Haibane Renmei

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Television series
German title Haibane Renmei
Original title 灰 羽 連 盟
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 2002
length 25 minutes
Episodes 13
genre Drama , fantasy
Theme music Credits : Free Bird
Credits: Heart of Air - Blue Flow
idea Yoshitoshi ABe
production Go Haruna, Hideki Gotō , Yasuyuki Ueda, Yoshinobu Iwaya
music Kō Ōtani
First broadcast October 9, 2002 - December 18, 2002 on Fuji Television , Animax
German-language
first broadcast		 August 18, 2009 on Animax
synchronization

Haibane Renmei ( Jap. 灰羽連盟 , literally "Aschflügelbund") is a 13-part anime - TV show from 2002. It is based on a Dōjinshi by Yoshitoshi Abe , Old Home no Seirei-tachi ( オールドホームの灰羽たち, Ōrudo Hōmu no Haibane-tachi , German "the ash wings of Old Home"). The dōjinshi series was discontinued after it was determined that an anime should be produced, as ABe wanted to concentrate fully on the latter.

title

The series title comes from the title of an art book that ABe drew in 1998. This art book was called Charcoal Feather Federation and was the first to deal with the subject of angel-like beings (Haibane) who live among humans.

scene of action

The story takes place in a small world that is surrounded by a large wall. No one except the "traders" (the toga), with whom no one is allowed to talk, is allowed to cross the wall or see what lies behind it. Inside this wall there is a town called Glie and its inhabitants and outside the town in the Old Home and in a factory the so-called Haibane live.

Haibans are not born the usual way, they hatch from a cocoon that grows through a seed somewhere in the old home or factory and is filled with a breathable liquid. When they wake up they are of different ages, but mostly still children or not yet grown up. They look and feel exactly like humans, but have small, gray-white wings on their backs that usually grow painfully shortly after they wake up. They also get a halo (the halo) over their heads. The gray winged organization ( Haibane Renmei ) takes care of the concerns of the gray winged people.

The Haibane have to take on tasks and work, for example, in the city without pay, but are allowed to purchase used items with a notebook and a signature that people no longer have any use for. The Haibans have a lot of freedom, although they cannot work everywhere, but also some limits that they are not allowed to cross. Among other things, they are forbidden to approach the wall or to speak with words to the Gray Winged Association, to own money or to get new things.

Since they can mostly only remember the dream in their cocoon, the Haibans do not know where they come from. However, many believe that they are reincarnated from another life and that for a reason they reappeared as Haibane. It is this dream that gives them their names. When a Haibane sees her time coming, she goes to the western forest to ascend and disappear. As that day of departure approaches, the halo occasionally fades. Also, only this one remains when the Haibane is gone. In rare cases, however, a Haibane does not come because she sees herself chained to her sins. If she remains a sin-bound Haibane for too long, she loses her wings and her halo and from then on has to live separately from the people and the other Haibans.

action

The story revolves around the everyday life of the Haibane, with the focus on Raqqa ( 落下 , dt. To fall ). She was born in Old Home and discovered by the older Haibane Reki ( 礫 , German stone for throwing ). Raqqa dreams in her cocoon of falling through clouds and air, but cannot remember the dream exactly after the birth. She is introduced to life as such a being by the other Haibane in Old Home and gets to know the environment. For Kuu ( 空 , dt. Air ), a young Haibane, her time has come. She goes to the western forest and has her day of departure. Raqqa suffers from Kuu's disappearance and black spots on her wings, which means she is chained to sin. In a well in the western forest, she asks the being to whom she has harmed for forgiveness, through which she is healed.

Raqqa then finds out that Reki, with whom she develops a close relationship, has long been bound by a sin. However, Reki hides this by bleaching her wings. But she doesn't have much time left to become aware of her sin. With the help of Raqqa and other Haibans she manages to remember her dream, to become aware of sin and to shake it off.

background

The viewer does not find out exactly what the Haibans are, nor where they come from or where they are going and why they existed. Yoshitoshi ABe wants you to make your own thoughts about the series and has therefore not confirmed or denied any of the possible interpretations.

One possible interpretation is that the Haibane were children who committed suicide or who were divorced too early. In this context one could deduce their death from the different names:

  • Raqqa: fallen to death,
  • Hyoko: drowned / drowned in the ice lake,
  • Nemu: died while sleeping / from sleeping pills etc.

According to this interpretation, in the walled world they would atone for their sins in their previous life or make up for their lost time.

In an interview, ABe said that he was inspired to write the story by Murakami Haruki's novels Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World and Mister Winder . He had left the choice of characters up to his feelings; in a side note in the art book he had noted that he simply wanted to draw angels in everyday clothes.

In addition, Christian notions of angels and the world are alluded to in several places. The halos are made like donuts in a baking pan and, in the fifth episode, one of the Haibane invents a creation story that is similar to the biblical one.

Production and publication

In the adaptation of the studio RADIX led Tomokazu Tokoro Director. The character design was created by Akira Takata, the artistic director was Shinji Katahira. The series was broadcast from October 9 to December 18, 2002 by Fuji TV . Animax -asia later aired the series in Japanese.

Four DVDs were released in the USA in 2003, Madman Entertainment distributes the series in Australia and MVM in Great Britain. The anime has also been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, and Polish.

SPVision published the series at the end of May 2006 in a collection box in German. Animax has broadcast this in German since August 18, 2009.

synchronization

The German dubbed version comes from the Synchron 80 studio.

role Japanese voice actor ( seiyū ) German voice actor
Raqqa Ryō Hirohashi Shandra Schadt
Reki Junko Noda Alexandra Mink
Kuu Akiko Yajima Andrea Wick
Kana Eri Miyajima Angela Wiederhut
Hikari Fumiko Orikasa Sonja Reichelt
Nemu Kazusa Murai Alisa Palmer
Hyoko Chihiro Suzuki Dirk Meyer
Washi Tamio Ōki Christoph Jablonka

music

The music of the series was composed by Kō Ōtani, the opening title Free Bird also comes from him. The credits were underlaid with Blue Flow by Heart of Air ( Masumi Itō et al.).

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