Review of Haibane Renmei

Story: This anime really drew me in. Although I could tell the main theme of the plot by watching the first episode, I still kept watching. In this anime, instead of telling you the meaning of death or topics around that subject, they instead take you around the importance of yourself and those around you; as well as forgiveness. Usually, when anime take this route, I would assume, "There must be a God that will forgive them." But the story has the main characters learn and grow themselves, and in the end, learn to forgive thyself. Personally, I have problems with accepting myself and thereare times when I can't forgive myself for causing hurt towards another person or myself. Therefore, this anime made me feel as if I was watching a life lesson. The only problem I had was the lingering questions in the end. There were still quite a few plotholes that I wanted the anime to cover, but maybe keeping it a mystery was part of the plan?

Art and Sound: The animation is fantastic. Not one frame shows laziness as expected from a 2000s anime. I felt a bit of similarity to Naruto's (not shipudden) style of art in the show, making it quite nostalgic to watch.

For the music, I don't remember much about it, but the sound effects were great, especially when Rakki was in the walls.

Character: This one is abit hard. I didn't find anyone astounding in particular. Everyone had their own way of living and no one was overbearing. The only issue I had was that the anime didn't really explain too much about the characters. I wanted to know more about Rakka's past, but as well as the side characters' past. The only mystery that was solved really was Rekki. That was great and all, but it left me quite disappointed in the end. My favorite character had to be The Communicator. His words always sent a chill up my spine, especially when he talked about the Circle of Sin. "If you recognize your sins, then you have no sin. But if you then believe you have no sin, you no longer recognize your sins."

Overall: I'm sad that this anime is not well known. I would definitely recommend this anime to those who are looking for a chill yet a soul touching anime.