Jujutsu Kaisen: Rika, The Queen Of Curses, Explained

Highlights

• Rika, the vengeful cursed spirit, is an incredibly powerful character known as the “Queen of Curses” and possesses a massive pool of cursed energy.
• Rika’s powers include replenishing Yuta’s cursed energy reserves, weapon storage, and fighting alongside Yuta when fully manifested.
• While Rika is extremely powerful, it is confirmed that she is not as strong as Sukuna, the King of Curses. However, with the weakened state of Sukuna and the assistance of other characters, there is a possibility that Rika could defeat Sukuna in their upcoming battle.

The Queen of Curses, Rika is an incredibly important character in JJK and right now, her importance in the story is higher than ever before. This is simply down to the fact that she’s currently fighting the toughest and the most important battle of her entire life by Yuta’s side and this is the fight against the King of Curses, Sukuna.

Of course, while the ongoing battle is nothing short of extraordinary, there are some fans who might, understandably, be wondering about Rika, her origins, and, of course, what she is truly capable of. For a character as complex as Rika, there are many interesting issues that fans need to understand before they can jump to the conclusion of whether she can take on Sukuna, and what kind of role she will play as the story continues.

Rika’s Origin

Rika was once a vengeful spirit who fans know came into existence after the death of Yuta’s childhood friend, Rika Orimoto. Rika died in a tragic car accident and when that happened, Yuta’s words managed to turn her into a vengeful cursed spirit, unbeknownst to him at the time. Rika continued to haunt Yuta for many years, and made his life miserable in many ways, that is, until he entered Jujutsu High and, there, he started to train himself to get stronger and also harness the powers of Rika better so that he could help her. As a vengeful spirit, Rika was incredibly difficult for Yuta to control and this was simply because, at this point in the story, Yuta himself was not sure about what he felt towards her.

He also was not aware of the fact that it was his fault that Rika was turned into a vengeful spirit in the first place. However, towards the end of JJK0, fans saw that Yuta and Rika finally accepted each other and Yuta conveyed his feelings towards her, and accepted her as she was. He conveyed his feelings of love and that is what helped Rika’s soul to finally move on. Rika was no longer a vengeful spirit. However, interestingly enough, Rika’s powers that existed as a spirit remained with Yuta. This was simply because Rika Orimoto, Yuta’s childhood friend, wanted to leave behind something to watch over Yuta and always protect him. As such, the cursed spirit, Rika was finally born.

Rika’s Powers

Fans know Rika to be incredibly powerful. Out of all the cursed spirits that fans have seen in JJK over the years, it is a safe assumption to say that Rika is, by far, the strongest. In fact, Rika is so strong that Geto himself named her to be the queen of curses. This was before Rika even reached her current might, which is likely higher than it was in JJK0, as indicated by the absolutely massive size and a bigger pool of abilities. One of the most extraordinary things about Rika is the fact that she possesses a giant pool of cursed energy.

Rika’s energy is immeasurable. In fact, she can even replenish Yuta’s very own cursed energy reserves multiple times over without even so much as breaking a sweat, which just goes to show what level she operates on herself. However, if that wasn’t enough, Rika can provide even more aid in battle through weapon storage. Yuta can often store anything within Rika and this is what makes her a true asset to him in battle. Furthermore, Rika can also fight by herself. When Yuta fully manifests her using his ring, Rika shows up and fights on his behalf.

Her powers are enough to overcome nearly anyone in battle and that is something that fans have already seen on several occasions in the story, more recently in the Culling Game arc, when Yuta was in a three-way battle with Takako Uro, and Ryu Ishigori. With incredible reserves of cursed energy, weapon storage, and of course, a powerful beam of love, Rika is almost unstoppable in combat and a cursed spirit worthy of the title of queen of curses.

Rika And Yuta

Rika and Yuta have fought together in JJK on many occasions. The first proper battle that these two fought together was against Suguru Geto and fans saw their combination to be strong enough to completely overpower him in battle, which was nothing short of extraordinary.

Later down the line, Yuta continued to train and grow his abilities even further. As that happened, it was clear for the fans to see that the bond between these two grew as well. Given that the relationship was one purely based on love, the stronger the love, the stronger their strength as well, and that is certainly something that fans absolutely love about these characters. Yuta and Rika have both grown tremendously powerful ever since and it appears that their progress rate is still quite high. Both of them are continuously going stronger and, taking that into consideration, their upcoming fight against Sukuna does not look to be all that impossible to win.

Can Rika Take Down Sukuna?

When wondering whether Rika can take down Sukuna or not, one simply needs to look at the statement that the author has made previously. When speaking of whether Rika is stronger than Sukuna, or if Rika can take down Sukuna in combat, the author simply had to say that Sukuna is stronger. This all but confirms to the fans that Rika, despite being incredibly powerful, is not as strong as Sukuna and even though she possesses tremendous strength up her sleeve, the King of Curses is a level higher.

As such, a simple answer for the fans would be that in the current battle against Sukuna, Rika would end up losing. However, there are many variables at play here that make this an intriguing combat between these two individuals. For one, Sukuna is not at his full strength. Fans should know by now that Gojo’s battle against Sukuna weakened him tremendously. He cannot utilize his Domain Expansion and he also has a slow reverse cursed technique rate at the moment, although that is slowly coming back to him.

As such, Sukuna is far from his very best. Then, added to that is the fact that there are other characters who are fighting against Sukuna alongside Rika. These would be Yuta himself, and of course, the protagonist of the series, Yuji as well. When taking this into consideration, the battle against Sukuna does not look all that difficult for Rika to win. Furthermore, Rika herself might have strengthened quite a bit over the small timeskip. If sorcerers such as Yuji could become stronger, then Yuta could have become stronger as well and, through his bond with Rika, she could also have leveled up quite a bit. If fans take these things into consideration, then, the queen of curses, Rika, could have hit a completely different level of strength, and would then be ready to take on Sukuna in combat. With a little bit of luck, perhaps Rika can even defeat the King of Curses and change the world of JJK as fans know it.

Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 249, is set to be February 4, 2024.