"Haibane Renmei" is the best I've seen in anime, right after "Whisper of the Heart" which is my all-time favourite. "WotH" and "Haibane" is the kind of style I love the most in anime, so is there any other animes similar to this you can recommend? Or mangas that creates the same feelings and tone?
shareHaibane Renmei is my favorite anime. You watch it and it changes you forever. Whisper of the Heart is also my favorite anime movie. I've tirelessly searched the Internet for something similar and have unfortunately come up empty handed. I do, however, recommend Kino's Journey. It's definitely one of the greats. A lot of people recommend Lain, but it personally left me underwhelmed. Sure, it's complex, but it only hints at the depth that Haibane succeeds at. Yokohama Shopping Trip is one of those nice, slice-of-life animes, that you hope will remind you of how you felt when you watched Haibane, but it's ruined by needless fanservice. Ultimately, I can recommend three animes that, while not as great, offer a glimpse of what Haibane had to offer. They are Last Exile, Wolf's Rain, and Planetes. Enjoy, but it may be some time before we get another anime that's anything like Haibane.
Edit: Oh yeah, I also recommend Figure 17. It's aimed at a younger audience, but it'll surprise you. I also recommend Niea Under 7, but the humor might grate on your nerves. As far as movies go, The Place Promised in Our Early Days and Voices of a Distant Star are both awesome.
Maybe you should watch "Paranoia Agent". Defenetly one of my favorite animes.
shareIf you like picking apart symbolism and finding the true meaning behind the almost inexistant story, definately go with FLCL :D. Its short, its sweet, and its confusing until you realize that it isn't about the story, but about the underlying symbolism.
shareKino's Journey is one of the only animes I've seen that sustains the same kind of tone and themes that Haibane Renmei does. What I would recommend besides anime is the films of Yasujiro Ozu. He told these quiet stories about everyday people in everyday life dealing with life's small but meaningful moments. The way he allowed his films to flow at life's pace without relying on heavy action and conflict and big emotion reminds me alot of Haibane Renmei. It's that same kind of calm, meditative, beautiful style. I'd recommend:
Tokyo Story (The bonds between children and parents)
Late Spring (The bond between father and daughter)
Early Summer (The bond between families)
All of them deal with the conflict of maintaining tradition in the face of a changing society and personal growth. They're all utterly beautiful and human, and when I saw Haibane Renmei it immediately brought those films to mind.
I very much recommend a series called Mushishi, the first DVD of which has just been realeased in the US. It's a bit more abstract and not quite as emotional as Haibane, but it makes up for it with some striking metaphorics about what being a human is all about.
Also, I'd like to second Planetes, which someone already recommended. It may not initially seem like it, but in the end it deals with very similar themes as Haibane, and has nearly as emotional climax.
Also "Somedays Dreamers" and "Kamichu". Both are licensed. There is also "Windy Tales" that it is available on fansub, unless you know Japanese and can order the DVD.
Also the Korean movie "Mari Yiagi" has some similarities
"Paranoia Agent" and pretty much all the Studio Ghibli Movies
"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see." - Alice
Serial Experiments Lain (Same production company)
I personally think this is alot better than Lain because SEL is very confusing 99% of the time and the animation sometimes feels cheap. However, alot of the emotions HB deals with are also explored in Lain.
Spice and Wolf has a similar vibe.
Vegas, You're my DREAM UNICORN
Uhm... Only if one casts off all fanservice and moneymaking-stuff... but afterwards there will be almost nothing left, sorry ^^.
As already said The Place Promised in Our Early Days and Voices of a Distant Star are good choises and not only that, but everything from Shinkai like 5 Centimeters per Second... And The Girl Who Leapt Through Time has some touches of the atmosphere and some ideas.
As for manga: headolence mentioned Yokohama Shopping Trip (anime)... But shamefully it only hardly expresses the whole beauty of the original. Though it wasn't published outside Asia yet, there is a fanmade translation on the web...
Grave of the Fireflies
The lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here, uh... staggers me.
Serial Experiments Lain.