08-19-12, 3:16 PM
Notes on Haibane Renmei
Anime Relations: Haibane Renmei
Chizumatic's excellent analysis and speculation on Haibane Renmei:
http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/tmw/HaibaneRenmei.shtml
"The Riddle of the "Circle of Sin" is profound and subtle. The answer to the riddle is this: anyone can damn themself, but no one can save themself. Anyone can decide they are unworthy of salvation, but having done so, they can only then be saved if someone else believes that they deserve salvation.
The Washii says, "One who recognizes their own sin, has no sin." He refers to that as the Circle of Sin, as Rakka considers it and finds that it is a logical trap (sometimes referred to as a "Catch 22"). If you recognize your sins, then you have no sin. But if you then believe you have no sin, you no longer recognize your sins. The Circle of Sin is a paradox from which you cannot break free, if you seek to escape by becoming free of sin.
The solution is not to be free of sin, but rather to be forgiven for your sins. Then it doesn't matter if you are a sinner or not, and the paradox collapses because it becomes moot. But that forgiveness can only come from outside, and only if you accept it from outside. That is why Reki becomes trapped; she won't accept forgiveness and love (from Nemu, for instance) because she doesn't believe that they truly know how ugly and damned she is inside.
If they really knew what I was like, they'd hate me. If they love me it only proves that they are ignorant. That is another logical trap, one Reki has crafted for herself. If someone doesn't love Reki, then they cannot grant her salvation. But if they do love her, Reki still thinks they cannot grant her salvation, for their love proves that they do not really know her.
In the end, only Rakka could save Reki. For Reki to be saved, she had to confess to Rakka how all her purported kindness to Rakka had been because of selfish motives. She had to reveal to Rakka all the darkness and ugliness she saw inside herself, and try to drive Rakka away. Then Reki had to call out to Rakka, and sincerely ask for her help, and Rakka had to give it to her. Only then could Reki truly believe, deep down, that someone else had seen the true darkness in Reki's soul and still felt that Reki was worthy of salvation.
And that is what happened, and that is how Reki was released from the Circle of Sin, and from her own self-constructed logical trap.
A Haibane's wings are an indicator. But they do not indicate the Haibane's burden of sin. They indicate the degree to which the Haibane believes that they are burdened by sin. If they believe that they deserve salvation, then their wings will be gray. As Reki herself says in the first episode, "Pretty wings. Not white, not black. Beautiful charcoal grey."
Not white, which would indicate that a Haibane was free of sin, and not black, which would indicate that the Haibane was damned, but gray, to indicate that the Haibane was a sinner who had been forgiven -- or rather, a sinner who had accepted that she had been forgiven, and whose sins no longer mattered. And at the end, Reki's wings were "beautiful charcoal gray"."
http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/tmw/HaibaneRenmei.shtml
"The Riddle of the "Circle of Sin" is profound and subtle. The answer to the riddle is this: anyone can damn themself, but no one can save themself. Anyone can decide they are unworthy of salvation, but having done so, they can only then be saved if someone else believes that they deserve salvation.
The Washii says, "One who recognizes their own sin, has no sin." He refers to that as the Circle of Sin, as Rakka considers it and finds that it is a logical trap (sometimes referred to as a "Catch 22"). If you recognize your sins, then you have no sin. But if you then believe you have no sin, you no longer recognize your sins. The Circle of Sin is a paradox from which you cannot break free, if you seek to escape by becoming free of sin.
The solution is not to be free of sin, but rather to be forgiven for your sins. Then it doesn't matter if you are a sinner or not, and the paradox collapses because it becomes moot. But that forgiveness can only come from outside, and only if you accept it from outside. That is why Reki becomes trapped; she won't accept forgiveness and love (from Nemu, for instance) because she doesn't believe that they truly know how ugly and damned she is inside.
If they really knew what I was like, they'd hate me. If they love me it only proves that they are ignorant. That is another logical trap, one Reki has crafted for herself. If someone doesn't love Reki, then they cannot grant her salvation. But if they do love her, Reki still thinks they cannot grant her salvation, for their love proves that they do not really know her.
In the end, only Rakka could save Reki. For Reki to be saved, she had to confess to Rakka how all her purported kindness to Rakka had been because of selfish motives. She had to reveal to Rakka all the darkness and ugliness she saw inside herself, and try to drive Rakka away. Then Reki had to call out to Rakka, and sincerely ask for her help, and Rakka had to give it to her. Only then could Reki truly believe, deep down, that someone else had seen the true darkness in Reki's soul and still felt that Reki was worthy of salvation.
And that is what happened, and that is how Reki was released from the Circle of Sin, and from her own self-constructed logical trap.
A Haibane's wings are an indicator. But they do not indicate the Haibane's burden of sin. They indicate the degree to which the Haibane believes that they are burdened by sin. If they believe that they deserve salvation, then their wings will be gray. As Reki herself says in the first episode, "Pretty wings. Not white, not black. Beautiful charcoal grey."
Not white, which would indicate that a Haibane was free of sin, and not black, which would indicate that the Haibane was damned, but gray, to indicate that the Haibane was a sinner who had been forgiven -- or rather, a sinner who had accepted that she had been forgiven, and whose sins no longer mattered. And at the end, Reki's wings were "beautiful charcoal gray"."
Posted by xxxATiON | 08-19-12, 3:16 PM | 1 comments
 |
xxxATiON | 08-21-12, 4:20 PM
|