Kaze no Stigma Episode 18 - Tokyo RPG

Screenshots

Summary

From where the previous episode left off, Kazuma sees a girl with a striking resemblance to Tsuoi Rin, making him once again remember the tragic incident that happened in his past. He runs after the girl but loses track of her, at the same time allowing the criminal from earlier escape.

Kanon once again goes on a ‘date’ with Ren, and gets all dreamy as she thinks about letting Ren into her room. Tatsuya takes away Ren from Kanon and they have their usual argument about who deserves to have Ren. Ren stops the two from fighting and a guy named Takamatsu suddenly appears, who seemed to have asked Kanon out for a date which she already refused. Takamatsu however remains persistent and thinks that she’s just playing hard to get, so Ren (respectfully) makes him leave Kanon alone, seeing how he’s a nuisance to Kanon.

Takamatsu tells Ren that his pretty face doesn’t merit him the right to meddle in their affair, infuriating both Kanon and Tatsuya that he’s looking down on Ren. They make him face the fact that Ren is more than just a ‘pretty face’, since he’s also good in sports and academics, a kind of guy who’s totally beyond Takamatsu’s level. Takamatsu gets insulted by their remarks and was about to hit them when Ren finally snaps and grabs him by the collar, giving him a killing glare. Takamatsu stops cold and becomes filled with fear as he sees just how serious Ren is. He lets out a threat that his brother will make them suffer for what they did to him. Kanon and Tatsuya simply laughed at what he told them about his brother having supernatural powers, but Ren feels something fishy about this.

Ayano, Yukari and Nanase spends some time indulging in (eat-all-you can) cakes and Yukari is all excited about helping out the police in finding out the truth behind the mysterious incident which involved Utsumi, among others. Ayano questions Yukari’s decision, wondering if she’s not afraid of facing events and people involving things like magic, curses, and extraordinary powers. Ayano herself possesses this kind of extraordinary powers, which will allow her to take someone’s life in an instant. Given this, she believes that it’s but normal for her existence to be feared, and tells Yukari and Nanase not to force themselves in keeping her company. Yukari and Nanase assures Ayano that they have no reason to fear her, knowing well that she uses her powers for the good of people. They assure her that their friendship is true, and promises to help out each other in times of need.

Ayano walks home filled with bliss that she has such great friends. She runs into Catherine who apparently still hasn’t gone home to America, and is now chasing after this magical girl who challenges her to a duel. Ayano suspects Catherine for being the cause of the ruckus that’s been happening in the city, but was left dumbfounded as she finds out that Catherine was recruited by Kirika to be part of the police force. Ayano can’t believe how desperate the special investigation unit is for them to resort to recruiting her.

The magical girl Shii-chan who has been ignored by the two then goes to attack them, and Catherine finds out how this was the ‘girl on a rage’ who’s been causing quite a commotion lately in the city. Shii-chan briefly mentions the name ‘Pandemonium’ who she thinks is where Catherine and Ayano’s powers also came from, The two flame wielders obviously don’t know what she’s talking about because their powers are but natural, which shows in the outcome of the battle where Shii-chan sorely loses. Catherine gets a phone call from Kirika asking how her job is coming along. Kirika also tells her something about Kazuma, which she refuses to reveal to Ayano.

Kazuma is currently wandering around in the city, dazed and still thinking about the girl who looks like Tsuoi Rin he saw earlier. He finally picks up Kirika’s call, who tells him to get a hold of himself and help them out, considering that he already let one of the suspects escape.

Ren is still with Kanon and Tatsuya, who gets dragged by some thugs into this alley where their punishment from Takamatsu’s brother Kiyoshi awaits them. Kiyoshi starts attacking them with a powerful fireball, surprising Ren, Kanon and Tatsuya that he indeed possesses such power. Ren shields this attack with his flame, and surpasses through his opponent’s phoenix flame as well. Kiyoshi is left unharmed due to some youma, but is not aware that he’s already being possessed.

