Kure-nai

Shinkurou Kurenai is a 16-year-old student by day and a dispute mediator by night. Though kind-hearted and patient, due to his tragic past, he has trained for years to live on. Now, despite his unimposing appearance, he is a strong martial artist, who also possesses a strange power.

While taking various jobs for his employer, Benika Juuzawa, one assignment leads Shinkurou to live with Murasaki Kuhouin as her bodyguard. Murasaki is the seven-year-old daughter of a plutocratic family, who escaped her home under peculiar circumstances with Benika's help. Commoner life, in her eyes, seems bizarre. However, by interacting with her neighbors, she grows more accustomed to the daily routine, and rids herself of her snobbish behavior, gradually growing attached to Shinkurou.

Though many details of the job remain unclear, Shinkurou still strives to protect the young lady. But to make things more complicated, he also lacks a crucial fact—what is the real threat against Murasaki?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuhouin, Murasaki Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Kurenai, Shinkurou Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Murakami, Ginko Main

Masu, Nozomi Japanese

Houzuki, Yuuno Main

Shintani, Ryouko Japanese

Inuzuka, Yayoi Supporting

Ookubo, Aiko Japanese

Yamie Supporting

Kimura, Haruka Japanese

Juuzawa, Benika Supporting

Ishige, Sawa Japanese

Mutou, Tamaki Supporting

Sanada, Asami Japanese

Cheng Shin, Lin Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Kuhouin, Ryuuji Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Ooyoshi, Makoto Producer

Ikeda, Shinichi Producer

Watanabe, Naoki Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Reviews

Jul 15, 2008

TheLlama

Recommended

Kurenai is the 08 spring anime I had the highest hopes for, and I surely wasn't let down by it.

The artwork in the series is amazing. The main reason for this is the coloring - it's so vivid! It's sharp and varied colors, something which - as of what I've experienced - is unprecedented. The detail may skimp a bit now and then - which drags it down to a 9 (yes, I wanted to give it a 10). Oh, and the OP theme animations is pretty whacky - which is both good and bad.

The characters are as colorful as the animation is, even the ... minor characters. I really liked that, because it makes it oh so more realistic. And it's not only the characters as individuals, but also their relationships which I really loved. That does cover well up for the lack of character development that a 12-episode series is pretty much doomed to have.

The story in itself is very good too. It starts out very slice of life-ish, going with an episode-by-episode format, where Murasaki learns how the real world looks - after all, she's just escaped from being locked into a house with the most woman-discriminating family I've ever heard about, both in fiction and real life. But that being said, the episodes were great, because so much seemed to happen - often they featured parallel stories with Murasaki and someone else (often Shinkurou's two female neighbors) in one, and Shinkurou in another one. Halfway into the series, and a few episodes more, the series takes a drastic turn, and the more dramatic sides of the show starts to unfold, in contrast to the often light and comedic moments of the earlier episodes. It all culminates into two-three episodes with much action and drama, and an end which you're either gonna love or hate - I can't say more without spoiling anything.

The soundtrack is jazzy, and fits right into the scenes and the mood. Personally, I liked it, but it wasn't anything spectacular, and if you don't like the jazzy type of soundtrack, you can find comfort in the fact that you often don't notice it at all.

I really enjoyed this series, both because of its mix of many genres, special animation and wonderful characters, but also because of the calmness this anime presented. Even during the most intense scenes - either emotional or action-packed - I found it to be very calm. Personally, I think that gave the series that little extra which made me love it so much.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 30, 2008

Ranivus

Mixed Feelings

::QUICK REVIEW::
Story: 5 (For an ass kicking bodyguard, this guy is feckless)
Art: 8 (Some anim. are laughable but overall its beautiful)
Sound: 7 (Sound was good... can't think of anything else)
Character: 7 (Shinku X Murasaki are the only 2 worth watching)
Enjoyment: 4 (Don't watch it for the action... you'll get 'boned')
Overall: 31/50 = ~6 (...what is that car doing THERE?!?!?)

::FULL REVIEW::
After reading through all the reviews, I have noticed there is nothing but praise about this show, and only one review that doesn't really explain the faults of the show. I'm here to fill in that gap. Personally I felt this show suffered from anime-itis. Don't ... know what that is? Read on dear reader...

