Gojo vs Sukuna

I finally want to talk about Gojo vs Sukuna because holy shit.

This fight is basically the reason I love Jujutsu Kaisen.

Two characters who have spent the entire story being treated like natural disasters finally get put in the same place and told:

okay, figure out who is actually stronger.

And for most of the fight?

I genuinely think Gojo looked like the stronger one.

Yes.

I know who won.

We'll get there 😭

First of all, Gojo is probably my favorite character

And yes, that makes this review extremely unbiased.

Obviously.

What I like about Gojo isn't just that he's strong.

There are plenty of ridiculously overpowered anime characters.

It's the way he carries it.

He's unserious.

Annoying.

Confident to an almost ridiculous level.

Everyone else is panicking and Gojo looks like he's having fun.

But the confidence isn't fake.

The guy can actually back it up.

He's spent basically his entire adult life knowing:

If everything goes wrong, I'm probably still the strongest person in the room.

And that's what makes Sukuna such an interesting opponent.

For once, Gojo is standing in front of someone where that assumption isn't guaranteed.

Sukuna is basically the opposite

Sukuna doesn't need people to like him.

He doesn't care about being a hero.

He doesn't care about protecting anyone.

He's just power, intelligence and ego.

Gojo is the strongest of the modern era.

Sukuna is the strongest in history.

That's such a simple setup.

And it works perfectly.

No giant philosophical reason is even necessary.

Eventually these two HAVE to fight.

You can't put two nukes in the same story and not detonate them.

The beginning was already ridiculous

Gojo opening with a 200% Hollow Purple is such a Gojo thing to do.

No warm-up.

No:

"Let's see what Sukuna can do."

Just:

Hollow.

Purple.

😭

And Sukuna survives.

Immediately the fight establishes:

Okay.

Normal JJK rules are gone now.

We're watching two people who basically operate under their own rules.

Then the Domain Expansion battle starts

This is where the fight went from cool to:

wait what the fuck is happening

for me.

Unlimited Void.

Malevolent Shrine.

Domain against domain.

And Sukuna's domain has this huge advantage because Malevolent Shrine doesn't use a normal closed barrier.

Gojo's barrier gets attacked from the outside.

Breaks.

Now Gojo is standing inside Malevolent Shrine getting repeatedly slashed.

At this point I'm thinking:

okay Gojo might actually be fucked.

And then this dude basically goes:

Nah.

Reverse Cursed Technique.

😭

He's getting sliced apart and healing himself fast enough to continue fighting.

That's when the fight really demonstrates why these two are different from everyone else.

Things that would be an instant death sentence for another sorcerer are basically:

minor inconvenience, need new strategy.

My favorite part is how quickly they adapt

This is probably the biggest reason I love this fight.

It's not simply:

Gojo has bigger attack.

Sukuna has bigger attack.

BOOM.

The whole fight is two absolute monsters constantly figuring each other out.

Gojo changes his domain conditions.

Sukuna changes his approach.

Gojo changes the size of his barrier.

They manipulate techniques in ways we've basically never seen before.

Someone gains an advantage.

The other person understands what happened.

Counter.

Counter the counter.

Counter the counter to the counter.

This is what I like about Gojo as a character too.

His strength isn't just Infinity.

He's insanely good at understanding things quickly.

Give him a problem and he adapts.

That's much cooler to me than simply having infinite cursed energy and punching harder.

Then both of them basically fry their brains

This entire section is insane.

Normally after Domain Expansion, your cursed technique burns out.

Gojo basically figures out:

What if I destroy the part of my brain responsible for my cursed technique and regenerate it?

Excuse me?

😭

And then Sukuna starts doing similar shit.

These guys are literally intentionally damaging and repairing their own brains mid-fight because waiting a little while for their techniques to recover is apparently beneath them.

Eventually they push it too far.

Gojo tries to open his domain.

Blood starts pouring out.

And for one glorious moment Sukuna is standing there laughing at him.

Then Sukuna tries.

And his brain goes:

lol no

😭

That panel is incredible.

Mahoraga changes everything

This is where Sukuna's strategy becomes really clever.

Mahoraga can adapt to phenomena.

Which means Sukuna has a potential answer to the biggest problem in the entire fight:

Infinity.

How the fuck do you hit Gojo?

Normally you don't.

That's literally his thing.

