Haibane Renmei ep.11-13

March 20, 2004 | 14 Comments

Well, this is it: the penultimate episodes of Haibane Renmei. The question that is on everyone's mind is of course, whether or not these episodes manage to wrap up the series in a satisfactory manner. Well, to me, to a certain extent it did and in some ways, it didn't. This is because there are questions in this series that don't have the answer that can satisfy any viewer due to the nature of the questions themselves. At the end of the day, for example, no one can tell you whether or not God exists, and for that matter, the concept of Heaven and Hell are not going to be accepted by all individuals. I feel that is why Haibane chose not to answers some of the questions that are closely related to this kind of issues, for there is no answer that will satisfy anyone. But if you leave it open to interpretation, then everyone will be able to take their own experiences and beliefs and apply it to what they've seen thus far in this series.

Anyway, episode eleven starts off with Rakka taking one of the little Haibanes called Dai to visit the abandoned factory. During the trip, Dai made a point of mentioning the fact that Reki looks a bit distant and gloomy these days. Rakka who agress with the young Haibane is then resolves to find out how she can help Reki. The two finally arrives at the abandoned factory and they are greeted by the Haibanes who live there, including Hyohko and Midori. While Hyohko teaches Dai to play a skateboard, Rakka has a brief conversation with the Haibane girls from the abandoned factory. It turns out that it's been a while since the Haibane from this place actually made a contact with the Haibane from the old house, mostly due to the 'old incident' involving Reki.

Rakka, who doesn't know anything much about this particular incident is then informed by Midori that at one point in the past, both Reki and Hyohko plans to run away from the city and their attempts resulted in Hyohko getting injured. This incident has ever since incite Midori's wrath who thinks that Reki was being selfish in involving Hyohko in her problem. After hearing the story, Rakka seems unable to concentrate on her job inside the Haibane temple. At one point, she is oblivious to the fact that the little boat that she uses to travel from one tomb to another through a small ditch, has suddenly drifted away. When she realises what happened, she ends up running and jumping into the boat and is unwittingly taken into a location that she never went into before. Here, she finds a tomb full of writings and is able to hear the sound of children laughing and singing gospel songs.

Upon getting out of the tomb, Rakka is greeted by the Haibane communicator who's been helping her thus far. He tells her that there aren't much time left for Reki to be in this town and yet sadly she has no one who can help her. He tells Rakka that a Haibane that doesn't get their day of flight can sometime stay in the town but they'll lose their halos and wings and must live in seclusion. The two then part ways with Rakka getting worried about Reki's future. The next day, Rakka ends up going to the town's library because she has to inform Nemu's employer that Nemu is sick and therefore can't come to work. During her visit, however, she noticed a small book-like fossil on display on top of the table. The fossil is engraved with similar language that Rakka saw underneath the temple the day before.

Sumika, Nemu's co-worker and friend explains to Rakka that the fossils' origin is unknown. Rumour has it that there was a ruin deep in the western woods a long time ago and this fossil was burried inside a stone. She comments that whatever this item originally was, it seemed to have been turned into a stone by some kind of force. Unfortunately, Sumika does not know the meaning of the words engraved in the stone either. However, she believes that the patterns were of ancient text/drawings made by humans. On her way back to the old home, Rakka meets again with Reki and the two walks together back to their residence. During the trip, Rakka realises that Reki has been hiding her pain in her laughter all of these times and tells her that she wish they could always be together. Reki, however, tells her that there is no 'always' and that sooner or later people will part because that's a natural progression of life. The episode ends with Reki telling herself that it's time to end it all.

