HAIBANE-RENMEI #3: FREE BIRD - DVD review

"Haibane Renmei" (Charcoal Feather Federation) is a thirteen-episode TV series created by Yoshitoshi ABe (spelled correctly). I consider him to be pretty gifted, and have greatly enjoyed some of his other series, most notably "NieA under 7". Like many other anime series, "Haibane" started life as a manga (Japanese comic books). Unlike most manga, "Haibane" was a self-published manga from Yoshitoshi ABe that he started writing, decided to redo the story and so restarted under a similar name, then decided that "Haibane" should really be an animated feature, published a final issue to explain such, then made one last issue with some of the back-story. The resulting series is a wonderful mix of weirdness and warmth. This second volume contains three episodes- "The Bird", "Well- Rebirth- Riddle", and "Kuramori- Haibane of the Abandoned Factory- Rakka's Job".

The series began with a girl falling through the sky, head down and eyes shut. A crow flies up to her and caws, waking her. She notes that, although she isn't afraid, her heart is cold. The crow seems desperate to stop her fall, cawing at her and trying to halt her decent by grabbing the hem of her dress. "It's useless," she says. "But thank you." With one last caw, the crow lets go, tumbling up into the sky. The girl continues to fall.

The girl awakes, thinking she was dreaming, but finds herself inside a cocoon. After breaking free, she finds herself in an old house, surrounded by five other women (teenage and older), each with small wings and a halo. For lack of any other name, the winged people call themselves Haibane. They have named themselves individually after the dreams they had while in their own cocoons. She can only vaguely remember falling, so they name her Rakka. The rest are Reki, who takes care of the young Haibane; Kuu, the youngest of the "adult" Haibane; Nemu, who works in the town's library; Kana, who works in the town's clock tower; and Hikari, who works in the town's bakery.

They work in the local town to help support the dozen or so children Haibane. Haibane are not allowed to own anything new, possess money (they use checks), or leave the walled town, Glie. They must also not linger by the walls. A group calling itself the Haibane Renmei regulates what the Haibane can and cannot do. The group is represented by a single speaker, called the Communicator. All other members make no effort to communicate in any way.

Part of being a Haibane is learning to deal with restrictions. They can't own anything new, must live seperately from the normal townsfolk, must work in an old business, and cannot touch the walls surrounding Glie, much less go beyond them. At birth, they lose all memories of their past life, even their names. The only thing they have to go on in their new life is a memory of a dream they have in their cacoon.

To my way of seeing this, the restrictions point to the idea that the Haibane used to be human, died, and couldn't except their deaths. They're put in Glie to try to help them come to terms with themselves, so they can move on to their Day of Flight. At the end of the disk, it's revealed that a Haibane only has so much time to do so, and Reki's is running out.

Video:
The video aspect ratio is 1.78:1 (full-screen on 16:9 monitors). The colors are fairly plain, with lots of greens and browns. Everything the Haibane wear and use are used, so their possessions are all pretty shabby. The character design is signature ABe, with emphasis on realistic-looking people. The town, clothing, and artifacts all blend together to make a believable, internally-consistent society.

Audio:
You can watch the show in either Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Japanese or DD 2.0 stereo English. There is an option for English subtitles for either just signs or everything. I chose to watch the show in Japanese DD 2.0 with full English subtitles. I especially like the music. Since I'm hardly a music expert, I'm going to describe the music as folksy, and just hope that's a real word. It nicely reflects the rustic world of "Haibane Renmei".

Extras:
For some reason, the previews for the next episode that usually come at the end of an episode or in Extras, and not part of the main feature. There is also a Promotional Trailer and New Program Commercial.

The Art Gallery feature has forty images that proceed at the viewer's pace. There are design sketches of the various objects used in the series and winter clothes.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD comes a mini pencil-board. The front side is identical to thte DVD cover. The reverse shows the Haibane in town for the day. There is also a single-page, fold out colored insert with chapter listings on the back. The DVD cover is reversible.

Film Value:
The real shame about this disc is that there's only one more after it. For such a rich background, the series is only thirteen episodes long. I enjoy the slow pace, I just wish there was more.