Kurenai [Kurenai, 紅]

PLOT/STORYLINE: 10/10

Kurenai has an amazing storyline to it, one of the best I have seen in recent years. It follows the tale of Kurenai Shinkurou, a young male teenager who works as a “mediator” (Someone who specializes in solving other people’s problems). After requesting harder jobs from his boss, Juuzawa Benkia, he gets what may very well be the hardest job he’ll ever have. He’s placed in charge of Kuhoin Murasaki. Rich, snobbish and spoiled, Murasaki provides quite a challenge to Shinkurou. Unlike other bodyguard jobs, Murasaki is seven, and obviously needs more care. Shinkurou has to fix her spoiled nature as well as ensure she remains safe while he is at school during the day.

Episodes are presented in a stand alone nature (often not directly tying into the previous episode) yet they all string together nicely. Slow at first, with an odd element or two to hook you in The first few episodes might push a more action oriented fan away from Kurenai, but don’t be among those people. Not a heck of a lot happens besides the occasional burst of action till around the 6th episode, when everything starts to build up, and fast. The last half of the series is very intense, and has some pretty good fight scenes as well. No, you won’t see lots of fire or people moving at light speed, but that shouldn’t get in the way of a good old fashion ass kicking, now should it?

What gives Kurenai’s storyline/plot a 10 is the ending. Yes, the series up to the ending is amazing, but there are lots of anime that have a good beginning and middle. The ending is often the worst part of a series, but not so in the case of Kurenai. I was truly impressed with how the series ended, providing a solution to the conflict at hand that fit the characters, and showed the growth of the cast as a whole. From start to finish Kurenai is amazing, easily the best anime of the season.

CHARACTERS: 9/10

Kurenai provides an amazing cast of characters. While our hero, Kurenai Shinkurou, is about as stereotypical as you come the rest of the cast, along with his development as a character, more than make up for it in my mind. Even the side cast (that happens to appear rather regularly) fill their roles and, more often than not, then some.

Shinkurou can be considered to be the typical anime male lead. He’s sort of whiny, a teenager, looked down upon by his peers, had a tragic past that has left him an orphan, tries as hard as he can at his job, is popular with the ladies, and has a secret. With all this cliché crap stacked against him it seems like Shinkurou would be the character to hate in this series; this isn’t the case however, as Shinkurou shows promise. His growth is evident in every episode as he changes, bit by bit, from his interaction with Kuhoin Murasaki.

Murasaki is what makes this show. Her growth as a character is the most complete, and it is the most evident in the last episode. By taking this growth into consideration and making it a major part of the ending, the writers get an A+. Starting off snobbish, spoiled and bratty, Murasaki is the type of kid that many people wouldn’t be able to deal with. However, through her interactions with Shinkurou we see many sides of her, and it is through these interactions that Murasaki grows, and matures as a person. This growth is very important to the plot, and it makes the series just that much more enjoyable.

As for side characters, Kurenai has a number of them despite being only 12 episodes long. First we have Benika, Shinkurou’s boss, the woman who inspired Shinkurou down the path he’s currently on. Next we have Yayoi, another person who works for Benika, and Shinkurou’s superior. She watches over Shinkurou, and is a voice of disapproval at having Shinkurou handle a case she feels he isn’t ready for. Her character, while good and enjoyable, does an annoying 180 towards the end and suddenly she believes in him. Next we have Ginko and Yuno, friends of Shinkurou from his past; both are obviously interested in him, though Yuno is far more straightforward with her affection for him than Ginko. Finally, we have the other two tenants at the apartment where Shinkurou lives, Tamaki (college girl, often drunk, likes causing trouble with Murasaki) and Yamie (weird, sarcastic 30ish[?] female who keeps mostly to herself). As minor characters they fulfill their role very well, with an unexpected amount of development for several of them scattered throughout the episodes.

ART: 8.5/10

Kurenai starts out with impressive artwork, topnotch really. For the first few episodes, it stays at this high caliber of animation. If you are going to watch these episodes, get as high def as possible, it’s really impressive. However, as time goes on, the animation slowly starts to decline. Eventually, around episode 10 we see a very serious drop, and a rise in QUALITY. This is temporary however, as the last few episodes are animated beautifully.

MUSIC: 9/10

As soon as my paycheck comes, I hope to order the soundtrack (was supposed to be released July 2nd). Kurenai has a very good soundtrack, one that fits perfectly with the series. Composed by Ken Muramatsu, this is his second anime work (the first being Sketchbook ~full color’S~, in which he composed the music for the soundtrack, as well as the composing and arrangement of the second ending). I hope to hear more work from him in the future, his work shows great promise.

OVERALL: 9.5/10

Kurenai very quickly went from being a series I initially had no interest in, to one of my favorite series I have seen. Don’t let the “Slice of Life” genre turn you away, or the “martial arts” tag for that matter. A series with amazing characters, great plot, beautiful music and visuals, Kurenai is a series that I hope will stand the test of time. Highly recommended, if you like anime, or for that matter, even if you don’t, watch Kurenai.

