When is Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Set in the Anime?

Even if you’ve never seen Jujutsu Kaisen the series, the film Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a fantastic stand-alone experience. But newcomers and series veterans alike might find themselves a little confused as to when the film takes place in relation to the series. After all, the protagonists of each are missing in the other. Fortunately, we can set the timeline straight with stunning accuracy. Because Jujutsu Kaisen literally has dates for everything.

Firstly, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a prequel to the series. Interestingly, it was written as the first entry in the Jujutsu Kaisen franchise. Mangaka Gege Akutami (who is anonymous and writes under a pen name) began writing what we all know and love as Jujutsu Kaisen after the short-run series Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School, which would come to be known as Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Yuta Okkotsu’s tale covers a little over one year’s worth of events. The climax of the film happens about six months before we pick up with Itadori in the main series.

But we can get even more specific than that, because Jujutsu Kaisen occurs in real-world dates and times. Okkotsu first enrolls at Tokyo Jujutsu High in November 2016. The climax of the film—Geto’s Night Parade of a Hundred Demons—takes place on one year later, on December 24, 2017. As an aside, because you’re probably wondering: Christmas is basically a romantic date holiday in Japan. Geto making curses descend on Shinjuku and Kyoto definitely sets up bad date vibes.

The beginning of the Jujutsu Kaisen series, when Itadori enrolls at Tokyo Jujutsu High, takes place during June 2018. And as an aside, since you may be wondering why school is in session in June: Japanese schools have a three-term system, with the school year starting in April. This means Panda and the gang are now second-years, Itadori’s senpais. Okkotsu, meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen. As Maki points out in a zone-out-and-you’ll-miss-it line, this is because he’s studying abroad. The post-credit scene of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 makes clear that he’s doing so with Miguel, who initially collaborated with Geto but is seemingly now under Satoru’s thumb. It’s probably fine.

The Jujutsu Kaisen series then continues on in 2018. For example, the Shibuya Incident is on October 31, 2018. All this talk about the late 2010’s leaves us all with one obvious, burning question that definitely everyone’s wondering. If events in Jujutsu Kaisen reaches 2020, will it include the COVID pandemic? Only time will tell. But there would almost certainly be an explosion of curses around March 2020.

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