The Scrumptious Anime Blog » Kurenai

Kurenai 11 Notes: The Hina Doll, Souju’s Death, Tales of Genji and Other Randomness

usagijen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:47:08 +0000

One of the things I like most about Kure-nai, aside from the adorable Murasaki, is its slice-of-Japanese-life elements, a topic which has already been discussed to no end by other bloggers. It’s a [gaijin's] window to the Japanese culture, providing insights on the characters’ Japanese way of life like no other animes I’ve watched.

That said, I find it surprising that despite the number of people who mentioned the Japan-esque aspect of Kure-nai, no one seemed to have bothered looking into the significance of the Hina-doll and why the Kuhouins found it detestable that Souju died while holding onto this doll. Oh wait, there’s someone who discussed it (a little), Teeif. Even Japanese blogs never seemed to have mentioned anything about this, I guess this was no longer a mystery to them since they’re, well, Japanese o.O Nonetheless, I found this subject fascinating enough to take a plunge into the Hina festival, to find out what the Hina doll really symbolizes.

From what I learned way back our Japanese class in college, the Hina doll is associated with the Hinamatsuri (Hina festival), also known as Japanese Doll Festival or Girl’s Day. As the name implies, this day is dedicated for praying for a young girl’s growth and happiness, where families display their Hina doll set during this momentous event, signifying a wish for marriage for the daughter as well. These dolls are only taken out on the day of Hinamatsuri, otherwise it’s just kept safely inside a box throughout the year. That’s how sacred and precious these dolls are.

[Now here are some more insights I got from various sources on the web] The Hina dolls were also used in the olden times for purification purposes. People rub these dolls against their bodies, to transfer their impurities to the said scapegoat. They will then throw these impure dolls into the river to be carried away together with their sins and impurities. This purification rite was also mentioned in the Tale of Genji, which dates back a thousand years ago. Allow me to quote something from the Goshiki site, which describes Hinamatsuri so eloquently as “the day when a family wishes for the happiness of the daughter by making some dolls undertake the lifetime misfortune as the scapegoat for the daughter,” explaining the suicidal sacrifice Souju did for her Murasaki.

And take note, Souju did not just take any doll with her, but the Empress, the one that’s placed on top of the Hina doll set, seated beside the Emperor. Mere common sense is enough to infer that this doll signifies nobility and high stature, considering that she’s THE sole wife of the Emperor. Souju, in this sense, regards Murasaki to be of the same level as the Empress, not a court lady, a woman from the Inner Sanctuary, or any such people from the lower class stratification.

In her death, Souju took with her all the impurities of being an Inner Sanctuary woman. She regarded this Kuhouin practice as vile and crooked, and she became the ultimate scapegoat for her daughter, so as to not allow her to suffer the same fate. Part of her dying message was for Murasaki to look highly of herself, not as woman of the Inner Sanctuary, but as an Empress, filled with pride, dignity, and most importantly, her own identity.

From the Tale of Genji-esque paintings on the walls of the Kuhouin household, the pseudo-polygamous and incestuous nature of the males in this family (taking one (or more?) Kuhouin woman as a baby maker, then another [outsider] to be the wife, for plutocratic reasons), to the way the young [lady] Murasaki came into Shinkurou’s life (and how the novel author also made a Tale of Genji reference in volume 2, with Murasaki seeing herself in lady Murasaki’s shoes, and Shinkurou in Genji), there’s no doubt that the similarities we’re seeing are intended to be references to the Heian epic of Genji. While the novel was more subtle in hinting these references, the anime made it all the more… vivid.

Random Stuff

HIGH HEELS CATFIGHT BATORU, LOCK ON!!

On a totally random and unrelated note, Benika and Lin Chenshin teaches us the art of fighting with style (literally) in this episode. Ever seen a GAR catfight involving girls with makeup and stiletto shoes? Even the cool girls in Kill Bill never had such a stylish sexy femme getup. And those are some amazing cosmetics, for it to remain as smudge-free as ever throughout that vicious fight lol.

Shinkurou: Hurrah! I finally gotz to bitchslap her! I’ve been waiting yearss for this moment to arrive!!1!!!!

