Sukuna's actual aura in Jujutsu Kaisen is lost in translation (and it's saddening)

Since the climax of Jujutsu Kaisen, fans haven't held back their feelings regarding the manga's rushed narrative. Even though it was normal for Gege to leave some unanswered questions, the author failed to answer some of the most basic questions. However, another critical issue in the manga series, at least in the official one, was its translator.

John Werry is the official English translator of Gege Akutami's manga series, and surprisingly, his translations aren't favored by the fans due to their complex nature. The prime example was how Sukuna's dialogues were translated into hardly understandable English. Sukuna's dialogues combined ancient English with a roundabout way of speaking, stealing the King of Curses of his aura.

Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers from the manga series and expresses the writer's opinion.

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Jujutsu Kaisen: Exploring the manga's official translation issue

Sukuna as seen in the manga (Image via Gege Akutami/Shueisha)

John Werry is one of Viz Media's official English translators. He translates various manga series from Japanese to English. The translator is known for translating numerous famous manga series, such as Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, Terraformars, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Specifically for Gege Akutami's magnum opus, the English translator is known for inefficiently translating some of the most hyped panels with translations that angered the fandom on the internet. The prime example of this might be John Werry's translations of the panels of Ryomen Sukuna.

As the Jujutsu Kaisen's central antagonist, Ryomen Sukuna's persona is unlike any other character. Most of his personality comes from his dialogue, which Gege Akutami carefully constructed. However, the official English translation might have only robbed the antagonist of his aura.

John Werry has been consistent with explaining Sukuna's dialogues in a roundabout way, combining complex sentence structure with an old style of English. One prime example is in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 247, page 1, where Sukuna revealed that during his battle with Gojo, he carefully executed Domain Amplification to pause Mahoraga's adaptability to Gojo's cursed technique.

Sukuna as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA)

This was because stopping it (the user cannot use his cursed techniques during Domain Amplification) would have led to Gojo easily using his cursed technique. While this might sound simple here, this single panel was structured in such a complex way that the majority of fandom failed to understand it, thus failing to understand the workings of domain amplification.

Moreover, on numerous occasions, Sukuna was seen using words that didn't fit his character as an antagonist in the official translation. This indicates that Jujutsu Kaisen's final antagonist might be robbed of some of his 'aura' as the central villain due to the vague and complex official English translation that couldn't convey his true image before the fandom.

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Analysis and Final Thoughts

Responsible for some controversial panels like Geto stating Gojo and Geto could both use Cursed Spirit Manipulation (which is entirely false) and the translation of Gojo's famous 'Nah, I'd Win' panel to just 'No,' a big part of ruining Gege Akutami's magnum might be the official English translator of Viz Media.

While the fandom outside of English-speaking countries might not be as aware of this issue, John Werry's English translations have been an issue since he took up the series.

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Related Links

• Yuji's Domain Expansion explained a key concept in Jujutsu Kaisen
• Jujutsu Kaisen's official translation makes yet another Mahoraga-Malevolent Shrine misconception
• Viz's confusing translation of Shoko's feelings for Gojo and Geto baffles Jujutsu Kaisen fandom