujutsu Kaisen como obra pode oferecer! Em questão técnica, "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" é um aprimoramento gigantesco desde a primeira temporada produzida pela Mappa. Aqui é possível ver muitos mais riscos sendo tomados criativamente, seja na direção, animação, ou em praticamente tudo. A maneira em como eles conseguem trazer uma identidade visual forte aqui, e não apenas em questão de design mas sim em seu por menores, como a própria maneira que algumas cores são usadas aqui conseguem destacar e conversar melhor entre si com sua animação, que era um problema que ocorria algumas vezes dentro da primeira temporada de Jujutsu Kaisen. Aqui a criatividade da equipe consegue superar o que Jujutsu tinha apresentado até então, conseguindo entregar além de visuais incríveis dentro dos momentos "sakugas", também produzindo composições de cenas muito bem mais elaboradas e bonitas, o que consegue trazer essa unicidade visual ótima pra dentro do filme. E levando em consideração "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" como um prólogo a tudo o que de fato é Jujutsu, é surpreendente o quanto que ele consegue construir não só um bom clima para aquele mundo, mas também uma boa construção de cenário mesmo que relativamente menos elaborada em comparação ao anime, mas que ainda assim consegue entregar o necessário para aquela história, e principal quanto a narrativa criada ao redor de Yuta e Rika durante o filme. Algumas horas "Jujutsu Kaisem 0" vai de terror a ação desenfreada, mas o que importa no final das contas dentro desse filme, é como que ele consegue construir uma relação mesmo que pequena dentro de sua história com um quê um tanto singelo, conseguindo criar uma boa história envolvendo traumas, culpas e negações entre uma relação tão unicamente obsessiva. Um incrível prólogo, uma ótima introdução e acima de tudo: uma boníssima história!