This anime, another work of Abe Yoshitoshi (creator of Lain and others), really had me expecting something much more deep than this. This anime could have easily been the best I've ever seen, if it had just been a few more episodes longer to EXPLAIN. This anime is so riddled with plot holes and loose ends that it's hard to get everything. Add to that the ending doesn't explain ANYTHING except for why Reki is so grumpy all the time. The ending isn't bad per se, but it's not great either. None of the questions I posed in the synopsis are ever answered. We're still left wondering why there are so many crows, what the haibane are, what the wall is for, what happened in Rakka's past, etc. I sure hope they make another season of this (a la Mahoromatic) to clear up some of the things here. Now that I've listed the negatives, on to the postives. This anime just has so much character development and Rakka is just such a great character overall. But why the thinker as the genre? Well lemme tell you: this anime has more symbolism than ANY anime I've ever seen. The ash falling from Reki's cigarette in slow motion, a crow crapping on Rana, everything has some sort of deep importance that you should somehow comprehend in order to get the most out of the series. Also, the animation and music in this series is AMAZING. Not good, not great, above that on a whole new level. Just watch the clip of the opening sequence. The whole anime is just as well animated as that.