Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen 248, “Inhuman Makyo Shinjuku Showdown, Part 20” by Gege Akutami, translated by John Werry, and Lettered by Snir Aharon, available in English fromMangaPlus.
Jujutsu Kaisenmarked its epic return earlier this week with chapter 248 and it was certainly one of the most intense chapters that fans had seen in quite a while.JJKhas been nothing short of amazing over the course of the last few weeks and the climax of the Culling Game arc keeps getting hotter with each passing chapter.
With the fight between Higuruma and Sukuna having wrapped up, Yiji was supposed to be the focus of the upcoming chapter of the series, and, as expected, that is exactly what the story focused on heavily. With Sukuna finally praising Yuji,JJKchapter 248 set the stage for an incredible fight between the two. Much to the surprise of the fans, other amazing contenders joined the battle and made the fight in Shinjuku even more exciting. Without a doubt, this week’s chapter of the story was an incredible one that has all the fans excited and hungry for more.
Yuji’s Failed Attack On Sukuna
Towards the end of the previous chapter of JJK, fans got to see Sukuna at the receiving end of a powerful attack from Yuji. Immediately after Higuruma fell, the Executioner’s Sword was entrusted to Yuji Itadori.Yuji was then seen attempting to strike Sukuna from behind.This was quite a difficult situation for the author as he did not want Higuruma’s sacrifice to go to waste, and at the same time, he also did not want Sukuna to fall this early in the arc. As a result,JJK248 tackled this situation in quite an interesting way. Yuji completely missed the mark in the chapter and lost the ability to utilize the Executioner’s Sword. However, in return, it appears that Higuruma might not die, after all.
JJKchapter 248 made it quite clear that the injured as well as those who were killed are being teleported somehow to Shoko. This ability teleportation is utilized by Ui Ui and it appears that the fallen are being healed by Shoko’s cursed technique, which Sukuna mentions is somewhat different in nature. It will be interesting to see if Shoko comes into play at some point in this arc and what role her cursed technique ends up playing later down the line.
Sukuna Acknowledges Yuji
While it is clear that Yuji failed at landing his hit inJJKchapter 248, in return, something incredible happened that fans did not expect to see in this chapter. Sukuna acknowledged Yuji, at least in terms of his indomitable will. Sukuna started questioning his own beliefs in the chapter and this took up quite a sizable portion of JJK chapter 248. After the death of Higuruma, Sukuna started feeling disappointed. It was almost as if he felt like he killed a potential rival for the future too early.
Sukuna wanted this person to blossom even further so he could, later down the line, entertain him and make him feel alive once again. However, this conflicted with his own ideology of not needing anyone or anything to please him. Finally, Sukuna realized that he had changed after a thousand years and it was all down to Yuji, whom he shared a body with. At the same time,Sukuna also traced it down to Yuji’s indomitable will.Despite having tried to break him many times, Yuji always stands back up and fights and Sukuna believes that by breaking him down, he can, once again, gain control of his philosophy.
As a result, Sukuna is starting the battle with the aim of crushing Yuji’s will and once again reclaiming his way of life. In doing so, Sukuna also acknowledges the fact that Yuji is an incredible talent and that even though he is not as strong as him or even a challenge to him, he is someone that possesses a very rare gift and that his willpower is quite amazing.
Kenjaku’s Death Confirmed
A very interesting turn of events took place inJJKchapter 248 when the failsafe that Kenjaku and Sukuna set up activated. Essentially, a new rule was added to the Culling Game and this essentially resulted in Megumi Fushiguro being in charge of the merger now. This meant that Sukuna was now going to bein charge of the merger in the absence of Kenjaku.
This also confirmed to Sukuna that Kenjaku at now failed to accomplish his goal and that Yuta’s sneak attack on him worked. Essentially, now that Sukuna is in charge of the merger, Kenjaku serves no purpose in the story at all. This confirms, once and for all, that Kenjaku is dead and that Yuta actually managed to kill him with a swing of his sword.
This is quite an underwhelming way for a major villain to die, and given that Kenjaku was the mastermind behind everything, this is one thing that the author failed to nail down. Kenjaku’s lackluster death will always be one of the worst things about the Culling Game arc and the entire series in general. Regardless, now, Sukuna is in charge of the merger and even though he does not want to do it at the moment, he might make use of it at the end, after all. Currently, Sukuna’s goal is to kill Yuji and then everyone else in the Culling Game. Later, he will likely end up triggering the merger and play with Tengen.
Yuta Joins The Battle
The biggest and the most exciting surprise inJJKchapter 248 came towards the very end, immediately after Sukuna revealed his plans forthe remaining players in the Culling Game.As soon as Sukuna prepared to attack Yuji, Yuta, out of nowhere, joined the battlefield and apologized for being late. This essentially confirms, once again, that Kenjaku has been dealt with. Yuta’s cursed energy caused great devastation in the surroundings and Sukuna himself was excited to see him, and even pushed him further by saying that if he doesn’t kill him, everyone dear to him will perish here. Of course, Sukuna’s tone was rather condescending and, because of that, Rika was absolutely furious.
Rika launched a powerful attack on Sukuna, which the King of Curses had to block with all four of his hands. Now, the stage has been set for an exciting battle between Yuta, Rika, and Yuji against Sukuna. This is going to be one of the most exciting phases ofJJKas a whole and one fight that fans will absolutely relish in the upcoming chapters of the story.
More likely than not, the vast majority of the focus from here onwards is going to be on Yuta and Rika, who are going to play a major part in the fight against Sukuna. It must also be remembered that Yuta is one of the protagonists ofJJK, at least that is how Gege intended it at first. It is no surprise that he has teamed up with Yuji in what appears to be the final fight of the entire series and, hopefully, he’s going to leave his mark in this epic clash and show everyone that he is a sorcerer worthy of succeeding his mentor, Gojo Satoru.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and theManga Plusapp. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 249, is set to be July 17, 2025.
