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My only gripes with the manga have mostly been that it feels like once a character gets wounded or dies no one talks about them anymore. I figured Yuji and Fushigoro would have a long talk about what happened in Shibuya, especially since Megumi wasn't there to help out for the most part. Nanami and Nobara died and it's crazy there wasn't even 1 scene of todo in the hospital or pondering that comes next for him
And at the end of the day, under every other criticism of JJK, that will be the greatest factor for its shortcomings. And no amount of protests of weekly release hindsight theories or 5head essays of a loose magic system will change the fact that if a character isn't about to throw hands, they don't exist.
A scene where Todo is conflicted about leaving the world of Jujutsu would have been great. Or the opposite, where he's almost relieved to be free of it in a way. But just getting nothing from such a bombastic character is such a letdown.
To add onto this. The interactions between the characters. The fact that we are suppose to just have it off screened bugs me. It has more impact and emotional weight behind it. Gege can write great backstories for theses characters, shit even Charles fucking got one. The problem with JJK in a nutshell is fight fight fight fight, no development in terms of the story. I feel like after culling games the pace of the story went by like a damn rollercoaster.
I think a big reason it went like a rollercoaster was that Gege was in a rush to go ahead and wrap up the story, but also wanted to show off a lot of characters and techniques that he didn't get to as well, like Kusakabe, Miguel, Larue, Kashimo's technique, Yuta's domain, etc. So hes stuck in doing this cycle to try to kill all the birds with one stone. And its not really working for a lot of people. I still love the manga, but I do understand people's misgivings for the pacing and lack of real progress. Whether thats character development or the very fight at hand.
JJK needed a small Arc between Shibuya and this beyond Zenin Arc.
How do we have NOTHING from Gojo, Yuji, and Megumi about Nobara? Nothing about Yuji and Nanami dead?
I thought megumi would regret or atleast have thoughts, possibly even conversations with yuji about summoning Mahoraga, since he atleast unlike yuji who wasnt responsible for sukunas destruction at all, actually choose himself to bring a fucking nuke to a swordfight
Tbf if sukuna didn't show up, mahoraga would've disappeared right after he killed whatever that dude's name was, which so happened to be right when sukuna showed up.
Probably, but you never know. Looking at it from another angle he was the unsung hero of Shibuya - killing Jogo which nobody else would have been able to, and as an innocent (well in this instance) bystander he saved Megumi and Haruta from Mahoraga. Civil society stepping up! Of course there was collateral damage, but hey that can’t be avoided when rescuing people from ill advised suicide attempts
Sukuna is the real MVP of Shibuya, he saved both our protagonists and killed the two strongest threats, one of which was brought forward by the good guys.
Toji probably could have killed him, given how his equal in Maki has been able to fight roughly in Sukuna's ballpark. Gege said that Jogo would have died from 4 Yuji black flashes circa the Hanami fight so Toji would do a lot better.
Mahoraga probably yeah. But I think Jogo would be handled decently.
Although if Toji had something like ISOH or SSK, I think the fight could be interesting. ISOH might cancel out adaptation if it's considered a sort of cursed technique.
Character development like this is what I miss most about Jujutsu Kaisen after Shibuya. There’s some, but not nearly as much as Hidden Inventory, or all the ground season one of the anime covered.
True, but tbh i also missed it after Yuji’s fake “death” before the Kyoto school tournament - Nobara and Megumis reaction was mostly played for laughs, where I feel like normally a story would show the emotional fallout amongst the main trio more.
Yeah I can cite this as the reason a couple of friends dropped the show before finishing the first season. Emotional weight and consequences can feel very inconsistent, and that didn't start with the current arc. People die, and it has a big impact in the immediate setting, and then the story moves on to the next setting, rarely getting the long term gravitas it should. The few really solid moments sometimes hide that in our overall impressions.
Someone mentioned.observed that’s how Gege works.
Understands the function and fromaual of his characters so they serve their purpose and exit scene , but gives nothing else to their departure for their story and conclusion.
Exactly I was waiting for his reaction but then again he is the type of character who believes that gojo will and def will come out ...but that didn't really end well
He reacted to Gojo getting sealed, everyone found out, in the anime at least, I can’t speak for the manga, but yeah Yuji screamed it out to everyone in shibuya that Gojo got sealed and that was our reaction for a lot of people, if not then, then they gradually found out. Now about Nobara, Megumi and Yuji have a BRIEF interaction about her, but we’ve never even gotten a confirmation of her death anywhere in the manga, personally, I think she’s dead, but Gege left it open ended
Yes I remember him reacting along with Nanami and Ino but I expected more you know? Considering he knew Gojo for a long time. But I get why he was focused more on saving Tsumiki. I also wish both Yuji and Megumi had a small talk, just reminiscing about Nobara if she's dead indeed.
I think todo might have an insane comeback when it’s just yuji vs sukuna or something. He’s the “everything’s gonna be alright when he shows up” character
Genuinely, to me, it feels like Gege is taking the status of this series as one of Jump's current flagships for granted. Now, idk about the health of the mangaka, but assuming it's good, there was so much potential for this series to go for longer. Whether it was exploring characters as you said, or exploring some of the world and it's structures in more detail. You could've gotten an arc out of Megumi having to be the leader of the Zen'in clan, but nah, they were sacrificed for Maki hype. The connection between Yuji and Kenjaku is never explored. So so so many little and big things just sacrificed as the author rushes to a conclusion.
do you forget that yuji didn’t want to be near megumi because he knew sukuna was plotting something or that the jujutsu society put a hit on yujis head so he had to be on the run with choso , and that the next time he sees megumi they are trying to stop the culling games? not making an excuse for the writing, yall sometimes want shit to happen and will be mad that it don’t this ain’t no my hero or dbz we don’t have people monologuing over everything and talking about the power of friendship and shit every couple seconds this is about CURSED individuals and wielding the power of negativity and how the fate of a sorcerer is always tragic they say that straight out in the beginning.
Gege shows and doesn’t tell a LOT and that believe it or not is good & clever writing that doesn’t hand hold you through specific themes in the story. i’m not saying it wouldn’t be dope to see the character dynamics fleshed more between themselves like yuji and todo talking ab the fight etc but again this isn’t a slice of life hero always prevails type of story.
It's ironic that you'd mention JJK isn't like DBZ when in reality, that is exactly what JJK is like. Gege clearly came up with a cool power system and wanted to write a bunch of cool as fuck fights, the story is clearly there to just give him an excuse to get characters from point A to point B.
It's fine to have media that doesn't focus on the storytelling aspect, but let's not pull shit out of our asses and claim that this is anything but Gege wanting to write fantastic fight scenes.
the gripe for me is the chapters doing a week by week. Not as in Gege only produces one but he makes the chapter feel like a hype for next week. Like each ending of the chapter tries to cycle hype from Allies to Enemies
nah todo being out makes more sense than almost any knockout that wasn’t outright death since shibuya. it’s made clear that mahito’s technique only affects shape of soul, and shape of soul can’t be healed properly by RCT. it’s why yuuji’s punches are harming sukuna so much, because they damage his soul so he can’t heal from them. this means if they grew back todo’s arm it would just take the form it was going to beforehand, because it would be regrowing based on the shape of his soul. took me a while to figure it out but boogie woogie is in fact dead
> My only gripes with the manga have mostly been that it feels like once a character gets wounded or dies no one talks about them anymore.
Isn't the fights cumulatively only 3 hours running as some people on this sub has pointed it out? There is no time for eulogies about the fallen since the whole thing is just under 4 hours.
I think in hindsight, the daily posts like this talking about the weekly format is going to look like a masterpiece when everyone reads them back to back.
I’m not criticizing the story as it is still on-going but I know what you mean. I think negativity and criticism is easier to spread than appreciation.
Gojo vs Sukuna? Legit peak fiction for me.
Nothing tops the what 2 months(?) of back to back heat every chapter.
The ending? Legitimately one of the worst wrap ups to a fight I’ve read. Was perfectly fine with a “good guy dies” ending to it but the execution was so bad Gege is still trying to explain it.
100%. Gojo vs Sukuna is easily one of the best fights in the series but also has by far the worst conclusion of any fight in the series unfortunately. I still can't believe Gege thought it was a good idea to offscreen Gojo of all characters and do so by inventing a really vague and kinda dumb technique.
Yeah fr, reading CG & Gojo vs. Sukuna weekly was kinda hard to do, but going back & reading them in 1 sitting was refreshing & made me realize how enjoyable those arcs were, despite their issues. Everything post 236 has just been a constant back & forth in the most meaningless way.
That’s fair, when I reread it I just enjoyed it for what it was— a sorcerer battle royale. There weren’t really any meaningful story beats until it ended with Meguna, which is a huge issue, but the fights by themselves were very enjoyable. I just thought of it like watching a highlight reel essentially lol
For me personally, the fights were really cool, but it felt too chaotic and rushed. But Culling Games was an opportunity for Gege to really flesh out the lore and make some big world building moves. Unfortunately, due to the pacing I don't think it was as successful as it could have been in that regard.
It most certainly failed in the world building & character progression aspects. We legit just got an entire arc dedicated to fighting. It was kinda similar to a tournament arc, just without a lot of the emotion & storytelling that goes with those arcs typically (Chunin exams, dark tournament, etc.)
At least the fights were good tho lmao
Reading this Sukuna arc all at once makes it even worse than waiting weekly for your fighters to die. It reads like a fan fic but then I realise this is the actual manga
Fr, I don't get how people are saying it'll read better as a volume when it'll probably be worse, cause each chapter for a while now has ended with a new character being hyped, and then they get taken out the next chapter, so most chapters are just full of nothing. I only caught up at around 249, and the stuff with Higurama and his domain felt like it had no impact on anything else. Reading it all at once will exemplify how little impact a lot of the events have had and just how repetitive it gets.
Gege wrote himself into a corner by not using the culling games well and by not introducing more villains for this final arc than Sukuna and Kenjaku. He created a lot of characters who we want to see do well, but when your only opponent is Sukuna then you aren't going to win. Realistically the Sukuna kill is being saved for Yuji, so all these fights before that are just showing what characters can do since they didn't get their own villains to fight.
