Review | Jujutsu Kaisen 0 - Future of the Force

“Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is an entertaining and action-packed movie.”

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is the prequel movie to the popular anime series Jujutsu Kaisen. Released in 2021 in Japan, international fans can now experience the beginning. So technically, if you haven’t watched the series yet, this can work as your starting point into the franchise.

STORY

The movie follows Yuta Okkotsu. He is an high school student who is cursed by the spirit of his late girlfriend. Upon meeting a sorcerer named Satoru Gojo, he decides to join his special high school to learn to control the power of the curse. On his journey, Yuta befriends other students and encounters dangerous enemies while learning the truth about his curse.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 does its job as a prequel. Indeed, it tells Yuta’s story in a compelling way while also presenting some of the other characters and introducing this fantasy world. It’s an action-packed movie. And I cannot emphasize that enough. The action is raw and brutal. Moreover, the final battle and duel are absolutely epic. MAPPA went all in with the action.

It goes at full speed, maybe a bit too much. Indeed, I would have appreciated more scenes featuring Yuta’s training and him bonding with the other students. An additional fifteen minute of exposure would have made this movie even better.

Since Yuta is trying to control the cursed spirit of his late girlfriend, his story has a lot to do with grief. Thus the humor helps balancing the darker themes explored in the movie. And I do like this because the humor just feels natural. In fact, it’s what you would expect coming from a group of students, even though they are not in a normal high school.

VISUALS

Visually, this is an impressive movie. You can definitely feel they have put a good budget in making it. From the characters to the scenery, everything is well animated. I really like the character designs. Furthermore, I think we can all agree Yuta is super badass but Gojo is the coolest designed character of this franchise. And more importantly, the action scenes are brilliantly animated. It’s actually essential when your movie heavily relies on action. And when I said the action is brutal, it doesn’t hold back visually – it’s quite gory.

SOUNDTRACK

As for the soundtrack, Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui and Alisa Okehazama composed the score. It’s a beautful collaboration work. The most memorable song though isn’t the themes performed by King Gnu but ‘Greatest Strength’ by Hiroaki Tsutsumi and Jessica Gelinas. This song undoubtedly is more evocative of Yuta’s emotional journey.