Episode twelve starts off with all of the old home Haibanes taking the trip to the city to take a look at and possibly purchase some of the newly picked 'Bellnuts'. These are basically some kind of a ring made out of a seed of a plant which you can use to express your feeling. Each colour has a different meaning. For example, the red one is for thank you, white is for asking forgiveness, yellow is for love, etc. During the trip Reki meets with Hyohko who's been tailed by Midori and the two are surprised when Reki gives them a white nutbell telling them that she's sorry for all of the problem she's given them and that she has to give them this now because she can't give it later on. Anyway, it's here that Midori tells Rakka of what actually happened a couple of years ago. Apparently in their attempt to escape the town, Hyohko had the idea of using the stairs to climb the wall. But while attempting to destroy the wall, he was severely injured. Here, we get the impression that there are more to Midori's anger to Reki than just the incident. It seems that Midori has some kind of one-sided affection for Hyohko, who seems to prefer Reki.

After telling both Hyohko and Midori that she'll help Reki no matter what, Rakka goes back to work inside the Haibane temple and once again starting to hear laughter coming from a tomb and recognises the sound as Kuu's. She then informs this incident to the Haibane communicator, who is surprised when Rakka shows him a sign by using her hand and inquires if the sign is Kuu's tag name. The Haibane communicator explains to Rakka that the sign is indeed Kuu's but it has a different Kanji and meaning to it. The letter does not mean 'Air', the name that the Haibane given to Kuu but rather another name with the same sound (Kanjis often have the same pronounciation but with different writing and meaning). He adds that this is a proof that the Haibane who had gone beyond the walls attained a true identity and therefore the name tag hanging from the wall of the temple has changed into the true name.

The Haibane communicator then points out an example by giving Rakka a box containing her name tag. The kanji written on the cover of the box says 'Rakka', which means 'to fall'. However, when Rakka opens the box, she finds her name tag, 'Rakka', which means 'an meddling nut'. The Haibane communicator explains that just like a nut, Rakka at first shut herself off from others but then eventually open herself up and reaches out to others. Unlike Rakka, however, Reki can't remember her true name because she shuts herself off ever since the incident with Hyohko. According to him, climbing the wall is considered a sin (although it's never mentioned why) and she was deemed guilty. Hearing this, Rakka wonders why is it that only Reki can't be forgiven. The Haibane communicator explains that in order to forgive oneself, there has to be other who believe in that person, to help lead them out of the never ending circle of self-blame, just like the bird has helped Rakka. The conversation ended with the communicator telling Rakka to give Reki a box containing her true name tag after the passing of the year festival.

Once Rakka reaches the old home, Reki tells her that she's sorry but she doesn't feel like going to the city to celebrate the passing of the year with the rest of the Haibane and urge Rakka to just go with the others. Rakka has no choice but to do so and once she's there, she manages to say thank you to many of the townsfolks (Sumika, the guy at the clothing shop, etc) for all of their help ever since her arrival. When Rakka's about to go back to the old home to say thank you to Reki, however, she encounters Midori who asks her where Reki is at the moment. Midori tells her they have to hurry and inform Reki that there will be a surprise for her in the sky tonight and the two races to find Reki. They manage to find her in time so Reki can witness a yellow fireworks that is created by Hyohko. In the midst of the firework, Midori cries as she looks at the white Bellnut that was given to her by Reki, probably realising that she hasn't exactly been a good friend to her old friend. Midori finally reconciles with Reki while the rest of the Haibanes see the wall of the town reverberates and glows around midnight.

Episode thirteen continues from where episode twelve left off, where the passing of the year party has ended and everyone at the old home is sleeping peacefully. Well, everyone but Reki who bids 'goodbye' to all of the Haibanes. Not long after this, Rakka wakes up from her sleep and attempts to find Reki in her room. But when she can't find her there, she decides to open a door inside Reki's room which leads her to a dark room filled with dark, creepy paintings from the ceilings to the floor. From one corner of the room, Rakka can hear Reki makes a sarcastic remark about Rakka being 'Rakka' (meddling) after all. After a while, however, she explains that the paintings are from her nightmare in the coocon and it's here that she'll end her life as a Haibane. Rakka attempts to tell her that she has to end her nightmare and sin now and proceeds to give her the box from the Haibane communicator. Reki opens the box (which says 'Reki - small stone') and finds a letter that tells a story of a girl called Reki.

