Review of Haibane Renmei

Ah, my first review... This anime was recommended to me as a serious anime. I had good expectations for this anime, but I was quite let down. What was a supposedly serious anime turned out to be a slice of life anime. STORY The story, if there really is one, seems to just focus on everyone's daily life, with Rakka trying to find her own place in the town. There's nothing wrong with this. However, there were a lot things left unsolved. For example, we never find out what is behind that giant wall, or why the Toga are the only ones allowed to go out ofthe wall, or who Rakka was before she became a Haibanel. They never explain it fully, so that's disappointing. Another point is that there is hardly any conflict. Sometimes, we'll see Reki arguing with the Abandoned Factory Haibane. I suppose the main conflict is between Reki and Rakka near the end of the series. Also, the ending wasn't satisfying, as it feels like a beginning to something else.

ART

The art style was quite simple. The scenery was pretty but plain. Even the characters were drawn plainly. So that's all I'll say on the art.

SOUND

The music was very beautiful. The opening had a European touch to it. The background music was simply beautiful and fit the mood of the show well. The ending, however, sounded really creepy to me, and I'm not saying that because Halloween is 2 weeks away. But yeah, other than the ending, the music in the show was pretty good.

CHARACTER

Okay, the characters made the show more than the story did. We see a lot of Haibane, each with different designs and personalities. But they all fell into a stereotype: Hikari the best friend type, Kana the tomboy type, Reki the big sis type, etc. As nice as it is to see a variety of characters, we see very little development. The only development I saw was with Rakka and Reki. Due to this, I just couldn't get a good attachment to the characters.

ENJOYMENT

I did enjoy this, but I just couldn't enjoy it fully. The anime was so slow and drawn out with no real conflict, so it was hard to really get into it.

OVERALL

Haibane Renmei is a anime that leaves too many things unanswered. Some people are fine with that, and others, like myself, are not. This was one of the slowest animes I've ever watched. You'd think 13 episodes would mean a rushed anime, but nope. It's just a slow anime with no real plot until the last 2 or 3 episodes. This anime isn't for everyone, so you can watch it and see for yourself. And, uh, yeah. That's pretty much it. Have a nice day or night! :)