Review of Haibane Renmei

[NO SPOILER REVIEW] I'm not an expert and this is my opinion on this anime. Long story short, Haibane Renmei is an anime about the life journey of a Haibane from the day they were born from their cocoon. Rakka, a haibane that was just bornt in a town she's not familiar with, only remember the remnant of her dream from the time she's in the cocoon. The story conveys around the journey of Rakka in the unknown town named Glie she's living in. In that peaceful life she got, sorrowful thought still happens within her inner self. This anime is a great try if you likean anime with a realistic drama within its fantasy's theme and focused on its realistic character development. ABe's works always have an interesting and unique concept in it, thus I decided to watch this piece of work that ABe made.

1. Story : 9

Haibane, a being that was bornt from a cocoon that grows from the land of Glie town, starts living in a peaceful town with many kind people and Haibanes. Haibanes were taken care of by Haibane Renmei, a group that takes care of Haibane's life. The town was surrounded by walls and filled with many warm and kind town folks. I thought at first there would be a political conflict between the town folks and the Haibane, but I was wrong. There was no political conflict. Instead, it's an inner conflict within the characters itself. Some people feels that they were trapped in a caged surrounded by walls, some people feels that they live in heaven where everything is peaceful. Haibane's goal was to find their resolution in their life. The conflict revolves around the Haibane's journey to find their own absolute resolution.

It magnificently delivers the message of the story with a very interesting concept revolves around it. From my conclusion, Haibane Renmei is a depiction of life events from the day we were born until the day we rest. A new-born baby that was blessed with prayers and hope from their parents ( Haibane depicted as a good luck charm by the town folks) to be born in a brand new world ( Unknown world ). Accompanied by their brothers and sisters ( Other Haibanes ), they pursue their journey to find the identity of their life ( Cocoon Dream ). Facilitated with life necessities by their parents ( Haibane Renmei ) such as house ( Walls ), food, drinks, clothes ( Scrip ). They must go to school to gain knowledge, and work to gain salary for living cost ( Haibane must work in order to return their favor to the town folks ).

Most people have their own peaceful resolution. Some people have sinned that doesn't let them encounter a peaceful resolution and thoughts. Some find their way their way to purify their sins. Some stucked in the darkness of Circle of Sin, desperate to find a way to salvage their sins in order to have a peaceful resolution. That also applies to Haibane. I found this interesting where the symbol of all of this is an angel that lives in a peaceful cage, as if it's like a person that has been given a second chance to atone their sins in a brand new world. I don't really want to focus on the religion thing here since it's so vague and will only go for the life lessons it got.

This is one of those anime where things goes interesting after the first 3 episodes. The world building is very beautiful and very well delivered. The anime introduced us to their world building within the first 3 episodes, just like how Rakka, the main character, was introduced to the Glie town by other Haibanes. Many questions raises from this anime because of its unexplainable concept, but I don't have any interest to know the details because even the characters and the town folks don't know the story behind the town and the outside world itself. We watch in the perspective of the clueless Rakka in an unknown town she's not familiar with for the entire show. The only clue she got is the remnant of her dream when she was in her cocoon. Just like us when we asked such things as "Where is God?" "Why do we exist?" "Whats the reason of my life?". No one knows the absolute answer of such things. We only know that we exist in this world to live. Thus I find no reason to find the answer of the unexplainable things it got.

I give it a 9/10. I can relate to the conflict thats happening within the characters a lot. This anime is pretty realistic, yet very fantasy. Many life lessons were taken. If only the concept was more clear and more explainable, maybe I would give it a 10/10.

2. Art : 8

An old generation anime style that looks aesthetic. Beautiful color scheme, beautiful background, beautiful scenery, beautiful camera shot. Every aspect of this anime supports each other resulting a very magnificent piece of art. As always, I love ABe's art style. Very aesthetic, especially with a theme like this. The downside of the art in this anime is there's not much of a details drawn. If only, maybe, they got better budget and better equipment, it will be a masterpiece of art just like Serial Experiment Lain, another of ABe's gorgeous work.

3. Sound : 10

Very beautiful and calming top tier soundtracks that I havent heard in a long time! Its very rare for an anime to have a soundtrack with a very elegant and arresting rhythm like this. It's one of the aspect that makes this show so special and charming for me that it makes me want to cry just by listening to it. The song choice always fits each scene perfectly everytime with its calming mood and sometimes thrill yet still got its beautiful charm all the time. I listened to all of the soundtracks and it made my day so peaceful within its beautiful rhythm. I love them. I would like to know whats the genre of such soundtracks like this.

Sound effect in this anime is average and simple. but in my opinion they still nailed the mood everytime with its sound effect. simple yet always delivered a strong message with its sound. The soundtraack helps a lot in the aspect of Sound so I will still give it a big 10.

4. Character : 8

Every character in this series looks pretty realistic in terms of their perspective in life but also feel surreal by how they act very kind to everyone. Each characters has its own dilemma and they keep struggling to solves that dilemma they are facing. Rekki and Rakka got the most best character development for the entire series that keeps me watching the show.

5. Voice Acting : 6

The voice acting is a little bit bland. some characters got a strong voice actor, some don't. I did say the voice act is bland, but I love Rakka's voice. perfectly represents Rakka's personality. A clueless little girl who seems to be lost in a world she's not familiar with. Even till the end, she still stays the same. A character development was made, but the original Rakka was also still there.

The other character's voice that I like is Rekki. The rest of the characters sounds average and doesnt really have a charm within unlike Rakka.

6. Enjoyment : 10

10/10. Very beautiful and strong story build up. Always expect the unexpected and the bizzareness event occuring. For a slice of life anime, the build up was pretty intense for me. It succesfully hooked me up until the end of the show by the mysteriousnesss surrounding the show. It will be a great ride of a show if you watch this without spoiler.

7. Overall : 9

It's a very fun ride to watch this show. Very charming, very beautiful and aesthetic anime with a soothing soundtracks accompanying the show while witnessing the struggle of the characters finding their true identity of themselves. Many life lessons were learned from such a fantasy anime. This show was not meant to focused on it's complex plot. It's meant to focus on how diverse every people are in this world in terms of their personality and their thoughts. If you like to watch an anime focused on its realistic character development, then I guess this is a good shot for it. And I'm sure that this anime is good for older people because it's also at that time where we questioned ourselves the true meaning of our life.

I hope you find this review helpful and took you interest to watch this anime. Thank you so much, enjoy the show.