Jujutsu Kaisen: Kenjaku's "underwhelming" death ruins a fan-favorite character's sacrifice

In chapter 243 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Kenjaku, one of the series' primary antagonists, met an unexpected end at the hands of Yuta Okkotsu. As he was dying, the ancient sorcerer proclaimed that someone would soon inherit his will, which concerned several fans about Yuta's safety.

While fans breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Yuta safe and sound in the raw scans of Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 248, others pointed out that it might mean that Kenjaku was gone from the story for good. As such, people deemed his death to be extremely underwhelming and mentioned that it did a huge disservice to a fan-favorite character, who died in their battle against Kenjaku.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. Reader's discretion is advised.

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How Kenjaku's death in Jujutsu Kaisen undermined Yuki Tsukumo's sacrifice

Kenjaku has been shown to be the series's primary antagonist and the mastermind behind most of the events that took place in the current timeline. This is why fans were shocked when the 1000-year-old sorcerer met an unexpected demise in chapter 243 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga.

Following Satoru Gojo's death at the hands of Ryomen Sukuna, Kenjaku was shown to be on a mission to kill all the players of the Culling Game. After killing a couple of players, he came across Fumihiko Takaba, who overwhelmed Kenjaku with his ability. After the bizarre battle between the two ended, Yuta Okkotsu appeared out of nowhere to launch a surprise attack on the ancient sorcerer.

At the end of chapter 243, Yuta was shown to be successful in decapitating Kenjaku. However, the ancient sorcerer claimed that his will would soon be inherited, which convinced many that it might not be the last time we see him. The fact that Kenjaku has been built up and proven to be a fitting primary antagonist of the series was enough to convince fans that he might survive for a long time.

Additionally, Kenjaku has survived for over 1000 years due to his ability to change bodies, which concerned several fans who thought Yuta might be in danger of being taken over. Fortunately, in the raw scans of the upcoming Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 248, Yuta was seen arriving at Shinjuku to fight Sukuna.

With this, it became apparent to many that Kenjaku might be gone for good. While it may be an occasion to celebrate for many, some fans felt differently. They considered Kenjaku's death extremely underwhelming because a cunning mastermind like him fell prey to a sneak attack. He was previously shown to be nearly impossible to kill, as per his battle against the Special Grade sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo.

In chapter 208 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Yuki met her end after a hard-fought battle against Kenjaku. Towards the end of their fight, she used her ability to manipulate mass to turn herself into a literal Black Hole, which almost spelled the end for the ancient sorcerer. However, Kenjaku survived the attack by using a Cursed Technique he had extracted from Kaori Itadori.

The fact that a sorcerer like Yuki Tsukumo, who was once said to be the strongest sorcerer of the modern era before Gojo, failed to put an end to Kenjaku's schemes was enough to convince fans that the ancient mastermind might prove to be harder to kill than Sukuna. As such, fans believed that his death at the hands of Yuta, in a surprise attack of all things, severely undermined the value of Yuki's death.

Additionally, Yuta was heavily criticized by a portion of the fanbase, who called him a 'coward' for having Takaba drain Kenjaku so that he could land the finishing blow himself. However, it's to be noted that this tactic was previously used by Toji Fushiguro, who once weakened Gojo in the same way to kill Riko Amanai.

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Final thoughts

Upon reading the raw scans of the upcoming Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 248, fans became convinced that Kenjaku is gone from the story for good. While many criticized the mangaka, Gege Akutami, for giving the primary antagonist such an underwhelming death, others were simply relieved to see things finally going well for the protagonists.

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