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This is an original anime (no manga) by Yoshitoshi Abe, who also worked on Serial Experiments Lain. I've seen the title translated as "Charcoal Feather Federation" and "Ash Wing Society."
This was a change of pace.
A girl dreams of falling, and emerges from a cocoon in a dusty store room. She knows that she had a life and a name before, but she can't remember what or where. She is greeted by a bunch of girls with tiny flightless wings and halos.
They are the Haibane, who live with each other in a walled city. Humans also live in the city, which has no contact with the outside world except through masked traders, called Haibane Renmei, who communicate only in a secret sign language. The trader's masks, not incidentally, look like key holes. The Haibane's lives and contact with humans are formalized, and they are treated as second-class citizens.
Who are they? Why the wings and halos? What in the world is going on here?
The animation is smooth and fluid, and the watercolor backdrops are gorgeous and finely detailed. The characters are not drawn with the huge eyes and long legs common to anime but as simplified real people, and some of the backdrops are almost photo-realistic. The colors are all soft pastels and earth tones, the pace is meditative, and the mood is one of pastoral mystery. The score is lovely.
The only thing I can think of that's even remotely like this is MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, which was also about exploring a strange landscape while attending to the details of everyday life. HAIBANE RENMEI is less colorful but more dependent on mystery, and there are suggestions early on that the underlying workings of the society could be quite sinister, or at least dangerous.
This is a wonderful show. I was concerned that the mysterious set-up with have a stupid or reductionist interpretation and the show would come to a bad end. This doesn't happen. The mysteries of the Haibane (the angel people) and the Haibane Renmei (the masked folk in charge of them) are never explained outright, but gradually become clear as much through atmosphere as through events.
I don't want to give too much away, for while the explanation is not really surprising, it plays out in a very emotionally powerful way. A secondary character takes on major importance and the pace begins to accelerate, leading to an intensely moving conclusion.
This isn't much like anything else I've ever encountered and nothing like any other anime I've seen, even though the set-up is eventually revealed to be a familiar one. But the sense that personal spiritual battles are taking place every day while you're frying eggs and scrubbing the floor is reminiscent of C. S. Lewis in theme, if not in style.
I highly recommend this.
Avoid the Chinese or Hong Kong release, which has horrible subtitles which are overly literal and sometimes inaccurate. I had to look up a fan website to clarify a significant plot point because the translation made no sense. The subtitles on the US Pioneer DVDs are much better.
This was a change of pace.
A girl dreams of falling, and emerges from a cocoon in a dusty store room. She knows that she had a life and a name before, but she can't remember what or where. She is greeted by a bunch of girls with tiny flightless wings and halos.
They are the Haibane, who live with each other in a walled city. Humans also live in the city, which has no contact with the outside world except through masked traders, called Haibane Renmei, who communicate only in a secret sign language. The trader's masks, not incidentally, look like key holes. The Haibane's lives and contact with humans are formalized, and they are treated as second-class citizens.
Who are they? Why the wings and halos? What in the world is going on here?
The animation is smooth and fluid, and the watercolor backdrops are gorgeous and finely detailed. The characters are not drawn with the huge eyes and long legs common to anime but as simplified real people, and some of the backdrops are almost photo-realistic. The colors are all soft pastels and earth tones, the pace is meditative, and the mood is one of pastoral mystery. The score is lovely.
The only thing I can think of that's even remotely like this is MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, which was also about exploring a strange landscape while attending to the details of everyday life. HAIBANE RENMEI is less colorful but more dependent on mystery, and there are suggestions early on that the underlying workings of the society could be quite sinister, or at least dangerous.
This is a wonderful show. I was concerned that the mysterious set-up with have a stupid or reductionist interpretation and the show would come to a bad end. This doesn't happen. The mysteries of the Haibane (the angel people) and the Haibane Renmei (the masked folk in charge of them) are never explained outright, but gradually become clear as much through atmosphere as through events.
I don't want to give too much away, for while the explanation is not really surprising, it plays out in a very emotionally powerful way. A secondary character takes on major importance and the pace begins to accelerate, leading to an intensely moving conclusion.
This isn't much like anything else I've ever encountered and nothing like any other anime I've seen, even though the set-up is eventually revealed to be a familiar one. But the sense that personal spiritual battles are taking place every day while you're frying eggs and scrubbing the floor is reminiscent of C. S. Lewis in theme, if not in style.
I highly recommend this.
Avoid the Chinese or Hong Kong release, which has horrible subtitles which are overly literal and sometimes inaccurate. I had to look up a fan website to clarify a significant plot point because the translation made no sense. The subtitles on the US Pioneer DVDs are much better.
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