Kaze no Stigma Episode 7 - The Value of One’s Soul

Summary

Kazuma used to be bullied by his relatives because of his lack of flame abilities, considering him a shame to the Kannagi family. Back to present, the Oogamis are commencing their ‘punishment’ on Misao, while Ayano awaits Kazuma to stop him from hindering their plans. Kirika couldn’t believe that Ayano was serious about attacking Kazuma, whilst Ayano herself is having doubts as to whether or not she can really stand up against Kazuma. As the Oogamis confront Misao, it seems that she’s waiting for a ‘flame that will burn the wind’, and Masayuki comments on how she can still say such nonsense for someone who’s going to die soon. Misao simply sneers at what they told her about dying, and the Oogamis start their attack.

Meanwhile, Ayano rids herself of any hesitation as she simply concentrates on doing what she can to stop Kazuma. Kazuma is still on his way to where Misao is when Ayano lounges a surprise attack on him. Ayano however loses control of her Enraiha (and her temporary ‘levitation’) as Kazuma blocks her attack, but Kazuma manages to save her from falling. Ayano becomes all flustered as she ends up in Kazuma’s arms, who praises her for the awesome feat she showed when she attacked him. Kazuma was surprised to find out that Ayano seriously thought of killing him, and lets go of her in mid-air as a mocking reaction to her ‘intention to kill him’.

Ayano is infuriated that she wasn’t able to fight Kazuma longer to buy some more time, but then she suddenly had this ‘idea’ on how to deal with him. She taunts Kazuma, “You think I’m just going to lash an attack on you without thinking?”, and Kazuma replies that he certainly thinks so because she’s a ‘living thing’ after all. Ayano just ignored his sarcastic reply and showed him her ‘trump card’ – a “Ren barrier”, which she thinks will certainly render Kazuma unable to attack her. Kazuma couldn’t believe that Ayano could think about such a ridiculous plan, and asks her if she doesn’t feel any shame as the next Kannagi clan head with her actions. Ren adds that even he is embarrassed with what Ayano is now doing, but she just tells them to shut up since she’s out of ideas on how to defeat Kazuma and this seems to be the only means she could think of. Kazuma corrects her by saying that she certainly can’t defeat him no matter what. Ayano knows this and simply orders Kazuma to stay with her until Misao’s punishment has been carried out, but then Kazuma tells her that he thinks it’s going to be the ‘other way around’(wherein Misao will be carrying out her punishment instead). Kazuma gives her a count of three, and then an explosion suddenly happens in the church where the Oogamis confronted Misao.

Ayano and Ren rushes off to place, only to find all of the Oogamis annihilated by Misao. Kazuma also arrives on the scene, reprimanding Misao that she’s gone overboard, considering that the ones she killed are her family members. Misao however, thinks that these people she killed are simply ‘oppressors’, and that her family is no one else but her brother whom Kazuma killed. Misao waited for this very day so that she can finally have her revenge on Kazuma, but this revenge proved to be futile as her current state is still not enough to defeat him, and all her attacks didn’t even scratch him a bit. Ayano scolds Misao for thinking she can beat Kazuma with her current abilities, and tells her that she should’ve defeated Kazuma in their previous encounter already if this was the case. Ayano doesn’t deny the fact that Misao became stronger, but thinks that her strength still doesn’t match up with even Ren. Misao couldn’t accept this, considering that ‘Tenshi-sama’ assured her that she’ll certainly be able to defeat him. Ayano wonders where this pervert ‘Tenshi-sama’ came from, when this very person suddenly appears and comments on her harsh words for calling him a pervert. Misao kneels before him, asking him for his guidance on how to go about defeating Kazuma, but then tells her the harsh truth that she certainly won’t be able to defeat him. He breaks his facade and tells Misao that what he told her was a lie, since ‘one’s strength is already decided at birth’. Given this, Misao certainly won’t be able to control all the strength she gathers that goes past beyond her abilities, and Michael thinks that Misao should know this fact since she actually came from a family of spirit-users.

