I just watched the movie here in Tokyo, and I thought you might be wondering:
- How was the animation quality?
- Is the movie worth watching?
- Where can you watch the movie? Are there any torrents? Or, is it going to be released outside Japan, and if so, when?
- How faithful is the movie to the manga?
- If you haven’t read Jujutsu Kaisen 0’s manga, should you wait to watch the movie first or read the manga first?
- Was there a post-credits scene?
This video is SPOILER FREE for Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and of course this movie. Also, in case you’re an Anime-only watcher, you can watch this review with peace of mind since I won’t give anything away.
Click on the image to watch the video.
Or, if you prefer read the script.
What’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0?
For those that don’t know, JK 0 is the prequel of Jujutsu Kaisen and therefore 100% canon. In the series’ timeline, it takes place before the events of season 1 of the anime.
Yuta Okkotsu, the main character of the movie, has already been mentioned several times in season 1.
So, compared with other anime movies like World Heroes Mission where the movie didn’t add anything new to the story, this movie fits the main plot and gives a better understanding of the story.
How was the animation quality?
Phenomenal. You can clearly see that the movie had a lot of budget. MAPPA, the animation studio, did an extraordinary job. The battles, the character design, the scenario; everything was majestic. You don’t need to worry about this, the animation exceeds expectations.
Remember that I’ll tell you in a bit whether the movie was worth watching and whether there are post-credit scenes, so keep watching.
How faithful is the movie to the manga? And personally, this is what I cared about the most
Many of you are probably like me–we’re a bit nit-picky about the adaptation being faithful to the source material. I definitely don’t like when the adaptations remove dialogues or scenes. Don’t worry though, since JK 0 is 100% faithful to the manga. But even though the plot is the same, the movie is 100 times better than the manga. I’ll tell you why in a second.
The manga itself does feel kinda short. But, the way they adapted all the manga panels and how they added additional scenes and battles that weren’t in the manga to make the film a bit longer didn’t feel forced and unnatural. The pacing was fantastic.
Is the movie worth watching?
Of course it is!
Specifically, I liked 4 things about the movie:
- As I previously said, the adaptation is 100% faithful to the manga. Fantastic pacing, and it was quite smart to add some additional battles. Big props to the director, screenwriter, and all the staff who worked on the movie.
- The plot of the movie makes total sense and is easy to understand. Yuta was mentioned more than 10 times in season 1 so you can see that the author planned Yuta’s backstory very well. And there’s no sudden introductions of new characters or anything. So, besides the question of whether the movie is good–which it is–it’s worth watching because it’s canon and gives you a better understanding of the series’ overall plot.
- Animation and battles. Animation and battles were top-tier. Also, they added some battles that weren’t in the manga but it made total sense to complement the story.
- Main character. Even though his personality is completely different from Yuji’s, Yuta is a likable character. Something that I found interesting about him is that in the previous shonen generation, you can see that most of the main characters were voiced by women. For example, Naruto, Luffy, Tsuna, Ed Elric, Gon, etc are all voiced by women. But, in this shonen generation, the MCs are often voiced by men, such as Asta, Yuma, Yuji, Deku, and Senku. But, the main character of this movie was voiced by a woman, who also voices Shinji from Evangelion. I find it interesting that they decided to go back to the previous casting trend.
Before I forget, as you guys might know, every time that you watch an anime movie in Japanese theaters you get a freebie. This was the freebie that I got.
If you haven’t read Jujutsu Kaisen 0’s manga should you wait to watch the movie first?
Like many of you, this was my biggest concern before watching the movie. Some movie adaptations add to or remove from the source material, which can cause it to lose the essence of the source material.
This time, I watched the movie first then I read the manga to check if I missed something.
As I mentioned before, the adaptation was 100% faithful to the manga; They didn’t miss anything. Since the battles and animation are two of the movie’s main elements, I’d definitely suggest you watch the movie first.
Honestly, wait a bit more until it’s released in your country. The wait will be worth it.
And, as an extra tidbit of information, Kirstie mentioned a real-life location that appeared in the movie. If you’re curious, click here to watch the video.
What do you need to watch or read before watching the movie?
Since it’s a prequel, you don’t need to watch anything beforehand. However, I recommend that you watch season 1 of the anime first, so you’ll have a better understanding of the story. Still, it’s totally fine if you go to the cinema without watching it. This is a good movie to take someone who’s not familiar with the series and you’d like to get them interested.
Where can you watch the movie? Are there any torrents? Or, is it going to be released outside Japan, and when?
At the moment, you can only watch it in Japanese theaters.
As I always tell you, I know that you’re now desperately looking for the torrent of the movie, but you won’t find it. Japan is quite strict about filming movies inside the cinema. And keep in mind that downloading a torrent is illegal and you might get into trouble, not to mention that less revenue affects the ability of creators to make content. But, I’ve good news for you. Crunchyroll has recently announced that the movie is on the way to theaters in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada on March 18.
Beyond North America, the film is coming soon to other territories, which will be announced soon.
Is there a post-credits scene?
Yes, there is, but it wasn’t an announcement of a new movie or TV anime. What’s more, the scene doesn’t appear in JJK or JJK’s manga.
It’s an anime original scene but it complements the story very well in anticipation of upcoming events. If you want me to explain this scene or the battles that were not in the manga but were in the movie, subscribe now, because I might do a with-spoiler review where I can describe these scenes in detail.
So, let me know in the comments which questions you want me to answer you in our possible with-spoiler review.