The Apathetic Dr. Sad

In the animation notes, it’s pointed out that Mahoraga had adapted to Sukuna’s constant fake outs and feints, and hits him with one of his own:

Which is the direct reason Sukuna smiles. To him, he’s corrupted Mahoraga, this “Divine” or pure General, now has to use tricks to keep up.

Wait….

Did Mahoraga just try to activate Simple domain?

I’ve seen a lot of criticism about Sukuna as a villain. But I don’t think many people have taken the time to enjoy the time of big brain he is. We see this intelligence of his on full display during the Big Raga Incident.

- here upon ariving on the scene, Sukuna was able to deduce very quickly that:

1: Mahoraga is a Shikigami summoned by Megumi, despite never knowing about Mahoraga. Or the 10 shadows technique outside of what he’s learned from past battles during the Heian era and or his time in Yuji’s prison

2: Megumi’s subjugation ritual keeping him in a suspended state, and thus, he can’t die until Big Raga is dealt with.

3: Haruta staying alive being crucial to keeping Megumi alive throughout the ritual.

Sukuna is so familiar with Shikigami users and rituals associated to them, he’s able to figure in a few seconds everything that’s going on and what he probably needs to do. No other character in the series has demonstrated this level of analytical accuracy, this quickly.

- Here, Sukuna is able to identify what Mahoraga’s sword can do from their first exchange. It’s clear he’s seen or read about it before in the past. We don’t know all the battles he’s been a part of but he is clearly well versed in some ancient weapons as seen as during his battle with Kashimo.

Sukuna may be an avid enjoyer of his curse technique, Shrine, but he’s a fan of weapons, mainly in a lot of his Heian era artwork. Mainly a staff like weapon and then that lightning weapon he used against Kashimo. Let’s not forget to mention all of his past Heian era battles gave him a lot of experience. Who’s to say none of those sorcerers carried a cursed weapon. Based off of his current battle with our cast, he seems pretty used to sword users.

In short, Sukuna knows his way around cursed weapons, and is able identify what they’re capable of. He is also very capable of dealing with a weapon user, barehanded.

- lastly, we see Sukuna compare Big Raga to a something named Yamata no Orochi. Now Yamata no Orochi the Legendary 8 Headed/Tailed Dragon, in real life is a mythical creature first written about around the early 700s in Japan, “filled with malice” and eating young girl sacrifices every seven years. Later, Susanoo, the god of Storms, kills it. It’s known for having a few amazing powers but the main one is regeneration from damage, even death.

Now Sukuna may be referencing the actual mythology, since it was around during the Heian Era, which started at 794 AD and ended in 1185 AD. It’s plausible to assume Sukuna grew up well aware of the mythology. Or perhaps in the JJK universe, there was a Shikigami that may have created the legend we know today. Regardless, upon identifying how Big Raga preferred to stop his ops, via, adaptation, he activated Malevolent Shrine, to create the right conditions for him to use Fire Arrow.

(A quick aside for context, recently it’s been confirmed by Gege that Sukuna’s activation of Fire Arrow is simplified and buffed by the storm of cleave and dismantle turning everything into a fine powder in an air tight enviorment/ie his domain, so when the Fire Arrow activates, it causes an instantaneous explosion, disintegrating any and everything within the domain.)

I’m not saying the manga or anime implies Sukuna fought Yamata no Orochi, but it seems clear Sukuna knows how to deal with an adapting enemy: Obliderate it with an attack it can’t heal from, adapt to, or come back from.

I love this scene because not only does it operate as a helpful flashback to establish the monster that is Big Ragga, but it also breaks down Megumi’s mindset even further. How he thinks diminutively of himself. He naturally assumes Gojo is wrong about his potential.

Gojo’s Six Eyes can litterally see the full potential of an individual and their technique(provided they don’t hit multiple back to back black flashes). Gojo’s (behind the scenes) training of Megumi was to get Megumi to have confidence in himself. Directly as a result of Gojo’s teachings, he was able to pop his domain expansion in season 1.

Gojo sees Megumi’s true potential, which is why he’s insinuating Megumi can even reach his level. Effectively, the only thing holding Megumi back is himself, since we see much later in the manga what his 10 Shadows are capable of and how broken they all can be if used correctly.

Jogoat’s confidence was broken by this time. Despite being the strongest (?) curse, he is very clearly outclassed by both Gojo and Sukuna. All of his fire to prove himself went up in smoke by the time Sukuna asked about the Domain. “Why embarrass myself?” Jogo may have died not too long after this, but I personally think Jogoat was cooked and he knew there’s was nothing he could do.

You see it in the manga as well as in the anime but while Sukuna is a smug asshole during his battles, you get the sense that his insults are targeted to rouse up other’s fighting spirit against him. Even in the manga you see him do it most notably, to Higuruma and later Yuta.

He seems to do it to characters he believes are holding back their abilities or power.