kure-nai: List of Things I Know About kure-nai After One Episode

1) Murasaki is sassy and haughty.

Yes, that’s it. And I like it that way.

kure-nai is an adaptation of a light novel series by Katayama Kentarou (interest piqued part the first), with animation production being done by Brains Base (interest piqued part the second) and directed by Matsuo Kou, who directed Rozen Maiden and Red Garden (interest piqued part the third). I haven’t seen Red Garden, but I hear semi-good things about it, and I certainly think the concept is quite interesting. I have seen the first season of Rozen Maiden and I quite liked that, although not to the extent that someone on 4chan might have. I remember it being quite fun to watch, and both the serious and the less serious moments were done well. In sort, it’s a recipe for instant appeal to me, and that’s what kure-nai is.

it’s completely unknown what, exactly, is going on in the series. Murasaki has obviously been somewhat willingly kidnapped from her house and away from her seemingly tyrannical father who may or may not have murdered her mother. But that seems to be secondary to the concept of taking said kidnapped Murasaki and throwing her haughty self into a small 6-tatami room with none other than our high-school aged protagonist, Shinkurou. This is Not Pleasing to Murasaki, who tolerates it for exactly one night and promptly leaves when given the chance, leaving Shinkurou to chase after her.

But who cares about that? That’s plot. This series impressed me from the very beginning with its extremely unconventional opening which has to be seen to be believed. It’s a highly stylized opening sequence, and I liked. The actual episode itself was animated somewhat strangely and unconventionally as well, again, something that has to be seen to understand, especially given that I can’t discuss art very well due to a lack of proper vocabulary (I direct you to Ogiue Maniax for your dose of high-level artistic vocabulary, but you probably already knew that). On top of the unusual animation style, the character art itself is also unusual, although slightly less so. It all sums up for a visual experience I found to be quite fun, although I guess your mileage may vary, as in all things.

The real highlight of the episode was the Hatenkou Yuugi-esque dialogue back-and-forthing. Most of the characters in the series have clear personalities, sometimes just from their precious few seconds on screen (the landlady and Shinkurou’s neighbor come to mind–they have amazingly distinct personalities, considering that they’ve been on screen for approximately 2.5 minutes combined) and they bounce off each other naturally. The highlight is, of course, the moments where Shinkurou and Murasaki are quite alone and the latter is biting the head off of the former. Murasaki is amazingly cute, in the way that only haughty girls can be. I really can’t use the term “loli” to describe Murasaki, as the word carries with it a certain kind of stereotypes with it. She is seven, and so technically qualifies, but it’s almost an insult to her to classify her as such, I think, especially given her level of character development at this stage.

The only expectation I have for kure-nai at the moment is for it to be a character interaction/development piece. That’s what it looks like it’s going to be, but I really can’t say for certain, because I really have no idea where it’s going. That’s part of the reason I like the first episode so much–when something is unpredictable, it gives off an air of excitement. I think I’ll be following this one for the run, barring any major mishaps, but I don’t forsee those. I’m almost ashamed of me for not picking up on it earlier (a friend mentioned it to me the other day and I went from “what is this” to “must see” in about two minutes) and generating a teeny amount of pre-air hype for it, but this should make up for it. It looks like it’ll be a fun ride, no matter how things will progress from  here on out.