And so the climax of Kurenai has started. The OP and ED feel even more out of place now, but it also becomes apparent how much the building-up of the previous episode is paying off. The second half of this episode was really good, and I’m eager to find out what the creators have in store for us for the final three episodes.
As it turns out: Murasaki indeed is a legitimate child of the Kuhoin, but she was just never registered. She was just there as a tool for inside breeding, to keep the Kuhoin-family as pure-blooded as possible. In other words, brother and sister make children together. I recall having read somewhere how a child of a brother and sister has a larger chance at a personality-disorder, and looking at Ryuuji, I can indeed see why this Kuhoin-tradition has continued on for ages.
What surprised me was that despite Shinkurou’s godly power, he was easily beaten by Ryuuji’s body-guards. I guess that that female bodyguard never really gave Shinkurou the chance to show that strange elbow of his, suggesting that she’s been really well-trained for her job.
This episode somehow reminded me a bit about Sword of the Stranger, and there are actually a lot of similarities between the two: a powerhouse takes care of a small and innocent child that’s somehow vital to the plot of the bad guys, and as the story progresses, they get to know each other more and more. Now that I think about it, there are many more series who use this formula (Seirei no Moribito, for example), and it works surprisingly well. 🙂
I think Shinkurou being easily beaten is used as part of the build-up. We’ve seen him get taken down twice now without a decent retaliation. I expect a good fight later on, or it’ll leave me a bit disappointed.
This episode was certainly emotionally powerful, but I thought it was deeply stupid to the point of being unacceptable. There is no way Benika could reasonably have let Shinkuro and Murasaki go back into the lion’s mouth “because partings are important.” Silly stuff. And there is no good reason for Shinkuro not to have used his blade, except the spurious one of M having said she would go back. He knew she was just too scared to resist.
Hashihime: now that you mention it, the reason for that was rather weak, yeah. I’m a bit surprised, as this series is usually so well-explained. If I had to guess, then it’s one of these unavoidable parts of the manga/light novel that just couldn’t be turned into a coherent plot twist by the director.
Didn’t Shin say he wanted to use his “own power” instead of the weapon he has in his elbow? I guess he really went through with, a rare thing to see in an anime character nowadays.
Anyway, an entertaining episode this week, not saying the previous episodes weren’t.
I agree that it was stupid but imo it still makes some sense.
Same thing happens in real life all the time. Shink said he didn’t want to “rely” on his “power”, so he doesn’t. It might be stupid but doing something you believe in might seem stupid to someone else.
I honestly think not everything has to be super well thought out or else it’s just TOO mechanical and fixated if you get what I mean. No one is perfect and I think it’s silly to expect “perfect” explanations, actions or planning for everything.
Of course I mean all this to a certain extent. I’m pretty sure no one wants to see any deus ex machina going on.
er as an example, think back to law of ueki (if you watched it) to the ep where sano, hideyoshi, and the girl fight the 3 people on marilyns team. I found how they defeated the guy who could make a 4d space in his mouth a bit…TOO smooth. Sure they had a plan, sure it was wicked as hell but I really thought it was TOO perfect for something they were doing on the fly.
Shinkurou has said before that he doesn’t want to use his elbow but his true strength.
Beside, that female body guard is just too powerful. She even defeats Yaoi so easily.
She might be a match with Benika?
Anyways, great episode :3
Never underestimate the power of loli-love! Benika kinda reminds me of Balalika from Black Lagoon in the way she carries herself (sans the cool scars). And Lin is definitely a bad ass, even if her fight with Yayoi was painfully one-sided (I was expecting more of a challenge there).
My suspicions were right regarding the Kuhoins and their dirty little secret, and that Renjou and Soujou were indeed brother and sister; pretty revealing and disturbing seeing what a whacko Ryuuji is (it’s obvious he wants to continue the good ol’ family tradition with his sister Murasaki).
I have to agree with the whole protector-child angle with Kurenai. Why fix something that ain’t broke? Sword of the Stranger and Seirei no Moribito did that angle well too (I’d say it’s an extension of the classic Lone Wolf and Cub theme).
Wow that was a great episode. The timing is also perfect, and matches the standard good anime ending: defeat in this episode, disillusion and emo in the next, wakeup and focusing in the forslast and a great last battle in ep 12 *.*
Can’t wait to see Shinkuro kick Lin and Ryuji’s ass as they really deserve it and rescue Murasaki.
>hashihime: I thought it was deeply stupid to the point of being unacceptable … cut
There must be some reason why Benika trusts Shinkuro so much and let him expose to dangers so much. You may notice that Benika always let Shinkuro face potentially dangerous situations. In this episode she also go to the Kouhins and challenges them directly to fight Shinkuro.
Maybe she wants Shinkuro to awaken his real power…
Well, I read somewhere that based from the novel the reason the Kuhouin’s inbreeding is one, to keep the bloodline pure and second, because the Kuhouin men have a genetic defect that wouldn’t allow them to be able to make a child other than with Kuhouin women.So it kinda perpetuates itself.As for the climax, I don’t really expect a grand battle of sorts for the climaz(Although I do expect at least some ass kicking).If you’ve been watching the anime, you’d realize that the focus is not about the fighting but the relationships between the characters.We’ll see though.
sure is, it would be strange to expect a major fight scene as this series’s charm is not in it, u can go watch Soul Eater for that….
@tabs05+indr0008:
I did’n read the novels, but i expect an ending like that, as all the necessary premises have been put in place. This is a shounen and not a char driven serie and usually the plot moves on its peculiar way, including the confrontation with the last strongest enemy.
As for “introspective series don’t have battle endings” go watch Figure 17. After 10 episodes of introspective stuff, well made but a bit “slow”, the serie closed with a great and entertaining last battle. The overall impression was just awesome. The same will be with kurenai. 10 episodes for buildup and 2 to make fireworks will certain not ruin the good mood of the show.
PS: i am watching Soul Eater and i’ll tell you it’s fun enough and not that crap you think, indrooo8
@solaris: T_T seems that i made someone angry, i didnt say that Soul Eater is a crap, i do watch that anime too, i was just confused seeing people complain about the lack of fighting in this episode
Sorry indrooo8, i didn’t mean to attack you. Excuse me.
Btw i wan’t complaining about the lack of fights in kurenai. I was just expecting a good one at last. You see, all the serie showed us a “weak” Shinkuro, despite suggesting us he can be stronger, he continues to be beaten up when the matter get serious. So, he deserves a chance of revenge at last. I meant only that 🙂