GIANT WALL OF NOTES TO ADD TO THE COLLECTIVE OPINION OF MAL ON EPISODE 4 OF HAIBANE RENMEI
• The expressiveness in the animation of the exchange between Kanna and Rakka when Rakka wakes up was fun to watch. I’d say it’s about above average relative to other anime in the sense that it does the same thing other anime do but done with a bit more passion.
• I found the way Rakka’s wings popped out of her dress and the way she revved herself up into the mirror cute. I think the expressiveness off Haibane Renmei’s animation is one of its strong points. It’s “off-modelness” would be its downside.
• That was some mighty deep thinking Kanna, commenting on dependency and the ethics of it. Would it be right to force someone to experience sacrifice to achieve greater happiness even if you know they’re already happy the way they are albeit in a lesser sense than if they underwent that sacrifice?
• Kanna describes the crow’s stare as “wistful” however the way it was drawn makes it seem “wise” or “stern” instead.
• I think what Haibane Renmei is doing is slowly introducing us its main cast each episode before it gets anything done. If that is so, this episode must be Kanna’s episode.
• I think it’s working. I’m not having as hard of a time at remembering the characters’ names.
• Also, there’s a bit of world-building. We learn about a person from the past who attempted and almost finished an upgrade of the clocktower of Old Home.
• The Haibane eating breakfast had a lot of expressiveness to it as well.
• The town are “extremely protective” of the Haibane and they work so as “not to feel indebted” to the town? You guys aren’t allowed to have things that aren’t second-hand! What?
• I guess that’s just how Kana sees things. “It sounds very much like you”, Rakka says to Kana. Maybe this is the way the show endeavors to flesh out Kana.
• I’m not sure why Kana blushed when she said that the crows carried lost things, things left behind in their past lives. I assume she blushed because it contradicts the disdain she expressed towards crows earlier, but I don’t think a blush would be appropriate for such a reason.
• “We’re not supposed to meddle too much in Haibane’s lives”. This could be taken as “The Haibane are superior to us because of our religious beliefs, therefore we must keep a respectful distance from them” or “The Haibane are different from us or are dangerous (or fragile) according to our religious beliefs, therefore we must keep a distance from them”.
• Rakka even directly alludes to the fact that this episode was a Kana development episode by saying “You can’t judge a character by her looks” and clarifying that she wasn’t talking about Master.
• “Oops. Backfired.” Fucking hell, Reki.
• Overall, a nice episode. I wasn’t as bored as the previous episode, despite this episode also being just as slow-paced. Flew right past me. I guess it was because it gave me something to intrigue my mind such as Kana’s character. This was obviously a character deepening episode on Kana. We learn that other than her tomboyish hot-headedness, she also has a dislike of being patronized, has an almost scientific inquisitive attraction towards the clocktower of Old Home, believes that people shouldn’t depend on other people too much (as shown by her rant on feeding the crows), doesn’t want to hurt others’ feelings despite her hot-headedness (as seen when she was talking to Rakka about Reki and made a joke that made Rakka make a down face), and, although seeming to not be as bothered, still has the underlying desire to know the past she forgot that all other Haibane have. We also learn that Rakka sees herself as some sort of weight holding Reki down, as shown by her reaction to Kana’s joke. There’s also more elaboration on the crows and what they may symbolize. There’s also a fair bit of world-building such as the Haibane’s position in society, the person from the past who attempted to upgrade the Old Home’s clocktower, and the legend of the crow’s carrying lost things. I liked this episode. There was a bit of meat to chew into.
• Also, random note, all the following episodes seem to be 24 minutes long. The episodes so far have just been 22 minutes long.
• Blue flow never gets old.
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