(L) Kure-nai

[neoko]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

I've already started in the manga section.

Oh cool, i'll try to find it. Thanks =)))

[Chaos2Frozen]

Late reply but...

Originally Posted by Sunab0uzu

man wheres my season2?!!

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

^
Likely never, as the end wrapped up things as nicely as they can be. But hey, stranger things have happened...

It's possible. After all, there is a second Novel out called "Kurenai ~ Guillotine ~".

It won't be too hard to create a season out of that.

[MooMooFarm]

Major problems with this series:

1. The most clueless opening. Like, you think Code Geass R2 first episode was confusing? This thing completely makes you go ???? over and over until the second or third episode fills you in. Like, opening scene of ep 1 is like, EH? WHAT THE? ERR WTF WAS THAT SOUND? But it'd never make you go OHHH THIS GUY IS SPECIAL, you'd just go EH? Not to mention for the ENTIRE first episode you are pretty much going o.O O.O O.o

2. Lack of appropriate gun use. I don't care about laws and crap. Kuhouin power = LOL I OWN 1/10TH OF JAPAN AS MY ESTATE OR SOMETHING. Yeah, uh, any powers you described with them pretty much makes it IMPOSSIBLE for them NOT to get away with crap like using guns. Don't gimme any excuse, cause no one did a thing about Lin stabbing the maid nor even wonder. It's like saying HEY CANADA OUTLAWED GUNS YOU'LL NEVER SEE SHOOTINGS EVEN IN A GANG WAR! .... errr no?

3. The horn thing SUCKED. It showed up a total of 2-3 times, and it added some STUPID unrealistic crap to a show that border lined realism. If you add a supernatural element to a show, it has to have significance. And I mean like, spotlight significance, not like oh look a total of TWELVE EPISODES AND IT SHOWS UP TWICE. Imagine if you only saw gundams FOUR TIMES in both seasons of 00 and the rest of the time show regular mobile suits.

4. Shinkuro = Personal perk, so this may or may not be waived, but the guy has like the most inconsistent trait ever. And I'm not talking about decisiveness, I'm talking about when he should go ape and go wolverine on people. I could care less that he's indecisive like Suzaku CG, but when they don't even emphasize why he doesn't use his blade during the fight in the apartment, it really confuses you. It's like Batman pulling out a gun all of a sudden in the Dark Knight without telling you why, except the complete opposite.

5. INCEST THING + Kuhouin RETARDISM. Sure, in the PAST you can say being STUPID could be excusable because places like Japan were ISOLATED. In the PAST you can say people lacked education. Even NOW places like British Columbia have outskirts of communities that say okay to multiple wives. But guess what? In every case, either the ruling power of stupidity never met people who could crush them with military strength and common sense, or they never had enough power to matter in the first place beyond their own little community. Kuhouin's were placed as a WORLD influencing power WITHOUT being given a reason why and yet they have the DUMBEST incest rituals. It is kind of refreshing I guess, but there's been so many times where I'm like, YOU ARE NOT KIND SHINKURO, A KIND PERSON WOULD SHOVE THAT BONE KNIFE UP THAT OLD GEEZERS FACE SO HE UNDERSTANDS HE'S RETARDED. Like, how can they own THAT big of an estate and be so stupid? And it's not like I'm talking about only their incest/traditions. The fact that the show is short, but never even gave the Kuhouin's a chance to LOOK smart was PATHETIC. They already didn't tell that Kuhouin couldn't reproduce except with themselves, which is LOL, but they don't even TRY to make ANY OF THE KUHOUIN MEMBERS LIKABLE. DUR IM THE DAD, IM A OLD USELESS RICH SHINKURO THAT SUCKED IN LIFE'S DECISIONS. DUR I'M HIS SON, I TOTALLY WANT YOU TO HATE ME. DUR I'M THE MOTHER, I'M THE FIRST TO ADMIT I'M STUPID AND BE PROUD OF IT. EH? W T F? Come on now, usually the antagonistic side has SOMETHING backing them up that are along the lines of REASONABLE.

After that though, other than the fact that my VLC couldn't play the MKV worth crap (lack of other versions T_T) without consistent problems, the show is one of those slice of life things which is always nice. The kid is really really done well, even more than the kid from Seirei, but probably cause it's a girl and not a boy; hey that's still a choice you make as a storywriter, props to you Kurenai for being smart!

Action scenes were pretty good, animation style while some people complain I can live with. The awkward scenes with the high school girls (mainly the glasses one) is eh, but hey, all these things give a distinct flavor to the show.

