Kazuma Yagami

"It's not like I hate the family. Still, I can't forget what they did to me and I don't think I ever will. That's why I cast off the family name and took a new one to liberate myself. The old Kazuma Kannagi may have yielded to their demands. But Kazuma Yagami never will! Not an inch!"

- Kazuma to Ren, saying he's through doing what the Kannagi family tells him to do 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, as well as the love interest of the former.

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.

Despite this disrespectful attitude, Kazuma is still caring and does not hesitate to protect those who are important to him, such as when he decided to get involved with the Fuga clan's battle against the Kannagi family after they kidnapped Ren, who he still considers his brother despite saying the Kannagis aren't his family anymore. He also hates people who perform human sacrifice, as it reminds him of his own failure to protect his first love, Tsui-Ling.

As someone who was born without any power and had to suffer greatly in order to gain it, Kazuma has the arrogance of a person who has power, but still understands the feelings of those who are weak. And while he'll protect people who are naturally weak and have no chance of becoming stronger, Kazuma looks down on people who have the opportunity to become stronger, but choose to rely on others instead, and so needs to basically be bribed into helping them. This is most predominant when it come to do with anything involving his family. Since every member has the power to wield fire, there should be very little reason for Kazuma to help, and his bitterness towards them makes him even more unwilling to step in. Theoretically, they could all hone their powers to become stronger, or be like Kazuma and find another element they're more suited for. This is why he has to be bribed into helping Ayano and even his own little brother, Ren, who is the only person in the family who seems to care for him. While he may come off as very cold and arrogant when he comments on someone being weak or being paid to help out, his reasoning is very solid.