Kazumi

Kazumi
Japanese Name	かずみ (Kazumi)
Weapon	Cross-shaped staff

Description

Kazumi is the eponymous main character of Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice.

She is an amnesiac middle schooler with long, black hair, and a noticeable ahoge. She wakes up naked inside a large suitcase at the start of the story, having no recollection of her previous life, other than her name.

Other aspects of her previous life eventually arise. She is a Puella Magi, discovering it after transforming out of instinct, while in a pinch. She lives along with two friends, Kaoru and Umika, who are fellow Puellae, and fights alongside them and four other girls, collectively known as the "Pleiades Saints". She also possesses spectacular cooking skills, being able to create a wide array of delicious dishes and desserts, for which she is often complimented.

Personality

File:Kazumi om nom.png

Kazumi is rather hotheaded. Her mood is very unstable, and can swing between extremes in a couple of seconds. Still, she is cheerful most of the time. Her reactions are very spontaneous: while rediscovering her old life, she is often seen with a very surprised expression. She is kind of a ditz, especially (but understandibly so) in situations she is just now rediscovering, for example forgetting her skirt while transforming. Nonetheless, she is more than capable of rising up to the situation, when it is required.

While getting reacquainted with her old life, she realizes she can't, or doesn't want to be, the "old" Kazumi. Instead, she decides to become a "new" Kazumi, starting with a new, and very sloppy, short haircut. However, she keeps her ahoge, claiming (and apparently, rightfully so) that it is a witch sensor.

While she is only getting to know her friends again, she cares deeply for them. She goes to lengths to protect them, to the point that she lost a battle with a witch out of fear that her attack might hurt Kaoru, as in a previous instance.

Adding to her cooking skills, she is also quite glutton. Even after waking up naked in a briefcase after being kidnapped, her main concern is her empty stomach. Her tastes are quite open, eating most things happily. When hungry, she can be messy, while eating. She also claims to be able to identify bad people from how they eat. According to to an advice she once received, a bad guy never finishes anything: therefore, a bad guy will never finish his food. She is particularly fond of Umika's cooking.

Her earrings are very dear to her. They were a gift from someone important, and touching them can trigger her rage.

History

Kazumi has so far only appeared in Kazumi Magica.

Prior to the events of the story, she contracted to become a Puella Magi, but never told anyone her wish. One day, she woke up naked, inside a briefcase, with no memory other than her name. She had been kidnapped and locked in there by an unknown party. While being carried by Yuuri, the briefcase she was locked in was accidentally switched with another man's briefcase, carrying a bomb. Waking up in his house, and after a fit of rage and a meal, she agreed to being switched by the bomb, after the kidnapper called the bomber, in order to find any clues about her past. At the mall, the police appears to arrest the bomber, but Kazumi jumps in his defense: recollecting an advice once given to her, someone who cleans his plate can't be a bad guy. Neither party backs down, and when explosion is imminent, Kazumi concentrates her mind on the bomb, attempting to make it stop somehow. Meanwhile, an unknown girl kicks the bomb to the ceiling, where it explodes harmlessly: it was a fake bomb, but it is implied it might have turned into a fake bomb by Kazumi's action.

The unknown girl, and a friend of hers, identify themselves as being Kaoro and Umika, respectivly, friends and roomates of Kazumi. They take her back to their house, where Kazumi quickly find her room, and falls asleep. The other girls go out, and leave Kazumi a card warning her to receive the police detective from before. She takes the time until her arrival to reacquaint herself with cooking, preparing a Strogonoff. Upon the detective's arrival, she offers her a dish. Having noticed awkward intentions on her earlier, Kazumi confronts her, which prompts the detective to go in a fit of rage and break her plate, therefore proving, according to Kazumi's rules, that she was a bad person. Infuriated, the detective attacks her, and transforms into a hideous praying mantis-like figure. In the heat of the moment, Kazumi reacts instinctively, dodging her attacks, much to her own surprise, but is eventually caught. While held up, and when the monster attempts to rip off her earrings, a flurry of flashbacks come to her mind, and she kicks her away and transforms into a Puella Magi (again, to her own surprise). With natural reactions, she strikes back, finishing the fight with a powerful beam attack, just as Umika and Kaoru, who had heard the battle over the phone, arrive.

Powers, Weapons & Abilities

Limiti Esterni, Kazumi's finisher

Her weapon of choice is a large cross-shaped staff. Unlike other Puellae, whose Soul Gems, while transformed, are usually located in their clothing or in an adornment, hers is in the middle of the cross. She can use it as a melee weapon at close range, but it's best used to fire magic beams from a distance. Her attacks have a large range, enough hit the target with pinpoint accuracy even when fired from outside a witch's barrier. Her final attack is Limiti Esterni (English: Outer Limit), a very powerful beam, larger than the cross' width.

Therefore, she's best employed as a sharpshooter in a team: maintaining some distance from the target, and firing away when the opportunity arises, while the other girls weaken and distract the target. To take advantage of this, the other six Saints can cast a joint binding spell, Episodio Incrocio (English: Crossover Episode), powerful enough to hold down a witch, making the target a sitting duck for Kazumi's blasts.

Her ahoge seems to have a mysterious ability to track down pseudo-witches, apparently at a farther distance than a Soul Gem could. However, it has no reaction to common witches.

Additionally, in chapter 1, she was able to transform a time bomb into a dud by concentrating. It is unknown what kind of power this derives from.

Trivia

• Her outfit, sporting dark, suggestive clothes, a magical cross, and a large witch hat, gives her a "cute witch" look. Given that the same name is used for the creatures they are fighting, this gave birth to a number of theories.
• The symbol on her earrings resembles her ahoge and her witch's hat, and is in two places on her Soul Gem.
• Her earrings were an offering from someone. Given that they possess at least some sort of magic power, this may have wide implications.

Speculation

File:Kazumi bodies.png

Kazumi, what have you done...

Warning: this section contains spoilers for the anime.

• Given her outfit, one of the earliest speculations about Kazumi was that she was a witch that was turned back into a magical girl. This is becoming increasingly unlikely. However, it is still possible for it to have some so-far unknown meaning.
• One of her flashbacks shows her standing over a pile of dead bodies, with the floor drenched in blood. It is unknown what significance this bears, but it further confirms her past as a troubled one.
• The fact that her ahoge can track pseudo-witches, but not normal witches, hints at some sort of close relationship between her and Yuuri.
• Additionally, both girls' Puella Magi outfits are revealing and sport a large witch hat, which strengthens the theory.
• It is possible that she made her contract as Puella Magi with Juubey, just like the other members of the Pleiades Saints.
• Kazumi may have wished to alter reality in some fashion, or become capable of altering reality.

Gallery

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  A comparison between Kazumi and Yuuri's outfit. Notice the similarities.

• Kazumi concentrating.png

  "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" might just be all it takes to defuse a bomb.

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  Kazumi receiving her beloved earrings.

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  Assorted flashbacks. Take special note of the six figures dressed as witches.

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  Another look at Limiti Esterni.

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  Kyouko, is that you?

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  Whoopsie.

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  The picture shown to Kazumi to show Umika and Kaoru are her friends.