Kure-nai 07, hypocrisy incarnate
May 21st, 2008 by Shirukii
I see a pedo!
This was a weird episode of Kurenai, it placed a lot of focus on Tamaki, who has thus far been nothing but a comedic relief side character. Kure-nai has come off as more slice of life than anything else thus far, which would account for the time spent on delving into Tamaki’s character. However, at the episode we’re given an indication that Kure-nai will be getting back to its main plot elements soon, making Tamaki’s character exposition seem like a grand waste of time.
I was actually going to skip doing this entry since I was feeling lazy, thank Vadigor for giving me the motivation to do it.
Lounging around watching TV, Tamaki brings up the topic of what makes good women and good men, asking Murasaki and Yamie if she qualifies as a good woman. Murasaki thinks she is, after all Tamaki gave them a heater, but that’s more characteristic of a good person in general, Tamaki wants to know if she’s the type of woman worthy of love. The conversation eventually wanders to the topic of where to find a good man, Murasaki without hesitation pointing towards Shinkurou as fitting the bill, while Tamaki agrees that he possesses many of the qualities of a good man, his lolicon complex for Murasaki is a problem. The conversation is cut short when Tamaki has to head to uni, a rare sight for them to see from the slacker, apparently she has to meet with someone today, inviting Murasaki to tag along for the experience.
The only problem is Shinkurou, who doesn’t like Murasaki going out during the day, but Yamie has that covered, and vouches for Murasaki’s whereabouts when he calls, saying that she’s next door being lectured about the joys of being a woman.
Taking in the sights of uni and its differences from Shinkurou’s high school, Tamaki crosses paths with a woman who she is apparently at odds with when it comes to men, Tamaki somehow always ending up stealing boyfriends away from her. After provoking her a bit, Tamaki takes a shoe whack to the head from her nemesis, icing it down with some cold water afterwards while venting to Murasaki about the pains of being beautiful, analyzing the couples around them and the inherent flaws in their relationships.
And yet, Tamaki seems to have some problems herself, as her boyfriend, Satoshi, the person who she had plans to meet with shows up. Slightly discouraged by the fact that Tamaki brought a kid along with her, he goes ahead with what he needs to say anyways. The confrontation escalates into quite the scene as it becomes clear that Satoshi wants to break up with Tamaki, who begs him not to do this today. Offering to talk at first, soon the conversation degenerates into Tamaki berating Satoshi as a wuss while he tries to make her understand that she’s just too much for him to handle. Tamaki eventually gets the point, right around the time she’s about to give Satoshi a punch to the face, and lets him go.
Afterwards, Tamaki takes Murasaki to a juice bar where she collapses on the table in depression while the seven year old does her best to cheer her up. Deluding herself with the “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” argument, Tamaki briefly lifts her spirits, only to have them shot back down when she spots Satoshi being clung onto by another women. She then goes on a rant about men who are fooled by women who act overly familiar with them, cling on to them, and are quick to show off their usefulness, rather than the strong independent types.
Exemplifying the description, the scene cuts over to Yuuno giving Shinkurou a pair of hand warmers, guilting him into using it not only at home, but in public at school as well. A light bulb flicks in Murasaki’s head, making the connection between Tamaki’s description and the relationship between Yuuno and Shinkurou, she bolts off to see him right away, Tamaki hot on her tail. As they’re exiting the cafe, a man recognizes Murasaki as a Kuhouin child and tails them back to the apartment.
Without any contextual explanation, Murasaki starts ranting to Shinkurou about how he needs to break up with Yuuno, whose loose and useful nature is nothing but a farce, and that she’s a far better woman than her, good enough to make him a lolicon.
A much deeper issue has been set into motion though, word of Murasaki’s whereabouts quickly making it back to the Kuhoin mansion. There, Renjou gives us a brief flashback explaining the circumstances behind Murasaki’s conception and the social aspects behind the ostracizing of her mother, Souju. In her dying moments, Souju revealed to Murasaki that she was her mother and asked Benika to one day free her from the fate which has befallen all Kuhouin women to date.
Renjou had the option of helping Benika to defy the Kuhouins for the sake of Murasaki, but chose not to, and now he vows to bring her back to the inner sanctuary, rectifying the mistakes of his past and present.
Thoughts
Again, a really weird episode in that the first half was made seemingly insignificant when overshadowed by the latter half. But whatever, I guess we’ll just have to go along with it for now.
Seeing Tamaki in action gave me a conflicting image of her. On one hand, I find her to be a hypocrite, stealing men from other women, using them as she sees fit and tossing them out when she’s done with them. Rinse, lather, repeat. From the way she was counting off the couples and pointing out where the fatal flaws in their relationships were so nonchalantly, it’s apparent that she thinks very lowly of most men. Yet when she gets a taste of her own medicine, she breaks down and is quick to cry foul play.
