Rakka (”Falling”)
A new arrival to Old Home, Rakka struggles throughout the series to find herself, and has trouble escaping from curiosity of her past. She forms many friendships, but her closest is that with Reki.
Reki (”Pebble”/”Small Stones”)
Always smiling and being kind to the other Haibane, Reki—one of the most senior Haibane in the home—is troubled by her past and by her dreams. Reki has been a Haibane for seven years.
Kuu (”Air”)
The youngest of the “older” Haibane, Kuu overcame initial awkwardness to achieve a sense of peace. She develops a good friendship with Rakka.
Nemu (”Sleep”)
The oldest Haibane at the home, she is often teased for her habit of sleeping in. Nemu has been a Haibane for nine years.
Kana (”River fish”)
A mechanically inclined tomboy, she works at the clock tower in the center of town.
Hikari (”Light”)
A serious, but occasionally mischievous haibane. She works in a bakery in town.
Hyouko (”Icy lake”)
The leader of another group of Haibane in town (the “co-educational” Abandoned Factory nest).
Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The series starts out with two parallel scenes. One contains the image of a girl falling from the sky, cradling a crow; it tries to stop her fall, but cannot. The other consists of a group of Haibane finding a large cocoon growing in a storage room. When the cocoon breaks open, the teenage girl inside is brought to the guest room, where she is cared for by several Haibane, mostly one named Reki. All the girl can remember is her dream of falling. As Haibane are traditionally named based on their dreams within the cocoon, she is named Rakka (”falling”). Shortly after arriving, the Haibane present Rakka with a halo, and Reki helps Rakka go through the painful ordeal of having wings grow from her back.
As time progresses, Rakka learns her way around the Old Home, one of two places in the city where Haibane live. She learns about the town, in which the people are friendly and generous to the Haibane, but in which Haibane must work and are subject to restrictive rules with harsh penalties. Foremost of these is to not touch or even approach the wall that surrounds the town. These rules are enforced by the Haibane Renmei, who oversee the lives of the Haibane.
Rakka begins to bond with her friends, especially Reki and another Haibane named Kuu, and begins to search for a job. However, during this time, Kuu grows distanced. One day, Kuu disappears in the western forest near the wall. Rakka becomes distraught when she learns that Kuu has passed over the wall and will never return, as this is the eventual fate of all Haibane who are not tied down by guilt.
Rakka becomes depressed, and notices her wings turning black. Despite Rakka’s desperate attempts to curb and conceal it by cutting her feathers, Reki discovers this and shows Rakka how to hide and treat the spots. Rakka learns that she is “sin-bound”, caught up in guilt for past deeds. Reki reveals that she was born with this condition, with black wings and a dark dream she could not fully remember, and has been hiding it ever since. Depressed and confused about her condition, Rakka later runs off in despair, then is led into the western woods by crows. There she finds a well, climbs to the bottom, sees her full dream, and buries a dead crow found at the bottom of the well. Somehow she knows it was a person who loved her in her past life, who then became a bird to pass over the wall and let her know she was not alone. Finding closure and forgiveness for her sins, her guilt is relieved and her wings turn gray again. However, she also learns that Reki’s time is running out, and Rakka turns her focus towards helping her friend find her way.
Rakka works to get another group of Haibane from the other side of the city to forgive Reki for a long past transgression in which she tried to pass over the wall which resulted in her friend being nearly killed and severely punished for damaging it. However, Reki is resigned to her fate; she refuses to trust anyone for fear of betrayal, and will not ask for or accept help. Her dream is revealed to her as a gift from the Haibane Renmei, but its destructive nature only serves to drive her into a self-loathing frenzy. As Rakka tries to shake her out of it, Reki reveals to Rakka that she never really cared for her, and was just taking care of her as a final effort to save herself.
Rakka leaves her, crushed, but finds and reads Reki’s diary. From it, and from the forgotten memories it reveals, Rakka discovers that Reki spent so long performing good deeds for forgiveness that it has become her identity, even if she cannot see it. Realising that Reki truly did care and wanted someone to trust, Rakka’s belief in Reki is restored, and she returns to save her friend from the dark fate of a sin-bound.
