Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (film)

is a 2021 Japanese animated dark fantasy film, based on the manga series ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'', a prequel to the ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' manga series, both created by Gege Akutami. It was directed by Sunghoo Park and written by Hiroshi Seko, with stars Megumi Ogata, Kana Hanazawa, Mikako Komatsu, Kōki Uchiyama, Tomokazu Seki, Yuichi Nakamura, and Takahiro Sakurai. The film is produced by MAPPA. It follows Yuta Okkotsu, a young student who becomes a sorcerer and seeks to control the cursed spirit of his childhood friend Rika Orimoto in Jujutsu High alongside other skilled mates.

Originally aimed as an arc of the television series, MAPPA changed the format of it during discussion. Besides the story focusing on Yuta and his friends, the staff decided to expand the narrative from the original manga by adding new scenes focused on their mentor Satoru Gojo and his old friend and enemy Suguru Geto. King Gnu performed the two theme songs. Due to the format of a team, MAPPA aimed to make more appealing fight sequences. ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' was released in Japan in December 2021 by Toho, and in United States in March 2022 and in other regions throughout the year.

Upon its release, the film received positive reviews based on the accessible narrative and Yuta's story. The fight sequences created by MAPPA were praised as well as the film's soundtrack. The film was the highest-earning film at the Japanese box office from 2021.

Plot

The movie begins with school student Yuta Okkotsu being bullied, only for the bullies to be brutally injured by Rika, an overprotective cursed spirit that clings to him. The Jujutsu Society wishes to have the boy executed, as the curse he is host to is a dangerous special-grade spirit. The most powerful sorcerer and teacher Satoru Gojo convinces them to let Yuta join Tokyo Jujutsu Technical High instead. Yuta explains to Gojo that Rika was his childhood friend whom he had promised to marry when they grew up. He had willingly turned himself in, wanting to die, so Rika would not hurt anyone else. Gojo convinces him to choose life and join Jujutsu High to learn how to break the curse. Yuta meets fellow students Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, and Panda, all with distinct abilities of their own.

During his first mission with Maki, Yuta is able to purposely summon Rika to save them from a cursed spirit. Afterward, he confides in Gojo that he thinks he may have been the one to curse Rika rather than Rika cursing him because of his love for her. It is revealed that Rika died in a street accident in front of little Yuta, after which she became a curse. Three months pass in his training and Yuta grows close with Maki, Inumaki and Panda. One day, on a mission with Inumaki, the boys are unexpectedly attacked by a high-level curse. Gojo realizes that the man behind the attack was Suguru Geto, a previous student of the school, banished after killing over a hundred innocent people.

Geto declares war on the sorcerers: he will release a thousand curses on the city to kill non-sorcerer humans as he believes them to be useless. Geto's real reason for the war, however, is to distract Gojo so he can kill Yuta and absorb Rika. Gojo realizes Geto's true goal and transports Inumaki and Panda back to the school to protect Yuta, who is with Maki, not taking part in the battle as newbies. Geto quickly beats Maki, Inumaki and Panda. Pushed to his last resort and wanting to protect his friends, Yuta promises himself as a sacrifice to Rika if she helps him defeat Geto with her full power. Rika fatally wounds Geto as the war is won by the sorcerers. Gojo comes across a dying Geto and it is revealed that the two had been best friends before Geto's ideology drove them apart. Gojo thanks Geto for intentionally sparing the students then says last words to Geto that are unrevealed to the audience before ending his life.

Gojo explains to a surprised Yuta that his theory was correct: he was the one who cursed her, unable to accept her death and forcing her to remain by his side. After he promised his soul to her though, he broke the pact, setting her free. Both Yuta and Gojo are actually a descendant of one of the strongest sorcerers in history, explaining their powerful abilities. Rika bids Yuta a warm goodbye and he continues on as a sorcerer-in-training with his friends, still wearing her engagement ring.

In a post-credits scene, Geto's former ally Miguel eats lunch with Yuta in Miguel's native country Kenya. Gojo comes to join them.