If I have any qualms in this episode, it’s that despite the jabs and kicks Shinkurou sustained from Chenshin’s attacks, all he manages to do was… give her a bitchslap And he was real proud of it too~!Similar Posts:

Youth is made of sweat, tears and overflowing juices: thoughts on Kurenai thus far

absolute0 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:43:18 +0000

You wouldn’t (usually) find me watching anything loli. Note that, I placed “usually” because I’d like to keep an open mind though, and who knows there might be some loli anime worth watching. Anyway, Kurenai wouldn’t be the kind of anime in my watch list. After all, the premise of a high school guy living with the seven year old girl he’s protecting sounds like loli to me, especially so, that it is anime. Stuff like that do happen in anime, afterall. “But Kurenai is not loli!” I hear someone protest. Right-o. But even the obaasan at the baths commented on Shinkurou being into girls “like that” and Tamaki telling Murasaki that Shinkurou has lolicon.

It was hayase from Cute Proxy’s Anime Rants who introduced me to Kurenai. And how did she convince me to try to watch it? She didn’t tell me to watch it because the story or the animation’s good. All she said was “It’s like Red Garden“. Now Red Garden is one of my favorite shows. If Kurenai’s like Red Garden, it has too be good.

So I watched a few episodes first to find out. I saw the similarities to Red Garden right away. Kurenai is directed by Matsuo Kou who also directed Red Garden. Aside from that, the character designs for Kurenai are done by Ishii Kumi who did the character designs for Red Garden.

I have read a lot of blogs saying that Ishii Kumi’s character designs are ugly. I disagree. I find her character designs fresh and mature. Her style seems to have a Western influence and it suited Red Garden quite well. For Kurenai, most of the younger characters have been adapted to the usual anime style while the older characters (Benika, especially) look like they came straight from Red Garden. And Ginko looks like Kate except that she isn’t blond!

Animation-wise, Kurenai seems to have a high budget. The attention paid to details is painstaking. The movements look fluid too.

Aesthetics aside, Kurenai has an intriguing storyline. The concept of a traditionally raised girl living in the “outside” world is interesting, especially in terms of how she interacts with people around her, how her prejudices are being erased, and how she comes to learn different things.

The characters are fun though I find Ginko annoying sometimes. It’s clear she likes Shinkurou but she is only able to display her feelings and concern through annoyance. Murasaki can be a little bratty but that can be attributed to her upbringing. Still, I sometimes think she should be disciplined well. ^^;

Like Red Garden, the voice recording is done before the animation. I think this is effective in the sense that the seiyuu get to deliver their lines with raw emotions (this worked effectively for Red Garden).

Similarites to Red Garden wouldn’t be complete without the characters breaking out into song. Well, Kurenai has that too. Matsuo Kou seems to like musicals, doesn’t he?

Oh yeah, if they ever made a live-action of Kurenai, Yamada Yu, who did Son Rui for the Nodame Cantabile live-action special, would be perfect for Renjou’s wife. And Kuriyama Chiaki would be perfect for Renjou’s lackey.

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Deep Frying Kure-nai 9: The Great Kuhouin and Kurenai Revelations

usagijen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:17:51 +0000

Wow, hisashiburi~ It’s been a long time since I last wrote about Kure-nai, and now I’m brimming with guilt, shame, and a chunk-load of thoughts accumulated from the episodes that aired. I was planning to post a teaser-spoilers regarding the coming revelations about the fucked-up Kuhouin family after watching episodes 7-8, to prepare people for what is to come, and also to assure people that this anime is neither headed downhill, nor it is going to be just a fanservice show. But then time passed so damn fast and episode 9 already aired (and was subbed) before I know it! T__T My planned spoiler is now spoilt orz. Anyways, as I have realized now, not writing about Kure-nai is a SIN! More so, not watching it! It’s one of the best this season has to offer, no doubt about it.

Just a word of warning, this post is now convoluted due to the horde of thoughts I have. My apologies for the lack of coherence and structure, not that my post(s) have any of such to begin with =[

That said, the revelation of the Kuhouins and their fucked-up yet justifiable customs in this episode came as no surprise because I’ve read spoilers about it in the AnimeSuki forums beforehand. My initial reaction was of course “OMGWTF O.O”, but having known all these drew me into the series even more due to the levels of depth and complexity it added to this seemingly ‘light’ series. I faithfully watched each episode, awaiting all these revelations, eager to witness how Murasaki will be able to break free from her destiny with the help of Shinkurou.

innocent kiss or not, it’s still a kiss of pure love.