Kurenai [Kurenai, 紅]

Genre- Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Romance, Action

Tags- Martial Arts, Seinen, Tragedy, Violence

Number of episodes: 12

Complete? Yes

Producers: Brain Base

]]> http://cuteproxy.wordpress.com/?p=337 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:20:50 +0000 hayase http://cuteproxy.wordpress.com/?p=337 ...begins with the brief warm-up post.  Anime Progress Report 07-13-2008.

So even though I wasn't blogging, I still managed to finish 2 shows, namely:

• Kurenai - not too satisfactory ending for me.  I'll try to find the time to make a proper review on this one.

• Shion no Ou - the criminal who killed Shion's parents gets caught blah3x.  Another probable topic for a post comes but my brain is still reeling from lots of ideas (a lot also not related to anime) that I don't know if it will ever get posted.  But in short I found the series average, in spite of having enjoyed it in the first half.

I have some good news:  I have only 4 more episodes to go with Mobile Suit Gundam!  Yay!  I'm so happy!!!  :D

The downside is that I still haven't started on anything yet from the summer anime--not much subs anyway.  But I've started on Someday's Dreamer season 1.  Too slow with the first episode but once I finish other shows I'd probably be able to marathon this.  The only remaining problem would be finding the time, what with all my personal side-projects taking up most of my attention.

I hope to post more in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Kurenai finished its run sometime last month (I think), and I decided to marathon it a few weeks ago. Now, all I really have to say about the series is that it was enjoyable. To be a little more detailed, what I liked about it was how the characters interacted with each other and the things they did. It was very entertaining. Especially the moments when Murasaki learned something from... well... Tamaki and Yamie. Those were pretty lol-some.

The one episode that got a "wtf" reaction out of me was when they have to put on a musical or whatever. But about half-way through the episode, I was like... man... I want the song that they're all singing. Unfortunately, it wasn't on the Kurenai OST. T___T Makes me sad. Anyway, that's besides the point.

Another thing that I liked about the anime were the fight scenes. Those were pretty intense. You know, instead of doing the whole stereotypical POWER UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP and firing beams of energy at each other, these fight scenes were more realistic (minus the whole... horn thing - which to me is still a blade coming out of his elbow). So, looking at it from that kind of perspective, the fight scenes were pretty refreshing for an anime. Though, to be honest, I don't watch a lot of action series, so I can't say that it's all that refreshing for everyone.

Though, overall, what really made this series standout for me was the whole character development. It really made the series enjoyable. I'm not going to talk about the creativity of the whole concept, but the plot that was given allowed all of these interesting and unique characters to come together and make for some comedic moments as well as touching moments. Oh, and was anyone else screaming "SHE'S SEVEN YEARS OLD. SHE'S SEVEN. YOU'RE OFFICIALLY A LOLICON," when well... THAT scene came up?

PSP Bonus Story: I got the Phantasy Star Portable demo a few days ago and I already did everything the demo allows. That includes maxing out my lvl (lvl 20) and clearing all the Multi mode missions (I cleared the first Multi mode mission quite a number of times just to fight the dragon at the end). All I can say is that I'm really looking forward to the full game. To be honest, it's kinda what I THOUGHT ( which is, an action RPG with some freaking huge ass weapons and some really awesome looking weapons along with some other stuff) Monster Hunter for the PSP would be. Except, futuristic. Also, I should mention, WTF IS UP WITH THE CUSTOMIZATION!? There's so much! From the bust size of your character (assuming you went with a female - I haven't made a male character so... if you can adjust the size of the chest area... dear god. Which makes me think... I'd be able to make an American character! - Yes, you can adjust the fatness as well) to the voice (how deep or how high you want the voice to be as well as different overall samples). You want a different hair style? Do it. Different pupil size? Do it. Eye color? Done. Hair color? Done. You get the point. But I still can't get over how much you can customize your character. Usually, when I see "Customize your own character!" it usually has very limited choices. PSPortable is just crazy. Four races, three different starting classes. It's great. Keep in mind, this my first Phantasy Star game so >__> This comes out on the 31st.

Also, I'm looking forward to Gundam Battle Universe. If the PV is anything to go by, this could be one of the most awesome 3d Gundam fighting games EVER. And that's saying a lot. There's also a demo for this game, but I decided I'd wait for it's release on the 17th. For those who want the demo for both games (or either): http://youtube.com/watch?v=6ABP8u_-6u0

Next post will hopefully be about Mx0. And maybe I'll talk about the movies I went to see...

Read the entire Kurenai review here!

