Haibane Renmei and the Concept of Sin

A dialouge excerpt from the japanese animated tv-series Haibane Renmei (灰羽連盟), released 2002.

Communicator: "To recognize one's own sin is to have no sin. So, are you a sinner?"

Rakka: "But if I think I have no sin, then I become a sinner!"

Communicator: "Perhaps this is what it means to be bound by sin. To spin in the same circle, looking for where the sin lies, and at some point losing sight of the way out."

When I heard this phrase in the series, I thought it was a very profound description of the very self-questioning attitude which can keep one stuck in unhealthy thought-patterns and therefore also in depression. Although in a very simple interpretation being focused on sin and absolution; by borrowing some Christian concepts, the spiritual context of the series is in a large and metaphorical way really about humanhood. It Centers around quite mature teams, such as lack of belonging, loneliness, depression, self-harm and death.

Rakka is not human, but born again as a wing-clothed being living in an small and isolated town, which guards the secret of their existence. But her birth and integration in the monastic community is not without trouble and she soon learns that she is sin-bound. Something she attempts to conceal trough self-mutilation.

In one part, the characters imagine their own fate trough re-imagining the creation-mythos and their role within this existence, which is one of the more beautiful parts. Do yourself a favour and learn about Rakka's struggle for a sense of purpose in the little known animé series Haibane Renmei.

Learn more about it here.