I was taking a little break from serious art, and wanted to draw this. I don't do a lot of cartoon-y styles... so I wasn't that confident. But I'm happy with this silly piece.
Was she right to kick reki out of abandonded factory? The hyouko incident definitely created cause for her anger. The obvious answer is yes. If reki had stayed she would have never met rakka. Also hypothetically ignoring the seperation order from the renmei. Could she have achieved salvation through some other means at abandonded factory? Could there be multiple ways to have a day of flight? Is reki and rakkas relationship so unique that the outcome could not be replicated with any other character?
I think it's important to note the similar situation with kuromori. Rekis curse caused kuromori to go into the forest and come back with an illness. Nemu shunned reki for a bit but later forgave and came around.
I believe she could have had her day of flight at abandonded factory. Her expulsion only added another layer of depth to her sinbound illness. Reki having her "please help me" moment with midori or hyouko is possible. Hyouko early on paints her wings yellow. Where did he get that idea? There just might be another sinbound haibane at the factory!
So I just finished the show and had a little bit of time to collect my thoughts/read up on the series discourse but I still had a couple questions that went unanswered, mainly:
1 - How much time does a Haibane get to spend in Glie. Of course this is relative but is there any kind of limit to this?
I remember the Haibane Renmei telling Rakka that Reki’s time was almost up and she would need to free herself from sin in order to reach her day of flight or lose her Halo and wings. This limit clearly doesn’t act like a timer since Nemu is older than Reki is as she was present for Reki’s birth. If they were both timed out, Nemu would also need to leave as she would have to complete her day of flight as well. Not to mention Kuu was much younger than the rest of the bunch yet she left the earliest.
2 - What conditions must a Haibane meet in order to be eligible for their day of flight?
This seems to be the most clear cut for Reki, considering she was both sin bound (and originally died by suicide) as well as being one of the older Haibane present, but what about the conditions for other Haibane who may not have the same kinds of associated trauma from their passing. Or do all Haibane contain this since they all departed from the world too early and the trauma just comes in different degrees? Does that mean the day is flight is based on overcoming one’s trauma from death or is that only something for people who are sin bound? I guess it depends on if being bound by sin is related to cause of death or emotional pain.
3 - Are the other humans living in Glie real?
I’ve seen a couple interpretations for and against this but nothing really convincing either way. To me it just seems difficult to label them as human since most people who do this feel there is some way to distinguish them from Haibane such as how or when they died. If there’s no common factor that separates the two does that mean Haibane are really just lucky since they get another chance at life, assuming that’s what the day of flight really is. But it seems kind of dismissive to just disregard the humans as fake seeing as the Haibane Renmei made it seem as though living in Glie is a privilege regardless of being human or Haibane but I’m curious as to some other thoughts about this.
Oh, why these people are so loud?!
How on earth Milk-chan got into Rakka's house?
Hiiiii friends ! I was wondering if anyone who has this DVD knows if it comes with the art card? the first 3 come with one. I’ve ordered 3 in the past but all dvd cases came with damage that wasn’t shown, i feel like the first one i ordered had an art card but the other 2 didn’t. This listing specifically said with card so… if this dvd doesn’t come with one i’ll keep it cause it’s in perfect condition other wise, but i did spent $25 thinking id get the card :/
Hello again everyone! I made a post on here a few days ago after I finished watching the anime. I'm so so happy there is still an active community I can join to talk about this absolute masterpiece. long story short this anime has just refused to leave my mind since I watched it so I have some notes. Sorry if they are disorganized but they were compiled from several days. obviously there will be spoilers for Haibane Renmei as well as minor spoilers from Clannad and Madoka.
Alright here we go.
I really believe that haibane renmei has the power to cure some types of self imposed depressions. When you look at rekis journal at the end and realize she had begun to retroactively taint her memories to defend a person she was scared of becoming. I really don't think I have ever seen such a psychologically realistic and complete character as Reki in all the massive amount of stuff I've ever seen. My favorite part is when Rakka is alone cleaning the light leaves and some kind of laughing presence or something seemed to lightly run along the water. With that single move the communicator managed to subconsciously get Rakka to never fear or touch the wall again. It was interesting that Rakka was protrayed as scared even though the harmless and childlike nature of it and ethereal music suggested otherwise. It almost sounded like Kuu. It might have been actually I have no idea. It felt safe and like there was something friendly in the unknown. It's just so gentle. I really would like if the afterlife is like that. Glie seems perfectly set by something else to help even the most damaged of people to keep growing. It does it in the most gentle way possible. The walls are extremely measured, no more than a deterant. The communicator seems willing to bend rules if he thinks it will be of genuine benefit to a haibane. There are no enemies. Even their memories are erased, freeing them from the mental responsibility of whatever passed. Whatever happened is simply not in the scope of Glie. It is much much more interested in the haibane now. Honestly the shields of not knowing the past or future is such a gentle way to guide them. There is no judgment anywhere. I found it also extremely interesting how despite how much the communicator wants to help people progress, he seems extremely averse to giving people answers. He seems to find the answer as more valuable when it is self derived. He is extremely patient to make sure he can optimize everything on his side to help the haibane to the fullest extent he is able. I never realized. He probably did send Rakka into the wall so she could discover kuu was safe herself instead of just telling her. The communicator is beyond dignified in his approach. He is genius. He understands people on such a deep level I've never seen before.
