The Jujutsu Kaisen 0 the Movie will be released worldwide in March. I have translated my recent blog into English to share my thoughts with Jujutsu Kaisen fans around the world.
Jujutsu Kaiten 0, has been getting serious when it crossed the 8.5 billion yen mark at the box office. (As of 12th Mar ’22, it has now exceeded 12.3 billion yen.) Since the second special offer was the “pure love” board for Yuta Okkotsu, I had to go and see it again at IMAX at TOHO Cinemas to make Yuta a 10 billion yen man.
I went there with an assortment of knowledge of the trivia, the novel version, and the official fan book with a higher resolution, and motivated by listening to the soundtrack music and the theme song by King Gnu.
Jujutsu Kaiten 0 the Movie
4th time
After reading the manga version more than 10 times, the more I watched it again, the more I thought it has a profoundness. The beautiful visuals and music are added on, and the voice actors bring it to life. The dialogue and plot are almost the same as the original comic, and in some scenes even the composition is the same. Therefore, I can feel that the original comic is respected to the utmost.
I also like that the additional episodes are balanced enough to please existing fans while not disturbing first-time viewers. The original scene from Yuta’s morning routine to the title logo was also nice, like a taste of Ghibli or Shinkai Makoto.
I haven’t seen Evangerion through the series, so I don’t know how similar it is. However, I could tell that the relationship between Yuta and Rika is a homage to the “Demon Child” from the Twelve Kingdoms by Fuyumi Ono.
It is not only a tribute to the Twelve Kingdoms, but has been properly digested and incorporated into the worldview of Jujutsu Kaisen 0. The Jujutsu Kaisen is inspired by Japanese culture, such as Onmyoji (The Japanese wizard or fotune teller), Kaidan (The Japanese ghost stories), and Buddhism, so I think it is good that there is no gap in the setting of the story.
Interpretation of “Pure Love”
By the way, I have a sense of discomfort with the “pure love” that is “superficially” described as the catch copy of the movie. The memories are from Yuta’s point of view from beginning to end, so the memories with Rika are beautified. But if you look at the backstory revealed by the author, Rika is a type of girl who is disliked by female (probably by the author) because of her dark side as if femme fatale (Not my favorite character). Though it is pitiful that Rika died in a car accident at a 11 years old and that the curse of Yuta turned her into a curse gohst. I digress a bit. The movie version Rika is so quite cute with Kana Hanazawa’s voice, but as I’ ve read the comic version, Rika is not really my favorite charactor.
I think that a promise of marriage at the elementary school age, not even in junior high school, was a bit too young to talk about “love”. I felt it was more like “obsession” or literally “curse” due to the insecure emotion after Rika turned into a curse ghost. I thought the author dared to make him say “This is pure love”, as a part of the direction to express Yuta’s madness in spite of passive looking. In the context of that scine, it is quite a twisted dialogue. It seems cathartic, but I don’t think that was a “pure love”.
Is it “pure love” to live whole life thinking only of Rika, or is that just pedophilia? I think that finally breaking Rika’s curse would be a turning point for Yuta, and he will be able to live his own life independently.
Yuta is a healthy boy who likes women with large breasts, who can’t live without being connected to someone, and who may fall in love with someone rathar than Rika in the near future, based on the official fan book. The author’s foreshadowing will surely be recovered, so I look forward to it!
Afterword
It has been a tedious and lengthy article again. It is fun to trace the author’s thoughts and fantasies from the comic’s author column and style. I prefer to pick up evidence and fantasize about extensions of the author’s thoughts without making too much leaps.
