Mei Mei and Ui Ui in CH 133

Since the chapter's release a couple years ago, there's been a lot of flak given about the scene between Mei Mei and Ui Ui in the Malaysian hotel room, and for good reason. The scenario is gross, framed to illicit disgust or at least discomfort, and is a trope all too common in the world of manga where it is treated as a gag. But I feel like one of the issues in the community and the world as a whole is this general knee-jerk reaction to uncomfortable things without taking the time to analyze the author's intent in including it, along with the proper context and nuance. It's one of the reason many people dismiss Chainsaw man for its "fan service" when all sexually charged scenes are cut with a realistic dive into the character's psychologies and their views on how relationships work. I decided to talk about the Mei Mei/Ui UI scene because, while the popular interpretation isn't objectively wrong and my personal interpretation involves just as much conjecture, a critical analysis will provide detail into both characters, the themes present through the series, and an acceptable reason for the scene's inclusion beyond "Gege thought it was funny." So, against my best interests, I will now defend a scene in which a grown, half-naked woman lies in bed and flirts with her underage brother.

First, lets start with context. The scene starts out with Mei Mei in bed with Ui Ui, seemingly nude, but you can also see a cloth wrapped under her, which may or may not be the robe she is seen straightening out in a later panel (robes are notoriously hard to keep on while asleep). The most common thing brought up by fans of the series is "why is Mei Mei naked (or at least half naked) in bed with a child?" Well, if you look at Ui Ui, you'll notice he's also in different clothes than what he was wearing earlier that night. And what were they doing earlier that night? Fighting the physical manifestation of the smallpox virus, one of the deadliest and contagious diseases in human history. It only makes sense that after fleeing, they would check in last minute to one of the only rooms available on Halloween night in one of the busiest cities in Asia, dispose of their contaminated clothes, buy Ui Ui a t-shirt and shorts while Mei Mei wears one of the robes provided by the hotel, and take a nap after a tiring day. Its a logical conclusion to come to without assuming any molestation is going on.

So, let's move on to the part that should have made you uncomfortable, the weird dialogue between them and the framing of the panels. It's very sensual and off-putting, given that one of the participant's is a minor and the other is their older sibling. And it's not uncommon in manga/anime/japanese media in general, the sis-con/bro-con/incest-con trope basically has it's own genre. But in this case, because it's Jujutsu Kaisen, we need to look further into it rather than just assume its just another example. Gege has consistently used and inverted common tropes to improve characterization and better integrate his power system into the world they created. The trope of explaining your power to the enemy has become a power itself, strengthening techniques and becoming a part of a strategy where falsehoods can be integrated into the explanation to throw off your opponent. The trope of major characters being larger than life personalities with deep issues is explained away by "Jujutsu Sorcerers need to be crazy to do their jobs" and creates a reason for why the main characters are the main characters. Jujutsu Sorcerers, or humans that use Cursed energy in general, are not very psychologically sound and generally have a huge source of trauma to pull their Cursed Energy and CT from. And it's this trope that I feel is being explored by Mei Mei and Ui Ui's relationship.

There's no reason to believe Mei Mei and Ui Ui are physically involved, but that doesn't mean their relationship is healthy either. Mei Mei has a very transactional way of interacting with people, always thinking of who she owes and who owes her. She and Ui Ui say as much to Finn from Adventure Time in the subway, that she judges lives by their value to her. Ui Ui, on the other hand, is absolutely obsessed with his older sister, loyal to a fault, and willing to risk his life for her. And his incestuous attitude towards her are indicative of a deeper psychological trauma, probably sourced from a life where she is the only person in it that cares for him. We also don't know their family names, and have never been any indication that they have any. This information, along with the fact that they don't have traditional Japanese names can allude to any number of horrific backstories, your guess is as good as mine. So we end up with an older sister whose only method of relating to people is monetary value and a Machiavellian emphasis on "usefulness", and a younger brother who was raised on these values whose psychology developed a Stockholm-ish adoration towards her and constantly strives for her validation. Mei Mei, in turn, humors this behavior because she views it as harmless. Or maybe even revels in it because it's an example of her own value towards others.

So, if you take the time to actually think about the series (which many fans admit to not doing while at the same time criticizing it), you can extrapolate a lot of detail from very little material, especially if you apply it to the previously established context. The power system begins to make more sense, characters have more consistent and linear arcs, the worldbuilding becomes more detailed and varied. Mei Mei's relationship to her brother, and their respective psychologies make more sense, rather than blindly assuming Gege put in a scene pedophilic incest for laughs. It's meant to be discomforting because their relationship isn't normal, but it also isn't what meets the eye. And the series is filled with scenes more horrific and disgusting than this one should have ever been, with children being mauled, deformed, and murdered. People's bodies being mutilated, children forced to see their parents ripped in half, unethical medical experimentation, SA, casual to ranked sexism.

And I feel this is indicative of a larger issue with our society, the elevation of sex crimes above others. It seems to stem from this puritanical view on chastity and has remained a staple of fictional media for decades. It's the reason a strong female character's arc just has to include SA somewhere. It's different if it's written by a victim, but for some stories it's not enough for a character to be beaten, enslaved and tortured, forced to watch their loved ones die in front of them. Their lowest point isn't reached until the audience learns that they were sexually abused as well. This is reflected in many fandoms that hold murderers in higher esteem than sexual abusers. Toji, a man who shot a 14 year old girl on screen for money is a beloved character, whose return in Shibuya was eagerly anticipated and highly regarded. But Mei Mei is viewed with disgust by many fans after CH 133 was released, merely for the implication of pedophilia.

So, in the end, I guess my point is that as an audience, we should exercise our critical thinking skills more often. Because sometimes, if something doesn't make sense or seems out of place, all you really need to do is think about it for a minute and everything will fall into place. At least think about why something is the way it is before publicly criticizing it.