Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen 236, “The South” by Gege Akutami, translated by John Werry, and Lettered by Snir Aharon, available in English fromMangaPlus.
Jujutsu Kaisenchapter 236 finally dropped after a break and it is safe to say that this chapter shocked the vast majority of fans. In the entire history ofJujutsu Kaisen, this chapter might be the most shocking one of all that has left fans in disbelief after what they witnessed. The chapter marked the conclusion of the fight between Gojo and Sukuna.
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Fans know that these two fighters have been going at it for quite a while now and it was only a matter of time before one of them emerged as the victor. In this chapter, that character wasrevealed to be Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses. Despite all the build-up for Gojo to be the winner in the previous chapter, the script was flipped entirelyand Sukuna came out on top.
Gojo In The Afterlife
Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 236 had a very strange beginning. The previous chapter ended with Gojo launching his powerful Hollow Purple and severely injuring Sukuna, pushing him to the extreme and leaving him with little energy. Sukuna himself confessed to the fact that taking Purple from so close up would be fatal for him, meaning he was aware of the fact that he could lose the battle. Gojo’s gamble paid off and Sukuna was hit by an incredibly powerful technique that left him without the ability to use Domain Amplification, limited his healing powers, and even took Mahoraga away from him.
Yet, whenJJKchapter 236 began,Gojo was seen in the afterlife.Much to the surprise of the fans, Gojo was seen talking to his former friends, such as Suguru. These two were seen sharing a deep conversation with each other and Gojo ended up revealing that at the end of it all, he was the one who lost the battle to Sukuna. This came as a shock to all the fans. Furthermore, Gojo also confirmed that even if Sukuna did not have Mahoraga, he would probably have lost the fight anyway. At the same time, he then went on to meet his other friends, such as Nanami, Haibara, among others.
The concept of north and south was revealed to the fans at this point in the story. Essentially, in the afterlife, one can either go to the north or the south. Going to the South means that one wants to stay how they are and not seek anything further. Going north means seeking out a new version of themselves. Knowing Gojo, he most likely went with the north route and that is why he waved goodbye to his friends.
How Sukuna Defeated Gojo
In the real world, Sukuna explains to the watchers what just happened. InJJKchapter 236, Sukuna finally revealed his grand strategy.The reason why he brought out Mahoragain the first place was to figure out a way to bypass Gojo’s Infinity. Naturally, Mahoraga was able to adapt to Infinity in time. From there onwards, he changed the nature of its Cursed Energy and then was able to hit Gojo normally. This was not possible for Sukuna to pull off. As such, he looked for an alternative way from Mahoraga to counter the power of Infinity that coated Gojo. When Mahoraga sent out a slash that chopped off Gojo’s arm, that is precisely what Sukuna had wanted.
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From this, he realized that in order to bypass the Infinity, he simply had to change his target from Gojo to the entire world itself, including space. This meant whatever stood in between Gojo and Sukuna also got chopped when he targeted the whole world. While this makes sense on paper, it is quite confusing as, at the end of the day, there is still infinity between Gojo and Sukuna and Infinity cannot be cut as there is no end to it. The whole idea of cutting up the whole world might make sense on paper, however, practically, it doesn’t seem like this technique would actually be able to bypass Infinity. Why the author went this way has confused quite a lot of the fans.
The Death Of Gojo Satoru
Regardless of whether Sukuna’s new ability made sense or not, the result was that Gojo ended up dying. This shocked the entirety ofJJKfans and it also those around him watching the battle. Gojo’s entire body was chopped in half. His legs were seen standing while the torso fell on its back.
Even his arm was chopped off and it was quite clear to see that this was the end of the road for Gojo Satoru. In the afterlife, Gojo also explained that he had finally seen the end of his life. He explained that Sukuna was way too strong and that he felt no regrets, however, he did feel sad at the fact that his feelings could not reach him.
At the end of the day, Gojo empathized with Sukuna to some extent, given that he knew what it meant to be the strongest and the loneliness that came with standing at the top alone. Gojo thought that he was going to be the one to teach Sukuna the meaning of love, however, that was not to be.
Gojo certainly gave it his all. He had trained his technique to the fullest and reached a point where he was the strongest in the modern era. Despite all that, at the end of the day, he was not able to defeat Sukuna. By his own admission, he could have lost the battle even if the Ten Shadows Technique wasn’t in possession of the latter. However, based on what fans saw in the fight, that claim is rather bizarre. For the vast majority of the fight, Gojo was the one in charge. In fact, Sukuna was on the ropes for the entirety of it and Gojo one upped him and nearly every department of the fight.
The fact is, the author simply wanted an easier way out and he had Gojo removed from the story. This should not come as a surprise to the fans at all. Gojo is a character who was way too powerful and had to be removed from the story in order for the plot to progress. However, the way it was dealt with was certainly not satisfactory.
The shock value in the chapter certainly was something, however, looking deeper into it, the whole situation made little sense, especially given that Gojo had his Reverse Cursed Technique fully filled out in the previous chapter. Why he simply wouldn’t go on to heal from here onwards is something that fans don’t know at this point. There were also lots of things that Gojo’s character had to resolve, such as creating a new era of Jujutsu Sorcery, and other personal things, such as giving Suguru a burial. It would be an understatement to say that the fans were left with the sour taste in their mouths having all those plot points being dropped by the author. From the way Sukuna dealt with infinity to Gojo simply not being able to use RCT anymore, to Gojo losing despite dominating the majority of the fight, this chapter was full of question marks for the fans.
Regardless, the fighting continues and fans likely won’t even getto see the aftermath of Gojo’s death.Kashimo steps in to fight Sukuna and it will be interesting to see how this battle progresses from here onwards.
