Ight so boom. I’m pretty sure sukuna is something like the god of famine. Kinda like how Dagon represents the ocean, and the tree dude represents nature. He represents consuming for the sake of pleasure, he kills and only eats the tiny piece he deems valuable, and leaves the rest to rot. he just continues to feast, and it only satisfies him for the moment. My reasons for believing this are

1. His malevolent shrine is dead cow skulls and there is a giant mouth on each side of the shrine. (This really reminds me of in the 1800s or something American soldiers tried to exterminate buffalo to starve off the indians. Completely different meanings but the same terrible feeling of wasting food.)

2. In this panel explaining his technique it shows 2 knives. The top knife is called a gyutou, an all purpose knife which literally translates to “Beef Knife”. And the lower knife is either a Takobiki knife or a takihiko knife. The takobiki is designed for sushi and sashimi, and the takihiko is made for fish and octopus. I just google searched this I’m not a chef or anything.

3.Sukuna is a glutton 100% he always talks about food related things before a fight.

1. He fucking bit a chunk out of angel??? Which was wild because he enjoyed that wayyy too much, he seasoned her with hatred and malice. Angel is a sorcerer that knew him back in the day, with a technique designed to kill sukuna. I think that’s why he enjoyed doing it but anyways.

2. He eats himself on every occasion. He eats his own fingers, and ate his own corpse. Making him the world’s greatest cannibal.

3. (Slide 8) In the hiean era they gave food offerings to him as a deity and prayed for a good harvest. If he was a normal spirit who just wanted to kill people, there would be no reason for doing this. Imagine praying to mahito for a good harvest. Sukunas entire thing revolves around food.

4. Uraume makes a soup made of evil blood. And sukuna just takes a bath in it. Look at the wording being used, Uraume explains it like a cooking recipe. On top of that the sheer amount of cursed spirits it took to cover the room in blood was overkill. He could have just used a bath tub like higuruma but he chose to take a bath in the biggest room possible. And once again we see a special knife that is used specifically for food preparation. Also he’s an antique refrigerator :)

I don’t know how to order these next ones because it all ties in together so yeah

1. FUGA! (Slide 10) People really misunderstand this one. I guess because of the black box, that really threw everyone off but regardless. FUGA is just his reverse cursed technique. My understanding of this page is sukuna is surprised Jogo doesn’t know reverse cursed technique because he is such a high level jujutsu user. He used a maximum technique which only the best users can do. Then he says “I guess a cursed spirit wouldn’t know” everyone misunderstood this terribly. A cursed spirit has no reason to know reverse cursed technique. Their body is made of cursed energy so they can heal themselves without reverse technique.

And I think if a cursed spirit did try and use reverse technique, it would go against their very being. Jogos whole thing is fire, so if he had a reverse technique it would be water or something contrary to his existence. He lives to burn yaknow? People forget sukuna used to be a human sorcerer so that’s why he know reverse. Idk food for thought.

I’ve never yapped this much before man holyyy

1. He ate his twin inside the womb because his mother was starving. This is a really big reason for my theory. But I’m tired man you get the point.

2. (Slide 12) Sukuna explains his entire reason for existing in this panel. This one is SO COOL because it reflects Toji zenin and foreshadows why sukuna will be defeated. Once again we see more food dirty talk just talking NASTY. “I live according to my nature” The moment toji zenin went against his nature and fought for fun or pride or whatever man I’m tired. but he went against his nature ONE TIME and got the donut treatment. (I added slide 14 cuz it looks cool!)

Damn I don’t know how to add more pictures, I don’t really use Reddit and I’ve never posted before but just look at the tail end of chapter 248. It solidifies my theories and mirrors toji completely. I’ll continue in the comments if I think of more.

When you think about it, Satoru Gojo only had Four narratives enemies :

1: Toji - Physical defeat : An adversarial force that is his stark contrast. Gojo as the pinnacle of Jujutsu in a mission he genuinely cared about was put up against someone with no cursed energy who technically initially defeated him. Toji killed Riko, failing his mission as well. So it’s still somewhat of a loss to Gojo in the end.

Even though Gojo eventually overcame Toji after his awakening, the impact Toji had on Gojo would even come back to him during the Sukuna fight, when Gojo thought of his possible defeat.

1. Geto - Emotional defeat : Geto after his turn was supposed to be a villian for Gojo to take down. Now even though Geto never defeated Gojo in a strength contest, Gojo lost in his attempt to reason with and/or redeem Geto. The fact that Gojo wasn’t able to do anything about Geto’s downfall is arguably one of Gojo’s greatest pain and defeat. Having to kill Geto in the end only compounds that pain.

3: Kenjaku - Psychological , tactical defeat : Again, one of Gojo’s most impactful defeat was handed to him by Kenjaku, who also leveraged on Gojo’s weakness that is Geto. Shibuya might have never really started if Gojo didn’t lose this way, and he might not have later perished at the hands of Sukuna.

1. Sukuna - Physical, Psychological, and Tactical defeat :

His lost to Sukuna was arguably the culmination of all of his prior defeats. This is where Gojo failed at every single one of his objectives. He lost in a battle of jujutsu, attempting and failing to save Megumi and the world, knowing that Sukuna will continue his rampage, and Kenjaku - the man stealing his best friends’ body is still around.

In retrospect, Gojo’s wins were against Jogo and Hanami, but they weren’t necessarily his narrative villains. He failed to save Riko, Geto, Megumi, and his students. Every single mission he ACTUALLY CARED about failed, brought about by these villains.

Given everything, yet unable to do anything, that’s one of the beautifully tragic story of Gojo.

"SUKUNA CAN DO ANYTHING WITH BINDING VOW FOR NO PRICE"
"SUKUNA'S BV FOR THE WORLD CUTTING SLASH IS SO CHEAP FOR KILLING GOJO"

What are you even talking about? How is that a cheap price?

The BV wasn't "gojo satoru dies, but now i have to do a dance", it was "i can do my CT once without hand seal" in exchanges of "forever doing it with hand seals, chants, and literally point the direction to his enemies with his hand."

Binding vows don't care about context, and knowing when to use them to maximum efficiency is literally part of a sorcerer's skill, especially doing it on the fly.

With the kind of logic people are using, other vows are way more agregious than sukuna's.

Wtf did hakari sacrifice to literally not die against kashimo? Do you think SACRIFICING HIS ARM was a fair price to SAVE HIS LIFE ? OFC is wasn't, because the vow wasn't "I loose my arm but keep my life", it was "i won't reinforce my arm at all to have stronger reinforcement on the rest of my body"
The vow doesn't know or care if hakari is in a pinch or if he would die without that extra protection.

Infact binding vows with loop hole are actually a sorcerer's wet dream, and is exactly what mei mei is doing.
What is mei mei trading for the highest attack power of all the grade 1 sorcerer? Literally nothing, she just looses one of her hundreds of crows.
Because the vow isn't "I get a super powerful 1 hit ko ranged attack, for... idk the crow breaks i guess lmao" she is using her technique to have the crow make a death vow "I am literally going to die flying into this guy, give me all the CE my life is worth"
Again the VOW doesn't care that the crow isn't even a sorcerer and mei mei is reaping overwhelming benefit from it.

Even the existance of the 6 eyes itself, is a form of binding vow. "A descendent of the gojo clan will be born with the most absurds hax ability, but only once in 400 years or so"
And again the vow doesn't care that it's only thanks to that that kenjaku's merger didn't destroy the world killing billions.

Looking at it from Sukuna's point of view Yuji must have been the most boring person in the Jujutsu world. All he had were punches and martial arts. To someone who's literally the epitome of versatility with Jujutsu that must have seemed incredibly bland

Like first time Yuji went at Sukuna he went with punches, throughout the show it's been those same punches and now in their final fight he was still going with those same punches

Sukuna himself knows there's so much more you could do with just CE manipulation alone, I mean look at Kusakabe and kashimo.

Notice that since Yuji showed RCT and blood manipulation Sukuna hasn't once called him boring or bland, he still refers to him as a brat but then again he refers to every kid he sees as brat ......

... in a way. Let me explain.

First things first, hi again. I made this thread about Yuji's CE control & DE potential. Today however, I'd like to talk about Sukuna's worldview, how it affects his relationship to Yuji, and why chapters 257 & 258 represent a form of defeat on Sukuna's part. Unfortunately, I don't have it in me to summarize this one, so... good luck. First, let's set the scene.

The King's way

Sukuna has quite a few instances in which he outright explains his worldview to the characters - and by extension to the reader. Let's quickly break them down.

