Kaze no Stigma Episode 23 – Crimson Flame

Screenshots

Summary

In the previous episode, Ayano finally gains the resolve to face Kazuma despite the uncertainty of whether she means anything to him. The following day comes and Kazuma is still on the lookout for the events to come in the Pandemonium, waiting for the right chance to beat Wernhard to death.

Meanwhile in the Kannagi house, Genma expresses his intention of confronting Kazuma by himself, set on killing him to rectify the mistakes he has done. Ren completely disagrees with his father, believing that Kazuma should be given the chance to live and atone for his sins. Genma remains stubborn in his belief that there’s no other way to end this but to kill him. Ayano finally stands up against Genma to correct his twisted belief (since Kazuma is actually his son), and swears by her name as the next clan head and Enraiha, that they’ll resolve this. Seeing Ayano and Ren’s unshakable resolve regarding this matter, Genma steps back and leaves it in their hands. Ayano however still hasn’t thought of a strategy to go about defeating Kazuma, but Genma seems to have this faith that she’ll certainly be able to do this task.

Hours before the advent of Pandemonium, the seed players have already gathered in Central Park, now turned into their battleground to get rid of contenders for the race to come. Kirika is not at all bothered by this and is even thankful that this battle is helping them get rid of criminals who are all involved in this duel. Ren however isn’t the kind of person who could just ignore this situation, since these people are mere humans who have been possessed by youmas. He uses his flames to purify the people who were about to attack them, exclaiming how he sworn to protect people with the power he has. Seeing how Ren is able to possess this kind of thinking makes Ayano notice how he’s becoming more and more like his brother.

Ren takes care of the seed players while Ayano readies to face Kazuma. Midnight looms and Pandemonium reveals itself, releasing with it a vast glow of red light which awakens the youmas possessing the seed players. Transformed into monsters with this awakening, the players head towards the Pandemonium as the race is still on. Ren and Ayano follow after, and Kirika reassures Ayano that she can certainly save Kazuma.

Kazuma arrives and kills off all the players with his ominous wind before they can even reach Pandemonium. Ren once again talks him into stopping all this mayhem, knowing well that revenge won’t bring Tsuoi Rin back to life, let alone make her any happier. Kazuma retorts that there’s no way a lifeless individual can feel anything, so whatever he does won’t make her feel happiness nor sadness. He corrects their misconception that he’s doing this for the sake of Tsuoi Rin, since he’s merely killing because he wants to, and will also kill anyone who gets in his way. Kazuma warns Ren not to interfere with him as his convincing will certainly not make him change his mind about this.

Words alone certainly won’t reach Kazuma so Ayano finally stands to fight him, earning her a scorn from Kazuma who looks down on her abilities. As Ayano comes face to face with Kazuma, she comes to realize that this is his real power, an overwhelming strength he possesses even without his contractor powers. Ayano looks at her hands trembling and thinks that it’s but normal for her to feel this fear, considering that her opponent is a behemoth Contractor. But then she never felt this fear and disgust with Kazuma in the previous battles they had, and comes to realize the real reason why she feels like this.

The person she used to admire and actually thought of being at par with has now become unsightly more than ever. Ayano refuses to listen to Kazuma’s warning and without stepping back even one bit, she tells him “Truth be told, I actually admire[d] you, and even thought of being at par with you and become accepted by you.” There’s no way that Ayano can accept that this is the Kazuma she looked up to and will certainly do everything she can to bring him back. Brimming with much confidence and determination, Ayano even manages to taunt him “Don’t worry. I will go easy on you”

Kazuma is first to attack with his wind blades and Ayano quickly dodges it. Another blow from Kazuma comes and Ayano counters with her Enraiha, who lunges a fireball attack and swings her sword against his wind. Kazuma is swift to evade and ambushes Ayano from behind, which she manages to avoid, together with the rest of his attacks.

Their battle comes to a pause and Ayano thinks about how she doesn’t feel any fear towards the usual Kazuma, despite how powerful and on an entirely different level his skills are. For her to feel this fear simply means that the current Kazuma is weak, a proof that she can see the limit of his abilities (explanation / correction can be found later in my thoughts / deep frying). “I am not going to tolerate this! I won’t accept how Kazuma has become this weak! In order to bring Kazuma back, I’m giving back everything you taught me!”, exclaims Ayano, who scorches through Kazuma’s wind. Kazuma is taken aback by Ayano’s sudden burst of attacks, but she tells him that it’s nothing to be surprised about because it was he himself who taught her all this – the true meaning of power, how to use it, and how she should live her life.

Kazuma is brought to his knees and gets into thinking, “Why is Ayano interring with my plans? Why can’t I stop Ayano? Why… am I fighting?” While Kazuma is deep in his thoughts, Ayano draws out her crimson flame as she screams “This is not my Kazuma!!!”

Drawn into this blaze of flame, Ayano makes him remember the principles that he taught her. That it’s the responsibility of people who have power to protect everything, to avoid any more tragedies from happening.

The word “protect” resounds in Kazuma’s mind as he gets reminded of the promise he made with Tsuoi Rin. He finally snaps out of his daze after Ayano tells him, “Why are you simply looking at your past and not the present? Just what is it that you’re protecting?!” Kazuma can’t believe how he can forget what he sworn to himself, that this power is not meant for taking the lives of people, but for preventing them from suffering that fate. Kazuma looks at how horrid his wind is, in contrast to Ayano’s flame which shows the radiance of her soul. He remembers the first time he saw this flame when Ayano fought with Ryuuya, and can’t help but admire how she’s able to wield this.

