Anime: Kurenai

The main character Shinkurou starts as slightly annoying (but that's the stereotype, so it's fine) but he he gets exponentially more likable towards the end. And his character, as in his occasional immaturity, completely fits his age. On the other hand, the main girl, Murasaki, while her lines and behavior is totally lovable, gets less and less believable. In the last few eps, she has some great lines that really make you fall in love with her character, but then you realize a child of seven would never say such wise adult lines. Children sometimes do it but they mostly only repeat what they've heard. And yes, I know children may, given the right stimulants (usually stressful situations, like hunger, their life threatened, strict upbringing, and such), "grow" way faster than they do in civilized societies but AFAIK that's more about their skills to survive rather than getting mentally to the level of a 25 y/o grown-up when they're seven. So, yeah, I like the story and characters and all, but this little discrepancy made me lower the overal rating one point down.

None the less, watch it. It's very short and you won't be bored! :)

Kurenai is a good mixed show. It has the elements of a fanservice and the feeling of a harem animation, but is also filled with a few decent elements of action and slice-of-life. This weird combination was more common to early 2000's animes, but Kurenai is one of the rare shows in the late 2000's that manage to use it with quality.

Art & Animation
Kurenai has a very decent art and animation overall. The character design looks a bit generic, especially in the small japanese girl and the overly typical protagonist design, all of them using an art style that doesn't summon any kind of uniqueness. However, despite a generic look on characters, the backgrounds are very detailed and the animation work is extremely sharp and fluid. The few combat scenes are very entertaining and the expressive power of the characters help to boost the slice-of-life parts of the show. Overall we have quite an outstanding job here, on par with many OVAs and a few movies.

Sound
Kurenai's music is nothing really remarkable, but do a great job in delivering what is needed. The opening is a bit like Honey & Clover and Welcome no NHK, with some happy carefree song that matches the slice-of-life part but completely omits all the sadness and tragic pasts of the main cast. Background music is very simple to remain marked in someone's mind, but also don't pose as an issue in any moment. Voice-acting is fine, even Kuhoin voice is not as annoying as many small girls out there, but there will be many times when the pitch will reach ridiculous levels and may sound more noisy than it should.

Story
Kuhoin is a member of a very strict and old-fashioned mafia family, with a history of imprisonment, machism, incest, and pedophilia. Shinkuro also has a sad past that gave him some Wolverine-like bones and put him on a job to deal with troublemakers and to act as mediator between shadowy dealers. The show starts when Shinkuro gets a job to protect the fleeing Kuhoin, and from there they start to live together in Shinkuro's small apartment filled with weird neighbours.

1. Simple, heavy, loli-focus
   The concept idea is a very simple, yet effective, way of putting a teenager and a cute little girl together. From there both protagonists will share simple things about living together and deal with each other in order learn more about the secrets involving their pasts. The backdrop of the plot and both characters is very heavy, yet the show is a light hearted slice-of-life tale, focusing on delivering good moments while Kuhoin learns about the world and deal with things she wasn't used to deal. The joys of her discoveries is perhaps the main attractive of the show, with bits of comedy and loli fanservice.
   
   Action
   While most of the time Kurenai is a light-hearted show about Kuhoin and Shinkuro living together, there are times where action kicks in. Shinkuro's jobs and especially the pursuers of Kuhoin trying to get her back make for some nice tense moments to contrast with their daily lives in the small apartment. It's not the focus of the show at first, but the last stretch of episodes is far more heavy in the tense moments, combats, and an overall urgent feel to the story. In fact, it does a very good job when it wants to be an action show.
   

Character
Kuhoin and Shinkuro, despite having very generic looks, are fairly good characters. Kuhoin is a girl curious to learn but with a behavior of a secluded little princess, making every small thing she knows create some nice and interesting moments. She doesn't truly develop in the short number of episodes the show has, but is a very fun character that makes up for a more belieavable little girl than only an excuse for loli fanservice. Shinkuro stays more as you typical protagonist, sometimes looking more like a harem boy, but he has more problems and a serious attitude to make him more charismatic and less stupid, he also develops a little, especially in his relationship with Kuhoin. The support cast, however, is far too simple and little used, making more for some excuses of varied character design than people useful to the plot.

