Maki Oze

is a Second Generation Fire Soldier of Tokyo's Special Fire Force Company 8.

Appearance
Maki is a pretty young adult of above-average height and fair complexion. She is slender with a curvaceous and well-endowed figure. At the same time, she athletically built with a well-defined muscle. She has large violet eyes and long, dark brown hair reaching down past her shoulders with strands that frame her face, tucked behind her ear on the left side, and cropped bangs that falls over her forehead.

She most commonly wears bunker gear, which consists of a black, sleeveless top and long dark trousers, buckled at the waist with a belt, which presses the middle part that's strapped to her shoulders. They are also topped by a protective outer jacket and trousers. Parts of her outfit are coated with blue lines. Maki also wears a neck protector, protective gloves, black boots and a helmet. The buttons of her protective jacket are in the shape of cross-like symbols. Maki was also seen wearing a grey-coloured jumpsuit. When she attended the Rookie Fire Soldier Games as a representative, Maki was seen wearing a dress uniform consisting of a black jacket and skirt, with a white belt, black shoes and a band with the number "8" on it. Her outfits contain patches with "8" on them, to signify her affiliation to Company 8. When out shopping in civilian cloths she wears shirts and jeans, feeling that due to her muscular physique she can't pull off wearing a dress.

Personality
Despite Maki's calm and driven exterior when on mission, she is a hopeless romantic at heart. She is also very courteous to her fellow team-mates and people she meets for the first time. Maki respects Takehisa Hinawa a lot, due to them both being former soldiers. Though a kind-hearted person, she has the exterior of a capable fighter, easily defeating both Shinra and Arthur Boyle, who are both Third Generations, without hesitation in a fight. Maki also likes using her ability for fun, as she shows enjoyment in creating fire creatures. and to comically cry when they get destroyed by enemies or her own teammates. At times, when fellow Fire Soldiers tease Maki by calling her names, she mistakenly hears people call her a "gorilla cyclops", which she gets furious about. The reason for this is that Maki has a complex over her body, believing it to be too muscular and thus not as feminine as she would want though many of those around her such as Iris, Hibana, and even Shinra find her to be beautiful. Maki is very reluctant to hurt other people, a reason which led to her defection from the Tokyo Army, despite her father's wishes. However, despite her reluctance to hurt others, she will brutally kill and dispatch enemies with ruthless efficiency to defend herself and those she cares about when pushed, as seen when she mercilessly slaughtered the subordinates of Flail when confronted and single handedly defeated the powerful third generation. This also shows that she is afraid of being alone in the dark nether but immediately feels at ease and regains her confidence with other people around even if they are enemies. Maki's powers and unique hat show that she embraces the idea of being a witch, even calling her iron owls the stutter-flare-witch combo, which is rejected by Vulcan.

Abilities
She was noted to be exceptionally skilled in combat several times and was characterized as a by Takehisa. She is also very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, as evident with her being able to easily disarm Arthur, even though he was wielding a sword at the time. Previously a soldier in the Tokyo Military, Maki is an experienced fighter, capable of dealing with multiple opponents at the same time and able to defeat large foes with relative ease.

Second Generation
Maki is a powerful Second Generation, who can control flames from a long distance. In doing so, she can handle herself against two Third Generations simultaneously, being able to extinguish and absorb their generated flames into a giant fireball. Maki's abilities provide defense for her entire team, as she can reflect incoming fire attacks and use an opponent's flames against them. While she's unable to deflect or redirect a fire with too much driving force, she is still able to alter its shape in order to reduce its impact.

Iron Owls
By placing her fire sprits (small fires she can control) into a pair of weapons designed by Vulcan, Maki is able to control the Iron Owls by making them float. Maki shows great skill using her weapons, being able to use them either as weapons by crashing them into her foes at great speeds or as shields by crouching behind them. While the Owls are very durable their circuitry is susceptible to electronic attacks. The addition of her iron owls to her arsenal has increased her capabilities in battle tremendously.

Background
Maki joined the Tokyo Army, where she became a Private and served under Sergeant Takehisa in Year 195. During her time enrolled, she worked harder than normal soldiers and went through training that was far beyond that which was required of her. Two years later, having been recruited by Takehisa to join Special Fire Force Company 8, Maki left the army as she would rather save people than fight against them.