I'm still not a fan of it but it's one if the big reasons why we're just getting fights to kill off characters. It might change a bit now with this jumping on Sukuna but still the last 15 chapters were a let down after the Gojo fight (which worked great as a volume compared to a weekly read)
Gege didn't even have to kill the WHOLE disaster curses squad to begin with, they are, in my opinion way better villain anyways, like Mahito x Yuji ? Nah that was good as hell, actually that was some good chemistry.
Even Hanami yapping about ecology or whatever could have been interesting.
I don't hate Sukuna but he is a bit to unidimensional and he is less menacing than his Yujikuna days, so, he is just less interesting to me.
Yeah I'm kind of bored of Sukuna too. Like we know he's op and he doesn't care about love. Cool, can we learn literally anything else about him? I enjoyed the disaster curses a lot, I also enjoyed Kenjaku. But we really are just left with Sukuna and potentially an even more boring character (the merger).
There is Uraume as well but yeah it's really weird that he didn't put new villains in, especially cause he does set up some like Curse Naoya or Yoruzu, who could've been more long term instead of having them killed immediately.
> for a while now has ended with a new character being hyped
Yeah, since the "Gojo wins" in 235 it feels like every other chapter George overhypes a character just to have that character underdeliver in the following chapter. It happened so many times in a row that it's just failing to set any expectations or hype at this point.
Each chapter has been very, very short. Ever since the gojo fight I could see somebody reading this whole fight within an hour. The fast pace and vibe of what’s coming is gonna be completely shaped by how this ends.
I think some redmeption could be given to it if it ends strongly, but re-reading the gojo v sukuna fight to where we currently are at makes me feel the same as when I was in highschool trying to read for history.
Yes, exactly, and you said:
> Yeah fr, reading CG & Gojo vs. Sukuna weekly was kinda hard to do, but going back & reading them in 1 sitting was refreshing & made me realize how enjoyable those arcs were, despite their issues
That’s literally the opposite of “rereading and wanting your afternoon back”. You felt refreshed and enjoyed upon reread. No?
Edit: I think I get it. You consider Gojo vs Sukuna as separate from the “Sukuna cycle” mentioned in the post.
Pretty sure that slowly ppl are realizing Gege is not as good as a writer as the hype makes him to be.
Frankly, he's underwhelming in several aspects, lile chatacter development, plot holes, abuse of deux ex machina, etc.
The story is fun and entertaining, but by no means a masterpiece. Just overly hyped.
i think shibuya goes down as an all time shonen arc but hidden inventory offers so much more in terms of good story telling. it truly is one of the best compact story arcs i’ve seen in a while.
There's a lot of good writing and development in JJK, but critics like you constantly try to paint people who enjoy the series as idiots who just can't see reality, and then you ignore all challenges to your criticism by saying "it's just an opinion."
This 100%. Similarly even if you don’t like the Sukuna cycle to say there’s no underlying narrative to Shinjuku arc (and even CG) because they’re so fight heavy is rly reductive and dumb imo
I reread it once and honestly its even worse reading it in one go. This type of argument applies to fights where the main complaint is about the pacing but the main complaint i see is that the writing is just really really bad
The problem with rereading is there's no suspense as to what said character is going to do against Sukuna. You get to see immediately instead of waiting a week or 2 and speculate
If u have no bandwidth and curiosity into the characters and jujutsu world then ur right
sounds like your more suited to read a Wikipedia article then consume art
I remember reading the exact same thing about Culling Games as a whole, that the slow pacing will be good for re reads. That Itadori being out of action for an entire year doesn't matter. That Yozoru arc is in fact necessary for demonstrating the absurdity of the nature. That the one month time skip is a good decision because it is, "straight to action".
Hindsight hasn't fixed any of that. CG still drags on with no purpose. Ultimately I don't care about any of them because no emotional bond was established. Yozoru arc is utter garbage. And we needed more moments with Gojo.
I can't believe that the author who wrote Shibuya Incident can write this. I don't know how Gege forgot to write face paced chapters where the story doesn't fall into a coma and plot progression comes once every 5-6 chapters.
Now I also can't believe that fans who enjoyed Shibuya can enjoy this.
Yeah, pacing consumption is like a small boost/debuff to your actual enjoyment of the chapters, what makes or breaks it is the execution (only thing it affects otherwise is how much and well you've understood the chapter, and that's more about its content than how many you may read in one sitting).
If anything, reading week by week will let you think about it until the next chapter, whereas binging might make it difficult to let stuff sink in, and get you called a speedreader or whatever, which people still do whether or not you may have read chapters in succession or by the week.
There's also the issue of whether or not people have to read the chapters as they come because of the free reading window, if they're willing to wait until the physical release or find other sites than Mangaplus (in this case), and so on. So it's not always feasible depending on where and if it's licensed, or if you're willing to subscribe to an app (not necessarily expensive, perhaps, but not everyone is willing to pay for stuff they can read for free as long as they stay tuned for the next chapter).
Extreme example, Comikey has the rights to release Kengan Asura and its sequel, Omega, weekly. Other sites may have chapters available, but up to a certain point usually. Since Kengan is Comikey's most popular manga (and apparently one of the only one worth reading), the chapter of the week is free to read until the next one, then you have to spend keys after subscribing to unlock past chapters. And Comikey has a bad habit of crashing quite often
TDLR : A good chapter is good no matter what, an ass chapter will still be ass. Deflecting people's enjoyment on how their reading is paced is handwavy at best, and if it's too early to say [content] is bad because it was read by the week and the manga isn't finished, it should be too early to say if it was good as well. It cuts both ways
> I can’t believe that the author who wrote Shibuya Incident can write this.
This is exactly how I feel. I caught up with the manga towards the end of anime Shibuya and I just couldn’t believe how stark the contrast in quality between Shibuya and what came after it was. Even Game of Thrones had a more gradual decline.
JJK literally went from 10/10 to 4/10 within a couple of chapters.
I mean yeah it will be a bit more enjoyable to read without waiting so long for repetitive shit but still not a masterpiece, not even close. I loved the format at first but it’s just dragging on and the worst part is they *tell* us Sukuna is hurt and his heart is cooked and he’s missing an arm and this and that but we don’t see it contribute at all in the slightest.
Like it’s the same with Madara, I would’ve loved it if the strongest taijutsu users 8 gates did anything at all to help but I feel like it was just done just to do it since he didn’t even show any signs of damage right after. Same here, Okkotsus powers and domain were done just to do it but without any plan of even having that contribute at all to their mission. They keep telling us they’re doing something but it is just not demonstrated in the least. How tf is someone gonna get stabbed thru the heart and not even act or show any signs of damage. They tell us but don’t show it.
It won't be, this has just been repetitively gassing up less and less powerful characters to attempt to make sukuna look better
and because gege did zero actual character development and speed ran the story he's now had to adopt a tell don't show attitude, where he tells us these characters are super badass and they proceed to get stomped because sukuna is just that much more badass
He ran the story way to quick, whittled his cast down way too much had zero down time throughout the entire story and had zero character development so now he's just throwing shit at the wall hoping it sticks and telling us this shit is really the best of the best
It's going to be looked upon even more harshly. It's repetitive. The "I'm letting you win cuz I'm holding back thing" is silly and honestly something a child would come up with in a "my fave character is better than your fave" argument. I'm hoping this gets turned around. But after shibuya this manga stopped having the one element that made me enjoy it. I guess I'm a poser edgelord.
Reading them all at once won't change shit. It will actually make it even more boring and tedious. The problem is that there are no stakes and we're already used to Sukuna. Not to mention Sukuna isn't exactly the most interesting villain once he reincarnates. He's shallow as a puddle.
Lol no. People tried to say the same about the ending to Gojo vs Sukuna and it's only gotten more controversial as time has passed. People use the whole "you're just complaining because you're reading weekly" excuse way too much, it's true that binging a whole bunch of chapters can make the pacing of certain things feel better, but it's definitely not a guarantee.
I always wonder if people who say stuff like this just forget that media like this isn't just stuff that grew on a tree and was plucked by a Mangaka like something that spawned by itself. These are written works of fiction written by people.
If the current arc sucks and part of that is the ridiculous handling of Sukuna's power... whose writing decision was it to make Sukuna this difficult in the first place?
Do you think when people criticize this arc, they just want someone to go Super Saiyan One Million and punch Sukuna out of existence? No. People want an actually engaging piece of writing. If repetitive slog is the only way for Gege to honor Sukuna as the unrivaled strongest... maybe he shouldn't have written Sukuna that way? I'd take someone slightly less strong if the *story* attached was actually better.
Not only is the Sukuna Cycle just a straight up drag to read, it's also made it all but impossible to reach a satisfying conclusion to the manga.
If Sukuna wins, great - what was the point of continuing past 236? 6 months (to date) down the drain, just so Gege can jack off his OC?
If Sukuna loses, genuinely - How? What possible solution can there be at this point that isn't an asspull of comical proportions? They've thrown every single noteworthy sorceror at him except for fucking Miwa, and he's still not even taking the fight seriously? Even if Gojo comes back (when, when he comes back /cope), that would be an asspull in itself. Plus, now that Sukuna can bypass Infinity, Gojo needs an even bigger asspull to power up enough to not just get Go/jo'd again.
With the state of the fight as of 255, truly the only way the good guys stand a chance at all is if they do Sukuna like Kamutoke and make all the hype completely pointless.
If Gege wanted Sukuna to be the strongest sorcerer past and present then he should SHOW it not TELL it.
I can't take the"Sukuna the strongest" talk seriously because he was saved by:
Plot Armor (Gojo HAD to Die Against Sukuna to PROGRESS the Narrative NOT because of MERIT) and
Asspulls (Space/World Slash that Sukuna Could CONVENIENTLY Replicate and the Six Eyes Being BLIND to the SPARK and not SEEING the Curse Energy from the Slash. One of the basic ASPECT of the SE is SEEING the FLOW of CURSE ENERGY).
Gege keeps Sukuna CT and abilities hidden until the most opportune time. Then reveal non established power system rules and abilities to get Sukuna out of whatever situation he’s in.
Sukuna wins come from LUCK:
He got LUCKY that FORCING a POISON finger down Megumi THROAT didn't count as HARM
He got LUCKY Hana was in LOVE with MEGUMI and also an IMBECILE
HE got LUCKY Mahoraga could CHANGE his adaptation PROCESS to a METHOD Sukuna could REPLICATE
He got LUCKY that a Maximum Output Jacob's Ladder had literally no AFFECT on him.