Value
Boy meets girl shows are all around. Harem-like structured shows are also common. Slice-of-life don't offer anything new when it happens in Japan or japanese-based world. Kurenai, however, mixes all these beforementioned elements into a single show, adding a bit of shounen action and a shadowy backdrop to shake things up. This certainly creates a more refreshing experience and is successful regardless of all its shortcommings. Sadly, it takes too much time on the daily life of the couple and, as a consequence, turns to be a more normal slice-of-life show with a loli girl than what it would be expected from the first impression.

Enjoyment
It's truly remarkable when a show manages to deliver joyful moments from simple stuff. This happens in Kurenai because the best form of entertainment it offers is the way Kuhoin discovers things about an ordinary life and learn how to deal with Shinkuro and the others. Besides that, Kurenai also succeed in delivering a good degree of tension in the last episodes and to create satisfying action scenes. If the balance between slice-of-life was treated with more care the show could shine even more, but it's good enough the way it is. Those looking for a nice slice-of-life and don't mind bits of action will definetely enjoy Kurenai. If you want a truly serious show or a shounen experience then Kurenai may be disappointing.

Comments
Kurenai is a wonderful show by all means. It is refreshing for its slice-of-life parts and offer a good amount of action to keep it steady and not boring. Kuhoin may be just a simple little girl, but the show does a good job in developing her, in a way similar to what happens to the early episodes of Beast Player Erin, when the curious girl shine and very simple scenes become quite rewarding.

Sadly the show is mixed with a harem feeling around it that doesn't truly match all the stuff shown. The neighbours are all women, the contractor is a woman, the bodyguard is a woman, everyone surrounding the protagonist is of the opposite sex and they don't have the slightliest importance to the plot. While the show is not full of fanservice, this simple fact makes the overall feel of the plot moves down to a less serious level. Perhaps a more mature and useful support cast could make Kurenai truly shine.

Regardless of everything, the show is a nice change of pace and can please a good range of viewers.

PROPER MINDSET
Kurenai is a nicely made slice of life show that implements far more elements than just a slice of life story. That is in a way its biggest problem, since it tries to combine things that do not combine. It is by no means a masterpiece as it is way too light hearted and its elements are used mostly for appeal rather than substance.

PRODUCTION VALUES
First things first, it is animated by studio Brain’s Base, so it definitely has good artwork and animation, as the characters move and act very fluently. The backgrounds also have a high degree of details and colors and in a way the entire show feels like it was first filmed with actors, and then was drawn over them in order to become an animated feature. There are still scenes where the characters feel stiff and physics don’t look realistic, but overall Kurenai is wonderful to stare at. It is not artistic in any way, since you are just watching everyday items and places, but does a good job making you feel that it really takes place in an existing contemporary Japan.

The soundtrack is very subtle as it never takes over the spotlight from the characters. It is not bad yet it doesn’t stand out one bit. Most BGM for example is a very soft piano tune and even the battle theme is nothing much to remember. The OST in general helps in building up a whooshy fuzzy atmosphere but it is not exceptional, memorable, or interesting in any way.

Voice acting is ok in terms of dialogues; most of it sounds very natural-spoken. Yet many parts in terms of context of the dialogues as well as the decibels of the voices are off. For example, most sexually teasing dialogues are cheesy and fake, like they were taken from a mediocre harem show. And many characters have a tone of voice that feels fake; such as the lead girl Kuhouin that sometimes you know she is a little girl voiced by an adult woman or the lead boy Shinkuro who is a male voiced by a girl. Not super natural-sounding all the time.

SCRIPT
The story appears to be very complicating at first but in practice it is quite simple and easy going. It is the simple lives of a teenager boy and a little girl, both with dark pasts, having to share the same little apartment. There are some extras added to make it look fancier, such as Shinkuro being used as a mediator in disputes for a shady organization, many of which end up being violent. And then there is the backdrop story of Kuhouin, which is full of incest and pedophilia. Yet these are just flavoring the core story, which to be frank is closer to a harem than an action / adventure / mystery / drama, about a teenager taking up an important mission. Him becoming the bodyguard of a very important girl from a prestige family feels like a lazy excuse to have some guy becoming the butler to some tsundere. Fan service anyone? It is nothing too trashy but it still doesn’t take more than ten seconds to see the entire premise falling flat on its face.

