You may be wondering what am I doing. During Christmas break, ghostlightning, along with other notable anibloggers, agreed on an assignment: Each one of us will randomly pick (from a pool of suggested shows) a 12-episode long anime to watch, and everyone must write a post about their opinion on said show. That being said, it’s my turn for Show and Tell, and the show I’m going to talk about is none other than Kure-Nai.

And this is how I would describe my state of mind after watching its 12 episodes in one sitting.

Personally, I didn’t think a show that’s off my radar would be given so much emphasis, it generates an “Uh… What…?” face, followed by RAEG and HAET, and then “Uh… What…?” again. I don’t know if it masquerades its genre as slice-of-life, underworld Japan, action, or if you stretch it far enough, harem. It didn’t stick to one, as far as I know, and as if being confused is not enough, the show throws in a loli and an adolescent boy who are just millimeters away from falling into a relationship that Shin would die for.

The characters are pretty much spineless despite having physical, monetary, influential, or political power. Hell, even the simple right of free will is there, but it isn’t well stressed for the most part. Protagonist Shinkuro, despite having the power of the Horn of Hozuki, chooses not to use it because he’s adamant to find his true self, which is, in essence, nothing of good worth both to himself and to others, since he depends too much on it as if it was his lifeline. The Kuhoin family chief, Renjo, is similar to a company CEO having problems because he can’t go against the wishes of the Board of Directors. He can’t object against the family’s traditions, nor does he have the balls to literally go against almost EVERYONE to save her daughter. Ginko, Shinkuro’s information broker, is merely a shell of her former self, who died when they were kidnapped by some syndicate as kids, even though she tries her best to somehow make contact with the protagonist in question. Enumerations aside, almost everyone has problems even though they have an ample amount of power to set things straight. All, except Murakami. everyone’s complete opposite. That girl’s defiant to the end. She fights for what she wants, even though she doesn’t have the power and freedom to do so. Childish, yet mature.

Another thing to note is the show’s “weak” dialogue. You see the script getting spoken out, you see the quick interaction by the characters, but you don’t see any emotion or reaction while they speak it out. It’s as if you have two manzai comedians talking in monotone, which spoils everything, from the standard conversation to the punchline. You have emotionally disturbed people trying to dish out slice-of-life by normal conversation, and they don’t look lively enough to convince that the show is making any progress.

Lastly, notice the great emphasis the show gives on practicing old Japanese traditions, which doesn’t pick any society, be it the underground, political, familial, or the religious ones. Most of the people who believe in such are superstitious, and the big families are so power-hungry, they believe inbreeding is the answer to secure and maintain, if not, strengthen, the family’s status. I’ve seen impure shrine maidens given deity status, political clans that still employ the code of Bushido, and girls that are used to give vitality and sanity, so you may say it’s nothing new to me. Of course, that includes seven year old girls getting raped by their “brothers”, who are mostly more than half their age and sizes.

Nevertheless, it’s still good, in a bad sort of way…

All in all, Kure-nai is a mixture of ICK, MEH, PEDO and RAEG. Kure-Nai‘s appeal is limited to those who can understand what the words “mental breakdown” and “power” mean, or feel that there’s something much more worse than what they can think of, in a sexual, physical, mental, and non-violent (almost) way.

Further Reading

The Other Participants:

Kaeboo – Lamune

Navinaj – Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan

Ghostlightning – Bincho-tan

Bluemist – Spice and Wolf

Hazy – REC