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This Week in Anime
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a Near-Perfect Anime Movie

by Nicholas Dupree & Monique Thomas,

Now streaming on Crunchyroll, you can catch the Jujutsu Kaisen prequel story in all its monster-loving horror. The movie is an undeniable good time, if only there wasn't one glaring problem...

This movie is streaming on Crunchyroll

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.


@Lossthief @BeeDubsProwl @NickyEnchilada @vestenet


Nick
Hey Nicky, did you know it's been just over a year since we covered the final Evangelion movie? Just something that crossed my mind today while watching a show about a sallow teenage boy voiced by Megumi Ogata being swallowed up by a horrific supernatural conflict and having to command the female-coded Freudian behemoth he's tied his soul to. No reason.
Nicky
Oh god, don't remind me of the passage of time! I'm still trying to get rid of the permanent tearstains under my eyes from that. It's a curse.
No, this is a curse.

What you have is called insomnia.
Excuse you, that is a blessing. I see a cool monster and feel #blessed. Which is why today we're talking about all the blessing and curses of Jujutsu Kaisen 0! It's a prequel film to the hotblooded supernatural action series animated by MAPPA.
This is a weird one. Not the film itself, but rather the exact way the story it's adapting came to be and how it fits into the now established JJK brand. Initially this was a four-chapter mini series called "Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School." Then a bit later, Jujutsu Kaisen proper launched with a new main cast before eventually reincorporating a bunch of characters and elements from this story. Then eventually it got retrofitted as "Volume 0" of the manga and the transformation from pilot to prequel was complete.
And now it exists as one singular big-budget film directed by The God of High School's Sunghoo Park. Known for his ability to create riveting animated action sequences, Park did a stand-up job bringing out the best of MAPPA's first Shōnen Jump adaptation. It brings the same magic this time with the budget of the big screen. There's action setpieces all over this baby! Even within the first 20 minutes of runtime, there's some real capital "A" Ass-Kicking.
Oh boy, is there a whole lot of action. MAPPA knows where their bread is buttered, and it's inside the jiggly, fetid guts of gored out demons. Sometimes literally!

It's funny how keeping the staff consistent between the series proper and this prequel allows for a way stronger sense of continuity that isn't really there in the manga. Just watching the anime incarnation you'd think this was just a run of the mill flashback arc like Kakashi Gaiden in Naruto. Except for having a totally different protagonist who we've never really seen before.
Yeah, since I knew about the situation with the manga I was actually caught off-guard about how well it complimented the series. I ended up reading the whole thing on the Jump app the next day and, despite being spruced up for theatrical release, it's a surprisingly faithful adaptation with a few additions that show excellent foresight from Gege Akutami. It's also a real love letter for the story and characters.
Though my biggest issue with the manga story remains: needs more Panda.
Speaking of the theatrical release, it's important for me to note that this is my second time watching this film because, like the Demon Slayer movie, it had a wide theatrical release. I was fortunate enough to have theaters that were both close and unpopulated so I felt comfortable going because it came out during a pandemic (no pun intended, Panda). Apparently a lot of theatergoers had the same idea, because this movie landed at #2 at the box office in its opening weekend.
Oh yeah. It kind of got overshadowed with the latest Dragon Ball movie, but this was another anime movie that made a pretty penny at the box office.
It did not break Mugen Train's record, but 35 million domestic and over 160 million worldwide against a couple of Hollywood blockbusters with over 10 times its budget is nothing to sneeze at. It really shows the power of anime fans.
Though at the time of all that success it also spurred some talk about how much, say, the voice actors who made that dub possible got paid for such a successful release. Sure hope nothing else involving voice actor pay were to come up right as this movie gets released on Crunchyroll. Hahaha. Ha.
Oh yeah, when I went I was only given the option to see the dub no matter what theater I looked at, so I have input on both versions. I prefer the subs and don't mind watching anime dubbed, but offered showings made it clear that the dub was the version that the distributor was trying to push. It ended up being perfectly fine and I still felt emotionally moved through many of the scenes. But according to the actors, who all did their damn best to still try to make a good film experience, it was created under low pay and poor conditions. For most films, actors typically get money back in royalties, but since anime dubs aren't widely part of any union the voice actors will never see a cent of that success. More about the state of anime dubs can be read here.
Also some actors reportedly got paid a flat rate of $150. Before tax. Literally getting paid less than a background extra in a TV sitcom. Fuckin wild, ain't it?
Imagine being paid less than a week's worth of minimum wage for putting your whole heart out on the big screen! It's criminal given how much effort the actors put in. The emotional punches hit hard. As we said in the intro, Kayleigh McKee had to go up against the legendary Megumi Ogata as Yuta despite being way younger and less experience. I have my own issues with anime dubs, like how the ADR makes everyone's tone sound too similar, especially when it's supposed to be a quieter moment, but I don't consider that a judge of performance.

