If you've watched any of the show at all, I'm sure you know that there are many rather unexplained mysteries pertaining to the Haibane and their surroundings. Here you'll find my own speculations, reached through repeated viewings of the show and in-depth discussions with friends. As much as I can, I have backed up my theories with quotations from the series (based on fansubs). I thought it would be simplest to use a question-and-answer format. If you have anything to add or debate, please e-mail me (remove capital letters). The newest theories submitted by others are towards the bottom; my comments on the submissions are in italics.
Who/What are the Haibane?
At first glance, the Haibane appear to be some kind of angels thanks to their halos and vestigial grey wings. However, my own view is that becoming a Haibane is the first stage of the afterlife for children who die. Even the oldest of the Haibane (Nemu and Reki) were young children when they first hatched. It is stated many times that Haibane had a 'previous life' which they cannot remember, their only connection to it being the dream they have in the cocoon.
Loosely basing this on my pathetic knowlege of Catholic doctrine, it seems that the Haibane have entered a sort of Purgatory or Limbo, a place where souls dwell until a) they are absolved of their sins and move on to Heaven, or b) it is determined that they cannot be absolved, and they are sent to Hell. The "Day of Raising" would correspond to the point where the Haibane's soul no longer has any sins, and can move on to the next phase of the afterlife, ascending to Heaven. Washi even says when explaining Reki's true name, that the Haibane have to overcome obstacles in order to ascend. (See "Who are the Touga" for more on this.)
What is the significance of the cocoon dream?
I think the cocoon dream, in some cases, can be interpreted to indicate the way in which the child died. This is purely speculative in most cases. I mean, Shouta dreamt about shortcake; does this mean he choked to death?? I doubt it, but, hey, who knows. Nemu dreamt of sleeping; perhaps she died peacefully in her sleep. Kana dreamt she was swimming like a fish; maybe she drowned. Anyway, the only two cases where the dream most obviously has something to do with the cause of death are those of Reki and Rakka.
By the end of the series, it is painfully clear that Reki committed suicide. However, if you pay attention, I think it's obvious that Rakka did as well. In episode 9, during her conversation with Washi, the town's liaison with the Touga, Rakka says:
"I know that I've hurt someone. Not here, but a different place, I had thought that I was all alone. I thought no one would care if I disappeared. So that's why I thought I wanted to disappear. Then I saw a dream, I was in the sky. But I remember it now, there was a bird in my dream. Someone had turned themselves into a bird and was trying to call me back. I wasn't alone."
So, presumably because of a deep loneliness and possibly depression, Rakka committed suicide. It seems that she did it most likely by falling (er, well, jumping?) down a well based on the "halo of light" image at the very beginning of Rakka's dream (which somewhat resembles the image of the surface of water at the top of a well). I suppose it's also possible that she did it by jumping off a high place - this would also fit with the dream of "falling." As I said before, Reki's dream is a bit more obvious by the end - she had allowed herself to be hit by a train.
What about the crows? What is Rakka's tie to them?
Again in episode 9, Rakka says to Washi: "Ever since I came to this town, I felt that the birds were calling to me." When she found the dead bird at the bottom of the well, she felt that the bird had died because of her. Washi responds that the birds are the only creatures allowed to go over the wall, and are thought to carry lost memories (this is also stated by Kana in episode 4). Therefore, while he doesn't confirm it, he leaves open the possibility that the birds can hold some connection with a Haibane's former life.
Washi says the bird represents what Rakka needs to know - and Rakka says that it held the key to understanding her cocoon dream.
"That bird... was someone I knew. It was worried about me. But I didn't even try to understand."
From this and from the quote in the previous section, we can gather that the crow represents someone who saw or worried that Rakka might kill herself, but was powerless to actually help her. The crow in the dream tried to keep Rakka from falling. Once it determined it could not, it merely stayed with her and tried to warn her of the danger. While the crows have a strong link to Rakka, it doesn't mean that they have the same connection for the other Haibane. Kana seems only to want to get rid of them, for instance.
Who are the Touga?
We know that they live outside the wall, that they come inside the wall to trade with the town and that no one is allowed to speak to them or touch them (except Washi, via sign language). But where do they come from? The probable answer to this question was pointed out to me by my friend Emma. I never even thought of it, but in looking back at certain scenes, I really think she's right. In all likelihood, the Touga are Haibane who were unable to ascend into Heaven. From episode 11:
Rakka: "Is it possible for someone to stay?"
