#hope it doesn't awaken anything in anyone he is still the worst lmao

[iwoszareba]

can you put on a human face? not like that. you are still freaking people out

[honeycreammilkshake]

"Overall, I definitely agree with you. Gege has shown investment in Sukuna as a character, and I'm hoping he doesn't give in to fan influence to abandon the progress he's made so far. "

After last chapter giving sukuna haters funny faces that look like those edits his haters make, I'm not that hopeful anymore. Giving Sukuna an awful and humiliating death to please THAT fandom sounds really disappointing from Gege, at the very least defend Sukuna since you obviously like him, have some PRIDE, show him smiling at yuji and admitting he grew.

Meanwhile Kenjaku who cut Yuki in half as well apparently deserved a comfy fight and good ending while his sins may be even greater than Sukuna lmao. Sorry I'm just pissed, I don't want fan pressure to ruin Sukuna and Yuji forever

Hi, anon!

Yeah, Sukuna definitely has a lot of haters in this fandom, despite the fact he is arguably not the worst character in JJK. He's also one of the most dynamic and fascinating of the villains, and most of that is because of his complex relationship with Yuuji.

So far, we've seen so many interesting things that really highlight how contradicting Sukuna is as a character and that also show how much influence Yuuji has over him versus pretty much everyone else. Even if Gege decides to not doing anything with all these developments, it still doesn't change the fact that they are undeniably there.

One of the most compelling developments so far, to me, has been Sukuna's willingness to listen to Yuuji, even if he claims to despise the brat's ideals and wants to break them.

After their fight in 237-238, Kashimo asks Sukuna if it's lonely being the strongest. Sukuna's concept of love is similar to competition: By being the strongest, other sorcerers admire him for that strength and come to challenge him; Sukuna responds to that "love" by vanquishing them all. He lectures that people like Gojo and Kashimo, who lament the loneliness that comes as an effect of this singular strength, are greedy. Yet when asked if he himself was satisfied with being the strongest, Sukuna doesn't even acknowledge the question. He has no good answer for why he split his soul and became cursed objects that could "cross the ages." Instead, he replies to Kashimo's question by saying love has no worth or meaning.

If his vague non-answer wasn't suspicious enough, he goes on further by trying to justify his philosophy as "a perfect way to pass time until death."

The biggest thing I want to point out is how absolutely childish Sukuna's philosophy is. It's literally just indulging himself how ever he wishes, doing as he pleases, all to pass the time. Because he is the strongest, he claims to be above weak feelings like love or loneliness, but if his lifestyle was so great... why escape it by becoming a set of cursed objects in order to awaken in the future?

(Sukuna: No comment.)

He himself describes indulging in humans as "fleeting." Even if there are in fact endless flavors for him to try, none of them last, so nothing can be savored, nothing can be remembered, and nothing can truly satisfy if it's all so passing and worthless. Even him saying it's a way for him to "pass time until death" sounds so hopeless and unfulfilling.

It's seems like to me that by becoming the strongest, he's completely lost touch with how senseless his actions are. What happens when he runs out of humans to eat, or when he runs out of lands and challengers to conquer? If he's truly convinced his self-absorbed, depraved philosophy is the ideal way he should use his strength, then how come so many of the people he meets are convinced he's lonely?

And also why does someone like him elicit Yuuji's pity? Why is Yuuji the only one who really seems to get to him?

During their fight in chapter 248, Sukuna completely shuts down and starts obsessing over why Yuuji bothers him so much. Whenever literally anyone else questions Sukuna's philosophy or his motives, he disregards and mocks them for it. Yet when it's Yuuji, he's on the defensive. Yuuji really is making him reconsider things, and he can't stand it.

(btw yes that's a literal pout he's doing right here)

When Yuuji confronts him, Sukuna has a full-out melt-down. He's literally staring into space, completely losing track of everything else that's going on. Unlike anyone else who ever questions Sukuna, Yuuji is the only one who's actually making Sukuna think for once.

