The Unnecessary Prelude

A post months in the making, that’s what this is. This, my friends, is the very example of totally uber-slow blogging. Please don’t try this at home, or wherever. Still, I’m more than glad to *finally* have this out of the backlogged post queue! Oh and those who are new to this blog, this “Deep Frying” is something my brilliant co-blogger Seleria and I thought of doing way back our suicidal episodic blogging days, as we take a look at the anime and its source material, and basically do an episodic in-depth analysis of some sort, despite the lack of depth. And uhm, awkward English is awkward so I hope you guys won’t mind. As much as I want to have the entirety of this post published in one go, and do the sexy pagination that OGT suggested, I’m afraid I need more time to write the latter half of this post and I want the world to see this now (no matter how incomplete)!

Onto the Deep Frying

As much as I found the Kure-nai anime to be excellent, I consider the last two episodes to be under the “good, but could’ve been better” category. But that’s because I had the novel to serve as a benchmark. And as Hanners has very well said in a comment, “I think Kurenai is one of those series that delivered up so much perfection that no ending could possibly have done it justice.” Simple as that.

The anime worked well even without the Shinkurou monologues / streams of consciousness ever present in the novel. Nevertheless, it would’ve added more layers of complexity and depth to its awesomeness, IMO. Not to mention the additional GAR Fight scenes with Shinkurou and the epic “Save Murasaki from the Clutches of Evilll” scene we could’ve witnessed, no matter how Ryuuji-rage-inducing.

The Characters – General Overview

The side characters weren’t fleshed in the novel as much as they were in the anime, but that’s because it was highly concentrated on Shinkurou and Murasaki, especially the former. Shinkurou was the “star” in the novel, whereas Murasaki was in the anime. Much of what we’ve seen regarding Murasaki’s past, flashbacks with her evil stepmother, the tear-jerker scenes, were anime-original stuff (as far as volume 1 is concerned). Props to director Kou Matsuo and the rest of the staff for portraying Murasaki’s life in the most vivid and dramatic way possible.

The novel shows us Shinkurou’s totally unmasked self in the novel it might as well be entitled ‘Being Kurenai Shinkurou’, but we all know it’s not catchy enough. We get to take a peek at almost every bit of his thoughts — thoughts of the past and present, both good and bad (and totally darkkk — not pedo thoughts but murderous intents), and hence you can either grow to hate him or sympathize with him even more. It’s easy to do the latter because you get to see him change for the BETTER, from being his terribly angsty and pathetic self, to the GAR Shinkurou, and the stark contrast between his past and new self makes for a very dramatic effect.

Tamaki and Yamie had nothing else but brief appearances in the novel (their ‘confrontation’ with this iron fist dude was pretty mysterious too), and Yayoi is nowhere to be found on the scenes 90% of the time, since she’s supposed to be a “shinobi ninja”.

I’m not sure if episode 7 (the Tamaki episode) was based on the later parts of the novel, because there wasn’t much background info on her as far as the first volume is concerned, only that she’s a ‘college student and a karate master in some doujou’ (on top of being ecchi of course). Those who have read past volume 1 of the novel can probably shed some light on this one?

I didn’t find any noticeable differences between Ginko and Yuuno’s anime and novel counterparts, except for Yuuno’s kickass-ness and flirtatious tendencies, as well as her in-depth knowledge of the Powerful Clans of the Underworld and the Plutocratic society, details which were left unexplained in the anime.

Shinkurou and Benika (as with much about every character) were totally kickass. There was no drunken Shinkurou, especially not in the final fight. He was GAR. Benika didn’t get injured in any fight either. I mean, a Benika battered by Ryuuji?! That only happens in the anime. Though, as Luppy said, the anime staff was probably aiming for a more realistic feel (not including the unbelievable car chase and whatsoever ‘unrealistic’ things in the last episode, of course). But I still can’t help but feel sad that they had to show Benika get all bruised that way. She’s supposed to be kicking people’s butts and causing a rampage, not the other way around!

