Kaze no Stigma Episode 11 – Each One’s Determination

Ren finally rids himself of any confusion as he realizes that he wants to see Ayumi again, and even gains the resolve to protect her, believing that there’s gotta be some way to save their clan from their fate. With this episode, Ren finally understands what it truly means to protect someone, a same sentiment that both Ren and Kazuma share as brothers.

Screenshots

Summary

Soushu receives a phone call from the Tsuwabukis and scorns at how they’re showing some concern about Ren when they mentioned how they could go as far as killing him the other time. Ayano comes back from school and was delighted to hear that Ren finally spoke out about the incident last night, and before Soushu reveals what Ren said, he first warns her not to do anything to interfere with the Tsuwabuki’s Taisai, whose value is something Ayano herself is well aware of.

Somewhere in the depths of the Tsuwabuki’s sanctuary, Kureha is talking to this mass of rock who turns out to be no one else but his father Iwao, who fought with her to put an end to her ambitions. She tells him that there’s only one more obstruction left to the Taisai, particularly Tiana and Kazuma, with the other two problems concerning Ren and her father has already been dealt with. Iwao can’t help but feel mortified when Kureha reveals that Mayumi will also be taking part in the Taisai as well, since he can’t do anything given his current state. Kureha becomes filled with delight as her wish will finally be granted.

After Ayano heard the details of what happened to Ren, she immediately went off to find him and finally sees him still dazed out from what happened. Ren snaps out of his thoughts after Ayano pushes him to the pond, as she tells him what she heard about Ren deserting Ayumi since he didn’t do anything to stop her from being taken away. Ren confides how he feels so helpless that he can’t do anything for Ayumi who’s been carrying such a heavy burden of living as a clone made for the Taisai, to which Ayano retorts that he can’t simply ignore the fact that his precious friend has been taken away, knowing that Ren must be wanting to actually do something for Ayumi.

Negative thoughts still plague Ren as he thinks that there’s nothing else he can do but give up since he can’t just stop Ayumi from taking part in the ritual, knowing that it’s her very wish to lay down her life to save the people. Ren knows that he can’t just leave things like this, and finally realizes that he wants to meet Ayumi for the last time, to apologize for what he has done and tell her how he happy he was for being able to spend time with her. Ayano says that she’ll see to it that Ren gets to do that, and advises him not to cause any commotion since they’ll only be going there to have him meet Ayumi.

As the Taisai draws near, Kureha talks to Ayumi whom she heard has been deserted by her ‘boyfriend’. Kureha says that she understands her situation because she’s been through the same situation as well (having been regarded as someone abronmal), and exclaims how all humans are foolish beings like a ‘certain person’.

Ren and Ayano infiltrates into the Tsuwabuki’s mansion where Ayano defies what she mentioned earlier about not causing any commotion as she attacks all the guards who blocked their entrance. They finally come face to face with a golem who grabs hold of Ren and was left unharmed by Ayano’s Enraiha. Ren finally recognizes the golem as Yuuji, who sacrificed himself to attain this power from Kureha to protect Mayumi. Ren admires Yuuji’s resolve to protect Mayumi, but believes that she won’t be happy at the thought that he sacrificed something in behalf of protecting her. Yuuji becomes pierced by Ren’s words and was about to finish him off when Kazuma comes in time to save him.

Kazuma explains that he’s there to deal with some business, and notes how the golem has this great regeneration power as it’s still recovering from the attack he gave. Ren tells him that it’s actually one of the Tsuwabukis who sacrificed himself to protect someone, which Kazuma considers to be something a Tsuwabuki would do, knowing their mentality of sacrificing in behalf of protecting. As Yuuji gains consciousness again, he thinks about the time when he sworn his loyalty to Mayumi. That day, Mayumi found out about her fate to become the sacrifice for their clan’s ritual and orders Yuuji to not leave her side and see to it that she won’t run away from her fate, in return for her “first kiss”.

