Characters / Jujutsu Kaisen: Ryomen Sukuna

Jujutsu Kaisen Main Character Index
Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School (Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Satoru Gojo) | Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High School | Cursed Spirits (Mahito) | Curse Users (Ryomen Sukuna) | Culling Game Players | Zen'in Clan | Others

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Ryomen Sukuna (両面宿儺, "Two-Faced Fiend")

Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Ray Chase (English)^{Foreign VAs} Osvaldo Trejo (Latin American Spanish), Mattia Bressan (Italian)

Jujutsu: Shrine (Cleave, Dismantle), Open, Reverse Cursed Technique, the Jujutsu of the body he's currently occupying

^{Click here to see his true form}

^{Click here to see him during the Culling Game (Spoilers)}

"I understand love and I say to you... love is worthless. I've never needed anyone to satisfy me. I eat when I wanna eat, play with what amuses me, and kill whoever's in my way. I live as befits my nature. If no one can grasp that, then that's their problem."

One of the primary antagonists of Jujutsu Kaisen, Ryomen Sukuna was once a legendary evil Sorcerer with four arms and two faces who lived during Japan's Heian period; crowned "the King of Curses" for his incredible strength, Sukuna's soul was able to persist after his death within his twenty severed fingers, now a set of indestructible Cursed Objects responsible for much death and misfortune throughout the rest of Jujutsu Society's history.

One of these fingers would eventually be consumed by Yuji Itadori, incarnating Sukuna into his body and beginning his life as a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

His Innate Technique, Shrine, allows him to cut his surroundings. The technique takes two forms: Dismantle and Cleave. Dismantle, the default form, launches slashes from a range using a set amount of Cursed Energy. Cleave, the secondary form, adjusts its cursed energy output in regard to an object's cursed energy and physical toughness to slice through it in one motion, although unlike Dismantle this form requires Sukuna to make physical contact with whatever he's cutting. Additionally, Sukuna is also able to use a fire technique by chanting "Open." Next to nothing is known about this technique as of right now beyond the fact that Sukuna can use it.