Washi: "It is very rare for that to happen. But those people are not called the Haibane anymore. They lose their halos and wings, and live without any interaction from the people or the Haibane. Then they grow old and pass away. It may be a quiet and peaceful life, but it is terribly lonely."
Doesn't that sound like a fairly good description of the Touga? Rob Evans tells me that after hearing this description, Rakka seems to understand who the Touga are, and "looks directly at the wings on the Washi's back and other parts of his attire." Thanks, Rob.
What's the deal with Washi?
Okay, first of all, 'Washi' is the title for the Haibane Renmei's representative, not a specific name. This is evidenced in episode 9, where the Washi says that "only the person with the title of Washi" can associate with the Touga. My question is, who was he before he became Washi? Was he born in the town, as one of the townspeople? Or is he a member of the Touga, and therefore himself a former Haibane? His clothing reflects his position - he carries the symbol of the Haibane Renmei on his headpiece. He also wears a pair of wooden wings and a mask, and carries a staff with a winged sphere on the end, topped by a halo.
What about the 'regular' people in the town of Glie?
The prevalent theory seems to be that these people exist in order to help the Haibane learn to interact with others, or to provide a peaceful, secure, familiar backdrop for their journey to their Day of Flight. Read below for more details on these theories...
Submitted by Justin Hokamura:
The humans in the story could be ascended angels, of a special caste, to guide and help ground(bad choice of words?) emotionally those
children who become Haibane... another is, imagine if you were a child and woke up where absolutely nothing was familiar... the humans, and in
fact the whole town can be a "cushion", Matrix-like, a link to the physical world so that the already traumatic transition and past attachments can be dealt with...
The real reason for the Haibane will have to wait until a candid interview with ABe, but from my cultural instincts (I am a JA raised in Hawaii with an Issei mother and have both studied Buddhism as a monk and enjoyed two decades of anime), my best guess is that the Haibane enter Glie because it is where young souls are kept to resolve worldly conflicts before ascending -- I'll expound on this later.
You mentioned Purgatory as the purpose behind Glie, but on Sekai No Hajimari, another excellent Haibane site, the point is made that Purgatory in the Catholic sense is a place for punishment and purging of minor sins until the heart is clear and can enter Heaven. I agree with this perspective, as nothing in Glie serves to overtly punish the Haibane, but quite the opposite -- they are chaperoned and well-liked. SNH's position is that Glie is a combination of Limbo and Purgatory, and I agree.
The series combines many references to Buddhism, Shintoism, and Catholicism at a very accessible level -- a hallmark of ABe. The idea that a good Haibane must work to gain access to the next world is patently Buddhist, while crow guides, magic trees and other natural totems are Shinto; the Catholic icons are obvious. But none of these traditions explains why they are born with clothing (judging from many other hi-qual anime, a tastefully-portrayed nude birth could have been done), or who the Touga are, or other restrictions placing this land apart from the world as we know it. Humans also seem to be disturbingly virtuous; no muggers or purse-snatchers in a place as large as Glie? So this suggests not complete free will on their part.
I have a few theories worthy of sharing with you. The first is that Glie and its Kabe are a vessel used to try the souls of children until they've resolved unfinished business they've left behind, much as SNH believes. My being raised in Hawaii, a land of many, many ghosts and spirit traditions, this resonates with the lore that when a person dies suddenly, they are locked in their state of mind at the time of death, and must be assisted to cross over, creating ghosts and other manifestations, confused souls who have not accepted their deaths. Young children do not have the capacity to form complexes and other psychological fetters, so probably just stay in Glie for a short time, then ascend naturally after two or so years (supported by the fact that none of the children in Kuramori's time are seen at either Old Home or the Factory; that they ALL passed the same dark tests Reki and Kuu passed is unlikely). But young adults like Rakka and the young Reki did have the capacity to question their worth, and even become prey to their self-judgements ( I believe Rakka did commit suicide as well as Reki), so their paths are much more difficult, hence their longer stays.