Ayano who was not aware that Kazuma already returned to his normal self goes all out in attacking Kazuma, who seems to have forgotten that the battle is still on. Kazuma is completely knocked out from battle, which marks Ayano’s debut victory against him. Ren commends her for being able to wield her own Divine Flame, but Ayano was clueless as to what he’s talking about.

Kazuma manages to get back on his feet and trips Ayano as payback for what she has done. After the supposedly damage he sustained from Ayano’s attack, Kazuma is left unharmed, much to her disappointment since she was hoping that she’d be able to damage him even a little. After their little banter with Kazuma denying the fact that he lost his sanity (sort of), he thinks about how Tsuoi Rin will always be in his heart. But then there’s more than one thing (person) important to him (and that is, Ayano)

Kazuma draws near Ayano, leaning closer and closer until she finally delivers a kiss on her neck. Kazuma lets out an even more puzzling remark “Be prepared. I am a very selfish and greedy person.”, making Ayano even more dumbfounded than she already is (with the kiss from Kazuma). The real battle just about to begin, and Kazuma heads to Pandemonium together with Ayano and Ren, swearing that he’ll protect everything this time.

Thoughts

Wow… such an intense episode… I don’t recall getting this much excitement from the fight scenes in KnS since the battle with Ryuuya. And well, looks like both these battles are considered to be momentous events in the life of both Ayano and Kazuma. And I’m not just talking about Ayano’s Divine Flame here, I’m also referring to some realization on Kazuma’s part during that encounter with Ryuuya which was not explained in the anime at all. That should’ve made it clear how Kazuma became captivated with Ayano that time… that’s such an important and critical point! GONZO…!! How can you miss out on that!! >__< (more of this in my deep frying)

Genma smirks at Ayano

I can’t help but be affected by much of the changes made in this episode… like that brief discussion between Genma, Ren and Ayano. I don’t find it surprising that Ayano would lash out like she did, but you’ll actually admire how she didn’t act like this in the novel. I don’t recall Ayano uttering a single word to Genma, actually… In the midst of Ren and Genma’s exchange of arguments, she carefully thought about Genma’s actions, and realized how he is simply testing their resolve. Upon realizing this, she gazed at Genma for quite some time, who then realizes how Ayano is intently looking at him. He gives her a wry smile as he tells her, “I leave this matter to you, Ayano” , which was such a shock for Ayano who was still having doubts if she can stand up against Kazuma (since she actually has no plans on how to defeat him)

As I’ve also briefly mentioned in my deep frying of episode 22, how Ayano was able to gain the determination to fight against Kazuma went differently in the novel. And up until that time when the discussion at the Kannagi house went on, she still had those doubts deep within her.

Aside from the usual pantyshots the animators insert into this series, we’re also presented with much WTH-ish moments throughout the battle between Ayano and Kazuma (only in the anime) First would be the way Ayano came to conclude how Kazuma has become weak simply because she feels fear towards him… That was really o__O

Ayano’s Thoughts on Kazuma Becoming Weak

Now if I understand the novel correctly, how Ayano was able to come to this conclusion is this way… When Ayano came face to face with the berserk Kazuma, it was the first time that she felt his “murderous wind”, where bloodthirstiness is written all over it. She feels fear, as she sees how overwhelming his power is (compared to hers). Ayano thinks that this is Kazuma’s real power… but then a question of doubt runs through her mind, “Is this really Kazuma’s real power?” Ayano knows for a fact that the power Kazuma is exhibiting at that point is indeed overpowering. But despite this, she can’t help but feel that there’s something wrong with it. As Ayano comes to realize just why she feels so disgusted with the current Kazuma, all that fear she had subsided (there’s still that fear in her heart, but her resolve got the better of her, allowing her to ignore that :3).

As for Ayano’s brimming confidence with the words she uttered about going easy on Kazuma, I believe it’s not a groundless claim or boastfulness. I mean, unlike her previous utterance of these boastful remarks… she has actually sworn to give this battle her all. And for the first time, she had to win this fight without any help from Kazuma.

Ayano isn’t dumb mind you (for people who think she is), because her brains were working well throughout her battle with Kazuma. How she came to realize why the berserk Kazuma has become “weak” was explained well in the novel. And I hope this explanation of mind can bring enlightenment to this…

After their first exchange of blows, Ayano notices something different about Kazuma’s wind. It’s undeniably powerful, but then that’s all it is… simply strong. Ayano sees how lacking Kazuma’s wind has become. Deep in thoughts, she tells herself that if this was the real Kazuma, she would’ve died ten times already, since his wind is supposedly much much sharper and faster (and she would’ve been beheaded already if he was her opponent). With Kazuma in his berserk mode, it’s said that he relies too much on brute strength and power, and lost both himself and his elegant (?) fighting style as his mind is clouded with revenge (his fighting style became ‘rough’).

I think it’s not surprising for a ‘killing machine’ like berserk Kazuma to lose this fighting sense he used to have, since he is not able to think straight at his current state (tongue twister not intended). In the case with Arwin who killed Tsuoi Rin, it’s most likely that he didn’t see through this weakness of Kazuma back then or that he was overpowered, hence Kazuma was able to kill him off. But this Kazuma won’t stand a chance against Ayano whose determination and drive to defeat him and bring him back is steadfast. Strong as Kazuma might be, a fight between someone whose mind is wandering and someone whose mind is clear (of any doubts, hesitation, and other negative thoughts) will certainly result to the victory of the latter, in my opinion. And this is the case with Kazuma and Ayano’s duel.

continued on Part 2 of this Deep Frying

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