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A-H

• 11th-Hour Superpower: At the climax of his fight with Satoru Gojo, Sukuna manages to use Mahoraga's adaptation to learn how to cleave space with his slashes. This allows Sukuna to completely bypass Limitless and makes his slashes unblockable, cleaving Gojo in two with a single slash.
• Achilles' Heel:
  • A very minor one, but his Malevolent Shrine's open-barrier nature is a slight weak spot, as while it greatly expands the range of its sure-hit effect, it also means that it's possible for someone to escape from it. In addition, while it's impossible to destroy the domain outwardly, if Sukuna critically injured, then the shrine will collapse. Considering how overwhelming Sukuna is, these are almost moot points, as anyone in a position to see the shrine is usually obliterated almost instantly, but Gojo makes good use of these facts in their fight.
  • At just the last moment in his battle with Satoru Gojo, Sukuna learns from Mahoraga's example to create a World Cutting Dismantle, effectively serving as a One-Hit Kill to anything it touches, with no amount of durability or cursed energy being able to stop it. The problem, however, is that Sukuna was forced to use an impromptu Binding Vow to use the move as a last-second sneak attack to kill Gojo in return for needing to use hand signs and incantations for every subsequent usage of the attack. The problems with this are twofold. One: Sukuna's chants informs the enemy of when the move is coming and, if they're fast enough like Maki, they can dodge in time. Two: Sukuna needs a functioning tongue and functioning right and left hands. While his Heian form grants him two mouths and four arms, he has his lower left arm blown off by Yuji erupting his own blood inside of Sukuna's body and then has his upper right arm cut off by Maki in a sneak attack, fully sealing Sukuna's ability to use his One-Hit Kill.
  • Yuji Itadori. Specifically, Sukuna's violent loathing and contempt towards Yuji eventually turns out to be one of his most serious weaknessness — Uraume states that Sukuna's love of combat has him unlock ever-deeper wells of potential as his opponents challenge and excite him, but he hates Yuji so much that when they finally come to blows, Sukuna can only feel amusement, then bafflement, then rage as the boy refuses to back down. Eventually Yuji starts to gain the upper hand on him, and Sukuna can only scream furiously as he's unable to regain his momentum.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Like Yuji, the manga initially depicted his hair as blonde while the anime made it pink, which lead to the colour spreads eventually switching to pink hair as well.
• Always Someone Better:
  • After possessing Megumi's body, he demonstrates skill and power with the Ten Shadows Technique far beyond Megumi's. For instance, he can partially summon Divine Dogs to make them immune to destruction. The Nue Sukuna summons is huge and conjures lightning blasts that span a city block. He also tamed each of the Ten Shadows Familiars, including ones never seen before, Tranquil Deer and Piercing Ox. Most concerningly, he can pre-program Mahoraga's Adaptive Ability by summoning Furu's Wheel, and then take hits to make Mahoraga fully adapt, before summoning it and annihilating his opponent.
  • Yuji excels in hand-to-hand combat and physical prowess, yet Sukuna is easily above Yuji, as shown in their first scuffle. Even after he abandons Yuji to take over Megumi, and Yuji displays even greater superhuman ability, Sukuna is still stronger. Even Maki with full Heavenly Restriction is unable to beat Sukuna while tag-teaming with Yuji.
  • Gojo Satoru is the Strongest Sorcerer of the modern age, but even he lost to Sukuna, saying he was unable to make him go all out and wasn't sure he could have won even if Sukuna didn't have the Ten Shadows.
  • Deconstructed in regard to his opponents after Gojo. Sukuna is stronger than them without question, yet he lets this go to his head and holds back so he can play around with them... and then the damage starts racking up until he can't keep up with the very opponents he should be so much stronger than, even taking into account Jujutsu High's plans for their raid against him. There's also the fact that he refuses to acknowledge that Yuji is an actual threat to him, which gradually allows the flow of battle to turn against the King of Curses.
• Ambiguously Human: In life, Sukuna was a four-armed man with four eyes and half of his face seemingly scarred or distorted; this on top of his keen insight on curses and his ability to live even after death makes him something more than a Sorcerer. However, his mastery of Reverse Cursed Technique, a Healing Factor that uses energy that is anathema to any Cursed Spirit, as well as his immunity to Mahoraga's Sword of Extermination, which kills Cursed Spirits, indicates that Sukuna is not a Cursed Spirit either.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Subverted. He tries to offer Yuji a Deal with the Devil in exchange for bringing him back to life. This being Yuji, the deal sinks. Sukuna recontextualizes his offer as a wager where Yuji will either be resurrected with no strings attached if he wins or with conditions advantageous to Sukuna if he doesn't. Yuji being Yuji, accepts. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
• Ancient Evil: Sukuna was born over a thousand years ago, and no one, not even Gojo, has been able to destroy his remains. Tengen reveals he likely managed to survive as a Cursed Object with the help of Kenjaku, and he's not the only ancient sorcerer to have done so.
• Arch-Enemy: He usurps Mahito's position as Yuji's after the Shibuya Incident, after he slaughters thousands of civilians using Malevolent Shrine. Yuji is left utterly horrified by the massacre, and makes Yuta promise to kill him on the spot if Sukuna ever manages to take control again. After Sukuna escapes his body, pulls a Grand Theft Me on Megumi, and seemingly kills Hana, Yuji comes to hate Sukuna even more to the point where he continues marching toward him even as Sukuna tries to turn him into mincemeat. And Chapter 248 shows that the feeling is mutual on Sukuna's part as he hates the fact that no matter how hard he tries, he can't break Yuji's resolve and it irritates him that someone so weak can challenge him by sheer force of will.
• The Archmage: His cursed technique is one of the most devastating in the whole series. On top of that, Sukuna has insane levels of cursed energy, clarified to be twice greater, or even more, than that of Yuta Okkotsu, whose cursed energy surpasses even Gojo. Kashimo Hajime, someone who was eager to fight him, describes his cursed energy control as near-godlike. He's one of the very few sorcerers thus far capable of both a Reversed Cursed Technique and a Domain Expansion, and is the only sorcerer so far besides Kenjaku, a certified Barrier Warrior, that can manifest their Domain without closing off the barrier, a feat compared to an artist able to paint his magnum opus on thin air instead of upon a canvas, which steps into the realm of divinity.
• An Arm and a Leg: Over the course of the Inhuman Shinjuku Showdown arc, the damage Sukuna takes slowly starts racking up. A look at his hands can give you a pretty good benchmark on how he's doing. He loses his left hand from Gojo after taking a Hollow Purple head-on, forcing him to make an impromptu binding vow to use the World Cutting Dismantle with one hand in return for needing to use hand signs and incantations in all later uses of the technique. Kashimo immediately jumping him forces Sukuna to fully incarnate into his Heian form to heal, giving him four extra arms. Moments later, when toying around with Higurama, Sukuna allows him to seemingly get a hit in with his Executioner's Sword... only to mockingly sever his upper right hand. He's able to slow heal this injury with Reverse Cursed Technique, but he isn't so lucky with the next injuries he takes. When inside of Yuta's domain, Yuji spits blood into an open wound on Sukuna's face, waits for him to heal, and then uses Blood Manipulation to erupt his own blood from inside Sukuna, causing Sukuna's lower left arm to fly off. Moments later, Sukuna takes a Jacob's Ladder from Yuta head-on, which pierces his lower right arm and renders it a useless, bloody stump. Unlike his prior injuries, Sukuna is hurt enough that he's unable to properly heal from this injuries in time. And then a few minutes later, Maki sneak attacks him and cuts off his upper left arm, fully sealing his ability to use the World Cutting Dismantle and leaving him with only one functioning hand.
• Archnemesis Dad: From a jujutsu perspective, Sukuna can be considered Yuji's father, as jujutsu considers identical twins to be the same entity. Sukuna devoured his twin within the womb due to his starving mother, and his soul recirculated until it was reincarnated as Yuji's father.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: His Innate Domain is a Ribcage Ridge with a colossal pile of bovine skulls at its center. He's usually sitting on top of them like a makeshift throne whenever someone visits him.
• Autocannibalism: He eats his own mummified corpse brought to him by Kenjaku when he and Uraume realize that Gojo hid away his twentieth finger to stall Itadori's execution indefinitely. Sukuna comments that it will make up the difference of one of his fingers.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: He’s trapped in Yuji’s body. The most he can do without his permission is hurl petty insults. But whenever he is allowed to do more than talk, everything gets worse for both sides of the conflict. And when he takes over Megumi instead, all bets are off.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His upgraded Dismantle that "divides the world" is initially speculated to have aspects of this by Kusakabe and is later confirmed by the narration. Although it is extremely powerful and functionally unblockable, it works by expanding the technique's target (in this case, the world itself) and normally requires a hand sign to cast. However, due to the loss of an arm during his battle against Gojo, Sukuna was forced to make a binding vow that allowed him to cast the technique once without the need of hands in exchange for being forced to use not only hand signs but chants as well having to manually direct the trajectory of the slash with his hand for all subsequent usages. Therefore, this technique is much more telegraphed than Sukuna's standard Dismantle, although this drawback is considerably offset by its sheer lethality and Sukuna having multiple mouths and two sets of arms for chants and hand signs.
• Awesomeness by Analysis:
  • As the man who stood at the top of the Heian era, Sukuna is an incredibly perceptive fighter who can quickly deduce the workings behind complex techniques and take the appropriates measures to counter or copy them.This ability proves key to his 11th-Hour Superpower. Which is the result of him observing Mahoraga's second adaptation and learning how to imitate it with his own slashes. He manages to do so in a minute, despite admitting that it was an incredibly difficult feat to pull off.
  • When the cast gangs up with him in earnest following Gojo's defeat, it transpires that Sukuna was actively paying attention to everything Yuji saw while he was his host, allowing him to plan countermeasures to the likes of Higuruma's Deadly Sentencing and recognize the danger of Ino's borrowed Ratio in time to avoid being thwarted by them.
• Ax-Crazy: Sukuna absolutely loves death and bloodshed. His ultraviolence is truly Rated E For Everyone, as his first thought when incarnated into Yuji was wanting to massacre everyone in the vicinity with unhinged laughter. This is especially true for innocent people like women and children, comparing them to maggots crawling around.
• Badass Boast:
  • Frequently, and is easily able to back these up.
  "How about I show you what real Jujutsu looks like?"
  "More. More! Put more Curse into it when you strike at me!"
  "The moonlight's illumination makes it easier to see how pathetic you are."
  • An insinuated comparison of their strengths and a pat on the shoulder was all it took to reduce a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit formed from one of his fingers to freezing up in fear.
  "Apparently we're both "Special-grade". You and me both, bud."
  • In the beginning of his fight with Satoru Gojo, the Strongest sorcerer of the Modern era, after launching a 200% Hollow Purple at him, Sukuna had this to say:
  "You seem pretty pleased with yourself for only landing a surprise attack. You are but a fish atop my chopping board Gojo Satoru. A bit fresher than others but still just a nameless fish. Let's start by peeling off those scales."
• Badass Long Robe: Within his and Yuji's Innate Domain, he's depicted wearing a white kimono based on the one he wore in his real body. Word of God mentions he wears a female kimono because its sleeves are much looser than men's kimonos and thereby more comfortable for his four arms.
• Bait the Dog: Think Sukuna reviving Yuji with him promising he won't kill anyone during the time he's in control is just him being decent? Sukuna laughs at Yuji after Mahito transfigures Junpei so that he can give the boy false hope that he could cure him but won't. Later, he destroys most of Shibuya, fully aware that this will break Yuji, even giving him his body back while staring at the destruction.
  • He seemed to respect Megumi's strength, even saving his life in Shibuya. Chapter 212 reveals this was all so that he could snatch his body later. He does so by taking advantage of Megumi's horror at Tsumiki's status, and using the Enchain vow to launch a surprise attack on Megumi, since unlike Yuji, Megumi isn't resistant to Sukuna's possession. After sensing that Megumi is resisting his possession from within, he kills Tsumiki, to completely bury Megumi's soul.
• Baritone of Strength: Sukuna boasts an impressive power set even when trapped in Yuji and Ray Chase has an incredibly deep voice to match and takes it a step further by going full Evil Sounds Raspy for Sukuna in certain scenes. While less obvious, Jun'ichi Suwabe still gives Sukuna a subtle baritone.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: As dangerous as his Innate Technique is, Sukuna seems to prefer fighting hand-to-hand with his Super-Strength and only starts using Jujutsu if he considers his opponent worth the effort.
• The Beastmaster: In Megumi's body he proves supremely skilled at playing as the very type of mid-range Familiar user he previously derided, as his insane amount of Cursed Energy and mastery in using it effectively as well turns Megumi's Shikigami into devastating Kaiju-like creatures that are nearly unkillable due to Sukuna getting clever with how and when he summons and dismisses the Ten Shadows.
• Beware of Vicious Dog: The Divine Dogs are usually a Big Friendly Dog, but under Sukuna's control they turn into this trope.
• Benevolent Boss: Surprisingly enough, despite how much of a Jerkass that he is, Sukuna is shown to be at least a nice boss towards Uraume, his only subordinate: He treats them like a friend rather than a lesser person, praises them for their work, and forgives them when they failed to find his last finger casually.
• Berserk Button: There are very few things that can truly enrage Sukuna, but the most consistant one is Yuji Itadori, as Sukuna can't stand him. At first, this seems to be due to Yuji having acted as his prison, but the main reason is Sukuna can't comprehend why Yuji keeps fighting no matter what he throws at him, while also embodying everything Sukuna believes is a sign of weakness. As such, Yuji vexes Sukuna by his mere existence.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Sukuna is considered the overall threat, as the central goal of the series is to gather all of his fingers into a single vessel, in order to destroy him for good. However, since he spends much of the series sealed within Yuji and only occasionally surfacing, he shares the mantle of main villain with Kenjaku, who set the story's events into motion and has grander ambitions in mind. Sukuna edges out as the apparent Final Boss after Kenjaku meets his demise at the hand of Yuta Okkotsu at the end of the Culling Games. However, it's also worth noting that not even Sukuna seems to have a full grasp on Kenjaku's machinations, dismissing Kenjaku's creation of Yuji as nothing more than a desire to create a strong vessel, when it's heavily implied that Kenjaku's plans for the boy go beyond just that as Yuji is an anomaly that can actively imprison Sukuna, not just host him.
• Bishōnen Line: Sukuna's original body was of a brutish looking man with four arms and a facial deformity. In the modern age, he goes on to possess Yuji and Megumi's bodies, the latter of which he reclaims full power with in addition to obtaining the coveted Ten Shadows Technique, making him even more powerful than he was during the Heian era. However, this eventually gets turned on its head when Sukuna fully incarnates into his original form, which is completely optimized for jujutsu in addition to having a newly upgraded Dismantle that allows him to bypass any defense.
• Blood Bath: After taking over Megumi's body, one of his first priorities is "taking a bath"... by which he means dunking himself in a solution of pure Cursed Energy that has been extracted from Spirits that Uraume butchered while they were still alive in a manner that prevents their decomposition.
• Blood Knight: He gets extremely riled up about fighting, whether he is flatlining his opponent or actually facing a challenge. In particular, his interest in Megumi seems to be based on awareness of Megumi's potential. Especially when he fights Mahoraga and he gets truly excited at the sight of its adaptability. After Gojo is freed, Sukuna agrees to wait for over a month just to make good on his word that he would kill Gojo as soon as he regained his full power.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: The Cursed Tool made for him by Yorozu as she laid dying is a replica of the Vajra Sukuna wielded in life, as first seen on the Chapter 117 color page. Named Kamutoke, it is capable of generating enormous lightning bolts. Unfortunately for Sukuna, Hajime is nigh-immune to such.
