Maron Kusakabe

Maron Kusakabe is the main character of both the anime and manga, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. She is the reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc, as well as a regular high school student living on her own while her parents work seperately over seas. She attends Momokuri High School with her best friend, Miyako Toudaiji, as well as Chiyaki Nagoya and Yamato Minazuki.

Appearance
As Jeanne, her apps Maron, she is a young teenager of average height. She has light brown hair and keeps some of it tied back in two buns at the side of her head. For gymnastics, she is seen having it tied back in a loose pony. Other times, she has been shown to wear two braids. She has light brown eyes, but they appear lighter in the anime. She is usually seen in her school uniform when she is not Jeanne.

earance is the same in both the manga and the anime. While she is still the same height, her appearance changes drastically. Her hair becomes blonde, which is tied in a long pony tail with long curls framing her face. Her eyes turn a light purple as well. Her outfit consists of a traditional Japanese-style kimono with a red obi tied around her waist. She also wears long white boots with red ribbons that wrap around them. After she gets her second transformation, her outfit has short sleeves with a red undershirt. Around her waist is a frilly pink overskirt. The boots remain the same. Initiially, Maron's rosary that allowed her to transform into Jeanna had two white wings on either side, as well as a golden handle. The pink area was where Finn would pour her own magic into the rosary so Maron could transform. Once Maron recieves her second rosary, its appearance changes to that of a cross with three red jewels; one at the top, the bottom, and in the centre.

Since Maron is a member of the rythmic gymnastics team at her school, Jeanne also is extremely flexible and agile.

Personality
Maron Kusababe is a very cheerful and energetic girl. She's stands up and defends her friend (Miyako). Her friends call her stubborn and a clutz but she's a caring person.

History
Maron's parents met each other when the both were assigned to design the same project for the amusement park, later called the Maron Dome.

Even after Maron was born, her parents were not home often, since they both worked. As a result, Maron was more or less alone most of the time. When she was about four, her parents began to fight and argue, which caused Maron to be upset at home, but at school, she didn't let this show.

In preschool, it was shown that Maron put on a happy and brave face, and its where she met her best friend, Miyako, by defending her against the other classmates who misunderstood her. Since then, the two stayed close friends, where Maron would defend Miyako whenever she was picked on by the rest of their classmates.

Another case was when the two of them were about eight or nine years old, and Miyako was accused of stealing the classes fundraiser money. Maron then came to her rescue and demanded that everyone apologize to her, because she believed Miyako would not do such a thing, as she was the daughter of a police chief. The class was later proved wrong when the teacher came in with the class funds. The class then shamefully apologized to Miyako, who realized they were wrong.

After meeting Finn, a semi-angel, Maron was told that she was the reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc, and it was up to her to stop the Devil from spreading evil into the hearts of pure souls. Maron was rather skeptical at first, but soon came to accept her duty.When Maron was ten years old, her parents left her by herself to go work over seas. This left Maron feeling sad and alone, although she hid it pretty well, but Miyako soon found out about Maron's circumstances and realized that it was her turn to protect Maron. By middle school, Maron was shown to often stop by her mailbox in hopes that a letter from her parents would come, but nothing ever did. After this, she seemed to spend more time with Miyako and her family until high school, when Maron met Finn Fish.

Plot
One month after she became Kaitou Jeanne, Maron still seemed to be rather skeptical about her position as Jeanne. She also found it rather difficult to balance both her school life and becoming a kaitou at the same time, despite Finn trying to encourage her that being a kaitou was more important.

One day on her way home from school with Miyako, the two get into an argument which results in Miyako knocking over a tower of boxes that fall on both of them. When Miyako and Maron look up, they see a young boy, named Chiyaki, who helps up Miyako and tells her he likes girls who are talkative, which causes her to blush. He then turns his attention to Maron, and says he likes the good 'view' that he got of her, which results in Maron blushing and calling him a pevert. Once Miyako and Maron arrive to their rooms, Maron angrily tells Miyako that she doesn't like Chiyaki, and that he's just another pervert, while Miyako seems to have developed a small crush on him already.