Moving on to the ‘deep frying specifics’…

The Train Incident

The train incident in episode 3 is already awesome in itself, and having the novel supplement it with Shinkurou thought monologues makes it even more so. Basically, in the novel, Shinkurou stumbles upon Murasaki in his school, finds out that Tamaki took her there, then they head home and ride the train — no more Murasaki adventures in school scenes, no encounter between Misaki and Yuuno (their first encounter took some place else, more on that later). I guess it’s less exciting that way, but also more dramatic as we get to take an inside look at Shinkurou’s innermost thoughts. The conversation between Shinkurou and Murasaki before the grandma-bullying scene in the anime was all ‘anime adlibs’, great adlibs.

In the scene where Shinkurou takes notice of the bullied granny, he concludes to himself that “Justice does not exist in this [present] world, that’s why I can live as a Dispute Mediator”. Ignoring the situation right before his eyes, was, for him, an ‘amicable settlement’, or so that’s what he’s been convincing himself to believe.

When Murasaki stood up for the granny against the thugs in the train, he decides not to get involved, to flee from the situation. He didn’t want to waste his energies on something not related to his ‘work’, and what’s more, he’s a coward. While he was apologizing like a mad dog to the bullies, he was trembling throughout the whole ordeal — totally pathetic, which Shinkurou knows very well.

Fastforward to the aftermath of the train incident, where Murasaki tells Shinkurou, “Smiling to appease another person is sheer folly (or just ‘plain stupid’)! You laugh when you have fun! When you’re happy!” :

According to Shinkurou, putting on a [fake] smile has been one of his “great skills”; it allowed him to escape troubles every so often — a clear sign of cowardice, as he also admits. He looks at Murasaki, and thinks of how he fears her for her bluntness. She was the first ever person apart from his childhood friend (no name was given to the childhood friend, but it’s obviously Ginko) to have scolded him that way, but surprisingly enough, he doesn’t find it annoying or unpleasant — almost as if he actually delights in it (not because he’s a masochist or anything like that, mind you). Then he later realizes that it’s all because of Murasaki’s honesty/sincerity. There’s not a trace of lie in her words, she means what she says, and she tells it as it is, raw, unadulterated, pure.

“Is my smile that ugly, that fake? How come I can no longer smile naturally?”, Shinkurou wonders. It’s like the moment he thinks of smiling, it turns awkward and he ends up showing a forced smile instead. “Something seems to be missing [in my life]”, says Shinkurou, “something I lost ever since that time I thought I lost everything”

Yuuno and Murasaki’s First Meeting

Yuuno first met Murasaki in Shinkurou’s apartment in Samidareso, after the train scene incident, and in quite an ‘indecent’ light. She visited him to give him a wake-up call and probably prepare breakfast for him, only to find a nekkid Murasaki sleeping next to Shinkurou (lol)

Murasaki introduces herself to Yuuno as “the person who lives together with Shinkurou”, which makes Shinkurou all defensive as he goes to explain that Murasaki doesn’t know what she’s talking about, since she’s more like a freeloader than anything. Either Yuuno didn’t buy his excuses, or just wanted to tease him, as she asks him “Are you into little girls, Shinkurou?”. Shinkurou wasn’t able to respond, giving Yuuno the chance to deliver this lengthy dramatic speech, about how young’ns can be so easily led astray by the ‘crooked world’, as they make friends with ‘bad people’ who influences them to play around all night long and all that~ tells Shinkurou this is the very reason why she was against his decision to live alone.

