More culling games analysis this week, in my continued to prove this arc is more than just fighting and thereās a lot of thought put up into the matchups between these characters. This meta will focus on why Noritoshi and Maki two characters who had almost zero interaction before this point are now teaming up together in the fight against Naoya. Though this fight is their first interaction to date, there are actually a lot of parallels already set up between them which Iāll elaborate on underneath he cut.Ā
1. The Dutiful Son and the Rebellious DaughterĀ
The first and most obvious difference between Noritoshi and Maki is established all the way back in the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc. Maki is the reject of the Zenin Clan. Her intentions towards the conservative are revolution and reform, she leaves with the intention of returning and taking over as the clan head. Most importantly her way of battling with corruption of the Zenin Clan is from the outside rather than from within.Ā
Noritoshi when first introduced seems to be not only the literal opposite of Maki, a dutiful son, and obedient to the conservative faction of the clan, and even to the other Kyoto kids someone who is exremely strict on the rules, he is also shown to be obedient to the rules of the higher ups. Maki rebels, Noritoshi seems to keep his head down.Ā
They are opposites even in how they decide to handle Itadori Yuji, Maki protects him right away without question, whereas Kamo on the surface seems to follow orders of the higher ups in regards to what to do about Yuji Itadori and even leads the charge against him in the battle arc.Ā
While Maki is treated like a rebellious child and outcasted, Noritoshi curries a special favor with Gakuganji one of the biggest players in the conservative faction, and is even entrusted with special tasks by Gakuganji. Kamoās clearly seen as a leader among his peers as well, and tries a little too hard to act in that role, to the point where is friends regard him as a stiff stick in the mud always lecturing people like Mai that they should behave more within the expectations of heirs to one of the three great clans.Ā
Kamoās projected role of the obedient son however, is shown to have more complexity than it at first seems. Yes unlike the revolutionary faction he does several things that seem to encourage the status quo and he seems overly obedient to both the elders and the conservative faction, but the first small detail revealed is that he has a reason for acting this way.Ā
Kamo is actually born to similiar circusmtances as Maki, in that they are both designated as outcasts by births to their extremely traditional and restrcitive jujutsu clans. Maki is an outcast due to being without cursed technique, and Noritoshi is the son of a mistress who is looked down upon and tormented by the clan, and he himself was only welcomed because he was born with a cursed technique that was useful.Ā
Noritoshi plays the rule of the dutiful Kamo heir, because quite literally his motherās life is on the line. The only real difference between Maki and Noritoshiās situation is that Noritoshi was born with the cursed technique of his clan and was welcomed into the clan (but only to be used and was seperated from his mother as a result), and Maki was born with no cursed technique in the Zenin clan that prizes cursed technique above everything else and then was eventually shunned until she left. And even after she left they did everything she could to become a sorcerer.Ā
These seem like opposites but, first Kao isnāt like the chosen son of the clan, heās a kid they took in because he was useful and are currently using him for their benefit. Maki and Kamo also have the same internal motivators, they are both outcasts to their clan, but their desire for reform comes from a desire to make these clans a better place for their loved ones.Ā
To explain briefly the terminology Iām using, an external motivator is an enemy to face or something on the outside that the character that the characters are fighting against.Ā
An internal motivator is more often than not an emotional conflict deep isndie the characters, and sometimes contains a hidden motivation they wonāt admit to out loud, therefore you know, internal.Ā
Noritoshi and Makiās external motivators are opposites, Noritoshiās goal is to be the dutiful son and the ideal heir of the Kamo clan, and act in the interests of the three great families. Maki is the rebellious daughter of the Zenin Clan, and wants to from the outside smash the Zenin clanās superiority in order to prove them wrong.