Also in the Buddhist tradition is the idea that all things exist in simultaneous interdependence with each other, which adds an interesting twist to the cocoons. When Rakka's cocoon appeared and Reki found it, she had the ability to pass that door and not look inside (she did have an arm-load of junk at the time), but she didn't. Why? Because all that had happened up until that time, even before she appeared in Glie, before she committed suicide, before she was born on earth, there were conditions that caused things to occur, as exist anywhere in the universe. These combinations of conditions caused her parents to meet, caused them to bear and raise her, caused the conflict that led to her end by rekishi, caused her travails in Glie and led to her action of looking into the room. If even one tiny speck of dust was not precisely where it was, she would not have looked into the room. This is the correct description of karma, by Buddhist scholars. Rakka was Reki's test, as were Kuu and even the children. Similarly helping Reki was a step in Rakka's maturity. Each Haibane's interaction with each other is supposed to happen precisely as it is. Why are the cocoons where they are? Because it is.
More on Glie. Glie in my deduction is much like a natural version of the Matrix, except it was found to exist by many generations who were not able to pass on their knowledge to following Haibane (consider the clock notes Kana found -- no names, no connection to past Haibane, only mechanical drawings). As children died through the ages Glie has become more modern, a reflection of their minds (I assert that much of Glie's odd tranquility serves to cushion the blow of realizing you're dead, so that you are able to heal and cross over). I feel Kuramori's painting only exists because of the Haibane who remember her, Nemu and Reki -- once Nemu crosses over , the painting will disappear along with the new year, none the wiser. Rakka will not remember a painting of her, since she did not have direct experience with her, but will rememeber Kuu and Reki -- otherwise all the rooms in Old Home would be filled with memorabilia of past Haibane, like some tacky bar wall. The Haibane in the twin cocoons will probably look into Reki's old studio and find an old, dusty space, but no train mural. A change in the Matrix. [VERY interesting idea.]
An interesting observation on the Haibane. They are the Seven Deadly Sins, as explained on SNH. Reki=pride; Nemu=sloth; Hikari=lust; Kana=avarice; Rakka=gluttony; Kuu=envy; Midori=wrath. Additionally, Hyoko=denial, Girl with Painted Wings=vanity and Firecracker Guy is malice or spite. Fascinating.
Clothing. I feel this has to do with the cushion aspect as we would probably be further traumatized if we were found floating in a giant cocoon in a strange place naked; the clothing serves to ground and calm the fetal Haibane until they are in the care of the elders and realize they are not in danger. They'll be having wings erupt from their backs shortly, after all -- the more calm they are the better.
Humans. I have two ideas. First, humans are a part of the Matrix, lacking any qualities that hinder the development of the Haibane. This includes the Washi, who is neither Haibane nor human in my eyes (his wings are wooden; he either lost them as a failed Haibane or is a "construct" of Glie). Washi also reads minds -- easy to do when you are part of those you speak to, another Buddhist influence. He also has not seemed to age in nine years. Second, is that the humans in Glie are special angels whose purpose is to emulate and ground the Haibane to prepare them for their own time as angels. They act, speak and have flaws as humans do, but do precisely the right thing at the right time. Rakka receives much of this nurturing -- the thrift shop guy, the soup man, even the groupie girl and the tall-dark man who picks up her wing cover. Hikari and Kana also have their angels.
The Touga. The Touga are either one of two things. They are Haibane Renmei from other Glies (perhaps there is one for those who die above a certain age, or those who achieve a different level of sin -- the possibilities are endless), who are allowed to travel only in uniform and as males, bringing trade in the form of useful materials not harmful to the place they're selling it to (different for different Glies). They could also be the damned -- murderers and other blackened souls purified through fire and sent as automotons to assist the Glies, robbed of their speech and unable to interact freely without grieveous harm. Like prisoners on good behavior.
Submitted by Jeffrey Chen:
I think Guri may not necessarily be a purgatory in the catholic sense. Remember ABe is Japanese and Catholicism does not enter into the
Japanese consciousness that strongly. Remember what Rakka said after Kuu's gone she thought the town is like a "rakku en", which is another
world for "heavenly garden" or simply "heaven". This place is in a way, heaven for them. See that they are allowed to live in a place in peace,
not alone but part of a society (so their basic needs are provided), but not full member of the society that they bear any real responsibility.
They are not being corrupted since they can't own new things or money, and they won't feel like they are useless leeches since they are allowed
to work for their living. This is almost the PERFECT condition for a small number of special being to exist in a place in peace and without
harrasement or burden of survival. They are distinct but they are not being bothered by anyone else. This is heaven for them. I think the
goal is not to enter another, higher heaven per se, as for a being with our (human) consciousness, nothing can be happier than being a haibane.
