I initially stayed away from Kaze no Stigma because the poster girl for the show reminded me of Shana, with the fiery hair and obvious tsundere nature - nothing wrong with tsunderes mind you, except for a select few who just get on my nerves. I was quite content to just forget the show and never think about it again until I read a comment Kabitzin from Sea Slugs made on either his site or some other site, I can’t quite remember. His comment made consider giving the show a chance after all since he usually has pretty good taste when it comes to anime.
Said and done, I watched the seven episodes released spread out over two days and to be completely honest I’m not sure what to make of it. I mean I’m totally enjoying it and can’t wait for the next episode but the quick turns in mood from one scene to another and sometimes even during a single scene has me completely dumbfounded. For example the scene where Kazuma reveals to Misao he was responsible for her brother’s death. At first they’re joking around about sleeping together in a very lighthearted way with Ayano giving some funny reactions, then all of a sudden he drops the bomb on her and she tries to stab him with a knife she kept hidden in her sleeve.
Later Ayano see them together on what appears to be a date and a comedic stalking sequence follows which end in Misao once again trying to take Kazuma’s life, but Kazuma is never in any real danger and the whole attempt has a slightly humoristic air about it. And finally at the end of the episode there is a rather emotional scene and any doubt you might have had about Misao really being scarred by her brother’s death are blown away.
At this moment I feel these frequent changes in mood will get in the way of any character development but at the same time doesn’t have to detract from the entertainment value of the show. I can’t help but feel it will be a bit contradicting in the end however, because of the rather dark and sinister underlying themes. I mean, the way the house abandons anyone they deem too weak is pretty tragic when it comes down to it and I sort of hope they will capitalize on this later on in the show.
wai~ seeing more people enjoy KnS makes me one happy rabbit~ :3
I can’t blame you for being confused about certain things shown in the episodes, considering that GONZO chops off quite a large chunk of the novels (which supposedly makes the events clearer).
You might want to check out the novel comparisons I make for each of the KnS episode for a more complete KnS enjoyment / experience~ ^-^ (sorry for the shameless plug… I’m just one KnS fangirl hopping around sites to spread more KnS love ^^ )
you’ll see that there’s more to it than meets the eye (with what is simply shown in the anime)
Left by usagijen on May 26th, 2007