Haibane Renmei ep.5-7

January 1, 2004 | 4 Comments

Happy New Year to y'all! How was your New Year's Eve? Got Drunk? ;) Took that obligatory fireworks picture? I only went to a restaurant with a bunch of friends and then went home and watched Haibane Renmei second DVD. And I'm glad that I did because the story has finally started to unravel. In these three episodes, unexpected events and incidents happens to the various members of the Haibanes who live inside the old home, prompting Rakka to questions her own existence within the town of Glie.

Episode 5 started lightly with Rakka helping Nemu working in a library. In there she meets Nemu's human colleague/best friend, Sumika, who ended up giving Rakka a lot of pointers on how to work at the library. During the conversation the two have, the topic of what's outside the wall that surrounds the town of Glie came up. Sumika tells Rakka that there was a point that she wants to explore the world outside the town but now she's quite content with her lives within the town of Glie, especially since she's about to give a birth to a baby.

Nemu tells Rakka that she wants to give Sumika a present before Sumika departs for her maternity leave. Nemu points out that there's this book that herself and Sumika read a couple of years ago called "The Beginning of the World". However, the book is in a terrible shape and a lot of its pages are missing, rendering most of its content, unreadable. Hearing this, Rakka ends up helping Nemu trying to guess what the story within the book is actually about. Once, it's completed, it turns out the story is very similar to that of the Book of Creation. The difference is, this is the Haibane version that Rakka and Nemu made up. Here are the entire content of the book after they finished it:

When God took into his hand the halo glowing over his head and held it high, it became the Sun. God waved his staff and the nothingness was ripped into two. One forming the sky and the other, the land. However, the line was skewed, thus creating mountains and valleys. "It was a mistake, but it is just as well," said God. When God drew pictures on the land, grass and trees grew, and birds and animals came to life. God then envisioned creatures that looked like himself. But these creatures were too similar to himself and were a failing. So he colored their wings charcoal, make holes on their halos, named them Haibane...and tucked them away in the back of his mind. After that, God created human beings that did not have wings or halos. This time, it was a satisfactory creation. Completely content, God, despite himself, fall asleep. The Haibane, destined to be erased were hence able to escape from his mind. When God awake, the Haibane were already floating in the sky. However, ever tolerant of mistakes, God decided to let the Haibane and their tiny world be. This is why the town of Glie is still floating somewhere today. Where it is neither on land nor sea.

Understandably, this is just Rakka and Nemu's idea of the creation of Glie. We don't really know if it's actually true or not. Never the less, I'm glad to see the show presents this angle as one possibility of how Glie came to exist as a town. I still think that Glie is actually some kind of an afterlife. A purgatory where those who have sinned in their previous life get to repent their life. What I don't understand is why there are humans and there are Haibanes within the town of Glie? What were the Haibanes before they turned into one when they reached this mysterious town?

The show takes a darker turn in the next episode. One day Kuu decides to give Rakka her favourite winter jacket and told Rakka that there's a bucket inside her head that gets full as she gets to know more and more people. Now, that bucket is completely filled and she thanks Rakka because she got to know Rakka. Not long after this Kuu leaves the old home like she normally does. However, when she doesn't come back even after it becomes dark, the other Haibanes become worried. They are even horrified when they heard that Rakka at one point in the day saw a bright light coming out of the forest and into the sky.

They explained to Rakka that they never expected this because it hasn't happened for a long time now. But there's a possibility that Kuu may not come back because her 'Day of Flight' has arrived. Hearing this, all of the Haibanes decided to search for Kuu in the forest. Once they arrived there, however, they can't find Kuu anywhere. All that Rakka managed to see is a dimmed halo that once belongs to Kuu. In sorrow, the rest of the Haibane returns to the old home to bid goodbye to Kuu. Here, we found out that Reki seems to think that everyone is going to leave her all alone in the old home when their 'Day of Flight' have arrived.

Episode 7 continues from where episode 6 left off. Rakka has become increasingly depressed after Kuu's disappearance and choose to isolate herself away from the other Haibanes. To make matters worse, she starts to see some black spots growing on her feathers. Fearing that the others will fear her, she starts to start cutting her feathers. Luckily, before she got too far, Reki came to help her. Reki tries to assure Rakka that unlike her, Rakka is a good Haibane. Reki explains that unlike other Haibane, she's a 'Sin-bound', a Haibane who was born with black feathers. It took the care and medicine obtained by Reki's mentor to make Reki's feathers turned to charcoal. Reki adds that she also can't remember much of her dreams unlike other Haibanes. All she can remember is a red moon and a stone pathway where something must have happened.

I really like these 3 episodes since they start to show that not everything is all peaceful and happy in this town of Glie. Like I said, before, there seems to be this mysterious undercurrent that flows throughout the town and its inhabitants. What is the "Day of Flight"? Where do the Haibanes go once they reach this stage? And why does Reki was born with black feathers? What is the significance of her dream? How about Rakka? Is she destined to be a 'Sin-bound' as well? Especially now that her feathers are starting to show spots of blacks all around it. All in all, I've enjoyed this show very well. I also find myself consistently fascinated by the show's art styles/directions. I think the 'Book of Creation' sequence in episode 5 features some of the most beautiful brush illustrations I've ever seen.

© memento 2005