Why this is the best episode of anime ever made...

Comments · 411

• NO

  @noMoreGames11 · 7 months ago · pinned

  Thank you all so much for stopping by. I want to apologize to returning viewers for rehashing so much analysis in this one, it felt necessary to build the case and I'm still a small channel so I'm sure it's new to a lot of people. Please let me know if you liked the more informal section and the shot breakdowns, that was fun for me to do. Video hopefully next week on Hakari, Kirara, and Nobara through the lens of gender identity, for which I promise no old points will be drawn out again!

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• AN

  @Anantinfinit · 4 months ago (edited)

  wanted to share some interesting info from this episode.<br><br>1) When Maki said, “I’ll give you a hug” to Naoya, it’s actually a pretty loaded line. In Japanese, she says &quot;抱いてやるよ&quot;, which is an indirect way of saying &quot;I&apos;ll top you” in a condescending way. It’s usually something you’d expect from an arrogant misogynist guy like Naoya talking down to a woman, so hearing Maki say it flips that dynamic completely. What makes it even cooler is that she’s doing a Shiranui-style sumo stance at the same time. Traditionally, women weren’t even allowed to touch the sumo ring, let alone compete, and there’s still a lot of stigma around women in sumo. So this moment feels like a deliberate way of the writer subverting those old, patriarchal norms through Maki’s character, and that too is beating a guy who is narratively framed as a symbolic plot character of a conservative, chauvinistic, eugenics-obsessed clan.<br><br>2) The symbolism behind geese during Mai &amp; Maki&apos;s conversation was also tragically beautiful because in Chinese folklore, a wild goose carrying a reed represents a soul’s departure to the afterlife, and here we see Mai sacrifice her life to create the Split Soul Katana for Maki, taking their shared cursed energy with her to free Maki from their twin bond, allowing Maki to fully realise her HR. Also, the kanji for Split Soul Katana is 釈魂刀 (釈 - to release something or someone that has been restrained; 魂 - Soul 刀 - Sword/Katana). Geese, as migratory birds in Japanese culture, are usually linked with journeys, transitions, or the passage between worlds, as we see Maki evolve into a new powerful being who abandoned the dream of becoming Zenin clan leader and ended up destroying them. So as per the narrative viewpoint, Maki is symbolised as a goose and Reed as a soul-split katana to symbolise that Maki’s awakening is not just a liberation from their shared cursed energy but a continuation of Mai’s presence through the katana. This episode is one of the best examples of visual and symbolic storytelling, which will get lost if viewers don&apos;t have any idea about it. There is so much symbolism in this that I can&apos;t tell you in one comment

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• RA

  @raven.8073 · 6 months ago

  i take the claustrophobic framing of the zen’in clan house to be a physical representation of how constraining the ideology is - the house is literally compressing them in the frame, and in these sorts of ancient families the house (and the heirlooms) are the thing that outlasts the people. they are projections of that tradition, and the show is framing both Maki AND Toji in such a way to physicalize that oppression. the house (and thus, the ideology) is dominating the frame. <br><br>the camera pulling out and allowing Maki to dominate the frame once she awakens is a beautiful way to show that she is overcoming the torment she experienced at the hands of these ideals. so much of the framing of Maki after she begins the massacre has her dead center in the frame, either pulled back and showing the emptiness of the space once she’s done fighting, or close up to show her reveling in finally winning this fight.<br><br>its also interesting that while she’s fighting, a lot of the closeups mirror the shots of Toji that make him visually imposing while he’s fighting. the zen’in clan made these monsters with their traditions and ideals. Toji lashed out with his pain and inflicted it on others to find his worth, but Maki instead turned that power on her “creators” in a rejection of the idea that she was worthless.

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• SN

  @SnipeyMcButter · 7 months ago

  I saw the title and I was like yeah sure and then I realized it was you the smart guy who clearly has media literacy and now I have to lock in (I can’t make my own opinions)

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• ON

  @Only2late · 7 months ago

  I really, really like the shot of Naoya bullying Maki. It seemed, to me, to communicate that this place is a living testament to the what Maki and Mai were made to go through. The walls are alive with memories of subjugation and torture. Naoya&apos;s cruelty is just as much a part of the house as the kitchen.

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• DO

  @dora404zip · 7 months ago

  I also loved the scene where Makis mom stabbed Naoya in the back, in juxtaposition with the scene of him talking abt Mai&amp; Maki. He said smth in the lines of &quot;if a woman doesnt walk in 3ft distance behind a man, she should be stabbed&quot;. And then for him to be stabbed by another woman felt kinda poetic to me. It was freeing for the mother but also ironic for him bc ultimately he got what he wished for women to get.

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• EL

  @elkefransisca · 7 months ago

  I saw the video and thought &quot;huh, cool&quot; then saw it was the same guy who made the power and politics of JJK and INSTANTLY locked in (ITS GONE??? THATS WHY I COULDNT FIND IT)

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• RU

  @rujandoru2033 · 7 months ago

  Mai and Maki are also in dual fetal positions, potentially how they were oriented in the womb. It could be interpreted as a further nod to Maki’s metaphorical rebirth.

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• EJ

  @ejvigg312 · 7 months ago

  I wanna say that i think the music is honestly perfect for when maki is on her killing spree. To her its not a sad momeny or heartbreaking, shes been wanting to do just exactly that. The music being light toned is to show how maki dose not feel remorse or regret about killing them and how to her its a positive thing.

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• RE

  @Rekka-Chic · 7 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE26T4mHEng&amp;t=1149">19:09</a> &nbsp;let’s be for real, naoya’s face is not ugly, HE’S ugly, but his face his is not ugly

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• MA

  @marasenna781 · 7 months ago

  I really really liked the personal analysis of Jinichi just walking up slowly to maki. For a while, I really couldn’t understand why he was walking so slowly while his comrade was literally spewing blood out of every orifice trying to hold her back. So saying that he has a resign look on his face like he knows he’s going to die. Just snapped everything in place for me.

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• IN

  @iNDiGO470 · 7 months ago

  I think Mappa really like the cinematic approach they did for chainsaw man. They were really stoked to adapt that manga, and i think that influence is now in jjk. The Japanese didn&apos;t like the approach to chainsawman and also now this maki episode. The west seems to like it though

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