Ayano struggles to find a way to defeat the golem, and which Kazuma says that they’ll be able to defeat it by cutting off its affinity with the land then prepares to attack when Ren suddenly brings up the question of whether he’ll die in order to protect. Kazuma replies that such a thought never crosses his mind because he’ll protect him without having the need to sacrifice his life so that everyone can be happy and Ren couldn’t agree more, making Kazuma surprised at Ren’s reaction as he wonders what happened to him.

Ren faces Yuuji by himself, declaring that he’s going to rid both him and Ayumi of the twisted mentality of their clan about sacrifices. Yuuji replies that such a thing is impossible for their clan because it’s their fate, making Ren realize that the only way to rid them of this mentality is to defeat the majuu, and sets Yuuji ablaze with his flame. Ayano was surprised that Ren’s flames was able to penetrate through the golem which her Enraiha wasn’t able to do, and Kazuma remarks that it’s because Ren doesn’t rush off to attack (trying to cut through stone) like her. Kazuma explains that Ren simply restored Yuuji back to normal with his flames of purification so it won’t inflict him harm, and Ayano can’t believe that Ren was able to perform such an advanced technique.

Ren tells Kazuma and Ayano about finding out who their real opponent is, much to Ayano’s surprise that Ren actually thought of fighting against the majuu. Kazuma however finds the absurdity of Ren’s idea really interesting, and says how it simply proves that they’re brothers. Just then, Kureha arrives and expresses her disappointment that Yuuji was defeated easily despite the power she bestowed, before exchanging greetings with Kazuma. Kazuma knows well that Kureha’s gravitational power is something abnormal, and thinks that it must be a power of the majuu which their clan has been sealing.

Kureha affirms what Kazuma said to be true, making Ayano exclaim “I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb” as she gains the resolve to go all out and face Kureha despite the punishment she’ll get in return. Kazuma then tells Ren to go ahead of them (and meet Ayumi) as he drags him all the way to where Ayumi is with his wind. Ren finally gets to the Tsuwabuki’s sanctuary and talks about how first thought of coming only to meet Ayumi to apologize and tell her how happy he was with the time they spent. But after the events that happened as he came, he became discontented and realized that he wants to save both Ayumi and Mayumi from being a sacrifice by defeating the majuu itself.

Ren claims how he was able to defeat Yuuji as he challenges the guards to face him, who retreat as they came to understand that they can’t possibly win against Ren. He turns to Ayumi and tells her that there must be a way to resolve this without having the need for a sacrifice, and he firmly believes this despite how it seems to be too good to be true. Ayumi still can’t believe why Ren will do all this for her when she only has a little time left to live, to which Ren says is all the more reason why he wants her to treasure her life as he will grant all her wish and take her wherever she wants to go. Ayumi breaks down in tears in joy as she confides how she wants to live with Ren forever, and they hold hands as a sign of this vow they have.

Kazuma arrives in the sanctuary as well and remarks on how they’re simply dillydallying (and not doing any ‘action’), then introduces himself to Ayumi. Ren wonders why Kazuma is there when he’s supposed to be with Ayano, and finds out that he once again made a decoy out of her as he lets her face Kureha. Kazuma actually came to help out Ren, but Ren says he can do this by himself, and readies themselves to face their real opponent - the majuu.

Thoughts

This was quite a fast-paced episode, though a little too fast paced that the action became lacking in my opinion. The fight scene in the novel was much much longer, and I don’t really wish for the anime to show the entirety of that sequence (because it will be too long already), but I was hoping for a little more seconds dedicated to the fight (and not simply show Ayano jumping off like that to attack). I’ll just continue this ranting in my deep frying ^^;;

I’ve been paying close attention to the artwork in the past episodes, and I’ve really seen that it has improved a lot in this episode. No hideous scenes like in episode 7 and 10, the animation remained consistent and really fluid. Ayano’s face just didn’t look that great in some scenes but it was tolerable. And now for my thoughts in the episode’s content and characters…

On Ren’s Growth

Ren is indeed learning a lot from Kazuma, seeing how he’s living up to the same principle of not resorting to sacrifice himself for the sake of protecting the one he loves. He was able to snap out of his moping and realize what he really wants to do with the help of Ayano, but it’s sad to see that its impact wasn’t as strong as it was in the novel since the anime stripped much of what Ayano said and did to get back Ren on his feet again.

