Kurenai 10

SPOILERS

So, a few days ago I watched Kurenai 10. For those of you who haven't watched it, I strongly suggest watching the series. It's categorized under Martial Arts, Seinin, Tragedy, Underworld and Violence. On to the spoilers!

Story/Plot: 9/10 – Pretty bloody impressive if you ask me. This story is rapidly drawing to a close, I hope it ends well.
Episode 10 is about Shinkurou trying to overcome his feelings of defeat after losing to the Kuhouin henchmen. How does he handle the defeat? Much the way you can imagine a young adult male (in anime) would: he gets depressed. So, it's up to his friend's to cheer him up.
First, we have the person who has always been against Shinkurou guarding Murasaki, Yayoi. She's been in charge of watching over him and Murasaki, and she didn't believe in him. However, of course, she lost too so now suddenly they're all chummy. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and during the course of watching this episode this wasn't a problem to me. The show sort of integrates it rather well if I do say. Plus, we learn more about Yayoi; I think character development is one of the most important parts of any show, and it is nice to see it done.
Next Ginko and Yuuno (the female childhood friends of Shinkurou) give him something to think about. During his talk with Yayoi he feels that he has to just accept the past and basically forget it. So he puts on a smile and carries on as though he had merely made a mistake, and he had to work towards the future. Both comment on how he’s changed, and push him on a different path.
Finally, we have the two females in the apartment complex he lives in. Currently depressed after realizing that he couldn’t just accept what had happened as a mistake. Argument breaks out cause Shinkurou is being a whiny bitch, blah blah blah. Eventually he stops being a whiny bitch and decides that he will go to the Kuhouin mansion and rescue Murasaki. So he sets out, with Yayoi and his boss.
Art: 6/10 – Art is noticeably a lower quality than what the series started out as, which is a shame. First few episodes were truly impressive in the quality they presented. This is quite a downhill slide from there.
Sound: 8/10 – Not my favorite tracks, but the music continues to work well with the series. OST comes out July 2^nd, can’t wait to get my copy. Look for a track by track review once it’s released.
Overall: 7.7/10 – Episode was good, Kurenai raises the bar for anime once again, proving that you don’t need huge tits and lots of explosions to make a good series. The storyline is great, and with only two more episodes to be released, I for one am waiting with a mix of anticipation and dread. While I cannot wait to see the series draw to a close I worry that the ending will be lackluster in comparison with earlier episodes. Hopefully these fears will not be realized, and the ending will continue the trend that the show has followed thus far.