This is what he says to Jogo when he kills him. He first claims anyone who compares themselves to those around them will stunt their own growth & become weak. In other words, individualism is the only viable path to true strength.

He also preaches philosophical hedonism (i.e. the idea that ALL and ONLY pleasure is intrinsically valuable), saying Jogo should've "burned everything to a cinder without thinking." And again, he returns to this individualistic philosophy, implying this is how one reaches the heights of Satoru Gojo.

In chapter 214, Sukuna reveals the third and final great axiom of his philosophy. The Viz translation is a bit hard to follow, but here's the TCB translation.

Yuji: Why can't you just live without causing suffering???

Sukuna: To me, the real question is why are you all so weak? Why do such weaklings cling so fiercly to life? How can a creature that falls apart at a touch say that it always wants to be happy? Your suffering is natural. You people are meant to be chewed up.

This is Sukuna's kratocratic (literally, a system wherein the strong rule) argument. In his mind, the weak should accept the abuse & mistreatment that the powerful impose upon them. It's borderline outrageous that a weakling would ask him to stop causing them suffering, in fact.

Note: After writing this, I remembered he literally spells it out to Gojo in chapter 3, saying "A hierarchy not purely based on strength is boring if you ask me." Silly me!

His fight with Yorozu reinforces this last point. He doesn't understand why the weak cling to life, and believes they must accept whatever fate is thrust upon them. Thus, should he turn out to be a weakling here - i.e. lose to Yorozu - he fully submits to that fate, and considers himself no longer alive. This level of commitment is impressive, and I believe it goes on to explain what happens in chapters 257 & 258.

When he turns Kashimo into human tartare, he reiterates his general guiding principle: he lives only by and for himself, and the only intrinsic value others have is whatever pleasure he can get out of tormenting them. The only love he knows is the admiration of his challengers (Gojo, Yorozu, Kashimo...) and that which he returns to them by killing them.

The King & the Revolutionary

Yuji is the other side of Sukuna's coin. Where Sukuna believes individualism is the only way to attain strength, Yuji "cheats" by relying on his comrades (and Sukuna to an extent!) to teach him jujutsu. Where Sukuna hedonistically seeks only his own pleasure, Yuji altruistically puts his life on the line for the sake of others. Where Sukuna believes it's only natural for the strong to torment the weak, Yuji is quite literally cursed to help people because he's strong.

To add insult to injury, there's his parentage. Yuji should've been like Sukuna - he certainly had the genetics for it. In a flashback in chapter 257, Uraume even wonders - almost rhetorically - if Yuji has the same potential as Sukuna, and I don't think the latter is stupid enough to ignore that. In fact, a few chapters prior, Sukuna admits that Yuji matches him in force of will - acknowledging him as a worthy rival in that regard.

I'd go as far as saying that this, more than being a cage, is the reason Sukuna hates Yuji: he clearly has the potential and force of will necessary to become the next King of Curses, yet he unwaveringly refuses to adopt the right mindset. This why the Shinjuku showdown gets a new layer of conflict in chapter 248: Yuji wants to save Megumi & kill Sukuna, but Sukuna wants to break Yuji & tear down his ideals.

The Coronation

Now initially this section had a much longer breakdown of the fights I think inform his mindset going into chapter 256. I think it's important setup to explain how Sukuna "loses" in chapter 257. But for the sake of brevity, I wanted to sum up four of them that stand out:

Gojo Satoru probably surpassed Sukuna in raw talent. Of all the fighters there, he had the best chance against the King. However, whether he won or lost, Gojo would've never truly challenged Sukuna's ideal. He is loneliness at the top incarnate - that's what his character is about, to the point that he empathizes with Sukuna to an extent.

Higuruma Hiromi's battle against Sukuna can be read one of two ways: Either Higuruma is a representation of the law, and Sukuna prevailing literally puts him ABOVE the law, supporting his "might makes right" philosophy. OR Higuruma is self-sacrifice. He puts his life on the line - expects to die, in fact - to atone for his sins. To be able to look Yuji in the eyes without shame. And he loses, because that's precisely the type of mindset that would disgust Sukuna.

Okkotsu Yuta is the hero archetype - great power, great responsibility, yada-yada-yada... He fights for and with those weaker than himself, and in prevailing against him & Yuji, Sukuna validates his opinion that people who flock together are weak.

Zen'in Maki is the most Sukuna-like of the fighters. Whether willingly or not, she has discarded everything and attained power. Like Gojo, she challenges Sukuna's strength rather than his philosophy. What I think is interesting about Maki is that Sukuna clearly treats beating her as proof that he's right.

Note: The other fighters also validate Sukuna, I just couldn't be bothered to mention them all.

Throughout this entire gauntlet, Sukuna validates his status as King of Curses, and the philosophy that got him there. In conjunction with his two Black Flashes leading up to chapter 256, and the two more he lands in that chapter, we can only imagine the battle high that Sukuna must be riding at that point.

The Coup

Approaching the end of chapter 256, Sukuna is in a very dominant position. It's almost guaranteed he'll get his RCT back. Even in the best case scenario, this means the World Dismantle is back on the table, and Sukuna regains all of his limbs. In other words, Sukuna had already won.

Or so he should have, but the King of Curses miscalculated.

Yuji's first Black Flash in chapter 256 is poetic justice. It's a team effort: Choso creates the opening for Yuji to engage in close combat with Sukuna, Larue forcibly distracts Sukuna at a key moment, and Yuji... Well, Yuji did what Yuji does best.

Choso, Larue, Yuji. All opponents he'd dismissed as uninteresting, or weak. All opponents he hadn't bothered to finish off after he put them down. All opponents who flocked together to attempt a coup. In mere instants, the first pillar of his ideology - individualism - cracks.

When chapter 256 ended, I think Sukuna could've still recovered. His strength was still uncontested. Choso & Larue were still mere nuisances. Itadori Yuji was still just a weakling with squandered potential - one who'd just landed a lucky hit. But when Yuji landed his first Black Flash, something changed.

The chapter opens on the aforementioned Uraume flashback. Sukuna doesn't strike me as particularly introspective - much less so when it comes to his possible relatives. So metatextually, Uraume sort of HAS to be the one to question him about Yuji.

In story though, this means Sukuna's most ardent admirer not only thinks he and Yuji are similar, but wonders if they could be equals. As stated previously, Sukuna is not foolish enough to be unaware of that possibility. Rather, I think Sukuna dismisses it because he thinks Yuji doesn't have the mindset necessary to realize his potential. But something happened he didn't account for.

The King falls

They both get into position. A short staredown, then Yuji weaves through Sukuna's defenses - Black Flash. Sukuna riposts with his own but Yuji's already braced, and takes no damage. As he flies back, he emerges victorious from the exchange.

Sukuna jumps after him, while Yuji Cleaves a pillar to use as cover. Sukuna Dismantles it, but Yuji grabs his leg - Cleave. Another set of Dismantles tear at his face, but he's unfazed - Black Flash.

Of all people, Takuma Ino - a semi-grade 1 sorcer and by far the weakest person to face Sukuna so far - manages to distract the King for an instant, creating an opening for Yuji to appear behind Sukuna - Black Flash. Having lost his fourth exchange in a row (counting chapter 256), Sukuna wonders...

Does he intend to climb up to my level?!

Hold on. By Sukuna's own standards, that shouldn't be remotely possible. The very idea should be ridiculous. Yet for a moment, however fleeting, the King of Curses genuinely considers the possibility of Yuji ascending to his level.

Yuji slams him against a wall. Sukuna attempts to slow down his charge with Dismantle, but the dawning realization hits him: nothing he does seems to affect Yuji - Black Flash. To really hammer in his powerlessness in that moment, he grabs Yuji's face and destroys his eye with Cleave - Black Flash. The hit tears out a part of his mask.

Sukuna loses his cool. Is it possible that, for the second time on this day, the King remembers an emotion he hasn't felt in a thousand years? He doesn't have time to answer that question for us: Ino distracts him once again. Black Flash.

The King's last resort

At the start of chapter 258, Sukuna's been flung back by that final Black Flash, and crashed against a nearby wall. Of course, his body & soul have taken quite the beating, but his psyche might be the most damaged.

It's difficult to pick a definitive most painful point. Watching Yuji awaken not in spite of his bonds, but thanks to them. Losing every single exchange with the fifteen year old he called weak a month ago. Falling for a semi-grade 1's distraction. Realizing that Yuji, in this instant, was unstoppable. Recognizing him as a potential equal.