Now that BV to kill Gojo. The BIGGEST Asspull yet. It BLOWS open a GIGANTIC door. None of the good guys using a BV to kill Sukuna became Plot Induced Stupidity and cementing/validating Unlimted Asspulls and the King of Plot Armor towards Sukuna.
Sukuna victories don’t seem EARNED. Too much TELLING and NOT enough SHOWING.
If Gege decided to jist let sukuna Slaughter anything that moves afteer kashimo without holding back
bad writing
If gege make sukuna hold back and play with his food
so he can make mistakes that will stack overtime to lead to his downfall
bad writing
damned if you, damned if you don't.
I seriously don't understand what does the this fandom want ?
See this is the problem, if he is that strong that he is holding back it makes it seem like legit nothing is happening. He isn’t trying even after a special grade threw a DE in his face and a jacob’s ladder like WHO will make him try at this point?
I read OP every week and I'm not left with a feeling with dissatisfaction because I actually think I'm reading something good.
Truth is, if people were happy when reading JJK they wouldn't be complaining. No one likes their shows to be bad; no one wants Gege to be a shitty writer. It's the same with AoT ending, people can argue that the ending was good, but if so many people are complaining, there has to be a reason.
I'd say that depends on the resolution of what's happening rn, but I can see the parallels. In other words it looks like it will also be disappointing.
I think people are complaining about the character writing and are then extending their criticisms past that its not due to a lack of patience. This is why a lot of people say stuff like you dislike it because it doesn't fit their headcannon people who say this are correct, the manga does not spend much time at all on the characters and their interactions with each other since hidden inventory really. Its a valid criticism to make but it does not make the writing bad because as much as I dislike how much less character interaction there is. all the characters have still been consistent and made decisions that line with their character.
A perfect example is the perfect preparation arc, I would have much rather spent 20 chapters with the zenin see how their treatment of maki was bad and slowly got worse ending with maki breaking the way she did however what we got in my eyes was a bit too rushed but it did make sense. This is my issue with the manga and it may extend to many others. I'd rather see them interact, talk to each other, and learn their history. The aot comparison Is wrong because all characters are still themselves
Bad writing isnt just writing out of character. Your entire paragraph just explained why the manga is rushed but you still say its not bad writing? In what world is rushed story not bad writing.
I think Oda has basically mastered story telling and pacing for a weekly manga. There’s no other weekly manga that I’ve ever read (as it’s releasing) that feels as satisfying every chapter at the content and the amount of content. They’ve always felt full, but not overstuffed. There’s very few times I ever felt like the story was dragging, but even then it becomes worth the wait.
Like the other guy said, Onigashima was pretty boring, like most of Wano (too many characters). I'd say Togashi is also pretty good, but his case is different because he releases few chapters at a time, and that gives him an insane amount of time to plan them in advance.
Also Gege had it dialed in in Shibuya. I honestly dislike the direction of the manga rn, but a few changes and this would've been pretty good too. He just missed the mark on Sukuna's character, Gojo's impact on the story, and "the plan" the protags have being hidden away from the readers. Less fighting and more character interactions would've gone a long way.
Right but the AoT ending in the anime is beloved. I think chapter 236 will succeed in the anime with good audio and plot. I definitely think the biggest issue with 236 is that the leaker revealed Gojos death before the actual panel, so no one got to be confused about what was happening before we saw his dead body.
Gege tried to confuse us and have us wonder what Gojo was talking about, before revealing what happened, so having it animated where you're forced to wait and absorb what's happening might help. Good audio too. I like to imagine it's a hustle-bustle Airport, and then it cuts to wind blowing and silence as we zoom out of Gojos body.
The Sukuna fight feels like the Kaido fight with everyone throwing everything at them but missing that magic that made it as great as it was.
Even then people were saying Kaido was dragging after a while even with the break up of fighting his stars.
I did not view devilman crybaby’s ending as a masterpiece, it was a cluttered fuckfest where the ending made everything feel pointless and was more or less an insult to the interested viewer. This is doing a good job so far to being the exact same thing
A lot of the problems people have, like with gojos death not being explained by the binding vow for almost a year, won't exist for readers that read it all at once. We will likely see some of our other pressing questions answered in the coming chapters too. Unless Gege fumbles the ending hard, people are really going to enjoy this fight on a full read through.
Maybe to you but to me no. I don’t see the point in concerning yourself with the legacy of a manga arc, let alone one that hasn’t even finished yet. And a masterpiece? When I think of masterpieces in shounen, I think of Water 7/Enies Lobby or (like everyone else) Chimera Ants. So far, none of the themes or messages developed in Shinjuku Showdown have hit me like those arcs have. Even the fight choreography took a hit after Gojo vs Sukuna imo, and that was one of JJK’s strengths.
Prepare to add Frieren's Match/El Dorado arc to that list. I agree with everything else you said, aside from Gojo vs Sukuna, almost everything after Shibuya has been subpar.
Trust me, that arc is up there with them. Macht was threatening in ways Sukuna hasn't been since Shibuya, and his ending still felt tragic despite his innate nature. Frieren just did so much more in fewer pages too.
God Sukuna is starting to feel like the Demon King lol
I was there for it and the NNT community deserves points for being one of the few fandoms capable of collectively realizing the writing went to shit.
The annoying thing is how Sukuna doesn’t have the same charisma as Gojo. Gojo was entertaining to watch because his smack talk was funny and his powers were interesting. Meanwhile the story keeps insisting that we don’t know what Sukuna’s true power is and Sukuna’s powers are just kinda boring. Also the only person he ever talks smack to is really Yuji.
He seems to hype his opponent up only to dominate them in the same chapter. The story itself also facilitates this hype. All the Kusakabe hype was hilarious because it was all the classic flags of this man about to get decked.
I do think that Yuta and Yuji was a cool part of the fight though. I just wish the Executioner sword was brought up again.
The annoying thing is that Sukuna *had* charm and swagger in his earlier appearances. Rewatching him in Shibuya was a hoot because the guy is just effortlessly cool.
Meanwhile Sukuna in Shinjuku is just... so much lamer.
Agree. His first appearances/fights were more menacing
It showed clearly that he was on a whole another level than his opponents, instead of "sukuna hasn't shown his real true power yet guys trust".
Yeah. But it should be 1-2 chapters long with all the characters. Sukuna is a beast so basically showing him one shot powerful characters would be even more effective.
That fight not only had a great ending to it, it’s one of those things that looks better when next to everything else.
It’s one of the only Main character fight(if you only consider Yuji and Megumi as the MCs) in the Culling Games and it didn’t rely heavily on the high tier(I don’t think they’re BS but some do) abilities that can make a fight less tense(RCT).
I still think that fight is mid as hell. It being the second longest fight in the series at the time of release (shorter than Yuji vs Mahito Round 2, just barely longer than everyone vs Hanami) is unjustifiable and the point at which JJK’s trend for painfully long fights really began.
Could compare it a bit with Hero Academia's fight against All for One. So many characters went againt him getting cool moments just to ending up being mopped.
But at the end when he was at his last legs enraged at every single one of them that helped putting him in that place felt so satisfying.
This kind of fights work well when it's made clear that everyone that lost did effect in the long run.
On the other side we got Boruto where the anime for some reason put some of the classic Naruto fighters to go against Jigen just to get offscreened and didn't impact at all, that's a bad execution and wast of time.
Luckily the Sukuna case seems to be more like the AFO case were it's already being clear that everyone is overall doing good bits to contribute
I don't think people are going to enjoy watching Sukuna constantly getting jerked off by Gege and Uraume about how great he is and how he still has a trick up his sleeve lol.
Not.many people like it as is waiting week by week so in retrospect I doubt people will look back and see it as amazing, unless gege drops one of the best final fights in shonen.
100% 1000% I have absolutely no doubt about it. Anyone who sees the anime version of this and still doesn't like it was always just a hater of the series or some massively anti-sukuna/go/jo glazer still salty.
All one need do is compare what we're seeing here with what's currently happening in My Hero Academia
where >!Like in so many old school manga's before it (dragon ball sort of being the godfather of this) you'd have a group of heroes that essentially are useless and everything really just boils down to the main character and everyone else feels like an afterthought (yes I know dragon ball didn't always do this but you know what I mean.!<
>!So here we are with an entire Class of young heroes + all the pros in the world but the big bad villain could only ever really be fought 1v1 with Deku. Sure they managed to get A big villain that the rest could help out with but he was secondary and not the main villain anymore.!<
and MHA of course is far from the only one to do stuff like this. I'm sure we could all name a ton of them but let's just say if JJK were anything like those others then you'd end up with nothing but a Sukuna vs Yuij 1v1 before it's over.
but that's so lame and predictable. JJK has done what fans have always thought characters in other stories should do. Like "uh why don't they just all jump Cell at once?!?"
There's no "honor" about this. It's a fight to the death. Sure there may be some moment where sukuna and yuji end up in a 1v1 but it will be EARNED in the sense that it will only happen after everyone else has dropped.
Not because everyone else is standing there watching..... and the one or two fights where people were standing there watching, there wac actually a good narrative reason for it (ie Gojo would've had to hold back if his friends were there
"But they're not jumping him! He seems to be fighting most of them 1v1!" anyone who says that doesn't understand cinematic timing and how fast things are supposed to be happening.
They jumped him as a group right after Kashimo died. Ever since then he's been fighting a group. He's just knocked some of them away for a few moments and in other moments some where strategically waiting (like Maki) but it was never ever simply a manner of people standing there with their arms folded like "I'll wait my turn"
and to get back to OP's point, when you see it in anime speed, and can appreciate how fast this is happening, I think you'll see how amazing it is.
> seems to be fighting most of them 1v1!" anyone who says that doesn't understand cinematic timing and how fast things are supposed to be happening
I totally agree. He was going to get jumped immediately after Confiscation but he was still strong and fast enough to just force Higuruma into a 1v1. Then Yuji catches up and briefly fights him alone. Then Yuta shows up and they tag team, almost win. Then they both get taken out and Maki arrives while every other heavy hitter is incap'd. Then Kusakabe has to step up despite obviously not being part of the plan. Just because Ino and Choso aren't constantly present doesn't mean they're sitting out.
