New show and details about Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Since Netflix revealed the opening titles for Cowboy Bebop last month, fans of the original sci-fi anime have seemed polarized in their opinion in the lead-up to the upcoming premiere.

Reception is split between those who think the series looks like an entertaining, fresh take on a beloved classic, and those who think it looks like a self-aware fan video — albeit with a huge budget.

These criticisms have been directed at everything from editing the trailers, the looks of stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir and Daniela Pineda in their costumes, to the appearance of supporting characters such as Vicious, Spike Spiegel's nemesis, who performs it. Alex Hassell".

And to be honest, it looks silly. Look at the man. It looks like a guest judge on "Iron Chef" is about to reveal the secret ingredient. He looks like Lorch of the Adams family disguised as Alucard from Castlevania. It looks like a replica Rhaegar Targaryen Halloween spirit costume.

Alex Hussle as Vicious in Cowboy Bebop (2021) Photo: Jeffrey Short/Netflix

This is not necessarily the creators of the Netflix show. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Alex Hassell's opinion of Vicious aligns perfectly with the character of the 1998 series. It's impossible for Netflix to adapt the live-action Cowboy Bebop to "destroy" Vicious because honestly the Vicious character in Cowboy Bebop was already awful At first. Cowboy Bebop producer Shinichirō Watanabe first introduced "Vicious" using silent flashbacks and context clues in episode five, "Ballad of Fallen Angels". He is a high-ranking member of the Red Dragon Guild, a criminal organization that Spike previously belonged to before he became a bounty hunter. Vicious and Spike were former partners and friends when they were younger, and both were under the supervision of a senior member of the Red Dragon named Mao Wenrai. A rift arose between the pair when Spike fell in love with Julia, Vicious's girlfriend at the time.
In "Jupiter Jazz Part 1 & 2", it is revealed that at some point in Vicious's life, likely after Spike left the Red Dragon Guild and faked his own death, he served as a soldier in a war on Titan's moon along with Green . , a former comrade accused him of espionage and testified against him in a military court.
Vicious is a sadistic, cold, bloodthirsty, and unmistakable "evil" (even his name!) who wants power and will stop at nothing to get it. He also uses a katana and has a large crane-like pet bird full of explosives. And that's all there is to it.

A villain and a spike with a sword and pistol drawn in Cowboy Bebop (1998) Photo: sunrise
Vicious is Spike's primary chip and the closest thing in the series to a major recurring character, apart from the core cast of Spike, Fay, Jet and Ed. He appeared in a total of five out of 26 episodes.
Despite this, he is more of a hostile, mysterious presence than a character himself. His dialogue consists almost entirely of brief and ominous jokes. He's a one-note anime antagonist with no apparent motive other than being an idiot. Unlike Spike, a lovable and multifaceted protagonist with character depths and nuances, Vicious only pales in comparison. It amounts to a cool personality exclusively for 13 year olds.
So I'm not saying that I never thought Vicious was cool watching the series. And there's arguably way more awkward and more unique to anime villains than Vicious - just look at Raditz from Dragon Ball Z, or Shoujo Makishima from Psycho-Pass. All I'm saying is that it's been a long time since I was 13. I've come to expect more now when it comes to the characterization in the anime I'm watching.
For example, there's Mereum, the main antagonist of Hunter x Hunter's Chimera Ant arc, who is arguably more ruthless and violent than Vicious than ever before; His evolution over the course of Sagittarius finds that the audience understands and even sympathizes with him as he struggles to reconcile the human and half-insect aspects of his nature. Tomura Shigaraki of My Hero Academia starts out primarily as a young apprentice representing All Might's All For One enemy before gradually growing into a formidable and cunning opponent himself. Even Full Metal Alchemist: The Brotherhood's father has his own purpose as a former dwarf homunculus, a creature unable to perform alchemy himself, aspiring to be a leader in his relentless pursuit of ultimate knowledge and self-empowerment. Vicious pales in comparison to these examples due to the fact that he has no discernible goal setting his goals versus those of Spike, apart from a simple desire for power in its own interest.