It also has some fighting scenes with thugs and yakuza and assassins, all of which are simple, and unexciting yet are there just for attracting the action fans. It becomes like an exaggerated fighting shonen show at times by having the lead character sprouting super bones from his hands that deflect bullets and cut like swords. Lol, what crap is all that? It felt like Naruto turning harem and adding lolicon and masochism. It may sound interesting but it is doing very little in terms of plot. There is of course an overall story but the resolution to all the problems is easy going and anti-climactic.

CAST
The best part is the character flavoring and only when it is focused on the lead duo living their normal lives together. It is cute seeing Kuhouin learning various things about the outside world from Shinkuro and the other people he is familiar with. And by other people, I mean a bunch of girls all of which are attracted to Shinkuro and constantly try to gain his affection with various bold ways. He on the other hand reacts with the usual romantic frustrations; he backs down, doesn’t care or just is too indecisive to know what to do. So yeah, this is in effect a harem cast. A nicely colored and far more developed than a typical one but still a harem. It goes far beyond that by having various allusions to pedophilia and incest, by treating Kuhouin as an edgy loli that constantly needs the hero to protect and teach her, as well as having a bath together and do various misunderstandings with other people seeing them living together. All these are there just as shallow entertainment for imouto-lovin’ perverts. If you ask me, it takes away from the show instead of adding depth. They had such nice grim backdrop stories for the main duo to make them far more tragic and easier to care for, and then they ruin it by throwing in that sort of fetish crap. Sorry Kurenai, you blew your chance by appealing to otakus.

Even if one tries to focus on stuff other than that, he will only come face to face with the rest of the characters. Past the main two, the left-overs are just static stereotypes that offer nothing to the story. For example, what effect did Shinkuro’s classmates and neighbors had to the plot? How did they change? Why were they there for any other reason than harem material? Couldn’t they all be removed from the show without changing anything? This is a show running on just two people!

And even if one tries to excuse that by saying secondary characters are important to flavor the main ones by having someone to interact with, you still don’t get much of anything. They are not interesting, nor is the plot, nor is the conflicts. Furthermore, their ages are so off for this type of story. Kurenai would feel far more plausible if Kuhouin was a teenager instead of a loli. I mean she is so young, and she is living with a teenager, and everybody thinks he is doing stuff to her, and they are not annoyed much by that, as if pedophilia is somehow fine and acceptable in this society. Last time I checked, the setting is modern Japan and that sort of thing is not legal there (yet). If she was 17 or older though, ok, she is his lover and everything is fine.

Then it’s the whole stupid harem where every girl is hitting on Shinkuro. He is clearly an anti-social, he is moody, he doesn’t know how to react to women, he has a very dangerous and illegal job, and gets very violent if you piss him off. Why would they like such a creep? And why the devil is he still a teenager going to a normal school? He would feel a lot more plausible if he was an adult; his double life makes no sense if he goes to school full of bruises twice a month and the teachers don’t mind that in the least. Why would they even allow such an emotionally unstable guy to go to school? He is being paid to be a bouncer, he has ties to the underworld, and if he snaps, he is going to kill someone. He should be kicked out before he does the unthinkable! Heck, why stop there, how is it possible for a guy who can kick ass a dozen brutes to be acting like such a wimp in front of women? Shouldn’t his training and his grim past have molded him into a macho man? He looks like a freaking harem lead. And mind how this anime is not a goofball comedy but was promoted to be a somewhat realistic drama set in modern Japan.

So here is what ruins this show. It had themes that could make it a very mature seinen and instead they trash everything with retarded fan service and unrealistic reactions to serious matters. Every conflict is scrubbed off as unimportant, yet at the same time they constantly try to convince us it is very important. The tragic flashbacks are more than enough to drive people insane and to make their friend feel pity about them. Yet what do they do? Have fun and with harem and play games at school before they go to kick the crap out of some thugs. And no, this is not supposed to be funny but tragic.