• Sky Girls
• Lovely Complex
• H2O Footprints in the sand
• The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
• Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni & Kai
• Ouran High School Host Club
• Onegai Twins
• Clannad
• Kanon
• Yotsunoha
• Kurenai
• Tokyo Marble Chocolate

I think thats all the full series I've managed to watch since last July.... I've tried out numerous things like (in no particular order) Lucky Star, Shugo Chara, Myself;Yourself, NHK, Da Capo II, Kanokon, True Tears, Nanatsuiro Drops and a few others beside. I like shojo anime much more than anime full of fanservice. I do like moe though. Moe is all good in my books. I can put up with loli, as long as its not too over the top, same with fanservice. Stuff like Kanokon was just too fanservice heavy for me. I like story, substance. Like Kurenai. That was good. I do like some trash, but only some, in small doses lol.

This season I plan to keep up with Strike Witches(yay its from the people who brought us Sky Girls!!!) and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu(anything bout a girl otaku is fine with me). Last season nothing struck me as fantastic untill someone suggested Kurenai and I took them up on it.

Anyways, that really is all for now. Must sleep..... Ja ne.

So I'm out of batteries for my camera at the moment... ... アニメ変化発動！[anime transformation engage!]  Week or so ago I finished Kurenai.  Thoroughly enjoyed it, although to be honest, I'm not particularly critical... doesn't take much to get a passing grade from me ^^;

A little addendum about my watching habits -- I usually watch raws to get the maximum japanese practice out of what I watch... but since I'm not entirely fluent, and since I usually watch while working out... i often end up missing lotsa details. ^^; Specially those explanation scenes... you know... everyone's sitting down, serious music queues up, serious faces all around... yeah, usually need to rewatch those ^^; *ahem* and that's why lots of my descriptions may be wrong.

それでは！

A bit about the title, skip this paragraph if you have little patience for ramblings about the Japanese language. 紅 [kurenai] means deep red, or crimson. However, there are two other words you could be hearing: 暮れない [kurenai] - not getting dark, not ending; くれない [kurenai] - not giving. (the latter two are negative forms of verbs)

The Players

	紅真九郎 [kurenai shinkurou] - The main character the series is named after.  Your typical atypical high school student with a troubled past making a future for himself.
九鳳院紫 [kuhouin murasaki] - An adorable (well, in her own little way ^^;) little girl that has been saved/kidnapped from her oppressive, rich, and powerful family. She speaks in a very... hmm i'm not sure how to describe it... proud? mmm well, unique manner. Basically using older style words to give a sense of nobility combined with rough informal forms because she's always speaking to (who would be) subordinates. Having been raised in a household with servants she is very naive about normal (and, in shinkurou's case, meager) circumstances.
	闇絵 [yamie] - One of shinkurou's neighbors, heavy in sarcasm and dark humor. She's awesome. And boy, you should hear her sing.
武藤環 [mutou tamaki] - Another one of shinkurou's neighbors. College student, flirtatious, perhaps 下品 [vulgar] by Japanese standards. She's also awesome. Never hesitates to teach murasaki the way things really are.
	柔沢紅香 [jyuuzawa benika] -shinkurou's employer.  I couldn't figure out exactly what her work was but it seemed like it was some sort of vigilante mercenary type of work? ^^;
犬塚弥生 [inuzuka yayoi] - Another one of benika's employees.  Highly skilled fighter, basically overseeing shinkurou to make sure he doesn't screw up and murasaki remains safe.  Poor girl is always outside in the cold ^^;
	村上銀子 [murakami ginko] - Friend/partner of shinkurou who helps by investigating things.  Doesn't seem to like yuuno.
崩月夕乃 [houzuki yuuno] - Another friend of shinkurou, also his sparing partner.  AYASHII ONNA DA. ^_^;;
	九鳳院蓮丈 [kuhouin renjyou] -Mursaki's father.

So why would you watch this?  It has a nice mix of slice of life content, action (mostly hand-to-hand fighting), and drama.

murasaki, shinkurou, yamie and tamaki are generally the focus of these sort of scenes.  yayoi and shinkurou get most of the action in the first part of the series.

As the plot unfolds you learn about the kuhouin family, about murasaki's parents, about shinkurou's past and relationships...

In the beginning part of the series you quickly learn shinkurou's body isn't quite normal... knowing nothing about the series i thought it was going to have more of a sci-fi element to it, but no, none of that. It acts as an important plot device but this isn't magical boy lyrical kurenai.

When you get down to it, I suppose there's not much to the story, but what really drew me into this series was the characters. Really enjoyed all of them, can't wait to get the light novels, written by Katayama Kentarou, illustrated by Yamamoto Yamato (the source material, it seems. from what i hear, anime didn't exactly stick to the same content, which is good since i won't know what's coming ^^;).  According to wikipedia the novels are ongoing and currently 4 have been published.

Quick plot summary for those wanting spoilers:
murasaki is taken from her family by benika who puts her under the care of shinkurou. shinkurou, murasaki, tamaki and yamie have lots of slice of life sorts of moments. murasaki gets taken back by some crazy kuhouin bodyguard and her brother. benika, yayoi, and shinkurou go to get murasaki back, end up finally defeating the bodyguard and getting to murasaki. murasaki decides to stay with her family, but as a free girl, not as a repressed kuhouin woman. the end.