Things approach him and effectively slow down before reaching him.

So Sukuna uses Mahoraga's adaptation to figure out a way around it.

And honestly, this is where I have to give Sukuna credit.

People say:

"Fraudkuna needed Mahoraga."

And yes, making fun of Sukuna for calling Mahoraga daddy will never stop being funny.

But using Ten Shadows intelligently IS part of the fight.

Sukuna understood the tool available to him and built his strategy around it.

That's smart.

Still...

THREE VS ONE BRO 😭

I'm sorry.

This panel is never not funny.

Gojo standing there against:

Sukuna.

Mahoraga.

Agito.

And somehow GOJO is the one looking like the monster.

That's the point where I went:

Nah man. Gojo is HIM.

This guy is fighting the King of Curses, the strongest shikigami in Ten Shadows AND another fused shikigami...

and he's still cooking.

He hits Black Flashes.

Gets his Reverse Cursed Technique output back.

Kills Agito.

Starts absolutely beating the shit out of Mahoraga.

Sukuna is genuinely under pressure.

And then Gojo improvises Hollow Purple

Probably my favorite sequence in the entire fight.

Gojo can't just fire Purple normally because Sukuna knows what's coming.

So he sets up Blue.

Fires Red.

Sukuna realizes what he's doing.

Mahoraga tries to stop it.

Everything starts converging.

And Gojo basically creates an unrestricted Hollow Purple explosion in the middle of the battlefield.

BOOM.

Mahoraga gone.

Gojo survives because his own cursed energy damages him less.

Sukuna is completely fucked up.

And then we get:

"Gojo won."

Bro.

BRO.

At this point I genuinely thought it was over.

And then chapter 236 happened

Next chapter.

Gojo is talking to Geto.

And I'm sitting there like:

Why is Geto here?

Wait.

Why are they young?

Wait.

...

WAIT.

Then we see Gojo.

Cut in half.

😭

WHAT THE FUCK.

I don't think I've ever gone from:

LET'S GOOOO

to:

????????????????

that quickly.

One chapter ends basically declaring Gojo the winner.

Next chapter starts in the afterlife.

Gege genuinely woke up and chose violence.

So how did Sukuna actually win?

This part is actually really cool conceptually.

Mahoraga adapted to Infinity.

But Sukuna wasn't simply waiting for Mahoraga to kill Gojo.

He was learning from Mahoraga.

Mahoraga eventually produced an adaptation Sukuna could replicate.

Instead of sending a slash through Infinity toward Gojo...

Sukuna expanded the target of the technique.

He wasn't simply cutting Gojo.

He was cutting the space/world itself where Gojo existed.

Infinity couldn't stop it in the normal way because the attack wasn't just something traveling toward Gojo.

The space containing Gojo was being cut.

Basically:

Gojo's defense says:

You can't reach me.

Sukuna says:

Fine. I'll cut the place you're standing in.

That's actually sick.

But I still hate how the death was presented

This is my biggest criticism.

I don't hate that Gojo died.

Narratively, I understand it.

Gojo is so ridiculously powerful that the story has trouble existing while he's around.

Almost every problem becomes:

Why doesn't Gojo just handle it?

He probably had to leave the story eventually.

And Sukuna defeating him establishes Sukuna as the final monster everyone else has to somehow overcome.

Fine.

My issue is the transition.

Gojo goes from absolutely cooking Sukuna...

to airport.

I genuinely thought I'd skipped a chapter.

I would've loved to actually SEE the final exchange.

Show Sukuna figuring it out.

Show Gojo realizing something is wrong.

Give us that tiny moment where the strongest realizes:

Oh. He got through Infinity.

Then slash.

That would've hit so much harder.

Instead:

Chapter 235:

GOJO WINS

Chapter 236:

✈️ welcome to the airport sir

😭

And Gojo praising Sukuna felt weird

This is another part I didn't completely love.

Gojo basically admits Sukuna was insanely strong and suggests Sukuna may have beaten him even without Ten Shadows.

I understand what Gege was going for.

For the first time, Gojo fought someone who could genuinely understand what it means to stand at the top.

There's a loneliness to being overwhelmingly powerful.

Sukuna gave him the fight he'd probably never experienced before.

Cool.

But after watching Gojo nearly kill this dude while Sukuna was using Mahoraga and Ten Shadows...

hearing:

"Man Sukuna was so strong, I'm not sure I would've won anyway."

felt strange.

