Centered around a young boy who wants nothing more than to be by his lonesome because any presence can set off the cursed spirit lingering before him, Yuta tries to avoid the power he holds until the famous Gojo Satoru changes his life. ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0” came out on March 18, 2022, a prequel to the main anime series and its own self-contained story. 

Yuta Okkotsu is a high schooler who is bullied to no end by some classmates because he was a loner. After the death of his childhood friend, Rika Orimoto, who protected him at no cost, Yuta unconsciously cursed Rika into an extremely powerful cursed spirit who is now attached to him and instinctually harms anyone who tries to harm him. Cursed spirits aka cursed energy arise from negative emotions that naturally flow throughout the body, something that often cannot be controlled, and form a race of spiritual beings.

 After a few disappearances of his bullying classmates due to Rika’s deadly and brutal protecting methods, Gojo Satoru came under suspicion of Yuta’s curse and recruited him to Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School, a training ground for the next generation of sorcerers and a headquarters for all alumni who have graduated on to be full-fledged jujutsu sorcerer, in order to help control his powers along with keeping him under control.

Gojo Satoru himself is a powerful special grade jujutsu sorcerer and widely recognized as the strongest in the world due to being the first to inherit both the Limitless and the Six Eyes, two of the most powerful inherited techniques within the Gojo family, in four hundred years. He is a teacher at the Tokyo Jujutsu High and uses his influence to protect and train younger sorcerers.

While learning to gain control over his powers and being out on missions to exorcize other detrimental cursed spirits with people he began to know as friends, Yuta grows closer to his new friends and Gojo whose childish spirit and discrete caring nature make him feel at home.

 Yuta and his mentor Gojo face a new problem that has everything to do with Gojo’s power-hungry ex-best friend, Geto Suguru, whose obsession is to have Yuta’s powers in his own hands.

The Jujutsu Kaisen movie was the first movie of this shonen series and it reveals how much this world has to offer.

The main storyline captures the love between Yuta and the cursed spirit who was once the young girl Rika. Their memories from the past and the remaining desire to protect what she loves most make the story all the more tragic. According to Gizmodo’s article, their interactions throughout the movie, “With both the writing and performance of the characters give [them] a chance… to play off each other extremely well,” and seeing how real their love feels.

Despite the sweet and heartfelt connection the two have, the horror she presents when facing a threat reveals the horrific aspect of the movie. Witnessing the grotesque power she wields when tearing curses apart and murdering children for harming Yuta brings complexity to their situation and their story.

With returning characters, three students from the anime show, Maki Zenen, Toge Inumaki, and Panda bring that light-hearted relief the show truly needed. The trio brought light to Yuta which helped shape his character and morals well and they leveraged some origin context for the three characters.

Alongside these three, Satoru Gojo’s returning character was a sight to behold and most definitely a fan favorite. Younger in the movie, his confidence and humor were refreshing to see.

Seeing Gojo in action was incredible and “he gets one of the film’s best, most sumptuously animated fights,” Gizmodo said. “More importantly, Nakamura and Tang [the voice actors] succeed in making this younger version of Gojo still feel somewhat vulnerable once he crosses paths with his old friend Geto.”

Though having minimal encounters in the movie, the moments the two get to interact holds a sorrowful ache in the atmosphere of two friends who “tragically [took] different paths.” The different perspectives these two hold lead them to face each other once again, but as foes.

Their powerfully sad and bittersweet last moments together, in the end, is something to recognize. A flashback was shown of Suguru and Satoru with their shared time together as close friends, brothers. Showing their lives before and the devastating scene of the two sharing their last words now, Geto answers Gojo with a comment on his hatred of people without curses reinforces his ideology as if he were justifying his actions to Gojo.

Then there was a moment where Gojo said one last thing to Geto but it wasn’t revealed, only Geto’s response, which was, “At least curse me a little at the very end.”

“This has led fans to speculate and conclude that he probably told Geto the same thing he told Yuta in his very last lines in the comic and movie,” according to One Esports. After Yuta questioned if Gojo was the one who found his student card ID, he clarified that he wasn’t and added, “He is my best friend. The one and only.”

It was so beautiful to see that Gojo wholeheartedly cherishes Geto and their friendship as he uses the present tense to say this regardless of Geto already having been dead. This touching ending really wrapped up the movie well and highlighted Gojo’s well-rounded character.

Fans were thoroughly pleased with the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie pertaining to the war of curses and the love for the anime has been revived once more.