Kazuma Yagami

"Eyes as blue as the azure sky. That is the symbol of the Contractor, entrusted by the Spirit King of the Wind with the powers of his domain. I bear this mark... the Stigma of the Wind."

- Kazuma's opening narration Kazuma Yagami is the main male protagonist and anti-hero of the light novel and anime series Kaze no Stigma. He is a former member of the Kannagi family who was exiled four years prior to the story due to his lack of talent for fire magic. After serious training in China, he returns to Japan as an incredibly powerful wind magic user, having made a contract with the Spirit King of the Wind, just like the first Kannagi head had done before with the Spirit King of Fire. He is the second cousin of Ayano Kannagi and the estranged older brother of Ren Kannagi.

He is voiced by Daisuke Ono in the Japanese version of the anime and Robert McCollum in the English version.

Appearance
Kazuma is a tall man with brown hair, pale skin and orange-brown eyes, which turn blue when he uses his Contractor powers. He wears a black shirt, a navy blue jacket, and gray pants.

Personality
"Misao: Why did my brother have to die?! Kazuma: Because he was weak. Ren: Kazuma... Ayano: If that was supposed to be some kind of joke, then you've got a really sick sense of humour. How could you say something so disrespectful? Have you already forgotten how weak you were and what it felt like before you discovered how to use wind magic Kazuma: You done? Because I am."

- An example of Kazuma's brutal honesty Kazuma is shown throughout the series to be bitter, rude and selfish, which stems from constant harsh treatments by the Kannagis due to his inability to use fire magic and his subsequent exile. While it was for his own good as he wouldn't have been in a very good position if he had stayed a Kannagi, as far as he knew his parents simply abandoned him because he was weak, after which he vowed to become stronger. Having returned to Japan as a Contractor, Kazuma, much like Ayano, is very arrogant, finding it endlessly amusing and ironic that the once powerless 'black sheep' is now possibly stronger than the entire Kannagi family combined.

However, arrogance is the only trait he and Ayano share. Where Ayano is short-tempered and impulsive, Kazuma is cool-headed and rational. He thinks things through carefully and frequently proves himself to be the smarter of the two as well as the more powerful. However, he is not above making mistakes, such as when he accidentally freed the demon of Mount Fuji in the process of saving Mayumi Tsuwabuki. Although he takes pride in his almost god-like power, Kazuma also knows his limits, being more than willing to ask others for help and acknowledging that, while he may be a Contractor, he's not invincible.

Kazuma has a very cold, sarcastic sense of humour, never passing an opportunity to tease Ayano about something. He never takes back anything he says, to the point that Kirika Tachibana jokes that he doesn't even know how to pronounce the word "Sorry." He is also brutally honest and prone to making harsh but true comments about everyone and everything, such as when he bluntly told Misao that her brother died because he was weak, which infuriated Ayano as she believes that he of all people should understand how it feels to be weak.