Haibane Renmei

Haibane Renmei (13 episodes, 2002)
(trans. Charcoal Feather Federation)

This is long overdue. I wanted to broaden the genre selection here first, though. Anyway, without further ado, I present to you my entry for Haibane Renmei.

Synopsis

Haibane Renmei tells the story of a young girl who suddenly finds herself "born" into an unfamiliar world, in a town called Glie. Upon finding herself in a bed, surrounded by a handful of girls with small angelic-looking wings and halos, the girl finds herself unable to recall any memories of her past, including her own name. All she could remember was a dream she had before awaking, in which she was falling from the sky. The girls calmly explained to her that she was now a "Haibane" (trans. "charcoal feather"), as were they. Although they could not elaborate much more than that, they explained that they were all born into this world in a similar fashion: a cocoon forms, in which they dream before being born. None of them are able to recall their lives beforehand, nor their names, so they are named according to the dream they have inside the cocoon. Based on her dream, the other girls decided that her name would be "Rakka" (lit. "falling"). From this point on, Rakka would have to find her own place in this new world among the Haibane, as she discovers more about the Haibane and the world they live in.

Main Characters (click names for images)

• Rakka: Rakka's name means "falling," representing her cocoon dream of falling from the sky. Rakka is the main character of the story, and the newest Haibane at Old Home. Because of this, she is still very curious about the Haibane and the world they are born into.


• Reki: Reki's name means "pebble" or "small stone." She can't remember her cocoon dream very clearly, but she recalls walking along a stone-laden path. Hence, the reason for her name. Reki is a motherly figure amongst the Haibane living at Old Home. She is the one who found Rakka's cocoon and took care of her once she was born.


• Kū: Kū's name means "air," representative of her cocoon dream of floating through the air. She is sometimes mistaken as a boy by some of the townsfolk, due to her boyish appearance and behavior. She is the youngest of the main characters at Old Home, but she always tries to act mature.


• Nemu: Nemu's name means "sleep," and was chosen as her name because her cocoon dream was of herself sleeping. Nemu continually lives up to her name as a frequent napper. Among the main characters of Old Home, she has been a Haibane the longest (nine years), just ahead of Reki. She occasionally helps with the young Haibane at Old Home, but her primary occupation is as a librarian in town.


• Kana: Kana's name means "river fish," based on her dream of drifting in a river like a fish. She's a bit tomboyish, often exuding a tough attitude. Coincidentally, she works at the clock tower at the center of the town, with a boss who's similarly stubborn and tough, yet caring. Thanks to this job, Kana has become handy with tools, and occasionally puts them to use to fix things around Old Home.


• Hikari: Hikari's name means "light," in reference to the light that surrounded her in her dream in the cocoon. Although she tends to be on the more serious side, Hikari is also occasionally mischievous, such as the time she is caught using the Haibane Renmei's halo mold to make donuts at the bakery in town she works at.


• The Communicator & the Tōga (Image: Communicator on left, Tōga on right)
  
  • The Communicator: A masked Haibane who is an official of the Haibane Renmei. The Communicator gives advice and guidance to the Haibane, as well as punishment if needed. He is also the only person allowed to communicate with the foreigners called the "Tōga," and the only one who is capable of doing so, through the use of a sign language only understood by the Tōga and himself.
  
  
  • The Tōga: People from outside of Glie, the Tōga are the only ones permitted to enter and leave the town. Never speaking or revealing their faces, they bring goods to the town for trade. The negotiator for these trades is the Communicator.

Other Notes

• ABe: By simply taking a look at the artwork, you may have already recognized the style of Yoshitoshi ABe. The series started as a dōjinshi titled The Haibane of Old Home, which was never completed, due to the conversion to an anime form. ABe is most recognized by his work on the anime series, Serial Experiments Lain, though he has also worked on NieA_7, Texhnolyze, the original novel of Welcome to the N.H.K., and other, non-anime works.
  In Haibane Renmei, ABe intentionally leaves a number of questions unanswered, leaving it up to the audience to analyze the story and use their imaginations to answer these questions for themselves.