• Brought Down to Badass: Megumi fighting back from within prevents Sukuna from using more than 10% of his Cursed Energy. He's still strong enough to fight Yuki and Maki at the same time evenly.
• Cain and Abel: In Chapter 257, it's revealed that Sukuna cannibalized his twin brother when they were both in the womb due to their mother being malnourished. Zigzagged since Sukuna didn't exactly have a choice here as it was kill or be killed, but considering that it's Sukuna, he clearly doesn't feel any kind of remorse for doing so.
• Can't Live Without You: Yuji tries to force his compliance this way when facing off against the first Special Grade Curse. Sukuna's response is to tell him as long there's at least one finger out there, he could reincarnate again, while Yuji is completely screwed without his help. It turns out that Sukuna can also use Yuji's fingers to switch bodies, and he does so to possess Megumi, showcasing that he cannot truly be threatened by killing Yuji.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Sukuna makes absolutely no bones about the fact that he's a bloodthirsty sadist who revels in leaving copious amounts of death and destruction in his wake.
• Character Catchphrase: Fond of mockingly telling his opponents to "try harder" ^note "Ganbare, ganbare" in Japanese, especially when it's clear they have no chance of winning.
• Clean Cut: His technique seems to revolve around this — he can dissect a target into multiple, clean chunks. How the technique works isn't made entirely clear, but Sukuna indicates that they are invisible slashes that he uses as projectiles and is amazed when Mahoraga demonstrates that it could not only see but deflect them as well. During the fight against Gojo, he upgrades this technique to slash a specific area of space instead of a flying projectile, rendering any defense useless.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Nooooope. The fire produced by Sukuna's "Open" is so immensely hot that it burns his own hands, incinerates glass flying through the air^note Glass' burning point is roughly 1500 degrees, celsius and superheats and melts all the nearby stonework and steel piping when he's charging it to fire at Mahoraga.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Sukuna is one to Gilgamesh from Fate. They're both powerful figures within their own respective verses, have a Red Baron pertaining to being kings (King of Curses vs. King of Heroes), The Hedonist who like to do their own thing, pay attention only to what interests them and are full of arrogance but capable of backing up their prowess while not above acknowledging those weaker than them. What separates them is that for all of Gilgamesh's flaws, he's at his best a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who fights for the sake of humanity, especially during Fate/EXTRA and Fate/Grand Order and is capable of willing to fight for the sake of others should they gain his respect. Even during Fate/stay night where he was at his most villainous, his actions stem from a Well-Intentioned Extremist point-of-view because he plans to free humanity from its perceived complacency. Sukuna, on the other hand, has no such morals. He enjoys the suffering that he dishes out, causes chaos for its own sake and is a purely selfish being who fights for himself and no one else.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Most fights with Sukuna are usually never fights to begin with. Such as when he demolishes the first Finger Bearer and using him as a punching bag. Also when he utterly disrespects Jogo, not even taking their battle seriously while casually toying with Panda and Atsuya's lives in the middle of the fight for a small joke. Even though nearing the end of Jogo's life, Sukuna gives him praise for being somewhat strong for him.
• Cursed with Awesome: It's made clear that while Sukuna's body deformities made him a pariah early in his original life, his twisted body also allowed him to become a peerless sorcerer. Sukuna having twice the number of arms as other people gave him a huge advantage at close quarters and allowed him to both use his Cursed Technique to its full extent, even while Dual Wielding Cursed Tools, while having an additional mouth on his belly allowed him to chant incantations without straining himself.
• Deal with the Devil: Tempts people with these in exchange for his help, something highly sought by Mahito's group. Unsurprisingly, Sukuna only offers such deals when he's sure the other party will never see any benefits from it. He offers to join the Disaster Curses if Jogo can hit him with a single attack, then proceeds to dodge everything Jogo throws at him at an insultingly close range before killing him.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Pretty much the entire fight against him after the death of Satoru Gojo. It starts out as Sukuna effortlessly steamrolling over everything without taking any of his opponents seriously, but as time goes on and the damage dealt to him keeps racking up, Sukuna is slowly but surely forced onto the backfoot.
  • Deconstructed during his rematch with Yuji where Dismantle is treated as a mild inconvenience by the teen, but Sukuna is so angry at his defiance that he can't think of hitting him with anything else.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype:
  • Sukuna is a deconstruction of the Sealed Evil in a Can and Superpowered Evil Side. He's the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in history who ends up in Yuji's body after being consumed by him, leading to the latter letting him take control in case he's in a fight that he can't win normally, which so far has been an instant win condition. However, unlike most examples in anime media that end in a more amicable or tolerant relationship for both parties, Sukuna shows exactly what a sociopathic, unrepentant, ancient evil who's able to back up his ego with the power to match controlling your body would actually be like. Especially if you're a Naïve Newcomer like Yuji, who had no idea how the Jujutsu system works prior to becoming his host. Sukuna, who has centuries of Jujutsu knowledge and lore, takes full advantage of this fact in order to exploit Yuji at every opportunity, with the latter having increasingly less control as Sukuna slowly regains his powers over the course of the series. Sukuna forces Yuji into a contract on his terms while making the latter forget it completely, shows gleeful Lack of Empathy to Yuji's lowest suffering and whenever he controls the body, he will make things go From Bad to Worse by killing/harming innocents and Yuji's friends. And during the Culling Game arc, he manages to escape Yuji's body and possess a more suitable vessel in the form of Megumi.
  • Sukuna also deconstructs the Godzilla Threshold very early on. In any other series, the demonic force inside of the hero can be weaponized and used to give the protagonist more strength to defeat an opponent, usually as a last resort. Sukuna, on the other hand, repeatedly demonstrates why attempting to use a demonic, ancient evil is never a good idea. The one time Yuji tries to use Sukuna as a powerup during the Cursed Womb Arc, it's a disaster. Calling on his guest to help him exorcise a Finger Bearer (a Special Grade Cursed Spirit), Sukuna at first wanted to team up with the beast and use it to kill Yuji and Megumi at once. After it attacks him, he opts to simply kill the Curse. Which he does, easily. When Yuji is unable to reassert control, Sukuna immediately goes rogue and attacks Fushiguro, nearly killing him and then successfully killing himself and Yuji in the effort. This incident teaches Yuji that Sukuna is not his friend and can't be used like a weapon. In Shibuya, Sukuna is awakened by Mimiko, Nanako and Jogo in hopes of using him for their own desires. And things immediately go to hell as Sukuna kills Mimiko and Nanako for daring to order him around, gets into a destructive fight with Jogo, and uses his Domain Expansion to defeat a rampaging Mahoraga, obliterating a large portion of the city and killing scores of innocent people in the process. He then returns control to Yuji just to rub it in his face. These acts put Yuji at the top of the Jujutsu Society's kill list because him being Sukuna's vessel quite simply is not worth the death and destruction. The worst part is that Yuji agrees with their assessment and makes Yuta promise to kill him should Sukuna ever retake control of his body.
  • The Shinjuku Showdown Arc begins to gradually chip away at Sukuna's hedonistic Blood Knight philosophy. As he tells Kashimo in their fight, Sukuna has no lofty goals or grandiose ambitions, choosing to simply live life guided by his own pleasure and viewing others as playthings to help pass the time. But after killing a potentially Worthy Opponent in Higuruma, seeing Yuji learn Reverse Cursed Technique and how determined the heroes are to kill him, he starts to become unusually irritated and stops to collect his thoughts. He quickly comes to realize that because they have goals and ideals and he doesn't, they are able to stand toe-to-toe with him despite being far weaker than he is. And the thought of being challenged by those he considers weaklings irritates him enough that he makes it his goal to crush all of their hopes, especially Yuji's.
• Death or Glory Attack: Sukuna is pressured into one of these during his battle against Yuta, Yuji and Rika within the former's domain, Authentic Mutual Love. With his power and control over Megumi's body steadily dropping with every punch Yuji is able to land on him, he drops Hollow Wicker Basket, his only protection against a sure-hit Jacob's Ladder, to try to hit all three of them with a world-cutting "Dismantle". While he ends up getting directly hit by it, losing two arms and his belly-mouth's tongue to the trio's efforts on top of that, he's nonetheless able to pull it off and wound all three badly enough to break Yuta's domain... or at least that's what Yuta wanted him to think as it was in truth a ploy to give Maki an opening to stab Sukuna through the heart.
• Did Not See That Coming: He clearly never anticipated that his new host would be so difficult to control.
  Sukuna: Human, how do you manage to move?
  Yuji: Well, it is my body.
• Deflector Shield: While fighting Yuta, Sukuna takes a page out Satoru Gojo's book and uses his Curse Technique to create a bootleg version of Infinity. Using Cleave and Dismantle to slice up the air around him, he can "catch" Yuta's katana while sustaining no damage from it.
• Demon of Human Origin: Sukuna is a sorcerer from the Heian Era. Numerous details revealed later (such as his immunity to Positive Energy, Angel describing him as "The Fallen" and his seemingly “impossible” ability to cast his Domain without any barriers) imply that Sukuna has instead become stronger than any Curse or sorcerer.
• Dented Iron: Though Sukuna physically recovers from his battle with Gojo by incarnating himself fully in Megumi's body, Unlimited Void damaging his brain and his abuse of Domain Expansion has left him either unable to use the Ten Shadows entirely or out of viable Familiars, the output of his Cursed Technique (both normal and Reversed) has diminished, and his own Cursed Energy reserves have dropped to the point by the time Yuta arrives, Sukuna comments his energy is only around Yuji's level. This gives Yuji, Higurama, Choso, Ino and Kusakabe a smidgeon of a fighting chance holding the line against him in Shinjuku until Yuta can join up with them, and once Yuta arrives, both he and Yuji admit that Sukuna's weakened state due to fighting Gojo is the only reason Sukuna hasn't obliterated them yet. While the King of Curses certainly puts up one hell of a fight, after all the damage he sustained from Gojo, taking a Jacob's Ladder from Yuta, having his heart destroyed by Maki, having all but one of his hands cut off, and taking several soul-targeting attacks from Yuji, Sukuna has gotten weakened to the point that he's outright helpless against Yuji laying into him with a slew of Black Flashes.
• The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of Sukuna. Gakuganji tried to have Yuji killed multiple times rather than risk him fully reincarnating, and during the Shibuya Incident he's able to terrify Jogo (who refused to run from a fight with Gojo twice) into instinctively kneeling before him by implying that he should kneel.
• Domain Holder: Sukuna’s Domain Expansion is “Malevolent Shrine”; a gigantic Buddhist shrine with gaping human jaws in place of doors and surrounded by mountains and mountains of bovine skulls. In addition to rendering his attacks unavoidable as all Domains do, Sukuna’s unique skill to project his Domain onto the real world instead of the inside of a barrier means the sure-hit effect can be expanded to a 200-meter radius, large enough to devastate several city blocks.
• Eldritch Abomination: The thing Mahito saw when he touched Sukuna's soul for the second time as he was pulled inside Sukuna's Innate Domain goes way past anything like Sukuna's usual Monstrous Humanoid appearance and veered straight into something completely beyond the scope of what Mahito could process.
• Enemy Mine: As much as he hates Yuji, Sukuna hates the idea of Mahito tampering with his soul even more and "protects" Yuji from Idle Transfiguration.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced easily annihilating a Cursed Spirit Yuji and Megumi nearly died fighting against, before cackling maniacally about how much fun he's going to have butchering women and children in the modern era.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • The one time Yuji attempted to use Sukuna as a Superpowered Evil Side, the vengeful sorcerer decided to force a permanent switch by tearing out Yuji's heart, since he can survive without one and Yuji can't. Sukuna smugly tells Megumi that Yuji is just like other humans, only "a bit tougher and dumber," so there's no way that he would re-seal Sukuna when he knew it would lead to his own death. Instead, Yuji does exactly that the moment he was capable of it, nearly taking Sukuna with him. It doesn't substantially hamper Sukuna's plans, considering there were still seventeen fingers out in the world, but it did take him off-guard. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, Sukuna becomes a lot better at reading Yuji going forward.
  • Because Sukuna is a murderous hedonist who only respects strength, he can't wrap his head around the Sorcerers still seeking to kill him despite being clearly outmatched. Yuji in particular frustrates him to no end because Sukuna finds him so "boring." In truth, the real reason Yuji pisses the King of Curses off so much is because Sukuna hates the boy's indominable willpower and drive to keep fighting against unwinnable odds. He calls Yuji "boring" because it's the only term he can relate to the unceasing irritation of not understanding why he goes on.
• Evil Chef: Both of his cutting attacks and his Domain Expansion use Japanese verbs specific to cooking, implying he has a broadly cooking-themed powerset.
• Evil Counterpart: To Gojo. They're top contenders for the World's Strongest Man and have very much let the power go to their heads; but while Gojo has a genuinely noble goal (help younger sorcerers reach his level so they can help him change Jujutsu society for the better), Sukuna's only aim is death and mayhem for the sake of death and mayhem.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Trying to get his help is a terrible idea. When Yuji tries to convince Sukuna to fight a Special Grade he can't beat by invoking Can't Live Without You, Sukuna replies that there are still eighteen of his fingers left, and him dying would be no big loss. He also adds that if they do switch, he'll kill his friends before the Spirit can. When Yuji forces the switch, he tries to lead the Special Grade back to Yuji's friends, but when it attacks him, Sukuna curbstomps it. When Yuji is unable to regain control afterwards, he rips Yuji's heart out to take him hostage, attacks Megumi, and Yuji temporarily dies when he finally takes back control.
  • He also murders Mimiko and Nanako for asking him to kill the fake Geto, as they had tried to force his hand by withholding another finger from him. Then he offers to do anything Jogo asks if he can land one hit on him, before beating Jogo within an inch of his life and killing him without getting hit once.
• Eviler than Thou: It's made pretty obvious as the series goes on that Sukuna is more vile than anything and anybody else in the cast, even the other villains, who have some reason to commit their evil beyond "I'm bored".
• Evil Versus Evil: He'd much prefer killing the heroes if he could, but he also often opposes their enemies, as they tend to piss him off somehow. One instance of 'somehow' was Jogo only kneeling before him on one knee.
• Evil Virtues: For as monstrous and depraved as he is, he does have some genuinely positive qualities, notably:
  • Respect: For as much of as Jerkass as he is, he is capable of showing genuine respect to those he thinks deserve it, notably Jogo and Gojo, and he's apparently had at least several people who he considered WorthyOpponents in the past.
  • Camaraderie: Amazingly enough yes, as seen with Uraume, he's capable of forming genuine frienships, as not only does he treat them rather casually during their reunion in Shibuya and freely discusses his plans with them, genuinely praises them for their work, and when they fail to find his last finger, not only does he not pull a You Have Failed Me, he outright forgives them in a fairly casual manner.
• Evil Twin: He looks eerily similar to Yuji, save for his hair and black markings. What seems to have been Sukuna's original body doesn't look too far from his current self, except with a disfigured right side of his face, four arms and as many eyes even as the right ones are malformed, making him far more demonic-looking than when he's in Yuji's body. It's played with in the end. Yuji is the son of the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother whom he devoured in the womb, technically making Yuji his nephew.
