Haibane Renmei is an interesting one. It's one of those shows in which I could easily see its appeal, yet I did not enjoy it that much. In the following review, I'll attempt to articulate my thoughts on the show.
Our story starts with a girl, unnamed at this time, falling gracefully through the sky. She seems sleepy, her memories clouded, when a black crow appears and tugs at her feet, attempting to pull her upwards. However, the crow toils in vain, and the girl tells it that she's fine and that it should give up its endeavor. It does, and she continues to fall slowly
...
towards an unknown land....
If that seemed confusing to you, don't worry. I thought so too at first. Everything in this show is very symbolic, and if that isn't your cup of tea, then I would not recommend this show for you. However, if you do like symbolism, then keep reading. This show just might be perfect for you.
Our story continues when a woman with angel wings and a halo named Reki finds a large cocoon in one of the rooms of the place in which she is living. She excitedly gathers some of the other residents of her home, all of whom have similar wings and halos. After some waiting, the egg hatches, and out comes the girl from the first scene. The winged people awaiting her rejoice, and after the girl gains consciousness, she is taken to a place where she can rest. It is explained to her that she is a Haibane, a person who knows nothing of his or her past and has wings and a halo. Shortly thereafter, the girl sprouts her wings and is given a halo, which was made using some sort of device. Finally, the girl is asked what happened during her dream (every Haibane has a dream before being born), and the girl is named Rakka based on the events of her dream (as is for all Haibane).
Most of the first half of Haibane Renmei is world-building through Rakka’s eyes. Firstly, it is established that all of the Haibane remember nothing of their past lives, only that they each committed some grave sin or sins in that life. Secondly, it is explained to her that all the Haibane live in a relatively small land, enclosed by walls. Within these walls are a few forests, a central town, and two building complexes, each of which house Haibane. Rakka then learns that every Haibane takes up an unpaid job in the central town, which is full of regular, non-Haibane people, and this job permits a Haibane to keep dwelling in his or her home. If you’re wondering who enforces these rules, well that would be the Haibane Renmei (*roll credits*), a mysterious organization that keeps the Haibane in check and are the only people who leave the walls. The only exception to this is when one of Haibane is finally redeemed of his or her sins, a situation in which that Haibane will leave the walls permanently.
Rakka learns more things as the story progresses, and the second half of the show focuses on a dramatic arc following Rakka and another character, Reki, where more things are revealed about the Haibane.
However, I’ve explained enough background, so now I can begin talking about the story as a whole. Like I said before, everything is very symbolic, and all the symbolism is very much based on Christian concepts, mainly the concepts of sin and redemption. Here's the problem, though. All of this symbolism is too vague. It is never explained (through dialogue or any other form of clever exposition) what any of it means. You're just sort of expected to use your imagination to postulate what it could all mean. This central problem reaches out into every other aspect of the show's overall narrative as well, tying in with the technical problems of its story and characters.
Firstly, the story is incomplete. It’s true that Reki, arguably the show’s actual protagonist, goes through a complete character arc, but that’s it. The setting is never explained. One of the questions I had throughout the entire series was the purpose of the regular people in the town, since if this world is a sort of purgatory for the Haibane, which is what I suspect, why are there regular people? The existence of the Haibane themselves is never explained. Why are they in this purgatory? Because of God? What makes these Haibane so special and different than the non-Haibane people? Some of my questions throughout the show were answered through subtlety and symbolism, which is great storytelling, but others were either barely implied or just flat-out not answered.
Having a story about dealing with sin and redemption is cool and refreshing in a sometimes substance-dry medium such as anime, but if the characters are thrown into an unexplained world through unexplained means and can’t even fully remember their sins, then I sort of fail to see the point.
This left me with a level of dissatisfaction when the show was over. I’m fine with shows having open-ended endings where the story may not be fully complete or where certain things are left unexplained, perhaps for the viewers to interpret themselves, but Haibane Renmei, in my opinion, goes too far. In fact, all of the show’s characters besides Reki seem quite inconsequential to the plot, and this brings me to my next main criticism of the show.
Secondly, the characters, besides Reki, are subpar. When I say subpar, I don't mean that they’re bad or even unlikeable. Most of them aren't that cliché and seem like real people with tangible desires. However, they’re subpar compared to Reki, who, as I mentioned before, has a solid character arc and development. Even Rakka, the character with the most screentime, is nothing more than an expository device that is used to reveal elements of the story through her perspective. She does have some significance in Reki’s character arc in the later part of the series, but that’s about it. The side characters are used similarly. They feel like different examples of Haibane and nothing more, having almost no significance towards the plot of the show. They could have been better fleshed out, perhaps by revealing their backstories and past sins, but the show basically reveals nothing about their pasts; after all, it barely reveals anything about the pasts of Rakka and Reki. This is my man problem with the show, and it, along with the story’s excessive open-endedness, somewhat spoiled my enjoyment of the series.
Now, in terms of the animation, I'd say that it was sufficient most of the time. Occasionally, it would either look quite nice or quite horrid. As far as sound goes, this is honestly my favorite part of the show as a whole. I really had no problems with it, and it added to the serene atmosphere that the show was going for.
Before getting to the conclusion, another miscellaneous problem I have is that the show is a quite boring. I’m fine with slow slice-of-life shows and stories where things are revealed slowly, but the fact that I wasn't particularly into the show’s method of exploring its themes just made most scenes pretty boring, especially in the earlier episodes of the series, where there wasn’t really any direction in the plot at all yet.
So, with all this in mind, I'll conclude by saying that Haibane Renmei is simply a title that, although it tried to be ambitious, relies too much on the interpretation of the viewer at the end of the day. When thinking about the show for long periods of time without the realization that it was pretty much just being vague for the sake of doing so, mental gymnastics can run rampant in one's mind, creating clever and interesting theories that the show does not deserve. If Haibane Renmei wants to be compelling and "2deep4me," it needs to finish the job.
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Jun 21, 2017
Haibane Renmei
(Anime)
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Haibane Renmei is an interesting one. It's one of those shows in which I could easily see its appeal, yet I did not enjoy it that much. In the following review, I'll attempt to articulate my thoughts on the show.
Our story starts with a girl, unnamed at this time, falling gracefully through the sky. She seems sleepy, her memories clouded, when a black crow appears and tugs at her feet, attempting to pull her upwards. However, the crow toils in vain, and the girl tells it that she's fine and that it should give up its endeavor. It does, and she continues to fall slowly ... |
