(L) Kaze no Stigma

[lightbringer]

I'll apologize in advance for taking this off-topic as I reply to the rampant accusations against me

Kaibutstu Oujo and Shining Tears are really only a suggestion based on Flame of Recca, since all three are pretty much poorly done / standard shounen anime. For me, Recca only has merit when compared to these other two. My hate for Recca stems from the tournament setup, which I hate with a passion and which no amount of good fight scenes can possibly make up for (I should probably point out that I haven't watched the Recca anime, only knowing the manga, which I've read in its entirety and the first 16 volumes of which are supposed to be roughly equal to the anime adaptation - yes, yes, I know, I'm missing out. No, not really. Just can't justify wasting any more time on Recca...)

@Deathkillz:
I completely forgot about Claymore.... or so I want to say, but some of the fighting scenes in Claymore are also very low-budget. "The sword is faster than the eye can see" is a cheap excuse to not draw it Don't get me wrong, I love Claymore, and it does really well most of the time. I don't know why I didn't think of it first

@Hyouzan:
Guren Lagann is purposely ridiculously over the top childish, which is why I like it. It doesn't attempt to be a serious generic mecha anime... god knows we have enough of those this season. The tag line "pierce the heavens with your drill" should be enough to show its stance.

@justinstrife:
Apart from the tournament setup, which sets off my alarm belts immediately, Recca is also at fault for featuring a moron for a hero, and one who believes that everything will be okay if he just does his best, at that... how naive. And I don't know what's so good about those fight scenes.

Spoiler for Recca fighting style:

He's fighting with borrowed power all the time, and every time he's about to get his ass kicked royally he gets rescued by yet another weird dragon which then proceeds to do the overly cliched "thine actions have moved my heart, young one. I shall lend thee my power" line. I mean, seriously? -_-

Everyone else on Recca's team is a moron, too. They'd fit right in with Negima's baka-rangers Only that water sword dude, M-something, has got his act together, even though he's got a way fucked up past.

Okay, with all that out of the way, I'll get back on topic.

Spoiler for novel vol3:

Is that Lapis holding Ren's hand in those pictures? She's appearing way earlier than I thought. And why is she with Ren? God, I'll hate having to wait for two weeks to find out.

On another important note, usagijen has posted the deep-frying for episode 7 already. Go check it out.

[Darknemo2000]

I would agree that it shifted way too much from the series there... Philosophy and psychology is a weird thing that tends on taking a spin-off of itself, tough I would not say that unimportant. Sometimes these essays carry more truth than we would like to admit as they can touch the basic problems of onthology, while denying the ontiology, but I should stop before I start talking about Descartes, Nietzsche, Heidegger or Kant.



Juts lets go back to anime allready.

Spoiler for Gurren:

Kamina's death was the best thing that happened in this anime, since the beginning. Finally one of the most linear characters are gone, just like an awful excuse for a relationship between Yoko/Kamina. Kamina's crazyness doesnt make him a good character. At least from psychologica point of view. Its pretty different from AyanoxKazuma. Gurren is an acion/mecha anime, that has its own strong points, however if you like deep characters or relationship you shouldnt watch the show. Its rather shhallow on both aspects, though character designs are well done.

Hopefully, noone main would die in KnS, though right now, seeing how there are less and less Kannagis left with each episode...That might be too optimistical way of thinking.

[TigerII]

Which is why it is up to Kazume to repopulate with Ayano...and take her name.

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by TigerII

Which is why it is up to Kazume to repopulate with Ayano...and take her name.

Thank God he'll never do that. He's a man, he should keep his own name.

[Hyouzan]

....and so the rise of the yagami clan begun

[PerseiD999]

Up to this point, all those died are not true Kannagis anyway, just members of branch families. Strictly speaking, there are only 4 Kannagis, Soushu, Genma, Ayano and Ren. Kazuma doesn't count, despite being Genma's son, he is often referred to as a child "with the blood that completely forgot about (fire) talent in the mother's womb".

* Kannagis talent in fire is a naturally born ability carried down via bloodline. Branch families get weaker and weaker over generations, so only the head family (the direct descendants) matters.

Ayano's children can't be considered as direct descendants, because direct descendants must be father-son-son-son and so forth, mother-son/daughter will be considered as a branch family. In this sense, Ren is the most important heir of the family, because he is the only one that can produce future direct descendants of the clan.

The main reason Soushu is very keen to matchmaking Ayano and Kazuma, is because Kazuma can be an excellent backup for Ayano and provide support in many ways. Generally speaking, fire users are the most powerful front-line battle specialists, but useless if they don't know where the enemies are. With Fuuga Clan gone, Kannagis are basically blinded and have to rely on police force, which makes them vulnerable in many aspects.

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by Hyouzan

....and so the rise of the yagami clan begun

Time to start a new Wind clan, but make it unlike any of the clans before it. Kazuma's just the man for the job considering his life experiences.

[TigerII]

Well if he gets with Ayano, the wind gust will have flame in them. Think of the flame tornados that would arise.