• Soundtrack: Haibane Renmei's original soundtrack is nothing short of amazing. Composed by Kō Ōtani, the soundtrack provides some great ear candy comparable to Celtic-style music, while also showing oriental influence in some tracks, as well as some light jazz. Ōtani provides an excellent variety of tunes for the viewers, truly bringing out the mood of each scene.


• English Dub: Personally, I find the dub to be pretty decent. Nothing outstanding, but sufficient, if not a bit more than that. I can't say any of the characters' English voices particularly bother me, though there are the occasional moments when something sounds a bit unnatural. Overall, though, Carrie Savage (Rakka), Erika Lenhart (Reki), and the others all do a satisfactory job with their roles, and successfully (in my opinion) connect the viewer with the characters' feelings in the more emotional scenes.
  

Conclusion

Although it may be short and a tad inconclusive in some areas, Haibane Renmei is a really great series, and easily one of my all-time favorites. The general plot, accompanied by the soundtrack, is very laid back, yet dramatic when it's called for. The idea of the overall story and setting is fairly straightforward, but the openness that ABe gives for the viewers' ideas is a great touch, and many of the ideas I've heard of give some interesting explanations for those unanswered questions. If you're looking for something laid back, yet with an interesting plot, then this should be perfect for you.

To Aru Majutsu no Index

To Aru Majutsu no Index (24 episodes, 2008-2009)
(lit. A Certain Magical Index)

I've noticed not many people were particularly impressed by this, and just dropped it a few episodes in, but I found it pretty enjoyable. Admittedly, the story doesn't really go anywhere (yet?), but I found other qualities in the series to be rather appealing.

Synopsis

Although there isn't much of a story to speak of, the general plot of To Aru Majutsu no Index takes place in a Japanese city known as Academy City, a city of education and science. Among the students here, a handful are known as "espers" or "psychics," and possess supernatural/psychic powers, either from birth, or developed over time. Although they possess such powers, however, they are not to be confused with magicians, as magic is a different kind of power, which espers are not meant to use. (Furthermore, if an esper does use magic, their body is heavily injured in the process.)

The main character of the series is Tōma Kamijō, a teenager with seemingly no supernatural powers to speak of, other than his apparent ability to run into misfortune around every turn. Tōma suddenly encounters a young girl, who goes by the name of Index, one day, and finds himself dragged into battles with magicians.

Characters (click names for images)

Main Characters

• Tōma Kamijō: Tōma is a Level 0 who attends school in Academy City. However, despite being ranked as a Level 0, he does possess a unique power, enabling him to cancel, or at least dull, esper and magician techniques with his right hand. This ability is later referred to as "Imagine Breaker."


• Index: Fully named Index Librorum Prohibitorum (sorcery name: Dedicatus545), Index is a young nun from Necessarius (the "Church of Necessary Evil"). The Church has the knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires of the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum implanted into her mind. (Hence, her name.) However, the Church claims that, because of this, Index's personal memory must be wiped annually, so that her mind isn't overwhelmed by the memory of the grimoires on top of her own personal memories.


• Mikoto Misaka: A student at the all-girls Tokiwadai Middle School in Academy City, Mikoto is a Level 5 esper -- the highest rank given to espers. Her psychic ability allows her to generate and manipulate electricity, which is powerful enough to cause power outages and create railguns using small metallic objects as projectiles.
  (Note: Mikoto is more of a major character in the side story of To Aru Majutsu no Index, called To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun), though she also appears as a main character in Index.)

Other Recurring Characters

• Stiyl Magnus: Stiyl (sorcery name: Fortis931) is a 14-year-old magician and member of Necessarius. His magical ability is the generation and manipulation of fire, including the summoning of a 3000-degree (Celsius) flame called "Innocentius" ("King of Witch Hunters").