• Evil Uncle: He's technically Yuji's uncle, as Yuji's father was the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother whom he cannibalized in the womb.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • He grimaces after accidentally healing Yuji's severed hand to block a Curse's attack, not intending to help Yuji at all.
  • Despite offering to hear them out, he brutally murders Mimiko and Nanako over their attempt to try and persuade him to kill the fake Suguru Geto in exchange for another finger. Taking great offense to what he perceived as them ordering him around.
  • During his fight with Jogo, he stumbles across Atsuya and Panda in the middle of their own fight with two Curse Users. He promptly appears in the middle and tells everyone he'll kill anyone who moves without his permission. Cue Jogo's meteor attack to which Sukuna waits until it's practically right on top of them before allowing them to get the hell out of the way.
  • During the Shibuya incident, he drops Megumi off to get healed, then returns to the site of the massacre he just committed, telling Yuji to 'take a good look' before he returns control to him. Poor Yuji suffers a mental breakdown as a result.
  • Once he transfers his essence to Megumi, the subsequent fight with Yuji has him belittling him the whole way. When leaving the fight with Uraume, he tells them not to bother attacking Yuji, instead sharing a laugh with them over his distraught expression.
  • After realizing that Yuji still has the will to fight despite being significantly weaker than him, Sukuna decides to crush his hopes by starting the merger with Tengen. Sukuna effectively chose, out of spite, to commit mass murder so he can crush Yuji's spirit for good, as he wants to reaffirm his own identity while feigning indifference towards the boy.
• Evil Redhead: Thanks to manifesting in the pink-haired Yuji's body. Though his actual body was one as well.
• Evil Sorcerer: He was one as a human, and in death, he's gotten worse, if anything.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Sukuna is evil incarnate and has an extremely deep voice to match his terrifying nature by both Jun'ichi Suwabe and Ray Chase. Chase in particular gives Sukuna a gravelly, demonic-sounding snarl.
• Facial Horror: While he was still a seemingly mortal man in the Heian Era, the right side of Sukuna's face was heavily disfigured, with two long thin eyes where his one would be, surrounded by a whole mess of fleshy, curly tissue that appears rather similar to a very late-stage malignant melanoma victim, while the left side of his face and the rest of his head was comparatively normal. His corpse under the Hida Mountains shows that the deformity lasted until his death.
• Fangs Are Evil: Yuji's canine teeth are always drawn prominently sharp whenever Sukuna is in control.
• Fatal Flaw: Sukuna is dangerous, but he has three flaws that hinder him greatly and begin to hurt him a lot later in the series:
  • Hedonism: Sukuna's first and only concern is enjoying himself to his heart's content. Sukuna has zero plans or goals outside of this, which does make him extremely dangerous... but does give him a bad habit of 'playing with his food' too much. As JJK is a setting where powering up doesn't restore your power and strength to full like some other anime, Sukuna's habit of holding back results in him being worn down and left vulnerable to opponents that should've been no problem for him by the end. It's especially clear in how Sukuna behaves toward his opponents in Shinjuku after Gojo. Sukuna is holding back somewhat throughout all of his fights because it would be boring for him if he went all out and killed them from the get-go. As time goes on, however, his Cursed Energy output and control of Megumi's body gets progressively weaker thanks to Yuta hitting him with Jacob's Ladder, Maki destroying his heart, and especially from Yuji attacking his soul. In the climax of the fight, Sukuna has taken so much damage that he loses to Yuji in a bout of fists and is nigh helpless to stop Yuji from beating the shit out of him, with Sukuna screaming in pure rage as Yuji hits him with Black Flash after Black Flash. That could have been avoided entirely had Sukuna gone all-out from the get-go, but the King of Curses couldn't control his appetite for battle.
  • A more specific one, however, is his inability to accept anything that threatens his worldview and utter frustration if it does. This is the root cause of his loathing of Yuji, as Yuji is a walking contradiction of everything Sukuna believes in. As such, not only does Yuji throw Sukuna off his game by existing, Sukuna repeatedly downplays Yuji whenever possible, because to admit Yuji is a threat is to acknowledge a contradiction of his worldview actually holds weight.
  • Pride. His ego is immense and can lead to him dissing and ignoring opponents and abilities he views as weak or boring, which ends up biting him in the butt more than once in part 2 of the Shinjuku Showdown. His constant dismissal of Yuji as a legitimate threat just makes it easier for Yuji to adapt and grow stronger as their battle rages on, plus his views on some of the less powerful sorcerers attacking him leave him open to Larue's technique being used to literally grab his attention to buy Yuji an opening. Sukuna also has a bad habit of prolonging a fight, even against an opponent he does recognize as a threat to him, partially out of his pleasure for fighting, but also because he's so self assured that he'll come out on top.
• Faux Affably Evil: He can come off as fairly chummy when he wants to, but it's never long before his arrogance and savagery reveals itself.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: For as much as Sukuna tries to feign indifference toward Yuji, as time goes on it becomes abundantly clear that Sukuna feels personally insulted over the fact that Yuji even exists. Yuji was born the soul of a twin who, from Sukuna's perspective, never should have existed in the first place. Yuji was then deliberately designed in the womb by Kenjaku to be a prison for Sukuna, robbing him of his very freedom and able to do nothing but helplessly watch Yuji live his life from inside of the boy's soul. Yuji's dedication to his ideals and refusal to break under pressure completely flies in the face of Sukuna's entire worldview. Unlike many of Sukuna's other foes like Gojo or Kashimo, Yuji holds zero respect for Sukuna and does not care even one bit about gaining the King of Curse's acknowledgement. The part that really gets at Sukuna though is that Yuji is all of these things and is still successful as a sorcerer, to the point that he's able to fight on equal standing with Sukuna himself in Shinjuku once he's weakened enough.
• Fetus Terrible: He seems to have been an evil little monster ever since he was in the womb! He actually recalls cannibalizing his own twin brother while they were both developing, though he doesn't consider his twin to have been another person, just his other half. He claims he may have done so because their mother was starving, but his wording implies uncertainty to whether or not this was the true case. Either way, he has no sorrow or sympathy for his aborted twin.
• Flash Step: His speed is such that he regularly performs these, covering long distances in an instant before anyone even notices he's there. For example, when Megumi wonders how long Yuji will take to escape the Finger Bearer, Sukuna steps out from behind his back right as he's finishing the sentence.
• For the Evulz: This is Sukuna's raison d'etre for anything he does. As Nanami so elegantly puts it, he lives guided purely by his pleasure and displeasure. However, this gets deconstructed in the Shinjuku Showdown Arc as his lack of any goals, motivations, or ideals shows just how truly empty he is underneath his grandiose persona, especially compared to Yuji and the heroes, who all have strong convictions that allow them to hold their own against Sukuna despite the difference in power between them. Then he resolves to crush those dreams.
• Fully-Embraced Fiend: A core part of Sukuna's worldview is that he fully embraced being a monster whole hog and never looked back, whether it's in his barely human original form or whatever existence he's presently in. Sukuna actively looks down on anyone who doesn't do this and believes true strength is throwing away everything else except the pursuit of what they want.
• Genius Bruiser:
  • Sukuna is unfathomably powerful, but what really makes him so dangerous is his unparalleled understanding of curses. He was able to quickly analyze the true nature of Gojo and Mahoraga's powers. It also appears that he can copy specific techniques, no matter how complex or difficult, by simply learning it is possible. For example, he used Kenjaku's technique of preserving remains into Cursed Objects on himself to preserve his fingers, and was instantly able to use Reverse Cursed Technique to reduce the cooldown on his own techniques just from seeing Gojo do it. What's impressive about the latter is that master sorcerers like Yuta exclaim that even he is unable apply Reverse Cursed Technique in such a manner just from learning about it.
  • The Binding Vow he tricked Yuji into only allowed him control over Yuji for one minute, in which he would be incapable of harming anybody else. Despite that, Sukuna figured out that Yuji didn't include himself in those 'not to be harmed', enabling him to infect one of Yuji's fingers with his essence, rip it off and force-feed it to Megumi, possessing him.
• Godzilla Threshold: Yuji only tried to get Sukuna's help once when things had become very dire. The fallout from that event lead him to refuse to ever again cede control to him, considering even death preferable. Unfortunately, there are others who are interested in giving Sukuna control over Yuji again, and how he acts while in control often makes things worse than they already are.
• Good Powers, Bad People: While most of his powers are fittingly destructive, he is also one of the very few sorcerers that can use the healing Reversed Cursed Techniques to heal not just himself, but others as well, and he uses it in Shibuya to save Megumi's life.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While incredibly important to the story, his screentime is surprisingly small all things considered, due to being trapped in Itadori's body. Still, his existence is key to the villains' plans. Later on, it's even played with, as Kenjaku, who gave birth to Yuji for the purpose of making him a vessel for Sukuna, admits to Choso that he has no further plans for Yuji, referring to him as "that thing" and claims he only used him as a "smoke signal" to make Sukuna the eye of the storm of a new era.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: A large part of what makes Sukuna so dangerous outside of his general sadism is that basically anything can potentially set him off. He's so narcissistic that he views even the most minor of (often perceived) slights as an affront to his ego, and he'll kill potential allies at the drop of a hat for the pettiest of reasons.
• Hates Being Touched: Sukuna loathes being manhandled. When Mahito attempts to alter his soul to put him in control of Yuji's body, he inadvertently helps Yuji by keeping Mahito from altering their shared body. He then nearly kills Mahito himself when Yuji breaks into Mahito's Domain Expansion to save Nanami. Later, in Shibuya, when Jogo is holding him by the chin after force-feeding Yuji enough fingers to give Sukuna control, the sorceror slices off his hand and gives him a second to move.
• Healing Hands: His skill with Reversed Cursed Technique allows him to regenerate flesh like a Special Grade Curse, even while piloting Yuji's seemingly human body. This could theoretically be pretty useful for Yuji... except Sukuna would rather not just to screw over Yuji; in fact, the first time he regenerates Yuji's lost hands on a reflex, he immediately laments that he didn't mean to, as Sukuna didn't even need two hands against the Finger Bearer. The only other time he's used it is to heal Megumi from a state of "suspended death" in Shibuya.
• The Heavy: He has become this towards the end of the series, as he is no longer contained within Yuji's body, who could surpress his influence, and is now inhabiting Megumi's body with no restraints or Binding Vows, letting him wreak as much havoc as he wants.
• The Hedonist: Sukuna is described as a being that "lives guided only by his pleasure and displeasure." It's a common theme that characters deemed the strongest struggle with the loneliness and loss of connection that comes with it like Satoru Gojo, Hajime Kashimo, and even Toji Fushiguro. Sukuna states plainly that he doesn't care about concepts like love; only for his own life. He has always accepted the solitude it brings, and even believes that wanting more is being "greedy", as he tells Kashimo.
  Sukuna: A fool once preached to me about love. She said I didn't know love... and was lonely like no other. I got the point, but still, it hurt. She had the wrong guy. She'd have done better preaching to you or Gojo. [...] I understand love, and I say to you... love is worthless. I've never needed anyone to satisfy me. I eat when I wanna eat, play with what amuses me, and kill whoever's in my way. I live as befits my nature. If no one can grasp that, then that's their problem.
• Hero Killer: He is feared as this by everyone, having killed countless sorcerers in his heyday. Today, he does not have many changes for a repeat performance, due to being stuck in Yuji. In fact, he saves Megumi from Mahoraga, though this is only for Sukuna's own plans. However, he truly becomes this when he kills Satoru Gojo in Chapter 236.
• Hidden Depths: Gruesome fighter and sadistic cannibal that he might be, but Sukuna is versed enough in poetry to be weirded out by Yorozu's clumsy Haiku celebrating their "union".
• Historical Domain Character: Sukuna is based on a character of the same name from Japanese Mythology. Primarily inspired by his depiction in the Nihon Shoki ^note  one of the oldest surviving semi-historical Japanese texts. Not semi-historical as in it doesn't provide valuable insight into ancient Japan, but because it intermixes history and myth in a similar way to Herodotus. as a two-headed demonic threat to the imperial dynasty in the 60's A.D. Gege has additionally cited a 2005 2chan Creepypasta about a Sokushinbutsu of conjoined twins labeled "Ryomen Sukuna" on its coffin, with the seal on it being broken out of curiosity by construction workers restoring an old temple in Gege's home province of Iwate as another major inspiration for Sukuna.
  Nihon Shoki: In the year 65, there was a man in Hida Province. He was named Sukuna. The man had a single head and torso with two faces, Each face oriented in opposite directions. The two faces met at the top but had no nape. Each face was served by its own set of appendages. Each had knees but no ankles. He had tremendous power but still could move quickly. With two pairs of arms he held swords, a bow and an arrow. Sukuna refused to comply with imperial directives. He threatened and plundered the people. Whereupon the emperor dispatched the founder of Wanibe no omi Naniwaneko Takefurukuma to vanquish the creature.
• History Repeats: A very subtle example in Chapter 248. Sukuna typically fights for a hedonistic love of bloodshed and chaos, yet gets a nagging, irritating feeling upon seeing Yuji bounce back from his injuries by learning Reverse Curse Technique. Sukuna has his pride and worldview threatened by the boy keeping up despite being so much weaker than him, and so resolves to crush the boy's spirits in order to reaffirm his own sense of self. This subtly calls back to the death of Toji Fushiguro. When Toji encountered an awakened Satoru Gojo, Toji was met with a similar nagging uneasiness and chose to crush Gojo right then and there to affirm himself, only to get eviscerated moments later. Toji refused to acknowledge that Gojo was simply a mountain he couldn't overcome, and admits in his final moments that he had thrown his life away for the sake of his pride. Sukuna, much like Toji, refused to acknowledge that Yuji was an actual threat to him, and unknowingly sealed his fate the moment he chose to prove himself stronger than Yuji's ideals.
• Horrifying the Horror: Jogo and Mahito, both Made of Evil and incredibly powerful in their own rights, are scared shitless in the presence of Sukuna. Even Geto seems to keep a healthy distance from him despite Sukuna being a centerpiece to his current plans.
• Hypocrite:
  • During their second fight, when Gojo is at his most vulnerable, Sukuna insults him by saying that Gojo was only the strongest because he [Sukuna] wasn't around and that he is mediocre (or, more specifically, unenlightened), in spite of Gojo breaking his domain multiple times and Sukuna needing to rely on Mahoraga in order to protect himself from Gojo inside his domain. His arrogance quickly bites him in the ass when he attempts to expand his domain and the brain damage Gojo's Unlimited Void caused prevents him from doing so, rendering him just as vulnerable as Gojo. However, he still manages to come out on top of the battle and proves himself the superior sorcerer, although he recants his words, saying that Gojo was an unforgettable opponent.
  • For all of Sukuna's respect for impressive foes, he is seemingly incapable of addressing Yuji with that same respect no matter how many times he proves himself. For instance, when Yuji and Higurama both learn Reverse Curse Technique in a month, Sukuna is astonished by Higurama's growth and compliments him, yet reacts with boredom and indifference toward Yuji. On top of that, Higurama and Yuji are shown to be kindred spirits who share similar similar ideals, yet Sukuna is so blinded by his own ego that he's only capable of acknowledging one of them.

