I have a big love for Flame of Recca -- it was the second anime I've grown attached to after I've finished Yu Yu Hakusho, the first anime series I really got obssessed with. I thought there was a great similarity between Yusuke and Recca. It could even be because I think Kaoru's quite a handful, and Mikagami was just plain hot. But mostly, it was because of the blossoming romance between Recca and Yanagi. I'm a sucker for the reckless but faithful hero who falls in love with just one woman throughout the show, and believe me, Recca has taken that to a whole new level.

Hanabishi Recca, at the beginning of the series, was a sixteen-year-old boy obsessed with ninja myth and martial arts (which, though he's never had training, he's quite good at). He is good with fireworks, working with his stepfather in making them, and uses them in tricks, making him feel more and more like the stealthy assassin he so desires to be. It will later be revealed that he is a descendant of a ninja clan, and it will be his destiny to lead the Hokage Team (which will be composed of his friends, using magical weapons provided by his mother) by tapping into his special powers: the ability to create and control flames from his arm. That's why he's wearing a metal gear over his forearm; that's meant to protect him from being eaten alive by the flames inside him.

Recca is quite overconfident in his fighting abilities, and has sworn that he would devote himself as afaithful ninja to the person someone who would defeat him in a fight -- a promise his childhood friend Kirisawa Fuuko would have wanted for herself, that's why she was quite bent on defeating him for the longest time. (She's been at it since they were practically toddlers; they were in high school at this time, and she still hasn't given up.) Unfortunately, she would never get that privilege, because Recca, would only be the ninja to Sakoshita Yanagi -- though she didn't defeat him in a fight, he would devote himself to her simply because he wanted to. (In the manga, he saw her heal a sick puppy in the park, and he was touched. In the anime, he was knocked unconscious by a pile of metal pipes, and thought it was Yanagi who took him down when in truth she was merely responsible for healing him.)

Yes, you read it right, Yanagi has special powers of her own -- namely, the innate power to heal. It will be explained later in the series how and why she possesses such a gift, but what's important is that this power will lead her to be sought for and kidnapped quite a number of times, by the pervert psycho monster Hokage Team nemesis Mori Koran, believing her powers will make him immortal. And more importanly, this power was what made Recca say "I'll be your ninja, and you will be my Hime (Princess)." He was rather lovestruck when he first saw her; granted, she was really pretty, and I believe part of the fascination was the fascination that finally, he would have someone to protect, thereby completing his fantasy of being a ninja protector. In the manga, however, it will be revealed that there is more to Yanagi being called "Princess," and just why Recca is so in love with her, and why she, with him. ♥
More information coming soon!

It's this devotion that Recca has for Yanagi that I've always adored, and how, over time, she has fully reciprocated his: it's such a pure, unadulterated love, that it brings a WAFFY (i.e., warm and fuzzy) feeling when they're together, protector and princess. By the end of the manga they seem to have matured -- Recca still recklessly passionate but no longer as fanatical as he was at the beginning of the story, and Yanagi was hardly the damsel in distress the anime painted her to be. In fact, she has grown emotionally stronger. For one thing, she has found the voice in her to stand up for the people she cares about when other people are putting them down. For another, she actually initiated the first move in advancing her and Recca's relationship by standing on her tiptoes and kissing him full on the lips (Volume 22 of the manga). ;) She was so proud of what she's done that she actually congratulated herself, saying "I did it!"

The turning point for me in their relationship is at the very last chapter of the very last volume of the manga -- aptly titled "Recca and Yanagi." :) The Hokage team has just won their last battle (for the moment, at elast!) and she and Recca were preparing to watch some fireworks. But Recca keeps on calling her "Hime" ("Princess"), and finally she has had enough. With a smile on her face, she practically yells at him to stop calling her "Princess," because she is not his master and he is not her servant. "I am Yanagi," not Hime, she seemed to say. And that he is more than her protector; he is her equal, and she's strongly suggesting that they get to know one another as real people, instead of childish fantasies he, for the longest time, has held on to. (Though personally, I think it's quite sweet that he holds her in the highest regard by calling her his one and only Princess -- it's almost like a pet name, a term of endearment, that only he's entitled to use.)

More information coming soon!

I am not in any way affiliated with Flame of Recca creator Anzai Noboyuki, his management, editors, publishing house, friends nor family. This is a non-profit website, put up for appreciation and entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. Images were scanned from the manga by respective fansites and scanlation projects, credited here.

This has been a BEATIFIQUE production. © Ai~. Since 2008. Some rights reserved.
CSS Help: Free WP Themes | Firefox | T-less | Spam Poison | DISCLAIMER »