Kazuma Akazawa

Kazuma Akazawa (赤沢 一馬, Akazawa Kazuma) is the older brother of Izumi Akazawa in the manga and cousin in the anime. He's an ex-student at Yomiyama North Middle School in 1996. He never appeared in the anime and is indirectly mentioned in the live-action film.

Appearance
In the manga, Kazuma has short black hair and black eyes. He and his younger sister, Izumi, look alike.

Personality
He is mentally unstable and he often locked himself in his room, hitting and banging the wall. This is likely due to a past trauma, most likely caused by the curse.

Plot
Kazuma appears in Chapter 12 of the manga, he is shown hitting the wall with his fist, creating loud noises. He sneaks out of his room to get some food and broke a plate instead. This alerts Izumi and she walks out the room to check on him. As soon as he saw Izumi, he murmured Izumi's name and fled back his room, and continued creating noises. Later, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his room.

In the anime, one of the class list of 1996 has Kazuma's name on it and this could indicate that Kazuma is dead in the anime. In Episode 10, Izumi is seen crying for him at the start. In Episode 12 it is revealed that he died a year and half ago, prior to the time when Izumi met Kouichi Sakakibara.

Etymology

 * The name Kazuma means "one" (一) (kazu), and "horse" (馬) (ma)
 * Kazuma's surname Akazawa means "red" (赤) (aka) and "swamp" (澤/沢) (sawa/zawa)

Trivia

 * His home address is 1-1 Akatsukicho Yomiyama City.
 * There has been a lot of speculation that he was the one who killed Reiko Mikami in the anime. However, it is unknown if this is true or not.
 * In the anime it is unknown how he died, however, Izumi called him "Stupid brother" possibly indicating suicide or an accidental death.
 * Not only is his death different (from the manga) but it is also at a completely different time.
 * Oddly, he's indirectly mentioned by Izumi in the film, as she worries about his safety; however, he's never shown or mentioned again, meaning this version of Kazuma probably survived.