Their internal motivators are the same however, their family member was mistreated and abused by the clan, and Noritoshi and Maki both want to protect them. Maki wants to create a place Mai feels like she belongs in the Zenin clan, and Noritoshi wants to become clan head to make his mother a lowly mistress have a place in the house.Ā
Noritoshi and Maki have practically identical motivations, and itās only the means by which they hope to accomplish their goals that are complete opposites, and apparently opposed to one another. You canāt rebel without smashing tradition. You canāt obey tradition without quelling rebellion.Ā
2. KYOTO VS TOKYOĀ
Now o analyze a bit of the methods of Noritoshi and Maki. Makiās seem a bit obvious, while her original goal was to essentially gain enough strength to ascend the ranks of sorcerer from rank 4 where she was stuck at, and even eventually surpass the clan head and force them to acknowledge her upon her return, tragic circumstance instead made her massacre the entire Zenin in an act of revenge after Maiās death.Ā
Either way, by surpassing the Zenin under Gojoās tutelage, or destroying them, Makiās methods were always from the outside. It makes sense because that is her role in the clan, due to not being born with cursed technique she was always going to be ostracized and treated as an outsider.Ā
It also reflects the philosophy shared commonly among the Tokyo Students. The whole point of the Kyoto Goodwill event is to show the battling philosophies of the Kyoto Students taught by Utahime, and the Tokyo students taught by Gojo. The Tokyo students in general are staunch individualists, who not only follow Gojoās philosophy of becoming strong enough to surpass the previous generation in order to support their goals, but also have a tendency to always fight alone, and try to accomplish everything through strength. Gojoās students fight like Gojo does, who ever would have thought.Ā
Kyoto students in general tend to value cooperation over individual strength. Due to that fact, theyāre often regarded as individually weak, and yet they cooeprate far better as a collective whole than any of the Tokyo Students. Tokyoās strategy in pretty much any crisis situation is for everyone to split up and go off on their own. The Kyoto students may no be powerhouses, but they have areas where they succeed in, one theyre just more cooperative in general.Ā
For example, even someone like Noritoshi who is rying to be as strict of a traditionalist as possible, is trying to make a connection to Megumi here and sympathize with his circumstances.Ā
There are a few key moments where Kyoto students show up, and itās cooperation that wins the day, rather than a power-up. The biggest exmaple I can think of is, Todo showing up in the Mahito fight. If Todo were not capable of encouraging Yuji when he was at his lowest point, and if Todo and Yujiās teamwork wasnāt so well developed and on point they would have lost the fight.Ā
Maki is also, only able to gain strength to defeat her family because of Maiās sacrifice. Maki left the cla to gain personal power because she wanted to be a jujutsu sorcerer, Mai stayed behind and resented Maki because she just wanted to have a sister. Without Maiās sacrifice, Maki would have just died in that pit.Ā
Maiās sacrifice and her selflessness protects Maki at her lowest point when all the strength in the world doesnāt really matter. Of course, Maki and Mai only being able to work together when they are on their death bed, and Mai having to die for Maki to accomplish her strength, is actually something tragic.Ā
To bridge to my next point: Indviidualism doesnāt always work, and collectivism doesnāt always work either. Jujutsu Kaisen isnāt a story about good vs evil, itās about characters who represent both the good and bad aspects of certain ideas or philosophies attempting to find balance with other people.Ā
Maki and Mai were set up to work together, but they coukdnāt find that balance in time and as a result Makiās development became incredibly skewed, and even her victory against the Zenin clan was a pyrrhic victory with way too high a cost. Maki would rather have Mai, then the strength to defeat her enemies, and yet thatās what she wound up with because of her inability to find a comrpomise between herself and Mai.Ā
Noritoshiās efforts also similiarly failed, his cooperation with the Kamo clan led to absolutely nothing, he wasnāt able to reform the Kamo clan from the inside like he iwshed, nor could he use his influence to try to pettition the conservative faction to lighten their sentence on his friends. The conservative faction was just too embedded for him to change, quite literally a several thousand year man who is the villain of the story and the symbol of the traditional aspects fo Jujutsu Society running rampant over the youth, showed up, became the clan head, and kicked Kamo out.Ā
Everything he did to gain favor and try to influence both the elders and the clan heads as an heir of the three great families, amounted to nothing. SO you have Maki, the extreme end of an outsider rebelling and her efforts fail. You have NOritoshi on he extreme end of playing politics from the inside in an attempt to gain power to make that change, also fail.Ā