Maron and Finn later prepare to steal the painting of a famous painter. Determined to succeed, Maron avoids all of Miyako's traps and manages to seal the demon within her Chess Piece. Before leaving, she tricks Miyako and the rest of the police into Miyako's own trap.Later that evening when Maron has dinner with Miyako and her family, Miyako admits that she has a great idea on how to catch Kaitou Jeanne. Her father and Maron seem curious, but she states that it's a secret.

Relationships
The next day at school, the teacher annouces that the class has a new student, Chiyaki. Maron looks at him rather angrily while Miyako rather happily accepts that he's also in their class.

As Maron, she boasts of incredible flexibility and agility due to the fact that she is on her schools rythmic gymnastics teams.

She is easily able to hop and climb over fences as well as run quickly when the time comes. She is talented at baton twirling, as shown in her gymnastics competition. As Jeanne, she boasts of more abilities, as well as enchanced flexibility and agility.

1st Rosary: This rosary enabled her to become Jeanne by infusing it with Finn's magic. Following this, she transforms into Jeanne.As well as this, she also possesses several very useful items.

2nd Rosary:  After Finn leaves, Maron recieves her second rosary in which she can become Jeanne on her own without Finn's help.

Rythmic Gymnastics Ribbon: Not the one Maron uses at school, but the weapon she uses after she recieves her second rosary. In order to defeat demons, she unleases the ribbon and ties up the enemy and by saying "Checkmate!" she is able to defeat them.

Angel's Feather: This is Maron's protection. This is what Maron's 2nd rosary originally was. By using this, Maron was able to transform the feather into the rosary to become Jeanne.

Chess Pieces: Maron uses these to seal away the demons when Finn was still with her. By collecting these, she was able to safely seal away the Devil's power.

Rebound Ball: An anime only device, this allowed Maron to grapple onto far away objects and to help her escape Miyako's traps.

Communication Device: Also an anime only device, Maron would use her 1st rosary to communicate with Finn.

Relationships
As the main heroine of the series, Maron has formed many relationships with the characters. Some are more complex than others, as well as more prominent.

Miyako Toudaiji is Maron's best friend. The two met back when they were in pre-school when their classmates accused Miyako of being mean. However, Maron pointed out that Miyako was just trying to help them, in which the class apologized to her. This sort of relationship continued as the two grew up together. In addition to living in the same apartment, the two girls spend a lot of time together between gymnastics and hanging out during and after school. However, the friendship became a bit more difficult for Maron once she became Kaitou Jeanne. Since Miyako's father was a detective, she decided she wanted to follow in his footsteps and joined him on his many attempts to catch Jeanne. In fact, Miyako would always carefully plan several traps in order to capture Jeanne, but they always ended up being foiled in some way or another. Despite this, the two often bicker, but make up at the end of the day. One sore spot for Miyako was realizing that Chiyaki, whom she had a crush on, had feelings for Maron. Wanting her friend to be happy, Miyako stopped pursuing Chiyaki.

Finn Fish  is a semi-angel who was sent by God to awaken and aid Maron in her quest as Jeanne to stop the Devil and seal the demons that inhabited the hearts' of kind people. Finn and Maron seem to have an almost mother-daughter relationship, despite the fact that Finn is an angel. She usually tries to cheer Maron up when she's sad, or encourage her to do her best as Jeanne. Finn's goal is to become a full-fledged angel, which is why she began to help Maron. However, once Maron had collected all the Chess Pieces containing the sealed demons, Finn told Maron that she had to go. This left Maron feeling very alone and scared, especially once she had to become Jeanna again, this time without Finn. In the anime, Finn is revealed to be a Fallen Angel, one that works for the Devil. Initially this discovery sends Maron into a numb depression, realizing she'd have to fight her friend. However, Maron is able to save Finn, whom returns to her old self. In the manga, Maron manages to break Finn free of the Devil's clutches, but Finn ends up sacrificing herself to protect Maron from one of his attacks, in which she 'dies', only to later be reincarnated as Natsuki Nagoya, Maron's daughter.