I-O

• I Am Not Left-Handed: While Sukuna did consider Gojo to be legitimate threat, he could not afford to play all of his cards against his battle with him due to knowing that he would immediately have to face off against every single remaining Jujutsu sorcerer afterwards. Therefore, he battles Gojo almost exclusively with his Domain Expansion and Megumi's Ten Shadows to limit as much information about his skillset as possible as well as with the objective of having Mahoraga adapt to Gojo's Infinity to create a more powerful technique. After Gojo is defeated, Sukuna reveals his trump card, a complete reincarnation into his original body optimized for jujutsu that heals all his physical wounds without the need for Reverse Cursed Technique. Throughout the subsequent battles, the protagonists succeed in wearing him down to the point that Sukuna is left functioning at only a fraction of what he is normally capable of, but Uraume reveals that Sukuna has still yet to use his full power.
• I Gave My Word: While he'll do his best to subvert the spirit of a contract, he knows better than to break them outright, due to the severe penalties for doing so. When he enacts his 'enchain' Binding Vow on Yuji to assume control, he admits that he's gambling with his next move before infecting one of Yuji's fingers with his essence and ripping it off. When nothing happens, he breaks into an Evil Laugh over how Yuji didn't include himself in those Sukuna was 'unable to harm or kill'.
• I'm a Humanitarian: While it's not been brought up in the story proper yet, Akutami states that Sukuna ate a lot of people during his reign in the Heian era. Uraume won his trust and favour because they're an excellent cook of his favourite meal.
• In the Back: Maki stabs him through the heart from behind with her Soul Cutting Sword in the final battle.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Villainous version. Sukuna is unfairly strong, and unlike Gojo (who can thank his combination of genetic perks for the privilege of being so powerful), there's no explanation, and he only leaves the viewer with more questions every time he reveals new limits (or lack thereof) to his capabilities. When asked if he was always so powerful, he answers rather evasively with "Who knows? I was born a cursed, unwanted little wretch, that much I can say," hinting that even Sukuna himself doesn't fully understand his true nature.
• Instant Expert: In the extremely rare event that he sees a jujutsu technique he's not familiar with, he's capable of using and adapting to it immediately.
• Invincible Villain: Nobody can defeat Sukuna in direct combat. Whenever he takes the stage, he is in complete control of the battle; the only characters to ever even touch him are the ones with overpowered abilities of their own, such as Mahoraga, Gojo, Yuta, and a full Heavenly-Restricted Maki, yet even they don't walk away unscathed… if they walk away at all.
• It's All About Me: Absolutely nothing comes before Sukuna's narcissism and grandiose sense of entitlement. He has a complete Lack of Empathy for everyone around him and cares more about indulging in his own sadism than anything else.
• It's Personal:
  • While he's an omnipresent dick to everybody in general, he seems to hold a special disdain for Yuji, probably due to his confinement within the boy. He goes out of his way to demean, mock, and belittle him whenever they speak, and whenever allowed an ounce of control over a situation, he'll make it end badly for Yuji. He even gave Mahito an uncharacteristic pass when he tried to draw out his Soul within Yuji with Idle Transfiguration, solely because they'd both shared an Evil Laugh at Yuji's misery over Junpei's death.
  • Once he possesses Megumi, his first action was to try to kill Yuji, punching him through several buildings. When Yuji shows even greater superhuman abilities right after, Sukuna still mocks him, claiming it's his role as a weakling to take whatever pain gets dished out to him. While he shows respect for a full Heavenly-Restricted Maki's fighting skills, he belittles Yuji as utterly dull and Not Worth Killing. However, for all his talk of Yuji being yet another boring insect beneath his notice, Yuji, as much as Sukuna hates to admit it, seriously gets under his skin. No matter what Sukuna puts him through, Yuji always gets right back up, even being able to go toe-to-toe with Sukuna in the final battle through sheer force of will. When Sukuna is granted the authority by Kenjaku to begin the merger after the latter's death, Sukuna decides to pick up where Kenjaku left off for no reason other than sheer spite against Yuji.
• Jerkass: Unpleasant, cruel, and condescending. He doesn't pass up a chance to harass Yuji or laugh in his face when something goes wrong, such as the aftermath of Junpei's Cruel and Unusual Death. Any moment that he appears humane and capable of humanity is immediately disproven as he tends to make the situation go From Bad to Worse.
• Jerkass to One: Two examples that are inverted and played with respectively:
  • Inversion: Uraume is the only person that Sukuna is not only not a jerk to, but is actually cordial with. When Uraume offers their own life for any perceived slight they made against their master, Sukuna only politely tells them that they are forgiven.
  • Played with: While Sukuna is dismissive of anyone and everyone, he'll at least pretend to be affable, and if they show him a good fight or impress him he will give them a genuine compliment. Not so with Yuji; Sukuna will go out of his way to make the boy suffer and laugh at his misfortune, and no matter how much he improves as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, Sukuna remains unimpressed and insulting. When he realizes that Yuji managed to learn Reverse Cursed Technique, Sukuna himself is actually bothered by why he feels irritated instead of feeling respect for the kid, even though moments before he praised Higuruma for doing the same thing.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He seems to have viewed Megumi as something of a Worthy Opponent, which is why he goes out of his way to save him for the future. The Culling Games, however, show he only cared about him due to his body and Ten Shadows Technique, as once he gains control over Yuji's body for one minute, he hijacks his body for his own. Worse is that, in order to break Megumi's resolve, he kills his stepsister using Megumi's own Curse techniques just to destroy his spirit and laughs at his suffering.
• Kneel Before Zod: He coldly demands a bow from Nanako, Mimiko, and Jogo when they awaken him during the Shibuya Incident. Before slicing off the top of Jogo's head because he only kneeled on one knee.
• Kick the Dog: Sukuna seems unable to pass up a chance to be horrifically cruel.
  • During the climax of the Junpei arc, he openly refuses to cure the mutated boy, even ignoring any possible reward from Itadori, and when Junpei dies in agony as result of his inaction, Sukuna does nothing but laugh.
  • After devastating Shibuya, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians as collateral damage, he returns control to Yuji whilst standing in front of the devastation, simply to torment him.
  Sukuna: You little brat. Be sure to savor this feeling forever.
  • When the battle with Angel sees him on the back foot, he appeals to Hana's Precocious Crush by pretending to have been suppressed by her Jacob's Ladder. As she blubbers a tender Love Confession to what she thought was Megumi, Sukuna rips her right arm off with Megumi's teeth before throwing her to off the building.
• Lack of Empathy: He has little concern for others and at times laughs at their suffering, with Junpei's death being a prominent example.
• Leaking Can of Evil: As Megumi realizes during the Death Painting arc, when Yuji swallowed Sukuna's finger, it also awakened the other 19 fingers as well, causing Cursed Sprits to seek them out for power, resulting in the events of said arc and the Cursed Womb Arc. Megumi decides to withhold said information for Yuji's wellbeing, only for the next scene to show Sukuna gleefully informing Yuji of this, tormenting him that he's guilty of the deaths the Spirits caused. It turns out that even pooling the fingers inside Yuji as a vessel isn't enough to contain Sukuna, as he can create new fingers from Itadori's body and force-feed them to other sorcerers, to fully possess them.
• Lightning Bruiser: Sukuna is strong enough to shatter a giant concrete bridge with a single kick and fast enough to pull a Special Grade Curse's arm off in the middle of it swinging him by the leg and appear sitting down behind it cackling before it even realized it was missing a limb. As Yuji consumes more fingers and grows in strength, Sukuna's power improves in tandem. After eating 15 fingers during the Shibuya Incident, he can slam Jogo into a skyscraper's roof with enough force to demolish every single floor in the building. Even after he takes Megumi's body, he is still ridiculously strong and fast, to the point where he could match both a rage-fuelled Yuji and Maki with full Heavenly-Restriction at the same time.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • His Binding Vow with Yuji states that when Sukuna takes over Yuji's body for one minute, he is not allowed to kill anyone. But Sukuna learns that Yuji didn't include himself in this condition. Taking advantage of this loophole, Sukuna rips off Yuji's fingers and turns them into a Cursed Object, which he force-feeds to Megumi to make him his new vessel.
  • This is how he is able to kill Gojo in spite of his Limitless technique. Using Mahoraga as a model, the shikigami teaches him that instead of targeting Gojo, Sukuna should target the space Gojo is in. Having done this, he cleanly bisects Gojo in a surprise attack.
  • Despite Higuruma hitting him with Deadly Sentencing, Sukuna still has complete access to his technique, Shrine, as his cursed tool Kamutoke took priority as the confiscation target for Judgeman.
• Man Bites Man: As shown against Hana and Angel, he has absolutely zero scruples with tearing his opponents apart with his teeth if the need arises, by grossly expanding his head into a gigantic Nightmare Face. He cleanly chomps Hana's right arm off as she was giving what she thought was Megumi a Cooldown Hug and a Love Confession, before throwing her off the roof like a discarded half-eaten snack.
• Magical Gesture: He usually aims his Dismantle technique by pointing his fingers in the direction of whatever he wants it to hit, although the number of fingers does not remain consistent. Though the fact sometimes the slashes happen without any apparent gesture or movement at all implies this is optional or simply adds further power to the slash. It is revealed during his battle with Kusakabe that Sukuna is capable of using Dismantle without any motion, with Sukuna taking advantage of the fact that Kusakabe was relying on cursed energy sparks and movement as telegraphs in order to trip him up.
• Marathon Boss: A non-videogame example. The fight against him in Shinjuku boils down to the protagonists throwing everything they have against him no-holds-barred in order to wear him down bit by bit. The entirety of the Shinjuku arc has been Sukuna fighting nonstop starting with Gojo with absolutely no opportunity for breaks. Fittingly, Gege Akutami's English translation for this arc is "Ryomen Sukuna Raid In Makyo Shinjuku".
• Master of All: Sukuna displays unparalleled mastery over Jujutsu and is able to use even the most advanced techniques in the series on a whole different level.
  • Sukuna can cast Domain Expansion with an open barrier, a feat stated to approach divinity, which allows him to defeat Gojo's own Domain Expansion repeatedly. Not only that, he can change the conditions of his domain on the fly, such as being able to modify or remove its sure-hit effect on command. He also mentions that he can simply expand his domain with a standard closed barrier should he choose to should he want to prevent his opponents from escaping it.
  • His mastery of Reverse Cursed Technique, which is stated to be extremely complex, is near-reflexive and he is among the few able to use it on others. He uses it to shorten the recovery period of his own cursed technique after seeing Gojo do it once, although it is mentioned that it is possible Sukuna simply knew about this technique all along.
  • He is able to use Domain Amplification, a technique noted to be extremely difficult, only previously shown to be used by the Disaster Curses, who in turn were taught by Kenjaku. His skill on being able to activate and deactivate the technique in between using his Cursed Technique has been commented on, and he can even use it in conjunction with his Domain Expansion, to Gojo's disbelief. It is later elaborated that Sukuna's control over his cursed energy is so refined that he was able to make sure that his Domain Amplification only paused, not completely terminate, his Ten Shadows Technnique so that Mahoraga's adaptation process was not reset. It is Higuruma demonstrating a similar feat to him that instantly captures Sukuna's interest.
  • He was able to replicate Kenjaku's technique to transform his fingers into Cursed Objects. Apparently, all he needed was to see the technique for himself once.
  • His usage of Megumi's Ten Shadows Technique is noticeably far more powerful than the original's. The Shikigami he summons are noticeably more powerful, he is able to create powerful chimeras comprised of four summons, and he is even able to channel some of their powers without even needing to summon them. In particular, his use of the technique's trump card, Mahoraga, is also unique in that instead of summoning the creature and having it use its adaptation ability during combat, he is instead able to summon its wheel exclusively and take the burden of adaptation himself or pass it to his host's soul, eliminating the risk of the summon being destroyed prematurely before fully adapting.
  • During the fight against Gojo, Mahoraga creates a technique that allows it to cut space itself instead of a specific target. Sukuna once again learns to replicate this with his own slashes from seeing Mahoraga use it once, although even he admits that it is an extremely difficult skill.
  • He is capable of Hollow Wicker Basket to negate sure-hit effects whilst in a domain, and unlike most users, he is still capable of combat while using the technique due to having an extra pair of arms.
• Meaningful Name: An Alternate Character Reading of the kanji that make up Ryomen Sukuna is "Double-Faced Spectre"; Sukuna himself is an evil sorcerer Sharing a Body with a human, making him and Yuji metaphorically "double-faced".