According to the letter, there was once a young girl named Reki who was deemed an unfortunate fate and lose all of the people that matter to her. Feeling worthless, she called herself 'Reki', which meant 'small stones'. However, the letter that explains her true name says that her true name means 'the one who was run over and torn apart'. As Reki drops the letter and the box, Rakka finds Reki's true name tag which literally means 'the one to be run over'. Reading the letter seems to have given Reki some part of her previous life memory where she recalls of being run over by something that runs on an iron rail (most likely a train) and was torned apart. She said that it was there she abandoned herself. I think this basically means that in her previous life, Reki committed suicide by placing herself on a railroad track.

Reki tells Rakka in her sadness that all of these times, she's been looking for a salvation that does not exist and the show then shows flashback to her life as a young Haibane. It starts with Reki being depressed after Kuramori's death, where she was found by a young Hyohko and Midori (who was afraid/jealous of her initially), how she ended up befriending the two. It was also obvious from the flashback that Midori felt left out by Hyohko once Reki entered their life and when Hyohko left Midori to take Reki to climb the wall and then got hurt, Reki got the brunt of Midori's anger. Reki bitterly says that everytime she trusts someone, she ends up getting hurt so at one point, she stopped trusting anyone. She then proceeds to hurt Rakka with her words, telling Rakka that she treats Rakka kindly because she was hoping to get something in return, a salvation. Rakka at first refused to believe this but when Reki tells her that she made a bet to herself that when Rakka was first born, she'll be nice to whoever will come out of the coocon whether it was Rakka or someone else, Rakka turns sad and leaves.

After Rakka leaves Reki all alone in the room, Reki becomes more and more entraped in her own imagination which seems to have taken a life of its own. She starts seeing an apparition of her younger self which tells her that she wants to be helped. Reki, however, rebuffs the suggestion and tells her that no one is going to help them. Her younger apparition, who slowly turns into stone, however, says that it's because Reki never asks for help. Reki starts to cry and answers that it's because in the past she's been left alone by people. What if she asks for help and nobody helps her? She can't bear the thought that she's really all alone and no one cares about her. As her younger self turns into a stone which then breaks into pieces, Reki starts to hear the sound of a train coming out of the wall and stares numbly at it.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Rakka tries to convince herself to get over her disappointment but seem unable to do so. But then she stumbles onto a diary/sketch book that belongs to Reki and starts reading it. From there she realises that despite what Reki said, she was genuinely excited about Rakka's birth and think that it was a God's gift to her. Rakka then remembers that Reki was the one who's been whispering to her while she was in the coocon. She recalls how Reki tells her how nervous she was because this is her first experience of finding a coocon and that she wants to believe and place her last hope in Rakka. Remembering this, Rakka realises that despite Reki's original intention while she took care of her, Reki eventually came to really care for her and that Reki was sincere about the care and affection that she displayed to Rakka.

Rakka sets out to help Reki but as she enters Reki's room, she finds out that she's not in the room anymore but in some twisted imaginary world that came out of Reki's nightmare. There's the railroad that Reki described as well as the stone path that Reki remembered well. Rakka then sees Reki laying herself down the railroad track but as she's about to go to her friend, the young apparition of Reki attempts to stop her, telling her that Reki can't be saved anymore. Rakka then tells Reki that all Reki has to do is to ask for a help but no one but Reki can do this. Reki seems unable to do so but as the blob-like form of a train is closing in on her, Reki tears up and begs for help. This destroys the young apparition of herself which has been stopping Rakka from going anywhere and in turn, both Rakka and Reki finds themselves back inside the dark room.

However, upon opening her hand which clutches' Reki's name tag, Rakka realises that Reki's name tag has been broken into two (a broken name tag implies a bad luck and sometimes death in some eastern cultures). As she looks up, Rakka sees that for some reason, the blob form of the train has invaded the room and is about to devour Reki. Reki, who seems to have been petrify by fear or her own sadness can't seem to move. Rakka ended up having to run up to her and pushes Reki out of the blob-train way as it makes its way into the room. The blob eventually disperses and disappear from the room, leaving Reki and Rakka to wonder whether Reki has been forgiven. The answer come to them as soon as Rakka opens her hand again and find Reki's previously broken name tag has now been restored and her true name has revert to being 'small stones' instead of 'the one who will be run over'.

