Sukuna's full potential wasn't shown, and it's the Jujutsu Kaisen ending's biggest sin

Modified Jan 22, 2025 19:00 GMT

The Jujutsu Kaisen ending didn't show Sukuna's full strength (Image via MAPPA).

The Jujutsu Kaisen ending received a lot of criticism for a wide variety of reasons, but one of its biggest sins is the fact that Ryomen Sukuna was never shown at his full potential. This was emphasized by Uraume when talking to Kinji Hakari, stating that the King of Curses was never as strong as he was during the Heian era when fighting the main cast.

Now, this makes a lot of sense when considering how Sukuna was weakened throughout the fight by the fists of the Jujutsu Kaisen protagonist, Yuji Itadori, who could separate his soul from his vessel, Megumi Fushiguro. This is something that proved to be pivotal in the final battle, so what Uraume mentions is a fact and undermines that conflict to a degree.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any other opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeed as a publication.

Explaining why Uraume was right regarding how Sukuna wasn't at his best in the Jujutsu Kaisen ending

Sukuna using his Domain Expansion in the anime (Image via MAPPA).

Right after Ryomen Sukuna dies at the hands of Yuji Itadori at the tail end of the Shinjuku Showdown arc, Uraume tells Kinji Hakari that they only won because the King of Curses wasn't at his best and would have defeated them if he was in his true Heian era form. This would seem like a bizarre statement to make because the villain obtained his real body, but that came with a caveat, and it is the fact that he had a vessel in Megumi Fushiguro.

When considering that Sukuna is a Cursed object in this series and had to take over Megumi's body to be in full control, this makes a monumental difference because it was Yuji Itadori's soul-hurting punches that managed to cause critical damage to him. It was these punches that weakened Sukuna and reduced his Cursed Energy to the degree that the main cast had a chance against him.

This was further emphasized near the end of the final battle when Megumi managed to fight back and separate himself from the King of Curses, leaving Sukuna totally exposed. That situation is something that wouldn't have happened if he had his real body and shows how author Gege Akutami never allowed the audience to see the full potential of his main villain.

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Sukuna within Yuji's body as seen in the anime (Image via MAPPA).

There is another factor to take into account: in a context where Sukuna has his Heian era body, the Jujutsu Kaisen story could have also ended sooner. That is because Sukuna managed to reset his body after fighting with Megumi's against Satoru Gojo, which is an opportunity that he wouldn't have if he was in his true Heian era state.

If Sukuna was in his real body and the events of the story had the same structure, then that means that Gojo would have weakened him greatly and the rest of the cast would have defeated him. Moreover, a lot of fans have mentioned that Sukuna only won against Satoru because he had Mahoraga at his disposal, which is something that also disproves Uraume's point.

Final thoughts

The Jujutsu Kaisen ending has several creative decisions that have divided the fandom because of a variety of reasons, and not seeing Sukuna at his best might have been a problem. Moreover, Uraume's words do have a point when considering how he was defeated at the end of the manga.

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Edited by Somava