• Might Makes Right: The very core of Sukuna's character. It is indicated that Sukuna is very much a product of his time during the Heian period, the golden age of jujutsu sorcery, where strength meant everything and weakness was tantamount to death. Sukuna believes that one should sacrifice everything for the sake of power, and those unwilling to do so are weaklings that deserve the misery piled onto them and do not have the right to even hope for happiness. Tellingly, Sukuna possesses Megumi's body at first opportunity to obtain his Ten Shadows technique, and devours his own mummified corpse to finally restore himself to full strength.
• Min-Maxing: His true form is hideously strong, in part due to this. In exchange for becoming a larger target, Sukuna gains additional arms, eyes, and mouths. His arms can hold additional Cursed Tools while leaving a set free for Mudras (or dedicate all four to close-quarters combat and leave any single opponent utterly overwhelmed in the process), his additional mouth allows him to chant and perform mantras, leaving his respiratory system entirely free to use for breathing (and talking shit), and his spare eyes are positioned to give him a much smaller blindspot than someone with two eyes, allowing him to keep track of his targets anywhere on the battlefield. What this means is that Sukuna can be casting Jujutsu constantly, with no need for ever slowing down.
• Moral Myopia: The reason for his hatred of Yuji is that Yuji has the gall to prevent him from taking over his body and taking it on a murder-filled joyride, which Sukuna feels is his natural right. Even after escaping Yuji's body, Sukuna still has on-sight beef with Yuji because of this.
• Motifs: Heavily associated with cannibalism: His fingers specifically have to be eaten by a potential vessel for him to manifest, he can take the form of a second mouth on Yuji's body to communicate, his abilities are all themed after cooking techniques, Uraume earned their position as his Dragon because of their skill in cooking human flesh, and his Domain Expansion takes the form of a disfigured Buddhist shrine covered in large, gaping jaws, surrounded by a mountain of bovine skulls^note Eating red-blooded animals such as cattle was considered taboo by most Japanese Buddhists, so this little detail is another example of Sukuna spitting in the face of all conventions.
• Monstrous Humanoid: Sukuna's original body was a hulking ogre that had four arms, two pairs of eyes, and a large fanged maw on its stomach. Despite the extreme deformities, all of these anatomical mutations are fully functional and lent him an overwhelming advantage when it comes to Jujutsu where the hands, mouth, and stomach are essential to properly using one's Technique.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: His original body had four fully functional arms, allowing him to cast hand-seals with one pair and fight with the others, or fully dedicate all four to close-quarters combat while holding his Cursed Tool with his teeth. His battle against Kashimo shows just how devastating this advantage is up close, where he proceeds to hold the latter's wrists above his head with one pair and beat him senseless with the other pair, leaving no way for Kashimo to even fight back.
• Murder by Inaction: After Mahito transfigures Junpei, Yuji begs for his help in order to save him, but he laughs in his face and refuses, allowing the young boy to die in agony.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Befitting a man who is only concerned with his own self-desires, Sukuna only looks upon humanity as a means of killing time until he dies eventually. Since he finds enjoyment in the act of killing, even without any particular reasoning, he'll gleefully commit mass slaughter in a heartbeat to amuse himself for a few moments, and actively leverages what control he has over any given situation to cause chaos or death to those around him directly or indirectly. Gaining full control over a host body has it spelled out that his end goal is basically killing whomever he comes across in whatever means he finds amusing, being so strong that combat with him is a death sentence. Kusakabe notes that even in the worst-case scenario they envisioned, Sukuna would basically content himself with roaming Japan like a "wild beast" doing whatever he pleased if he defeated them all in the final battle, being a Walking Wasteland until his natural death.
• Mysterious Past: All that's been explained of his first life during the Heian Period was that he was its most powerful Sorcerer. While the Shibuya Incident reveals that he had a Dragon called Uraume and is likely an associate of Kenjaku, It is also revealed who the sorcerers were that sharpened their skills against him in the distant past. Those being that of the Fujiwara's elite sorcerer teams being : Five Void Generals and The Sun-Moon-Stars team that was led by Uro Takako and that of the Abe clan's Desshichin squad that Angel hails from and the remnants of the Sugawara clan (Gojo and Yuta's distant ancestors), but how and why he became "The King of Curses" is still unclear. If a conversation with Kashimo is any indicator, even Sukuna himself doesn't recall certain details.
• Narcissist: As Nanami puts it, Sukuna " lives guided only by his pleasure and displeasure". He unquestionably believes that all should obey and fear him without question, and will grievously punish the slightest sign of disrespect. He lops off the top of Jogo's head because he only kneeled with one knee.
• Nerves of Steel: One of the Sukuna's most dangerous traits is that he never panics or loses his composure when he is placed in an unfavorable situation, instead always rationally thinking through a path to come out on top. To date, the only person to make him uneasy in battle for the first time in centuries is Gojo, but even then, the situation was well under Sukuna's control. Even through the gauntlet of challengers after Gojo's defeat gradually wearing Sukuna down, the worst Sukuna expresses is mild annoyance and calmly analyzes the skillset of each and every opponent in order to stay ahead. When facing Maki, Sukuna's cursed energy output is only a fraction of what it normally is to the point his regular slashes are not instant kills against opponents with sufficient Reversed Cursed Technique, and his heart has been damaged so badly he is forced to pump it manually with his cursed energy instead. Despite these harrowing handicaps, Sukuna expresses complete nonchalence and Uraume claims that Sukuna's composure has not changed in the slightest. The sole exception is Yuji. As the final battle progresses, Sukuna goes from treating the boy with indifference to irritation to unconcealed rage as the boy refuses to go down no matter Sukuna puts him through.
  • Regardless of Sukuna's hate towards Yuji, this trope is gradually deconstructed as the Shinjuku Showdown goes on. By the time everyone does their part in the struggle, it doesn't matter how fast Sukuna's reflexes are, nor how calculated he is, much less how strong or knowledgeable his combat tactics are. Being coolheaded in battle means nothing if his plans aren't as meticulous as Jujutsu High, since they kept wearing him down until it was impossible to keep up with everything thrown at him, even with his Heian-era body. Nor is it possible to decisively counter every misdirection, distraction or support that combatants like Ino, Kirara, Ui Ui, Kusakabe, Choso, Larue, Miguel and Yuta are capable of during the Raid. Even the King of Curses can get overwhelmed with coordinated planning, and while he's competent in this regard, it doesn't work in his favor due to his darwinist philosophy.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: It's unclear if it's an aspect of his technique or if his basic Cursed Energy reinforcement is just that good, but Sukuna is incredibly durable: Not even Gojo can do any damage to his original body's fingers, and in Yuji's body, even with just 3 fingers, being bitten by Orochi and then struck numerous times by Nue doesn't even scratch him as he simply destroys Orochi. By the time he gets 15 fingers, his only reaction to getting punched through five skyscrapers during his battle with Mahoraga was an enthusiastic "Not Bad!".
  • His durability is showcased to an entirely new level during the Shinjuku Showdown. He takes on a 200% output Hollow Purple from Gojo at 4 km away simply with reinforced arms, and walks away with only with said arms destroyed. He eats a fully powered punch from Limitless Blue with a Black Flash after being blasted from the back by Red, which was powerful enough to knock him out but he still manages to recover in seconds. Finally, he gets caught up in the blast radius of an Unlimited Hollow Purple, this time from a much closer vicinity, and still managed to survive.
• No Infantile Amnesia: More like No Prenatal Amnesia! He somehow recalls eating his own twin brother in the womb, when their mother was possibly starving. He also remembers what his twin's soul felt like and was able to feel a connection to it in Yuji, discovering that Yuji's father Jin was his twin brother reincarnated.
• Nonchalant Dodge: He's so skilled that this is usually how he "fights" anyone who isn't Gojo. The fact that Yuji could land a punch to his face while he was off guard is a testament to his hand-to-hand combat skills, considering Jogo, the strongest of the Special-Grade Disaster Curses couldn't even score a single hit. He can dodge a meteor the size of a skyscraper from a few meters away, and sit down next to Jogo immediately after the impact, noting that it might have dealt some damage... if it hit.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Zigzagged. Sukuna is extremely dangerous, clever and powerful, with every appearance he makes always dramatically worsening the situation for the heroes. What stops him from being this all the time is him putting his own wants and desires above all others, to the point of being willing to attack Yuji's enemies for perceived slights, and refusal to act in benefit of another if he perceives them as coercing him into it. Sukuna is a force of nature, and can equally help or hinder the heroes through his destructive actions, though his absolute malice towards all is always made clear.
• No-Sell: He does this a lot, but he's notably the only person to date that can outright just say "No" to Mahito's attempts at Idle Transfiguration.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Horrifically averted to the highest degree. Unlike a certain orange nine-tailed fox, Sukuna is a genuinely amoral bastard who's only in it for himself and takes genuine pleasure in the suffering of others, as his actions in Shibuya can testify. When Yorozu assumes that Sukuna doesn't know what true love is because of his strength, he later states that he does; and that it's worthless while denouncing those who care for such a thing.
• Not So Invincible After All: As the final battle against him rages on, it becomes more and more clear that the battle is catching up to him. Even after killing Gojo, he finds himself repeatedly getting nervous as the Sorcerers continue to bum rush him. His Cursed Energy is disrupted to the point his Dismantle technique no longer kills in one blow, his Reversed Curse Technique is unavailable due to said disruption, he gets repeatedly injured by the Sorcerers fighting him, he loses three hands and the tongue of his second mouth, his opponents utilize techniques that manage to keep hurting him, and on top of that Yuji's blows not only strike him physically, but also strike his soul, disrupting his Cursed Energy even further as well as his control over Megumi's body. When it looks like he regains the use of his Reversed Curse Technique after landing consecutive Black Flashes, Yuji negates that possibility with his own punches.
• Nothing Personal: A distinct aspect of Sukuna's character is that he hardly ever seems to take anything personally. He does not feel affection for anyone else, but neither does he feel hate for the opponents that he kills. Even being humiliated and taunted by Gojo multiple times fails to get under Sukuna's skin. In fact, killing his challengers is the closest thing to "love" Sukuna knows how to express, as it is his way of acknowledging their existence and respecting their resolve. However, the sole exception to this is Yuji, who is so idealistically opposed to Sukuna that the King of Curses cannot help but be irritated by his existence and is the only individual he expresses true spite against. This compounds to the point that when Yuji is able to land a continuous barrage of Black Flashes against a heavily weakened Sukuna, Sukuna finally becomes enraged for the very first time in the series.
• Obviously Evil: Oh yes he is. Four glowing red eyes, black tattoos, a near constant psychotic smile that shows off his fangs. His original body was even more monstrous, possessing a deformity on his face that made him appear two-faced.
• Our Demons Are Different: It can be argued that all antagonists qualify to some extent, but Sukuna draws far more heavily from the classical depiction of a demon than the others. One translation of his Domain's name is even "a kitchen where demons hide", or if you wanna stretch the definition a bit, Hell's Kitchen.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • At the climax of his battle with a Satoru Gojo whose voltage is amplified by two Black Flashes, the usually incredibly confident and unflappable Sukuna is for once outright nervous, with the narrator noting that this was the first occurrence of such nervousness in a millennia. Upon realizing that Gojo is setting up Hollow Purple, Sukuna outright screams for Mahoraga to intercept it.
  • Despite being a bloodthirsty hedonist who revels in the thrill of battle, Sukuna expresses open disdain when fighting Yuji in the climax of the Shinjuku Showdown arc. For every other opponent Sukuna had fought, he welcomed any new move they showed off with excitement and adrenaline, yet he feels nothing but anger when Yuji does the same. Most glaringly, when Yuji tears into him with an onslaught of eight consecutive Black Flashes, Sukuna is seething with pure, unbridled rage. In an odd roundabout way, Yuji is probably the only individual who Sukuna truly acknowledges as a person. To Sukuna, other people are, at best, fun sources of entertainment that he gets to play around with, except for Yuji. Yuji can keep going and contend with Sukuna not through his own strength but through his commitment to his ideals; he's a threat to Sukuna's worldview, and Sukuna absolutely hates him for that. In other words, Sukuna's attitude toward Yuji comes from who Yuji is, not merely from what he can do, and as such Yuji leaves a deeper impact on Sukuna than anyone else.
  Sukuna: DAMN YOU, BOY!