Kiyoshi acknowledges Ren as someone who’s at par with him, believing that he’s also a player who has achieved a high class level in this real-life RPG. He also mentions about Vesalius who told him about being the only one who has achieved that rank so far. Kiyoshi once again retaliates with a fireball attack but Ren returns it with his flame of purification. Kiyoshi loses his fire-elemental abilities because Ren has already gotten rid of the youma which bestowed him this power, but he simply thought he ran out of MP (magic / mana point, a term used in RPG games referring to points used for casting spells)

Kanon and Tatsuya were astonished to find out that Ren is a flame wielder all along, but contrary to the reaction he’s expecting, both of them admired him even more because of this. Despite Kiyoshi’s clear intentions of killing them earlier as payback for what they did to his brother, Ren isn’t the kind of person who’d stoop down his level. He simply asks him about how he gained his power. At about the same time, Catherine is also interrogating Shii-chan, who reveals that they obtained this power from a site known as ‘Pandemonium’. People reach this site unconsciously, where they are prompted with this message “Do you long for power?”. Upon choosing yes, they get to download this contract which binds them with the youma, allowing it to possess them and give them powers in return.

Players gather online in one message board / forum, where they discuss about their powers and challenge other players to a duel. It is said that the Pandemonium site can’t be reached the second time around. Duels allow players to gain experience points and level up, just like how RPG systems work. Upon defeating their opponent, the players will receive an SMS informing them of the points they gained. Reaching a certain level will allow them to change class, enabling them to become a “high class” player. Kiyoshi confides how he was able to meet Vesalius who granted him this rank. He can remember faint details about the place, which fits nothing else but one building in the middle of the city.

Ayano who still wonders about what Kazuma has done earlier waits for Kirika outside their house to get the answer to this question. Kirika also has some things to discuss with the Kannagis and decides to tell her the details as they head inside. Meanwhile, Ren goes to the building together with Kanon and Tatsuya, and confirms his suspicion about the presence of Pandemonium in a distorted space within the premise. The opponent however won’t let Ren get away with what he did, and makes him disappear in a blink of an eye.

Thoughts

Some light has been shed with regards to the mysteries surrounding Pandemonium, particularly how the people got involved in this (unconsciously). The series remains true in its focus on youmas and the elementals, while merging ideas from MMORPGs. Some little tidbits of gaming elements have already been presented early on in the novel, and I didn’t quite expect the author actually thought about mixing it into the main plot. Although the idea isn’t really something new and ingenious, it’s still a good surprise in my opinion

It’s also great that the author focused on the reality of people’s reactions towards people with extraordinary abilities. It was portrayed well especially in Ayano’s friendship with Yukari and Nanase. I think I wasn’t able to mention much about it in my Deep Frying of Episode 6, but that’s supposedly the first time they find out about her elemental abilities. And it wasn’t shown in the anime, but their initial reaction was that of fear towards the fact that Ayano resembles a beast who can take their life in an instant. That should have made it more realistic, but apparently, the anime didn’t quite focus on that beforehand… it’s actually shown in the manga as well~ because the manga is <333 XD

I placed that little backtracking at the end of my thoughts so it won’t be distracting, but if you insist on reading it now and ruin your train of thought, just click away~

Taking the novel aside, I think I like how the pacing of this story went. I’m still in the process of reading the chapter covering this episode, and have seen some changes and omissions here and there… but they’re not really that critical. That is, except for the addition of Catherine into this whole mess again >.> Just what the heck is Gonzo thinking for including her in this most critical and dramatic arc of KnS?! D: Apparently, they are planning on keeping her till the end… when in fact she’s supposed to be a short-story insert character T___T

Does Catherine have such a big fan base, for her to be treated this special?! While Ayano who’s supposed to have more focus is getting a bad image in return T___T Sigh… whatever their plans are, I certainly hope Catherine won’t mess much of the Kazuma x Ayano antics I’m really looking forward to in this arc, or else… >E (Gonzo might have made the animation quality better, but it still won’t be worth it if they’ll mess the story with the addition of Catherin >E)

Oh, another minor change the anime did was expanding the setting of the story from simply Shinjuku to Tokyo (Shinjuku is only one of the many areas of Tokyo). To make it more… extravagant or something? I’m not so sure o_O (similar to how they changed Kazuma’s drink from Wulong tea to coffee)

Yukari and Nanase’s First Encounter with Flame-wielding Ayano

========================== end of manga insert ==============================