Maki Oze

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

Appearance
Maki is a young adult of above-average height with an athletic and curvaceous figure. She has large violet eyes and long, straight black hair that falls over her forehead and is usually positioned behind her left ear. 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 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.

Personality
Despite Maki's cool and attractive exterior, 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. 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. Maki is very reluctant to hurt other people, a reason which led to her defection from the Tokyo Army, despite her father's wishes.

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 defence 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.

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 kicks the boy with her knee, straight at his face, which forces 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 apologises 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 Pusu Pusu 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. 5th Special Fire Brigade 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 3 Angels of the 5th 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 3 Angels of the 5th with her fireballs, before Arthur (on Takehisa's orders) cuts them to pieces, to Maki's displeasure.

VS. 1st Special Fire Brigade 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.

Trivia

 * According to her Character Profile in Fire Bugs (the English edition as printed in The Flowers of Edo):
 * Maki's favourite foods are ones that remind her of the ocean such as sea urchins.
 * Maki's favourite genre of music is Pop.
 * Sloths are Maki's favourite animal.
 * She prefers pastel colors.
 * She prefers cheerful and funny people.
 * She respects Captain Ōbi and Lieutenant Hinawa, although she is also afraid of Hinawa, and 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 favourite school subject is Language Arts, while her least favourite is Math.
 * Maki was ranked 3rd in the Character Popularity Poll.