Haibane
Rakka in sunlight.
The Haibane are a race of people who resemble angels in that they have wings and haloes. However, their wings are short, not functional, and rather than white they are charcoal grey. Furthermore, their haloes are forged for them by the Haibane Renmei, although it is likely the case that they can still only be worn by a Haibane.
Haibane are born from cocoons that grow from small seeds that appear in places such as Old Home (in all the depicted cases they in fact grow in uninhabited rooms). In the introduction sequence to the anime the seed of Rakka is seen falling from the sky, so it is possible that all the cocoon seeds fall from the sky this way. Once in Old Home they dig into the floor and grow at a tremendous rate to a very large size much bigger than a person (although Kana indicates that Rakka’s cocoon is bigger than Kuu’s. Presumably, therefore, the size of the cocoon is indeed linked to the size of the Haibane inside). Veins/roots grow out of the cocoon into the surrounding surfaces to support it. The cocoon is filled with liquid but the Haibane inside can breathe it.
Inside the cocoon a Haibane exists—fully formed and human in appearance (and also dressed in a plain white robe). It is unknown whether the person in the cocoon grows with it until they reach their correct size, or if they only appear when the cocoon is big enough to hold them. While in the cocoon the Haibane sleeps and has a dream—many fans speculate that the dream reflects the reason they “become” Haibane, and relates to some kind of inner problem they have to resolve in order to ascend on their Day of Flight. When they wake up from the dream they must dig their way out of the cocoon (it is a Haibane tradition; it is believed if they cannot break free themselves, rather than having their cocoon broken open, they will not be strong).
All Haibane are born as children or teenagers. Haibane have no memory of their lives before being in the cocoon (even though all are sure that they had lives before that), although Rakka manages to remember some details of her emotions in her previous life.
Haibane are traditionally named after their cocoon dreams (although younger Haibane have less respect for this tradition and often choose a different name for themselves).
After a Haibane “hatches” they are given a halo which is put over their head. The halos are solid, made of a special metal-like substance. ‘Light leaves’, that are found within the wall, are used in their making. They glow brightly. They hover over the Haibane’s head like a repelled magnet, although they exert a physical force on the Haibane (as sometimes Haibane can be pulled around by their halo). The halo is not always fixed very well when first applied to a Haibane. In Rakka’s case she had to connect hers to a headband with wire so that it wouldn’t fall off at first, but before long it became fixed. When a Haibane’s Day of Flight approaches their halo flickers and dims.
A little while after a Haibane “hatches” (about a day, at the most) they start to grow their wings—which first form as lumps on their backs before their wings painfully break through. Their wings must be cleaned of blood and fluid, otherwise they will stain. It’s a very long procedure to clean them thoroughly, and another Haibane must perform this as the newly born Haibane are too weak after the wings grow through. At first the wings are delicate and very hard to control, as well as being prone to exhaustion, but eventually are strengthened with use, and Haibane learns to control them like any other part of their body.
Haibane are not allowed to use money, and instead are given a notebook by the Haibane Renmei, leaving notes (similar to cheques) to pay for things, which are presumably exchanged for legal tender with the Haibane Renmei or the Haibane’s employer. Haibane can only have second hand things or things they make themselves, it is a rule for them to use things that humans no longer need. Haibane must find employment, although they are only allowed to work in a few places; however, as it is mentioned that Hikari works at the oldest bakery in town, we can assume that age is a factor in whether or not Haibane can work somewhere. As mentioned above, they cannot handle money, but their work presumably pays for what they need.
After a certain amount of time (when they are fully prepared) a Haibane will become drawn towards the Western Woods for their “Day of Flight”, when they pass over the wall in a beam of light. Most fans speculate that this implies their ascent, perhaps to Heaven or their next life. Their halo is left behind, and it no longer glows.
Sin-bound
Some Haibane do not remember their cocoon dream properly and are called “sin-bound”. These Haibane can be recognized by the black splotches that grow on their wings. Fans conjecture that these Haibane committed suicide in their past lives—this would definitely appear to be the case with Reki, and her incomplete dream seems to indicate this. Not all sin-bound Haibane are born that way. For example, Rakka became sin-bound only during her depression after Kuu’s departure.
