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「女」 (Onna)
“Women”
While watching an eating contest on television, Murasaki, Tamaki, and Yamie discuss about where to find a good man. Hearing this prompts Murasaki to suggest Shinkurou, because she thinks he’s kind and strong, but Tamaki says he’s still a lolicon, despite clearing all the requirements. Shortly after, Tamaki says she has to go meet someone today and decides to take Murasaki along with her to university. As for what to tell Shinkurou, Yamie says that she’ll cover for them if he calls.
Shinkurou later calls Murasaki, but Yamie picks up and simply tells him that she’s in Tamaki’s room. At university, Tamaki has a run in with a girl, who blames Tamaki for snatching another boyfriend away from her. (This girl isn’t listed in the credits, but I swear she’s played by Sawashiro Miyuki, i.e. Shinkurou’s seiyuu.) When Tamaki says that they’re just unreliable men who happen to choose her and further explains that “Shinozaki-kun” prefers long kisses, she ends up getting hit over the head by a shoe.
Later on, Tamaki is cooling off the new bump on the head, which makes Murasaki wonder if university is a place to compete for guys. Tamaki however says that’s the case anywhere, so the two of them talk about being involved with multiple people at the same time (which is at least 20 for Tamaki). Murasaki on the other hand wonders if this is what her mother meant by “being free”. As they survey the couples around campus, Tamaki explains how each of them will end up breaking up, after which Satoshi shows up.
Knowing well in advance what Satoshi is going to talk about, Tamaki asks him if they can leave it off for next week since she’s looking after Murasaki today. However, Satoshi suspects that Tamaki brought Murasaki along today to avoid this talk, so he tells her that he wants to break up anyway. While Tamaki tries to oppose the idea, she ends up exhibiting her overly independent, controlling, and abusive nature, while Murasaki watches in angst on the sidelines. Just as Tamaki is about to hit Satoshi, she realizes the way she’s coming off, so she apologizes and lets him go.
At a restaurant later, Tamaki is feeling down after being dumped, while Murasaki tries her best to cheer her up. They end up looking outside for a new guy, but Tamaki catches a glimpse of Satoshi with a new girl already, which depresses her further. After Tamaki explains that guys are often fooled by weaker girls that rely on them, Murasaki thinks about how Yuuno is probably doing so with Shinkurou. Realizing this, Murasaki storms out of the restaurant, but bumps into a man at the cashier. After overhearing Tamaki call her Murasaki, finding out that she’s 7 years old, and checking a picture on his cell phone, the man realizes that he’s found the runaway Kuhouin.
At Shinkurou’s school, he receives hand warmers that Yuuno made for him. Never able to do anything that might upset her, Shinkurou gladly accepts them, but is embarrassed to use them at school. Back in his apartment, Shinkurou finds out from Yamie that Murasaki isn’t around, but she returns shortly afterwards. The two of them then have some back and forth questioning, which includes Murasaki calling Shinkurou a lolicon and Shinkurou misunderstanding “close by” as “short”, inadvertently calling Murasaki one of those cheap, deceptive girls.
Meanwhile, the man from earlier locates Shinkurou’s apartment and also recognizes Yayoi at the love hotel across the street. This information quickly reaches Renjou and Lin Chenshin, the latter of which wonders if Benika’s actions have something to do with Souju. This causes Renjou to reminisce about his time with Souju, who despite the abuse she had to endure, said it was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. Souju also expressed her concerns for Murasaki’s future, but Renjou simply told her that she’s Kazoku’s child and that she can never refer to Murasaki as her daughter again. According to Renjou, Souju is the only woman he loves, so he asked her to endure this lifestyle since there are no other hardships in the Kuhouin family. (Easy for him to say…) Souju expressed the lack of freedom in spite of this and questioned if Renjou loves Murasaki as his own daughter.