I was surprised how much I ended up loving Yuta as a character, too. He's very opposite of JJK's protagonist, the happy-go-lucky Yuji. The Shinji comparison is extremely apt because he's the same type of dour, traumatized, and complicated sadboi that I really love digging into psychologically.
Yeah, Yuta is decidedly more of a Depressed-Go-Horrible-Misfortune kind of shonen protag.

Though he's not a total sadsack. How many other shōnen heroes can say they have a girlfriend from the very beginning?
Excuse you, I think you mean wife! That's right, Yuta became one of anime's youngest and most notable wife-guys. A marriage determined by the most legally-binding powers in anime: a playground pinky promise made in childhood.

This being the cheery and all-around positive world of JJK, they go on to live a long and happy life together.
Congrats, kid! You may kiss the bride! Smooooooooch~
Sadly, the rest of the world hates to see a chad winning, so the old betacucks at Jujutsu High School decide they need to kill him.
While simultaneously anime's Youngest Widowed Boy AND Wife-Guy, Yuta gets cursed by Rika's spirit, who instinctively attacks anyone who tries to harm her greatest love like an angry guard dog. No longer able to live a normal life, he turns himself in when the sorcerers intervene. The old fogies are critical of monster-lovers and sanction their marriage an "unholy matrimony." Yuta is protected by a teacher's intervention and contracted as a student of sorcery instead. That teacher turned out to be Satoru Gojo. It's almost exactly what happens to Yuji at the start of his series, and the anime even doubles down by reusing some of the visuals.

Gojo's still a charmer!
He's yet to pick up his stylish blindfold from the main series, but it's still Gojo, the god-chosen troll of the entire universe.

And if you're a fan of the extended cast of JJK, it's pretty fun to see an alternate universe where they were meant to be the main supporting cast.
Akutami retroactively looking big-brained for just reusing everything is so bizarre, because even though this was written first, all the characterization is still pretty consistent. That was the thing that most impressed me. I will also say this being a prequel/pilot means it's perfectly fine for someone to jump into it with no context. Some of the world details are vaguer, but that works better for a film and the direction adds a lot back in through visual cues. There's a few cameos later in the film, but they aren't part of the emotional core. I'd say the most context-heavy stuff would be all the stuff surrounding Gojo and the main antagonist Geto, but even the anime series hasn't gotten to the full details on that.

As a fan who has seen the anime and knows a little bit of the manga through osmosis, that knowledge definitely made some scenes a lot more chilling to watch, like Gojo giving this bit of wisdom after Yuta gains control of Rika for the first time.

Or the film's first shot of his Special Eyes™ when threatening his superiors while walking out of a meeting.

That said, the already initiated will also have to deal with some repetitive exposition. They don't really make any big cuts to the original, so all the obligatory exposition about curses and sorcerers and all is still there. Makes it more newbie-friendly, but also makes the first act sag a bit as we get introduced to stuff we already know about.

Like it makes sense to explain this stuff to Yuta, but it's a bit tiresome.
Oh yeah, there's deffo some pacing issues where this still feels less like a traditional movie and more like four very polished episodes of a TV show.
Yeah, it's pretty weird that our first act is basically just Yuta going on bonding fieldtrips with the other students. Though I won't complain about some good Maki content.
Like, I don't think it would be something you'd want to show someone who isn't already heavy inundated in the Rules of Anime. The comedy and drama are all heavily steeped in existing genre conventions for people who already know what to expect. Even these simplified gag shots, which I think are charming, aren't typical of what most filmgoers would see.
Oh I'm sure Dan and Sally McNobody would be very confused going into this, what with the panda who asks this young man about boobs.