Not long after the incident Reki bids goodbye to Rakka because she feels that her day of flight is coming soon. She tells Rakka that since no one is supposed to see when a Haibane is taking his/her day of flight, Rakka must close her eyes. Rakka smiles and close her eyes as Reki departs for the western woods. As Reki transforms into bright light, the other Haibanes in the old home wake up and join Rakka to witness their friend's day of flight. All of them are sad and happy at the same time. And strangely, they all have been expecting this to happen to Reki that day. They later have lunch together with one empty seat to commemorate Reki's day of flight. Reki left many paintings which show her love for the town of Glie. A couple of months later, during one of her patrol inside the old home, Rakka finds a twin Haibane seeds about to hatch in one of the room. An excited Rakka runs out of the room to tell the other Haibanes, giving the series a bittersweet ending.

Okay, I'll first say that I shouldn't have watched this straight after my overseas trip which was quite an emotional upheaval on its own. Watching this left me emotionally drained and sad because some of the issues that I had are quite similar to what these characters have. In some ways, it did provide some kind of a hope that one day I'll be able to overcome my problem just like these characters. Anyway, I think this is quite a solid ending for the series although it is by no mean a perfect one. To begin with, there are so many unanswered questions. I'm fine with some of the unexplained questions such as why is it that climbing the wall is considered a sin, for example. I don't think there can be a satisfactory explanation for that one because when it comes to some religious traditions, I think most people have to accept that you have to forgo certain rational explanation that we as human crave so much. I can also accept the fact that the show never went in depth in explaining the circumstances that caused Rakka and Reki's death in the first place. I suppose this way everyone can come up with their own story of what really did happened to them before their live as a Haibane.

However, I was disappointed that the series failed to explain many other things such as the fossil that Rakka sees in the library. What is the significance of including that scene in there? I probably have to see the series again but so far I couldn't think of a possible answer as to what does the fossil signify and why is that related to the entire series. I also don't understand why the writers did not explain why there are two species of creatures living inside the town of Glie: the Haibanes and the Humans. What are the differences between the two? The sins that they committed in the prior life? How come the humans can stay in the town forever while the Haibanes can move on to their 'day of flight'? I can accept having to come up with my own ideas of what the town of Glie represents and where will the Haibane go once they reach their day of flight. But I must say that not knowing the difference between the humans and the Haibanes makes it very difficult for me to come up with my own theory of what will happen once the Haibane reach their day of flight. I am still of the opinion that the town of Glie is some kind of purgatory for sinners. In Reki's case, for example, I strongly believe that she once felt lonely and useless after some kind of an incident happened to the people that she loved.

This loneliness then drives her to kill herself by placing her body on a railroad track. This renders her as a Sin-bound since committing suicide and unable to forgive oneself is considered as a major sin (at least in some religions). She is then given a second chance and was reborn as a Haibane (albeit one with a black wings). However, Reki's feel of uselessness and loneliness doesn't allow her to move anywhere towards redemption. I also don't think that Reki lied when she mentioned to Rakka that she did use her to make herself feel better. On the contrary, I feel that she was telling the truth. But at the same time, I think that as time goes by, Reki slowly developed genuine feeling for this younger Haibane whose coocon she found inside a dilapidated room. I'm of the opinion that most people don't develop kindness out of nothing. They normally start because there is some kind of incentive to do so (at the basic level, for example, one helps other because he/she wants to be a good friend to that person). However, I do believe that in time, some people do develop genuine feeling towards the person that they end up helping in one way or another. All in all, I'm quite happy with this ending because at the very least, the series did resolve the emotional conflict of the characters which I felt was the major driving plot of this series.

© memento 2005