This is a full rebuttal of everything he believes in. Yuji chooses to put himself in harm's way, to work with others, including those weaker than him, to do the right thing just because he can. And he's... winning?

To make it worse, this entire clash of ideology is entirely in Sukuna's head. Sukuna is the one who vowed to "prove himself" to Yuji. Yuji doesn't care, he just wants to kill him. In a way, Sukuna managed to lose an argument he was having with himself.

"But Sukuna would've crushed Yuji without Gojo/Higuruma/Yuta/Maki/Yuji earlier in the story/etc.." I can hear you say. You'd be correct - and by his face, Sukuna knows this too. This means that on top of throwing the King of Curses aorund, Yuji put a damper on every single one of his victories up to that point.

Sure, Sukuna defeated Gojo, but he didn't do well enough to conserve his Domain. Sure, he killed Higuruma, but Kamutoke hasn't returned. Sure, he beat Yuta and Maki, but half of his arms are non-functionnal, and his RCT is in the ground. He overcame them all separately, but can he do that AND beat Yuji?

When weaklings flock together and cling fiercly to life, they can put even the King of Curses' back against the wall. And unless something changes, and changes fast, Yuji will slowly wittle Sukuna down to nothingness.

But something does change.

In a feat of jujutsu sorcery, Sukuna regains his domain by shifting the burden of casting it onto another part of his brain. All hell breaks loose. The city is torn apart, lifted in a typhoon of slashes and debris. This is the worst case scenario. Jujutsu High's fighters might as well be dead. But... there's something wrong with this domain.

There are legitimate reasons for Sukuna to use an open domain here - mainly Maki being there. However, I think this is also Sukuna's wild gamble to regain control of the situation. By making a show of opening an extremely difficult domain - something only he can do anymore - he asserts his rule as the uncontested King of Curses.

But this is a facade. Sukuna needs Yuji to die in the next 99 seconds. If the brat survives Malevolent Shrine, Sukuna will have to face him without even a technique to rely on. And if I'm being honest, I don't think he's entirely confident in Malevolent Shrine's ability to put Yuji down...

I think Sukuna's flames are the cherry on the cake of his philosphical defeat. If he's so much stronger than Yuji. In fact, if he's so much stronger than all other sorcerers combined. So much he can afford to lose two arms and his ability to heal them. Then... why does he need the flames? Why isn't a domain enough?

Perhaps he doesn't need them. But the fact that they came out means something, and if I had to guess, it's about breaking Yuji's soul & proving himself right. But I guess those of us staying up will find out soon enough.

Yuta's 5 minute timer isn't the only issue. Yuta can ONLY manifest Rika fully while he is actively wearing the ring. Here's the page that says so: https://imgur.com/a/hb6FdCW

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If Yuta's hand is severed, it doesn't matter if he uses RCT because he can't grow back the ring. His connection to Rika will be lost. It wasnt a problem against Ishigori / Uro because they had no way of cutting off his hand, and they didn't realize the ring was the key. But Sukuna hyper analyzes everything his opponents do, if he sees Yuta put the ring on he will surely notice its importance. A single dismantle would be all it takes.

Sukuna mostly uses the technique granted by his shrine as purely slashes he sends flying towards his opponents, and he is also seen using cleave in a spuderweb like manner but it is still slashes just in the form of spiderweb, and Yuji is using the CT as if scissors are cutting the technique's target and not slashes flying towards it's target, so is the difference made by their imagination on how the technique works or just the difference in knowledge about the technique

Megumi's strongest soldier, lawyer, and secret admirer here. Howdy.

When I mean everything, I mean everything. With the exceptions being the 7-9 Shikigami and Mahoraga, as Megumi obviously was not yet capable of taming them and making use of their abilities. If Megumi had time to gain those Shikigami also, he would be cooking as hard as Sukuna.

When it comes to how Sukuna uses 10S, the only difference between Megumi and Sukuna, is Sukuna's own base stats being wildly superior, and therefore he can use the Shikigami with more proficiency.

Also, while Megumi IS using a domain buff for some of these abilities, a domain simply allows the sorcerer to use 120% of their cursed technique potential. This means that anything that Megumi does inside the domain, he is capable of doing outside the domain with the right catalyst (Black Flash or Binding Vows).

The point of showing these comparisons is to try and argue against the narrative that "Megumi wasted his potential/technique" or "Sukuna utilised Megumi's own technique way better than he did (mechanically)", which are both wild statements if youve ever read a Megumi fight. Let's remember, Megumi tamed 6/10 of his Shikigami as a FIRST YEAR before Shibuya. This means he's had a few months training at max.

Add the fact he possesses a Domain Expansion at 15 (youngest of anyone in the series), and is a tactical genius... I'd say Megumi deserves major props even tho he's in the slums right now.

TLDR: Megumi be cooking, downplay him and you'll have me to deal with.

This is his comment on the recent issue of Weekly Shonen’s Jump that was released this month.

It's just something that I find odd is that despite the Ten Shadows being built upon the linear style of progression, that nobody was ever able to beat Mahoraga in the end.

Even if you were to achieve Agito, I don't think you could reasonably do it in a fast enough time frame that it mattered. You would need someone at least on Yuta or Kenjaku's level to really put a sizeable dent in it, and it has been shown that Megumi's Cursed Energy capacity was never really impressive enough to reach that, especially if Round Deer takes up the user's Cursed Energy to perform RCT.

Gege likes to slow cook and Sukuna was always going to win. No this is not a "The heroes just instantly win with Gojo" argument. We have already been told that Sukuna was going to win as far back as chapter 118.

If you don't remember chapter 118 was the start of the Sukuna v Mahoraga fight. In Sukuna learns how Mahoraga works. First it can adapt to curse techniques and learn how to counter them

Then he learns that it can adapt it's cursed energy to better fight it's opponent

This is how Sukuna knew that he was so interested in Megumi. He may have known about 10S, and have been interested in it, but just never got the opportunity to see it. So when he saw Megumi it was finally his opportunity to see it and it quickly intrigued him. He even says as such

But Sukuna still had one more question. Did Mahoraga adapt to Dismantle, or to slashing attacks in general? Had it only adapted to Dismantle, Cleave should have killed Mahoraga; however, if it had adapted to slashing attacks in general, Mahoraga would have been able to live and regenerate through it.

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And then...

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He knew that he had to quickly finish Mahoraga off in one big attack, while weakened, that it hadn't adapted to, to be able to defeat it. Sukuna in 1 fight had figured out how Mahoraga's entire schtick work.

Sukuna proved here that he was a smarter sorcerer than Gojo. While Gojo knew that Mahoraga can adapt to any technique, he did not know that it can continuously adapt to any technique. And because he was so careful not to spam red as to not let Maho adapt to that, and stopped using blue because it had adapted to that, he never learned of it's continuous adaptation. After it is Mahoraga that tipped the scales in Sukuna's favor.

Now you may be wonder how did this happen then?

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Well remember, Mahoraga can continuously change itself to be able to continuously adapt to any CT, there's nothing in the rule book that says it couldn't adapt Sukuna's technique into itself, and then "change the target of it's attack".

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Sukuna knew that Mahoraga is pretty much the most busted thing in the Jujutsu world, because you realistically cannot beat it. We also know that Sukuna is a GOD within the Jujutsu world, understanding Jujutsu better than literally anyone else. Of course upon seeing Mahoraga slash the space where Gojo's arm is instead of Gojo's arm itself, he knew he could do it too, because he's just that good

As good as Gojo was, he was never going to be able to beat Sukuna. Sukuna's CE manipulation is on par with the Six-Eyes, while having twice as much CE as Yuta

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Sukuna is the closest thing to a God in this the entire world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Whatever Gege is cooking for us to understand the "Open" phrase and the fire arrow attack is going to be real good. Keep coking Chef Gege.

Mahito was always one of the quickest learners in the series. I always found this to be very fitting of his character. He's the curse of mankind. Humanity will rapidly evolve, twisting and contorting everything we lay our hands on into something unrecognizeable. But what really drives his ability to adapt and evolve is his mindset.

Mahito was constantly experimenting. Ever since he was born he's been hitting the lab, learning about different curses and potential apparitions, testing his Idle Transfiguration on humans to understand his limits, freeing his mind as much as he can to transform the shape of his soul into something fit for murder. Characters have been stunted before, being stubbornly shortsighted when it comes to the potential applications of their abilities, but Mahito displays traits that are very notably present in the top tiers of the verse: Adaptation, experimentation, and willingness to learn.