So yeah, for me, exactly my type of anime.  Short, sweet, great engaging characters.  Also really like the art style.  Don't know how to describe it, but it has kinduva different feel than lots of the anime out there and I took a liking to it.

mite ne~

In regards to Kurenai¸ when I finished watching it, the show filed into my "pretty good, but not great" category in my head. There were a couple of nitpicks here and there (like the confusing first episode), and the ending actually felt a little too "Afterschool Special" to me when all the action was done.  It was a pretty solid show, and you can say that it's one of the best of 2008 (so far, or so I hope :3), and so on. With flowing animation, good music and fun character interaction, Kurenai delighted me on several levels. And some interesting thoughts popped up from it as well.

The pace and pop of the OP does have a noticeable (and in a way, totally uneeded) contrast with the rest of the show, yet it does also serve to introduce us to our main set of character in a unique and groovy way. When looking at these characters in regards to Shinkurou and Murasaki's sibling-like relationship (that's my story and I'm sticking to it), I found that everyone seems to make up a nice dysfunctional family. Tamaki and Yamie were the big brother and sister, respectively, Benika was the mother, Yayoi was the father, and Ginko and Yuuno were... Shinkurou's childhood friend and wannabe lover. :P Of course, the roles may very depending on the interpretation of the view, but you couldn't deny that this group of people turned out to be very close knit like a lot of families are, especially when the Kuhouin family provides an interesting comparison point.

I think that bond between our main group was thrown out in full force in episode 10. With Shinkurou trying to forget his botched up job as Murasaki's bodyguard (as well as trying to downplay how much he really does care for Murasaki), you could say that Benika and Yayoi, looking out for his career as a dispute mediator, advise him that focusing on the next job while blanking out any personal feelings about the last one is the way to go. (As a side note, you could extend Yayoi's light sparring with Shinkurou as a sort of "bonding" experience, but that could be stretching things.) But Yamie, Tamaki, Ginko and Yuuno (as least I think Yuuno helps out), focusing more on Shinkurou being himself as best as he can, all in their own ways tell him that he shouldn't let things go because he isn't the type of person that does that. And even when Shinkurou changes his mind and decides to challenge something that's hard to fight against (the rich. Heyo!) to get back Murasaki, though Benika and Yayoi have concerns, they reluctantly support and help him in his endeavor. Throughout the entire series, we see how Shinkurou has managed to begin to grow as a person with the help of a unrelated acquaintances that happened to provide him with a familial support that he had lost as a child. And we also see that Murasaki is of course a big catalyst in the matter.

Going back to the train scene in episode 3 (you know, the other thing in that episode talked about besides the "nice" conversation), many cheered for the seven year old, including myself, as she stood up to a group of teenagers harassing an old lady just for a seat. And we feel for her when she asks Shinkurou why he capitulated to that "insolent" group (they're just being teenagers... sure...), especially when we know that he has the power to kick ass and take names. At first, I was angry at Shinkurou because he acted according to the status quo, feeling that he should defy things like that. But as I thought about it, more of that anger came from what tended to be a reoccurring trend throughout Kurenai with the show's namesake: his willingness to easily acquiesce to "the rules", be them societal, occupational, or whatever else-al the situation was, even when it conflicted with who he was. So when he was confronted about this, I cheered when he finally decided to follow his own rules in a way, and that was also why I was rooting for Murasaki on the train.

At the same time, when you look at the Kuhouin family, who do follow their own rules and removing themselves from control of normal society, there was a nice little contradiction for me. It was interesting to see Murasaki, who gave off the appearance of someone more confident, "self-reliant" and mature beyond her years, come to follow tradition in the form of her "real" family. We know that her decision came in order to preserve the new genuine family that she obtained at Samidare apartments (and especially preserve Shinkurou's life), so seeing someone who seemed to defy convention coerced back into it was a little depressing and unsettling. And I think it also helped make the ending a little more realistic. Though the rescue attempt by Shinkurou, Benika and Yayoi gave her that confidence that she had so easily lost, she decides not to defy convention by removing herself away from it, but by changing it from within. Which doesn't makes things clean-cut and happily ever after, but a little more complex and confusing that we would like to deal with it, like me. I could say that for a show that seems more realistic (in what way?) than most, that this ending does fit, but that doesn't mean that I was entirely happy with it, if only because I wanted things to make a little bit more sense overall.

But going back to the first point, I do think that one of the main lessons that Kurenai provides us with is about what it means to be a family, as we have two orphans (one literally, one figuratively) come together with others, and begin that process of a fuller growth into a complete human being, I guess. Knowing that you at least have someone, or many someone, that will always support you and see that you've come out right allows us many abilities and opportunities to make ourselves satisfied with our lives. By the end of the series, we can see that both Shinkurou and Murasaki might still have a ways to go, but that they're much closer to their respective goals of growing up than they would have been if none of this took place. Seems like Benika's intuition turned out right after all. :3

Now if there is a "Day in the Life of Yayoi" extra episode of Kurenai coming soon, I'd be set. :P

I'll post three today and three more tomorrow, so be sure to check back, dear reader!

