Jujutsu Kaisen 0 The Movie 4DX Film Review – Special MAPPA Movie Theatre Promotion Giveaway – Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto Visual Board

WARNING: Contains spoilers.

It felt like we waited for ages for the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 The Movie, so it’s a great thing it was absolutely worth the wait. In a previous blog post I raved about the IMAX showing of the film which I watched on the day it was released, December 24, 2021. After that was the wait for the 4DX version out on February 5th (a Saturday). After a bit of struggle I managed to grab tickets to the first day of 4D. Was it worth the hype? Let’s find out!

In-Demand 4DX Movie Tickets

Tickets sold out very quickly, with the online reservation page frozen for a while due to heavy access. Only about 80 theatres in Japan are scheduled to show 4DX and MX4D, so this was expected. First early morning show was filled in minutes. I had no luck with the daytime shows on Feb 5, but I did manage to get good seats for the late night show. Yey! I was so happy I nearly melted in a puddle of relief xD

A friend and I went to the Aeon Cinema at Minatomirai in Yokohama. Yokohama is one of my fav cities in Japan, and the Aeon mall here where the cinema complex is located never fails to disappoint, what with plenty of events and places to eat and shop.

Roomy, Motion-Filled Theatre

Due to the ongoing pandemic, only half the seats in the 4DX theatres were allocated for viewing. That meant the seats on either side of every viewer were empty for social distancing purposes. 

Hallelujah! For all the negative effects of the pandemic on social life, having a large, roomy seat all by yourself was just a wonderful blessing, one of the small upsides in a terrible, difficult couple of years. (I know movie house profits take a bad hit when selling at only half the theatre capacity. I’m not glad about this point, mind you!)

I’m making a fuss about seating because I felt I had died and gone to heaven with this JJK 0 4DX show. If you read my previous half-arsed review, I got the short end of the stick when it came to seatmates during my first viewing. But this time, not only were the seats next to me gloriously empty, the leg space was so generous you could stretch your pins all the way out and still won’t touch the back of the row in front of you. Needless to say, this was a necessary technical detail so that the seats could move and shake in all directions, in groups of four in this theatre’s case. 4DX, banzai!

An Array of Effects

Boy oh boy JJK 0 4DX did not disappoint when it came to moving and shaking seats. There was almost everything you could expect in a 4DX show. Because the film has plenty of action and blow-up scenes, there was a good deal of motion effect. 

I ranked the 4DX features in terms of what we got (quantitatively speaking) for this film, from most to least. These are my personal impressions only! I’m sure others will have a different opinion, but here goes:

• Motion / vibration
• Water sprays
• Rainstorm
• Lightning / light flashes
• Air gusts
• Wind
• Ticklers
• Snow
• Bubbles
• Fog
• Scent

The parts with the most pronounced effects were the fight scenes: Yuta vs Geto, Miguel vs Gojo, Panda and Toge vs Geto, Nanami vs curses, and so on. The seats shook, wind blew, ticklers inside the backrest of the chair were activated in time with the punches, and lights flashed in tune with cursed technique invocation. There was rain and water sprays here and there, but more like lawn sprinklers or light showers, nothing to make you soaking wet. 

Importance of Wearing the Right Thing

It was all so much fun, even if I wore the wrong clothes – instead of wearing plain jeans which would stick to the bottom of the seat more than other fabrics, I stupidly wore a smooth-textured pair of cullotes. That meant I kept sliding off my seat! Which was very funny in itself, turning me into one of those crazed people giggling and righting themselves during serious fight scenes xD 

Favourite Effects

My favourite effects were the snow and bubbles, though. As we saw in Volume 0 of the manga, the story ends with a winter scene starring Gojo-sensei and his students. We got some sweet snow, which brought the scene to life and made it more immersive. It didn’t snow throughout the entire theatre, however, but only in the section directly in front of the screen.

There were also lovely bubbles (I won’t tell you which part of the film, as I’d like this to be a surprise for anyone still waiting to watch the 4DX film)! I love bubbles – they bring me back to an innocent period in my life, when I was a little girl happily blowing bubbles in the park and not worrying about my job, my clients, my boss, my bills, my ex, my deadlines, or when I think I’m going to die… 

Missing Effects?

I digress. Of the 4DX theatre effects, there were two I felt I didn’t experience: fog and scent. I saw no fog at all, but it could be a matter of impression. My friend thought there was a slight fog along with some mist that came out during an eerie scene. 

