Jujutsu Kaisen 0

*** # 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. *** # 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. 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.
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.
*** # 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. 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.
*** # 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