Welcome all to the halfway point of Haibane Renmei! Or close enough to it at least since it’s thirteen episodes. We have a lot to cover this week and I’m running late so lets dive right into it!
Right off the bat I have to say that this was exactly what I wanted. Last week I said that I was afraid of Haibane Renmei becoming like every other SoL. That we would follow their daily lives but that nothing would meaningfully change and thus no one would grow. And as if in direct response, we got this episode next. This feels like a turning point, the exact kind of thing I asked for last week. An event that causes things to start to unravel. Where characters shift from reactive, like Rakka has learning about the world, to proactive, where she can start to search things out for herself. Now while I doubt that Rakka, and be extension Haibane Renmei, would be that overt about it I do expect things to change. And I’m very excited for that.
In the meantime though lets talk about why I like this episode.
Starting from the top: I quite liked the lead in for the episode, I thought it was well done. How we saw Kuu in the background across the past couple of episodes, always off doing her own little thing. It always felt weird but… unimportant? Like one of those “We are populating the town” sort of things. Letting us see a familiar character to know that they exist outside of their specific episode. But I see now that Haibane Renmei was doing that on purpose. We were seeing Kuu how everyone else saw her. Never realizing that actually she was preparing to leave. Resolving things she had left unfinished, doing things she wanted to do, subconsciously or not. She even helped Rakka find a place to say. And as Rakka is lead by Kuu into the world, finally a full Haibane with her own room, Kuu herself must go.
And of course the way Haibane Renmei handled that was great as well. I loved the metaphor they used, droplets slowly filling up a cup. Each new day, each new experience, building her into the person she is today. And once Kuu had grown out of their little safe haven it became her time to leave. I really like what this means for the rest of the cast. They have to reconcile the fact that they contributed to this. For good or ill, every day they interact with each other they push themselves closer to leaving. Of course my suspicion is that, for now, they don’t actually realize this. They don’t know the mechanics, the why, for Haibane leaving. At least… most of them seem not to.
I’m of course talking about Reki. Out of the entire cast her reaction seemed the most… off. They all knew about it, they understood what was happening to an extent. But where everyone else was effectively in mourning for Kuu, Reki seemed to be focused inward. On herself. On the fact that everyone always leaves. And this makes me wonder: Has Reki been here since the beginning? Watching people arrive, grow and leave while she stays the same? We already know that she acts like a child and isn’t so different from the Young Feathers. She also acts rather impulsively and seems to be the only recluse among the group. Where the other Haibane go to work in town, she works at Old Home. Where the others have their own rooms, she apparently lived out of the guest room. So I have to ask: Is Reki still in the caccoon?
Finally I want to talk about the mechanics of Kuu leaving along with a few more small tidbits/questions. This stuff is mostly me asking questions so feel free to theorize or call me an idiot down below. So to begin, the big question: Where the hell did Kuu go? What is Haibane Renmei playing at here? The obvious answer is “beyond the wall” but what does that even mean? Haibane Renmei is a very metaphorical show so there’s no doubt that there is meaning beyond the surface. If you ask me I view it all as a sort of Limbo. Lost souls stuck in this town, the Haibane dead kids or something able to be born again through their experiences. Is it a reach? Yes. But after Serial Experiments Lain my mind has been expanded somewhat.
The other topic I wanted to talk about though was the halo. What is the significance of the halo being left behind? What happens to it once Kuu does leave? I assume they are just going to sort of… bury it. Like a grave without a body so to speak. But surely if that was the case there would be a lot of these things lying around right? I suspect that the Haibane Renmei organization takes care of them and that the reason only “older” establishments allow Haibane to work is because of this whole shindig. I’m starting to ramble here, the point is that these left behind halos open a lot of doors and I’m curious what happens with them. And the best part? I’m looking forward to how Haibane Renmei addresses it.
So yeah all in all I would call this episode a great success. It gave me exactly what I wanted from Haibane Renmei at precisely the right time. Any longer and it risked my interest starting to wane. But by putting it here it revitalized my interest in both the world and the characters in general. Moving forward I’m looking forward to learning about Reki’s hangups about people leaving, about Rakka’s journey and inevitable departure herself, along with everyone else along the way. Will I get everything I want? Probably not. But so long as what I do get is handled with the same care and tact that this episode was I won’t complain.
Been loving reading these posts. Even rewatched the series for the first time in like seven years. Haibane Renmei was one of the first anime I ever watched, all the way back in the mid 2000s, and it’s a series that I find to be such a comfort to revisit and reflect upon at different stages in my life.
Glad you like them! Its certainly been a good experience so far. So many anime from Throwback Thursday I honestly would never have watched otherwise. Its paid off well.