Impressions: Kurenai – 07

As Kurenai continues to develop, I’m discovering that this series is as much about Shinkurou as it is about Murasaki and her interactions in the “outside world”. And this is turning out to be a good thing. The episode, aptly entitled “Women”, starts off with Murasaki watching TV with Yuno and Tamaki. I was pleased to see that Murasaki was out of that hideous drab she’d been wearing for the past couple of episodes and finally had on something sensible….Hopefully I’m not being misunderstood as some lolicon right now, like someone later in the episode. It’s just that Wizard of Oz outfit she’d had on was annoying the crap out of me.

The first half of this episode is mainly about Tamaki. She takes out Murasaki for a trip and explains to her a real world view of women and their relationships with men. Man, Tamaki really doesn’t hold anything back. Her interactions with Murasaki and how she loves to amuse herself by talking to Murasaki as if she’s just “one of the girls” is absolutely hilarious. You learn a great deal about who Tamaki really is, she’s portrayed in a very real light. The sign of a good anime is when the characters become more than just typical, anime archetypes. For instance, they could of stopped at Tamaki’s know-it-all perspective on men and women from a non-personal view. Instead, they go one step further and show her interacting with her boyfriend, displaying a very human side of her.

There’s not much screen time for Shinkurou and what you get is more of the same. I like Shinkurou but I’m thankful that Kurenai isn’t always about him. It creates more depth and rounds out the world. The second half of the episode goes into the backstory of Murasaki & her family and we finally see some dots connecting. They managed to pack in a surprising amount of content in this chapter, especially in comparison to the filler crap we got in number six. We get to see the type of person Renjo really is. I see how they were going easy on the guy previously, trying to emote some sympathy for him, before they finally went out and said it: Renjo will be the douchebag of the story. I mean just look at that snively, dispicable face of his.

How can you not hate a face like that?! But he does give a nice expression after getting verbally owned by Souju, Murasaki’s mom, using his own words against him. I’m sure there’s a douchebag or two above Renjo making him the way he is, but for now he’s a scapegoat for my hate. Like I’ve said before though, every story needs one these guys. They’re the ones that create the conflict, something that looks like is finally going to happen in the next episode. Appears like the real story is going to get rolling real soon.