Welcome everyone to another week of Haibane Renmei! This is a rather uplifting episode compared to the last few, a sort of breathe of fresh air. Rakka has an eye opening conversation while Reki takes her place at the bottom of the metaphorical well. What do either of those things mean? Read on and find out!
Before we get into all the narrative mumbo jumbo though I want start with some praise for the music. I haven’t talked about it much until now because I wanted a larger sample size. But at this point I can comfortably say that Kou Ootani has made something special. There’s a specific style to Haibane Renmei’s sound, one that’s almost reverent, riding that line of feeling almost religious. Yet Kou Ootani manages to create music that is both happy and sad, quiet and adventurous, hopeful and resigned, all the while keeping the same Haibane Renmei style. My only complaint with it is that occasionally the sound mixing appears to be off. For instance in this episode there were a few scenes where the music, though good, overpowered the dialogue. I’m unsure how much of this is just BD remastering vs original audio problems but they exist regardless.
Now lets head into the break so we can talk spoilers!
Right away I need to say that this was an incredibly interesting week of Haibane Renmei. The idea of rebirth, how it conveyed Rakka rising up out of the well and leaving behind her worldly possessions (Her shoes) while Reki simultaneously fell deeper into despair. The way these two actions juxtaposed each other without Haibane Renmei stating anything outright. Everything in Haibane Renmei feels deliberate. Like I can anticipate what will happen next. Yet even when I’m wrong, such as my idea that Reki would be saved by helping others, I don’t feel cheated because the narrative progression makes sense. Taking a shot at a currently airing seasonal, this is what I wanted Sonny Boy to do. To provide an interesting surface level story while leaving something deeper for the viewers to think and talk about should they so choose.
That said while I was most likely wrong about Reki’s Day of Flight I am now sure of something else: Depression. Rakka’s whole story, even before she became a Haibane, is about depression. Or is at least connected to it. Because it seems to me that, in her previous life, Rakka was suicidally depressive. She locked herself away from the world and everyone in it because she didn’t believe she deserved their help. That she wasn’t worth the effort. Her falling through the air is most likely connected to her suicide, perhaps jumping off of a building, and the bird that tried to catch her is a representation of someone who tried to help her. Someone she now recognizes after this experience in the well, accepting that she wasn’t truly alone. All of this filtering back into my belief that this is a giant metaphor for Limbo.
This makes her climbing out of the well with the assistance of the Haibane Priests very symbolic. Like I said above, she is leaving behind her material possessions and accepting the help of the faith. Walking barefoot into the world once more. She is being reborn through their struggle and coming out of the well a changed person. Now I’m unsure how much of this is just “People need help” and how much is meant to be about how Religion specifically helps people. But regardless of which it is the important thing is that this experience in the well has, as the title suggests, acted as a rebirth of Rakka. I really like it, I think it works no matter how you try to view it. A surface level growth of character? A symbolic representation of depression and religion? Little timmy getting saved from the well? All work.
Moving on, while we are on the topic of symbolism and religion lets talk about the most abstract part of the episode: The riddle. At least that’s what I would say if I didn’t think I knew what it was about. This riddle, the “Riddle of Sin”, seems very easy to overthink. The idea that you are not a sinner if you recognize your sin, but to recognize your sin you must admit to being a sinner. It’s constructed in a way that’s almost meant to confound, a chicken and the egg scenario. But the way I understand it, that feels like the point. The answer to the riddle is to simply stop worrying about your Sin and to move forward with your life. To accept that it happened but not dwell on or agonize over it. And it’s here that Reki seems to be struggling.
I’m repeating myself a bit this post, but as Rakka rises up Reki seems to be falling down. She thought she finally had someone to share the burden with. A fellow Sin-Bound who wouldn’t leave her like everyone else one day will. But with Rakka recognizing, accepting and moving past her Sin, Reki is all alone again. Just like Communicator said, Reki as recognized her sin. But rather than moving past that she is instead spiraling deeper and deeper, unable to find her way out. It’s rather tragic if you ask me and not where I expected Haibane Renmei to go. I thought we would get a happy ending of sorts, that Reki and Rakka both would eventually get their Days of Flight. But now it seems more and more likely that only one of them, if any at all, will get there. And that’s kinda sad.
I’m rambling at this point, the problem with only getting 4 hours of sleep last night I suppose. Whatever the case I think that, all in all, this was another good episode from Haibane Renmei. I’m really enjoying not only its surface level story about angel girls but its deeper exploration of religion, depression and self-acceptance. My only concern is that these sorts of subjects can easily fall apart at the finale. Either they fail to give a satisfactory conclusion or they start to contradict themselves in an effect to please everyone. With 4 episodes left Haibane Renmei still has a lot of work ahead of it if it wants to avoid these pitfalls. Hopefully it can though. I really want to finish this series and be able to say “Yeah… that was pretty good”.
You’ll love the finale. This show is brilliant.