We both agreed about the no-scent, though. I’d been hoping for some strange smell whenever the monstrous Curses came out, or maybe a nice floral scent when Rika transformed back into her young girl self. But my nose didn’t catch anything, and neither did my friend’s. Perhaps this was a matter of practicality, however. Why bother with a fragrance blast when every single person in the audience was wearing a face mask? Or perhaps they did let the scents out, but because we were wearing face masks we failed to catch it. 

A Film Worthy of 4DX

In Japan, a 4DX show is JPY 1,000 (less than 10 USD) in addition to the regular price of a movie ticket. Was it worth it? Totally! I’d love to go again. Really, I should go again because what other chances do I have to get two armrests all for myself inside a 4DX theatre?

There’s just one caveat: I think the screen quality simply pales in comparison to IMAX or IMAX with Laser. So if possible, go to both: 4DX because it’s plain fun, and IMAX for the picture quality. I did, and I’m very glad. 

Next up is a Dolby Cinema viewing. This version also came out at the same time as 4DX, Feb 5th. Nation-wide, only five theatres are showing JJK 0 at a Dolby screen. Luckily, there’s one near me so I’m planning a third viewing when the fourth instalment of viewer giveaways comes out.

Which brings us to:

Giveaway for Movie-Goers – Third Instalment

I’m pretty sure a lot of repeat viewers went to the movies not just for the 4D experience but also (mainly?) because of the giveaway. Have a gander at this gorgeous illustration:

It’s a small piece of thin cardboard, only A5 in size, with a bit of canvas texture. The drawing, though, OMG the drawing is something every Satoru Gojo x Suguru Geto fan would love to have. 

MAPPA did us a great service with this giveaway: it’s an original, never before seen drawing of our favourite couple, best friends (lovers in my BL eyes!) who, unfortunately, went their separate ways.

Two Beauties

Gojo and Geto are illustrated so lovingly here, wearing casual clothing and looking freaking handsome. Both their poses are relaxed, although you can feel the sadness between them as they turn their backs on each other and live very different lives. 

I keep on saying I love everything about the JJK 0 film, but to be very honest, one little thing I didn’t like was the way Geto’s face was ‘uglified’ in plenty of scenes to make him look more like a typical scary villain. Perhaps this had to be done to impress upon the audience that he was sinister, the epitome of evil. But then so many evil people IRL are physically attractive. Not all evil people are ugly, and vice versa. Suguru Geto is handsome, beautiful even. He’s certified hotter than Satoru Gojo (Akutami-sensei says so himself in the official fanbook). In this giveaway, MAPPA’s specially-drawn illustration does justice to his face.

Road to Perdition

We lucky movie-goers get a beautiful Suguru on par with an equally beautiful Satoru. I can’t express enough how much I love this drawing! I think it captures the essence of who they are, whatever that means. Think of two blessed/cursed people who have everything, but the one thing they can’t have: each other. This gorgeous drawing speaks volumes about what had gone between them. 

Even the caption is beautiful: それぞれの選択の果てにー (Sorezore no sentaku no hate ni), “As a result of the choices they made…,” meaning ‘at the end of the divergent paths they’ve chosen to take.’

These two have made their painful choice: which principles to fight for, whom to live by, whom to side with, whom to protect, whom to love… even if all that meant losing each other. The expressions on their faces say it had not been an easy choice to make. Ahhhhh, these two! Better start writing BL fanfic once again, I really should, ahaha!

That’s it for my review of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 The Movie in 4DX. I enjoyed it very much and will gladly recommend a 4DX viewing to any manga/anime fan out there. I’ll write another review after I watch the Dolby Cinema version, and get a hold of the fourth instalment of giveaways. 

Purchasing Japanese Film Giveaways

There are three giveaways as of this writing: Volume 0.5 manga, illustration of Yuta Okkotsu (called ‘visual board’ in Japan), and illustration of Gojo and Geto mentioned above. Some listers sell them by sets. Check out the online flea market listings:

• Mercari’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film giveaway listing
• Paypay Flea Market’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film giveaway listing

Search keyphrase (general):

呪術廻戦0 映画特典

or

呪術廻戦0 入場者特典

Search keyphrase (visual board only):

呪術廻戦0 ビジュアルボード

If you live overseas, one way to get a hold of these Japanese online flea market listings is to use a proxy shopper that ships worldwide. See my Shopper’s Guide for details.

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