Yuki Tsukumo's sacrifice in Jujutsu Kaisen isn't as useless as fans think
Jujutsu Kaisen is a series with a lot of controversial decisions regarding its characters and one notorious example was Yuki Tsukumo's sacrifice during the Culling Games arc. It is during this moment in the series where the Special Grade sorcerer gives her life to defeat Kenjaku but fails and most people have claimed that her sacrifice was useless— but that wasn't the case.
Granted, Yuki's character could have done a lot more in the Jujutsu Kaisen manga but her last moments against Kenjaku allowed Choso to survive and also pave the way to get to the Prison Realm, where Satoru Gojo was. While these two characters would ultimately end up dying when fighting Ryomen Sukuna in the final arc, their contributions would prove to be quite useful for the main cast to win at the end.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a publication.
Explaining why Yuki's death wasn't as useless as most Jujutsu Kaisen fans think
Yuki Tsukumo and Choso were the ones aiding Master Tengen in the fight against Kenjaku in the Culling Games arc, and she ultimately died when attempting a last-ditch effort to take him down with her Cursed Technique. The perception of the fandom is that Yuki's character was wasted, which might be fundamentally true, but her sacrifice wasn't nearly as useless.
It is thanks to her efforts that Choso manages to survive, and he proves to be essential to keep his brother Yuji Itadori alive when they were fighting Ryomen Sukuna in the last arc. Choso gave his life to make sure that the protagonist could survive and the latter would be the one to defeat the King of Curses, so this contribution harkens back to Yuki's sacrifice.
This moment also paved the way for the sorcerers to get the Prison Realm and release Satoru Gojo, which gave them an edge in this final battle. Gojo's comeback was important for the other sorcerers to have a month to prepare, since Sukuna wanted to fight him and also gave them time to come up with different strategies, so that has to be taken into account.
The ups and downs of Yuki's character
Yuki Tsukuno is a character who quickly got the interest of the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom because of her upbeat and charismatic personality, her status as a Special Grade sorcerer, and her goals in the series. She wanted to find a way to eliminate Curses for good and also to change the structure of Jujutsu society, which marked a stark contrast to the way Gojo and Suguru Geto were handling things in that area.
Coupled with the fact that she was the teacher of a fan favorite, Aoi Todo, and a former Star Plasma Vessel, it is surprising that author Gege Akutami didn't get the most out of any of these elements. Yuki was wasted in the grand scheme of things and all of these traits were never explored, thus leading to a lot of disappointment from the fandom.
Final thoughts
Yuki Tsukumo is probably going to be remembered as one of the most wasted Jujutsu Kaisen characters but that doesn't mean that she didn't have a degree of contribution to the plot. Her sacrifice against Kenjaku didn't take the life of the centuries-old sorcerer but allowed Choso to survive and the sorcerers to get closer to releasing Gojo, with both of them being pivotal in the final arc.
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