• Kaori Kanzaki: Kaori (sorcery name: Salvare000) is an 18-year-old magician and member of Necessarius, often paired with Stiyl. Kaori uses magic to strengthen her own body, and she uses a sword (specifically, a nodachi) named "Seven Heavens Seven Swords" as her weapon of choice. She also uses wires in combination with her sword for an attack called "Nanasen" ("Seven Flash").


• Aisa Himegami: Seemingly a normal young girl, Aisa is known as "Deep Blood," as she has the ability to lure and kill vampires, due to the nature of her blood. This makes her miserable, however, because she views vampires as being no different from normal humans, aside from the blood-sucking. In her search for a way to rid herself of this power, she moves to Academy City, where she meets an alchemist named Aureolus Izzard. Aureolus offers to remove her ability in return for aiding his research to save the life of someone dear to him.


• Motoharu Tsuchimikado: Motoharu is one of Tōma's school friends, as well as his next-door neighbor at the dorms. Although he seems to be a regular student at the school, he has a more complicated background involving Necessarius, which is briefly touched on later in the anime series. (It is further explained in the novelizations.)


• Kuroko Shirai: Kuroko is a student at Tokiwadai Middle School and Mikoto's roommate. She is a Level 4 esper with the power of teleportation, allowing herself and anything in her possession (as long as its weight is about 130-137 kilograms) to anywhere in a radius of about 81-85 meters. However, this ability requires her absolute concentration.


• Komoe Tsukuyomi: Despite her childish appearance, she is actually an adult, and even one of Tōma's teachers. Contradictory to her actual age, however, she often acts childish as well, particularly to her students.
  

Other Notes

• Soundtrack: Although this series' soundtrack didn't especially stand out to me, some tracks did catch my attention, because they just worked very well for the scenes they were used in. Appropriately titled Electromaster, the OST is mostly electronica-based, which actually fits the series pretty well, with all the magic and science present.


• To Aru Majutsu no Index-tan: A series of shorts by this title was released as a DVD special for the anime series. Simply put, it's a parody. The shorts include references to other series as well as inside jokes, and are generally pretty humorous for whatever reasons.

Conclusion

Personally, I don't mind the episodic story/stories. Actually, there seems to be much more to the plot than the anime reveals, although I'm not sure how much more the light novel and manga adaptations may reveal. I'm hoping for a sequel, though I haven't heard anything about one at this moment. However, I have heard that the side story, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, will be getting an anime adaptation at some point, so that should be a nice supplement.

Plot aside, I just find To Aru Majutsu no Index to be a neat series because of the whole science vs. magic theme, and it's got a decent amount of interesting characters, many with pretty nifty abilities. Academy City makes a pretty interesting setting for the story, as well, what with the schools working alongside the science behind espers.

If you're looking for a steady story to follow, then this may not be for you. However, if you're just looking for a series that puts some neat ideas to work, then I'd suggest giving To Aru Majutsu no Index a try sometime.

D.Gray-man

D.Gray-man (103 episodes, 2006-2008)

Synopsis

The general story of D.Gray-man revolves around a group of "Exorcists" known as "Black Order." These Exorcists fight against the evil forces of Akuma, led by the "Millenium Earl," a character told of in ancient prophecies, who will supposedly bring the world to ruin. It's up to the Exorcists to protect and utilize an existence referred to as "Innocence," which the Millenium Earl is determined to destroy. This Innocence is a mystery, even to the Order, but it is what grants them the power needed to extinguish the Akuma. Most important, however, is a specific Innocence, referred to as the "Heart of Innocence" (a.k.a. the "Great Heart"). Finding this Innocence ensures victory for the Black Order, but they have no way of locating it, other than gathering all the Innocence they can, before the Earl finds and destroys it.

