Sukuna: Akutami's latest comment spoils Sukuna's aura in Jujutsu Kaisen

Ever since the Jujutsu Kaisen manga came to an end, fans have been constantly revisiting the series to appreciate the final gauntlet that the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, ran against the entire cast and almost won.

After defeating Satoru Gojo in the Shinjuku Showdown arc's Battle of the Strongest, Sukuna cemented his name as the strongest character in Jujutsu Kaisen and proved beyond a shadow of doubt, why he was hailed as the King of Curses throughout history.

However, a recent QnA session with Gege Akutami completely undid Sukuna's victory against Gojo and ruined all the "aura" he had gained after defeating the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, especially since the mangaka claimed Gojo only lost to Sukuna because he momentarily lost focus in the battle.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the writer.

Gege Akutami's latest claim ruins Sukuna's decisive victory against Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen

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A QnA session was recently held, where Gege Akutami dropped new information on all things related to Jujutsu Kaisen, especially the climactic battle between Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna.

Among all the things Akutami revealed, fans focused on one very important comment from the mangaka, where he claimed that Gojo apparently let his guard down in battle after obliterating Mahoraga and severely damaging Sukuna with his makeshift Hollow Purple attack.

Akutami said that after landing his final attack, Gojo believed that Sukuna had no way to counter Limitless anymore. Thus, he let his guard down when he saw that the King of Curses was down on his last legs.

Akutami further claimed that had it been the "usual Gojo", he likely would have sensed that something was off and dodged the fatal blow that led to his demise. In other words, Gojo could have actually survived Sukuna's world bisecting slash, if only he hadn't lost focus in the fight by thinking his victory was assured.

Gojo's first loss against Toji in Jujutsu Kaisen (image via MAPPA)

One could argue that Gojo letting his guard down does make sense in the context of the story, since at that point, Sukuna quite literally had one foot in the grave. Then again, Gojo letting his guard down has almost always led to his downfall - the first time being his loss at Toji's hands, and the second time being when Kenjaku caught him off-guard and sealed him inside the Prison Realm.

As expected, this particular comment by Akutami had a major ripple effect on the Jujutsu Kaisen fanbase. Majority of Gojo fans had moved on from his death and accepted that Sukuna truly was the stronger sorcerer. However, hearing that Sukuna's victory was purely coincidental led many to hail Gojo as Jujutsu Kaisen's strongest sorcerer once again, thus cheapening the effect of Sukuna's victory and completely undoing his fear factor.

Months of analyzing and overanalyzing Sukuna and Gojo's fight led fans to hail the King of Curses as a strategic mastermind. Fans believed that everything had played out exactly as per Sukuna's plans - and maybe it did. After all, Sukuna was well aware of how cocky and overconfident Gojo was.

It's possible that Sukuna knew Gojo would immediately let his guard down if he made the latter believe that he had won their bout. But consider this - the mangaka himself claiming that Gojo died due to a mistake, a slip-up, a rare crack in his composure, doesn't just weaken Gojo's image.

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Sure, it does mean that Gojo never quite learned from his mistakes. But it also altered fans' perception of Sukuna and his big victory against Gojo - which now seems completely circumstantial. In simple words, it amounts to a cheap "gotcha" moment instead of a true clash of the titans.

Saying that Gojo might have won if he wasn't caught off-guard did more harm than good - at least to Sukuna's image. If Akutami wanted Gojo to lose, the least he could have done is made his loss a bit more convincing. It's like watching a football game and finding out that one team's star player was sick, but nobody thought to mention this until after they had lost the match.

At this point, Gojo letting his guard down during fights is very much in-character for him. After all, he did it twice and both times he ended up on the losing side of the fight. But having him lose focus in the most important battle in his life almost feels like a narrative cop-out on Akutami's part.

Moreover, from a storytelling perspective, Akutami's latest comment undercuts everything. Having the big bad defeat arguably the series' most popular character and then revealing afterwards that the latter wasn't even fully focused diminishes a lot - especially the characters in question.

It also showcases that the series' most highly anticipated battle was never meant to be a true test of strength after all - which is a big no-no, especially when it comes to shonen series.

Concluding Thoughts

Many agree that having Gojo lose fair and square to Sukuna without any excuses or caveats would have worked much better from a storytelling perspective, than whatever Gege Akutami ended up going with.

Having a villain triumph over a hero isn't anything new in the world of anime, but at the very least, that victory should feel earned. Providing justifications for the hero's loss months after the manga came to an end only undoes the villains' big victory, especially in this case.