But considering how big a hit JJK's anime was, I don't imagine even casual anime fans will really balk at stuff like that. I'm more talking about the pacing and follow-up on certain elements. Like how Rika and Yuta's whole deal kind of stops getting attention for the middle hour of the movie.
I'm more pointing out how it's not even trying to pretend that it's something it isn't which makes it more anime than film. Taking away from Yuta's trauma to show him fostering kinship with his new school buddies is totally an anime move, in my book. I didn't really consider it a problem though, because the conflict isn't so much that Yuta has a curse placed on him, but rather the fact that his "curse" is the thing that prevents him from forming new connections or continue living. It's through each trial that he's able to open up and he ends up relating to Maki and Inumaki as he learns more about them.

Which is good, because I did like them a lot in the series, especially Maki. I feel like everyone's core issues are related to Yuta's grief.
It makes for a solid character arc, but it is weird how the element/character/relationship that incites this whole thing is introduced, fleshed out, and then sidelined for the overall majority of the runtime. But I guess it wouldn't be a shōnen anime if it didn't find a reason to sideline its most powerful female characters. HEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Rika at least doesn't spend all that time napping in a box.
Since we're mentioning characters getting sidelined, Panda doesn't get any backstory or characterization here, but he's there to be everyone's best pal. I love this scene where they talk about Inumaki actually being fairly considerate because he's been there and can't literally come out and say anything outside of lunch orders because if he did your head would explode.
It's a shame we don't get a friendship adventure with Panda here, but they do at least give him a bigger fight in the third act compared to the manga to make up for it. Honestly, I kind of wish they'd added in more to this middle section and let us get a better sense of time passing. As-is, Yuta spends months with the cast offscreen, mastering techniques and studying the blade, and we just don't get to see all of that because we need to introduce the villain.
Geto is technically the big villain in the main series as well, often sending various strong curses to attack our heroes, but the series never went into his motivations. We get a good glimpse of his deal here, though. He acts as a priest collecting people's curses to grow in power, but really he sees himself and sorcerers as above regular humans and resents having to hide his abilities from the world.
The series definitely wants to paint him as deranged, but personally I can't despise a man who hates NFTs as much as I do.
His motivation isn't unique (Magneto, Char) but his personality is amusing because he's oddly super lax.


You can tell that like Gojo and Nanami, he really is a millennial. JJK's little breaks from seriousness even with its villains are part of what keeps it true to itself.
You can also tell how he and Gojo were best buds in their teen years. Both are absolutely insufferable and the only reason anyone in charge puts up with them is that they're too powerful to get rid of. While Gojo at least pretends to go along with the Jujutsu elders, Geto is ready to sic the Qberts on the normies.
This isn't what we mean when we say "eat the rich!", btw. Geto's worldview isn't one that stems from nowhere. Like Gojo, it comes as a reaction to injustice existing in society. Unlike Gojo, Geto seems to have a lot of pride in himself and thinks what he's doing is justice. Meanwhile Gojo has no delusions about being a good person and only knows how to be a good sorcerer. Then you get shit like this flashback where they're talking in the midst of a busy crosswalk that totally reads like a break-up scene, including Gojo doing that thing where you reach your hand out after the person except it's his sorcerer finger gun.


I was fully expecting Hikaru Utada's "Simple and Clean" to start blasting in the theater.
Just photoshop some air pods onto Gojo here and you can imagine him listening to every break-up song ever made while he gets ready to go kill his ex.

Of course, before he does that there's gotta be a big old fight and that means CAMEO TIME.

Is showing audience favorite characters from the series having moments in the Big Showdown out of context totally superfluous fanservice? Yes. Is that bad? No. I can't argue with showing more Nanami clocking overtime. In an interview, Park comments that this setpiece is actually the notorious Four Consecutive Black Flashes that Nanami only mentions in the anime series.
It's a fun bit of extrapolation that honestly improves the story in my opinion. In the manga 95% of the Parade of 1000 Demons is left off screen, because there just wasn't time for it. But there's no page limit on a movie and throwing in an extra 10 minutes of cool ass fights makes the overall conflict feel a lot more concrete.

It also means I can suck up to the boss by posting pictures of her anime husband.
Editor's Note: It worked.
Trying to make the big climatic battle actually feel like a large war with stakes is not a downgrade! Anime adaptations should totally take the opportunity to flex when they can. Getting that kind of glamorous showing-off is a big reason why everyone shells out to watch anyway, and this movie definitely gets its money-worth. Every fight is as energetic as the series and so much more. Gojo's fight with the African sorcerer Miguel is super fluid with Miguel using a specially woven rope as a weapon.