Voice cast

Production

Scrapped content

Sunghoo Park originally wanted to cover the Yuta Okkotsu story in the first few episodes of the ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' anime, but ultimately decided to begin the show where the manga starts off, with Yuji's introduction to the world of sorcerers and Curses. In the original format, Park would dedicate the series' first three episodes to develop Yuji Itadori and then replace him with Okkotsu but the idea was scrapped. Park later felt that telling the ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' prequel would fit more in movie format than into a television series. Seko commented that for the movie to fit two hours of length he would need to add new material such as Okkotsu's past and relationship between Gojo and Geto. Seko still said that the action scenes of Akutami's manga is the most important part of the series which he wanted to focus on in the movie. Park agreed and added elements of Chinese movies to the feature which he wanted fans to look forward. He also praised Seko's script for the movie which is meant to show Okkotsu's transformation into a hero.

Handling as a film

The film is produced by MAPPA and directed by Sunghoo Park, with scripts by Hiroshi Seko and character designs by Tadashi Hiramatsu. The film was announced after the ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' anime television series finale in March 2021. While the television series was noted for having entertaining fight scenes, the team wanted to make the fights themselves cooler. While not too different from the television series, Park aimed to make the film have its own style, such as the background colors when the sky is shown. Park noted there were multiple challenges in making the animated movie when compared with his experience with live-actions due to the amount of animation needed to be made. Following the film's release, Park's favorite fight sequence is when Yuta calls Rika to Geto especially when seen in 4DX format.

Park commented that the movie would include new content not featured in the original ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' manga. This was mainly because the movie was based on a single manga volume and the team aimed to make a long film rather than a thirty minute work. MAPPA CEO Manabu Otsuka said that the team was impressed by the original ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' and believed the fans would like to see it adapted. Seko said he had to alter the parts from the original series to make Yuta's character arc more notable. The post-credits scene of the movie is an original scene not present in the manga. TOHO had doubts about creating such content until they contacted Akutani who gave them such an idea.

Park wanted to make each character's facial expression carefully to give them a proper look when fighting. He considers the new protagonist, Yuta Okkotsu, as a straightforward teenager whom he aimed to show his loneliness caused by being chased by Rika's Curse. Megumi Ogata surprised Park in the making of the movie for giving Yuta a sensitive characterization when crying. Due to ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' being a film, Park aimed to give it proper surroundings most notably Jujutsu High, where Yuta starts exorcising demons with his teammates. Several animators were not accustomed to drawing pictures in a cinemascope frame, but still drew wider scenery and backgrounds more beautifully, feeling felt satisfied that he was able to deliver to the audience the world of franchise. In retrospective, all the action scenes in the second half were exciting for the director, as were the scenes featuring Gojo, Okkotsu, Geto, and Rika.

The inclusion of Gojo was to be taken naturally, especially focusing on his relationship with Geto, which is also explored in the television series. However, Park claimed the staff did not want to give such characters too much screen time due to how the narrative primarily focuses on Yuta and Rika. Another addition to the movie not present in the original work was the four consecutive Black Flashes that Nanami mentioned in an interview in the TV series. Seko was requested by the director to feature a new fight scene between Gojo and Miguel in the climax. Seko said that the team expanded Yuta and Geto's final fight by adding a scene where the latter throws up blood.

