1) I think Panda rankings just went by official rankings. For example, Curse Voice fellow is strong against curses, but against humans he plays support/sneak attack. Or in this case, not at all - he's just going after the actual goal. Maki can't kill curses without a cursed weapon (can she even make her own cursed weapons, or must she be forever reliant on someone else even if it's a merchant/smith?)
2) I think it was also deliberately there to alter our expectations given that we know Maki vs Miwa was going to happen.