[usagijen]

Having children possessing powers of wind x flame hybrid would be interesting to see

And with regards to Soushu 'matchmaking' Kazuma to Ayano, it's also because he trusts Kazuma, probably more than anyone else who might end up with Ayano. He knows what Kazuma has been through during those times he was still a Kannagi, and how he overcame all that during the four years when he was away...

Soushu knows Kazuma in terms of his personality, and also his abilities... so he'd really really want Ayano to end up with him

and... I wasn't able to mention this after I finished my deep frying coz I already headed to sleep... ^^;; anyways, it's up in my blog, and here's the link:

Deep Frying Kaze no Stigma 07

[TigerII]

I still don't think they will end up together. Don't know why, either.

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by TigerII

I still don't think they will end up together. Don't know why, either.

I don't think they should end up together, but that's just me. I kind of felt their little pep-talk during the battle was out of place too. Oh well, can't have everything in an anime.

[Darknemo2000]

You mean AyanoxKazuma? Well, while the most important to the hier is Ren and not Ayano, so why not pursue Ayano and Kazuma, from Souyshus point of view its very matching... And since the father pursues the relationship that in fact the daughter is very interested (though not ready to admit yet) increase the possibility of matching.

Kazuma, doesnt seeem to be somoene who would cling to the past desperatly, so that it would close his present and future. His past is painful but he is opened for the present and that is Ayano.

They might fail only if one or the other might die, or some other sad event that would make Kazuma to leave or something. Otherwise, we should expect an increased population of Kannagis clan soon.

[FlareKnight]

No doubt having kids with a mix of those powers would just be great. Probably some would have one type and some would have the other. Though it would be interesting if they had both. Use the wind to feed the fire and really have an edge. There's just too much fun you can have in that situation.

But I agree that the Soushu would love to have Kazuma and Ayano together. He knows that Kazuma's a good person and having one of the strongest people around married to your daughter can't really hurt. Though the one roadblock that has to be crossed is getting Ayano to recognize her feelings.

I feel Ayano and Kazuma will end up together at some point. Kazuma had a rough past in the family, but I think he judges people individually. He's been a good influence on her so far. It's where things seem to be going, I agree that unless something serious happens like one of them dying they should end up together.

[TigerII]

Dying is what I think will cause their relationship to not happen. Just my personal thought. I said this before and someone said this show was too light for that. Well after episode 7, it is not light any more.

[justinstrife]

I'm alot like Kazuma personality wise. Also helps the fact that I'm older too and have calmed down and gotten more calculating in everything around me. It would be extremely hard for me to fall for a hot-blooded girl like Ayano. I can't stand that type of personality at all. My girlfriend has it, and it's caused alot of problems with us. I think the only reason we've lasted this long, is because she is slowly seeing things from a more mature perspective.

However, we had another fight tonight because of her lack of thinking, and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't make it through the summer. That's what I see with the pairings here. Unless Ayano starts growing up a bit faster than she has been, I just don't see the relationships as realistic, nor welcome.

[PerseiD999]

Well, I doubt they will actually end up together in the series, they will most likely leave it an open ending anyway. Though it's quite obvious the trend, and I personally enjoy the interaction between Kazuma and Ayano, they make a great pair in my opinion.

What I don't like is the concept of power inheritance, especially the idea of possible mix of a windxfire hybrid. Just take the Kannagis for example, the majority of the clan members take their inherited ability for granted, and abuse their power simply because they're born with it, which is plain disgusting. Power corrupts, just as money does..

Originally Posted by usagijen

Soushu knows Kazuma in terms of his personality, and also his abilities... so he'd really really want Ayano to end up with him

Not exactly true. Soushu knows about Kannagi Kazuma (obedient and weak), while Yagami Kazuma is a very different person (realistic and callous to say the least, anime version is sort of positively-adjusted for younger audience). He's aware that something bad happened during that 4 years gap, but nothing in details. Kazuma now is powerful, and Ayano appears to like him, that's all that matters. After all, it's not like you get a contractor every other day, so grab it because someone else does..blah..

[Darknemo2000]

You just told us about your own preferences, justinstrife, however I don't see how that would help us in the discussion about KazumaxAyano and the future of Kannagis clan, since Kazuma was never built upon your personality, thus the fact that you dont like hot-blooded girls doesnt really mean that Kazuma might have same preferences as well... He might love such personalities for all you know...

Howver, for now Kazuma never really considers Ayano in a seriously light, yet its not her hot-bloodness but rather her childish and naive nature. She might need to mature a bit, yet it doesnt mean loosing her temper, just being less childish and naive in things.

Yet we also know that Kazuma likes being around her (he is pretty serious type, yet around Ayano he is always ready for another tease, something that he wouldnty do for a poeple he doesnt care about. He just wouldn't biother)...

[usagijen]

The series might be going in a dark direction, but rest assured that neither Kazuma or Ayano will die, knowing the direction of the show based on the novel.