Kurenai

Boy meets girl. Lolicons, please abstain.

Strictly speaking no one's watching this anymore because it just ended, and it was quite a short series at only twelve episodes - compounded by the middle episodes qualifying as filler in any other show. But to me that was the point. The story was about a teenager trying his damndest to show this sheltered, self-absorbed little girl what a normal life is, and the two of them growing to care about each other despite having been dumped into each other's arms with little preparation on either part. And if you're willing to follow their lives, you'll find that Kurenai's characters are complex and compelling, that their dialogue is vibrantly real, and that their noses take up residence in planes of their face no nose should ever inhabit. Poor Benika-sama.

As for the ending, here's my share of virtual ink to add to the sea already spilled: I am a Westerner, and as such, the compromise that the ending embodies did not touch me to the extent Kurenai's writers were doubtlessly hoping for. But then, as a thought exercise, I put myself in the shoes of the average Japanese person who has had to reconcile tradition and progress since birth, and it made me see the ending in a kinder light. A matter of cultural perspective, if you will. These are Japanese cartoons we are watching.

So is Kurenai worth your while? Considering the minimal time investment (no more than 5 hours), I would respond with an emphatic yes, unless you're allergic to slice of life. Otherwise, do go ahead with my blessing, since it's not every day you get to see a fucking bone horn erupt from a man's elbow.

Macross Frontier

Exhibit A: SHERYL THE SLUTBAG. This is the Photoshop equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, by the way.

The only Macross I've ever watched is Macross Plus, and that was years ago, as part of those mystical tapes I acquired from a friend, so my memory of it is hazy. I do understand the thematic tapestry the franchise weaves with every new outing, though - robot jets in space, love triangle, music beats Jesus at saving souls, blah blah.

Are the robot jets in space cool this time around? Yes, and the CG-enhanced battles are fast and furious, dizzyingly so at times. How about the music? Well, it's Macross, so it's great, although I care little for the ending theme, which sounds a bit lifeless compared to the uplifting opening theme or the battle tracks.

But then there's the love triangle. And it's easy for such a triangle to fall apart when you can't muster much sympathy for two of its three sides. Alto, the male lead, isn't as clueless as the throngs of insipid pretty boys we've been force-fed over the years: he does have a nifty backstory as a young kabuki prodigy, and a passion for flying that compels him to transform every single piece of paper he comes across into a paper airplane. Nevertheless, he's about as proactive as a slug on novocaine. Hey Alto, you've got not one but two cute girls pining for you. Wake up and make a move before Sheryl has enough and rapes you silly the next time you're stuck together in a school locker.

Speaking of Sheryl, she's the most popular pop idol in the universe and side #2 of our skewed love triangle. The problem with Sheryl is that she's too busy being a vapid twat, a genuine caricature, to be anything else. I also can't believe she's supposed to be seventeen. Come on. Look at those, uhm, costumes. Nobody learns to be a harlot of such galactic proportions in that short a time. And no Sheryl, it's not strange for a man to put his cellphone in his pants pocket and set it to vibrate! Rather, it's a strange place for you to rub with your barely-covered crotch! (The only nice thing about Sheryl I can think of is that her hair is awesome. Yup. That's it. Seriously.)

Last in our love triangle comes Ranka, a sixteen-year-old girl with a dream: become a popular singer like her idol, Sheryl. And maybe boink Alto if the opportunity arises. Fortunately for Macross Frontier, she saves the show by being the absolute paragon of the modest, hard-working cute girl who has to overcome incredible odds to achieve her goal. She's sweet, she's funny, and her singing voice is better than Sheryl's by light-years; it's a relief that the show is spending more and more time chronicling her rise as an artist and the challenges that lie therein. Considering her competition is the #1 idol in the universe, and that said competition is not below French-kissing the boy Ranka likes in front of her, I daresay our young green-haired heroine has her work cut out for her.

If you're into Macross at all you are already watching this show; if you were debating taking the plunge, then Frontier is about as good a time as ever to find out whether the Macross universe and its trappings are for you, considering how easy it is to get into. Just like Sheryl's pants. OH SNAP.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

This is an image that makes a lot more sense than the series it came from, believe me.

If you threw every anime stereotype in a blender along with three cups sugar and two tabs of LSD, you'd end up with a batch of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki ("Diary of a Frenzy Family", thank you Wikipedia). Here's the makeup of the titular family:

• Catgirl
• Secret agent for a paranormal research agency
• Lion king
• Genetically engineered biological weapon
• Jellyfish with electrical eel powers
• Young man with Gender Identity Disorder
• Moe girl who was physically abused non-stop for the first nine years of her life
• Moe girl's older sister who performed the physical abuse only to be saved by her love for GID Boy

Yes, all those people live together in the same house. As to why, it's barely relevant, and if you start watching Kyouran Kazoku Nikki expecting some sort of well-constructed universe with a solid backstory, well, just turn the fuck around now, man. This... is... ANIME! The word "random" can barely begin to describe what passes for a storyline, and I won't even make an attempt at description here. Part of the charm is seeing the crazy tangents the show comes up with.

