Jujutsu Kaisen’s season 3 finale made a subtle but perfect change to Sukuna

Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 ended with an exceptional finale, and season 4 of the beloved anime adaptation is already in the works, set to adapt the final stretch of the ongoing Culling Game arc. The recent finale concluded the Sendai Colony segment with the victory of Yuta Okkotsu, whose astonishing strength is put to the test in a tense three-way battle. While bigger fights are a major part of the upcoming season, the impetus behind the story now revolves around Kenjaku and Sukuna: Two powerful beings who can unleash themselves on the world like calamities.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga]

After Yuta defeats sorcerers Ryu Ishigori and Takako Uro in Sendai Colony, he stops and rests for a bit. Uro warns Yuta that he is reaching his limit and that he won’t be able to keep up with powerful sorcerers like Kenjaku in the long run. As beings like Kenjaku and Sukuna are purely driven by ego, their inability to feel compassion makes them unpredictable, like calamities. This monologue is synced with shots of Kenjaku swimming underwater to ensure that the Prison Realm (which houses Satoru Gojo) is safe, and a blink-and-you-miss-it glimpse of Sukuna’s true Heian era form.

Director Shōta Goshozono and MAPPA have taken creative liberties that have greatly enriched the vision for season 3. This means filling in contextual gaps in Akutami’s compelling saga and telling a story uniquely suited to the dazzling animated medium. This part of the finale, which adapts Chapter 181 from the manga, adds the Kenjaku scenes to remind us of Gojo’s continued imprisonment. Additionally, instead of giving us a lingering shot of Sukuna’s true form like in the manga, we get a close-up shot of his roving, protruding eye, followed by a split-second image of his true form. Although we are welcome to pause, MAPPA has chosen not to linger at such a crucial moment for a good reason.

Sukuna is an ancient curse whose lifelong mantra has been limitless indulgence. He relishes human suffering instead of being indifferent to it, and likens his victims to maggots. Such a sadistic individual takes great pride in tangible displays of his power, which manifests in his Heian-era true form. The fact that Sukuna has to share a vessel with a compassionate “brat” like Yuji Itadori fuels his resentment, which explains why he has gleefully indulged in violence whenever he has taken control of Yuji’s body.

Image: Viz Media

Sukuna doesn’t have aspirations in the same way Kenjaku does, but he prizes his freedom above all else, which can only be attained when he inhabits his true form. This is a point of no return that is triggered in Chapter 237, where Sukuna uses a fight against Hajime Kashimo as the perfect window to transform into his most formidable form. At this juncture, the Culling Games have already ended, leading up to the eighth and final Shinjuku Showdown arc, which features the climactic clash between Sukuna and the jujutsu sorcerers. MAPPA is saving Sukuna’s ultimate physical transformation for season 4 of Jujutsu Kaisen and beyond. That said, Sukuna has yet to function as a metaphorical “bomb” to bring the Culling Game to its final stages, which season 4 will extensively delve into.

Sukuna’s eventual form is terrifying, replete with four arms, a protruding bone structure under his two right eyes, and a mouth on his midriff. The implications are more symbolic than literal, but this is a version of Sukuna that can cut down the strongest sorcerers and push jujutsu society to the brink of ruin. While Sukuna’s upcoming transformation is inevitable, we will have to wait and see how Yuji and his friends deal with such an ancient calamity.