Wicked abs in Cowboy Bebop (1998) Photo: Sunrise / Hulu

For a lively and innovative series like Cowboy Bebop, which runs off of several different genres as much as sci-fi in creating its colorful cast of characters, Vicious is a sadly flat nihilism disappointingly flat with a tendency to sit on tight edges.
If anything, the costume design for the live-action portrayal of Alex Hassell as Vicious is a dead shoot. Also with more than two decades of time separating the original anime production and the live-action adaptation on Netflix, there's more than enough room to improve on Spike's opponent.
Developing the storyline for John Cho's portrayal of Spike also means embodying his relationship with Julia, played by the talented Elena Satine, said Andre Nemec, who opposed Cowboy Bebop. Nemec describes Julia as "more of an idea than a character in the original anime, a description that can be used to describe Vicious as well." It will become clear whether the same level of attention will be paid to 'Vicious' when Netf's Cowboy Bebop is shown.
A new trailer for Jujutsu Kaisen 0 has been revealed revealing more details about the movie's prequel story. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 will be a modification of the Gege Akutami manga, which is a prequel to the Jujutsu Kaisen series.
Released Thursday, the previous trailer is the latest trailer for the movie and gives a deeper look into the origins of many of the series' main characters and offers a preview of the new title track.
This prequel tells the dramatic story of Yuta Okkutsu, who in the Jujutsu series Kaisen is a second-year student of Jujutsu in magic, who teams up with series hero Yuji Itadori in their quest to protect the human world from the cursed.
The trailer begins with a scene of Suguru Geto, an arrogant magician who serves as the primary antagonist of the previous story. The trailer also features several shots of Satoru Gojo and Maki Zenin before previewing the story of the prequel's main protagonist, Yuta Okkotsu, and his tragic relationship with his childhood friend, Rikka.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 takes place before the events of the original manga and follows a character named Yuta. Rika, her best childhood friend in Utah, is killed in a car accident and her damned spirit haunts him wherever he goes.
But once he arrives at Jujutsu Academy, fan favorites like Gojo help teach him why her spirit appears and what he can do with it.
Near the end of the trailer, MAPPA Studio gives fans a synopsis of the film's opening theme song, "Itto," also of the GNU King.
The song fits perfectly with the other music of the series and is great for emphasizing all the damn action that happens during the second half of the trailer.
The trailer ends with several elaborate animations of the Jujutsu High wizards entering battle and Yuta taking control of his curse.
The new trailer gives viewers a sneak peek at Suguru Geto, the main antagonist of the prequel movie.
The film tells the story of Yuta Okkutsu and his pursuit by The Curse, a spiritual monster born of his deceased childhood friend, Rikka Orimoto, whom he once promised to marry before her untimely death. This painful affair leads to Utah being cut off from his loved ones. But when he meets a magician named Satoru Gogo, his life will be changed forever.
Once the success of Jujutsu Kaisen, the original Akutami series was retroactively renamed Jujutsu Kaisen 0 to reflect its association with the popular manga. Sunghoo Park, who directed the first season of the adapted anime series as well as the new prequel movie, recently revealed that he originally wanted to cover a prequel story in the first few episodes of the anime, but eventually decided to start the show where the manga begins with Yuji Itadori's introduction to the world of wizards and curses.
Sunghoo Park, who previously worked as an animator for the popular animated film Yuri on Ice, is directing the film. Park also directed the first season of the animated series Jujutsu Kaisen.
Both the Jujutsu Kaisen series and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie come from MAPPA, the Japanese anime studio responsible for such hits as Attack on Titan. However, the Jujutsu Kaisen series is one of the studio's most recognizable properties.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is set to hit theaters in Japan on December 24. While the movie does not have an official release date in the rest of the world yet.