Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve last posted here. Dealing with school and running in between jobs have been quite a hassle. I’ll be giving you episode summaries/reviews of Kure-nai and To-Love-Ru this season so look forward to it… and if you don’t care, well… tough.
If you remember from last week, Shinkurou received a “special” job where he was put in charge of protecting a runaway girl of extremely high class, Murasaki. This episode basically picks up where it left off the first episode and involves a troubled Shinkurou trying to deal with Murasaki living on her own.
Summary
Shinkurou has a nightmare showing images from his tragic past. It seems that he was orphaned in some sort of disaster which may also relate to his mysterious body. As Shinkurou leaves for school, he gives Murasaki a lecture about not leaving the house. Murasaki seems to be a lot happier and more comfortable with staying by herself in Shinkurou’s shaggy apartment.
During school, Shinkurou occasionally calls Murasaki to check up on her. Murasaki, being the pampered young girl she is, has been having a bit of trouble trying to get used to a “commoner’s” life. Murasaki also meets Shinkurou’s neighbors, Yamie and Tamaki and after a while Murasaki stops answering her phone, making Shinkurou very frustrated. Yamie picks up one of Shinkurou’s calls and basically tells him that Murasaki wasn’t in the room anymore.
After Shinkurou gets home, he finds Murasaki trying to bathe herself in the sink. She complains that there’s no hot water and that she feels gross being “unclean”. Shinkurou decides to take her to the public bath and since she’s only 7, she was allowed to go into the men’s side with Shinkurou. Even when trying to give Murasaki a bath, Shinkurou is troubled by Murasaki’s complaining. Murasaki’s spoiled-ness also comes up again when the old bathhouse owner gives Murasaki a free glass of milk after her bath. Shinkurou asks Murasaki if she said “Thank You” to the nice old lady and Murasaki tells him that she doesn’t need to say thank you to servants. Shinkurou explains that the old lady wasn’t her servant but, just a nice old lady. Murasaki suddenly realizes what she did and very formally apologized and thanked the bathhouse owner. After they leave the bathhouse, they go and buy a new futon for Murasaki. Murasaki remembers the lesson Shinkurou taught her and thanked him properly.
During the middle of the night, Shinkurou leaves the apartment for another job he was assigned to do. He was apparently asked to settle a dispute between a bar owner and a group of harassers. Shinkurou arrives during the middle of the discussion and nonchalantly disposed of the group in a brutal manner. The bar owner, even though he was just saved, became terrified of Shinkurou, calling him a monster.
The next episode seems to show Murasaki exploring and meeting people at Shinkurou’s school. The preview shows her meeting Yuuno and the setting she’s in does seem like it would be a school.
Impressions
I’m very much liking Kure-nai so far. I think it has a good balance from the “light” stuff (school, loli hijinks, and overall innocent stuff) and the “darker” stuff. I’m not sure if giving Shinkurou inhuman powers really fits into the whole setting but, I’m sure it will fit into the story eventually. Right now it just seems like the story could still be the same even without his condition.
Is it strange that both shows I’ve decide to blog have a single male character surrounded by a bunch of female characters? I assure you it’s quite accidental but, while Kure-nai would seem to have some kind of harem element to it on the outside, it doesn’t seem to have much of that tone while actually watching it. Shinkurou does seem to have multiple “relationships” with the other female characters though. If you don’t count Tamaki’s open flirtation and any attempts of making Shinkurou a lolicon in this show, then Shinkurou would probably be in a love triangle with Yuuno and Ginko. It does appear that Yuuno and Shinkurou have some sort of relationship that might be more than friendly and Ginko does show a little concern for Shinkurou when she’s “all up in his business”.
14 Comments
I’m loving this show and I’m really glad you’re doing write-ups for it.
I think my favorite part of this episode was the part where Shin is lecturing Murasaki over the milk.
That’s it, I wanna take Murasaki-chan home.
@rieuzedx: Thanks rieu, the part about the milk was pretty amusing to watch. I don’t know why but, I liked the part where Shinkurou kicked the crap out of those three guys. It seemed pleasantly dark to me.
@Shin: Haha, Murasaki is certainly adorable and may be one of the highlights of the show.
…In conclusion, on examining the above post by Shokkeru, after carefully working my way through the haze of spelling errors(documented in section 3), abuse of capitalization(section 4), and general crimes against grammar and syntax(sections 7-8), I have demonstrated that, beneath it all, the work betrays the author’s staggering ignorance of the history and the workings of our electoral system.
While the author’s wildly swerving train of thought did at one point flirt with coherence, this brief encounter was more likely a chance event (see statistical analysis in table 5) than a result of even rudimentary lucidity.
-Summer Glau
P.S: Don’t forget to watch CGR2!
@Summer Glau
Please troll elsewhere, thanks!
@Summer: Lol?
I was actually wondering about the comments said by some on this anime. Some labels this as a loli anime, which makes me laugh quite a bit. In my opinion, loli anime often constitutes some form of cute fanservice (Ichigo Mashimaro) or sexual fanservice (Kodoma no jikan). The phrase loli anime usually goes with the latter, and it is hardly sexual. Kurenai does a good job of making it totally normal even with a bathing scene.
I applaud for that, and Murasaki is really one of the funniest characters with her attempt to tear open a can. Yumie is also wonderful as the random block characters. I wonder what else they can throw at us.
Keep blogging this – I don’t understand why lots of bloggers think this is not for them… this is probably one of the most intriguing stories…
@Summer Glau: kthx!
@Calawain: Seconded.
@Impz: The show really doesn’t feel like a loli anime. Murasaki may be a main character in the show, but there’s a whole lot of characters and other things going on as well.
@asdf: Thanks, I will. I personally enjoy the show despite what others may feel about it.
This is my favorite show of the season, glad to see my favorite blog will be, well, blogging it!
This show is far from “loli”, it’s also far from general anime conventions. The tone and style are much more akin to something original and brilliant like Red Garden.
Kure-nai, so far, has grabbed and is firmly holding my complete and undivided attention (after I’m done drooling at Soul Eater, that is). I love Murasaki and her seiyuu. Really.
@Glau: Heh, I was actually wondering how many people would try this. Unsuccessfully. (xkcd.com/406)
@Karisu: Glad that you’re glad. Kure-nai will probably follow great shows that very little people watch like Dennou Coil.
@Myu: Is that where that came from? @_@
@Shokkeru: Most probably, yes.
And actually, Kure-nai does have a slight Dennou Coil feel to it. Though, I must say, it reminds me of Jigoku Shoujo the most at the moment.
So far this show is … interesting. The art is what draws me more than anything else at this point.
@Shakkeru if this is similar to Dennou Coil, then i need to get around to checking out DC.
This is pretty good so far, glad to see it’s not getting ignored–I could do without the Pinocchio-inspired character designs, but it’s got an interesting cast, and I give them credit for not making Murasaki a stereotypical ojou-sama; sure, she’s clueless about some things, but when she’s wrong she admits it and knows how to apologize. That is one messed-up family she came from, though…