Preview

As heir of one of the most powerful Fire-Mages house - the Kanagi - Ayano earned the right to use the mythical fire sword Enraiha, the highest symbol of power among Fire-Mages. Problem is, she is still young and inexperienced, so as much as she inherited and possess power, she fails to manage it efficiently.

When her long forgotten cousin Kazuma, once expelled from the Kanagi house for lack of any real power, returns to Japan as a powerful Wind-Mage (for most of the disgrace of the family), he is immediately flagged as the culprit behind some fatal hate-crimes against Fire-Mages, and thus a war between Kazuma and the Kanagi Family seams inevitable.

Pacing

With a nice start, Kaze no Stigma eventually looses a lot of pace by turning into an episodic or small arch based title. After the initial arch (which spans about 5 episodes) ends, enters several short one or two episode plots. The focus switches from the magical powers of the characters to their relationships and character development. Although this change comes to further develop all characters and make most of them believable and with a good humane attitude towards their own goals, it ends up spoiling the title, rendering it almost plotless. Kaze no Stigma could have used a better main plot even without loosing this character-oriented episodes.

During the mid-season, most of the episodes focus in Kazuma and Ayano's growing (yet somehow immature) relationship, developing a pleasant romance. However, as much as several episodes focus in such development, the final main plot arch starts without any conclusion on that front, and the anime equally ends without any real closure. Both plot and the character development ends quite open. In fact, one could even say there is no end: not only the final arch ends without any sense of closure, but the romance ends the same way as it started, with only mild hints about the future - be prepared.

In all other aspects, Kaze no Stigma only follow some average line without any major issues or faults.

Conclusion

As much as Kaze no Stigma tries to get a deep and complex plot by deploying several hints and flashbacks during the whole anime about Kazuma past, which is deeply related to the final arch, there are simply too many loose ends to quell the curiosity of any viewer. More questions arise during the last episodes than are actually answered, and a clear "read the novels" message keeps flashing when the anime reaches it's quite anti-climax ending.

If the plot is plain and incomplete, the same could be mentioned about character relationships.

Most character development is nice and well done, with Ayano starting off as a stubborn annoying teenager and slowly changing into a believable and strong female lead, but all that turns out to be in vain in face of the open endness of the title.

Kaze no Stigma is a nice call if you want something light with good characters, and could have been a top anime only it had a better continuity between archs and a real closure. If you can live with that, then there are no restrictions, though if Kaze no Stigma spins off a second season, it will probably be for the best (as long as this one boasts a real ending).