Chiyaki Nagoya is Maron's classmate as well as her neighbour in the same apartment. At first when Maron met Chiyaki, she thought he was just another womanizer, and as such, Chiyaki would often enjoy teasing Maron just to get her flustered, much to her dismay. As she gets to know him, Maron eventually opens up to him after he overhears a voice message on Maron's phone about her parent's divorce. He then finds her and cheers her up. However, at that point she didn't know that Chiyaki was also Kaitou Sinbad. Once she finds out, Maron becomes devistated and any feelings she had for him turn to hurt and anger. For Chiyaki, he orgininally started to get to know Maron because he knew she was Jeanne, but he slowly developed true feelings for her, much to his surprise. When Maron finds out that Chiyaki ran away from home because he was tired of his father re-marrying and divorcing, she begins to sympathize with him, and eventually forgave him. Once he learns what happened with Finn, he and Access become Maron's main support. In the anime, Chiyaki and Maron officially become a couple. In the manga, the two eventually get married and have a daughter together, Natsuki.

Yamato (Iinchou) Minazuki is the class president as well as one of Maron's friends. At first, Yamato had a huge crush on her, and attempted a few times to ask her out, but each time he'd either get too shy, or Maron would find a reason to say no. Due to the fact that he had a pure heart, in the anime, he was taken over by a demon more than once and each time forced himself upon Maron, attempting to at least kiss her, or get her to go out with him. In those situtations, it was Chiyaki would show up and start fighting Yamato for him to leave Maron alone, much to her relief. While Maron does not harbor any romantic feelings for him, the two still remain good friends. Eventually, Yamato gives up on Maron when he finds out she has feelings for Chiyaki. He then developed a crush on Miyako. In the anime, he manages to tell Miyako how he feels about her, much to her happiness. In the manga, the two get married and have a son named Shinji, who is the reincarnation of Access. He and Maron still remain good friends.

Noin Claude  Noin Claude and Maron.Added by Wintersiris is a demon who disguises himself as a teacher at Momokuri High. Five hundred years ago, he was a knight who assisted the original Jean d'Arc and fell in love with her. However, once Jeanne d'Arc was killed, he sold his soul to the Devil so he could be with Jeanne's reincarnation, who turned out to be Maron. Eventually he does fall in love with Maron, but attempts to rape her so she will be unable to become Kaitou Jeanne, as she can only do so if she is a virgin. When Maron travels back in time and meets Jeanne d'Arc before her death, she meets Noin Claude who regretfully apologizes for what he's done. In the manga omake, he is shown to say that he will wait for Jeanne d'Arc's next incarnation, whomever it will be. In the manga, he dies protecting Maron and his soul later joins with Jeanne d'Arc at last.

Access Time is an angel who was sent to help Chiyaki in his quest to collect and seal the demons who would possess people. While Access never had any ill will against Maron, he would do whatever he could to stop her from collecting the pieces before Chiyaki would. Once a heart-broken Access discovers the truth about Finn, he and Chiyaki help Maron instead of stopping her. While Maron's personal relationship with Access is not as developed as some of the other ones, the two get along well, especially since they both care for Finn a lot. In the anime, Access confesses his love to Finn on many occasions, despite the fact that she rebuttles him each time. At the end of the anime, however, she seems to have accepted his feelings, even while she denies it while blushing. In the manga, after Finn dies, Access asks if he can be reborn so he could be with Finn. Later, it turns out he is the son of Miyako and Yamato, named Shinji. When Maron returns home with a newborn Natsuki, Access sees she is holding his black earing, to which he proclaims that he loves her, and wants to marry her one day.