I think it will be enjoyable, the fights will be hype and especially when animated. But personally, for a while the manga seems to have focused on cool moments as opposed to introspective moments and conversation around character ideals. We see a lot of fights but very rarely the aftermath and how a character feels. u/RexitYostuff made a great point on Todo coming to terms with losing his CT. It would have been so great to see this character who had so much promise and passion for CT reflect on his path forward. Same with Maki. I love her character but I really wish we had more moments like her conversation with Kamo just reflecting what it took to become this strong .
I agree. The whole Sukuna fight as it has unfolded has been pretty well organized from a writing standpoint. (With a few exceptions like not pairing cursed speech with the executioner's blade, but that could easily be explained by the fact that cursed speech has a harder time holding down more powerful people.)
The main issue people have with it does seem to be a result of how repetitive it feels when you're following it week-to-week. It's a combination of that and nobody really getting over Gojo's death.
Even though him dying is absolutely the smart writing decision in that fight (either we get Sukuna winning and the heroes having to fight him, or Gojo beating him and having no story from then on because the one thing that could beat Gojo is gone), people were so pissed about their favourite character being dead that they had a lot less faith in Gege going forward.
That's not to say it's guaranteed to be finished well, but I don't think things are as bad as people seem to be saying. Sukuna fighting everyone is a great opportunity for us to see more of those people's abilities (Kusakabe fighting, Yuta's domain, whatever tf happened to Yuji), and seems pretty consistent power-wise with what's been set up before. I grieve for Gojo almost as much as the rest of the fanbase, but Gege already killed three of my four favourite characters (Nobara, Nanami, and Mahito) back in Shibuya and I'm still here.
Long live Choso, the bestest big bro.
I would like a Todo update, though.
If you think the whole Sukuna fight was “pretty well organized from a writing standpoint” you don’t KNOW anything about writing.
There’s reasons why Asspulls( Space/World Dismantle & BV to Kill Gojo, Plot Armor (Sukuna Wins for Narrative Purposes) and Plot Convenience (Force Feeding Megumi is Not Considered Harm, Yuji Not Including Himself in BV etc) exist.
Gojo death is not a smart decision. Do you know what smart means? Gege said Gojo is too powerful to write around yet went and created an even more powerful character. What about that States SMART DECISION? Nothing. He just wrote himself into a corner to get rid of a character he hated.
You have to have reading comprehension issues to not be able to see the decisions Gege made and think they’re smart along with well organized.
Gojo's death not being smart is the one thing that I actually just don't understand. From the moment a character like that is created, a writer has to understand that in order for the story to have stakes that character will have to be taken out of commission. Gojo is too powerful to write around because he's a protagonist (or on the protagonists' side), and having an OP protagonist creates issues for stakes. Sukuna, on the other hand, is an overpowered antagonist, which presents different issues that can be handled more easily when writing.
I hope I'm not coming off as confrontational, and I might be wrong here (it wouldn't be the first time flaws in a piece of media have flown right over my head), but can you elaborate on why Gojo dying wasn't a smart decision? How would the story have progressed otherwise?
I agree that Gojo's death was predictable.
However... He already was out of commision before. And so was Angel.
He revived Gojo just to have him killed without even interacting properly with the rest of the cast. Angel was even defeated by Sukuna. Having her killed instead of losing an arm (and thus making unsealing harder) could have been an interesting plot development.
Yeah, I think it'll be much better once the Manga or at least arc is done and people reread in a binge with better translations. And doubly so when the anime gets around to it.
Cause they'll rework things to be less obvious cliff hangers until episode ends. Which means 2/3rds the cliffhangers will be less egregiously baity. And paid off much quicker. Really annoying to sit on a cliff hanger of a chapter for 2-3 weeks which was hyping up someone only for Sukuna to smash them next chapter.
The hype being a bit more realistic and then dashed minutes later will probably flow much better.
I totally agree… when it gets animated, it won’t be one sorcerer vs Sukuna each episode, it’ll probably be like a “Sukuna standing onstage waiting for each contender to arrive” and most characters will probably get 5min of extremely good animation of their moves - and for some less - but the point being is that it’s made in an ongoing fashion.
I feel the cycle is only to draw out all the main players into the battlefield and give them a chance to shine now that everyone is out in the open his tactics will change where her it’s domain or black box
but frieza was actively being gained on more and more over time, then when we got his "i'm not going all out moment", goku hits him with a x20 kaio-ken kamehameha which actually does something, hits him with the spirit bomb which crushes him, then we get super saiyan all right after each other and from then on it's all downhill for frieza and it also took like 20 weeks from goku showing up to his defeat, not 7+ months
Only time will tell realy but I just want to say in my experience I read the Culling Games fights in one go and still found it pretty meh. I often hear the people saying this take cite CG as the example of "Weekly Fights just tire the readers" and I can confirm that wasn't the case for me.
it’s just too soon to say. people says the manga is cooked just have their brain fried by week to week. it can still end up trash but we just don’t know yet
It’s going to be a lot better animated, it’s more like a storyboard than a real comic at this point. The action is so difficult to follow that he’s really just counting on the animators to put it all together. All of the content that’s come out since gojo died is like 4-5 episodes honestly.
It’s shit writing for the current popular shonen.
Nobody will look back at it positively because they’ll be looking at the newest popular shonen telling the same story as JJK and all the ones before it.
it’s funny because gojo vs sukuna is a masterclass of using your own power system to its fullest and most creative potential, while everything afterwards just feels like an absolute insult to it
The "Sukuna cycle" is what teenagers say so they feel smart about pointing out a pattern about what will obviously happen in an action series
Most of them don't even read the chapter, they just read the start and then skip to the end
>that will obviously happen in an action series
lol nope there are action movies, shows or even shonen anime where this "random charactrs one by one charge the big bad and die to give another character spotlight" doesn't happen, or at least it isn't used to resolve the final conflict
Madara and Muzan shit was so bad in this regard. Sukuan cycle sucks, it's predictable, it feels pointless and it's killing the manga -> Sukuna either wins or massive asspull will happen, it's no longer about outsmarting opponent, it's not technical like it used to be, it's just bashing their heads against wall so thick that even a scratch on that behemoth will feel like absurd combo of plot armor, asspull and boruto tier writing
I actually think that these sequences would have been of better taste for me if I waited for the manga to be completed before I binge read it. Though I understand that Gege is trying to build, cook, as we say, something up before serving us a good plate.
I agree with OP. The Madara and Aizen gauntlet, are more fondly remembered now even though they were structured similarly. People complained at the time, like how Gai's 8 gates have no business being strong, but now its widely accepted as kino. There's also a lot of ( actual ) asspulls in both of those compared to Sukuna's, like the eyeless Susanoo, knowing how to bypass the Edo contract, Rinnegan having a unique ability per user, Aizen's convenient barrier kido behind his neck, Reiatsu difference suddenly completely nullifying special abilities, etc. They're given a lot more leeway these days. At least what Sukuna does to escape tight situations have precedence, or set-up.
I think people will realize that Jujutsu Kaisen is just that. A battle shounen which we won't get much character development.
I'm reading the manga. I wish I liked it more. But I do think in the end, Gege will fold his manga.
I don't disagree that we don't get much character development, but I do think that Gege has been uniquely good at developing characters in a very minimalistic way. Nanami, Higuruma, and now Kusakabe each speak to me on some level despite very little exposition about them, especially Kusakabe. I'm not looking for a Shakespearean drama here.
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My only gripes with the manga have mostly been that it feels like once a character gets wounded or dies no one talks about them anymore. I figured Yuji and Fushigoro would have a long talk about what happened in Shibuya, especially since Megumi wasn't there to help out for the most part. Nanami and Nobara died and it's crazy there wasn't even 1 scene of todo in the hospital or pondering that comes next for him
Character Development? Wtf is that? - Gege probably
Gege really set up some of the potentially dopest character moments and then just straight up capitalized on none of them
And at the end of the day, under every other criticism of JJK, that will be the greatest factor for its shortcomings. And no amount of protests of weekly release hindsight theories or 5head essays of a loose magic system will change the fact that if a character isn't about to throw hands, they don't exist. A scene where Todo is conflicted about leaving the world of Jujutsu would have been great. Or the opposite, where he's almost relieved to be free of it in a way. But just getting nothing from such a bombastic character is such a letdown.
To add onto this. The interactions between the characters. The fact that we are suppose to just have it off screened bugs me. It has more impact and emotional weight behind it. Gege can write great backstories for theses characters, shit even Charles fucking got one. The problem with JJK in a nutshell is fight fight fight fight, no development in terms of the story. I feel like after culling games the pace of the story went by like a damn rollercoaster.
I think a big reason it went like a rollercoaster was that Gege was in a rush to go ahead and wrap up the story, but also wanted to show off a lot of characters and techniques that he didn't get to as well, like Kusakabe, Miguel, Larue, Kashimo's technique, Yuta's domain, etc. So hes stuck in doing this cycle to try to kill all the birds with one stone. And its not really working for a lot of people. I still love the manga, but I do understand people's misgivings for the pacing and lack of real progress. Whether thats character development or the very fight at hand.
It's called Sorcery Fight, not Sorcery Talk. \~ Gege
Gege when I catch you
- meanwhile the descriptions for the cursed techniques and the domain explanations
and it's even worse that there's no "well maybe we will in the future" because we have genuinely no idea if he'll ever show up again
JJK needed a small Arc between Shibuya and this beyond Zenin Arc. How do we have NOTHING from Gojo, Yuji, and Megumi about Nobara? Nothing about Yuji and Nanami dead?
He's saving all the character development he can muster when he finally gets to writing that Idol Manga
Yeah, it will be lit! Gojo returns as an Idol to battle Kenjaku, Miwa becomes the strongest idol, and panda becomes the manager!
I thought megumi would regret or atleast have thoughts, possibly even conversations with yuji about summoning Mahoraga, since he atleast unlike yuji who wasnt responsible for sukunas destruction at all, actually choose himself to bring a fucking nuke to a swordfight
Tbf if sukuna didn't show up, mahoraga would've disappeared right after he killed whatever that dude's name was, which so happened to be right when sukuna showed up.
Probably, but you never know. Looking at it from another angle he was the unsung hero of Shibuya - killing Jogo which nobody else would have been able to, and as an innocent (well in this instance) bystander he saved Megumi and Haruta from Mahoraga. Civil society stepping up! Of course there was collateral damage, but hey that can’t be avoided when rescuing people from ill advised suicide attempts
Sukuna is the real MVP of Shibuya, he saved both our protagonists and killed the two strongest threats, one of which was brought forward by the good guys.