Casting

*In casting Megumi Ogata, Gege Akutami, envisioned the character as a "neutral, soft, and kind, and there is also a big emotional swing and head." Ogata's name was mentioned as an example of an actor close to that, and in response to that, the director Sunghoo Park and the anime staff unanimously decided to cast her. Ogata herself said she would like to cherish the original image and create her own image of Yuta with all the hearts of the team in good faith. Ogata describes him as an attractive character due to how strong he becomes when interacting with others. Sunghoo Park was also behind the cast of Yuta's voice actor with Ogata's job surprising them as a result of Yuta being a young male voiced by a woman.
*Kana Hanazawa voices Rika. She decided to audition when seeing the original series and the anime, as she became a fan of it. Rika's childhood left a major impression on her and she looked forward to interacting with Ogata. Hanazawa enthusiastically expressed her love for Yuta. In response to that, Ogata praised Hanazawa's work as Rika.
*Mikako Komatsu (Maki Zen'in) noted that certain scenes involving Yuta's romance were too erotic for the movie while Ogata found the early Yuta to be a slapstick. Her character design was noted to be different from the one previously seen in other ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' works. Komatsu enjoyed her more comical take as Maki often has arguments with Panda and other students as the character is a year younger than in the television series. She noted an early scene in the movie where Maki and Yuta interact that helps to develop the former's characterization and past as her backstory is explained.
*Koichi Yamadera voices Miguel, a brilliant curse master, and has been noted to be a more veteran voice actor within the cast.
*Tomokazu Seki, who played the role of a Panda, also co-starred with Sakurai in other works. Despite expressing pressure about his work, Seki was glad to work in the movie. Seki had little to no understanding of his character due to how comical and simple he is shown in contrast to the more elaborate characterizations from the rest of the cast. Park told Seki that he is like a father to the movie, but he still did not understand Panda even when interacting with Nakamura to the point he wished Gege Akutami explored him more. Nevertheless, Seki claims he is good at fighting scenes which would surprise the audience.
*Kōki Uchiyama voices Toge Inumaki. He did not see a major difference in regards to his character and classmates, so he saw their interactions with newcomer Yuta Okkotsu as the main attraction for the film. Since Inumaki's lines are limited since he uses keywords related to meals to interact, Uchiyama puts subtle nuances in most of his lines. Uchiyama has gone to say that he tries placing emphasis on the amount of emotions he can provide in order to capture Inumaki's silent characterization.
* Yuichi Nakamura voices the returning character Satoru Gojo. From serious scenes to comical gag scenes, the character has different facial expressions, but since he did them without restrictions on the swinging range between on and off, Nakamura reiterated at the recording site that he enjoyed gags. The actor did not find a change in Gojo's characterization, finding his mentoring of Yuta similar to the other protagonists from the main ''Jujutsu Kaisen'' series. He enjoyed the multiple recordings he had as well as the many school-like relationships. He was impressed by Ogata's work as Yuta for providing him a large range of emotions.
*Takahiro Sakurai plays the role of Geto and was amazed by how cool the protagonists of the movie are. Sakurai read the original ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' before recording the movie which surprised him due to a major revelation about Geto. He received lectures by the director during recording of the movie. Among multiple traits from the character, Sakurai was surprised by the friendly relationship between Geto and Gojo. Although it was the first time Geto and Yuta interacted, Sakurai already worked with Ogata multiple times. He praised Ogata's work, as he found her portrayal of Yuta as deep.

Music

The music was composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui and Alisa Okehazama. The official soundtrack was released on December 22, 2021.

King Gnu performed the film's theme song , as well as the ending song . "Ichizu" places focus on the relationship between Yuta and Rika. Vocalist and guitarist Daiki Tsuneta wrote "Ichizu". There was pressure to make the ideal masterpiece that the audience have been waiting for, but Tsuneta thinks that it was a straight song with a tingling and punch that is perfect for the world view of ''Jujutsu Kaisen''. "Sakayume" was supposed to be recorded simultaneously on the CD single released on December 29 as a coupling song of the movie's theme song "Ichizu", but until then the whole picture including lyrics and melody were wrapped in a veil.

Marketing

In promoting the movie, advertisements with Gojo as a dog were made alongside SoftBank Group.

A novel adaptation by Baraddo Kitaguni, based on Hiroshi Seko's script, was published on the film's premiere date. A ''Jujutsu Kaisen #0.5 Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School'' booklet was given to film's audience members and had a print run of 5 million copies. The booklet included an exclusive nine-page manga by Akutami, about the daily life of Okkotsu and the other first-year students, the thumbnail layouts for the first chapter of the ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' manga, the film's designs, a question-and-answer session with Akutami, and comments by the anime's staff and cast.

Release

Theatrical

The film, distributed by Toho, premiered theatrically in Japan on December 24, 2021. The film had IMAX screenings in Japan and premiered in 418 theaters. The film was screened in 4D and Dolby Cinema formats in Japan starting on February 5, 2022. The film ended its run in Japanese theaters on May 29, 2022.

Crunchyroll, in association with Funimation, acquired the rights to the film, and theatrically premiered in North America on March 18, 2022, in over 1,500 theaters. The film had an early screening in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 10, 2022, while the general opening in the UK was on March 18 of the same year. The film is distributed by Sony in the United Kingdom.

The English localization included returning actors for Yuta's teammates and the most notable newcomers, Kayleigh McKee as Yuta and Anairis Quiñones as Rika. McKee found Yuta's story is similar to that a coming-of-age story due to his need to control the Rika while making friends. Anairis Quiñones took notes of Hanakawa's talent when recording her take of Rika in the English dub. Allegra Clark saw Maki as a more vulnerable and angered character than in the television series but found she changed across the narrative. The group worked to make the audio faithful to the original Japanese cast based on the casting director's ideas. Matthew David Rudd, voice of Panda, said the inclusion of his character was a "baller" moment. On the other hand, Xander Mobus had little to no idea what was going through Inumaki's mind since he only says random words. However, in general Clark, Rudd and Mobus state that their characters got to develop with Yuta. Lex Lang felt that Geto was more appealing in the film than in the anime as the movie handles Geto's idealism. Meanwhile, Kaiji Tang found Gojo as to be similar to the anime incarnation though his relationship with Geto adds more depth.

