Haibane Renmei ep.1-4

December 16, 2003 | 3 Comments

Even though I already got Haibane Renmei Vol.1 DVD since a month ago, it's not until now that I got the chance to see it. I wish I had seen it sooner since this turns out to be a very interesting series. Created by the famous illustrator/character designer, Yoshitase Abe (of Serial Experiments Lain and NieA_7 fame), Haibane Renmei is a story about a group of Angel-like creature called 'Haibane', who lives within a town named Glie. In general, while the series maintains a calm pretense on its surface, beneath it there's an air of mystery that can make the viewer feels unease.

The series starts by showing a girl falling down from the sky. She's calm about her situation and yet at the same time, there's a sense of uneasyness lurking inside her heart. But before she managed to think further, her velocity increases and she is falling fast into the Earth. We then get to see a Haibane called Reki doing a cleanup of an old house when she stumbles upon a big coocon inside one of the dilapidated rooms within the house. She immediately called upon the other Haibanes (Hikari, Nemu, Kana, and Kuu) and they arrived just in time to clean up the room and witness the birth of the girl from within the coocon.

We then get to see the girl awakes from her sleep and meet her new acquintances. The other Haibanes explains that they are what people in the city called as 'Haibane'. They don't know how they got into the city and what sort of life they lead before. But each of them are named after the dream that they got before they were born. Because the new girl had a dream of falling from a sky, they named her Rakka. They then proceeds to annoint her as a new Haibane by placing a Halo on top of her head but since it refuses to stay firmly, they are forced to use bandages and metal wires to keep the Halo from slipping away from the top of Rakka's head.

Soon enough Rakka gets to experience things that other Haibanes have experienced. First, she went through a painful process of releasing her new wings. Then in the second episode, the other Haibanes take her to see the small town called Glie. There Rakka realises that not all people within the town are Haibanes. Most of them are in fact humans. The other Haibanes also explain that Haibanes are not allowed to have money and therefore, in order to make a purchase, they need to carry a notebook that is given by a federation called 'Haibane Renmei'. Rakka also finds out that the town of Glie is surrounded by a tall and thick wall and that the people of Glie are not allowed to travel outside the wall. Their means of living are facilitated towards an external trader called 'The Toga' and the Haibane Renmei.

Episode 3 focuses on Rakka's attempt to learn new things as Haibane. This mostly involves her trying to get a job within the town, seeing what other Haibanes do in their jobs, as well as going to the Haibane Temple to be legally accepted as a Haibane as well as to receive her notebook (which can be used to purchase goods). Episode 4 is probably the most unusual one because we actually learn more about Kana, one of the other Haibanes who work in the bell tower. Kana is a bit tomboy-ish and have a rather short temper. We also find out that Kana don't like Crows while strangely Rakka has a sense of connection to them, probably because she encounters one in her dream who tries to prevent her from falling.

All in all, Haibane is a pretty impressive series. I was first drawn to the series mostly because of Yoshitoshi Abe, whom I'm a big fan of. I actually bought the DVD mostly because I really like Abe's artworks and the limited edition of Vol.1 came with two pencilboards which have Abe's illustrations on them. But I'm glad to know that story-wise Haibane is also very interesting. These early episodes are quite slow because the series is trying to set up the premise and the characters. But at the same time, you can clearly see that there's an underlying mystery beneath it all. I was left with questions such as what is the Haibane? Why is it that they are different from the humans? How come none of the inhabitants of Glie are allowed to leave the town? Who are the Haibane Renmei? And what happened to Rakka and the other Haibanes prior to their lives within the town of Glie? I have the suspicion that Glie is some kind of an afterlife (maybe Purgatory?) realm but I can't be sure until I see more episodes.

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