Only a few episodes before Kure-nai comes to an end (sadly so), and it remains fanservice-free as ever. Despite the loli jokes thrown in the past episodes, and the unveilment of Murasaki’s sicko brother, Kure-nai is still NOT, and will never be, a loli anime. Only pedos and lolicons will think of the show as such. As Owen has pointed out months back, just about every scene in this show, Murasaki and Shinkurou’s exchanges in particular, are carefully woven into the story, executed so realistically and naturally that only malicious perverse minds will interpret the scenes as pedophilic in nature.

Murasaki’s perverse pedo brother just serve as the living proof that the taboo practices of the Kuhouins throughout the years has made him all fucked-up as he is now. And this is exactly why we have protagonists in their sane minds who know well that a young child doesn’t deserve a fate as cruel as that of the Kuhouin’s Inner Sanctuary women / young girls.

Shinkurou is the very guy Benika entrusted with the task of saving Murasaki from this fate, and despite how utterly lacking he still is at this point, I do believe that he’ll finally step out of his cowardly shell by the next episode. While other people have shown their frustration at Shinkurou’s patheticness up until this point in the series, the cowardice and indecisiveness he has shown, even during the fight with the Kuhouins (which people expected to be the turning point of his character) is actually justifiable, as proven by TinyRedLeaf’s amazing analysis on this subject (and a LOT more). If you have any qualms about the series or want to gain more appreciation for it, I urge you to read it :3

Another thing we’d have to take note here is that the indecisive pathetic guy we’re talking about is someone who lived most of his life in fear. He is still living in fear, up until now even. He survived the plane crash which caused the death of all his loved ones. He was left with nothing, and thought of the world as a living hell because of its emptiness. With each day that passed, he wished for nothing else but death, but he couldn’t even bring himself to end it all. He neither had the courage to live nor to die. That’s how pathetic he was, and Shinkurou knew that full well.

With the orphanage mob attack incident, Shinkurou thought he finally found the light to his problems. He sneered and smiled as one of the mob guys pointed his gun at him, thinking that his wish will finally be fulfilled. After years of meaningless existence, he’ll finally be reunited with his loved ones in their after-life. That changed the moment he saw the kickass Benika, and for the first time after who knows how long, he thought about wanting to become strong, and to live. With that, Benika took him as her pupil, and entrusted him to the Houzukis, where he was trained and eventually inherited the tusk of Hozuki.

Eight years had passed since the tragic plane crash, and yet there was not a single day that Shinkurou did not have nightmares of that incident. Despite all the training he’s been through, he remained a weak pathetic guy who couldn’t do anything by himself. He felt so ashamed of not having improved one bit from his cowardly self when the Houzukis took him in that he finally decided to leave them and escaped to Samidareso. He put on the pretense of being a tough guy, and not once had people seen him cry, not even Yuuno and Ginko who was closest to him. That is, except Murasaki, who saw him grieving in the midst of his nightmare that one night.

Although hesitant at first, Shinkurou confides about his tragic past to Murasaki, after much prodding from this little girl who expressed her desire to know about him. Shinkurou felt like crying after Murasaki commended him for having endured all this throughout the years. She tells him of the sad truth that they can no longer bring back the life of the loved ones they’ve lost, but what matters most is that they met, found each other, resulting to two less lonely people. It was during this tender moment that Murasaki kissed him on the lips, hugged him like a mother to a son, assuring him that he’s not alone. And for once after eight long years, Shinkurou was able to cry his heart out.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what the Shinkurou x Murasaki moment in episode 9 should’ve been (all the other stuff I mentioned about Shinkurou’s past is written in the novel as well). Oh well, it’s still good in its own right so I’m not complaining about that. And as I’ve said before, I loved how they incorporated much of Murasaki’s past throughout the course of the series’ run, because the Kuhouins are supposedly “hidden” in the novel until Ryuuji appeared. What worries me more are the other changes made in this episode. tri-ring of animesuki forums said Renjou supposedly acted on his own in this decision to capture Murasaki, not with the consent of Renjou and the other Kuhouin, and I wonder how that will affect the series later on. I just hope that despite these changes we’ll be able to see Shinkurou’s ultimate GAR mode next week! Or else…!Similar Posts:

I Earned a Negative Reputation in AnimeSuki for Approving the “Censorship” in Kure-nai, Oh the Irony!

usagijen — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:12:28 +0000

FACE MY WRATHH!

