*Contains spoilers

It’s been a few weeks since Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie got premiered outside Japan and I was waiting quietly for my city’s cinema to finally announce it. But I almost didn’t go… The ticket pre-sale ended in a few hours here, but fortunately, the cinema added another show. 

Let me say that I enjoyed every second of that movie, from beginning to the end. I want to go again, but as I mentioned, the tickets have run out. Maybe I should wait and see if the cinema extends the movie’s duration in their catalogue? Hmm… 

Anyways, while I was watching the movie, there were times that the manga came to my mind and I ended up looking for the similarities and differences.

Here I bring a manga vs movie comparison of Jujutsu Kaisen 0!

Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Manga vs Movie comparisons

When MAPPA first announced the movie of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, there were a lot of questions that came to my mind at that moment. How will they adapt the story to fit with the current storyline? What scenes and dialogues will they add to make the story consistent? Will they add more characters or change something about the plot? 

I grew expectant and I waited anxiously for the movie’s release, hoping that my cinema would include this one in their catalogue. Later, when I got the tickets with my friends, we were just waiting for the days to pass and see if the movie would surpass our expectations. Indeed, it did… It exceeded my expectations.

Yuta Okkotsu was mentioned a few times in the anime series. But his background story wasn’t explained and with this movie, we can see more about this mysterious character.

The story’s plot follows the same storyline as the prequel manga. In the beginning, there aren’t really any notable changes as everything happens in the same way it was described in the manga. Except for the moment where Yuta got accepted into the Jujutsu High School, the movie expanded the original process. 

As the story progressed, I noticed they added Yuta and Rika’s first meeting in the hospital. In the manga, this scene isn’t mentioned. 

Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

The movie also expanded the action scenes, but that is something we should have expected because, in the manga, these parts aren’t developed in-depth. During the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the action scenes are considerably extended, especially the fight between Gojo and Miguel. While they were at it, some notable characters were also included, such as Nanami and Mei Mei and of course, they have their moments to shine in the battle. 

Off-topic, but the ”Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” happened on December 24th. I thought it was great that the movie also premiered on that date (in Japan, of course). 

Nanami, Mei Mei and Kyoto School’s students

Mei Mei appeared in the manga, but she didn’t stand out there. That didn’t happen in the movie, however, because we could see her as the queen she is. 

If we talk about Nanami, he didn’t appear in the manga at all. As I watched Nanami’s part, I noticed his fight was the one shown in the opening of the anime series. All these scenes made my enthusiasm to grow bigger. During Nanami’s fight, we could witness the legendary feat of the consecutive Black Flashes, which was mentioned in JJK’s main storyline. Also, I’m sorry for saying aloud “that’s my man” when Nanami came out during the movie, but I couldn’t help it…

We could also see the Kyoto School’s students, Todo, Kamo, Miwa and the others. Todo’s contribution during this battle was previously mentioned in the anime, and in the movie, we got to see him in action.

Suguru Geto

The antagonist, Suguru Geto, had more screen time and the story mentioned a bit of his backstory. Of course, it wasn’t that detailed, but at least these hints allowed viewers to understand Suguru’s standpoint better. I guess Studio MAPPA left some details aside to delve into that part of the story in the anime’s second season. 

Suguru’s fight against Panda was also expanded. Amid the battle, Panda activated his Gorilla mode, but that didn’t happen in the manga. Of course, the main fight attraction was between Suguru and Yuta. I still can’t get over that fight because it was intense. 

Are there connections with Jujutsu Kaisen’s main story?

Unlike the manga, the movie added more connectivity between its story and the anime/manga main plot. But that’s not a surprise because JJK 0 was a standalone story titled “Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School” that was only meant to have four chapters. Yet since it gained a lot of popularity, Gege Akutami extended the story and made the one we are already familiar with.

That’s why there are many resemblances between Yuta and Yuji’s stories. But Yuta’s personality is totally different. I love my boy Yuji, but Yuta as the protagonist hits different somehow…

There’s also a post-credit scene, so I’m sorry for all these people who went out before this scene appeared… In that scene, we could see Yuta and Miguel in Kenya when out of nowhere, Satoru popped up in front of them because he needed to ask Yuta a favour. That part is intrinsically tied to Jujutsu Kaisen’s future events, as Gojo was already aware that something would happen to him. Therefore, he wanted Yuta to protect Yuji in his stead. 

Aside from these differences, the story did a incredible job while remaining true to the original manga and gave some powerful messages throughout the movie. Yuta is an example that we can’t change the past no matter how hard we try, but we still can change the future and become better people.

There’s something I have to mention as well and it’s that MAPPA really put a lot of effort into the background music. In my opinion, this movie wouldn’t have been that great without these incredible tracks that set the story atmosphere splendidly. The music intro “Greatest Strength” was captivating and it blended with the beginning of the movie enticingly. Ever since that moment, I realised that the film was going to be on another level and I wasn’t wrong.

Art and animation

The visual quality was outstanding, but that is something we’d have expected because it was produced by MAPPA, right? The effects compositions, colours, camerawork, directions and execution are praiseworthy. 

The character designs were eye-catching and of course, Gojo’s beauty stood out more than anything again, especially his eyes. 

The character designs resembled the ones from the manga. Yet there were slight changes, such as Inumaki’s design, which looked like Yuji in the original story.

Another I can mention is Mei Mei, who made a full appearance in the movie, but in the manga, we could just see her from afar. The curses also had the same designs as the ones from the manga. There weren’t big changes to that aspect aside from the original curses they added during the Night Parade scene.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manga vs movie: Which one is better?

I usually tend to stand on the manga side whenever an anime or movie adaptation comes out, but this time I can’t… Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie was one of the best films I watched this year. 

This movie was a masterpiece from beginning to end. I didn’t expect to love it to this extent and if I could give it a rating, I’d give it a 20/10. So if the movie is still at your cinema, I highly recommend you to give it a try. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t watched Jujutsu Kaisen anime or read the manga, as it works as the prequel to the main story.

I like Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manga and I enjoy it every time I read it, but I must say that the movie goes beyond that. It gave us a hint of what will be further explored in the sequel story and what we should look forward to. They literally build everything as a way for it to be connected with the current plot while hooking the viewers along the way.

The film gave me a lot of goosebumps and exciting moments that I can’t help but lean towards this adaptation. Plus, the original scenes they added and the fact that they included characters like Mei Mei, Nanami and the Kyoto School’s students made everything better.

With the story, characters, soundtrack, art and animation, it’s almost impossible not to get hooked during the entire 105 minutes the movie lasts.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 shows us an extraordinary story that invites everyone to delve deeper into the Jujutsu world by following the sequel story, whether it’s the anime series or manga.

Have you watched Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie?

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