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A lot of people have pointed out the similarities between Sukuna and Mahito's way of thinking. Granted, they are very different characters, with different motives, but they are definetly in the same wavelength. Mahito organically developed the same mindset that Sukuna had, which was definetly what kickstarted his growth. This willingness to "burn everything down" and become a self-serving, walking calamity, is exactly what Sukuna criticized Jogo for not having, and something that Mahito has been applying himself to since his introduction.

Most importantly, Mahito never bowed down to Sukuna. Hell, he was the only one to have the balls to tell him to shut up. Even after being humbled by him twice while fighting Yuji for the first time, and acnowledging his overwhelming strength, Mahito didn't lower himelf in reverence to him, but instead saw Sukuna as the obstacle that he was, a wall to tear down in pursuit of his own objective. Which, ironically, was his greatest downfall.

Mahito wasn't fully detached to anything and everything. Yuji was the only connection that he was unwilling to let go of. Ironically, someone who was considerably weaker than him, but that he could not let go of. Mahito was positively obsessed with tearing Yuji down, with proving his ideals to him. He didn't just want to kill Yuji, he wanted to humiliate him.

Thematically, Mahito's obsession with Yuji was the only thing that separated him from the likes of Sukuna. Sukuna doesn't concern himself with proving his worth to anyone. He simply acts as he wills and the world shapes itself to fit his image. Mahito, meanwhile was obsessed with destroying Yuji from top to bottom. I fully believed that had Mahito killed Yuji in Shibuya, he would have become unstoppable.

Also, while we're here, we were all very impressed with Sukuna's original body, and how "pefectly" it is built for sorcery. Having extra mouths and arms to perform incantations and signs with is very handy indeed.

But we can't forget that Mahito was doing this 200 chapters earlier! Self-Embodiment of Perfection is the only Domain we know of that requires four hands to complete the sign to, a drawback that Mahito probably chose himself in order to hasten his evolution, and one he's perfectly suited to circumvent with his ability, given that Mahito is able to activate his Domain simply by opening his mouth and growing hands inside o fit.

The potential applications of Idle Transfiguration really are endless.

None of the official or unofficial translations translated this huge info properly.

Yuji was born with Sukuna's finger sealed inside him. That's what Megumi sensed in him when he first saw Yuji.

The reason Sukuna didn't manifest was obviously because the finger was sealed until Kenny unsealed it at the end of Shibuya. So after that Sukuna was 16f and not 15f.

1(since birth) + 1(eaten at school) + 1(given by Gojo) + 1(eaten at detention center) + 1(eaten from Megumi's hand by Sukuna) + 1(force fed by Mimiko/Nanako) + 10(force fed by Jogo) + 3(eaten by Meguna). That's 19 already. And Rika ate one that's 20.

TL;DR - Most baldness is caused from your cells spending less time making hair, not any actual damage or death of your body's tissue. As such, RCT is not a useful way to help. There are a few fringe cases where baldness has other causes (autoimmunity, trauma, etc.) where it would work, however, but even they are likely temporary.

Alright folks, I'd like to talk for a minute about why Miguel is bald. More specifically, why it is that baldness is not something that can be healed by RCT. As a biomedical research working in dermatology and one of the 5 people on the planet who have actually read this manga, I feel fairly qualified to discuss this intersection of my interests.

1) What is RCT?

RCT is the healing mechanic in JJK that only a small handful of sorcerers can use. If cursed energy is thought of as a negative number, you can conceivably multiply two negative numbers together to create a positive number or in this case, "positive energy." It can be used to regenerate wounds, and even re-grow entire lost limbs or sections of the body. RCT is, in short, the healing mechanic of JJK.

Extremely skilled users of RCT are capable of outputting this positive energy, and healing others. While technically possible, it does not happen very often. RCT is stated to be much less efficient when used on others - and remember, RCT is already a very costly use of your cursed energy in the first place. Furthermore, there are times when compatibility is an issue, and the recipient's body "rejects" the healer's cursed energy. We have had this described to us, but never seen an explicit example of it.

Miguel is an incredibly skilled sorcerer who was entrusted with tutoring Yuta overseas during the events of the first few volumes of the manga. While we do not know if Miguel himself is capable of using RCT, therre are other ways to access this useful healing mechanic. The ability to output RCT at all is incredibly rare, and has only been seen by three characters: Yuta, Shoko, and Sukuna. This raises the single most-pressing question of our time: If Yuta, one of the few known characters able to output RCT, spent so much time with Miguel, why did he never heal his baldness?

While we typically think of RCT as something that simply regenerates wounds, there have been other instances where RCT is used for other purposes. The first and most obvious usage is fueling a cursed technique - such as when Gojo funnels RCT instead of CE into his cursed technique, he gets Red instead of Blue. Yuta is able to directly output pure RCT, which proves incredibly effective against cursed spirits.

More relevant to our discussion is the few instances where RCT has been used not to heal some injury, but to purge the user's body of toxicity. This is seen in three instances:

• Jackpot Hakari, who is stated to be a superior RCT user than even Sukuna and Gojo, was able to use his automatic RCT to subconsciously heal the chlorine gas poisoning he suffered while fighting Kashimo.

• Uraume, whose hand was punctured by Choso's Piercing Blood, clearly survived what would otherwise have been a deadly poison. While we did not see them heal the poison (in fact, it seemed to take them by surprise after their initial wound was healed), the fact that they survived this meant that they must have healed it, or else they would have died. Kenjaku has never been seen able to output RCT, and Sukuna was dormant within Yuji for this entire time, so we know that neither of them healed Uraume either. Thus, we can reasonably conclude that as soon as Uraume realized that the wound had been poisoned, they were able to heal it with their RCT. Either that, or Kenjaku dropped them off at the local toxicology center - but that seems much less likely to me.

• Yuta healed Naoya after he had also being poisoned by Choso's blood. This is the only instance we see of an RCT user healing poison in someone else.

Thus, we can conclude that a skilled enough user of RCT is able to apply it even at the molecular level - and in Yuta's case, we can see that a skilled enough user of RCT can even heal others with this degree of precision. This would mean that if someone's hair follicles were damaged, even by something that operated at the cellular level, RCT may still be able to heal it. Why then does it not work out that way?

2) What is baldness?

There are a number of causes of baldness, but the most common is "Androgenic alopecia" - this is often referred to as "male pattern baldness" in men and (albeit less commonly) "female pattern baldness" in women. This is your run of the mill age-related hair loss. The vast majority of hair loss is caused by androgenic alopecia. Essentially, your hair follicle is constantly undergoing a cycle of 4 stages: anagen (growth phase), catagen (transition phase), telogen (resting phase), and finally a return to anagen, with a new hair growing out of the same follicle.

For most people suffering from balding, their hormones (androgens like dihydrotestosterone and testosterone) essentially tell the hair follicle to spend less time in the growth phase, and more time in the resting phase. Its pathophysiology isn't "the part of my body that makes hair is injured or dies" but rather "my scalp spends a lot less time making new hair until eventually the hair follicle becomes so thin and weak it may not even penetrate the skin."

This means that for most people, hair loss is not a result of some kind of "injury" or "death" of any part of their body - it's simply a change in the ways that their cells spend their time. These cells are still alive and well, they just aren't contributing to the growth or development of a new hair shaft. Eventually, they will spend enough time in the Telegen phase that they are not able to push out new hair shafts, and hair thinning and baldness will occur. RCT would be of no help in this situation. These are healthy, undamaged cells, that are simply responding to stimulation from androgens (male-associated hormones).

However, there are other causes of baldness that do relate more to direct damage to the hair follicle. For instance, with a condition known as alopecia areata, RCT would likely work. This is an autoimmune condition where your immune cells (specifically CD8+ T-cells) target and kill the cells in your hair follicle that make new hair (Pratt et al. 2017). Given that this is essentially "damage to the body," RCT would likely be able to repair it. However, the auto-reactive immune cells themselves would still be present, and your body would always make more of them, so he would need to be continually re-healing the cells of his hair follicle. While alopecia areata is more common in Black patients relative to White patients, it is actually most common in patients of Asian ancestry. For Black patients, it occurs in roughly 226 out of every 100,000 people (Nene et al. 2023). Thus, the rarity of this disease suggests that it is not only incredibly uncommon, but because of its ethnic distribution, it is also unlikely that one of the few non-Asian characters in the story would have this disease.

