damon.ritchie - 2015-07-07 00:32:44

In Kure-nai we can follow the life of Kurenai Shinkurou, a high school student living on his own. He works as a "dispute mediator", which is pretty much a hireable muscle. One day he gets his first big job: protect a girl who has been freed from his patriarchal family.

Kure-nai is more a slice of life than anything else, despite having both mystery and supernatural elements, these play a surprisingly small part in the story. The whole thing feels very western-like, the anime stays modest in both it's fight scenes and superhuman powers. Most of the show's plot centers around the characters and their feelings, which gives much needed depth to the otherwise pretty thin story. I can't remember the last time I saw something that has zero cliche characters in them, so this was really refreshing to me. The actualy mystery behind the little girl feels something that could probably be easily fitted into 2-3 episodes, however it doesn't feel stretched out. The extra time allows things to sink, which gives the plot points weight that I rarely see in anime. Kure-nai is about the two main protagonists, but as individuals, not as a pair. I've seen people calling the ending anti-climatic, but I feel like it was very fitting to the overall tone of the show.

I'd consider the overall quality of the show's visuals to be good, but it does have rather large swings. Some scenes are amazingly well composed and drawn, while other are boring and reek of low budget problems. Brain's Base is usually competent when it comes to fight scenes, and this is no exception. Despite being a lot less flashy than most, they are still very visceral and fluid. Since we've get to know the characters rather well, each fight can make us care about the character being hit, although the show does stay one-sided in terms of morality. Character designs are great, they are both realistic and interesting.

While the ending is quite okay, I hated the opening. This is probably pretty subjective, so let's just move on to the soundtrack, which is quite good. It sets the tone of the scenes really well. While being tonally consistent has it's merits, it also makes the whole thing blend together, so there are no big recognizable pieces that you would listen to after finishing the anime. The VA's are did a great job bringing the characters to life, however I feel like the overall quality of their recordings was rather bad, it feels like someone added a bass boost effect on it in Audacity. It could have been just the release I saw though.

Overall, Kure-nai is definietly a show worth your time if you are interested in a realistic slice of life that steers away from the genre's tropes, and does it in a rather smooth way. Really good entry level anime as well, I feel like this hidden gem's lack of recognition is unjustified.

uhermiston - 2013-06-06 07:03:25

Once in a while you come across anime from which you expect pretty much nothing to begin with but you see a couple of episodes and find yourself having the urge to continue watching until the very end. ‘Kurenai’ was one of them for me. The story revolves around Kurenai Shinkurou, a high school student who works as a dispute mediator. He possesses abundant martial arts skills and accepts requests from his employer Juuzawa Benika to resolve trifling conflicts and the like. When he demands for something more challenging, Benika consigns him the job of protecting a seven year old kid, Kuohouin Murasaki who belongs to a highly influential and plutocratic household- the Kuohouin family. Having no clue about the young girl’s background, he accepts the job after a bit of hesitation. How Murasaki responds to the world of the commoners and forms bonds with the people around her while constantly battling against the depressing memories of her mother and life at the Kuohouin household are the main focus of the story. While the plot, in itself, may not sound much unique or intriguing, the way it is carried out is quite good. For a short anime with twelve episodes, it was an enjoyable watch. The premise of the first few episodes is Murasaki learning new things and getting acquainted with the people related to Shinkurou, and how she finds joy in little things which she was devoid of. Every episode was fun to watch and none of them felt boring. Not to forget, there were a few moments which were quite amusing to me.The cast is entertaining to say the least. The characters are so vibrant that you can’t help but like them. The protagonist Shinkurou, the cheeky Murasaki and their neighbours— they are such an interesting bunch. One character I personally didn’t like was Houzuki Yuuno, not only because it is infuriating to see people who try hard to gain attention but also because she didn’t seem to have much of a role except that of following around the protagonist. Well, every harem anime needs one I suppose. On that note, this isn’t exactly a harem. While it will be incorrect to say that harem doesn’t exist, it is more or less a side dish which is good in this case at least. The OST is average. Most of the soundtracks were barely noticeable. The only soundtrack that I like is ‘Wasureenu Omoi’ (look for it in Youtube) which played during a dramatic scene in the last episode if I remember correctly. The OP is nothing great either and the same goes for the first ED. The second ED on the other hand is catchy and I liked it. The art is sharp and vivid, and the animation is done really well. The backgrounds are simple yet attractive. The character designs are pretty good too.‘Kurenai’ is not something that I’ll recommend but even so, do give it a shot if you ever feel like.