Flame of Recca (烈火の炎) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Anzai. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from March 1995 to January 2002, with its chapters collected in 33 volumes.
The series was adapted into a 42-episode anime television series by Pierrot, broadcast on Fuji TV from July 1997 to July 1998. The series has also spawned two video games and other merchandise. Both the anime and manga were licensed for North American distribution in English by Viz Media. The anime has since been picked up by Discotek Media who re-released the series on DVD in 2015.
The Flame of Recca manga has had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series.
Plot
Flame of Recca follows the story of a teenage boy named Recca Hanabishi, who is interested in ninja and claims to be one himself. He often gets into fights because he made it publicly known that the person who manages to defeat him will earn his services as a loyal ninja. Despite this, he eventually pledges his loyalty and services as a ninja to Yanagi Sakoshita, a girl with the innate ability to heal any wound/injury, because of her kindness and compassion. Recca soon discovers that he possesses the innate ability to control/manipulate flames, and eventually learns that he is actually the son of the sixth generation leader of the Hokage, a ninja clan that was wiped out in 1576, roughly 400 years before the series' present day.