Review of Haibane Renmei

Notice: This show is labelled as "Mixed Feelings" due to its lack of a traditional plot, over-focus on dialogue, lack of action and missing narrative threats such as villains or world-ending events that must be dealt with. These factors may turn off the average anime watcher, so you've been warned beforehand. That being said, let the review begin! Atmosphere & Setting: If I had to use one word to describe the feeling of the atmosphere and world, it would be sublime. Haibane Renmei takes place in what looks to be a fantasy 19th-ish-century European-looking village surrounded by massive walls, where the main cast of Haibane (The angel-looking characters)exist alongside the humans. They live in an abandoned building called Old Home, take up charity work, and live without the use of money in a society that tolerates them and views them as good luck charms.
The rest of the world lore is a mystery, as even the village's residents don't know what is beyond their walls, nor are they permitted to attempt to scale them or leave the city through them, almost as if the village itself is a jail or purgatory of sorts.

Animation & Art:
This is where the series struggles the most. It's not well-animated most of the time, but that is understandable for an anime made in 2002. Despite that, the anime is beautiful, and the art style is unique as it was drawn by Yoshitoshi Abe, who also worked on Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze. Basically, this means you're in for an artistic adventure with trippy visuals and breathtaking scenes, even if the animation isn't up to par with today's standards and looks dated.

Characters:
The show revolves around six main characters, whose names will be withheld for spoiler warnings.
The character writing is the peak of this series and what makes it so great. Each character is unique and feels human rather than anime archetypes/cliches. All of the main cast members have their own motivations, and some shift drastically as the story slowly unravels itself in terms of positive and negative developments.
Character progression is one of Haibane Renmei's biggest strengths. The story lives and dies based on how well-written its characters are—and man, they are written well!
You could argue that this anime more or less focuses on its characters rather than the external world, so it's very much an "introverted" anime, as it involves a lot of introspection and reflection rather than action.

Philosophy & Story (without spoilers):
Haibane Renmei is a profoundly symbolic anime that focuses on the meaning of life, suffering, and reaching atonement in a world with few to no answers with significant religious undertones.
It's an amalgamation of character case studies focused on their daily trials and tribulations, heavy injections of nihilistic depression, and existential crises regarding death/rebirth, with a significant focus on Arthur Schopenhauer's Hedgehog's Dilemma.
This is because many of the conflicts within the show stem from the inability to connect to other Haibane and Humans alike.
Additionally, Carl Jung's and Sigmund Freud's dream theories/concepts would be a good match for such a series, as dreams and dismantling their meanings play a large portion of the plot for various reasons.

Music:
The series' music is atmospheric and sometimes isn't present during conversations; however, this doesn't mean the soundtrack is terrible by any metrics, as many of the composed songs for this series are beautiful and play when appropriate. The intro and outro are pretty well done as they symbolically represent the show and what to expect from it without giving away too much.

Conclusion:
Haibane Renmei is a symbolic masterpiece and a worthwhile anime for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology and religion. However, it's not an anime for everyone and has its fair share of problems, such as slow pacing and a lack of external conflict, such as a main villain or bad people. So, with that being said, I'm going to list a few scores here that will differ depending on what you're looking for.

8/10 to 10/10 for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology, or religion, as the series is amazing in these areas.
6/10 to 7/10 for those of you who want an anime with an interesting story and well-written characters.
5/10 and under if you want an action-packed anime with a traditional story structure, following a narrative in which the main cast of characters defeats an evil or something threatening world.

This anime isn't for everyone, and it is divisive as it challenges the norms of the industry even for its time.