Introduction arc
Maki, alongside the rest of the 8th Special Fire Brigade, arrives to save the train station from an Infernal, where she helps Akitaru Ōbi face the threat by putting out a fireball launched by the enemy. Later, at the headquarters, she takes a shower with Iris, where she asks how it was when Shinra carried the girl like a bride. In the meeting room, she is present when Akitaru delivers a speech on Spontaneous Human Combustion. Later that night, Maki notifies Shinra about an incident in a factory and tells him to get ready, taking him to the brigade's Special Armoured Fire Engine. When the brigade arrives, Maki manipulates the flames out of the team's way. She later helps Akitaru fight the threat by keeping the flames at bay so that the two wouldn't get burned. After the mission, she was happy to see Shinra with a happy smile.

Some time later, on the church's roof, Maki displays her abilities to Iris by creating a sentient fireball, but the conversation between the two is cut short when a fight between Arthur and Shinra breaks out in front of them. The former unsheathes his blade-less sword, which makes Maki question his choice of weapon, but the girl's attention is diverted when Arthur suggests the two girls to be princesses. When Takehisa arrives to see who's behind all the ruckus, he pours a glass of water on Maki's fireball creature and scolds her for playing with fire, making her upset. Takehisa then orders the girl to fight both Shinra and Arthur. Maki uses her abilities to put out the flames on Shinra's feet, easily defeating him. However, she fails to do so with Arthur's Excalibur. She resorts to using her martial arts skills and knees him in the face, which causes Arthur to insult Maki. In a fit of rage, Maki creates a huge fireball monster out of the flames of both Arthur's sword and Shinra's feet, ending the battle with her victory. Afterwards, much to the girl's dismay, Takehisa extinguishes the fireball creature.

When an Infernal is spotted in the Iriya District, Maki moves out, where she looks upon a gigantic flame coming from Mikako's apartment. She informs her allies that the fire is not her doing, much to their confusion. The brigade then storms the building. When Arthur impales the Infernal with his weapon, the ceiling starts to collapse, but the team manages to escape unscathed. During Arthur and Shinra's participation in the Rookie Fire Soldier Games, Maki accompanies the two, where she gets fascinated by 119. When Arthur falls to his death, Maki helps to soften his fall with a blanket.

The following day, she tells Arthur and Shinra to rescue a dog stuck in a tree. Maki later informs Akitaru that an Infernal has appeared at the courthouse. Moving out with her brigade to dispose of the threat, she apologizes to Shinra and Arthur for being the one responsible for getting the two scolded. At the courthouse, she saves an innocent girl from Setsuo's flames and returns his attack in the form of Sputter Comet☆, but to no avail. When the brigade catches up to Shinra, Maki and the rest find themselves in a confrontation with the Special Fire Force Company 5. Tōru Kishiri mocks Akitaru, which leads to Shinra and Arthur jumping in, but Maki and Takehisa detain the two. She then delivers a corkscrew punch to Tōru. A stand-off between the brigades is then catalyzed, but the two depart without any signs of struggle.

VS. Special Fire Force Company 5 arc
The next day, she is seen training with her fellow Fire Soldiers. Later, when the 8th Special Fire Brigade infiltrates the Special Fire Force Combine 5, Maki and Takehisa find themselves assaulted by Tōru, but, with their combined strength, the two succeed in winning the fight. Afterwards, the 5th Angels Three confront them and use their Ignition Ability to attempt to take the pair down, but Maki prevails with a heavy punch to the Angels. She and Takehisa then decide to search for any documents that the 5th may be hiding about the phenomenon and hope Shinra is safe. After Hibana's defeat, Maki is seen at the dinner party between the two Companies. She briefly entertains members of the 5th Angels Three with her fireballs, before Arthur (on Takehisa's orders) cuts them to pieces, to Maki's displeasure.

VS. Special Fire Force Company 1 arc
Maki is seen with her fellow company members. Hibana entertains her and Iris. The female members borrow the men's shower, where Maki tells Hibana and Iris it must be nice to have flexible and girly bodies. Hibana compliments her and tells her that her company could learn from her. The girls get yelled at by Takehisa. When Akitaru shouts that he wants Shinra and Arthur out of his company, Maki and Iris protest the notion until the Captain explains his plan to have Shinra and Arthur infiltrate Company 1 to uncover their secrets. As Maki has been a part of Company 8 for over a year, she can not partake in the training assignment system to freely transfer to Company 1, however she can still escort Shinra, Arthur, Tōru and Noto into Special Fire Grand Cathedral 1. When Shinra requests a sparring match with Captain Burns, Maki tries to stop him, but Burns accepts the challenge. When Lieutenant Huo Yan Li questions Shinra's aggression, Maki attempts to explain as his excitement is getting the better of him. When Karim Flam demonstrates his ability to turn heat into cold, Maki is initially confused as to what his Ignition Ability was until the Lieutenant explained it to her. Maki also expresses awe at the sheer power Burns demonstrates in his matches against Shinra and Arthur.