Misao is shocked by this revelation, and Michael thinks that humans certainly are strange beings that they’ll go about believing someone’s words (the very words they want to hear), despite how absurd it is, like his words of “your wishes are justified, and thus whatever ‘means’ you do is justified as well – even if you take the lives of hundreds of people, regardless of whether they’re part of your family or not”. This makes Misao realize all that she has done and ends up fainting with this sudden burst of emotion she had. Ren and Ayano was about to go and check on Misao when some ‘youki’ hinders them from coming close to her. Kazuma explains that these are the ‘youki’ Misao has gathered from hundreds of people, ‘youki’ which she doesn’t have control of which is now being assimilated by ‘Tenshi-sama’.

Kazuma realizes that this was Michael’s intention right from the start, and Michael agrees, since he needs the abilities of a Kannagi to gather enough ‘youki’ for defeating him. Kazuma was a bit surprised that Michael was intending to defeat him, and wonders who he is. Michael formally introduces himself as “Michael Harley”, who is but one among the people who aims to kill their enemy ‘Yagami Kazuma’, ‘in the name of the stars and wisdom’. Kazuma remembers this same ‘incantation’ uttered by the one who killed the girl in Kazuma’s past (Tsuoi Rin), who Michael considers to be his ‘master’. Kazuma declares that he’ll certainly send Michael to hell, together with his master, and Michael simply laughs at this since he believes Kazuma’s the one who’s going to be killed instead.

Michael uses all the ‘youki’ Misao gathered, forming what he calls a ‘vritra’ dragon, and assimilates Misao in its body. Michael challenges Kazuma to defeat his vritra, warning him that Misao might die once he does so. Kazuma tells Ayano that she can use her ‘flames of purification’ to defeat the enemy without harming Misao, and was utterly disappointed to find out that she still doesn’t have this ability (which Ayano considers to be quite an advanced technique that only his father and Genma is capable of). Ayano asks Kazuma if he still intends to save Misao, and Kazuma says that he wants her to live no matter what. Ayano gets stung by Kazuma’s words (with the thought of Kazuma desperately wanting to save Misao), but still decides to attack the vritra knowing that they can’t leave things as it is. Nevertheless, she was still filled with thoughts of Kazuma, wondering if the reason why he’s so hung up with Misao is because he likes her, and couldn’t quite concentrate on her fight. She let his guard down and gets attacked by the dragon, but Kazuma rushes just in time to save her, telling her to wake up from her dazed state.

Ayano was surprised that Kazuma came to save her, and says that he should’ve left her alone knowing that his aim is supposed to be saving Misao. Kazuma thinks that there would be no meaning behind all this if he simply saves Misao and leaves Ayano to die, to which she asks if Kazuma is “two-timing” between her and Misao. Kazuma says that may it be two-timing, or three-timing for that matter, he’ll certainly do everything he can to save every people that he can (since he actually has the capabilities to do so). Kazuma adds that the reason why he has this strength is not simply for choosing people he wants to save, and that he can’t simply turn a blind eye and leave people to die. Kazuma swears that he’ll certainly beat the crap out of Michael Harley, and at the same time save Misao, while protecting Ayano and Ren. “Do you have any complaints”, Kazuma asks, and Ayano couldn’t say anything more.

Kazuma however falls on his knees because of the wound he got from protecting Ayano from the vritra. This worries Ayano, and asks him to spend some time to recover and leave things to her and Ren in the meantime. Nevertheless, Kazuma doubts Ayano and Ren’s capabilities to stand up against their enemy, driving Ayano mad at Kazuma’s lack of trust. Grabbing Kazuma by his collar, she retorts, “Don’t you want to save Misao?! Didn’t you say you’re going to protect me and Ren?! You said that you’re going to protect everything, then keep your word and do so!” Ayano then tells him to recede from the fight until he’s finally able to get back on his feet (and leave things to them). Kazuma gets struck by Ayano’s words, then suddenly hugs her, saying how she might become a ‘great woman’ in the future. Ayano blushes at his words, and tells him to cut the ‘might’, since she’ll ‘certainly’ become a great woman.