Souju was later discovered dead, having committed suicide over the thought of being separated from her daughter and continuing this lifestyle. With Murasaki crying over her body, Renjou fell to his knees in disbelief, while Kazoku was only concerned about how this suicide makes her look. Renjou discussed the incident with Benika afterwards, who believed that it was inevitable after making someone live in an illusionary world. Benika sided with Souju, so Renjou kicked her out of the house; however, it turns out she had already planned to leave anyway. Before leaving though, Benika had also told Renjou that she’s disappointed in him for not doing more.
Back in the present, Renjou says that despite what Benika tries to do, it won’t change the Kuhouin rules for women, so he orders Lin Chenshin to bring Murasaki back without too much of a ruckus… if possible.
Next Episode:
「自愛と臆病と」 (Jiai to Okubyou to)
“Taking Care of Oneself and Cowardice”
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Impressions:
Well, this episode started off pretty laid back with Tamaki teaching Murasaki strange things again. During their trip to Tamaki’s university, it was ironic to see her get dumped right after telling Murasaki that she’s a master of relationships. Given that, it was actually pretty interesting to see Tamaki’s softer, girlish side, which proves she’s not an emotionless brute all the time. Hearing Tamaki admit that men probably don’t like strong women such as herself (since guys want to feel needed), gave me instant tsundere vibes. It’s always nice to see characters have a soft side though, so I’m starting to see Tamaki in a slightly different light. Prior to this, she was simply the Shinkurou teasing/abusing neighbour. =)
Murasaki’s interpretation of Tamaki’s words was also classic Murasaki, so it was pretty funny when she labeled Yuuno as the type of girl to deceive men. “A girl that’s always close by and looks helpful” says Tamaki. When you think about it, that’s Yuuno all right. Other than that, I almost choked on my drink when Murasaki told Shinkurou to break up with Yuuno and that she’s better than other women, which is the reason why he became a lolicon. LOL. Murasaki is always so logical in her thinking, more so than many grown-ups, so it’s hilarious when she misinterprets things like “lolicon”. While I realize this has always been one of the main appeals of kurenai, this episode just goes to reaffirm that notion.
Anyway, what I thought would continue to be a fairly laid back episode quickly proved to be very much otherwise near the end. It was a bit unexpected for Murasaki to be discovered so accidentally, but I guess it probably wouldn’t have worked out well story-wise if it happened when she was with Shinkurou. (I can just imagine him getting all depressed if this was the case.) Renjou on the other hand, doesn’t seem quite as “evil” as you would expect, as it appears that he’s just tied to the Kuhouin ways (much like how it was shown before). In the flashbacks with Souju, it did appear that he honestly loved her, despite putting her through all the Kuhouin customs. In particular, the scene where he dropped to his knees after they discovered that Souju had committed suicide spoke volumes. It was also revealed that Renjou is aware of Murasaki knowing about her real mother, so this might explain why he hasn’t been in a rush to bring Murasaki back. In retrospect, it was pretty much Souju’s dying wish to let Murasaki live a normal life outside the Kuhouin household.
On another note, Lin Chenshin, Renjou’s replacement for Benika (?), is played by Ueda Kana, the hardcore XBox 360 loving, Halo 3 fanatic gamer. She must really be one of the few Japanese people who 1.) is female, 2.) owns a 360, and 3.) plays a FPS game rather than THE iDOLM@STER. Gaming addiction aside, she also played Tousaka Rin in Fate/stay night, Aizawa Sakuya in Hayate no Gotoku!, Honami Takase Ambler in Rental Magica, and Fumika in Shigofumi to name a few roles. She’s also a Kansai-ben-er (more specifically, Osaka dialect), so she’s often cast to play characters like Rin, Sakuya, and Honami. Lin however is Chinese, so we won’t get to hear her awesome accent here. (If you haven’t figured it out by now, Ueda Kana is one of my many favorite seiyuus.)
Finally, I imagine that things will pick up from here on in, as Shinkurou will undoubtedly have his hands full trying to prevent Murasaki from being taken away. While Renjou has ordered Lin to bring Murasaki back with as little disturbance as possible, we all know that Benika and Shinkurou won’t let that happen quietly. If I were to “review” this episode (above are just impressions after all), I’d say it was a solid episode that showed us more about Tamaki, gave us the usual Murasaki comedic flair, and really got the ball rolling in terms of the main story.
