Haibane Renmei, ep. 08-13

[oyceter]

Oh. That was a lovely ending to a quiet little series.

So I've been reading Rakka and Reki as suicides; is that just me?

Also, the ending was a little darker than I had expected, particularly all the bits with Reki. But I like the overall focus on forgiveness and grace, the notes on how even though it was important for other people to forgive Rakka and Reki, in the end, it was their own forgiveness that was the most important.

And oh, I loved Reki's true name actually meaning small stone as well, especially the note that she was the small stone on the staircase to the Day of Flight for so many of the other Haibane.

Reki in particular is a great character, and I swear I'm not just saying this because she's an angsty character who hides her angst under a smile (gets me every time). And I love her friendship with Rakka, the flashback to Rakka hearing Reki's voice in the cocoon, the parallels with Reki's relationship with Kuramori.

I ended up getting much more attached to this series than I thought I would; it's small and quiet and sad and hopeful at the same time, and it makes me feel calm and happy, even through the sad bits.

Comments

[oyceter]

Yeah... and it did go a little darker than I had imagined it would, though really, I love the tone of the series so much.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

The whole tone of the series was muted and lovely, and it drew you in slowly -- it was approachable because it seemed so benign. And the dark places it went were very real, but there was that same almost gentle quality to it -- lack of judgement, lack of zaniness.