However, both Maki and Noritoshi are alive, and all is not lost because the chance of cooperation is still there. Noritoshi may not have received a great big power up like Maki, but he has a lot of strategic strenggths that Maki does not have. Maki is for he most part reactionary, you hit her, and she hits back, she doesnāt really think of the big picture. Also, like any Gojo student she does most of her fighting alone.Ā
While Maki acts as the muscle in the fight against Naoya, itās Noritoshi who mainly coordinates things. Noritoshi essentially starts playing what is the Megumi to Makiās Yuji, by coordinating betwen the two of them, keeping communication up, and also most critically being able to set himself aside and act as a supporting role.Ā
Itās Noritoshi being able to set himself aside, and give Maki higher priority that buys her a chance to recover. Noritoshiās reasoning as well is that Maki gives a bigger contribution towards their group and the end objective as a whole so he has to priortize her life over his. Heās not just thinking of this fight, but the next one beyond that. Gojo says that cooperation is all well and good, but thereās notthing wrong with selfishness, and thereās no reason to hold yousrelf back from swinging fromt he fences. Thatās true, and whatās equally true is that sometimes you need to cooperate and make sacrifices in order to achieve a bigger goal. At the moment Maki despite receiving a power up that allowed her to massacre all the Zenin, isnāt strong enough to take the evolved Naoya. The fight would be lost here without Nortisohiās cooperative personality.Ā
However, the sacrifice Noritoshi is trying to make here also reeks of suicidal ideation. It essentially read sa sNOritoshi has almost given up at this point and wants to sacrifice himself for a common goal they all share, because his desire as an individual to reunite with his mother and make the Kamo Clan accept her, is now completely lost.Ā
Which is how in return he could also probably use Maki protecting his life, and not letting him throw himself away at this stage. Itās not that either one of them has the better philosophy, but rather a comrpomise between the two of them that will win the day.Ā
Naoyaās response to Makiās āWhen have you ever been an adult?ā was āWellā¦ How about asking Mai?ā
The conclusion readers came up from this range from him mocking Maki about Mai dying before she could reach adulthood to him boasting about sexually assaulting Mai to get a rise out of Maki.
While there is an implication the Zenin clan practice intermarriage to keep their bloodline pure and Gege is no stranger to implying taboos in the manga before. The second interpetation is pretty empty since there is no evidence which can point to Naoya actually committing this vile act nor hints that this had happened before.
Also the JP tweets I have seen so far have commented what a disgusting human being Naoya is but dismiss the idea of him taking advantage of Mai and more likely it was just him saying it to anger Maki.
So no, Naoya never laid a hand of that kind of nature on Mai. The first interpetation is the more likely and actual explaination for Naoyaās answer to Makiās question. Another usual taunt from him to get a rise out of her.
Okay so let's sit down and talk about what my dumbass just noticed-
Noritoshi and maki are perfect parellals of each other. I believe even if they haven't spent much time together noone can empathize with the life they had apart from themselves and that's why there's a connection between them these chapters that doesn't comes out as something "out of the blue awkward" at all.
Both of them were heavily abused by their clan maki came out to as a rebel and noritoshi came out as dutiful as a result of that, while Maki knows her value as a person and that she shouldn't be treated like shit whatsoever, Kamo in chase of to be accepted as a person chases to be dutiful for the clan, Maki wants to be above the clan to prove her worth to noone but herself and noritoshi wanted to live upto the clans expectations to prove his worth to everyone but himself.
Maki found her purpose with the fall of the clan whereas Noritoshi lost his purpose with the fall of the clan, Mai was the only string that maki was attached to zenin clan and noritoshi's mother was the only string that attached him to something out of his clan.
Maki wanted to head the zenin clan to give mai a better life and Noritoshi headed his clan as he wanted to meet his mother again, but at the end of the day all of it was destroyed and left of it was a question- What are they even striving for at this point ?
In midst of the internal torment they had about how to continue on living and find a purpose beyond ending the culling games, they met each other in the cross road and what little words that were spoken, wasn't awkward for the reader at all because the story has been feeding the readers all of this information of them separately, so now when put together it makes so much more sense that they don't need dedicated chapters worth of explanation, because it's already been established since the beginning of the story .