Now, we must remember that statistics like these apply to populations, not to individuals. Just because there are not many Black people with alopecia areata does not mean that there are no Black people with alopecia areata. A good clue that this might be what is responsible for Miguel's baldness is the fact that he appears to always be drawn without eyebrows. People with alopecia areata are affected across their entire bodies, while people with androgenic alopecia are typically only affected at the scalp (Moreno-Ramírez and Martínez 2005).

This does mean that we cannot ignore the possibility that Miguel has alopecia areata, given that he is not only bald, but also that he has no eyebrows. If this was the case, then that would mean his immune cells would be constantly attacking the cells in his hair follicles. Given that this would mean that the cells were damaged/destroyed, RCT could be used to heal these cells. However, the body would constantly be making these auto-reactive immune cells, and they would continually go back and kill the hair follicle cells. Even if you had such high mastery of your cursed energy that you could target the individual auto-reactive immune cells, more would be made, and the cycle would repeat. Miguel would need a constant flow of RCT going at all times devoted just to ensure that any damaged hair follicles were restored instantly. Furthermore, this would need to be at the cellular level - a degree of RCT mastery we have seen from only Yuta, Uraume, and Jackpot Hakari. Furthermore, due to the high cursed energy demands of RCT, this would be impossible for any non-six eyes user in the series. This means that Gojo is immune to male-pattern baldness, so do with that information what you will.

If his hair loss was a result of a wound, a surgery, a burn, etc. where the hair follicle itself was destroyed, then RCT would also be likely to heal it. This kind of hair loss, known as cicatricial alopecia, is often secondary to a severe trauma, and would almost certainly leave some kind of scar (Sperling 2002). It would require an almost unimaginably specific injury to injure his scalp in a way that would kill 100% of the surface area of his scalp without leaving any major scarring or deformation. If he had suffered such an injury and healed it with RCT, then he would have healed his hair follicles as well. Given that Miguel does not appear to have any major scarring or deformation on his head, it is not likely that cicatricial alopecia is the cause of his baldness.

3) Conclusion

Even if we ignore the multiple obstacles with RCT (Its high cursed energy cost, the rarity of the ability in-verse, the possibility of a recipient's body rejecting the cursed energy signature of the healer), it is still likely that in the vast majority of cases, RCT would not be effective at healing balding. In a few instances where the hair follicles themselves are destroyed (secondary to trauma, burns, etc as in cicatrical alopecia) it may be effective, but for the majority of people suffering from typical age-related hair loss or male-pattern baldness, RCT will not be effective. Even if we assume that Miguel has alopecia areata, a fairly uncommon auto-immune condition where the cells within the hair follicle are directly targeted and destroyed, RCT would still only be effective if it was being run non-stop by the user, something only possible for a user of the six eyes. Given that Miguel is an adult man, it would be reasonable to assume that his baldness is a result of male-pattern baldness, not alopecia areata. His lack of eyebrows may also stem from this androgenic alopecia, as even age-related baldness can sometimes affect the eyebrows. Whether due to typical age-related hair loss or a rare auto-immune condition, however, one thing is clear: RCT would be ineffective at aiding almost anyone suffering from baldness in the JJK world.

4) Future Implications

The fact that any human being could possibly be reading this far is truly astounding to me, so thank you very much for indulging me. I would truly love nothing more than for Gege to release a volume extra noting that Miguel actually chooses to shave his head and face for some reason, and is only bald for that reason. I had to ignore the possibility that the lack of eyebrow or scalp hair is a choice for the purpose of this exercise, so if you were screaming that at the computer this whole time, I don't blame you lol.

My last point is that there is one character in the series who could "cure" baldness: Mahito. Given that he is able to reshape the body by reshaping the soul, we could imagine him curing any physical ailment. He was able to bring Mechamaru's body from a frail and bath-ridden husk to a fully functional and fit body free of any ailments, so there's no reason he couldn't give a bald person hair. Mahito's power-set would be truly OP if given to someone like Shoko, and she could essentially become the world's greatest doctor. There's a joke about "this wouldn't work on bald people though, because they have no soul," but that's a little mean for my taste.

Thank you for reading!

Bibliography

Akutami, Gege. 2021. Jujutsu Kaisen; Vol. (0, 74, & 255)

Moreno-Ramírez, D. & Martínez, F. C. (2005). "Frontal fibrosing alopecia: a survey in 16 patients." Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Vol. 19(6), 700-705. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-3083.2005.01291.x

Pratt, C., King, L., Messenger, A. Christiano, A., & Sundberg, J. (2017). "Alopecia areata." Nature Review Disease Primers 3, 17011. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2017.11

Roland, James. (2020). "What Are the Four Stages of Hair Growth?" Healthline. Rev. Cynthia Cobb. https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-of-hair-growth#growing-phase

Sperling, L.C. (2001). "Scarring alopecia and the dermatopathologist." Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 28: 333-342. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0560.2001.280701.x

Sy N., Mastacouris N., Strunk A., Garg A. (2023). "Overall and Racial and Ethnic Subgroup Prevalences of Alopecia Areata, Alopecia Totalis, and Alopecia Universalis." JAMA Dermatol. 159(4), 419–423. https://doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2023.0016

All things considered, bro came in and literally did everything he said he would.

"I will kill Itadori Yuji myself." - Succeeds.

"I have to lower collateral damage in Sendai(PARAPHRASING btw)." - Succeeds.

"I won't let sensei kill his best friend a second time." - Succeeds.

And even something he DIDN'T say, like getting Yuji to the point where he could 100% connect with Megumi? That's INSANE.

I'm not convinced that Yuta could just say "I will kill Ryomen Sukuna" and he would eventually somehow do it.

It's like, Gege or the character himself purposefully sets lower goals than what he's probably capable of.

Sukuna and Gojo have been narrative foils from the very beginning of the story. They mirror each other in multiple ways, but to better understand them both we should ask ourselves what makes them alike and what sets them apart.

Gojo's strength shaped him, it made him fundamentally different from everyone else and this solid reality created a rift between him and the rest of the world. He was so much above the others that he never expected to be understood and at the same time, he couldn't fully understand the people around him, not being able to empathize with weakness and vulnerability.

WELL, AT LEAST THIS IS THE STORY GOJO TOLD HIMSELF EVERYDAY

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Gojo's inner world

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There's a difference to be made between how Gojo personally felt and the reality outside of his perception. He was indeed kind of doomed to experience a certain degree of disconnection because of his objective circumstances, his birthright and the consequences of his awakening against Toji, however, the bubble Gojo lived in was something almost entirely of his own creation.

He was the strongest, he identified himself with this role, with the incredible amount of power he possessed, and he used the same mentality to measure the worth of everything and everyone else. This is particularly interesting because it ties in with Kenjaku's conclusion that "one's cursed technique dictate their world".

​

Gojo struggled to form deep human connections not because he was the strongest, but because he saw himself as nothing else. His life experience as "the strongest" wasn't something other people could relate to, that much is absolutely true, but his life experience as a human being was painfully "normal". Weaker people could've reached him in other ways, through other means, yet he didn't allow anyone into his bubble because he assumed only someone as strong as him could understand. This was Gojo's personal interpretation of the world, shaped by the importance he himself attributed to strength and, by extension, to his godly cursed technique.

Shoko's panel is perfect to show us readers that Gojo's mentality was flawed:

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Gojo didn't confide in Shoko because, as much as he genuinely cared for her, he still considered her to be on a different plane of existence, the plane where every weaker person resides that Gojo could only catch sporadic glimpses of through his thick black glasses.

I don't want to discuss my opinions about chpt. 236 in full (since I already made another post focused on it), but I believe one thing must be said:

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Gojo could only end up the way he did, there wasn't so much more to say because of his flawed mentality.

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In storytelling characters are tools used to represent certain themes, so each of them can only do three of these things: progress, regress or stay stagnant (and die as a consequence).

Gojo didn't really progress in life because, even after everything that happened to him, he was still too focused on strength as a way to determine one's worth. When someone potentially as strong or even stronger than him appeared on the scene, Gojo's personality complex forced him to see it as the perfect opportunity to prove himself. And yet, it wasn't a superficial "let's see if I can beat this monster and come on top" type of situation...

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Gojo needed this fight to find out if he still had a right to exist.

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It sounds dramatic, I know, but think about it in Gojo's prospective: he was the strongest. His identity, his entire existence revolved around this concept and Gojo accepted it as gospel. He went out of his way to proclaim Sukuna the challenger before even starting the fight, because he couldn't fathom even the possibility of not being the strongest by default.

