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Saturday, June 2, 2007

Flame Of Recca: Master Of The Fire Dragons

Flame of Recca is a Japanese anime and manga series by Nobuyuki Anzai. The manga was originally published in Shounen Sunday from October 18, 1995 – April 18, 2002, and has been compiled into 33 tankōbon(compilation) volumes by Shogakukan. Both the anime and manga were licensed for North American distribution in English by Viz Media and United Kingdom distribution in English by Gollancz Manga.



Flame of Recca tells the story of a young teenage boy named Recca Hanabishi who, ever since he could remember, wanted to be only one thing - a ninja, who was sworn to protect his master. He thus raises a challenge to anyone in his school that, should anyone defeat him in battle, he will gladly serve as the victor's personal ninja. Many have tried, especially his classmates Domon and Fuko, but none of them have ever beaten him yet.

One day, Recca meets Yanagi Sakoshita outside of school. He is immediately enthralled by her. Later, while trying to save Yanagi from falling concrete pillars, Recca instead is crushed by them and nearly killed in that accident. In between life and death, Recca sees a vision of Yanagi, as a noble princess. Yanagi meanwhile, rushes to the fallen Recca and uses her healing powers to cure his injuries. When Recca regains consciousness, he sees Yanagi and, remembering his vision, decides that he will be the ninja to his "Hime" (princess) Yanagi.

The healing powers possessed by Yanagi would later on play a significant role in the series, as a power-hungry tycoon named Mori Kouran seeks the way to immortality and sees Yanagi's healing powers as a means to achieve it. With his adopted son Kurei, they hatch a plan to kidnap Yanagi and perform tests on her.



Meanwhile, Recca and his friends are visited by a mysterious lady named Kagero KageHoushi , who seems to have hidden information about Recca's past and an expertise in the identification and use of "madogous" or "elemental weapons". He finds that he not only comes from a ninja clan that had been massacred nearly 400 years ago. Believe it or not, Kagero is actually Recca's mother. 400 years ago in the Hokage village, Kagero had given birth to Recca during the ruling reign of his father, Ohka, the 25th Hokage leader. Later at night, the Hokage villagers came over to congratulate them. Among them was Reina (another wife of Ohka) and her 4-year-old son, Kurei.

Reina gave Kagero a present - a bundle of human skulls. Seeing this, Ohka ordered her to leave but the angered Reina told Kagero that Kurei was destined to be the next Hokage leader because he possessed the power of the flame. Her son, Recca would be just a shield for Kurei. A few days later, on a full moon, Ohka heard from his family members that Reina had become arrogant and was a pain in the neck for everyone. Ohka apologized for being an irresponsible leader and husband but Kagero objected because she was happy that Recca was born as a normal person because she didn’t want him to have the heavy burden of leadership. Then, baby Recca cried and Kagero walked over to check on him and gave a dismay cry. On baby Recca's arm, was an orange flame. Ohka was stunned by the sight. Recca was too, the child of the flame.

Another secret was unfolded - Recca and Kurei were half-brothers, thus, explaining why they had the same power of the flame. Kagero explains that the Hokage leader could have as many sons as he wants but only one could obtain the power of the flame. A meeting was held and the elders decided that though Kurei is the eldest child, he must die because they sense intense evil in him. After pleads from Ohka and Kagero, the elders changed their minds and degree that Reina and Kurei would live at the outer rims of the villages as outcasts.

As time passes, Reina was getting severely ill and Kurei was often bullied by the villagers. Desperate and heartbroken, Reina wishes Recca to be died. Upon hearing this, Kurei sneaks into Kagero's house and tries to kill Recca. Luckily, Recca survived and Kurei was thrown into prison for life. But that was the least of their problems; a warlord named Oda Nobunaga came and attacked the Hokages. Within a night, the men were killed (including Ohka) and the village wiped out. Kagero escaped to the forest where she used a time technique to transport Recca into the future. However, by doing so, Kagero is cursed to be immortal. Nevertheless, she did so and became an immortal. For the last 400 years, Kagero changed her name to Kage Houshi and wondered Japan in search of Recca.



That’s how she finds Recca. She also shows Recca that he can summon flames from his right hand/arm. She tells Recca to ignite his flame, but he is clueless. Just as she hurts Yanagi, Recca releases a powerful flame upon the woman. She is excited to see this. It turns out that Recca was a baby, from the Hokage Clan of the past that was sent to the future in order to escape death. Now, Recca is the leader of the new Hokage Clan who must stop his half brother, Kurei, from kidnapping Yanagi. Kagero's knowledge of the moudoughs often helped Recca & the others during the Urabutousatoujin. In Episode 5, Yanagi was kidnapped by Kurei's men. With the help Kagero's Eikai Ball (a moudough that enables one to see through the passage of time), Recca, Fuko, Demon and Mikagami were able to find the hidden mansion where Yanagi was held captive.

Recca must now learn about his true heritage and control each of his flame. His friends must also train to use their "elemental weapons" in order to help Recca fight Mori Kouran and Kurei in a "Killer's Tournament" for which Yanagi is the prize.


KURYU (Recca’s Flame)

The Hokage flames could be of any shape, size or colour depending on the characteristic of the Flame Caster. In the records of the flames in animals form, the most powerful flame is the 8-headed dragon, Kuryu. Yet, possessing the flame would also cast a curse upon the flamecaster for he were to die of regret, his soul is doomed to become the next fire dragon...


Nadare
The 1st dragon that Recca obtained. Her power is to produce fireballs and detect enemies from their hidden places. Along with Saiha she is also often used by Recca.


Saiha
Saiha is the 2nd dragon to be obtained, his powers is created a fire blade on Recca's cast (that protects him from being burnt to death). He is one of the more friendlier dragons and is most often used by Recca.


Homura
Homura is the third Flame Dragon with the power to create flame whips and enhance his master's strength. Homura's powers are to create defensive flame.


Setsuna
Setsuna is the fourth Flame Dragon. He is a cruel, sadistic ninja who lives only to kill. He dislikes Recca and won't hesitate to kill him whenever opportunity arises.


Modoka
Madoka is the fifth Flame Dragon with the power to create barriers . Madoka's is to create physic barriers (a shelid if you may say) for Recca to protect himself. He is a chubby ninja who speaks politely, but is rather sarcastic.


Rui
Rui is the sixth Flame Dragon who has the power to create illusions to deceive her opponents. She is a beautiful kunoichi who is not afraid to use her body as an advantage in combat. During her fight with Recca, she tells him that deception had to be used sometimes in order to win a fight.


Resshin
Resshin is actually the spirit of Ohka (Recca's father). Like Kurei's flame is known as the Cursed flame, Recca's flame is also cursed as well. By using Kuryu's powers, Recca is cursed to be the 9th dragon if he dies with regret.


Koku
Being the 8th dragon, Koku is somehow able to appear to the Hokages as and when he likes. As one of the maudough creators (actually, there are 2 only; one who creates maudoughs for destruction while the other creates maudoughs for protecting others), he tells Recca the secret of combining the dragon without injuring himself. His power is fire laser beams.

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