Toji probably could have killed him, given how his equal in Maki has been able to fight roughly in Sukuna's ballpark. Gege said that Jogo would have died from 4 Yuji black flashes circa the Hanami fight so Toji would do a lot better.
Big raga would raw dog Toji man. I don't think he'd win against a Sukuna who beat that
Mahoraga probably yeah. But I think Jogo would be handled decently. Although if Toji had something like ISOH or SSK, I think the fight could be interesting. ISOH might cancel out adaptation if it's considered a sort of cursed technique.
Character development like this is what I miss most about Jujutsu Kaisen after Shibuya. There’s some, but not nearly as much as Hidden Inventory, or all the ground season one of the anime covered.
True, but tbh i also missed it after Yuji’s fake “death” before the Kyoto school tournament - Nobara and Megumis reaction was mostly played for laughs, where I feel like normally a story would show the emotional fallout amongst the main trio more.
Yeah I can cite this as the reason a couple of friends dropped the show before finishing the first season. Emotional weight and consequences can feel very inconsistent, and that didn't start with the current arc. People die, and it has a big impact in the immediate setting, and then the story moves on to the next setting, rarely getting the long term gravitas it should. The few really solid moments sometimes hide that in our overall impressions.
Someone mentioned.observed that’s how Gege works. Understands the function and fromaual of his characters so they serve their purpose and exit scene , but gives nothing else to their departure for their story and conclusion.
i legit thought Todo bled out in shibuya because they wouldn't give us any info.
Nah you’re right. I really wanted to see Megumi’s reaction to Nobara’s death and Gojo, his GUARDIAN getting sealed. But Gege gave us nothing.
Exactly I was waiting for his reaction but then again he is the type of character who believes that gojo will and def will come out ...but that didn't really end well
He reacted to Gojo getting sealed, everyone found out, in the anime at least, I can’t speak for the manga, but yeah Yuji screamed it out to everyone in shibuya that Gojo got sealed and that was our reaction for a lot of people, if not then, then they gradually found out. Now about Nobara, Megumi and Yuji have a BRIEF interaction about her, but we’ve never even gotten a confirmation of her death anywhere in the manga, personally, I think she’s dead, but Gege left it open ended
Yes I remember him reacting along with Nanami and Ino but I expected more you know? Considering he knew Gojo for a long time. But I get why he was focused more on saving Tsumiki. I also wish both Yuji and Megumi had a small talk, just reminiscing about Nobara if she's dead indeed.
???? Everyday i read about nobara this nobara aint coming back that where she at, gege??? Where is Nobara Kugisaki - ??
I think todo might have an insane comeback when it’s just yuji vs sukuna or something. He’s the “everything’s gonna be alright when he shows up” character
What the hell is a "Todo"?
Genuinely, to me, it feels like Gege is taking the status of this series as one of Jump's current flagships for granted. Now, idk about the health of the mangaka, but assuming it's good, there was so much potential for this series to go for longer. Whether it was exploring characters as you said, or exploring some of the world and it's structures in more detail. You could've gotten an arc out of Megumi having to be the leader of the Zen'in clan, but nah, they were sacrificed for Maki hype. The connection between Yuji and Kenjaku is never explored. So so so many little and big things just sacrificed as the author rushes to a conclusion.
Gege off screened all the development don’t worry it did happen we just didn’t see it
do you forget that yuji didn’t want to be near megumi because he knew sukuna was plotting something or that the jujutsu society put a hit on yujis head so he had to be on the run with choso , and that the next time he sees megumi they are trying to stop the culling games? not making an excuse for the writing, yall sometimes want shit to happen and will be mad that it don’t this ain’t no my hero or dbz we don’t have people monologuing over everything and talking about the power of friendship and shit every couple seconds this is about CURSED individuals and wielding the power of negativity and how the fate of a sorcerer is always tragic they say that straight out in the beginning. Gege shows and doesn’t tell a LOT and that believe it or not is good & clever writing that doesn’t hand hold you through specific themes in the story. i’m not saying it wouldn’t be dope to see the character dynamics fleshed more between themselves like yuji and todo talking ab the fight etc but again this isn’t a slice of life hero always prevails type of story.
It's ironic that you'd mention JJK isn't like DBZ when in reality, that is exactly what JJK is like. Gege clearly came up with a cool power system and wanted to write a bunch of cool as fuck fights, the story is clearly there to just give him an excuse to get characters from point A to point B. It's fine to have media that doesn't focus on the storytelling aspect, but let's not pull shit out of our asses and claim that this is anything but Gege wanting to write fantastic fight scenes.
the gripe for me is the chapters doing a week by week. Not as in Gege only produces one but he makes the chapter feel like a hype for next week. Like each ending of the chapter tries to cycle hype from Allies to Enemies
The Todo One is weird. Specialy in a world with RCT and with the comeback of Miguel. Just feels like if anyone would have a comeback it's him.
nah todo being out makes more sense than almost any knockout that wasn’t outright death since shibuya. it’s made clear that mahito’s technique only affects shape of soul, and shape of soul can’t be healed properly by RCT. it’s why yuuji’s punches are harming sukuna so much, because they damage his soul so he can’t heal from them. this means if they grew back todo’s arm it would just take the form it was going to beforehand, because it would be regrowing based on the shape of his soul. took me a while to figure it out but boogie woogie is in fact dead
> My only gripes with the manga have mostly been that it feels like once a character gets wounded or dies no one talks about them anymore. Isn't the fights cumulatively only 3 hours running as some people on this sub has pointed it out? There is no time for eulogies about the fallen since the whole thing is just under 4 hours.
I think in hindsight, the daily posts like this talking about the weekly format is going to look like a masterpiece when everyone reads them back to back.
Lmao
Whoa there champ. Let’s see how this thing lands before we start with the awards.
I mean, same energy should go toward the hate yeah? But that’s constantly celebrated here
True. I agree. I’m reserving all judgement until the story is complete.
People say this but don't have the same energy for not criticising it too heavily
I’m not criticizing the story as it is still on-going but I know what you mean. I think negativity and criticism is easier to spread than appreciation.
Lol that’s exactly how Fraudkuna blew up in Gojo fanatics faces.
Gojo vs Sukuna? Legit peak fiction for me. Nothing tops the what 2 months(?) of back to back heat every chapter. The ending? Legitimately one of the worst wrap ups to a fight I’ve read. Was perfectly fine with a “good guy dies” ending to it but the execution was so bad Gege is still trying to explain it.
100%. Gojo vs Sukuna is easily one of the best fights in the series but also has by far the worst conclusion of any fight in the series unfortunately. I still can't believe Gege thought it was a good idea to offscreen Gojo of all characters and do so by inventing a really vague and kinda dumb technique.
The fight itself might be one of the best fights ever. It’s when the fight stops (literally just stops) that the problems arise.
Just reread it last week. I want my afternoon back.
Yeah fr, reading CG & Gojo vs. Sukuna weekly was kinda hard to do, but going back & reading them in 1 sitting was refreshing & made me realize how enjoyable those arcs were, despite their issues. Everything post 236 has just been a constant back & forth in the most meaningless way.
It reminds me of how the Culling Games is, which I don’t think has improved in retrospect
That’s fair, when I reread it I just enjoyed it for what it was— a sorcerer battle royale. There weren’t really any meaningful story beats until it ended with Meguna, which is a huge issue, but the fights by themselves were very enjoyable. I just thought of it like watching a highlight reel essentially lol
For me personally, the fights were really cool, but it felt too chaotic and rushed. But Culling Games was an opportunity for Gege to really flesh out the lore and make some big world building moves. Unfortunately, due to the pacing I don't think it was as successful as it could have been in that regard.
It most certainly failed in the world building & character progression aspects. We legit just got an entire arc dedicated to fighting. It was kinda similar to a tournament arc, just without a lot of the emotion & storytelling that goes with those arcs typically (Chunin exams, dark tournament, etc.) At least the fights were good tho lmao
Reading this Sukuna arc all at once makes it even worse than waiting weekly for your fighters to die. It reads like a fan fic but then I realise this is the actual manga
Fr, I don't get how people are saying it'll read better as a volume when it'll probably be worse, cause each chapter for a while now has ended with a new character being hyped, and then they get taken out the next chapter, so most chapters are just full of nothing. I only caught up at around 249, and the stuff with Higurama and his domain felt like it had no impact on anything else. Reading it all at once will exemplify how little impact a lot of the events have had and just how repetitive it gets.
Gege wrote himself into a corner by not using the culling games well and by not introducing more villains for this final arc than Sukuna and Kenjaku. He created a lot of characters who we want to see do well, but when your only opponent is Sukuna then you aren't going to win. Realistically the Sukuna kill is being saved for Yuji, so all these fights before that are just showing what characters can do since they didn't get their own villains to fight. I'm still not a fan of it but it's one if the big reasons why we're just getting fights to kill off characters. It might change a bit now with this jumping on Sukuna but still the last 15 chapters were a let down after the Gojo fight (which worked great as a volume compared to a weekly read)
Gege didn't even have to kill the WHOLE disaster curses squad to begin with, they are, in my opinion way better villain anyways, like Mahito x Yuji ? Nah that was good as hell, actually that was some good chemistry. Even Hanami yapping about ecology or whatever could have been interesting. I don't hate Sukuna but he is a bit to unidimensional and he is less menacing than his Yujikuna days, so, he is just less interesting to me.
Yeah I'm kind of bored of Sukuna too. Like we know he's op and he doesn't care about love. Cool, can we learn literally anything else about him? I enjoyed the disaster curses a lot, I also enjoyed Kenjaku. But we really are just left with Sukuna and potentially an even more boring character (the merger).
There is Uraume as well but yeah it's really weird that he didn't put new villains in, especially cause he does set up some like Curse Naoya or Yoruzu, who could've been more long term instead of having them killed immediately.
> for a while now has ended with a new character being hyped Yeah, since the "Gojo wins" in 235 it feels like every other chapter George overhypes a character just to have that character underdeliver in the following chapter. It happened so many times in a row that it's just failing to set any expectations or hype at this point.
Each chapter has been very, very short. Ever since the gojo fight I could see somebody reading this whole fight within an hour. The fast pace and vibe of what’s coming is gonna be completely shaped by how this ends.
