Jujutsu Kaisen; Mai and Maki’s Zen’in Sad Backstory (SPOILERS)

Introduction

   While I was reading “Jujutsu Kaisen” (and watching the anime, I am a huge fan) one of the characters that caught my attention was Zen’in Maki. A strong second-year Jujutsu High student, only ranked at grade 4. She is the bigger sister of her twin Mai, a student at Kyoto’s Jujutsu High. It appears to be a hatred between the two sisters which explained during the “Kyoto goodwill event” arc and it is one of the saddest stories I have read!

Zen’in Clan

   As it’s obvious by their last name, the twins come from the Zen’in Clan, one of the three big clans, alongside Kamo and Gojo. During their childhood they were treated as servants by the rest of the clan, not only because they were women but because they were twin as well. In matter of fact, during the flashback we see two men saying that twins are a bad omen, while a young Mai was watching them. In addition to that, Maki has no cursed energy and she can’t see curses without her glasses, while Mai is capable for both.

Maki’s Departure

   Due to the Zen’in clan mistreatment of the young girls, Maki decided to leave and come back as a strong Jujutsu Sorcerer, to become the head of the Clan, leaving Mai alone. After a while Mai joins the Kyoto Jujutsu High as well.

Twin Sister Fight

   During the goodwill event the two sisters end up fighting each other. During this time is revealed that Mai’s cursed technique is to create objects with cursed energy and she creates a bullet to fire at her sister. Maki catches the bullet because of the Heaven Pact she has, which is her superhuman strength and speed, for not having cursed energy. After the fight, Mai claims her hatred for Maki, because her sister betrayed her. Then we get to see a flashback of the two as children. Mai was afraid to cross a bridge because a curse was sitting there. Maki took her hand and told her to close her eyes, because not seeing it is the same as not being there. While the two sisters held hands, Mai asked Maki to never let her and Maki promised that she will never leave her sister. A promise she never kept, because she would end up hating herself.

Conclusion

   It may sound cliché or even boring but this story made me tear up a little bit and feel for Mai a little more since her first appearance as cold-hearted snob. It gets even better after the Shibuya Incident, when Maki returns to the Zen’in but I will save this for another article!