But the real pleasure of watching lies not in the plot; rather, it lies in the boundless energy that all characters exude, whatever their onscreen time. Some of the characters - Kyouka in particular, the catgirl "Mom" of the family - take it to extremes, which can be overwhelming and make you want to reach for the nearest roll of duct tape. Thus I would recommend this show if you're in dire need of a weekly half-hour to blow off steam, switch off your brain's rational side, and put away your more serious persona in favor of your inner crazy catgirl. Who can claim to be sane enough to forsake such therapy? Not me!

That's it for today folks. See you tomorrow!

-Mr. K

Today's Karen is: TIRED

Well, I finally saw the whole series. I may have been behind for the most part, but as the saying goes "Better late than never". The episodes leading up to the finale weren't as strong as the rest of the series, but I think that in the end, the last episode pulled through. So, Kurenai is back to trying to gt into the inner sanctuary, but it seems that he had some time to eat some delicious bread. That was the funniest scene because as his friends are all in danger, he just eats away at his bread while remarking on how good it tastes to himself. I also can't help but remark on the security that the Kuhouin family has. In the last episode, 3 people managed to get into the inner sanctuary, which they consider a place that should never be disturbed. Afterward, when the three of them left, the Kuhouin family didn't take any precautions by adding more security and instead, a single high school student makes it in alone and even eats there bread without them noticing. Benika decides to go after Kurenai even though her partner is injured, but soon enough she gets caught in some car chase. It seems like anything went with this episode! It was actually a good car chase and I'm really not the car person. After they literally crashed there car into the inner sanctuary (an effective way of getting there, especially since apparently there is never any guards to be found), we finally get the fight scene that everyone has been waiting for! I love how the fights are made in the series because the screen seems to be in position with the movements, which gives it a realistic flare.

Kurenai also finally uses his sword thing, it wasn't for very long, but I was really excited over it anyway. It almost seems like when it sticks out, it sort of controls him because he was only able to really stop when Benika held him back. It was sad when Murasaki saw it all and was asking about it. Though, he said that he would rather be without it and he wishes that he could take back what he did . Murasaki was surprisingly okay with it, but she seemed abnormally sympathetic in this episode anyway. The ending wasn't what I expected, but I still enjoyed it. The only reason I probably didn't like it that much was because I would have much rather it to end the way I wanted (so selfish of me!). The way the series really ended, was a lot smarter  and leaves all the characters off well. I guess it would also leave the possibility for a second season, though I don't know much about the manga, so I wouldn't know what would really happen next. I'm not really sure I would want a second season anyway, sometimes I think it's best if their isn't. In the end, the series was able to leave me with a good feeling inside, which is obviously one of the most important things.

Final Impression

In all, this series would definitely make the top of my list for the season. The last few episodes before the finale may have been a little weak, but we all must remember some of the most best and memorable moments this series has had. Such as the unforgettable musical episode, no series has gone through such a risk  as to get there voice actors (whether they were good or not) to sing. That episode alone deserves the prize as the best done filler ever! The characters were all so amazing, they all stood out in different ways, but worked very well together. The little added touches just enhanced the series. The whole time, the series was able to be serious and funny when needed. It is also a definite plus that the jokes were actually funny. This would be a series I would recommend to many because its audience is pretty big. This was a series that took a lot of chances and in the end, they ended up all positive for me!

So there is a girl and she's real important, but she's also sad and in danger one unexplained way or the other... then because of some weird circumstances the girl is taken away willingly by even stranger women, who walk around in the dark standing next to brightly lit bridges to avoid being seen, and the girl is finally handed to a student because the blond chick somehow trusts him even though he is a student and... Ugh.

The story is simply too ridiculous. And not in the good way either. Instead of using some sort of logical structure to get me involved in a believable world, the story drops the ball by making crazy jumps from one point to the other, and giving bad reasons for the characters doing what they do. It might make all sense at some future point, but why should anyone care? Especially the way the protagonist just leaves the little girl in his room, saying he'll be back in 10 hours or something, what the hell is he thinking? It would make sense if he was in kindergarten, and can therefore not see the consequences coming, but he is like 16/17 years old! And after he has lost her, some weird Ninja employed by the blond chick appears, looking really cool and defiant just like a real operative, because operatives are all emotionless robots and therefore are not easily spotted. Give me a goddamn break. For me the whole story reeked of a bad setup to get the protagonist to live with the girl, so they could have humorous and/or other melodramatic (and unexplained) episodes together.

You might argue that the story gets better later on, but I simply don't want to watch. It's not like I can't take some boring starter episodes, but the story just gave me the unwavering feeling, that this series is going to be another overly melodramatic bore.

Sorry Kurenai, no second try.

(As a side note to people coming from animenano, my last post wasn’t listed on there for some reason - so if you want to read that as well, please do and find out why I’ve been derailed by spore.)