One of the greatest things I love about this series is there is a modest amount of sense of defeat. Very few shows are like, yeah good guys lose. And no I don't mean like those dark dark downer shows. Kurenai never made the situation look THAT BAD like the WORLD WAS ENDING. Like when Shinkuro was trying to forget about the apartment incident, I was like wow, they are actually gonna make him look a bit realistic before he goes save her. That's props. Of course, like I said, the horn really screwed that from being perfect, because had he NOT had that element in the story, it would've made SENSE why the kid got taken away aka he was a weak punk compared to those other people. Don't let me try to encourage downer syndrome, but I like how the show balanced out happy times with bad events, and not make it feel like OH HE ONLY LOST CAUSE SOME EPIC PLOT DEVICE HAPPENED OR BECAUSE SASUKE BLAH BLAH BLAH NARUTO. The people came, beat up people, took the girl, case done. The losers didn't bawl their eyes out and actually had to reflect in themselves for awhile.

This still gets a 7 or 8 out of 10 though! I'm just hella picky about these particular points.

[WanderingKnight]

1. The most clueless opening. Like, you think Code Geass R2 first episode was confusing? This thing completely makes you go ???? over and over until the second or third episode fills you in. Like, opening scene of ep 1 is like, EH? WHAT THE? ERR WTF WAS THAT SOUND? But it'd never make you go OHHH THIS GUY IS SPECIAL, you'd just go EH? Not to mention for the ENTIRE first episode you are pretty much going o.O O.O O.o

So, a mysterious first episode turns you down...?

I wonder how you manage to appreciate a lot of excellent series out there.

Also, stop using caps. It looks like you're yelling and doesn't help the perceived maturity of your opinions.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Also, stop using caps. It looks like you're yelling and doesn't help the perceived maturity of your opinions.

Indeed. I don't even bother trying to read posts like MooMooFarm's.

[Supah Em]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

tl;dr (actually, read some)

Good stuff

What the hell? The first 3/4 of your post was all about "HEY SHINKUROU'S A BITCH" yellin' and bashin' then you suddenly praise the series? Whatever you are smoking, that sure works wonders.

Kids, this is how NOT a constructive criticism should be.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Supah Em

Good stuff

What the hell? The first 3/4 of your post was all about "HEY SHINKUROU'S A BITCH" yellin' and bashin' then you suddenly praise the series? Whatever you are smoking, that sure works wonders.

Well, I think it was just a case of giving the bad news before the good

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Supah Em

What the hell? The first 3/4 of your post was all about "HEY SHINKUROU'S A BITCH" yellin' and bashin' then you suddenly praise the series? Whatever you are smoking, that sure works wonders.

I don't know... The symptoms fits excessive alcohol consumption better...

Mood swings and all...

Originally Posted by Supah Em

Kids, this is how NOT a constructive criticism should be.

In the first place, it's not very pleasing to the eye, I hate wall of texts =_=... And the more I skim across it and read points here and there, the more I get the feeling that I shouldn't take it serious at all

[Ghostfriendly]

Bit of a harsh message, but I like how it's stirred things up a bit.

I really liked the lack of horn appearence; its absence was very apparent, and Shinkerou not using it in the apartment fight a real surprise. He swore never to use the horn, so it didn't seem stupid to me.

The villains weren't the most sophisticated or active bunch certainly, but Murasaki's father had some rock-solid presence, and real decisions to make throughout the show despite his lack of activity. The wife and son were just hateable, using raw power rather than any extravagant means of eliminating their opponents, which went with their style.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

The villains weren't the most sophisticated or active bunch certainly, but Murasaki's father had some rock-solid presence, and real decisions to make throughout the show despite his lack of activity. The wife and son were just hateable, using raw power rather than any extravagant means of eliminating their opponents, which went with their style.

The thing is though, I keep getting the impression that the anime left out abit of detail, something about the Kuhouins that would actually make them feel more powerful.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

The thing is though, I keep getting the impression that the anime left out abit of detail, something about the Kuhouins that would actually make them feel more powerful.

Yeah, that was the impression that was given in the first few episodes of the series, though nothing was ever said to back up that truth. It didn't bother me as such really.

[Ghostfriendly]

They can erase anybody from official existance if they real want to...powerful groups like that tend to get complacent with enough time though, and fail to use their power properly.

[Avisch]

I don't know if anyone's commented on this. But has anyone thought about how dangerous the state of the world is in Kure-nai?

