Kaze No Stigma
Anime DVD Review
Kazuma blows. Literally. But that's because he's a master of wind-magic. He was next-in-line to lead a family of fire-magic users, but because his skills in that area were sub-par, he was kicked out of the family. It's starting to sound a little like "Avatar The last Air-Bender", but stay with me here, this gets pretty interesting...
It's modern-day Japan, but with a twist. A few powerful clans control various elemental powers, using them to dispatch evil spirits (Youmas) as well as advance their own personal agendas, much like gangster rivalry, but in this case, using fire or wind.
 And much like "Darker than Black" there are very, very powerful elemental magic users known as "Contractors", who have essentially formed deals with a spirit lord in exchange for power. Kazuma had been ostracized from the family when he was defeated by Ayano during the successor ceremony for "Enraiha", his family's sacred fire-sword, due to his inability to use En-Jutsu (fire magic).
But 4 years later, he suddenly re-appears (as a Contractor) wielding incredible wind power (Fu-Jutsu). Not so coincidentally, family members suddenly start getting their heads chopped off, and the culprit is clearly using wind power. So Kazuma becomes the number-one suspect and Ayano, hot-headed and filled with firey anger, is out to kill him.
 Fortunately for us, the viewers, she's not exactly up to the task. But it's cute to watch her try.
Kazuma is one step ahead of the family, and seems ready for anything — but even he isn't totally prepared for what awaits him just a mere four episodes into the series. And things get even more interesting after that.
Kaze No Stigma is a really, really entertaining series because the characters are well thought-out, Ayano is very, very cute (although she does get annoying sometimes yelling "KAAAZUUUMAAAAA!"), the action never stops, Ayano is cute, the animation and direction are well above-par, the plot and pacing are top notch, GONZO keeps things looking really good, and hey, did we mention that Ayano is cute?
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, September 2009
Below: Scenes from Kaze No Stigma.
Below: Illustrations of Kaze No Stigma.
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