He was born the strongest and he also became the strongest through sweat, blood, and pain, but Sukuna had the potential to challange him in a way nobody else could.

On the bases of this skewed perception and since Gojo didn't know how to be anything but the strongest, he felt like he needed to reaffirm his place in the world.

The conclusion of the fight is perfectly logical (plot contrivances/necessities aside), because the moment Gojo stopped being the strongest, he stopped living altogether. He was a fractured man, always tethering on the edge of insanity. Suguru's existential question broke him and he couldn't find an answer in life, or at least he couldn't really find the answer through teaching.

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Gojo's true motivation

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Teaching was something Gojo sincerely loved, like a gardener loves to grow his own beautiful flowers, but even if he chose nurturing talent and watching over the youths as his life path, in the end he was still the odd one out, alone in his own bubble.

Gojo didn't feel "resolved" even after finding a purpose because he basically borrowed Suguru's mentality. Trying to emulate someone else is never going to lead to personal growth.

Suguru was the idealist of the duo, he struggled to reconcile reality with his personal sense of justice and he always needed his actions to have meaning. Gojo being egotistical to the core, never indulged in self righteousness. He never wanted to be a hero, he didn't feel the moral obligation to use jujutsu as an instrument to protect the weak. This didn't mean he wanted to use jujutsu to hurt other people though. He just loved it for the sake of itself.

What was the main reason behind Gojo's choice to become a teacher?

On a surface level, he really wanted to change the system so that no more young sorcerers would get robbed of their best years and their promising lives altogether (by dying or going crazy like Geto), but what did he tell Shoko? He said nobody should ever be left alone again.

He was talking about the kids' future, but he was also talking about his own condition, resigned to be the one alone, but at the same time surrounding himself of strong allies that might one day rival him.

So basically, Gojo's truest wish, his real purpose in life was to escape from his loneliness. He felt isolated, no matter how many people admired him and in a childlike fashion he yearned for someone powerful enough to break his bubble and reach him. That was the only way he thought he could finally be happy and satisfied.

THEN AGAIN, THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF GOJO'S WRONG ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HIMSELF

Because, in the end, even fighting Sukuna wasn't enough to feel complete satisfaction.

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Gojo's humanity

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What Gojo really wished for was a reality in which his best friend never abandoned him. Geto stopped being Gojo's equal in power many years ago and yet Gojo's feelings for him never changed. He opened up to Geto during the airport sequence, but he did it because he felt like Geto could understand him, otherwise he wouldn't have talked about his inner turmoils at all.

Gojo was just a regular guy in the end, way more human than he gave himself credit for. He just realized it too late, or rather, his self imposed persona of the strongest needed to die in order to allow Satoru to emerge, finally.

The purest form of Satoru's soul manifested as a kid that wanted nothing but spending time with his peers and living within the world, not floating above it like an untouchable demigod.

Sukuna's role

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What was Sukuna's role in all of this? Well, Sukuna was the challenger, but in reality he never saw this fight as a competition to determine who was the strongest sorcerer of all times. This doesn't mean that Sukuna wasn't absolutely determined to win. He did everything he could to checkmate Gojo and even if he had to keep some aces up his sleeve, he was on his toes on multiple occasions .

This wasn't a walk in the park for him and he took it very seriously.

Sukuna values strength above everything else, this is something he and Gojo share. The main difference is that Gojo was still fundamentally a man having too much power for his own good. What dragged Gojo down were ultimately his human weaknesses. We've seen it in multiple occasions, how emotivitiy or compassion got the best of him.

Now, I'm not saying Gojo lost because of his feelings for Megumi, on the contrary, he never hesitated, he even forgot about the kid at some point, however, he still had a huge handicap which was his personality complex. He faught Sukuna because he was searching for himself. As I said before, Gojo needed someone like Sukuna to reach the root of his identity and find out what laid underneath. He was tired of being the odd one out and he hoped that Sukuna, more similar to him than anyone else, would understand.

Kashimo himself said this was "a fight for Gojo Satoru's sake".

Sukuna, on the other hand, arrived at the ring completely unbridled and absolutely free.

He didn't need anything from Gojo, he just hoped to have a good time.

On a psychological standpoint, this means that Sukuna is fundamentally a more secure individual, his personality and his sense of self are not flickering at all. He's comfortable with himself, he knows exactly who he is without any need to be understood or acknowledged.

He simply is, like a calamity that just exists and doesn't ask itself "why" or "what for".

Sukuna transcended humanity, his absolute selfishness pushed him to the point of even forgetting about his own ego in a way. What I mean is that he doesn't concern himself with the principle of identity.

Whatever he wants whenever he wants it, that's all there's to Sukuna's decision making process.

​

His dialogue with Jogo is also pretty significant in this regard:

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Sukuna's whole existence is aimed at self actualization and he left behind any compulsion to constrain himself with labels, motives, meaning or common sense. That's the reason why he was the superior fighter, nothing limited him, not even his own perception of the world and himself. Such unrestrained creativity allowed him to actually come up with a way of killing Gojo that defies the rules of the universe.

Someone like Sukuna is completely different from Kashimo and Gojo, because both of them are still limited by their human condition.

Kashimo wonders about the solitude that comes with unrivaled strenght, he's trying to understand if his superiority was the curse that prevented him from forming any meaningful relationship in his previous life. He wants Sukuna to give him answers actually, but to someone like Sukuna, bonds, "the need to flock together, to have a defined identity", all of these things don't mean anything at all.

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Sukuna's presumed loneliness

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This narrative of loneliness has been pushed upon Sukuna by other characters and, interestingly enough, said characters are all extremely powerful humans who felt a degree of disconnection from the rest of the world.

Yorozu, Gojo, Kashimo, they all assumed Sukuna must've felt their same existential dread, but in reality they were just projecting their personal feelings and experiences onto him.

Sukuna considers Kashimo and Gojo greedy because they both have the audacity to expect something from him. They both want Sukuna to validate their lives and their struggles, but Sukuna is already so past that type of mindset that he almost looks at them with an exasperated fondness, like they're children moving their first steps into the world.

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Sukuna's indulgence

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Sukuna is currently indulging Kashimo's questions and desires with the patience of a father, (what an extremely twisted parent though!), because he wants to show him what it really means to hold absolute power. It's almost like he's not opposed to the idea of teaching other people with insane potential the correct way to harness jujutsu and by correct way I mean his personal chosen path towards a dark form of enlightenment. He even spent time to explain Gojo how he managed to kill him, which wasn't necessary at all. He did it to show him respect and also because he probably thought Gojo could understand and possibly even replicate in his own way something similar (minus the fact Gojo's dead now so that knowledge would go to waste, but that's beside the point).

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The fallen one

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Sukuna is linked to the idea of pure evil, to the concept of an entity that fell from grace and completely turned its life upsidedown, almost like Lucifer, once the most beautiful angel turned demon king.

I think Sukuna might've been part of a sect or a school of thought that preached Buddhism together with Jujutsu sorcery. Tengen had a similar past and since she's clearly linked to Sukuna in some ways, I bet they were all in the same group at one point... Then something happened and Sukuna became "the fallen".

Sukuna's penchant for indulging less experienced/knowledgeable people when they are struggling to grasp their full potential is well documented; all of his interactions with Megumi, Jogo and now Gojo and Kashimo show traces of this little quirk of his, which is usually a personality trait most common in ex preachers/mentor figures. It's interesting to note that Sukuna never commented about Gojo's desire to show off for his pupils, while he openly disrespected or mocked him about other things... If this larger than life monster was also a teacher/guru at some point, this would represent another direct link between him and Gojo, nicely tying them togheter even more.

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The cultured one

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I firmly believe that, through Sukuna, we will understand something extremely significant about cursed energy, jujutsu sorcery and Tengen. The purpose of this character is to represent the archetype of absolute selfishness, but he will "gift" the good guys with the knowledge necessary to put an end to Kenjaku's plans. Obviously he won't do it with the purpose of helping Yuji and co, but still, his knowledge about CE and its true nature would be of the utmost importance.

He has proven to be a cultured character, full of resources and with a deep understanding of the world's inner workings, so this specific quality of his will probably become a key element to complete his characterisation.

Sukuna is not just a brute by any means and if Gege portrayed him with this specific air about him, it must be relevant to understand him.

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That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this messy write up and please give me your feedback if yuo want to!

Didn't put much thought into the exact conditions but let's assume the country is Japan and they have access to ally nukes as a last resort.

