Review | Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie review: Japanese animated blockbuster explores grief and adolescent anxieties with horror fantasy story
- Jujutsu Kaisen 0 follows a young bullied teenager who transfers to a special school that will train him to master a monstrous curse that has hold of him
- The movie works best in its moments of surprisingly vivid and haunting terror, outside which the story can drag and be somewhat repetitive
3/5 stars
A feature-length prequel to the hugely successful Jujutsu Kaisen anime series, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 follows a young bullied teenager who transfers to a special school that will train him to master a monstrous curse that has hold of him.
Series writer Hiroshi Seko and director Park Sung-hoo take the reins once again for a story that incorporates elements of dark fantasy and horror alongside themes of grief, self-doubt and everyday adolescent angst.
Gege Akutami’s original manga series was first published in 2017 under the title Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, until the success of its sequel prompted him to rebrand the series as a direct prequel.
In it, 16-year-old Yuta (voiced by Megumi Ogata) is a timid high schooler who secretly plays host to the spirit of his childhood sweetheart, Rika (Kana Hanazawa), who died six years earlier. They had promised to get married and stay together forever. Now, Rika manifests as a terrifying creature, prone to violent outbursts whenever Yuta feels cornered or threatened.
Following an incident at his school that hospitalised a number of classroom bullies, Yuta attracts the attention of mentor Satoru Gojo (Yuichi Nakamura) – a character familiar to fans of the series – who invites him to the secluded Jujutsu High, where he will learn how to control his curse.
