Click pictures to enlarge them. Spoilers ahead so please be cautious. While Murasaki's almost "stupid" like innocence is her charm, I have to say, it is a little unreal how she didn't even get scared when she was surrounded by Yakuzas;; We see the spec..글 전체보기
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Up until now, I didn't fully realize how warm Kurenai was, how believable the characters were. I hinted at it last episode but, in this one, it's obvious. On to the overviewFor this episode, we were properly introduced to the Houzukis. Yuuno's family. Which happens to be Shinkurou's foster family. Shinkurou and Murasaki paid a visit to the Houzuki mansion. Before arriving, Murasaki was ill at ease. She kept asking weird questions about the Kuhouins and Yuuno. When they finally met the Houzukis, the atmosphere was a little tense but they all warmed up to each other gradually.While Yuuno and Shinkurou were sparring, Murasaki and Yuuno's little sister played around. Chizuru-chan is a bit younger than Murasaki but that didn't stop Murasaki from being interested in her Nintendo DS. She had never seen a games console before. Her technological knowledge barely extended to cell phones and televisions. If you take Murasaki's personality into account, it comes to no surprise that she ended up breaking the poor girl's game. That's not where the carnage ended though, she managed to mess up the operation on Chizuru's doll, followed by a beheading of the said doll. That scene may appear insipid at first sight but it was executed so brilliantly, it was so warm, I felt Murasaki's guilt so badly, I felt Chizuru's sadness. The acting is just phenomenal, everything comes to life perfectly.Next up was the obligatory old and bald wise guy of the dojo. He basically made a fool out of Shinkurou for being so stiff. Old geezer had a point. Shinkurou tried his best to loosen up after that. He even told Yuuno he liked her. He just had to cover it up with the obligatory "Well I don't like you particularly, I like the Houzukis". You're a wuss Shinkurou, grow a pair. Nedless to say, his "Mental powers" aren't developing too well. Despite actively seeking to better them.The episode ended with a reunion at Shin's place. The two odd-ball neighbors were drunk as shit, having a party at shin's place for no apparent reason. Shin got pushed around again, Murasaki joined in too in what I would qualify as the most comedic scene of the season so far in any anime. Those jokes were some RISKY jokes let me tell you. I didn't care too much at first because I was folded in half while laughing my ass off. But GOD DAMN it was funny.Kurenai keeps it fresh yet again, I absolutely LOVED this episode. The acting is some of the best you will ever see. The humor was through the roof. Did all that and remained classy.Simply wonderful, 5/5 for this episode 5.
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Ah, what an adorable episode! Hardly anything new was introduced, and yet it was so much fun to just see the characters. This is exactly what I mean by a well-written series. Everything about this episode was just so enjoyable. I love it in a series, where the characters are coming together. This series shows [...]
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Before I actually start this episode review, I just wanted to mention that this is actually my hundredth post! I’m glad I’m writing it for a series I really enjoy and I thank everyone who has ever visited my blog! Yay, Go me! Anyway, this was another great episode, as if we expected otherwise. Unlike most [...]
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Okay, we're three episodes into the spring anime season and I have to declare myself. At least I have to stop watching some shows so anime doesn't take all my time.My favorites? Nijuumensou no Musume, Kurenai, and Macross Frontier. None of these are reaching the level of True Tears, Ef, or Blue Drop for me, but they have a chance.I find myself especially eager to see each episode of Nijuumensou no Musume, and not just for Hirano Aya at her best. The pacing is perfect so far, never so fast that it loses emotional sense, nor so slow that I start looking at the slider. All the characters seem to have something inside them: they are people, not just images of people.I like the way secrets are revealed gradually, but without making a fetish of them. There is always something more to be revealed. And quick moments tell a lot, such as the The animation here is actually stellar, although at first it looks quite plain. Chiko's movements in episode 4 when she is cleaning the floor and a window are really something, as is the way her body sways as she gets up onto the seawall carrying a heavy basket. A poster on 2channel said that it looks like a rerun of an old show, and it does. But someone else pointed out that it uses modern techniques to give it this retro feel. Retro plus.The two groups subbing this in English give it two different names: Live-Evil calls it The Daughter of Twenty-Faces, which is a translation of the Japanese title. Sudo calls it Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief, as Anime News Network does.Kurenai captivated me from the start. A seven-year-old girl who has been a virtual prisoner in her aristocratic family's home is rescued by her minder and hidden in the apartment of a young bodyguard called Kurenai, who has a killing blade implanted in his arm. The bold tsundere character of the little girl and the walk-on-eggs