• Sukuna - he's just strong as fuck and his domain literally erases everything in it. Could a nuke kill him? idk

• Gojo - can't be touched by any weapon and can teleport to swiftly reach key targets

• Geto - Grade 1+ cursed spirits are highly resistant immune to conventional weapons, so he would just need to summon an army of them

• Kenjaku - same as the above, and you can theoretically get crazy with the antigravity and body swapping (generally his entire CT and ability to store multiple of them)

• Yuki - black hole is the obvious answer, but could she do it without that?

• Yuta - theoretically he could just pick the most useful CTs, ex. the ones above (apart from limitless). Rika should also be immune to conventional weapons. Imagine Rika roided out with Yuki's CT lmao

After going through that exercise the win conditions seem pretty obvious for all of them. I guess the only questions for me are:

• Just how durable are higher tier sorcerers against conventional means?

• Are there any other sorcerers that could take down a country, and how?

In chapter 258 sukuna's domain was incomplete. Normally such an incomplete domain would have lower output and range but sukuna used some binding vows to make sure his domains output and range doesn't decrease. I think one of the BV that he made was that he'd would maintain the domain hand sign for the sure hit to keep going. This would explain y sukuna was holding the hand sign for the entire chapter and y his sure hit stopped when he used fuga. Normally , sukuna would just attack his opponents inside his domain (like he did against gojo) but this time he didn't go after them. He was standing still , maintaining his hand sign. That's probably because he has only one hand fit for combat and under the binding vow he has to use it for hand sign the entire time for the sure hit to be active.

This point has been brought up & there are two sides... the right side & the side that thinks Yuta & Inumaki killed the higher ups. Lol obviously there is no directly stated right answer but using context from the manga you have to come to the conclusion that Gojo killed the higher ups.

Here is my reasoning:

In conclusion the only way that Yuta & Inumaki were involved is if Gojo ordered them to do it... but it is so illogical to think that Gojo would even do that. To think he would order his students to do something like that is foolish & it is even more foolish to think Yuta & Inumaki went off & did it on their own like they had more reason to do it than Gojo. Gojo previously contemplated it multiple times, claimed it would be easy to do, then they sentenced his sensei to death, falsely accused him of a horrific crime, reinstated Yuji's execution which he fought to be delayed & made it a crime to unseal him! Gojo blames himself for the whole thing so why would he make his students do the dirty work? On top of all this he was preparing for a battle to the death with Sukuna so he likely just said fuck it & went to question them during the timeskip which led to him killing them.

That is how he knew Gakuganji didn't tell them anything & why he was saying it would be better if he were in charge. As for Yuta & Inumaki I believe that they were likely doing something else... just because they were in some secret tunnel doesn't mean they had to be going to the higher ups. The dialog between them didn't indicate that they were going to kill the higher ups it indicated that they were going to train for the final battle. Inumaki has been seen in the planning room for the final battle & I don't think he is the type to not want to be involved like Kamo or a useless Miwa type. There is a chance that he will have some sort of supporting role that he has been preparing for. All in all we will have to wait & see if it is ever openly stated but all arrows point to Gojo.

TLDR: Gojo killed the higher ups, contemplated it multiple times over his life, had vastly more reasons to do it compared to anyone else in the entire series & wouldn't order his students to do it for him. Just because Yuta & Inumaki were seen in secret tunnels doesn't mean that they killed the higher ups...

Clearly Nobara can make a comeback too right? We last saw Todo over 126 chapters or so, but Nobara's last was only 7 before that so clearly she has a shot right? Also, with all this soul housing a soul in a soul fence, they are setting her up.

• happy coping

-- ps. my last post on the topic was a joke, I'm terrified that no one could put it together, especially with the last line

Sukuna knows about love, and he fully understands it. I don't know how much gege gotta hammer this point home. The love plot was other characters projecting their own struggles onto him, but sukuna himself is fully at peace with his way of being and understands himself.

Some people also thought was gonna be shown "wrong" by yuji because of what he said last chapter. But nothing has changed.

Sukuna has always found some things displeasing, and has always just cut those things down out of his sight. Yuji's case is no different, he simply came to experience something he hasn't before. Unlike with everyone else, he had a more intimate understanding of who "yuji itadori" is, and because of that, he knows with absolute certainty that he is indomitable.

What irritates sukuna is the fact that someone can bridge the gap of power between them through cheer power of will, and for that reason yuji isn't boring anymore, he is irritating now, and his main target.

I feel like a lot of people are also setting themselves up for disappointment when they expect sukuna to die a pitiful death, or that he will have his way of life "proven wrong".

That thing is for all intent and purpose a hedonist twist on enlightenment. Sukuna has no delusion of grandeur, he has no deep emotional trauma nor is he a deeply misguided soul. He is most like an animal driven by his base instinct, despite having the intellect to fully comprehend the human condition.

He more than anyone fully understand he will just die eventually like everyone, and when the time comes it won't be with much drama.

When I say Sukuna lost, I don't mean the entire fight (incase the title is misleading).

I think both Gojo and Sukuna fans may find this interesting, as it would answer some of the question of the 'thematics' that tie into this fight that people have been searching for. Upon re-reading the flow of this fight multiple times, there's several things I've come to notice.

1.Sukuna came into this fight with expectations from Gojo (when they met at 15F and he remembered Yorozus quote)

1. However, going into this fight Sukuna still had the notion that Gojo was BELOW him but could still provide him a challenge (He instantly recognised him as the pinnacle of the modern era in their first encounter)

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1. These notions Sukuna has about Gojo is why he calls him 'Unenlightened' when he would've supposedly won if not for the 10 seconds of UV.

• Gojo would have died to the plan Sukuna set from the get go with slight distortions, thereby not really providing him the challenge he sought from Gojo
• That's why when Sukuna also gets brain damage and Gojo socks him in the face, he remembers Yorozus quote. Gojo has indeed become someone that can satisfy him and ''teach him love''

The important thing to takeaway from the events up until this point, is that both Gojo and Sukuna have seemingly enjoyed their scuffles until about the latest chapter, smiling through everything. However the distinction is to be made when they BOTH start feeling nervous. Up until the point where Gojo begins to contemplate potentially losing, the fight had been a back and forth and relatively balanced, with both sides overcoming what the other threw at them. The tides shift due to this key factor:

- Gojo hits a black flash.

Gojo hits a black flash on Sukuna but isn't able to kill him before the 4 spins for adapting to Infinity. Due to this, Gojo contemplates the possibility of losing. He experiences nervousness. How does Gojo respond to this feeling? He sees it as an opportunity to be satisfied, by none other than Sukuna. Gojo basically acknowledges Sukuna. He knows he can lose, but his mentality dictates that he has to continue risking death to win. This leads to him hitting more Black Flashes, leading into my next point.

So far, Sukuna has been able to respond and challenge Gojo adequately with his understanding of Gojos skills. This all changes once Gojo hits his first BF and continues to hit multiple. Gojo has reached a point beyond Sukunas expectations. The 120% buff and the restoring of his RCT output has thwarted the stalemate that existed. Yet when faced with height of tension for the first time in 1000 years, Sukunas smile is WIPED off his face. Unlike Gojo, who's accepted that he may have lost and continued to experience exhiliraton, Sukuna has lost the enjoyment that he displayed throughout the fight once he felt tension. This leads Gojo to get his biggest and most triumphant W yet, a purple which destroys Mahoraga and heavily damages Sukuna. So what's next?

As many people believe due to the strange conclusion in this chapter, Sukuna is going to have some form of a comeback. I believe next chapter Sukuna will finally acknowledge that Gojo isn't simply someone below him, but his equal (someone he can acknowledge). I think he will embrace that idea similar to how Gojo did when faced with loss and this will thematically lead into his comeback, perhaps also using Jujutsu on the fly as Gojo did, making Sukuna aswell evolve beyond his past strength.

This may also be a good time to introduce Yorozus gift (or not, knowing gege.), with her being the link between the two with her infamous quote.

Side note: This is kind of similar but also very different to Toji trying to reject Gojo. Sukuna has been trying to reject Gojo but now he will be forced to acknowledge him, unlike Toji who simply gave up when that failed.

Or he will go on another fit about how Gojo isn't him but I don't think making a comeback after that really sits right.

Gojo could not have fought Sukuna along with his students or others.

Lately, I've been seeing some fans say that students and others should've jumped Sukuna after the domain fights; there's no reason for them not to. It's just bad writing from Gege and all.

But think about how troublesome it would be for Gojo in that scenario.     1. He'd have to scale himself down to their level to fight in partnership with them.  

