Episode 01 - Cocoon - The Dream of Falling From the Sky - Old Home

Short Episode Summary - A young girl in her mid-teens is hatched from a cocoon in a town called "Guri" that is inhabited by people with wings and halos called the "Haibane". The girl describes the dream she had in her cocoon, one of falling, and is named Rakka for her dream. (Rakka is a Japanese word for falling). She learns that the other haibane are named Reki, Nemu, Hikari, Kana, and Kuu and that they all live in a building called Old Home. Rakka is presented with a halo which flows above her head and all but Reki leave. Reki stays by Rakka's side as she goes through the violent and painful process of growing wings. The next morning Rakka wonders at her new wings and Reki welcomes her to Old Home.

Detailed Episode Summary - The series begins with a girl in her teens falling from the sky in a white robe. She awakens and wonders where she is. She comments that she is not afraid, but her chest hurts. A crow falls with her and squaks at her. She asks if the crow is worried for her. The crow attempts to stop her fall by grabbing onto her robe, but the girl says that it's effort is no use, but thanks it anyway. The girl resumes her fall peacefully but suddenly breaks through a cloud cover and sees the ground rushing up towards her and panics, flipping end over end. This ends the opening sequence.

The next scene shows a young woman in her late teens with short wings and a halo walking down a dark hallway with a box of art supplies. She hears a noise while passing a door and looks inside only to find a huge white cocoon stretching from floor to ceiling. She runs off, presumably to get others.

The next scene is later in the day and we see five winged people, including the original one with the box, have gathered around the cocoon and are cleaning the room. We see the girl from the opening sequence awaken, apparently in the cocoon. She hears voices outside and startings pulling pieces of the cocoon off from the inside. The cocoon cracks open, unleashing all of the water inside and flooding out the room.

The girl now awakens in a bed in a room that she doesn't recognize. She cries out and grabs her back as if in pain. Shortly afterward the five winged people from earlier enter the room and all start talking to her at once. The one from the hallway quiets them down and introduces her to the falling girl as Reki. Reki asks the girl to tell her about the dream she had in the cocoon. The girl remembers falling from a very high place and feels that there was something more but cannot remember. The others explain that a Haibane is named for the dream he or she had in their cocoon (they also introduce themselves as Hikari for light, Kana for river fish, Nemu for sleep, and Kuu for air or sky). Reki declares that the girl's name will be Rakka (Japanese for fall) since her dream was that of falling. Rakka suddenly realizes that she does not in fact know her own name. Reki explains that no Haibane remembers who they were before the cocoon. One of the Haibane, as we come to know them, presents Rakka with a halo, which floats above her head for a bit and then falls off. Rakka is forced to put up with a kind of halo brace for a few days until the halo stays of it's own power. A bell is heard in the distance and all but Reki leave to go back to work.

Alone, Reki asks Rakka if she has any questions. Rakka asks what a Haibane is and where she is. Reki's response is to flap her wings a bit, prompting Rakka to ask if they are real. Reki states that Rakka will grow them soon and asks if her back hurts. Rakka says that it does but she had just attributed it to sleeping funny. Reki leaves to get some ice. While lying face down on the bed with ice on her now bruised back Rakka asks if they are human. Reki responds that nobody knows what they are, but they call themselves the Haibane. Rakka says that she wants to go home but Reki explains that that is impossible since even if her family was in this world they would no longer remember her, just as she no longer remembers them, and that's just the way this world is. Suddenly the process of growing wings begins with a trickle of blood down Rakka's back. Reki runs off to get a medical kit and wraps tape around her thumb so that Rakka has something to bite on. Rakka's wings emerge violently, painfully, and covered in blood. The scene ends in Rakka's scream.

Rakka awakens the next morning with her limbs feeling cold, but with a fever. Reki is cleaning her wings to make sure that they do not become stained. Reki comments that her wings are neither black nor white, but a beautiful grey. Rakka smiles with a sense of accomplishment. The next scene shows Rakka out of bed and alarmed that her hair appears to be sticking to her halo. Reki laughs and asks if she is prone to static electricity. Rakka says she doesn't know and attempts to brush her hair, unsuccesfully. While hanging her head in defeat she notices her wings and strokes them, commenting "They are real!". Rakka realizes that Reki was up all night cleaning her wings and thanks her. Reki welcomes her to "Old Home". Thus begins Rakka's life as a Haibane in Guri.