* This review will contain spoilers for the movie “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” and volume 0 of the manga “Jujutsu Kaisen”.

Before Cursed Fingers, a boy with a ring and low self-esteem fought to become one of Japan’s most powerful wizards.

“Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” which premiered in the United States on March 18, serves as a prequel to manga author Gege Akutami’s popular shonen series “Jujutsu Kaisen.” The film follows 15-year-old Yuta Okkotsu after enrolling in Tokyo Jujutsu Technical High. He and Rika, the very powerful spirit of his childhood friend who turned into a curse that protects him, are supervised by the powerful wizard Satoru Gojo and paired with fellow first-year high school students Maki Zen’in, Toge Inumaki and Panda. – a literal talking panda.

The film received overwhelmingly positive reception from audiences, with IMDb rating it at 8.1 out of 10 stars and Rotten Tomatoes reporting an Audience Score of 98% from over 2,500 verified ratings.

With Japanese animation studio MAPPA’s signature art style, dynamic combat, and an emotional soundtrack transporting viewers through each scene, it’s not hard to see why viewers are so impressed with another of the company’s projects. MAPPA.

Having a star-studded cast that includes veterans also helps. Megumi Ogata, known for her performance as Shinji Ikari in the “Evangelion” series, lent her voice to Yuta. She is joined by actors such as Yuichi Nakamura, who plays Gojo. Nakamura gained popularity playing characters like Gray Fullbuster in “Fairy Tail”, Tetsurou Kuroo in “Haikyuu!!” and Shigure Sohma in “Fruits Basket”.

After meeting his classmates, Yuta is immediately immersed in his training and has to team up with one of his classmates twice to exorcise curses despite his inexperience. The flowing fight sequences are interrupted only by Yuta’s moments of personal growth, creating a fast-paced action pattern and uplifting moments of growth that draw viewers into the emotional final fight.

Organizing the various curse exorcism events that Yuta has to deal with is Suguru Geto, the main protagonist of the story and a former student of Tokyo Jujutsu Technical High. Geto, after experiencing traumatic events during his time in high school, later abandons his position as a wizard and begins enacting a plan to exterminate anyone who cannot see or exorcise curses.

This ideology causes him to clash with jujutsu society as a whole and Gojo, who was once his best friend. In the last half of the film, Geto distracts experienced wizards with a parade of 100 curses which he calls the hyakki yagy.oha reference to Japanese mythology, and infiltrates the high school to steal Rika’s powers from Yuta so he can use them to kill non-wizards.

Empowered by Rika and a desire to save his friends, Yuta overpowers Geto and eventually frees Rika from his curse. The film ends with a teaser of what Yuta has been up to in the Jujutsu Kaisen series’ main timeline, leaving fans hopeful for the anime series’ second season return in 2023.

“Jujutsu Kaisen 0” was a big hit on its own in the three weeks it was in theaters. The film opened in the United States at $14.8 million and has since grossed over $27 million. Globally, it grossed around $156 million and became the 10th highest-grossing anime film of all time, knocking out Hayao Miyazaki’s “Arrietty” and joining films such as “Spirited Away” and ” Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen”. Train.”

Viewers can see “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” in theaters and watch the first season of the anime series “Jujutsu Kaisen” on Crunchyroll or HBO Max.