A 15-year-old boy named Allen Walker is the main character of D.Gray-man. Allen was cursed by an Akuma at a young age, leaving a pentagle-shaped mark over his left eye. Because of this curse, Allen is able to see through disguises of Akuma, and is able to see the suffering of the souls used to create them. His left arm also possesses the power of Innocence, which leads him to join the Black Order as an official Exorcist.

As time progresses, Allen travels around the world with the Black Order, and he discovers many new threats and mysteries, including the group known as the Noah, evolved forms of the Akuma, further complications with the Innocence, and especially mysteries concerning his own past. As the struggle over the Innocence continues, Allen must not only aid his allies in the ongoing battle, but is also left with many personal questions of his past which he must find answers to.

Main Characters (click names for images)

• Allen Walker: Abandoned by his original parents, due the his "deformity," Allen was eventually adopted by a man named Mana Walker, who died three years later, leaving Allen alone. With a cursed left eye and an Innocence-possessing left arm, Allen continues to live on his own until he is recruited by the Black Order. Allen's Innocence is a parasitic type, and is originally unnamed. However, it is later referred to as "Crowned Clown." It first takes the form of a metallic claw-type weapon, but takes on various other forms and abilities as the series progresses.
  
  
• Lenalee Lee: Lenalee is the younger sister of the Supervisor of the Black Order, Komui Lee. Because of her ability to use Innocence, Lenalee was forced to become an Exorcist at a young age, and continues to live at the Black Order headquarters with her older brother. Lenalee's Innocence is an equipment-type called "Dark Boots," which allows her to move at high speeds, maneuver atop water, and travel through the air.
  
  
• Lavi: Although he is also an Exorcist, Lavi's primarily training to become a "Bookman," a person who is meant to record major historic events and other significant information that is not openly available to the world. Lavi's Innocence is an equipment-type called "Tettsui" (Iron Hammer), and can not only increase/decrease its size on command (without Lavi feeling a difference in its weight), but is also capable of producing seals with various powers.
  
  
• Yū Kanda: Yū is an ill-tempered young swordsman, who frequently gets into arguments with Allen. His Innocence is an equipment-type called "Mūgen" (Six Illusions), which not only can be used as a sword, but also possesses abilities referred to as "illusions."
  
  

• The Millenium Earl: The Millenium Earl is the main antagonist. He is a sorcerer from ancient times, able to create demonic creatures called "Akuma" from the souls of the dead. Using the Akuma he creates, the Earl intends to rid the world of Innocence and plunge the world into oblivion.

Other Notes

• Shortened Anime: The anime series spans a total length of 103 episodes, divided into two seasons (51 and 52 episodes, respectively), but the anime ends early, unfortunately. (I'm not 100% certain of the reasons behind this, but I assume the manga was lagging behind.) The manga is still ongoing, though, so if you watch the anime and are curious about where things go from there, then you should check out the manga. (I believe the anime ends around chapter 155-156 or so.)

• Characters: I only listed four of the main protagonists and the main antagonist, but believe me when I say there are several others. Most of these characters have plenty appealing personalities and nifty Innocence abilities, too, so many of them should catch the viewers' interests.

• English dub: From what I've heard of the dub, some of it is less than desired, but overall, I'd say it's okay. Todd Haberkorn does okay with Allen, and Luci Christian seems to do Lenalee's voice fairly well. Jason Liebrecht as Lavi does okay, though I think his voice is a bit too light (whispery at times), and his delivery of some lines is questionable. One of my greatest problems with the dub is this next character: Travis Willingham as Kanda. While Willingham is a pretty good voice actor (as far as I can tell, based on Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist), the voice he provides for Kanda is way too deep (comparable to many of Crispin Freeman's voices). They definitely could've done better with him. The last specific character I'll cover here is the Millenium Earl, who also happens to be voiced by Jason Liebrecht. Liebrecht's voice for the Earl sounds fitting, though it's a drastic change from the original Japanese voice. It could take some getting used to, but I think it seems fitting for him. I've actually noticed that many of the less significant characters' English voices seemed pretty well done, though there are a few poor choices scattered throughout the cast.
  

