Leaks of volume extras from Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 23 which surfaced online has revealed a key piece of information regarding the role of Maki in the recent arc.

Spoiler Alert: The following part of the article contains spoilers for the Culling Game arc and Maki’s character arc from the manga. Read ahead at your own discretion.

According to Akutami, in the current Culling Game arc, he had originally planned for Maki to go undercover by blending in with the military and scout the colonies of the game for surveillance. The military in question here is from the United States and other countries, who took part in the culling game after being hoodwinked by Kenjaku.

Gege: "Initially, I was thinking of something like Maki blending in with the army and doing surveillance of Culling Game"

WHY DIDN'T HE GO WITH THIS PLAN!?
JJK Volume-23 Leaks #JJKSpoilers pic.twitter.com/oiVwiKlIHH

— Myamura (@king_jin_woo) June 30, 2023

However, this plot development did not come to pass. Instead, Maki ended up fighting Naoya’s cursed spirit in the Culling Game and realized the potential of her heavenly restriction in that battle.

Even so, Maki’s role and the way her arc was handled did not satisfy a lot of readers. The complaints of Gege Akutami speed-running through the manga have persisted for quite some time now, and this new piece of information only made these allegations grow stronger.

This last arc is just a lot of wasted potential
Giant ass timeskips with no interaction and now this

— Motoserromen💀Team Sukuna (@motoserromen) June 30, 2023

Along with this tidbit about Maki, Akutami also revealed in the volume 23 extras that he did not want to draw the clothes that the army wore and often left that to his assistants.

Gege being honest with his assistants

"IF I CAN, I DON'T WANNA DRAW THEM" Gege's lazy a$$ LMAOO
JJK Volume-23 Leaks #JJKSpoilers pic.twitter.com/IsF2sjn6TN

— Myamura (@king_jin_woo) June 30, 2023

Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 23 will release on July 4, 2023.

Jujutsu Kaisen is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami. It is currently being serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since March 2018. The Jujutsu Kaisen chapters are collected and published by Shueisha, with 20 tankobon volumes released as of August 2022.

A movie adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen prequel, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 premiered in Japan in December 2021.

The second season of the anime will premiere on July 5th 2023.

MAL describes the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen as:

Hidden in plain sight, an age-old conflict rages on. Supernatural monsters known as “Curses” terrorize humanity from the shadows, and powerful humans known as “Jujutsu” sorcerers use mystical arts to exterminate them. When high school student Yuuji Itadori finds a dried-up finger of the legendary Curse Sukuna Ryoumen, he suddenly finds himself joining this bloody conflict.

Attacked by a Curse attracted to the finger’s power, Yuuji makes a reckless decision to protect himself, gaining the power to combat Curses in the process but also unwittingly unleashing the malicious Sukuna into the world once more. Though Yuuji can control and confine Sukuna to his own body, the Jujutsu world classifies Yuuji as a dangerous, high-level Curse who must be exterminated.

Detained and sentenced to death, Yuuji meets Satoru Gojou—a teacher at Jujutsu High School—who explains that despite his imminent execution, there is an alternative for him. Being a rare vessel to Sukuna, if Yuuji were to die, then Sukuna would perish too. Therefore, if Yuuji were to consume the many other remnants of Sukuna, then Yuuji’s subsequent execution would truly eradicate the malicious demon. Taking up this chance to make the world safer and live his life for a little longer, Yuuji enrols in Jujutsu High, jumping headfirst into a harsh and unforgiving battlefield.