Kazuma asks her to give him five minutes to recover, and Ayano rushes off to help out Ren who’s fighting against the vritra all by himself. Ren was glad to see that Ayano came back, and got worried when he finds out that Kazuma got wounded (from the blood stain on Ayano’s dress). Ayano tells him that Kazuma asked them to give him five minutes to recover, and assures him that his brother will certainly be alright because he’s strong. Ren and Ayano is in high spirits once again as they gain determination to fight, while Kazuma starts summoning his contracted wind spirit. Kazuma arrives earlier than expected, determined to defeat Michael and save Misao. He tells Ayano that they’re going to ‘burn’ Michael (and the vritra), and Ayano thinks he’ s once again referring to using the ‘purifying flames’ which she already told him that she’s unable to do.

“Leave it to me”, says Kazuma, then bestows Enraiha a part of his wind, turning its flames into blue. Ren sees this blue flame and was surprised to see the same flame his father possesses (the ‘azure flame’, same as what Genma showed way back episode 2), and as his strength reaches its limit, he leaves the rest to Kazuma and Ayano. Ayano was also surprised that Enraiha turned into what she calls a ‘divine flame’, and Kazuma brags that she owes a large portion of it to the power he (‘ore-sama’) gave. Kazuma tells Ayano not to turn back now, and Ayano assures him that she’ll do what she can, then lounges the finishing blow on the vritra. Michael couldn’t believe he was defeated by Kazuma, considering the thousands of ‘youki’ they gathered for the vritra, and wonders how a human like him can have this much strength. It was then that he notices the change in Kazuma’s eyes and realizes that he has become a contractor, before finally dying.

Misao didn’t sustain any wounds after the battle, but was filled with guilt with what she did and asked Kazuma to just let her die because of the unforgivable sins she has done. Kazuma reprimands her for being naïve into thinking that her life would be enough to atone for the hundreds of people she killed, and makes her face the fact she’s simply choosing to die to run away from all she has done. Misao didn’t know what else to do to atone for her sins, and Kazuma doesn’t have any idea either. Kazuma however reminds her that before she goes about thinking how to atone for the lives of the people she took, she should first think about the person she caused the most trouble to – that is, Kazuma himself, who tells her to compensate for what she’s done to him with her ‘body’. Misao smiles at this, and understands that she has to live to atone for her sins. But before Kazuma can ‘claim’ his compensation, Ayano attacks him with her Enraiha and remarks on what a lowlife he is for taking advantage of Misao (and she still doesn’t understand that the real reason why she’s becoming angry is because of her jealousy).

The battle is already over and Soushu has decided to make Misao enter the convent to become a nun and atone for her sins. Kazuma, Ayano, and Ren goes to meet her in the convent one snowy day, where Kazuma and Misao finds the chance to talk about what happened. Kazuma never thought Soushu would decide to make her enter the convent, and Misao says that with this, she can pray for all the lives she took. Misao knows that this won’t be enough to atone for her sins, but nevertheless dedicates her own life in the hope of finding the answer to this atonement. Misao then asks Kazuma why he decided to save her, despite the fact that having her killed would’ve made things easier. Kazuma tells her it’s because of what happened ten years ago, when Misao stood up for him when he was being bullied by the other clan members. Misao was surprised by how much that little deed meant to Kazuma, and couldn’t believe that it was enough for him to want to put his life at stake for her. Before leaving, Kazuma says that he’ll visit her again ‘someday’, since she still hasn’t compensated for what she’s done to him, and Misao replies that he can certainly come anytime he wants (till that ‘someday’ comes). Ayano can’t believe he’s still saying this absurdity (the ‘compensation’ perhaps), but Kazuma simply ignores her.

Thoughts

Another great episode and closing to this Misao arc. Just like the previous episodes, I found the battle scenes really lacking, but the Kazuma x Ayano antics in this episode pretty much makes up for that ‘loss’. The Kazuma x Ayano moments was even enough for me to tolerate the decline of animation quality shown in this episode (particularly in that scene where Ayano finds Kazuma wounded from saving her).

