Haibane Renmei

One aspect that's often fun and refreshing about modern Far Eastern art is the way it takes up elements from our Western culture, rips them from their context, puts them through the grinder and then forms a new whole out of the resulting mess that has nothing whatsoever to do with the original source. A good example of this is the short anime series "Haibane Renmei". It depicts a world inhabited not only by humans, but also by beings called "haibane" who have little wings on their backs and wear halos on their heads. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? However, the haibane are not the type of angels that we are familiar with.

When teenage girl Rakka, the main protagonist, comes into the world of "Haibane Renmei", she hatches out of a giant egg, remembering nothing of any previous existence except a vague dream of herself falling from the sky. Disoriented and scared, she is taken in by the haibane community. She receives a halo freshly cast out of metal and goes through the painful and gory process of growing wings. After having recovered from this ordeal, the other haibane introduce her to the world she now lives in, which basically consists of one little town and a few stretches of beautiful countryside, all surrounded by a huge, insurmountable wall. Supervised by the mysterious "federation", the haibane pursue various jobs in the town, being rewarded with little paper slips that they can exchange for used items.

The series follows Rakka as she explores this little world with its many strange rules. She tries to figure out how it was created, the purpose of her existence in it, who she used to be previously and, most of all, what is on the other side of the wall. This story is told in a manner similar to children's books such as those by Astrid Lindgren. There are a few mild action scenes, but for the most part, "Haibane Renmei" is very slow and quiet. It focuses on dialogues and Rakka's many wondrous discoveries in the imaginative fantasy world. And like all good children's books, it is essentially a tale of growing up: finding your place, coming to terms with yourself, loneliness and friendship, running away and coming back home, learning to trust, forgiveness, overcoming loss. I can't go into more detail without giving away the plot, but let me assure you the creators explore these themes with a touching acuteness of observation, a beautiful straightforwardness and simplicity and making highly effective use of symbolism.

"Haibane Renmei" is, however, not suited for small children. Firstly, because it is rather complex thematically. Secondly, because many scenes, especially towards the end, are really quite tough and/or very sad and could frighten smaller kids or make them cry. However, children of about 12 years would probably love it, if their imagination and sense of wonder aren't yet completely ruined. As will many adults who have retained their "inner child". "Haibane Renmei" may get a little too preachy here and there, but the enjoyable aspects clearly predominate: beautiful animation by Yoshitoshi Abe ("Serial Experiments Lain"), careful and inventive storytelling and many clever stylistic subtleties. Warmly recommended.