Sin-bound Haibane cannot have their “day of flight” until they are no-longer sin-bound. If they do not achieve this within a certain amount of time, they cease to be Haibane. As the Haibane Renmei communicator tells Rakka, these Haibane lose their wings and halos, and are required to live apart from humans and Haibane. (The camera at this point focusses on the false wings that are a part of the communicator’s uniform, perhaps indicating that the Haibane Renmei are these “fallen Haibane”. It’s also possible that these former Haibane are the Toga, the only people who can leave the city of Glie. The Toga never speak, save for communicating in sign language to the Haibane Renmei, and they never reveal their faces.) Despite this, Reki believed that when her time was up, she would simply vanish.
Sin-bound Haibane usually feel guilty about something they have done in their previous life, and until they can overcome this they cannot become a normal Haibane.
Context and interpretation
Reki and Rakka.
Some fans have made the conjecture that the Haibane are, actually, children who committed suicide and were reborn into Glie world to atone for their sin. Suicide is a particularly high-profile issue in Japanese society, and some facts could support this hypothesis, like Reki’s hallucination in the last episode, or an interpretation of the characters names (”Sleep”, sleeping pills or coma; “Light”, died in a fire; “Ice Lake”, frozen; “River fish”, drowning; “Falling”, suicide by jumping). ABe disagrees with this interpretation, but he encourages readers and viewers to come to their own conclusions.
A common variation of the above interpretation is the idea that all Haibane were simply children who died before their time; in this case, their names may simply represent the cause of death. Reki and Rakka’s black wings and the Washi’s reference to their sins are then assumed to be ways of showing that they committed suicide in their past lives. Some proof of this was the trouble both Reki and Rakka had in remembering details of their cocoon dreams. None of the other Haibane mentioned similar troubles.
Both interpretations suggest that the Haibane exist in a world between Heaven and Hell, although other interpretations involving non-Christian concepts are fully possible. Though they bear wings and halos as per occidental angels, the wings are vestigial and turn black if the owner becomes overly depressed. Since Haibane live comparably short “lives” it’s possible the truth of how and why their wings might change color is never developed among the Haibane, and the inflicted individuals think it’s because of their personal faults or sins. The time between arrival and departure suggests that they are not ready to proceed to their destination due to something they have not learned, experienced, or atoned for. It is superficially similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory, although unlike it, Haibane stay there permanently if they fail to resolve their issues before the Day of Flight.
Another symbol that could support either theory is the presence of certain animals in Glie. In the animated series, only two types of animals are ever seen within the city walls: crows and cats. Although they weren’t actually associated with death or the underworld, cats were revered by some societies, and even mummified after death by the Egyptians. One reason for their presence may be the old “nine lives” tale. Crows hold a much more powerful position in the story; they’ve long been associated with death. In the movie “The Crow,” it is said that crows carry away the souls of the dead. In “Haibane Renmei,” the crows are said to bring back objects from the past over the wall—for Rakka, the crows bring back her full dream and a message that she isn’t alone.
It is possible to draw a faint, but plausible connection between the birth of a new Haibane and an existing Haibane’s Day of Flight. Kuu’s Day of Flight arrives shortly after Rakka is born; while Rakka and the others are searching for Kuu in the Western Woods, Reki comments that there has not been a Day of Flight for a long time. The close proximity of Rakka’s birth and Kuu’s departure implies vaguely that for every Haibane born, another leaves. This is further emphasised later in the series, when Kana comments that Nemu, who is the oldest Haibane at Old Home, has not had her own Day of Flight yet because she is waiting for Reki to go first. After Reki has left, Rakka finds two Haibane seedlings in an abandoned room. This might suggest that Nemu will soon have her own Day of Flight and that the two new Haibane will ‘replace’ both her and Reki, just as Rakka replaced Kuu.
In an interview in the magazine Animerica, ABe stated that the series was inspired by Haruki Murakami’s novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, half of which takes place in a walled city with no apparent outside. Some fans believe the series contains influence from another Murakami novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, in which the main character spends a large amount of time at the bottom of a well.



