Welcome back everyone to another episode of Haibane Renmei! This post accidentally got deleted so I had to rewrite it, so apologies for being slightly late. Last week was good but this one is even better. Rakka is figuring out her emotions, Reki is dropping lore and my emotions are being tugged all around. So without further ado lets dive in!
Right out of the gate I want to say that Haibane Renmei was really good this week. I was invested from beginning to end, hitting all the right spots. This was exactly what I was looking for. I loved how the episode didn’t try to speed-through anything. Rather, it kept the same slow pacing Haibane Renmei has always had but filled it with the material I’m really interested in. The episode focused on the aftermath of Kuu’s disappearance, not in a technical sense like I feared but an emotional sense. Giving us, and by extension the characters, time to process everything that happened and react while still moving everything forward. Using that time to show how they are different from each other and then explain those differences in ways that don’t just feel like info dumps. Which is great because Rakka had a lot going on this week.
Before we get to the elephant in the room this week I want to talk about grief. Specifically, Rakka’s grief and how she reacted to the whole thing. Where they were quick to accept what happened, comfortable in the idea that they will see Kuu again on their Day of Flight, Rakka was inconsolable. She couldn’t accept that Kuu was gone and acted like she would return any day now, talking to the air, cleaning her room, etc. On top of that she was hyper sensitive to the words of others, as we saw with Hyoko. Where he expressed relief at not losing Reki, Rakka heard only that he was glad it was Kuu. A minor, but important, difference. I think this was a great presentation of grief and how someone can feel after losing someone close. But more than anything I think its a great exploration of “the afterlife”.
What do I mean by “the afterlife”? Well I am of course talking about capital H, Heaven. The idea that when we die we live on in a better place, to be reunited with our loved ones after death. It’s a very comforting idea! And one that the Haibane seem to buy into in Haibane Renmei’s own way. We see this with their talk of seeing Kuu later, that this isn’t the last time they will get to see her and about their own “Day of Flight, etc. I think this is all a rather straight forward metaphor. But what really sells me on this idea, after all the Christian symbolism, Rakka returning to her monk-like robes after her dress gets dirty, her self mutilation etc… are the Sin-Bound.
At first I thought the Sin-Bound were really weird. What is Haibane Renmei doing here, what is with this strange illness? Is this all supposed to be some metaphor for Original Sin? But if so why do only some people have it and not everyone? But then I thought: What if these are non-believers? Atheists, Heretics, whatever you want to call them, what if the Sin-Bound are just those who don’t believe in God? In the wall, in the Haibane Renmei Organization, etc etc? That would make the charcoal on Rakka’s wings emblematic of losing her faith, of being disillusioned, where Reki was simply born that way. And all of this would fit into Reki’s inability to ascend to Heaven, to have her “Day of Flight”, in that non-believers can’t go to Heaven and are instead trapped in Limbo. So let me return to an older question: What is Glie?
That’s right, I’m breaking this whole thing wide open right here, right now! Glie is Limbo! The Haibane are souls that, for whatever reason, failed to get into Heaven and have been given a second chance in this town! And when they have stayed here long enough, helped the town or perhaps come to terms with themselves mentally, they may ascend on their Day of Flight to Heaven! Meanwhile the Sin-Bound are those that either don’t believe in God or are don’t accept that they are sinful and are thus unable to enter Heaven. This just leaves one last remaining question, what are the Haibane Renmei Organization? Well to take a shot in the dark here… I think they are either Angels sent to help the Haibane/Townspeople on their way or they are Haibane who failed to enter Heaven and are stuck here. I’d be satisfied with either one.
Finally before we leave I wanted to call back to some older questions I raised, concerns, and small details I picked up. For instance last week I wondered if Reki was the first Haibane, here from the beginning. We now know that this isn’t the case though. Others came before her and others will come after, she herself simply isn’t allowed to leave. This also answers what is going on with the factory Haibane. Most likely these are all Sin-Bound, or at the least those on their way to becoming so, who are rejecting their place in “Limbo”. I expect that at some point Rakka will end up joining them, that she will become the next Reki in a sense. Most likely she will recover by the end and become the first Sin-Bound to overcome it, but hey. I’m down with happy endings if they are earned.
So yeah all in all I think this was a really good episode. It had just the right amount of emotions, lore and character drama and they all fit together perfectly. I do wish the show looked better than it did, but hey. If the worst part of Haibane Renmei is that its barely animated and yet I still feel compelled to watch it anyway? That’s a pretty good sign. Hopefully it nails the 2nd half and the ending so I can slap a nice score/bow on the whole thing. See you next week!
