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. Daughter of Ogi Zenin and the twin sister of Mai Zenin, Maki was born in the Zenin Family. Born a non-sorcerer in one of the Big Three Sorcerer Families, Maki was constantly mistreated so she eventually expelled herself from the Zenin clan. She aspires to be a great jujutsu sorcerer to spite her family, working closely with her friends Panda and Toge Inumaki instead, while also serving as a role model to the first-year students.

Appearance
Maki is a beautiful young woman with a tall athletic build. She has small golden eyes and long black hair (dark green in the anime) normally tied into a ponytail. She had fringes of hair over her forehead with smaller strands framing her cheeks and used to sport different pairs of glasses that allowed her to see curses.

While still a member of the Zenin clan, Maki wore a traditional outfit, a white yukata, and a black hakama. Maki's original Jujutsu High student uniform consisted of the traditional long sleeve jacket with a skirt. As a first-year student, she wore thick, long tan socks and black shoes with her uniform. As a second-year Maki wore a different pair of glasses and sported black leggings instead of socks.

While training for the Goodwill Event, Maki wore a purple tracksuit a black jersey with tan shorts over her leggings. While training Yuta Okkotsu, Maki wore the same top with darker shorts. Her casual clothes consisted of a white hoodie over a black and white horizontal shirt, white shorts over black pants, and white boots.

Maki was severely burned by Jogo's flames during the Shibuya Incident. This has left a great deal of her body covered in severe burns, running up and down both her arms and the sides of her face. Maki cut her hair much shorter as well, as it now only reaches just past her ears. She changed uniforms as well. She wore a sleeveless, turtle-neck, black shirt underneath a large cape attached by two Jujutsu High pins on each side. The shirt tucked into a large brown belt with a gold buckle, tied around the waste of tight black pants. The glasses she paired with this outfit were circular but Maki's left eye was covered in bandages from the burns.

During her conflict with the Zenin Family, Maki lost her left eye altogether and now has a scar where it was sliced by her father's katana. She ditched the cape and now only wears the sleeveless shirt as well as the same pants, belt, and shoes.

Personality
Maki is a very headstrong and straightforward person who tries to drive herself forward without needing anyone else's help. She is extremely strong-willed, capable, and motivated to escape the standards that have been set for her by people who are supposed to be her family.

In a sorcerer clan, strong cursed techniques are everything, but Maki couldn't even see curses. Women in sorcerer clans have to stand out even more, leading Maki to be constantly severely mistreated and abused by the Zenin clan. Despite feeling cursed by her own blood, Maki motivates herself to become a strong sorcerer regardless of what her family thinks. She wants to break apart the foundation of their way of their life and reject it completely.

Maki can come off as rather cold at times, even to her classmates. She is the leader type but Maki is very tough on others and tends to be impatient and hot-tempered. Maki doesn't seem to respect Satoru Gojo as a person due to his very goofy attitude. Even as her teacher and senior, Maki often refers to him as a moron. She was initially very mean to Yuta because of his shy attitude and openly told him he had no business attending Jujutsu High as a cursed human.

While working on a mission together, Maki and Yuta learned to understand one another and she realized they weren't so different. She asked Yuta why he enrolled in the school and he told her that he wanted it to be acceptable for him to live. Maki told him that's what Jujutsu High is all about and encouraged him to use his curse to save people.

Maki trained Yuta harshly because she wants to see him get stronger and fight beside her. Something she would later impart on to Megumi and Nobara as their senpai. She's taught them all highly advanced situational awareness and how to properly wield a variety of weapons, even if they had to get beaten up a lot in the process.

Maki has repressed many of her emotions to maintain her trademark tough exterior. She hasn't expressed romantic interest in anyone and Panda enjoyed teasing her about this as first-years. When it came to Yuta, this embarrassed Maki enough to lash out at Panda in a temper.

Following their first encounter with Suguru Geto, Maki and Yuta talked about why Geto referred to her as the "failure of the Zenin clan". Maki initially played it off as if being born a non-sorcerer gave her a perfect excuse to leave because she hated the clan for a variety of other reasons. When Yuta inquired as to why Maki chooses to be a sorcerer and Maki said it's because she's got a bad personality and wants to be a grade 1 sorcerer to spite the Zenin clan.

