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「偽者の顔」 (Nisemono no Kao)
“A Fake Face”
While watching TV in Shinkurou’s room, Tamaki tells Murasaki about how she’s searching for a guy that would pamper her so that she can live an easy life. Murasaki thinks a simple-minded guy like that is an idiot and wonders if there are even any around. According to Tamaki, there’s one closer than you think. (*cough* Shinkurou *cough*)
In the meantime, Benika’s contacting Shinkurou with some more odd jobs (with no compensation…*sniff*), but mentions that there’s still that other matter. Later on, Shinkurou’s eating lunch with Yuuno (ah, how nice it must be to get a homemade bento from your senpai), but gets interrupted by a phone call from Ginko. When Shinkurou meets up with Ginko, he questions why she called him when she prefers to mail, so she tells him it’s because he’d probably ignore it. Seeing Shinkurou with a bento in hand, Ginko quickly suspects that it’s Yuuno-senpai’s and expresses her hate for her by telling Shinkurou that both her and her bento are detestable. (…much like in the first episode.) In any case, it turns out that Ginko has a new job for Shinkurou and asks him to look over some photos.
Unbeknownst to Shinkurou though, Tamaki has brought Murasaki to his school and decides to leave her there while she goes and searches for “good” man. Left alone, Murasaki (who’s lived a sheltered life and never been to school before) starts exploring the campus on her own. After running into an anatomic model in the science room, she calls Shinkurou and tells him there’s a person (probably a man) who’s in danger because he didn’t respond to her. When Shinkurou asks if the man collapsed, Murasaki says he’s standing with half his body exposed. With Murasaki making no sense at all, Shinkurou thinks that this is some perverted thing Tamaki has set up (e.g. a guy she’s tied up) and just tells Murasaki not to touch him. (lol) Murasaki eventually prances by Yuuno, who after some brief introductions, apparently knows about the Kohouins.
As for Ginko’s job, she tells Shinkurou that a kindergarten principal’s home was broken into last week and the deed from his safe was stolen. Apparently in the deed’s place, a secretly taken photo of the principal’s grandchild was left behind. (…in other words, blackmail.) Ginko later shows Shinkurou a picture of a weak yakuza named Kunou Tadashi, who’s apparently the wakagashira (若頭) (lit. “young head”, a gangster term which means second-in-command to the “head”, a.k.a. Oyabun (親分)) of the Kyokuhoukai gang. After getting all the available info, Shinkurou decides to head home and asks Ginko to contact him when when new info comes in.
While following Murasaki around the school, Yuuno is surprised to find out that there’s a Kohouin that doesn’t know her family name, Houzuki. Their conversation is cut short though by a phone call from Shinkurou after he realizes what Murasaki meant by a half-naked man. Yuuno, having realized that it’s Shinkurou she’s talking to, asks to speak with him, but Murasaki runs away from her instead. The chase quickly ends though when Shinkurou bumps into the other two, after which, he desperately tries to explain his relationship to Murasaki. When Murasaki says they live together, Yuuno starts getting depressed (feeling as if she “lost” to a kid) until Shinkurou finally fesses up that he’s been asked to protect her. Upon hearing that this is one of Benika’s jobs, Yuuno makes Shinkurou apologize for lying to her and the misunderstandings are laid to rest.
On the train ride home, Murasaki is a bit jealous after seeing how well Shinkurou and Yuuno get along and wonders if he’ll ever be that way with her. Shinkurou explains that it’s probably because he lived at Yuuno’s house until just last year, where her grandfather also taught him martial arts. Their conversation comes to a halt though when they notice an elderly woman being bullied for her seat by a bunch of students. (This is just pathetic by the way…) Seeing nobody on the train speak up about the incident (including Shinkurou), Murasaki jumps in and lectures them (Go Murasaki!). Much to Shinkurou’s dismay, he steps in to apologize on behalf of Murasaki and eventually gets punched and spat on in order to avoid a confrontation.
Off the train, Shinkurou tells Murasaki not to do anything reckless like that, but she questions what’s wrong with doing the right thing and why Shinkurou learned martial arts if he doesn’t use it in situations like this. After a bit of arguing, Shinkurou realizes why Murasaki feels so strongly about this when she explains that her mother (Kuhouin Souju) always hung her head, put on a fake smile, and apologized repeated until the day she died. (This is actually what the “fake face” episode title is referring to.) The old woman from earlier steps in at that point, asks the two of them to stop fighting, and thanks Murasaki for being such a splendid person at such a young age.
Later that night, Murasaki overhears one of Shinkurou’s phone calls and follows him out. Yayoi informs Benika of this, but she realizes that it’s probably for Ginko’s job and tells Yayoi not to step in unless she absolutely has to.