I never really intended to rant but sigh…

I was randomly checking my animesuki forum profile today when I noticed that I was given a negative reputation for my comment regarding Kure-nai episode 4 (and also episodes 1-3, if that person reacted to my deep-frying post), for praising the anime for the changes it made to the novel. It was way back April, but I just noticed it now. He/she gave this justification for deeming my post as realll baddd: “censorship is bad. approving it is even worse.” What’s this, have I lost all my freedom to choose which of the anime and novel I prefer now? Mind you, I wasn’t outright bashing the novel, I was actually showing both sides, with a strong leaning towards the anime. And what do you know, I’ve watched till episode 6, noticed bits of the novel that was changed or wasn’t included, and I thought how nice it would be if they included that (the scene where Murasaki got hurt, the elaborate details about Shinkurou’s past, etc)! ARGGHH T___T

I couldn’t care less about the reputation stuffs, really, but I do know for a fact that I do not deserve this negative reputation. It’s not like I b*tched, like “Down with the Kure-nai novel!! you filthy book filled with pedo loli vibesss!!!!” Ok, so you (whoever you are) disapprove the censorship in the anime. Is it because you favor the additional innuendos in the novel, among others? Whatever your reasons are for preferring the novel, it’s your opinion, and I respect that. Respect mine too. Am I not a free citizen entitled to my own opinion? You’re like censoring my opinion too, with what you did.

Geez you purist coward novel ~~fag~~ fan. I was being civil and you STAB me behind my back, SHAME ON YOU!! If the one who did this is *that* one person I’m thinking of, shame on you indeed. I was close to becoming your fan because of the novel spoilers you’ve been giving, and you give me shit. Thanks pal!

~raging bunny, now signing off!

P.S. Please don’t mistake this post as a rant against the novel. The novel is good in its own right, and there really isn’t much loli pedo vibes in the source material either. There are a little additional innuendos in the novel, the introduction of the vulgar terms ‘condom’, ’sex friend’ and ‘lolicon’, and some naughty (yet innocent) remarks from Murasaki, but that’s it. The anime did show some of these innuendos in episode 5 as well, so they’re pretty much at par in this aspect.

P.P.S I’ve gotten over this now, and all I can say is… I love you faggots <3 Thank you for trolling my post!Similar Posts:

Kure-nai 03: Sudden Spouts of Sagacious Thoughts

usagijen — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:10:58 +0000

After watching episode 4 last week, I was ready to churn out an insightful post on the episode, but it turned out to be a total mind-fart. It’s not that I had a sudden Kure-nai writer’s block (I wouldn’t want that to happen D: ), but rather because the post I had in mind for episode 3 continued to linger in my head, as though haunting me for taking it for granted O_O So here I am, writing down this long-overdue piece dedicated for episode 3 and the sudden burst of thoughts I had thanks to that train scene (and also some bits in Murasaki x Tamaki’s convo). OGT already gave his insightful thoughts on this one, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I expound on it a little further, and add my own personal touch.

The train scene in episode 3 really hit close to home, as it mirrored one of the great struggles I faced with for years — being assertive and confrontational, having the guts to stand up for what I believe in, a sincerity vs hypocrisy struggle – a struggle I’d like to think as ever-present in non-liberal Asian countries like Japan and ours, among others.

A [Confusing] Prelude

Feel free to skip this part, or just beware of the confuzzled cluttered thoughts x__x

I would’ve done this too, way back when I was a kid.

Everything was wayyy simple when we were kids. We were taught about what’s good and bad, as though they were simple black and white kind of things. For example: early on, we learn that talking bad about people, criticizing and being brutally frank is not good, because it’ll offend the person and make him/her think less of himself/herself. And being the brutally frank outspoken little kid I was (similar to Murasaki), I was reprimanded for my actions because I was going against this social norm. But then things get complicated when both the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ we thought turns out to be far more complicated — it has these what we call ‘gray areas’, as was shown in the train scene in this episode of Kure-nai.

With regards to the supposedly negative frankness for example, we later learn that while doing this isn’t the most acceptable thing, it’s also not good if we become hypocrites and put on the pretense that we’re friends with a certain someone when in fact we are repulsive of him/her. And depending on how we were brought up, other factors such as self-consciousness and lack of confidence might come into play and render us unable to speak our minds (which is exactly what happened in my case).

