318. Jujutsu Kaisen 0; movie review

 

JUJUTSU KAISEN 0

Cert 15

113 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody images, sexual violence references

Gosh - anime is wildly out of my comfort zone but, for the sake of completeness, I immersed myself in one of the box-office hits of the year, Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

I now know it is the spin-off of a hugely successful magazine and subsequent TV series.

Sunghoo Park's movie is a prequel and its central character is a young student, Yuta (voiced by Megumi Ogata).

Yuta is an unhappy soul who is bullied at school but is protected by the cursed spirit of his deceased friend (Kana Hanazawa).

Yep, this is a story about curses. It turns out the most powerful sorcerers have mastery of them and, as it happens, fewer are more powerful than Yuta's sidekick.

Thus, he is sent off to a school of wizardry - a sort of anime Harry Potter, if you like.

However, Japan's version of Voldemort is the powerful Geto (Takahiro Sakurai) who wants to absorb Yuta's pal's spirit and make himself the most unstoppable sorcerer in Japan.

On the way, he declares war on Yuta's allies and threatens to kill all of what in Potter-speak would be known as muggles.

Let's be honest, I am not a fan of anime. The imagery is too way-out for my tastes and I struggle to understand what is going on.

My confusion was heightened because I had never heard of the Jujutsu Kaisen literature or TV series.

I did stick with it despite my many questions and I could just about understand how much younger people may find its vibrancy intoxicating.

Reasons to watch: If you are a fan of the series

Reasons to avoid: Needs high concentration to plug into what is going on

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? The Jujutsu Kaisen manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami has been serialised in magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 2018.

The final word. Sunghoo Park: "I am really surprised that the Japanese original Jujutsu Kaisen is loved by so many people overseas. I believe that Jujutsu Kaisen has a worldview that can be enjoyed by all fans regardless of nationality, so I hope you will enjoy the film and continue to support us." Anime News Network

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