caution of her new roommate continue to make for a fascinating relationship.Once again, the direction and the portrayal of character and relationship are what make this show tick. And the voice-acting is continually excellent, especially that of Sawashiro Miyuki as the 16-year-old bodyguard and that of former child actress Yuuki Aoi -- who is actually 16 -- as the little girl.The show is directed by the director of Red Garden, and appears to use the same unusual technique of recording the voices before finalizing the animation. This allows for some very natural conversations, with voices running parallel or interrupting each other. Great effect.I had never seen any Macross show, and I went into Macross Frontier thinking it would be mainly mecha. Instead of that, I get some interesting characters and even romantic relationships, as well as space battles and friendly and unfriendly aliens.I am a total sucker for the shoujo staple of the apparently incompetent girl who will show her strengths as we go on. And newcomer Nakajima Megumi as Ranka's VA intensifies the effect. Endou Aya (Miyuki in Lucky Star, Angie in Neo-Angelique) is suddenly blossoming this year and makes the big singing star Sheryl into another fascinating character.You can add Nakamura Yuuichi's Alto to the list of good performances in this show. Alto was trained to play women's roles in kabuki, and is still called "Princess" by his friends. But his ambition is to be a fighter pilot, defending the Macross space colony. So we get complexities of romance, relationship, and gender. And a huge colony-city in space, making its way from Earth toward the centre of the galaxy.I am also enjoying Vampire Knight, which is a top-notch vampire show, in the league of Tsukihime and Tsukuyomi, and maybe even approaching Hitsuji no Uta, but with a shoujo tinge. It's wonderful to hear Horie Yui playing the young girl protagonist. But equally good to hear Miyano Mamoru as her (unrelated) elder brother and Kishio Daisuke as the aristocratic vampire who once saved her from another vampire.The animation here is not as detailed as in the first three shows, but it is very stylish. And I find the angst of the story quite persuasive. Hocchan's Yuki is strong, good, daring, and an attractive personality all round. Mamo-chan's Zero is a young vampire hunter with a secret.Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is my surprise hit. Its combination of madcap humor and sweet relationships is entrancing. And there is some great character-creating voice-acting by Fujimura Ayumi and Hirohashi Ryou, among others.My guilty pleasure is Kanokon, which may be the most outrageously sexual fanservice show I have ever seen. Even people who like fanservice are saying it goes too far. And Kawasumi Ayako shows yet another side of her multifaceted talent. The other main fanservice show of the seaon, ToLoveRu, doesn't interest me as much, but the wonderful Yahagi Sayuri is at her best as the hero's real love-interest, Haruna.I expected Neo-Angelique Abyss to be another guilty pleasure, but it is in fact more than that. The new staff (largely from Corda D'Oro) that is producing this iteration of Angelique is giving it better animation, better dialogue, and a plot that is working so far, despite the monsters. Endou Aya is making this her big season, with another sharp performance as the sweet girl who is the strongest mage around, and ends every battle emitting powerful light that flushes away the monsters. And the character design is terrific, including Angie's outfits and zettai ryouiki, and her bevy of real bishounen. Like Vampire Knight, this show gets its bishounen fanservice right, perhaps because the main staff people in both cases are women.Many people would consider any Da Capo show to be a guilty pleasure, but I don't. This second season of Da Capo 2 is starting off much better than season one, with romantic complexity and glimpses into the feelings of the participants. And Yoshiyuki's denseness has not yet gotten out of hand. Add Takagaki Ayahi (Noe in True Tears) as Otome, and you really have something.Real Drive is yet another Production IG/Shirow Masamune tale that I can't help enjoying even when I don't understand what is going on. Production IG's surrender to the commercial usefulness of fanservice has produced some interesting panty shots of the unusually plump heroine. Great animation and character design, as usual.Naisho no Tsubomi has captured my attention, too. It is based on a health education manga for girls, but has been made into an enjoyable slice-of-life anime. The first episode showed the travails of our young heroine as she had her first period, completely unaware of what was going on. The relationships with friends and family are beautiful, and so is the voice-acting, especially by Nazuka Kaori and Koshimizu Ami as the two main girls. Even if this show weren't such good slice-of-life, I might be watching it just for the beauty of those two voices.Allison and Lillia started well, but has become less interesting for me as it goes on. It is seeming too far-fetched and rushes through things that should take longer. We'll see how ep5 shapes up. The character and relationship of the protagonists are what count.Library Wars seemed to have some of the relationship goodness of Planetes at first, and may still, but ep3 was a bit meh for me -- except for the cliffhanger ending.My enjoyment of Itazura na Kiss waxes and wanes. Not a great show, but a great story -- which is the reason why