How Maki Surpassed Toji Fushiguro At The End Of JJK

Jujutsu Kaisen saw the author, Gege Akutami, introduce fans to quite a lot of exciting characters throughout its run. It is safe to say that the series had a ton of incredible characters who, if fleshed out, would’ve gone on to become very special, but ended up fading into nonexistence. However, Maki certainly isn’t one of them.

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Maki, a member of the Zenin Clan, has always been incredibly active in Jujutsu Kaisen, and fans have absolutely loved all her major displays of power, especially after she truly awakened. Maki’s strength is known to be very similar to that of Toji Fushiguro, a legendary fighter himself who almost killed Gojo back during his younger days. By the end of the series, however, Maki has most definitely surpassed Toji Fushiguro already.

Maki’s Awakening Led To Her Reaching Toji’s Level

• Maki’s Heavenly Restriction Made Her Formidable
• Maki Was Confirmed To Be As Strong As Toji

Maki Zenin always struggled to achieve high ranks as a sorcerer, and this was specifically down to her clan, who continually made things difficult for her. Maki’s main issue was that she didn’t have enough cursed energy. At the beginning of the series, it was revealed that Maki only had traces of crushed energy and struggled to even see curses, unlike her sister, Mai. Because Maki was such a stain on the “legacy” of the Zenin Clan, she was always cast aside and treated differently from the others.

Maki struggled quite a lot due to the treatment she got from her family members, largely for being weak, and even though she wanted to prove them all wrong, Maki was never truly given a chance. At one point, Maki wanted to prove everyone wrong by rising to the top of the clan itself even after being banished, however, it didn’t take her long to realize that it was all for nothing because the small-minded people of the clan would never change their ways and that she was important than being consumed by that worthless family.

Things flipped especially after both Maki and Mai were taken on by the family, and initially, beaten. However, later down the line, Mai sacrificed herself for Maki and with her, took all the remnants of the cursed energy that she had. With Maki losing all her cursed energy, a new chapter opened for her and she became just like Toji.

At this point in the story, fans already knew that Toji Fushiguro was quite a monster. After all, his battle against Gojo Satoru was already put on full display by this point in the story, and his performance was sublime, even against the strongest. Now, Maki, a new demon who awakened with her sister’s sacrifice, ended up becoming equally as dangerous and powerful, and that was certainly a sight to behold for the fans.

Maki Trained Harder During The Timeskip

The Shinjuku Showdown Arc Saw Everyone Leveling Up

While Maki was already monstrously powerful when she singlehandedly annihilated the whole clan and did so without even breaking a sweat, this was far from being the peak of her powers. If anything, Maki was just getting started. With the power of the Split Soul Katana, among other weapons, Maki was a ferocious monster few could take on in combat, and as the story entered the Culling Game arc, Maki managed to fully realize her strength. It was here that Maki was finally able to move past all the connections of the Zenin and even cut down Naoya, finally reaching the next level of power. Maki continued to display great growth throughout the Culling Game arc, and later down the line, she even managed to surprise the King of Curses when he was in Megumi’s body. The two even traded blows and were seemingly close at the time. But, of course, the difference in their strength became clearer later down the line.

As Sukuna grew stronger inside Megumi’s body, so did the many sorcerers and Maki was no different. It would’ve been bizarre for every sorcerer in JJK to grow stronger during this period, other than Maki. They all claimed to have trained incredibly hard during the one month to have better chances of beating Sukuna. Based on this statement alone, Maki most definitely got stronger and surpassed Toji Fushiguro as the story of Jujutsu Kaisen made more progress.

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This was quite evident in her performance as well. Maki was able to fight and hold her own against Sukuna throughout her battles, and that in itself makes her special. In fact, she dealt deadly blows to him with the Split Soul Katana, which he couldn’t recover from easily. Maki even managed to overpower Sukuna on multiple occasions, which was proof of the fact that physically, she was far superior, and her feats, such as stabbing the heart of the King of Curses paid off in many ways.

End Of Series Maki Was Likely Even Stronger

Maki Still Had More Potential To Fulfill

While Maki certainly played a massive role in Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shinjuku Showdown arc, where she teamed up with many sorcerers to beat Sukuna, this wasn’t Maki’s peak, given that she was still quite young at the time. Maki still had years left to grow, which basically just went on to confirm that she was destined to grow stronger than Toji Fushiguro. Just as Yuji still had to live up to the potential of his powers, and how Yuta managed to grow so impressive that he ended up as the Acting Clan Head of the Gojo family, Maki too must’ve made great progress.

Around the year 2035, Yuta clearly had authority over the Gojo family. It was hinted to the fans that around this time, Yuta was already married to Maki. By the year 2080, Yuta and Maki were most definitely together, given that their grandchildren were shown to the fans. Of course, at this time, Maki would be far beyond her prime and certainly not as strong as before. However, if she managed to reach power levels far greater than Toji, then, perhaps even in the year 2080, Maki, as an old woman, might still have been stronger than the version that fought Sukuna in the Shinjuku Showdown Arc of JJK.

Hopefully, Gege Akutami, the author of JJK, will give the fans a glimpse of Maki in the near future if he draws some one-shot JJK chapters. Until then, fans need to be content with what they saw of Maki in the main story, and what was implied in the shocking yet exciting epilogue of the story.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s last chapter, JJK 271, was finally released on September 29, 2024. Fans can read the series on the Manga Plus and the Shonen Jump apps.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Release Date

October 3, 2020

Directors

Sunghoo Park, Shōta Goshozono

Writers

Hiroshi Seko

Stream

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