Like bro.

Have SOME agenda.

You were beating his ass five minutes ago 😭

So who do I actually think is stronger?

Sukuna won.

That's canon.

You can't really argue with the scoreboard.

Sukuna: alive.

Gojo: KitKat.

😭

But purely from watching the fight, Gojo impressed me more.

Sukuna had an incredibly intelligent plan.

He used Megumi's Ten Shadows.

He used Mahoraga's adaptation.

He survived long enough to obtain the model he needed.

Then he learned how to bypass Infinity and killed Gojo.

That's genuinely brilliant.

But Gojo spent so much of the fight improvising solutions to things that should have killed him.

Malevolent Shrine?

Adapt.

Domain problems?

Adapt.

Technique burnout?

Destroy brain and rebuild it because apparently that's an option.

Mahoraga?

Adapt.

Three opponents?

Fuck it, Black Flash everybody.

He constantly looked like someone solving the problem while the problem was happening.

That's why I love the character.

Gojo lost the fight, but the fight made me like him even more

Usually when the supposedly strongest character finally fights the big villain, you're waiting for the story to expose them.

"Oh, turns out he wasn't actually THAT strong."

Gojo vs Sukuna did the opposite for me.

Gojo lost.

And somehow I came out thinking:

Holy shit Gojo really WAS that guy.

His title wasn't hype.

The entire jujutsu world treated him like a walking nuclear weapon for a reason.

Sukuna needed an actual strategy specifically designed around solving the Satoru Gojo problem.

And even then he nearly died.

That's a pretty good way for "the strongest" to go out.

And Sukuna deserves his respect too

As much as I enjoy Fraudkuna memes...

Sukuna earned the win.

He didn't randomly overpower Infinity.

He understood Mahoraga.

Waited for the adaptation he needed.

Learned from it.

Applied the principle to his own technique.

And executed the attack.

That's exactly what makes Sukuna terrifying.

He's not just ridiculously powerful.

He's ridiculously good at jujutsu.

Gojo and Sukuna are actually similar in that way.

Both of them understand the system so deeply that the normal rules start looking more like suggestions.

Everyone else is playing the game.

These two are looking at the source code.

This is probably my favorite JJK fight

Not because it was perfect.

I still think Gojo's death deserved a better transition.

And yes, I'm still salty.

But the actual fight?

Insane.

Domains.

Reverse Cursed Technique.

Black Flashes.

Mahoraga.

Agito.

Hollow Purple.

Constant adaptation.

Two characters repeatedly doing things we'd previously been told were basically impossible.

And underneath all of it is one incredibly simple question the entire series had been teasing:

Who is stronger?

The strongest sorcerer of today.

vs.

The strongest sorcerer in history.

Sukuna won.

Gojo died.

And I accept the result.

But honestly, reading this weekly was the best part

I don't think someone reading Gojo vs Sukuna today will experience this fight the same way I did.

Because I was reading this shit weekly.

I was still in college.

I remember sitting on the bus coming back from college, opening the latest chapter and seeing what these two idiots were doing this week 😭

And then having to WAIT.

That was the painful part.

You couldn't just press "next chapter."

Gojo gets his domain destroyed?

See you next week.

Sukuna gets hit by Unlimited Void?

See you next week.

Mahoraga comes out?

SEE YOU NEXT FUCKING WEEK.

Every chapter ended with something ridiculous and then you had an entire week to think about it.

Who's winning?

What can Sukuna do now?

Can Mahoraga actually adapt to Infinity?

Does Gojo have another technique?

Is Sukuna holding something back?

Is Gojo about to die?

And then before the official chapter even released...

the leaks would arrive.

The leaks were honestly half the experience

Normally getting spoiled sucks.

With Gojo vs Sukuna?

The leaks basically became an EVENT.

I'd open Twitter and immediately know something happened because the entire timeline was losing its mind.

You wouldn't even need to see the panel yet.

You'd just see:

GOJO 😭😭😭

SUKUNA IS A FRAUD

NAHHHHHH GEGE COOKED

IT'S OVER

And you're like:

WHAT HAPPENED????

Then some absolutely horrible-quality Japanese scan would appear.

Someone would translate three speech bubbles.

Another person would say the translation was wrong.

Someone else would post a completely different interpretation.