P-Y

• Pay Evil unto Evil: Subverted. Sukuna is surprisingly prone to Evil Versus Evil, but the fact he enjoys slaughtering innocent people as much as he does other villains is never minimized. He maims Mahito at the end of his and Yuji's first fight, but only after he watched Junpei die while howling in laughter. He kills Jogo with his own power during the Shibuya Incident.
• Person of Mass Destruction: "Malevolent Shrine"'s full power is an outright Fantastic Nuke. Because it doesn't require a barrier and thus providing a venue for those inside to escape, as part of the resulting Binding Vow Sukuna can massively extend the range of his Domain's Always Accurate Attack to a maximum of 200 meters; when he uses it against Mahagora, it effectively disintegrates most of Shibuya instantly.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In a rare moment of genuine respect and having pinpointed his opponent's flawed, but to Sukuna ultimately interesting mindset, he tells Jogo that he was a Worthy Opponent before killing him.
  "Stand proud. You're strong."
  • He seems to be genuinely fond of his subordinate Uraume, plotting the next step of his plan with them rather casually during their reunion in Shibuya, and is shown being tolerant and considering in later interactions.
  • He heals Megumi after he fell into "suspended death" at Shibuya. Subverted eventually, as he just wanted him alive till the day he managed to snatch his body for himself.
  • After killing Gojo Satoru, he sincerely compliments him and promises to remember him forever.
  • He answers Hajime Kashimo‘s life long question on loneliness of the strong and sincerely acknowledges him as strong.
• Personality Powers: A cannibal with the power to instantly fillet his opponents with an invisible Storm of Blades, and cook them alive. His Domain Expansion takes the form of a disfigured Buddhist temple stacked sky-high with bovine skulls. Also, Sukuna looks like an Evil Chef in monk's robes, linking him to a Satanic Archetype.
• Playing with Fire: During the fight with the first Finger Bearer, Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine causes the creature to burst into flames after being chopped apart. During the Shibuya Incident, he reveals that he can create and shoot an arrow made of fire. He uses it as a Finishing Move against both Jogo and Mahoraga; the latter to exploit a weakness in its Adaptive Ability, and the former because he thought killing Jogo with his own speciality would be funny.
• Psychotic Smirk: In contrast to his usual Slasher Smile or laughter, he gives a simple smirk before giving Yuji his body back, so he could witness the remains of Shibuya.
• Pungeon Master: Wholly on-brand for Sukuna being defined primarily by cannibalism, he frequently uses cooking and eating-based terminology when it comes to Jujutsu.
• Race Against the Clock: While Yuji consuming more fingers boosts Sukuna's own power, it also brings him closer to Yuji's execution after he's eaten all 20, whereupon Jujutsu society will have him executed and hopefully rid the world of Sukuna forever.
• Rage Breaking Point: While Sukuna will readily kill or maim someone at the least sign of disrespect, he's surprisingly slow to anger, as anyone who resists or contradicts him and survives his retribution just means they'll be fun to play with. This goes out the window when Yuji finally begins to fight him with everything he has. After Yuji lands seven consecutive Black Flashes, almost double the record of anyone in jujutsu history, Sukuna snaps and begins screaming curses at him — only for Yuji to respond with yet another Black Flash.
• Razor Wind: His Cursed Technique mainly revolves around sending invisible slashes to tear his foes apart. He has two types of slashes: Cleave, which only activates when Sukuna makes contact with his target (unless used inside his domain) and can be adjusted to match the target's toughness and cursed energy level, and Dismantle, slashes that act as projectiles. His Domain Expansion, Malevolent Shrine, unleashes a virtual storm of Cleave and Dismantle slashes that can obliterate everything within 200 meters. The Mahoraga that Megumi summoned is the only thing so far that's been able to see and repel the attack. Later on, during his fight with Gojo, Sukuna is able to use Mahoraga's Adaptive Ability to enhance the power of his Dismantle slashes with a chant, allowing him to slash through space itself, thus making them unblockable. He uses this to bypass Gojo's Infinity and cleave him in two.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: Sukuna is so powerful that he can't be measured by "Special Grade." He even makes light of this while fighting another of his class, the difference is so vast that calling them the same is just comical.
• Red Baron: The King of Curses.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Among other changes, Yuji's eyes turn blood red whenever Sukuna takes over.
• Sadist: Sukuna loves trampling on those he considers weaker than himself (ie, everyone), believing it his inherent right.
  • His very first thought on being reincarnated into the modern age to look for the women and children, and delights on how much the population has grown, likening them to maggots fit for extermination.
  • He willingly refuses to enter a pact with Yuji, who was literally offering him anything he could ask for, just so he could laugh in his face about his inability to save Junpei from his Cruel and Unusual Death.
  • He absolutely revels in his massacre during the Shibuya incident, shedding the thousands within range of his Domain to bits. The cherry on top is subsequently returning control back to Yuji, to break him emotionally.
  • Though there's some pragmatism to it, he pointedly refuses to fight Yorozu with Malevolent Shrine or any other techniques but Megumi's Ten Shadows. Since Yorozu and he are possessing both Megumi and Tsumiki Fushiguro's bodies, he intends to silence Megumi's attempts at Fighting from the Inside and gain full control over him by forcing him to kill his beloved half-sister with his own power, driving him into despair; However, Yorozu compares the fact that he won't use his own Technique on her to getting cuckolded, stomping the ground in fury as she disclaims she's not into that and wants him to cut her apart using his Shrine.
• Savage Wolves: Unlike Megumi, he is able to summon an entire pack of Divine Dogs and all of them are in their Totality forms.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: His soul was able to endure beyond his original body's death by splitting itself across his twenty severed fingers. Yuji is charged with the task of turning it into a case of Sealed in a Person-Shaped Can by eating all the fingers so Sukuna will perish alongside him upon his execution.However, he reveals that he can infect his essence into Yuji's fingers and force-feed them into others to make new vessels.
• Selective Obliviousness: Sukuna normally accepts anything that comes his way with either hedonistic excitement, sadistic glee, or apathetic boredom and rarely needs to rationalize or feel defensive about anything. There is one exception to this: Yuji Itadori. No matter what, Sukuna cannot and will not accept Yuji is an actual threat or acknowledge his potential like he does every other powerful foe he comes across. The core reason for this is simple: Yuji is a walking contradiction of Sukuna's beliefs, being the ultimate selflessness to Sukuna's selfishness, and as a result, admitting Yuji is a threat or strong would be admitting his own worldview is flawed. This ultimately bites him in the butt, as it allows Yuji to repeatedly blindside him and ultimately end up 'awakening.'
• Shirtless Scene: Unless wearing his trademark loose-fitting kimono that has enough sleeve room for four potential arms, Sukuna tends to immediately rip whatever he's wearing on his upper body to pieces when he takes control.
• Sibling Murder: Sukuna cannibalized his twin brother in the womb. Apparently he's able to remember doing this.
• Simple, yet Awesome: In a series with some of the most convoluted power sets since Hunter × Hunter, Sukuna's personal ability and Domain Expansion seems limited to one thing: cutting anyone exposed to it into pieces. Coupled with his unprecedented levels of cursed energy, this means that being anywhere in the same zip code as him equals instant death for all but the strongest sorcerers, and his understanding of jujutsu is such that it's nearly impossible to defend against; in the event someone does find a countermeasure to his power, he sees through it instantly and goes right back to attacking. The simplicity of this can also backfire on him, however, as Yuta's Copy can let him use the technique against him, as his technique does not have Required Secondary Powers needed for it to work like the Limitless and the Six Eyes.
• Slasher Smile: His default expression. It never fades away for long, even when it appears others have taken the upper hand. Every time Gojo lands critical blows and humiliates Sukuna throughout their battle, Sukuna's smirk returns the moment the initial impact wear off.
• Smug Super: To such a level that Gojo looks humble by comparison. And like Gojo, Sukuna's more than capable of backing up his enormous ego and reminding people that he's considered the King of Curses for a good reason.
• The Social Darwinist: Very openly considers any hierarchy not based on power worthless. He mocks Gojo for letting people weaker than him lead Jujutsu society, and the few people he's shown any level of respect towards (most notably Megumi, Jogo and Uraume) are all extremely powerful sorcerers. Later he outright balks at the idea of the weak's pursuit of happiness, comparing those who can't defend themselves from his ultraviolence to mere foodstuff.
  "To me, the real question is why are you all so weak? Why do weaklings cling to fiercely to life? How can a creature that falls apart at a touch say that it always wants to be happy? The helpless have no choice but to swallow the suffering life gives them."
• The Sociopath: Tics all the boxes: Incredibly arrogant, devoid of empathy or remorse, highly manipulative and intelligent, and extremely sadistic and hedonistic. As he tells Kashimo in their conversation, he is well aware of the concept of love and friendship, but dismisses them as worthless and chooses to live life governed by his own desires and wants, everyone else be damned.
• Soldier vs. Warrior: The selfish, sociopathic warrior to Yuji's selfless soldier. Sukuna fights for his own enjoyment, having no other reason except to cause carnage to satisfy his appetite for battle and slaughter. Yuji, meanwhile, fights to protect others, not to affirm himself and not letting pride or ego drive him in a fight.
• Split-Personality Makeover: Sukuna assuming control of Yuji and Megumi is signaled by tattoos and extra eyes for the audience.
• Storm of Blades: Malevolent Shrine demolishes an entire 140-meter radius of central Shibuya in a matter of seconds, atomizing everything in range with invisible slashing attacks. Inumaki, who was protecting civilians nearby, loses an arm from this.
• Story-Breaker Power: Sukuna is one of the two strongest people in the world, the only villain who contests Gojo for the spot. He has one of the most potent Cursed Techniques around, immense physical abilities, near-perfect cursed energy control, and is the only person apart from Kenjaku who can use a Domain without having to create a barrier for it. His Domain Expansion's outrageously large radius also makes it superior to any other barrier-based Domain, since he can just attack his opponent's barrier from the outside where it's weakest and shatter it before the Domain takes effect.
• Strong and Skilled: While Sukuna is overwhelmingly powerful, he's also exceedingly good at making use of what he has in a fight. Even with him having only 3 fingers, he's able to cast his Domain, a move so draining that most Sorcerers relegate it to being their Desperation Attack, but afterwards can still completely overpower Megumi in a brawl. Likewise, when he takes over Megumi's body, despite having access to only 10% of his Cursed Energy Output, he is still able to fight Yuji and Maki at their strongest evenly.
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: According to Jogo and Mahito, Sukuna's presence can't be described as anything but "overwhelmingly evil".
• Superpowered Evil Side: While not originating from Yuji in any way, Sukuna is more or less sealed inside of Yuji's body and the latter can call upon him at any time. That said, it's made abundantly clear that Sukuna is a hedonist through-and-through who cannot be redeemed in any capacity. There's also the fact that Sukuna doesn't really need Yuji as he's able to jump ship from him to Megumi in the culling game.
• Superpower Lottery: His incredible strength and speed aside, Sukuna's currently unnamed technique is one of the most potent shown so far, allowing him to slice apart seemingly anything just by flicking his fingers. It's later revealed he can also conjure a flaming projectile capable of expanding into a massive fireball.
• Tattooed Crook: His face, arms and chest are all covered in arcane black tattoos.
• Theme Naming: It's subtle, but all of his named abilities thus far are somewhat related to cooking. Sukuna's Domain is called "Fukuma Mizushi^note The Kanji, literally, tranlastes as "Pandemonium in the Imperial Kitchen," and is often translated as "Malevolent Shrine." However, the specific way it is written, "Fukuma" is literally translated as "A place where Demons hide" and "Mizushi" is an archaic term used to refer to the storage cabinet/tool rack of a monastery's kitchen or a type of cabinet used for storing Buddhist relics in. Furthermore, his two cutting attacks ("Kai" and "Hachi") are displayed as Sashimi knives during an explanation of how they work, and their names use the specific Kanji that refer to the act of "cutting" and "filleting" fish respectively.
• Tempting Fate: After Gojo damages his own brain after overusing Unlimited Void and healing himself with Reverse Cursed Technique, Sukuna mocks him for it, deeming him "mediocre" before he lands his Coup de Grâce. However, when Sukuna is about to activate Malevolent Shrine, he also suffers from burnout, as despite Mahoraga adapting to Unlimited Void, Sukuna couldn't resist its side effects, leaving him unable to use his Domain Expansion too. Later in the same fight, Sukuna seemingly withstanding a charged-up Red from Gojo prompts the King of Curse to mock Gojo for getting "sloppy". This is followed by Gojo's delayed Red exploding behind Sukuna, taking him off-guard and allowing Gojo to land a Black Flash on him.
• Too Many Mouths: Often manifests as a second mouth on Yuji's body to mock him, eat a finger or using the mouth to snap an opponent's weapon with this mouth's teeth when it gets a little too close. His original body had a huge, expressive second mouth on its stomach, allowing him to speak and chant incantations without stressing his respiratory system.
• Tongue Trauma: During his battle against Yuji, Rika and Yuta, the latter is able to grab the tongue of Sukuna's mouth on his belly and violently rip it-off him.
• Touch of Death: Sukuna's Cleave can only be activated when he's touching a target (unless he's opened his Domain). It's also a deadlier ability than Dismantle and can adjust its cutting power to the target's toughness and Cursed Energy, meaning that characters that can endure Dismantle (such as Yuji, Yuta or Ryu) will die if Sukuna is able to make physical contact with them.
• Two-Faced: Flashbacks of his real form during the Heian era show that while the left side of his face was relatively normal, aside from the extra eyes, the right side was a large, deformed clump of hardened flesh resembling a tumor.
• Unblockable Attack: Almost. There is hardly anything which Cleave and Dismantle can't cut through, and Sukuna can launch the attack so fast the only one so far who could even react before it connected was Megumi's Mahoraga after the familiar adapted to Dismantle. In Sukuna's fight with Gojo, it is shown that while Dismantle cannot go through Infinity, he can use a variety of ways to neutralize Infinity and make sure Dismantle lands. Toward the end of their fight, Sukuna uses Mahoraga's Adaptive Ability to learn a way to enhance the power of his Dismantle slashes with a chant, creating a version which can slash through space itself, which hits this trope in full. Sukuna uses this to bypass Gojo's Infinity and cleave him in two.