Cast:
– Kurenai Shinkurou (紅真 九郎) / Sawashiro Miyuki (沢城 みゆき)
– Kuhouin Murasaki (九鳳 院紫) / Yuuki Aoi (悠木 碧)
– Juuzawa Benika (柔沢 紅香) / Ishige Sawa (石毛 佐和)
– Inuzuka Yayoi (犬塚 弥生) / Ookubo Aiko (大久保 藍子)
– Kuhouin Renjou (九鳳院 蓮丈) / Kuroda Takaya (黒田 崇矢)
– Kuhouin Souju (九鳳院 蒼樹) / Tsuru Hiromi (鶴 ひろみ)
– Kuhouin Kazuko (九鳳院 和子) / Koyama Yuka (小山 裕香)
– Mutou Tamaki (武藤 環) / Sanada Asami (真田 アサミ)
– Yamie (闇絵) / Kimura Haruka (木村 はるか)
– Houzuki Yuuno (崩月 夕乃) / Shintani Ryouko (新谷 良子)
– Tomoaki (友明) / Urata Yuu (浦田 優)
– Akio (秋生) / Yamaguchi Mayumi (山口 眞弓)
– Miki Satoshi (三木 里志) / Shiratori Shuma (白鳥 修馬)
– Lin Chenshin (リン・チェンシン) / Ueda Kana (植田 佳奈)
– Preview narration (予告ナレーション) / Marumatsu Ken (村松 健)
first!
Ah, I can’t wait to watch this episode now!
This is to be expected, since the end is near… i’m saddened…
A Tamaki-heavy ep, awesome. She’s probably my fave out of Shinkurou’s “harem” – I mean, a strong-willed, playfully sly girl who makes a wearing a jogging suit day in and day out look good; what’s not to like? She reminds me of the character Amy from Futurama, now that I think about it, with her ties to a university and all. My second fave would have to be Yayoi; I hope an ep featuring her arrives soon; it was funny to see her let loose a little bit in last week’s “singing” ep. Kurenai really is a great show; it had a somewhat shaky start but its slice-of-life pacing and quirky character interactions are great, along with a deeper story behind it all. Shinkurou is the man, I mean, he’s gathered a whole harem of hot girls and doesn’t even realize how good he’s got it, heh.
Yup… to be expected
Murasaki will probably get ‘kidnapped’, Shinkurou will get all depressed, either Benika/Ginko/Yayoi will knock some sense into him, he’ll storm the Kuhoin house and use his ‘Guyver’ arm technique…… chotto matte!!! Doesn’t that sound really typical.
Anywayz, hope the destination is as good as the journey…if u know what I mean.
Thanx again, Divine.
I’ve not read the original novel, but in the manga, the story seems to take place in the near future where it seems that Murasaki lives with Shinkurou with ‘permission’ from the Kuhoin household. Dunno for sure, though.
@KaminaLives:
“a strong-willed, playfully sly girl who makes wearing a jogging suit day in and day out look good; what’s not to like?”
Add in the fact that she has a soft side and I couldn’t agree more. =)
@Lithium17:
You’re welcome and thanks for reading!
I am really enjoying this show, I’m only up to episode 4 but I am in so in love with the animation style. And Murasaki is so cute.
Great stills!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v70/anonymooo/kurenaieyes.jpg
Hehehehehe.
I’m surprised that I like this show as much as I do.
looks hot
I’m just working of the pics, but if that cowering dude is indeed tamaki’s man,,i gotta call it…WHAT A PUSSY!!!! cant wait for the subs, unlike macross,,u just cant watch the raws
Ah yes, Ueda Kana is great.
This episodes cleverly replaces physical combats with emotional fights. Through the eyes of a minor, the vulnerable side of a know-it-all college student is revealed. Such setup can simultaneously appeal to adults and minors, and also extends the traditionally masculine theme of fighting to the more feminine theme of romance. This does not only add depth to side characters such as Tamaki, but also illustrates the complexity of human conflict in the sense that people are shown to fight for complicate reasons, even when the fight is against their wishes. I suppose more animes will be made like Kuranai in the future to encompass a larger demographics.