But y'know you really shouldn't stand in the way between a man and his ex-boyfriend that he totally hasn't gotten over. Because Gojo uses his intuition (boyfriend senses) to figure out that the whole shebang in Kyoto is a decoy to get to Yuta, who's still back at school.
Thankfully, he sends Panda and Inumaki back to even the odds. And by that I mean they both get used to paint the sidewalk, but they get in a couple Looney Tunes hits before that happens.

Missed opportunity by MAPPA for not inserting an accordion sound effect when Geto got back up.
In terms of other additions, it's not just the fights that get fanservice. Earlier we got an extremely touching scene between Yuta and Maki about their blooming friendship/maybe romance. Maki really becomes Yuta's role model for inner strength. This part is in the manga, but we get this extremely gorgeous and horrifying memory of Maki's childhood. It's a bonus minute that adds so much interiority to that character.


This is what I mean when I say the team "gets it" about the characters.
It's a pretty cool addition, though sadly not one that gets any real pay off in this movie. All of the other students basically wind up on the ground to motivate Yuta to fight (like, literally Gojo admits that was the reason he sent them) so Maki's character arc gets punted into the TV series to actually get development. Probably for the best considering Rika is not about to tolerate a love triangle.

Don't worry Rika, in like a year Maki's going to meet the lesbian delinquent of her dreams and never even look Yuta's way again.
And that'll be the correct decision because the whole showdown with Geto is dependent on you believing in the power of love between a guy and his monster wife, and damn, is it strong.

Though, they were too cowardly to show the snogging.
Now, I have been quite vocal in my TWIA Tenure that I am opposed to the degenerate monster girl agenda. And I stand by that. But that's because monster girls represent a spineless lack of commitment, whereas Yuta here is all in. Rika's not some regular anime girl with big claws or a snake tail stapled on—she's a giant abomination, and he gets right up in there to smooch her horrifying needle mouth like a champ. Go kick Mr. Eugenics' ass, you love birds.
THAT FEEL WHEN YOUR LOVE FOR YOUR MONSTER WIFE IS REALLY STRONG AND REALLY PINK

It was so beautiful that Geto gets nearly destroyed, losing one of his arms and bleeding profusely when Gojo finds him.
Which brings in a scene and implied death that raises a whole buncha questions about the main series, but you anime-only folks are just gonna have to sit on that one until season 2 eventually comes out. Lol.
Remember when Gojo said that love is the most twisted curse? It makes you wonder who is cursing who, exactly.

As it turns out, it wasn't Rika who was cursing Yuta. But rather, Yuta was unwilling to accept his grief and enslaved Rika's spirit in the process. It's only after everything is over that he finally lets her spirit pass on. Showing Yuta's willingness to move forward in life thanks to everything he learned from his friends.

In an aside, it's revealed Yuta and Gojo are like distant relatives and he has super sorcerer blood like nbd.
See, when Yuta found out his monster wife was technically underage, he called the whole thing off. That's how you know he's a hero.

Like I said, I think it would have served the story well to build up his relationship with Rika in either form more before the final fight, but overall, it's a fitting enough conclusion to Yuta's arc and caps off the story pretty well. Though I am rather confused by the post-credits stinger where Yuta apparently went on vacation with Miguel.

With a new hairstyle.
I mean, he is technically divorced now, so maybe he's just trying some things out before he starts looking for a new eldritch monstrosity.
Anime's youngest widowed monster-loving wife guy, Yuta Okkotsu.
In the end, while it definitely has its flaws though, JJK 0 is pretty much everything you'd want for JJK at this point. Tons of fantastic action, killer monster designs, and a lot of solid character drama to ground all the blood and curses. And some sexy Gojo, for the thirst hounds out there.
I thought the series was a great showpiece for Park as a director, but I think the movie is what really sold me on him as a storyteller. You can really tell he carefully studied the material to try and bring the most out of each moment and the way characters act and think. It creates an incredibly human touch. This film knows what the people want and what makes them feel invested. It's the combination of big action and big emotion that drives people to love anime so much. Fans of the series will definitely enjoy it.

I also have to note that after the release of this movie, Park has announced he was going to be starting his own studio and MAPPA will be working on Season 2. While it is unknown if he or the current staff will return for the next season of JJK, I can only hope that the effort of this movie sets the tone for whatever comes next and that we will get more great anime out of this endeavor.
The anime industry is currently overloaded with curses, so nothing's guaranteed, but here's hoping they can keep up this sorcery.

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