Anime Analyze: Kaze no Stigma (Anime)

Kaze no Stigma, also known as Stigma of the Wind, originally started out as a light novel series that started back in 2003.  While the series was also adapted into an anime by Gonzo, the novels were still being created up until the death of the author in 2009 leaving the story itself unfinished and thus, the anime could not be fully completed as well.  However, that does not mean that the makers of the anime had to completely leave it up to a cliffhanger.  Well they kinda did, but it wasn't as bad as some others that I have seen where they stop the series even if it does continue (*cough* Rave Master *cough*) but I digress.  At 24 episodes this series has a lot to offer, action, comedy, romance, incest (kinda), magic, ...wait, did that just say incest? Yes, this series does seem to have something like that in it, and while it may not be what it intended to be, that's almost how it came across. Anyway, we can talk about that later, so here is Kaze no Stigma. The opening for the show was "Blast of Wind" by Sario Kiuiji and the endings were "Hitorikiri no Sora" by Sario Kiuiji, "Matataki no Kiwoku" by Ayumi Fujimura, Yuka Inokuchi, and Shizuka Ito, and these are kinda random for which episodes they go with they just kinda switched back and forth and then they have a random third ending for just episode 12 which confused me but it was "Tsuki Hana no Inori" by Sakai Kanako.

So we start out with a guy by the name of Kazuma.  He is a wind mage who is just returning back to Japan after along journey out of the country.  We learn that Kazuma used to be a part of a family called the Kannagi clan, who is considered to be the most powerful clan in Japan because of their strength with fire magic.  You can probably see why he used to be a part of the family.  When he was younger, Kazuma had no skill with fire magic at all, so he was always ridiculed by the family and he eventually left it after being beaten by the heir to the head of the family, Ayano Kannagi.  When Kazuma meets up with some members of the family, something else interferes with their unavoidable fight and kills one of the family's members.  They, of course, blame him for killing their family and go after him.  He eventually goes to the head of the family himself and offers his services to try and catch the real killer, with a money reward of course.  It is later explained that Kazuma became a wind mage by making a contract with the god of the winds and is able to control all of the wind spirits around him that give wind users their magic power.  While the head of the family wishes for Kazuma to come back into the family, he refuses.  Despite this, after catching whatever it was that had killed the family member, Kazuma sticks around and works (for money) doing various jobs for the family as well as helping the police out with various magic related cases from time to time.

Through the series there are mini-arcs and it ultimately concludes with a longer story arc about how various teenagers are gaining powers through the internet (don't ask me how, it didn't really make sense) and are going around fighting other people almost like a big MMO.  Obviously they need to stop this so Kazuma and Ayano have to go and investigate and it gets into this whole thing about Kazuma having a back story and a previous romance that are just kind of thrown in there to make it seem more meaningful but since we didn't actually see it ourselves or even hear about it before that point, the impact and importance really didn't get across that well.

The story of the series is pretty good up to a point.  Like I said before neither the manga or the anime really finished out what they were originally trying to do, and while it was for a valid reason, you know the whole artist dying and all, it still just kind of ended with some expectation that was never really fulfilled and even though the original author died, I would have thought that someone would have picked it up to try and finish. Even without finishing though, with the exception of the last arc, there really was no common plot so it seemed almost like a slice of life anime mixed together with a magic-based action one.  It just didn't really work so well when it came to the story.  The premise was cool, with the returning reject coming back more powerful than ever, and then eventually helping out with the family problems, all for a profit.  It was a pretty cool setup although it led to some interesting things between Ayano and Kazuma while he was working with them, but like I said, I will get to that later.

Animation in the show was pretty good, the magic looked pretty cool as people used it and the fights between different groups of magic users made for an exciting time.  The characters also looked really well designed with Kazuma looking like your typical OP badass from any series and filling the role quite nicely.  Ayano was your typical schoolgirl who had power but didn't really know how to fully control it and know how to control her temper.  Other than that the settings always were interesting at times having fights in a construction site or an ancient cave as well as using creative variances in the foes that they fought made for some pretty good match-ups. One thing I thought funny is the use of copyright stuff like when they went to eat at McDonalds and to avoid the product placement (sort of) they made the store look exactly the same as a normal one but they flipped the M ans so everything said WcDonalds.  But I digress.

The character development was ok at best.  Kazuma never really changed that much through the series and the only thing that he had when it came to a back story was something about a lover that was lost through an experiment that she was forced into and nothing more is put into it.  Ayano has a little more development of her character although when I say a little I do mean a little because through most of the series she is conflicted between possibly loving Kazuma and anything else.  And yes this makes no sense because technically they are related.  They are cousins and she is actually contemplating having a romantic relationship with him while at the same time acting as though she hates him at every turn.  Along with this she has these two friends that pretty much stalk her through the entire show who speculate the relationship between Kazuma and Ayano.  Overall the most confusing thing really is the whole Kazuma and Ayano thing because it just makes no sense.

Overall this series was enjoyable and despite them not having completely finishing the story out and really having no main plot at all, the show was entertaining enough so if you like magic based shows and shows that will give you a laugh every once and a while then check it out and enjoy it.  Me, I would not see it again unless I had to and it's not one that is going into my permanent collection at the moment.  I give this show a 7.4/10 while not being the best I have seen, but still being something worth watching once.  That is all that I have for today and I will be back soon with more anime to review.

Final Rating: 7.4/10

                       Plot:                    6/10
                       Premise:             9/10
                       Animation:         8.6/10
                       Character Dev:     6/10
Episodes: 24
RWF: Japanese Dub
MRS: www.nwanime.com