Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a short film that wants to be a feature. It compresses the origin story of Jujutsu Kaisen into 105 minutes, following Yuta Okkotsu as he enrolls at Jujutsu High after his childhood friend Rika Orimoto turns into a curse that refuses to leave him alone. The movie is a prequel, not a spin-off, and its job is to explain why Yuta exists in the main series. It does that, but not without cutting corners.
The film is based on the 2017 manga Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which itself serves as a prologue to the larger series. That source material is dense and character-heavy, and the movie has to make choices about what stays and what goes. Director Sunghoo Park and screenwriter Hiroshi Seko have made those choices with a clear goal in mind: make the action look bigger and the stakes feel personal. They succeed at the former and stumble at the latter.
Trailer, via Crunchyroll.
Yuta’s Problem
Yuta Okkotsu is a nervous high school student. He is bullied, and his response is to retreat. Then his bullies are killed by a Cursed Spirit that clings to him. The higher-ups of the Jujutsu Society want him dead, because his curse is a dangerous spirit. Only Satoru Gojo, a teacher at Tokyo Jujutsu Technical High, sees value in saving him.
Gojo recruits Yuta to join the school in November 2016. Yuta explains that the Cursed Spirit is Rika, a childhood friend whom he had promised to marry when they grew up. Rika died in a freak accident and became an overprotective spirit that harms anyone who threatens him. The setup is simple: Yuta is carrying a curse that will not let him live normally, and the only person who can help is a man who runs a school full of sorcerers-in-training.
“Love is a twisted curse.”
That tagline captures the film’s central tension. Yuta’s love for Rika has become a curse, and the movie spends its runtime asking whether that curse can be controlled or if it has to be destroyed. The answer is not resolved neatly, which is the right call for a prequel. It leaves the audience wanting to see how the main series handles the fallout.
The School and Its Students
Jujutsu High is where the film spends most of its running time. It is a place where fledgling exorcists learn how to combat curses, and the film introduces several characters who will matter later in the series:
- Maki Zen’in, a student with distinct abilities of her own.
- Toge Inumaki, another student with a unique power.
- Panda, a student whose role is to protect and support.
- Suguru Geto, the antagonist who defected from the school.
These four form Yuta’s closest circle, and the film does a decent job of giving each of them a moment to shine. Maki and Toge in particular get individual scenes that show their personalities beyond their powers. Panda functions more as a supporting presence than a developed character, which is a fair trade-off given the film’s compressed runtime.
The film also introduces the antagonist early. Suguru Geto is a previous student and old friend of Gojo, who defected from the school and killed over a hundred innocent people on a mission. His plan is to activate a portal to the underworld and release a thousand Curses upon the city to remove non-sorcerer humans, whom he believes to be undeserving and beneath sorcerers. His real reason is more personal: he wants to distract Gojo so he can kill Yuta and add Rika to his collection of cursed spirits.
The Fight Scenes
The action sequences are where Jujutsu Kaisen 0 shines brightest. The film was originally intended as an arc of the animated television series, but MAPPA changed the format during discussion. The staff decided to expand the narrative by adding new scenes focused on Yuta’s mentor Satoru Gojo and the antagonist Suguru Geto. Given the large budget for the movie, MAPPA aimed to make more appealing fight sequences than the ones from the animated television series.
The result is visible. The fights are bigger, the effects are sharper, and the choreography is faster. The film knows it is selling spectacle, and it delivers on that promise. The scenes where Yuta summons Rika for the first time to save Maki from a Cursed Spirit are tense and well-animated. The sequence where Toge and Yuta are attacked by a high-level Curse is brutal and fast-paced. These moments are the reason to watch the film.
The Short Length
The film’s biggest weakness is also its most obvious: it is too short. At 105 minutes, it barely scratches the surface of the source material. Characters who are central to the manga are introduced and then left underdeveloped. The film’s attempt to add new scenes to Gojo and Geto feels like padding when the core story is already truncated.
Rika herself is a case in point. She is the titular curse, the reason the whole plot exists, and she gets far less screen time than the marketing would suggest. Her presence is felt mostly through Yuta’s reactions, which is a shame because her relationship with him is the emotional engine of the story. The film wants to be a character study and a blockbuster at once, and the two goals conflict.
The film’s final stretch rushes the climax. Geto declares war, the portal opens, and the city is threatened. The resolution is abrupt, and the film ends before it has fully explained what happens to Yuta or Rika. That is a deliberate choice, since the main series picks up directly from this point. But it leaves the audience hanging in a way that a self-contained story should not.
The Soundtrack
King Gnu performed the two theme songs for the film. Their music sets the tone for the action sequences and the quieter character moments alike. The soundtrack is energetic and fits the dark fantasy genre well. It does not overshadow the visuals, which is a compliment in a film this reliant on spectacle.
The voice cast is strong across the board. Megumi Ogata voices Yuta Okkotsu, Kana Hanazawa voices Rika Orimoto, Yuichi Nakamura voices Satoru Gojo, and Takahiro Sakurai voices Suguru Geto. Mikako Komatsu, Koki Uchiyama, Tomokazu Seki, Mitsuo Iwata, Takaya Kuroda, Risae Matsuda, Satsumi Matsuda, and Shizuka Itoh round out the ensemble. The performances are solid, but the script limits what they can do.
The Verdict
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a competent prequel that fails to deliver on its promises. It is visually impressive, well-acted, and emotionally resonant in patches. But it is also frustratingly short, underdeveloped, and rushed. The film sets up the main series without resolving its own story, which is a strange choice for a standalone release.
The movie is best enjoyed as a primer for newcomers. It explains the world, introduces the key players, and shows how Yuta’s path intersects with the larger conflict. For fans of the main series, it offers a few extra details and a tighter recap of events. For everyone else, it is a mixed bag.
The film’s tagline sums up its dilemma: love is a twisted curse. The movie tries to untangle that curse, but it runs out of time before it can finish the job. It is a worthy addition to the franchise, but it is not the definitive telling of this story.
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