Think how happy you'd be if you're really flying in the clouds and anything you want happens. You'd become a madman.
I think leaping over the wall is not to togo somewhere higher, but to re-enter or reincarnate back into the world as another, stronger, person. A hint of this is that we hear the sound of a child laughing when Rakka went to Kuu's special plaque between the walls, yet we know Kuu is already more than a child. Kuu has been reborn into our world, the world outside of the wall. Another hint is that the haibane with and without sin are allowed to exist; if haibane was just for being waiting to enter heaven, they they should all be the same, either all with or all without sin. Yet we see Haibane like Kuu who easily left the nest after 2 years, and HB like Reki who has black wings and can't leave after 7. I think the existence in Guri's more like a proving ground, a perfect place for you to mature and become a better person either by helping others like Kuu, or forgive your own shortcomings or "sins" like Rakka and Reki. Then the haibane looses their halo and wing, and become human again with a new start. If they can't do it, they're stuck in this perfect world, but as a lonely soul only.
I think the Washi (speech master in Japanese) is just a special Torga/Former Haibane like you've said. A hint was that the handsign language of the HBRM is easily learned by Rakka, a haibane. That sounds like the handsign is a natual language for the Haibane, and the fact that Washi/Torga uses them, point them to be former Haibane. Another clue: remember how Washi said that the former haibane must stop being a haibane? How do they do that in a town which they've lived for a while? They have to stop talking/interacting, and COVER THEIR FACES so no one will recognize them as who they were. That's why none of the can talk save Washi, and all of them has to cover their faces. See how worried washi was when he thought Reki was going to become one of them; all of the HBRM wanted the haibane to leave the nest, instead of becoming lonely souls like themselves. As to why they're traveling from and to, to other towns just like this of course.
As for the town folks, I think they are people who died but didn't deserve to become haibane for some reason (maybe the Haibane, being former children, deserve a second chance at life?), but not evil enough to be banished to hell. They get to live peacefully with haibane but can't go anywhere else, and their existence will simply end after they've died within this place. See that they are generally good people, noone of them wanted to harm the haibane and stay out of their way. They keep saying haibane is a blessing since they get to live in such a place really all for haibane's sake. I think all of them subconsiously or consiously know this, and thus treat them with the respect and keep their distance.
Submitted by Grant McCarriagher:
I read your "Theories" section, and I have just a small detail to add. You
say that Reki and Rakka comitted suicide, and I agree with you. But also,
they are the only ones we know of who have the "black wing illness" (sorry,
the name escapes me at the moment). Could this be a coincidence? Maybe. But
there is also the possibility that this illness is specifically meant for
Haibane who commited suicide in their past lives. [Hmm... I thought I covered that, must have missed it.]
I'm pretty sure now that Rakka killed herself by jumping down a well, much like she jumped down the well in the West Forest. At the beginning of the first episode we see a circle of water being approached, and then splashed into (like Rakka would see if she threw herself down a well). Then we see Rakka continuing to fall, into the world of the Haibane. A sort of transition from life into death. We also see something like this at the beginning of the intro, except we see the circle of water from the third person, rather than Rakka's point of view. This also fits into the almost metaphorical finding of the "bird" that Rakka hurt by killing herself, at the bottom of the well.
Submitted by Shadsie:
I have my own little theory to add to what is already there. It is on the humans in Glie.
Personally, I do not think they are dead people or angels. I think that the town was a place created special by God (whatever he may be in the anime's universe) for the Haibane, and that the humans and the animals in the town were created especially to be there for the benefit of the Haibane. While I think that the Haibane are people who have died in (our) world, I believe that the humans and the animals in Glie are living a first life, not a temporary reincarnation like the Haibane are.
My reasoning behind this is two-fold. The first reason is death. I do not remember whether or not there is a cemetary anywhere in Glie, but it is implied that, while Haibane who are blessed have their Day of Flight, humans simply age and die. Also, considering the animals in Glie, Rakka's bird died. I think it is very strange for death to come twice for the humans and animals for no apparent reason. The second reason for my thinking that the humans and animals of Glie were created specfically to be there and to live first lives - is that people obviously become pregnant and have children in Glie. The library lady was pregnant. I suppose that she could be a dead woman who is pregnant with a newly dead soul, but... why wouldn't the child's soul be born a Haibane rather than human in the town?
