gojo losing wasn't bad writing, it's the whole thesis. akutami spends 200 chapters showing you the strongest sorcerer alive is a structural problem. he can't be everywhere, he can't teach fast enough, and the entire system organises itself around waiting for him. shinjuku is where the manga stops arguing and just hands you the bill.
this is the read i keep coming back to. the whole 'nobody else grew because gojo existed' thing was set up so early and everyone treated it as a power scaling detail