Summary
- Gojo's overwhelming power makes it difficult to create believable threats and conflicts.
- In the Shibuya Incident arc, Gojo's absence created higher stakes, which made for a more exciting storyline.
- While Gojo is important to the series, permanently removing his overpowering strength while keeping him as a mentor figure would keep things interesting and allow for new conflicts to arise.
In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, one sorcerer is objectively more powerful than all others: Satoru Gojo. Being born with both the Limitless technique and the Six Eyes, Gojo is naturally blessed with seemingly infinite talent and potential. Yet still, despite all his overwhelming strength, Gojo's existence isn't necessarily a good thing for JJK as a series.
While it definitely is beneficial for the characters and people in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, in terms of the story and narrative, a world without Gojo's unmatched strength would actually be an infinitely more interesting and exciting story for fans to follow. Whether literally or figuratively, Gojo dying sooner rather than later would definitely be the best thing for JJK going forward.
Gojo Is Just Too Powerful
The main issue with Gojo is that he's so powerful that no enemy poses a real threat to the rest of the cast while he's around. The source of Satoru Gojo's power is the fact that he was born with both the Limitless and the Six Eyes: two inherited techniques that are passed down genetically to members of the Gojo family. As the first member of his family to be born with both abilities in over 400 years, Gojo is able to essentially control space itself and has nearly endless access to his already immeasurable cursed energy. By bringing the mathematical concept of infinity into reality through the Limitless technique, Gojo can create seemingly impossible situations out of thin air. This includes creating an empty void, pushing objects away from him, or combining both principles into an imaginary mass that erases everything it touches.
From the very outset of JJK, it was made blatantly clear that Gojo could easily take down special grade curses with minimal effort. Gojo handled Sukuna who was in possession of Yuji's body in the beginning of the series with no difficulty whatsoever. While Yuji had only consumed one of Sukuna's fingers, a single finger has been shown to be enough to turn a cursed spirit into a special grade as in Yuji and Fushigoro's encounter with the Finger Bearer later in Season One.
Even the creator of Jujutsu Kaisen, Gege Akutami, has often expressed their distaste with Gojo, seemingly due to how difficult it is to write a believable threat with the world's most powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer present in the narrative. Gege has sent out several tweets throughout the series' history decrying Gojo, even going so far as to claim that the character has "no personality." While statements like that are clearly done to poke fun at their own creation, it still underlines the frustration Gege must feel in having created this character who is so OP in comparison to every other character in the series.
The Shibuya Incident Shows How Gojo's Absence Makes JJK Better
The Shibuya Incident arc is widely held by many fans as the best arc in the series thus far, even despite the fact that Gojo's battle with Sukuna at the culmination of the Culling Game has been the series' most epic singular fight sequence. At least part of what made the Shibuya Incident arc so intense and exciting was its high stakes, which were almost entirely manufactured by Gojo’s absence throughout the majority of it.
Gojo being sealed away by Kenjaku in the early stages of the Shibuya Incident makes everything that comes after it way better. There are emotionally impactful character deaths that just wouldn't have been possible with Gojo around, which also gave the individual fights throughout the arc that much more urgency. In the end, Okkotsu is forced to take on a leadership role toward Yuji, while the latter's position in the story alongside Fushigoro becomes much more vital aside from simply swallowing Sukuna's fingers. The threat of Kenjaku in the Culling Game takes on a way more dire turn because of this as well, because there are only a couple characters who could even stand against him in a fight, and their chances of winning aren't guaranteed.
Gege Akutami was so pleased with the outcome of Gojo being sealed away during the Shibuya Incident arc that they tweeted in a post that has since been deleted "now that Gojo is gone, it's looking like 2020 is gonna be a good year." While 2020 definitely wasn't the best year in many respects, it was at least a good start for Jujutsu Kaisen as the Shibuya Incident arc picked up steam. Even before the Shibuya arc though, Gojo's momentary death at the hands of Toji Fushigoro added some much-needed drama to the subsequent interchange between Toji and Geto. It just goes to show how much better things get for Jujutsu Kaisen when Gojo is taken out of the picture.
JJK Doesn't Need Gojo Anymore
Gojo is the great equalizer in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen that keeps cursed spirits at bay, but that doesn't mean he's the only one that could do so. Even though he's by far the strongest, Gojo isn't the only super powerful sorcerer who can hold their own against special grade curses. Okkotsu is a great example of a special grade Jujutsu Sorcerer who could demonstrate way more growth with Gojo out of the picture. Okkotsu was even said to potentially surpass Gojo in terms of the amount of cursed energy he had access to. That, combined with his ability to copy and utilize the cursed techniques of others, could make Okkotsu a much bigger factor in the series than he has been, but he has otherwise largely gone unused throughout a large majority of the series.
Gojo's fight against Sukuna in the manga was so great because Sukuna was literally the only character in the entire series that fans could have possibly conceived of giving Gojo a challenge. In that sense, Sukuna was the series' last hope to help take Gojo out of the picture in some way. While chapter 235 stated that Gojo "won," whether Gojo wins the fight doesn't even matter, as long as he doesn't emerge from the other side entirely unscathed. He was already on his last legs multiple times against Sukuna throughout their fight, so it wouldn't be unrealistic for him to finish off the fight against Kenjaku with his brain too damaged to use cursed energy anymore. If that were to happen, it would give a lot of narrative wiggle room for Gege going forward to try new things and bring in new, believable conflicts for the series to continue for the foreseeable future.
A Symbolic Death For Gojo Would Be Enough
It's not that Satoru Gojo is an entirely dispensable as a character though. After all, some of JJK's best moments thus far involved Gojo. However, the possibility to keep inventing temporary methods to keep Gojo at bay can only go on for so long before it becomes a worn out and tired trend. That said taking Gojo out of the fight permanently would be the best way for JJK to move forward, even if it doesn't mean he is literally killed.
As was shown in the Shibuya arc, Gojo doesn't necessarily have to physically die in order to get rid of his stunting level of power. Even merely immobilizing or taking his strength away while keeping him around as a character would be more than enough. In fact, it may be more beneficial to do things this way than to entirely erase him from the series outright.
Gojo is a beloved character for more than just his insane power level, as his personality and position in the story are important to fans. That's why, not literally killing him, but just killing off his power after the fight with Sukuna and Kenjaku somehow while still keeping him around as a mentor figure would be enough to keep things interesting. With Tengen now unable to provide the barrier that protects the human world from that of curses, maybe replacing him with Gojo as a character who maintains the balance between the regular world and that of Jujutsu sorcery would be a fitting end to Gojo's character arc. Gojo is still one of the most beloved characters in the series, so it could pay to keep him around as a personality while getting rid of his power in order to make future conflicts feel more genuine.