As for Ayano, I don't think her immaturity has reached the point of hurting Kazuma's feelings or anything serious like that. I'll hate Ayano if her immaturity goes overboard (and does something really really unreasonable), but from what I've seen, nothing like that has happened.

If there's something unreasonable that Ayano has done, it's no other than her actions stemming from her jealousy, which I think is somewhat 'reasonable' considering naiveness with regards to her feelings (and also the lack of certainly regarding Kazuma's feelings).

With the past episodes (especially with what's shown in the novel), it's quite clear that Ayano's growing up and maturing in terms of understanding people, and is becoming more perceptive and sensitive to them.

Originally Posted by PerseiD999

Well, I doubt they will actually end up together in the series, they will most likely leave it an open ending anyway. Though it's quite obvious the trend, and I personally enjoy the interaction between Kazuma and Ayano, they make a great pair in my opinion.

What I don't like is the concept of power inheritance, especially the idea of possible mix of a windxfire hybrid. Just take the Kannagis for example, the majority of the clan members take their inherited ability for granted, and abuse their power simply because they're born with it, which is plain disgusting. Power corrupts, just as money does..

Not exactly true. Soushu knows about Kannagi Kazuma (obedient and weak), while Yagami Kazuma is a very different person (realistic and callous to say the least, anime version is sort of positively-adjusted for younger audience). He's aware that something bad happened during that 4 years gap, but nothing in details. Kazuma now is powerful, and Ayano appears to like him, that's all that matters. After all, it's not like you get a contractor every other day, so grab it because someone else does..blah..

Spoiler for critical plot... beware:

The relationship isn't left open-ended in this series, that's for sure... I'm currently speed-reading volume 5 (wasn't able to resist x___x), and this is somewhat the 'climax' to the Lapis / Vernhart arc.

I think I mentioned before that Kazuma isn't really 'living in the past' and that he gets over the past quickly... but it doesn't seem quite so. These events with Lapis / Vernhart, remembering Tsuoi Rin once again has somewhat 'awakened' those past feelings Kazuma has (his 'vengeful' past) which he simply buried (or hidden), according to Kirika. (Kazuma's still 'living in the past', up until the present)

I'm halfway in the volume, and Kirika said that it's highly possible that Kazuma might become what he is before (when he was taking the revenge on the one who killed Tsuoi Rin), and so Kirika says that the 'current' Kazuma is actually far more dangerous than Vernhart at that point (perhaps he once again goes 'berserk' mode or something). According to Kirika, there's no other person who can 'bring back' Kazuma to the present - that is, make him realize that his 'present' is more valuable than his 'past'

And well, we know how this is going to turn out... Ayano will make Kazuma realize that what matters most is his 'present', and Kazuma will set his eyes on Ayano (his 'present'), and bury his past once and for all.

Given that, I don't think there should be any doubts that Ayano will end up with Kazuma ;P (it's not open-ended *remembers Inu-Yasha*)

Soushu may not know exactly what happened in the four years that Kazuma was gone, but he actually understands both the 'Kannagi Kazuma' and the callous Yagami Kazuma (based from what we've seen in the previous episodes, where Soushu has full belief that Kazuma didn't do the Kannagi murders... and knew his 'real' intention behind his asking for reward money.) Which means that despite all this callousness, Soushu believes that the kindness of the Kannagi Kazuma he knows remains in 'Yagami Kazuma' (something like that)

[PerseiD999]

If you think Kazuma is a “good” person, a few examples of what have been omitted or changed in the anime.

Spoiler:

1.In EP4, that Youma killed all Fuuga clan, but in the novel, Kazuma killed half of them, he literally chopped their heads off using wind blades just like that...and when one Fuuga guy attempted to avenge his woman, Kazuma hijacked his wind blade and beheaded him too..The rest fled in fear.
2.Between EP5 and EP6, there was another attempt to kill Kazuma using missile, due to his comment that “the gun-power is not adequate” in the previous hotel scene. With all the dead bodies in the background, Kazuma let Misao go, and answered to Ayano saying “There is no harm done.” and then followed by a revised version “There is no harm done to me..”
3.In EP7, the anime made it almost like kazuma cared about those innocent victims, while in the novel, his reaction is rather, shall I say, opposite..as already mentioned in usagigen's deep frying post.

While most people think Ayano needs to grow up and mature, which is true, Kazuma also needs to learn (from Ayano) how to trust again. After all, people tend to treat others the way they themselves used to being treated.

I personally like Ayano a lot. She has the fighting spirit, determination and a sweet personality, naïve and stubborn she is, she is only 16, she can surely beat some sense into Kazuma's skull in 6 years time with her Enraiha.

[Darknemo2000]

Kazuma is more "good person" in anime rather than in the novels. Though he can be a real bastard to the poeple he doesnt care about. For Ayano he cares, but he still can have problems in dealing with his past. He needs to start trusting poeple, firstly Ayano.

But for that we need to see ayano devlop bit more from the one she is now.