Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie is taking the world by storm is no new news to the fans or the anime community. If the sale numbers weren’t enough, Okkotsu Yuta became a fan-favorite within seconds’ worth of appearances and mentions.

Within 4 chapters, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 takes us through a crucial event: the Night Parade Of A Hundred Demons. That is the War planned by Geto Suguru. This parade was both an outcome and a beginning of things to come. Keep reading for everything you need to know about what went down in the prequel!

This article contains a few spoilers from the future arcs; read at your discretion.

What was the Night Parade Of A Hundred Demons in Jujutsu Kaisen 0?

The Night Parade Of A Hundred Demons was a plan laid out by Geto Suguru along with his ‘family.’ It sounds harmless, but calling it anything short of a terror attack is unfair.

After defecting in the Hidden Inventory arc, Geto had turned into a curse user. Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was his first (and technically, last) jujutsu terror attack on the Jujutsu High Schools. He visited the Tokyo School to declare the beginning of a ‘war’:

At the sundown of 24th December 2017, he would unleash a thousand curses all to massacre whatever comes their way. This rampage would take place at Shinjuku in Tokyo and Kyoto. He wanted all the sorcerers from the schools (and essentially the jujutsu society) to fight for the people and their own lives.

Using his Cursed Spirit Manipulation ability, there was no doubt Geto could do as he said. As the head of a religious group, he amassed a huge number of curses while pretending to cure non-shamans. Although Ijichi agreed that 2000 curses might not be bluff, Yaga said Geto only possessed Grade 2 or lesser curses.

When these curses and Geto’s “family” are pitched against some 50-odd powerful shamans, a thing became clear. There was no way Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was a war Geto could win. And Geto would not start a war he had no chance to win, as Gojo added. So, what WAS the goal of this war?

What Was The Goal of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons In Jujutsu Kaisen 0?

At first glance, it is easy to figure out the goal of Geto’s plan. His ideology of killing non-shamans to create an ideal world was completely out of line with jujutsu’s objective. In a moment of realization after Riko Amanai’s death, Geto Suguru killed not just an entire village but also his parents for being non-shamans.

Naturally, he also defected from the righteous path, earning the name of a criminal from the jujutsu society. If he had to realize his ideal world, he had to kill everyone who would oppose him- even shamans. And what better place to start than the two hubs of jujutsu, right?

Well, yes, but not really. An open declaration of a miserable force would have at best made the shamans’ side complacent. Even then, such a huge gamble was out of the question for Geto. In fact, the leader himself put this point across. What really did Geto want from this fight?

Gojo was right on point when he was trying to figure the real goal out. Right after an amusing reenactment of Principal Yaga’s reaction to the declaration, Geto moved onto tell us the real objective of his plan.

He was well aware that he had pretty low chances of winning the war – 30%, to be specific. And 30% when only the schools were involved; if the jujutsu society came into the picture, the chances would decrease to less than 20%. Despite the odds, he was confident about one thing, which was also the real goal of his plan.

The real goal of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was to isolate Okkotsu Yuta and steal Rikka Orimoto cursed spirit from him.

Geto wanted to kill him and take control of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Rika Orimoto. Yaga emphasizing that the parade was all-out warfare meant that all the shamans would be distracted at the two locations.

This point is also where Geto’s “family” came into the picture. They would keep the shamans at Tokyo and Kyoto busy. Geto planned to harness this distraction to infiltrate Jujutsu High and go against Okkotsu. If he managed to secure Rika Orimoto, the chances of winning the real war would shoot up to 99%.

It was pretty clever of Geto to use his knowledge of Jujutsu High’s knowhow against them. He knew they would believe his bluff and that they won’t use Okkotsu in this war.

Truthfully, it was also inevitable for Jujutsu High to act upon a threat as massive as this even if they did not believe it. There was always a chance it would come true and endanger the lives of normal humans. But what happened on the D-day? Did Geto & Co. succeed?

Was the plan successful? Aftermath of the fight

No, Geto’s plan of using the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons to acquire Rika was not a success in Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

The plan to distract all shamans, including Gojo, was an excellent one – as we will discuss later – without a doubt. As he had expected, Okkotsu was at Tokyo Jujutsu High, albeit accompanied by Maki. But a monkey could barely stand up against a special grade shaman like him, let alone defeat him.

However, Geto made a small error in judgment, leading to his failure. He underestimated the lengths Okkotsu would go to fight for his friends. His friends’ condition after defeat enraged Okkotsu beyond measure. After a tooth-and-nail fight, out of which Okkotsu could not see a way to win, he decided on something.

He was not very well-versed with using Rika, but he asked her to give him her full power when Geto used Maximum Uzumaki. Okkotsu promised to stay with Rika forever if she defeated Geto, which meant he would rest with her. Sad, but LMAO, Geto’s reaction to this was the best thing ever, though.

