Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is my first exposure to the series entirely. It’s a prequel that’s chronologically first, and after watching it I agree when everyone says you could watch it first if you wanted. At worst the climax has a bunch of characters show up that seem like they’d be exciting if I knew who they were, but that’s the only time I felt “left out”.
However, this movie feels like it cut a lot of content to jump to the climax more quickly. I know this is par for the course for movie adaptions of manga, but it seemed especially bad here (as explained later). It might be better to read the manga if this is true.

The movie (and presumably the show) using curses as a concept to work around is a very cool idea. Turning what is normally just a bad thing and developing it into something helpful means that there’s a lot of room for unique creativity. Our protagonist Okkotsu has a curse that protects him when he’s in danger, but it does it too violently so he has to control when it procs. A little basic but not lame. Another main character, Inumaki, has speech that actually manifests into reality. This can be super dangerous if he, say, tells someone to die, so he has to be careful with it while also being able to weaponize it.

The problem is that these are the only two curses in the movie that have that double-edge sword idea…or are even properly represented as curses. Every other curse appears as a yokai-like creature that most characters end up destroying with weapons. The groundwork for the curses to be interesting is there, but the movie left me starved for it.

My other main problem with this movie is the writing. There are lines that sound like they’re meant to be taken seriously but just come off as asinine — too many to count. For example, “He has over a thousand curses at his disposal” is a point brought up multiple times that’s supposed to be threatening, but just sounds silly. A lot of people criticize shounen for…well…feeling aimed at young teenagers, but even as an adult I haven’t had that kind of problem with the shounen I’ve seen.
Until now, that is.

I'm not too satisfied with the ending, either. The villain’s plan is actually pretty well-done and sets up an exciting stage for a climax. But my issue mainly comes down to the protagonist being extremely powerful out of nowhere. He goes from bumbling weakling who knows nothing about curses/using a weapon for the whole movie, then jarringly turns into a serious master sorcerer and swordsman at the climax. The only explanation we get for this is that it’s been “three months” since he enrolled, which is absolutely not enough time for that anyways. He’s referred to as a unique “special grade” for the entirety of the movie and this tonal shift makes that “He’s a special protagonist” feeling all the more irksome. Despite that I still liked the guy and his curse, so the ending and the fact that he’s not actually a big part of the main series at all is extra disappointing.

Not everything about Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is unfortunate though. Despite the aforementioned writing problems, I did end up liking all of the characters. Okkotsu is a good and unintentionally funny lad (despite his protagonist privilege). Maki surprisingly came off as cool with a neat backstory. Panda was a funny guy whose fighting was raw as hell (despite his curse not being explained). Inumaki’s powers are neat and properly highlighted and he’s also a good boy. Gojo was a smart and laid-back guy that was enjoyable (despite suffering from "OP unexplained power”). And the antagonists, Geto chief among them, were written well enough (despite their unoriginal motive).

I think the characters and curse idea are very good, but they’re just bogged down by writing, pacing, and creativity issues in this movie. I started the movie thinking I would be all-in on this series, but left it discouraged and worried that it would suffer from the same problems. In the end I’m intrigued enough to still want to experience Jujutsu Kaisen, but I wonder if watching this movie first will leave a bad taste for it in your mouth…