Summary
- Isolation vs. Cooperation: Gojo embodies strength through teamwork, while Sukuna represents strength in isolation.
- Gojo’s method prevailed as his students, empowered by his teachings, ultimately defeated Sukuna.
- Sukuna’s defeat acknowledges the importance of support and teamwork over isolation.
The main selling point of any successful story is the underlying themes that are portrayed through the main narrative, and Jujutsu Kaisen is no stranger to this. While the finale left a lot to be desired for many fans, none can deny that the story is filled with pertinent themes about things that affect the lives of not only the characters but also the many viewers of the series.
However, of all the underlying tropes of Jujutsu Kaisen, there is one that stands above the others in terms of importance. This was the question of whether it’s better to gain strength on one’s own or to rely on others to get stronger, and not only was it hinted at from the very start of the series, but it was one of the biggest themes in some of the series’ most important battles, chief among them being Gojo’s fight against Sukuna. So, let’s take a look at this claim to see who was right at the end.
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Is It Better To Become Stronger Alone Or With Others?
The Chief Dilemma At The Center of the Series
Ever since the start of Jujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna had been built up as the ultimate evil; a terrifying curse whose incredible power was unmatched throughout history. Conversely, Gojo was considered by everyone to be the strongest sorcerer in the world whose birth shifted the balance of power so much that stronger curses needed to manifest to keep everything stable.
Although Yuji is undoubtedly the main character, Gojo is a better subject in terms of the message the series wanted to send. Through his training and proficiency with his Cursed Technique and Cursed Energy, Gojo essentially became a one-man army that never really needed anyone to help him, to the point where his allies served as a hindrance to him in any combat situation. However, this also led to him being utterly isolated, since his strength put him on a level that no one could understand him.
Are you the strongest because you’re Satoru Gojo, or are you Satoru Gojo because you’re the strongest?
To combat this, Gojo sought to bring up his allies and their power so that no one else would know the isolation of such strength. By fostering strong allies and having them all rely on each other for support and to push themselves to greater heights, he wanted to change the way everything in the world worked, where no power belonged to one specific person. Instead, it would be split among many like-minded people who all had each other to rely upon.
On the other hand, Sukuna was the exact opposite of this. Just like Gojo, he was insanely strong, existing on a level of power where no one else could match him, resulting in him also being just as isolated as his counterpart. However, unlike Gojo, he reveled in this isolation, stating that no one other than himself was needed to satisfy his life since no one could give him anything he wanted.
Believing that strength-based hierarchies were the only ones that mattered, he pushed everyone away from himself because he knew that no one could think like him due to their lack of strength, but this was something he wanted. Since Sukuna believed himself to be above all societal conventions and standards, he could do whatever he wanted without having to worry about what others thought, so he always just lived for himself.
All of this came together in the long-awaited fight between Gojo and Sukuna. Not only were these two destined to battle, but their respective ideologies also clashed in a contest to determine the correct way to live for the one to hold the title of the strongest; with Sukuna representing strength in total isolation and Gojo representing strength through relying on others.
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What’s The Superior Mindset?
Only One Ideology Stands Out
While many argue that Sukuna’s ideology is the superior one since he defeated Gojo and cemented his name as the strongest in history, the truth is more nuanced than that. Although Gojo definitely tried his hardest to defeat the King of Curses, his real contribution was to foster the strength of his students and contemporaries, which is ultimately what led to Sukuna’s defeat. Because of how strong Yuji and the others had gotten, they were able to expound on the damage Gojo had already done to Sukuna and eventually defeat him.
Due to this, it was Gojo’s ideology that proved to be the superior one over Sukuna’s. Even when his soul was passing on, Sukuna acknowledged that he lost far and square and that relying on others was the deciding factor that eventually led to his defeat, proving that isolation will never be superior to relying on others and having support around you.
Jujutsu Kaisen can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime.
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Jujutsu Kaisen
Based on Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Mappa’s battle shonen anime envisions a world where Jujutsu Sorcerers battle against entities born out of Cursed Energy. One day, a teenager named Yuji Itadori is dragged into this conflict when he eats a possessed finger.
- Release Date
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October 3, 2020
- Main Genre
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Animation
- Based On
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Manga
- Creator
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Gege Akutami
- Number of Episodes
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47