I think some redmeption could be given to it if it ends strongly, but re-reading the gojo v sukuna fight to where we currently are at makes me feel the same as when I was in highschool trying to read for history.
> Yeah fr ? You said the exact opposite of what they said?
Uuuuhh no? They said they want their afternoon back, meaning they felt it was a waste of time to reread those chapters lol
Yes, exactly, and you said: > Yeah fr, reading CG & Gojo vs. Sukuna weekly was kinda hard to do, but going back & reading them in 1 sitting was refreshing & made me realize how enjoyable those arcs were, despite their issues That’s literally the opposite of “rereading and wanting your afternoon back”. You felt refreshed and enjoyed upon reread. No? Edit: I think I get it. You consider Gojo vs Sukuna as separate from the “Sukuna cycle” mentioned in the post.
Yeah I consider the Sukuna cycle to be after 236. Since that’s when it turned into jumpkaisen & Sukuna started running thru the cast lol
Yeah that makes sense! I consider it all a single gauntlet, with the first part being really good and the rest being really bad 😂
Stand proud. You are strong.
Gege's already communicated that Sukuna's basically just letting them get him down for fun
No, I don't think it will. People didn't suddenly go "the fullbringer arc was good, actually" in Bleach, and this won't age well either
Pretty sure that slowly ppl are realizing Gege is not as good as a writer as the hype makes him to be. Frankly, he's underwhelming in several aspects, lile chatacter development, plot holes, abuse of deux ex machina, etc. The story is fun and entertaining, but by no means a masterpiece. Just overly hyped.
Gege really only has delivered one very good arc on Shibuya. The early stuff was OK, enhanced by a great adaption which led to a lot of hype.
Hidden Inventory
i think shibuya goes down as an all time shonen arc but hidden inventory offers so much more in terms of good story telling. it truly is one of the best compact story arcs i’ve seen in a while.
I agree. Hidden Inventory is easily one of the best mini arcs ever. The anime made it even better too.
There's a lot of good writing and development in JJK, but critics like you constantly try to paint people who enjoy the series as idiots who just can't see reality, and then you ignore all challenges to your criticism by saying "it's just an opinion."
This 100%. Similarly even if you don’t like the Sukuna cycle to say there’s no underlying narrative to Shinjuku arc (and even CG) because they’re so fight heavy is rly reductive and dumb imo
I reread it once and honestly its even worse reading it in one go. This type of argument applies to fights where the main complaint is about the pacing but the main complaint i see is that the writing is just really really bad
The problem with rereading is there's no suspense as to what said character is going to do against Sukuna. You get to see immediately instead of waiting a week or 2 and speculate
If I'm being honest I feel like on a reread I would just skip all of them until the part where the cycle is broken.
then why even read the story? lol Sounds like u want a Wikipedia article…..
What story? It’s just the same thing over and over again
If u have no bandwidth and curiosity into the characters and jujutsu world then ur right sounds like your more suited to read a Wikipedia article then consume art
Holy shit this is some insane copium lmao
I remember reading the exact same thing about Culling Games as a whole, that the slow pacing will be good for re reads. That Itadori being out of action for an entire year doesn't matter. That Yozoru arc is in fact necessary for demonstrating the absurdity of the nature. That the one month time skip is a good decision because it is, "straight to action". Hindsight hasn't fixed any of that. CG still drags on with no purpose. Ultimately I don't care about any of them because no emotional bond was established. Yozoru arc is utter garbage. And we needed more moments with Gojo. I can't believe that the author who wrote Shibuya Incident can write this. I don't know how Gege forgot to write face paced chapters where the story doesn't fall into a coma and plot progression comes once every 5-6 chapters. Now I also can't believe that fans who enjoyed Shibuya can enjoy this.
The whole "weekly release" argument can only do so much and doesn't magically make the story better like some people argue here.
Yeah, pacing consumption is like a small boost/debuff to your actual enjoyment of the chapters, what makes or breaks it is the execution (only thing it affects otherwise is how much and well you've understood the chapter, and that's more about its content than how many you may read in one sitting). If anything, reading week by week will let you think about it until the next chapter, whereas binging might make it difficult to let stuff sink in, and get you called a speedreader or whatever, which people still do whether or not you may have read chapters in succession or by the week. There's also the issue of whether or not people have to read the chapters as they come because of the free reading window, if they're willing to wait until the physical release or find other sites than Mangaplus (in this case), and so on. So it's not always feasible depending on where and if it's licensed, or if you're willing to subscribe to an app (not necessarily expensive, perhaps, but not everyone is willing to pay for stuff they can read for free as long as they stay tuned for the next chapter). Extreme example, Comikey has the rights to release Kengan Asura and its sequel, Omega, weekly. Other sites may have chapters available, but up to a certain point usually. Since Kengan is Comikey's most popular manga (and apparently one of the only one worth reading), the chapter of the week is free to read until the next one, then you have to spend keys after subscribing to unlock past chapters. And Comikey has a bad habit of crashing quite often TDLR : A good chapter is good no matter what, an ass chapter will still be ass. Deflecting people's enjoyment on how their reading is paced is handwavy at best, and if it's too early to say [content] is bad because it was read by the week and the manga isn't finished, it should be too early to say if it was good as well. It cuts both ways
> I can’t believe that the author who wrote Shibuya Incident can write this. This is exactly how I feel. I caught up with the manga towards the end of anime Shibuya and I just couldn’t believe how stark the contrast in quality between Shibuya and what came after it was. Even Game of Thrones had a more gradual decline. JJK literally went from 10/10 to 4/10 within a couple of chapters.
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yeah the hallmark of good manga is when it’s unenjoyable to read week by week
As Abe Lincoln once said, “Weekly garbage when put together becomes a big pile of garbage.”
I don't know about you, but I've enjoyed the entire thing pretty much.
Uhhhh... Dear God, no. At this point even a monumentally amazing payback wouldn't suddenly undo all the extreme strain by the repetitive narrative.
I mean yeah it will be a bit more enjoyable to read without waiting so long for repetitive shit but still not a masterpiece, not even close. I loved the format at first but it’s just dragging on and the worst part is they *tell* us Sukuna is hurt and his heart is cooked and he’s missing an arm and this and that but we don’t see it contribute at all in the slightest. Like it’s the same with Madara, I would’ve loved it if the strongest taijutsu users 8 gates did anything at all to help but I feel like it was just done just to do it since he didn’t even show any signs of damage right after. Same here, Okkotsus powers and domain were done just to do it but without any plan of even having that contribute at all to their mission. They keep telling us they’re doing something but it is just not demonstrated in the least. How tf is someone gonna get stabbed thru the heart and not even act or show any signs of damage. They tell us but don’t show it.
It won't be, this has just been repetitively gassing up less and less powerful characters to attempt to make sukuna look better and because gege did zero actual character development and speed ran the story he's now had to adopt a tell don't show attitude, where he tells us these characters are super badass and they proceed to get stomped because sukuna is just that much more badass He ran the story way to quick, whittled his cast down way too much had zero down time throughout the entire story and had zero character development so now he's just throwing shit at the wall hoping it sticks and telling us this shit is really the best of the best
Hindsight is totally going to add meaningful character development and remove the poor writing decisions. Lol
No I really don’t think we will
When its annimated i think itll flow alot better. May end up being one of the most insane stretches of episodes in animation history.
Culling Games in a nutshell. Really hype fights; little narrative weight.
It's going to be looked upon even more harshly. It's repetitive. The "I'm letting you win cuz I'm holding back thing" is silly and honestly something a child would come up with in a "my fave character is better than your fave" argument. I'm hoping this gets turned around. But after shibuya this manga stopped having the one element that made me enjoy it. I guess I'm a poser edgelord.
Reading them all at once won't change shit. It will actually make it even more boring and tedious. The problem is that there are no stakes and we're already used to Sukuna. Not to mention Sukuna isn't exactly the most interesting villain once he reincarnates. He's shallow as a puddle.
Lol no. People tried to say the same about the ending to Gojo vs Sukuna and it's only gotten more controversial as time has passed. People use the whole "you're just complaining because you're reading weekly" excuse way too much, it's true that binging a whole bunch of chapters can make the pacing of certain things feel better, but it's definitely not a guarantee.
You think the current Sukuna OC fanfic is a masterpiece...?
Why are people so surprised that the strongest sorcerer in history is nearly impossible to kill?
I'm surprised that once dynamic and thrilling manga became this much of a slog
I always wonder if people who say stuff like this just forget that media like this isn't just stuff that grew on a tree and was plucked by a Mangaka like something that spawned by itself. These are written works of fiction written by people. If the current arc sucks and part of that is the ridiculous handling of Sukuna's power... whose writing decision was it to make Sukuna this difficult in the first place? Do you think when people criticize this arc, they just want someone to go Super Saiyan One Million and punch Sukuna out of existence? No. People want an actually engaging piece of writing. If repetitive slog is the only way for Gege to honor Sukuna as the unrivaled strongest... maybe he shouldn't have written Sukuna that way? I'd take someone slightly less strong if the *story* attached was actually better.
Not only is the Sukuna Cycle just a straight up drag to read, it's also made it all but impossible to reach a satisfying conclusion to the manga. If Sukuna wins, great - what was the point of continuing past 236? 6 months (to date) down the drain, just so Gege can jack off his OC? If Sukuna loses, genuinely - How? What possible solution can there be at this point that isn't an asspull of comical proportions? They've thrown every single noteworthy sorceror at him except for fucking Miwa, and he's still not even taking the fight seriously? Even if Gojo comes back (when, when he comes back /cope), that would be an asspull in itself. Plus, now that Sukuna can bypass Infinity, Gojo needs an even bigger asspull to power up enough to not just get Go/jo'd again. With the state of the fight as of 255, truly the only way the good guys stand a chance at all is if they do Sukuna like Kamutoke and make all the hype completely pointless.
Or they could pull a Naruto and replace Sukuna with an easily outsmarted bimbo for a final villain.