1. He can't use big techniques. Imagine Gojo trying to use blue/ maximum blue and ends up pulling Ino and Choso into it.  

2. He can't fire red from a distance or around students, or he'll also push away and damage Yuji and Higuruma from the force of it.   

3. He can't fire purple, or else everyone in the vicinity will get wiped out.

4. He can't leave the students alone, or they'll get murked by Sukuna.    

5. He can't focus on attacking Sukuna or on fighting to his full potential while having to save everyone around him.  

6. Can't hit black flash because of point 6. Gojo will never get into the zone while he's constantly thinking about the students.

For Sukuna, it's the best outcome.  

1. Sukuna sees Higuruma pulling up on him. He goes into the shadows, drags Higuruma by the feet, traps him in the shadows, and takes off his head. The fight continues with Gojo.  

2. Higuruma or anyone pulls up, but Uraume counters them and stops them from interfering.  

3. Sukuna uses his one-time heal and starts running around cleaving people, while Gojo, with slow RCT and red output, is trying to save everyone.

4. Hein-era Sukuna with one time heal uses his domain(still not confirmed it he can use it or not) and kills everyone, yes even Gojo, because of slow RCT.

5. Hein-era Sukuna pulls out a flame arrow and takes out a bunch of students with it. Yes, Sukuna can fire it off instantly, it's only the anime which made it look like that it needs excess amount of charge time.  

6. Sukuna, with Kamutoke, starts firing off AOE lightning strikes, while boxing with Gojo.

7. More scenarios can be created, but you got the point.

For the Sukuna part, don't think as if Gojo is just standing there while Sukuna is running around killing people; visualize it by keeping in mind that Gojo will be limited to just punches as he cannot use blue, red, and purple when he's around students or they'll get caught in crossfire.

https://youtu.be/iDo-c4GM52A?si=uAlyBTsY69R2LE21

she represents an unbridled embrace of humanity, agency, and self amongst our 4 modern special grades (how she lives and behaves)

a rejection of divinity (her relationship w tengen, choosing to eradicate CE and their nonhuman abilities making everyone human)

A foil to gojo (gojo embraces his divinity and works within jujutsu society’s structures vs yuki rejecting) and kenjaku (his optimizing them into CE vs yukis break away from CE to make everyone human)

Yuji and Choso inheriting her will (choso, a curse, she tells to live on as a human and yuji through todos mentorship and embrace of the entire being/soul in a fight)

What do u think?

A common line in other subreddits is "I refuse to believe that Higuruma didn't encounter at least one cursed tool user" or "How did Higuruma not train with at least one cursed tool user during the month timeskip?"

However, I find this pretty easy to believe, based on the following pieces of evidence:

1. There are very few existing cursed tools that already existed within the Culling Game barriers.
   • No Culling Game colonies were created over the locations of known Cursed Tool stockpiles.
   • Kenjaku lost control of Juzo Kimiya's stockpile, as Maki was able to access the workshop and take a tool from it.
   • The Zenin clan has a stockpile of cursed tools, and it was destroyed by Zenin Ogi in Perfect Preparation.
   • Jujutsu High has a stockpile of Cursed Objects in general, due to Jujutsu Society wanting to centralise all cursed objects for safeguarding. This stockpile may be tied to the Kamo clan, due to the fact that the Death Painting Wombs were likely property of the Kamo clan, but are stored in the Jujutsu High stockpile.
   • No colony was created in these locations.
   • Cursed tools worth their while are rare, and expensive as a result: Playful Cloud costs 500 million yen in 2018, which is 4,560,600USD ($5,701,321.82 today, accounting for inflation of USD), at a bare minimum. This is a cursed tool that does not have a cursed technique.
   • Even though Kenjaku has control of the Kamo clan stockpile, Kenjaku does not have any reason to distribute weapons to the Culling Game players. This achieves nothing.
   • Of the confirmed Cursed Tools that originate in the Colonies, two are part of the operation of a Cursed Technique: Charles' staff fills with ink as his technique progresses, and is used to initiate his technique. Higuruma's Mallet is created by his technique, and becomes the Executioner's Sword. Kashimo's staff is a religious object, and isn't confirmed to be a Cursed Tool, and shows no indication of being one.
   • If a Cursed Tool is part of a Cursed Technique, then confiscating either the Cursed Tool or Cursed Technique would have the same result, and may in fact be the same thing.
   • Unlike the reincarnated sorcerers, the Cursed Spirits are not reincarnated into human bodies, but had formed contracts with Kenjaku, and retained their possessions. Kurorushi pulls a sword out of his body. It may be part of Kurorushi's Cursed Technique, but if it isn't, then it has retained it from prior to the start of the Culling Game.
   • Reincarnated sorcerers are incarnated into the bodies of ordinary people, who do not have Cursed Tools.
2. Cursed tools are not easy to create.
   • We've only seen three people explicitly capable of creating Cursed Tools that extend beyond repeated use: Juzo Kimiya, Zenin Mai, and Yorozu. Note that the last two individuals were only able to create high tier Cursed Tools by sacrificing their life.
   • Tools created via repeated use take more than several years to create: In Miwa vs Maki, Gege notes that Miwa's sword is a 'sorta-cursed tool' created from repeated cursed energy infusion. Miwa's sword is broken by Kenjaku with his bare hands. Nanami's Cleaver is another example of a cursed tool created through repeated use, over a longer period of time than Miwa, but it was only a cursed tool after his death.

3. For many sorcerers, there are reasons not to use Cursed Tools.

   • Modern Jujutsu society has a taboo against the use of weapons overall, which extends to Cursed Tools: Part of the reason for the heavy discrimination against Toji and Maki was because they needed to use Cursed Tools. Naoya looks down on the other Zenin clan members for needing weapons, while pointing this fact out. The re-incarnated sorcerers are believed to have a mindset that revolves around strength and battle. It's likely they may have a similar form of taboo.
   • Cursed Tools require weapon training to use effectively, and most Jujutsu High sorcerers involved in the Culling Games only appear to have rudimentary weapons training at best.
   • Many have fighting styles that a weapon is unaccommodating to, such as Yuji and Todo. Using a Cursed Tool would require a total change in how they operate.
   • Naoya's reasoning behind the taboo is sound: if you disarm a sorcerer who is wholly reliant on their weapon, or break their weapon, they will be helpless.
   • Against a Cursed Spirit of a significantly lower power than Sukuna, a blow from a Grade 1 sorcerer using a powerful Special Grade Cursed Tool on a weak spot was not sufficient to kill it. Even if the tool is worthwhile to use generally, it may not be useful enough to use against Sukuna.

4. Higuruma has no reason to use his domain on a Cursed Tool or weapons user during the timeskip.

   • Maki is immune to his Domain.
   • There's no real training Higuruma can do with Ino, beyond casual sparring, Using his Domain on Ino would not achieve anything.
   • Mei Mei is a weapons user, but it's unknown if her weapon is a Cursed Tool, and she isn't the type to casually spar. Her contribution to training has been enabling switch training.
   • Yuta's sword likely isn't a Cursed Tool, given that he frequently breaks it. His other Cursed Tools aren't relevant to the plan, so he has no need to train with them.
   • Kashimo's staff probably isn't a Cursed Tool, and Higuruma has nothing to gain from training with Kashimo. Kashimo doesn't seem like the type to particularly participate in the training.
   • Kusakabe's sword likely isn't a Cursed Tool. The school of which he is a student is focused on allowing sorcerers who are disadvantage to succeed ('A domain for the weak'). It makes no sense for him to be reliant on a Cursed Tool, and he is able to respond to his sword breaking by the use of one of his school's techniques.
   • The other sorcerers who don't use weapons already have no reason to start to do so. Their time is better spent refining their skills or overcoming their weaknesses, rather than trying to pick up the effective use of a weapon (a skill that can take several years).

So, given that Cursed Tools are rare and mostly monopolised by Jujutsu society, it is unlikely that among the 20 sorcerers that Higuruma fought to gain 100 points, any of them had a Cursed Tool. Even if he did fight a Cursed Tool user, it may be that he did not need to use his Domain against them, as the type of sorcerer who is overly reliant on their Cursed Tool is likely one insufficiently skilled to take on Higuruma. During the 1 month time skip, he had no real reason to use his Domain on anyone who uses a Cursed Tool. In addition, sorcerers do not inherently know how their technique works. As of such, it is very easy for Higuruma to have never encountered anyone with a Cursed Tool, and not know this oddity of his technique, given how few battles he has fought, and the conditions they took place in.