The fact that Shinkuro's parent's died in a terrorist attack, and the fact that he and nearly a ENTIRE SCHOOL were kidnapped.. it kind of speaks for itself. The world is in a crazy state

Then there's the fact that Benika and her organization's existence. Could imply a massive change in society that allows use of more private contractors.

Or I could be totally wrong. And Shinkuro is just shown to have incredibly bad luck as a child. And Benika's organization is nothing more than a plot element.

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by MooMooFarm

Major problems with this series:

ZOMG NARFFF..um gee brain

you make a good point pinky but you miss the other 9....
(and this is coming from a fellow pinky)

Originally Posted by Avisch

I don't know if anyone's commented on this. But has anyone thought about how dangerous the state of the world is in Kure-nai?

The fact that Shinkuro's parent's died in a terrorist attack, and the fact that he and nearly a ENTIRE SCHOOL were kidnapped.. it kind of speaks for itself. The world is in a crazy state

Then there's the fact that Benika and her organization's existence. Could imply a massive change in society that allows use of more private contractors.

Or I could be totally wrong. And Shinkuro is just shown to have incredibly bad luck as a child. And Benika's organization is nothing more than a plot element.

Ummm....first off group kidd nappings are not that strange, world wide mind you, plus factor in government hushing up its all plausible, also Benika's organization is no so diffrent than the one in Black lagoon, altho its more geared to protection and what not so there again not to far fetched, hell even the Kuhouin family is not to far from the tree of plausibility even more so when you look at how high society and noble families inbred in history.

So really the only thing out of place is the while mutant/bio weapon bone thing.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by ZippyDSM

So really the only thing out of place is the while mutant/bio weapon bone thing.

Yeah i was at least hoping for more of an explanation on that, though i'm not all that bothered that we didn't get one. I guess there's a lot more detail on it in the novel.

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Yeah i was at least hoping for more of an explanation on that, though i'm not all that bothered that we didn't get one. I guess there's a lot more detail on it in the novel.

ga my mind reels is it a simple device installed or a parasite/symbotie that is implanted and gives you a slight boost in abilities, I mean you could construe it goes with the berserk mode but then I do not think Shinkuro has developed his personalty well enough to handle fighting past a certain level, IE he has mental blocks and what not and can just turn go blank while fighting.

either way with or without it it dose not make him a weaker character, one could easily remove that sub plot and let him be a cliched adapt fighter who's limited by his doubts, altho I find when I make up worlds and fictions there can be some just off the wall aspects to it...and I refuse to be complaisant for the mundane (altho grammar..I must haz it one day....).

[Chaos2Frozen]

That one they did explain that Shinkurou had asked the Hozuki clan to graft the weapon into his body.

But somewhere inbetween that decision to HAVE the weapon, to the decision not to USE the weapon, Shinkurou had a change of heart.

Meaning we don't see it being use alot, and we certainly don't see it being explained. Base on simple observation, we could tell that it's triggered by stress and/or adrenaline in the body. Or at the very least, Shinkurou has been trained to release it on instinct.

The weapon doesn't exactly boost his performance, not in that sense. Looking at the last episode, the Hozuki style of fighting seems to use alot of spinning, and it so happens that the best way to use the blade, is also through that style of fighting.

After all, have you seen his 'training' in the Hozuki family? It don't mean the one with Yuno, that was considered tame. Back as a kid, he was coughing up blood even 2 mins...

[Dop]

Hurray! My copy of the soundtrack album finally turned up after two months in the post. I thought it had got lost or something.

I liked Muramatsu's Sketchbook full color's soundtrack, and this is a nice accompaniment being rather in the same mode.

Only one criticism really. Why oh why did they not put the song from the musical episode on it? Not even as a bonus track?
All we have is the instrumental version. Shame.

I really must find the time to rewatch the series.

[zzeroparticle]

After going through the soundtrack album, I'd have to say that Disc 2 just completely kicks Disc 1 right out of the water. That may be because the tracks on Disc 2 do a better job of grabbing at your attention than some of the more mournful/melancholy stuff. I'd still recommend it for the jazzy feeling though I did enjoy the Sketchbook just a tad more.

The soundtrack does do a good job at blending traditional Japanese music (especially with some of the koto pieces) with jazz though, and that always makes it pretty enjoyable.

[Avisch]

The music was always interesting to me. The classical feel of the music (the grand piano) sort of gave the impression of a story that talks about memory. I can barely remember most of the music though....more reason to rewatch the series.

Originally Posted by Dop

Only one criticism really. Why oh why did they not put the song from the musical episode on it? Not even as a bonus track?
All we have is the instrumental version. Shame.

That is kind of upsetting.