Jujutsu Kaisen 0: A planetary card! MAPPA Studios inspired by the Demon Slayer movie

news culture Jujutsu Kaisen 0: A planetary card! MAPPA Studios inspired by the Demon Slayer movie

The origins of Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Beyond the works stamped Ghibli and CoMix Wave, Japanese animation has been on the rise for several years. Many feature films are now released in cinemas around the world, and France is no exception to the rule, to the delight of Japanimation enthusiasts. We recently enjoyed Belle, My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission or even Summer Ghost, and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was sort of the icing on the cake. Another animated film caused a lot of ink to flow when it was released. He was even behind the film made by MAPPA studios. That movie is Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Infinity Train.

How was the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 project born?

Watching the success of the Demon Slayer movie, while we were making the second Jujutsu Kaisen short, we wondered how far we could take the series. This is how the idea of ​​making Jujutsu Kaisen 0 as a film came about. – MAPPA studios

A carefully considered release date

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was released in December 2021 in Japan and spring 2022 in the rest of the world (March 16 in France). This Japanese release date is not random and is the result of a long reflection undertaken by MAPPA studios. As for the international distribution of the film, fans were able to experience the prequel just three months after Japanese viewers…a relatively short wait compared to other animated films previously screened, either as an event or nationally.

What were the main challenges to achieve Jujutsu Kaisen 0?

The main difficulty was to find a release date so that the film made as many admissions as possible. That’s why we made the decision to do this on Christmas Eve (in Japan) in order to maximize admissions and popularity. – MAPPA studios

Jujutsu Kaisen versus Jujutsu Kaisen 0

MAPPA studios have nothing more to prove in terms of animated series. Over the span of two years, they took on the production of The God of High School, Attack on Titan Season Finale, and Jujutsu Kaisen. However, there are fundamental differences between the production of an animated series broadcast on television and a feature film intended for the cinema. For the main interested parties, the main differences are in the quality of the animated action sequences and in the narrative imperatives imposed by the format.

How does directing an animated film differ from an animated series?

In itself, there are not that many differences between an animated series and a movie. This especially impacts the action scenes in order to make them even more impactful when viewed on a large screen. This is the real difficulty compared to an animated series. From a scriptwriting point of view, the real challenge was to make it into a film. Usually with anime, we do episode by episode for people to see weekly. In an episode, you don’t have to conclude the plot, whereas in a film you have to. That’s why we had to add scenes and make small changes to avoid any stress for the viewer and stay consistent. – MAPPA studios

A success in Japan and internationally

With more than 500,000 admissions in France and more than 30 million US dollars collected at the American box office, without forgetting the 7.6 million Japanese spectators for a total of 185 million US dollars on its domestic market alone, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a hit in Japan and the rest of the world. MAPPA Studios can claim to be the biggest box office hit in Japan in 2021 and the 15th highest-grossing film in the history of the same box office.

Does this film represent an important step for MAPPA studios with its release in cinemas around the world?

We have seen that it was quite impressive numbers on Japanese soil and in the world. We did not expect to exceed our expectations so much. We now feel a lot of pressure for our next films. – MAPPA studios