Jujutsu Kaisen 3x04 "Perfect Preparation" - reaction & review
Added 2026-01-23 02:20:31 +0000 UTCComments
For real!!! :O
Melissa Moore
2026-02-10 14:50:48 +0000 UTCWow. What a bloodbath 😳
Manny
2026-02-10 10:55:34 +0000 UTCMAPPA really said “hold my saké” and unleashed pure cinematic chaos this episode 😭 The Kill Bill thing makes sense...that shift in palette and the choreography were such deliberate nods, it gave the whole thing this gritty, almost mythic vibe. And yeah, they’ve been laying the groundwork for the Zenin downfall for a while. Even without manga context, it’s crystal clear how deep the rot runs, especially with how women like Maki and Mai were treated. That is CRAZY about poor Mai, ugh that makes me hate the guy even more!!! That “quiet ones to watch out for” line hits hard — Maki’s fury felt generational, like she was burning down centuries of cruelty in one breath. Also I actually really like that interpretation about the mom — it turns that final moment from cold to quietly tragic, like closure wrapped in pain. And the Nobara shot in the credits, maybe the foreshadowing is intentional?? As for MAPPA x Netflix... yeah, cautious optimism. “Good idea with bad potential” kinda sums it up. And that Gojo meme is both hilarious and uncomfortably accurate, yikes!!!
Melissa Moore
2026-01-25 14:32:04 +0000 UTCOMG I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed!!! That's so awesome! Ohhh ok I was wondering about the sword! She literally cut ties with the family using that sword! In fact, she cut everything/everyone with that sword :P I think that makes sense about the mom! I couldn't tell if she really felt bad and didn't mean what she said, or if it was more sparked by Maki showing strength finally. Thanks for all your input!!
Melissa Moore
2026-01-25 14:29:25 +0000 UTCThank you so much for explaining! I didn't really get this till after the ep but it makes sense. It's crazy that she's stronger than Toji now!!! Thanks for the info! RIP Mai :(
Melissa Moore
2026-01-25 14:28:04 +0000 UTCMaki has a Heavenly Restriction like Toji, basically meaning that she has very little cursed energy and in return is insanely strong in every other way, proportional to how low her energy is. Toji was insanely strong because he had literally zero. Because Jujutsu Sorcery as an entity/system views identical twins as the same person, what little cursed energy Mai possessed was viewed as being Maki's as well, so her Heavenly Restriction was weaker overrall. Mai has Construction, which allows you to build things out of cursed energy, but it's so inefficient and costly that it's almost impossible to make anything useful out of it. Mai intentionally sacrificed herself by making the cursed tool, which used up so much energy it killed her, and also finally brought Maki down to zero total cursed energy with her death, which in turn made her just as strong as Toji was, if not stronger.
Damie♥
2026-01-24 07:26:27 +0000 UTCAnime fans: “Hey, let’s give MAPPA a bit more budget for this episode and see what they do with it.” MAPPA: “We got you, fam. 😉” So yes, if you weren’t going to bring Kill Bill up I was - the fight between her and the entire unit reminds me of the scene at the end of Volume 1 - right down to the color changing to black/gray/occasional red. So you’re spot on there. I mean let’s face it - they’ve been doing a pretty good job up to this point of creating a foundation for us to dislike the Zen’in - I haven’t read the manga but looking at some posts after this episode aired apparently shed to light that Maki was bullied by Naoya (blond guy) but he SA’d Mai. (This isn’t covered in the anime, I’m reiterating it third party) - but I mean, if you needed more reason. Mai’s resentment of her sister seems to have been on some level she knew it was going to eventually lead to something like this. As a non manga reader I can’t explain exactly what happened, but my best understanding of it is Mai’s technique caused Maki to “awaken,” and apparently now her skill set is somewhat similar to Toji. You were asking about the rule regarding Gojo - it was put there by the higher ups because he constantly interfered with their desires before he was sealed. It’s basically “he’s not a problem now and we want it to stay that way.” It seems all women in the clan were treated horribly, it’s just more pronounced with these two, especially since they are twins. There seems to be a trope in anime that’s frequently used of twins being viewed as an ill omen. I can think of some examples but you haven’t seen some stuff that I really want you to at some point, so just take it as a blanket statement. But anyway, it’s always the quiet ones you have to worry about. 🥶 🥶🥶. Especially when their own parents said “you dying is a good thing!” On that note, I think the mom didn’t mean “just once, make me happy I gave birth to you” as a derogatory term as much as it was “find a way to end this for all of us.” I don’t know that for sure. But the last shot after she ended Naoya said as much: “I’m happy I gave birth to you.” Oh, the blond girl’s name at the end is Momo. And I believe this is the first fatality, albeit self-inflicted - Mai said as much when she pulled Maki into the beach scene right at the start - on the Kyoto team. Speaking of that, I keep seeing a single shot of Nobarra in the end credits…although she’s not facing the “camera.” In other news, anime fans are quite concerned about the partnership MAPPA and Netflix just signed for exclusive broadcasting rights and they plan to cater their programming to a more “globally based” audience. You can understand why, it feels like a bad idea with good intentional But someone ran with the commentary and addressed it like this: they put up a screenshot of Gojo and the caption, “I’ve fallen in love with Sukuna.” I’ll see myself out. 👀
Tyler Stobbe
2026-01-24 02:05:00 +0000 UTCNope, you're into something, Maki going off in semi black and white with just the blood being red and the color switching at the end is exactly like the scene in Kill Bill when Uma Thurman kill a dozen of yakuza before facing Lucy Liu. There is the same move if I'm correct and rememeber correctly, where both Maki and U.T use the swords of her enemy to jump on the second floor. So yeah, the ref is valid. As for what happen, i could be wrong, i read the manga a long times ago, but i think that basically, Mai, by using her technique, created the sword that Maki have in her hand when Mai die. But she also used the little cursed energy Maki could have to finish the sword, unlocking her full potential, because without Mai and cursed energy, Maki is now completely like Toji. So yeah, there is also some symbolism, when Maki wake up after Mai's goodby, they're both in fetal position in a puddle of blooth, that's Maki being reborn. Also, i like to see Maki using a sword made by Mai to cut tie with her family, in more way than one, there is some poetry in it. And just to finish, i think Maki's mom felt guilty, she knew the Zenin clan was bad for the women, but she was weak and didn't try to protect her daughters, so in a way, Maki ending the family have freed her of this guilt and she died happy to have seen this day, by the hand of Maki. That the way i saw things at least.
Spadeas
2026-01-23 04:46:20 +0000 UTC
