If you think you’ve seen the last of me and my KnS crusade (novel and manga-wise), well, think again

The Kaze no Stigma anime has ended (or at least, the first season?), but that won’t be the last of my blogging of KnS :3 And as usual, here comes yet another deep frying I have as a follow-up for this recently ended anime series. As I’ve also mentioned in my summary, the anime ended similar to the novel, where lots of questions are still left to be answered (since the author is said to have an ailment and still can’t continue with the main arc). Given that, don’t expect me to narrate a conclusion shown in the novel, because there’s none as of now. I’ll just be doing some backtracking and once again fill in some missing tidbits omitted in the anime, particularly in the last two episodes. Major changes abound here like some lost Kazuma x Ayano antics and missing scenes in the confrontation with Lapis. The amusing remarks by our beloved characters in the end, one of which is Soushu’s cheer which I already mentioned in my thoughts on the last summary, is in part 2 of my deep frying.

On The Seed Players’ “Doomed Fate” (and the Game Metaphors)

Contrary to what was shown in the anime, not all of the seed players were annihilated by Kazuma. The ones who were left behind the pack didn’t fall prey to his vicious wind. Now after the Kazuma vs Ayano duel, they head on to their destination, believing that the race is still on. Foolish as they were in their youma-possessed state, they were all too blinded by their desire for power to notice that they were simply being tricked. One of the players arrives in Pandemonium and becomes the “winner” of the race, that is, being the first “live pork chop” (who die a horrible grisly death) to be fed to Belial. The other players were clearly out of their mind that they follow the same doomed fate of this “winner”, like some lemmings >suicide scene, as Kazuma also mentions in the novel. Ren lets out a little complaint against this rather cold remark of his brother, but Kazuma simply ignores it. Kazuma is even thankful that they are bringing this upon themselves, since they can simply focus all their energies on confronting Lapis and Wernhard.

Seeing the situation the players were in, Ayano remarks on how they can’t simply enter Pandemonium from the front entrance or they’ll suffer the same fate as the players. Kazuma gives her a doubtful look and asks, “You’re going in?”, thinking that it’s no longer necessary since she can just burn the place and they won’t have any more problems. “It’s not like this is a game, where we have to go all the way to some dungeon and find the big boss for a one-on-one fight”, adds Kazuma (showing how the author is really fond of adding these game-related metaphors). Ayano reacts the same way in the anime, since he forgot about her two best friends who were caught up in this mess because of him ^^;;

Kazuma x Ayano Antics Before the Lapis Confrontation

A scene was (again) cut in the anime, with Kazuma creating a new opening into Pandemonium as he leads the way. Ayano is quite surprised that he will be the front line because knowing Kazuma, he would rather be choosing the most efficient and safest means (for him) possible. That is, to make Ayano go ahead first to ensure everything is safe before he proceeds And the conversation went like…

Kazuma: Why, you seem to be taking me for a cruel bastard…
Ayano: Oh, did you hear that Ren?
Ayano: It seems like this guy has forgotten who he is (and even glosses over his misbehaviors).
Ren: …Uhm… (caught in the ‘dispute’ between the two XD)

Ok, now here goes some HUGE omission the anime did last time… Remember how Kazuma became pissed at Ayano asking him if he can fight against Lapis? Apparently, things didn’t just end with Ayano going silent and Kazuma ignoring what happened. Kazuma supposedly stares at the sad-faced Ayano who was filled with guilt because of what she said. A few seconds pass and Kazuma’s expression changes to his usual mischievous smile as he pokes Ayano on the forehead to make her face him. He presses her on the forehead to take a peek at her teary-eyed face…

Kazuma: Well, shall I leave it up to you then?
Ayano: W-what are you talking about?
Kazuma: Being Lapis’s opponent. I’m pretty sure you want to take your revenge over your shameful loss last time.
(Ayano’s ego was bruised with this, since she actually stood a chance against Lapis)
Ayano: Wh-what shameful loss?! I almost won if you didn’t interfere!
Kazuma: I see… Well you can say anything in a hypothetical.
Ayano: Argh! This guy really gets on my nerves!
Ren: Niisama… Neesama… let us not get into a lovers’ quarrel here, please?
Ayano: Wh-What lovers’ quarrel are you talking about?!
Ren: S-sorry!

On Utsumi’s Bloody Cut-off Screen Time

and literally… we see some gory “cut off” here… so beware

Kazuma, Ayano and Ren heads into the gates of Pandemonium, and was supposedly have been given a “warm” welcome by Utsumi accompanied by his now-turned puppets, Yukari and Nanase. He tells them to call him “Grand Mage”, regarding himself as an almighty being who is far beyond their reach. Ayano then demands Utsumi to give Yukari and Nanase back, and was about to lose her temper when he just sneers at her ‘request’ since both her friends won’t listen to anyone but Utsumi’s commands. Kazuma steps in between them and prevents Ayano from attacking Utsumi first, saying “I don’t care if you’re into playing meido (or role-playing maid-and-master), but all I want to know is where Wernhard is.” ^^;;;

Utsumi then boasts about how he has killed off Wernhard and that now he’s the master of Pandemonium. The “fight” between Utsumi and Wernhard wasn’t mentioned in the novel anymore, but I’m thinking that Wernhard faked his loss and just escaped afterwards. Utsumi was even foolish enough to think that Wernhard and the other seed players simply existed for completing him – the Ultimate Homo Superior, the Original SEED (with the original youma). Kazuma could no longer stand hearing all this crap and just slits through his face to make him shut up. Utsumi loses all the ego he’s been showing as he hides behind the chair he was sitting on, ordering Yukari and Nanase to protect him (what a wuss :P).