The precocious child, Murasaki, was the fire behind what made this show good but her circumstances, along with the episode count, ultimately denied this show from greatness.

Final Series Score: 10/12 A
Rewatchablity: medium
Pros: Murasaki, slice-of-life elements, animation - outside of an occasional shot – was very pretty
Cons: ending felt rushed which allowed events that seriously stretched plausiblity to occur and also the ending left a sour taste in my mouth.

Spoilers follow so read on at your hazard.

The story behind Kure-nai start with the Kuhouins. They are a super-rich family that has many secrets that they don’t want to come to light. The first is that Kuhouin women live in whats known as the Inner Sanctuary, an interior part of the estate that is totally cut off from the outside – no windows, no communications, no internet, tv, radio, etc.. The second is that Kuhouin women cannot marry because they are required to have children from their brothers and thus continue the Kuhouin line. This is were the story starts – 7 year old Murasaki is living in the Inner Sanctuary and knows that she is to have her brother’s children in just a few short years. One day, however, a woman named Benika sneaks into the Inner Sanctuary with the offer to take Murasaki out to the real world. Murasaki decides she wants to see the outside and agrees to go.

Benika runs a operation that handles disputes and decides to let one of her employees, Shinkurou, protect Murasaki while she’s outside. Shinkurou lives in a tiny room (no private bathroom here) in a run-down apartment building with a few interesting neighbors. Murasaki encounters a world very different then her pampered bird cage life from before and the fish-outta-water aspect dominates the first half of the show.

Eventually the Kuhouin family find Murasaki and drag her back when a suddenly impotent Shinkurou can’t stop them. After a bit of mopping, he decides to free Murasaki and along with Benika and Yayoi breaks into the Kuhouin estate. They are eventually successful in reaching Murasaki and defeating the Kuhouin family but Murasaki decides leaving the family would be running away so instead she settles with being able to live outside of the Inner Sanctuary.

Now onto my analysis but first here are my weekly Kure-nai rankings in MS Excel form. Since I only started doing my weekly review part way through the show, I’m using my spring anime review score to cover the first 5 episodes.

The scores are a bit deceptive or at least not fully representative of how I feel about the episodes now that the show is over. My favorite episode was probably episode 8 with the visit to the shrine though episode 6 with the awful play was a close second.

I’m willing to give the show a little slack since it’s been so enjoyable but I did not like the ending at all. First it stretched plausibility to much. This was probably partially due to the episode count not allowing a more convincing ending but it undeniably hurts the show. For example, when Yayoi goes from being defeated for a second time against the same opponent and having to be carted off because she’s more then halfway through death’s door to easily beating the same opponent 15 minutes after said carting off, it’s not possible even for an anime character and really is a mood breaker. I’d love to see Yayoi beat that woman but it’s not possible with what the show did up to the point of their third meeting.

Yayoi after losing to that woman a second time

Car chases are always a plus

Yayoi suddenly able to beat the snot outta the same person that nearly killed her 15 minutes ago

The second reason why I didn’t like the ending was the resolution of the problem of Murasaki’s freedom. I could believe the Murasaki’s father would allow her to live outside the Inner Sanctuary and maybe even end the Kuhouin traditions but I think if Murasaki’s dad is the Gorbachev of the family then the son is like the Ayatollah Khomeini of the family. I don’t believe the brother will allow Murasaki any freedom at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if in a couple of years the father is dead by Murasaki’s brother hand with the grandpa a willing accomplice. If living outside so Murasaki can make an enlightened choice as to who she spends her life with then couldn’t she also do this living in Shinkurou’s apartment? If she wants to fight the traditions of the Kuhouin family wouldn’t living away from the house be an effective strategy? Maybe the brother would look for a non-blood relation woman of his own age that he would like to marry if his sister wasn’t around all the time.

Creepy Brother

I think if the show had been paced differently and had more episodes it would have greatly helped it. If for example it was 24 episodes long, instead of 12, the side characters could be fleshed out more and give Murasaki some more time outside. This could last for the first 12 or so episodes then with the realization that the Kuhouin family knows where Murasaki we could have had a 4-5 episodes arc of them on the run before Murasaki was caught again. Then we could have had a short arc where Shinkurou tries to move on, maybe see him do a few more jobs for Benika before deciding to save Murasaki. Then finally, Shinkurou with help from Benika and Yayoi could break in and defeat the bad guys convincingly and free Murasaki. I would then resolve it with the father deciding that Murasaki needs to live outside for several years until she is old enough to decide her fate, say another 9 years minimum, and as a sign of good faith let her live with Shinkurou and force the brother to move to Europe for the next few years.

All in all, this was a good show. One I’ll probably watch again soon since Murasaki was such an interesting character to watch as she learned to adapt in the real world. I would also like to see a second season with Shinkurou doing more jobs and maybe some resolution with the two female classmates of Shinkurou.

