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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- What a touching scene between Midori and Reki~ :D The nuts are an awesome tradition. I really liked the idea. |
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| It was a very good reconciliation between them. We found out more about those ancient tablets. It looks like the altars there or "tombstones" served as the enshrinement of the angels who already took their flight. They will also have their second name on which t is known as the "true" name that describes their dream. We also found out that angels who forgot their dreams will have black wings. However, this doesn't mean that they are fallen angels. Based from my own understanding, those angels with black wings had forgotten about their dreams when they were born. I guess they will need to find some way for them to remember it. |
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| This episode makes me want to celebrate christmas xD |
| This episode was really touching, I even cried a little. I hope this will end well... |
| =) |
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.~ |
| Looks like many mysterious will either be revealed or not at all during the next episode. I think it will be a huge score factor for me. Rated it 8 at the moment, but here goes nothing! Watching last EP now. |
| Such a touching episode. The nuts tradition was a wonderful idea, kinda wish they appeared earlier. One thing that confuses me a bit is the link between forgotten dreams and being 'Sin-Bound', and having black wings. It looks as though the colour of Reki's wings may have something to do with the fact that no one noticed that she was born until some time after her wings sprouted. This urgent need to treat a newborn Haibane would explain Reki's panicked actions at Rakka's sprouting in Episode 1. It's just a theory, but the trauma of being born alone would certainly cause memory loss, which would explain the forgotten dream. Just a small theory, but one I thought I'd share anyway :-D |
| "Ah yes, the demon drink...'Nature's Alzheimer's' they call it" |
| reki and midori's reconciliation was really touching and i teared up when she was watching the fireworks, just with the music and such it was really really nice. But yeah I must admit with all the angel stuff, and fallen angels, and the tombstone and such I was a tad last, but reading the comments, and this episode really made things clearer for me! Hoping this last episodes picks up and lets me understand the rest. Shame there is only one more :( turned out to be a really nice series. |
| I'm ashamed to say that I laughed when I saw Rakka's true name. "Involved nut". Sometimes, things are just lost in translation in the silliest ways. |
| Somewhere, there is an unplugged toaster sitting on a Coleman stove. Does it feel lonely? |
| Touching story ;.; |
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| Nice episode but to know the next one is the final one it seems the ending is still far away, so I wonder what they'll pull off to complete the story in the next and final episode! Lets hope it's good! |
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| Surprised this is th highest rated episode It was good though |
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Stark700 said: Touching story ;.; So very touching...I started crying when the fireworks came up, and the when Midori was crying because the white nut Reki gave her meant "good bye and thank you." That last scene was beautiful, the choral music and the glowing of the wall. |
| Midori and Hyouko both sent their thanks and forgiveness. Will this help Reki finally end the Circle of Sin? Find out next episode...! Which is... really intense... |
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| Very nice and sweet episode. I wonder how this series will conclude. |
| "Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov |
| What a touching episode ;) And now for the conclusion of this story. |
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| Here we go again... only one episode left when I don't want it to end so soon =/ |
| Very good episode, I'm very curious about to know how this series will end. |
| I don't think the mystery will be revealed at all... |
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| Beautiful episode. Ha ha, Rakka's a nut. The walls glow... weird. |
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| I'm really wondering how Rakka learned the Toga/Haibane Renmei sign language. |
Mika_Inamori said: Looks like many mysterious will either be revealed or not at all during the next episode. I think it will be a huge score factor for me. Rated it 8 at the moment, but here goes nothing! Watching last EP now. Same here 8 for now and with satisfying ending it might go up or if not go down or stay this way. A lot of things got explained and i rlly like it so far i hope reki makes it though thatd be great.. |
