Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Original title:Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Director:Sunghoo Park
Release:Cinema
Running time:105 minutes
Release date:18 march 2022
Rating:
When they were children, Rika Orimoto was killed in a traffic accident in front of her close friend, Yuta Okkotsu. This is a promise. When we both grow up, we will get married. Rika has become an apparition, and Yuta longs for his own death after suffering from her curse, but the greatest Jujutsu wizard, Satoru Gojo, welcomes him to Jujutsu High School. There, Yuta meets his classmates, Maki Zen'in, Toge Inumaki and Panda, and finally finds his own determination. I want to have the confidence to say it's good that I'm alive! While I'm in Jujutsu High School, I'll break the curse of Rika-chan. Meanwhile, the despicable curse user, Suguru Geto, who was expelled from school for slaughtering ordinary people, appears before Yuta and the others. On December 24, we're going to hold the Hundred Demons Night Parade. While Geto advocates the creation of a paradise for jujutsu wizards only, he unleashes a thousand curses on Shinjuku and Kyoto to exterminate all non-wizards. Will Yuta be able to stop Geto in the end? And what will happen to the breaking of Rika's curse... ?

Mulder's Review

Jujutsu Kaisen is basically a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, published as a series in the Weekly Shōnen Jump by Shueisha since March 2018. As of December 2021, there were more than 60 million copies in circulation, including related novels, digital versions and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami. The manga, which was originally titled Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, was serialized in Shueisha's Jump GIGA magazine from April to July 2017. After Akutami launched Jujutsu Kaisen in 2018, the series was retroactively retitled Jujutsu Kaisen 0 - making it a prequel - and published in a single tankōbon volume in December 2018. 

 Surely this best-selling manga series of all time would sooner or later be adapted to film, and so it is understandable that the movie Jujutsu Kaisen 0 became a true phenomenon in Japan and was the big winner at the Japanese box office in 2021. This film adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is not only an excellent animated film, but it is also intended for a more informed public because of the visual violence of some of its scenes. The world in which the action takes place is close to chaos and many monsters are ready to put the earth to fire and blood. Only some wizards with different gifts can face these and protect the earth from these deadly curses that accompany these giant monsters with deadly ferocity. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is thus a true cinematic experience with different levels of reading in which the passage from adolescence to adulthood comes with important responsibilities to bear.

A large part of the story takes place in the Jujutsu high school in Tokyo where young wizards must learn to master the gift they have acquired. They are trained in the art of exorcism and combat. The main character Yuta is haunted by the death of his childhood friend Rika and is pursued by her spirit, which appears as a monstrous worm-like creature. Rika is going to make a real friendship in this high school with the Toge Inumaki who has to stay mute because his words can kill. Yuta will learn that the most important thing in life is friendship and to surpass oneself. Supported by his new friends, he will meet on his way the powerful Suguru Geto.  

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 has the rare intelligence of being accessible to all and not only to those who know the animated series adapting the manga universe to the homonymous title. The scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko has a real freedom to propose many very violent scenes and to mix human drama and action scenes worthy of current video games reserved for a mature public. In the same way the numerous flashbacks bring to the main character a real psychological thickness. Another great quality of this film is to allow the spectators to enter the universe of Jujutsu Kaisen.

While many current mangas leave us dubious by their animation not always reaching the same level as the main American animation studios, the collaboration between Toho Animation and Mappa allows to give life to a colorful and perfectly mastered animation. The result is an animation film that has nothing to send to those of Pixar whose latest Turning Red is a barely disguised tribute to Japanese animation. Certainly Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a classic of the genre, an unforgettable work to be placed next to the films of studio Ghibli and the masterpieces of our childhood like Akira.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Réalisé par Sunghoo Park
Scénario par Hiroshi Seko
Basé sur Jujutsu Kaisen 0 de Gege Akutami
Avec Megumi Ogata, Kana Hanazawa, Mikako Komatsu, Kōki Uchiyama, Tomokazu Seki, Yuichi Nakamura, Takahiro Sakurai
Montage : Keisuke Yanagi
Musique : Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui, Alisa Okehazama
Société de production : MAPPA
Distribué par Toho (Japon)
Date de sortie : 24 décembre 2021 (Japon), 16 mars 2022 (France), 18 mars 2022 (USA), 
Durée du film : 105 minutes

Seen on March 9, 2022 (press access)

Mulder's Mark: