Despite a huge roster of powerful cursed energy users, Maki Zenin and Noritoshi Kamo hold a unique advantage in the dark challenges of Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Culling Game. It’s their tactical genius that is bound to win out in the end, making them the most likely to come out of the Culling Game alive.
While Maki and Noritoshi were not officially invited to participate in Kenjaku’s sorcerer versus cursed spirit “battle royale” style Culling Game, they ultimately entered into the match to help Megumi find his sister and assist in finding a means of freeing Satoru Gojo from the Prison Realm. Initially, their pairing seemed questionable at best. Indeed, outside the fact that they are both castoff scions to two of the most powerful sorcerer clans in the world, they don’t even have much in common. However, after both were attacked by the transformed cursed spirit Naoya Zenin in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 191, they were forced to work together to survive, and no one expected what happened next.
On the face of it, Maki and Noritoshi’s powers are not complimentary. Now that the heavenly restrictions that limited her physical capability have been eliminated with the death of her sister, Maki has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and agility. Combined with her weapons skills, few can match her melee and combat prowess. Conversely, Noritoshi is a semi-Grade 1 sorcerer blessed with his clan’s “blood manipulation” technique, which allows him to use his blood in any way he wishes, and control whatever his blood touches. The one ability both share, however, is a deep understanding of combat tactics. It is that shared understanding that allowed them to repulse Naoya’s initial attack and which makes them – as a team – the deadliest duo in the Culling Game.
In a “battle royale” format where an attack can come at any time from any location, one of the most important survival skills is “trading.” With trading, a partner in distress who is being pressed by an opponent will retreat. However, rather than just run for any available cover, they will run to where a partner in strength is positioned. Once there, they will trade positions. The pursuing opponent – thinking they have a weak victim – will instead be met with and engaged by the fully powered partner. Fans get a glimpse of this in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 193, where Maki is retreating from a pursuing Naoya and is met by a prepared Nori who releases his “crimson binding” technique to tie up Naoya and stop him in his tracks.
Rotation is another “battle royale” tactic where one team member engages with an opponent while the other teammate rotates to the opponent’s vulnerable side and attacks. When the opponent turns to resist the second attack, the first teammate rotates until another vulnerable spot is found and attacked. This is demonstrated in Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 192. While Maki is engaged with Naoya, Noritoshi manipulates his “blood arrows” to attack his weak side. When Naoya turns to respond, Maki uses her speed to “rotate” to his vulnerable spot where she uses her cursed weapons to cut him in half.
The genius of these tactics is marring Maki’s physical skills with Noritoshi’s inherited jujutsu abilities, making individually effective capabilities even more so in combination. While no-one would have bet on them individually, they are far more than the sum of their parts. When their tactics are combined with their combat intelligence and experience in battle, Maki and Noritoshi have a one-two punch that seems impossible to defeat going forward in Jujutsu Kaisen‘s Culling Game, predicting them as the ultimate winners.
