Ryomen Sukuna

Ryomen Sukuna (両面 宿儺) is a fictional character and one of the central antagonists of the manga and anime series Jujutsu Kaisen created by Gege Akutami. A Heian Era sorcerer, he was once known notoriously as the King of Curses and well known as the greatest Sorcerer to ever live. Although originally human, upon death, Sukuna sealed himself as a cursed object, wherein his immense power divided within 20 fingers. At the beginning of the story, Yuji Itadori eats one of Sukuna's fingers, becoming his Vessel and bringing Sukuna back to life.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Junichi Suwabe in Japanese and Ray Chase in English. Sukuna's sadistic and "terrifying" demeanor as the series' villain was praised, along with the dual nature of his relationship with Yuji.

Concept and creation
According to Akutami, Sukuna is "less of a sorcerer and more of a walking disaster." Sukuna was created as a cruel, narcissistic, depraved and supremely arrogant figure within the story. The real person turned mythological figure "Ryōmen-sukuna," who was the character's inspiration, traces back to the classical Japanese book Nihon Shoki, where Sukuna's fantasized physical figure (two faces and four arms) and malicious demonic personality are shared with the character. In ancient history, Sukuna was an enemy to the Yamato family but was also worshiped by some as a deity, though his association with demonic imagery was formed after the Imperial House of Japan declared him a vicious force of nature. Ryomen means "two-faced," which can be applied to the character both literally and figuratively. Sukuna did not ever have a wife or family in his life as a human, and was feared as a human less than Satoru Gojo due to how vicious the world of Curses was at the time he lived. Furthermore, Gege stated Sukuna "will kill anybody in an instant" and that he has no morals, taking pleasure out of making things tough for Yuji.

According to his English voice, Ray Chase, his favorite aspect of the character was his relationship with Yuji sharing the same body, saying that "Sukuna has such a different view of pain, power, life, than Itadori, as he has existed for more than one thousand years. It’s a kind of maturity that allows the villain to mistreat the hero in so many ways." Chase hoped that Sukuna could defeat Gojo so that Yuji could gain the power to defeat Sukuna in his "mind palace." In another interview, Chase said that he took inspiration from the Japanese dub to differentiate between Sukuna and Yuji as they share a body. Chase said that " it’s fun to have lots of asides about how pathetic Itadori is under your breath! I’d say ultimately it falls on the show being well written and paced which makes Sukuna especially fun whenever he shows up." In forming a voice for Sukuna, Chase felt that he had to do "a weird and interesting voice for him [that is] not very anime at all, and definitely not one that I’ve used before. He’s got a timelessness to him which helps as he’s a thousand years old, but also with kind of a New York attitude for his more disdainful moments."

Appearances
Over a thousand years ago, during the Heian era, Sukuna was a powerful curse user, served by an underling named Uraume. At the beginning of the story, his power is sealed in 20 mummified fingers scattered throughout the world. Megumi Fushiguro traces one of his fingers to Sugisawa High School. During an attack by cursed spirits, Yuji Itadori eats the finger and becomes a Jujutsu Sorcerer, with Sukuna regaining consciousness within him. Though Yuji has full control over his body, he is targeted for execution due to the danger Sukuna poses, with Satoru Gojo's patronage as his only protection.

In a mission to contain a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Yuji and his colleagues are greatly endangered, so the young sorcerer gives Sukuna control of his body, to defeat his assailant. Sukuna destroys the opponent, but seizes the moment of freedom to rip out Yuji's heart, and attempts to kill Fushiguro, becoming very interested in the latter. When Yuji wrestles back control to save his friend, he dies, and meets Sukuna within his soul. Sukuna offers to return Yuji to life, but persuades him to accept a deal allowing Sukuna brief control on one more occasion. Sukuna remains silent from then on, only roused by an encounter with the Cursed Spirit Mahito, in which he mocks Yuji for losing a friend.

In the Shibuya Incident, Yuji is gravely injured, and the Cursed Spirit Jogo force-feeds him many of Sukuna's fingers. Sukuna, indifferent to Jogo but ultimately coming to praise his strength, kills him after a very destructive battle across the city. He reunites with Uraume after the battle, and states he has a plan to regain freedom. He then saves Megumi from Mahoraga, his summoned Shikigami, catastrophically razing much of Shibuya ward in the process, before surrendering control back to a traumatized Yuji.