People were analyzing pixels.

😭

Then the cleaner scans would come.

Then translations.

Then everyone would spend the next two days arguing about what actually happened.

It was chaos.

And I loved it.

Twitter made this fight 10x more entertaining

This is honestly one of those rare times where I think social media made experiencing something better.

The memes were IMMEDIATE.

The agendas were insane.

Nobody was neutral.

You were either:

GOJO THE STRONGEST 🐐

or

SUKUNA CLEARS THAT FRAUD

And every single week the agenda would flip.

Gojo does something insane?

FRAUDKUNA.

Sukuna counters it?

GOJO FANS REAL QUIET TODAY.

Sukuna summons Mahoraga?

The entire internet:

MAHORAGA-CHAN PLEASE SAVE ME 😭

Then Agito joins and suddenly it's:

3v1 AND GOJO IS STILL WINNING.

People were keeping fraud allegations like football statistics.

One panel could destroy somebody's agenda for an entire week.

It was fucking hilarious.

And because it was weekly, every moment felt bigger

This is something binge-reading can't really recreate.

If you read the entire fight in one sitting, Gojo might lose an advantage and then regain it five minutes later.

When you're reading weekly?

Gojo loses the advantage.

That's it.

That's your reality for the next seven days.

So everyone spends a week debating whether he's finished.

Then Wednesday arrives.

Leaks.

Gojo does the most ridiculous shit imaginable.

Twitter explodes.

Now Sukuna is the fraud for seven days.

Next chapter.

Reverse.

😭

The actual fight lasted a few months in real life.

We were basically watching a sporting event.

Except instead of Manchester United vs Liverpool it was two fictional psychopaths destroying Shinjuku.

I still remember the Hollow Purple chapter

This was PEAK agenda warfare.

Gojo starts setting everything up.

Blue.

Red.

Mahoraga trying to stop it.

Sukuna realizing what Gojo is doing.

Then...

HOLLOW PURPLE.

Mahoraga gets destroyed.

Sukuna is absolutely cooked.

Gojo is standing there.

And then Kusakabe basically gives us:

GOJO WINS.

Twitter went fucking insane.

That was it.

The Gojo fans had won.

Fraudkuna allegations confirmed.

Mahoraga couldn't save him.

Gojo really was the strongest.

Imagine reading that and then having to wait for the next chapter.

We spent that time celebrating 😭

Which makes what happened next approximately 500 times funnier.

Then the leaks for Chapter 236 dropped

I genuinely don't think I'll ever forget the internet reaction to this.

You open the chapter.

Gojo is talking to Geto.

Okay...

That's weird.

Why is Geto here?

Why do they look younger?

Wait.

Is this a flashback?

Then you keep reading.

And slowly:

oh no.

Then the panel drops.

Gojo.

On the ground.

In two pieces.

BROOOOOOOO.

😭😭😭

Twitter basically became unusable.

Gojo fans were going through the five stages of grief simultaneously.

People thought pages were missing.

People thought the leaks were fake.

People thought Gege was trolling.

People were zooming into panels looking for evidence that Gojo could somehow come back.

"His head is still attached guys, RCT comes from the brain."

The cope was GENERATIONAL.

And honestly?

I participated.

That's why Gojo vs Sukuna is more than just the fight for me

If I judge it purely as manga chapters, I have criticisms.

I still don't love the way Gojo's death happened off-screen.

Some of the explanations became ridiculously technical.

There are things I would've written differently.

But as an experience?

10/10.

Because I don't just remember the panels.

I remember being in college.

I remember getting on the bus.

I remember checking whether the chapter was out.

I remember opening Twitter when leaks dropped.

I remember the memes.

The Fraudkuna allegations.

The Gojo agenda.

Everyone arguing.

Everyone making predictions.

Waiting an entire week after every cliffhanger.

And then watching the entire internet collectively lose its mind when Chapter 236 leaked.

That's something you can't recreate by reading the completed manga years later.

For a few months, every week felt like:

alright boys, Gojo vs Sukuna update just dropped.

And everybody showed up.

The leaks were technically spoilers.

But honestly?

The leaks were probably one of the biggest reasons the fight became as insanely hyped as it did.

It wasn't just something we were reading.

For those few months, it felt like something we were all watching happen together.

...

Fraudkuna still called Mahoraga though.

Just saying.