Kozue Yoshida

“I am not someone that can hide any weakness. I am an expert, a master of magic.” Kozue Yoshida (芳田こずえ Yoshida Kozue) is regarded as an expert magical girl and is quite stubborn in her ways. She is the protagonist of Puella Magi Kozue★Magica

Appearance
Kozue is a girl rather short for her age but where she lacks in height she makes up in strength. Her hair is short and frizzy, especially when it isn't styled in her signature braid and dark black eyes. She wears the standard cream coloured school uniform that the other magical girls wear for school, however, she attends the high school. When she is not wearing her uniform she is usually wearing a  pink turtleneck sweater and a black skirt, calf-length socks and red sneakers.As a magical girl, her clothing consists of a short pink sleeveless shirt with two black buckles going across her chest and a shirt collar to match. She wears brown shorts that are similarly decorated with belts. Like her regular outfit, she once again wears long socks and pink sneakers. Her Soul Gem is in the form of a sun-shaped bracelet on her wrist.

Personality
Kozue is rather stubborn and takes great pride in her abilities in defeating witches. She seems to be quite tough and strict on the younger magical girls, however, it's implied that Kozue understands much more of how much danger is involved in being a magical girl and is merely protecting them from harm, especially when this is paired with her strong sense of justice. She is not someone who shows weakness very easily, such as the nature of her wish which was to have enough inner strength to defend herself. The only time she has shown true weakness was when she was fighting with an older magical girl whom she considers her rival, Kiku Takamori.

She often refuses outside help from other magical girls and prefers to fight alone, believing she is more than capable than defending herself. Unfortunately, this has driven many people away from her and has made her a loner with no friends which is particularly ironic considering her initial wish regarded a friend in the first place.

Experience as a Magical Girl
An incubator approached Kozue when she was feeling extremely depressed and helpless, feeling as if there was nothing she could do when someone she thought of as her closest friend turned on her when they reached middle school. She made the wish soon after to stand up to her friend and cemented her life as a magical girl.

Over her years as a magical girl, she has defeated a total of 31 witches and although she likes to believe she is powerful, she doesn't actually have much potential as a magical girl and the incubator has been lying to her the entire time. She doesn't appear to have much pollution in her soul gem yet.

Magical Abilities

 * Close Combat Strength Gathering
 * Due to her wish regarding someone, she thought of as a close friend, Kozue specialises in close combat rather than long-range. By raising her hammers she has enhanced strength, leading to harder and more forceful hits when she strikes her opponents with them.
 * Shield Creation

Kozue can also summon shields at will to protect herself

Etymology

 * Her first name is written in hiragana, which holds no meaning however when written in kanji her name can mean 'treetop'
 * Her last name in kanji (芳田 ) means 'fragrant ricefield'