Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Characters

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is the prequel to the main story. It started life as a four-chapter series called Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, which ran in Jump GIGA from April to July 2017, before Jujutsu Kaisen itself launched. It was later collected as Volume 0.

MAPPA adapted it into a 105-minute film directed by Sunghoo Park. It opened in Japan on December 24, 2021, and in US and Canadian theatres on March 18, 2022. It was the highest-grossing film at the Japanese box office in 2021.

Yuta Okkotsu

The JJK 0 protagonist. When Yuta was a child, his friend Rika Orimoto died in a traffic accident in front of him, right after the two of them promised to marry when they grew up. Rika comes back as an enormously powerful cursed spirit that attacks anyone who hurts him. Yuta starts the film wanting to die. Gojo brings him to Tokyo Jujutsu High instead.

Rika Orimoto

Half heartbreaking, half terrifying. Rika is classed as a special grade curse, and the question of why she became one is the twist the film builds to. Kana Hanazawa voices her in Japanese.

Maki, Inumaki and Panda

Yuta's classmates. Maki is cold to him at first, partly because she sees someone with endless power acting like he doesn't want it. Inumaki talks in rice ball ingredients, which leads to a lot of confusion before Yuta learns to read him. Panda is the friendliest of the three and does the most to make Yuta feel welcome.

Satoru Gojo

Gojo is the same as in the main series, a bit younger and still teaching. JJK 0 is where his friendship with Geto becomes the emotional centre of the film's ending.

Suguru Geto

The JJK movie characters revolve around him as much as Yuta. A former Tokyo student and one of four special grade sorcerers, Geto believes non-sorcerers should be wiped out so that sorcerers can stop dying for them. On December 24 he plans to release a thousand curses on Tokyo and Kyoto in a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Miguel carries a black rope that can cancel techniques, and his fight with Gojo during the attack is a highlight. Larue is a sorcerer with a flashy, flamboyant style. Mimiko and Nanako Hasaba are the twins Geto rescued from an abusive village as children, the moment Season 2 shows as the point of no return. Manami Suda is one of his followers from the religious group he uses as a front. The film also features Kuchisake-onna, the split-mouthed woman of Japanese urban legend, as one of Geto's curses.

Most fans recommend watching JJK 0 after Season 1 and before Season 2. You'll already know Maki, Inumaki, Panda and Gojo, so the movie can focus on Yuta and Geto. It also sets up Season 2 nicely: Hidden Inventory shows how Geto became the man you just watched die, and the film's final scene gains new meaning.

In Japanese, Megumi Ogata voices Yuta and Kana Hanazawa voices Rika. Mikako Komatsu, Koki Uchiyama and Tomokazu Seki return as Maki, Inumaki and Panda, and Yuichi Nakamura and Takahiro Sakurai play Gojo and Geto. In the English dub, Kayleigh McKee voices Yuta, with Kaiji Tang as Gojo, Lex Lang as Geto and Allegra Clark as Maki. See our JJK cast page for the full list.

The JJK 0 cast doesn't vanish once the credits roll. Maki, Inumaki and Panda are in the main series from Season 1, now as second-years. Yuta is mentioned early on and then leaves Japan to train abroad, which keeps him out of the story until the Culling Game. When he does come back, he's the one sent to execute Yuji, which is one of the best twists of Season 3.

Geto's story continues in a darker way. His body is taken over by Kenjaku, and that version of "Geto" becomes the mastermind of the main series. Mimiko and Nanako stay loyal to the real Geto's memory and show up again during the Shibuya Incident.

Yuta is the heart, but Geto steals the film. He's charming, calm and completely certain he's right, and the movie never lets you forget how close he and Gojo used to be. Panda is the unsung hero: the film gets a lot of its warmth from him. And Maki's growth from treating Yuta coldly to fighting beside him is a small but satisfying arc in only 105 minutes.

The film follows the four-chapter manga closely, but it has much more room. It expands the fight scenes, especially Yuta against Geto in the finale and Gojo's battle with Miguel during the attack on Shinjuku. If you've only read the manga, the film is still worth watching for the animation alone.

Yuta's arc in JJK 0 is simple to describe and hard to pull off. He goes from wanting to die to wanting the right to live. The turning point is a mission with Inumaki, where Yuta realises he can actually protect someone instead of just hurting people by accident.

Rika is the most interesting part of the film's design. For most of the story she looks like a monster with a child's voice, attached to Yuta and lashing out at anyone who threatens him. In the final battle, Yuta fully releases her, and she becomes something closer to her old self, a huge figure still devoted to him. Yuta even borrows Inumaki's Cursed Speech through her during the fight, a hint at an ability that becomes important much later.

Yuta and Yuji are often compared, because both are kind-hearted boys carrying a dangerous curse. The difference is what they want. Yuji is outward-facing from the start. He wants to save people. Yuta starts inward-facing: he wants to stop being a danger and to find a reason to exist. Yuji's curse is a villain who wants out. Yuta's is someone who loves him. The JJK 0 characters around Yuta are there to help him accept himself, while the main cast around Yuji are there to test what he believes.