Geto had not estimated this development, much less thought that Okkotsu could beat his apex spell with a Vengeful Spirit. They both went up against each other, but Geto was gravely injured after the unseen battle that ensued. The only thing left with him was his life and the desire to win Rika the next time.

However, Gojo found him in his abysmal state in an alleyway, marking the end of his first life. And his goals and the ideal world he had envisioned ended there too. His existence, sadly, had more to witness by becoming a tool.

Analyzing Geto’s plan in Jujutsu Kaisen 0 from a tactical perspective

Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was undeniably a great plan by Geto. His bluff and follow-through brought him pretty damn close to winning. And that too in the face of insanely unfavorable odds. Even though an amateur could register that, Geto’s plan was also a combination of great tactical strategies.

The big idea Geto went into this fight was to lose the battle but win the war. He only wanted to buy enough time for him to defeat Okkotsu. In fact, he used reverse psychology of pretending to reveal his strategy and power beforehand. He banked on his opponents’ weakness of their obligations as shamans to his greatest benefit.

Geto’s entire plan was based on his thorough knowledge of the jujutsu society and Jujutsu High. He even accurately knew how Principal Yaga would react to his declaration. Before that, too, he was prepared to threaten Gojo’s students in case he goes against Geto’s family. And he also seemed aware of the worst-case scenario.

On an overall basis, this plan was deeply rooted in the Blitzkrieg strategy. This strategy suggests that striking first before the opponents have time to prepare or think things through is the best way ahead. Geto’s sudden declaration raised red flags in the minds of the entire jujutsu society, making them miss the possibility of a distraction.

All of this shows that Geto was a great planner in battle. This fact is further (or previously was, according to the timeline) substantiated in the Hidden Inventory arc. Geto was pretty quick to formulate strategies, even if it was a small fight against a shikigami user.

Japanese Cultural reference in Jujutsu Kaisen 0: the Hyakki Yagyo

Akutami is widely popular for the incorporation of a multitude of references in Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. He has used all sorts of disciplines, from Japanese mythology to math and physics, for different elements of his story. We made a whole post on it, too, just in case you want to brush up on the references.

So, it was not surprising when we found out that the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons is just another one of Akutami’s references.

Japanese folklore talks about a Hyakki Yagyo or 百鬼夜行, which translates to the Night Parade of a Hundred Yokai. To avoid confusion, this section refers to the parade from the folklore as the Yokai Parade. Like all folklores across the world, there are several versions of the same story. However, they all tell of a few common things.

On warm summer nights during Obon (also called the Japanese Halloween sometimes), a parade of a hundred demons roams the streets. In this procession, one can see yokai, oni, ghosts, and more supernatural beings – all looking to stir up chaos. The yokai will certainly kill or ‘spirit away’ anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in the midst of the Yokai Parade.

While all this is common amongst all versions of the story, the rest of the details greatly vary from each other. Some say that a nurarihyon, an old man, leads the Yokai Parade, while some say there are other monsters who do so. Here is something interesting, though: the nurarihyon‘s most striking feature is his gourd-shaped head. If you have read Jujutsu Kaisen, you know why we are emphasizing a head, of all things, here!

Further, it is said that an onmyoji or shaman can protect you from the Yokai Parade. Sweet. But there is another origin story that struck me: the Kyoto legend. This tale comes from a scroll from the Heian era called the Tsukumogami Chronicle.

According to this tale, old possessions like umbrellas, shoes, etc., were thrown out on the streets during a massive cleaning of the city. The objects gained sentience and joined in wreaking havoc against their owners. They carried out a parade from the east to west in the northernmost part of Kyoto, the Yokai Street. This parade was the first Yokai Parade.

These “resentful” tools awfully sound a lot like cursed objects, don’t they? And Geto even specifically referred to Kyoto as jujutsu’s sacred land.

The Yokai Parade is extremely famous in pop culture, finding its way in literature, art, and anime alike. But even today, Yokai Street in Kyoto holds an annual parade on the third Saturday of October. People dress up in costumes to celebrate the heritage of the street and dance along Ichijo Dori.

Source: Yokai Street, Yamato Magazine

December 24th comes to reality!

After a successful first season, there was a buzz about how the Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 franchise would proceed next. It was not possible to release a full-blown season anytime soon. But fans rejoiced as MAPPA confirmed the adaptation of the prequel based on Okkotsu Yuta.

Geto planned The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons on the 24th of December, as we saw. And Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 makers and MAPPA took the chance to bring this significant date to reality.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is set to release on 24th December 2021, making the entire fandom excited. We can finally experience the events of this crucial day on the same date! The release of the prequel movie will make this date all the more special. The reveal of the character designs and other information on the prequel can be found here.

What did you think about Geto’s plan? And did you find the cultural references interesting? Let us know in the comments! While you’re at it, do check our complete guide to cursed techniques too!