In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen where characters are divided into groups of jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits, two characters stand out like no other.
Toji Fushiguro and Maki Zenin are unique because, unlike other major characters, they don’t have any cursed energy inside them, despite both of them belonging to the elite Zenin family. But who’s stronger between these two special characters? Here’s our answer to the Toji vs Maki debate.
Table of Contents
Toji vs. Maki: Similarities
I. Zero Cursed Energy
What makes Maki and Toji so different from others is their lack of cursed energy. Toji was born with no cursed energy at all while Maki’s cursed energy was lower than that of a non-sorcerer.
In Maki’s case, all of the cursed energy of her share is carried by her twin sister Mai, leaving her with little to none. This causes her to have to use cursed energy-infused glasses to even see curses.
Their lack of cursed energy caused Toji and Maki to be ostracized by the Zenin family who prided themselves on their precious cursed techniques. It led to them resenting the clan and leaving it for good.
II. Heavenly Restriction
Toji traded off his lack of cursed energy with superhuman physical prowess in a Heavenly Restriction. As a result, he has immense physical strength, speed, agility, and durability.
His physical powers are so extreme that he could fight and even overpower teenage Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, two Special Grade jujutsu sorcerers.
For Maki, her Heavenly Restriction comes when Mai dies, taking all the cursed energy between the two of them with her and leaving Maki with nothing.
With her complete lack of cursed energy now, Maki gains the same superhuman physical powers as Toji. She becomes unbelievably strong, fast, agile, and durable.
Maki channels her new powers by killing the whole Zenin family. The prestigious family, full of powerful elite sorcerers, is completely destroyed by Maki.
She kills the Hei and the Kukuri unit with ruthless power, cementing her position as one of the strongest characters in Jujutsu Kaisen.
III. Cursed Tools
Another similarity that Toji and Maki share is their usage of cursed tools. As non-sorcerers with zero cursed energy, they channel the powers of the cursed tool and combine them with their physical abilities.Â
IV. Advantages
While their lack of cursed energy seems like a disadvantage at first, in truth, it acts more as an advantage. Because of the zero cursed energy they emit, curses consider them as nothing more than buildings, giving them a lot of opportunities to catch their enemies off guard.
Barriers and domain expansions also cannot cage them. The only way a barrier can trap them is if they wish for it or if the barrier has the necessary external structure.
Character Profiles:
I. Maki Zenin
One of the major supporting characters of the story, Maki Zenin is a second-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High. She’s the daughter of Ogi Zenin and the twin sister of Mai Zenin who’s a student at Kyoto Jujutsu High.Â
Maki is also the cousin of Toji Fushiguro and the classmate of Yuta Okkotsu, Toge Inumaki, and Panda. She plays an important role in both Jujutsu Kaisen and its prequel, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. It isn’t until the Perfect Preparation Arc that Maki channels her full potential.
Weapons
Since Maki doesn’t have enough cursed energy, she has to use cursed tools to exorcize curses. The cursed tools she’s used as of yet are the following:
- Dragon Bone
- Playful Cloud
- Split Soul Katana
Along with these, she’s also used numerous cursed energy-infused weapons.
II. Toji Fushiguro
Introduced in the Gojo’s Past Arc, Toji Fushiguro is a contract killer, known as the Sorcerer Killer, and the father of Megumi and the stepfather of Tsumiki Fushiguro. He’s originally from the Zenin clan but left the family after suffering abuse and humiliation for years for his lack of cursed energy.Â
In the past, Toji was hired by the Time Vessel Association to kill the Star Plasma Vessel, i.e., Riko Amanai. On this job, he clashed against Gojo, and after a heated battle, seemingly killed him. However, Gojo reappeared, rejuvenating himself with Reverse Cursed Technique, and killed the assassin.
Toji is later resurrected by Ogami as a ruthless killing machine. But after coming face to face with Megumi and realizing that he’d have to fight his son, Toji committed suicide to prevent that.
Weapons
Though Toji can easily fight other sorcerers with just his physical abilities, he can’t exorcize curses without cursed tools. He has an Inventory Curse, loyal to him as a pet, which contains his cursed tools. The tools he uses are:
- Chain of a Thousand Miles
- Inverted Spear of Heaven
- Playful Cloud
- Split Soul Katana
Toji vs. Maki: Who Will Win?
If we consider a battle between Toji and the Maki that was first introduced in the story, the winner of that would be pretty easy to infer. Toji would be an overwhelming force and none of Maki’s cursed tools or natural athleticism could hope to counter that.
However, the Maki that comes out of the Zenin house after the Perfect Preparation Arc is entirely different from her former self.
A match-up between Toji and the current Maki would be a close one. Both of them share the majority of their powers and abilities, and some cursed tools like the Split Soul Katana and the Perfect Cloud.
They both possess inhuman physical abilities and sharp cunning. They’d match each other blow to blow.
But if we look deep into it objectively, it becomes apparent that Toji would still have the upper hand in the fight.
And that is entirely thanks to the vast experience he has with Maki. Despite Maki slaughtering the members of the Zenin clan, she has hardly fought as many powerful opponents as Toji.Â
So, even though the fight would be tense and close, Toji Fushiguro would win it.
Is Current Maki Stronger Than Toji?
To answer whether current Maki is stronger than Toji, we’d have to say: no, she isn’t. If we’re only considering physical prowess and limitations, then they are currently at the same level.
Both of them have superhuman physical abilities beyond limitations thanks to the Heavenly Restriction, and cannot be harmed by domain expansions.Â
But Toji still has superior experience and battle cunning over Maki that’d aid him in a pinch. The opponents Toji faced and frankly often dominated are much stronger than the opponents Maki has fought and won against yet. But surely that’d change soon now that the series is steadily progressing toward its conclusion.
Conclusion
In the conclusion of this Toji vs Maki debate, we’d end it by saying that while Maki can’t win against Toji in the present yet, she would surely get stronger and face an even greater adversary, i.e., Sukuna. It’s apparent that Gege Akutami intends to make Maki the true equal of Toji Fushiguro, and it’ll happen sooner than later.
Jujutsu Kaisen manga is at a very intriguing part right now. Read the new chapters on MANGA Plus and VIZ Media, and keep following Otakus’ Notes to get the best articles on anime.
Do small things with great love.
Follow us on Twitter for more post-updates.
Also Read:
Anamika loves words and stories and putting them to pages. She also loves anime, manga, books, movies and everything fantasy. She has been a fan of anime since childhood and her admiration for it only grew with years. Her passion for writing is even more elevated by writing about the things she loves.