During the climax of the Culling Games arc, Sukuna forcibly steals Megumi Fushiguro's body by feeding Megumi a finger, and fought the post-awakened Maki Zenin and Yuji Itadori, before fleeing with Uraume. To fully crush Fushiguro's spirit into submission, he kills his sister Tsumiki, who had been similarly possessed by the sorcerer Yorozu. After some time, Sukuna saves Kenjaku from being attacked by the freshly unsealed Satoru Gojo and then they agree on a duel on 24th December 2018.

In the Shinjuku Showdown Arc, Sukuna, having regained his full power, fought Satoru Gojo in a neck to neck battle of constant Domain Clashes, with Sukuna using Mahoraga to counter Gojo's powers. Seemingly defeated, Sukuna adapts to Gojo's Cursed Technique, and kills the sorcerer. Sukuna is then challenged by another Culling Game opponent, Hajime Kashimo, who forces him to return to his true four-armed form. Yuji Itadori challenges Sukuna again with Hiromi Higuruma, the latter using his domain trying to weaken Sukuna's power by charging him of his crimes in a court case. After having his cursed tool confiscated in the court case, Sukuna proceeds to kill Higuruma and take on Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkotsu, the latter who he incapacitates. Maki Zen'in returns to fight him, but is sent flying by a powerful punch from Sukuna. Another sorcerer called Kusakabe also joins the fight but is overwhelmed by Sukuna but is saved by a pair of Sorcerers formerly allied with Suguru Geto. These two Sorcerers deal significant damage to Sukuna, but decide to cede from the fight before they can be harmed themselves. Yuji, Choso, and Maki continue to trade blows with Sukuna as it is revealed that a thousand years ago, Sukuna had eaten his twin brother in the womb. It was also revealed that Kenjaku used Sukuna's twin's soul to "make" Jin Itadori, technically leaving Yuji as Sukuna's nephew. After hitting multiple consecutive black flashes, Sukuna is able to string together binding vows, change his hand seal, and use a part of his brain unaffected by Gojo's infinite void to cast a domain expansion identical to his Malevolent Shrine that lasts 99 seconds. After his domain expansion ends, he uses the same flames he used to incinerate Jogo and Mahoraga, which he was able to create with more binding vows. These flames kill Choso who sacrificed his life for Yuji, which Yuji and Sukuna alone on the battlefield, before they are interrupted by Aoi Todo, who teleported away Maki and Ino with his cursed technique. Todo and Yuji together are able deal much damage to Sukuna, just before Sukuna can use another domain expansion he is stopped by a figure who is seemingly Satoru Gojo, somehow back from the dead. This person is reveled to be Yuta Okkotsu, who had used Kenjaku's body swapping technique to inhabit the body of Satoru Gojo. Sukuna apologizes for underestimating Yuta as they begin a domain clash.

Reception
Sukuna's arrogance and "almost casual display of handling immense Cursed Energy" was praised by Sportskeeda, also calling him "awe-inspiring and terrifying" as well as "the ultimate anime villain," labeling him as one of the most beloved shonen villains. Chingy Nea of Polygon praised the way Sukuna was a "cruel and emotionless sadist" and how he helped the anime "feign predictability" by having him kill Yuji early on in the story. Sukuna's awakening in Yuji's body was described "disgusting and fantastic." David Eckstein-Schoemann of the UNF Spinnaker praised the duality between main character and protagonist. He said that "you think of all the possibilities...and they take full advantage of that. The conflict and interactions between Yuji and Sukuna are both creative and brilliant. It plays a lot with your expectations."

The character and Chase's performance in the dub was praised: "[he] lights up the screen as a newly incarnated Cursed Spirit, Ryomen Sukuna, as an elated insatiable animal that takes pleasure in grazing on the fear and flesh of humans and fills Fushiguro with a sense of dread of what’s to come." The character was also compared to Bleach's protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki and his Hollow persona due their parallels especially in his early appearances; such being young fighters who develop supernatural powers as well as evil alter-egos in order to protect people from giant monsters. Comic Book Resources compared Itadori's temptation to use Sukuna as temptation similar to other shōnen heroes such Ichigo's Hollow persona as analysis of how everybody has inner conflicts.

In a Viz Media popularity poll conducted in March 2021, Sukuna was voted as the ninth most popular character in the series. In a second poll taken in December 2021 by Shonen Jump, he was voted the 13th most popular character. At the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Sukuna won Best Antagonist while his fight against Satoru Gojo was nominated for Best Fight Scene.