Haibane Renmei

This is a strange series, as you really are left in the dark for most of it. We are telling a story that has no real purpose as to why we are telling it, but it needs to be told. I’ll explain as we go along.

Haibane Renmei” (“Une fille qui a des ailes grises” and/or/either/both, “A girl who has grey wings”) has us look at angeloids in a different way. I mean, no one ever says the word “angel”, but they have wings and a halo, but if we took away those two features, they are no different than you or I. There are male ones as well, but the whole mythology behind it seems confused.

OK, I watched it, as it was On Demand and I needed something to see while I did the ironing, and it was there. It’s a show with a lot of promise, but it stagnates to the point where we are just going through the motions.

We are in the city of Glie. Although the time feels modern, there is still something kind of backwards about the town, as I don’t recall ever seeing a TV set, for example. And there is a huge stone wall that surrounds the town and environs. It appears that no one ever leaves the town, and certainly the haibanes can’t at all.Continue reading

Chronicles of the Going Home Club

Chronicles of the Going Home Club” is another in a long series on ‘nothing’ shows, although they eventually decide to do ‘something’. Closer aligned with “Joshiraku” and “Nichijou”, it tells the stories of five girls who just want to have a good time.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the “Going Home Club” refers to students who do not belong to any club, ending up going home to study or read anime or take a trip to Akihabara. But for this series, the Going Home Club is an actual club. Sure, they may play video games or eat snacks, but they eventually talk about stuff, things that have a bearing on their lives. So the first three or four episodes are spent setting up things, so nothing happens and what they talk and do is disconnected. So there is no real direction. But someone decides they need to have some degree of focus and that’s when the show really takes off.

Our Slacker Sisters are (left to right):

Sakura Domyoji, president of the club and the ‘ordinary’ one.
Karin Tono, supervisor and a tad of an airheadContinue reading