Of all the recurring symbolism in Haibane Renmei, that of the circle is the most intriguing. This will be a series of posts. Thefirst of these is teh circle of Glie itself – or rather, the existence of the Haibane.
The circle of Glie is not a physical one that appears on screen, but is implied – the circle of life, death, and rebirth. All Haibane had a previous life, they were then reborn from a cocoon into Glie. The cocoon is the womb, and the painful eruption of the wings is the first draw of breath as a true Haibane.
I see that my favorite television show, Battlestar Galactica, recently won a Peabody award, a first for the Sci-Fi channel. It’s good to see such a fantastic show with such exceptional writing, acting, and directing getting noticed. Is it too much to hope for an emmy? There are several on the show who I think would be worthy, but in particular James Callis (Dr. Baltar) should be singled out. He’s been so absolutely and utterly brilliant. I’m not sure anything quite like his performance has ever appeared on television.
I shot that video in a department store in Tokyo somewhere, i think in Shinjuku district. I was starving and was already in a mind-altered state as it was.
If your brain didn’t like that, here’s some nice video of shinkansen to ease your suffering. Ahhh… geek service.
What is especially striking about the Hitchhiker’s Guide to eth Galaxy is how insightful it can be on matters of religion, given that DNA was(inhis own words) a militant atheist.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie was a travesty. And it’s entirely because they tried to capture the humour of the series – which comes across beautifully in print and on the radio – without acknowledging the realities of the medium.
Consider that most of H2G2 is simply untranslateable to film. I mean, how on earth could you justify the following scene? (wherein Arthur debates with Prosser about the official plans to demolish his house) :
My daughter and I have been intermittently watching Bottle Fairy – I’ve only seen episodes from the first disc, but she’s bounced around between both discs randomly. From what I gather, aside from the ending, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the discs. However, the ending lends itself to a dark interpretation.
via Shamus, here’s the opening credits for Haibane Renmei on YouTube:
The momentary glimpses of each character really give you a sense of their styles and personalities, especially Reki. And the music accompaniment is enchanting – the theme stays with you. I am also very fond of the opener to Sugar now, though in contrast to HR it tells you almost nothing about the characters at all. Excepting Greta, that is. I did however cringe the first time I heard that doo wop chorus, though…
I have to disagree with Pixy that most live-action openers are focused on the characters, however, at least for science fiction. The opening creds for BattleStar Galactica are a good example of an OP that really establishes the visual style, and atmosphere. That’s not surprising given that Ron Moore, the producer, also did Deep Space Nine – a series whose opening credits were basically a visual ode to the space station itself, as the main character. Not since the scene from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, where Kirk takes a visual inspection of the refitted Enterprise has such devotion been paid to a thing on screen rather than a person. I think that science fiction shares with anime the need to sell the setting and mood as much as the characters. In that respect, the opener to Galactica is very anime-esque.
Steven noted that the opener/closers may suck for good series, but has anyone observed a very well done opener and closer for a terrible series? Maybe the rule works only in reverse.
well, that’s how every episode of Sugar: A little Snow Fairy opens. My almost-four year old says this about a dozen times a day now.
Overall, the series started out slow, and then kept layering on the character development piecemeal until by the end you really felt you knew them, without consciously realizing how attached you were. This is different from Haibane Renmei where the main characters are immediately captivating – in fact, for the first 30 minutes of disc 1, I rather disliked Saga.
This post is kind of a compilation of some of my observations from throughout. Continues below the fold…
In a rare moment of weakness, I agreed to watch a Bollywood flick with my wife. (Understand that I am trying to build cred with her to get her to try Haibane Renmei)
The movie we watched was Mohabbatein, which turned out to be a lot of fun. What impressed me most was the way it actually juggled an ensemble cast and managed to actually give each of the nine (9!) major characters enough screen time to have actual depth. This is the director’s second film, after Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, which was a major box office hit worldwide and kind of validated Bollywood to non-Indian audiences (maybe I should actually watch that one, too… more wife cred?)
Of course Sharukh Khan steals the show. But watching him in action suggested a startling physical similarity to Jackie Chan. Judge for yourself: Khan and Chan via Google Images. Their alikeness triggered the observation that there are parallels between traditional Bollywood cinema and Hong Kong kung-fu movies. In one case, the stylized physical art form is dance, in another, martial arts, but in both cases the leads are heavily trained in exquisite choreography and have to have tremendous physical stamina. The plot structure is also fairly heavy on moral themes and love triangles and plenty of action – though I haven’t yet seen a kung fu flick break spontaneously into song, there certainly are plenty of other common dramatic tensions and lingering camera scenes of the wrought face of angst.
Some kind of fusion flick would be a sight to see.
