All things considered, human beings are not particularly strong creatures without their tools. Ignore that guy who claims he can beat up a bear with his bare hands. He is lying and has a terrible sense of humor. History has shown that power has a distinct way of corrupting those who gain too much, or come to take whatever power they've attained for granted.

Following the particularly heavy previous story arc in which Ren, the youngest Kannagi, learned what it was like to experience love and loss in but a couple of days, Kaze no Stigma spent several episodes cleansing the viewer's palate. In a plot to bring the errant Kazuma back into the Kannagi fold and conceive the next generation's successor, the family head began to set up romantic scenarios to encourage the coupling of his daughter Ayano with the windswept jerk.

This four-episode arc, which could be appropriately titled "Pimp My Daughter," focuses more on humor and character development than action. The arc also introduces Catherine McDonald, the requisite foreign rival character from, of course, America. Like all American characters, she speaks English in one scene — granted, better English than the entire cast of Beck — and is much more well-endowed than the female lead, Ayano. She also tries to rival her in pursuit of Kazuma as well, but let's face it, you saw that coming. Despite how utterly cliché-ridden she is as a character, by the end of the series, Catherine actually manages to somewhat subvert her archetype and grow into a decent enough, slightly-more-three-dimensional addition to the cast of regulars.

The remaining eight episodes of Kaze no Stigma shift focus from those crazy Kannagi kids kicking a lot of magical ass and growing to the question of how ordinary people — and by "ordinary," I mean antisocial internet addicts — would handle the acquisition of their own magical powers. Things start going wrong all across Tokyo as nerds begin downloading youma off the internet into their bodies and developing a variety of special abilities.

In a scathingly accurate portrayal of the nerds of the world, these super powered antisocial kids started arranging fights to gain experience points and levels with no regard for the public damage and chaos they were causing. (If the internet tells you you've got super powers and you need to beat up and possibly kill each other as a game, it can't possibly be a bad thing!) This sociopathic behavior should surprise no one who's spent any significant amount of time on popular internet video game forums.

Investigation of these violent incidents brings Kazuma face-to-face with his dead girlfriend from four years ago. The same dead girlfriend who he watched get eaten by a powerful devil before his very eyes long before he acquired his ultra-badass magic powers. This time, not even Mr. Kickass can keep his head cool, flying into a rage and hunting down more powerful "players" (As the deluded nerds had come to call themselves) in search of the series's final villain, who'd basically cloned his dead girlfriend to screw with him as a side amusement, on top of the more sinister aims that came with giving nerdy teenagers demonic magic powers.

As the final battle looms, the younger Kannagi members are faced with the challenge of snapping Kazuma out of his rage and convincing him that his present was more important than the past. To remind him why exactly he'd sought out his contract with the Spirit King of the Wind in the first place. Can they save Kazuma from himself? And can they save Tokyo from its almost-assured destruction? You can guess the answers to these questions pretty easily.

The ending itself, while serviceable, leaves you wanting more. The very last episodes introduce further plot elements that remain unexplored in these 24 episodes, laying the groundwork for a much longer-running story. (The story remains incomplete, after creator Takahiro Yamato's death this past July.) No plans have been announced for the adaptation of further light novels, either. Like many TV series that don't adapt the entirety of the work they're based on, Kaze no Stigma ends just when things are starting to get especially interesting.

The second half of the series suffers in no way aesthetically as it plunges into much darker territory. The small amount of humor in the show continues to be well-handled, as is the elaborate, intelligent plot of the final episodes. Character motivations become more complicated and challenges loom that powerful magic alone could not overcome. You can clearly see the divide between shonen and seinen (Older demographic) writing in Kaze no Stigma.

In the end, Kaze no Stigma won't blow your mind or change your perspective on anything — I can only imagine the cognitive dissonance many gamers would experience watching the commentary on them — but it's an enjoyable show at its core, with a genuinely likable cast and smarter writing than you'd expect. (Of course, action is still action.) In a genre as one-dimensional and stagnant as action anime tends to be, Kaze no Stigma's a fresh breeze.