Waking Dead

So the new Spring season of anime has started and the fansubs are making their way down my internets. The first show to grace my PC was Kurenai, an interesting mystery series from the same artist as Baccano! and Red Garden.

Kurenai is about a 16 year-old guy of the same name who in his spare time does odd-jobs for a woman called Benika – he is referred to as a “mediator”, someone who solves disputes any way he can. Benika comes to see him one night with a 7 year-old girl in tow, explaining that she’s being hunted by her over-bearing family and that she wants him to look after her. Reluctantly, Kurenai agrees.

That’s about all we get to see in this first episode, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Plus points would be the excellent character designs and lovely HD animation. The fluidity of movement is great to watch, and the show has a real moody style to it. On the negative side, the first 5 minutes of this episode rush through multiple different scenes very quickly in order to establish what’s going on. First time around this was a massive headache, but on second viewing it made a lot more sense. After this, though, the episode settles down into “real time”.

There are hints that Kurenai has been granted some special powers (Benika remarks at one point that he should be happy with his new body, and we see him have difficulty controlling one of his arms in an earlier scene), and also hints of the role his neighbours will play at some point. Only two have been introduced so far, but one is a mysterious woman with a monkey-skull hanging around her neck, and the other is a tracksuit-wearing blonde socialite.

The relationship between Kurenai and the little girl Murasaki is surely going to be the focus of the show, and already there are hints that its probably going to blossom into a close-knit brother/sister bond. Should make for tearful viewing on occasion as this looks like a pretty dark series. Also, Murasaki’s family issues are explored in the opening of the show, and her father in particular looks like a right bastard (there are hints of abuse in these scenes).

I’ll probably be continuing with this show.