When reflecting on all the other people whose ideals Sukuna was so dismissive and dispassionate about, even the King of Curses himself admits that with Yuuji it's ~different~

Okay so... I guess Yuuji being in your way wasn't good enough reason to want to him gone? No, it's his ideals and resilience that bothers you that much. Why is that? Could it be that he's gotten too far under your skin, far enough to touch your non-existent heart?

Yeah right....

Also, this relates to how Yuuji is the only one who can come close to shattering Sukuna's hard-set ways. While there have been quite a few who wanted to teach Sukuna how to "love," they went about this in a way that's much closer to the definition of competition than what is actual love, much like how Sukuna sees it.

Yorozu became completely obsessed with Sukuna because to her his loneliness was "singular." When she is reincarnated, she believes she is the one who can teach Sukuna what "true love" is.

Back in chapter 218, their confrontation is so much less complex than Yuuji and Sukuna's. Sukuna dismisses her so easily and hardly reflects on it. Her "love" is weak to him. Though she is powerful, she cannot hope to contend with the level of Yuuji's determination and dedication to his ideals.

Likewise, Gojo was also convinced Sukuna was affected by the same loneliness he was. He claims that he will be the one to teach Sukuna love because he's the closest - some people say equal - one can come to Sukuna's level of power.

Sukuna, however, is not terribly moved by this. Though he has respect for Gojo's strength and says he will remember their fight forever, he is still nowhere close to being shaken... not like he is with Yuuji.

So what makes Yuuji's approach to teaching Sukuna love so different? It's because he's so much weaker in terms of power compared to any of the others Sukuna was confronted by. He comes from an entirely different perspective that no one else has gotten close enough to Sukuna to share. And because of this, he's not making it a competition. He's being empathetic about it instead.

The whole of chapter 265 is basically Sukuna actually listening to Yuuji. It's so interesting because there is absolutely no fighting going on. Usually when someone confronts Sukuna, they do so right before, after, or during a battle with him. But in this case, it's peaceful. It's completely different than any other time someone has tried to "connect" with the King of Curses.

Yuuji's approach to connect with Sukuna is to tell him his life story and show him all the places he grew up in. It's extremely casual, close, and intimate. In response all Sukuna can say to this is -

The way he suddenly interrupts Yuuji, when before he was uncharacteristically quiet for most of the time and willing to go along with it, is very telling. He described this kind of intimacy as "creepy" to him ... which is an interesting choice of words. The mythic, immortal, all-powerful King of Curses is "creeped out" by a little oversharing and walking through Yuuji's unthreatening memories? Really?

And what's even more interesting is Yuuji's way of destroying Sukuna's world view so simply.

He's essentially telling Sukuna that his philosophy is useless.

Sukuna believes in this rigid hierarchy where only the strong can rule, and only the most selfish and heartless of the strong can sit atop that hierarchy. But what Yuuji is telling him is that... there are no set roles humans are born with. Lives aren't worthless and aren't defined by whatever "roles" they are forced into. Which means that a caste system built entirely on the "strengths" of people is about as stable as Sukuna's sanity.

Yuuji has tremendous empathy throughout this whole scene. Instead of asserting that his viewpoints are the only ones that are right, he instead admits that maybe he could be wrong... which is far different from Sukuna, who wouldn't dare admit he could be wrong.

And the way Sukuna pauses before he says he doesn't feel anything about what Yuuji is saying and showing him makes me think he's lying or downplaying how much Yuuji is affecting him.

Although some fans might argue that the purpose of this scene was to show how irredeemably heartless Sukuna is, I just can't accept that there isn't so much more going on here than that.

So... to make a too long meta short: Whatever ending Sukuna and Yuuji get, it can't take away these amazing interactions between them that defy all the expectations we had for a "static" villain like Sukuna and a "useless" hero like Yuuji.

They will forever be one the most interesting, complex, and fascinating relationships in manga to me, and I'd sell my soul for them to get the ending they deserve.

Thanks for the ask! Sorry for the mess of this post ;-;