Jujutsu Kaisen: How did Mai's death turn Maki into a second Toji?

Season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen has added one of the manga’s biggest surprises to the screen. The transformation of Maki Zenin from a mediocre yet skilled fighter to an unbelievable powerhouse in Jujutsu Kaisen left everyone shocked! She now has burn scars all over her body, her hair cut extremely short, and massive muscle size from so much time spent training.

Mai Zenin's sacrifice basically changed how Maki's twin sister would live since she took out the last bit of cursed energy from Maki's body. Because of this, Maki's partially developed Heavenly Restriction can now unleash its full power, giving her the same insane physical capabilities that made Toji Fushiguro famous. Maki went from being an impressive sorcerer to being able to destroy an entire clan by herself.

Understanding Heavenly Restrictions

In the Jujutsu Kaisen universe, Heavenly Restrictions are essentially a contract between the person and their birth; it's like the way you are born will actually influence how your physical body will handle cursed energy. For people who were born with essentially no cursed energy, they will develop/possess extreme levels of both physical strength and heightened senses as they experience the lack of cursed energy.

Toji Fushiguro was a prime example of this phenomenon. Born without any cursed energy whatsoever, he was able to create superhuman strength, speed, and durability that was able to challenge all the strongest sorcerers. Because Toji's complete lack of cursed energy made him undetectable by detection techniques and completely immune to barriers and domain expansions.

Maki's Incomplete Potential in Jujutsu Kaisen

Before Maki's change, she had something experts refer to as a partial Heavenly Restriction. Maki demonstrated incredible skills in combat and physical capabilities; these levels were out of the ordinary for other humans. Because of this, she was able to use cursed tools to fight against some very strong opponents, even to the point of fighting some special-grade curses. However, something was keeping her from reaching the same heights as Toji.

Maki was born into a situation like this. She was from a family of twins; twin births were seen as unlucky. Because their cursed abilities were divided between them, Mai had much of the cursed energy, while Maki had most of the physical gifts. Because Maki's residual cursed energy was so limited, her Heavenly Restriction couldn't develop completely because she didn't have enough cursed energy for it to manifest fully.

Mai's Ultimate Sacrifice

Before they said goodbye, Mai made a place for herself and Maki to talk outside of all reality. She told Maki what their relationship really was and why things had been so bad for them. Being twins in Jujutsu Kaisen has made them feel like they are one person being divided into two with different abilities. Mai also told Maki that when she died, all the cursed energy that was binding her to an incomplete state would cease to exist.

Mai decided to die and take all of the cursed energy with her. She also gave Maki her final present, an amazing sword that was made with her technique called the Split Soul Katana. Mai told Maki to destroy everything because now that she had the sword, she could fight against the clan that tortured them. Because of this, Maki’s body changed completely, and she was able to remove all cursed energy from her body, allowing her to become who she really is.

Rebirth as a Perfect Warrior in Jujutsu Kaisen

Removing the cursed energy resulted in Maki having a complete transformation. Maki now possesses a perfected steel body like Toji Fushiguro, and therefore, her physical abilities have been enhanced beyond what was previously thought possible for an individual, making her virtually unstoppable when fighting someone up close and personal. Also, she allowed herself to sense her surroundings through variations in air pressure, temperature, and density of the atmosphere.

She got so good at sensing things that she didn't need to see cursed energy to know where it was. She could feel inorganic stuff and knew when to move before anyone else around her did. In Jujutsu Kaisen, she also refined herself to a point where she wasn't affected by domain expansions. She was not able to be the target of a sure-hit attack or to have any type of barrier whatsoever without cursed energy in her.

Conclusion

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Mai's loss lit a fire under one of Jujutsu Kaisen's biggest character development arcs. By giving up her life, Mai allowed Maki to break free from the restrictions that had held her back her whole life. It allowed Maki not only to gain greater power but also to break free from all the prejudice and abuse that had defined her life.

Now, having become the second person to achieve "perfect" heavenly restriction, Maki is prepared to navigate whatever chaos lies ahead of her while carrying the memory of her sister as she does so with every swing of her Split-Soul Katana.

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