Preacher Pursuit arc
As Takehisa and Akitaru recount their decision to form Company 8, Maki is moved to tears that Takehisa asked her to join them because of her work ethic and because he viewed her as kinder than anyone else. Maki is also present when Shinra finally reveals what Joker told him and his brother's potential involvement with the White Hoods.

Netherworld arc
As the 8th Company enters the Nether, Maki expresses her fear of the mythical location. Once inside, Maki produces a sprite to illuminate the path forward. The group are confronted by Princess Hibana, begging for help before being pulled screaming into the darkness. While Akitaru quickly deduces that this was the work of Yona, mist envelopes the group. Maki is separated from her allies as the ground underneath her collapses, leaving her in a lower level of the Nether and obstructing her path back to her starting point.

While contemplating her situation, Maki is confronted by Flail and a number of White Hoods. Despite their attempts to intimidate her, Maki is simply relieved that none of them are ghosts as she readies her Iron Owl and dons her witches hat. Through the use of her Second Generation abilities and her Iron Owls Maki is able to defend against all long-ranged attacks by Flail's subordinates. This forces many of them into close range, at which point Maki is able to subdue them with brutal efficiency. Flail strikes, attempting to crush her with his weapon. He is attacked by Maki's Iron Owls, followed by the girl attacking him herself. Immediately after, Maki attacks Flail with her Iron Owls again. The injured Flail rants that her attacks won't work, before an enraged Maki delivers a final strike to his skull, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious. Maki quickly begins her search to find the others.

Maki eventually reunites with Iris and Tamaki. As the trio continue their search for their allies, Maki simply hopes that their friends are alright. Maki later joins the assault on Haumea, although the mysterious woman effortlessly deflects her Iron Owls and seemingly destroys their electronic mechanisms with her ability. In order to save Shinra's life and escape the danger of the ongoing earthquake, Maki and the rest of Company 8 flee from the underground lair, allowing Haumea to escape with Yona and Sho.

VS. Special Fire Force Company 4 arc
Maki appears in this arc.

Fifth Pillar arc
Maki appears in this arc.

Haijima Industries arc
Maki appears in this arc.

Joint Investigation arc
Maki appears in this arc.

Ōbi's Rescue arc
Learning that Akitaru was arrested by Tokyo Army, and that they were in league with the White-Clad, Maki and her brigade decide to rescue him at the cost of being branded traitors to the empire. Viktor takes the brigade to Joker, leading to the criminal taking the fire soldiers to his underground secret base.

Post-Arthur's Adventure arc
Maki appears in this arc.

Etymology

 * The name Maki means "white jasmine" (茉) (ma) and "hope" (希) (ki).
 * Maki's surname Oze means "tail" (尾) (o) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se/ze).

Trivia

 * According to her Character Profile in Fire Bugs (the English edition as printed in The Flowers of Edo):
 * Maki's favorite foods are strawberries, flan and chicken breast, and her least favorite food are ones that remind her of the ocean such as sea urchins.
 * Maki's favorite genre of music is Pop.
 * Sloths are Maki's favorite animal.
 * She prefers pastel colors.
 * Her type are cheerful and funny people.
 * She respects Captain Ōbi and Lieutenant Hinawa, although she is also afraid of Hinawa. She struggles with those who stare at her body.
 * Her hobbies include fortune-telling and sewing, and her daily routine involves stargazing while doing sit-ups.
 * Her shoe size is 26cm and her eyesight is 1.2.
 * Maki's favorite school subject is Language Arts, while her least favorite is Math.
 * Her dream is to be beautiful bride.
 * Maki was ranked 3rd in the Character Popularity Poll.
 * Maki's pointed helmet and powers give her a witch motif, something that the lieutenant has commented on that she herself embraces from time to time.
 * Maki's epithet Witch Queen (魔女, Majo) may be a pun on マッチョ, Macho, in reference to her muscular body.

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