Highlights
- Chapter 253 of Jujutsu Kaisen amps up the intensity of Maki vs Sukuna battle, showcasing their power and resolve.
- Sukuna's clever tactics and powerful attacks push Maki to her limits, ultimately leading to his dominance in the fight.
- Fans are left eager for the next chapter as Kusakabe steps up to challenge Sukuna, setting the stage for a new confrontation.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen 252, "Inhuman Makyo Shinjuku Showdown, Part 25" by Gege Akutami, translated by John Werry, and Lettered by Snir Aharon, available in English from MangaPlus.
Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 253 dropped earlier today and this week's addition to the Culling Game arc only built up on what was set up previously. Maki versus Sukuna is a battle that began last week, and this week, this fight was taken to the next level. As has been the tradition for every single character that Sukuna has fought over the course of the last few months, Maki also lasted around two chapters in battle, which means that this week's chapter marked the conclusion of her fight against Sukuna, at least for now.
At the same time, JJK chapter 253 also did incredibly well to set up the next fight that Sukuna will have in front of him, and it is a rather surprising one, regardless of which way fans look at it.
Sukuna Acknowledges Maki
Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 253 actually started on a rather strange note. While fans thought Maki vs Sukuna would continue right away, they for a flashback at the beginning of the chapter, and this flashback was pertaining to the character of Kusakabe. As a Sorcerer, Kusakabe has not had much shine in the Culling Game. This is not a surprise to any fan, given that he is way too weak when compared to the actual powerful sorcerers in the JJK world. For Kusakabe, the chapter actually opened up on a rather positive note, as most thought of him to be one of the strongest Grade One Sorcerers. This was quite a surprise to the fans, and one that certainly did not make much sense at the beginning of the chapter. However, as the chapter proceeded, it started making a lot more sense.
As expected, the meat of the chapter was the battle between Maki and Sukuna, and this fight continued right from where the previous one left off. Sukuna, being far from his full power, was still able to hold his own against Maki. And Maki, who fans know to be incredibly strong, was dominant in this fight, nonetheless. As the battle continued, Sukuna started to take the upper hand. Despite Maki throwing everything that she had at Sukuna, the King of Curses did incredibly well to hold out, and he actively threw a bunch of powerful techniques at her. Sukuna even managed to land his cursed technique on her, which just goes to show that he can fight very smartly.
In this week's chapter, fans got to see and resourceful Sukuna, which meant that even though he was a class below when it comes to physical attributes, he still managed to hold his own in other ways, using his environment to his advantage and landing clever attacks on Maki.
Sukuna vs Maki Gets More Intense
As the battle between Sukuna and Maki continued, the intensity of this clash only raged even further. Sukuna was able to slowly make ground in this battle, and the sheer disparity in terms of power and skill became more apparent than at the beginning of the fight. Despite Sukuna taking damage, his weakness slowly started to disappear. This is not surprising at all, especially because Uraume clearly mentioned that Sukuna's cursed energy spikes when he fights stronger enemies. If nobody pushes him to the extreme, then Sukuna will not utilize his full power.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Gege Reveals The Result Of Maki vs Sukuna
The fight between Maki and Sukuna comes to an end in JJK.
In JJK chapter 253, he utilized more of his power, and he also gave Maki her flowers. Sukuna clearly mentioned that Maki was the one individual that he was looking forward to fighting the most out of the sorcerers after the death of Gojo. Even though he fought powerful sorcerers, such as Kashimo, Higuruma, Yuji, and even Yuta, Maki was the one who had his attention the most. This is simply because Maki is an entirely different level of sorcerer and she has broken through the curse that everyone else sorcerer possesses. Maki is the complete opposite of Sukuna. While he has taken cursed energy to the utmost peak, Maki has taken physical attributes to the utmost top. As such, Sukuna used this moment to test which one is stronger of the two.
With each blow flow from Sukuna, he started gaining the upper hand in this fight, and at that point, it was quite apparent to the fans that Maki would end up on the losing end. Once again, this wasn't much of a surprise, given that Maki is not going to be the one to finish off the ultimate villain of the arc, and that is a role reserved for the likes of Yuji. Still, Maki did hold her own incredibly, and utilizing her monstrous strength and speed, did quite a bit of damage to Sukuna.
At the end of it all, Sukuna found himself in the groove, and he landed a powerful Black Flash on Maki. As fans know, Black Flash is an incredibly powerful ability that no sorcerer can utilize at will. One requires incredible cursed energy control to pull this off, and when Sukuna successfully utilized it, it caused tremendous damage to the enemies. Sukuna's Black Flash is certainly one of his strongest attacks and the entire series, and Maki, despite trying to guard against it, was not able to do much. Expectedly, she was sent flying, and that appeared to be that. The battle between Sukuna and Maki is going to stop here for a while and attention is likely going to turn to other individuals who are looking to fight against Sukuna.
Kusakabe To Join Battle?
Much to the surprise of the fans, JJK chapter 253 introduced another foe for Sukuna. As Maki was sent flying, Kusakabe found himself in front of the king of curses, all ready to fight a battle against him. It must be noted that if he has not played any major role against Sukuna yet, however, now, it is his chance to shine. He clearly is not on the level of all the others who have fought against him over time, however, he is sure to get his moment against him, and more importantly, most definitely make the king of curses recognize him as a threat. At the same time, this ties in very well to the beginning of the chapter, which hyped him up quite a bit. At this point, it made quite a lot of sense to the fans as to why the author decided to dedicate the beginning of the chapter to Kusakabe instead of Maki.
While JJK is going to be on break next week, fans are already looking forward to the fight between these two individuals, which will likely not last for too long. Kusakabe is likely going to be too hold out until Yuji or Maki rejoin the battle, and then, the fight against Sukuna is likely going to enter the final phase. For now, all fans can do is sit back and hold tight, as the King of Curses attempts to throw everything that he has at the sorcerers, in an attempt to completely crush them.
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 the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 254, is set to be March 24, 2024.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Kusakabe Vs Sukuna, Explained
Kusakabe is the only remaining sorcerer that can fight Sukuna right now in JJK.