His last hope for salvation however was taken away in an instant, as Kazuma renders Yukari and Nanase unconscious and takes them back to their side (as was also shown in the anime). Utsumi cowers in fear and gets into panic mode as he draws out all his powers in that desperate situation. Kazuma stays calm and collected (like usual), and well… chops off his head >.>’’ The head actually pranced through the air, according to the novel… and blood comes spurting out of the now headless body afterwards. After that rather gruesome scene however, Utsumi still tands tall and proud, alive and headless. Lapis makes her appearance and kicks the live head, ordering headless Utsumi to get a grip on his own head, which he follows obediently, much to his surprise. (no wonder they decided not to show this… it’s nowhere as creepy as what happened to School Days, but it does stray out of the not-so-evil vibes the anime has been maintaining [in a not-so-consistent manner] in the past).

On Some Additional Scenes (and Revelations) with Lapis

With his head now back in its place, Utsumi’s system gets restarted (it’s the term the novel used), and voila… he is able to talk again. After much of Utsumi’s “screentime” in the novel, he finally steps back and hands the floor to Lapis. She gives the guests a late welcome and passes the message Wernhard has for them – an apology for not being able to greet them personally, and the confidence that they’ll meet again. Wernhard is already on his way back, according to Lapis, which Kazuma doesn’t find surprising because of the cliché scene used in this part of the setting (with the big boss avoiding face-off first, leaving it for some other time as he comes back with a grand entrance). Kazuma figures out that Lapis was the one who wrote this “scene”, because there would’ve been more twists if Wernhard was the one behind it (like in the scene with Utsumi, where Kazuma thinks that he’ll turn a Hulk of some sort (a bizarre idea by Ayano which she didn’t think he would actually agree with)) And they get into this rather “friendly” talk:

Lapis: Is that so… but I’ve tried my best to do this.
Kazuma: Well, it seems that you still have a lot to learn.
Lapis: Yeah… I have to keep on practicing.

(Seeing how these supposedly enemies have turned chums, Ayano of course can’t simply accept the fact that she’s being ignored)
Ayano: Hey now! Why the heck are you acting all friendly towards an enemy! Do you even understand the situation we’re in right now?!

Amusing as this could have been, I think it would’ve made the anime version much more anticlimactic than it already was. It’ll affect the build-up of action in the final episode as it’ll ruin the serious mood. Ayano vs Lapis fight was supposed to be the better fight scene in the last episode after all.

Ayano’s words brought Lapis into thinking that being consoled by her enemy is indeed out of character for a villain (the “role” she’s supposed to be playing), and so she gets a hold of herself to live up to Wernhard’s expectations. Her next action wasn’t exactly villain-like however, as she asks Ayano, “Well then [in order for me to act like a villain], I’m thinking of revealing the details of our plan with much pride, but I wonder if I can do it…” ^^;;; And well, this is supposedly a climactic scene, and Lapis is not at all helping in making it any more exciting… so Ayano finally snaps and prepares to attack Lapis, thinking that she must be buying some time to let Wernhard escape. Lapis however says there’s no need for this, since her master is already someplace that even a wind-user like Kazuma can’t possibly find.

Ayano demands an answer as to why she has to say all this, and Lapis reveals that it’s because of the promise she made with Wernhard – that she as the villain should reveal the secret with all pride just before the climax. *sweatdrop* Ayano can’t help but stare at Lapis [with a smile on her face], seeing how she has become all senile, from her supposedly cool and calculating self (and wonders if it’s the effect of the land they are in, since Pandemonium has now changed its location ^^;;; ). Lapis didn’t take this remark offensively and even saw this “change” as a good thing. (She thought that Ayano was actually praising her for having undergone this change) It’s in this part of the scene that Lapis expresses her desire to have a heart, feelings of her own which lie beyond what was given her (or programmed in her system), such as her faculty of judgment as well as her feeling of attachment to Kazuma.

Lapis then confides the twisted principle of Wernhard which he taught her, that a person should not simply focus all her energies in doing her mission, but to have the luxury of enjoying what she does. She should not also concern herself with the plight of anyone, because it will hinder her from achieving “true free will”, according to Wernhard. After this, we’re given this quite long sequence where Lapis explains the truth behind Wernhard’s plans, not the Utsumi version. This revelation should’ve been shown in my opinion, because it clears up some plotholes with regards to what really happened to Utsumi.

First is that the youma inside Utsumi, just like the rest of the seed players, is just a clone of the original one. The “original youma” is supposedly Belial which still hasn’t been summoned. The more surprising revelation is the fact that the real Utsumi (or Utsumi’s personality) has long been devoured by the youma which possessed him. Lapis gives several evidences to prove this – Utsumi remained in his human form despite having the greatest powers of all the seed players, and he hasn’t laid a hand on both Yukari and Nanase when his original self would not have hesitated to do so. Utsumi is a perverse maniac after all. All this is because the Utsumi now is simply a virtual being, programmed to become a decoy for luring Kazuma and Ayano into Pandemonium. It was mentioned in the novel that they lured Ayano, knowing the high probability that Kazuma will make his move if Ayano makes her move as well.

As Lapis mentions, a virtual being doesn’t feel lust or any sexual urge, which is why Utsumi never did *such* a thing to the girls, much to Ayano’s relief. This remains consistent in the issue raised before, where Ayano concerned herself with this danger of a woman in captivity. Utsumi completely loses his sanity after coming to terms with this bitter truth and cries out in despair, while Lapis watches the scene with gleam in her eyes. Kazuma scorns at how she’s enjoying this, similar to the anime, with some difference in the situation. There wasn’t any mention about Lapis cutting Utsumi in half in the novel… He lost his sanity after that striking revelation and became like a lifeless doll afterwards o__o

Second part of my deep frying goes here…