Haibane Renmei

summary

Haibane Renmei follows Rakka as its protagonist. She's a newborn haibane, just hatched out of her cocoon. What a haibane is exactly is something she's not sure of. All she knows is that she's gifted a halo, and soon sprouts wings the color of ash.

Rakka is watched over by five other girls, who introduce her to her new life. Rakka doesn't remember her old life, nor do any of the others. The first of these girls is Reki, a mature figure who watches over the young and always assists when she can, despite being strict at times. Then, there's the sleepy Nemu, the rambunctious Kana, the clumsy Hikari, and the exuberant Kuu.

Throughout the first few episodes, Rakka becomes acquainted with this new world she inhabits. She lives in the city of Glie, where walls are erected around its perimeter for mysterious reasons. Er, there's a lot of mystery in this show, so you have to watch it to figure things out. Anyways, Rakka meets many of the people who live in this city, explores her friends' occupations, and adjusts to this strange new beginning... Eventually peeling back some of the layers obscuring the oddities she encounters.

history

Haibane Renmei is a project of Yoshitoshi ABe's. It began in the late 90s, when ABe created a doujinshi featuring many doodles of angel girls. His intention was to practice and explore girls who were different than what he typically portrayed. He began work on a small art book. It was called "Haibane Renmei," or "Charcoal Feather Federation," and published in December 1998. The early manuscripts compile an assortment of concept ideas and comedic bits around girls with wings and halos. Some of these ideas reappear in later versions; for instance, this work establishes the idea of wing warmers, which is one of my favorite quirks the franchise introduces. Ultimately, there is no real story to follow throughout this piece. The "Haibane Renmei" of the 90s is largely exploratory.

In 2001, some years after the serialization of Lain, ABe returns to his old draft of the haibane world. He creates a second doujinshi that's loosely inspired by the first, this one called "Haibanes of Old Home." This new work gives birth to the story of Rakka and the girls she lives with. Some of the characters resemble predecessors from the original production, and some seem entirely new. This second manga is also quite a short production, and mostly covers brief introductions into Rakka, the world of Glie, and the other haibane.

Come 2002, not long after he publishes the first two chapters of his manga, ABe is approached by dear producer Yasuyuki Ueda—whom you may recognize from his work on Serial Experiments Lain—for an anime adaptation of his newly created doujinshi. ABe finishes the storyline by early May that year, and that following autumn, the anime "Haibane Renmei" airs, based on ABe's scenario and directed by Tomokazu Tokoro. It reprises the name of its original source, and follows the plotline established in the second doujinshi. In a way, Haibane Renmei is the culmination of years of thought, a masterpiece developed through numerous iterations. Each version is special in its own way, the same way each haibane is a special person, who matters and should be loved.

ABe produced two more chapters of the doujinshi once the anime began work. The first, published in July 2002, is "Haibane Lifestyle Diary," featuring some concept/reference material of the haibane girls, as well as some 4koma bits. The other came after the anime finished, in December 2002. It was called "Haibanes of Old Home: Extra Story", and pieces together some of Reki's backstory. It's advised that this chapter be read after watching up to episode 12, since it spoils some of the show's content.