Why Sukuna Stopped Being Scary?

Article at a glance:
Sukuna started out as pure chaos fuel, every time he showed up, someone died horribly and Yuuji’s life got a little more traumatizing.
Shibuya cemented him as a top-tier menace, but the final arc stretched him thin, slowed him down, and stripped away the mystery that made him terrifying.
By the time the story wrapped up, Sukuna went from unstoppable nightmare to a villain stuck in plot limbo, and that’s exactly what this article digs into.

Okay, bro, I don’t think I even need to say this out loud, but Ryomen Sukuna is an absolute menace. Shibuya arc is largely regarded as peak JJK, and a good chunk of it is thanks to this dude. He felt like an unstoppable threat. Every single time he was on screen, he wasted no time and did some absolutely horrendous shit. But then, towards the last arc of the series, he just stopped being scary, why is that? Well, that’s what we are going to talk about in this article.

I just wanted to make an article talking about how big of a menace Sukuna was at first, but I think I’ll go a step deeper and talk about how the story kind of did him dirty. So, today we are talking about Why Sukuna Stopped Being Scary? Of course, spoilers ahead. So let’s get started.

From Meance to Plot Stagnation

There is a reason why Sukuna is one of the most iconic villains in modern anime. Yeah, sure, the first time we saw him, he kind of got humiliated by Gojo. But then the 2nd time he came out, he just straight up ripped out Yuuji’s heart just to blackmail Megumi. Dude, Mahito was legit scared of this dude. He had to take permission from Sukuna before using his Domain Expansion near Yuuji. And then we get to the Shibuya arc… ho boy.

The moment Sukuna appears, he just starts deleting people. He sees Jogo and takes up his offer for a fight. And for most of the fight, he is just playing with Jogo bro! There’s a moment where Jogo is charging up a large fireball, and Panda and the others are in its blast radius. Sukuna teleports NEAR them and tells them to NOT move until he claps LMAO. And of course, he claps at the very last moment. Then he beats Jogo with a damn fire attack. They don’t even show the clash; it just flashes to Jogo’s afterlife LMFAO. “Stand proud, you were strong.”

And then the Mahoraga fight… Ho brother. Can y’all even imagine how many people just died as collateral in this fight? He is facing MAHORAGA, and he just casually walks out of a theatre with a soda and popcorn in hand. After the fight ends, he WALKS back to the center of Shibuya, switches back to Yuuji just so that the kid could see all the destruction. Poor Yuuji has a full-on existential crisis right there. And then of course, he goes on MERK Gojo with hacks.

But it’s all downhill from there. They have him fight randoms for 50-ish chapters while Yuuji and others prepare. Despite repeated references, we never get to see Sukuna pull out his Hiean-era form. And of course, in the end, he was done in by plot contrivances. They had such a strong villain, but they completely ruined his aura, man.

That is all for now

But yeah, those were my thoughts on why Sukuna stopped being scary. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. I really need some sleep lol. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on the latest episode of One Punch Man here!