As for a ‘good’ that suddenly become skewed and complicated, we have the concept of morality and kindness as was shown in this episode, which I could relate to very well. You see, I used to be a cheerful little kid who readily befriended people I have close encounters with, may it be in school, in church, etc. And as I was taught to be kind and generous, I did so to the people I meet, regardless of their race, social standing, etc. But then even these turned out to be far more complicated, partially due to my Chinese upbringing’s jaded and partial view of society. Naturally, there’s this cynical view that not all people are good or worth befriending or being kind to, especially non-Chinese (yeah my family’s racist and all that, probably because of past experiences which made them even more cynical than they already are =.=; ).

Despite not fully embracing this Chinese mentality (racist is never a good thing), I won’t deny its influence in my behavior, especially way back the immature stage of my life (the identity crisis stage). And when our Chinese calculative mentality kicks in, we start rationalizing things in terms simply doing things that benefit us, and ignoring the rest (i.e. being apathetic to the plight of other people). The lack of open-ness in our family, where we were made to conform to a set of rules and beliefs without having to question them, also didn’t help in making things better. It just further blurred my sense of individualism so to speak, as I allowed myself to be brainwashed by all these =[

On The Murasaki’s in Society

Murasaki and the apathetic people.

Going back to the train scene, it should be noted that the Murasaki’s in our society who fight for the idealisms they believe in, especially in public, can either be deemed admirable or plain stupid. First of all, you’d have to note that there are no tangible benefits for the defender of justice in these situations. Aside from causing herself additional stress due to getting worked up, she is making herself an open target to criticisms of the public eye — the peace-loving people who dislikes public scandals, those will view Murasaki’s behavior in a negative light. Now if the one being reprimanded steps back and accepts his/her fault, well, mission accomplished, but there’s still no benefits in this case (except for an ego-boosting effect perhaps). On the other hand, if the one being reprimanded reacts violently, like the case in Kurenai episode 3, the patriot can only take whatever insults, criticisms, verbal or physical damages that will result from her patriotism.

Defending yourself in public when people disrespect you or treat you like shit can already be difficult, given the issues complicating adult minds like social norms and reasons stated above. It becomes even more difficult if you were to do this for the sake of a stranger, especially if you were brought up to be apathetic. I mean, will you be willing to sacrifice your social comfort zone as well as your reputation, all for the sake of someone, a stranger even? It’s not an easy decision, and more often than not we find ourselves choosing to not leave our safety net and just ignore the situation. It’s for this reason that I look up to people like Murasaki, those who are willing to fight for what they think is right despite knowing that the negative consequences this will result to more often than not outweighs whatever good intentions they have.

While some people really have become stone-cold and apathetic to the plight of other people (which is really sad), I do believe there are those who want to do something about these situations but can’t bring themselves to, like Shinkurou. The older we become, the more we complicate things, and we spend so much time worrying and hesitating only for it to end up as a total act-fart (if there’s such a word).

Evidences of My Assertiveness and Cowardice

…and I only understood it now.

Despite having a certain sense of Murasaki-assertiveness, I do think I’m still a coward like Shinkurou, for the most part. Let’s take for example my day-to-day train commute struggle adventures, where respectable (?) people (regardless of gender) turn into savages the moment the train doors open (or even before it fully opens) – they push, claw, bully, rake, and shove past people without remorse, just go get their way in T__T (They are _that_ excited). I don’t really have the guts (and tactlessness) of Murasaki to reprimand these people the way she did, so I do it subtly, like blurting out sarcastic remarks or giving an EVIL GLARE at these apathetic orcs. It’s half assertiveness and half cowardice, because I still am trying to protect my reputation as I do this.

Another case in point, as I was taking down notes for this post during my commute, there was this insensitive bastard sitting beside me who’s suffering from a Restless Legs Syndrome. This is something done unconsciously, I understand, so I tried not to be pissed. But then he suddenly takes out his cellphone, puts it in full volume, and starts playing his favorite songs without wearing his earphones, as though he wanted the entire train to hear it! This, together with his RLS + conscious stomping to the beat + snapping his fingers in tune with the music, really annoyed the heck out of me T___T I was thinking of reprimanding him for this extremely rude behavior, but it seemed that the other passengers didn’t really care, so I kept silent. I just mumbled a sarcastic remark about the reason why earphones was invented, and I looked at him in the eye to give him an EVIL GLARE, at the very least. But then he was wearing shades, inside the train (so cool, yeah right)! So my glare just got deflected so to speak. I kept silent during most of the train ride, but I swore to myself that if the guy started singing, I will really snap and lash out on him. But it didn’t end up that way (tsk!), and the moment he finally stood up and took his leave, I breathe a sigh of relief and blurted out a sarcastic “Gee, thank you~!”