Conclusion

While D.Gray-man is a bit of a lengthy series, it's a pretty consistently great series, unlike some other long anime series. Personally, I think the series really piqued my interest the most starting around the time that the third opening theme was first used, and it continued to get even more interesting for the remainder of the anime. (Things have been getting really intriguing in the manga lately.) One of the many great things about D.Gray-man is that the heroes are very far from overly powerful. In fact, they lose their battles fairly often, and several characters even die in the series. Things start to look really grim for the protagonists, believe me. If you're sick of the good guys constantly overwhelming their enemies with ease in anime, then this series should definitely please you in that regard.

I honestly can't think of much to add on to my explanation of this series, but it's really great, so I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is into this kind of stuff (Bleach and Naruto fans should enjoy it, but not exclusively them), and has the time to dedicate to these 103 episodes.

Red Garden

Red Garden (22 episodes, 2006-2007)
OVA: Dead Girls (45 minutes, 2007)

Red Garden seems to be a rather unknown series. It's a nice little hidden gem, though, and apparently managed to catch the attention of ADV Films for a localized DVD release (though it's now distributed by FUNimation), as well. Horror doesn't seem to be a very common anime theme, so it's nice to have this change of pace in Red Garden, and the series does a pretty great job of getting that feeling of terror from the main characters across to the viewer. (Though the horror aspect is somewhat limited to earlier episodes.) Even putting the horror genre aside, Red Garden is a pretty unique series, which I think deserves more attention than it gets. With that said, I hope my review/introduction thing here can get some of you interested.

Synopsis

The story of Red Garden follows four girls who find themselves suddenly unable to recall anything that occurred the day before. Unaware of the reason for this, the girls all go about their usual lives. Their school discovers some terrible news, however, reporting to the students that a fellow attendee of the school, Lise, was found dead that morning. Upon announcing this unfortunate discovery, the students are sent home early. Later that night, the four girls find themselves unexplainably drawn together, after following some butterflies that suddenly appear before them. A woman then appears, alongside a man, and tells the girls that they died. They died, and are now using "borrowed lives," as she puts it. The girls are then pitted against some beast-like man in an alleyway, where the woman and man disappear, leaving the girls to fight for their lives.

These fights continue, as ordered by the mysterious woman, who claims that the girls must fight these men if they wish to continue living. However, the girls do not blindly follow this woman, and find themselves surrounded by questions. Why can none of them remember what happened that night? Are they really dead? What are these people they are fighting, and why must they fight them? Who exactly are this woman and man? Will the girls ever be able to return to their regular lives? In order to obtain answers to these questions, however, the girls must continue fighting, and extract whatever information they can from this woman in the process.

Main Characters (click names for images)

• Kate Ashley: Kate is a mild-mannered young girl, who is a member of the elite school group known as Grace, tasked with keeping the school's students in check with their attendance, dress code, and other matters. Perhaps the most open toward others, Kate tends to play the role of leader among the group of four, looking out for them, and trying to do what's best for the group.


• Rachel Benning: Rachel is a bit of a fashion diva, or at least acts like one. She's always dressed in fancy, expensive clothes, and found hanging out with her friends at late-night parties. However, the news of the girls' deaths has the greatest impact on her, leaving her with the feeling that their current "lives" are pointless. Because of their complicated situation, Rachel's social life suffers immensely, giving her even more drama to worry about than her situation already does.


• Claire Forrest: Claire is the rebel of the group, often skipping school or arriving late without a proper excuse. However, her tough attitude is required to get by in her life. Unlike the other girls, Claire lives independently, working a job that barely covers her rent. Claire is the most physically fit among the girls, and the least hesitant to fight when needed, but under her tough exterior, she is still a high school girl who is capable of the emotional suffering that the four girls all go through.