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| DIE! SOMEONE DIE, PLEASE! |
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| That was absolutely beautiful, and, again, richly symbolic. Such an artistic show. I was fully expecting Reki to disappear by the end. A number of things didn't quite make sense, but there's a lot of implications that Reki's either going to meet her fate, whatever it may be, very soon. I guess that'll happen in the finale. |
 ☩ Discord: the.path.to.pathos ☩ RateYourMusic ☩ last.fm |
| I'm really loving the multiple layers of symbolism. The Bell Nuts, the rule of not speaking with the Haibane Renmei, and their forgotten past lives. I love how this series is focusing on how to deal with/express feelings that cannot be conveyed with words. Hopefully Rakka can reach Reki in time! |
| I got almost teary-eyed... So beautiful. Truly beautiful things need no words. I feel sorry for people who can't enjoy it to maximum. |
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Zadion said: The "richly symbolic" part... When I think about this anime, it doesn't seem like there's all that much thematic substance to it. It's not like with "Serial Experiments Lain", where I could feel the themes just oozing from every bewildering scene and every bizarre dialogue, even if I didn't fully comprehend them. Maybe it's because I haven't identified or don't understand all of the themes that are being presented, but Haibane Renmei feels rather sparse, thematically. It seems to me that the anime has focused on Rakka's and Reki's character development rather than developing themes, and the main theme is moving on.That was absolutely beautiful, and, again, richly symbolic. Such an artistic show. I was fully expecting Reki to disappear by the end. A number of things didn't quite make sense, but there's a lot of implications that Reki's either going to meet her fate, whatever it may be, very soon. I guess that'll happen in the finale. |
| So...don't really know what was up with the paint can lid last time? I thought this was a pretty great episode. But my big issue is I was really worried something bad was going to happen to Reki. What with the final hour upon us. And the whole episode every time she went off screen, I was scared it was the end. And then she'd just be in the next scene still sad but mostly fine. Just kind of felt like a waste of all that tension? It did however do some cool world building. While also finally revealing one of its big mysteries. I think the explaining of Reki's back story, has been handled a little awkwardly. Might be the series biggest weakness to me. But this was a satisfactory little final spurt. That I think adequately explained quite a few things. And I found her reconciliation with the Abandoned Factory group to be really well handled. Surprised the penultimate episode featured so much of the unique Haibane New Year traditions. And while it was the saddest chapter yet of Reki's past. It ended pretty happily and without much tension. Maybe I misjudged this series. Maybe it will have an everything works out happy ending. Or something a little more bittersweet. After that episode though I'd be surprised if it goes for a super dark ending. |
SubscriberSunJun 29, 2017 1:37 PM
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| ENMADDENED WRITING TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE UNHOLY BUT UNITED CONSCIOUSNESS OF MYANIMELIST ON THE UNINTELLIGIBLE THOUGHTS OF A MAN WHO HAD WATCHED TWELFTH EPISODE OF THE WORK, HAIBANE RENMEI • It just dawned on me on how close I am to the finale. It’s a bit of a shame to say this, but it felt like not much happened in the entire series. The show spent five episodes establishing the cast. Then, there was Kuu’s death. Afterwards, there was Rakka’s reaction to Kuu’s death. Now, we’re here at Reki’s arc. I’m honestly a bit disappointed. • I also just realized how little the weird setting of the show has actually been explained. It really seems to be going for the “metaphor for life and stuff about life” route that most artsy stories go with. I’m fine with that approach, but it does dissatisfy my curiosity. • The red bell nut of foreshadowing. • “Reki is not the type to ask for help”. Rakka’s response, “You just don’t realize it because Reki smiles even when she’s suffering.” So, this show really is about depression. I thought it was gonna be an iyashikei about religion and heaven and stuff. What the hell? • All I’m hoping for here at the very least is what the hell the wall is supposed to be! • It took me a while to realize, but Rakka’s hand gestures were her trying to copy the characters on the sign on the wall which were described by her in a previous episode as looking like hands. • What if Rakka’s past life could be some sort of metaphor for the earlier stage of one’s life where trauma or sin is present? • Also, symbolic names. I should’ve seen that coming, but I guess I didn’t know enough Japanese to notice. • What the hell does INVOLVED NUT mean!? Like, the only thing that makes