The ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ movie has been one of this year’s anime phenomena and it has become the seventh highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, ahead of classics such as ‘Princess Mononoke’ or the first ‘Pokémon’ movie.
Despite the success of ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0′, releasing a prequel film without the series’ leads was a very risky gamble, and the film actually hardly saw the light of day.
A new story that might not gel
In Spain the premiere of ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ It was a success during its first weekend in theaters, and with the 190 million dollars that it has grossed worldwide, the film has become one of the pretty boys of Studio MAPPA.
‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0‘ serves as a prequel to the anime, placing us a year before the start of the series, and although we have several familiar characters, it introduces us to a new protagonist and a completely different story. So those responsible for the film they were not too sure that this change and so much deviation from the series plot was a correct decisionespecially if it was about releasing in theaters in times of pandemic.
“It was a very big risk. Because if you look at it from the perspective that it has finished two stages of the series, and then you get into a movie that does not have the characters that people are more familiar with … it was risky “, explained Manabu Otsuka, the president of Studio MAPPA.
“But then we saw the story of 0, which is a very powerful story on its own. So we were confident that fans would enjoy it on its own,” Otsuka continued.
In the end, the risk had its reward and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ It has served to strengthen the franchise as one of the great anime of the moment. It has also been the entry point for many new fans to ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, and the perfect appetizer for those who are looking forward to the second season of the anime.