Maki Zenin

Maki Zenin is a major supporting character in Jujutsu Kaisen and one of the main protagonists of its prequel, Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Jujutsu High.

She is currently a second-year at Tokyo Jujutsu High. Originally from the Zenin family, Maki left on her own due to being rejected for her lack of cursed energy. She studies to become a strong sorcerer despite her own family working against her.

Appearance
Maki is a tall athletic young woman with golden eyes and long black hair (dark green in the anime) normally tied into a ponytail. She has a fringe over her forehead with smaller strands framing her cheeks and is usually sporting a pair of glasses that allows her to see curses.

Maki's jujutsu student uniform consists of the traditional long sleeve jacket with a skirt. As a first year, she wore long socks with shoes with her uniform, but she currently wears black leggings.

While training, Maki wears a black jersey with dark colored cuffs, collar, and bottom edge, dark colored shorts over black pants, and white shoes. While training Yuta Okkotsu, Maki wore the same top, black shorts, black socks, and white shoes. Her casual clothes consist of a white hoodie over a black and white horizontal shirt, white shorts over black pants, and white boots.

Following the events of the Shibuya Incident, the left side of Maki's body is covered in third-degree burns following her encounter with Jogo. Her hair has also been cut shorter. She wears a jacket and a belt over her student uniform.

As a child, Maki had he hair extended to the bottom of her head, a dark colored kimono with a black sash. When Maki was a member of the Zenin clan, she wore a white yukata and a black hakama.

Personality
Maki is a very headstrong and straightforward person who tends to be quite blunt. She is strong willed and motivates herself to escape the ties of her sorcerer family. For her entire life, she has been mistreated and put down for being a woman and a non-sorcerer by the Zenin family.

Despite feeling cursed by her own family, Maki strives to become a sorcerer and prove everyone wrong, breaking the foundation of their way of life that she so rejects. Maki and Mai were originally going to stay together with the Zenin family but the older twin decided she couldn't live that way.

Rejected by her own family, Maki's bonds lie within her classmates whom she normally takes the leadership role with. She's very tough on them in training, very impatient and often hot-tempered. She only wishes to see them get stronger as they fight beside her and has taught many of her peers how to properly wield a variety of weapons, even if they had to get beaten up by her a lot to reach that point.

With Yuta, Maki was initially annoyed with his shy attitude and felt that he had no business being at Tokyo Jujutsu High as a cursed victim. However, after fighting beside him and learning to understand one another, Maki discovered they weren't so different. In fact, Yuta was the first person to truly make her feel accepted. In this instance, Maki's tough exterior tried to repress her emotions with frustration but she couldn't help but feel moved in a very rare show of emotion.

All of the students at Tokyo Jujutsu High respect her, and Yuji could feel her aura of leadership before even getting to know her. On missions, Maki is always focused on the task at hand is professional as a sorcerer. She follows orders and can even work with her family members cordially if the task calls for it. Additionally, while competing against her twin sister, Maki treated it as any other fight and dispatched her quickly.

Abilities and Powers
Overall Skill Level: Maki's Grade 4 sorcerer ranking is not at all reflective of her actual ability in battle. Her promotion was stalled for years due to the Zenin family and she can easily exorcise a grade 2 curse. Her physical prowess is second only to Yuji Itadori's among the students and she is a master of a wide assortment of different weapons. Wielding cursed tools, Maki is an effective sorcerer despite her lack of cursed energy because she makes up for it with astonishing physical abilities.

Compared to other jujutsu students, Maki is often underestimated. However, she was able to effortlessly overwhelm Kasumi Miwa as well as completely dominate her sister in a fight. Against special grade cursed spirits, Maki has proven to be a valuable asset in battle. She and Megumi Fushiguro were able to buy enough time against Hanami for reinforcements to arrive. While fighting alongside Naobito Zenin and Kento Nanami against Dagon, Maki was a step slower than the seasoned grade 1 sorcerer but was still able to hold her own as well.

Master Weapons Specialist: Able to wield a wide assortment of different weapons, Maki is considered to be an expert in all sorts of weaponry. She normally uses spears in battle but is fully capable of switching between multiple weapons in the course of a single fight. During the Goodwill Event, Maki broke the handle of her own spear, then took Kasumi's sword, and once that broke, she utilized a three section staff to fight. She is also fully capable of incorporating martial arts such as aikido into close range combat.

Additionally, Maki is also a very capable teacher. Not only did she turn Yuta in a swordsman practitioner and a decent sparring partner, she's also helped Megumi learn to wield different weapons as well.

High Intellect: Raised by the Zenin family, Maki has a good grasp on all aspects of the jujutsu world. She can stay one step of her opponent in battle and can read other people's moves through their personalities. Maki was the one who came up with the Tokyo Team's initial strategy to counter Aoi Todo's one track mind and brute strength.

Enhanced Strength: Maki possess extraordinarily high levels of strength, capable of overpowering weaker opponents with ease. She was able to knock Aoi Todo, a notoriously strong student, out cold by hitting him in the face with a baseball. Maki also broke a wooden polearm over her thigh, something no normal human would be capable of.

Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Maki is extremely fast and possesses superhuman reflexes, enough for a special grade cursed spirit like Hanami to acknowledge her prowess. She is sharp and highly mobile, capable of effortlessly slicing bullets out of the air with a sword and can even catch a bullet shot at close range with her bare hands.

Enhanced Durability & Vitality: Maki was able to withstand a point-blank attack by Jogo's innate technique (Disaster Flames), although the attack left her unconscious and seriously injured, she still resisted it much better than other sorcerers of rank 1 or higher. She was able to recover from her injuries in a few days to the point of being able to return to action, although they left severe scars on her face.

Trivia

 * Maki's surname contains the kanji for "meditation" (禪) and "institution" (禪), and her first name contains "genuine" (真) and "hope" (希).
 * Maki ranked 12th place in the manga's 1st Character Popularity Poll with 4,245 votes.
 * Maki loves junk food.
 * Maki's hair is straighter than Mai's hair.
 * Maki's Heavenly Restriction ability is also seemingly the same condition with that of her relative, Toji Fushiguro, something that was confirmed by Yuki Tsukumo, who was interested in studying this unique ability. This in turn implied that this innate technique is in fact inherited from and unique to the Zenin Family.
 * In the English dub, both Maki and Kasumi Miwa are portrayed by Allegra Clark.
 * According to Jujutsu Kaisen Official Fanbook:
 * Enrollment method: Family lineage.
 * Her specialty is crushing empty cans.
 * Favorite dish: Junk food.
 * Least Favorite dish: Vegetarian food.
 * Cause of stress: Zennin family procedure.

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Maki Zenin