"Haibane Renmei" disc 1

So after all this time I finally gave this series a shot.

My first thought was "Hmmm." My second thought was that the animation was a tad on the "cheap".. err... I should say "low-budget" side.

But really, though, the characters had "life". A "spark". And the story and situation was rather unique and interesting. Charming, even. And those sorts of things trump che... uhh.. "low-budget" animation every time.

I've been avoiding any reviews about the series so I could try and go into this totally fresh, and I'm glad I am. I'm going to prioritize the rest of the series in my queue so I can see just what the heck is going on. I'm trying to figure out if the scenario is really actually sinister or not, despite the fact that there's a subtext to it that is trying to misdirect you into thinking that there is. At least, my first impression is that subtext is the misdirection. Because it's trying to make it seem like something's terribly wrong underneath the slice-of-life carefree exterior. Curious.

At any rate, it's the total opposite of "Texhnolyze" so far. Mostly due to the "life" part. "Texhnolyze", besides lacking "soul", is rather lacking in the "life" department as well.

(No spoilers, please!! Let me figure out if I pegged it or not for myself.)