Yuta admires Maki's strength and revealed he wants to be like her, strong and resilient. Yuta awkwardly offered to help her stick it to the Zenin clan but called him an idiot and said it was something she needed to do alone. She had spent so long rejecting the need to feel accepted that she became flustered that Yuta kindly recognized her strength. Maki left the conversation to gain her composure and then reminded herself that she should go feeling like she's been recognized.

As a second-year student, Maki carries an aura of leadership and guides her juniors appropriately. She gravitates toward Megumi because he's also an ex-member of the Zenin clan and they get along well. She's comfortable with teasing him even if it's harsh and this can make her come off as a "cold-hearted demon" at times. When she found Megumi sulking with Nobara, she jokingly asked them if they had just attended a funeral. However, this was ironically after their classmate, Yuji Itadori's death. This made Maki feel really guilty and as usual, she lashed out at Panda in a rage for not informing her sooner. Even after the accident, Maki was still unsure if taking it easy on the first-year students would've even been a kindness.

Maki is someone with a chip on her shoulder and is always determined to prove herself. For the Kyoto Goodwill Event, she needed strong teammates to help showcase her abilities on a public stage where she couldn't be denied. She encouraged Megumi and Nobara to get stronger for their fallen ally and figured it was the perfect opportunity to put her juniors in their place.

Maki doesn't appear to be concerned with the moral aspects of being a sorcerer and is more focused on personal goals. While training, Megumi asked Maki what kind of people she wanted to save as a sorcerer but she doesn't think about that kind of stuff. This clearly annoyed Megumi which in turn angered Maki. She decided to compromise and told Megumi they could talk about it if he improved his skills in hand-to-hand combat enough to challenge her.

As a child, Maki promised her twin sister Mai that she would stay with her forever. However, as Maki grew older she realized she couldn't live under the thumb of the oppressive family while Mai was content with doing so. Leaving Mai behind led the only person Maki cared about in the clan to resent her as well. Mai was punished for Maki leaving by getting pressured into becoming a sorcerer even though she wanted to live a normal life. She grew to hate Maki by the time they were both in Jujutsu High.

Mai treated Maki as if she was worthless because she lacked significant cursed energy. This is the same type of ridicule most of the Zenin clan threw at Maki all her life, so it didn't appear to bother Maki all that much. In the stance where Mai and Nobara got in a fight, Maki told her twin that they were both worthless because Mai isn't that talented herself, only able to charge weapons with cursed energy.

This revelation surprised Nobara, who asked the same question Yuta did, why would Maki want to become a sorcerer. Maki simply told her that she wanted to prove her family wrong by becoming a great sorcerer. Nobara expressed her profound respect but Maki didn't make a big deal out of it. During the planning phase of the Goodwill Event, Maki overheard Nobara telling Yuji about her circumstances and how they have to win to prove the Zenin clan wrong. At the time, it annoyed her, but only because Maki doesn't want the others to worry about her. Recalling her classmate's acknowledgment of her ability later on made Maki smile.

Maki didn't actively try to prepare her relationship with Mai and engaged in their sibling rivalry to a degree. After defeating Mai, Maki is asked to explain why she didn't stay at the bottom and fall down the hole with her sister. This saddened Maki, who replied that she would've hated herself and apologized to Mai for leaving. Maki walked away without a clear resolution and continued the event, leaving their relationship still fractured.

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.

Battles & Events
Cursed Child Arc


 * Yuta Okkotsu & Maki Zenin vs. Cursed Spirits
 * Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki & Panda vs. Suguru Geto

Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc


 * Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event
 * Spirit Bash Race
 * Maki Zenin vs. Kasumi Miwa
 * Maki Zenin vs. Mai Zenin
 * Baseball Game
 * Megumi Fushiguro & Maki Zenin vs. Hanami

Shibuya Incident Arc


 * The Shibuya Incident
 * Jujutsu Sorcerers vs. Dagon

Perfect Preparation Arc


 * Maki Zenin vs. Ogi Zenin
 * Maki Zenin vs. The Kukuru Unit
 * Maki Zenin vs. The Hei
 * Maki Zenin vs. Naoya Zenin

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: Zenin family procedure.

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Maki Zenin