Jujutsu Kaisen 0
After waiting for what felt like a year, I finally got the chance to watch the highly rated movie – Jujutsu Kaisen 0, by director Sunghoo Park.
As the title of the movie explains, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 begins probably a year or so before the animation was released, so our favorite pink-haired protagonist, Itadori Yuji is nowhere to be found in this film.
However, we are instead given a new protagonist in Yuta Okkotsu. A young boy who is cursed with the spirit of Rika Orimoto, who follows him everywhere and if provoked, will gladly annihilate anyone and anything that dares to harm Yuta.
But since Yuta Okkotsu is a shy character at heart that was constantly bullied since the death of Rika, he finds it hard to get along with others, fearing that this curse would only bring about misery and misfortune to those around him.
Finally, at wit’s end, Yuta accepts his fate by isolating himself voluntarily from the world above and accepts to be executed if need be but that all changes and fades to the void when he meets Gojo Saturo.
Who inspires and motivates Yuta Okkotsu to use that curse for something either than himself, to grow strong, strong enough so that he can break the curse that has haunted him for so long and set Rika Orimoto’s spirit free?
MAPPA wastes no time in reintroducing itself as one of the best animation studios in japan right now with the number of stunning visuals throughout the film.
It’s amazing to watch and I say this with no biased opinion.
I’m no animator myself yet I’ve searched and learned about what it takes to be an animator and the amount of work, and skills it takes to have produced such a masterpiece is just incredible, especially when you consider that most of it was rendered in 3D animation and not CGI.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is nothing more than an introduction to a character that we have not met in the actual animation and yet the introduction and character development of Yuta Okkotsu did not feel rushed.
Expect to see some gruesome scenes, this is Jujutsu Kaisen after all. Though for the amount of blood and gore that is present in the movie, I was shocked when I saw that it was rated PG13.
I can’t help but think to myself how the kids at the theatres must have reacted when seeing all the blood being shed on the big screens, lol…, I am sure the theatre must have been dead quiet lol…
Another aspect that about the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is that, it continues the sense of quirkiness, it’s still deeply dark and action-packed from beginning to end.
The action scenes were especially my favorite in the way they were all done, in particular, in how they used action to reintroduce the characters we met in the first season such as Maki Zen’in, Panda, and Inumako Toge.
Let us not forget that this film is nothing more than a backstory, for a character that we have never seen only heard about in the animation’s first season and yet it was able to create a bond with the audience.
Yuta isn’t some character we just so happened to see in the film, I’m invested in this character and cannot wait to see him in future episodes working alongside Itadori Yuji, hopefully, we get to see him in season 2.
Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is mad for introducing a new character so late but they did it in a way that I think many others would fail.
Great storytelling, even better animation, and truly magical in the way that it paces everything, you neither feel that the story is flying by nor that the character is growing too fast.
It’s perfectly balanced, giving it an 8 out of 10 ratings.
Let me know in the comments sections below what your thoughts on Jujutsu Kaisen 0 are.
Thanks for reading…
Sunghoo Park
“What I want fans to know most is that everyone involved in this work, including the various staff members, the production team, and the production committee of JUJUTSU KAISEN, truly loves this work. Everyone’s “love of Jujutsu” is very strong, and I believe that the fact that everyone is united in their love and enjoyment of making this work is surely the reason why the audience thought it was a good work and enjoyed it so much.”