Why did I have such a hard time voicing out my complaints to the bastard beside me, when I know it should be the right thing to do? Again, it’s because of the reasons I previously stated. I know for a fact that he was breaching privacy, respect, social harmony or what have you, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to create a public scandal. I look back at that time and I can only imagine how exciting it could’ve been if I scolded that guy right then and there! Sometimes you just have to forget stuff like reputation and do what you really think is right. (Oh, and by now, I think that bastard’s cellphone got stolen because he was OPENLY flaunting it to potential thieves inside the train, and that’s what I call justice!)

Realizations and Challenges

With the experiences I had in my family, school, work, and even in my crazy commute rides, I’ve come to realize that just about everywhere can be a drowning hotspot of individuality if we become passive and blindly follow the norms that society (and other people/institutions) dictate. It’s not that I’m suggesting a deviant or egotistic behavior, but rather practicing critical thinking, in which we should at least question whether a certain norm, rule, or any action is indeed right or wrong. And hopefully with this, we’ll be able to find ourselves, complete with a sense of purpose, and a set of principles which we abide in and fight for.

More often than not, society dictates us to become passive and apathetic, because that’s the way to survive in a cruel world, to get away from any mess as much as possible. But is that what we really want? To become insensitive to the plight of others, to not do anything when you know you should? If you really don’t give a damn, then fine. But if you feel that you have to do something, then nothing should stop you from doing so. Yes you have to set a certain boundary and not go to the extent of what Murasaki has done in this episode, but you shouldn’t keep a blind eye to this kind of social injustice either.

I’m still a coward, but hopefully one day when I do witness this kind of social injustice, I won’t be afraid to stand up for the sake of the victim. Similarly, if I do witness injustice in the workplace, I do hope I’ll be able to adhere to my principles and fight for them, despite the risk of losing my job or something. (Well of course it’s still better if you work in a company where such injustice is not present, like the company I’m currently working for ^^;;; )Similar Posts:

Deep Frying Kure-nai: Anime > Original; Adaptation At Its Finest

usagijen — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:04:39 +0000

After three episodes, well what can I say~! The staff behind Kurenai never ceases to amaze me with what they have done to this anime, transforming the supposedly lackluster novel (at least in terms of the overall pacing and plot progression) into the awesome anime that we see now. They certainly know how to make the most out of an anime adaptation, incorporating foreshadowing, revealing bits of Murasaki’s past and Shinkurou’s dark side with each episode, something which is yet to be tackled in the novel, as far as the halfway point of the first volume goes. Without revealing all this, the anime would not have been as compelling and awesome (for the lack of a better word). With the early revelation of Murasaki’s past, we get to see the complexity and depth of Murasaki’s character, and the reason why she acts the way she does.

From what I’ve read so far, there was not even a mention about Murasaki’s family background; Murasaki just came out of nowhere in the novel, unlike in the anime where we actually see how Benika kidnapped her from the Kuhouin household. We also don’t get to see a glimpse of Shinkurou’s ‘dark’ trouble-maker self, till past the halfway mark of the novel. Instead, we see Shinkurou’s past and how he met Benika, early on in the novel. Though in my opinion, it was a rather sloppy shoved-in-your-face kind of revelation, where you get to see the entire past in an instant (it’s a complete wall of text in the novel, 8 pages worth of Shinkurou past, all at once!) T__T

The sequence of some events have also been changed, but it’s all for the betterment of the show. Like in what was covered in episode 3, Yuno doesn’t actually get to meet Murasaki till she paid a visit to Shinkurou’s house (which was days after the school event)~ Given this change, we also don’t get to see Murasaki moping over how Shinkurou is simply protecting and accompanying her out of his duty as his bodyguard (gotta love that scene in the anime), since his explanation about being Murasaki’s bodyguard came after the train scene! That, and pretty much of the one-on-one conversation between Murasaki and Yuno were anime added scenes too. Oh, and the scene with Tamaki and Murasaki (and much of her school adventures) in episode 3 were also (great) anime-adlib btw. In the novel, Murasaki just appears in Shinkurou’s school out of nowhere (yet again!), and she just told Shinkurou that Tamaki accompanied her >_>

