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Jujutsu Kaisen has a lot of popular characters, so whenever there is a new popularity poll that takes place in Japan, it sparks discussions in the fandom. That is mainly because it allows people to see different points of view and contrast and compare how characters are perceived in different cultures.
This time, the difference has been shown by the fact that Naoya Zen'in ranked in sixth place while Maki was in the ninth position.
While the idea of Naoya, a fairly minor character, being ahead of Maki already surprised a lot of Jujutsu Kaisen fans in the West, particularly because of their hatred of one another in the manga, it was also a funny coincidence that there were three places between them. That is because Naoya once said, prior to the Culling Game arc, that a woman "who can't walk three steps behind a man should get stabbed and die."
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Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda.
Jujutsu Kaisen react to Naoya being three places ahead of Maki in the most recent popularity poll
There was a recent popularity poll of Gege Akutami's manga and it was revealed that Naoya Zen'in, a minor antagonist in the series, is in sixth place and three positions ahead of Maki.
The detail of the three places of difference was enough to spark some reactions online of how it fitted perfectly with Naoya's quote about women having to be three steps behind a man.
Of course, the other major reason that these results shocked a lot of people was because Naoya was a minor villain in the story, never fully having a lot to do in the manga, and was swiftly defeated by Maki. These two characters have had a long history in their family, with Maki being constantly abused, mocked, and mistreated by Naoya for being a woman and not having Cursed Energy.
The Zen'in clan became known for being abusive and arrogant toward other people, which is fitting with Naoya's character since he is the embodiment of those traits propelled to the extreme. Toji Fushiguro's life was ruined because of him being born without Cursed Energy and Maki went through the same thing as well.
Reactions online about the results
Naturally, there were a lot of reactions online in the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom in the West, with many failing to understand why Naoya ranked so high in the poll, regardless of his association with Maki. A fan argued that it was because Naoya was very physically attractive and appealing to the Japanese public.
"Apparently, he has a cute accent in japanese which is why he's popular among female fans. He also has a cool char design tbh (traditional clothes + delinquent-like with his attitude, earrings, and bleached hair)."
Another fan mentioned that it was due to the Japanese simply voting for someone "just to make the mangaka draw them."
"Japan is kinda all over the place when it comes to popularity contests sometimes they'll straight up vote characters as popular just to make the mangaka draw them not even out of likes. I mean it's why Sero and that one kid from the MHA movie were in everything for a beat."
There are also others who praised the results and mentioned that while Naoya is obviously a despicable person, he is meant to be that way as a villain. Author Gege Akutami didn't write him in a way that his behavior was celebrated and he was meant to be an antagonist to Maki, which some people don't think is as interesting:
"Naoya is a better villain than anything maki can hope to be and was better handled and more impactful in just 3-4 chapters he appeared than maki spanning in all 250+ chapters. King."
These are all fan perceptions, of course, and people liking a character more or less is not a personal attack on those who share different views or the author in question.
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