It just makes sense to me to think that the humans and animals were created especially to be in the town living their first lives for the benefit of the Haibane, who are working through their problems/discovering themselves/finding redemption for their sins in limbo.
Submitted by Helen Stewart:
Just my two cents--Reki's behaviour in the final part of the series is VERY typical for somebody suffering from severe depression, and from pride. The pushing away when she needed help the most, the irrational
behaviour, giving away her posessions, and most of all having a plan of how her life will end, are all stereotypical suicidal behaviours. At one point, where the light was almost upon her and the visual zoomed
through her pupil to show her feathers blowing off her wings and away, I think that Reki had actually "died"...but Rakka was able to pull her back from the edge.
A nice touch that I appreciated was Kuramori's return to save Reki. When Rakka ran from the room crying after being pushed away by Reki, wind blows the cover off of Reki's painting of Kuramori. I strongly doubt this is coincidence, and believe that it is part of Kuramori's promise to never abandon Reki. In Reki's moment of the most need, Rakka stares at Kuramori's painting and then finds Reki's diary, which leads her to remember Reki's promise and pledge while Rakka was in the cocoon.
Submitted by Andrew from Singapore:
I was reading your "Theory and Ideas" section on Haibane Renmei (just watched the ending just now). A question: have you watched this interesting Japanese film called "Afterlife" before?
Interview with the director of "Afterlife"
I watched it a few years ago and feel that Haibane Renmei actually shares a lot of the themes such as a "halfway-house" and memories.
Submitted by Chris Atkins:
The Washi gave Rakka a small tablet with Reki's name on it. Don't the Japanese people sometimes possess mementos of dead relatives in this format? Could this lend more to the idea that the Haibane are "passed on" from our frame of existence?
Since the walls are capable of "echoing" former Haibanes and other things (like thoughts and emotions), and even recreating enough of them to cause ripples in the water, inside, perhaps the "people" in the town are manifestations (or more substantial "echoes") of actual people, either alive or dead.
Providing people to interact with -- and a stable society -- one more way of "cushioning" the Haibane (I like that idea, a lot, it seems to fit lots of otherwise "oddities" about their world). The way the Haibane treat the regular people could also be considered a test. For example, suicide victims are often "loners" or sociopaths who dislike other people. Perhaps throwing them into a larger group of people is part of their "rehabilitation" or testing.
I think too much literal interpretation has been put into the Haibane's cocoon dreams -- if what they remembered about the dream was something about way they died, why were things as innocuous as sleep and shortbread mentioned? I think the dreams were really metaphors for the real reason the Haibane appeared within the walls.
Sleep = inability to wake up (achieve "enlightenment"). Falling = inability to ascend, to better one's self. Pebbles = inability to cope with small problems.
Further, the way Haibane got past their hang-ups was full of metaphor. Reki's mural and vision was a literal, visual manifestation that was so powerful that it enveloped Rakka in an alternate reality, if even for a short period of time.
However, the well, even though it wasn't a powerful, consuming vision of a train, still holds an amazing amount of symbolism. Perhaps Rakka didn't die by falling into a well, either by choice or by accident -- perhaps it was indicative of the reason she became a Haibane. Here are some attributes of of the well Rakka ended up in, and their possible significance:
1) The well was quiet, FAR away from people (what was it doing so far from the town, anyway?), and empty. This could signify Rakka's loneliness in a former life -- solitude, quiet, but lifeless (empty) -- but perhaps not by choice.
2) Broken ladder bars. Whatever she managed to get herself into, she couldn't get herself out of, even though it might have looked like she could (the bars were present, but rusted enough to prevent escape).
3) Yelling for help from a well is fairly futile -- the sound only goes one direction: up. Perhaps this says something about Rakka's predicament in a former life -- she couldn't communicate with anyone about her problem. Perhaps the only being who could have helped her was God, up in the sky, the only place her cries could reach.
4) Dead bird at bottom/Bird in dream: flying in dreams is usually interpreted as overcoming obstacles, leadership, and freedom from problems. If the bird was a metaphor for someone who helped (or wanted to help, but couldn't) Rakka in a former life, the dead bird could signify someone who was able to overcome most obstacles, but failed to help Rakka.
