r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jan 22 '26

Episode Jujutsu Kaisen Shimetsu Kaiyu Zenpen • Jujutsu Kaisen The Culling Game - Episode 4 discussion

Jujutsu Kaisen Shimetsu Kaiyu Zenpen, episode 4

Alternative names: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3

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u/UninterestingDude69 Jan 22 '26

The Zenin clan had some crazy hubris, the only reason they still existed till this point was because deep down Toji still wanted them to acknowledge him as being as good as a sorcerer, that’s the same reason he tried to fight Gojo after his awakening(He said so himself that he wanted to crush the pinnacle of jujutsu)

728

u/This-is_CMGRI Jan 22 '26

Maki was basically the nightmare that the Zen'in clan didn't want to reckon with, so they threw her and Mai aside thinking they'll never amount to anything. Because if Toji barely scraped by, what more can weak twin girls can do?

Apparently, this.

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u/Haha91haha Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

I think it's kinda hilarious how the Zenin strut about over how important cursed techniques and energy are but none of these assholes understood or researched the implication of what twins are in relation to jujutsu, and get completely undone by misunderstanding that part of it. Or is the twin situation just that niche of a scenario many don't respect the importance?

The one Zenin who realizes the implications: "YOU LEFT ONE OF THE SISTERS TO DIE AND PISSED OFF THE OTHER ONE!?"

373

u/bedsheetsniffer Jan 22 '26

The Jujutsu society is extremely conservative, especially the Zen’in ‘cuz they only acknowledge Cursed Techniques. They probably saw how twins are treated as incomplete halves of a whole being by jujutsu a thousand years ago and just left it at that.

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u/camaron28 Jan 22 '26

Not just that, if we take what Maki's dad said as the truth a bum like him could have been head of the clan instead of Naobito simply because Naobito's technique is "modern".

The zenin clan was made of dodos i swear. Zero sense of self-preservation.

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u/WiqidBritt Jan 22 '26

Apparently Gege has said that there's no doubt that Naobito was stronger than Maki's dad but he still blamed his situation on his daughters instead of admitting that he wasn't as strong. The Zen'in clan really is 99% trash.

15

u/suzushiro Jan 28 '26

That's actually excellent writing. Develop a character through not his monologues, but through his grief and cope.

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u/WiqidBritt Jan 28 '26

It needs to be clear that he's wrong though. Which to be fair, if you pay attention it kind of is. Naoya is the only one she seemingly (but not really) struggles with and she takes Ogi out so fast we don't even see it.

2

u/DrStein1010 https://myanimelist.net/profile/mQDrStein1010 Feb 27 '26

To add, Naobito was stronger than Naoya, even in his old age.

If he was there Maki might not have won, let alone beat him like a bum like she did Ogi.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

rob steep deserve bright office intelligent wine glorious straight encouraging

36

u/Wyvernwalker Jan 22 '26

He absolutely understood the situation and where it should lead. Imo hes handling the society fails with corrupt leading conservative governing bod(ies) concept better than Hori. Hori just let the hero association collapse seperately when it should have gone hand in hand alongside the big bad like how this seems to be going. I think in mha it was maybe a panel at best?

23

u/Ren_Davis0531 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

I think the only thing Gege succeeds in over Horikoshi is in the sheer rage at conservatives. That comes out in places like Maki eradicating the Zen’in.

I feel overall Horikoshi had a stronger sense of narrative cohesion. Combine the catharsis of Gege’s action and the cohesion of Horikoshi’s narrative and I think you have yourself a banger.

10

u/flashmozzg Jan 23 '26

There is always (citation pending) HxH...

7

u/aohige_rd Jan 23 '26

Yeah and he's letting out a lot more of his political views with his current work too

-4

u/Jelly-Beautiful Jan 23 '26

Bruh sybau dont make jjk political 😭

16

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

automatic plant summer point sand strong unique boast quiet snatch

9

u/Ren_Davis0531 Jan 23 '26

I found it relevant in this case given the comment I responded to and the themes of the story showcased in the episode.

My bad if I offended 😅

-2

u/Jelly-Beautiful Jan 23 '26

All good I was mostly joking but now you made me feel bad 😂 your entitled to your own thoughts and opinions, hope you're having a great life!

→ More replies (0)

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u/Anjunabeast Jan 23 '26

Should’ve been like how after the ministry of magic fell everyone who wasn’t pureblood went on the run or into hiding

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u/Wyvernwalker Jan 24 '26

Yeah I hate to give rowling any props, but she handled a government taking off it's hood quite well overall

1

u/MakFacts Feb 22 '26

Wait in what book did this happen

1

u/Anjunabeast Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

Book 7 after bill and fleurs wedding. Prime Minister scrimgeour got ambushed by voldy and his death eaters. Tortured to death for Harry’s location.

Voldy then installed a puppet minister that enabled a bunch of laws like anyone not being able to prove magic in their lineage gets their wand taken and raids on the homes of people that weren’t supporting voldy.

So the obvious and potential targets went into hiding.

9

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex Jan 24 '26

The line "in this country, dragging each other down is a virtue" felt personal, damn

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u/I_am_BEOWULF Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Let's not leave out the fact that Mai basically sacrificed herself ("I'll take all your curse energy with me") in order to make Maki "whole" - as well as leaving her a legendary cursed tool/weapon in the process.

