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DON’T PANIC – NO SPOILERS
I just finished this and enjoyed it very much, I had heard about it long ago as being good but for some reason I never picked it up until now. The character design and art work is by Yoshitoshi ABe who did the design for Serial Experiments Lain and so his characters here have the same wistful delicacy and vulnerability as Lain.
The story is also almost as dense and evocative.
The anime is set in the fantasy-world town of Glie. Among the human population live the Haibane a minor enclave of angelic beings with grey wings and halos. The setting feels a little like 1960s Europe although very little mechanical transport is depicted and no trains or aircraft. We see trams and motor bikes and small delivery trucks but that is all. In some ways it reminded me of the city in Kiki’s Delivery Service and also in part felt like the society of Howl’s Moving Castle.
Glie and it's associated farmland is surrounded by a huge wall. No resident including the Haibane may leave and communication and trade with the outside world is conducted by the Toga, a clan of masked robed monk-like people who communicate only by sign language. The Communicator is another masked priest- or mentor-like figure who is the only person allowed to communicate with the Toga. He lives in a temple-like structure at the base of the wall and it is to him the Haibane go for spiritual and worldly guidance.
There is very little information given for the why or what of any of this, and the whole series is shrouded in a claustrophobic yet also calming and serene air of acceptance.
The story concerns a new arrival Haibane a teenage girl named Rakka who is born fully grown into the monastery-like home of the Haibane via a huge cocoon. We follow her as she tries to make sense of her world, finding that she has no memory of her previous life or family even though she feels a strange affinity for the past in some ways.
Quite what the Haibane’s purpose is, why there are two separate groups of them living in different parts of town, what the wall represents and other puzzles are revealed as we explore this oddly satisfying world through Rakka’s adventures.
The anime is 13 episodes. It moves at a very gentle pace and the characters develop beautifully, the story unfolding at a speed that both satisfies and also keeps you in tension wondering what is to come.
I found this to be one of the finest stories I have ever watched. I personally place it up there alongside Evangelion and Haruhi for the cleverness of plot and the interesting characters, pacing wise it sits alongside Honey and Clover and in terms of its heart wrenching emotional content it surpasses (for me) Kashimashi. The artwork and character design are a joy, the backgrounds are clear yet understated and you get easily drawn into this strange world.
The music is beautiful, the opening sequence being especially pretty.
There is almost no action, this story is about the characters and their relationships, their strange world and “our†purpose in life. There is much here that applies universally to each of us and our own journeys.
As I said in another post elsewhere I found it terribly moving and was crying for much of the final two episodes, it really is a delightful and powerful little story. It would benefit from a second season but none is planned.
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Isakaya High School Roleplaying Info
"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)
Post last edited by Saddletank on 01.05.2008, 12:34 PM.
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01.05.2008, 12:29 PM