Perhaps Rakka didn't want to be healed (helped out of the well), or didn't see how anybody could help (no stairs, nobody could hear her pleading), and only had the failure of someone who had tried (the dead bird) to remind her that she was helpless.
Submitted by Andrew Ivanoff:
Just watched it. Received the most powerfull emotional shock I ever had. So Im not sure that belowsaid will be very logical. And its not very english too but I hope that its understandable.
Crows are souls or thoughts of the people from the real world. After Rakka commited suicide her mother or father preyed alot for her soul. As I can understand one of her parents even die because of her action and inability to live w/o her. So all that attention from the crows was her parents attention (direct or indirect). Maybe her parents were already dead at that moment maybe not - its impossible to say. But it was Rakka's parents preys that cured her sin.
Reason for the Rakka's suicide probably was loss of her sister (close friend, love ?). Then Kuu left Purgatory, Rakka faced the same situation which she already faced in her past life and it started the same mechanism which led her to the suicide. Main point of the Purgatory was to help soul get itself cleaned from such feelings and thoughts.
Submitted by Jennifer Reitz:
Hello!
My name is Jennifer Diane Reitz, I do comics out of my http://pasteldefender.com/ website, and I came across your site thanks to a mention from one of my readers, as I recently have been greatly affected by watching Haibane Renmei.
My reason for writing is that I imagine that I have some thoughts regarding the meaning of the Haibane, which I would like to offer you, as I have been hugely impressed by your website, and the amount of thinking you have put into the analysis of the series. I guess I would like to offer mine in return.
Here are my thoughts...
I offer that all of the Haibane are tragic deaths, and that the older Haibane are universally suicides, while the younger Haibane, the Young Feathers are all murdered children.
My reasoning for this is thus: Reki, clearly 'abandoned herself' by allowing a train to run her over, I think this is very clear. Rakka, is also a suicide, I think, but she did not fall into a well on earth...rather she jumped from a skyscraper. The reason for her suicide, is that she was pregnant at a very young age, and killed herself as a response to this situation. The bird is her unborn fetus, the well in Glie a symbolic concretonization of her own womb. Now for my evidence for such a bold claim.
In some belief systems it is my understanding that children, unborn children, or especially those lost to miscarriage, are reincarnated -or to be accurate, transmigrated- as birds, before being given a second chance at a human birth. I believe this comes from some sects of native Indian Buddhism, where transmigration is part of reincarnationist belief. Following this, the dead bird at the bottom of the well is the transmigrated form of an unborn child, and the linkage to Rakka immediately becomes clear: in her cocoon dream she holds the bird tightly to her abdomen and bosom, before letting it free, in return, it attempts to keep her from falling, clinging to its earthly mother. Having not existed long, and thus being wholly unable to understand how to actually be a bird and thus fly, it crashes helplessly to Glie, and following the notion that Glie is an illusory manifestation of mystical space, a Matrix-like 'bardo' of sorts, it crashes into a symbolic (in dream terms) womb, the well.
In order to complete her own spiritual gestalt, Rakka is driven to enter this symbolic space in order to make peace with an almost life she cannot remember, but which would have been by definition, close indeed to her. She needed to be forgiven by the soul of her own fetal child, a tragedy of teenage pregnancy.
Now as to why Reki, also a suicide, born with stained wings, and not Rakka, is that Rakka's act of suicide was presumably done of fear, and of a kind of responsibility too: she could not take care of a child at such an age, may not have had any resource to abort it, and found herself stuck with (what would be to her, in a Japanese cultural mindset) only one choice - to spare her family disgrace from her actions by a form of noble and cleansing seppuku, in this case stepping off of a great height. There would be no shame for her in the act itself, thus no stain, but there would be potential guilt from the loss of a child, and that guilt, once it caught up to her, would be the source of her rash of being sin-bound, until it could be resolved.
Reki, on the other hand, from her own words, clearly felt, at the time of her earthly death, deep shame at killing herself, and that shame is what taints her from the very start of her existence in Glie. Her gestalt is to find a way to forgive herself and to regain an ability to include others in her emotional identity - to trust. This can be understood from her statement of having 'abandoned herself'...which in this context is that of a person so abjectly devoid of trust that she cannot even trust her own self, and in this dark space, comes the drive to self-destruction.