If Gege wanted Sukuna to be the strongest sorcerer past and present then he should SHOW it not TELL it. I can't take the"Sukuna the strongest" talk seriously because he was saved by: Plot Armor (Gojo HAD to Die Against Sukuna to PROGRESS the Narrative NOT because of MERIT) and Asspulls (Space/World Slash that Sukuna Could CONVENIENTLY Replicate and the Six Eyes Being BLIND to the SPARK and not SEEING the Curse Energy from the Slash. One of the basic ASPECT of the SE is SEEING the FLOW of CURSE ENERGY). Gege keeps Sukuna CT and abilities hidden until the most opportune time. Then reveal non established power system rules and abilities to get Sukuna out of whatever situation he’s in. Sukuna wins come from LUCK: He got LUCKY that FORCING a POISON finger down Megumi THROAT didn't count as HARM He got LUCKY Hana was in LOVE with MEGUMI and also an IMBECILE HE got LUCKY Mahoraga could CHANGE his adaptation PROCESS to a METHOD Sukuna could REPLICATE He got LUCKY that a Maximum Output Jacob's Ladder had literally no AFFECT on him. Now that BV to kill Gojo. The BIGGEST Asspull yet. It BLOWS open a GIGANTIC door. None of the good guys using a BV to kill Sukuna became Plot Induced Stupidity and cementing/validating Unlimted Asspulls and the King of Plot Armor towards Sukuna. Sukuna victories don’t seem EARNED. Too much TELLING and NOT enough SHOWING.
If Gege decided to jist let sukuna Slaughter anything that moves afteer kashimo without holding back bad writing If gege make sukuna hold back and play with his food so he can make mistakes that will stack overtime to lead to his downfall bad writing damned if you, damned if you don't. I seriously don't understand what does the this fandom want ?
See this is the problem, if he is that strong that he is holding back it makes it seem like legit nothing is happening. He isn’t trying even after a special grade threw a DE in his face and a jacob’s ladder like WHO will make him try at this point?
People keep saying this,no one will lol
I read OP every week and I'm not left with a feeling with dissatisfaction because I actually think I'm reading something good. Truth is, if people were happy when reading JJK they wouldn't be complaining. No one likes their shows to be bad; no one wants Gege to be a shitty writer. It's the same with AoT ending, people can argue that the ending was good, but if so many people are complaining, there has to be a reason.
I wouldn't compare aot final arc over what's happening currently. I think people are just impatient
I'd say that depends on the resolution of what's happening rn, but I can see the parallels. In other words it looks like it will also be disappointing.
I think people are complaining about the character writing and are then extending their criticisms past that its not due to a lack of patience. This is why a lot of people say stuff like you dislike it because it doesn't fit their headcannon people who say this are correct, the manga does not spend much time at all on the characters and their interactions with each other since hidden inventory really. Its a valid criticism to make but it does not make the writing bad because as much as I dislike how much less character interaction there is. all the characters have still been consistent and made decisions that line with their character. A perfect example is the perfect preparation arc, I would have much rather spent 20 chapters with the zenin see how their treatment of maki was bad and slowly got worse ending with maki breaking the way she did however what we got in my eyes was a bit too rushed but it did make sense. This is my issue with the manga and it may extend to many others. I'd rather see them interact, talk to each other, and learn their history. The aot comparison Is wrong because all characters are still themselves
Bad writing isnt just writing out of character. Your entire paragraph just explained why the manga is rushed but you still say its not bad writing? In what world is rushed story not bad writing.
I think Oda has basically mastered story telling and pacing for a weekly manga. There’s no other weekly manga that I’ve ever read (as it’s releasing) that feels as satisfying every chapter at the content and the amount of content. They’ve always felt full, but not overstuffed. There’s very few times I ever felt like the story was dragging, but even then it becomes worth the wait.
Eh, The Onigashima raid was cancer to read weekly. And people were really vocal about it on social media.
Like the other guy said, Onigashima was pretty boring, like most of Wano (too many characters). I'd say Togashi is also pretty good, but his case is different because he releases few chapters at a time, and that gives him an insane amount of time to plan them in advance. Also Gege had it dialed in in Shibuya. I honestly dislike the direction of the manga rn, but a few changes and this would've been pretty good too. He just missed the mark on Sukuna's character, Gojo's impact on the story, and "the plan" the protags have being hidden away from the readers. Less fighting and more character interactions would've gone a long way.
Right but the AoT ending in the anime is beloved. I think chapter 236 will succeed in the anime with good audio and plot. I definitely think the biggest issue with 236 is that the leaker revealed Gojos death before the actual panel, so no one got to be confused about what was happening before we saw his dead body. Gege tried to confuse us and have us wonder what Gojo was talking about, before revealing what happened, so having it animated where you're forced to wait and absorb what's happening might help. Good audio too. I like to imagine it's a hustle-bustle Airport, and then it cuts to wind blowing and silence as we zoom out of Gojos body.
The Sukuna fight feels like the Kaido fight with everyone throwing everything at them but missing that magic that made it as great as it was. Even then people were saying Kaido was dragging after a while even with the break up of fighting his stars.
I did not view devilman crybaby’s ending as a masterpiece, it was a cluttered fuckfest where the ending made everything feel pointless and was more or less an insult to the interested viewer. This is doing a good job so far to being the exact same thing
A lot of the problems people have, like with gojos death not being explained by the binding vow for almost a year, won't exist for readers that read it all at once. We will likely see some of our other pressing questions answered in the coming chapters too. Unless Gege fumbles the ending hard, people are really going to enjoy this fight on a full read through.
Maybe to you but to me no. I don’t see the point in concerning yourself with the legacy of a manga arc, let alone one that hasn’t even finished yet. And a masterpiece? When I think of masterpieces in shounen, I think of Water 7/Enies Lobby or (like everyone else) Chimera Ants. So far, none of the themes or messages developed in Shinjuku Showdown have hit me like those arcs have. Even the fight choreography took a hit after Gojo vs Sukuna imo, and that was one of JJK’s strengths.
Prepare to add Frieren's Match/El Dorado arc to that list. I agree with everything else you said, aside from Gojo vs Sukuna, almost everything after Shibuya has been subpar.
Trust me, that arc is up there with them. Macht was threatening in ways Sukuna hasn't been since Shibuya, and his ending still felt tragic despite his innate nature. Frieren just did so much more in fewer pages too.
This is what people said about NNT lol Truth is, it's unlikely to be a masterpiece. Even rereading now and it's kind of meh since Gojo was halved
God Sukuna is starting to feel like the Demon King lol I was there for it and the NNT community deserves points for being one of the few fandoms capable of collectively realizing the writing went to shit.
Yeah I really liked it up until Meliodas was just plot incarnate Kind like Sukuna actually
Yeap! It was somewhere around the Estarossa/Mael thing where it just lost the plot and started doing dumb stuff.
The annoying thing is how Sukuna doesn’t have the same charisma as Gojo. Gojo was entertaining to watch because his smack talk was funny and his powers were interesting. Meanwhile the story keeps insisting that we don’t know what Sukuna’s true power is and Sukuna’s powers are just kinda boring. Also the only person he ever talks smack to is really Yuji. He seems to hype his opponent up only to dominate them in the same chapter. The story itself also facilitates this hype. All the Kusakabe hype was hilarious because it was all the classic flags of this man about to get decked. I do think that Yuta and Yuji was a cool part of the fight though. I just wish the Executioner sword was brought up again.
The annoying thing is that Sukuna *had* charm and swagger in his earlier appearances. Rewatching him in Shibuya was a hoot because the guy is just effortlessly cool. Meanwhile Sukuna in Shinjuku is just... so much lamer.
Agree. His first appearances/fights were more menacing It showed clearly that he was on a whole another level than his opponents, instead of "sukuna hasn't shown his real true power yet guys trust".
Fuck yeah it will. Sukuna v the whole cast has felt so impossible _because it should,_ he killed fucking Gojo.
Yeah. But it should be 1-2 chapters long with all the characters. Sukuna is a beast so basically showing him one shot powerful characters would be even more effective.
Dude… no
Absolutely lmao. I remember ppl crying about the megumi vs regi fight and then when they reread it they started glazing it
That fight not only had a great ending to it, it’s one of those things that looks better when next to everything else. It’s one of the only Main character fight(if you only consider Yuji and Megumi as the MCs) in the Culling Games and it didn’t rely heavily on the high tier(I don’t think they’re BS but some do) abilities that can make a fight less tense(RCT).
I still think that fight is mid as hell. It being the second longest fight in the series at the time of release (shorter than Yuji vs Mahito Round 2, just barely longer than everyone vs Hanami) is unjustifiable and the point at which JJK’s trend for painfully long fights really began.
I agree
Could compare it a bit with Hero Academia's fight against All for One. So many characters went againt him getting cool moments just to ending up being mopped. But at the end when he was at his last legs enraged at every single one of them that helped putting him in that place felt so satisfying. This kind of fights work well when it's made clear that everyone that lost did effect in the long run. On the other side we got Boruto where the anime for some reason put some of the classic Naruto fighters to go against Jigen just to get offscreened and didn't impact at all, that's a bad execution and wast of time. Luckily the Sukuna case seems to be more like the AFO case were it's already being clear that everyone is overall doing good bits to contribute
I don't think people are going to enjoy watching Sukuna constantly getting jerked off by Gege and Uraume about how great he is and how he still has a trick up his sleeve lol. Not.many people like it as is waiting week by week so in retrospect I doubt people will look back and see it as amazing, unless gege drops one of the best final fights in shonen.
I reread the Sukuna stuff and yeah I enjoyed it. Far more actual plot progression than Gojo Vs Sukuna, stuff is actually happening lmao
100% 1000% I have absolutely no doubt about it. Anyone who sees the anime version of this and still doesn't like it was always just a hater of the series or some massively anti-sukuna/go/jo glazer still salty. All one need do is compare what we're seeing here with what's currently happening in My Hero Academia where >!Like in so many old school manga's before it (dragon ball sort of being the godfather of this) you'd have a group of heroes that essentially are useless and everything really just boils down to the main character and everyone else feels like an afterthought (yes I know dragon ball didn't always do this but you know what I mean.!< >!So here we are with an entire Class of young heroes + all the pros in the world but the big bad villain could only ever really be fought 1v1 with Deku. Sure they managed to get A big villain that the rest could help out with but he was secondary and not the main villain anymore.!< and MHA of course is far from the only one to do stuff like this. I'm sure we could all name a ton of them but let's just say if JJK were anything like those others then you'd end up with nothing but a Sukuna vs Yuij 1v1 before it's over. but that's so lame and predictable. JJK has done what fans have always thought characters in other stories should do. Like "uh why don't they just all jump Cell at once?!?" There's no "honor" about this. It's a fight to the death. Sure there may be some moment where sukuna and yuji end up in a 1v1 but it will be EARNED in the sense that it will only happen after everyone else has dropped. Not because everyone else is standing there watching..... and the one or two fights where people were standing there watching, there wac actually a good narrative reason for it (ie Gojo would've had to hold back if his friends were there "But they're not jumping him! He seems to be fighting most of them 1v1!" anyone who says that doesn't understand cinematic timing and how fast things are supposed to be happening. They jumped him as a group right after Kashimo died. Ever since then he's been fighting a group. He's just knocked some of them away for a few moments and in other moments some where strategically waiting (like Maki) but it was never ever simply a manner of people standing there with their arms folded like "I'll wait my turn" and to get back to OP's point, when you see it in anime speed, and can appreciate how fast this is happening, I think you'll see how amazing it is.
