Welcome everyone to the penultimate episode of Haibane Renmei! Apologies for the wait on this one, I’ve been quite sick these past few days and didn’t get to write this early like I usually do. With my excuses out of the way lets dive into this weeks episode!
Starting off I think this was the first episode where I had a noticeable issue with Haibane Renmei’s visuals. Not across the board of course. The backgrounds are still nice and the colors, while largely washed out, still work to sell that almost ethereal nature of the Wall, halos and town. In fact I’m really only talking about one part in particular: Rakka’s face when she is talking to Midori. The way this shot is cut just… bothers me. Those 3 rapid frames as she reacts to Midori, the way it cuts between them is just… jarring. It took me completely out of the scene and the moment. I actually went back twice to see if I just blinked or something else went wrong. But no. Its just a really jarring scene. Is this a big deal? Not really but I had to complain about something before I gush.
Getting into the narrative, this week saw a lot of questions answered! From the tags to what happened with Reki and Hyoko, we learn it all. And while none of it is surprising I would say it’s all satisfying. Take the tags for instance: We learn that these all bear the true name of Haibane. On top of that we also learn that the symbols match up to the sign language used by the Renmei, a nod towards just how old this organization is. Both of these feed into the history of the world and help explain why the wall is as revered as it is. It’s effectively a grave marker and ward for all of the Haibane who have left its confines. Add in how these tags are also generating the flakes used to create halos, like frost on glass, and you have the base for a religion.
Of course this doesn’t answer all of my questions and actually introduces a few more. How far back do the tags and wall go? Have they been there since the beginning or do they only form when a Haibane flies? Do the Renmei have any hand in making them since we already know they help maintain them? What about the shadowy invisible creature that lurks down there? And finally: Will any of these ever be answered? My money is on no. But I also don’t think they have to be. Haibane Renmei has answered every question that is relevant to the core story, the core character drama, at hand. None of these questions are really relevant to Rakka and Reki. And I think that’s why I’m ok with them remaining unanswered where in other series, such as Sonny Boy, I railed against the constant failure to resolve what they introduced.
Moving on we also learned about Reki, Hyoko and what happened between them this week. And just liked I predicted last week, they did indeed try to scale the wall. What’s interesting about this though is that, from what I understand, Reki didn’t push Hyoko into it. Rather he initiated it to try and make her feel better. Yet Reki blames herself anyways, taking all of the responsibility, and agency, onto herself. It makes sense then why Midori blames her, Hyoko does not, and why she needs Hyoko’s forgiveness to find her way out of her Circle of Sin. Sadly though that’s where I start to have concerns.
Up until now Haibane Renmei has seemed to be a very self-positive show. It’s been about characters coming to love and forgive themselves, accepting who they are how hard that can be with depression. But this whole thing about needing someone else to forgive you feels… weird. Like its going contrary to all of that. I understand the idea that other people can be helpful, even instrumental, in getting you out of depression. But I don’t agree that they are the only way. That you have to have someone else’s forgiveness and affirmation to become more comfortable with yourself. It just doesn’t seem that healthy of a mindset or message to send to people struggling with these kinds of issues. If I’m misunderstanding this in some way please, let me know in the comments down below! I’d love to better understand whats going on.
My possible misunderstandings aside though I do think Haibane Renmei did a good job presenting it all this week. The parallels between Kuu and Reki were great. The way she went around effectively saying her goodbyes, making her last memories, how that all fit into the festival ceremony with the nuts and the colors and the fireworks that were previously established with the fire crackers. It really set the mood and had a sense of finality to it all. Even now I’m still not sure if Reki will get her Day of Flight. And yet regardless of what happens, I feel I will be satisfied. Like the flight itself is irrelevant to the progression of Reki’s character and the conclusion, whichever way it goes, that we will get next week.
So yeah all in all I think was a good episode. One weird scene and my possible misunderstandings aside I was engrossed the whole way through. I think that Reki and Rakka’s journey throughout Haibane Renmei has been great. And while I may wish for a bit more attention to be given to the other cast members I can’t deny that our leads have gotten it good. Hopefully next week wraps all of the loose ends and gives us a satisfying conclusion to what has been a pretty compelling character piece if you ask me. See you then!