However, at the same time, it’s in her nature to have a dominating presence as a woman, she is strong and independent and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s also nothing wrong with wanting to be protected by her man, despite the aforementioned qualities. It may be hard to find a man who can cope with her independence and strength who can also rise to the occasion and take charge when the time calls, but not delusional of Tamaki to want it. And wow, the way the guy just shriveled up on the verge of tears when she spoke up, and his whining in general, I’m not surprised she railed on him as she did.
Whether Tamaki’s difficulty with men stems from her being too violent and controlling in relationships or whether it’s a product of Japan’s men having been hit by the pussification ray is the information I’d need to decide whether Tamaki’s behavior is justified or not. I doubt such information will be given to us, so her standing in my books will forever remain an ambiguity.
So Shinkurou’s loose guarding of Murasaki has finally caught up and she’s been spotted by one of the Kuhouin’s affiliates. This will undoubtedly kick the plot, which has been more or less absent thus far, into action. I’m still a little confused as to the circumstances which surround Murasaki. Her mother seems to be an outcast, but would that necessarily mean Murasaki would be subjected to the same treatment, and is Renjou moving in an effort to free Murasaki from that cycle, or shove her back into it?
Anyways, judging from the preview, Kure-nai won’t go full on plot whoring just yet, with scenes showing the Murasaki and co. visiting a temple. While I did enjoy full filler episodes like last week’s surprise musical, I can’t help but question the handling of the pacing. We’re halfway through the series and we STILL haven’t been given a lot more than “Hey Shinkurou, here’s a loli, make sure no one kills her”. When you strip out the back story, that’s pretty much all we’ve got so far.
Trying to rapidly develop Kure-nai’s plot to the point where I would call it deep and deserving of classification past slice of life would be difficult as things stand, progress too fast and the shift will come off as jarring, go too slow and plot holes will cover the series in its wake. And so the plot continues to meander about with no real direction, all under the guise of a cute not pedo slice of life.
However! Despite all that, I’m still loving the show, I’m just in the dark as to the point of it all.
You’ve got it all wrong Murasaki! I’m not a lolicon…
~ Shirukii ~
14 Responses to “Kure-nai 07, hypocrisy incarnate”
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On the topic of kurenai, Silky,
http://lelangir.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/and-you-thought-shakespeare-was-dramatic/
grand waste of time???? Time with Tamaki is never a waste!
“it’s apparent that she thinks very lowly of most men”
I think she meant all couples, she did talk about deceitful women who try to show off being useful and how she though of them… i think she has gone with the experience of relationship too many times and knows it too well… yet despite that she still fails and is afraid of being alone…
I think Tamaki is in a difficult spot, being a very “modern” woman but living in a society that doesn’t necessarily value those aspects of her personality. She’s like an American post-feminist, but living in Japan. Her speech in the diner was very telling as far as that goes. She just can’t seem to reconcile the submissive woman type that society wants her to be, even though she knows in her heart she may have to in order to live a happy “normal” life.
This series is very big on contrasts (like the seriousness of Shinkurou’s mission and Murasaki’s life contrasting with the irreverence of the past few episodes), so maybe the point of delving into Tamaki’s life so much is to show that she’s a microcosm of the Kure-nai world — conflicted and contrasting.
All that aside, I’m glad that the plot is advancing, even if it seems to come slowly. Kure-nai has been a deceptive show so far, and the only thing I can expect from it is to not do something expected. Love this show.
What’s this fate? o__o
I enjoyed both halves of this episode. I like when a secondary character gets a bit of exposition, so I was glad that Tamaki took the spotlight this week and we got to know her a little more than a simple comedic sidekick.
Thanks for taking the time to write up a post Shirukii. ^^
A weird episode indeed, Tamaki’s dual nature is intriguein, I can only hope that they manage to include it somewhere down the line, or this will come off as more of a filler-esque smokescreen than anything else.
And I must say, the lolicon-jabs throughout this episode were a nice touch.
I don’t think the Tamaki portion of the episode was a waste of time. I think the show is clearly focused on presenting people (primarily women) who diverge from the societal norm and at the same time want to be a part of that norm. The characters in kurenai don’t know how to, as otou-san said, reconcile the two sides. If you take that as the main point of the show rather than the more action-y stuff, then Tamaki’s story and Souju’s story both fit. Yuuno fits too. There’s her hand-warmer-knitting, cliche-cell-phone-ornament-buying side but there’s also her less typical capable-of-flinging-her-opponent-around-with-raw-power-in-the-dojo side. In the same way, the previous episode wasn’t just filler either because it showed that even Yayoi secretly longs to break from her role as lone observer and go sing songs as a part of a group.