• Rose Sheedy: Rose is a shy girl who lives alone with her younger brother and sister, taking care of them while their mother is in the hospital. Rose was accepted into the school on Roosevelt Island by winning a contest, and lives off of money sent by her father, who disappeared one day. Out of the group of four, Rose is the most caring, but the most sensitive and least willing to fight, usually cowering in a corner, crying, while the others fight for their lives. Rose acknowledges her weakness, however, and wishes strongly not to be a burden on the others, so she tries to do what she can to improve herself for this purpose.


• Lise Harriette Meyer: Lise was the only connection the other four girls shared before her death. Seemingly easy to get along with just about anyone, Lise was friends with all four of the girls, despite their differences. The night that the girls all died, the car that was bringing Lise home was attacked, and she was taken away by the assailants. The next day, her body is found by the police, and her funeral was held shortly later.

Other Notes

• Art: For many people, the art style may be rather unique. Actually, to some, the character art may even be a bit unappealing. I think it's just a matter of taste... I suppose it could be described as a more realistic style, while still maintaining that anime feel. (Witch Hunter Robin's character art may be a good comparison.) The artists make a nifty move for characters' hair, applying gradients for their hair color, which seems pretty unique. Even more interesting is the clothes that characters wear. The main cast can be seen wearing several detailed outfits, and even in scenes with crowds of people, you may notice that practically every person on screen is wearing a completely unique outfit, which is something that is very rare to see in animated works. (Check: crowd screenshot.)


• Environment & Culture: Red Garden has a (presumably) modern-day setting, taking place on Roosevelt Island and other areas of New York City. The creators really go out of their way to accurately portray many aspects of the city, which is a great touch. Even details as small as phone numbers listed on buildings factor into this. (I forget what episode, what building, et cetera, but there is actually a real, and accurate, phone number on the door of a restaurant in a particular scene.) Some of the characters even go to Coney Island and eat the famous Coney dogs at a Nathan's Famous hot dog stand/restaurant. Heck, there's even a random reference to Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, that comes up in a discussion between Kate and Rose.
  
  On the other hand, some inaccuracies in the series, as pointed out on Wikipedia, are: "There is no car/bus access between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan as shown in Red Garden. Nor are there any high schools, public or private, on the island. There is, however, subway access to the island and bus access from the Queens side, which are not shown." (Source)


• Music: First of all, don't be misled by the opening theme for the show, "Jolly Jolly," by JiLL-Decoy. It's not particularly fitting. At all.
  While I can't really comment on the soundtrack otherwise (it hasn't particularly grabbed my attention), another music note I have to point out as being extremely awkward is that in a few particular scenes throughout the series, some of the characters will randomly break into song. As far as I can tell, it's meant as a sort of device for setting the mood, but much of the time, it's just plain strange. Thankfully, these scenes aren't too common outside of the first few episodes.


• English Dub?: Unfortunately, I haven't seen Red Garden dubbed, so I can't really comment on the performance. However, from the little bit I heard in the English trailer, I wasn't impressed. The Japanese cast, on the other hand, generally does a great job, especially in the more emotional scenes. (This plays a major role in getting that feeling of terror across to the viewer in earlier episodes.)


• Dead Girls OVA: While I would like to cover this in the review simply because it's the sequel to the anime series, I'm choosing to omit it. I'm sure many other fans share the feeling of wishing to forget the OVA. While it's not terrible on its own, it abandons many of the things that made the original series great, and opts for some awkward futuristic setting, with the girls being almost completely different (mostly in bad ways), and the general plot is... kind of stupid, to be blunt. If you watch the entire anime series, but would like to see what happens after, then the OVA may or may not be worth looking into, but I'd personally suggest avoiding it. Main series: Good. OVA: Not so good.

Conclusion

Well, to be honest, I think my additional notes above sum up most of what I would've included in this conclusion footer. Aside from those notes, I'll just point out that I don't think it'll rank in the upper tier of anyone's favorite series, but I think it should still be a worthwhile watch, providing many unique features for the viewer to enjoy.