Maki Is Literally One Of The..if Not THE Most Badass Female Character I've Ever Seen In Shounen Anime; Aggressive As F - Tumblr Posts

jujutsu kaisen 151, on what maki said

alright ive been forced to come back to this hell site to make this post because i cannot take this maki top energy slander

i want to talk about this panel here, which specifically i’ve seen these two variations of translations from (left is VIZ and right is TCB scans):

while both of these translations are technically correct, the original japanese  says “抱いてやるよ” (daite yaru yo)

抱く (daku) technically means to hug, and it’s conjugated w/ やる (yaru) which means that the action is being done as a favor for someone. another way to conjugate this verb for a similar meaning is あげる (ageru), but yaru is less polite and more condescending (especially in this context). the tone of the sentence is very 上から目線 (“from a high perspective”), meaning that maki is definitely talking down (quite strongly) on naoya; and i think this does come through from both of the english translations pictured above.

but now the part that drove jp twt crazy. 

while 抱く(daku) does technically mean hug/embrace/hold, it can also be understood in a sexual way: specifically, to top (i swear i am not making this up LOL) 抱く(daku) means you are topping, and 抱かれる (dakareru) means you are bottoming — so essentially what maki is saying can also be interpreted as  “i’ll top you (as a favor)”

now, i know this initially seems really out of place in english, but it actually makes a lot of sense given the history of their relationship and naoya’s personality in particular. we all know that naoya has been sexist af and spewing nonsense like women should always walk 3 steps behind men etc. so in some way, reverting that typical male/female dynamic is actually a really great taunt — it’s VERY insulting to naoya’s fragile masculinity lol some ppl have even gone as far as to guess that perhaps its a line that naoya/others have said to maki before (maybe under the context that she has no value except to serve men — but ofc this is all just speculation), and now maki is throwing it back right at him to, quite literally, establish dominance. bottom line is that I don’t think she meant it literally but the reversal of dynamic that the line implies seems pretty obvious and makes a lot of sense as a double meaning addition to the line.

i also saw some of jp twt talking about comparisons with this panel from the manga “kenya kagyou” (disclaimer: i’ve never read this manga; akutami gege references other works in jjk all the time so ppl were guessing this was the manga being referenced here). one character used the exact same form of “shiranui-gata” in sumo and he said “dakishimete yaru,” which usually means “hug tightly”; but here the play on words is instead on the verb “shimeru,” which can also mean to strangle.

anyways, i guess what i’m trying to say is akutami gege could’ve kept this line/used similar variations of it to convey the same “i will hug you (threatening),” but instead chose to use “daite yaru yo.” this specific combination of words really is quite often sexual (i think a good comparison for the degree of sexual connotation is the phrase “netflix and chill” — where yes, it could also mean actually only netflix and chill, but most ppl, even if they dont mean it, are at least aware of the sexual connotation). gege has a history of playing with double meanings a lot (stuff like sukuna’s “魅せてみろ” or “去ね”), so do what you will with that info lol sumo is also a sport in which women are traditionally banned from competing in, so maki taking on this pose w/ the line fits well with the subverting gender roles theme that’s going on as a big “screw you” at naoya 

in conclusion akutami gege said maki tops yall