Medialink licensed the film in Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and India; the company itself handled the distribution in Chinese-speaking areas, while Purple Plan handled the distribution for most parts of Southeast Asia. The film premiered in South Korea in February 2022, while for Malaysia, the film premiered on March 10, 2022, exclusively at TGV Cinemas. In India, the film was released on June 30, 2022, in 200 screens with 50,000 advance ticket sales across India.

Home media

The Blu-ray and DVD of the series was released in Japan on September 21, 2022, featuring two versions. The DVD sold 30,000 copies on its release week while the deluxe edition had 28,000 copies both topping charts surpassing the records of sales of the 2021 film '' My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission'' as the highest-selling anime DVD of 2022 in its first week of release. The deluxe blu-ray sold 65,000 units while the regular sold 27,000 units on their releases weeks also making records in charts overtaking the records of the anime ''Girls und Panzer''.

Reception

Box office

Japan

About 15,000 people watched the film at the earliest public screenings in 58 screens at midnight on the opening day. It was originally planned to screen at midnight on only 28 screens in 14 theaters at Kyoto, Miyagi, Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka, and Hokkaido; however, tickets sold out on the first day of sales and theaters eventually expanded the number of screens. Distributor Toho projected that they were hoping that the film would sell over 1 million tickets on its opening day. The film debuted at #1 and earned ¥2.694 billion ($23.5 million) in its first three days. The film is the highest-earning film at the Japanese box office from 2021, surpassing '' Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time''. Overall, the film has earned a total of 13.75 billion yen (about US$108.1 million) in its run in Japanese theaters; it was the 8th all-time highest-earning anime film in Japan and the 14th highest-earning film in Japanese box office history, until September 2022, when it was surpassed by '' One Piece Film: Red''.

Other territories

The film released in the United States and Canada on March 18, 2022, and was projected to gross $8–13 million from 2,336 theaters in its opening weekend. It opened with $5.8 million from 2,297 theatres on Friday, including $2.9 million from Thursday-night preview screenings. The film went on to debut to an estimated $17.7 million opening weekend, finishing second behind ''The Batman''. Men made up 61% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 comprising 75% of ticket sales. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 32% were Hispanic and Latino Americans, 25% Caucasian, 20% Asian or other, and 17% African American. Its per-screen average of $6,443 was the fourth highest in the first quarter of 2022, below ''The Batman'', ''Uncharted'' and ''Scream''.

In the United Kingdom, it had a three-day opening weekend of £514,000 (the fourth highest that weekend) and a five-day opening (including previews) of £822,000, the second highest that week below ''The Batman''. In France, it sold 347,583 ticket sales in its opening weekend, the third highest that week below ''The Batman'' and '' Notre-Dame brûle''.

In India, it released in 200 screens with 50,000 advance ticket sales across India, the film surpassed Indian movie releases like '' Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'' and ''Rashtra Kavach Om'' with its first day opening of and had an opening weekend of .

In November 2022, it was reported that the film had sold 20.51 million tickets to earn over 26.5 billion yen (about US$191.1 million) worldwide, with a worldwide box office total of US$195,870,885, making ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'' the sixth highest-earning anime film of all time worldwide (unadjusted for inflation), surpassed by '' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train'', three Hayao Miyazaki films (''Spirited Away'', ''Howl's Moving Castle'' and ''Ponyo'') and ''Your Name''.

Critical response

The film was one of the most awaited anime adaptations behind the second season of ''Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba''. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval of 98%, based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's consensus is "''Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie'' offers a thrilling, beautifully animated gift for fans of the anime -- and a story that holds up as a standalone effort."

The film attracted positive response by critics. Yuta's relationship with the Curse of Rika was praised for giving the former as more unpredictable characterization and the horror tones provided by the latter. We Got This Covered compared Yuta's Curse with the themes of traumas, while Polygon instead saw as the idea of a person not being able to accept the death of his friend. Anime UK News enjoyed the handling of Yuta's arc and how Satoru Gojo is given a more in depth exploration in the film than in the original series. Siliconera praised it for being accessible to every new viewer as, instead of focusing on the returning Yuji Itadori's group, it deals with newcomer Yuta and the minor characters from the television series are also explored. ''Anime News Network'' felt that it did not mark surprising changes in the story when compared with the television series.

