Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 265 makes “insanely hard” improvement in official translation

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 265 has arrived, and some of Sukuna’s dialogue has readers celebrating the official English translation much more than usual.

The Jujutsu Kaisen ending is starting to come into view, and the battle to defeat Sukuna is only getting more intense. The King of Curses is currently standing off against Yuji, who’s expanded his domain in the grueling fight.

Chapter 265 ends on a threat from Sukuna, who’s grown weary of some lip service from Yuji. The wording was modified for the official translation on Manga Plus, and fans consider it a proper punch-up.

“I’ll tear you asunder, boy,” Sukuna says in the chapter. “And then before your severed head, I’ll kill those humans you love so much.”

Fans are in agreement, the line goes hard, taking advantage of some creative freedom in the Japanese text. In a Reddit thread, a user breaks down the quotes – “asunder” is an evocative choice compared to options such as “dismember” – and points out that otherwise, this is quite literal.

“I like this version of Sukuna’s proclamation better,” reads the top comment. “‘I’ll turn you asunder’ and ‘before your severed head’ go insanely hard.”

“[John] Werry has these rare moments where he just gets what the people want, even if it’s not 100% accurate he just comes up with the hardest possible text,” another commenter adds.

“Werry got that vocabulary game on lock, he can cook,” another user states, highlighting the deployment of a word like ‘asunder’.

John Werry has been the official translator on Jujutsu Kaisen for sometime, and his work has left something to be desired in the past. Clunky phrasing and typos have been noticed on more than one occasion, though both are symptoms of tight deadlines – a recurring problem across anime and manga.

Nonetheless, when he gets something right, it tends to be noticed and celebrated. Given that we’re in Jujutsu Kaisen’s endgame, he seems to pulling out all the stops.

If you’d like more dark sorcery while we await the next chapter, have a look at our guide to the Shinjuku Showdown Arc and our list of the strongest modern-era sorcerers.