Kure-nai in essence is, a rom-com of the 'brother/sister' sense. As you already know, Kurenai is supposed to protect Shinkurou from her plutocratic family. On the outside, it sounds like a very serious anime. It even boasts a fairly impressive backstory explaining how everything is run in the Kuhouin family. Specifically in regards to religion, polygamy, and sexism. But don't be fooled. The main story is only found in the first few episodes and the last 3 episodes. So what about the other ~6 episodes? Just typical bodyguard/vip antics and a little shounen on the side. All that is good and fun for a little bit of grins and giggles. But this show is littered with so many bad ends and inconsistencies it starts to become laughable. Bad ends in terms of only a complete idiot that doesn't value his life or the life he's protecting would do something like that. In terms of the many inconsistencies I found, feel free to read the episode discussions and find my name since they're 100% spoilerish.

On a technical sense, this is a very beautiful looking anime in high definition. It was so great I was actively trying to find faults in the animation and all I'm going to say is that you will laugh out loud when Kurenai puts his 'serious' face on. Other than that, they manage to have a large number of licensed products in this show, namely Maserati and Mercedes-Benz gained my interest. Another thing to notice is how the rooms at the apartment compliment the characters perfectly in style and function. And they did a real good job in making Kurenai's apartment completely dilapidated thats very unfit for a princess.

Speaking of princess Murasaki sure does act like one. Most people loved her from the beginning, but I'm betting its because she gets naked more than once in the first 3 episodes. As for me, I loved to hate her. The attitude towards others was something I would beat ('time out' for political correctness) my child for. But of course, since its a shounen-ish rom/com, I'm sure you can guess the outcome. The characters are a double edged sword, some you will love, others you will hate, but most you will love and hate at the same time. Thats another strong point of the show though The character chemistry between Shinkurou and Murasaki is something that most viewers don't see very often. Unfortunately, at times, some viewers can feel a little uncomfortable at some of those two's actions but apparently in this day and age its fairly acceptable. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. As for the support cast, they are just that... support. The show will act like they're important, but in the grand scheme of things, it just comes down to the Shinkurou and Murasaki show. People can say the support cast are unique, if you can call a poorly dressed emo, a horny college girl, a languid bodyguard, or a plain-sight undercover (oxymoron) agent as unique.

I really, really, REALLY tried to enjoy this show considering how many people kept telling me how great it is. But there are so many episodes going off on a tangent. It also got me disappointed so many times at so many different outcomes that, after a while I just lost faith in rooting for the good guys. And for icing on the cake, 1/2 of the final episode is just pure ridiculousness. I certainly felt gypped, especially when they didn't exploit the back story as well as they should have.

Why does this suffer from anime-itis?
A) If you show me a fascinating plot with a deep background story, don't bother putting a romantic comedy in as fillers.
B) The pacifist bodyguard character is played out.
C) Ending takes a crazy turn down unrealistic alley.
D) Short term outcomes becomes very predictable and uninspired.
E) ...ITS 12 EPISODES!! WE DON'T NEED TO SEE A WHOLE EPISODE ON WHY TAMAKI CAN'T GET A BOYFRIEND... (I had to get that off my chest)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 20, 2008

ten6cha

Not Recommended

This anime is absolutely HORRIBLE!! Okay, to be fair, it only became horrible after episode 8. At the beginning I was rating it a 10 and placing it among my favorite animes. The plot was somewhat unique, and there was the mystery as to exactly what the girl was running from, and shinkuro's past. But as the answers start to become revealed by each episode somehow in the 9th episode the author of the anime has no idea/clue where to take the anime. The action goes downhill, which is disappointing since it is supposed to be an action genre and they turn a possible bourne ... ultimatum-type action genre down to something you see on madtv (basically ridiculous). And just the way it ended was soooo pathetically random, I was just speechless as to how irritating it was. The only part that made my mood any better was the last 2 seconds where the focus was on shinkuro.
Anyways, if you MUST watch this anime watch it to episode 8, and skip to the last episode 12 if you even feel like finding out how it turns out. Otherwise, I recommend not to even waste your time on this anime since you will be horribly disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Kure-nai Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) radiantfire - Apr 3, 2008	140 replies	by kagamiiin »» Oct 21, 4:52 PM
	Poll: Kure-nai Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) zvuc - Apr 24, 2008	70 replies	by MeanEYE »» Feb 25, 1:20 AM
	Poll: Kure-nai Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) zvuc - Jun 20, 2008	164 replies	by AngelsArcanum »» Feb 18, 2023 12:56 PM
	Poll: Kure-nai Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) SteveKeys - May 29, 2008	95 replies	by Ronninn »» Jun 17, 2022 2:53 AM
	Poll: Kure-nai Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) radiantfire - Apr 18, 2008	82 replies	by towelgirl21 »» Dec 14, 2021 2:20 AM

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