I kinda felt sorry for Tamaki halfway through the episode; seems like she’s caught between being a stand up gal and being able to let herself depend on someone more due to the relationships she’s gone through than anything else. No-one’s going to inherently be able to “rinse, lather and repeat”.
But I also lol’d at how *still* no-one cares about Yamie’s past; two very different approaches to broken relaionships in a single episode.
P.S : Oh god, you watched Yotsunoha too?! That’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back…
It must be a big headache for the fansubbers (or not) to properly relate the outdated, imperiously casual speaking style of Murasaki. Like in this episode, the man in the restaurant was piqued when he heard a mere child say things like “sumanu” and “de oru.” Maybe they can have her say “give me your pardon, for I am in a rush” or something like that. But then they will have to revise the entire script for the season.
@ lolikit: I’ve been following this drama between you, Owen, Mike, drm et al. of late. Is it as orchestrated as the ABC’s April Fool’s stunt or is this genuine mindless aniblogosphere drama?
@ lelangir: It is when compared to time with Murasaki!
@ EvilDevil: Fair enough, I think more than men she resents that many couples can find happiness and solace in their shallow relationships while her cynicism ensures that she cannot.
@ otou-san: Yea, I can definitely see that, what with the submissive Japanese waifu image that seems to be at the forefront of Japanese culture.
@ Kaelyn: Being forced to reside solely in the inner sanctuary as pawns to their male counterparts? I dunno o_o
@ Son Gohan: Well…I guess if it had to be a side character that got exposition, she wasn’t a bad choice. I would have preferred Yayoi, but meh.
@ Vadigor: I’m almost certain it will be forgotten as nothing more than such filler, unfortunately.
@ katimae: I see where you’re coming from, I accept your premise and am now intrigued to see if Kure-nai follows through. By that, I mean that when Murasaki does get captured and brought back, the cumulative experience she’s gained from being around said women help her to break the chains that have bound the Kuhouin women.
@ Randor: WHAT?! I loved Yotsunoha, or, more accurately I loved Nono.
Maaaaa~kun
@ ItAintEazy: I think it’s well established by the anime itself that Murasaki has a haughty manner of speaking, but yes, it’s very hard to translate dialect.
Shirukii: Hmm….well, perhaps. But that’s why this Tamaki/Muraski episode was so freaking great.
This episode was cool for a variety of reasons…..but above all.
This anime has shown the first
“minor antagonistic sub-subordinate who is actually….GASP…Competent!”
Yeah I’m talking about the guy who spotted Murasaki and Yayoi and reported them. I’m amazed at the fact he reported them instantly, and he saw Yayoi WHILE DRIVING. Come on when you have you seen a subordinate do something like that?
Or maybe I’m way too used to Code Geass with Lelouch totally destroying the subordinates who can’t do anything.
Ok seriously. This episode was emotional and good at revealing more about the Kuhoins. And now we now Renjou has a replacement for Benika (her name is Chenshin Lin and she’s voice by Kana Ueda…which is great)
I think I have to criticize Tamaki abit because I think she tried to side-step the issue at first when it was clear needed to be handled. But I do feel for her. She doesn’t knwo whether to think it’s her fault or the fact that her boyfriend didn’t take time enough to understand her.
Kuhoin’s are definitely representative of the evil in Tradition.
Murasaki’s father doesn’t seem to have understand that his “neutral” stance led to Souju’s death.
And Shirukii. I think you’re mistaking the names. Renjou is Murasaki’s father. I don’t think we’ve seen Ryuuji yet.
I feel sort of bad for Yuuno. Every episode, it seems like she’s victimized as the evil woman, even though she’s a regular, nice person, who isn’t afraid of being slightly assertive and trying her best for the guy she likes. I, personally, have a hard time finding fault with her personality. She’s not too perfect, not too weak and submissive, not too strong and overbearing, and very realistic.
On the other hand, I feel like Tamaki has gotten her due treatment. She’s just lucky that she’s got good looks (from an anime character’s perspective, anyway) but she’d be on the wrong end of her own shaft if she were just average or below average, treated like the way she treats other guys. That’s not to say that her character isn’t realistic or that it doesn’t fit plausibly in Kurenai, but it’s definitely not something that one could idolize or use as a role model, in real life. Also, I’d like to say that while she’s callous in this respect, I don’t think she actually fully acts the way she speaks, but if she’s not being honest, then she’s setting a bad example for Murasaki.