Review of Haibane Renmei

Haibane Renmei was a novel undertaking for me in that it was the first algorithmically recommended show I've watched. It appeared in my MAL suggested works and, having researched it a bit, I decided it was a good fit; I normally gush over the opportunity to watch mostly hand-drawn, slow-boil character pieces with big overarching themes. Haibane Renmei features an absolutely sub-zero cold open, as our introduction to the main character literally occurs before she's born. This does set us up to receive exposition at the same rate Rakka does, however the stream of information still seems to come more as an intravenous drip than asolid flow. The concepts that get the main themes and story rolling don't even appear for quite a few episodes.

It's worth noting at this point that the cast we interact with for the most part has its own set of flaws. For one, the cast is almost entirely female, despite the fact that male haibanes exist in the universe. It's not done for a fanservice kind of reason at least and avoids any of the bonds between the main cast being shoehorned into romance plots, but I couldn't help but think it was a panty-shot and a filler episode away from being Gabriel Dropout: the sad version. As it is, the main cast is largely left out of the main themes of redemption and self-discovery; the main character and the Mary Sue, chainsmoking, Vespa-riding Reki share all the meaningful struggles in secret while most other haibanes get a pretty straightforward personality, an episode featuring them explaining what lies behind that, and then mostly simply follow the two more important characters around.

The atmosphere of the show is pretty decent, albeit made the more bland by the lack of action really occurring in it. The town of Grie is a pleasantly surreal mish-mash of time periods, hinting at deeper mysteries whilst giving off a sleepy exterior. The art and sound design do a good job of conveying this, though having more explicit displays of the world would have been welcome. Art and sound were similarly appealing though somewhat uninteresting, having all the boxes checked for things I normally like without having enough flair to make them distinct.

In summation, I didn't really go for Haibane Renmei. It simply did not cover enough ground or let its hair down enough to really break though a malaise of blandness it shrouded itself in. The world seems rich enough and the flourishes, where present, in the art seem to indicate that with a bit less prudish an approach to storytelling, a show in the Haibane Renmei universe could really take flight. From what was shown rather than hinted at though, I'd advise you to make like Nemu and sleep on this one.