Next Episode:
「才物」 (Saibutsu)
“Talented Person”
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First off, I finally realized why Omni doesn’t like episodes that jump around a lot, because I found myself spending a fair amount of time wording the summary of this one. (Actually, “fair amount” is an understatement.) While I originally planned to keep my summaries brief, I felt a more thorough one was necessary here. In any case, I hope I don’t have to spend this much time on future episodes. As much as I’d like to keep blogging kurenai, I really have to see if I have enough time and if there’s enough interest. (I definitely plan to continue watching it though.) Since episode 3 aired this week, I decided to cover it first, even though episode 2 hasn’t been blogged.
As for the actual episode, we continue to see how Murasaki’s sheltered life has affected her understanding of the world. Given that she’s only 7 years old, I find a lot of her naive remarks pretty humorous at times (e.g. the anatomic model). It’s also a nice contrast when she does throw out a “big” word such as 「同棲」 (dousei) “living together”, much to Shinkurou’s surprise. (“‘Dousei’? Where did you learn that word?”) Story-wise, I’m interested to know exactly what the relationship is between the Kuhouins and the Houzukis. Aside from that, I wouldn’t say too much sparked my interest this episode in terms of plot progression; however, that’s not to say this episode wasn’t enjoyable. In fact, the exact opposite is true due to all the character developments.
From the previous episodes, we already had a sense that Yuuno has a thing for Shinkurou, but it was interesting to see that Ginko seems to like him too. After watching this episode, I really starting to wonder if this is the reason why she hates Yuuno so much. To me, Ginko seems to be a non-violent tsundere, whereas Yuuno seems to be outgoing and clingy. If this is indeed the case, I would pretty much expect that the former doesn’t appreciate the latter’s direct methods of attracting a guy. As for Ginko herself, I got the impression that she has a soft side (which supports my tsundere idea) when she reminded Shinkurou out of the blue that he once said he wanted take her out for to succeed a ramen business with her once they’re older. She even goes on to tell that him he’s an idiot for taking up Benika’s unreasonably dangerous jobs (probably out of concern for his well-being). Also, we see hints of jealously over the cellphone strap and when she overheard him talking about someone being naked. (Ginko started calling Shinkurou 「下品」 (gehin) “indecent” at this point and demanded an explanation.) She even started moping to herself a bit afterwards by saying that she’s fine with just using her computer in this lonely room. 🙁 When asked if she got into information gathering for his sake, Ginko told Shinkurou to not be so conceited and that it was only because she couldn’t leave an idiot like him alone. (Does anyone else think Shinkurou assumption was spot on?)
Finally, they still haven’t revealed anything more about Shinkurou’s body. While we know Ginko’s aware of it, I wonder if Yuuno is too since she’s familiar with Beniko and the Kuhouins. I hope to find out sooner rather than later, but with the way kurenai is going, that won’t be the only reason I’m watching.
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)
– Mutou Tamaki (武藤 環) / Sanada Asami (真田 アサミ)
– Houzuki Yuuno (崩月 夕乃) / Shintani Ryouko (新谷 良子)
– Murakami Ginko (村上 銀子) / Masu Nozomi (升 望)
– Old woman (老婆) / Asou Miyoko (麻生 美代子)
– Tomoaki (友明) / Urata Yuu (浦田 優)
– Akio (秋生) / Yamaguchi Mayumi (山口 眞弓)
– Team member (選手) / Matsuda Yuuki (松田 佑貴)
– Yasuko (ヤスコ) / Kurata Masayo (倉田 雅世)
– Student A (生徒A) / Suyama Akio (陶山 章央)
– Student B (生徒B) / Obi Yukimasa (小尾 元政)
– Student C (生徒C) / Yamaguchi Takayuki (山口 隆行)
– Older student A (学生A) / Ueda Youji (上田 燿司)
– Older student B (学生B) / Shiratori Shuuma (白鳥 修馬)
– Older student C (学生C) / Masuda Yuuki (増田 裕生)
– Preview narration (予告ナレーション) / Muramatsu Ken (村松 健)
LOL i was surprised by how long your summary is,but i read further and i found out why
I wish i could watch everything RAW …
Well i sure hope that you would keep blogging kure-nai, despite it jumping around with the conversation and the whole 3 person talking together on this episode but the way it shows Murasaki and Shinkurou relationship with each other thoughts and views (the way childrens think and the way adults think contrast) was what i think the charm of this show though. I really hope you’ll take note on that.
Thanks for blogging Kure-nai! I really love this show, especially Murasaki.
I don’t like these type of show
seems they brought out the story okay… i’m a sucker for stuff like this. a good yarn executed well , helped gently along by the visuals.
Kurenai is without doubt the best anime of Spring 08…. but I guess it takes an older viewer to appreciate the intricate interaction between characters.