it has come to anime after having already been a manga and two dramas. Maybe the fact that I saw one of the dramas makes this less interesting to me.Net Ghost PiPoPa is another surprise hit for me. It and the new season of Blue Dragon appear to be the most-watched new shows on Japanese TV. The clean look and good adventure story for young kids both remind me of Otogijushi Akazukin. Not something I'll watch every week, but enjoyable for what it is.There are lots of other good shows this spring. Almost everything is watchable. Soul Eater is visually wonderful, but the surface brilliance and humor aren't enough for me -- especially since monsters generally turn me off. I've never been a fan of Code Geass, despite its great cast. And Zettai Karen Children is just finding its feet. More of the emotion behind the characters and less of the stereotypical battles might please me.Wagaya no Oinari-sama has two good things going for it: the characters played by Yukana and Hayami Saori (Momoka in Touka Gettan). Yukana is the female aspect of the fox god who is brought in to protect the household. Hayamin is the clumsy but powerful young priestess who is there to help her and keep her under control. Hayamin, at 16, is growing fast as a seiyuu. Her singing of the ED is already top professional quality. But the story and writing are limping.Golgo 13 has real masculinity: a square-built sniper hero who shows zero emotion as he takes out the bad guys in a show whose dark colors and deliberate direction make it feel classic. Mnemosyne continues to combine atrocious violence with yuri in an over-rich but tasty soup. And Noto Mamiko and Kugimiya Rie sound great.Crystal Blaze, Himitsu: Top Secret, Monochrome, and Tower of Druaga all have strengths, too. Despite the fact I haven't had time to watch more than one episode, I suspect that Amatsuki could develop into something, as well. And Junjo Romantika is true yaoi, with strong fanservice and relationships. Kyou Kara Maou and Nabari no Ou just didn't do it for me after one episode, so I haven't had a chance to watch more.This season may not have the overwhelming excellence at the top that some other seasons had, but it is deeper in good shows than any season I can recall.
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Kure-nai Forth Episode Talented Person. While there is no doubt that the loli steals the show with her ability to bring cuteness to a godly level (move over, baby Jebus), even when mortally endangering herself and her minder, there is another rather insignificant character who might deserve some of your attention. What’s his name again? Oh wait, [...]
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Torrent download link: Kurenai 04, HD [BSS]Episode 4 picks up where ep. 3 ended, when Murasaki decides to secretly follow shinkurou on a job. This scene is great, Murasaki gets in danger, we see shinkurou trying to make things go smoothly, we see the mafia pulling the classic "goon in the elevator". Not only is the action great, it's believable, you can feel the tension leading to the fighting scenes. (Well, believable insofar as you discount shinkurou deflecting bullets with a bone extending from his elbow ;D )The second part of the episode is very information rich. We get to see the past events, explaining much of the current situation. However, there's still a lot of mystery to go around. They didn't reveal to much too make things uninteresting.Shinkurou and the girl with glasses as kids. Shin was some apathetic fool as a kid. Benika "saved his soul" if you will.Benika's promise, the reason she gave the responsibility to shinkurou.Excellent story-telling so far. Episodes can't come fast enough!4/5
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I cannot take any more Murasaki cuteness. First she can’t reach the button in the elevator (and complains about it and is summarily trapped in said elevator) and then she finally figures out how to shampoo her own hair. Badly, of course (you have to scrub the whole hair, not just the top, dear) but [...]
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As much as I like the animation-style of the OP, the song does get annoying really fast! I’m hoping that if this series actually has more than 13 episodes, it’ll at least change the song for the OP. In any case, this episode was chockfull of development and background. The big fight that takes place [...]
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Kure-nai Third Episode The Fraud’s face. This week, the director sticks to his über cute strategy and sends the Loli off to the wrong school. Since day-time TV isn’t thrilling in Japan either, Tamaki convinces Murasaki to go cock hunting at Kurenai’s school. And so the abuse of Murasaki continues as the crazy neighbour leads her there [...]
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I have to get this out of the way early: kure-nai 3 is probably the best single episode of anime I’ve seen in a long time. It covers so much ground in 24 minutes and manages to be highly entertaining at the same time. I don’t know how he does it, but Matsuo Kou is [...]
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Kurenai is so good I’m going to triple the number of screencaps and make a story! Kurenai Second Episode With the drain and the stream OMG! What kind of sick, voyeuristic show has children bathing stark naked in public? Just look at this! That child is completely exposed and not only that, he’s on his phone which could [...]
