Maki Oze

**Maki Oze** (Japanese: 茉希 尾瀬) is a character from the *Fire Force* series. Second Generation Fire Soldier of Tokyo's Special Fire Force Company 8.

## 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**).

## Appearance

Maki is a pretty young woman 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 owels 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 **Witch** (魔女, *Majo*) 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.

## Plot

Maki joined the Tokyo Army, where she became a Private and served under Sergeant Takehisa in Year 195, at the age of 14. 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.

## Gallery

The Special Fire Force 8th Company, all young people, in their business suits. From left to right: Takehisa Hinawa (25), Iris (15), Arthur Boyle (15), Shinra Kusakabe (15), Maki Oze (17), and Akitaru Oubi (29).
## 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.
	+ 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 favorite school subject is Language Arts, while her least favorite is Math.
* 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.

## See also

* List of anime girls age 17
* Fire Force