sense is as a metaphor for fapping. • I’m being too harsh on it. The nut could represent Rakka’s strength of character yet gentle inside. She’s heavily involved with helping out Reki and her suffering. However, that just seems like Everyone is Jesus in Purgatory. (Sorry. That’s TVTropes talk.) • I guess the main theme of the show has now been fully stated, right here in sentence form. “One cannot forgive one’s self. You cannot help but go around in circles alone, but if you have someone on your side…” I don’t think I have to elaborate on that. The show states the theme plainly and clearly. • Of course, the show seems to also know that that “someone on your side” is really trying their best to be “on your side”. To help someone with depression is not an easy task, and it takes a lot of struggling and hardship to do so. We see this when Rakka breaks down crying in the previous episode. • Also, something to notice is that Rakka first realizes that Reki is suffering when Rakka herself was struggling. One must know suffering to discover those of others. • “When I looked out from here for the first time, I was a little afraid, thinking that I came to a world I didn’t know. But now, this is where I feel most secure, because you are always here.” Ignoring how yuri this sounds, Rakka is telling Reki that Reki is important to her. It’s a classic depression-story trope. For good reason of course. Making someone with depression feel appreciated is probably the most effective technique in the book. • That line also manages to show how far Rakka has gone from the start of this show. • Eyyy… Sumika’s baby is born! • I’m surprised all the other side character’s the cast were giving bell nuts to weren’t going around giving bell nuts themselves and enjoying the festival. • Midori’s running animation as she went to catch Reki before the festival ends was stupid and ugly. It had low frames and its horizontal movement speed does not match the length of her strides. Honestly, an angle change from a wide shot to an extreme wide shot (where all the characters are little silhouettes) or a close-up to her face would improve it all. • The sound that is played when Rakka collapses onto the ground after hitting the drainpipe does not match the actual intensity of the collapse. Like, that’s a TREE collapse sound, not a “person sits on snow due to exhaustion” sound. • After the slow version of the main theme “ailes grises” plays, I went and googled what “ailes grises” meant. It means “gray wings”. • Fireworks. Hikari and Kana could’ve just said fireworks. I guess they just don’t have the word for fireworks there. But “too good for words”? Am I the only one who finds fireworks overrated? • Oh shit. That may not be what they were referring to earlier. It’s Hyohko doing these, and it doesn’t seem to be part of the actual tradition and custom of the festival. I mean, Reki was actually surprised even when we know this isn’t the first time she’s had the festival. • When Midori starts balling up and crying, Rakka just looks at her and walks away. This strikes a chord with me because I have done this before several times, and is usually what I do. She’s not sure what exactly to do, so she just walks away. Luckily, Reki comes down. • Oh shit. The walls GLOW! THEY GLOW!!! • This episode makes it clear what this show actually is now. It’s a piece on depression. It’s one of those “the person who helps me with my depression also has depression” pieces. This is not a common plot in anime (although I feel like I’ve encountered it in another anime. I just can’t put my finger on it.) This plot however has been gaining a fair amount of use recently especially because of the Tumblr boom of the mid to late-2010s wherein this plot comes up in many Tumblr short stories and Tumblr-style stories and novels. (It propped up once in an r/writingprompts story and it was used as a clever plot twist). It’s not usually my cup of tea because they’re often a bit too edgy for me to handle, but I think this show uses it fairly well. All the characters are fairly realistic without coming off as self-righteous as some of these stories sometimes do (by making the depressed characters sinless (I’d elaborate on this further one day but not today)). A notable difference from those other stories is that Haibane Renmei is an actual full-cour series with an entire thirteen episodes of plot. Usually, the stories with this kind of plot are short, lasting a 300-page novel at most. Here, in this show, all the characters manage to get more characterized and get developed more. Because of the extra length, we can take a step back and see the same kind of plot but from an earlier starting point, before the protagonist has his depression and far before the big brother/sister character’s depression is apparent (but hinted at constantly). This contrasts with the typical Tumblr stories that start out right in the middle or even near the end of the protagonist’s depression. Because of the show’s special structure, we get to see not just