Final Series Review: Kaze no Stigma

Amanda Liu September 26, 2007

When I think of Kaze no Stigma, I think of cake. That is,I think of a multi layered cake that has been sitting there for three weeks in the open made out of cheap store-bought cake batter and delicious icing coated on top. Because that’s what this show is. It’s cliché, dull, well-worn, and it fills you up with a whole lot of nothing. But once in awhile, we get a taste of what could have been good.

I’m looking back at my first impressions of Kaze no Stigma from way back when and I noticed that I’ve complained a lot about how it was disappointing. Well that never changed. I also complained about how the animation sucked because GONZO was focusing on Romeo x Juliet. Well that never changed either. But I also said that the “worst aspect of this show is Ayano”. That line amuses me because Ayano is my favorite character in the show. Well besides Kazuma of course ;).

While Kaze no Stigma suffers from many faults such as bad production values, lack of originality, lack of excitement, bad directing, retarded fanservice, and what the not character development was one thing that Kaze no Stigma wasn’t bad at. Well at least for the two protagonists. Ignoring whatever happened in the novel because I didn’t read it, a number of these characters came from a long way. Especially Ayano in particular. She grew from a hot headed, irritating bi0tch, to an idiotically weak girl with no confidence, to an admirably strong and confident girl who actually deserves to be the next head of the Fire Clan. I really grew to like her and she, along with Kazuma, brings this series to life. Kazuma is a refreshing character that is actually tough and has simple traits that most male protagonists don’t. His actions and logics defy a lot of actions and thoughts that most male protagonist such as “revenge for a dead loved one” and etc. He still manages to be a flawed character, but he is still a good realistic one nevertheless. The cruelty and bitterness of Emo Kazuma is astounding too.

As far as the consistency for Kaze no Stigma, well it had none. A constant mix of ups and downs, one episode could bore you to tears while the next could keep you screaming for the next. Interestingly, all the arcs seemed to lose steam throughout the middle which made me wonder sometimes if Kaze no Stigma should have been a one-shot series of “Pimp My Daughter”. Because indeed, the outlandish matchmaking humor was probably better than most of the serious conflicts within the series.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this series. I don’t exactly regret watching this series but if a second season came out I’d probably skip over it unless everything other series in the season really sucked. While Kaze no Stigma had the characters (along with their development, relationships, and antics) going for it, this series is still primarily a fattening mess. So unless you absolutely have no life or something along those lines, avoid this entrée of anime junk food.

Tags: Kaze no Stigma

Category: Series Reviews

I believe myself~

6 Responses to “Final Series Review: Kaze no Stigma”

JRoxas http://jroxas.animeblogger.net/
September 26th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

I must say, I admire and envy your ability to stand watching the entirety of this series.
Amanda Liu http://
September 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

JRoxas> LOL it’s a curse not a blessing. Also, I’m completely biased and I tend to stick through shounen/seinen and drop any harems/light comedies on the spot.
anne
September 26th, 2007 at 3:39 pm

I would recommend it for Kazuma, but I’m not sure he alone can save the show. Ayano does grow, but it takes a loong time for her to. Though I never minded her and didn’t why people hated her so much. She’s not that original of a character. But to me, the most annoying character was probably Ren and his oniii-sama and oneee-sama’s. Everytime he was on screen the show died a little for me. It’s a show that has promise under all the bad crap, but you can kind of tell GONZO didn’t give a shit about it.
Jobrill
September 26th, 2007 at 5:17 pm

I ended up watching the whole series myself. I don’t HATE it, but it wasn’t exactly “good” either. I definitely agree that Kazuma and Ayano were the best parts, and if they had been developed a little more and we’d seen more of Ayano’s father’s attempts to matchmake it, it would be a lot more fun. I do hear that Ayano is a bit more proper and ladylike in the novels, which I think certainly would have been an excellent twist to her character.

But yeah. I like Ayano and Kazuma as characters, they’re fun. I’m also actually a pretty big fan of the blonde female detective who’s name I forgot. But that might be because she looks like Quistis. Though I think it was more how she was pretty sly and foxy, but still mature and businesslike. Nice combination. I would have liked to see more focus on her.

But anyway, yeah. This is a series that’s a decent time waster, but could have been a LOT better.
Amanda Liu http://
September 27th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

anne> As awesome as Kazuma may be, no individual character can save a series. I also am aware that Ayano is not the most original of characters but I find that she is a wonderful, fully developed character with strengths AND weaknesses. She’s not a one-shot trick.

About Ren, I didn’t really notice him most of the time but that stupid Ayumi x Ren arc was the crappiest thing I had ever seen. He wasn’t that annoying to me but hey I didn’t find Raki from Claymore annoying. Maybe I’ve grown an immunity to annoying characters LOL?

Oh and yeah, the production values pretty much shout that GONZO pulled this shit from their ass. All they’re concerned about is Romeo x Juliet anyways.

Jobrill> Yeah I heard that about the novels too. I have never read them personally because I know as much Japanese as brain cells in this director’s brain (AKA almost nothing). I hate Katherine and her Engrish though. But that’s mostly because she interfered with Kazuma x Ayano. Though her laugh was irritating beyond hell…

I think I’ve stated my position on this series already but I thought it might be handy to know that I place this series LAST in my list of Spring 2007 anime (that I didn’t drop).
Kabitzin http://www.seaslugteam.com
October 7th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

Man, this show ended up being the suck, and I feel bad for recommending it at first. There were some moments of light fun, but the awful production values really hampered the series. I think they did manage to get a decent ending, but it felt like too little too late.