Kazumi
| Kazumi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Japanese Name | かずみ (Kazumi) |
| Weapon | Cross-shaped staff |
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 are revealed. She is a Puella Magi, which she discovered after instinctively transforming during a battle. She lives with her two friends, Kaoru and Umika, while their parents are working overseas. Kaoru and Umika are also fellow Puella Magi, and she 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
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 understandably so) in situations she is only 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 great lengths to protect them, to the point that she lost a battle with a witch out of fear that her attack might hurt Kaoru, which happened in a previous battle.
Besides her cooking skills, she is also quite the 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 (possibly from Umika), 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, which was carrying a bomb.
When she woke up in the would-be-bombers house she had a fit of anger, but ultimately calmed down when she found the man didn't kidnap her. After she ate a meal, the kidnapper called-the-would-be the bomber offering to exchange the bomb for Kazumi. Kazumi agreed to go along with it 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. She recollects a piece of advice once given to her and claims that 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 Kaoru and Umika, friends and roommates 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 that the police detective from before will visit.
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. Kazumi then accuses the detective of setting up the entire incident with the bomb, and then coming to her house to kill Kazumi. This prompts the detective to break her plate in a fit of rage, 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, much to her own surprise, reacts instinctively and dodges her attacks. She is eventually caught, but when the monster attempts to rip off her earrings, Kazumi suddenly has a series of flashbacks and she then kicks the monster away and transforms into a Puella Magi (again, to her own surprise). She then strikes back, finishing the fight with a powerful beam attack just as Umika and Kaoru - who had heard the battle over the phone- arrive.
Shortly after telling her friends she can use magic, Kazumi falls asleep from exhaustion and hunger. When she wakes up the next morning she attempts to transforms, but all it does is cause a black cat to come inside. Going downstairs, she finds Umika making food and acting in a scary manner. Kaoru explains to Kazumi that Umika has writer's block, which causes her to act oddly. After eating, Umika takes them to the mall. During the trip Kazumi decides that she is different from the "old" Kazumi Umika and Kaoru know.
Suddenly a strange feeling comes over Kazumi. Investigating an ally, she finds another monster attacking people. As her friends run up, Kazumi tells them to stay back as she transforms.
Kazumi is having trouble against the monsters, which prompts Umika and Kaoru to reveal themselves as Puella Magi. They incapacitate the monster, which causes Kazumi to remember how they used to fight together. However, trying to re-enact this memory causes her to accidentally fire a shot at Umika. Kaoru saves her in time, but the monster gets away. Kazumi feels horrible for almost hurting one of her friends, though they tell her she shouldn't feel bad. When she insists upon being punished, they take her to a hair salon.
As they cut Kazumi's hair, Umika and Kaoru explain magic to her. Puella Magi are contracted by fairies (yousei) who grant wishes. Kazumi asks what her wish was, but she never told Umika or Kaoru. They then explain that Puella Magi have to fight witches, and that the monsters she fought previously were a new type of witch. At this point, Kazumi's haircut is finished, and it's all messy. Kazumi says it's just fine for the "new" Kazumi. However, she rejects Umika and Kaoru's attempts to cut off her ahoge, as she calls it a witch detector. The three of them then track down the witch, a cosmetic saleswoman. During the battle, they briefly encounter a mysterious Puella Magi, who quickly flees.
They defeat the witch, turning her back into a human. Kazumi mentions that those who become witches aren't always bad people. Umika and Kaoru say that there is the possibility that anyone can turn into a witch...
Some time later, Kazumi, Umika and Kaoru are fighting another witch, but this one is dramatically different from the previous two, having the same properties as the witches from the anime. During the fight, Kazumi hesitates, not wanting to hit her friends again. This let's the witch devour her friends and escape. At this point four other magical girls appear: Saki, Nico, Satomi, and Mirai. They introduce themselves as the Pleaides Saints, and reveal that Kazumi, Umika, and Kaoru are members. Kazumi then gets a phone call from Umika and Kaoru, who are being protected by Umika's barrier. The Pleaides have five hours to find the witch before Umika's barrier runs out. As they search for the witch using their Soul Gems, Kazumi notices that her witch detector isn't working.
When the Pleaides split up to search for the witch, the mysterious magical girl from before disguises herself as Satomi and separates Kazumi from the others. She then reveals herself, which causes Kazumi to recognize her as the magical girl who locked her in the suitcase. In the resulting battle, Kazumi is incapacitated but is saved by the other Pleiades Saints, who realized they were tricked. The magical girl holds Kazumi at gunpoint, but Kazumi tells her teammates to attack anyway. The magical girl is driven away and Kazumi is unharmed.
Eventually, they finally track down the witch (after Kazumi makes everyone a meal; apparently her cooking hasn't changed). Kazumi is told to wait outside the witch's barrier while the other magical girls rescue Umika and Kaoru and then incapacitate the witch. At a signal from a communicator, Kazumi will fire into the barrier, destroying the witch. Though the plan hits a snag when Nico's communicator is broken, a bag of candy that Kazumi brought with her for Umika and Kaoru provides the means to carry it out successfully. Kazumi reunites with Umika and Kaoru, and the Saints all celebrate their victory.
But not for long. Kazumi is introduced to Jubey, the fairy that made the Pleiades Puella Magi. Jubey cleans up their Soul Gems and then takes the Grief Seed from the recently defeated witch. However, it is then revealed that the previous two witches Kazumi fought were actually psuedo-witches, created by imitation Grief Seeds known as "Evil Nuts". It's then deduced that the mysterious magical girl from before created them.
As Kazumi asks why magical girls aren't working together, the mysterious magical girl attacks, incapacitating the entire team. Introducing herself as Yuuri, the magical girl captures Kazumi, telling the others to meet her at Asunaro Dome at midnight. As she's being taken away, Kazumi asks Yuuri why she's doing all of this. Yuuri refuses to answer her. A small battle breaks out, causing Yuuri to flash back to another girl. Yuuri then ties Kazumi up.
When the Pleaides come to rescue her, Kazumi is tied to a chair on the other end of an impenetrable force-field. Yuuri then tells them that she will implant one of her Evil Nuts into Kazumi. Kazumi begs Yuuri to stop, telling her that they're comrades. Yuuri then laughs at her, hinting at some dark secret the Pleiades have. She takes off her hat, causing Umika to recognize her, announces she came back to get vengeance on the Pleaides, and shoves an Evil Nut into Kazumi's forehead
Powers, Weapons & Abilities
Her weapon of choice is a large cross-shaped staff. Her Soul Gem is in the middle of the cross, unlike other Puella Magi whose Soul Gems are usually located in their clothing or on an adornment while transformed. She can use the cross as a melee weapon at close range, but it's most effectively used to fire magic beams from a distance. Her attacks have a large range, enough to 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.
- She even has a black cat.
- 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 a gift from someone. Given that they possess at least some sort of magic power, this may have wide implications.
Speculation
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
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.
Kazumi receiving her beloved earrings.
Assorted flashbacks. Take special note of the six figures dressed as witches.
Another look at Limiti Esterni.
This is presumably Umika.
Whoopsie.
The picture shown to Kazumi to show Umika and Kaoru are her friends.
