TakaMai

TakaMai is the femslash ship between Takada and Mai Zenin from the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom.

Canon
Mai Zenin is a second-year student at Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College, and Takada is a popular Japanese idol. The two don’t interact in manga, however they share a scene in Jujutsu Kaisen episode 8’s omake. Mai’s classmate Aoi Todo is Takada’s big admirer, and spends his free time watching the idol’s shows and live streams. One time Mai allows Todo to talk her into accompanying him to Takada’s meet-and-greet event, as he has a spare ticket and wants to show her how amazing his favorite idol is. At first Mai looks annoyed, that Todo forced her to come, as she is sure she won’t enjoy the experience. However she still patiently goes through the metal detectors and then waits in the queue for her turn to chat with Takada. When she’s close, Takada notices Mai and excitedly exclaims that she’s glad to see a girl among her fans for a change.

All of a sudden, Mai’s skepticism is dissipated, and she seems stunned. Takada asks if it is Mai’s first time, and she replies positively. The idol takes her hand in both hers and asks for her name. Mai hastily replies with her given name, and Takada lets out a small laugh. She asks Mai if she is tired as she surely had to wait for a long time for her turn. Mai starts answering saying that she was more bothered with the people than the fact of having to wait, but she halts mid sentence, as Takada gets close to her face to speak into her ear. She tells Mai to come see her another time when she’s feeling better. Takada promises that she will remember Mai, drawing her name in a sing-song voice and calling her “Mai-chan”. Afterwards, when both Mai and Todo are outside, he asks her how the meeting went. Mai replies saying it was fine in a deliberately indifferent voice. As they walk away, Mai looks up at the sky and with a long sigh admits that Takada was "not bad at all". The tone of her voice has a yearning tinge to it.

Fanon
Given that Takada and Mai share only one scene in anime and no scenes in manga as for chapter 145, it is to expect that the ship is quite rare. However, Mai Zenin’s fans caught onto that single interaction and believe that Mai was quite possibly attracted to Takada at the moment. In an interview for the Jujutsu Kaisen Official Fan Book, mangaka Gege Akutami admitted, that Mai’s first crush could be a boy or a girl, meaning she can have feelings for both. Also Mai's personal info board in manga states that whenever Mai interacts with a woman, it seems as if the two are dating. Taking into account these facts, fans see Mai and Takada’s relationship as at least semi-real, as Mai’s reaction to the girl’s physical proximity and kind words was self-explanatory. TakaMai's tag on AO3 doesn’t have many works, however the ship features many other works with different pairings as a background couple, and often doesn’t get tagged for that reason (like in this work). The pairing can be shipped together with NobaMaki and MechaMiwa.

Considering that after the meeting with Takada, Mai very likely shares Todo's interest, fans sometimes joke about the two being in Takada-chan's fanclub (like depicted in this comic). It is notable, that when Todo meets Takada, her response to him is much less personal than it is with Mai: Todo asks her to say her signature line, which she does, and then he is pushed out by the guard because the time is already up. Takada's reaction to seeing a woman amongst her fans doesn't seem to be a mere surprise, her attitude has changed from what we saw with Todo into something friendlier and more intimate. The same could be said about Mai, as she doesn't seem like an easy-going person, and if others manage to win her respect, it probably comes with time – she is openly hostile towards the first-years from Tokyo college she meets for the first time. The fans don't know what her relationships with her classmates were when she met them, but it's safe to say she is not the friendliest person, however Takada apparently wins her favor immediately, and this is what the fans enjoy about their relationship the most – the fact that Mai’s icy and crude persona was melted away by Takada’s subtle approach.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Being 180 centimeters tall, Takada is 10 centimeters taller than Mai.