Haibane Renmei (WIP) - by Jae

Me talking about my favourite show, Haibane Renmei

Background

This series is an anime created by Yoshitoshi Abe, the creator of the more popular anime Serial Experiments Lain. The anime was later adapted into a manga series called The Haibane of Old Home. The name of the series translates to "Gray feather federation", in reference to the characters' gray wings. The show is a mix of mystery, philosophical and atmospheric genres, much like Serial Experiments Lain, although the it is very different in the actual feeling of these aspects.

This text will have spoilers in the coming sections so I would recommend watching the anime before reading the rest.

The beginning

The series starts with a mystery. We see a girl falling from the sky. She talks about how weird it feels and what emotions she is feeling at the moment. She feels warm and confused, but her heart feels cold. A crow appears and tries to grab her dress and bring her back up but is unable to do so. She tells the crow that it can't bring her back up, but thanks it anyway. The crow flies away and leaves the girl to fall further down. As she does she realizes she is falling down to the ground and gets scared. She sees a town which she is falling towards and then it cuts out.

As the girl is falling we hear the song Ailes Grises playing. A neoclassical song composed by Koo Otani, the person that composed the rest of the soundtrack for this show.This song perfectly presents the atomosphere for the show. Mysterious yet beautiful. Calm and intense. It is the perfect song for the start of the series.

As the episode progresses we get to know that the girl falling from the sky was a dream she had in the coccoon from which she was birthed. All of the characters that we get to know as the Haibane are born in this way. And they are named after the dream they had in their coccoon. The girl gets named Rakka, meaning "to fall". She learns of the other characters' names. Those being: Kana meaning "river fish", Hikari meaning "light", Kuu meaning "Air", Nemu meaning "sleep", and Reki meaning "small stone/pebble"

Rakka feels her back feeling weird. She finds out from Reki that this is her wings starting to grow. She informs Rakka that it will hurt at first and she will get a fever. We see this play out in a gruesome scene in which Rakka's bloody wings pierce her skin and grow out quickly.

What is it about?

The series follows Rakka, the main character, in her birth and discovery of a new world with which she is unfamiliar. Although she is teenage or young adult and knows things from speaking and walking, to riding a bike, she does not remember anything of her previous life. She is distressed by this as she cannot even remember her old name. She is informed that even if her family is out there in the world they would not remember her and she would not remember them.

Rakka quickly gets settled into her new life. Although confused she seems to like living in Old Home (where some of the Haibane live)