Throughout these episodes, we’ve seen cute little Ren grow up :3 From falling in love, and learning the real meaning behind wanting to protect someone. Kazuma also notes this development in Ren, and was glad to see that his brother finally fell in love (Kazuma’s comments in the novel is even funnier) :p

On Kazuma’s Comeback

I missed Kazuma and his sarcasm these past few episodes, so it’s great to see him back (too bad the anime cut off much of his other sarcastic remarks, which should’ve made it more entertaining) I didn’t expect that he would actually bring Ren all the way to meet Ayumi that way, but that’s Kazuma for you :p He’s rooting for his brother’s love and acted like this ‘bridge’ for Ren and Ayumi with what he did, and even remarks on how ‘slow’ they are as they simply held hands

Kazuma actually acts all polite when he introduced himself to Ayumi, who blushes upon seeing Kazuma for reasons of either because she found him cool and hawt, or simply blushed because Kazuma saw her and Ren in their lovey-dovey mode. I wonder which?

Once again, Kazuma uses Ayano as a decoy… He sure loves poking fun at Ayano ^^;;;

On Ayano

Basing on what was shown in the episode alone, I felt pretty disappointed with Ayano’s impulsiveness in attacking her opponents. In the case of Yuuji, it was pretty tolerable since she desperately wanted him to let go of Ren. But in the case of Kureha’s appearance, I felt that her attack was just a waste of energy… She immediately attacked without even knowing the capabilities of her opponent. I actually thought Kureha was referring to her attack when she mentioned about how sloppy Yuuji is, which also speaks true of the ‘sloppy attack’ Ayano gave that time.

I just wonder how Ayano will fare in her battle with Kureha next week… o_O

On Mayumi’s Drastic Change

It seems that Mayumi undergone such a drastic change basing from what was shown in the flashback with her and Yuuji. That time, she was still much like Ayumi, as her kindness and gentleness is still evident from her actions. She even respects Yuuji and loves him, which I wasn’t able to sense in any way with what she did to him in the past episodes, especially with her gesture of stomping on his head when he told her about Ayumi escaping with Ren. To think that the very person who once “…I try to escape [my fate], catch me [and make me live up to it] at any cost”, will now be in such a despair to want to live and trample on the very man who sworn his loyalty to her… it’s really depressing. I wonder if it’s caused by being spoiled too much by her father? o_O

On Kureha

Now it’s finally revealed that Kureha gained her extraordinary powers from the majuu itself, for plans of revenge whose reasons will still be explained in the next episode. Though, hints of this revelation have already been shown, such as the fact that Kureha showed contempt towards her father, and the latter felt the same way towards her as well. Kureha also told Ayumi that she understands her because she’s been treated as ‘abnormal’ as well, which is much of the reason why she resorted to asking this power from the majuu…

On Next Week’s Episode

Kureha’s past will finally be revealed in the next episode, and will most likely show the events the lead to her battle with her father. We’ve already seen a glimpse of little Kureha in the preview, who could be said to have the same situation as Kazuma was. But just like Misao, she too fell a victim as she resorted to asking powers from someone / something she shouldn’t have asked (which once again falls into the theme of ‘sacrificing something to achieve something’).

Ayano finally finds out Kureha’s real intentions (based on what she was saying in the preview) with the Taisai, and knows well that she doesn’t stand a chance against Kureha who has the powers of the majuu (well, looks like Ayano’s slow as usual that she will only realize that in the next episode ^^;;; ). Surprises and other events await in the next episode as we don’t know what other tricks Kazuma up his sleeves, knowing that he has ‘another job’ to finish…

P.S. Did I just learn how to ’summarize’ in the truest sense of the word? :p I think the length of my ’summary’ shrinked to half