Actually now that I think about it, the communicator doesn't actually interact with Haibane all that much. But somehow he knows all there names, dreams and many internal thoughts. The haibane must be on his mind an enormous amount yet he stays at the perfect distance to be an optimal catalyst. I'm sure he wishes he was closer. I also like how the communicator himself came a very long ways at what looked like the middle of the night for Rakka after she got out of the well by help from the Toga. Rakka then broke culture and immediately started talking to him but even after all that he just talked to Rakka with absolutely no contempt for everything. He even goes so far to tell her to take as much time as she needed since something she said was "very important". He then procceds to walk home in the middle of the night with no walking stick staff thing since Rakka needed it more.
Is there any anime more perfect than haibane renmei? It's like a genuine life lesson new worldview crammed into that little series. Time passes but I always think about it. There's always new symbolism and little things I never realized before. I realized the communicator put Rakka in the walls as "punishment" so she could be in an environment to feel kuu is safe. He wanted the experience not to tell. It was never about punishment. The communicator is a genius. There's only so many radical worldview changes someone can go through. Will I ever find a haibane renmei level series again? Reki retroactively tainted her memories to defend a version of her she didn't want to be. It's not thrown in the spotlight but you can see what happened. And the song refrain of memory in haibane almost sounds like a train. I never realized. Reki called the tracks a path. But tracks can't be deviated from which could be why she saw it as a path, a one way street of kinds. It doesn't even try to bring these things to attention. Theres just so many little things like this that go unnoticed. Why is there almost nothing like this out there? Nightmare~parting~loss sounds so much more natural somehow than almost any sad song I've heard. It sounds genuinely painful. Probably partially because I associate it with the Rakka wings scene but still. And it's the same song being played while the train comes for reki. You can see just how much hope she has surrendered from that. More so than just saying it could convey, you can see that reki to the bottom of her heart doesn't want to exist and wants to be done. It's a much deeper and complete surrender than anything I've ever seen. Maybe except tomoya falling into alcoholism like his dad. He truly was a collapsed man at that point. Is there anything that captures such a authentic and painful depiction of late stage depression as both of those scenes? At the end reki did ask for Rakka to save her, but it was a whisper, it was all that could be managed. I don't think reki thought she deserved any help or even expected the end to change. It was a small opportunity that could have easily been missed in the wind. I'm guessing Rakka probably rationalized it as an experiment or a "just in case anyone is listening" instead of wanting to be saved. I think it was "if this wasn't mean to be then this really is the last chance before the train gets here". I wonder what the author went through to be able to articulate such an accurate internal world for Reki. It hurts to watch. I've been in the exact same spot before too. I think it's actually healthy to watch things like these. I would be totally ok if students watched haibane in school as some kind of emotional resilience class. I found it interesting that the series distinguished waiting from progress in reki. Although portrayed differently (and in much less detail imo) you can see something similar ish happen in sayaka Miki in madoka. It's not a perfect line up for sure, it's like how blue or pink is to violet. Even so you can see the relationship. The 30th order effects in a mind when something feels unjustly unobtainable in rekis mind.
She can't escape the guilt/curse.
Her mind needs an explanation.
The explanation becomes self-condemnation.
Pain stops being merely unfortunate and starts feeling morally justified.
But because she can't become “better,” the failure reinforces itself.
The circumstance becomes identity.
“If this is who I am, then escaping it would be impossible—or wrong.”
“Evidence that contradicts my identity must be reinterpreted.”
Reki defends the identity that hurts her because it is the only thing that explains the pain of why she can never have her day of flight. The original wound is no longer the thing causing the majority of the suffering. I don't think the pain of everyone leaving reki was the problem. Like I said I think it was being reminded that there was something she could never have, and thus all the downstream 30th order problems that really began to run over and crush reki from the inside. That train was a sort of mental event horizon from where rescue would become impossible from the scope of Glie in my opinion.
And then the present Reki uses that reconstructed past to justify the future she expects. Because as soon as reki arrived at “I am the kind of person who cannot be forgiven,” her mind had a incentive to preserve that conclusion. Otherwise she would have to confront "Maybe I have spent years suffering for a reason that isn't true."
TL;DR, this anime might be the most perfect thing ever made and the psychology behind Reki is absolutely brilliant.
And also thank you to whoever read the whole dump