I’ll continue watching this even if no one else does. Cheerz!
love the interesting conversations that take place here @@
“she reminded Shinkurou out of the blue that he once said he wanted take her out for ramen when they’re older.”
It’s not take her out, but open a ramen restaurant with her.
I’m loving Kurenai so far, I think it offers something new to the table this season. Personally I don’t read summaries because I prefer to find about stuff as I watch the episodes, but I really look forward to commentaries, discussion and conclusions from said episodes after I watch them. I hope you choose to blog this show instead of Shoujo #231 and/or Shounen #908…
@setsuke:
As per my last sentence above, I definitely see the charm of kurenai and it’s actually one of the shows I look forward to every week. Lack of time is the only reason why I’d stop covering it.
my guess= ROBO-SKELETON… ala-gunslinger girl type thing
https://randomc.net/image/kurenai/kurenai%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
Ugh.. the artwork for her face is almost cabbage-quality….
Thanks for blogging this, otherwise I may just skip it. Nice story, although the arts isn’t really to my liking.
Please keep blogging this one. I watch this show every week and its in my top three of the season. I’m glad that you’ve picked it up. Can I hope that you pick up Library War as well??
I hate the quality of this anime, but I love the storyline. This ep cracks me up. especially the part where the three met in the hallway at school..the argument and the fact about Murasaki and Yuuno’s facial expressions too (I love the part where Shin repeats the nick that Murasaki calls Yuuno) – watched that scene so many times
I like this show so much I watched this ep raw, even though I only got about 75-80% of it. So I really appreciate this entry and hope that you can keep blogging it. Kurenai and Nijuu Mensou are my faves this spring. Oh, and meganekko > sempai, but I suspect they both lose to “de aru” -tan.
I’m not sure whether to consider this series refreshing or sinister.
I just starting watching this series today (the first and second episode), and I was immediately charmed by Murasaki’s personality and maturity (which is not to say she isn’t terribly naive, but she learns very quickly and painlessly – much more than other characters in similar roles of other series). Both are superior to most girls 2-3 times her age in dating sim animes (especially Kanon and Clannad, which I’ve watched very recently). I’m not sure whether I should consider this series a breath of fresh air, or promotion of pedophilia 😛
In other news, hi Omni, and Divine. I’ve been using this blog as a reference to see what sounds good to watch for the last 3 seasons or so (I usually don’t read the synopses of the episodes – which probably contain spoilers – just your opinions about them for the first few episodes). So far this season I’m liking Allison and Lillia (which I suppose is ironic, as I can tell from experience that girls like Allison should be avoided like the plague in real life) and Kurenai, although I’m also testing out Special A and Kyouran Kazoku Nikki.
Glad this is getting blogged. Didn’t think much of the show when I read it in the spring preview. But now I find myself anticipating it almost,but not quite :), as much as Code Geass.
The characters are charming, especially Murasaki, which is always a huge plus for me. The plot is good, and there’s good anticipation that makes you want to find out more.
I agree that the quality might be lacking, but this is sort show where animation doesn’t matter too much. Kind of like Monster, whose animation I wasn’t thrilled with. Yet still watched 10 episodes at a time because of the story.
Murasaki should really learn that while it’s easy to beat up a few guys, it’ll only spiral into more fights for revenge in the future, which will potentially end with a loved one being injured.
btw, great episode. as for picture https://randomc.net/image/kurenai/kurenai%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2004.jpg , i don’t see what’s wrong with her face. The lines might be a little simple, but the angle looks alright to me (the eyes are spaced correctly, and the mouth’s location is where it should be from a 3/4 bottom-up shot). While it could have done better with shading under her jaw, I think it’s just fine.
Please keep blogging this, though, I don’t care if you have any summary whatsoever. I find they’re a waste of time.
The train scene really pissed me off that Shinkurou didn’t do anything. Also, you only just now think that Ginko likes Shinkurou? I got that impression from the first episode.
I can’t imagine why there are some people that don’t love this art style. It’s without a doubt the best looking show this season. Guess not everyone can appreciate gorgeous art.
I have to say to, this series besides next to code geass is probably one of the best series I’ll end up re watching tons of times, since I’ve fallen in love with it after the first episode. The music, art, characters, and the seiyu’s are just perfect. Thanks for blogging it and hope you one blogging it.
@Karisu:
I tried to choose my words carefully there (i.e. with a sense of modality). I got the indication that Ginko likes Shinkurou earlier in the series, but I would say that this episode made her feelings much more evident.
I see there is more that meets the eye with Yuuno. Is she just an innocent friend or if there is a special motive to get to Shinkurou. Things are starting to get more complex as little Murasaki is going to find out what he does at night. I can’t wait for the next episode to come!
Thank you for blogging Kurenai and please continue to do so. 🙂
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