Haibane Renmei fic recs

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Haibane Renmei is an anime which tells the gentle, somewhat cryptic story of Haibane: people with angel wings who hatch from giant cocoons, living among "ordinary" people in a walled city.



Which is not such a great description of it after all, but it's really rather hard to describe. The main character, Rakka, is "born" as a young Haibane adult and is found and cared for by another Haibane woman named Reki. They become friends and Reki helps and guides Rakka despite having issues of her own to deal with. The majority of the characters in the anime are female, and the show focuses a great deal of time on their personal discoveries and interactions. It's a lovely anime with a gorgeous art style which I recommend highly to anyone who likes something which moves at a slower pace and focuses on female characters.

As the show is heavy on symbolism and mystery (almost in the religious sense) it's widely considered to be very difficult to write for. But there is fanfic out there, mainly female-centric gen. So I put together a short list of fics, almost all gen or mild femslash. This is not a list of what's good in the fandom -- I know there are some really good ones out there I didn't read yet. These are just some stories I read and enjoyed, mostly long ago when the fandom was more active. (Plus I threw in two by me only because it's not that easy to find fic in this fandom.)

Unfortunately Haibane Renmei fic tends to contain heavy spoilers and often isn't that easy to understand without having seen the show. But I wanted to post about it since there is such a high concentration of stories oriented around females, and possibly some people here are familiar with the show or would like to be.





All contain major spoilers unless otherwise indicated. All are very mild in rating/content but may contain character death.

At fanfiction.net:

To be Human in Glie by Lady Shadowcat. A woman explains Haibane to her niece. (While the woman and her niece are original characters I wanted to include this one because it has no spoilers.) Gen.

Diary by Black Waltz 0. Focuses on Nemu, a Haibane who works in a library, and the books she finds. Gen.

A Reflection by lethal_paine. Ficlet. Slight Rakka/Reki femslash.

Anchored to a World Beyond by Mystikat. Ficlet. Hints slightly at Rakka/"Clothing Store Man" het. No spoilers.

At Yuletide:

i live my life in growing orbits by jan. Rakka-centric gen about her interactions with various characters and her adoption of a crow.

The Story of Wings by rosehiptea (TeaRoses). Nemu-centric gen about the stories she learns to tell.

At yuri_challenge:

Crossroads by rosehiptea. Rakka/Reki femslash.

Comments

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you thank you! I love Haibane Renmei with a fiery passion. It is without a doubt the best anime I have ever seen. But I've seen very little fanfic, and I wonder if it's just that the sheer quality of the show is intimidating. It's so great to get recs!

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I think it is the quality that intimidates people, and also just the cryptic nature of it. Again, this may not be the best fic out there, especially since I've slowed way down in my fic reading lately... but it's stuff I liked at least, that usually does something with the poetic nature and themes of it.

Always great to find another fan!

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Thanks especially for noting the stories with no spoilers! This show sounds fascinating. :)

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I only wish there were more (and the ficlet is very short... but also quite sweet.) It's a great anime.