Haibane Renmei

[Radical Dreamer]

Ok, so the only other threads I could find on this topic (at least, that were meant for discussion of the anime) were from 2003, and not wanting to gravedig, I've made this thread. Hope that's ok.


Anyways, I watched this anime yesterday (yes, the entire thing--my parents were out of town, and there was nothing to do. XD), and in that time, it has become #3 in my top 5 list of my favorite anime. I was very impressed by how clean it was, by the themes that were presented (forgiveness, redemption, the consequences of sin, breaking free from sin, etc.), and by the overall enjoyment of the show. The animation was clean, the colors, though muted, worked for the show's mood, the main characters were dynamic and round, and the storyline kept me interested and hooked. Even though some of the theology was a little strange, this show carried some good "illustrations" for the themes that I mentioned earlier. So, who else has seen this anime, and what did you think? Discuss!

[ChristianKitsune]

while I have only seen the first few episodes and the last few, I still really love this anime.

the whole story line is actually the creater's view on Religion and I think it's very well done.

[CDLviking]

Without getting into a theological debate, or trying to spoil the show for those who haven't seen it, this show reminded me of the Catholic idea of Purgatory (not perfectly, but the general feel of it). I really enjoyed the show because of its theme on redemption.

[ClosetOtaku]

SP1 has done a fine outline of HR for his Sunday School class for discussion; I believe they are going to finish watching it very soon.

http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=24573

Since we go into a pretty good depth of discussion there, I won't repeat much of what is said in this forum.

For an even more indepth discussion, you may want to check out the web's best Haibane Renmei discussion, Sekai no Hajimari.

Glad you liked the series. It is unquestionably my favorite out of all anime series.

[Phil Hartman]

[Radical Dreamer]

The thing that really surprised me about this show was the fact that, even though it begins kind of slowly, I was still intrigued by it; something made me want to watch the next episode. Most of the time, when a show is very quiet and starts out slowly, I won't really want to watch other episodes, but that wasn't the case here. It has a certain factor that pulls you in when you least expect it, I guess.

[Yahshua]

Yeah an interesting and cool anime by the character designer of Serial Experiment Lain.

[ClosetOtaku]

[quote="Radical Dreamer"]The thing that really surprised me about this show was the fact that, even though it begins kind of slowly, I was still intrigued by it]

Agreed. That's typical of Yoshitoshi ABe's work -- as previously mentioned, he did Serial Experiments: Lain and Texhnolyze (two slow-opening shows that pick up pace) and NieA_7 (a slow opening show that never picked up, at least for me).

I think what caught me totally off guard was
[spoiler] Episode 6, with Kuu's Day of Flight. [/spoiler]
Up until that moment, I'd missed a lot of the subtle hints that were going on concerning it.

That's what I enjoy most about the series -- it is extremely tightly written, and after you finish the first watching and start with the second, you realize that almost every spoken line has a deeper meaning that isn't apparent your first time through.

[SP1]

Well, as already mentioned, I took the time to write a 13 episode Sunday School lesson plan for this series, so I guess you know my opinion. I am even field testing it on my class at church (suckers). I mean, I don't think I've progressed to the idolatry stage or anything.

I find that, with multiple viewings, this series does not lose it's punch. I still get teary eyed at some parts.



SP1

[TallasLint]

Haibane Renmei is definitely in my top 3 favorite animes (with Ojamajo Doremi and Gakuen Alice...interesting mix....) and definitely the most touching.

I think my favorite part of Haibane Renmei is Nemu's creation story. I think that's where I realized how well it fit in with Christianity, although not perfectly. I love the themes of sin and how the Haibane cannot find salvation within themselves, they need someone else to save them.