Finally after that, Murasaki formally introduces herself to Yuuno and vice versa, and the name ‘Houzuki’ rang a bell to Murasaki, so as ‘Kuhouin’ did to Yuuno. Apparently, it’s the first time Yuuno ever met someone from the “Kuhouin(s)”, same with Murasaki. And though the three-way chat never happened in the novel (heck, how can they ever represent that in the novel anyway?!), I imagined it happening here, with Murasaki commanding Shinkurou to make Yuuno GTFO, Shinkurou trying to interrupt Murasaki by telling her to “GTFO and GET DRESSED YOU NEKKID LOLI!” (pardon the exaggeration)

And after the “friendly” little talk, Yuuno tells Shinkurou she’ll meet him at the doujou after school, and even asks Murasaki if she wants to tag along, since he’ll stay there until dinner time or what. Murasaki replies, “Is it alright? I’m the Kuhouin of the 表御三家, you know?” (more on the 表御三家 later) It turns out to be a rhetorical question as Murasaki decides to tag along since she’s interested in seeing what’s in store for her in the Houzuki ‘mansion’.

Miscellaneous stuffYuuno was cooking breakfast for Shinkurou and Murasaki when Shinkurou notices a video tape Tamaki left in his room, a thank you gift of some sort. And when he opens it up, voila! “The Allure of Young Fairies” (especially marked “covert(?) material”) awaits him lol. It made him wanna swear at her (“shower her with profane outburst” would be the direct and awkward translation), like totally FFFFFFFFF.

Close Encounter with the Houzukikind

Shinkurou and Murasaki head to the Houzuki mansion, like in episode 5 of the anime, and since Murasaki already knew beforehand that they were going to the Houzukis, her concern wasn’t whether or not Shinkurou is taking her to the Kuhouins, but whether or not he is going to protect her from the “Houzuki(s)”, like if Yuuno attacks her or what. Shinkurou was about to tell Murasaki that such a thing won’t happen, but Murasaki cuts him off by asking whether or not he’s on her side. I don’t think Shinkurou ever answered Murasaki’s question in the anime, but in the novel he gave an outright answer, that as a professional, he vows to protect her.

Sensing Murasaki’s fear (despite not knowing what it was that Murasaki fears about the Houzuki), Shinkurou once again asks Murasaki if she really wants to tag along or back out, to which she says with all courage, “I won’t run away… Unpleasantries are not going to disappear if I simply run away from them, that’s why I have to face this” — pithy words which made Shinkurou think of how much of a coward he is compared to Murasaki, yet again.

They arrive at the mansion, where Chi-chan welcomes them, and Yuuno joins them not long after. Yuuno flaunts her outfit for Shinkurou to see, same in the anime, only that she’s wearing a miko hakama outfit instead of a colorful kimono, since she’s been working part-time in some nearby shrine (irrelevant info, perhaps, but not for those with miko fetish!). Shinkurou thought it suits her well, and Yuuno was relieved to see that Shinkurou was “brought back to the right path” (like being interested with girls suited for his age? lol). In defense, Shinkurou tells her “…just for the record, I’m not a lolicon”, something which Yuuno was able to accept mentally, but not emotionally. Yeah, women are complicated like that, as Shinkurou also thought. It’s not that women are impossible to understand, just that, perhaps what motivates people to understand them is ‘love’ — probably what’s been missing in Shinkurou’s life.

And uhm, pardon the segue, but I can’t help but be reminded of scenes from Skip Beat as Shinkurou talks about the ‘thing’ which he lost, the emotion he’s trying to gain back~

Anyways! lol. Back to Kure-nai!

I find it surprising that Murasaki didn’t get all hostile while Yuuno was flirting with Shinkurou in the novel, and I guess the anime fixed that for us. Instead, what finally made Murasaki respond (after the Yuuno x Shinkurou convo while Chi-chan and Murasaki is there) is the ‘lolicon’ Yuuno mentioned.

Murasaki: what’s a lolicon?
Shinkurou: You guys don’t have to know.
Murasaki: Why?
Yuuno: Lolicon refers to a bad person, someone who refuses to heed his sister’s advice and decides to live by himself; someone who, despite meeting his sister in school, doesn’t talk to her all that much, doesn’t call her up, doesn’t invite her to go out and spend time with her; someone who does nothing else but keep things from her and make her worry — a veryyyy baddd person.

