It’s a mini review ‘cuz well… maybe it was the mediocrity of the figure or that I was tired or something but just wasn’t getting the usual motivation.

A slightly older release (…July of last year?) by Shueisha.  At the time I was focused on getting her and lala in their seifuku for a matching set.  Probably would’ve passed if it weren’t for set completion sickness.

She’s not terrible or anything, but for me she’s not really anything special either.

A kind of blank look on her face along with a sort of timid pose… details are ok I guess, but you can see how her hair isn’t particularly thrilling.  Kind of thick bangs there…  I do like her eyes though.

I think my favorite part of the figure is the skirt.

Hair seam, seams where her arms connect…usually that sort of stuff doesn’t bother me too much.  But when there’s not too much else to grab my attention, that’s when I get nitpicky ^^;

White pantsu…

I guess at least she wasn’t too pricey.  And from some angles she seems to look better… kinda like the below shot mebbe…?

Unfortunately, as you may already be aware… there’s the base issue.

Ugh the base.  It’s huuuuuge!  For dainty little sairenji!  It looks comical being so big.  orz

Ah well.  So as not to end on a sour note, here’s a group shot of my seifuku figures:

There’s at least one missing… can you guess who?  Sorry no prize :P

Lovelyduckie covered her back in september, also lamenting the huge base.

Haven’t seen any other haruna releases that blew me away so at least I’ve completed my set as best I could for the time being.

In summary, a pretty mediocre release for my tastes, especially when you take a look at that base.

以上！

Looks like they’re releasing santa versions of Lala and sairenji! (pics above and below from the listings at hobby search)

The face seems a little off, but I love the outfit, pose and stand ^_^

Also, seems like they’ll be releasing the first kurenai figure I’ve seen so far…

(picture also from the hobby search listing) Unfortunately none of the pics at hobby search were very good but regardless, doesn’t look like I’ll be getting this murasaki. I’ll leave it to future reviews to convince me ^^;

The sairenji I preordered will be my first shueisha figure, so no clue what kind of quality to expect. Anyone out there that has any of their stuff?

So I’m out of batteries for my camera at the moment… … アニメ変化発動！[anime transformation engage!]  Week or so ago I finished Kurenai.  Thoroughly enjoyed it, although to be honest, I’m not particularly critical… doesn’t take much to get a passing grade from me ^^;

A little addendum about my watching habits — I usually watch raws to get the maximum japanese practice out of what I watch… but since I’m not entirely fluent, and since I usually watch while working out… i often end up missing lotsa details. ^^; Specially those explanation scenes… you know… everyone’s sitting down, serious music queues up, serious faces all around… yeah, usually need to rewatch those ^^; *ahem* and that’s why lots of my descriptions may be wrong.

それでは！

A bit about the title, skip this paragraph if you have little patience for ramblings about the Japanese language. 紅 [kurenai] means deep red, or crimson. However, there are two other words you could be hearing: 暮れない [kurenai] – not getting dark, not ending; くれない [kurenai] – not giving. (the latter two are negative forms of verbs)

The Players

	紅真九郎 [kurenai shinkurou] – The main character the series is named after.  Your typical atypical high school student with a troubled past making a future for himself.
九鳳院紫 [kuhouin murasaki] – An adorable (well, in her own little way ^^;) little girl that has been saved/kidnapped from her oppressive, rich, and powerful family. She speaks in a very… hmm i’m not sure how to describe it… proud? mmm well, unique manner. Basically using older style words to give a sense of nobility combined with rough informal forms because she’s always speaking to (who would be) subordinates. Having been raised in a household with servants she is very naive about normal (and, in shinkurou’s case, meager) circumstances.
	闇絵 [yamie] – One of shinkurou’s neighbors, heavy in sarcasm and dark humor. She’s awesome. And boy, you should hear her sing.
武藤環 [mutou tamaki] – Another one of shinkurou’s neighbors. College student, flirtatious, perhaps 下品 [vulgar] by Japanese standards. She’s also awesome. Never hesitates to teach murasaki the way things really are.
	柔沢紅香 [jyuuzawa benika] -shinkurou’s employer.  I couldn’t figure out exactly what her work was but it seemed like it was some sort of vigilante mercenary type of work? ^^;
犬塚弥生 [inuzuka yayoi] – Another one of benika’s employees.  Highly skilled fighter, basically overseeing shinkurou to make sure he doesn’t screw up and murasaki remains safe.  Poor girl is always outside in the cold ^^;
	村上銀子 [murakami ginko] – Friend/partner of shinkurou who helps by investigating things.  Doesn’t seem to like yuuno.
崩月夕乃 [houzuki yuuno] – Another friend of shinkurou, also his sparing partner.  AYASHII ONNA DA. ^_^;;
	九鳳院蓮丈 [kuhouin renjyou] -Mursaki’s father.

So why would you watch this?  It has a nice mix of slice of life content, action (mostly hand-to-hand fighting), and drama.

murasaki, shinkurou, yamie and tamaki are generally the focus of these sort of scenes.  yayoi and shinkurou get most of the action in the first part of the series.

As the plot unfolds you learn about the kuhouin family, about murasaki’s parents, about shinkurou’s past and relationships…

In the beginning part of the series you quickly learn shinkurou’s body isn’t quite normal… knowing nothing about the series i thought it was going to have more of a sci-fi element to it, but no, none of that. It acts as an important plot device but this isn’t magical boy lyrical kurenai.

When you get down to it, I suppose there’s not much to the story, but what really drew me into this series was the characters. Really enjoyed all of them, can’t wait to get the light novels, written by Katayama Kentarou, illustrated by Yamamoto Yamato (the source material, it seems. from what i hear, anime didn’t exactly stick to the same content, which is good since i won’t know what’s coming ^^;).  According to wikipedia the novels are ongoing and currently 4 have been published.

Quick plot summary for those wanting spoilers:
murasaki is taken from her family by benika who puts her under the care of shinkurou. shinkurou, murasaki, tamaki and yamie have lots of slice of life sorts of moments. murasaki gets taken back by some crazy kuhouin bodyguard and her brother. benika, yayoi, and shinkurou go to get murasaki back, end up finally defeating the bodyguard and getting to murasaki. murasaki decides to stay with her family, but as a free girl, not as a repressed kuhouin woman. the end.

So yeah, for me, exactly my type of anime.  Short, sweet, great engaging characters.  Also really like the art style.  Don’t know how to describe it, but it has kinduva different feel than lots of the anime out there and I took a liking to it.

mite ne~