While tons of other bloggers have given their praises for Kure-nai (especially for the adorable Murasaki), allow me to join in the bandwagon just for fun. Contained within this post are my impressions, insights, predictions, and what have you.

My eagerness for this anime was apparent in my earlier pimpings, though I should say that after watching two episodes, it far exceeded my expectations. It completely blew me away. I mean, who would’ve thought that I’d find myself crying buckets of tears just by watching the first episode? I know that my tears are somewhat shallow, considering how I’ve shed them for KimiKiss and True Tears as well, but this time around it’s of Aka-chan to Boku or Aishiteruze Baby quality. That’s how genuinely moved I was.

The bond between Murasaki and Shinkurou is one of the purest and sweetest ones I’ve seen thus far, as exhibited in episode 2, where not even a trace of lolicon and other pedo elements were present in their hot spring bath scene together. Their relationship is like that of siblings way back the 80s or 90s, where the minds of people were still not corrupted by the vile thoughts plaguing our society now.

There’s more to this relationship than meets the eye (save the naughty thoughts for yourselves, please). With the flashbacks we’ve seen of Shinkurou’s childhood as early as episode 2, it was enough to infer that Shinkurou is haunted by a dark past; much like Kenshin probably was way back his tragic life as the Battousai (and how he also lost his loved ones way back his early childhood). Whatever happened to Shinkurou’s family is still a mystery, but what we do know is that he lost them at some point, and it was clearly one of the darkest hours in his life. He might have kept these memories sealed shut, hiding them in the pretense of a smile, but they creep in during his lonesome nights.

He trained to become stronger, perhaps for revenge, or whatever reasons to be revealed as the series progresses. But at this point, Shinkurou’s life doesn’t have any direction. The expressionless face he had while clobbering the thugs in the bar was, for me, a sign that he finds no meaning in whatever he’s doing with his strength and abilities right now. And this is most likely the reason why Ginko advises him to stop getting involved in all this mess.

Then here comes Murasaki, who suddenly comes into Shinkurou’s life. He was tasked to become the bodyguard of this little girl, a young child who tries so hard to act like an adult, in denial of being lonely, a pretense which Shinkurou was able to see through right from the first episode. On the surface, it might seem that Murasaki and Shinkurou are complete opposites, with the former one being a brutally frank and bossy kid, while the latter one being a coward-looking guy who can’t quite assert himself (as far as first impression is concerned). But I’d like to think they’re like two peas in a pod, especially if you’ll consider their past.

Both of them share a similar history of loneliness, particularly due to the lack of a warm and loving family, albeit differing in circumstances. While Shinkurou chose the path of bloodshed (or being a troublemaker, in terms of the jobs he’s undertaking), Murasaki is the embodiment of purity and innocence. Shinkurou sees her as an angel, as was mentioned in the novel, the very person who’ll most likely redeem him from this meaningless-looking life. Now this is where I see the parallelism between Shinkurou x Murasaki, Kenshin x Kaoru, as well as Genji x Murasaki.

From the dark and tragic past, to the pretentious mask of smile painted on their faces, I consider Shinkurou and Kenshin as kindred spirits with regards to these aspects. While the latter one’s life is more bloody and tragic, and whose path is that filled with grave sins of the past, Shinkurou’s life might just be on the verge of becoming like that. In the same way as Kaoru was the embodiment of purity and innocence to Kenshin, the girl who truly loved him despite his dark and burdened past, so will Murasaki be in Shinkurou’s life. Now I only know the tip of the iceberg of Tale of Genji, but I believe this is also the way Genji perceived Murasaki no Ue to be.

The more apparent similarity between Genji x Murasaki no Ue and Shinkurou x Murasaki would be how Genji brought up Murasaki no Ue, in the same way as Shinkurou is now taking care of Murasaki. While some people in AniSuki forum are pointing out that Genji’s Casanova qualities is also present in Shinkurou, due to a number of girls flocking to him (Yuno, Ginko, etc), I refuse to consider this as a real similarity between them, because well, Shinkurou doesn’t really look at them as more than a friend (Ginko), or a sister (Yuno). Shinkurou mentioned in the novel that he perceives Yuno as nothing more than a big sister, much to Murasaki’s delight lol. Whether this relationship will change, we’ll probably see as the series progresses. Shinkurou might not be raising Murasaki for the same reasons Genji had (to become _the_ woman for her once she grew up), but I know that Shinkurou will love her dearly as they get to spend more time with each other

As I watch these two episodes of Kurenai, the motto I saw in the manga’s official website, “People become stronger when they find someone they ought to protect”, continues to ring a bell, as I see the anime revolving around this theme. I can already foresee this show becoming a wonderful journey for both Shinkurou and Murasaki, with their loli-and- bodyguard relationship turning into something deeper, a symbiotic give-and-take relationship which will be strengthened as they get to know each other, find their identity (especially for Shinkurou), realize the value of life, and all that.

Allow me to say a few more words about Murasaki before I end this post, because I could no longer find a way to fit this in the mess I wrote lol.

As a number of people have already pointed out, Murasaki is by far one of the most realistic kids we’ve seen in an anime, both looks- and character-wise. What’s even more admirable about Murasaki is how mature she is despite her age. When Shinkurou taught her about respect for elders, being grateful for things given her, she was mature enough to have understood what he meant, humbly accepted her mistake, and was grateful for the insights she gained. She’s also brutally frank, but there’s not a trace of malice in her words. She’s just outright honest, something which Shinkurou still lacks at this point, and will be able to overcome as he gets to spend time with the adorable Murasaki ^^

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