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SAO is a franchise that tends to get a large amount of backlash and hate whenever it is brought up, and while that tends to be an excessive amount for a show that isn't necessarily the worst of all time, it certainly deserves some of the vitriol that goes its way. Having seen the entirety of S1 and half of S1 of Alicization, I was pretty much done testing the show, as I found nothing enjoyable or memorable after season one's aincrad arc, which was my favorite section of the series. So naturally, when a movie is released that promised to develop Asuna, one of ... the most disappointing characters post-Aincrad, I was excited to hear what they had in line. Given that most, if not all, characters in SAO were half-baked disappointments, I was interested to see what they could do. So imagine my reaction when they somehow managed to make her character worse.

I am convinced that Reki Kawahara has never talked to a woman in his life. After seeing this movie, there is no doubt in my mind that the only things he knows about women are the cliches and stereotypes in media. The introduction scene is the smoking gun, where we watch Asuna have a "conversation" with girls in her school, where they grunt and say "hello" and "bye" to each other with the most shallow of exchanges that wouldn't even equate to a puddle in depth. Things take on a bit more depth when they get in-game, but even after that the story begins to seriously lose me more and more.

The chemistry between Asuna and Misumi is bland. There is almost no chemistry between these two characters, which is kind of a problem when you consider that the movie is about these two. Asuna in the Aincrad arc of S1 was at least somewhat lively. Sure, her personality was very surface-level, but at the end of the day there was something there, something that had substance. In this movie, it feels as if they forgot she was a character, something which I don't blame them for considering the cardboard cutouts of characters that almost all girls are in this show.

Story-wise, the main plot is meant to lead into the first boss of the game. The pacing is alright and the story remains relatively on track. However, nothing of substance can really be said of the story here. It's the same as you saw in the Aincrad arc, but with more training on Asuna's part. Nothing much can be said about the overall story, but the final act's aftermath ended up making the conclusion worse in comparison to the original story, something I didn't even consider possible until now.

In short, this movie was bland and disappointing. In its attempt to flesh out the characters, it ended up making them even more boring and lifeless, but hey at least the animation and sound is ok so there's that. Someone please tell Kawahara how to write female characters, though, because somehow he managed to make the only interesting one worse.

WARNING: SPOILERS

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 feels extremely rushed. The movie, although spectacular visually, has a severe pacing issue where certain scenes felt too fast while others felt too dragged on. Characters that served zero purpose in the movie were constantly phasing in and out of scenes taking up time that could've been spent on fleshing out the characters more.

Story-wise, the origin story of Yuta and the main conflict between Gojo and Geto have their moments. Yuta's story introduction managed to hold my interest well up until Gojo began his monologue to Yuta. Although it made sense, Gojo's entire speech to Yuta just felt very bland. Regardless, ... Yuta's story had me interested. How it was handled was very disappointing.

The movie very quickly shows its flaws the more it goes on. Certain training montages are spliced with poorly timed comedic scenes that feel jarring at best. Cut-in comedic moments plague many scenes in the movie that end up ruining the pacing of the story for the brief moments that they're included. Mainly, it was Gojo and Panda that were the two biggest offenders of the movie for comedy. For a movie with a more serious, darker tone, the comedy really ends up messing with the story.

The problems with pacing don't end with comedy, however. The plot-significant scenes of the story felt oddly paced at times, where the movie would jump between scene after scene in Yuta's gradual development from zero to hero. What made it worse was during the second half of the movie, where these gaps in time were much more apparent. Sure, they don't necessarily have enough time to flesh things out (it is a movie, after all), but had they used more time in scenes developing the cast rather than comedic cut-ins, then more time could've been allocated to helping the characters.

Another issue arises in the second half as well. During the final climax, we are constantly swapping perspectives between the main fight and a bunch of unnecessary fights that serve to drag on the movie. These scenes end up dragging on the movie and could've been cut for more important scenes. Instead, we are left swapping between low-stakes filler fights and a serious, high-stakes fight that would determine the fate of the world. As a result, both fights are less impactful, and the main climax feels less significant.

Animation-wise, this movie was great. The fights, for example, even if they were mostly not needed, were very well choreographed and animated near perfectly. I have no complaints there. The sound was also great, but some scenes lacked impact due to poor sound choices, such as when an insert song would cut the audio of a large attack. Regardless, the sound and sights you will see during this movie are most definitely the highlights.

In short, JJK 0 is a visually great movie with good sound. Unfortunately, the story and characters are its shortcomings, as the pacing, tone, and characters are all over the place. This movie felt overall rushed, which concerns me for future MAPPA products as it seems that they really have not learned their lesson.