I. LIKE. THIS. SHOW.
Weird. This is the first time I’ve seen so much divergence between the light novel(original source), manga, and TV series. The plots are diverging so much it’s kind of weird. Although if it is really 13 episodes, I assume it’s going to follow the end of book 1 of the light novel towards the end of the series.
The more I watch/read Kure-nai, the more boring I find Shinkuro. But his “harem” is just amazing, from Murasaki to his two neighbors to Yuuno and Gingko. Kind of sad too that all of them are more badass than Shinkuro.
@Meh
You’ve read the light novel??
It would be nice if you could share what you know (use spoiler tags)….
Anywayz….regardless of whether this series follows the book or not, I still love it to bits. It may not carry ‘mainstream’ appeal (200+ comments per ep for Geass and MacF vs 12+ comments for Kurenai), but if this was an American live-action series, Kurenai would be the show no one heard of that got ‘critical acclaim’ and scooped a few Emmy’s.
Now that I’ve said all that….the creators will probably f*^k everything up in the end…..Heh 🙂
I also love Ueda Kana. She’s also played the heroine in Nougami Neuro which was hilarious because she’s the total opposite of Rin Tohsaka (and she it was still great).
Now I really want to see this episode.
@lithium
I’ve only read 2 1/2 books. Because I read these on the subway to and from work, I may miss out on some details.
Below are just some random thoughts which could be spoilerish
Show Spoiler ▼
If you wish to be spoiled more, I don’t mind giving you a cliffs notes version of what happens afterwards.
Ahh!!!!! DO NOT READ THE ABOVE POST IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED.
I put in spoiler tags, but I don’t know why they didn’t appear.
Any way to edit the posts?
@Divine….
Like Meh, I too have had trouble adding spoiler tags to Kurenai posts. I don’t seem to have them for other posts, though. Please look into it. Sorry if I inconvenience you in any way…. Thanx.
@Meh….
Wow!! thanx a bunch…. It’s as I suspected about the Kuhoin’s…. I saw a documentary recently on TV recently and you’ll be surprised how common this sick practice is in many parts of the world. Is it even possible for Shinkurou to be more dense than he already is. I heard Tamaki’s a karate expert.
I wouldn’t mind the cliff notes, if it ain’t too much trouble.
My e-mail : gigabimbo@gmail.com (no spam/facebook/myspace/friendster links please)
Cheerz!
I’m going to wade in the shallow end and ask: who’s that cute (? hard to tell from the shadows) guy in the last preview screenshot? A lackey? Or possibly, Renjou’s son? I’m hoping it’s the latter — that would really up the stakes, wouldn’t it?
Oops, I guess I should clarify that the end of my last comment was based on the novel spoilers.
@Lithium
I think I may decide to expand the entry on kure-nai in wikipedia when I get a chance. There doesn’t seem to be anything in it.
@Lyi
SPOILER tag the old fashioned way.
Show Spoiler ▼
End Spoiler
@Meh & Lithium17:
I added spoiler tags to the required posts. As for it not working, are you guys using HTML style tags? I think most places let you use [spoiler][/spoiler], but here you have to use “< " ">” brackets.
@Divine, Meh & Lyi,
Thanx a bunch.
It seems we’re in for some pretty disturbing content for the upcoming eps, if the ‘spoilers’ are anything to go by…. 😮
Cheers
@meh: Thanks for the confirmation. Looks like the second half of the season will be pretty action-filled!
@divine. I used the html tag. In fact, I copy/pasted it from the “leave a reply” section right above where I post. The reason is because when I try to write my own tags, I tend to forget the “/” at the end.
It should be easy to discern whether or not I used the typical posting style of [stuff][/stuff]. Because it would appear on screen as regular text. The reason there has to be a problem is because the spoiler tags disappeared, so the system apparently recognized it as html code, and not just regular text.
@Divine….
What meh said!
Wow, nice episode as usual and some juicy spoilers. Thanks meh 🙂