This is sort of out of nowhere but I came across some songs from the soundtrack again and it reminded me that like Bacanno! This is one of the more overlooked "best of the decade" anime series out there. Especially overlooked since it was never brought to the US because it didn't have enough panties/robots/boobs/violence/bad writing to sell to what's left of the mainstream anime fans in the west. It was brought out in France though because the French have good taste.
The show is about a guy who lives in a dorm with eccentric people.
Reasons to watch Kurenai+It's short, 12 eps, around 5 hours total. So you can return to a life that does not involve watching anime and being generally embarassed of Japanese culture.
+The tone is both light and dark. It has dark serious moments, but also light comedy to keep a perfect balance.
+It has theater-like dialogue structure because it's an adaptation from a light novel series and light novels tend to be dialogue rolling like a good Mamet play. Baccano! and Bakemonogatari are other light novel adaptations.
+The characters are all excellent. They are very rich and fleshed out.
+It's very well animated. Very fluid.
+It has good character art! More realistic and adult.
+Good direction! Good pacing.
+Has kung-fu.
+Has lots of great comedy. Very funny show because the writing is top-notch.
+
A++ soundtrack one of the best tv soundtracks you'll hear. Ghibli quality by pianoist Ken Muramatsu who doesn't normally score anime.
Reasons that the show is not perfect and you will probably avoid it-It has a little girl, but it's more yotsuba/card captor sakura style than creepy moe/loli style.
-The plot is interesting but not that great, it's more of a character show with great episodes than a plot show.
Also there's an OAV, don't watch unless you've finished the show and want more. Like the Baccano OAV it's just some extra goofy stories and non-essential.