LEGACY
In all, Kurenai is going way too light with everything it has. Its plot is weak, its tragedy is weak, even the fan service is not bold. Stuff happen in such a dull way they just don’t seem to matter regardless of how severe they appear to be. Everything is undermined to the point you just don’t care. Something which is obvious if you know the style of the director of this show. Matsuo Kou has made Rozen Maiden, Red Garden, Yozakura Quartet, and Natsuyuki Rendezvous. All these anime have the exact same feeling; extremely interesting premises that are presented in a dull way.

It is not a bad show to spend your time but its aesthetics are so off and the context is hardly taken seriously. It may stand above most easy going slices of life and harems, yet it is far less exciting than most stories about yakuza, mystery, and dark mentality.

SUGGESTION LIST
If you want something with a more serious mafia setting, check out Gungrave.
If you want something with a more elaborate coexistence of an adult and a little girl, check out Usagi Drop.

Kurenai is a show which attempts to blend a thoroughly human drama about life, privilege and growing up with some straightforward over-the-top action sequences. Sadly, the fit is far from perfect, and we are left with an ambitious but ultimately deeply unsatisfying show.

The conflict between realism and the demands of plot is what eventually undercuts this series, the tension becoming increasingly strong as we move towards the end. The final showdown approaches the ludicrousness of Gurren Langaan, with willpower and awesomeness triumphing hugely over common sense. In itself this is no bad thing, but this comes from a show which has spent the first eight episodes without so much as cracking a smile at itself. Sure, there are comedy moments, centered on the female lead Murasaki's nonunderstanding of more normal life, mistaking everyday folk for servants. But the show is a drama through and through, centered firmly on Murasaki's development into a more normal girl, and the joy in living she is able to help Shinkuro, the male lead, rediscover. Normally I would say that two major characters is too few for even a twelve-episode series, but more than enough content is found in their interplay and clashing personalities, and we get to know the other residents of Shinkuro's apartment quite well by the end of the series. This is by far the best section of Kurenai; it's engaging and warm-hearted, and the slow pace is entirely forgivable. It's a show about, if not entirely normal, then ordinary people, living ordinary lives, and there's enough material there to sustain it. Instead, we get a ludicrous conclusory phase which, fundamentally, fails utterly to resolve any of the plot points, not only in terms of the character relationships, but even in regard to the action plot itself.

The rate of progress of animation in recent years makes it hard to give a fair assessment; Kurenai's would have been spectacular by the standards of a few years ago but is now merely accomplished. It looks good, but never outstandingly so, while the sound is quite variable; superb voicing for the leads, particularly Murasaki, but occasionally unbalanced for the more minor cast, and with a somewhat questionable choice of opening and ending themes. Mention must also be made of the bizzare opening animation; a disconcerting style which nevertheless meets with my complete approval.

There are two thirds of a good, perhaps even great series here, but that only makes one more disappointed for what could have been. Never before have I encountered such a miserable failure of an ending, and it really is enough to drag the series as a whole down. In some objective sense there are enough positives to make this worth watching, but I can't bring myself to recommend that anyone should subject themselves to the crushing disappointment this show will cause.

Reviewer's Note: This review does not attempt to explain every one of its category ratings, as the reviewer finds a compartmentalized ratings system to be irrelevant when expressing one's thoughts and opinions on an anime (the reviewer will, however, judge an estimation for each category). The reviewer believes that a good review is both concise and direct, making sure to highlight only the most salient aspect(s) -- strengths and/or weaknesses -- of an anime. The reviewer strives to achieve this in all reviews, in exactly 365 words.

From a certain perspective, Kurenai is really two different anime rolled into one. On one hand, you have the story of a young dispute mediator tasked with the role of protecting a wealthy girl on the run from her shady family. On the other, you have the story of a young dispute mediator tasked with the role of protecting a wealthy girl whose naivete acts as a strong foundation for this portion of the story's comedy, drama, and character growth. And the two don't mix well.

