Is she dead?

The beginning of Chapter 138 itself is as ominous as it can be. Gege Akutami has taken us through a time-skip after the Shibuya Incident, creating bewilderment throughout the fandom. Everything is upside down, and we see very few of our old characters around. As speculated, it was about time to unveil new characters who have been behind-the-scenes until now. And this reveal starts from the infamous and mysterious Zen’in family.

But wait. The first thing we come to know about is that Maki’s situation is not all that well. Let alone being with Inumaki or Panda or even Yuji, she is apparently dying!

Is Maki dead?

No, Maki Zen’in is not dead. At least not for now. But on the downside, it is stated that she is dying, and not getting better. That is certainly not something we wanted to hear!

Naoya Zen’in expressly shows his disinterest in being concerned about Maki. We already know that Maki was estranged from the Zen’in clan because of mistreatment and wanted to become a Grade 1 shaman to stick it up to her family.

This visibly irks Naoya (and quite possibly other people), and he holds a deep grudge against her. He obviously has no intention of saving or helping Maki.

It had been a long time after any news on the characters, but this news is certainly not what we wanted. How did Maki end up being almost dead? Why is she not with the remainder of Tokyo & Kyoto Jujutsu schools? And where is Mai? There are too many questions that are flaring up our anxiety about Maki’s condition. [aggressively prays to kamisama and Gege to keep our badass girl alive]

Underlying themes

It turns out; the Zen’in family is even sicker than it was shown from Maki-Mai’s and Toji’s experiences. Jujutsu Kaisen is handling some deep underlying themes with the old-fashioned attitude of the Zen’in clan. Patriarchy is unbelievably weaved through the heads of the elders of the Jujutsu world if we consider Gakunganji & Naoya.

Naoya even talks in an extremely derogatory way about Maki not knowing her place as a woman. It is clear that the Zen’ins have no interest in empowering their women and most probably use them to further & strengthen their clan’s position.

It perhaps also depicts how ancient Japanese beliefs were in the society. The Zen’ins are like martinets. It is painfully clear why Maki wanted to run away from the Zen’in clan. Who wouldn’t if none of the ‘family’ members care enough even to save you from death’s door?

So far, the series has done a great job in raising contempt about the family, so it will be interesting if Maki actually does something crazy like becoming the clan leader.

You go, girl! WAIT, I mean don’t GO, I really hope Maki-senpai will be fine because after the terrible situations of nearly all of our favorite characters, none of us want to add one more to the list!

Do you think Maki will make it through? Let us know after reading the new chapter on Viz!