I’m in the middle of my work on Japanese History within that very period, it’s amazing what I’m learning even though I consider my general education to be generously wide. In short, that time-span is the modernization and westernization of Japan. Japan as we know it is only 130-some years old. As close from now as 1867, the Tokugawa Shogunate was ruling Japan. That’s right, we’re talking Samurais and Shoguns here, it was a feudal military dictatorship. Guys like these:

I predicted episode 11 would be violent and I was looking forward to it very much. What I didn’t like though, is the sentimental parts. I feel they were overplayed. The feelings of the characters were already clear in my opinion and there was no need to masquerade further. Kurenai is at its best when there’s mystery, it knows when to tease, make you hungry for more. However, the last three episodes were redundant because there wasn’t enough canonical action. The pieces have been set and all that needed to …

Stuff was mad last episode, this episode is one about cleaning up.