Review of Haibane Renmei

Elitist Anime are very dangerous at times, due to them being alluring. When a group of people circlejerk something over and over again, it becomes very difficult for a newcomer to see the flaws in the show that those people are praising. Some elitist Anime are deserving of the praise when you think about them critically, but then some boggle the mind as to how they are even receiving said praise in the first place. Today we take a look at Haibane Renmei, an Anime that is so beloved by the Anime community, to the point where it has become one of the holy elitistAnime and is praised as one of the best Anime series of all time. So, is Haibane Renmei really deserving of an elite status? Or did the masses blindly praise another title simply because the artstyle looked different and it was created by a group of people who had previous successes in the past? Let us find out.

The story starts out with a group of people called the Haibane, who come out of a cocoon due to unexplained reasons. Then, due to said unexplained reasons, they are forced to live in the world they were born in, in order to atone for their sins, find forgiveness and reach the afterlife, which is heaven. From this simple fact, we know that Haibane Renmei as a whole is supposed to represent a purgatory of sorts, and this simple reason is why it fails. To start off, the concept is unoriginal, a purgatory has been done many times before in other Anime such as Angel Beats, and in other works of fiction as well. An unoriginal premise is not a problem here, as it can still turn out to be a good one with the proper directing and execution, but Haibane Renmei is a show that is the very definition of wasted potential. Instead of having a purgatory where the Haibane get punished over and over again for their sins, until they atone for them, these Haibane are given first world pleasures and get to live a life that is full of content. Do you see the problem with this? The Anime doesn’t know what it wants to be, since it alludes to the fact that the world is a purgatory, but instead it gives us Haibane living in pleasure and happiness. Moreover, the story turns boring upon knowing that the Haibane do not face any struggles or labor, and that this one is another slice of life where cute girls do cute things. Some fans have argued that the Haibane are beings who face mental torture instead of a physical one, since the Anime deals in metaphysics rather than the physical. This might be true and one would have accepted that fact, if only the Haibane were given actual mental torture instead of the Anime waiting until the very end to give the viewers a glimpse of it. With this, Haibane Renmei becomes an Anime of wasted potential, and is neither good nor is it deserving of the praise it receives.

Moreover, Haibane Renmei’s concept is inflated to the heavens by it’s fanbase. It doesn’t matter what there is beyond that sacred wall that the Toga are protecting, since when passing through that wall the Haibane are forgiven and given a new life in peace where they ascend to heaven. It doesn’t matter what is beyond that wall since crossing the wall in itself is a metaphor to crossing into the afterlife and attaining nirvana. A nice and cute little concept, but people over-inflate said concept to no end, until it becomes rather trite.

--- The rest of this review contains minor spoilers for Haibane Renmei, and is advised to be read after completion of the series ---

The Anime suffers from major plot holes, aside from everything else that is wrong with it. To start off, the Toga are a major plot hole in the story, and are an addition that is unnecessary. When they say that nobody can travel beyond the wall, it is clearly presented as a symbol for death and the afterlife, but that raises the question of how the Toga are capable of travelling through it. A pretty clear cut case of terrible writing. Some Haibane Renmei fans have tried to refute this by saying that the Toga are a different species that is able to access the afterlife as well, and that we, the audience, don't know why they are in the setting of Haibane Renmei and how they got there in the first place. Regarding the Toga, the fact remains that it's in tradition with the "Leave it to your imagination" theme it had going on. Maybe the Toga were chosen by the God that created Old home and the afterlife to create order? Maybe it’s something else? Who knows? The problem with this is that if the nature of the Toga is just left to interpretation, their role in the story is nonsense. They exist for no reason, except to call the central metaphor into question. A pretty clear cut case of bad writing.

The characters in Haibane Renmei are all one dimensional, bar one - Reki - who is only given meaningful development at the very last episode of the show, and her change of heart was interesting, even though very poorly directed. What about the others then? Kuu received essentially no character development before suddenly changing in preparation for the day of death, and there was no buildup to it. Kana, Nemu and Hikari all fit neatly into their little archetypes with little thought as to what the purpose of those archetypes is in the first place. Some people argue that Kuu was essentially a catalyst, and if that is true, then that actually makes her worse since if she's just going to amount to a plot device, then there's no reason to have it in the first place. Fans argue that Kuu had been getting development since the very first episode, but I don’t believe in that junk for a second. Kuu’s emotions suddenly changed just to show the audience a glimpse of what it is like to be a mental patient and what happens to those who are mentally tortured and hate themselves. She was not a real character more so than a plot device.

All the talk of the gods, particularly in the latter half of the series, ends up just being meaningless and is there only to accompany the angel aesthetic the characters have going for them, that does nothing but make the show look smart with no actual depth to provide. The show also relies too much on open ended interpretation rather than solve it’s plot like the other series within Abe's trilogy did, which does nothing but again, make the show look smart with no actual depth to provide.

The audiovisuals in Haibane Renmei are very weak. The show has aged quite poorly, and the presentation is both lifeless and bad. The CGI windmills in some of the episodes are appalling to look at, and the character designs look like they took Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain and cloned her over and over again with the addition of wings. Comparing this one to Texhnolyze would be preposterous since the latter has character designs that are beautiful and creative, and unique, while Haibane's look the same. The soundtrack in Haibane Renmei is nothing striking, and is not memorable in the slightest. The opening, Blue Bird, is a fun listen, though feels awkward to watch rather than to just listen to, so I’ll give them that at least. The animation is lackluster at most times and the presentation feels stale as well. As for the soundtrack, there is minimalism that is prevalent here, so there is not much to critique over.

--- End of spoilers ---

Overall, there isn’t much else to say about Haibane Renmei. Is it an Anime deserving of the elitist praise? Far from it. This is an Anime that is overinflated with praise simply because it has an intriguing concept, a unique though mundane artstyle, and creators who are known for making some of the best Anime ever created. Other than that, the show contains way too many flaws for it’s own good to be called a good Anime, much less a great elitist one by extension.