Review of Haibane Renmei

Story: Nothing really takes place. I know there's a lot of symbolism and world construction throughout the first few episodes, but these cannot be the primary fuel for the journey. The first few episodes are spent with Rakka trying to find a job, which is supposed to be like a light, existential journey of searching where one belongs, but it's not very strong and clouded by this awkward slice-of-life type of pacing that makes it feel long, boring, and drawn out. That's not all. The characters are of some interest, but the Haibane are born into the world with little-to-no knowledge of their previous lives. Of course,this is of interest, but it's not something that is expanded upon or mentioned prominently to be of any real interest. This isn't the error, however. That's merely the cause. The effect is that we get a cast of characters that don't have any real purpose for what they're doing. For instance, a child as it grows merely goes around and does things because why not, but an adult has lived through events that start giving definition to their personality, their choices, etc. None of the characters have this, save for Reki and Nemu. Even then, the majority of their history is only revealed in the latter half of the latter half which makes for a rushed arc.

My problem here isn't the overabundance of symbolism in disguise or slow pacing, but the mere fact that there's little reason to watch up until episode 10. It's a whole lot of nothing, which is unfortunate as the world itself is actually quite interesting. I found myself wanting more to the show not because it was good, but because I needed more of a story.

To reiterate, I do not want the symbolism explained or even reasons for the laws and culture within Haibane Renmei. What I want (and should be wanted by everyone) is some sort of over-arching conflict or goal that is visible from the beginning. In some ways there is one, but it grows thing incredibly fast.

And please, don't get me started on that shoehorned philosophy midway into the story. There's just a lot of problems on a structural level here, and there really shouldn't be with such a star-studded cast working behind it.

Art:
The animation was kinda mehh. I mean, it's a dialogue driven anime, but there were some points where I felt things could have looked better. Perhaps it was the color pallet that was chosen. Either way, it's alright.

Settings don't feel all that alive. There's a lot of potential here to create a living, breathing world, but these were most likely skimped out on for financial purposes.

Sound:
There's 2 decent songs, one I really liked, and the rest were forgettable and unlikable. The intro track was great, though. Actually, so was the outro.

EDIT EDIT EDIT /// I concede to the fact that I was wrong here. After discussing with another individual who has seen the work, I feel as though I've put far too much weight on the music. The purpose of music in a visual work is to assist in translating the emotional value of the scenes and story. The music itself is good. There were 2 songs I felt were pretty fantastic and there was one that I absolutely hated (and was repeated). Perhaps my gripe was due to the fact that there was a huge disconnect between the music and the events taking place. However, I appreciate the comment I received on this, and a special thank you to Buo for coming messaging me. I'm always open to criticism, especially based upon my own criticism. =3 /// END EDIT END EDIT END EDIT

Since the anime is all dialogue it should be expected that the VA work is fairly good. Thankfully, it was all pretty excellent and I never felt like their interpretations of the script were sub-par.

Character:
I'd like to make note of it again. Due to the fact that we're limited to the Haibane in this story, and taking into consideration their limited knowledge, it's unfortunate that the story kind of limited itself in this way. There's a lot of potential when it comes to this sort of lore, but the failure wasn't in the characters, but rather in the structuring the story and pacing.

I didn't have any real care for the characters in the first half of this anime, and nearing the middle an event takes place that, to me, felt poorly prepared. This is all the fault of the stories pacing and NOT the characters, as the characters themselves are alright. However, a well-written character is well-written character despite the pacing, and this story doesn't really have that. I did feel some care during the final 3 episodes, but I was still suffering the fatigue of poorly written earlier episodes. I can't overlook this.

Enjoyment:
I must admit, this was one of the worst anime I've ever had to watch. I know this will seem like the highest sin to many people, (and considering I'm in the minority competing against a median score of 8+) but I can't ignore these issues. I may be putting much more weight on the problems within Haibane Renmei than some other people, but the fact of the matter is that this work is flawed to an egregious degree. I really wanted to enjoy this work considering I found the world, culture, and settings to be quite interesting, but these flaws really killed it for me.

Final Thoughts:
A 4/10, in my book, is a rating I reserve for works that are just below the sufficient mark. They've shown that they can properly do some things but fail so much in others that all it would have taken is some more work to fix the kinks. It's also a grade I reserve for works that I feel didn't jell with me personally, but others have gravitated towards. It's an acceptance that I think it's bad, but it's not 3- bad. I don't feel like I should need to explain this, but I've given another work a 4/10 that people have found enjoyable and someone sent me a long and arduous message about how I didn't love my mother. Please don't send me a message about how I don't love my mother. If you do I'll show it to my friends and we'll make fun of you. We always need a good laugh.

If you want to discuss points of this work in a civil manner, feel free to send me a PM. While I didn't enjoy this work, I love talking about stories, no matter what kind.

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