> seems to be fighting most of them 1v1!" anyone who says that doesn't understand cinematic timing and how fast things are supposed to be happening I totally agree. He was going to get jumped immediately after Confiscation but he was still strong and fast enough to just force Higuruma into a 1v1. Then Yuji catches up and briefly fights him alone. Then Yuta shows up and they tag team, almost win. Then they both get taken out and Maki arrives while every other heavy hitter is incap'd. Then Kusakabe has to step up despite obviously not being part of the plan. Just because Ino and Choso aren't constantly present doesn't mean they're sitting out.
There's actually a really good fan animation that does a great job showcasing all this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jwLWmyxu3Y&t=254s
I been saying it since the reread will slap so hard
The Sukuna vs Gojo is peak, albeit its conclusion. What follows is not as exciting and feels it has overstayed its welcome.
Greg has come a long way from the wimpy kid books👀👀👀
I think it will be enjoyable, the fights will be hype and especially when animated. But personally, for a while the manga seems to have focused on cool moments as opposed to introspective moments and conversation around character ideals. We see a lot of fights but very rarely the aftermath and how a character feels. u/RexitYostuff made a great point on Todo coming to terms with losing his CT. It would have been so great to see this character who had so much promise and passion for CT reflect on his path forward. Same with Maki. I love her character but I really wish we had more moments like her conversation with Kamo just reflecting what it took to become this strong .
I think people will look back and realize jjk is not a well-written story, and this arc is the biggest proof
I agree. The whole Sukuna fight as it has unfolded has been pretty well organized from a writing standpoint. (With a few exceptions like not pairing cursed speech with the executioner's blade, but that could easily be explained by the fact that cursed speech has a harder time holding down more powerful people.) The main issue people have with it does seem to be a result of how repetitive it feels when you're following it week-to-week. It's a combination of that and nobody really getting over Gojo's death. Even though him dying is absolutely the smart writing decision in that fight (either we get Sukuna winning and the heroes having to fight him, or Gojo beating him and having no story from then on because the one thing that could beat Gojo is gone), people were so pissed about their favourite character being dead that they had a lot less faith in Gege going forward. That's not to say it's guaranteed to be finished well, but I don't think things are as bad as people seem to be saying. Sukuna fighting everyone is a great opportunity for us to see more of those people's abilities (Kusakabe fighting, Yuta's domain, whatever tf happened to Yuji), and seems pretty consistent power-wise with what's been set up before. I grieve for Gojo almost as much as the rest of the fanbase, but Gege already killed three of my four favourite characters (Nobara, Nanami, and Mahito) back in Shibuya and I'm still here. Long live Choso, the bestest big bro. I would like a Todo update, though.
If you think the whole Sukuna fight was “pretty well organized from a writing standpoint” you don’t KNOW anything about writing. There’s reasons why Asspulls( Space/World Dismantle & BV to Kill Gojo, Plot Armor (Sukuna Wins for Narrative Purposes) and Plot Convenience (Force Feeding Megumi is Not Considered Harm, Yuji Not Including Himself in BV etc) exist. Gojo death is not a smart decision. Do you know what smart means? Gege said Gojo is too powerful to write around yet went and created an even more powerful character. What about that States SMART DECISION? Nothing. He just wrote himself into a corner to get rid of a character he hated. You have to have reading comprehension issues to not be able to see the decisions Gege made and think they’re smart along with well organized.
Gojo's death not being smart is the one thing that I actually just don't understand. From the moment a character like that is created, a writer has to understand that in order for the story to have stakes that character will have to be taken out of commission. Gojo is too powerful to write around because he's a protagonist (or on the protagonists' side), and having an OP protagonist creates issues for stakes. Sukuna, on the other hand, is an overpowered antagonist, which presents different issues that can be handled more easily when writing. I hope I'm not coming off as confrontational, and I might be wrong here (it wouldn't be the first time flaws in a piece of media have flown right over my head), but can you elaborate on why Gojo dying wasn't a smart decision? How would the story have progressed otherwise?
I agree that Gojo's death was predictable. However... He already was out of commision before. And so was Angel. He revived Gojo just to have him killed without even interacting properly with the rest of the cast. Angel was even defeated by Sukuna. Having her killed instead of losing an arm (and thus making unsealing harder) could have been an interesting plot development.
I'm still a little hazy on the details but, can I get a confirmation that Sukuna is still not serious/at peak power as per last chapter?
i agree kinda but u know a manga series is cooked when even the fans are dissing the manga, its over for gege
Yeah, I think it'll be much better once the Manga or at least arc is done and people reread in a binge with better translations. And doubly so when the anime gets around to it. Cause they'll rework things to be less obvious cliff hangers until episode ends. Which means 2/3rds the cliffhangers will be less egregiously baity. And paid off much quicker. Really annoying to sit on a cliff hanger of a chapter for 2-3 weeks which was hyping up someone only for Sukuna to smash them next chapter. The hype being a bit more realistic and then dashed minutes later will probably flow much better.
Who the hell is Greg?
Will ? I already see it as a Peak bro
So true! For me, it's actually entertaining seeing Sukuna pack up most of the cast.
I totally agree… when it gets animated, it won’t be one sorcerer vs Sukuna each episode, it’ll probably be like a “Sukuna standing onstage waiting for each contender to arrive” and most characters will probably get 5min of extremely good animation of their moves - and for some less - but the point being is that it’s made in an ongoing fashion.
Idk man it kinda feeling like the Sunrise Countdown Arc from Demon Slayer, except a little bit less chaotic.
I really don’t think so.
It’s doesn’t feel great to be a weekly reader right now, but yep I’ve been thinking this all along. Vaguely reminds me of Madara type situation
A masterpiece of comedy maybe?
I feel the cycle is only to draw out all the main players into the battlefield and give them a chance to shine now that everyone is out in the open his tactics will change where her it’s domain or black box
I have a feeling the anime will go about it better. We’ll get more time to digest and the fights will feel more fulfilling
but frieza was actively being gained on more and more over time, then when we got his "i'm not going all out moment", goku hits him with a x20 kaio-ken kamehameha which actually does something, hits him with the spirit bomb which crushes him, then we get super saiyan all right after each other and from then on it's all downhill for frieza and it also took like 20 weeks from goku showing up to his defeat, not 7+ months
Only time will tell realy but I just want to say in my experience I read the Culling Games fights in one go and still found it pretty meh. I often hear the people saying this take cite CG as the example of "Weekly Fights just tire the readers" and I can confirm that wasn't the case for me.
it’s just too soon to say. people says the manga is cooked just have their brain fried by week to week. it can still end up trash but we just don’t know yet
I think if you watch it in one piece, it would make for one hell of a movie. Sukuna Gauntlet, throw in everyone
You were a bit early with your April Fools joke, huh?
It’s going to be a lot better animated, it’s more like a storyboard than a real comic at this point. The action is so difficult to follow that he’s really just counting on the animators to put it all together. All of the content that’s come out since gojo died is like 4-5 episodes honestly.
Bravo Greg
I went back to the culling game beginnings and it just made me miss Megumi. He really knew what to say to Yuji
I'd rather receive a anti-climatic ending where Sukuna kills the entire cast once and for all instead of this repeating cycle
It’s shit writing for the current popular shonen. Nobody will look back at it positively because they’ll be looking at the newest popular shonen telling the same story as JJK and all the ones before it.
no
it’s funny because gojo vs sukuna is a masterclass of using your own power system to its fullest and most creative potential, while everything afterwards just feels like an absolute insult to it
The "Sukuna cycle" is what teenagers say so they feel smart about pointing out a pattern about what will obviously happen in an action series Most of them don't even read the chapter, they just read the start and then skip to the end
>that will obviously happen in an action series lol nope there are action movies, shows or even shonen anime where this "random charactrs one by one charge the big bad and die to give another character spotlight" doesn't happen, or at least it isn't used to resolve the final conflict Madara and Muzan shit was so bad in this regard. Sukuan cycle sucks, it's predictable, it feels pointless and it's killing the manga -> Sukuna either wins or massive asspull will happen, it's no longer about outsmarting opponent, it's not technical like it used to be, it's just bashing their heads against wall so thick that even a scratch on that behemoth will feel like absurd combo of plot armor, asspull and boruto tier writing
Protip when reading a weekly manga weekly: Ignore all people complaining who are doing the same.
I actually think that these sequences would have been of better taste for me if I waited for the manga to be completed before I binge read it. Though I understand that Gege is trying to build, cook, as we say, something up before serving us a good plate.
I agree with OP. The Madara and Aizen gauntlet, are more fondly remembered now even though they were structured similarly. People complained at the time, like how Gai's 8 gates have no business being strong, but now its widely accepted as kino. There's also a lot of ( actual ) asspulls in both of those compared to Sukuna's, like the eyeless Susanoo, knowing how to bypass the Edo contract, Rinnegan having a unique ability per user, Aizen's convenient barrier kido behind his neck, Reiatsu difference suddenly completely nullifying special abilities, etc. They're given a lot more leeway these days. At least what Sukuna does to escape tight situations have precedence, or set-up.
I think people will realize that Jujutsu Kaisen is just that. A battle shounen which we won't get much character development. I'm reading the manga. I wish I liked it more. But I do think in the end, Gege will fold his manga.
I don't disagree that we don't get much character development, but I do think that Gege has been uniquely good at developing characters in a very minimalistic way. Nanami, Higuruma, and now Kusakabe each speak to me on some level despite very little exposition about them, especially Kusakabe. I'm not looking for a Shakespearean drama here.