Polygon liked the character of Suguru Geto, labeling him an entertaining villain who fights the lead Yuta who becomes incredibly energetic in the process. Geto was often compared by several critics with Marvel Comics villain Magneto due to their similar desires for supernatural individuals to rule. Similarly, ''Los Angeles Times'' compared it to the superhero film '' X-Men: First Class'' which, like ''Jujutsu Kaisen 0'', is both accessible and shows the heroes of the previous works created by the same author in their younger days while also praising the balance between comedy and horror. Daryl Harding for Yatta-Tachi gave a positive review of the movie, citing the supporting characters as "a treat" to watch compared to their appearance in the television series and Yuta as a "beyond refreshing" protagonist. Otaku USA lamented the prequel story was only used for a movie rather than a mini-series as he saw the cast as likable enough to carry more screentime with special focus on Geto whose entire background and role make him an appealing villain. '' IGN India'' praised the film for being a starting point for people unfamiliar with the series.

Polygon praised MAPPA's most appealing ones scenes, mainly Yuta and Suguru Geto, to the point they are superior to most of their past works such as ''The God of High School''. ''Anime News Network'' enjoyed the handling of fight scenes. IGN cited the designs of each curse as they give a striking impression while being also the subject of interesting sequences of movements. ''Los Angeles Times'' agreed, citing some Curses also to have bizarre looks and that the violence might be too strong to affect the sensitive audience while returning audiences would not be disappointed by these sequences. Otaku USA also praised the fight scenes, citing fan favorite Satoru Gojo's ones. Yatta-Tachi also applauded the animation, calling it "utterly superb" and "best key animated action cuts in anime". ''The Guardian'' enjoyed both the animation as well as how it mixes with the soundtrack in order to produce scenes composed of "adrenaline-pumping showdown between good and evil, as a web of painstakingly detailed monsters of all kinds spring into gory action".

Megumi Ogata's portrayal of the character in Japanese was acclaimed by ''Anime News Network'' and IGN for making the character stand out as more unique in the movie than in original manga when he changes tones from calm, which was compared to her early deliveries as Shinji Ikari from ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', to more aggressive tones when there are elements of horror or action. Other actors praised include Mikako Komatsu for her performance as Maki and Yuuichi Nakamura for Gojo. Fandom Post compared Kayleigh McKee's voice work with that of Spike Spencer, who voiced Shinji in the English dub of the series, and wondered whether it was intentional. Hit equally praised McKee, Ogata, Hanazawa for making Yuta more appealing alongside Rika. Pop Culture Maniac was more negative about McKee's work for making him sound childish rather than traumatized.
Besides the soundtrack, the two main theme songs of the movie were the subject positive responses by Anime UK News.

The film was also nominated for the 45th Japan Academy Film Prize under the "Animation of the Year" category.

Ending

In the climax of the movie, Yuta manages to overpower Geto who escapes after suffering severe wounds. As he tries to leave, Gojo appears and kills him. This scene confused the viewers of the movie due to Geto still appearing in the television series set a year after the movie. The nature of Suguru Geto's survival is not explained either in the first season of the anime and, instead, writers claimed that fans have to read the main series as the manga explains properly the nature of Suguru Geto once Gojo meets him again. Comic Book Resources noted the that while the film several changes, the inclusion of the first anime series characters but only as cameos. Meanwhile, Gojo's relationship with Geto was edited too in the final scene when compared to the manga which makes the former less emotive and tragic than in the original manga.

The post-credits scene was also the subject of confusion as Yuta is seen having a meal with Geto's underling Miguel in Kenya until both are interrupted. IGN says this scene is teased in the main series when Gojo explains his reasons for leaving Japan for a short time, with Yuta explaining the true reason for journey to Kenya in the manga once he reappears in the main series. Miguel's inclusion in the final scene is also explained in the manga, leaving anime only viewers to wait until the adaptation to reach this part of the manga.

References

External links

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{{MAPPA

2021 anime films
Action anime and manga
Animated films set in Tokyo
Anime films based on manga
Dark fantasy anime and manga
Films about curses
Films set in Sendai
IMAX films
Japanese fantasy action films
MAPPA
Toho animated films
Yōkai in anime and manga