Jujutsu Kaisen S3 Ep 4 Review
The Uchiha Clan Massacre, one of the defining moments in the backstory of the Naruto series. In a single night, one lone ninja proceeded to slaughter almost the entirety of his powerful clan, save for himself, the guy who helped him, and his little brother. And he did it all under the orders of a man who had no authority to make him do that. It was a tragedy that could’ve been prevented, and in the long run, it caused more harm than good for everyone involved. Why am I bringing this up now when we’re talking about Jujutsu Kaisen? Because the anime just gave the Uchiha Clan Massacre 2.0. Except this time, it’s entirely justified, the one doing the killing is in the right, and the clan in question deserves everything happening to them. Maki did what she had to do.
F the Zenin Clan
So, after spending the last episode focusing entirely on exposition as Tengen, Yuji, and all their allies prepare to stop Kenjaku’s plans, this one is focused on the actual preparation. Their first order of business is to retrieve all the weapons and gear the Zenin Clan has locked in their storehouses. So Maki heads to their compound with the authority of her cousin Megumi, who is now the clan head, remember, to do just that. The Zenin Clan, though, has no intention of playing ball whatsoever.
Let me remind you what I said in my review for the preview movie: the Zenin Clan sucks. They are one of the three biggest and oldest clans of Jujutsu sorcerers in Japan, and a family of backwards thinking, ultra-conservative, sexist jerks. Not to mention how they’re convinced that they’re in a story like Game of Thrones where it’s all the intrigue and scheming. Because even though they are facing the existential threat Kenjaku is bringing to Japan, all they care about is their own power. They have no intention of letting Megumi be clan head, with their leaders using those dumb orders banning Gojo from being unsealed as an excuse to try and off him. And when Maki comes back, all they do is look down on her for having zero cursed energy and being a woman. Naoya even says she’s worthless now that she’s got all those scars on her. But that’s only the start, as Maki goes to the vault, and all she finds there is her deadbeat dad and her mortally wounded twin sister, Mai. And then her dad almost kills Maki and leaves them both for dead.
Time for a quick tangent, by the way. Gege, you are an absolute master of the art of making characters whose existence people can loathe with their entire being. Naoya was already a arrogant, sexist jerk that deserves a punch to the face. But the girl’s dad? All he does is whine about how he’s not the clan head and blaming it all on his daughters’ existence. He even says that “children shouldn’t hold back their parents,” with a straight face. This is the definition of a deadbeat parent, and while there are a lot of things I hate, there’s nothing worse than a bad parent.
Which only makes what happens next all the more satisifying.
All my Homies Hate the Zenin Clan
There’s a reason why Maki has no cursed energy whatsoever. The rules of Jujutsu treat twins as the same person. So when twins are born, they get restricted. In the girl’s case, Mai got all the cursed energy, while Maki should have gotten a superhuman body like Toji did to compensate. So long as one lives, the other can’t reach their full potential. Which is why Mai, who never wanted to be a sorcerer, chooses to let herself die so that her sister can unlock her full potential.
This is an absolute tragedy, and even though I wish that the anime could’ve spent an entire episode on just this, I think it manages to hammer that aspect home. All Maki wanted was to change the Zenin Clan so that it could accept her and Mai and give them the home they wanted. But the Zenin Clan was so rigid in their beliefs that they refused to let that happen, even when it would’ve benefitted them in the long run. Thanks to everyone’s stubbornness, Mai has died, and Maki has lost everything.
But thanks to their arrogance, the Zenin Clan didn’t kill the twins when they had the chance. Because now, it’s time for their own Uchiha Clan Massacre.
Toji Could’ve gone Full Kratos on the Zenin Clan if he Wanted
Fans of JJK know who Toji Fushiguro is. Born to the Zenin Clan with no cursed energy, he bailed on them and discarded his last name due to them treating him like dirt. They shouldn’t have, because the universe chose to compensate him for his lack of cursed energy by giving him a body as strong as steel, with superhuman senses and strength to go with it. That meant that he could kill Jujutsu sorcerers with hardly a scratch, and made him their absolute worst nightmare. He could’ve killed his entire clan for treating him like garbage, but chose to take the high road on it.
Maki, on the other hand? Let’s review everything all the crimes the Zenin Clan has committed against her:
A lifetime of emotional and physical abuse
Disobeying a direct order from the head of their clan
Murder of her sister
Multiple accounts of attempted murder
The verdict is guilty, the sentence is death, and the executioner is Maki, courtesy of the sword Mai made her before she died.
The Massacre Straight out of Kill Bill
What happens next isn’t just the Uchiha Clan Massacre for a new generation. It’s the Uchiha Clan Massacre fused with Kratos’ rampage against the Olympian Gods. And it is as close to perfect as possible…at least if you’re from the West.
It’s common to find anime fans from the West disagreeing with their Japanese counterparts, but there’s something special about how our reactions to this episode of JJK. Everyone I’ve seen stateside has been calling the best episode of the series. They’re looking at the scene of Maki wasting those mooks and are saying how it’s just like the Bride killing the Crazy 88 in Kill Bill. I looked up a clip of the scene on YouTube, and everyone’s commenting just that!
And the part where Maki tanks the hits from the Hei unit! That one guy dies thinking that he helped kill Maki, but she just walks away with the head of another Hei member and throws it into a pond!
And that fight with Naoya! Even if he gave us one of the first memes of the year, everyone agrees Naoya deserves to get his face caved in! And the anime didn’t disappoint as Maki absolutely embarrasses him! They repeated the clip of her breaking his skull four times, and it’s still satisfying! And her carnage didn’t stop at the compound! She hunted down any Zen’in clan members who weren’t there and killed them all! Is it any wonder why those with Maki stock are taking a victory lap?
So why are the Japanese hating on this? From what I’ve heard, cultural differences.
Japan Didn’t See this the Way Americans Did
According to what I’ve heard, a big issue they have with the episode is how it portrays the massacre. They don’t like the upbeat and energetic music and pacing. To them, this event is supposed to be a somber tragedy because of what happens to Maki and Mai. And I do agree with them on that part. What happened to Maki and Mai is indeed a tragedy brought about by Maki and her clan’s mutual stubbornness. Had Maki not tried to spite the family that didn’t deserve her and just walked away with her sister, Mai wouldn’t have had to die. And I do think that the anime could’ve made this entire thing more menacing to respect Mai. Remember, despite thinking it had to be done, Itachi hated himself for having to kill his clan and wanted to face justice for it, even if others might not see it that way. But while what happens is a tragedy, Westerners don’t see it like that.
We often consider getting revenge to be a costly, self-destructive act. At the same time, though, if we find the ones who are the targets of said revenge to be utterly reprehensible, we’re willing to justify it. And, admittedly, there’s something satisfying on a primal level in seeing the hero beat the snot out of a villain who greatly wronged them. Ergo, while we may mourn Mai’s death, I couldn’t help but smirk as I saw Maki bury the backwards, sexist, backstabbing Zen’in clan six feet under. Even more satisfying is seeing Naoya go out like a chump at the hands of Maki’s dying mother.
So, despite what the Japanese have to say about it, and despite me wanting an entire episode dedicated to Maki’s killing spree, I still loved this. I have been wanting to see this animated for a while now, and while it wasn’t quite what I expected, it’s already one of my favorite anime moments of the year. Maki, you have effectively solidified your place as THAT girl! All hail the Queen of Jujutsu Kaisen, Maki!!