what depression is and how to get out of it but how it starts and how it develops and grows into something more. This further examination of depression gives the events far more meaning. This allows us to understand depression more, and the more we understand the feelings of characters such as depression, the more we connect with the characters. It also REALLY helps that the protagonist is not at all as sarcastic as the usual protagonist of this kind of plot. • Overall, a great episode. The show is already rearing to end. It’s clear that it never wanted to be big. It’s also clear that little of the strange setting is going to actually be explained. At this point though, it doesn’t really matter to me. A lot of the symbols (except for the walls because those are still pretty weird) match up really well with the “the person who helps me with my depression also has depression” plot tropes. The crow, for example, that “forgives” Rakka in the well could parallel the character archetype that forgives the protagonist for a past sin the protagonist has done. Rakka’s assertive side is apparent in this episode, taking the courage to defend Reki when Midori and Hyohko talk about her and generally doing her best for Reki. It’s quite a sight, really. It’s not like she changed or anything from before in this respect. Rakka probably would’ve done things with the same passion too back at the start of the show if she had the motivation back then. The only difference now is that she has motivation which she got by finding out about Reki’s suffering. Midori and Hyohko’s character arcs are already coming to an end (although I feel like they need one last talk with Reki for closure). Reki herself wasn’t really fleshed out more than the previous episodes, but the events of this episode mostly revolve around Rakka doing what she can to help Reki, not Reki herself.. There was still the iffy animation and interesting but also often janky direction this episode, but I’ve come to expect that from the show. Overall, a strong point of the show. Let’s hope the finale builds on this strength. • I just noticed. The crows are gone. They’re not important anymore. |
| "There’s no point in the world. But isn’t that wonderful? Because if there isn’t one, then you can decide what it is for yourself." ~ Filicia Heideman, Sora no Woto "Senpai...please grow up." ~ Fumi Manjoume, Aoi Hana "I wonder what tomorrow will bring." ~ Yunocchi, Hidamari Sketch: Sae and Hiro's Graduation Arc |
| Just like the old man said. Perhaps this was the push that Reki needed. It's a relief that she finally made up with Midori and Hyouko, thanks to Rakka. It's still a bit sad that they'll never get back the time that they spent avoiding each other. |
| Okay that silent new years tradition is so cool, it juxtaposes nicely with the drunken and rowdy celebrations we have in reality. Alongside the character design of the Toga, this was probably my favorite thing in this anime |
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| Man, this show simply does nothing for me... |
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| One... more... episode. Finally, this is going to end! |
| This show does not know what it wants to be, Jesus. |
| I like the nuts, it's like Valentine but in snowing season :P You're giving to the one you love and respect Reki was forgiven, she shouldn't burden herself anyway No one really blame it on her (except Midori) Goodbye to Reki.. soon :( |
"Signature removed"   |
| Very interesting episode again, I hope for more explanations about everything in the next and last episode |
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| I really like how the Abandoned Factory Haibane play into things. They're an alternative to the feminine quaintness of Old Home and its peaceful teatimes. They live in a gritty factory, there's a lot of boys, they're rowdy, they have bad manners sometimes, etc. etc. It avoids venerating the atmosphere in Old Home too much, as if kindness between people that a theme of the series required that sort of thing. |
| Wow, okay, I actually cried. Just a little bit, but still. Between the soundtrack, the fireworks, the meaning behind them, Reki's reaction, and Midori crying...That was too much at once, it got me in 2 seconds. Well I already was starting to get a bit emotional when there was this montage of the Haibane giving the bells to all the characters we've met, so it was to be expected. Now while I still have some slight issues with this show I definitely see what makes people praise it, I'm considering adding it to my favorites after I watch the last episode. |
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| So, did Reki give Midori a nut offscreen (I doubt it), or was that white nut not only for Hyoko but for Midori as well? In any case, pretty sad, Hyoko basically said goodbye without even seeing Reki with those fireworks (I don't think they were the ones used to "greet" Rakka by the way). |
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