Jujutsu Kaisen: Here’s How & When Sukuna Defeated & Killed Satoru Gojo!

The topic of Satoru Gojo’s death has been an often-discussed one. Fans argued that it was inevitable because of how powerful Gojo was, and we all pictured a poetic death for him on December 24, near the series’ conclusion. But then Chapter 236 happened, and Gojo’s death was thrown at us like a piece of rubbish, and that’s that. Off-screen and with a ridiculously inconsistent (at best) explanation, Satoru Gojo seemingly died, and Akutami once again made fans angry, but this time, he potentially killed off the logic of the story. This article will explain how and when Sukuna supposedly killed Gojo.

In Chapter 236 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Sukuna seemingly killed Satoru Gojo by cutting him in half. He explained that he used Mahoraga’s ability to adapt the technique to the whole world and all of existence, which is how he could bypass Gojo’s Limitless and cut him, as he did not technically cut Gojo, he cut the space Gojo was in, and Gojo ended up being cut as a collateral victim of being in that space. The explanation angered many fans as it was perceived as a Deux ex machina and made no sense overall.

The rest of this article will focus on the fight between Sukuna and Gojo, as it happened on the pages of Jujutsu Kaisen and as it culminated in Chapter 236 of the manga. We will bring you all the necessary details and try to explain what Akutami did in the most recent chapter, as well as the consequences of his decision. The article is, of course, going to contain major spoilers from the current manga storyline, so be careful how you approach it.

Sukuna apparently killed Gojo, but no one really understands how – it just happened

The official showdown between Satoru Gojo and Sukuna began in Chapter 223 in the mini-arc titled “Inhuman Makyo Shinjuku Showdown,” which, as of the time of writing, has 14 parts. The most recent published part is Chapter 236, which seemingly concludes this showdown and will pit Sukuna against other opponents. But here is what happened.

Gojo’s friends and associates watched as Sukuna and Gojo initially behaved as though they were testing one another by remaining at a standstill for several chapters while simultaneously breaking all accepted laws and conventions of the jujutsu world.

Sukuna entered the fight within Megumi’s body and employed Megumi’s techniques as well. On the other hand, Gojo has recovered from his time in the Prison Realm, where he further expanded his skills. When it seemed like one of them had the advantage, the other would pull off some amazing maneuver, and the battle would conclude exactly where it had started. Both of them were initially powerless to accomplish much.

However, Gojo briefly appeared to have the upper hand when merging his Red and Blue since Sukuna was surrounded and reliant on Mahoraga’s ability to quickly catch up to Gojo’s strategies. Unfortunately, he did, and pretty quickly, Gojo found himself up against three opponents at once, with Mahoraga being able to slice him and injure him severely.

Nevertheless, Gojo repelled the two Shikigami and even exorcised them, leaving Sukuna alone. He then unleashed his secret weapon, the Hollow Technique: Purple, to destroy a section of Shibuya once more, and he appeared to have defeated Sukuna. “Gojo won” was the final sentence of chapter 235. And then Chapter 236 happened.

Okay, we’ll admit that Gojo’s victory in Chapter 235 seemed too easy and that basically everyone expected Sukuna to come up with something, but what happened was just lazy writing.

Namely, the chapter in question began with a scene in the afterlife, where Gojo met all his friends who had died (Haibara, Geto, Nanami, Yaga, Riko, and Kuroi, whose death has thus been confirmed) and even mentioned his dad; he discusses losing to Sukuna and claims that he could never defeat him, which seems odd for a character like Gojo. At the end of that conversation, he bids farewell to his friends in the afterlife.

The scene switches back to the present, and we see Gojo’s body cut in half as Sukuna explains how he managed to kill his nemesis:

“When Mahoraga first adapted to your Limitless, it changed the nature of its cursed energy to neutralize and nullify your Limitless. That’s not something I can do, so I chose to wait. I waited for an adaptation to your Limitless that suited me. The second adaptation was exactly what I wanted. It wasn’t a projection of the Slash like I do. Instead, it’s an extension of the cursed technique’s target. The technique’s target isn’t just Satoru Gojo. It’s extended to space, existence, and even the world itself, all of which… it cuts. Limitless doesn’t matter here, as long as you still exist in that space, in this world, your existence will be split in half along with everything else. Of course, it was nearly impossible to pull off. But I had an excellent manual.”

– Sukuna in Jujutsu Kaisen, Chapter 236

As fans almost unanimously agree, this explanation makes absolutely no sense and is considered a blatant and horrible asspull by Akutami. It is a known fact that he hates Gojo, but killing him off in such a way is disrespectful to him and Sukuna, as it completely destroys all of Sukuna’s efforts and makes the fight a completely wasted one.

Many Sukuna fans agreed that this was not a proper way to end the fight and that the explanation makes no sense, as it is inconsistent and does not explain how Sukuna had so much power to suddenly counter Gojo, who had used Black Flash to fully recover.

That is why many fans actually think that Gojo might come back, and there certainly are some hints that point to him coming back, although, based on his injury and how Akutami hates him, no one thinks it is likely. Akutami is an author who is not shy of destroying his readers’ hopes, and he sacrificed logic for effect on more than one occasion, so it wouldn’t surprise us if he killed off Gojo in such a meaningless way.

Whatever happens in the future, this is the story of how and when Sukuna supposedly killed Gojo. The chapter ended on a cliffhanger, and we’re intentionally putting “supposedly” and the likes all over the article in the hope that Gojo still has another trick up his sleeve and that we’re going to see the continuation of this epic clash at a later point, as anything else would require another set of asspulls from Akutami, and that would, in our honest opinion, completely change the whole story and would make Jujutsu Kaisen a big disappointment.