Alright, after waiting almost 1.5 years to watch the prequel film right before Season 2's release, I can say that I'm hyped for more Jujutsu Kaisen stuff.
The protagonist of the prequel series, Yuta Okkotsu, isn't much like Yuji Itadora, apart from the beginning reference with his interrogation from Satoru Gojo.
Indeed, this was Jujutsu High a.k.a Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical School before Yuji's arrival, and it's nice to see Panda, Maki and Inumaki back, though them being the only students in the class, aside from the eccentric Gojo. Yuta coming in with the premonition of being a cursed child seeing his childhood friend Rika Orimoto die in a traffic accident, to then be stuck with her for his lifetime of "marriage". Gojo trying the 3 students and the transfer student on their Jujutsu training to exorcise curses, though they got too confident and got caught by a curse, which holds the children that were needed to be saved, and through Rika which he connects to her through the ring that she gave him, the curse is vanquished for good, but love is the biggest curse of them all.
The swagger of Gojo to protect Yuta if push comes to shove, and him wanting to undo the curse by transferring Rika's cursed spirit into a katana blade, it's training all the way through from the Jujutsu masters, especially Maki. Though Panda coming in with a comedy revelation on how Yuta likes boobs, it's so Panda lols. Yuta, now paired with the only grade 2 sorcerer of Inumaki, he's the cursed speech sorcerer whom he must observe, without releasing Rika, with the mission being to eradicate curses in a shopping district. And with one particular semi-first-grade curse, this isn't like any of the typical ones, and without the throat medicine, Inumaki can't work at his finest. And taking Maki's lessons into actual usage, I'd say that Yuta did a decent job with Inumaki being a tag-team, though this is also the first time that Suguru Geto makes an appearance here (with Mahito working with him in the main series).
Geto, being one of the special-grade Jujutsu sorcerers who was banished from Jujutsu High, he's the clear antagonist, whom like Gojo, has his own likeness and his own army of sorcerers. And it starts with them arriving at Jujutsu High with a declaration of war, conducting the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons upon Shinjuku and the Jujutsu's holy land of Kyoto on Christmas Eve. The thing is, the wedge between Gojo and Geto has already drawn opposite parallels on justice and righteousness, turning upon the war of good and evil. Of course, Maki as the Zen'in clan's failure, we all already know from the main series, but chronically starting with Yuta, it's just surface-level understanding. While Geto targets Jujutsu High with his army targeting both Shinjuku and Kyoto, their plan is soon figured out with Gojo rushing both Panda and Inumaki back to Jujutsu High to save both Maki and Yuta, but to no avail.
Yuta being the only Jujutsu sorcerer left to face Geto, he utilizes more than just Rika's cursed energy alone, with the one-time use of Inumaki's loudspeaker, which works the same as the real thing. Gojo going all-out with his eyes is (once again) amazing (if you see it from a prequel perspective), and MAPPA flexing hard on Yuta-Rika and Geto's battle, it's no short of impressive given the movie-quality treatment. Also, for the first time, Nanami makes his appearance feel felt, and others like Miwa, Mechamaru and Todo, they're just side cheddar in this prequel. Yuta's dedication to Rika, against Geto's Maelstrom, it's a power that is worth acquiring to change the world. But no matter their happy history together in the past, Gojo and Geto were destined to face each other, though their rivalry will be settled in the future (starting with Season 2 on the Hidden Inventory & Premature Death arcs). Turns out, the investigation on Yuta shows that he comes from one of the big sorcerer families, which apart from the direct relative relation to Gojo, the curse with Rika has finally been broken, and she fades into the limelight.
A good prequel movie that will be the last that director Park Sunghoo ever touches on the JJK series, though King Gnu's main theme song is the one I prefer over the ending theme song.
Above all, good but not great. Onwards to Season 2 from here on out... |