• Underestimating Badassery: While Sukuna is typically an extremely levelheaded and intelligent fighter who is excellent at gauging his enemies' skills, he really isn't able to look at Yuji in an objective light due to the boy's existence threatening his own ego. At the start of the fight, Sukuna dismisses Yuji as a complete nonissue, instead choosing to focus on other fighters Higurama. When Yuji shows Sukuna that he too has learned Reverse Curse Technique, Sukuna begrudgingly accepts that Yuji should at least be taken into account as a factor in the heroes' plans, yet still refuses to take him seriously as a threat despite knowing that Yuji can weaken him by attacking his soul. When Yuji gets back up and continues attacking him, Sukuna merely expresses mild annoyance and brushes him aside to focus on the other fighters. And then right when it seems like Sukuna has the fight in the bag by recovering his Cursed Energy with Black Flashes, Yuji proceeds to render it moot by tearing into him with eight Black Flashes plus showing off that he's capable of using Sukuna's Cursed Technique. What makes Sukuna's refusal to take Yuji seriously especially glaring is the fact that he already knew that Yuji was the child of the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother and was genetically engineered by Kenjaku to be as powerful as possible. Sukuna had every reason to consider Yuji a threat, yet was so blinded by his ego that he didn't. It's telling that even Uraume—probably the biggest Sukuna fan in the story—is weary about the boy, yet Sukuna himself has no such apprehension. Right beforehand, he also calls Larue's Heart Catch "not very interesting", dismissing it as a lesser threat and causing him to be blindsided when Larue reveals one more aspect of the Cursed Technique to hold him still at the worst possible moment for Sukuna.
• Useless Useful Spell: He is one himself. While Sukuna is incredibly powerful, he is also wholly evil and makes it his personal mission to hurt as many people as possible as badly as possible every time he's released. He is, quite simply, too dangerous to be let out; no situation is dire enough that the collateral damage would be worth it.
• Villain Respect:
  • Even he respects Gojo's power, expressing bemusement that he isn't the leader of Jujutsu Society, and stating he'd make sure to kill him first once he gets free. However, during their second fight, Sukuna seems to lose this respect for Gojo, as he does nothing but insult and demean him, even when he thinks he's about to win the fight, when usually Sukuna spares some kind words for opponents who are able to stand the slightest chance against him. This is double subverted after Sukuna actually wins the fight and kills Gojo, telling Gojo's corpse that he would remember Gojo for the rest of his life. He feels so good from the fight afterwards that Sukuna's only request is that Hajime doesn't spoil the mood, when the latter shows up to immediately take his shot at the King of Curses.
  • Sukuna commends Jogo's last stand, stating that he wasn't bad compared to those he's fought over the last thousand years.
  • Sukuna is genuinely impressed by Higurama's rapid growth, noting that the man has a talent for quick-learning on par with his own. He's particularly impressed by Higurama being able to use Domain Amplification just as well as Sukuna can, even though he's only been a sorcerer for two months.
  • Sukuna quickly recognizes Maki as a formidable opponent, for how she emerges unscathed from his Nue's attack, and cracks a smile when she shrugs off a punch from him, praising her as "Not bad!"
• Villain Takes an Interest: From his first battle with Megumi, Sukuna noticed that he was holding back and became very interested in his progress. Geto even notes that killing Megumi would likely stir Sukuna's wrath just as much as killing Yuji. It's due to Sukuna designating Megumi as his perfect vessel, along with his Ten Shadows being a major asset for Sukuna. Later on, during the Shinjuku Showdown arc, Sukuna gains an interest in none other than Hiromi Higuruma for the latter's prodigious potential with Cursed Energy and his unique Cursed Technique, declaring his intent to see his Executioner's sword in action and taking his time to see more of what Higuruma can do.
• Villainous Breakdown: In chapter 257, Sukuna is absolutely livid when he's at the receiving end of a consecutive Black Flash beatdown from Yuji. Unlike prior opponents, Sukuna does not express respect nor any appreciation of the challenge posed by Yuji. Had it been anyone else, Sukuna would be grinning ear to ear in satisfaction, but because it's Yuji Sukuna feels nothing but anger and seething hatred. Keep in mind that Sukuna is able to sense every single one of Yuji's Black Flashes coming, but has taken so much damage that he's unable to dodge or meaningfully counter Yuji's attacks, leaving the all-powerful King of Curses malding in impotent rage as things go south for him.
• Villainous Glutton: Sukuna is defined by his gluttony above all else. In a strictly literal sense, Sukuna is repeatedly indicated to be a cannibal who loves the taste of human flesh. In a more figurative sense, Sukuna is a malicious, self-indulgent hedonist who relishes in the suffering of others and in the thrill of battle. Even once he's satisfied, Sukuna will inevitably hunger for more. He lives purely for the sake of his own pleasure. Nothing more nothing less.
• Villainous Rescue:
  • Yuji enters Mahito's Domain, causing Mahito to touch his soul. Sukuna, who had already warned Mahito against this earlier, retaliates, uncaringly saving Nanami.
  "I told you already; There would not be a second chance". *flick*.
  • Upon sensing that Fushiguro trapped himself in a death pact with Mahoraga to defeat Haruta, he intervenes and kills the shikigami, murdering thousands of civilians in Shibuya in the process, to save Fushiguro.
• Vocal Dissonance: Sukuna speaks with a deep baritone in the anime, which sounds very strange coming out of the teenage Yuji and provides a jarring contrast to the boy's chipper tenor.
• Was Once a Man: Sukuna is still a human sorcerer, however, as he split himself into twenty Cursed Objects, he has to incarnate into another body to be able to exist. His original body even then was grotesque, a brutish man with four arms, multiple eyes, and a facial deformity, although it is unclear if these were self-modifications through sorcery or if he was simply born this way. He was able to persist beyond death by separating his essence within his twenty fingers as Cursed Objects. Now, he is able to exist within the current era by possessing various hosts, but he is still able to perform Reverse Cursed Technique and handle positive energy in general, indicating that he is not a Curse.
• What Is This Feeling?: During the climatic battle against him, he spaces out for a bit whilst he tries to self-reflect and understand why he's getting irritated towards Yuji, who's so inferior to him he doesn't even qualify as an amusing fight for Sukuna, yet still manages to annoy him in a way far stronger sorcerers have failed to. He eventually realises that it's because Yuji won't ever give up fighting him no matter how strong he repeatedly proves himself to be, motivating him to try and actively break his spirit out of petty malice.
• Why Won't You Die?: Once he frees himself from Yuji, he immediately tries to kill him with a Megaton Punch, but gets surprised a few times during the ensuring combat that Yuji endures attacks that should have been fatal. He eventually realises that Megumi's scant resistance to his takeover of his body is handicapping the strength he can wield against his friend, and decides to fully complete his Grand Theft Me possession first. However, when Yuji again confronts him after the fight with Gojo, he still gets surprised by Yuji's durability, now further enhanced by Reversed Curse Technique to keep getting back up no matter how many times Sukuna swats him away. He furthermore realises that he's actually irritated by Yuji's determination to fight him and disregard of the power gap between them, coming to the conclusion that his resistance against the World's Strongest Man actually motivates him to break his spirit along with his body.
• Wicked Cultured: Despite having absolute zero regard for human life, Sukuna seems to have a genuine respect for art and customs, presenting him as a sort of foil to Jogo in their battle over who gets to be the "true humans" once the dust has settled. Sukuna consistently speaks in a very lofty, almost poetic manner, dislikes cheap food and drink like popcorn and cola while comparing his Worthy Opponents to delicious feasts. When Yorozu gives him her deranged marriage proposal before they fight, he brushes off everything except the fact that she flubbed her Haiku by not using a Kigo.
• Wild Card: In case you weren't reminded well enough, DO NOT try and use Sukuna for your own personal gain. Mimiko and Nanako from Geto's cult learned that too late. While it's made very clear he's malicious, Sukuna is unpredictable to everyone, even those who want to ally with him. The Disaster Curses know well enough that Sukuna is too powerful and too dangerous to have by their side. He cannot be bargained with or be reasoned with; he does what he does because it's what he wants to do.
  • The Shibuya Incident demonstrates this clearly. He butchers Nanako and Mimiko on a whim. He kills Jogo, the strongest of the Special Grade Curses, for sport, and then rescues Megumi from his last-ditch move of summoning Mahoraga, aiding Yuji's side. However, his fight with Jogo causes massive collateral damage and endangers several sorcerers, and he utterly destroys most of Shibuya fighting Mahoraga. He then returns control to Yuji in front of the devastation, just to torment him. All sides come out worse for wear because of him.
  • Ultimately, not even refusing to engage with him will provide protection. He uses the Binding Vow he made with Yuji to gain control over him at the worst possible moment, and then using his minute of freedom to create a new finger containing his essence and force-feeding it to Megumi, allowing him a vessel that he has complete control over.
• Willfully Weak:
  • Downplayed since he's extremely dangerous either way, but during his fight with Yorozu he limits himself to only using Megumi's Ten Shadows technique. He does this to bury Megumi's soul by forcing him to kill his sister with his own Technique.
  • This was also the case with his rematch with Gojo. While Sukuna did not limit his strength or neglect any of his abilities, Gojo was going all out while Sukuna was holding back several trump cards to prevent Gojo and his allies from taking advantage of him already having used all his best moves. Thus, he played the long game and waited patiently, relying on Mahoraga in order to find an offensive adaptation to Gojo's Infinity. As a result, the last third of the battle sees Sukuna being completely on the backfoot and nearly dying several times, compared to Gojo who can go absolutely wild with all he has and no risk of Friendly Fire with the rest of the cast simply watching from a distance. Gojo, in his Afterlife Antechamber, believes he would have lost to Sukuna if he went all out, and judging by the One-Winged Angel form and Cursed Tools Sukuna pulls out against Kashimo immediately after fighting Gojo, he may be right. Deconstructed, as not going all out against Gojo doesn't mean Gojo didn't inflict damage on him, severe damage at that, which weakened Sukuna severely so that the other heroes stand a chance.
• World's Strongest Man: The strongest Sorcerer in Japan, with the title of King of Curses. Even in his current state he can curbstomp Special Grades as powerful as Mahito and Jogo, who are absolute nightmares for even Grade 1 sorcerers. In his Fully empowered state it is also confirmed that at full strength he's tougher than even Rika Orimoto, and as of Chapter 236, it is confirmed by Gojo Satoru himself that Ryomen Sukuna is indeed stronger than himself. Having held back in their battle the whole time whilist trying to figure out and concoct a way to cut through Gojo's infinity. His defeat of the Ten Shadows's Mahoraga is something one of Gojo's ancestors supposedly couldn't pull off even with the Six Eyes, with him also having the title of the "Strongest Sorcerer In History".
• Worf Had the Flu: Though he restored his body to its full fighting condition and gained the ability to cut space itself, Sukuna enters the final battle against Jujutsu High with a much-lowered ability to use Reverse Cursed Technique, lower Cursed Energy output and an inability to use his Domain Expansion. All these factors and more are acknowledged as the reason why the heroes, even after a month of training, are able to put up a fight against him after his costly victory against Gojo.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Appears to see Megumi as this after their fight. Emphasis on appears. He sees Megumi more as a potential vessel than anything.
  • He also earnestly compliments Jogo before killing him.
  • Sukuna promised that Gojo would be the very first person he'd kill when he was unleashed, and he makes good on it, calling a cease-fire with Gojo until Christmas Eve of 2018 just for the chance to sink his teeth into a fellow World's Strongest Man uninterrupted.. Later after their prolonged duel that ends with Gojo's death, Sukuna tells his corpse that he was "magnificent" and that he'll remember Satoru Gojo for the rest of his life.
  • Subverted with Yuji. Throughout the manga, Sukuna does nothing but mock and belittle Yuji and views the young sorcerer as beneath him. His reaction to seeing Yuji again during the Shinjuku Showdown arc boils down to exasperation and annoyance. Even when Sukuna figures out Yuji has learned how to use Reverse Curse Techniques in a month, he's more irritated with Yuji's persistence. It eventually leads to an inverted case where he realizes that he wants to break Yuji not because he's an interesting opponent, but because despite all his immense power and superiority over Yuji, Sukuna is incapable of breaking his willpower to keep fighting him no matter how hopeless it is, something that irritates and confuses him. To this end, he decides to actively become a Hope Crusher specifically to spite Yuji's determination.
  • In Chapter 253, He comes to view Maki as one due to her Heavenly Restriction, which he says defies Jujutsu. It's to the point that the narrator outright says out of all the fighters that have challenged him throughout the Shinjuku Showdown arc, Maki was the one who piqued his interest the most. His excitement was such that he was even able to land a Black Flash on her for the first time in the series.
  Sukuna: In the end, Jujutsu is about nothing but skin and blood! But your body is just bone and marrow. Do you get what that means? Your very existence denies Jujutsu! Which is worth turning into strength? Jujutsu or flesh? Let's settle that question with this fight! This is the first time... that anyone's given me something to prove.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • His first words upon awakening in Yuji's body is laughing with glee upon sensing how many women and children there are in the modern day for him to massacre.
  • He later violently kills Mimiko and Nanako for trying to tell him what to do.
  • He later kills Yorozu (and Tsumiki along with her) to suppress Megumi fighting for control.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: While he doesn't state this trope verbally, this is pretty much Sukuna's reaction when Yuji enters the fray during the Final Battle in Shinjuku, as he is mocking the young sorcerer’s odds of winning following Sukuna's murder of both Gojo and Kashimo. The fact that he consistently singles out Yuji for mockery amongst the assembled sorcerers facing him regardless underscores his petty sadism towards the boy.
  Sukuna: What can a little boy hope to accomplish here?

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