Double Standard Anime Blog

“Her form flickered across his mind, her supple body caressed by rivulets of her own scarlet ochre and bathed in a black haze, reeking of things long deserted in worlds beyond. Her breath trails off, her curves leaving shadows of blue-grey, coloured by cold and emptiness. As her very soul leaks scarlet from the corner of her delicate lips, her eye flickers open to release a single tear, begging, silently screaming, in that single motion for redemption.”

“Sanity slipping away, agile as the wind that bound him, Kazuma screamed, his voice lost in the wind that mirrored his anguish.”

Kaze no Stigma is almost coming to a close, but it’s such a well-done series (Thanks to Gonzo?) that I must blog about what remains. I’m always wary of series that have unfocused plots, such as this show and Darker than Black, but these two have proven to me that it can be done.

Episode 20 gets off to a action-packed start with Kazuma, Ren, and Ayano in the throne room of Burnheart. Just as Ayako is about to take out Tsuo Rin, Kazuma stops her with a well placed wind scythe. Apparently, Kazuma and Burn go way back, but not in a pleasant manner. Tsuo Rin was Kazuma’s girlfriend before he became a contractor and Burnheart has dragged her back from the dead as a puppet with only a bare remnant of soul. Before Kazuma’s rage becomes unstoppable, Burnheart escapes, rending the building upon which Panaemonium nested. Kazuma is nowhere to be found after he evacuates Ayano and Ren.

Later, it is revealed that Burnheart is a leader in the Armagest organization, an alliance of European mages. Kousuke Utsumi, tennis team stalker, also escapes from jail after recieving a message in blood from the new Pandemonium.Needless to say, Kazuma is not in the best of moods after seeing his dead girlfriend resurrected as his enemy’s toy. He goes into a flashback while brooding, revealing his past and the idyllic life he once led with his beloved Tsuo Rin. In a small cafe, they lived together, doing odd jobs and managing the shop. The tragedy that shattered the happiest times is still unknown, but Kazuma’s oath to protect Tsuo Rin certainly won’t make her loss any easier. Kazuma’s character is really coming together, the soft side of the most gar character of the season is finally revealed. As Kazuma breaks from his waking dream, horrified by a closing vision of the doomed and helpless Tsuo Rin, he cries out, slowly feeding his anguish into a malicioius laughter. His eyes, the blue of a contractor, shift to the burning reds and golds of a hunter, of vengeance.

After enjoying well over half a full season of fun adventures with the gar wind prodigy, he finally becomes something more than a vessel of ownage and quirky one liners (Not that this was bad in any way!) The current and likely final story arc is looking very promising. Most series have a great deal of trouble wrapping up a story of unrelated comedy episodes with something powerful, but Kaze no Stigma has done a great job so far. Characterization, plot development, and action - this episode had it all yet had room for much more. Look forward to the next episode; an insane Kazuma is not anything that can be handled by any  character introduced thus far so expect more ownage and epic battles, perhaps a bit of tragic romance.

By the way, I enjoy prose writing so, should I be impressed by an episode, I may write a short interpretation of a selected scene as an introduction. Any writers out there, feel free to give me tips!