What surprises me more (in a good way) is how the staff decided to cut the nonsensical ecchi-ish talks in the novel, where ero-girl Tamaki exposed Murasaki to vulgar words like ‘sex friend’, and ‘condom’, way back when she introduced herself (She introduced herself as Shinkurou’s ‘sex friend’, then later asked Shinkurou if he has a condom T__T). Now during Shinkurou’s visit to a certain someone’s (I’m not mentioning any names, to avoid spoilers :P) dojo, she brought Murasaki along, and mentioned “Just for the record, I’m not a lolicon”. This will probably be covered after next week’s episode, which will first focus on Murasaki finding out about Shinkurou’s job. Now if the anime will omit even that lolicon-defense dialogue, wow, *bow to the anime staff for filtering the novel of its impurities *Similar Posts:

Kure-nai: A Rurouni Kenshin x Tale of Genji Alternate Universe

usagijen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:09:33 +0000

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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More Than Words… More Kurenai Pimping… Now I Am SOLD

usagijen — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:25:01 +0000

I love the tagline of this series, “People become stronger when they find someone they ought to protect”. rawr, so GAR

Not too long ago, I pointed out Kurenai as one of the animes I’m looking forward to in the Spring Lineup. Yes, I’m looking that far ahead. Although I don’t have the actual novel in my hands, I managed to find it *cough* somewhere else *cough* It took me weeks of perseverance, to keep me from buying the novels on impulse. I thought hard, wondering if it’ll be worth my time and money, considering the pile of unread mangas and novels (*cough* Saiunkoku *cough*) I have. I browsed through the novels again, supposedly for dispelling my excitement (the want-to-buy-it kind of excitement) for it, only to end up failing to resist it more orz.

These pictures in particular caught my attention, enough to make me exclaim “I AM SOLD!”. Without reading the text of the novel, I think these images already give enough hints that there’s more to this show than meets the eye (like duh, these images already show some plot-clues in the first two volumes of the novel xD). I think you’ll even be more interested once you see the recent manga adaptation. What worries me is how they’re going to conclude the anime for this yet-to-be-finished novel. Aside from that, it’s all good~

I get Aishiteruze Baby vibes from the loli & bodyguard relationship of Murasaki and Shinkurou, the two main characters of the show. I think the antics in Kurenai will be more fun, because we have a tsundere ojousama loli in Murasaki The possible love triangle angle with Shinkurou, Murasaki, and Shinkurou’s classmate Yuuno makes this all the more interesting. I’m in the loli-side for this one, though Yuuno is a cool kickass female herself, whose martial arts skills is even more superior than the GAR-in-disguise Shinkurou.

I decided to give this pimping my ALL (sort of), so here are some of the entertaining antics I was able to pick-up during my quick browsing:

Murasaki: Come Shinkurou! Let’s read this book together!
Shinkurou: But I still have to take care of these documents…
Murasaki: I’m reading it now!
Shinkurou: Alright, alright. So, what book is it?
Murasaki: It’s The Tale of Genji manga I borrowed from Tamaki! This story fits us to a tee, Shinkurou!
Shinkurou: Orly…? o_O

(Note: In the Tale of Genji, Genji becomes fascinated with this little girl named Murasaki, who turns out to be the niece of his stepmother, his first love. Enamored by the young 10-yr old, he “kidnaps” her, and brings her up to become his ideal lady. Murasaki is 8 years younger than Genji, and came to be known as his “most loved one”, among the MANY women in his life.)

before this, Shinkurou told Murasaki not to hesitate to ask him about anything that’s bother her, and soo…

Murasaki: Hey, Shinkurou. Which do you think is cuter between these two [panties]?
Shinkurou: Whichever is fine, so just go and wear it!
Murasaki: I said, which?!
Shinkurou: well then.. the white one.
Murasaki: Hrmm, so this is what Shinkurou likes. I’ll take note of that.
Shinkurou: Umm, you really don’t have to…

Below is the PV from the official site. Found the subbed version in youtube, but I don’t know who graciously subbed it ?_?

WPvideo 1.10

Murasaki is <3 8D

…but of course, April is still a long wait, so I’m going back to the present and finish the rest of my planned posts.

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