Haibane Renmei's subtlety is comparable of that to FLCL's. Although FLCL is an incredible anime and I constantly hail it as one of the best-written shows out there, its nuance is pushed to the extreme, and there is almost no way to fully appreciate or understand the series without reading some sort of analysis. Haibane Renmei for me manages to strike a perfect balance between a straightforward narrative hidden behind a behemoth of subtlety. It's easy to understand the complex and beautiful story this anime is telling without reading an entire analysis. (Although I highly recommend it)
I can't say I am a humongous fan of
...
Yoshitoshi Abe's work thus far. Texhnolyze was painfully slow and while Duvet was a fantastic song, Serial Experiments Lain was not as compelling as I thought it would be. Granted, I haven't come close to finishing either series, so my opinion is irrelevant. Still, Haibane Renmei was able to pull me in right off the bat with its fantastically realized world and beautiful music.
The soundtrack to Haibane Renmei is one of the most gorgeous I have heard with a peaceful but suspenseful arrangement of fantastically made Chamber Music. The ED in this anime, Blue Flow, always felt awkwardly placed at the end of every episode, but I did grow to love it for its enchanting ethereal atmosphere.
The art of this show is gorgeous and while some may say it hasn't aged well, I think it does a fantastic job setting the story up. I love the warm and yellowish tint the art and some scenes of the show have. It's beautifully filled with happiness and love. The art style for this show isn't afraid to dig in deeper too. Scenes like Rakka's wings coming out are such a sudden change of pace being nightmarishly gory, yet the religious symbolism and animation is just so intriguing to look at. Rakka's time in the well is isolating and depressing while Reki's dreamed-up painting is near nightmarish with its messy and all-over-the-place imagery.
The show is also able to deliver intriguing world-building as well. The walled-off town the Haibane and townspeople reside in always feels slightly unfamiliar. It feels like we're viewing this show entirely in the view of Rakka, always not feeling like we fit in a world unbeknownst to us. The toga, a group of people who traverse in and out of town to explore the world, is enchanting and breathes life into a world already filled with intrigue.
The Haibane are always presented interestingly in the show. With the only two places the Haibane reside being the old home and the abandoned factory, it is clear that the Haibane are somewhat dehumanized, being given homes people don't want. This presentation of the Haibane interestingly parallels the crow, a bird the show spends a great deal of time focusing on.
[spoiler] In the opening episode, almost no characters other than Haibane are shown. Towns and other locales are shown, but still, it feels isolating. As mentioned before, the whole environment closely mirrors the isolation Rakka felt as she tried fitting in with the Haibane. Rakka's character throughout the series is an enthralling depiction of loneliness and not fitting in. The series essentially boils down into four "arcs". Trying to fit in, depression after not being able to, finally figuring out how after receiving help, and then helping someone who never was able to fit in. At the beginning of the series, we see episodic adventures of Rakka touring the jobs of the other Haibane. First simply disguised as an opportunity to fit into the world of the Haibane, Kuu's disappearance sends Rakka into a state of doubt over her importance in this world. But after Rakka's encounter with the dead crow, she can finally "fit in", working in cleaning the inside of the walls.
It's poetic how the show initially paints this picture of Reki as this maternal figure for Rakka's introverted self, but as the series goes on, Rakka's character grows and Reki's comes to light.
[spoiler] Near the conclusion of the series, Reki's expanded-upon character deceptively mirrors Rakka's character. Rakka and Reki both share a disease named sin bound, which tarnishes the angelic feathers that had grown out of them the day they hatched. Rakka and Reki both feel pain and shame over this disease and the show even shares scenes of them cutting their feathers off in an attempt to deceptively mirror their characters. But as we soon find out in episode 10, their reactions to this disease and how they deal with it are the complete opposite and it is what ultimately sets them apart as two different characters. Again, like everything else in this show, the differentiation here is subtle, but it is effective in what it aims to do. While Rakka hides her pain with avoidance, she isn't entirely against opening up to this on occasion. Reki acts as a bystander to her own pain, willing to share with those who ask but otherwise bottling it up completely unlike Rakka. Reki is initially unaware of this distinction and almost relishes in this idea of living forever with her as they are so alike. Again, Reki's bystander personality doesn't enable her to ask for help in this loneliness as she is left hopelessly watching Rakka's illness dissipate after receiving forgiveness from her crow. (A potential human in her past life she didn't treat fairly.)
[spoiler] This is what makes the final scene so powerful. Reki embellishes her own selfish and stubborn desires to achieve salvation using Rakka. But Rakka lends Reki this forgiveness that the bird from a past life had lent her ending this generational grief. Reki is finally able to stop watching her own life by the sidelines and ask for help. (There is some darker theorization that may be true where this refusal to ask for help is what led her to commit suicide in her past life, resulting in her being immediately sin-bound afterward. Other signs such as Reki using cigarettes, the only self-destructive behavior ever committed by the Haibane also point to this.)
[spoiler] One interesting theory I saw floating over on the wiki is this idea that the Haibane represented the seven deadly sins. I won't dive into it thoroughly as it feels like this theory gets brought up for every piece of literature and it may be more natural than intentional, but one detail did strike me as particularly interesting. The theory listed Reki as the embodiment of pride, never asking for help out of this. But what I found intriguing was when this theory stated that pride led to other sins. I found this interesting because it is a notion I can't help myself from subscribing to. Throughout the show, Reki exhibits envy of Rakka, lust for company, and similar gluttony for compassion (Kuromori) to that of Rakka. Anyway, just something interesting I found worth talking about.
Overall, Haibane Renmei is a beautiful show about loneliness and conformity. It covers grief and loss in a way I have never seen before. Combined with its gorgeous soundtrack and wonderful art direction, it is easy to see why it is considered one of the greatest in the medium.
10/10 - Masterpiece
Jul 29, 2024
Haibane Renmei
(Anime)
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Haibane Renmei's subtlety is comparable of that to FLCL's. Although FLCL is an incredible anime and I constantly hail it as one of the best-written shows out there, its nuance is pushed to the extreme, and there is almost no way to fully appreciate or understand the series without reading some sort of analysis. Haibane Renmei for me manages to strike a perfect balance between a straightforward narrative hidden behind a behemoth of subtlety. It's easy to understand the complex and beautiful story this anime is telling without reading an entire analysis. (Although I highly recommend it)
I can't say I am a humongous fan of ... |
