Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is one of the highest-grossing Japanese movies with a lot of awards and appreciation from fans. It is a 2021 Japanese animated dark fantasy film based on the manga series Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which is a forerunner to the Jujutsu Kaisen manga series, both manga series being created by Gege Akutami. Sunghoo Park directed the movie, while Hiroshi Seko wrote it. The film, produced by MAPPA, follows Yuta Okkotsu, a teenage student who becomes a sorcerer and strives to manage the Cursed Spirit of his childhood companion Rika Orimoto in Jujutsu High with the help of other great sorcerers in training.
It was the highest-earning movie in Japanese box office history beginning in 2021, grossing $196.2 million globally. However, MAPPA and director Sunghoo Park had different plans for the movie before starting it.
MAPPA wanted to Include the Movie in the First Season
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a prequel to the Jujutsu Kaisen television anime produced by MAPPA and based on the manga of the same name by the brilliant Akutami. Director Park originally intended to make Yuji Itadori to be the protagonist only for the first few episodes and then shift the attention to Yuta Okkotsu and bring out the events of volume 0. Later they would pivot back to Yuji’s story and move with it. Instead of making a film, they wanted to incorporate the volume 0 manga into the series. The idea, however, was rejected, and the anime opened with Yuji Itadori’s introduction to the realm of sorcerers and curses, just like in the original Jujutsu Kaisen manga.
MAPPA revised the format of it since it had originally been planned as an arc of the television series. Aside from the story centering on Yuta and his classmates, the team decided to expand on the original manga’s narrative by including new sequences focusing on the students’ mentor Satoru Gojo, and the antagonist Suguru Geto.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was a Perfect Fit For A Movie
Director Park later recognized that telling the Jujutsu Kaisen prequel would fit the movie format more than the television series format. Seko who wrote the film, stated that to complete two hours, he would need to include fresh material, such as Okkotsu’s backstory and Gojo and Geto’s connection. Seko stated that the action scenes in Akutami’s manga are the most significant element of the series, and he wanted to emphasize them in the film.
Park stated that the film would incorporate additional material not seen in the original Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manga. This was primarily because the film was based on a single manga volume, and the crew intended to make a longer film rather than a thirty-minute piece.
Source: Youtube
