Sometimes God Cannot Forgive You Unless You Forgive Yourself

This is what I read on the back of the DVD case of a new anime I got for Christmas titled Haibane-Renmei. Unlike the Soul Eater DVDs I also got, I've never heard of this particular anime and the summary on the back sounded really interesting. So I popped the disc into my computer, watched it over a span of two nights, and I'm here to say it did not disappoint.

In a walled city known as Glie there exists people known as Haibane who are born from cocoons and resemble angels with small, nonfunctional, charcoal gray wings. Upon being born, they have no memory of any life prior to the current one and are given a new name based on the dream they had when they were in the cocoon.They now have and abide by certain rules such as being required to work and only own second-hand possessions.

Our story follows a new-born named Rakka after her dream of falling. She lives with a group of Haibane who live in a place known as "Old Home". As she bonds with her new friends, especially the kind and loving Reki, she searches through Glie in search of a job and learns the rules set by the Haibane-Renmei, an organization that looks over the lives of the Haibane. Rakka's curiosity of her surroundings grow, wondering what is beyond the walls of Glie that everyone is forbidden to cross over.

The first few episodes follows a slice of life sort of plot; just showing the lives of the characters and explaining about the Haibane at a slow and easy to understand pace. However over time, several questions crowd Rakka's mind of her existence, the purpose of the Haibane, and even the secret past of her closest friend, Reki.

Well...That's as much as I can give away without idly throwing out spoilers. This really was something different with a unique set up with interesting fantasy and traditions surrounding the Haibane. The only downside would be that nothing is really explained in a lot of detail, but it does allow you to reach your own conclusions about the Haibane and the world they live in. Again, I won't throw out spoilers, but I did make my own interpretations about the series, and they are very somber interpretations. Trust me, it'll become that way once you reach the last episode (By the way, this anime is only 13 episodes so it's short).

The animation is good, and I like how it never has characters have over-exaggerated expressions because it felt like this anime wanted to take itself seriously and not go off on any silly tangents. The backgrounds are really something to look at cause it's literally looking at water color paintings and I do appreciate how slow the series is so you can just breathe and enjoy the artwork someone took their time creating.

Check it out if you're looking for something not too long to watch with an intriguing set up and developed characters. It is most definitely worth your time.