I just wonder how many of the Kannagis are left now that many of their clan members have been annihilated. It seems that annihilation is becoming common in Kaze no Stigma, first were the killing of the Kannagis by Ryuuya, then the annihilation of the Fuuga clan, and now the Oogami clan o_O I wonder if there’s gonna be more annihilations… I hope not… =__=

It’s great to see Ayano and Kazuma team-up once again, and the Enraiha turning into blue flame was a pleasant surprise. I’m anticipating other tricks and moves Kazuma has up his sleeves, and I hope they won’t show us the same attacks and tricks over and over again. I was especially surprised that Ayano was the one who talked some sense into Kazuma this time~ ^^ Oh, and just a side note regarding what Kazuma told Ayano about her potential to become a great woman… he specifically said “…[kekkou] ii onna ni naru kamoshirenai”, which literally translates to, you might become a great woman”, with the ‘kekkou’ indicating how this is above Kazuma’s expectation of Ayano. This simply expresses Kazuma’s surprise, where Ayano’s words really changed his impression of her. (I just found out about this ‘kekkou’ the other day, so I thought it’d be nice to share this little insight )

The Kazuma x Ayano antics in this episode made go into “waff mode”. Kazuma’s attraction towards Ayano becomes pretty clear in this episode, seeing how Kazuma admired Ayano with her resolve to actually fight against him, and much more, talk some sense into him while he was wounded. I think almost all the scenes with Ayano attacking in this episode is coupled with Kazuma saving her and carrying her in his arms, which on the other hand, shows how Ayano is still lacking in abilities since Kazuma saves her from danger each time. Although, Ayano’s carelessness in the fight with the vritra could be attributed to her being filled with thoughts of Misao and Kazuma, confused and jealous as she is as to what’s the real score between them.

Ayano’s plan of having Ren as her barrier was such a stupid plan, yet I can’t help but laugh at how she can think of such a ridiculous plan I was pretty much stupefied the same way as Kazuma was with Ayano’s decision to do this (especially with her evil laugh and full confidence that her plan is ‘fool-proof’ :p), and I can’t help but pity Ren who’s been dragged into this by Ayano ^^;;;

Kazuma remains to be a great character, and this episode has also allowed us to see how much of a ‘human’ Kazuma is, considering how he’s gone through all that suffering way back when he was little. I never thought his past was this bad, and now we’ve seen that almost all his family members despised him for being a failure as a Kannagi, and this was all the more reason why his father wanted to drive him out of the Kannagi clan, knowing how he’s being tormented by all these people. Genma wanted him to get out of these shadows and find his own strength, which he wouldn’t have been able to do if he remained in the Kannagi clan.

It’s pretty clear why Kazuma wanted to save Misao so much. That simple act of kindness she showed him was more than enough to comfort his aching heart at that time (this was clearly explained in the novels, which I’ll be posting in my deep-frying post). Talk about how people’s views on things can really differ this much, depending on one’s point of view and the experiences he/she has gone through. Seeing this side of Kazuma’s past also made me admire him more, seeing as to how he has become who he is now despite all that.

Misao was clearly blinded by her revenge on Kazuma, thus she became very much susceptible to Tenshi-sama’s ‘brainwashing’ (which can also be attributed to her being ‘weak’, with her lack of strength to accept her brother’s death). This has been one life-changing experience for Misao, especially after having realized just how much she has done for the sake of having this revenge. It was but fitting that she found solace in becoming a nun, considering her gentle personality and all. I can’t quite see her doing the very same thing Kazuma did of paying his ‘sin’ through saving the lives of people, and I certainly can’t imagine her becoming like Balsa (Seirei no Moribito) ^^;;;

From what I’ve seen, despite GONZO taking out some more KnS entertainment in this episode covered in the novel, they once again changed stuff and made up for that ‘loss’ (Which I’m going to cover in my deep-frying post)

As for the next episode, it looks like GONZO decided to divert from the main arc and show us something from the short stories instead (with Ayano, Kazuma, Yukari and Nanase going “ghost hunting”). If everything goes well, we’ll get to see this scene in the next episode…
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