The first half of Kurenai is the aforementioned latter story, and where the anime really shines. Kurenai boasts a highly compatible cast of characters; lead characters Shinkurou and Murasaki make for a duo whom one can empathize strongly with, and their supporting cast provides much to the unique atmosphere of this anime. Dialogue is well-written and feels very organic, where moments of both quick, deadpan humor and tense drama mingle effortlessly. Personalities also add well to the mix. Murasaki's "proper lady" naivete serves as a focal point for her growth as a character during her experiences in the outside world. Shinkurou's youthful seriousness is a strong foil for the antics of his tenants, and a source of charm to his friends. It's a testament to the completeness in chemistry between and personalities amongst characters; their daily interactions are rarely dull.

But this only lasts for half of the show.

By then, the other half of Kurenai has reared its ugly head, reminding you that the show's unfitting, action-packed plot -- which clashes uncomfortably with the idyllic, positively plotless first half of the anime -- must take center stage and head toward some kind of conclusion. The only problem is that the writers haven't taken into account that the story should, at the very least, try to tie both parts together, one where the beginning of the story has a noticeable effect on its ending. It doesn't really happen. There's some fighting and chasing, but no real tie-in to the plot, or any real precedent toward a final epiphany. It might've been better had Kurenai just dropped this half of the story and further developed its other, better half.

OK, I'm not used to writing reviews and my English is poor, so please bear with me on this.

First of all, I watched this anime because the reviews, tags and general anidb rating system pointed at it as if it was one of the top three or four animes of all times. This is not good in my case, because high expectations tend to make me to be easily disappointed. Needless to say, I became disappointed. These are my personal opinions, so feel free to disagree:

Animation
From my point of view, to rate "animation" is to rate how good, natural and smooth the movements of the characters and objects were made. Other people understand"animation" as the quality and detail of the drawings (character design, backgrounds, etc.), which I think should be thought of as "photography" and not "animation". All things considered, then, I will break up the value in two. For "photography", I give it a 9. Images are often beautiful and every now and then just awesome, although quality is not constant. For "animation", I give it a 3, because to me the characters seemed all made of rubber. Every other frame the characters' faces' and bodies changed their shape (except when they remained still, obviously), and the effect was horrendous (à la Prince of Egypt). I give them that the animation of drawings that complex is very hard, but nonetheless, the results were very poor. Making 50% photography and 50% animation, it's a 6.

Sound
I'm not a "sound" guy, so this is brief. Music is correct (although not outstanding), character voices were very well acted and pleasurable. The voice of Murasaki, the girl, is deep, which is refreshing from my western point of view.

Story
This anime is set in contemporary Japan, the male lead is a young orphan who lives poorly by himself in a modest building. While he is striving to finish high school, he works as an apprentice bodyguard. One day he is given the job of protecting a seven year old girl which seems to come from a very rich family. This girl must live with him and must be protected from her very own family, who want her back. She does not know anything about a "commoners' life", but has an open mind and a relatively humble attitude so to learn about it.
The story setting is interesting, but the development is highly implausible, unlikely and illogical; especially for the final resolution. The ending is so far-fetched that I couldn't believe it. I undoubltely expected much more from it.

Character
This is, I think, a strong point of this anime. Most of the main characters are enjoyable and well performed by the voice actors. You come to like them (the good ones, that is) right off the bat. Perhaps the exception is Shinkurō (Kurenai, the male lead), who is a good guy and you like him at first, but suddenly he becomes an exaggerated version of Shinji Ikari and loses all the good points very quickly. I would give it a little more than 7, but then the characters end up doing things so illogical and unearthly, that I must blame them for that.

Value
I don't think I'd like to see any more of Kure-nai again, so I give it poor rating on value.

Enjoyment
This is the most personal section, and one you can't entirely trust me on, because I had so much expectation that I was always waiting for the good part to come, which for me didn't happen. I especially suffered the last episode and wanted it to end as quick as possible. Sorry if that hurts the guys who enjoyed it.

Some final words, although I don't know if this is the right place to talk about it. This anime is tagged with "awesome singing" and "underrated". For the "awesome singing", I don't know what are they talking about (there's an episode where the characters sing for a play, but they are quite bad at it, being it the humor of the episode); and for the "underrated" tag... well, I'd change it to "overrated", but that's just me.