Welcome everyone to week 3 of Haibane Renmei! This is a pretty slow one all things considered but there’s still plenty for us to talk about. So without further ado lets jump right into it!
When I first started Haibane Renmei this episode is more what I was expecting. A Slice of Life show with angel girls without much to bite into. I don’t mean this as a damning criticism! The first two episodes set up the world and characters well. They pulled me in and got me invested enough to care before starting the Slice of Life stuff. Rather what I’m trying to say is that had the first episode been more like this I don’t think I would be near as interested as I am. That’s a really weird statement I know! It’s not really a criticism, more of a statement of where the show is going for me. My hope is that this stuff is setup for the future! That the donut ring, the kids etc will all be important as we move forward rather than pure Slice of Life fluff.
Speaking of the donut ring, lets talk about that! I’m really curious what Haibane Renmei is going to do with this. Is it just a one off gag with Rakka’s halo and dough? Or is there some legitimate heresy going on here? What happens if the Haibane Renmei organization learns what happened with it, and are these donuts like… sacrilegious? I think there’s a lot of potential here as our sort of gateway into a larger story. Something that can draw out the darker parts of the Haibane Renmei organization or introduce consequences, etc. Now maybe Haibane Renmei isn’t that kind of show! This could easily be just a reoccurring gag or one-off joke. But with how serious both their travel to, and interactions at, the temple were I find it difficult to believe that would be the case. At least I hope it wont be.
This brings me to talking about the Haibane Renmei themselves, namely how serious they are. When we were first introduced to them last episode I thought they were only restricted in town. That they could only not talk to the towns people, or the towns people could only not talk to them, etc. But it seems to go much farther than that as they far out of the way and won’t even talk within their own temple! They even have prepared wing-language for the Haibane themselves, with little bells, to avoid it. Part of me thinks this is suspicious. What do they have to hide, why so out of the way, etc etc. But they could just as easily be legitimately religious without any ulterior motive. Only time will tell on this one but consider them officially on my “watch” list.
We also learned a bit about the town itself this week! For instance: Only certain shops are willing, or maybe able, to hire Haibane. Now, Haibane Renmei mentions this is because they are the oldest shops in town. But is this because Haibane can only work at the old ones? Or is there something more going on? I ask this because it doesn’t seem like the towns-people themselves have issue with the Haibane. They don’t appear to suffer any discrimination and they seem to be treated well. Hikari is even able to suggest new pastries at the bakery and is largely credited with their creation! So if the town is fine with them why can’t, or won’t, anyone else hire them? I suspect this is, once again, tied back to the Haibane Renmei organization and I hope we learn what’s up later in the series.
Finally, after all of suspicions and doubts, lets talk about something fluffy: Carrots. This was actually kinda cute! It’s not something I usually go for, I’m not big on Slice of Lice in case that wasn’t obvious. But the introduction of the well-meaning house lady, kids being kids and Reki herself not liking carrots either made for a nice little character building scene. It was cute to see Reki outside of her serious caretaker mode or her “Im falling apart” form the episode opens on and more like a relaxed kindergarten teacher. I don’t think any of this is particularly important of course. Unless carrots somehow make a comeback as the Haibane’s kryptonite I don’t see it as all that meaningful a scene. But it was certainly a fun, relaxing one to end the episode on. And thats alright.
So yeah, thats it for the episode. All in all I think Haibane Renmei was alright this week. The first two episodes primed me to look for some sort of religious meaning or symbolism in everything so this episode’s more relaxed content caught me by surprise. Of course it still had some symbolism, plenty of things to talk about. Stuff like Reki’s studio and her being wrapped in cloth as light streams in through the window, the donut maker, or Kuu’s little speech about crows and wanting to be friends with them. The whole lamentation of the limitations of language, them both having wings and how they should be able to be friends, etc. There’s interesting stuff! I’m just more curious about what kind of, if any, over arching story Haibane Renmei will go for.
Don’t worry. As someone who’s seen the series previously, it starts to get more serious come episodes 6-7.