M. Night Shyamalan, more than most Hollywood directors, really tends to polarize his audiences. You find very few people who think Unbreakable was "just okay", for example; people either thought it was brilliant or they thought it was terrible. This is because Shyamalan's films come at a very slow, deliberate pace. There are no car chases, no explosions, no hot and steamy sex scenes, no daring firefights, no intense "red wire or blue wire!?" bomb disarming sequences. The plots of his films unfold gradually, in their own time. Then, all at once, everything comes to a head in a fantastic climax and (usually) a powerful twist at the end.
If Shyamalan ever directed an anime, it would turn out similar to Haibane Renmei. There are no giant mechs in the series, no army of adorable monsters to collect and no big-breasted ninja assassins. There are no huge guns and no catgirls, no fanservice and no enormous multi-colored outer-space explosions. The entire series is just a meandering river of a story which flows at its own pace in whichever direction it chooses. So, like a Shyamalan film, everything in Haibane Renmei depends on the climax and the conclusion. After all, there's a lot of room in a 13-episode series for plenty of buildup, and without a good payoff it would all just be wasted time.
Characters:
Our main characters are Rakka and Reki. Rakka is a newborn haibane through whom we first experience a strange new world, and Reki is the kindhearted haibane who cares for her. Rakka, being a newborn, spends a long time growing accustomed to the city in which she finds herself (called Glie). It is through Rakka we learn many of the trials a new haibane must go through (gaining her wings being her first serious ordeal). Rakka is easily confused and somewhat naive, and for most of the first part of the series just seems to be going through the motions. Though guided by Reki as well as a younger haibane named Kuu, Rakka's heart just isn't in her new life,
Reki is my favorite character in the series. In addition to a caring nature unmatched by any of her peers (her job is actually to look after all the little ones) Reki posesses an insatiable smoking habit and a dark past. For all her maternal instincts though, there seems to be some things Reki is either unable or unwilling to help Rakka with... again, we don't learn precisely why until late in the series. Rakka's best friend is Kuu, who is obsessed with flight and wears an aviator's hat. Rounding out the denizens of Old Home are Nemu (the eldest of the haibane, and also the sleepiest), Hikari (the cutie with the glasses) and Kana (the tomboy who works at the clock tower). Each character has a role in Rakka's "upbringing" and is thus a cog in the overall story, and each character is careful to not overstep these boundaries. Haibane Renmei is the story of Rakka and Reki, and the characters do not exist outside of that context. This really helps keep the series in focus and, hey, it's always nice to be able to watch a cartoon and not roll your eyes at the cast.
Story:
Haibane Renmei actually tells two stories. The first deals with Rakka's birth into the world of Glie, how she grows into her new lifestyle, the tribulations therein and how she eventually overcomes them. For one string of episodes, for example, Rakka tags along with each of her friends in turn to see where they work in order to aid her in choosing a job for herself. Through Rakka we learn a lot of the "rules" of the haibane, such as which stores they can shop at and what they use for currency, how they must conduct themselves in public and how they must participate in sacred haibane rituals. The whole way Rakka is guided by Reki, whose selflessness is legendary. The second story deals with Reki, whose sordid history has forever tainted her reputation. From the very beginning, * upon being discovered next to her split-open cocoon with her bloodied wings already sprouted from her back *, Reki has had a rough time of it. She was * born with black splotches on her wings, indicating she is a sinner *, and thus her actions towards Rakka and the
Like any good series set in an "alien" world, Haibane Renmei starts off small with a few episodes where the viewer is taught the lay of the land. While learning these things, Rakka poses many questions: what are the haibane? Why can they not remember their prior lives? What lay beyond the walls of Glie? What of the mysterious toga, who never speak? What is the "Day of Flight" and why are all haibane fated to have one? These questions are all brushed aside by the older haibane as though they are unimportant, and eventually forgotten entirely. Around the time answers to these queries would normally begin emerging, we're already waist-deep in Reki's storyline, and those threads are left dangling forever. However, just like an anime can have wonderful art but subpar animation, it can have a poor story but excellent storytelling. Such is the case with Haibane Renmei. Though the climax of the plot is disappointing, and many of the early topics are never revisited, what story is here is told beautifully. Very few anime series manage to spark an emotional response the way Haibane Renmei does, and there are a more than a few scenes which are either gutwrenching, or heartwarming, or both. I normally abhor excessive flashback sequences, for example, but the way Reki's backstory is delivered couldn't be better if it were a series all its own. So what we have on our hands is a 3-hamham plot told with 6-hamham enthusiasm, and it is at 4.5 that the dust settles. Remember this; it will be important later.
Animation:
The town of Glie is a soft, sleepy place built with mild colors and small movements. The characters all have a kind of same-y quality to them, so when you see a character without her trademark visual clue (Rakka's messy hair, Hikari's glasses, Reki's cigarette, etc...) it can be easy to mix them up. The settings are likewise mostly unremarkable: a bakery, a clock tower, a thrift store... the list goes on. The artwork is very attractive and the animation is nice and crisp, but nothing's going to jump off the screen at you. The reason there is nothing remarkable to say about Haibane Renmei's animation is that it is the dialogue, not the visuals, which tells the story. In a series with no action whatsoever, there just
Culture Shock:
I will again point out that this is a series which is built on its story alone, which means it needs not only a good plot and a solid conclusion, but also an impeccable translation. Unfortunately it is in this regard that Haibane Renmei falters. Don't get me wrong, the translation isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it's particularly good. It would be considered great in virtually any anime series, but in one where nothing exists to push the story but the dialogue "good" just doesn't cut it. There are stretches of dialogue in the series, and particularly in the last few episodes, containing that tricky anime dialogue that sounds like it was translated literally and then not polished. Reki's speeches especially are filled with awkward pauses that leave me feeling uncomfortable. And, like I've already mentioned, the setting itself is full of holes. Since the series is set in its own world, its characters must conform to its own set of rules. Rakka tries to patch these holes up for us by asking questions, but the questions are disregarded or ignored, and gaps are left in the setting where meaty morsels of background information should be. What is beyond the walls of Glie? Well, it isn't important to the plot, that's for sure. But wouldn't it still be nice to know? The reason Culture Shock takes a hit here isn't because of Japanese nuances, but because Glie itself has a culture that we're never fully exposed to. Sometimes it feels like we're supposed to have knowledge of some nonexistent in-between episode of the series, and before the confusion can even settle in we're off on our next tangent.
I gave Haibane Renmei a 4.5 for Story, for reasons explained earlier. It is now you learn why that is such a big deal: the series is so plot-heavy that the Story score must be weighted more than any of the others. I cannot justify giving Haibane Renmei an Overall score that isn't exactly equal to that of its story. Much of the plot is open to interpretation, or is otherwise very subtle. Everyone will come out with their own little version of what happened, and stories like that just don't click with me. Loose ends make me irritable. You won't watch Haibane Renmei for its eye candy, and you won't watch it for its action. You won't love
Overall Rating:
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"So how many of these do I need to enter the bonus stage?"
Every time a bell rings...
Haibane, apparently, do not have to worry about cancer.
Those wings sure are pretty, but they're murder on the wind resistance.
This is a well. You might think that there is something to it... but in fact
it is just an ordinary well.