Please let me have a second season of Kure-nai

How the show should have ended

Well, I've got to say that watching Kurenai was a real treat. In my opinion it was probably the most solid show of 2008s spring season and I'll probably miss looking forward to it each week. So this being a series review and all I'm going to touch up a bit more on what made this series so special.

Watch Kurenai! It's got slice-of-life elements,

Animation-wise, its great. The animation is fluid, the background scenery is vivid and detailed, and its character design exudes uniqueness. Also, one plus factor is the fact that the animation stays constant throught the series, meaning that it was a treat to the eyes throughout each episode.

people punching and kicking each other silly,

Kurenai has a great plot too. Looking back at the previews, I thought this show was going to be another one of those shounen themed anime, with a teenager fighting tons of bad guys to get stronger and whatsnot; standard shounen fare. However after finishing, it I realized that couldn't be further from the truth. Kurenai marvelled me with it's slice-of-life pacing and stunning development. Ranging from slow spa trips to action filled thrillers, with great development throughout each episode.

people who can't drive,

Kurenai also has a great soundtrack. I loved the upbeat jazz and blues for all the fighting scenes, however, it was the ballads that truly brought out the peacefullness of Kurenai. The music just accompanied and changed with each scene. The J-pop opening and ending themes we're also a cool addition to the already diverse soundtrack.

and a main character with a giant retractable blade attached to his elbow. =D

So, all in all how would I rate Kurenai? Well since this is my first full series review I guess I'll have to explain my rating system a bit. I'll be sticking with a subjective review as well as a gauge of it's genre. That said my rating system will be something like this;

Awesome - Best of the best, saved for my favourites
Great - Way above the normal, worth keeping
Good - A few problems here and there but still nice
Average - Baseline level anime, watch if you have the time
Mediocre - Mediocre
Bad - I doubt there would be any of these on my blog since i'd probably have dropped them. xD

That said, I'd say Kurenai gets a Great and would fit somewhere in the slice-of-life category although it has elements of mystery and drama too. So if you haven't yet watched Kurenai and if you love random musicals, please do! So until the next great series pops up, see you all! =D

So we've reached the climax of the build-up episodes. This was probably the weakest episode of everything I saw so far, but for a series like this, that still makes it pretty good. The story was basically just Kurenai and his little gang try and break into the Kuhoin residence to get to the inner sanctuary and rescue Murasaki. Of course, it is never that easy to accomplish and a lot of fights follow. I was pretty surprised with how everything turned out. First, I didn't expect them to have gone all the way to the inner sanctuary only to leave and then try and go back, I thought they were going to find Mursaki and the final battle would go down there. Secondly, when Kurenai had his knife thing stick out, I thought that maybe he'd actually use it, but instead he just ran away, I guess the creators are only saving that for the finale. The fight scenes were so good in this episode, actually out of most series I've seen this might be some of the most realistic fights. I found it interesting that even though they were fighting for life or death, they had very calm music in the background. It really worked well of course because it just adds to the list of many things that make this series different.

Kurenai's team was also abnormally nice. They seemed very civilized compared to their enemies, if someone spoke to them, they would simply respond instead of beating them up. Also, they only really attacked the people who attacked them first; it was also a fair fight. I don't know why the creators would show these particular things during a fight scene, but my guess would be because they wan to show the difference between each opposing team and how Kurenai's team are the good people. Kurenai is a great character because you can't help but hope for him to conquer all. Over the course of the series you can really tell he developed a lot. It's really sweet to see how persistent he is and how he refuses to give up until he gets Murasaki back. I can't wait to find out how his story will end for him. We also learn a bit more about Benika's character in the episode. She turns out to have been awesome from the start. It would be pretty cool if she got her own spin-off series because I'm sure it would be really interesting. So, this series is going to end withing the next episode, I have some predictions, but for the most part I think it's going to be pretty hard to judge the outcome.

Along the course of the series, we are treated to mini-lessons of (cliche but eh oh well), true happiness, the lesson of being independent and uh true love? Most importantly, a major point put across is the question of traditions or customs passed down in society/families. Do we have to accept it blindly just because it's a long lasting tradition or because we have been so diffused into the culture/tradition/custom we are numbed to it? What is the level of standard do we have to compare to to make the right choice? Or are only those with power, be it political, monetary or strength be the one who is right. This actually makes me think of motherland, a certain red dot below Brian's motherland, Malaysia~. My country certainly has its share of ups and downs but lately...it hasn't been going too well for a certain ministry what with a few BIG fiascos. Could this be an indication of the future comings? Is it perhaps time for a change of the culture? Revamp the system? Replace the top brass? That certainly didn't happen in kurenai. In reality, it wouldn't be possible too. So what happen is we have to fight from within the system. To do so outside the system would only prolong the problem and not solve it. Within the same playing field, even with the opposition having the upperhand, the fight must continue because it must be done.

Hm, objective of reviewing kurenai without revealing spoilers complete. WEeeeeeee! On a side note, Allison and Real Driver got kiv-ed. The former bored me to tears after an exciting first four episodes and the latter seemed to be more fun to watch in one go.