#by rokushirokoushi

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Like a lot of longtime characters, Kazuma was first made playable as a 3⭐ in BBDW- though rumors and datamines suggest there were plans for him to appear in Chronophantasma at some point, as Terumi has an unused line addressing him in that game.

See also;

[Gameplay]

From the start, Kazuma was a very interesting character to me. At the start, I assumed the Kazuma in BBDW had never made contact with Terumi- and as the story went on, dropping hints of a Terumi-possessed Trinity, I started to think BBDW Kazuma would never become a host.

But the mechanics of the game would suggest otherwise. At the start of BBDW's run, there was this really interesting mechanic where character's special attacks, such as their Astral Heats, were locked a sort of leveling system. (I thought this was a fun touch, though they removed it later into the game's lifespan.) This meant that you wouldn't be able to see a character's Astral until you'd raised them for a while.

Well, unless you watched their character trailers, which always showcased the Astral Heat at the end!

With the sole exception of Kazuma's. We never got to see Kazuma's Astral in promotional materials, while other starting characters like Trinity and Ciel had theirs shown off during early streams.

Which was incredibly suspicious.

Once you did finally unlock Kazuma's Astral Heat ingame, you'd find it very similar to Hazama's traditional Astrals- he's possessed by Terumi, and begins using his powers. Outside of that Astral, Kazuma was never shown using Ouroboros or any of Terumi's snakey magic.

We also see that familiar green haze in Kazuma's third card art- I wonder if that was also a hint. Speaking of Kazuma's character art!

Kazuma is shown in Ishana- in his final art he's in the library he loved so much. I'm not sure what the building in his initial art is. Could it be the cathedral? A normal school building? The library again? Maybe I need to read Phase Shift again and refresh my memory.

His first outfit is the same outfit he debuted in in Phase Shift 1. It's also the same outfit Rei, the player character, wears- minus the tie, which is different between the two. This may suggest the two are in different grades, but I can theorize about that another time.

Kazuma is famous for another outfit- the hooded version worn by him and Terumi during the Dark War, which you can see Terumi wearing in the background of this image. However, Kazuma never had this costume in BBDW. I wonder if it would have appeared as one of Terumi's three outfits when his Chronophantasma version was added to the game.

Kazuma's later two outfits are very similar to his Ishanan school uniform, though they become more elaborate and fancy. The outfits are completely original to BBDW. They could be reflective of Kazuma's personal taste- he's only familiar with the uniform, it's the only clothing he's ever had, and he's a pretty complacent guy, so he'd likely be drawn to clothing he's already familiar with if he had to shop.

Or, could these outfits be reflective of more Ishanan formal wear? Could they also have a role in Mage Guild culture?

I guess we'll never know!

[abyss-of-the-azure]

Alternative: Dark War Render: Kazuma Kval Illust: Rokushirokoushi (ロクシロコウシ)

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Kazuma's BBDW expressions! Above are all of his main sprite expressions, and below you can find them for his other two sprites.

In order, his expressions are labeled "01normal, 02joy, 03mad, 04sad, 05happy, 06noexpression, 07laughter" in the files.

Unsurprisingly, his sprites only change his mouth. No need to move the hair at all. Similarly to Trinity though, he has more expressions than most characters.

See also;

[Card Art] | [Gameplay]

0048001_kazuma

0048002_kazuma

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

All illustrations published as part of the promotional countdown to BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War’s debut.

WIP:  I’m working on sourcing official art on the blog, so I’ll be steadily adding the artists for all of these.

Trinity:  Wakana Mitsuru Tsubaki:  Mino Taro Kazuma:  Rokushirokoushi Rachel:  Banpai Akira Es:  Konomi Higuchi (also has a Tumblr) Saya:  Ryu Kanai A.D. Mai:  Yuki Kato