Omohide.com

Kurenai Shinkuro is a “dispute mediator” who is assigned the task of protecting Murasaki, a seven year old girl who was taken from her family, the Kuhoins.  The Kuhoins are a very traditional family who operates a system where the women, after conceiving (with their siblings) and giving birth, are forced to stay in an inner sanctuary, and other women are brought in to raise the children and appear as their mother.

This description might give an incorrect impression of what the series is like.  There isn’t a constant tone to the series.  At one moment it seems like a light-hearted slice of life about a rich young girl forced to live in “peasant” conditions, but at other points it’s a serious show dealing with the very disturbing customs of this family.  Due to this, I thought the quality of different episodes varied quite a bit.  The dialogue is one aspect that is consistently good.  It felt very natural and atypical compared to many other anime series – apart from Murasaki.  Murasaki is seven years old but her attitude resembles a teenager, though obviously this was intended by the creators of the show.

I feel like the show may have worked a bit better had they used 26 episodes compared to the 13 we ended up with.  This way a lot of subjects could have been explored further, such as Shinkuro’s background, why he became a dispute mediator, more detail into how he earned his strength, and etc.  I certainly think there would have been a greater impact in the final few episodes had we had a very firm grasp into the characters of not only Shinkuro but also the side characters, such as his “boss” and her other subordinate.  I also felt like the show was stretching credibility sometimes with the plot.  Murasaki apparently needs to be hidden from a powerful family, yet the task of hiding her is given to a young boy who must frequently leave her alone to go to school.   She goes out in the open with both Shinkuro as well as a neighbor, despite the fact that they are still living near the Kuhoins.

Despite the seemingly serious nature of Kuhoin plotline, there are quire a few silly moments in the show, such as a full episode dedicated to singing, done in a musical style.  There is also another episode where a housemate at Shinkuro’s building takes Murasaki to her university, and we the viewers are introduced to her somewhat disjointed love life (including a scene where an acquaintance berates her for “stealing her men”).  I can’t say that I found these episodes too compelling.  And while I expected the relationship between seven year old Murasaki and Shinkuro to be a platonic, brother-sister one, there are some moments towards the end that may raise some eyebrows.

Unfortunately, the character who I was most interested in, the reserved assistant of sorts who helps Kurenai at school, recieved very little attention.  Instead, characters that I hardly cared about, like the next door neighbor who had trouble with relationships, recieved several scenes of development.

There’s quite a lot to like, I just wish that they had used more time to develop all the characters and background.  As it is, I recommend it if you’re typically a fan of these sorts of shows.