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First of all, I'd like to thank BSS fansubs for bringing this to us. Good work guys. You can download the episode right here.Kurenai's third episode was a little more of the same. Characters are getting fleshed out, the bitter girl in the picture below turns out to be Shinkurou's informant. She's jealous of the attention shinkurou gives to the girl above (Yuuno). Also, we learned that shinkurou got his powers from Yuuno's place and that he was living with her for a while.That's a lot to take in but, for the second episode, I complained that the school scenes were rather bland but this episode fixed that. This time around, we know who the characters are and what their relationships are. Makes the school life more relevant to the story.Now, for the reason we all watch this show, Murasaki Kuhouin's spotlight. This time around she's running around Shinkurou's school and learning about the culture, making for some really comedic remarks. As you must have picked up by now, Murasaki had nothing in terms of standard Japanese education.Taking her time to congratulate the guys who take care of their bodies.Learning about Baseball, hilarious misunderstandings in that scene. "Are those maids?" "Well I suppose they do serve so you could call them that"The reunion scene, pretty funny. Yuuno seems to know about the kuhouins though, something is up. She acted like Murasaki should have recognized her last name. She also showed a suspicious smile.Vile woman :)While Shinkurou explains himself, Murasaki listens and she's deeply saddened by the situation. She now believes she's a burden to shinkurou. With her pride, it's hard to take in. Especially with the ruckus she made at the train station.She finally gives in, ending this episode.I can't find anything bad to say at this point. Things move along quick, there's some funny scenes here and there, we see the plot thickening. It's all good if you ask me. I've seen people complaining that it's hard to keep up with. My advice is that you don't need to ask yourself too many questions. Things that don't quite make sense now will be revealed in due time. Just make sure you pay attention and try to fit the new information in the big picture. (Or you could just laugh at Murasaki's antics. That could work too.)4.5/5, WATCH IT! :P
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Emerging caveman-like from Backlog Hell and mindful that one episode is never enough to get a decent grasp of what the shows will be like, my belated spring 2008 first impressions post is intentionally belated. Recently I’ve tried to see the previous season’s shows through to their respective ends and giving the new ‘uns two [...]
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Shintaro Kurenai seems to be a high school student who takes on jobs to rough people up for cash on occasion; for some reason his body is peculiar, but the show hasn’t seen fit to elaborate on what exactly is up with that at the moment. Anyhoo, his “boss”, Benika, arranges for a young [...]
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After the brain deadening slew of fan service and school-yard anime that have so far dominated this season, I was quite happy to stumble upon the excellent Kurenai. Initially, I became interested in the show after watching a clip from the psychedelic opening animation. Other people were saying good things about the first episode, so [...]
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Kure-nai is my favorite of the new shows, after two episodes. Drama, character, action, comedy, mystery, good animation, good music, and a cute seven-year old rich girl whose bitchiness is mitigated by her intelligence and basic goodness.To keep the excellent voice-actors straight, I have made a page with pics of each main character and their VA, also giving a bit of info about the VA. Click here or on the image below to go to the full page:
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I don’t know why I decided to blog this series, I guess it just interested me because I know absolutely nothing about it, not even how many episode it’s going to have, which would be very useful if someone could tell me. I still really don’t like the opening and ending themes. Not only is [...]
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Fatherly instincts on the rise. How dare you, Murasaki. I thought I had surpassed the need for offspring. How dare you. The second episode of kure-nai was even better than the first. The adorable lovableness of Murasaki shines through, because she’s probably the most realistic seven-year-old in anime ever. This ties into what I said last [...]
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Shin's nightmare at the start of the episode.For this second episode, the most part was about murasaki's antics while shinkurou was busy with school.She's trying to feed the cat, I was terrified.We saw that shinkurou's school life is kind of bland and that his social life is suffering these days. The relationship with that girl he hangs out with seems really strange, they don't look comfortable together. She doesn't want to hear about his job but it's all that's on Shin's mind. Understandably so, I must add.The scene where Shin brings Murasaki to the public bath is really uncomfortable for pretty much any westerner I believe. She happens to have got shampoo in her eyes and won't stop being noisy. That right there would have to top all of the embarrassment I've accumulated in my whole damn life. I mean how would you feel giving a bath to a seven year old in front of everybody?Now the scene with the milk! Hilarious, cute, slightly violent but still charming. Shinkurou knocks her on the head every time she tries to tell him that not thanking the lady for giving her milk is acceptable. She has trouble understanding who is a servant and who is an everyday person you see.She finally gives a really long winded apology to the lady, shinkurou is satisfied and tells her "thank you" is just fine from now on. It's all good and everyone's happy.Things get a little less easy going from now, we get to see more of the true nature of Shin's work. Dispute mediator is quite the euphemism; see for yourself!"Is there a problem gentlemen?""Let me take care of that for you."They didn't stand a chance. The poor bartender is shitting his pants.This second episode didn't tone things down at all, every bit as interesting as the first. I'm beginning to lose interest in what happens at his school though. Maybe they'll spice things up soon. Those scenes don't last too long so it's ok.Finally, the appeal of this show is seeing the story develop and watch the little princess going about her business.4/5, very recommended once again.
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