Then Murasaki defends Shinkurou…

Murasaki: But Shinkurou is not a bad person.
*Chi-chan nods in agreement*
Yuuno: *smiles and nods* Why I think so too. Shinkurou is definitely not such a person. (Of course we know that Yuuno’s being all sarcastic *imagine the trademark Yuuno smile*)

Yuuno and Shinkurou proceed to the dojo to practice, and afterwards came this revelation of Shinkurou’s past, as he reminisced what happened way back when, something I also mentioned in a previous post. They head back to the room where Murasaki and Chi-chan is, and finds them watching anime (there’s no DS/doll borked in the novel).

After dinner, Yuuno suggests Murasaki to go take a bath with Chi-chan. Murasaki hesitated for a while, until Shinkurou tells her about how splendid their bathroom (I prefer saying 風呂[furo], but whatever) is, made entirely of wood and all. Yuuno further entices her by saying they have “yuzu bath” prepared for that night, and Murasaki could no longer refuse. While the two lolis little girls are away in the bath, Yuuno takes this opportunity to explain about the 表御三家 and 裏御十三家, with her grandfather’s permission. But before that, Yuuno’s grandfather (and also Shinkurou’s master) teases Shinkurou a bit first, which is why their conversation was drastically different than how it went in the anime. Shinkurou was stiff as ever, but Yuuno’s grandfather never hesitated to be so naughty and blunt. (Yuuno also remarked about how troublesome this ‘job’ Benika entrusted to Shinkurou is, since she entrusted a Kuhouin to Shinkurou who belongs to the Houzukis. I fail at making summaries and I don’t know where to fit this little detail in, but it happened right before Yuuno talked to her grandfather)

Basically, the grandfather asks Shinkurou if he’s already *done it* with Yuuno (I got confused by this line in the novel, because the Japanese text goes “夕乃とは、もう済ませたのか？”, which can be misinterpreted as “Is it over between you and Yuuno?” But then Yuuno reacts violently and calls her grandfather a pervert (which he is, or used to be, for sure), so obviously, it’s got to be something more perverse than just ‘a relationship being over’, right?)

Grandfather: Geez, you’re too conservative. When I was Shinkurou’s age, I’ve already–
Yuuno: Shinkurou is not that kind of person! (or more like “Please don’t liken Shinkurou to the likes of you, erojiji!”)
Grandfather: What, you mean you haven’t done it yet? Hey Shinkurou, just because Yuuno is my granddaughter doesn’t mean you should hold back. Lots of people send her love letters you know (if I were to take liberties I’d translate this line as “She’s got a line of suitors waiting you know”), and if you don’t act fast, someone’s bound to take her from y–
Yuuno: I don’t have time for such things!
Granddaughter: If you keep up with that morally uptight attitude of yours, you’ll end up marrying too late.
Yuuno: No worries! I’m sure I’ll find a person suitable for me! Isn’t that right, Shinkurou?

Of course clueless Shinkurou didn’t get why Yuuno had to ask for his confirmation (stupid dense Shinkurou no baka!), and couldn’t say anything in reply but a vague “Y-yeah…” OTL

This segue got interrupted as Yuuno’s grandfather had to talk to someone on the phone (yes irrelevant details whatsoever). Yuuno tells Shinkurou not to follow the footsteps of his womanizer grandfather, and as Shinkurou knows well the hardships Yuuno’s late grandmother had to go through because of her grandfather’s promiscuity (Yuuno admires her grandfather and all, but not this promiscuous self of his way back when he was younger), he understood exactly what she meant.

More to come in part 2! So stay tuned, despite there being no exact date as to when I’m going to post the next, haha!

P.S. This ‘deep frying’ is without doubt, best read hand-in-hand with the anime, which is why I think it’s most effective when done simultaneously with the anime, same with what I did to Kaze no Stigma. But heh, that’s just suicidal.

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3. My Noughties in Anime