Nwanne Eke
Viewpoints Editor
On January 9, 2026, peak released, otherwise known as Jujustu Kaisen Season 3, “The Culling Game: Part 1.” In twelve episodes, the anime adapts chapters 159-221 of the manga, briefly recapping the Shibuya Incident from the prior arc and quickly thrusting us into the intense fight scenes and battles that take place as the Jujutsu Sorcerers enter the Culling Game. I was a bit late to start this season as I hadn’t finished season two yet, but I quickly completed it and by the Sunday night before the last episode was released I was caught up. Part 1 features five main fights but it was the second of the five that made me pause my watch and tell my Instagram story, “MAKI IS OP. i’m watching peak rn.”
The male-dominated anime community loves throwing around the label “peak” while ignoring many of the issues their favorite animes and mangas have. Outside of convoluted plotlines and protagonists with egregious plot armor, many mangakas perpetuate misogynoir in their works through undeveloped female characters. This manifests as utilizing female characters for fan service, or making them practically useless in comparison to their male counterparts.
For the last couple of months, I’ve been rewatching a childhood favorite, Naruto. As much as I love the show and Naruto and Sasuke’s homoerotic friendship –– I genuinely do not care that they canonically marry women. Naruto practically said “I know dada, dada would never” when Sasuke was being called a traitor to the Hidden Leaf Village –– the majority of the female characters are kind of useless. Hinata, my personal favorite female character, gets mercilessly bullied my her male cousin Neji, despite being in the direct line of succession of the Hyuga clan –– one of the strongest clans in the village –– and possessing her clans kekkei genkai, the Byakugan. Her plot armor revolves entirely on surviving because she will be Naruto’s wife. Kishimoto ignores everything that could make her an interesting character in favor of excessively pushing her docile, tame nature and visual desirability.
Gege Akutami, the mangaka for Jujustu Kaisen, successfully does the opposite of Kishimoto. One of Maki’s defining traits is her exceptional combat skills. Despite being born without cursed energy, she holds her own in battles. Unlike Kishimoto who never utilizes the strengths of his female characters, Gege makes Maki a strong character in spite of her weaknesses. This makes her all the more interesting as a character in season 3, when she displays her intelligence and leadership in creating a plan to take on the Culling Game. Episode 4, “Perfect Preparation,” is entirely focused on Maki Zen’in and her complete annihilation of the Zen’in clan. After her own father conspires against her, locking her and her twin sister, Mai, in a vault to die at the hands of cursed spirits, Maki is left gravely injured. Ultimately saved by Mai sacrificing herself, Maki reached her true potential and turned her devastation into strength, annihilating her father and the entire Zen’in clan that had abused her for her entire life. I hope going forward we continue to see the type of female character development in Jujustu Kaisen in other animes and mangas where we have female main characters actually play key roles in the plotline, acting rather than existing for the sake of supporting male leads.