In short, the taint of being sin-bound is not sin as wrongdoing, in the Western sense, but sin as shame, as unfinished issue, even as self-loathing at some level. In the mixed, complex, multi-cultural cosmology of Haibane Renmei, it is not a biblical concept of sin we are dealing with, I think, a sin based on arbitrary rules, but rather sin born from failing the chains of social and emotional duty and emotion.
Kana, the 'River Fish', drowned herself, I submit, because she could not cope with being lesbian on earth. The evidence for this is fairly clear, and evident in every aspect of her character. She is very physical with the other women, holding and clutching them (and is the only one of the Old Home Haibane to act this way), she is far beyond tomboyish, unlike Kuu, who is merely tomboyish in a simple, and innocent way. Kana possesses strong behavioral clues which are recognizable, at least to me, for I myself am lesbian. To my observation, to my 'gaydar' if you wish, Kana could not be clearer. She walks and moves with certain proto-masculine mannerisms, which are the basis for many a stereotype, yes, but such sterotypes are founded on real neurological truths. I literally cannot see Kana as anything but Queer, the portrayal is so keen.
Which leads me to a side note: I am convinced the Haibane are effectively sexless, in that they have no sex drive as such, and could not reproduce in a human manner if they even wanted to. My reasoning for this is manifold; although the Abandoned Factory is coed, all the relationships there are defined as being very sibling-like - we never see any behavior that would indicate romantic attachment, though we do see possessive protectiveness in action. If indeed Glie is a bardo for proto-angels of a sort, then human sexuality would not merely be an ultimately destructive element to their spiritual progress, it would also be in direct conflict with the more ancient view of angels as asexual entities, beyond the baser cares of the flesh (a view that not all sects or belief systems hold, granted, but a powerful one nonetheless).
Following this, Kana's behavior is the equivalent of a faint reflection of her identity from earth, just as is Reki's selfish self-destructiveness, and Rakka's clinging need for others (doubtless the reason for her earthly pregnancy; a misguided attempt to feel loved).
As for the causes of the deaths of the other older Haibane, it becomes more difficult, for there is less to go on or to make sense of. I shall not speculate wildly, for it is easy enough to invent arbitrary tragic deaths based on floating in the air or blinding light.
The children, then.
One clue of great power comes from the tiny boy 'Shota' ('Shorta' in the dub, but definately 'Shota' in the original), who is a dead (pardon the jest) givaway that the Young Feathers are murdered children. The name for Japanese hentai manga is 'Shota', so named after the common cute little boy's name often used in early works of the genre, where an older male seduces a young boy. This is the homosexual equivalent of 'Lolicon', or Lolita Complex, and a 'Shotacon' is a 'Shota Complex', a fetish for pederasty. In some of the more violent of such works, the young boy may eventually be killed, suffering the ultimate tragedy of being an Uke, to the Seme of the older male. In this case, we can imagine that the Young Feathers, all, are boys a girls killed by sexual predators on earth, only to be reborn as Haibane, a chance to erase their pain and experience cleansing joy before moving on. It is doubtful that any of the Young Feathers have any issues to work through, their stay in Glie is merely to erase their past and to give them a clean slate to go on.
Now this fits very well with the different way in which the Young Feathers name themselves...while the older Haibane name themselves after their cocoon dreams, which is to say, the tragedies and suicides they need to work through, the Young Feathers choose only names concerned with the future. They want no past, indeed nothing in their past is useful to them or their spiritual growth, indeed everything in their past would be detrimental. They have nothing to 'work through', rather their job is to forget, to erase a stain of pain. To them, then, only the future exists, and so only names which are a wish for the future.
Thus, I think, we see the real depth of the subtitle to the Haibane work; 'Wings Of Sorrow'....the Haibane are all tragedies of earth, put in what amounts to a metaphysical clinic designed to offer them a chance to work through their problems, or to heal, or both. In effect, Glie is a cosmic psych ward, a place for broken souls to have the chance to mend. Some cannot mend, and they find the peace of oblivion in ceasing to be Haibane, becoming Touga, and eventually dying for real (and forever), buried in the Glie graveyard. But those who can overcome their torment can go on, perhaps to some eternal realm, perhaps to another life on earth. Perhaps the destination is unique to each Haibane - Reki is assured she will meet her Kuramori, but Rakka is told that she will likely never see Reki ever again. Different destinations, for different folks, it would seem.
Now these are my thoughts, and as best as I can support them the thinking behind them. It is my hope that you might find them at least intriguing, if nothing else.