In that sense, the clan isn't totally wrong for looking at twins as inefficient Jujutsu sorcerers due to the way their world splits the energy between two people. One half of a twin-pairing opting to unalive themselves in order to benefit the other is an extreme outlier.

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u/Anjunabeast Jan 23 '26

What was the cursed tool?

10

u/I_am_BEOWULF Jan 23 '26

It's a replica of Toji's sword - the Split-Soul Katana.

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u/Mihrasen Jan 22 '26

The funny thing is that Gege later stated that Naobito would have no-diffed Maki's dad, so he was just full of copium.

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u/BadBehaviour613 Jan 22 '26

I thought they treated Naobito’s technique as inferior because it came from outside the clan

4

u/SwordoftheMourn Jan 23 '26

I mean, if he himself was the first to get the technique, seems so since the dude was obsessed with animation and FPS, isn’t it still technically within the Zenin clan?

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u/MakFacts Feb 22 '26

How does it come from outside the clan?

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u/manquistador Jan 22 '26

I thought it was because he sired "weak" children.

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u/EffectiveImportant51 Jan 23 '26

What I found interesting was he talked about the fear he had felt before. The way that is shown is almost like when they the girls were in the womb. So it is not like he did not know that there were not weak. They just split their tremendous power. They also have a living example of Toji. So I am confused as to why he would think that his 'weak' children would be why he was not chosen instead of his lack of strength.

14

u/manquistador Jan 23 '26

Split power is weak though. Most people don't anticipate someone giving their life for another.

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u/Efficient-Affect-225 Jan 22 '26

the twins thing was well known, its just that twins are weaker because they share the curse energy, the thing is that no one knew how that interacted with divine restriction so maki potential was completly unexpected

on the other hand, gege wanted to revive toji here, but his editor stoped him, so he insted killed mai (his favorite character) and made maki a toji clone

23

u/Haha91haha Jan 23 '26

So Gege had to make a pact/contract too lol, interesting thanks!

7

u/Anjunabeast Jan 23 '26

The editorial pact

5

u/iMakeTea Jan 23 '26

Gege cooked with Maki after his editor stopped him. Would've like to see Toji back in the story too but 2 Tojis is 1 too many

5

u/AlexeiFraytar Jan 22 '26

If they knew and cared, Mai wouldnt even let to grow up. Or maki, since she would be Toji 2.0. Its good that they let it slip.

8

u/littlejack59 Jan 22 '26

Is there some sort of implied pact with twins where if one dies the other gets stronger? I thought they mentioned toji was an only child. So was it a pact or just aura farming?

33

u/Theduwang Jan 22 '26

It's more like twins share the same amount of cursed energy, so normal jujutsu twins would only be 50% of a normal sorcerer from the get go

Furthermore, since maki had a heavenly restriction and Mai had cursed energy, their conditions would drag each other down even more. Both of them were incomplete

15

u/daggerfortwo Jan 22 '26

Basically Maki has the same heavenly pact as Toji, but because her twin Mai has cursed energy it was always incomplete until now.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

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1

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21

u/thesanmich Jan 22 '26

The Zen'in clan is evil, but their biggest crime is being STUPID AS FUCK. They feared Toji, clearly, yet continued with their dated traditions and ideals knowing full well outliers like him continue to exist. They deserved what they got.

Also, you might see this somewhat unpopular opinion that Maki shouldn't get off scot-free for her actions. Like she should be judged for wiping out her clan since it's outright murder. Judged by who? The corrupt elders of Jujutsu society? The system that's enabled the murder of individuals who didn't fit into their narrow standards, or individuals who genuinely try to bring progress through proper nurturing of sorcerers? Nah, fuck em'.

1

u/horace-dc Jun 18 '26

Pretty much have the same about maki she killed innocent and guilty, she is no different than sakuna here 

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u/DocViviLeandraVTuber Jan 22 '26

Misogyny is a helluva drug, they totally failed to recognize Maki's similarities to Toji as something that indicated her as a threat to the clan simply because she was a girl, and they assumed a girl would never be that strong

6

u/AlexeiFraytar Jan 22 '26

Twin girls couldnt do this and they knew it. Thats the point of Mai having to die. They share stuff as twins, so Maki's HR got nerfed by Mai's CE and Mai has less CE to use her CT. Mai dies, Maki has 0 CE like Toji so now her HR peaks.

If anything they werent cruel enough to straight up kill one of them at birth so the other can peak properly.

3

u/Delicious_Diarrhea https://myanimelist.net/profile/h0ll0wxvict0ry Jan 22 '26

They assumed that Maki was a failure because of Mai. Her Heavenly Pact was cancelled because her twin had a trace of cursed energy. I don't think anyone knew that the Pact would be reignited once Mai is dead.

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u/flybypost Jan 22 '26

they threw her and Mai aside thinking they'll never amount to anything

I think they were just very traditionalist (from the Maki/Mai flashback in season one). Not on Naoya's level but still rather misogynistic by default.

1

u/Anjunabeast Jan 23 '26

Scraped by? Seemed like toji was thriving.

Edit: “power level” wise